Author's Note

Welcome, to the official for real rewrite of this ... old piece of shit I wrote when I had no idea what I was doing. A few notes. First of all, if I mention something that is contradictory to something I said in Not so Magical Land of America, ignore it. This is the new canon and I'm just not going to update the old story with new information as my views on this universe have changed. If you notice something that contradicts what is in THIS story only, bring it up, I'll fix it somehow.

Secondly, this is going to be a very, very different story than before. That's why everything else is gone and I only have these two chapters. Hopefully I'll finish this thing properly this time. I do have an outline of what I want to get accomplished, I know how this ends. I've been working on my own stuff lately, my own novel (hooray) but it's very difficult to get back into the swing of things. A friend suggested I get my writer legs back by finishing this up and I suppose that's what I'll try and do. I have a road map after all, just need to work on getting it done. That being said, this is rough. I mean, I know this is rough to start out with, but I have literally rewritten this one chapter EIGHT TIMES. I changed so many ideas and plot points that this thing needed redone that many times before I settled on a beginning I liked that sets up what I want it to.

If you're a new reader I'd like to thank you for checking out what I'm sure will be mostly unknown as "Just another human in Equestria fan fiction." I hope you will at least bear with this minimal quality writing into the next chapter where I personally feel that my writing picks up. Like I said, I've been away from big projects for a while and it's hard going from short stories in college to full length "Write whatever you want" fan fics. If you don't think my writing improves in the second chapter feel free to tell me what you think and if there's anything I can do to improve it. Thanks again, people!

Awakening

“If the darkness within him is so dangerous why not draw it out into a more malleable form?”

Kayn looked at his brother, Elysian, across the room. Between them laid the unconscious Pete Powell. Kayn had informed his brother of the failures the last several incarnations of Pete had suffered, many arising from fragment of Nightmare that now infested the young man’s soul. He had previously tried extracting the piece of darkness, but it had left Pete powerless against his coming foe. However, leaving it inside left him just as vulnerable. Thus, Kayn had turned to his brother for help.

Elysian had never been one to tolerate the kind of Darkness they faced, the kind that Kayn wielded alongside the Light as the Lord of the Void. Elysian could do much the same, but preferred the Light. The boy before them wasn’t as powerful as they were though. He was a simple human soon to be set loose in a world of magic and monsters. Something had to be done.

The Lord of Void watched as Elysian drew his black bladed katana, and held it above Pete. The blond-haired man looked at Kayn inquiringly and Kayn nodded in return, agreeing to his brother's proposal. To bring forth the fragment of Nightmare and place it into a malleable form, something controllable even by the mortal between them.

Pete groaned and sat up, his eyes felt welded shut and he had to rub them a lot to regain his vision. Once he could see Pete took stock of his surroundings. He was on a bed, a rather large one at that, which was pushed almost completely into the right corner of the room. There was a dresser at the foot of the bed, against the opposing wall, and a full-sized mirror to the left of it. He shifted to the side of the bed and stood up, looking down to confirm the floor was polished stone, cold, and his feet were bare. Seconds later he toppled backwards onto the bed, his body shaking slightly from the sudden movement. With a groan Pete rubbed his face and ran his hands through is hair. He felt weak, and somehow still tired.

Taking a deep breath and using all of his willpower, Pete managed to stand up, wobbly as he might have been. Grabbing the sheet from the bed and wrapping it around his noticeably nude body, he walked over to the mirror and investigated himself. It was clear he wasn’t in a hospital, he wasn’t in a gown, there were no doctors or nurses, no IV hooked into him, and his body seemed terribly gaunt. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps he’d been in a coma, in fact he was sure he had given the muscle decay he had, when the door opened from the far left of the room. The door was a heavy wooden one with metal bound around it, like a door from the dark ages.

Pete stood, looking towards the door, as Princess Luna entered carrying a tray with her magic. The princess was half way into the room when she noticed him and stopped. The two stood for a moment, both surprised, until Pete raised his hand and waved. Luna’s eyes went wide and she bolted out the door as fast as she could manage. Pete considered following her, but stopped as a window caught his attention. On the same wall as the head of the bed he’d just left, properly obscured from his vision while laying down, was a simple arched window. He walked over to it slowly. Outside was the city of Canterlot, colorful and brilliant in the midday sunlight. Pegasi flew around moving clouds, carrying things, and many kinds of ponies and non-ponies walked the streets below. Pete exhaled and walked back to the bed he had just left moments ago.

He sat on the edge of the bed and went back through is memories. He remembered falling after helping the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses return to Equestria, and how much his chest hurt. Biting his lip, Pete placed his palm to his chest and felt his heart. It was pumping just as much as it usually did, but he was also aware that his old scars were absent. He'd looked in the mirror and they were gone. Something had happened. Clearly somepony had pulled him to the other side of the portal. At least, he hoped. His alternative theory was that he had died. How that would get him into another reality he didn’t know but he liked the idea of being able to be sent back. He had promised to give living in his own world an honest try after all.

Moments later Luna came back in carrying a set of clothes with her, ones that matched the set Pete had collapsed in. She sat them on the bed next to Pete and then turned around. Pete stood and started getting dressed, a small blush building on his face. He had only just fully realized that Luna had walked in expecting to find him asleep and still naked, and while he was sure her intentions were pure Pete was sure his were not. With his shirt hanging from him and his belt a whole notch tighter he realized just how long he must have been asleep.

Without a second thought, Pete reached back to the bed and picked up a sheathed short sword and attached it to his belt. The sound caused Luna to turn back around, confused. Her face scrunched further in wonder at the dark sword Pete had just casually discovered. Pete returned her confusion, until his mind caught up. Where had the sword come from? Thinking twice now Pete removed the sword from his belt and examined it.

The hilt was a dark black and unreflective, its sheath was normal as far as Pete’s knowledge of swords went. Carefully he pulled the blade out and continued his investigation. It was a sword, but just barely. It was about two and a half feet in length and the blade was polished to a shine. Pete turned the weapon over several times, looking at it from every angle, before returning it to the sheath and looking at Luna.

“What’s this?”

Luna shook her head slowly. “I am unsure. At first, I thought perhaps one of the guards left their weapon in here, but none of them should have been in here and the handle is all wrong. No pony employed here at the castle would carry such a blade.”

Pete scratched his head. “I do remember … voices.”

“Voices?” Luna looked alarmed, her gaze going from the sword to Pete.

“Yeah, uh, two guys. I can’t remember what they said though.” Pete massaged his forehead, as if he could stimulate the memories physically.

“That is all I need to hear,” Luna said coldly and took the blade from Pete’s grasp. “I will deliver this to our investigators here at the castle. Perhaps they can find who owned this. In the meantime, my sister wished to see you when you awoke.”

Pete cocked his head to the side. “Celestia? What could she want with me?”

Luna smiled and turned towards the door. “The sooner I drop you off with her the sooner you will find out.” The alicorn looked at the sword in her magic and muttered, “And the sooner I can learn about this.”

The young man sighed and shrugged with resignation and followed Luna out the door. The hallway was just as medieval looking as the room they had just left, but it also displayed a certain grandeur as well. There was a length of thick rug on in the middle of the hall that stretched the length of the corridor, making a sort of crimson road between the gold borders of the rug. Pete became hyperaware that he was barefoot as he stepped onto the rug and felt himself sink into it, but shoes had not been provided. He thought to bring it up as they walked, however Luna appeared almost as confused as he was.

The alicorn princess stopped for a moment at each intersection the pair came to. She would look down each passage before nodding and proceeding in seemingly random directions. Just as Pete was about to ask if Luna had gotten lost in her own castle, they came around a corner and were faced with several guards standing next to or in front of many doors. Pete wondered why the rest of the castle wasn’t this guarded.

“The royal chambers,” Luna elaborated, “Each room here is held for a specific royal guest and thus are guarded.”

Pete nodded as they walked and began to notice a pattern. Some doors the guard was in front of the door, others they were beside the door. He guessed that if the guard was in front the occupant of the room was out for the moment. It would be rather inconvenient to tell the guard to move every time you wanted to open your door after all, and it would feel much more like a prison at that point.

Their journey ended at a door that looked like any other, except there were two guards in front instead of one. The guards gave Luna a small bow and opened the door with their magic. Pete nodded to the two unicorns as he passed, but neither reacted to him. He became increasingly aware of his alien nature in this new world, both out of time and completely foreign.

Celestia sat on a cushion in front of a desk, a quill held tight in her magic, as Luna held out a forehoof signaling Pete to stop. The Princess of Night then cleared her throat to alert her sister. The white alicorn turned and did a double take upon seeing Pete standing in her room. Quickly she sat the quill into its proper place and stood. After a few steps forward she turned to Luna.

“How is he?” she asked almost as if the human wasn't in the room at all.

“I'm fine,” Pete spoke up indignantly, folding his arms in front of his chest and locking eyes with Celestia.

Celestia returned his gaze for a minute and then laughed. “Well, if that's the first thing you have to say I believe you.” The joy faded from her face moments later. “We have a situation, Pete. One that I'm afraid you're uniquely suited to dealing with.”

Pete raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. “Me? The atrophy and muscle deteriorated writer that just survived a heart attack? Do you need a really strong sob story or something?”

The Princess of the Sun shook her head, “What we need is a human that knows about us. To explain what has happened.”

“What exactly has happened?” Pete frowned and glanced around the room, noting that outside of Celestia's window all seemed fine.

“With you unconscious Luna and I decided to move ahead with our plans. Unfortunately they seem to have escaped our control.”

Pete sighed and stared at the ceiling for a moment before making eye contact again. Cliched as it was he had to ask, “What plans were those again?”