Supressing the Shadow Within

Chapters

Prologue
Beginning of a New Life
Adjusting to a Strange New World

Prologue

~Prologue~

"Man, I sure do love days like today." I said to my friends sitting across the table from me, looking up at the scattered clouds in the midday sky. A small gust of cool wind blew by us, my shoulder length hair flying to and fro in response.

"I don't know, Charlie," countered Mark, shivering a bit and putting his arms over his chest to preserve body heat. "This kind of weather is a little too cold for me."

"It is a bit chilly, honestly." Celine chimed in, pulling her hood up and scooting closer to Mark to lean on his shoulder.

"Pssh, it's what, 21 degrees Celsius outside? It's not even that cold!" I retorted playfully, chuckling at seeing them huddled together like penguins in a blizzard.

"Whatever dude, at least we got some good food and got to hang out. That's all I really care about." Mark said, picking up a short wooden stick and stabbing another piece of fried chicken to pop into his mouth.

"True that man, true that." I agreed, tossing back a piece of chicken myself, savoring how it practically melted into my mouth.

I let out a small sigh and got lost in thought a little, thinking of how times like these were becoming a much less frequent occurrence. Ever since we all graduated high school and got into college it seemed like there was just less time to take things slow and enjoy the small moments in life. Sure, we would game together pretty often and get a lot of good quality time in online, but it just isn't the same as it used to be.

Still, it's not like I'm dissatisfied with how things are at the moment. I was able to find a great interest of mine down the road of things like big data and machine learning, all of which as a whole is pretty wild to me, so I'm excited to go down that path. I'm also really grateful for the great friends I have right now, despite the several instances of disbanding and having to reform the group in the past. Mark, for instance, I've known him since high school, but only recently have we really been able to connect on a deeper level. And Celine, she's fairly new to the group, having only been hanging out with us for some 6 months or so, but it feels like she's been here forever.

I turned back to the couple, smiling to myself at how adorable they are together, but quickly became distracted by some inkling of anxiety that began to swell within me. I wasn't quite sure what there was to be anxious about, so I tried my best to ignore it as my friends and I wrapped up our meals and started walking about. We conversed idly while walking through a nearby park, but the feeling inside me continued to nag at my consciousness, pulling my attention away from the conversation.

It didn't take too long for them to notice a change in my normally cheery demeanor, my focus being brought back to my friends by Celine asking, "You alright, Charlie? You're looking a little pale over there." She looked with concern at me, stepping a little bit closer.

"Ah n-nah nah I'm fine, it's nothing really." I assured, only to become aware of how much my anxiety had grown in the last few minutes. I realized now where this feeling was coming from, as my anxiety quickly became fear. I felt like something dark was approaching me, but no matter where I looked there was nothing perceptible in sight. My mentality transitioned yet again, going from fear to near full-blown panic as my vision blurred and my head began to spin. I could hear the faint, worried voices of Mark and Celine, and I attempted to cry out and say, "It's coming for me, help!" but the words never made it out.

A moment more and everything snapped into order, my body settling to a perfect calm, and my vision stabilizing just in time to see an ominous rift directly in front of me. Mark and Celine were frozen off to the side, and I could only watch as a dark haze seeped out from the rift, slowly making it's way around me and pulling me forward. My mind reverted to panic mode, merely flailing my arms and sloppily backpedaling as much as basic muscle memory would allow.

Despite my best efforts, the haze was unrelenting and unaffected, pulling me further in as I whimper screamed to no avail. Before I knew it, I was through the rift and veiled entirely in the dark haze. Now, my thoughts and senses being all consumed by darkness ceased to give me any useful information, and so I shut down, my consciousness quickly fading to black and passing out.

~~~~~~~~

"Ugh," I groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. I dug my head into whatever I was lying down on, my body thinking it was waking up and as such, taking the appropriate action. I immediately felt a barrage of what felt like pins on the side of my face, and after giving my eyes a bit to focus, realized that I was lying on grass. Remembering briefly what had just happened I jolted upwards, supporting my upper body with my arms in a half lying position.

I looked around and saw that I was in some sort of clearing, but that I was surrounded by a lush forest that looked to go on for miles. I blinked and brought a hand up to rub my eyes, hoping that familiar scenery would greet me as I removed my hand. To my disappointment, the same view came into sight as my hand dropped, and my head sank in despair.

Bruh, what am I even supposed to make of this. What just happened? My mind failed to make sense of the current situation, going into hyperdrive then slowing back down as the realization that there was no way to rationalize this set in. I moved to bring my legs in front of me, feeling a tremendously sharp pain in my left leg as I did so. Halting my movement and switching to a regular sitting position I rolled up my pants to inspect my leg, seeing some grotesque discoloration and an odd placement of bone at the knee.

"You've gotta be kidding me," I muttered to myself, guessing that whatever brought me through whatever I traveled through didn't do it gently. I hoisted myself up on my good leg, putting all of my weight into it as I surveyed the area. There was literally nothing helpful in sight, as everything was just straight woods as far as the eye could see.

"I'm not really the outdoorsy type, but I guess I don't really have a choice." I began hobbling towards the foliage, praying that if anything that I at least don't run into a wild bear out here in the middle of who knows where.

~~~~~~~~

The journey into the forest was majorly uneventful, only seeing some strange vegetation here and there, but nothing to cause immediate alarm. At least not till now, that is. I was surprised at how dark it had gotten deep within the forest considering how light it had been in the clearing. The real problem though, was this huge entanglement of thick vines and shrubbery that blocked what seemed to be the best path forward.

I had followed what I at least thought was a trail, having less plant on the ground by an almost insignificant degree, but still few enough for me to hobble through semi-comfortably. But alas, since these vines were blocking me there wasn't much I could do unless I found a way through. I carefully approached the vines, as some of the thinner ones appeared to be shifting around at a considerably slow pace, not enough to deter me from my way forward. Upon closer inspection I noticed that there was a somewhat narrow opening in the vines, but I would have to crawl through a couple feet or so till reaching the other side.

I shuddered a bit as I thought about what kind of bugs or spiders could make their way onto my person while crawling through, but I was kind of desperate to get out of here and back to civilization. So, having steeled my resolve I leaned my upper body to the opening at about waist height, and began to work my way into the hole. I could feel and hear some of the vines shift a bit as I made contact, but I did my best to ignore it and press on. Everything was solid till about three fourths of the way through when one of the smaller vines that had been shifting about jabbed a pointed edge into my right arm.

"AHG, MOTHER F-" I stopped myself from finishing, seething though as the vine dislodged itself from my arm, some odd-looking teal liquid dripping from the tip of the spike it stabbed me with. With the adrenaline boost from the pain and the fear that if I wasted a second more the vines would trap me in there, I hurried and shuffled my way out from the vines. Once free, I pulled up my sleeve and examined my arm, frowning at what I saw. The teal liquid seemed to be causing the blood it came into contact with to slowly turn teal as well, showing a little too well through my skin.

"C'mon man," I said in frustration to the vines, "first a broken leg, and now you go and inject me with who knows what? could this get any worse?" I thought aloud, and promptly cursed myself for doing so. A not too far-off screech could be heard reverberating through the forest, and it sent a chill down my spine. Whatever that screech belonged to, I certainly did not want to wait and meet it and risk an avoidable fatality. I shambled as fast as I could through the flora, trying my best to stick to the trail while not veering in the direction of the screech.

I was making fair progress till a pounding in my head and throbbing in my arm forced me to slow down for a moment. I looked back to the arm that had been injected and saw that nearly my whole arm had been infected with that liquid. The pounding in my head failed to let up despite my lack of movement, so I hastily began limping again while fighting the pain. I wasn't going to last long, as I could feel my breath getting shorter and shorter, and my vision beginning to cloud over once again. I felt like I was giving enough energy to be an Olympic runner and should be going pretty fast, but in reality, it was only a couple of seconds till-

THUMP

I collapsed to the ground, my body giving up on carrying me forward any further. I raised my face from the dirt and plant to stare blurrily into the thicket, seeing some plants rustle up ahead.

Welp, this is where I meet my end, I guess. I thought sullenly, tears welling up in my eyes. I could hardly make out what emerged from the brush ahead, only registering a gray blob as my head laid back on the ground and consciousness escaped me once again.

Author's Note

Hey guys! After being a part of the fandom since the stone ages, I felt like I finally wanted to contribute in some way to the fandom. As such, here's my first ever fan fiction~ I'm kind of writing this on a whim, so apologies if updates take a while or if the plot gets a little wonky sometimes, but I'll do my best to keep everything in check and reasonably plausible. :twilightsheepish: So just a bit of foreword, I don't completely know how I want the story to go or how it will end beyond a general idea, so bear with me as I try to figure it out. Anyways, thanks for checking this out, and I hope you liked it! And of course, constructive criticism and comments are welcome^^

Beginning of a New Life

~Beginning of a New Life~

Faint voices could be heard through my unconsciousness, though no specific words nor tones were detectable in such a state. Through the voices I heard a low hum, gradually increasing in depth and volume till a soft golden glow pierced my thoughts. The glow grew steadily till I had to raise a hand to shield my eyes from the brightness.

Huh? I noticed that my consciousness was back in my body, but my clothes were gone and all I could see aside from the pitch black was a now more concentrated sphere of the golden glow. I watched the orb curiously, seeing a shape of some creature beginning to emerge from the center. With the shape becoming more distinct I saw that it must be an ungulate of sorts, the creature gently stepping out from the orb and facing me. The faint glow from the orb kept the figure well obscured in a silhouette as it began to approach me slowly, causing me to take a cautionary step backwards. It continued at its slow pace, I assumed as a way of showing its lack of hostility.

"Please don't be afraid, I only wish to talk." A gentle, motherly voice spoke out from the creature. I stopped backing away as confusion set in, the orb shifting to a position above and in between the two of us, allowing me to tell now that the creature was a small horse. One that just spoke to me in plain English, no less.

"You can talk?" I surrendered to my curiosity and just asked, wondering what sort of hallucination my mind conjured up in what I could only think was my final stage before death. The clean white coat and glittery, flowing, multicolored mane defying all logic of how I thought a pony could be.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be able to?" The pony stated, tilting her head quizzically to the side. "Rather, I'm more curious as to where you came from. I've never before seen a creature quite like you in Equestria."

Equestria? I thought, puzzled. "You mean to say that this isn't Earth?" I inquired.

She furrowed her brows at me, "Earth? I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what that is, but I can tell you that this place is called Equus." She straightened herself out and came a little closer, her eyes being just a little under my eye level. "Which makes me must ask, what are you? And how did you get here?" She continued calmly, waiting for a response.

I retraced my steps and decided to explain all that I could remember. "Well, for your first question, I'm what's called a human. As for your second question, I'm pretty lost myself. I was just hanging out with my friends one moment, then the next moment some mysterious haze pulled me through some portal, and then I found myself in the midst of that forest." Recalling what had happened back in the forest, the alarm in my heart grew once again.

"Wait, I remember basically dying in that forest after getting injected with some sort of strange liquid. Did I die or something?" I asked worriedly, looking into the pony's eyes.

She turned her head to the side a bit and went on, "about that, actually. You're not quite dead, but rather unconscious still." She stopped for a moment before explaining more. "You are in quite grave danger though, as those that are attacked by that plant usually aren't able to receive aid in time. You're very lucky that our friend was able to find you so quickly after being poisoned."

I could feel my heart sink, but her last statement gave me a little bit of hope. "So, you're saying that I'll be alright, right? That there's a way to get rid of what's attacking me?"

"Err, yes, but it's not quite as simple as that." She locked eyes and gave me an almost grim look. "The agent that's attacking you is a unique one. As you probably saw from where it injected its fluids, the surrounding blood was turning a different color, correct?"

I nodded and she went on. "Well, the complicated thing about this is that it attaches itself to and mutates your DNA, essentially acting as cancer till your body eventually shuts down and decomposes. It's a rather vicious thing."

"So, you're basically saying that there's no way for me to be cured?" I hung my head in defeat.

"Not quite, there is a method, but there are certain risks involved, and I thought it best to consult you before proceeding. Seeing as we have a bit of time before your condition is irreversible, I assumed you might appreciate this." She added with consideration, her features softening to match her sympathetic tone.

"I do appreciate it, thank you. So, what are the risks?" I began hoping a bit more, my mood lifting a tad.

"Well, we can assure you that you will still be alive afterwards, but your body may not exactly be the same as before. The spell we plan to use will counteract the agent affecting you by adjusting your DNA to a state as far as possible from the already affected DNA. We will, of course, try our best to keep things as close as possible to what they naturally should be, but seeing as you are an unfamiliar species, I can make no promises." She informed me.

With all that information thrown at me at once, I processed most, but had to ask about the most glaring statement, "did you say spell? Spell as in magic?"

"Yes," she answered. "Magic is a common thing in this world which many are capable of wielding. Much of it being a great benefit to society. Especially in times such as this one."

"Wow, well I definitely wasn't expecting that, but I guess that would be the only way to cure something like cancer, huh." I thought aloud, mulling over what she had said once more, seeing only one outcome if I wanted to come out of this alive.

She noticed me thinking and probed gently, but with urgency, "is there anything else that you wish to know? I know I told you we had some time, but the spell will be more effective the sooner we use it."

I sighed and looked back into her eyes, seeing sincerity and worry. "Alright, I've made up my mind." I took a deep breath and began, "please use the spell on me. I can accept whatever consequences come after. I'm sure I'll be able to manage."

A kind grin spread across her face and she bowed her head lightly. "Very well, then we will commence straight away. I will see you again when you awake." She said as she was engulfed by the glowing orb that descended to her.

Things went back to black for a moment before a wavy purple hue deftly weaved its way into the dark space. A few tendrils emerged from the aura, gradually making their way over to me and wrapping around my body. The tendrils eventually enveloped my whole being, restricting my movement, but giving a warmth that was almost comforting. That comfort lasting only momentarily as a million tiny spikes entered my body, beginning an excruciating process. I felt like screaming, wriggling uncomfortably as the appendages continued their work, but to no avail.

This continued for what felt like an eternity, but eventually either the spell subdued me, or my mind could no longer take torment and gave in as I felt my vision fade into black.

~~~~~~~~

As quickly as my vision seemed to fade, it began coming back to me once more. I blinked several times, trying to clear the blurriness from my eyes to get a grasp on my current situation, my memories of that strange exchange a little foggy. Eager voices greeted my ears, words not yet reaching me, but the tone reminding me of what had just transpired.

My eyes snapped focused, being met with an impressive aquamarine-ish colored ceiling, looking to be made from some form of high-quality stone. Noticing that I was lying on my back, and that it had become quite uncomfortable for some reason, I looked down at my body to inspect the results. My jaw dropped and I promptly shrieked in confusion, a much more feminine shriek than I expected at that.

Due to the magnitude of such a combination of shocks, I ceased to scream and just looked at my body, seeing that not only was my whole body dark mint colored for one, but that my arms and legs could no longer be called as such. My body was covered in dark mint fur, and I had entirely equine legs. The bangs that fell into eyesight were a light cinnamon color, and I'm pretty sure that I saw a long trail of that same cinnamon color between my lower legs poking out too.

"Don't worry, you're alright now." I heard a familiar voice off to the side and looked over to see that same pony that I had conversed with moments ago.

"Y-you... you're the one that I talked to just now, right?" I spoke shakily, still perturbed by how soft my voice had become, also at how long my neck felt.

The pony nodded and smiled warmly at me, "Yes, my name is Celestia, glad to finally make your acquaintance." Looking again in a normal state, I could see that her appearance was much more majestic than I gave credit for before. A golden crown with a purple gem in the middle adorned her head, a long white horn resting just below it. Looking at her sides revealed two wings which looked like they spanned a decent length, and likely did more than merely add to the apparent regality of her figure.

"Nice to meet you too. My name's Charlie... But, um, what exactly happened to me?" I looked back down to myself, not yet convinced that this was what should have happened.

"The spell changed your body pretty drastically, but it succeeded in removing the poison." I turned to see a second pony speaking from the other side of me, this one with lavender fur and a violet mane with a couple of streaks of other purple-ish colors in it. They also had a horn and a pair of wings to the side, but her mane and tail seemed to rest more normally than Celestia's did. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, by the way, pleasure to meet you, Charlie." She said with an almost giddy grin she seemed to be trying to contain.

I nodded at her, giving the most enthusiastic "yeah", I could muster before trailing off and staring at my body in bewilderment once again.

"I understand you're shocked, considering you used to be-what was it again-human? From what Princess Celestia told me. However, these results are pretty good for a spell I haven't been able to practice, and I assure you I did my best given the circumstances." Twilight explained, her face going from that of matter-of-factness to one of sympathy, "and hey, being a pony isn't all that bad, it even looks like you got something a little extra out of it with those wings there."

"Wings?" I shifted clumsily on my side, arching my neck eerily well to look at my back and seeing that yes indeed, there was a pair of wings attached back there. An involuntary twitch in my back caused the wings to pop out a bit, startling me slightly before folding back against my sides.

Finally composing myself enough to give more than just two word answers I spoke, "Cel- ahem, princess Celestia and...Twilight, was it? I truly am thankful for the help you've given me, but I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. This body is pretty foreign to me, not to mention that my sex also changed during the process from what I can gather, so it's just a lot to handle." I steadied my breathing and came to grips that this was how my body was now, and that I could either rue accepting their help and turning out like this, or just make the best of it. Choosing the latter, I attempted to sit up on my hind legs to look at them more comfortably.

"That is quite alright, Charlie. We're honestly just glad that we were able to help you before it was too late. Some of our own kind have been in similar situations due to that plant in the Everfree, but often times we weren't able to aid them quickly enough." Celestia lamented, recalling the previous occurrences.

"Not to mention this proved very valuable for my research on this spell." Twilight chimed in, "I honestly thought that there wouldn't be much point in learning such an extreme healing spell, but it looks like it was well worth it." She finished with a smile.

"Well, thanks a lot again guys, it means a lot to me to still be alive." I said as I positioned myself to try to get off the bed I had been laid on, only for one of my legs to get caught in the sheets and send me face first to the floor, stopping mere inches away. I looked up and noticed a purple hue around my body, like the one I saw when I was unconscious, and realized that Twilight's horn had lit up. I was repositioned to be standing upright and set gently on the ground on shaky legs, the purple hue fading followed by Twilight chuckling a little.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she finished releasing her grip on me with her magic.

"Yeah, thanks for catching me, Twilight," I replied sheepishly. "Looks like I'm gonna have to learn how to walk in this body as a start, so bear with me." I tried taking a few steps, only to trip and having to pick myself up slowly after learning how to better handle these new appendages.

"No need to rush, dear," Celestia spoke in that reassuring tone of hers. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what's going to happen from here on out, so just take your time and go step by step. Twilight is very reliable, so I'm sure you'll learn quickly with her. I have some other duties to attend to, but I'm glad to see that you're alright." She began to walk towards the door, turning to look at Twilight and me before exiting, "Take care of Charlie, Twilight. I'll come check in on you both later." With that and another warm smile, she was gone.

"Of course, Princess Celestia! You can count on me." Twilight gave a salute as she finished her statement, then turned around to face me, giddiness written almost all over her face. "So! You said you're a human, but that barely scratches the surface! Where did you come from? Was everyone there like you? What do humans do back where you're from?"

A bit taken aback from the sudden barrage of questions I merely chuckled and began to think of the best way to answer. Getting caught up in how to best answer her, a brief "ummm" escaped my lips, making Twilight stop and breathe for a second to contain her excitement.

"Sorry, sorry. I got a little too excited, didn't I?" She rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, blushing a little bit at the realization of her slight brazenness. "First things first, I'll help you learn how to walk, then if you'd like I can show you around a bit and answer some of the questions that you have for me. Seem fair?" She extended a hoof in an invitation of friendship. I smiled and lifted one of my front legs, going for a hoof bump but missing horribly and throwing myself off balance, falling to the ground once again.

"Ugh," I groaned, but chuckled a bit. "I never thought I would have to do something like this in my life. Hopefully, this goes better than when I tried to learn how to skateboard though, because that was a mess." I stood myself back up and saw a puzzled look in Twilight's eyes.

"Skateboard? What's that?" She questioned.

I simply smiled and began taking some more steps, "don't worry I'll tell you all about it and more." And so, we set off to learn how to walk and to exchange information about each other's world.

~~~~~~~~

After about an hour or two, I had finally mastered walking in my new body, and Twilight and I had discussed quite a bit. All the things that I'd heard from her about Equus, and especially Equestria, being quite interesting. Almost unbelievable, but hey, everything that had happened in the last 24 hours was basically impossible, so we'd already crossed that line.

"So, you're telling me that humans use little boxes with glass windows to talk to each other from far away?" Twilight looked like she was about to fall out of the edge of her seat-if she had one-with how intently she was listening to my description.

I giggled a bit before replying, "Yeah, they're called cell phones, and basically everyone has one back in my world. I feel like if cell phones just disappeared one day that the world would go into chaos. Some people treat those things like they were their babies I swear." I laughed a bit more, reminiscing home.

"Same goes for you too, I imagine. Those cell phone gadgets seem pretty spectacular." She looked forward and at the ceiling, trying to picture in her mind all the possibilities of such a device.

I cut her thoughts a bit short though, "So hey, I kind of forgot to ask since we got swept up in the rush of the rest of our conversations, but since you seem pretty well versed in magic, so to say, do you have any idea how I was brought to this world?"

She turned back to me and furrowed her brows, thinking back to my tale of entering this world. "Well, there doesn't seem to be much to go off if your memory of that event is accurate. I'm not too sure who or what could control a mist like that. Except for maybe..." Twilight trailed off.

"Except for whom?" I inquired, curious to know who might've been responsible for my current predicament.

Twilight thought a bit more before shaking her head, "It's not important, there was really only one pony that used shadows a lot with their dark magic, but we've already rectified that problem, so it's highly implausible." She looked to me apologetically, "Sorry, Charlie, but I'll have to think about that one a bit more. Nothing makes sense about it right now."

I shook my head and smiled at Twilight, "That's fine, I figured I might as well ask since you'd know best but looks like I'll have to do some digging."

"Indeed. I'll help you dig, of course, two heads are better than one, right?" She stated happily, before a low growl could be heard coming from underneath her.

"What was that?" I looked at her but was then disrupted from my thoughts as a similar growl sounded out from my stomach.

"I was having so much fun talking with you that I must've forgotten how long it's been since I've ate. Speaking of which, you must be starving." She observed.

My stomach growled again in greater intensity this time, causing me to blush a little. "Definitely so, I don't think I've eaten anything since I arrived here, so some food would be really nice right about now."

"Well then it's a good thing I came to check in on you two." Celestia spoke as she approached us with a smile. "I figured that you two might forget to find something to eat, so I've had my cooks prepare us something for dinner, if you'd join us."

"Yes of course! We would love to join you, right Charlie?" Twilight looked over at me expectantly.

At the mere thought of food, I began to salivate, and quickly replied, "yeah, food sounds like a good idea."

Author's Note

Thanks for making it this far if you did! As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.

Adjusting to a Strange New World

~Adjusting to a Strange New World~

I found myself in an empty field, nothing but grass till ground met sky. A breeze blew by, continuing for a few moments before coming to an abrupt stop. I took a glance behind me, seeing the same sight. Upon turning around, something had changed off on the horizon; a small patch of black now stood where nothing once was. The darkness began expanding slowly, almost deliberately in the way that it tainted the space around it. Only taking a moment to blink, the darkness rapidly burst forth till the entire plane was enveloped, a heavy pit forming in my chest.

My heart beat violently till I swore it would burst out, a low rumbling growing in the distance. I had no time to brace myself as a pair of shadowed eyes with crimson pupils appeared above me; seeming to stare deep into my soul. The low rumbling from before was broken briefly by a sinister chuckle as the pair of eyes rushed towards me, seeming to enter my body and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" I jolted upright, drenched in cold sweat and panting heavily. The comfort of soft silk bedding and a calm night ruined in an instant by this ghastly nightmare. I surveyed the room, the first rays of sunlight sneaking through regal purple curtains and reflecting off the fine marble floor. Nothing out of the ordinary in sight, so I released the air I didn't know I had been holding in in a drawn out sigh.

What a nightmare, I reflected, laying my head back down in the sea of comfort that was the bed. I wormed myself deeper into the cushion, noticing an odd itch on the lower part of my neck. I craned my head back again to see that my wings had been unfurled, lifting the sheets up and making a tent. I practiced a little bit with these yesterday, but I wonder if I can... My thoughts trailed off as I used all of my brain power to try and retract these new muscles. The left wing closed slowly, followed by the right, albeit a bit more spastic and rushed. I smirked at my small success, only to be rewarded by a prompt FWUMP, followed by the blanket rocketing up in the air, then drifting daintily down onto my back.

I rolled my eyes and shifted to my side, deciding that rest no longer seemed to be an option till I better figured out how to control these wings. Still not entirely used to my new limbs, I doggy-paddled my way to the edge of the bed till my legs dangled off to the side, proceeding to shift my weight till I plopped to the floor. Nice! I thought, first time getting out of bed as a pony and I managed not to fall on my face. I chuckled a bit, thinking about the silliness of the thought, not to mention the situation. It's the small things that count I guess. Gotta make the best of things.

I proceeded to shake myself out, giving a small huff of determination and forming a smile on my face. Alright, Let's do this! And with that, I put one hoof in front of the other and began to make my way to the dining area where Princess Celestia said she and Twilight would meet me for breakfast.

I approached the fine wood doors, a nice mix of a deep navy blue coloring the door stretching at least three of my body lengths. I instinctively raised a limb to grab the golden rings adorning the doors, but alas, I was reminded of my lack of fingers and opted to just try and push the door open. Clearly today was the day the door gods blessed me, as the door swung open to the vast castle hallways.

I stepped out, admiring the pristine craftsmanship of the various patterns and shapes decorating the walls, truly a mesmerizing work of architecture. Not only that, but this place was so big that if I wasn't so sure of where I was going, then I could easily get lost. Not that that should be a problem though, I countered to my internal monologue, coming up to a three way split. I came through this place just yesterday! Obviously the correct path was to the right, right?

~~~~~~~~

"Where is Charlie?" Celestia pondered aloud. "I don't imagine she's still asleep, but do you think we should check to make sure she's alright? It's already been 15 minutes since we said breakfast would be prepared." Celestia looked to the two large doors at the entrance in contemplation.

"I doubt anything bad could've happened. I can go check on her if you'd like though." Twilight offered, rising from her seat and heading over to the door only to stop a good few paces away after hearing a faint noise approaching. She took a couple more steps back as the noise grew louder-a good thing too-as I stumbled hurriedly through the doors. The collision with the doors combined with my speed resulted with me head over heels, literally, as I skid face first into the room.

"Owww" I picked myself up and scrunched my nose, trying to wiggle the discomfort away. I quickly remembered who I was in the presence of and bowed, "Good morning, Princess Celestia, good morning, Twilight." I tried my best to give the proper respect, not something I ever really focused on in my laid back life back home.

"Good morning, Charlie, did you sleep well? I trust the castle beds were comfortable?" Celestia inquired, waiting as Twilight brought me to a seat next to her's.

"Um, yes! I slept really well, and the bed was amazing! Most comfortable thing I've slept on in my life, to be honest." The nightmare that woke me popped back into my thoughts for a moment, but I dismissed it with haste, wanting to focus on enjoying the time with these two before going on with the day.

"I'm glad it was to your liking." Celestia said calmly, using her magic to begin taking small bites out of her food. "Also, what happened to you on the way in? Looks like it took you a while to get here, then you came in running." She asked as she continued munching on her breakfast.

I rubbed the back of my neck with a hoof and blushed slightly, "well I kinda, um... got lost, hehe." I chuckled nervously. "Sorry, I honestly thought I knew the way, and I hate being late, so I started to rush when I wasn't making progress at first." I explained to them.

Twilight gave me a pat on the shoulder, "nothing to be sorry about, Charlie! We're just glad you made it here and weren't sleeping the day away." She gestured to the food set in front of me, "go on, I'm sure you're hungry, so don't hold back."

"Oh yeah." I looked down in front to me to see a neatly placed and prepared plate of assorted fruits and vegetables. Not a bad looking meal at all, but not quite what I was used to for breakfast. Still, it does look pretty good, I noticed, then also realized that there were no utensils in sight. I looked up at the other two and saw that both of their horns were alight, moving the food from their plates to their mouths. I looked back at my plate and gave it a few looks from different angles before shrugging and deciding that I would have to eat with just my mouth, seeing as how I didn't have any magic to help me out there.

I did my best to neatly pick things out of the salad with just my teeth, the length of my face throwing me off, making me stick my nose straight into the food several times. My attention was momentarily averted from my food to the two others at the table, as I caught them both giggling lightly at the sight of me trying to figure out how to eat. Determined, though, I learned better the capabilities of my muzzle, and became more adept at getting food into my mouth after a couple attempts.

The rest of the meal was fairly quiet. Well, at least on my end it was. Twilight and Princess Celestia would occasionally talk about this and that, but I was still a bit too shy to just hop into the conversation. I quietly finished my food, the other two finishing soon after, and Princess Celestia turned to address Twilight and myself.

"Alright you two, I've put some consideration into what might be best for Charlie next, seeing as you still have a lot of things to learn and adjust to here." She looked at me reassuringly, probably seeing that I looked a bit nervous about the whole deal. "I believe that it would be best for Charlie to accompany you back to Ponyville, Twilight, and try out things there for a while."

Twilight lit up at the mention of the idea, "That would be fantastic! I was actually thinking the same thing." She turned her attention to me. "This way I can keep finding out more about this other world that you came from, but it'll also be a great chance for you to meet my friends and figure out what you want to do. You could even try coming to the school of friendship!"

School of friendship, she says? Well, I was in need of acquaintances, or friends rather, since I definitely wouldn't be able to just hang around Princess Celestia all day, and Twilight probably had other work she needed to take care of too. It was definitely worth a shot, and who knows, maybe some of the technical skills that I learned back home would help me out with things around here, despite there being a pretty distinct lack of technology, comparatively.

"Sounds good to me," I nodded, smiling at the suggestion. "I'll do my best to find some way to be useful in this world, and it sounds like this Ponyville place is pretty nice." I tried to envision what it would be like.

"Oh it's amazing, I'm sure we'll find something for you to do around there. There's no place like Ponyville," She affirmed strongly, seeming to take great pride in the place.

"I think it's settled then." Celestia walked over to us, "I must go attend to my duties once again, but you're in good hooves, Charlie. Twilight is my star pupil, and regularly exceeds my expectations, so there's no problem you'll encounter that you won't be able to solve without her guidance." Twilight was clearly happy to receive the praise, but humbly dismissed it with a wave of her hoof.

"I would never dream of disappointing you, Princess." She responded firmly, looking back to me. "Well then, let's be off! It doesn't take super long to get back to Ponyville, but it's still a while, and the sooner the better. I know my friends are dying to hear what happened with you, and I'm sure they'll be super excited to meet you as well!"

I nodded and smiled wide, "I'm ready! This sounds like the start to a great adventure, so let's get this show on the road!" I proclaimed cheerily, both Princess Celestia and Twilight looking content to see that I was comfortable with the plan.

"Well then, I must be off. Safe travels, and I will talk with you again soon." Celestia stated as she departed further into the castle, leaving Twilight and I to begin walking the halls to the castle exit.

With Twilight's guidance we quickly made our way outside of the castle and into the vast main grounds. The scenery was astounding, with neatly trimmed hedges everywhere and a plethora of other towers jutting out and connecting to various parts of the castle. I was left in awe at the magnificence of the sight, only having experienced something like this when watching movies or shows in the past. Guards were patrolling and posted all throughout the grounds, standing stoically and occasionally casting what I could only assume were curious glances at myself and Twilight.

I must have let my jaw hang for a bit too long, because my astoundment was cut short by a chuckle and a "it's amazing, isn't it?" Coming from Twilight. "Did you not have anything like this back in your old home?"

I gentle shook my head, "nah, not really where I was from. Places similar to this do exist, but for the most part they're on the other side of the world from me. That, and most of them don't really house royalty or anything and are mostly just preserved because they hold historical significance." I looked around a bit again, taking in now the view of the enormous valley that the castle overlooked that contained what appeared to be a small town off in the distance. "Truly a sight to behold."

I met Twilight's eyes as she flashed a cheeky smile towards me, "well you haven't even seen the best of it yet." She started, gesturing with her neck and then pointing with a hoof at the town in the valley. "That right there? That's Ponyville. The town filled with the kindest, most honest, and hard working ponies I've ever known!" She finished with her head held high and a look of pride across her face.

I focused my gaze better on the town, hardly able to make out the small specs of other ponies moving about. I noticed something else unusually shiny though, and I furrowed my brows and squinted my eyes to try and make out what it was. It seemed a bit out of place, so I inquired of Twilight, "what's that crystal-looking building near the edge of the town?"

"That," she began, "is the castle of friendship!"

"Huh," I observed and relaxed my gaze, "and who's castle is that?" I finished, nodding in thought of who's it might be as I began walking again.

"That would be my castle." Twilight stated matter-of-factly.

I nearly tripped over myself upon hearing that. "W-wait, you're also a princess?! I'm so sorry princess Twilight, I meant no disr-"

She swiftly cut me off with the raise of a hoof and the shake of her head, "it's no trouble Charlie, really." She set her hoof down as her expression went from serious to friendly, "I may be a princess, but you don't need to worry about being so formal. We're friends, after all, right?"

Regaining my composure, my mouth began to form my reply until-

No.... Not friends.... I heard very faintly in my mind, almost too subtle to really notice. I had noticed well enough, however, that apparently Twilight's look had turned to one of slight concern after noticing a bit too much hesitation from me. I quickly dispelled the thought from my mind and gave the best confident smile that I had in that moment, "of course! Thank you so much again, Twilight. It really helps that you're going out of your way to bring me with you and guide me for a while, I can't thank you enough."

That smile came right back as she put a leg over my shoulders, "not at all! What are friends for?" She held the embrace for a moment before she began walking again. "Now c'mon! We have a little bit of time, but we still don't want to miss the train back."

I felt myself grin at her enthusiasm and picked up my own pace, trotting up beside her and then slowing to walk as we made our way through the rest of the castle grounds and down the dirt road that lead to Canterlot. Now, Twilight had told me a bit about what Canterlot was like, being the city right next to the castle it was a higher society area. And, as I had expected, I was a little uneasy going through the streets of such a city.

I was never really one for the prim and posh life myself, being one that enjoyed the smaller, quiet towns and almost overly gratuitous casualness between friends. So, whenever we would pass someone on the roads that would typically just be showing their respect for or saying hello to princess Twilight, I would fall back to a quiet nod and a soft smile in their direction. Thankfully no one really paid me much mind in these interactions, as I certainly saw some ponies cast me some slightly condescending glances while Twilight wasn't looking.

The remainder of the way to the train station was essentially a repetition of those events, but more sporadic the closer we got. Finally, we arrived at the station and boarded the train, the train itself having a pastel colored locomotive and almost dessert-esque design to the caboose. Twilight and I walked through one of the cars till we found a couple of empty benches, sitting down across from one another. Almost as soon as we had taken our seats, the train's whistle blew and the noise of heavy machinery lurching into motion filled my ears, followed by the train jostling forward.

I looked out the window opposite the direction of Canterlot, seeing the track ahead cut through green fields, hills, and even a mountain or two before it would reach Ponyville. Ponyville, huh? I guess that's where my new life begins. I let out a long, drawn out sigh at the implications that filled my mind. But what kind of life will I even have? Everything I know seems basically irrelevant in this world. Not to mention any practical skills I have are essentially useless with my poor motor function. Will I even be able to adjust well? Will people like me? I could feel the moisture welling up in my eyes as I planted my face deeper into the window, just wanting to disappear and be back on Earth.

I barely had time to let out a quiet sniffle before I felt the cushion of the bench softly sink next to me, and the warmth of a leg on my back once more that day.

"Hey," Twilight spoke softly, "I can't imagine to know what it's like to be ripped from your home like that, but I want you to know you're not alone." A couple tears rolled down my eyes, my gaze still locked outside the window. "I may not have the perfect answer to help you, but I promise that once you meet them, my friends and I will not stop searching for that answer no matter what. We'll have your back while you're here with us, so please, can you trust me to be there for you?"

Having composed myself enough to turn around, I was met with large and tender eyes, an earnest desire to help and genuinely care about me crystal clear in her face. I found myself smiling once again, a couple more tears rolling down my cheeks as I nodded and reached in for a light hug, which Twilight gladly reciprocated.

"Thank you, Twilight, really." I quietly spoke amidst our embrace.

"Of course." She replied quietly, holding the hug a few seconds longer before pulling back.

The rest of the ride was filled with more idle chatter, alongside general information about Ponyville that Twilight thought would be helpful to know before getting into town. Not too long after, a slight and gradual screech of the breaks signaled our arrival at the Ponyville train station. We got off the train and exited the station, Twilight stopping just off the platform to wave an arm presenting the town.

"Charlie, welcome to Ponyville!"

Author's Note

Welp, somehow I'm not surprised that it literally took me almost two years to come back to this. I don't imagine too many people were keeping track of this story, but if you are one of those few, then I hope you enjoy this chapter! And, sorry it took so long to get it out :twilightsheepish: Seeing as how my track record for new chapters is absolutely atrocious, I apologize in advance if it takes a while for more chapters to come out. I really do want to continue this story, so I'm going to try and be at least somewhat consistent about uploading. Regardless, this note is too long already, so thank you so much for reading, and see you in the next chapter!