Author's Note

Hello!
I'm new here and English is not my native language so if there are any grammar issues let me know. I'll try my best!

Also. The pink text that will be presented later will be to represent Pinkie Pie commenting on the events of the compilation of facts that led to the current scenario.
"Hello ponys! I'm Pinkie Pie"

Likewise with the greenish text, but this will be to represent the comments of the main character.
"Hi, I'm someone else, you can call me Arthhur"

This dynamic will only be present for the moment because I found the interaction with Pinkie Pie funny, but it is not a general mechanic that will be taken into the story.

Prologue

Ponyville, a town not too small, but not quite a city either. A rather warm and cozy place with medieval-style houses, white walls reinforced with wood and thatched roofs. Most of the homes seem to be two-story, with flower pots by the windows. The streets are dirt paths lined with a few smooth stones. The color palette? Pastels everywhere. At first glance, it might feel like an eye diabetes factory, but you get used to it after a while.

Overall, it seems like a pretty nice place, I’d say.

Or, well, that’s what I’d generally say... if I weren’t in my current situation.

Let’s just say that being chased by the entire town while trying to escape in a new pony body I’ve only had for two days isn’t exactly the right moment to stop and appreciate the town’s beauty.

So, see that pony over there, the one running like his life depends on it, wide-eyed, with a stupid look on his face, and screaming like a little girl while a bunch of crazy ponies are hot on his tail? “Yeah, that’s me. And this is my story.”

"Oh, so we’re doing that thing where we show a flashback of how we got to this moment?" Pinkie Pie says, bouncing through the crowd. "Leaving the audience all intrigued and wanting to know what happened, how you ended up here, right now! And asking themselves: 'Who’s this crazy pony, and why should I care about his story? He’s not even a main character!'"

“What the heck?!” was all I managed to say before I felt some strange force completely immobilize me.

Did I mention I was running for my life a second ago? Well, not anymore. Just when Pinkie interrupted my big moment, it seems she did more than just that.

Everything around me froze; the crazy Ponyville mob chasing me came? frozen. The butterflies fluttering near some plants growing beside a house? Frozen. Me, suspended in midair in a desperate escape pose? Completely frozen.

Everything was still. Except for one bright pink pony with a poofy darker pink mane. Unlike the others, this one’s a little bigger and not only has fluffy pegasus wings but also a horn, like a unicorn. I can’t quite remember what they call these winged-horned ponies.

“I’m an alicorn, silly,” said the pink alicorn with an innocent smile.

Oh right, alicorns! Now I remember. But the important thing is that she somehow managed to catch up with me while everything was frozen, even me. With a big smile on her face, she stands in front of me, looking me up and down.

“Ready for a recap from the beginning? I’ve got the popcorn and cupcakes for the movie!” Pinkie says with a wide grin, flashing her big teeth. She pulls out a massive white screen and a projector, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Movie?”

"Wait! This isn't frozen... it's PAUSED! Of course! It's the classic dramatic pause-with-monologue moment! How did I not see this coming?" When a story starts like this, it usually seems like the kind of scene where the main character talks directly to the audience.

And I’m the main character in MY story.

EFFORT... EFFORT...

“Ha! I did it, I can move! Alright, Pinkie, let’s see how this whole mess started!” I say, grinning through my teeth, stretching like a cat. Pausing isn't exactly comfortable.

“This is going to be super awesome and mega fun!” Pinkie Pie squeals, bouncing onto a sofa that just appeared out of nowhere, and lands perfectly into a seat.

“Shouldn’t we be more worried about, oh, I don’t know, the whole town being stuck in pause?” I mention with mild concern as I sit down next to her on the same sofa.

“Pfft, don’t be silly, they’ll be fine once we’re done,” she responds, waving a hoof dismissively.

“You’re the expert on breaking the fourth wall, so I’ll trust you… this time,” I say, shrugging and grabbing a handful of popcorn from Pinkie. “So, do we just let the movie play or...”

“Or…?” she asks, tilting her head in confusion.

“Or... do you want us to comment on it as we watch? I kinda wanna do that, sounds fun,” I said, flashing a playful grin.

“OOH OOH OOH! I wanna comment, I wanna comment while we watch!” Pinkie exclaims, leaping on the couch, scattering popcorn everywhere with each bounce.

The typical three-second countdown from an old projector film begins.

Two Days Ago...

I was in a forest. A forest that looks quite different from the ones I’m used to seeing here is more colorful and vibrant. I’m standing by a calm, crystal-clear lake, so clear, in fact, that I can see my reflection perfectly.

And just as I suspected: yup, I’m a pony. A pretty good-looking one too, if I do say so myself, despite my lack of knowledge about pony beauty standards. But hey, it’s me, so I must be handsome. I look again, just to double-check, and yep, still a pony. Cream colored fur with white gradients on my... legs? Hooves? Whatever they’re called. My mane is a swirl of lime green with sky-blue streaks.

With a sigh, I step away from my new reflection and trot onto the bright green grass in the middle of an open field.

I trot in different directions straight ahead, turning sideways, even in circles just to test and get used to my new movement. Compared to the first hour of tripping and face-planting into the ground, along with bruising my ego, I’ve improved quite a bit, considering I now have a new body, and one that isn't even bipedal.

“So, are we starting right from when you’re already used to your pony body?” the pink pony sitting next to me asks, confused, as we watch my actions. “What about your first reaction to discovering your new body and surroundings? Are we just going to skip the first few minutes?”

“Of course we are! There are way too many stories about people getting transported to another world and another body. Their reactions are so predictable,” I say, closing my eyes and turning my head. “It’s not fun anymore. It’s repetitive.”

“But I wanted to see your initial reaction,” she says, genuinely interested.

“My initial reaction? Come on, Pinkie! It's textbook stuff: screaming, confusion, more screaming, and… oh yeah, falling to the ground repeatedly,” I say with exaggerated enthusiasm, waving my front hooves around for emphasis.

“But that’s the best part! I want to see how you were tripping and screaming like crazy,” Pinkie says, starting to deflate a little.

“Look, I’ll sum it up for you: I tripped, I screamed, I got up, tripped again… basically, a disaster. Nothing out of the ordinary,” I explain, gesturing with one hoof as if ticking things off a list.

“But what about the big final scream?” she asks, giving me a playful grin.

“Oh, of course! You can’t start a new life in another world without a final dramatic scream for flair!” I wave my front hooves in the air dramatically, like mimicking an explosion.

“I knew there was some drama there!” Pinkie says, pointing a hoof at me, her smile returning.

Once I got used to walking on hooves and moving around on four legs, it was time to follow the usual steps in stories like this.

First, I needed to go over my own backstory before I got here. Hopefully, I still have my memories and I’m not one of those characters with annoying amnesia and a mysterious past. Nothing against a good mystery, but when it's the main character, it’s frustrating to always be left wondering about their forgotten past.

My name is Arthur Green, a 22-year-old human with a life so average, you could use me as the definition in a dictionary. Average height, decent skills, and grades… well, also average. My hobbies include movies, cartoons, stories, novels, comics, you name it. My hair is a mess of brown curls that I never bother fixing, because, let’s be honest, who has time to care about appearance when you can lie in bed listening to music? And that’s exactly what I was doing before waking up in this fantasy forest.

“Yes, my memories are intact. Thank goodness! I don't want to waste time on a dark, mysterious past storyline,” I say, giving my head a few light taps with my hoof—a habit I had to learn, considering how often I ended up hitting my own face the first time I arrived here.

With that sorted, my next goal is obvious: find a way back home.

Looking around, I can see the forest and trees. To my right, there’s a rather pleasant-looking forest, with lots of light filtering through the morning sun and casting warm patches on the ground. To my left… well, there’s more forest, but this one’s darker, with twisted trees and ominous clouds hovering above, blocking out any sunlight. So yeah, that’s a definite no.

Normally, I’d stop and reflect more on this, considering I’m in a place far from home—or at least I think so. Where I live doesn’t look nearly this colorful, nor are there trees straight out of a fantasy story, or fluffy clouds that look like they were pulled from a TV show. So, either this isn’t my world, or I’ve been dumped into some remote forests of Ireland. But honestly, I’d rather embrace the idea that this is another world, so I’m going with that: I’m in another world.

Oh, and not to mention, I’m in a different body. In an unknown place, with unknown and possibly dangerous threats. But hey, at this point, all I can do is pick a direction and hope it’s not the wrong one.

I chose the path on the right.

As I walk, the best thing I can do is think about my situation. Trapped in an alternate world, completely new and much more vibrant than my own. It all feels like the start of a story, and with that in mind, it’s logical what my next steps should be:

1. Find civilization. Preferably one that doesn’t want to burn me at the stake.
   
2. Figure out what kind of world this is and how things work here.
   
3. Become a hero who rises absurdly fast to legendary status, known by everyone.
   
4. Kick my own butt if I actually let step three happen.
   5.And of course, find a way to get back home. Sorry, parallel world, but being a hero isn’t on my agenda.

I’m not what you need. There’s always someone else better for this kind of thing, right? Super-powerful knights, level 100 wizards… they must have someone. Because, honestly, I’d only drag out the process of saving the world, and that sounds exhausting. I don’t want to go down that route—the one where they focus so much on being heroes, they forget their main objective, and just end up dragging things on forever.

“Wait, wait… You don’t want to be the hero because the journey’s too long?” Pinkie says, tilting her head in confusion.

“Well… more or less. Honestly, I’m just too lazy for that. I’d rather stay on this couch, eating popcorn, watching others do the hard work… but not because I’m egotistical or anything,” I add, pretty much without a care.

Leaving aside the whole hero thing, now that I think about it for a moment, I should probably find a high point and use it as a reference to look around for any sign of civilization.

I look around, but all I can see are more trees. I probably should have thought about this earlier when I was in a meadow and not deep in a forest. Though I do have the option to climb a tree.

I approach the nearest tree and get ready to climb. First, I raise my arms around the trunk for support to pull myself up, pressing my feet against the bark… only to end up hugging the tree awkwardly because I forgot I don’t have hands or fingers, and I have no idea how to climb with hooves.

"Alright, I should've thought this through a bit more before trying to climb a tree without hands," I say with irritation. "Bravo, Arthur, you've just given the most awkward hug of your life... and to a tree, no less."

I fall to the ground on my hind legs and lay on my back. I gaze up at the sky, even though I’m deep in a forest. I’m glad there’s enough space between the leaves to at least catch a glimpse of the blue sky.

"But hey, at least the sky is really beautiful. Blue, clear... I could honestly spend hours here just staring at it. Though, I have to admit, I prefer the night. There's nothing like a star-filled night sky to make the world seem less complicated, less... urgent." I lose myself in thought as the wind gently rustles the leaves.

Parallel world… Of all the tiny and improbable possibilities that could lead to someone suddenly appearing on another planet, universe, or whatever, it had to happen to me, of all people. Then again, who’s to say it hasn’t happened to someone else besides me? Still, why me? Was it pure randomness? Destiny, perhaps? Or maybe it's something else entirely...

...

Am I dead?

If I think about it, it would make sense because now I'm a miniature horse, so reincarnation is a possibility. Though, maybe the dimensional shift altered my body and matter to adapt to the rules and laws of this universe or dimension. But that’s just theories based on what I've read, nothing scientifically founded—after all, I’m no scientist.

If I did die, then I guess it wouldn’t be so bad. If this is my new life, then I don’t have to worry about finding a way back home and can just focus on living here. But that brings up more questions—if I died, why do I still have my memories? And why am I a small horse that seems to be in its young adult years? Shouldn’t I have been reborn as a baby pony? I mean, I can move and talk, so I’m not a baby, but I’m small, so maybe... am I a kid?

peeew POW

Suddenly, a flash in the sky catches my attention.

"Wait, what’s that? Fireworks?" I straighten up slightly, squinting to see the colorful explosion on the horizon.

"Well, that’s definitely a sign of civilization... or something like it. And where there’s civilization, there are probably people who know how to get me out of here. I guess it’s worth investigating." I say with renewed confidence, especially after hugging the tree.

With a quick jump, I get to my feet, standing firm on all four hooves, and with a faint smile, I ready myself to run in the direction of the fireworks without further delay.

Excited to find my next step, I launch forward with what can only be described as an overconfident stride and a touch of elegance... like that of a trained ballerina. I dodge obstacles with grace, as if I’ve been doing this all my life. Or, well... maybe I tripped many times and spent more time eating dirt than running, but with determination!

"I have to admit, running with these hooves is like trying to jog in ice skates..." I stumble awkwardly, shaking off the dirt and regaining my focus. "Maybe when I get there, they’ll welcome me with... uh, I don’t know, a party?"

"Party! Oh, oh! Did you say party? That’s exactly what’s going to happen! There’ll be cake, confetti, balloons, and even a piñata," says the pink alicorn, bouncing around, and—wait, did I just see two Pinkies at the same time?

"Hey, hey, Pinkie! Don’t get ahead of yourself, you can’t say anything yet. You almost spoiled it!" I say, trying to calm her down by putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"Oops! Spoilers? Me? No way! I was just excited because this is the moment where I—"

"Pinkie! You know what? Never mind. I guess it’s inevitable you’ll show up sooner or later, so let’s just roll with it," I said, crossing my hooves in frustration.

"Exactly! Now, keep running, Arthur. Big things await you! And who knows, maybe even a cupcake or two."