Somewhere in ~~Nevada~~ Badlands, time and date unknown

"Damn you, Celestia...." Stas treaded the desert for many hours now, but thanks to the fact sun of Equestria was controlled by an actual living being (and through astro-physics defying logic) it was impossible to tell, just how long he was walking for. He long ago gave up on trying to calculate how many kilometers he walked through the desert, as the indistinguishable landscape made it almost impossible.

At this point he could no longer deceive himself, this world was real and so was his new body. A long treck through the desert was more than enough to prove him wrong, but he refused to give up or fall to panic, knowing it would spell his doom.

"I wonder, how does this world even gets warmed properly when the sun is always in the same position? Perhaps, it's actually a flat disk?" Instead of pondering his fate, he spent his time trying to keep the self-destructive thoughts at bay, mostly by trying to make sense of this world. He chuckled weakly, as his imagination drew him a picture of a red-robed unicorn riding on top of a walking chest.

Stas shambled on the ground, occasionally kicking sand with his hooves, the sun watched from above as if it was pondering the fate of a lone changeling, unable to decide if it should show mercy or not.

Thirst and fatigue was getting to him at that point and he decided to seek refuge between two barkhans, just enough to take a short break and drink some water. Trotting slowly, Stas carefully came down a side of a large dune he was standing on.

As he laid down on his stomach, he once again quietly cursed in Russian. Large dunes tower over him on each side, yet Stas found no shadow to hide in. Thankfully, changelings appeared to be a thermophilic species, he would have barely been alive by this point if he remained a human. Even so, inspite of his white chitin and new biology providing him with decent protection from the sun's scorching rays, he was clearly overheating.

"Eh..." Digging into his bag, he took a can of warm beer in his hoof and opened it by grabbing a stay-on-tab with his left hand, thanking whatever deity made this realm for the fact that his hooves were not a useless stumps the animals of Earth had. Taking a sip of warm alcohol, he could not help but scrunch his face in disgust at the bitter taste.

"I suppose it's better than dehydration... or piss." Relaxing his body, he slowly drank from the can without any enthusiasm, trying to savor every drop he could.

"I may need it for a makeshift alarm." Finishing his bitter beverage, he placed the now empty can back in his bag. As he was about to grab another drink, Stas decided to try a little experiment. He remembered that unicorns and changelings were able to use telekinesis in the show, and, since he had nothing better to do as he rested, decided to try and lift the now empty can with the power of his mind.

"Okay, let's give it a shot." Thinking of how he could possible do it, he remembered what the very show which became his reality stated that telekinesis was something which even the weakest of unicorns was able to use on pure instinct. He also realised what he was able to use his hooves as it still were hands as long as he intended to do so.

"I hope it works, it will be very bad if i'am some sort of magicless cripple." Placing an empty can of Baltika before him, he tried to ignite his horn and lift the can with his mind, all the while keeping his doubtful thoughts at bay.

Convincing himself what it should work was hard, but those thoughts quickly disappeared as he saw a gently white light shine from on top of his head. Trying to keep the momentum, he willed himself to grab the can without moving his body. He watched with wide eyes as a aluminium cylinder was covered by a smoky white glow, it looked like a small cloud of mist surrounded the can on all sides, as if it was freshly picked after a night in a fridge. The weird feeling of touching it from every side felt like he was holding something small in a tightly closed palm.

"Yes!" Grinning like a toddler on a Christmas morning, he lifted the can up it the air. Only to underestimate his power and launch it five meters into the sky. He followed the flying can with his eyes, just for it to land and hit him across the snout. It was not painful by any means, but it was a good reminder what he was in uncharted territory and but a damper on his pride.

Using his magic once again, he slowly placed the can back in his bag a took another one without using his hooves. Manipulating smaller objects with his telekinesis was tedious, but after fumbling for few minutes and almost crushing the can he was able to open it without spilling anything.

"May the force be with me!" with that improvised toast, he took a sip of warm beer in celebration.

"*Bwah*... Note to self, magic does not make warm beer taste better." As he drunk his can of liquid disappointment, lifting his head to look around, he noticed something rising over dunes.

"Is that smoke?" Indeed, over the dunes, a faint trail of smoke was rising to the sky, clearly visible on the blue empty background.

"There is no way sand set itself on fire, so this means..." he pondered for a moment before quickly rising to his hooves. With renewed hope in his heart, Stas swiftly climbed on top of a dune he went down an hour ago. From there he could clearly see something he missed before. Few kilometers from his position, dunes gradually lowered in height, making way for a semi-desert filled with dry bushes and rare trees.

There, over the endless sands, a small trail of smoke rised over the horizon, like a lighthouse in a raging sea.

Author's Note

Special thanks to Vahid1900 for pointing out my grammar mistakes!