Act 1: Leaving Reality
It’s so cold. I can see everything from up here. I know what I am about to do, and yet I don’t feel scared. Just… sad. How did I get here?
My life up to this point has been pretty terrible. The last time I have felt happiness was when my mother was still alive. That was when I was five. I have little to no friends at school, or anywhere else for that matter. My father stopped being a dad when my mom died. He just kind of stayed cooped up in his own little world. He would get up, go to work, come home and eat then wait for the next day to come.
Because of all of this, I became pretty self-reliant. I am now a junior in a public high school. People make fun of me for my weight, how I dress and basically for everything that I do. I walk into school and a barrage of insults greets me, each one feeling like a knife in the heart. Everyday I would sit in my classes, learn everything I needed to and get home as fast as possible.
At home is where I was comfortable, and it was also where the Internet was. When I was browsing my normal everyday sites, I stumbled upon something called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It seemed to be pretty popular on the Internet, but I waved it off. When I was at school the next day, I overheard people say the name, but I did not here what they said about it. I ignored that also. It started to just come up from everywhere, so eventually I gave it a shot and started from episode one.
When I started watching it, I started to feel weird inside. I remembered this feeling from long ago. I felt, happy. I loved feeling like this again, and it was all thanks to this show. I felt like I had some friends in my life. There was a fire that started to ignite inside of me, slowly warming me up from my cold past. I watched more and more everyday. The more I watched, the warmer I got. I started to ignore all the insults and just look forward to the time I got home.
I enjoyed seeing the mane six go on their adventures. I enjoyed each and every one of the ponies in their own episode. However, there was one pony that I enjoyed the most. Fluttershy. She was so nice and kind to everyone, but she was also very shy, just like me. I actually started to want to meet her.
After a few weeks, I felt so much better about myself. One day during school, I overheard the name in a conversation. I thought it would be nice to have a friend again, and since I was feeling so good about myself, why not give it a shot. I went over to the group of friends and told them that I watched it also. They looked at me and started laughing. One of them said:
“Bro, we hate that show, and you’re telling us that you’re a ‘brony’? Oh my god, wait until people find out about this.”
My heart sank. These people never liked the show, they just made fun of it, and now everyone is going to know that I watch it. I ran away as fast as I could, thanking the lord that it was a Friday so I would not have to see them again for a few days. The weekend was terrible. It was filled with worry about how I will be treated at school. It went by like a blur.
When I arrived at school, heart pounding, I was greeted with a newer barrage of insults. This time it just felt worse because of that one thing I liked, everyone hated me even more for it. Every insult provided a tiny bucket of water to put out that fire that had re-ignited inside of me. Eventually, the fire was out, and that’s when I thought: What is the point? What is the point of me being here? Nobody would care if I left or even disappeared.
I had decided that I had enough of my life. I decided that I would no longer live here, or anywhere. It was time to go. That night, I went to the top of my apartment building and looked off of the edge. It’s so cold. I can see everything from up here. I know what I am about to do, and yet I don’t feel scared. Just… sad.
That is how I got to this point, and I guess this is where it will stop. I closed my eyes, took a final breath, and stepped off. I started to fall, and it is true what people say. I started to remember my life. Boy, it was a piece of crap. After relieving what chased me into this situation, I waited for what was to come. I waited, and waited, and waited. It was weird; I thought it would have happened by now.
I opened my eyes, and what I saw amazed me. I was falling in slow motion, and yet the feeling was so fast. I looked to the ground and saw a light appear from it. It opened up and formed a circle. The fall then sped up to normal speed and I went straight through the portal, heard a massive boom, and blacked out.
When I woke up, there was only one thought that came into my head. Where am I? I couldn’t move my body. In fact, I could not hear anything either, probably from the explosion I heard. My eyes remained closed, mostly because I could not open them all the way.
After a few minutes I heard someone saying something. It was in a nice, soft voice that I recognized, but I could not place it.
“Oh my goodness, are you okay?”
It sounded so familiar. Where is it from?
“You fell from so high up, are you hurt? You’re not moving.”
I know I have heard this voice somewhere, but where? Where!
“It will be okay, I will help you.”
It suddenly hit me. It couldn’t be, could it? She does not exist. I turned my head with all my strength and opened my eyes. What I saw left me in a mix between shock, amazement, confusion, happiness and about every emotion one could feel.
“Oh thank goodness you’re okay, or, mostly okay.”
It was Fluttershy.
I blinked several times to make sure I was seeing correctly. It was actually Fluttershy. She was standing right above me, looking at me, probably checking to see if I was okay.
“It looks like you fell from high up. How do you feel?”
High up? That’s right! The last thing I remember is stepping off that building and seeing a flash of light. How did I end up in what is probably Equestria? After quite a few questions went through my mind, I mustered up an answer.
“I feel pretty sore I guess,” I was not lying. My body ached all over. I tried to move a little bit.
“Oh no, don’t move yet. Let me make sure if everything is okay,” Fluttershy said, gesturing for me to stay still.
“It looks like you have a broken wing, you poor thing. However, everything else looks fine.”
A broken wing? What? Humans don’t have wi… Oh god. I looked down, and I saw a stallion’s body. I was speechless. Speechless, and a pony. From what I saw from this angle I had a light grey coat, and a black and white tail. I tried to touch my coat, but instead of hands I had hooves. Not sure what I was expecting. This felt so weird and different, and at the same time, so natural. I sat up, using my forelegs to keep me up. Fluttershy started to speak again.
“Okay, if you just stay here, I can go get a bandage to wrap up your wing. That will help it heal and make you feel much better!”
She let out a big smile. She was so cute, but now that I was a pony, she was cute in a different way. I gave her a smile back. When I did, she blushed then was off on her way. I laid there for about 15 minutes, looking ay my body. I checked out my wings, and one of them looked banged up. Without thinking of what would happen, I tried to stretch my wings out. When she said I had a broken wing, she was not kidding. That hurt. Yet again, I don’t know what I was expecting.
Fluttershy returned with the bandage held in her mouth. Followed by her was Twilight Sparkle. Even though being in this world was like watching Friendship is Magic in 3D, the ponies looked a lot better in person. Fluttershy put down the bandage and started to speak.
“I have never bandaged a ponies wing before, so I brought my friend Twilight to help,” she gestured to Twilight.
“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you! From what Fluttershy told me, and from what I see, it looks like you broke your wing”
This is all still so weird, but I still responded.
“Uh, nice to meet you too, Twilight. Yea, it hurts pretty bad.”
Twilight looked at me and said,
“Well I’m not surprised. Broken pony parts tend to hurt,” she chuckled. “What were you doing that caused to crash from so high up anyway?”
I was trying to end my misery and suffering.
“I can’t actually remember,” I responded. I’m thinking that would be a much better answer.
“Well, everything looks alright. While we had this friendly chat, I got you fixed up,” Twilight said with a big smile on her face. Wow, that did not hurt a bit.
“How did you do that without me noticing, or better yet, not feeling any pain?” I asked.
“It’s all about the magic,” said Twilight as she proceeded to blow on her horn like cowboys did in old western movies. I got up onto all four hooves. It all so seemed natural for me. It was like I have been doing it since I could walk.
“You should come over and rest at Ponyville until you feel better,” suggested Twilight. Fluttershy quickly chimed in.
“Oh yes! Everyone in town is so nice and wonderful, you would love it!”
Everything was happening way too fast for my brain to comprehend, so it took me a few seconds, but I found my answer.
“Sure, that seems very nice right now, thank you.”
With Twilight by my right side and Fluttershy by my left, we set off to Ponyville.
We walked for a while, taking our time and enjoying the scenery of the land. I have to say, it was beautiful. Much more beautiful then I thought it looked in the show. It smelled so clean and refreshing. The grass was a beautiful shade of green, and it also felt super soft. This entire place was just amazing.
“Wow, this place is really beautiful,” I said, looking around.
“It is isn’t it. I love coming out here with my little critter friends. We just sit out here and enjoy ourselves. So relaxing.” Said Fluttershy. She started to stare off, her eyes widening. I could tell she was happy. Who wouldn’t be out here? We kept on walking. After a few more minutes of walking, I could see some buildings up ahead.
“Looks like we are here!” said Twilight. We started walking into the town. I could see so many ponies that I recognized from the show and fandom. Over by the fountain, there was Bon Bon and Lyra sitting on a bench, laughing and talking. There was Carrot Top tending to her carrot farm. Vinyl and Octavia were near by, arguing about which music is the better music.
After looking around in amazement, I saw it. The most beautiful site I have ever seen. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. There she was, eating a delicious looking muffin. It was Derpy Hooves, and she was the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. This was pretty amazing, being able to see all of my favorite things in person.
“Now, where will you stay while you are resting?” asked Twilight.
“Oh, anywhere will be fine,” I said.
“I have a place in the library then,” Twilight said, gesturing to Ponyville’s library. “Lets head over there now to get you settled in.”
“Okay, I’ll go back to my cottage now. Make sure to get some rest, um… Oh, I feel so embarrassed. I don’t know your name.”
“Yea,” said Twilight. “We never got your name.”
I tried to think of my name, but I seem to have forgotten my human name. Instead, one name just came naturally to me.
“It’s Flame Dasher,” I said. The name sounded like it has been mine forever.
“Well Flame Dasher. Nice to meet you,” said Twilight with a grin on her face.
“By Flame, make sure to get some rest,” Fluttershy said as she started to float away.
“I will. And thank you!” I shouted to her. She turned around and gave me a big smile, then was off on her way. I blushed a little bit, and I’m sure Twilight noticed. She nudged me and said:
“Fluttershy seemed really nice to you, but she is with literally everypony so what do I know.” She grinned at me and turned around. We started to walk back to her house. She opened the door with her magic, and then closed it after I entered. This was a lot bigger than it was in the T.V show. There must be hundreds, if not, thousands of books in here. She walked up stairs and I heard her magic go off. I walked up after her and saw that there was a second bed.
“You can sleep here until you get better,” Twilight said as she was using more of her magic to conjure up some blankets and a pillow.
“Cool, and let me say thanks again for all of this. You guys are just so nice,” I said, shooting Twilight a smile.
“Princess Celestia always taught me to be kind to everypony. It was one of her most important lessons. One she would always bring up.” She said closing her eyes. I started to think of anyone, or should I think anypony now, who inspired me. Nope, nothing. The source of my happiness was with this place now. I started to walk over to the stairs when I started to feel really dizzy. I struggled to stay up, and Twilight noticed.
“I need to get you to bed,” said Twilight urgently. I was about to fall over when she lifted me up with her magic and put me into the bed. The last thing I see before the blackness engulfs me is her placing a cup of water next to my bed, and then I was out.
I opened up my eyes and darkness greeted me. I was floating in air, surrounded by nothing. It was completely, 100% empty. I knew I was dreaming and yet I could not wake up. I just starred into the void, waiting for something to happen. After what seemed like an eternity, a bright light appeared in front of me. I started to float right over towards it. It was so fascinating, like I was a bug drawn to a lantern.
When I reached the light, I heard a voice call out to me. It was all muffled; I couldn’t understand any of it.
“What are you saying,” I yelled at the light, hoping for an audible response. “I can’t understand you!” The voice was still muffled. It was like the void around me was absorbing the voice. I tried to listen, but it just stayed muffled. All of a sudden, the light got bigger and I short towards it like a rocket. I watched as I got closer towards the light, bracing for impact. I hit the light with full force and was shot back into reality.
It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. I looked ad the wooden ceiling and remembered I was in Twilight’s tree house library. I looked around a bit and noticed someone was staring at me. It was none other than Spike.
“Twilight, he’s awake,” shouted spike down the staircase.
“Thank Celestia,” said Twilight as she was running up the stairs. “How do you feel?”
“Like I was hit by a carriage,” I said while rubbing my head “How long was I asleep for?”
“About three days,” responded Twilight with a relived look on her face. “You had us worried, but I’m glad you’re okay. Fluttershy visited yesterday, but you were still sleeping. You should visit her when you start to feel better.”
I gave Twilight a smile with a slight nod, letting her know I would. She shot me back a smile and trotted back down the stairs. I put my head back on my pillow, thinking about the dream I had last night. Did it mean anything important? Did it have to do with me coming to Equestria, or was it just a weird dream? So many questions were popping into my head. I decided I should get some fresh air. After all, I’ve been inside for three days straight.
I stood up very carefully, making sure I was not going to faint again. It felt good to stretch my legs again. I walked downstairs and told Twilight I was going to go see Fluttershy now. I walked out the door and started to her cottage, when I remembered I had to ask Twilight a question. I went back inside, but she was nowhere to be found, and neither was Spike. I guess I would just ask her later.
I started on my way again. As I was walking, I realized something.
“I have no idea where I’m going,” I said quietly to myself. I asked a nearby pony for directions. He gestured with his hoof, pointing down the road and told me to turn left here, and turn right there. I thanked him and went on my way. Sure enough, her cottage was where he said it would be. I knocked on the door and heard Fluttershy say, “Come in!” I opened the door and was immediately greeted by an explosion of a party cannon, along with Pinky Pie screaming:
“SURPRISE!”