A Thorn finds his Rose

'Who the hell thought a giant crystal would make for a practical castle?'

This is the only thing I can think while partially covering my eyes to approach the giant castle, wondering whether it was meant to be crystal, or if a 12 year old with a bedazzle gun, had suddenly grown grand ambitions.

I reach the door to the castle, which was intricately made, while still maintaining a simple look, with a heart-shaped door knob. I beat on the door, which just barely reaches above my head, raising another concern for everyday life if I'm stuck here for the rest of eternity.

The door opens, revealing a small lizard-like creature, slightly shorter than the ponies I have encountered already. The creature also has the same color scheme as Barney the Dinosaur, which does nothing but further my belief I've been sucked into the fever dream of a small child. The creature looks up mid sip of what I can only fathom as a cup of coffee, or whatever this fairytale land's equivalent is.

Then, I'm acquainted with the door, as it's violently slammed into my forehead, knocking me back a couple steps, while favoring the middle of my head.

"Grr, what the fuck?" Is the most polite response I can think of, but given Barney had retreated back into the castle, I'm just talking to myself.

Suddenly, I hear a shrill voice call from the depths of castle, "WHAT!?" followed by frantic sounds of a galloping hor- pony. The doors swing wide open, displaying a pony slightly taller than the others, sporting purple fur, and a deeper purple mane with a pink and purple stripe. She also possesses both wings and a horn, which is certainly a new development for me.

The pony is shocked, likely surprised to see such a stunning man on her doorstep. Before I can speak, The purple pony gets over her shock, and finally says something to me.

"Who are you?"

Of all the questions, I wasn't really expecting that specific question, but whatever, as long as I don't get put in a dungeon, or put down, I'm fine with anything.

"My name's Anon, I'm a human, and if Miss Amethyst is to be believed, you're the princess I'm supposed to talk to." I answer, hoping to get the most information out there to clear some confusion. Being facetious won't get me very far.

"How did you get here? Where are you from?" The pony asks, getting slightly more frantic.

"I don't know how I got here, and I'm from America, on Earth."

"America? I'm afraid I haven't heard of it before. So, you didn't go through any portal to get to Equestria?"

"Nope, I blacked out, woke up in a field that way, next to a forest." I answer, pointing towards my point of origin.

"Come inside, you sound like you've had a long day." The pony tells me, turning to return to her castle, as I follow suit.

Granted, I have had a long day, between getting shot (which I'm not going to tell some random people) and waking up in a strange place, there's only a few other days I could say are worse than today.

As I follow the purple pony inside her castle, I steal a look around the inside, noticing the crystal walls, reaching far into the air to meet the ceiling. Opulent would probably be the best word to describe it, too vain for my taste, but then again, I've never even seen a quarter of the amount of money it must've cost to make such a behemoth. I return my gaze forward, noticing a large round-table with six, no, seven chairs around it, with one much smaller chair next to one sporting a symbol of a star. Atop the table, lie an intricate 3-d map, of what I can only guess is, "Equestria" with the middle of the map, showing the crystal castle I now stand in.

I then realized all the chairs have a symbol, butterflies, balloons, apples, diamonds, a rainbow thunderbolt, and the star I first saw. The purple pony takes a seat in the star chair, with the lizard sitting next to her in the smaller chair. Naturally, I take the chair to her left, this being the apple chair. I suppose it's fitting, as I've always liked apples.

"So, you've brought me into your lair, and sat me at your war map. You're not going to tell me there's a big quest I must go on to, "find my place in the world" is there?" I ask, with heavy air quotes. Hopefully, the people here know what sarcasm is.

The purple pony rolls her eyes, dispelling any thought my comment would offend her. "Firstly, it's not a lair, or a war map. This is the Castle of FriendshipTM, and this is the cutie map, it calls to the Elements of HarmonyAlso TM'ed when there's a friendship problem that requires our assistance. Secondly, that's way too cliche for my taste. I am the princess of friendship, Twilight Sparkle, but you may call me Twilight. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Anon."

I let out of breath I didn't realize I was holding, relieved I was finally being welcomed to this place. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you too. Now, based on your reaction to my arrival, you've seen humans before. Am I correct?"

"Yes, though not like you. Somewhere in this castle, I won't say where, is a mirror portal. Through that mirror is a world where everyone is a human, but they're all alternate versions of the people from this world. There's no place there called America, or Earth." She informs me, taking away the hope I had that there may be a way back.

"So, that's it?" I ask, "Am I just stuck here forever? There's no way back to my home?"

"Not as far as I know, but I can see what I can do. Maybe search for magical signatures where you woke up, but I can't guarantee anything. Can you show me on the cutie map where you woke up?"

"Yeah." I answer, taking a look on the map. I follow the edge of the forest, finding the point where the road leads into it, and the river flows out of it. "Right there, in between the dirt path and the river. Would you like me to come with you?"

"No, you've been through enough. If anything, what you really need is to rest, I'm sure you're exhausted."

She was right, my little dirt nap after being brought here had done nothing for me, and I would say getting shot and transported to another planet tends to wear you out.

"You're right, I could use some rest."

"Alright. Spike, can you get him situated here, while I go check this out?" She says, addressing the small lizard, usefully telling me his name.

"No problem Twilight, just be careful, you know how these magical mishaps usually turn out."

"I will, thanks Spike. Rest up Anon, I can tell you how it went tomorrow." Twilight says, making her way to the door, while magicking a saddle bag onto her back.

"Alright, and thanks for letting me stay here, and going to check this out. I really hope you can find a way home for me, but if you can't, I understand."

"Don't worry Anon, I wouldn't be much of a princess if I didn't take care of all creatures that come knocking on my door." She finishes, leaving the castle, I turn to Spike.

"So, Spike's the name, right? Will you show me the way?"

"Yep, just follow me." He answers, marching out of the room, and down a hall towards a large staircase. I follow him upstairs, then past a few doors to one specific room. Spike opens the door, revealing a guest room, equipped with a large king size bed, large vanity, dresser, nightstand, desk with chair, a small French door, likely holding a closet, and a door at the back of the room on the other side of the bed.

"Here we are, everything in here is now yours to use as you see fit, within reason. Oh, and the door back there is the guest bath, have a good night." Spike tells me, turning and leaving the room, gently closing the door behind him.

'Well, I could definitely use a shower.'

~~~Later that night~~~

I lay in bed, fairly comfortable, but unable to rest. I just can't take my mind off of the madness that has befallen me. It was just a normal day, and then some robbers decided to steal from the store I was at. A store I only went to, because my usual store was closed. Was this just chance? A cruel twist life had decided to toss in? Was this really fate, or was this someone's doing? A plot against me, to bring me to this land? Was this fate? Was this organized? I don't know.

Eventually, I'm able to reluctantly slip into sleep. I don't dream, but I see... something. What is it? It's... eyes. Deep, bright red eyes. Piercing, full of malice and evil. Pure and unadulterated hate. Eyes the likes of which I had only seen in one other person in my entire life, but these belonged to someone with intention, ambition, and power.

Whoever's eyes they were, they shook me to my core.