Love in Bridlewood

Chapters

Arrival in Equestria
Meeting Izzy
Getting to Know One Another
Izzy: My Soulmate
Prelude: Winning the Trip to Equestria

Arrival in Equestria

After stepping into the mirror, I found myself flying through a portal of swirling colors. I figured that something like that would happen but when I came out the other end, it was dark. I thought for sure that Twilight would be there waiting for whoever it was that won the trip. I was a bit disappointed at first and then I began calling out, "Twilight, are you here?"

I heard nothing but silence. I was a bit concerned about this but I did know one thing, I had to find my way out of her chambers and downstairs. It took me a while but I finally found some railing and the stairs. As I headed down, I saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but what sounded like hoofsteps. That kind of concerned me because my footsteps should not have been that loud. Along with myself my balance didn't seem quite right. Luckily I was able to get down the stairs. Once I got downstairs, still nothing but silence and all I saw was a tiny speck of dim light. I figured that must be the exit so I headed that way and opened the door.

When I got outside, I could tell it was before dawn because there was a bit of light off to the east, or at least what I assumed was east. Once it began to get lighter I noticed that there was nothing but Twilight's castle around, absolutely nothing. Once I headed out into what was an empty field, I turned back and took a look at Twilight's castle. Things weren't right though, it looked more like a ruin than anything else. I then became concerned, did I arrive in an Equestria where ponies had vanished and who knows what rules there, if anything at all.

One thing I did do before leaving where Ponyville was go and look in a pond to see my reflection. I was shocked by what I saw. No longer was I a human, I had been transformed into a unicorn. I was white in color with a short dark brown mane and tail. Now I did still have hands but I no longer had feet, I had hooves. This was something that I didn't expect but if this truly is an anthro version of Equestria, it would work to my advantage. Luckily I did have clothes on because running across ponies in nothing but my coat would be horribly embarrassing.

I wasn't sure where to go so after discovering my new form, I decided to head south and see if any of the other communities from Equestria as I knew them still existed. One thing I did notice is that there were no longer any train tracks and that was not a good sign. I thought that either ponies had reverted to simply walking everywhere or they had vanished and Equestria had no sapient beings living there at all.

It took me three days to finally reach the desert and where I at least thought Appaloosa was. Unfortunately, there was nothing there. There were no ponies, no buffalo, no apple orchards or anything. All I was greeted by were dust storms and heat. I was getting frustrated but I then decided to travel west, out towards Las Pegasus, or at least where it should be anyway. I thought that maybe things had happened and everypony had moved to the big cities. Besides, in Las Pegasus I could probably get some information as to what happened to Ponyville, well that and what happened to Twilight and her friends because I wanted to meet Starlight so badly.

It was four days after I turned west that the desert ended and suddenly I was in what seemed to be lush grasslands. It wasn't like the savannas of Africa, the grass was green more like one would see in someone's yard. A day after that I found myself approaching a forest. I was thinking to myself that this can not be! This area is supposed to be desert, not lush grasslands and then a forest.

This forest was strange, very strange. When I got to the edge of it, there were various signs there. One of them read "go away." There was one sign that had what appeared to be an earth pony inside a no sign and then anti-wing signs as well. I was thinking to myself, "What the hell is all this about?" Well given that I was a unicorn, I thought that perhaps it would be safe since it didn't say anything bad about unicorns. I was not about to let my guard down, the inhabitants might be hostile towards anypony.

Meeting Izzy

After analyzing the weird signs at the edge of the forest and deciding that it should be safe to enter, I headed in. The forest seemed dark, very dark and dense. It reminded me of a cross between a forest in one of my fan fictions and Fanghorn Forest from Lord of the Rings. If it was anything like that forest, the most I would run across would be unicorns who were distrustful of outsiders.

As I headed further in though, the forest became less dense and dark, nothing like the one in my fan fiction or Fanghorn. Soon though I noticed that the trees were getting bigger around, much bigger around. Also, there began to be crystals and once it got light enough, there were bushes with pink flowers. Ok, now it was nothing like the forest in my fan fiction, it got darker the further one headed in.

Soon I saw what appeared to be a pony off in the distance, an anthro like me. Taking a closer look I noticed that said pony had a horn so I knew at that moment that unicorns must inhabit this forest. I saw the unicorn rushing towards me and before I knew it, I found myself in a tight embrace and heard a high pitched voice, "Hi new friend!"

It took me a moment to get out of her embrace before I replied, "Uh hi new friend."

"Oooh!" she exclaimed, "We're friends already!"

The mare before me was absolutely beautiful! She was lilac in color, she had a uniquely styled cerulean mane and absolutely captivating magenta eyes. Another thing about her, I could feel a special energy coming from her. She had an absolutely beautiful smile on her face. I don't know what it was about her but she seemed to be captivating me and I didn't even know the mare!

She then continued, "Oh, I should have introduced myself. I'm Izzy Moonbow, your new friend!"

"Hi Izzy." I replied. I wanted to tell her my name but I wasn't even sure what name I would have as a pony. I didn't know if I'd still have my human name or if I would have a pony name. Good thing, I had a wallet in my pocket so I pulled it out and checked it. My name was Stormchaser. Kind of an odd name for a person who worked in a bank back home but I did take up storm chasing as a hobby for when I was on vacation.

I put my wallet back in my pocket and replied, "My name is Stormchaser."

She gave me a curious look and asked, "Uh, why did you have look in your wallet to tell me your name?"

I replied, "It's a long story that I can go over with you later."

"Alright, whenever you want to tell me!" she replied. She gave me a smile and grabbed my hand before turning the other way and continuing, "Wellll, since we're friends now, how about I show you around!"

I replied, "That sounds good."

She began to skip along and I had to do the same just to keep up with the highly energetic unicorn. The moment she grabbed my hand, I felt a shiver go up my spine. What in the world was going on here? How is it that her merely grabbing my hand sent shivers up and down my spine? Certainly I couldn't already be falling for her could I? Of course not, we just introduced ourselves, became friends simply by saying it and she grabbed my hand.

Once we got into what was obviously her hometown, I noticed something strange. The trees were quite large but it seemed as though the unicorns had hollowed them out and made homes in them. This reminded me a lot of how it was when Twilight lived in the Golden Oaks Library and similarly, Fluttershy's cottage. I noticed another thing though, everypony else seemed so different than Izzy. While she was so happy, everypony else was depressed, horribly depressed. I was curious about this and I was going to find out.

"Izzy," I questioned "why is everypony here so depressed? They seem so different than you."

Izzy's mood changed somewhat, "Ever since we lost our magic everypony feels hopeless, like things will never get better."

I asked, "But what about you Izzy? Why aren't you depressed because of the lack of magic?"

Izzy became more cheerful again, "Because there's more to life than just magic silly! We only live once so we should enjoy it y'know?"

Her cheerful and optimistic personality was something I was very quickly growing fond of. In my life back home I was surrounded by people who were negative most of the time but even being around Izzy was making me feel happier. I replied, "That is true Izzy, very true."

"Of course it is!" Izzy exclaimed, "What fun would life be if we were depressed all the time?" She still had a hold of my hand and continued to pull me along, "Hey, how about I show you my house?"

I gave her a smile, "Alright, sounds like a plan."

Izzy tightened her grip on my hand and began to skip again, pulling me along with her. Once we got to her house she led me in and it was quite interesting. I learned that one of her hobbies was crafting and she had made a lot of things, things that she obviously put a lot of TLC into. She asked, "So what do you think? Pretty nice?"

I replied, "I think it looks great and you obviously put a lot of time and effort into it."

She gave me a smile, "Now hold out your arm."

I wasn't sure why she wanted me to do that but once I did, she put a bracelet on me, one that matched hers perfectly. She asked, "You know what this means don't you?"

I replied, "No, I don't."

She exclaimed, "It means we're besties and you know what besties do don't you?" I shook my head no so she grabbed my hand and added, "We sit down on my loveseat and get to know one another!"

Once again she grabbed my hand, causing more shivers to go up and down my spine. I don't know what it was about her but the longer I was around her, the more I was hoping that maybe something special would develop between us. I also wondered if she didn't know this and was doing things to see how I would react. I couldn't be sure but I did know one thing, I was enjoying it quite a bit.

Once we got sat down on her loveseat we were sitting close together, very close. She gave me a beautiful smile and gazed at me with those magenta eyes. I began to feel a bit light headed, was her having us sit like this her way of sending me a clear message that she saw me as more than just a friend? I certainly hoped so but I wasn't about to count my chickens before they hatched.

Getting to Know One Another

Once Izzy had gave me a friendship bracelet, considered us besties and then had me join her on her loveseat so we could get to know one another, I was feeling a bit light headed but in a good way. Izzy, on the same day we met, was already considering me her bestie. I couldn't help but wonder how such a beautiful mare, one with such a positive personality, could already think of me in that way. I knew for sure that I was definitely growing fond of her. Was she perhaps growing fond of me too?

Once we got sat down, we were pressed close together but I wasn't about to complain about that, especially once Izzy put her arm around me to provide herself with more room. When she did that, I got a case of the shivers which was something that she noticed. "What's wrong Stormchaser? Why'd you get a case of the shivers?" Izzy asked.

I had a slight blush on my face, "Well it is just that nopony has ever put their arm around me like that before" my blush deepened as I continued, "and it feels good."

Izzy gave me a smile, "Well besties are close like that." She paused momentarily before asking, "How about you tell me a bit about yourself."

I wasn't sure exactly how to go about this. I had a feeling that if I was to tell Izzy my full story that she'd think I was nuts because what pony is actually going to believe a story like mine? Yes Izzy reminded me of the type that would be more likely to believe something that others may view as outlandish but still, mine is something that nopony would ever expect.

I asked, "Izzy, I'm going to share something about myself but do you promise you won't laugh because it is something that nopony would ever expect." Izzy nodded, "Well I'm not originally from Equestria, I originally came from the world of humans. I won a contest to come to Equestria......"

Izzy became excited, "Really, you won a trip here?" She then gave me a tight embrace before continuing, "You aren't the first one I've met! There was this one mare a while back who came here." She then became a bit sad, "She was really nice and I gave her a friendship bracelet but then she said she was going back to her world."

I felt a bit bad for Izzy because it was obvious that she befriended ponies rather quickly and I could tell that friend departing saddened her. With the way my life was on earth, I had no plans on going back and I was going to let her know that.

"Izzy, I'm sorry your friend did that but I have no such plans. If I can, I'd love to be able to move here to Bridlewood since I'm a unicorn and well" I blushed again, "because we are besties."

Those beautiful magenta eyes of hers grew wide and her smile grew huge, "Really, you want to move to Bridlewood" she then put a lot of emphasis on "because of me?"

I replied, "Well yeah, you are really nice....."

She again embraced me and exclaimed, "Wow, you're staying for me! I'm soooo happy!"

I tightened the embrace before continuing, "Now to tell you more about me." She grabbed my hand which caused me to blush again before continuing, "Well in my world I grew up in a decent house. My family did care for one another but it wasn't that long ago that I lost my mom. My dad and I do get along but he is much closer with my sister."

Izzy gave me a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry about you losing your mom, that had to be hard."

"It was Izzy, it was. The day I had to bury her was the hardest day of my life. Luckily I did have friends there to help me get through it. Enough of this negative talk though, now more about me so you'll know me better."

"So, what did you do for a living?" she asked.

I replied, "Well I worked as a personal banker so I was never hurting for money and I always took my vacation in the spring because I would go storm chasing during tornado season."

Izzy asked, "What is storm chasing?"

I replied, "I along with a few other people would have scientific equipment with us and we'd try to get devices in place to where they'd get sucked up into tornadoes and provide us with all sorts of data so we'd know more about the severe weather threats."

She asked, "I have a question, what are tornadoes?"

I replied, "A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud. Sometimes the winds are so strong that they'll destroy people's homes and lead to fatalities."

Izzy looked a bit shocked over my statement, "Wow, just wow! You must be realllly brave!"

I replied, "I am. Between working at a bank and the storm chasing I was kept occupied but I always thought life could be better. That is why when I went to that pony convention and I bought so many raffle tickets when I learned the grand prize was a trip to Equestria. I figured that maybe I could start fresh here in Equestria and now I have that chance, hopefully in Bridlewood."

She again embraced me and exclaimed, "Well I'm sure you can! I will tooootally help you start over!"

I gave her a smile, "Bridlewood doesn't happen to have any banks does it?" She nodded as I continued, "Given that I worked in a bank back in my world, I'm kind of hoping I could work at one here assuming there is one."

She gave me a big smile, "Of course there's a bank here silly and I'm betting you could get a job there with no problems."

This did make me happy naturally but there was one problem, where would I live. I didn't know if Bridlewood even had apartments and I would need somewhere to live given I had decided to not go back to my world and live among the unicorns. I asked, "That's great Izzy but where am I going to live?"

Izzy gave me another embrace, "Well you can live with me! We are besties after all."

I wasn't sure exactly how big her place was but at least from what I remember, the tree she lived in was good sized but I wasn't sure if it was large enough for her to have a guest room. I asked, "So do you have a guest room or will I be sleeping on the floor or what?"

Izzy gave me what looked like a seductive smile, "Oh don't worry about that, my bed is big enough for both of us!"

I wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation. I was happy that she wasn't going to make me sleep on the floor but still, we had just met earlier that day. Certainly she wasn't being serious about us sharing the same bed, was she? This was something I needed to find out, "Izzy, certainly you're not being serious here. The two of us just met today and while I've shared my past with you, I don't know anything about you."

Izzy gave me a smile, "I truly mean it when I say that but if you want me to share my past with you, I will."

I replied, "I would love to hear about your past, after all besties share everything, right?"

Izzy nodded and began, "Well my early foalhood was ok but when I was probably three, my parents started going out of town on these long trips. They would always leave me with Alphabittle, a family friend." She became more glum as she continued, "I remember one time hearing them talking about going to some forest off to the south and that if they didn't return, they asked him if he'd raise me and he said he would."

She had tears running down her face at this point so I embraced her and asked, "And I take it they never returned?"

She began to cry loudly, "They didn't. I always wondered why they would run off like that! A filly should always have her parents there for her, always! Why did they have to do that, why? Why weren't they there for me?"

I tightened my embrace and replied, "I really wish I knew Izzy. I'm sorry they did that to you and it must take a lot for you to have a sparkle shining so bright all the time despite what they did to you."

This caused Izzy to give me a look of shock. She asked, "Really, you say sparkle too?"

I replied, "Well most of the time your luminescence is shining so bright. I wasn't fully aware of what I was truly seeing until you brought up your parents and it went so dim and I can understand why."

Izzy suddenly became excited, "Wow, just wow! We both toootally have the same abilities and you're originally a human! I can't believe it, this is sooooo amazing!"

I gave her a smile, "It is pretty cool, isn't it?"

Izzy let out a yawn, "It is but I'm getting tired."

I too let out a yawn, "As am I. I could really use some shut eye."

Izzy suggested, "How about we get some sleep." She grabbed my hand and began to lead me towards her bedroom. She saw the uncertain look on my face and giggled, "C'mon Stormchaser, just because we're sharing the same bed doesn't mean we're gonna do anything friends shouldn't! You're just like the mare I let stay with me!"

I replied, "Alright, I know nothing is going to happen."

She then turned off the light and the two of us crawled into bed. Her bed was indeed big enough for the two of us to lay there and have plenty of room. I never once imagined that this is how I would finish my day when I came into Bridlewood. I never once imagined that the happy-go-lucky unicorn I met when I first came into town was not only willing to let me live with her but also probably help me get a job. I did know one thing though, no way was I ever going to return to my world. I was staying in Bridlewood and with Izzy being my bestie, I knew things would be just fine.

Right before we fell asleep I said, "Good night Izzy, sleep tight."

She replied, "Goodnight Stormchaser, sweet dreams."

Whenever my parents would say "sweet dreams" to me when I was growing up, it irked me. Even at an early age I knew we didn't control our dreams and that made it sound like you could control them. Here in Equestria, next to Izzy, it seemed so different and I wondered why. I thought to myself, "Is it because I've fallen for Izzy? Is it because she has captured my heart." Then immediately before I fell asleep I mouthed, "She has, in this short amount of time, I've fallen in love with her."

Izzy: My Soulmate

I was woken up by the morning sun and things didn't seem right. When Izzy and I turned in for the night, we were both fully clothed and were laying with our backs facing one another but upon waking, I noticed that not only were our bodies locked in a tight embrace with her head under mine but that we were completely nude. I was initially in a complete state of confusion until I began to wonder, "Did we engage in intimate acts and it was such a mind blowing experience I don't remember it?"

My suspicions grew more as I focused on the lovely mare slumbering next to me. She had a smile on her face and her sparkle was shining bright, despite her being asleep. After a few minutes, she finally opened those lovely magenta eyes and gave me the most beautiful smile. "Last night was amazing you know that Stormchaser, your sparkle was shining so bright and it felt soooo good!"

The moment she said that it all came back to me. I remembered her turning the light on, us undressing, us kissing passionately, us doing all sorts of things together and us professing our love to one another. Once that all came back to me, I replied, "You were perfect last night Izzy. It did feel wonderful but what felt even better was the bond we formed. It was like we became one."

"I know, right!" she responded, "It was like what happened in the stories of old when ponies would life bond."

It did remind me a lot of what happened in the oldest pony stories from my world, where the ponies would indeed life bond and when I was gazing into her eyes, I didn't see a mere bestie, I saw my soulmate and I was going to let her know that, "You know Izzy, yesterday when I looked into your eyes I saw my best friend but this morning I see something so much more, I see my soulmate and I know we said it last night but I have to say it again. I love you Izzy, I love you with all my heart!"

"I love you too Stormchaser!" Izzy exclaimed, "I'm so happy you came to Bridlewood and met me!"

One thing I didn't remember though from last night was asking Izzy the most important question one should ask before they have sex, or engage in any kind of physical form of affection. I looked deep into her eyes and asked, "Izzy Moonbow, it took less than 24 hours for me to fall for you. You are so kind, sweet, positive and energetic. You are everything I've wanted in a mare and I'm wondering, would you be my marefriend?"

The moment I asked her that question, her sparkle seemed to brighten ten fold. I could see the happiness in her eyes before she exclaimed, "Yes Stormchaser yes! Yes I'll be your marefriend! Oh I love you so much!"

"I love you too Izzy!" Both our stomachs grumbled loudly and I suggested, "You know, as much as I'd just love to lay here and cuddle with my beautiful marefriend, I think we should have some breakfast."

Izzy got up and pulled me out of the bed. She exclaimed, "C'mon, let's have some breakfast and after that, have a looong cuddle session!"

I gave her a loving smile, "I like the idea of that Izzy, I really like it!"

Now I wasn't sure exactly what the ponies in Bridlewood ate given that I hadn't ate anything since I first arrived in Equestria. What I was hoping for though was that since I had transformed into a unicorn, that my taste in food would be that of a unicorn because it would truly suck if I still had a human appetite and wanted things that unicorns would likely never eat, or even heard of for that matter.

The good thing was that they did eat eggs but along with those, they ate apples and plums. As a human, I hated both but as a pony they were actually pretty good and besides, there was no way I could hurt my soulmate's feelings by not liking it! After we ate our breakfast, she grabbed me by the hand and led me back to what was presumably our bedroom. As we laid down, we basked in the sparkle of one another, giving the other a loving smile.

As we moved in for a kiss I said, "I love you Izzy Moonbow, my beautiful soulmate."

She gave me a smile, "I love you too my sweet Stormchaser, I know our life together will be soooo wonderful!"

We then began to kiss passionately and our bodies melted into the other's. As we were kissing, I felt a sense of pure bliss. Back when I won the trip to Equestria, I fully expected to wind up in Ponyville and meet Starlight Glimmer. In the end however, I wound up with somepony much sweeter. I wound up with a sweet, positive absolutely beautiful mare. I wound up with my soulmate, Izzy Moonbow and a truly wonderful future in Bridlewood.

Prelude: Winning the Trip to Equestria

It was something that I never expected. I went to a pony convention with a fair amount of money. I had planned to purchase multiple plushies, especially ones of Starlight, Trixie and Twilight since they are my favorites. When I got there I noticed that there was a raffle for an actual trip to Equestria. Naturally I thought it was a bunch of bullshit but then later on I discovered it was legit. I discovered that one could actually go to Equestria because people had won it in the past and the ones that decided to return said it was fantastic. There was one thing about it though, it takes you to an anthro version of Equestria so you'll fit in better.

I decided to limit myself to just one plushie so I could wind up buying several hundred of the raffle tickets. I wanted so badly to go to Equestria and meet Twilight and the gang, Starlight Glimmer in particular since she was my waifu and had been since season five. Yeah I spent way more than I should have but if I was to win a trip to Equestria, I'd go. Chances are though that if it truly was as great as those who returned from there claimed, I likely wouldn't return.

Well in the end I wound up buying even more raffle tickets, leaving just enough money that I could afford lodging and food. The rest of the money was spent on raffle tickets. When Sunday arrived and the convention was winding down, they brought out this mirror and announced that the time had come to announce the winner of the raffle. I was nervous, very nervous. I had spent a very large sum of money on this and if I didn't win, I would feel like I wasted a ton of money on this.

Well when they announced the winner, one of my numbers was called! When that happened I began hooping, hollering and pumping my fist towards the ceiling. Everyone around me was jealous as hell but who wouldn't be jealous of someone who had just won a trip to where we all wanted to go. Outside of getting to go to the land I had wanted to go to for so long I was also happy that buying all those raffle tickets paid off. Life truly was sweet at that moment.

Once it fully sank in that I had won the trip to Equestria, I headed up to the stage and smiled for the cameras as they activated the mirror. They told me that I would be coming out of the mirror from Equestria Girls in Twilight's chambers. I just hoped that I wouldn't arrive there at night and scare her. Chances are though she knew that someone would be coming through the mirror. After one final smile and a fist pump, I stepped into the mirror realizing that I was mere minutes away from meeting the mare I loved the most, Starlight Glimmer.