A True Person

Gravity. It was this force that the man felt with every part of his body. His body was subjected to an unrelenting pressure, as if every cell in his body was being squeezed. Blood flowed from his nose, eyes, and ears, and his bones began to crack under this incredible strain.

But to his luck, all this agony did not last long. Suddenly another gravitational force grabbed him and pulled him to the other side. He flew several meters through the air before he slammed into some trees and lost consciousness. Darkness engulfed his mind.

This was how the mysterious world welcomed its new inhabitant.

The man slowly opened his eyes, feeling consciousness return to him. The brief loss of consciousness left behind a sensation of aching pain that pierced his body. The sun was still shining all around him. It seemed like not much time had passed, which was no surprise. Only characters in movies or books faint for hours. In reality, you can lose consciousness for a couple of minutes at most, or forever. Of course, there are exceptions, when fainting lasts up to half an hour, but let's not talk about that.

The man tried to concentrate to analyze the state of his body. No fractures showed up, but the cuts on his skin spoke of a hard collision with a tree. The headache was an unpleasant reminder of what he had just experienced. Flicking a finger near his ear, the man found to his relief that his eardrums had somehow survived this interdimensional jaunt. There were some extraneous noises and the sound came through a layer of absorbent cotton, but that was something he could work with.

Feeling a throbbing in his temples, the man decided to check his memories for possible amnesia. The check began with a name.

"Alexei. My name is Alexei," the man mumbled. "What about the rest of it?"

He remembered his age, his past life, and the reason he had decided to go to this new world in the first place. Everything was in place, his memory had not failed him. Brushing the blood off his face with his hand, he looked up and began to look around.

He was in a small clearing surrounded by a dense forest. The trees rose to the sky like guardians of this mysterious place. Their branches intertwined, creating a green roof that let in only rare rays of sunlight. The air was permeated with the smell of damp earth and wild vegetation.

Alexei turned his attention to the plants that surrounded him. They were completely unlike anything he had seen before. Strange flowers with bright petals grew here, as if they were painted with magical colors. Lianas wove around the trunks of the trees, like living creatures striving for freedom. The leaves had unusual shapes and shades, ranging from bright green to deep purple.

He stood up, hissing in pain, and began to walk cautiously through the clearing, studying each unusual flower and plant. Standing out among the flowers were strange plants that resembled tongues of fire or stars. Some of them emitted a faint light, as if they were some kind of natural lamps. But what attracted the most attention were the distinctly special plants that surrounded the clearing. Their stems and leaves glowed with bright colors: blue, purple, pink, and even gold. They emitted a gentle glow, as if they lit up glowing dots in this mysterious forest.

Alexei tried not to get too close to them, fearing their unusual nature.

He clearly realized that he had entered a world where nature had distinctly different laws, and peculiar wonders. He felt that an uncharted territory, full of dangers and possibilities, spread out before him. His heart raced with anticipation - he was ready to take on the challenges of this new world.

Canterlot, a city of white stone, towered over all of Equestria as its majestic capital. The architecture of the place, remotely reminiscent of Earth's mixture of baroque and classicism, created a special appeal. But the real natural beauty of Canterlot was given by its many waterfalls and rivers flowing through its streets. This harmony between nature and sentient beings brought to mind the forest elves.

Above the entire city stood a grandiose structure, the heart of this city - the Royal Palace. On the top floor of the palace, in a spacious office decorated with gold, there were sounds of quill creaking and parchment rustling.

Who is this unfortunate soul buried in paperwork?

Her name is Celestia, but that's only to her friends. In the eyes of everyone else, she is Princess Celestia, the Ruler of the Sun, the Sovereign of Day and Night, the permanent ruler of Equestria, and one of the most powerful beings in the world.

No, she is not a wood elf, as one might think because of the name and the harmony with nature that reigned in the city. Celestia is a pony, just like most of the inhabitants of Equestria.

Among her subjects, Celestia stood out for her appearance: a tall white pony with a long horn and huge wings. Her mane and tail glistened with the colors of the northern lights, which, as if by magic, fluttered even without a touch of wind. As an alicorn, a special kind of pony, she combined all the advantages of the other three races: strength, stamina, speed, magical power, and longevity.

It was this powerful pony that was currently bogged down in a swamp of bureaucracy. But a sudden knock on the door interrupted her agony. Celestia ordered entry, and a slender unicorn with a thick blue mane and shiny snow-white fur entered the office. His eyes sparkled with wisdom and his horn emitted a powerful magical energy.

"Good afternoon, Arcane," Celestia greeted. "I have been waiting for your report. There is no time for formalities. Tell me what you managed to find out."

Arcane bowed quickly, opened his notebook and began to report: "Your Majesty, as you know, there was a powerful spatial anomaly in the Everfree Forest this morning. The energy fluctuations spread to dozens and even hundreds of kilometers around. Fortunately, the epicenter was deep within Everfree, so only a slight ripple reached us. Several villages near Everfree reported interference with magical equipment, a few ponies went to the hospital complaining of headaches, but that's about it. As far as we know - there are no casualties among the citizens of Equestria."

"That's good news," Celestia smiled.

"Indeed, Your Majesty," Arcane continued. "Previously, we had assumed the emergence of a stream of beasts scared by the energy fluctuations, and sent suppression squads to the settlements adjacent to the forest. However, that did not happen. Pegasus scouts report no unusual activity among the fauna of the Everfree Forest at this time."

"It's Everfree. It's another completely normal day for the local wildlife," Celestia sighed, obvious relief audible in her voice. "Nevertheless, caution is never unnecessary. Move on to the part related to your specialty."

"As you command," Arcane nodded. "We've done some preliminary research and found that there were two sources of the anomaly. Of course, we'll need additional time to analyze the waves in more detail, but..."

"Two?" clarified Celestia, interrupting the unicorn's report.

"That is correct, Your Majesty," Arcane continued calmly. "There were two surges at the same time, but in two different locations. Because of their similar nature, and the Everfree's distortions, we originally thought of only one source. However, they are different. The first, and most powerful, source is almost entirely spatial in nature, with a small amount of mental energy. The second source carried faint spatial fluctuations, but an extremely powerful burst of mental energy."

Celestia listened intently, her gaze frowning slightly.

"My department has already done a partial analysis of this energy, but found no known correspondences. We can only theorize," Arcane said, telekinesis pulling several sheets of diagrams and a bunch of numbers out of his notebook. "Please take a look."

"And which theory do you think is most likely?" asked Celestia, scrutinizing the data.

"We believe the energy belongs to a pony with abilities in the field of Dream Magic. It would have to be either an extremely powerful unicorn or...," Arcane swallowed, but immediately continued. "Or, more likely, an alicorn."

Celestia looked up and gazed intently at the unicorn standing before her.

"Were you able to establish coordinates?" Celestia asked calmly, seeming to completely ignore the alicorn part of the report.

"We're still working on it, but... It's safe to say by now that it's impossible," followed the unicorn's annoyed reply. "Due to Everfree's distortions, all the waves have different wavelengths and frequencies. Even if we collect data from all the instruments around the entire Everfree - we can't determine the coordinates of the source of the radiation. The only option is to scour the Everfree forest and hope for luck."

"I understand," Celestia replied in an even voice. "Thank you for your work, Arcane."

"I was merely performing my duties, Your Majesty," the white unicorn replied with a bow, waiting for further words from his princess. His silver voice sounded soft and admiring, as if worship was his natural state.

There were no words. Celestia rose from her seat and made her way to the window, looking out into the distance. Her face, swathed in an ephemeral mane of colorful curls, expressed nothing.

Alicorns live a long, long time. The princess's eyes reflected infinite wisdom and experience accumulated over millennia. In that time, she had long ago learned to control her emotions. Then lost them. Then regained them again, recreating them on her own as masks for any situation.

After a few moments of thought, the princess turned back to the unicorn patiently awaiting instructions.

"All information relating to the anomaly must be classified. Mental energy samples to be destroyed. All personnel involved must take an extended vow of silence. The official version is that there was an explosion of a crystal mine, which mixed with Everfree's magic to produce this effect," Celestia gave out clear orders. "You may leave."

"As you command, Your Majesty," the unicorn replied, bowed his head in respect, and left the room.

Celestia remained in silent contemplation for a while, immersed in her thoughts.

"The fourth and final star has finally arrived," she finally muttered. "Your foresight is commendable, sister, but it is not yet time for us to meet."

"Now I'll have to visit the cause of my incessant headache," Celestia thought glumly.

Celestia slowly descended the stone steps leading down into the depths of the dungeon. Everything around her was covered in intricate runes radiating magical energy. The light from her horn reflected off the walls, creating a disturbing shadow play.

Finally, she reached the center hall, where there was a statue made up of different animal parts. A pony, a deer, a goat, a lion, an eagle, a bat, a lizard, and a snake. All in all, the list was solid, befitting the authority and stature of the creature this statue was made from.

Celestia did not seem to be a connoisseur of fine art - the entire statue was sheathed in two tarnished chains created from an unknown metal. There were no runes on the chains, there was no need for them, and they looked extremely plain, even a little ragged. The chains reeked of antiquity. Not the kind of antiquity you'd see in any museum, but a different kind of antiquity, an antiquity filled with blood, death, and wild, untamed magic.

Celestia stepped closer and looked at the statue with undisguised irritation.

"What have you done, Discord?" she spat out angrily, addressing the statue.

Usually statues aren't very talkative, but this one was definitely special - the answer followed immediately.

"What are you talking about, Celly? I haven't done anything. I'm as motionless as a statue," came from the statue sarcastically.

The statue's voice sounded chaotic, consisting of different tones and ages.It was gentle and rough at the same time; then fast, then slow; then quiet, then loud, creating a strangely annoying effect. It could really give even an alicorn a headache. The voice belonged to Discord, the draconequus, local spirit of Chaos and Lord of Madness.

Why is he in this fully shielded dungeon, covered in all sorts of protective runes and restrictions? Where else would he be? If some madman left a sealed creature with semi-divine powers in, say, the Royal Garden - Discord would have to bow down and hand over his crown and title to him. Even he wasn't that crazy.

"You know exactly what we're talking about!" Celestia exclaimed.

"Three times these fanatics have found the vessels of energy left behind by my sister and tried to break the seal on Nightmare Moon. And each time, we've found your trace!"

"Today was the fourth. What will we find this time? A mystery indeed," Celestia said wryly.

"Someone found one of my discarded toys, like a book or something, and you're already raising a howl accusing me of all sins," the Chaos spirit snorted.

"You're such an annoying old nag, Tia. If it weren't for your, I must say truly royal, butt and free popcorn - I'd have had enough and left a long time ago."

"Just give up already, Discord. That was the fourth and final vessel and the seal is still intact" Celestia replied, regaining her composure. This was far from her first, nor would it be her last, conversation with this annoying creature.

"You're not going to make it. There will be no chaos, everything will go on as it should. You won't be able to use this opportunity to break out of here. You'll stay here until the end of time."

"I can't break out? I wasn't going to!" laughed Discord wildly.

“Who knows, Celly? I think one day you'll come to me and voluntarily open this cage. We'll have tea together, and talk about the magic of friendship, and hugging and all that."

Somehow Celestia felt that this utterly delusional statement sounded prophetic. A chill ran down her back. Waving away the strange feeling, she exhaled a cloud of vapor, turned around, and headed for the exit of the dungeon. She could clearly sense that she wasn't going to hear anything useful from Discord today.

The insane laughter of the restrained Chaos spirit echoed throughout the dungeon and hit her in the back. Shivering slightly she continued on her way.

"Magic of friendship," Celestia snorted mentally. "What nonsense."

Alexei had been continuing his way through the dense forest for several hours now. Earlier, having climbed a tall tree, he surveyed the surrounding forest. Tall was a rather mild term for this giant. The man, after roughly estimating the height, agreed on a figure of 80-90 meters. And it was far from being the tallest tree in this forest!

There was a carpet of green all around him, but to one side the trees were gradually thinning and some open space was vaguely visible. Despite the fact that he had climbed to a great height and should have been able to see for many dozens of kilometers ahead - the light fog that hovered above the trees limited his vision. He decided to move in that direction, expecting to leave the potentially dangerous forest before dark.

As he moved, the forest did indeed begin to thin, confirming that he had not lost his way. Listening to the surrounding sounds and trying not to make too much noise, Alexei thought over his future plans.

Shelter, food and water. These are the three basic things that any human in the wilderness had to think about. Shelter and food were not so relevant at the moment. The weather was hot, but he was saved from overheating by the green canopy over his head.

One of the streams he came across shared water with him a couple of hours ago. The water was crystal clear, and the crayfish and small fish swimming in it convinced the man that it was safe. Too bad he didn't have any bottle to take some with him.

In fact, there was a fourth problem: wild animals. What kind of monsters could be found in a forest from another universe? So far, the strangest thing he had seen was a two-headed snake and some kind of animal that looked vaguely like a squirrel with huge ears.

But now he decided to take a little breather and take a break from the strenuous journey. In his hand was a fruit plucked from a branch nearby, its pleasant sweet smell filling the air. Outwardly, the fruit strongly resembled persimmons, which the man couldn't stand, but there was some hope for food from another world.

He cut it open and dripped some of the juice onto the skin on the inside of his forearm, waiting for a reaction. This was a way to check for poison and a possible allergic reaction. Once, he had watched some show about a naked bald man surviving in the wilderness. Now that information has been put to good use. Thank you, bald man!

While he waited for the body to respond, he took another look at his gear. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and brown sneakers. A wooden bracelet, received as a gift from one of the drivers, was placed on his left arm. A leather belt adorned his waist, on it hung a folding knife, his most valuable asset in this situation. In his pockets he had his keys, a bank card, a couple bills and a few coins - everything he'd had on him when he'd crossed through the portal.

But there were some new items as well: a crude wooden spear and two hares tied by their legs with vines to a stick. The hares, by the way, were quite ordinary, no different from those on Earth. Everything was more or less clear with the spear - the knife easily solved this trivial problem. Where did the hares come from? Well, it's a funny story.

Initially scrutinizing the clearing where he was thrown out of the portal - he found a lot of bodies scattered on the ground.

Insects. Birds. Rodents. Hares. They weren't dead. Even now he could feel the heartbeat of the hares.

All the creatures were as if they were in a coma or deep sleep from which there was no way to awaken. He tried yelling in the hare's ear, braking it, slapping it, and even making it bleed - there was no response. Now he had two small live hares that he could eat or even, at the very least, drink their blood. There were even more questions.

He wondered about possible reasons for this strange phenomenon. Perhaps the portal he had crossed through had some effect on the local wildlife. Or, more disturbingly, he himself had brought with him some virus from his world that was causing this daze.

"I could cause the extinction of an entire planet," Alexei thought to himself. "That would be a little embarrassing."

Still, he was leaning toward the portal version - only the creatures in a radius of about thirty meters around the clearing had fallen into a coma.

However, he had another thought - what if it was local viruses or diseases that could infect him? He had already thought about that possibility before he had even crossed through the portal. Without any immunity, they would progress extremely quickly. At any moment he could start vomiting blood and his story would be over.

Alexei sighed and pushed those thoughts away. There was no point in thinking about it. He had chosen this path for himself. As long as he did his best for his goal - he would have no regrets, even if he died. That was what he had decided back on Earth, standing in front of that portal.

Five minutes had already passed, but there was no reaction on the skin. The fruit could be eaten. Taking a small bite, the man immediately spit it out. Instead of the expected sweet taste of fruit pulp, he felt the disgusting taste of rotten meat and swamp jelly. An unpleasant taste spread inside his mouth that made him disgusted and nauseous.

"Fuck!" the man swore, spitting furiously, but there was no way he could get rid of that taste in his mouth.

He was somewhat disappointed and outraged at this deception.

Half an hour of persistent walking through the thinning forest brought Alexei to its edge. Ahead, in the azure distance, stretched a vast plain. He stopped to regain his breath and look at his surroundings. Looking around, Alexei didn't see anything dangerous or threatening. He decided to continue on his way and get out of the forest.

But suddenly, in the distance, a startled squeal and maniacal laughter reached his ears. His heart sank and he carefully moved towards the sounds, leaving his prey - the hares - on the ground. Cautiously and silently, he approached the source of the noise, hiding behind tree trunks.

After a minute he came out onto the open plain and saw what was the source of those sounds. A small zebra was rushing across the plain toward the forest, desperately fighting for its life, chased by something that looked like a hyena. The hyena-like creature must have been the source of the laughter.

The man watched silently, not intending to interfere. He was already thinking of quietly leaving when a new sound was heard.

"Msaada! Msaada!" the little zebra yelped.

Alexei froze, abandoning the idea of retreating into the forest. Albeit unknown to him, it was clearly some language of an intelligent creature. He squinted his eyes to examine the creature more closely.

Indeed, what he had mistaken for a zebra was far from the classic appearance of that animal. It bore only a superficial resemblance to a zebra, and the new details only confirmed his doubts. The creature's large eyes glowed with worry and fear. Its skull was flattened, and its muzzle was blunted and less long than a normal zebra's. The mane and tail, bicolored and intertwined, created a strange and unusual look.

Things were taking an interesting turn.

"So, we have a talking zebra here," Alexei thought, and then dubiously shifted his eyes to the hyena chasing it. "Was that a hyena's laughter or was that the laughter of an intelligent creature?"

"What's the difference?" - he shook his head. "Life and death are the law of nature. All living beings are equal, and everyone has the right to survive and be killed."

His heart hammered harder as he snatched the knife from his belt and wrapped the belt around his forearm, creating a temporary defense. The spear, now held firmly and confidently, ready for battle, was his weapon and support.

He didn't hesitate as he rushed towards this mysterious pair.