Keep Being Human

by ZakhepBrony

1 - A Bit of a Change

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I was getting back from my work on a cafeteria, having just finished cleaning duty. Eight hours of pure pain those were, my hands were the protagonists of scrubbing through dishes and floors while the cleaning product damaged my hands for quite a good while.

Like the end of a evening shift, the moon was already up replacing the sun, giving that night vibe to my surroundings. Small yellow circles were turning on near me as it shone, shops were already closing for the day and I couldn't resist but to close my eyes as a cold breeze brushed through my body.

When I get home, I'm gonna prepare a nice meal and watch something on the television.

These night walks were one of the most things I treasured on my routine, though it was quite strange that no person other than the shop owners were nearby. From experience, I learned that while calming, it is very dangerous to stay outside on a normally busy shopping street.

A sudden crawling on my back told me that just maybe, I'm not alone as I would of thought.

Opening my eyes, while walking I slightly turned my body around to see if anyone was around. Nobody was on sight and the lights were getting a bit dimmer every second passed, so I just kept going while facing forward and tried to ignore that sudden feeling on my chest.


Thirty minutes later, and I finally was at my home. Very small, but quite comfy in some places. Entering the kitchen, I left my phone at the counter and made my way to the fridge.

When I looked inside, there was no food to be found. Just some mustard packs that my family left a few days ago when they ordered some BK's on the road.

You have got to be kidding me.

I was so hungry, that without thinking I just opened the packets, emptied them on my mouth and closed the fridge, throwing the rest on the trash. I sat on a chair nearby and took deep breaths while my gaze trailed off to the homeroom window. Outside, a dark shadow of a tree trailed and moved to the wind's pace, leaves dancing freely on the cold night.

No one was home, as my mom was enjoying her vacation with her girlfriend, surely having a nice meal in a restaurant nearby the area. I could of gone to say hi when my shift ended, but I was pretty sure that I would not be welcomed there. Plus, it's weird. My three sisters were either drinking on some bar or just staying in the homes of their loved ones, probably phrasing on how men were disgusting or some spiel like that.

A quiet meowing took off my attention of the window and glanced at the fluffy gray colored cat. "How are you" - I slowly scratched her fluffy chin - "doing, Bella? Something wrong?"

Bella just made the same noise, looking dejectedly as she walked to the empty bowl that was on the ground. Oh right, no food for her either.

Migraine crawling, I smiled and stood and made my way to the door. "Gonna buy ya some food, be right back soon," I said, waving at her while closing the door and stepping outside.

Listening to the crunching steps that my scraped shoes had effect on the road, I didn't want to waste any time and kept looking forward to the sidewalk. The chilling wind gave me goosebumps as I traveled to the closest gas station, gray clouds were slowly adapting on the sky that had been clear before.


The shopping was uneventful. I got some food to eat and some ingredients as well for Bella to prepare a nice homemade meal. The worker warned me that it was very dangerous to get out, but I didn't really heard her talking, as my objective was to get to my house immediately for my cat. With my products paid, I bid my farewell to the nice woman, and begun to walk back to my home again.

A few minutes later, the sound of my shoes crossing the pavement suddenly muted as the wind began to ramp up in speed. I held my bag to my body to prevent it from cruising through the air as I struggled to maintain my eyes fully open. Drops of water fell off the sky, a cold feeling creeping up my feet, and slowly going up.

Only a few blocks left to go, and I'll be full of blankets to relax on with my cat. Hope Bella is not complaining much, oh well. Mom should be getting home in about-

A sudden chill on my back made me stop, a solid hand grabbed my shoulder tight as I was on the middle of the rain.

"Keep walking," the stranger told me. It was the voice of a guy, a few years older than me. My heart stopped for a few seconds, my stomach full of stones as the solid and cold object moved to the back of my head and shook my body a fair bit. "I said keep walking!"

"Alright, alright! Just don't hurt me." Shaking in my shoes I resumed my walk with the guy behind, took a breath that I couldn't get out even if I tried it. No one was outside, just the two of us wandering at midnight.

Sudden rumblings of the storm that's already in our heads, we crossed a dark alley that the guy directed me to. My body was locked in place as the robber turned me around. "Give me the bag." he said as he gun was aimed horizontally to my stomach.

With both furrowed eyebrows, I clicked my tongue in frustration and shakingly faced the guy. "W-why are you doing this, man? This is so stupid," I said, looking to his hazelnut eyes.

"Why? You must be joking!" Laughter resonated on the narrow corridor as he slightly smiled. "One thing kid, never get out at this hour. Now if you could be so kind to give me what I earned, I'll let you go with a warning."

No way...

"No, piss off." I said shakily.

We held a staredown as the rain and thunder got more intense. My bulging eyes tried to burn his, hoping for a change of heart, but there was no such thing as redemption when someone had a gun trying to rob you.

Suddenly, I couldn't react fast enough as the robber jumped me to grab my jacket, while I weakly tried to push off his hand. The pressure was so intense that in a few seconds that passed, he punched me so hard that I fell to the ground crying with a thumping pain in my forehead.

With my clothes wet, I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't respond, and it was too late as the robber again took me by the jacket and aimed at my hurting forehead. "Sorry kid, I got carried away." He pressed the tip of the gun closer. "Though, take this as a revenge for your stupid father."

What the- "My father? What the hell are you talking about?" I barely said on battered breaths, as he just smiled and took aim, ready to shoot.

No more words were exchanged as they stared at each other, the rain now serving the job of static. The rumbling got so fierce that, in the middle of him pulling the trigger-

*CRASH*

-a white flash had engulfed him and in a split second he was gone, leaving me surprised. "W-what the actual f-" the same light hit twice, my vision going fully white, losing what consciousness I had left.


A ringing noise filled my ears as I couldn't move my hurting body, my back felt like it has been through a hydraulic press. I opened my eyes, my vision wavering with splashes of sky blue, green, and bright magenta. Blinking was hard to do as well, so I took my sweet time to take a look at my surroundings.

Where am I? Why is the place so colored?

Taking another glance at the terrain, it seemed that I was just below a white colored bridge, with the sides being purple colored and some wooden beams to support the weight. Water was slowly flowing, and I made the weird mistake of looking down.

"...what?" I saw my reflection in the water, and I couldn't believe that it was me.

I had mustard colored fur, with small blue eyes and light brown bushy hair. The weirdest thing is that I had a horn and my hands were gone! I had stumps that looked like I couldn't hold anything even if I tried.

Where the heck are my clothes?

Breathing in and out, I slowly walked down the bridge, with mixed results in the beginning including a full mouth of water and a session of coughing it out of my system. With each step it got better to the point of not looking like some sort of drunk animal.

Now for the hard part.

When I practiced walking, I saw a town near the end of the bridge that may or may not contain people in it. This was one of my possibilities that I was sure wrong when I crossed the bridge.

My migraine was coming back as I watched some technicolor ponies do what a human would normally do. Watering flowers, communicating with each other, and even one that was eating in some sort of cafe! Though the constructions were very weird. A lot of them were medieval style, with thatch roofs, while others, well.

Is that a fucking crystal castle?! Oh my god. I'm sure that the mustard had done something with me being here or something.

I walked to the pony that was watering some flowers in what it seemed to be their garden. A pale magenta covered their fur with curly light green mane and big green eyes with long eyelashes.

Oh, it's a she. "Um, excuse me?"

With some ear movement, the pony turned around to acknowledge me. "Oh, I don't think I have seen you around here before," she said, smiling and lifting her hoof to me. "Nice to meet you! My name is Daisy."

Trailing my eyes to her hoof, I touched it with my own hoof to simulate some sort of greeting, much to the confusion of Daisy. "Nice to meet you too. May I ask a few things? I'm kind of lost."

"Oooh are you a traveler? No wonder I don't recognize you! I'm sure that in these journeys of yours the flora is beautiful!" she sighed. "Ask away!"

"Um, where are we and where can I get some kind of map?" I asked Daisy.

"You're in the beautiful land of Equestria, specifically Ponyville! And about getting that map," in deep thought putting a hoof to her chin, Daisy pointed to a direction. "You should probably go to the Castle of Friendship and ask there."

Yup, it was the mustard. Never dunking condiments like that again.

"Oh, alright then." I started walking to where she indicated. "I appreciate-"

"Watch out!" Daisy screamed.

Letting a screech I panicked, looking everywhere near me. "What? Of what?" I was trying to comprehend what made this mare scream like that, trying to find the source of it.

Daisy pointed to a white flower. "You almost stepped on it! Watch out for them if you can, please."

Blinking fast, I snapped out of my panicking. "Um, okay? I better get going."

Walking backwards, I almost turned around when she called for me again.

"What is it now, Daisy?"

"I didn't get your name!"

I stopped, my hooves locked in place while processing what she said. The bright sun made me relax quite a bit, the reflection of the water below the bridge was my first experience in this strange place that I still had to found out the origin. While in one hoof, this looked like a good place with great peo- uh ponies and great opportunities. But on the other hoof, I had my family and friends to go back to.

Maybe it's the fact that I couldn't really process much of it or maybe I was tired of the monotony of my normal life back on my home, but...

"My name is Waterworks, have a nice day, Ms. Daisy!"

I would soon find out what happened, and while I'm at it, enjoy the ride of this strange dream that I was on. Step by step.


Author's Note

Took seven years to make a 2.1k word chapter... surprise?

I hope this story is interesting enough for y'all. I'm gonna try really hard with (ahem, translator) and my knowledge on the language to write some pretty nice stories here! Super excited to go on this journey with everyone.

If you found some errors, or want to give your opinion, please write a comment if you want to! Thanks for reading.

The messiah is watching.