Incompertus Ego

This place felt peculiar, yet comforting like I was here before, but I do not remember the place at all. The saddlebrown pony started to walk to other way and he beckoned me to follow. I tried to walk but I fell a few times. I got up and put one hoof in front of the other and I soon got the hang of it while he just stood there with one brow up and the other down.

“My name is Evergreen. So, kid, you said your name is Nox Eques?”

“Uh...yeah.”

“Are you usually like this? I never saw a pony stumble like that unless they were first born.”

“I...uh... don't know why I stumbled around like that.”

“Did something happen to you back there?”

“I don't remember a thing,” I was lying. Who would believe a kid who says a weird green eyed mare sent him through hell for a “test” of some kind.

“I have been paranoid lately because there has been strange things lately.”

“Strange as in what?”

“Murders, mainly. Some tortured, slaughtered. Heck, even come eaten! I tell ya, there is something going down in Equestria.”

“Equestria... damn... my dreams did come true.”

“Why? Do you come from somewhere else?”

“I guess you could say it like that.”

Evergreen stopped walking in front of an arch that signified the entrance of the small village. “Niva silva?” I asked, “Is that the name of the town?” Evergreen nodded his head and we walked up to a small tavern with loud music and laughter coming from the windows. “Come on, kid. I got to make sure someone here knows you,” he said.

We walked in the tavern and there were stallions playing cards, drinking from wooden mugs, and just having fun. The tavern had a effervescent feeling. “Hey, everypony!” yelled Evergreen, “This colt here got lost in the forest. I found him sitting in the snow. Does any of you know him?” The music turned off and everyone stopped what they were doing and their stares struck me and I began to feel hot. Their faces looked so dull like I wasn't intriguing to them at all.“No one...?” Evergreen sounded puzzled, “Okay, then. Come on, kid, Let me get you a drink.”

The music turned back on and everybody got back the their business. Evergreen went over to the bartender and told me to sit at the table with three other stallions drinking applejack. The three stallions were triplets with all the same sienna colored coats and had accents that sounded to be Russian, like Evergreen's. Each of them had different colored manes and tails. The one on the left had maroon mane and tail, the middle had golden mane and tail, and the one on the right had brilliant orange mane and tail.

“Where ya from?” asked the maroon one.

“Oh... I...uh... I don't know,” I lied again.

“Wait do you mean you don't know?” asked the golden one.

“I just woke up in the middle of the forest and Evergreen found me.”

“There's been strange things going around in these parts. Do you know if you were... possessed?”

“I really do not kn-”

The brilliant orange stallion splashed my face with water.

“Sorry, kid. I had to check you. That there is Holy Water. It is said to burn the skin of the possessed.”

“Well, now you know that I am not!”

Evergreen walked up to the table with a mug in his mouth and another mug in his hoof. He sat down next to me and set down the mugs on the table. Evergreen looked at me and asked, “Why is your face wet, kid?” The three stallions laughed loudly. “Holy Water,” I replied. Evergreen chuckled.

Evergreen slid one mug in front of me. I looked at him giving him a puzzled look.

“What? Never drank applejack before?” asked Evergreen.

“No, I never did.”

“Well, there's a first time for everything.”

I slid my hoof into the handle and put the mug in front of my mouth. I looked at the three stallions and all of them smiled like they were trying to encourage me. I lifted the mug and the applejack moved down to my mouth. The drink left my mouth feeling hot and when it arrived in my stomach it felt warm also. “So, kid, how was it?” asked Evergreen. “I love it,” I replied.

While I was drinking and waiting to have to hot feeling to die down and then drink again Evergreen and the three stallions all talked about things and laughed while I sat there not evening knowing what they are talking about. From time to time I would understand some of the stories they would tell and I would laugh with them. I felt like a child when your parents talk to the neighbors and tell each other random funny stories and laugh while you either stand there and with them laugh or not.

Once I was finished we said our goodbyes and walked out the door, “That was fun, right?” Evergreen asked me.

“Yeah, it was,” the way I could still hear the English echoes in my head was still bothering me. It was like I had a personal translator to this unknown language in my head.

“You don't talk much, is something bothering you?”

“What? Oh, no. Nothing at all.”

“Well, I think you are going to like it here. This town is peaceful. The last bit of trouble we had was about three years ago,” three years ago didn't seem to be that long to be proud of, but I guess it was to him.

While we were walking I saw all the small shops all dark with the things on sale still on the tables as if there was no worries of a thief. Then the shops ended and there was rows of wooden houses with some lights coming out of windows and some not. Right then I noticed that there was no intersections at all, just one long road. I look ahead, behind, side to side and the only thing between the shops and cabins are small alleys of snow.

While we were walking I saw all the small shops all closed with the things on sale still on the tables like there was no worries of a thief. Then the shops ended and then there was rows of wooden houses with some lights coming out of windows and some not. Right then I noticed that there was no intersections at all, just one long road. I look ahead, behind, side to side and the only thing between the shops and cabins are small alleys of snow.

Evergreen stops in front of a cabin and walks to the door. The knobs looked like a metal molding of a horse's hoof. He stuck his hoof into the knob and he jiggled the doorknob. He sighed and he knocked on the door. An earth pony colt with a red coat, dark green mane and tail with blue eyes opens the door. “It's pretty late, Dad. who's that with you?” the colt had a slight deep voice like he was just beginning to get into puberty.

“Heh, I had to work late and while I was getting home I found this kid in the middle of the forest,” said Evergreen.

“Come in, it's pretty cold out tonight,” said the colt.

We walk into the cabin and a dragon's hot breath brushed against my face. The walls were tree logs still with little stubs along it where the branches were cut, the floor was dark wooden planks nailed to the ground. On the left was a kitchen with a medium sized icebox, which I found pretty weird because wouldn't the cold outside keep the food cold? There was a counter with cabinets above and a large wood fed stove and no sink to be found. On the right there was a living room with a white three cushion couch with a pillow on each side, sitting there getting warmth from the fireplace ahead. There was a wooden coffee table on top of a polyester carpet. Past the living room and the kitchen was a small hallway with one door on each side at the end.

“I need to hit the hay. I've got to wake up early tomorrow, I'm a bit behind on replanting those trees that the triplets have been cutting. Good night,” said Evergreen.

“Good night,” said me and the colt.

I took off my jacket and placed it on the coffee table and laid down on the couch with my back facing the fireplace and felt the warmth of the fire upon my body. The colt sat on the remaining cushion and I felt him stare with eyes of wonder.

“Who are you, and what is your name?” the colt asked.

“Well... my name is Nox Eques. I guess who I was really isn't who I am.”

“What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

I turned over and looked straight into his eyes, “I was sent to Equestria to find my true self.”

His eyes looked into mine giving me a look of disbelief. He rolled his eyes and walked into the hallway. I heard a door open and slowly close so he wouldn't bother his father. I turned back over and I tried to think about all this. All that happened in this one short period of time. I fell asleep on earth expecting to wake up the next day in the same bed, but I wake up on a dusty old floor, go through hell, walk through a door, and wake up in the land I always wanted to visit. Yet, does this mean I am on a different planet? Did I just disappear off the face of the earth and appear in Equestra? What about my family? Are they worried or do they think I am dead? All questions with no answers.