The Equestrian Tales of Nathaniel Lloyd (Ponified Version)

by EquestrianKnight97

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Romance, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 26668

My name is Nathaniel Lloyd. I am nineteen years old and attend the University of Virginia in Charlottesville as a freshman. I had always knew my life to be a normal and peaceful one, a life without worry or danger. That was until one fateful day, when a group dark cloaked men with mysterious powers that I have never witnessed befored attacked me on my way to college, and I was suddenly teleported to another world that is called Equestria. The inhabitants who live there are intelligent, horse-like creatures who can communicate like humans do, and have the ability of flight and magic. During my time there, I soon learn that a terrible darkness is growing within this world and my home, and the only way to stop the upcoming madness and return home is to uncover an ancient secret that has been lost for eons. In these times I will learn the true meaning of friendship, fear, power, and love as I will face the most important challenge of my entire life.

NOTE: I do not own the photo.

Link to Humanized Version

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-02 04:52:39 UTC

Chapter 1: Strangers

Author Comment, please look at first before reading.

Hello everypony. My name is EquestrianKnight97. Before you read this fanfic I just wanted to pointed out that the main character has a Christian background, but don't worry he will not turn any of the MLP members to Christianity, and they will ask him some questions about his faith and beliefs from time to time. The is mostly from a 1st person view but certain chapters in the future will be written in 3rd person as well. The protagnist is African American and wears glasses. Any arguement in the comment section that is an insult or that is intended to start a religious fight (or any fight in general) will be removed. Plz fav, like, follow and/or comment. Also plz give me some advice if you think I should edit something. Hope you enjoy my story :)

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

  I wake up on my couch, feeling very groggy and with a bothersome headache, as if an arrow was shot between the cracks of my brain. I put a hand on the broad surface of my warm forehead and start to slowly rise off my back a bit. On top of my chest I see my animal biology textbook wide open on a chapter based on the body systems of certain marine species, and when I glance over to the small, glass coffee table on my left I spot several other book that I had gotten from the Charlottesville Public Library yesterday focusing on the same subject.

Great, I think to myself. I fell asleep while I was studying --- again.

  As a typical college freshman attending the University of Virginia (or UVA), I basically wake up almost every morning on the couch instead of my normal bed, after studying for many tests and quizzes during the previous night. Even though I'm an excellent student in nearly all of my classes --- receiving nothing but acceptable grades and giving up all of my attention to the proffessors and teacher who use half of their day to lecture others --- the work that I have to do is extremely overwhelming for my mind to handle that I sometimes feel as if I'm slowly infecting myself with a serious case of studyitis.

  I know that it is not a disease in real life, but if a sort of sickness did exist that would be the name I will pick for it.

  And not only is my college life very difficult, but my life involving my little job is also a calamity. After a long day at the university, I usually head over to the meat packing industry in downtown; and although I am a huge lover of meat, it is probably the worst place I have ever been to in my entire life. The air completly reeks of rotten and spoil meat and month old garbage, the interior and exterior of the bluiding is old and in a poor and weaken condition, the stuff that I have to carry feels like it weighs a ton, and the temperature is so frostbiting cold that I bring a heavy-layered coat with me because it feels like winter everyday in there.

  The only thing I am glad about my job is that I recieve a very good pay. I only have to work on the weekdays, I get paid twenty dollars for each hour I work --- which is a total five hours --- and at the end of every month I have enough money to pay for my rent, so I can keep the small apartment that I live in.

  Knowing that my day is going to be a long and busy one --- like always --- I placed the textbook on the coffee table with the others and get off the sofa with a strech and a yawn. I head over to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a nice, quick shower to get rid of the morning odor hanging around my body, and after that I go into my bedroom and pick out a clean pair of clothes to wear; a pair of black and red sneakers, navy blue jeans, my favorite Linkin Park shirt, my black leather jacket, and finally my golden cross necklace with the verse JOHN 3:16 engraved on it.

Image of shirt

  I walk right out of my room and come back into the living room. I turn on the TV and open up the blinds of the balcony, allowing the bright yellow rays of the eastern sun to shine through the closed glass door. The beautiful sight of the illuminating sphere is enough to erase my headache and fill my soul with a hope for a bright, new day. Although I have no clue what I will expect today, I pray that it will be a good one.

  Entering the kitchen I look at the digital clock upon the wall, which tells me that the time is exactly 6:37am.

  "Ok, that's good," I say to myself with relief. "I didn't overslept that long. I still have enough time to get to the university before it's eight."

  I open the pantry door and try to find a box of cereal to have with breakfest, but when I see none inside I am reminded that I finished eating the rest of the Raisin Brand yesterday morning. Closing the pantry I go to the refrigerato, and as I stare inside the cold interior I see a carton of milk, some orange juice, a couple of microwavable meals, a half of pepperoni pizza left inside a Domino's box, and several other items of food and beverages.

  "I need to remember to go to the store after work," I say, realizing that I barely have enough food left to last the month.

  In the end I choose to have one of the microwavable meals, which is a frozen container of eggs, bacon, and sausage, and I get myself a glass of cool milk as well. After waiting for the microwave to finish heating my breakfest, I grab it and my cup and sit myself down at the couch.

  As I eat my warm, prepared meal I pick up the remote and turn on to the Station 12 News Channel. The first things that comes up is the daily weather, which says that the temperature is supposed to be very moist and that today is going to be quite foggy. After the forecast a journalist appears and talks about some new laws that the council of the city of Richmond is going to pass next week, which I don't pay much attention to. After I have eaten my breakfest, I wash down the inside of my throat with a flood of creamy, white milk and turn off the TV as I begin to leave. Before I go I get my backpack and place my books that I used to study for the test today inside, and make a quick prayer that my day would be a safe and pleasant one and that I would certainly, without a doubt, ace this test.

  I head towards the front door, open it, and walk outside onto the outer third floor balcony of the apartment. Like the news had said the air feels damp, and thick, floating layers of misty fog spread across the whole outside area of Charlottesville. From the third floor I walk down the steps onto the second floor, and from the second floor onto the bottom first. Just I come down the stairs I see the owner of the apartment complex, Mr. Albert Benson, but everyone who knows him just calls him Al for short. He's an italian man in about his late forties with a little bit of weight on him and has no hair to cover the bald spot on the top of his head.

  Although he isn't much of a bad guy, he can be really annoying at times if you don't pay rent on time, and he will contuine to bother you about it until he gets what he wants.

  Right now Al is standing outside the door of his very own apartment with his nightrobe on as he smoked a cigarette. When he notices me coming his way he looks at me with a familiar grin on his lips.

  "Good morning, Nathaniel!" Al says in his deep voice. "How are you, my boy?"

  "Mornin', Al," I say as I approach him." I'm doing fine, how are you?"

    "I'm fine, son. Real fine." He places the cigar back in his mouth and when he takes it out a black puff of burning smoke explodes in my face, but I just cough it off and ignore it like it didn't bother me at all. "So, you're going to college to some good grades as always?"

  "Yeah. I have a huge test today in my animal biology class. I've been studying nearly this whole entire month on it."

  "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll do just quite fine," Al promises, giving me a rough pat on my back with his other hand. "You seem like a smart enough lad."

  "Thanks, Al," I grin as I begin to walk away. "I'll see you when I get back."

  "Have a great day!" he chuckles as he watches me exit the complex and into the outside world.

      ***************************************************************************************************************************************

    By vehicle it would have taken me just ten minutes to get to the univeristy, but because I am in a very delightful mood today I decided to arrive there by taking a nice, forty minute walk through Charlottesville. Although the fog makes teh the place seem sort of haunted and ghastly, it also gives out a mysterious beauty that it possesses, like an authentic drawing made by an artist with great taste.

  To me, Charlottesville seems like a pretty nice city. It's not so overpopulated, and at the same time it's not so much barren with life. The famous Blue Ridge Mountains run right across this place, and if you lived where I lived you would know for sure that they are an attractive and incredible sight to come across.

  After several minutes of walking, I come near the street where I usually take a sidewalk that leads to the university, which is now only half a mile away. But as I move closer, I hear this loud, banging sound near the sidewalk. As I come into view I see a construction team posted on the streets, and next to them on the road is a huge cement truck. And the noise that I had heard is coming from a worker using a jackhammer against the ground of the sidewalk.

  "Well, that's just great," I say, noticing my situation.

  I look around and try to find another way to get to UVA, since the sidewalk is off limits. Eventually, I discover an alleyway between the two bluidings just infront of me. Since the path goes forward like the way the sidewalk does, I assume that it is the only shortcut I can use to get to the college on time.

  Making my decision, I walk between the two bluidings with a hope that nothing bad will come upon me. The alleyway doesn't appear to be a narrow one, instead it provides me with enough space to move. The only problem is that the wall of fog infront of me doesn't does reveal what is behind it; and with all the broken and old objects lying around every corner that I see, makes the place feel like an abandoned junkyard. The whole time I walk through the barely visible haze, a ghost of suspense chills my skin with each little step I take. It's a if I somehow know that something big is going to occur, and there's a whisper in my ear telling me that it's not going to be good.

  A distinct noise that I hear from behind causes me to stop dead in my tracks. I turn around to see what the source of the sound is, only to look at a possibly dangerous situation.

  Facing me are at least five men, each of them is wearing a dark, black cloak with a large hood that prevents me from seeing their faces underneath and a scabbard around each of their waists. They stand beside each other in a straight line, making no sounds at all and remainng as still as stone statues. As silent seconds pass away I expect something to happen very soon, because I can feel an air of great tension closing in around the alley.

  After a moment, one of the cloaked men --- the one in the middle --- steps up a few feet. Unlike the others this man is wearing a silver necklace around his neck, which is in the shape of a strange symbol with a red gemstone in the middle.

  "Is your name Nathaniel Lloyd?" the man asks in a rough, crude voice.

  "Um...," is all I say at first, as I wonder in my mind how the hell this person knows my name, especially since I have never met him or his friends before in my entire life. "Yes, it is. How do you know my name, anyway?"

  Instead of answering my question, the man raises his right arm at me with his gloved hand open, and nothing really happens. But soon... something unexplainable that I don't understand comes into effect. An electrifying aura of blood-red energy appears around the man's hand with vast brightness that its light bounces off the wall, and like a well-shot arrow the aura of energy flies off his hand and heads right towards me.

  As soon as I see the danger I am in I duck down just in time as the red jet of lightning whizzes over my head like a hummingbird --- so close that I can feel the heat radiating from it. Alert and now fully awake, I instantaneously spring up on both of my two feet and sprint towards the opposite direction of the alley.

  "Get after him!" I hear the man who had recently shot at me say. "Don't let him escape!"

  My chest pounds ravishly like a train engine as I use all my stamina and strength to get away from those men and into safety. I try not to look back for my own sake, because it will not help me at all to see if they are close to getting me. As I still run to keep my life out of harm's way another jet of red energy like before rushes past me and hits an old, broken computer screen, totally destorying it. A second red jet is thrown at me, but this one hits me directly on my left hand and I let out a yelp as I feel a wildfire of immense pain spread through every nerve and muscle in my arm; but despite that I keep going.

  I see a stack of boxes ahead of me along with a couple of trash cans, which gives me a bright idea. As soon as I get near the boxes I push them behind me to the ground in hopes to slow the men down, and I do the same to the trash cans as well --- knocking them down. I hear some loud grunt as I keep going, and I take a risky peek to see that most of the men had tumbled upon the boxes and cans. An optimistic smile finds its way on my as I think about how I now have the upper hand, and is now possibly close to escaping to freedom.

  But all that joy and hope quickly leaves me and is replaced again by fear and horror as one thing stands in my way, something that I had never expected or had considered to happen.

  And that thing is a wide, brick wall that must be over thirty feet high in the air. I stop running and frantically look around to see if there might be a door or a window or something that would be of use to me, but to no prevail my search is a failed attempt. As of right now, I'm a sitting duck about to be killed by its hunter, or hunters to be literal.

  The cloaked men eventually catch up to me after my little stunt back there, and when they notice my situation I can hear the depraved laughs and taunts coming from inside their hoods.

  "Well, this doesn't look so good for you now, does it?" the man with the silver necklace says, and I can just imagine a poisonous smirk hidden under his hood. "I promise that what we'll do to you will be quite quick --- but then again at the same time I feel like making you suffer nice and slowly, so it might not be so quick after all."

  The man reaches down to his scabbard and pulls out a sword with a large, razor sharp blade, and his followers do the exact same. All I can do is push my back against the wall as the five of them close in on me, knowing that they had me totally in their grasps. There is no way that any help will be able to come to my aid, and if I even try to scream for a rescuer I doubt that anyone will come in time to save me before I am butchered to death. A part of me inside is wishing that all of this is just a bad dream, and that I'm still back at my apartment, sleeping, but I know that I'm only lying to myself to escape the reality of what is about to occur.

  Suddenly, a huge, bright flash of teal-colored light explodes between me and the five men. I shield my eyes with my arm as the powerful blast nearly blinds me. When the quick flash is over I see in front of me a man wearing a white hooded cloack and with two scabbards on his back forming a big X. Although I can't see his nor the front of his body, the men react to his mysterious appearance in an anxious manner.

  "It's a centurion!" one of them shouts angerily. "Kill him!"

Immediately, the so-called "centurion" raises both of his arm behind himself and pulls out the two swords from inside his scabbards. He turns to the cloaked man on the left and thrusts the blade of his right sword deep into his opponent's chest. The man lets out a painful scream in response to the attack, and then somehow, remarkably, his entire body explodes into a huge puff of black smoke --- and his cloak, sword, gloves, and boots are all that remain on the floor.

  The other cloaked man, who was next to his comrade when the centurion had killed him, lifts his sword high up and aims at his enemy's head. But before he could deliver the blow, the centurion deflects the hit by bringing his right sword close to his face, and then he stabs the man in the heart with his left sword. Like his friend earlier, this one turns to smoke as well. Two more of them charge after the centurion with their weapons prepared for bloodshed. The first one to reach him goes into a total frenzy attack, slashing his glimmering sword up and down and left and right like a wild mad man. But the centurion dances through the whole thing, swiftly dodging each assualt that his attacker throws at him. When the man swrings his sword over his head, the centurion takes advantage of the fatal mistake by ducking down, running behind the cloaked fiend, getting back up, and then stabbing him in the back with both his swords, causing him to disperse.

  The fourth man attempts to strike teh centurion from behind, but my savior notices it and turns around just in time to block the attack with his left sword, and uses his other sword to slice off his rival's hand, which falls to the ground and turns to smoke (this one isn't wearing any gloves by the way). The man clutches his wound and yells, before the centurion slits his throat and is destroyed.

  All who is left to fight is the cloaked leader with the silver necklace, who stands right infront of the murderer of his allies.

  "It's time for you to die," he threatens, taking a battle stance.

  "Bring it," I hear the centurion say for the first time.

  The leader charges at him directly and launches several deadly swings at his foe in order to cause great damage. Unlike the others, this man seems to be a master with his fighting skills and better talented, as he delivers blow after blow after blow with intense fury and anger. But the white knight survives each attack by blocking and dodging the leader's blade, and occasionally commits counter-attacks from time to time.

  The graphic brawl contuines for what feels like a minute and both fighter are still going at it like two dogs disputing over a raw piece of meat. Each of their combat styles are both powerful and swiftful in their own way, and I begin to wonder when all of this will end.

  The centurion lifts his swords up and brings them down in hopes to strike his foe. The leader, however, blocks the attack by putting his own sword up, and delivers an effective sweep kick that brings the centurion to the ground and knocks the swords out of his hands. The leader stands over the fallen warrior and is about to strike him down, possibly thinking that he has already won. But before the blade is brought down, the centurion raises his hands, and two jets of teal lightning erupt from them, hitting the leader square in the chest. When this happens the man is sent flying backwards through the air --- with the sword still somehow in his hand --- before he hits the ground below with a loud, hard thud. The leaders recovers quickly with steam rising from cloak on the area where he was shot, and, seeing how he is badly injured, runs away with a noticable limp through the fog.

  As the centurion gets up and goes for his swords, all I can do is stand where I am with my mouth open wide in awe after witnessing the incredible fight that had just transpire infront of my very own eyes. With everything that has just happened --- the chase, me nearly getting slaughtered, the cloaked men turning to smoke as they die and leaving only their clothes and weapons on the ground --- I mentally ask myself if this really is all real.

  I snap out of my train of thought when I see the centurion walking towards me. Besides his white cloak he appears to be wearing a golden set of light armor, such as his breastplate, his gauntlets, his shoulder-guards, and his greaves. Underneath his hood, I see that he has teal eyes and for some strange reason dark green hair. Also, around his waist is what looks like a scabbard belt containing another sword inside.

  "Listen," my rescuer says to me, his voice sounding very serious. "I probably don't have enough time left. That guy might be coming back with some more reinforcement, and I can't handle any more of them. So just here me out, and do what I say."

  "Who are you?" I ask. "And who were those men? Do you know why they wanted me dead?"

  "It's not important who I am," he replies. "And as for those men who tried to kill you back there... Well, let's just say it wasn't for good intentions, but it's very crucial that you remain safe and alive."

  He loosens the belt containing the sword and holds it out infront of me. "Put this on."

  "What? Why?" I ask, feeling very confused and curious.

  "Just do it!" he say, impatiently. "Geez. I just saved your life from five bad guys, so you can at least do me a favor by doing what I tell you to do so you won't get killed."

  Reluctanlty, I do what he says and put on the belt, tightening it around my waist so that it stays there.

  "Good," the centurion says. "Now, there's only one more thing that I need to give you." He reaches inside his cloak and pulls out an old, brown, medium sized book with the symbols of a sun, a cresent moon, and a star on the cover. The title of the book is called Conscientia.

  "This book, right here, is very, very important --- just like that sword you have. You can hide the book if you find a safe place, but you must have the sword with you at all time. Never leave it alone by itself, 'cause it might save your life at the time when you least expect something to happen." He gives me the book, and with quick thought I place it inside my backpack before he asks me to.

  "I still don't understand what's going on," I say.

  The centurion contuines to speak. "I'm going to be sending you a place that's not in this world. You can't stay here because it's not safe yet. The place you're going to is a small, little town, but I forgot what it's called, though. But when you get there ask the local residents if they know where you can find a person by the name of Twilight Sparkle. When you find her, give her this book, and then follow the instructions written on the note inside. There'll be a huge change in your body when you get there, but try not to over-react and just get use to it. Whenever I'm able, I'll meet you there within a couple of days. Good luck."

  The things that the centurion had to me just recently make absolutely no sense at all in my mind. How are these objects that he gave me so important that I have to protect them with my life? What does he mean by that he's going to send me somewhere from not this world? What is this so-called change that is supposed to happen to me when I get there? And who is this Twilight Sparkle character that he wants me to find?

  Before I have even a chance to ask , the man steps back a few feet and holds out a large blue stone that he pulled out from inside his pocket. Adruptly, the stone begins to shine brightly like a morning sun, and out of nowhere this cocoon of energy wraps around my entire body, and I start to feel like I'm floating in midair and I can't do anything to stop myself. A celestial explosion blinds my vision, and I'm no longer standing in the alley.

Chapter 2: The Wilderness

From the words of King David of Israel: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in You, in God, whose word I praise. In God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Psalm 56:3-4

  For what seems to be for minutes I am falling through what looks to be a vortex of some sort, with walls of flashing lights all around me. The sight that I see is too vivid for me to give a good description. The speed that I'm going at is ludicrous, as if I'm riding abroad the world's fastest rollercoaster ride that has ever been made. An incredible rush of cold air runs across my dark skin, causing goosebumps to form everywhere. It's just all so much for me to take in that I don't say anything, and I doubt that I can if I wanted to.

  Out of nowhere, this static feeling of electricty erupts inside my body, and I feel...weird. More than weird. Infact, I feel changed, somehow. But I don't have a clue what it is.

  Suddenly, this large hole opens up at the bottom of the vortex, which I am only a few seconds away from going through. When I get out of the vortex I land on a fresh, green field of grass. The vigorous impact with the ground had caused an ordeal of harm to the front side of my body, and I feel just as worst was I was early this morning.

  I slowly lift my head off the blades of grass and look around to try to figure out where I have been sent to. While observing I appear to be in the middle of a very lush, coniferous forest, with trees all around me that are so high that they block out most of the sun's light. The only noises I hear are those belonging to the various birds and critters living here in the wilderness, so I'm basically the only sentinal being hanging around these parts.

  I get up off the ground and on my feet, but when I do I feel a sudden sense of unbalance and fall back down.

  "What the heck was that about?"

  I look at my legs to see what is wrong with them, and at that the one, single, fatal moment I literally start tripping balls like never before.

  "WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?" I scream at the very top of my freakin' lungs, as I scramble backwards in an extreme, critical state of fright.

  What I see in front of my two own eyes makes me think that I am having a very real-looking hallucination. What I'm staring at are not the legs that I know without a doubt in the world belongs to me, but instead they are legs that look like they belong to an animal or creature of some sort. They are covered in what appears to be a coat of light grey fur and are entirely feetless. Infact, they look like the legs of a horse, and I think that the feetless parts are hooves.

  As my chest pumps up and down, and as I insanely breath out of undescribable shock, I bring my hands up to my face and look at them, only to see that they as well has changed into hooves. Still freaking out over what's happening I spot a little pond a few feet away. I frantically move over to the pond and look at myself in the reflection through the clear water, only I'm not really me. Or at least the me I know.

  Instead, I'm staring at what looks to be a grey horse with a curly black mane and a short tail. It has on the same Linkin Park shirt and the same black leather jacket that I was wearing this morning. And beside the sword scabbard and the backpack, it's also wearing my glasses on its face and my necklace around its neck. The creature even has the same dark brown eyes as me. As I look closer I see a strange mark on its flank. It takes me a while to notice that it's the symbol of a black cross, like that of the christian religion.

  Utterly stupefied, I seek to see if the stallion under the pond is really me. I wave what I think to be my right arm, and the horse does the exact same thing with its front right leg. I then move my head to the left and to the right several times, and like before my relection copies my actions. I do one final thing to see if this is what it truly seems to be, hoping that all of this is just a bad dream.

  "Hello?" I say to the water with a shaken voice, but when the horse's mouth moves at the same time I talk, I'm left speechless.

  I don't get it. I don't understand any of this at all. How in God's name have I been changed from a normal homosaipen being into an equine animal? As much as I wish for all of this to not be real, I'm starting to believe that it is by realizing all the crazy things that I have gone through today.

  Then, like a bullet, it hits me. I suddenly remember what the centurion who saved me from the hands of my would-be murderers had told me before he teleported me here with that strange stone. About how a change would happen to my body when I got there. As I look at my horse-self once again, I come to a conclusion that this must be the change he was talking about. I also remember him telling me not to overreact when I would recieve my new body --- which I did --- and that I should try to get used to it, so after a while my breathing slows down and my heartrate begins to unwind itself.

    But as I start to relax over my change, I also remember another thing that the centurion had told me. He said he was sending me to a small town away from the men who were striving to kill me earlier this morning. So that means that somewhere beyond these woods is a place of civilization, although I wish that I had entered the town itself instead.

  So once again I look around the region of the woods in hopes to find at least a slight sight or hint of a nearby town. It isn't until a minute later that my eyes finally catch something worth my attention. A few miles away, through the thick rows of trees and branches, I see what appears to be a collection of small bluidings just to the west of here. Although the journey there seems to be a far one, a toothful smile beams itself upon my face as I am thankful and glad for the sight I see.

  Making up my mind, I decide to leave the pond and I walk towards the west of the forest. But before I go any further I stop for a bit and give a quick prayer, asking God to provide me with protection and to keep me safe as I go through the forest. After that I keep going.

  As I walk under the shade of countless trees that cool me from the sun's morning heat, my mind wanders off about the recent events that have happened to me today. And while I think about those events, questions begin to arise that I want answered.

  Why did those men in the alleyway tried to kill me so badly? Who were they, and how did they get a hold of my name? Last time I checked I've never did anything bad to piss off five guys wearing scary black cloaks with deadly swords, so I basically don't know what their deal was. And what was with the whole turning-to-smoke thing after they died, anyway? It was like they weren't entirely human, but something else instead; especially since I witness the leader of the gang shot jets of red lightning at me out of his bare hands, like something you would see in a superhero movie. No normal person can ever do that; even the centurion showed to have supernatural powers of his own.

  Speaking of the centurion, who in the wide world is he? How is it that when I am only seconds near the hands of death, he appears out of nowhere in this big flash of light and just downright saves my life? Infact, how did he even knew where I was to get there in time?

  Maybe he was tracking the men who were after me and somehow knew what they planned to do. And even though I'm so grateful for the centurion saving me, I don't understand why he was so determined to do so. We have never met before, but he seems to think of me as an important person since he told me that my life is crucial and that I must remain safe and protected, which is why he gave me this sword.

  And where is the centurion now? Is he still in Charlottesville or is he somewhere else? I remember him saying taht Charlottesville still isn't safe yet, and that the leader who he had maimed during their fight was believed to have gotten reinforcement. Is it possible that there are more of those men running around the city, and could they be looking for other people to kill besides me? Could the centurion be trying to save them as well?

  Not a single answer is found inside my thoughts that can satisfy my desirable questions, so instead of pondering over things that I can't fully apprehend I focus on getting out of this forest.

  It has probably been less than twenty minutes since I've first arrived here, and so my nature trek has been a lengthy and difficult one. With each single step that I take, the wilderness seems to be using its forces against me. Although the trees high up are blocking most of the sun's ray, the thick moisture hanging around the air is so hot and perspiring that it feels like I'm being baked inside a high-cooked oven. Swarms of tiny gnats and other winged insects fly and buzz around me annoyingly as if my body is the most interesting thing they have ever seen; on a few occasions I would swat that them for them to go away, but they always come back in greater numbers.

  Basically the combination of heat and bugs make my trip much more slower, and I start to if I will ever get out of these woods before the sun eventually goes down.

  Also, there is something very off about this forest that gives me an unpleasant vibe. The forest doesn't feels or appears the way a normal forest should be. The shapes and bodies of the trees surrounding me are in hollow and gaunt forms, giving them a dark and almost lifeless demeanor. There are various plants located everywhere --- from flowers to bushes to mushrooms --- of different shape, size, and color tha I have never seen before. From distances away I can hear numerous cries and shouts from the animals that inhabit these woods, and although some of them sound normal, there are others here that create bizzare and unnatural noises that make me feel a bit disturbed and spooked. It feels like I'm more in a haunted, abandoned graveyard than in a forest.

  I don't exactly know what it is, but something is telling me that this is the worst place for me to be right now. Which is why I am trying to hurry out before who knows what happens.

  Behind me I hear a collection of dog-like growls that sound so coarse and angry. I turn around and with deep regret I see four adult wolves glaring at me from several feet away, each in a crouching stance as if they're about to jump on me at any moment. At first they seem like typical, normal wolves, but as I stare closer on I notice something about them that just blows my mind backwards.

  These canine creatures in front of me are made completely out of wood. Besides the creepy, glowing green eyes and the eyebrows made out of leaves, everything else that they have on them is wood. Wooden legs, wooden tails, wooden claws, wooden ears --- you name it, they have it. There's not a single part of them that looks to be flesh or fur.

  I stand as still as possible, hoping that they are just passing by and aren't planning to have me for a snack, but as seconds floats away the four wooden wolves contuine to snarl at me with their sharp teeth exposed for me to see. Knowing that this can't go on forever, I slowly begin to back away from them and try to get rid of all this tension I feel.

  "Ok," I say to the wolves in a soft but nervous voice, "I'm going to be leaving now, so how about you guys just forget that you ever saw me and everything will be a-ok."

  I get a response from what I have just said, but it isn't the one that I was expecting for. As soon as one of the wolves lets out an enraged howl at me, all four of them sprint towards me at great speed with wild barks. I unintentionally swear out loud and immediately run for my life. Of all the animals I could have encounted, why did it have to be wolves? Especially wooden ones.

  I use whatever strength I have within me to escape my ravenous pursuers so that I don't perish Even as a horse it doens't take me much difficulty to run on just four legs. Without a care in the world I use every possible method that I can think of to slow them down. I zigzag between nearby trees and bushes, I run through webs of branches that sorta hurt as I hit them, and I stop for a very quick moment to pick up some rocks and twigs from the ground with my mouth --- since I doubt I can grab them with my fingerless hooves --- and throw them behind me, before running off again.

  But no matter what distraction or trick that I have used, the wolves are still on my tail; their barking contuines to go on, relentlessly. As the chase throughout the scorching, moist forest drives on, I sense my heart and lungs starting to grow weary and distressed as I release exhausted breaths, and I have a strong desire to just stop and rest for a bit. This is a huge problem for me, because if I fall behind and give out, I'm literally dogfood.

  Then, the reminder of the sword around my waist enters my mind. It would probably be a good idea to have it out if something occurs. With some trouble and a bit of wobblines that I quickly control, I stand on my two backlegs --- still running by the way, but like a human --- and pull out the keen bladed weapon out of the scabbard with my right frontleg. Although I don't totally get it, I somehow manage to grip my hoof around the handle of the sword in a tight and secure manner so that it doesn't fall out. I turn my head around a bit to look at the wolves. So far I've managed to keep a good and safe distance away from them, but they seem to catching up.

   The lone wolf in the front of the pack moves up ahead of its comrades and shifts to a large elevated piece of rock that is within the ground on that side. When it reaches the end of the rock it jumps off the tip and soars up twenty feet in midair. I let out a yelp when I notice the wolf is only seconds away from coming down on me.

  Although I am extremely scared at this moment, I know what I have to do. I cease my running with my eyes still on the wolf and stand still as the feral creature opens its dangerous mouth and exposes its claws as he prepares to attack me from above, but before it can even get a chance I swing my sword high up and slice right through him.

  Two things happen after I split it in half. One, when the blade made contact with the body it radiated this glow of auroral golden energy. And two, when I cut through the wolf its body dispersed into a couple of branches, twigs, and tiny logs, which fall to the ground before my eyes in a pile.

  The attention of my mind is caught when I see the second wolf sprinting right at me. It takes a leap and aims for the center of my chest, but I move to the side just in time. When it lands on the ground it turns around and faces me with a nasty growl, as if he's mad that I wouldn't let him hit me. The wolf commits another attempt to jump me, but when he does I make a downward diagonal strike with my sword, which goes right through his neck. Once again the blade produces a golden arc of light, and like his previous buddy this wolf explodes into several pieces of wood.

  When the third wolf arrives it doesn't attack at all. All it does is just stares at me and snarls. Maybe it's thinking of a better way to kill me, or maybe it's afraid of me since I've just slain two of his friends and is hesitating. Whether it's one of or the other I don't risk anymore time, so I bring my blade down against the creature's head.

  I look up to find that the fourth wolf, the last one, has not given up yet and is still pursuing me from many feet away. At that moment I decide to run off again since I'm far away from it, but for safety I keep the sword in my hoof. I only get near a few yards when I suddenly trip on something and fall to the ground. When I recover I see that I had tumbled upon a large tree root that is exposed on top of the earth. Before I can even get up, I discover that the wolf is only five seconds away from getting me, and I raise my left foreleg up in defense.

  I immediately realize that what I did is a fatal mistake when the creature digs his wooden fangs into the flesh of my hoof, and I scream out into the air as a violent wildfire of intense and brutal pain is ignited. The wolf thrashs my foreleg wildly about in his mouth, like how a dog does with its favorite, old chew toy. I desperately try to free myself from the source of my very torment, but my adversary stubbornly keeps its hold on my hand and bites even deeper, inflicting more suffering. Deciding to put an end to this I take a tight grip of my sword and plunge the blade into the wolf's neck, and the green light in the creature's eyes die out as it fall apart completely.

  Knowing that I am finally safe from danger, I brush the wooden remnants of the wolf off my chest and rise off the on my two backlegs.. I closely examine my left hoof and find it to be in a bad condition. Although the wolf hand not bitten too far in, its painted with alot of my blood and there are tiny but noticable holes dugged in my skin, plus there are multiple splinters buried within. On the top of my hoof I spot a tooth belonging to the wolf that is still stuck beneath and I use my teeth to take it out and spit it, but when I do a jolt of pain shocks my nerves and I let out an uncomfortable hiss.

  This is not at all how I envisioned my tuesday to start off when I woke up this morning in my apartment. All I simply wanted to do was go to college, take my marine biology test, go to work, go to the store, and then come back home to repeat the cycle the next day; but instead I get cornered in an alley by cloaked men who were on a mission to kill me, and although my recuser saved me he also teleported me to a mysterious, torrid forest that is inhabited by wolves held together by wood that tried to eat me, and because of that I now have a severe, aching bite wound on my hoof.

  In short, I feel like crap and I just want to rest and lie down before I just fall apart. But despite the craziness that I have been through today, I know that I still have to get to the town and find somebody called Twilight Sparkle to give her the book that the centurion gave me. Also, what kind of parents would give their child that name anyway? It sounds like something off a silly children's TV show.

  Before I restart my journey I take a nice look at my sword and observe its features. The bottom part of the sword is made out of what I assume to be pure gold --- except for the handle --- and it contains three circular sapphires, an oval ruby, and and an emerald in the shape of a hexagon. On the gleaming silver blade there is a small golden section on the tip that has the symbol of a five-pointed star. On the silver part of the blade there are five more well-made symbols engraved on the surface; from top to bottom they are an ocean wave, a cresent moon, a sun, a cloud, and a four-leafed clover.

  My mind is a bit curious as I wonder what was the exact cause of the golden light that appeared when I killed those wolves. I swing it through the thin, invisible air a couple of times, but nothing happens. Then I remember that it only lit up when I striked the wolves.

  I look at a tree next to me and I hit the sword against it. When this happens not only does the blade produces a golden light --- as well as creating a strong vibration --- but the symbols also light up as well, each possessing their own color. the star on the tip glows white, the ocean waves glow dark blue, the cresent moon glows purple, the sun glows a mixture of red and orange, the cloud glows a cyan blue, and the clover glows green.

  After a few seconds the lights around the sword dies off, and I place it back in the scabbard where it belongs. I stare again at my goreish looking hoof and although it's no long bleeding it's still throbbing, and if I leave it unsanitized for a long time it will eventually become infected.

  Hopefully I'm not that far from reaching the town, since being chased by those wolves had increased my speed.

  As a placid atmosphere begins to surround me, I get down on all my four legs and restart my trek throughout the forest, and I try to ignore the pain that I feel in my hoof as I take each careful step above the ground.  Other than the bugs and the heat, there isn't anything else around here that would seem to cause me a great deal of harm, so I guess that my entire journey will stay the way that it is.

  For now, anyways.

***

  After what feels like an hour of endless, tiresome walking I see a clearing some distances outside of the woods with lots of tall, plentiful grass and only a few trees. I jog towards there and exit out of the forest and into the field of grass under the sunlight, but as I leave I feel this weird vibration pass right through me. I stop and look around to find the cause of that, but instead I discover something else that grabs my focus.

  A few feet far off to my left I spot a small house-like cottage that has a huge, green rooftop. If there's somebody in there then maybe I can get my wound taken care of, and also I can ask the owner if he or she knows where I can find Twilight Sparkle. But what will that person's reaction be like when they find a talking horse at their front door. Obivously they will completely freak out and think that they're having a dream that looks so real, but I hope that I can get him or her to listen to me after we meet.

  I go towards the direction of the cottage, reliefed that I finally have escaped the dangers and threats of the mysterious wilderness and is now in a safe environment. I am only halfway there when I suddenly see a thin river wiih lillipads and frogs that is between where I am and where the cottage is. At first I thought that I had to walk through the river to get to the other side, but as i turn towards my right I see a little bridge of land that comes out of the ground.

  I cross over the bridge and onto the frontyard of the cottage, but before I go any further I take regard to the place. Around here are colorful fields of many kinds of wonderful flowers --- from roses to lillies to daisies to buttercups to dandelions and many others. Among the ground I catch tons of woodland critters and animals scurring about, such as ducks, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, beavers, and so on. Within each tree there are small birdhouses that are the homes of many birds, and behind the house for some reason I hear a chatter of clucking, like chickens; and as I look I see that the green roof of the cottage is made out of grass, and it also contains several birdhouses.

  I reach the front door and give it a good knock or two, hoping that somebody is home. And if there is somebody here, I pray that they won't freakout to much when they see me for the first time.

  I wait thirty seconds for someone to open the door, but I get no response so far.

  "Hello? Is anybody in there?" I say as I knock harder this time, and the door opens by itself just a bit.

Maybe this lives far away from the town, I think to myself. Since they obiviously left the door unlock. I would never do that since there's a lot of robberies happening about in Charlottesville.

  I open the door much wider and enter the cottage. The interior of the house is what I would call plain, but at the same time it has a lovely appearance to it. The walls are painted with a nice coat of caramel brown, and the plank floor under my feet is bright lime green. There are typical household items scattered throughout the place such as a couch, picture frames, cabinets, a small table, flower vases, and so on.

  Once again I call out to see if there is somebody here.

  "Hello? Is anybody here? I hate that I came in here like I own the place, but the door was unlocked and I really need help. Hello?"

  Adruptly, my ears catch the noise of peaceful humming from inside what I assume to be a kitchen infront of me in the next room by the way it looks. I move up a bit to do some investigating and suddenly this horse very much like me walks out of there and comes into my view. Judging by its size I'm guessing that the horse is a mare. She has a long, light pink mane that runs across her face and her coat is a lovely shade of pale yellow. In her mouth she is carrying a large sack as she happily hums a song very unknown to me with both her eyes closed and with what I think to be a smile on her lips; she is compeletly unaware that I am even here.

  At first she appears to be a normal horse by my vision, but as I look much sharper I see something about her that causes my eyes to become as big as golf balls. On the mare's back are two, large, equally sized pair of wings with yellow, bird-like feathers.

  This bizzare discovery makes me let out a dumbstruck "woah," which was probably not such a bright idea.

  Alerted, the mare with the wings opens her cyan eyes, and when she spots me standing in the middle of the room she gasps and drops the sack to the floor, and tons of seeds from inside spill everywhere. She stares at me with a face of fright and horror and stands as stiff and still as a startled deer, although the knees of her legs quickly start to wobble out of fear.

  She begins to her open her mouth, but she does so reluctantly as if she's too afraid of me to even speak.

  "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm not going to hurt you or do anything bad to you, I promise. Just please don't scream or freakout," I say as calmly as I can.

  "R-R-Rainbow Dash," the mare suddenly stutters, which surprises me. "H-H-Help me!"

  "No, no, no, no, please!" I say as I start to feel guilty. "I'm so sorry that I scared you, but if you just let me----"

  "Hey! Get away from her, you creep!" a boyish voice shouts angerily next to me. I turn around to find out who said that, when unexpectly this flash of rainbow colors blinds my sight and this vigorous force that feels like someone's raw fist connects with my jaw. I then collapse onto the hard, cold floor and fall into an unconscious slumber.

Chapter 3: Twilight

"You will keep in perfect peace Him whose mind is steadfast, because He trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

  I wake up to find myself staring at total blackness as my eyelids are completely shut closed. The right side of my face feels like it has recently collided head-on into a compact iron wall, which hurts --- a lot; and additionally I sense that my body is lying on something comfortable and flat, although I can't tell what it is for sure.

  Suddenly, a hard object lands upon my chest and I sense it moving. I finally open my eyes and see that the thing is a small, snow white rabbit. The little guy sniffs his pink nose across the fabric of my shirt as if he intends to find something, but when he brings his head up and looks right at me with those big, beady, black eyes he pounces off my chest and hops away on the floor below, going somewhere else.

  Gazing around the living room I'm in, I realize that I am still inside the cottage I had spotted outside the forest, and as for what I am laying on it is the green couch that I saw earlier. After waking up I move my body so that I am now sitting on the couch and I give my forelegs and torso a nice stretch. However, I notice that my left hoof that was bitten by those wooden wolves is now covered in bandages and I don't see any sign of the sword or my backpack in sight.

  "So you finally stopped sleeping, huh?"

  I make a startled shout and nearly jump off the sofa as I am spooked by the voice behind me, and I quickly turn to see who it is. Sitting at the blue table in the far corner of the living room is a light blue mare with birdlike wings on her back. Her long mane and tail, for some weird reason, contain all of the original six colors of the rainbow, from red straight down to purple, and upon the surface of her flank is the image of a white cloud with a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt coming out. She is sitting in a chair completely in the way like a human would sit and is reading a book in her front hooves.

  Although I have just seen her for a few seconds, I realize that she is a pegasus, a horse with wings that is best known in Greek mythology.

  "You have a lot of nerves, you know that?" the pegasus addresses me as she closes her book and gives me an unfriendly scowl, as if I had done something to make her mad. "You think that just because my friend is the type of pony who can't defend herself, that gives you the right to break into her house and try to attack her? Well guess what, bub, it doesn't!"

  "Excuse me?" Is all I can pretty much say, as I have not the slightest clue what the flip she's accusing me of.

  "Don't act like that blow to your head made you lose your memory,"  she scorns at me further, throwing deadly daggers at me from her wine-colored eyes. "You knew what you were going to do when you came over here. You were going to hurt Fluttershy while she was helpless. I saw how scared she was of you, you practically had her shaking."

  The brief mention of me frightening someone reminds me of the yellow pegasus that I had saw when I had first entered the cottage, and I remember the fear in her eyes that was caused by my arrival, which even now makes me feel reprehensive.

  "Wait. You're talking about that yellow pegasus, right?" I ask calmly. "Where is she? Is she ok? I hope I didn't scare her too bad."

  "What's it to you?" she asks with her forelegs crossing each other. "You're looking for another chance to finish her off?"

  "What? No. I just want to know if she's alright. And I wasn't trying to hurt her if that's what you think."

  "Ok then," the pegasus says, still looking at me with an inimical glare. "If you didn't come here to hurt Fluttershy --- but I still think you do --- then why else did you come here?"

  "Well, um, I just wanted some directions towards a town near here. There is a town here, isn't there?"

  "Yeah. It's not that far. But what'd you plan on doing when you get there?"

  I keep my mouth closed for a while as I debate in my mind whether or not to tell her that I need to get to town so I can find Twilight Sparkle and give her the book that the centurion gave me. If I do tell her that, I'm afraid that she'll ask me why I need to see this perticular person, and then I might have to tell her all about what happened to me today, including as well that I'm not from this world. Because if I do, she most likely will not believe a single word I say and will presume I'm lying, then she'll contuine to be on my hide like the hounddog she currently is.

  "Well?" she says, and I can sense her patience edging off a bit.

  "I rather not say."

  "Oh come on!" the pegasus exclaims loudly. "What's the big deal? All I want to know is what your stupid plans for coming here are."

  "I know," I say. "And I don't mean to be rude and all, I really don't, but it's kind of a personal thing that I have to do. I hope you understand. So, can I get my things, wherever they are, and leave?"

  An uncomfortable air of awkward slience spreads throughout the living room as the rainbow maned mare glares at me with her narrowed eyes, and all I do is just wait for something to transpire, but after a while I decide to speak.

  "So...Are you trying to make a decision or are you thinking about something else?" I ask as politely and respectly as can be.

  "You know what I think?" she says. "I think you just want me to believe that you have something to do so I can let you go, and then later on when I'm gone you'll come back here and try to hurt Fluttershy. Like you almost did before!"

  "Look, I already told you that I don't have any intentions on hurting your friend Fluttershy, if that's her name. And there really is something important that I need to do in that town. I'm not lying, I swear."

  "Well if you are saying the truth, then you won't mind telling me why you need to get there."

  "I can't tell you. It's not any of your business," I say in a little frustrated tone, as I just want this pointless interrogation to come to an end.

  "None of my business, huh?" Getting out of her chair, the mare rests her hooves flat on the wooden surface of the table and leans over it, facing me much closer. "Incase you haven't figured it out yet through your numbskull head, you broke into the house of one of my closest friends, a sweet and innocent little gal who wouldn't hurt a fly, and you could have done anything you wanted to her, and I can't stand that! So it is my business to know why you're even here in the first---"

  "Rainbow Dash, who are you talking to?"

  A voice that sounds soft like a child's but also mature like a young woman's interrupts the rainbow maned pegasus and both of us look towards the source of it, and coming down the stairs to my far right is the yellow pegasus.

  When she reaches the bottom, she notices me and the other girl in the living room, but when she takes one good look at me her eyes widen up for a moment in surprise and she stares down at the floor as if she's too afraid to make eye contact with me.

  "Oh. You're awake," she says to me in a timid and almost sad manner, like a little kid during the first day at their new school.

  "Fluttershy, why'd you come down here?" asks the rainbow haired pegasus. "I was just about to get this creep to tell me what I want to know."

  Fluttershy, the pink haired one, looks directly at the other pegasus without any trouble and says, "Well I was just in my room trying to take a nap and I heard you talking like you were mad for some reason, so I came down here to see what it was."

  With difficulty and seemly slight hesitation she turns her head and attempts to put her eyes on me, but once again they fall to the floor and she becomes all sad and shy-looking again with her long hair hiding most of her face. Besides the eye-contact problem, I notice that there are other things about this mare, Fluttershy, that gives her such a meek appearance. The way she looks so small and skinny and how she nervously twists the tip of her backleg against the floor makes her seem so delicate and fragile, like her friend had told me.

  "Um, do you feel ok, mister?" she asks me in a low voice. "I hope that my friend Rainbow Dash didn't hurt you too bad when she hit you. She just wanted to make sure that I was safe."

  I take a quick glance at the mare Rainbow Dash, which I find quite amusing since that name really suits her because of her mane, and remember the boyish voice taht told me to get away from Fluttershy, before my eyes witnessed the flash of rainbow colors and then I get K.O.'d in the face. Connecting the pieces together, I realize that she is the one who got me unconscious.

  I look back at Fluttershy and say, "I'm fine. Although I have a slight ache on the side of my face, I'm doing good. Thanks for asking."

  "Oh, um, you're welcome," Fluttershy replies. "And...um...I'm really glad that you're feeling alright. It's three o'clock in the afternoon and you haven't woked up for a while. I was worried that you were in a coma or something."

  "Woah, woah, woah. Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash says in a way that shows that she had not expected her friend to say that. Using her blue wings to fly in midair, she floats away from the table and goes near Fluttershy, but as she leaves the table one of her wings unintentionally slaps me in the face and I spit out a feather that entered my mouth. "Fluttershy, this guy just came into your house like he owned it with the potential to hurt or do something horrible to you, and you care about him? Aren't you scared?"

  "Well, he didn't look like he wanted to hurt me, he seemed like a very nice and content pony.The only reason why I called you for help is because I was frighten by his appearance, but I probably overreacted a bit. Infact, before you knocked him out he told me that he had no intention ot harm me at all, and he just stood there the whole time. Maybe he's lost."

  "He probably just told you that everything was going to be ok so he could have sneak up on you when you didn't expect it," Rainbow Dash says as she gives me a fast, unpleasant look. "He's dangerous, Fluttershy. We both saw that he had a sword with him. I can just smell trouble all over him. Besides, if he didn't wanted to cause a misunderstanding then why didn't he knock on the door instead of just barging in like he decided to?"

  "Actually," I say, and they both look at me, 'I did knock at the door but none of you two answered it. I did it twice even. Also where did you guys put my backpack and sword, anyway?"

  "Zip it, Four Eyes!" Rainbow Dash orders. "You talk when I tell you to talk!"

Geez. She sounded like my English professor, Mrs. Erbstein, for a second.

  "Think about it, Fluttershy. Are you really gonna believe him or your best friend who you've known since flight school? For all we know he could be one of those ponies who attacked us here in Ponyville two weeks ago, and are causing a lot of crazy stuff to happen all over Equestria."

  "Ponyville?" I say. "Is that what the town here is called? Ponyville? And what is this 'Equestria' place?"

  After finishing my sentence the two pegasi look at me with perplexed and shocked faces, as if what I had just said made absolutely no since to them at all.

  "What?" I ask, wondering why they seem so confused.

  "How the hay do you not know what Equestria is?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Either you were born yesterday, or I must have knocked the heck out of you."

  "Oh...um...well..."

  I can't think of a single good lie to get me out of the tension I slowly feel rising, as the fear of being caught strikes my heart with a sword. I can only estimate that whatever this Equestria place is is very important and known to the inhabitants of this world, which is why Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy reacted the way they did. They must be assuming that I have lived here for all of my life, and that I know everything about this world. Especially since I appear like one of them --- a horse.

  As seconds pass on after seconds, Rainbow Dash looks at me with a scowl that is waiting for an answer; even Fluttershy, who at first could barely stare at me, is now curious as to what I will say. There's only one idea that enters my mind as to what I should say, although I didn't want to explain it earlier because of the possible outcome. It's a long shot, but it's the only shot I have to getting out of here.

  "There's something that I probably should have told you before," I start off. "But I didn't say anything at first because I thought that you wouldn't believe me."

  "What is it?" demands Rainbow Dash. "Spill it out."

  "Ok, then. I'm not really from here."

  "We already know that."

  "I don't mean I'm not from this town. I mean that I'm not from this planet, whatever it's called. I'm from another world."

  Just like I had expected, a disbelieving look appears on Rainbow Dash's face. "What? You're joking, right? You really expect us to fall for that?"

  "Nope," I respond. "I'm not joking at all, although I did expect you to say something like you just did. I'm one-hundred percent serious. I'm not from this world. Infact, this isn't even what I really look like. Although I'm a horse like you two right now, back home I'm a being known as a homosaipen, or simply a human."

  "Horse?" asks Fluttershy. "Don't you mean pony?"

  "What? Aren't you two horses?"

  "No, we're ponies, mister, and so are you. There's a big difference between a horse and a pony."

  "Oh. Ok. But still, I am telling you guys the truth. I belong in another world."

  "Ok, then," says Rainbow Dash. "If you aren't from Equestria, then where are you from?"

  "Well, in my world, which is named Earth, I'm from a rich and powerful country known as the United States of America, or America just for short. And back there I live in a city called Charlottesville within the state of Virginia."

  "Ok. So how exactly did you get from your world to here in the first place?"

  "Well..." In hesitation I chuckle nervously and scratch the back of my head. "That's kind of a long story."

  "I have all day," Rainbow Dash says with an unimpressed look. "Go ahead and tell us."

  Taking a deep, relaxing sigh, I say, "Well, this morning I woke up on the couch in my apartment with a nasty headache because I was up last night studying for a test at my university. After I took a shower and ate my breakfest, I left and began to head to the college. It was very nice and beautiful outside so I decided to walk there; it only takes about forty minutes on foot. I was almost there when I spot a construction crew working on the sidewalk that I usually take, so I had to find another route. That's when I found a huge alleyway right next to me that looked like it might have led to the college, so I took it instead. I was only halfway through when I noitce these five men with swords standing behind me, which was very bizzare.

  "One of them, who I think was the leader of the gang, came up and asked me for my name. After I had replied he tried to shot at me with this red jet of energy that flew out of his hand, but I managed to duck it and I ran off further into the alley. They were all chasing after me from behind, but I threw some stuff in their way to slow them down. Just as I thought I was so close to escaping I saw this big brickwall infront of me, and I didn't have any other way of getting out so I was cornered. When the five men catched up and noticed what my problem was they each drawed out their swords and were just about to kill me, when all of a sudden this blinding flash of light explodes between us, and when it disappears there's this man wearing a white hooded cloak with golden armor underneath. One of the men called him a centurion. The centurion got out a twin set of swords that he had with him and engaged in a fight with the five other men. I have never witness something so intense in all my life.

  "He practically saved my life and killed only four of them because the fifth one, the leader, ran away when he was wounded. After that, the centurion gave me the sword that you saw me have earlier as well as a book that I put in my backpack, and he told me that he was sending me to a town in another world --- which I assume is this one --- because my world isn't safe yet, although I don't know why. Also he said that when I get to the town that I should ask the residents where I can find this certain who he told me to give the book to. That's why I need to get there."

  "And who is this person that he wants you to give the book to?" asks Rainbow Dash.

  "Someone known as Twilight Sparkle."

  As soon as that name left my mouth the annoyed scowl that was once on the cyan pegasus' face has now turned into a furious mask of rage as her eyes flare up with anger and her bare white teeth are shown gritting against each other with such force that I swear to God that they could break apart at any second. Fear is basically touching the center of my heart as I stare at her expression, mentally praying that she won't come over to the couch to pumble me into a million tiny pieces for whatever reason I have caused to upset her.

  Noticing her friend's silent glower, Fluttershy looks at me and says, "Are you sure that the name he told you was Twilight Sparkle?"

  I nod. "Yes, it is. Why? Is there a problem?"

  "It's just that we have a close friend that goes by that name. She lives right here in Ponyville. But why does the...What was he called again?"

  "A centurion."

  "Why did the centurion wanted you to give the book to her? Is it important?"

  I shrug. "I don't know. I was going to ask him some questions when he pulled out this blue stone out of his cloak, and when he held it in front of me it started to glow and I was sent to a wormhole of some sort. After that I ended up in a lush, hot forest as a horse --- I mean pony, and I spent a whole hour traveling through it so I could get to the town, but I ended up at your cottage instead. And that's pretty much my story, so far."

  "When you say you were in a forest," says Fluttershy, "do you mean the one right next to my house?"

  "Yeah," I reply with another nod. "I came out of those woods and found your house near the river."

  "WHAT?!?" Rainbow Dash shouts at a very high volume without any warning, scaring Fluttershy and I. "There's no way in the entire world you could have gotten out of the Everfree Forest without triggering the force field!"

  "Force field?" What are you talking about? I didn't see any force field when I came out of the woods."

  "You're lying through your teeth! I bet you used some dark magic or powers to help you sneak into the field undetected like a coward. Infact, I'm pretty sure you're one of those ponies who tried to kill us during this month, aren't you?"

  "For the last time, I already told you guys that I'm not here to hurt anyone, at all. You heard what I just told you about how I got from my world to here."

  "Phhf!" scoffs Rainbow Dash as she waves her hoof in the air in one motion. "As if I'm going to believe that story. It's so fake that is sounds like it came from the imagination of a four year old. I mean seriously --- how can one guy stand against that many enemies by himself?"

  "Well," I say, "it is understandable how that could ever happen, but it did because I saw it with my own eyes."

  "You know what? I've had enough of all this horsing around!" Reaching her breaking point, Rainbow flies back to the table, grabs one of the wooden chairs, and floats infront of me at least ten feet away. She drops the chair on the floor and sits in it backwards with her forelegs resting on the top.

  Glaring at me angerily, she says, "Fluttershy, go to the library to get Twilight and tell her to come over here, so she can use a spell or something to see if this punk is one of those freaks."

  "W-Why do I have to go get her?" she asks. "Maybe it would be better if I stay here and you go to the library instead, since you're---"

  "No," Rainbow Dash interrupts. "Not to be offensive, Fluttershy, but you're not really the type of pony who knows how to fight back. I don't want him to overpower you if you're here by yourself. Trust me, if this dude even thinks about jumping me, it'll be the last thing he ever does."

  "Oh...Well...Ok, then. I'll go ahead and get Twilight."

  Reluctantly, Fluttershy follows her friend's request and walks to the door, and just as she grabs a hold of the handle and creaks it open the yellow mare stares at me in a way that shows that it is out of interest. But when I move my own eyes to look at her and she notices me, both of her cheeks flush a bright scarlet red and a small "eeep!" escapes from her mouth, and she quickly brings her head down with a shameful frown.

  She exits out of the door and closes it, leaving me and Rainbow alone in the cottage.

  In my curiousity I begin to ponder in my mind on why Fluttershy blushed like a ripe tomato when I made eye contact with her, and why she seemed so embrassed by what she did that she tried to hide her face from me. I know that she gave a very shy introduction of herself with very little words at first, but the way she acted just before she left makes me wonder what she thinks about me, although I already know that Fluttershy thinks that I didn't break into her house to bring any harm upon her.

  A growl cuts me off from my train of thought and I look up to see Rainbow Dash still sitting in the chair with the same, familiar scowl that has been on her face ever since I woke up. That unkind grimace of her's is making feel extremely uneasy in my stomach, and also a bit scared. She's just remaining where she is without making any bodily movement at all, like a marble statue in the middle of the local park; the only part of her that actually does move are her eyelids whenever she blinks.

  Biting my bottom lip, I uncomfortably squirm myself on the couch as I try my best to avoid looking at my taciturn sentry by gazing aimlessly from one corner of the room to another. Oddly at certain moments, I catch glances of woodland creatures that come out of nowhere scurrying across the place, and after a couple of seconds most of them go away somewhere else. Most of the animals that i see are very small species, such as rabbits, mice, mongooses, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, ducks, hummingbirds, bluejays, and one occasion a lone skunk, which thankfully didn't reek. Seeing as how there's just a whole bunch of them living here, I can assume that Fluttershy must freely invite them to her house without much care nor worry, although I find it quite weird that none of these animals are the household, domesticated kind, like a simple dog or cat.

  I gaze at a clock in the form of a birdhouse on the wall, and by observing its arms I discover that the time is 3:42pm; Flutteshy said that I woke up sometime at three 'o clock, so it's been nearly half an hour since she'd left. Hopefully she will be back soon so I can finally give Twilight Sparkle the book, and also get Rainbow Dash off my back, as well.

  After a while my eyes focus down on my injured hoof that is wrapped in soft, white bandages. I recollect the memories of my voyage through the forest after my deadly encounter with the wooden wolves, and I remember how tough and painful it was because of the torturous affliction that was brought upon me. But now I no longer sense it.

  "Hey, Rainbow Dash. Who took care of my hoof?"

  "First of all, don't use my name like we know each other, 'cuz we don't. Infact, don't use my name at all when you talk to me. And second, Fluttershy is the one who bandaged it after I knocked your lights out."

  I hold it up infront of my face and examine it. "She must have done a real good job, by the looks of it."

  "Well, if you're that grateful for what she did for you then you won't try any sneaky tricks."

  I look at her with a calm expression and a small smile. "I promise, I won't pull anything stupid. I know that the feelings you have for me right now aren't exactly positive, and I understand why. You're very concern about your friend, Flutteshy, since I came in here all unexpected, and you just want to make sure that she's in safe care. That seems completely reasonable to me."

  With a feeling of suspicion, she narrows her eyebrows. "Why do you sound like you're apologizing for all of a sudden?"

  "To be honest, I feel kind of bad for scaring Fluttershy like that, and then enraging you since you felt like I was trying to hurt her. But the only reason why I came in here without her permission is because I was in need of finding Twilight Sparkle. I swear, I don't have any bad intentions in my mind."

  The scowl on her blue pegasus' face starts to fade away at a normal progress, and she stares at the floor.

  "Well...I still believe that you're up to no good. And i'm pretty sure I'll be proven right when Twilight comes over here to settle this."

  I at last relax myself and settle down in the couch, knowing that I don't have to worry about Rainbow Dash glaring at me as if I'm upsetting her. After all the chaos that's occur I think that I deserve a chance to rest a little bit. Don't I?

  "So what is your name, by the way?" Rainbow Dash asks. "You haven't told us what it is yet and we haven't asked you to tell us either."

  "My name's Nathaniel," I say. "Nathaniel Lloyd."

  "Nathaniel? That's a weird name. Doesn't sound like one from Equestria," she adds, before looking at the floor again in silence.

  Many minutes pass on as an air of peace and tranquilty spreads throughout the living room. Other than the constant chatter of animals, the rest of the place is somewhat quiet. I find a window to my left and I look past the glass frame to gaze at the baby blue sky above, along with the numerous white, puffy clouds and that bright yellow star known as the sun. That radiating sphere in the air is so warm that I can feel its shining rays hitting the skin under my grey coat through the clear glass. Just admiring the beautiful nature of the outdoors gives me a sense of happiness and serenity inside, as if someone flipped on my light switch and I bright up with positive energy.

  I break away from the window when my ears catch the sound of a door being open. Turning my head I look to see Fluttershy entering the cottage, and behind her is another pony, who I'm guessing is a mare, but as they get closer I realize that the mare is a unicorn, as I see the horn on the surface of her forehead. The unicorn's coat is a light shade of purple and her mane and tail are dark blue, along with violet and rose pink highlights.

  "Finally!" Rainbow Dash says to the two ponies. "It's about time you guys came. What took you so long?"

  "Fluttershy told me about everything that happened," says the purple unicorn. "Is that him over there?"

  The scorn that I dreaded so much returns before returns to Rainbow's face when she puts her eyes on me. "Yeah. That's the creep who had the nerves to break in. I've been watching him like a hawk to make sure that he doesn't try anything funny."

Which I said I wouldn't do, and I haven't

  The unicorn stares right at me with a calm demeanor and she walks towards the couch.

  "Is it true about what you told my friends?" she asks, standing in front of me. "That you're not from this world, and that instead you live in a far away country called the United States of America?"

  "Yes," I answer clearly.

  "My friend also told me as well about how you were attack on your way to your college and how you were sent from your home to here by that mysterious white cloaked figure the centurion, that is if it's even true. No offensive at all, but the whole thing sounded like it was all made up after she finished talking, especially the part where you say that you're really a different being known as a homosaipen or human, the  but she told me that Rainbow Dash thinks that you're up to no good, and that it would be best if I came over here to see what I can do."

  "Ok."

  Although I have just met her, for some reason that I can't fully explain, I already sense a special vibe coming off of her. When I heard the unicorn speak to me her words sounded very mature and polite and steady and fluent, without any stuttering or pauses, and while she was talking she kept her complete attention on me the whole time, and during that time her expression was one neither of anger nor shyness, like Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy, but of focus instead. And because of that vibe I am a little curious about what her full character is like, which to me is very unusual because I don't even know who she is exactly.

  Speaking of that...

  "Are you Twilight Sparkle?" I ask.

  "Why, yes. Yes I am," the unicorn replies, and once again I get that mature/young adult feeling from her. "And what is you name? My friend who came to get me never said anything about it."

  "I'm Nathaniel. Nathaniel Lloyd."

  "Well, Nathaniel, my friend, Fluttershy, says that the exact reason that you needed to find me here in Ponyville is because of a book that the centurion supposedly gave you before he teleported you. Am I right?"

  "Yes. He told me that when I find you that we have to follow some instructions that are inside. I would give it to you if I could, but it's in my backpack, and I don't known where it is, along with my sword."

  "Did you lose them before you came here?"

  "No," Rainbow Dash suddenly says. "I took them off of him after I knocked him out and put them in the kitchen so he can't use them."

  The unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, bites her bottom lip as she turns her head and stares at the floor with her eyes focused on it. I can tell that she is in deep thought about something going on in her head, because that's how I sorta look like when I"m concentrating on a certain topic in my mind.

  After a quick moment of thinking, she looks back at me and says, "I'm going to the kitchen to get your backpack so I can check out the book you're talking about. What does it look like?"

  "It's green, with a little bit of blue"

  Before Twilight can even take a single step, Rainbow Dash flies out of her chair and floats besides her.

  "Wait a second!" she exclaims wildly. "Aren't you forgetting to do something, Twi?"

  "What's wrong, Rainbow?"

  "Didn't Fluttershy tell you that there's a huge chance that this dude might be one of those freaks who tried to kill us this month? Which is why you should probably use some of your magical skills to peek inside that mind of his and find out what he knows about us. He could be one of their assassins or something sent on a mission to finish the rest of us off."

  "Well, Fluttershy said that you had suspicions about him being a burglar or a criminal, but she didn't say anything about him being one of the ponies who attacked us early this August." She takes a fast look at me and then back to her friend. "And he doesn't even look like one of them, so prehaps I don't need to interrogate him."

Did she just say that this month is August? Isn't it suppose to be February, instead?

  "Ok, that may be true," says Rainbow, "but I still think he's one of them. He said earlier that he was traveling through the Everfree Forest on his way to town when he saw Fluttershy's cottage, which means that he must have gotten through the force field you put up in order to get here."

  At that instant Twilight's eyes went completely wide, and a look of surprise shows itself on her face.

  "Are you sure?" she asks Rainbow Dash. "I would have felt a click in my mind if something was distrubing the force field. Plus it would have gone off."

  "I'm serious. He must have used some kind of black witchcraft to get through without alerting you are setting it off."

  "But Dash," Fluttershy says, still standing near the door. She hasn't said a single word since she left, so I almost forgot that she was even there. "He's an earth pony, not a unicorn. He can't perform magic."

  "Well some of those guys who attacked us were mostly earth ponies and they did a bunch of freakish stuff pretty much like unicorns, which is even another good reason for why he might be one of them. So what do you think, Twi? Can you perform a spell that can get you inside of his head?"

  Twilight examines me in a way that makes me feel worried and nervous, 'cause even though she doesn't seem angry with me I can sense that she has gain some new feelings for me that I can only assume are rather suspicious.

  "There is a mental search spell I know that allows the user to peek inside of a pony's mind for a short amount of time," she says, keeping her eyes on me. "It'll also allow me to see whether his aura contains either positive or negative energy. But I haven't exactly tried it before, so it might be hard for me to conjure."

  "Take all the time you need," Rainbow says. "Just as long as you expose him for what he really is."

  "Hold on a minute. What do you plan on doing?" I ask, my voice containing a hint of fear.

  "I'm going to use a spell to search your mind to see if you know anything about some of the residents in Ponyille or Equestria," Twilight says. "And to see if you're a good or bad pony."

  "W-W-What if I don't approve of you looking inside of my head?" I stutter, because I dont' want her to mess up anything in there that'll be permanent, that is if she can even do it, but after all the stuff that I saw today --- men made out of smoke, magical abilites, teleportation, transforming into a equine creature, wooden wolves, pegasi and unicorns--- I don't highly doubt it.

  "Fluttershy said that you don't have any intentions for hurting anypony here in Ponyville. If you really are telling the truth about that, and the truth that you're from a different world, then you won't be afraid if I check that you are who you say you are. And although I may not show the same hostility towards you like Rainbow Dash does, I don't appreciate ponies who try to harm my friends or anypony else that I'm close to. So if I do find out that you are lying and that you did come here to do something horrible to Fluttershy, you're going to regret it. I can promise you that."

  Her tone in the last two sentences were not fierce or threatening, but she sounded downright serious, which is enough to make me take a big gulp deep in my throat. Since I have no other opinions to choose from, I simply nod. "OK. Go ahead. I won't fight back or anything."

  Placing both of her hooves on each side of my face --- which feels really awkward --- Twilight stares at me with those dark violet eyes of her's and slowly brings her head towards mine. Suddenly, a bright purple aura of light glows around her horn as she moves it near my face, and during that time soft but incredibly scared breaths escape my mouth.

  Just as I have the sudden desire to jump off the couch and runaway, Twilight's horn makes contact with my forehead and immediately this radiant, purple explosion fills up my complete vision, and I am no longer in the living room with the three mares. My whole entire body feels like it's moving through the very fabric of time and space at a numbingly high top speed that I can't even explain. Adruptly, moving images begin to flood my mind, and I soon figure out that they are my memories. My toddlerhood, my childhood, my teenage years, prom night, high school graduation --- they all flash before my eyes as if I'm flipping through TV channels.

  All of these pictures that I see fade away however, and in the blink of an eye I'm back in the living room, still sitting on the couch. Exhausted, Twilight kneels down on the floor as she takes deep, desperate gasps for air, as if her life depends on it. Whatever she did in her mind must have really knocked the wind out of her, while as for me I feel totally normal and unharmed, phsyically and mentally. I guess I shouldn't have been so frighten after all.

  "Wow...," she says in between breaths. "That was... a tough... spell."

  "So it worked, than?" Rainbow asks. "Did you get anything out of him? Is he one of them?"

  Getting off the floor, Twilight shakes her head. "No... He's not one of them. And I didn't see anything about Equestria or Ponyville or us anywhere in his mind. And as for his aura..." The unicorn gazes at me once more, but this time I see a weird emotion on her face, as if I am somehow intriguing to her sight.

  "Twilight? What were you going to say?" Fluttershy speaks, and that takes Twilight out of her trance.

  "Sorry. I was thinking about something. I was going to say that his aura doesn't seem to be filled with negative energy, at least not a lot. A whole bunch of it is just positive. I think what he said is actually true. Although it might sound strange, he probably isn't from this world."

  A little bit of thankfulness enters my heart as I am glad that Twilight Sparkle believes me. But the feeling I get when Rainbow Dash gives me an evil eye tells another story.

  "I'm not falling for your lie. I still think you're one of them!"

Ugh! Man, why do you still have such a beef against me? Are you really that stubborn?

  "Rainbow," says Twilight, "I just checked the inside of his mind not so long ago. He's telling the truth! Are you that hardheaded? Why do you still assume that he's a threat?"

  "Because he got through the force field without triggering it! Like I said before, he probably did some freakish stuff to get in here, and he might have done the same thing when you went inside his head. He could have tricked you into thinking that he's innocent!"

  "Dash, I'm pretty sure that Nathaniel here didn't do anything at all to mess up my spell. I was in control the whole time, and I should probably look at that book that he was talking about right now. Maybe we can worry about how he got through the field later on."

  "No! I wanna find out right now!" Without any warning, Rainbow Dash grabs the front collar of my Linking Park shirt and pulls me off the couch. She starts to drag me across the room like one would do with a garbage bag, and I try get away from her by prying off her hooves, but she's so determined for whatever reason that her grip on me is unbelievably strong.

  "Hey! Let me go!" I shout. "Come on! Will you please stop?"

  "I'll let you go if you tell me what you're up to."

  "But I'm not up to anything, I swear!"

  "Then I'm not letting go!"

  "Rainbow Dash, stop it!" Twilight yells behind us. "What in Equestria do you plan on doing with him?"

  "You'll see. And when you do, you'll believe what I've been saying this whole time."

  Walking past Fluttershy, who just stares at what's happening with her mouth slightly open in confusion, Rainbow opens the door and takes me outside. From the front yard, we walk across the land bridge over the river and go through the grass field. When we reach the edge of the field that is near the forest, Rainbow Dash releases her grip on my collar and I'm free, but I don't run away.

  "This should be far enough," she says to herself.

  Hearing footsteps through the grass, I turn around and see Twilight Sparkle sprinting towards us, with Fluttershy behind her.

  "Rainbow. What did you bring him out here for?" she demands.

  "I want to know how he got through the force field."

  "I don't see it," I say.

  "That's because it's an invisible one, idiot. Stretch your hoof out."

  I blink at her. "Why?"

  "Nothing can get in or out of the field. If your hoof doesn't manage to get that far, than maybe I'll believe that you're not a threat. Maybe.

  Slowly, I raise my right foreleg up and gently move it forward. After a few seconds, a strong vibration --- much like the one I had felt when I left the forest --- spreads throughout my body, and in front of my eyes I see a water-like ring of rippling purple light surrounding my foreleg. If I could see my own expression, my only guess is that I would describe it as astounished.

  Once I take my foreleg out of the field, Rainbow attempts to do the same thing as me, but her hoof is blocked by a smug of purple light which prevents her from going further.

  "I knew it! I'm right!" she yells as she walks near Twilight. "Did you see that? He just got through the force field while I couldn't. And he didn't even use any spells or incantations. You have to believe that he's one of them now."

  Twilight looks at me with a scowl that smells suspicion arising from me, and I can sense that she wants me to explain myself right now.

  "Hey," I say, "I don't have a clue how I was able to do that while Rainbow couldn't, but I swear on my life that I'm not here to hurt anyone."

  "You're just spilling out a bunch of more lies!" Rainbow accuses harshly. "You can stop playing this stupid game, 'cause we all know who you really are. So how did you do that?" She grabs the chain of my cross necklace and moves it closer to her eyes. "Is this how you got through? Is it like magical or something?"

  "Get off!" I yell, smacking her hoof off my necklace and stepping back from her. "Don't you think that if I was some assassin or bad guy I would have killed you and your friends by now? But I haven't, so tha should let you know that everything I just told you is the truth."

  She turns her head towards Twilight. "You don't believe him, do you, Twi? You have to realize by now that he could be a danger to everyone in Ponyville. I think that the best thing for you to do is to use a restrianing spell on him and send him to the police station, so he can't hurt anypony. So what do you say?"

  In silence, Twilight places her hoof under her chin and goes into deep thought. While focusing on what is on her mind, she often takes random glances between me and Rainbow Dash.

  After three minutes of mental debating, she releases a soft sigh and speaks.

  "Rainbow, I'm going to bring Nathaniel with me to the library so we can check out this book. It's almost getting dark, so I can't do it right now. And since he has nowhere else to go, he'll be staying with me until this matter is settled."

  "What!?!" Rainbow screams. "I can't believe you! You're taking his side over mine? Why?"

  "Because... I just have a feeling that this is the best decision. I don't know why exactly, but that's how I feel. And you don't have to worry about me. I know how do defend myself, at least magically, anyway."

  All Rainbow Dash can do is let out a furious shout into the air, which I admit makes my heart jump a bit.

  "Nathaniel," Twilight says. "Can you go to Fluttershy's kitchen and gather your belongings before we leave?"

  "Sure." I take a jog back towards the frontyard and enter the cottage through the already oepn door. Walking past several animals, I go into the small kitchen next to the living room and find my backpack and the sword laying infront of the refrigerator. After putting on the backpack and the swordbelt, I leave the cottage, respectfully closing the door, and run to the mares back in the field.

  "I'm ready to go," I inform Twilght.

  "Ok, then. Hey, why is your hoof covered in bandages? Did something bad happen?"

  "Oh, that. Well, while I was walking through the forest I encountered these four wolves that were made entirely out of wood and they started to chase me. I killed all of them with my sword, but one of them managed to bite me."

  "Wooden wolves? Do you mean timberwolves?"

  I shrug. "I guess so, if that's what they're called."

  "But where did your bandages come from?"

  "Well, your friend, Rainbow Dash, told me taht Fluttershy did it while I was unconscious." I look right at Fluttershy who is on my right. "Is that true?"

  Biting her lip nervously, the poor, shy pegasus once again cannot make full eye contact with me, so she stares mostly stares at the blades of grass. "Um... Yes, it's true. I... I wrapped up your hoof while you were sleeping. It just looked so horrible and bloody that I couldn't let it get infected. I also put some rubbing alcohol and some ointment on your hoof so that it may feel well... Um, so how does it feel now?"

  I chuckle. "It feels fine. Better than before, even. You have no idea how much pain I was in before I came to your house. Thanks."

  When Fluttershy catches the small, grateful smile that I shoot at her, she blushes uncontrollably like before and with a little whimper she hides her face underneath her long, pink mane, and because of that I raise my brow in confusion.

  "It'll be dark by the time we reach the library, so we should go right now," Twilight tells me.

  "Ok. Like I said before, I'm ready."

  Before we make our departure, I feel a hoof grip my shoulder and spin me around, which leaves me facing an enraged Rainbow Dash.

  "Listen here, you little punk. I don't care what Twilight thinks about you. If you do anything horrible to my friend or anyone else, I'll make you regret the day you were ever born. Got it?"

  Being wise with my words, I carefully say,"I'll keep that in mind, thank you. And I promise that I won't do anything to her at all. Goodbye you two."

  And with that being said, I catch up with Twilight and the two of us walk upon the dirt road overhead, leaving the field.

Chapter 4: New Home, Sweet, New Home

From the words of Apostle Paul of Tarsus: "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let you conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:5-6

  Traveling under the dark, glowing orange horizon of the setting sun, I get a nice, good look at the little town known as Ponyville. Its architecture is a bit different from what I've seen in Charlottesville. Though some of the small bluidings that me and Twilight pass by appear normal, being made out of material such as bricks and wood, some houses around us for some reason have hay-covered rooftops, which makes me wonder in my mind how they are able to withstand being blown away if a fierce, windy storm decides to show its ugly face. The street below our very hooves are made out of cobblestone like in 19th century London, and I don't see any modern automobiles around here, although one time I do see a stallion pulling a carriage that looked like a taxi, and inside it was another pony.

  And as for the local residents that I see, that's a whole other story to tell. Most of the colorful ponies here seem normal, like me, but there are also unicorns and pegasi that roam around the streets. Also, I am amazed by how these equine creatures act so much like humans do. On the front lawn of someone's house, I see two young colts cheerfully playing frisbee with each other using only their mouths, and sitting at the table on the porch is a stallion and a mare --- who I assume are married --- who are having a conversation while they watch their children play. And walking to my left, a male unicorn wearing glasses is levitating a grocery bag next to him that is glowing green, just like his horn. This place is almost like a ponified version of Earth, except with less technology.

  A couple of the denizens of this small village begin to take great notice of me, and for different reasons. On the sidewalk opposite of us, a little colt walking with his mother regards the sword in my scabbard and tells her about it as he points his hoof at me, asking her questions such as why am I carrying it and if I am a soldier. I hear a few ponies that me and Twilight pass by make comments not only about my sword but as how I don't seem to be from these parts of town, which bothers me a bit.

  But of all the reactions that I receive, there is one that really works up my mind. As me and Twilight approach a group of mares sitting at a table outside of a restaurant, one of them stares right at me when I come into her view and gives me a rather saucy grin with a flutter of her eyelashes. She leans over the table to say something to her other three friends, and when their eyes fall upon me, a giddy fit of jovial giggles erupts from all of them. Although I can't clearly understand all of their sentences because they're talking in low whispers, my ears do catch some words such as "cute" and "hot" and "dreamboat" and "handsome" and so on.

  And even as we walk away from the restaurant I can still hear the mares' voices from far behind, and I feel the heat in my cheeks rise up in embrassment as I think about how they are describing me by my looks.

    An hour has gone by since we left Fluttershy's cottage, and we have not arrived yet at this library that Twilight said she's taking me to.

  I look at her, still walking. "Um, Twilight?"

  She turns her head towards me. "Yes?"

  "How far is the library that you told me we were going to? It just that we've been walking for a while and we haven't encountered it yet."

  "Well, we're almost there. Infact, it's right infront of us, right over there."

  She stretches out her foreleg and points to a tree many feet away in out direction.

  "But isn't that a tree?" I squint my eyes. "And a very big one by the looks of it."

  "Yes, but in a way it's also a bluiding with a complex interior."

  Amazed, I make a small chuckle. "Wow. A library made to look like a tree. Never seen that before. So, after we finish reading that letter and then check out the book, are we going to wherever you live? I'm sorry if that sounded strange, but you said that I could live with you until whatever is going on is settled."

  "Actually, I live in the library, so you're basically going to be here the whole time."

  "Your house is a library?" I ask, giving her a quizzical face.

  "Yes. I know it sounds kind of bizzare for me not to live in a normal house. There's a reason for why I live here, but it's a very long story and it'll take me sometime to explain it to you."

  "Oh. Ok."

  As we get closer to the library, I get a very better appearance of the what it is like. The tree must be at least two stories high, with multiple glass windows coming out of the brown bark, and two balconies --- the one at the very top has a normal size telescope. Infront of the tree is a sign with a book on it that says "GOLDEN OAKS PUBLIC LIBRARY."

  When we approach the front door of the library, Twilight's horn glows purple like before and an aura of the same color forms around the handle of the door, opening it wide. With a tilt of her head, she motions for me to enter and I do. As the two of us get inside, I see that the place does indeed look like a normal library, despite the fact that the floors, walls, and ceiling are made out of wood. Throughout the floor level I see various rows of books placed in many shelves that are spread around, and it reminds me very much of the library in Charolettesville.

  "You can go ahead and get out that book," Twilight tells me. "And as for your backpack, you can just leave it right under this coat rack, if you want."

  "Alright," I say, taking off my backpack and pulling out the book with my mouth, before dropping the backpack on the floor.

  Just as I begin to follow her out of the hallway, a young, male voice speaks out from somewhere in the library.

  "Twilight? Is that you?"

  Coming out of a room on the left side is a small lizard-like creature with purple scales, bright green spikes, lime green ears, and dark green eyes with diamond pupils. And for some reason that I cannot understand, the creature is wearing a white kitchen arpon with pink fluffly stuff on the top and bottom, and a magenta colored heart in the center.

  When the creature sees me standing in the hallway with Twilight, its cheeks burn crimson red and it rapidly darts its eyes at me and its apron. It takes off the girly garment and tosses it to the side, and when it falls to the floor the creature kicks it further out of my view.

  "Hey, Spike," Twilight says to the lizard creature casually, like she knows it. "I hope that I wasn't gone for a long amount of time. Are you already cooking dinner? I think I can smell it."

  "Um... Twilight? Who's that next to you?" the creature, Spike, asks her, pointing its clawed finger directly at me. By its voice I can tell that it's a male.

  "Oh, this stallion here is named Nathaniel. Nathaniel Lloyd. He's not exactly from Ponyville."

  "Ok. But why did you bring him over here? The library's closed for the day."

  "I can't really explain it to you right now, Spike, but I'll tell you everything during dinner, whenever you're done. Right now me and Nathaniel have something important to do." She looks at me. "We can check out the book in the reading area. I'll show you where it is."

  With a nod I contuine to follow behind Twilight, passing by the creature known as Spike, who picks up the apron and returns to the place where he was before.

  "Twilight?" I ask the unicorn, with the book still in my mouth.

  "Yes, Nathaniel?" she replies without turning her head at me.

  "Do you mind if I ask you what exactly your friend, Spike, is? Not that i mean to be rude by asking. It's just that all of the residents that I saw were ponies, and I never saw one lizard-like creature that looked like him."

  "Spike is a baby dragon. Well, he's not really an infant, but he's a very young dragon."

  "Are there any other dragons that live here, at all?"

  "Nope. At least not a lot. They basically inhabit places outside of Equestria like wastelands and mountain valleys."

  "So, is he like a friend of your's, or is he just here to help you around the library?"

  "Both. He's a very good, close friend and a very helpful assistant."

  We end up in a large room with several book shelves and a round wooden table in the middle that seems to be connected to the floor. After Twilight sits down in one of the chairs, I do the same and place the book on the surface of the table.

   Twilight squints at the title. "Conscientia. It's kind of small. I wonder what kind of book this is. I've never heard of it before."

  "Let's see if we can find that note that the centurion told me about."

  I take the book in my hooves to open it, and behind the front cover I see a square, folded piece of paper taped on it and it says 'READ'. I attempt to take off the with great difficulty because of my lack of fingers, so Twilight decides to rip off the tape with her magic and levitates the note. She unfolds it and begins to read what is written:

  "Nathaniel Lloyd, if you are now reading this letter then that must mean that you are in the care of Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, which also means that she is reading this as well. I will like to let you know that the world I have sent you to is a kingdom called Equestria, and if you have already experinced the place, you must know that it is very different from your home, Earth. I hope that you did not overreact to your new appearance, but now you will blend in perfectly with everypony else.

  "The reason that I have sent you to Equestria in the first place is because your life is in serious danger. There is a group of wicked ponies who plan on killing you. I don't have much space on this paper to explain, but I will tell you the reason for why they want you dead later on when I arrive to Ponyville after taking care of some business, but for right now you must remain in town for your own safety.

  "I must inform you that the ponies after your life are not only in your world, but also this world as well, and I have a feeling that there may even be a possibility that there are some spies here in Ponyville. Therefore, be careful with who you are around. Do not use your original name or talk about anything from Earth. Instead, make up a new alias for yourself and study about the world of Equestria. You will be here for a long time.

  "And as for the book itself, the Conscientia, it contains very useful information that is important later on, but do not worry about it until I arrive. May you remain protected and well nourished in these troublesome times.

---Arion

  "A reminder: Keep the sword with you at *ALL** times and hide the book.* "

  "Is that all?" I ask her.

  She turns the paper over. "I think so. There's nothing else on the back."

  "Oh," I sigh. I am very disappointed that the centurion couldn't write down the exact reason for why I am being hunted down, and because of that it feels like I'm at a complete dead end, although I have gotten so far to come here and find Twilight.

  After a moment of quietness, I ask Twilight, "So what do you think I should do now?"

  She smoothly smacks her lips in thought. "Well, the letter did said that you should learn everything you can about Equestria, and that you might have to make up a new name for yourself as well." The purple unicorn gets out of her chair and trots towards one of the shelves in the far back. With a glow of her horn, Twilight uses her magic to pull out a very huge teal colored book and then returns to the table. She gently drops it infront of me so I can see the title of it, written in fine, curvise, golden letters.

  "The Complete History of the Kingdom of Equestria by Atlas Globus," Twilight infroms me with a friendly grin. "It has everthing you need to know about Equestria, from past to present. It should be a very helpful guide for you."

  "Thank you," I say. "I'll go ahead and start reading, though I don't think I'll be able to finish all of it today."

  Opening the book, I flip through only a few pages until I reach the one that says Introductory. Just as I begin to read it, Twilight takes the Conscientia and walks her way out of the room.

  "Where are you going?" I ask.

  She turns just as she leaves through the doorless enterance. "I'm going to see what I can find out about this book in another part of the library."

  "But in his note, the centurion told us that we shouldn't worry about it unitl he gets here. To Ponyville, that is."

  "I know. But I'm just going to do some research to see what's so important about this book. When I'm done I'll come back to check on you."

  "Why would you need to check---"

  And just like that Twilight leaves me alone in here, so I start to read the book.

  In the introductory chapter, the author starts off with several sentences about himself, like almost all guide writers do. He tell of how ever since he was a colt that he absolutely loved to study and read about historical events as well as the subject of geography, and that passion led him to become a world history professor at the University of Fillydelphia. I find it quite funny how "Fillydelphia" reminds me a lot of "Philidelphia" and chuckle softly. As I read on, I encounter a few paragraphs of the author talking about the citizens of Equestria. Accordingly, the kingdom is made up of four races of ponies: Unicorns, who have horns on their heads and magical abilities. Pegasi, who have large bird-like wings and can somehow control the weather. And Earth ponies, who are completely normal and have no special powers what so ever, so I'm guessing that I would be considered an earth pony here. The fourth race, the alicorns, are mixture of both unicorns and pegasi, with wings and horns and magical abilites. They are said to be taller than most ponies, rare and few in numbers, royal, very powerful, and live immortal lives --- never being able to die of old age. Infact, the current monarch of Equestria is an alicorn princess named Celestria, who has ruled for over a thousand years. Besides ponies, other creatures from many parts of the world live here as well, such as griffens, minotaurs, donkeys, mules, zebras, and reindeers.

    At page 14, I reach the first chapter, which has the title The Birth of Equestria. Many centuries ago, before the kingdom was ever formed, three tribes existed: the unicorn tribe, the pegasus tribe, and the earth pony tribe. Although the three tribes depended on each other, they also utterly despised one another for a long time, because of how they were different. But one day, something happened. Ice spirits known as windigos began to devastate the land with fierce snowy blizzards and frostbiting cold wind for many months, and it was because of their hatred that all of this was occuring, which fueled the windigos. This horrible storm destroyed the crops and vegetational plants in the land, leaving the tribes on the brink of starvation. Knowing that they couldn't bare it anymore, the three groups decided that they would have to find a new place for them to live.

  Two ponies, each from every tribe, went down south to discover their new home. From the unicorn tribe, Princess Platinum and a stallion named Clover the Clever, who is the student of a famous wizard known as Starswirl the Bearded. From the earth pony tribe, Chancellor Puddinghead and his secertary, Smart Cookie. And from the pegasus tribe, Commander Hurricane and a private known as Pansy.

  For sixteen days, these six ponies traveled south to search for a new home, and on the last day they found what they were exactly looking for. The land that they had encountered was warm and mild, with fertile and arable ground that seemed good for farming. They were at the perfect place for a new start, a new beginning. However, each of the tribe members did not know that the other two tribes were looking for a new place as well, until they met here, which was a problem. The leaders, Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Commander Hurricane, were arguing with one another about who had found the land first, while the followers, Clover, Smart Cookie, and Pansy, tried to maintain the peace.

  Sadly though, because of the leaders' hateful fighting, the windigos came into the land that they had found and started another blizzard, just like before. Therefore, the six of them had to take refuge in a nearby cave, but even while facing a terrible storm caused by malevolent spirits, there were still problems going on between the three tribes.

Apparently, Princess Platinum started a debate with Commander Hurricane about needing some personal space, so he orders Pansy to draw some lines in the ground to seperate them from the other tribes, and Smart Cookie and Clover do the same. While drawing a line in the dirt, Pansy goes over a rock, leaving it in unicorn territory. Hurricane becomes mad that the private went over the rock instead of through it and wants it, but Platinum said that since the rock is in her area that means that it belongs to her. Hurricane moves the rock to his territory in the name of his tribe and Platinum demands that he gives it back, but then Puddinghead takes the rock and puts it in his area, then Platinum and Hurricane begin to chase him around the cave to get the rock from him.

  As the chase moved on, the windigos had entered the cave through the top, and they began to freeze the place, but slowly. When the chase had died, Hurricane, Puddinghead, and Platinum start to throw insults at each other about one's tribe, and soon they became frozen in ice due to the windigos. Seeing what the spirits had did to their leaders, Clover, Smart Cookie, and Pansy huddled against each other as they awaited their icy fate. All three of them realized that all of this was happening because of the relentless hatred between the tribes, but they also found out that they didn't loathe each other like the leaders did, and therefore they considered each other not only equal ponies, but also somewhat friends.

  But before the ice could overtake them, a magical wildfire erupted from the tip of Clover's horn and it drives the windigos out of the cave, and leaves a flaming heart floating in midair which is called the Fire of Friendship. Because of that, they were saved. Since the enterance was frozen, the three of them spent a long time in the cave, but while they were in there they had a fun and exciting time as they shared stories and played games, with the fire above their heads to keep them warm. Later on, the sun outside melted the ice in the cave and Platinum, Hurricane, and Puddinghead were unfrozen at last, but instead of arguing again they came at peace with one another because of how they witnessed the brotherly love and kindness going on between the three followers.

  When all six of them left the cave, the leaders made a truce: that there would be no more fighting amongst the tribes, and that all three of them would form one, huge pony kingdom. And to this very day, the land that was discovered was called Equestria --- which means "at tranquilty" ---, and the day on when they had found it is called Hearth Warming Day. And that ends chapter one.

  Just as I am near reading chapter two, The Early Ages, I hear hoofsteps coming towards me. I leave my eyes from the pages and see Twilight standing at the enterance of the room.

  "How are you liking the book?" she asks with a smile, and I do the same.

  "It's been very helpful," I reply. "I already learned about the four pony species that are in Equestria, as well as how the kingdom was first founded by the three tribes. Thanks for giving it to me to read."

  "You're very much welcomed. I just came in here to tell you that---"

  "Twilight? Twilight? Where are you?"

  Suddenly, a mare enters the reading area where me and Twilight are. The mare is an earth pony, with a light pink coat and a puffy, inflatable-looking, magenta mane, and her tail has the same style.

  "There you are!" the mare says to Twilight with a radiant smile. "I know that it's getting dark and that you've already closed the library for tonight, but I just wanted to ask if I could---"

  When the mare finally notices me, her eyes widen and she lets out a loud, deep gasp in astonishment, like somebody being surprised on their birthday because they got the coolest present ever.

  Suddenly, in the mere blink of an eye, she zooms past Twilight in a pink blur and stops near the table with her hooves on the wooden surface and beams at me a wide, big, cheerful, toothful smile, as if she is so exicted to see me. She's so close to me --- like litteraly there is only eight inches of space between my face and her's --- that I can smell what I believe to be a cherry-scent perfume coming off of her body.

  "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I've never seen you before, and I know everypony who lives here! That must mean that you're new to Ponyville. This is great! I LOVE meeting new people! It's been like forever since anybody new came around. My name is Pinkie Pie, but my friends and everypony else in town kinda calls me Pinkie. I work at the Sugarcube Corner bakery downtown. I make lots of sweet, yummy, delicious sweets and desserts there like cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, candy --- anything that'll satisfy your taste buds! Not only am I a terrific baker, but I'm also an amaaaaazing party thrower and --- Oh! What happened to your hoof? Why is it all covered up in bandages? Did you like break it or something? I accidentally broke my right backleg once a long time ago while I was on a ladder and I fell, and it was in a cast for seven months. It wasn't any fun though because I had to use crutches, so I couldn't walk or run at all, but I was so, so, so happy when my leg finally healed, and I really do hope that your hoof gets well soon.

  "Also, how are you still in this library if it closed at five o' clock? Are you so interested in that big book you're reading that you begged Twilight to let you stay here longer? You must be a very, very hardcore reader." She lets out another gasp. "Oh my gosh, you and Twilight have something in common! You both love to read! Twilight over here is like a major booknerd. She has her eyes on them like twenty-four/seven. Maybe if you two talked about some of your favorite books, then you guys might become best friends. But then again, maybe you guys already had a nerdy conversation about some nerdy books, and you've jsut now became friends with Twilight not so long ago. Infact, as I think about it... Whoa! If you're already with Twilight, then maybe you can be friends with me. And after you're friends with me, then you can be friends with my friends, and then I'll have even more friends then before!"

  She giggles out loud in a bubbly manner and begins to bounce up and down like an excited child. "This is absolutely fantastic! I love making new friends! The more the merrier is what I always say. Well, I already told you what my name is. Incase you forgot, it's Pinkie Pie, but you can just calle me Pinkie. I still don't know you name yet, so can you pretty, pretty, pretty please tell me who you are? Huh? Huh? HUUUHHH?"

  I would just like to point out that my mind right now is litteraly boggled up. The way how the earth pony, Pinkie Pie, spoke so rapidly like a complete chatterbox was unbelievable. Never in my entire life have I ever heard someone talk in a way and tempo like her's. I mean, the girls that sit beside me at college gossip and have conversations like nonstop, but this mare was saying so many words so quickly that I barely even remember half of the sentences she said to me.

  And even while she stares at me with her crazy, electricfying light blue eyes and that pearly white smile of her's, I'm still a bit dazed by her interesting introduction.

"Helloooo?" Pinkie says. "Is anypony home? I just asked you what your name is." A sudden frown appears on her face. "Maybe you don't have a name. Is that it? Oh, I feel so sorry for you. Everypony should be given a name. A name is what reflects a pony's personality."

  Snapping out of my dazed state, I say, "I'm Nathaniel. Nathaniel Lloyd. That's my name, and I'm sorry that I didn't answer your question quickly. Something... had my mind really worked up."

  That jovial smile reappears on Pinkie's lips when she heard me speak. "Nathaniel? That's kind of a weird name don't you think? Are you sure you don't go by something else like Blitzfire or Rainstorm or Sliverheart?"

  "Well, my parents gave me the name Nathaniel, but some people that I know usually call me by my nickname, Nate." I really don't get what's wrong with my name. I like it alot, not because that's what I'm called, but because of it's meaning.

  "Ooo, Nate! That sounds much better than Nathaniel! Do you mind if I calle you Nate?"

  I shrug. "Not really."

  She closes her eyes and places her hooves over her mouth to stifle out her many giggles.

  I raise an eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?" I've only met this mare five minutes ago, and she has already made a bizzare and interesting impression of herself towards me.

  She opens her eyes and looks at me. "Oh, I'm just thinking about how superduper fun the party is going to be tommorow."

  "What party?'

  "The one for you, Nate! It's a welcome party to celebrate your arrival to Ponyville. I would have done it today if I found you earlier, but it's too late now to throw it. Still, it's going to be a great party! There's going to be cake and desserts and music and drinks and streamers and presents and party hats and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now. Oh! And confetti! You can't have a true party without confetti. I'll invite as many ponies as I can and --- Ooo! Your cutiemark looks awesome!"

  "My what ?"

  "Your cutiemark!"

  "What's a cutiemark?"

  "What?" Pinkie gives me a very confused face, just like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy when I asked them what Equestria is. "You don't know what a cutiemark is? Were you like born yesterday? A cutiemark is that little symbol on your flank that represents your special talent. See?"

  Turning around so that the side of her body is facing me, Pinkie uses her tail to point to the three balloons that are on her flank. One is yellow, which is in the middle, and the other two to the sides are blue.

  When I realize that this so called cutiemark is somewhere on my flank, I remember the cross symbol on my rear and glance at it. So, in order to make it seem like I'm really from this world, I play dumb.

  "Oh, wait a minute. I do know what a cutiemark is," I chuckle nervously. "I'm sorry if you were confused, it's just that I've been so busy today that my mind is really worked up, and I have a painful headache."

  "That's ok," she beams. "I know what it's like to be bothered by a headache. I was serious though when I said that your cutiemark looks awesome, and downright cool."

  "Thanks."

  "But what's your special talent?"

  "My special talent? Um... It's, err... Writing! Yep! My special talent is writing. I like to write lots of books and poems in my spare time."

  I'm not exactly lying when I say that my talent is writing. To tell the truth, I'm really good at making short stories and poems about any kind of genre because of how I'm such a master with the pencil. I even call my passion for writing a God-given gift since I've loved doing it ever since I was little.

    "Oh. Well, I don't really understand how a cross cutiemark is related to writing," Pinkie says, "but at least I know what your special talent is. Do you have some of your stories and poems with you? And if you do, do you mind if I read some of them here? Can I? I just love rea---"

  Finally, Twilight decides to get into the conversation as she walks besides Pinkie and interrupts her.

"Um, Pinkie?" she asks. "It's getting really late for you to be staying, so do you mind telling me why you came here?"

  "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I wanted to ask you if I could borrow that book about exotic food from different countries. I think was called The International Cookbook of Cultural Cusine of the World or something."

  "Oh, geez. Sorry, Pinkie, but Fluttershy borrowed it from me yesterday."

   "That's ok! I'll just go over to her place and ask if I can have it. Thanks for telling me. Bye, Twilight!" She looks at me. "Bye, Nate! I'll get you tomorrow for your welcome party. It's gonna be a blast! It was really nice meeting you! You look like a great guy."

  And with that being said, the hyper, energic mare skips out of the room, humming to herself genially. The weirdest part is that whenever Pinkie's hooves touched the ground as she skipped, a bouncing, squeaky sound would be produced.

  "I'm guessing that she's also one of your friends," I say to Twilight.

  "Yeah," she replies.

  "She seemed..."

  "Too excited? Kind of crazy? A chatterbox?"

  "Well, yes, but I was going to say that she seemed to act a bit like a child. You know --- super cheerful, overhappy, naive, speaking loud, very giddy, full of energy. Things like that."

  "Well, that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. You'll get used to her personality when you're around her more often. I know I did. Also, good job on making an excuse for the cutiemark thing. I was a bit worried that she would smell something going on and start asking me and you some questions."

  I grin. "Thanks. I just didn't want to explain my story to her like I explained it to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. So what were you going to say to me before you friend, Pinkie, came in?"

  "Oh, I just wanted to let you know that Spike is done cooking dinner. If you want, you can eat with us at the table. I already told Spike."

  "Sure. I haven't even eaten anything since breakfest, so I am a bit hungry."

  "Well, that's good to know. Spike should be putting the food on the table already, so if you wouldn't mind you can follow me."

  Closing the history book, I get myself off the chair and walk with Twilight out of the reading room. As we go through the hallway, I remember how Pinkie Pie sort of said that everybody has a cutiemark. Although I've noticed it before, I take a very quick glance at the side of Twilight's flank. Her cutiemark is a large, six-pointed, magenta star with six white points, and surrouding the star are five more smaller, white stares.

  "Um, Twilight?"

  "Yes, Nathaniel?"

  "What exactly does your cutiemark stand for?"

  "Oh, that? It represent my special talent, which is basically magical skills and abilites."

  "Does everybody in Equestria have a cutiemark, or just some?"

  "Well, nopony actually has one when they're born. Your cutiemark only comes to you when you finally discover your special talent. Ponies who don't have their cutiemark yet are called blank flanks, but they're usually around a young age. Hey, do you have any type of food in your world called mashed potatoes and spaghetti?"

   My brows raise in surprise. "Yes, actually I do. Why?"

  "It's just that that's what we're having for dinner. It's a good thing that you said that. I wasn't sure how you would feel eating something you've never had before."

  "I find it kind of funny how this world and mine look and have so much in common. We even speak that same language."

  Twilight chuckles. "Yeah. That is kind of funny when I think of it."

  By the time our little conversation has come to an end, the two of us arrive to what I believe is the kitchen. In the corner of the room there is a square, wooden table with a flower vase and is next to a small oval window, and on the surface are three, hot, steaming plates of food. After taking her seat, Twilight directs me to sit on the right side of the table, and I do.

  Like she had told me, my plate contains a mess of spaghetti noodles with red tomato sauce, parmesan, and basil leaves, and some mashed potatoes covered in gravy as well. Also, I have two small bread rolls with butter on the top.

    Because of my straving hunger, I don't waste time to grab the fork next to the plate so I can dine on my spaghetti, but I have a little trouble wrapping my hoof around the silver utensil, and each time I try to hold it I eventually lose my grasp and it clatters to the table.

  Twilight, however, isn't using her hooves. Instead, the unicorn relies on her own magic to lift up her fork and eat her food.

  After my several failed attempts to hold the fork in a steady manner, I notice that Twilight is staring at what I'm doing.

  "I'm sorry," I say to her. "I guess I'm still not used to this new body yet."

  "That's ok. If you want, you can eat just using you mouth. I don't really mind, as long as you clean up any messes you make."

  "Well, I want to see if I can still do it. But if I don't, then I'll just use my mouth, then."

  Keeping my promise, I return to my struggle with the fork, but attempt after attempt it always manage to slip through my grip. Finally, I decide to give up and I lean my face down my plate to eat my spaghetti, which tastes incredibly luscious with its tangy sauce and parmesan and basil leaves. The only thing that bothers me is the slurping sound I make as I consume the noodles.

  As me and Twilight eat, the dragon, Spike, takes his seat right infront of where I'm sitting. He has the same food as us, but I notice something strange on his plate.

  At first, I thought it was just bright colorful candy, but I realize now that those are gemstones because of how vast and luxurious they seem. Some of them are large while others are somewhat small, and each of them are formed in many, various shapes such as ovals, diamonds, hexagons, and rectangles.

  Spike grabs a large, orange gem in the shape of a square and place it in his mouth, exposing his sharp, pointy teeth for a moment before closing it. Though he's chewing with his mouth shut, I can hear him munching on the gem with a slight noise, and I wonder how in the world he is able to eat something with such hardness and like the way it tastes.

  Sensing my glare on him, the dragon looks up at me with an annoyed, dull, bored expression across his face as he feasts on more of his gems, and both our eyes meet each other. Because I don't want this to become a long and awkward staredown, I tilt my down at my plate and continue with my spaghetti. Every now and then, I would catch Spike glaring at me with that same irritated face as if I am bothering him with my prescence, and after some seconds he would return his gaze back to his meal.

  I continue to mind my own business, but it really bugs me how he looks at me. It reminds me too much of the cold stare Rainbow Dash gave me while Fluttershy went to get Twilight. Is it because that I am total random stranger in his home eating his food at his table that he may feel uncomfortable? Does he think that I'm here to hurt Twilight, who he has a close relationship with, while she leasts expects it? I do have a bladed weapon by my side, after all.

  Minutes later, I finally finish with my spaghetti, and i move on with my mashed potatoes. It tastes heavenly with its rich, brown gravy.

  "Ok, seriously," Spike suddenly says impatiently, looking at Twilight. "Do you really believe this guy's story? That he's from another world and he's being hunted down by some bad guys?"

  "You told him?" I ask her.

  She gives me a guilty grin. "Sorry, It's just that he wanted to know why you were here, but he won't tell anypony else, so there's no need to worry." Twilight looks at Spike. "And yes, I do believe in what he told me. I told you before, I read his mind. There's no way he's lying."

  "But, Twilight, you just met him like litterally this afternoon, and it bothers me that you invited him here like he's a poor, needy stallion out in the streets. Dash could have been right when she said that he might have tricked you with his own magic."

  "He is in need, Spike. There is a group of heinous criminals out there who want to take his life for whatever reason. I know you said that you don't feel comfortable with him living with us because of what happening in Equestria and what happened earlier this month, but he has no where eles to go. Besides, it'll only be for a few days until the centurion I told you about arrives. Everything is going to be alright, Spike. Trust me."

  The dragon crosses his arms and lets out a frusterated huff. "I still think that Rainbow Dash was right when you said that she thinks that guy's up to no good. For all we know, he could just be lying about his story so he can take advantage of what we have. And when we're finally asleep he might just stab us in our beds with that sword of his and carrying off with whatever he wants to keep without any care for what he did."

Ouch. That kind of hurt.

  "He is not lying, Spike," Twilight says in a stern tone. "And I don't ever want to hear you say anything negative or ill about Nathaniel again, especially since he's nine feet away from you."

  As time passes on, Spike's mention of Rainbow Dash floats about in my mind as I eat, and I can't get it out. I keep remembering how she said that the reason I was supposively trying to hurt Fluttershy was because I was one of 'them'. But who exactly are 'them'?

  "Twilight? Do you remember how Rainbow Dash kept accusing me that I was one of 'them', whatever that means?"

  "Yes, I do."

  "Who is this group that she thinks I'm a part of? She said they tried to kill you sometime this month, I believe."

    "Well, a few days ago, me, Spike, and my friends were having a picnic outside of Ponyville, when suddenly these twelve stallions came out of the Everfree Forest and asked us our names. When we replied, they started shooting blasts of magical energy at us, and we all ran for cover behind some nearby trees. The weirdest part is that some of them who were performing magic were pegasi and earth ponies, but only unicorns and alicorns are suppose to have that ability. While most of them were still shooting, some of them took out their swords and they charged at us. Me ane one of my friends, Rarity, who's an unicorn, fought them off with our own magic as well. We managed to hit some of them with our stun spells, and but the rest kept coming. Rainbow Dash and an earth pony friend of mine, named Applejack, finally joined the fight with us and we managed to hold them off. Then, just as quick as they arrived, they retreated into the woods, all of them.

  "A few days later, Princess Celestia sent word throughout the kingdom, saying that there were numerous attacks and murders happening to important ponies such as noble citizens, government officials, and military officers in the same manner as our's , so I assumed that me and my friends must have been one of their targets. That's why I put up a force field around town, incase the same incident would occur again."

  "And why do you think you're a target?" I ask, moving on to the bread rolls after finishing my potatoes.

  "My five friends and I each hold six magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. They're the most powerful objects in all of Equestria. But the story of how we came into possession of them is a long one, and I don't feel like telling you right. now."

  "The ponies who attacked you, what did they look like. What were they wearing?"

  "They had on dark, black cloaks with hoods that covered their faces."

  My eyes bulge. "Woah."

  "What is it? What's wrong?"

  "It's just that the men who attacked me this morning exactly match your description of the ones who tried to kill you, except they weren't ponies."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes. Positive."

  "Hmm." She places her hoof under her chin in deep concentration. "They could be the same ponies."

  "I know. That's what I'm thinking, too."

  Twilight studies her empty plate and rises out of her seat. "Well, I'm done eating. If you're doen too, Nathaniel, then you I can show you where you'll be staying. Spike will take care of the plates."

  "Sure," I say, getting up. "I'm tired anyway, so I can use some rest. And thanks for the dinner, Spike. It was really good."

  "Yeah, whatever," he replies without even looking at me. Now I know that Rainbow Dash isn't the only one who has a distaste against me.

  "Come on," says Twilight. "You can get your backpack and then you can follow me."

  After a quick walk to the hallway where my backpack is and I retrive it, I go back to Twilight and the two of us go up some stairs.

  "I'm sorry about Spike's attitude," she apologizes. "He thinks that you might try to harm us."

  "That's ok. Hopefully, he'll understand that I'm not a threat soon. Also, where did you put the book?"

  "Oh, it's in my room. Safe and sound. No need to worry."

  When we reach the next floor, she leads me to a door at the right side of the hallway. Twilight opens it, and releaved inside is a medium sized room with a cabinet, a closet, a desk, a circle shaped window, and a neatly made bed.

  Twilight gives me a gentle smile. "Well, you might as well make yourself at home, you'll be here for a while."

  "Thank you, Twilight. I'm very grateful that you invited me into your house, and that you believe what I said. It means a lot."

  "You're very much welcome, Nathaniel. If you need anything, I'll be in my room, upstair. You should find it. Good night."

  Closing the door behind her, the unicorn leaves me alone in my new bedroom. I place my backpack beside the desk and I sit my butt down on the bed, which feels soft and comfortable. For a while, prehaps half an hour or so, I just do nothing but think about basically everything that has happen to me today and my current state. I'm stuck in another world that is very different from mine, my hoof is covered in bandages and medicine due to being bitten by a wolf held together by wood, and my life is in danger by those who want me dead. The worst thing is that I don't even know how long I will be here, that is if there's possibilty for me to get back home. For all I know, I could be trapped in here forever, and I might never see my family or friends ever again.

  With a heavy and troubled heart, my gaze turn towards the round window and through the glass i see the lights of the small town that is Ponyville, and amongst the streets I see many ponies walking around and about at night under the new moon, Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi alike.

I get off the matress and kneel on the floor in a prayer position, with my forelegs on the bed, my hooves wrapped together, and my eyelids closed.

  "Heavenly Father, I thank You for allowing me to live in this universe that You have made, and if it is Your will, O Lord, may You protect me through the many years ahead. Father, although bizzare and threatening events have occured in my life today, and I am deeply troubled, I still thank You that I am still alive and well. I thank You for allowing me to get away from those cloaked men, I thank You for being with me when I fought off against those wooden wolves in the forest, and I thank You that Twilight Sparkle has aided me. Speaking of Twilight, I pray that You will bless her for what she has done for me, for I am so thankful. She believed me when I told her I had no evil intentions in my mind, she took me into her home although she barely knew me, and she invited me to eat her food at her table. O Lord, may you keep You eye over Twilight, Spike, and her friends, and everyone else in Ponyville.

  "Sovereign Master, though I am in a world that is not my own and I am being hunted down, I will not be totally afraid, for You are with me wherever I am. And Lord, when You think it is time, may You return me to my home. O how I love You, God Almighty. You are just and true and good and awesome. There is truly none like You. In Your Holy Name I pray to You. Amen."

  With that being done, I take off my glasses, the sword, and my necklace and put them on the cabinet, get underneath the lukewarm covers of my bed, and close my eyes, inviting sleep.

***

  Peeking through the crack of the door, Twilight watches the stallion, Nathaniel, leaning against the bed on his knees with his head down. She can't clearly understand the words, but he is saying something in a low voice to himself, whatever it is. After a moment, he gets up, places his glasses, sword, and necklace on the cabinet, and goes to bed without making a sound.

  "Ok," Twilight says softly so not to alert him. "That was weird. Have no idea what that was all about. Maybe it's a common practice in his world to do before going to sleep."

  The unicorn walks up to her room and gets into her own bed. Staring up at the ceiling above, her mind goes on an express train to think of Nathaniel. There's something about him that Twilight can't seem to shake off, and every time she tried to think about someting else, he would always return.

  It bothers her so much. Why was he sent here? Why is he a target for a group of criminals? And mostly... why does Twilight feel like she can put all of her trust in him? Him, a total stranger who she only met just this afternoon, not so long ago! Rainbow and Spike had told her that they each had bad thoughts about him, but the unicorn didn't sense any shred of wickedness or falsehood inside of him. And as for Fluttershy, she never said anything negative about Nathaniel, but she would usually look away with a flushed face when she looked at him. But why? Why did she have so much confidence in him to not doing any evil?

  Frusterated, Twilight gets out and walks towards Spike who is already asleep in his basket. That dragon sure does know how to snore in his sleep.

  "Spike," she says, touching his shoulder. "Wake up. Now."

  "Uh? What is it, Twi?" Spike asks with tiresome, droppy eyelids.

  "Listen. I need you to get a piece of paper, some ink, and a quill so I can send a letter to Princess Celestia. It's important."