Chapters Introduction: About myself
WARNING: The following story has been rated Mature by the author, due to prolonged descriptions of violence, gore and brief carnage, and disturbing themes such as violence, darkness, and suicide references, and prolonged descriptions of strong sexual content, and strong language throughout a lot of the story.
***
Lately I've been hard to reach, I've been too long on my own.
Everybody has a private world, Where they can be alone.
Are you calling me? Are you trying to get through?
Are you reaching out for me? Then I'm reaching out for you.
-Lyrics from "Beautiful", by Eminem
Have you ever had a dream? I had one. My dream was to get away from my boring, normal life, to explore the thing I loved the most.. I am a brony - My room has pictures of ponies taped to the walls and I love watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. My friends think I'm weird but at least they accept me for who I am. I'm no wimp, either, though. My favorite bands are Eminem and Mudvayne, pretty hard-core, and the last time a brony hater tried to beat me up... Well, let's just say he doesn't try to do that anymore.
I listen to some really depressing songs by Mudvayne and Eminem. First of all, I'm not mentally unstable. I wouldn't commit suicide for getting teased a little bit. However, it pisses me off when people take my music the wrong way and they get all worried, like "life is good, don't kill yourself, kid!"
Wow, I never would have guessed. I already fucking know that. So when people take the music that I listen to as a sign that I'm messed up, yeah, it kind of makes me mad.
I get pissed off pretty easily- not something you'd expect a brony to do? Well, that's me for you. I do have a nice side, though. In fact, I'm usually nice unless some dumb ass tries to upset me on purpose.
People bully me for everything. I'm not the "cool" kid at my school, you know? Well, I used to be. I used to live in Palco, Kansas, but I went to a school in a nearby town because Palco was too small to have its own school. Yeah, those were the good old days. It was a small school, but I was pretty popular I guess. I had like ten friends there. Life was great, and by the way, this was before I ever even heard about My Little Pony. Then, the shit hit the fan when my family moved to Washington. New school, no friends, hated for the stupidest reasons (and keep in mind, still before I even heard of My Little Pony). Well, I had to go to that school for three damn years before I finally got to go to a different school. Well, it was the same situation there, too, but at least I made like one friend.
Junior High. Better year for me. I made a friend- a good friend. We started to hang out a lot. Life was better, but I still got bullied.
In eighth grade, I discovered something that changed my life. My Little Pony. My cousin got me into it. I was a quiet brony at first, but some asshole found out and spread it. Wow, and I thought I got bullied before because of my fucking hairstyle and my love of reading? Shit, that was nothing! At least I had one good friend that accepted me for who I was.
Ninth grade now. Still teased. Wow, after three months of summer vacation, those kids haven't forgotten! I still had my good friend, who although he teased me sometimes, for the most part, he was good.
That bullying hurt- I'm not going to deny that- but it didn't drive me to the brink. You know what I mean. We learned in class about some kid who hanged himself in his closet for getting bullied too damn much. Well, I wasn't like that, I would never resort to taking my life, but the bullying hurt. I didn't tell the counselor- my pride was already on the line and I wanted to stand, not crawling, not falling, and show these kids that I could take care of problems myself. If I had gone to the counselor, they would have bullied me for being weak, being a baby or something like that, and I did NOT need any of that.
Two more years of school. Eleventh grade. Me, seventeen years old. My life hasn't changed much. I still get bullied but I do have a FEW more friends now. Two are even bronies, just like me. Still, summer vacation didn't come fast enough that year. But it finally did come, and that summer vacation was the one that completely changed my life.
Back to the My Little Pony thing- My favorite pony is Rainbow Dash. She's been my favorite ever since I saw the show for the first time.
The show for the first time. How, you may wonder, did a 17 year old like me get into a show like My Little Pony, which people say is for little girls? Well, I can still remember the first time I saw that show as if it just happened yesterday...
"Please?" My 6 year old cousin asked. "Just one episode, Nicky?"
"No!" I replied for the seventh time. "That show's for little girls, like you!"
"Aww... Pretty please, Nick?"
"I would rather die than be caught watching that show," I muttered under my breath. But what I said out loud was, "I already told you, that show's for girls like you."
"Please please please please? Just one episode?"
"But I don't want to," I told my cousin.
"Please? One episode won't hurt, will it?"
I stared at her, surprised. She was only six but she was talking like an older kid.
"Well... Fine," I said, giving in. "One (damn) episode. But I'm outa here right after that."
"Oh thank you!" My cousin said in delight. "Thank you so much, Nick!"
"Yeah... You're welcome," I said. "Just start the dang show so I can get this over with."
The episode she picked to watch was the very first episode of season one, with Nightmare Moon. At first, I was unimpressed... Especially when the theme song started playing. But then I realized it wasn't that bad. And so after that first episode, I was curious to know what happened next. After the second episode, I knew I had to see more. So instead of watching only one episode, I watched MLP for six hours strait, even after my little cousin had gotten tired of it and had left the room. It was the best show I'd ever seen in my whole life. I was amazed at how good the plot was, and I loved the animation and how the characters had their own unique personality.
And yeah, that's how I came to love MLP. In fact, when season three of the show aired, I saw it even before my little cousin did. Funny, huh? I honestly don't think that show is just for little girls. I'd recommend it to anyone.
About me being a brony again - most of my friends think I'm weird but I have a few friends who are bronies, like I said before. Thank god. If I was the only brony, that would kind of suck.
What do I do in my free time? I love to watch MLP on my iPad, when nosy parents aren't around and when I'm not doing things pony-related, I'm doing homework, listening to Eminem or Mudvayne, or doing chores. Yes, ponies take up most of my life. I lose myself in the show. It's a good way to get away from the hard pain of reality for awhile.
Well, now that you know all about me, let's get to my story. And it is one hell of a story. I don't care if you think I'm weird, I don't give a crap if you feel sorry for me, and I couldn't care less if you hate me after reading this story, but I have to get it out before I fucking blow up. Let me tell you what happened, starting on that fateful day...
It was summer time. Summer vacation, FINALLY. No teasing from anyone at my school for almost three months. Of course, that wasn't even CLOSE to long enough but you gotta learn to love what you've got. Just the other day, I was sitting in front of my computer, watching MLP, and wishing with all my heart that it was real, that I could be in it. But no. Of course wishing wouldn't work. They were all just computer-generated images, created by animators. Some people must be thinking, "wow, this poor teenager needs to get some balls ". Well, first of all, I don't give a shit what anyone thinks of me. I'm the one talking, remember?
***
My alarm clock woke me up extra early that one morning. On summer vacation. Damn thing. The sound it made was fucking annoying but I guess they're supposed to do that to make lazy people like me get their asses out of bed. I had to get up extra early to get packed. Well, fuck the alarm clock. I just got pissed off, got out of bed, and kicked it, and I made it shut up. Still angry and half-asleep, I dragged myself over to my closet and grabbed three suitcases out of it so I could start packing...
As soon as I was ready for the day and packed up, I was just sitting on my ass in front of the computer, reading fanfics for pretty much the whole morning. Over by the door of my bedroom, the three suitcases were lying on the floor, all packed up and ready to go. I was flying to Denver, Colorado, to visit my relatives today. My parents weren't coming. However, it was a while before we had to leave for the airport and like I said, I was just sitting in front of the computer reading fanfiction while listening to Mudvayne.
Although Mudvayne has some pretty hard-core songs, they sort of describe myself in a way. I am always a little depressed about something, or angry at something, or both. But I also like their songs because they're simply... good. I especially like the singer, Chad Gray. He has the coolest voice ever. Big range. I guess the best way to describe Mudvayne is that they're just really damn awesome.
After a half hour of listening to Mudvayne and reading fanfics, my mom called me, right when I was in the middle of the song, "Determined".
"Nick! Come and eat lunch now! You have to eat early before we go to the airport!"
"Damn it to hell," I muttered, as I had just reached a good part in the fic as well as my song. Nevertheless, I obeyed, saving my spot in the story and pausing my music.
***
After lunch, we had to go to the airport right away so I wouldn't miss my flight.
As we drove down the road, I didn't have anything to do so I tried to come up with more fanfiction ideas inside my head. When I was bored like now, that was my favorite thing to do. That's what I did all the way to the airport.
***
The airport was packed, as usual. It took dad forever to find a spot in the parking garage and when we did find a spot, we parked there quickly before any of the other wandering cars could. We got out, unloaded the luggage, and went inside the airport where it was even more crowded with people. People everywhere, going to security area, people returning from flights, people going out, people going in, just so many damn people . I can't really say why, but I just don't like crowded places. It's too fucking loud or it's so crowded, it feels like you're being crushed for all sides. Not only that, but sometimes, the people are complete dicks to you. They'll bump into you and then get pissed off and blame it on you.
My dad and I wove our way through the crowds of people towards the security area. Once we got there, we had to wait about a half-hour because the line was so damn long. I really hate waiting for things, like, a lot. once, when I realized how long I would have to wait for my food at a restaurant, I got so impatient that I literally asked the waiter, "When is my fucking food gonna be here?". I can tell you from experience that the waiters at restaurants don't appreciate swearing and impatience.
Anyways, we finally made it through without incident, and by that time, it was nearly boarding time for my flight. We went over to the correct gate to wait. When it was boarding time, my dad and I said quick good-byes and I boarded the plane. I sat down in my seat - thank god no one sat next to me. I wanted to be alone. I generally don't like it when strangers sit next to me anywhere because its... just awkward, I think. My seat was in the front of the plane but what the hell. No one sat next to me, and I felt just fine.
When everyone had boarded the flight, some attendant stood up at the front of the plane and demonstrated all the safety crap about the seat belts, the oxygen masks, the emergency exits, all of that. I didn't really pay any attention. I'd ridden on a plane many times before and I'd heard it all. Yeah, that's one of the things that I have trouble with- thinking I know everything. I took out my iPad and waited impatiently for the plane to take off so I could turn it on and watch MLP.
After what seemed like forever, the attendant finally said, "...and the final announcement we'd like to make is that there is thunderstorms near Denver, so as we approach the Mile High City, the weather might be a little rough."
"Finally! " I whispered to myself.
After everyone and everything was in place, the airplane pulled away from the gate and began to taxi down the runway, slowly at first, but rapidly gaining speed. In a minute or two, I felt the plane leave the ground as it took off. Then, finally, we were allowed to use electronics after it was in the air. I plugged my earphones into my iPad and turned on an episode of MLP from season three - The Wonderbolts Academy, one of my favorite episodes. When that one was over, I felt a little tired. I had stayed up the whole night last night reading fanfics on my iPad and I was beat. Rather than start another episode, I turned on a calm, quiet song (not one by Mudvayne, in other words) and slowly felt myself drift away into sleep...
***
I was awakened suddenly by a loud unpleasant bump and the sound of a few screaming. I sat up in my seat, wide-awake and wondering what the fuck was happening. I heard the voice of a stewardess.
"Please, keep calm!" she said loudly. "We are very close to Denver, we just had to fly through some storm clouds!"
They were definitely storm clouds. They were dark gray and two seconds after the stewardess spoke, lightning flashed not ten feet from the plane. This was followed instantly by a blast of thunder that was so fucking loud, it nearly blew my eardrums straight to hell and it caused people to start panicking all over again. The stewardess looked Ike she was about to speak again, but she never got the chance. Lightning flashed again, but this time, it actually hit the plane in an explosion of sparks. The power in the plane went out and the plane shuddered violently, hurling people that were not wearing their seat belts out of their seats and to the floor. The stewardess was hurled against the wall with a sickening series of cracking sounds, and she fell to the ground, a dark red pool starting to spread out from under her fallen body. Then the plane went into an uncontrollable nose-dive with all the passengers screaming their heads off except me. I was still trying to comprehend what was happening.
By instinct, I curled up my body, put my head down, and put my hands over my head.
***
I didn't remember the impact, all I knew when I woke up was that I was lying spread-eagled in the middle of a field. I hurt all over, and the only body part I could move was my head. I looked up slowly... And gasped. A hundred yards away, half of the plane I had been on was lying in the field, broken and twisted and burned. Another two hundred yards away was lying the back half of the plane, just as bad of condition as the front half. I realized I must have been sucked out of the plane on impact. It wasn't the broken plane or this realization that caused me to gasp in horror, though.
What caused me to gasp like I did was because there was other bodies lying in the field. And parts of bodies. And insides. And a bunch of other things that came from inside bodies. Three feet from my face, I saw the top half of a woman but not her bottom half. In between my legs was someone's arm. To my left side, a man lay dead on the ground, his stomach ripped open and his guts spilling over the ground.
Shaken by what I was seeing, I tried to get up and realized I couldn't. My chest was on fire and there was a six-inch long piece of twisted metal sticking out of my right leg, which was bleeding bad.
Suddenly, I felt my vision go gray and I realized I had been hurt worse than I thought I had been. I was dying. I struggled to hang on grimly to my life, but it was a hopeless battle. My vision grew dimmer and dimmer and the last thing I saw before I slipped into unconsciousness was some kind of yellow, swirling portal appearing above me, covering me, sucking me in, and my last thought was, is this the gateway to whatever is after death?
***
I woke up a little later. I opened my eyes and looked up. I saw an impossibly blue sky, the color of a sky from an animated cartoon show on TV. I saw trees that were impossibly green that didn't seen to have real leaves, but just fluffs of green around them. I saw clouds that were impossibly white. I thought I recognized the colors from a TV show somewhere, but my thoughts were too muddled and I couldn't place it. I'm dreaming , I thought. I fell asleep once again.
I don't know how long I was out for after that, but when I woke up, I was super hungry so I was guessing at least a day or so. I opened my eyes and gasped. The impossibly blue sky was still there, and the trees, and the clouds... Everything looked exactly like it did in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! I was so amazed at everything, but I remembered the plane crash with a sickening jolt to my stomach suddenly. I remembered the corpses- no, PARTS of corpses- strewn all over the field. I turned on my side and threw up all that was left in my stomach, leaving the unpleasant taste of half-digested food and stomach acid in my mouth. I looked at the vomit and saw stripes of red in it; I must have hit my chest really fucking hard because it looked as though I had a little internal bleeding. Thank god it wasn't that bad. It was worse, remembering the broken bodies of the passengers from the plane, the insides and limbs flung over the field, the carnage, than seeing a bit of blood in my puke. Holy shit, after being sucked out of a crashing plane then having to witness the gore and blood afterwards, I didn't think my mind would ever be the same. But I had do do something other than lay back and stare at my puddle of sick (which looked very strange on the animated-looking grass).
I tried to stand up but fell back with a gasp of pain; my chest still hurt pretty damn bad. My jeans were soaked with blood from where the piece of metal had stabbed into it, and that piece of metal was still there too, and it had sliced through some muscles. That was going to be a bastard to get out.
Slowly, although it hurt my chest and leg, I stood up cautiously. I staggered a little through the patch of trees I had been lying in and to the edge of it which opened up into a grassy meadow. I still couldn't believe, looking around, that everything looked like MLP:FIM animation. It was exactly like being in the show, except that this was real , and it would be exactly like the show too, it was just missing one thing, po-
I gasped in shock and stared up at the sky as a very familiar figure swooped down with her wings, landing in the meadow. She didn't notice me, but I noticed her. Even from a distance away, I recognized her, and she looked exactly like she did in the show. Same cyan coat, same confident expression, same rainbow-colored mane, same rainbow-lightning Cutie Mark, same wings.
I just stared for a few moments, forgetting about all my pain for a second. I couldn't believe it- it was just too good to be true- but it was really happening. I was staring right at Rainbow Dash.
"Mother of god!" I said in amazement to myself. "I can't believe this happened to me!"
Chapter 2: Meeting Rainbow Dash
"Oh. My. Gosh. That's Rainbow Dash. Like, that's actually Rainbow Dash," I muttered to myself, probably sounding like a total dumbass. But seriously, it was RAINBOW DASH I was talking about, so I was probably just a little shocked. She still hadn't noticed me yet, and I was wondering if I should show myself. If I showed myself to her, I'd probably fuck up and act like a total fool or I would scare the hell out of her since she's never seen a creature like me before. I just couldn't decide.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash took off from the field. For one scary moment, I thought she was going to fly over to me and ask who I was or something but she simply soared into the sky again and began practicing these absolutely amazing tricks. I gasped in amazement. It was impossible for me not to- I had never seen anything so cool before.
I watched as Rainbow Dash flew around a particularly big cloud, nothing but a rainbow blur because she was so fast. She carved the cloud flat into something that looked like a giant white target board. It turned out that's exactly what it was. Dash flew into the air and shot down, right at the flat cloud. She hit it dead-center and went right through it, making the cloud dissipate into nothing in a rainbow-colored flash of light. I saw Rainbow do some kind of victory jump in midair and I'm assuming she shouted something too, but I was too far away to hear it. I was hoping Rainbow Dash would perform her legendary Sonic Rainboom, but apparently, she'd had enough for today. She flew back down and landed in the meadow again, no doubt to take a rest.
I sat down in the grass and watched her from a distance, and she still didn't notice me. I though of something I could do while thinking of the best way to approach her - getting the piece of metal out of my leg. I dragged myself behind a tree, grabbed the piece of metal, and pulled. "Ow!" I yelped. The metal shard didn't come out of my leg one centimeter, but my hand slipped off of it, and the sharp metal slashed my hand open. Blood poured out, dripping onto the grass. I was forcibly reminded of the broken, mutilated bodies and body parts of the passengers from the plane lying in that one field and my stomach gave a sickening lurch.
Don't think of that, I warned myself. I didn't want to get sick AGAIN.
I tried to be more careful getting that piece of metal out, but it wasn't easy. My good hand was bleeding and it hurt like hell. I tried wiggling the piece of steel out but that didn't work. I tried using my left hand to carefully pull it out but that didn't work either. That piece of metal was really stuck in there.
"Damn it all to hell," I muttered. How the hell was I supposed to get that thing out? I thought to myself.
I tried wiggling the piece of metal again but it didn't do anything except cause my leg to start bleeding even more. What was worse, my good hand was slashed and slick with blood so it would be completely useless for this now. I tried using my left hand again. I tried for about five minutes with no luck whatsoever. I was still trying to get the damn piece of metal out when I heard a gasp of surprise.
"WOAH! What in the HAY are you?"
"Mother of-!" I yelled in surprise at the sound of the voice, and the piece of metal I was trying to pull out nearly cut open my left hand, too. I looked up in surprise and there, hovering about four feet off the ground in front of me and staring at me like I was some kind of alien (which I guess I kinda was, I guess) was Rainbow Dash.
"R- Rainbow!" I said, clumsily getting to my feet, ignoring the pain in my leg and chest.
"How do you know my name?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "Are you some sort of spy? Who are you? WHAT are you?"
"Um..." I said.
"Why are you all bloody?" Rainbow asked, her voice changing from suspicious to concerned suddenly. "What happened to you?"
"Well..." I started.
"Oh!" Rainbow said. "I should take you to my friend, Fluttershy! I bet she knows what you are! And she knows how to take care of anything, maybe she could help you get better!"
"Fluttershy's here, too?" I said dumbly.
"Okay, I don't know how you seem to know our names, but that's kinda creepy," Rainbow said. "Anyways though, you should come back to Ponyville with me. You need to get patched up."
"I guess I do," I said dumbly. I was still in shock that I was actually talking to Rainbow Dash. Actually talking to my idol and hero. An idol that, until recently, I had believed to not be real.
"If you end up having to go to the hospital," Rainbow said, "you need to read the Daring Do books. They're awesome!"
"Yep," I said.
"Well, just follow me then, whatever you are. You look like you need a little help there."
"Wait," I said, finally getting hold of my thoughts and more or less pulling myself together. "How- how the hell are you real? I mean, I've seen you on TV before. I've seen ALL of you on TV before. But you're just from a TV show. How are you real?"
Rainbow Dash gave me an odd look.
"What's TV?" She asked. "And the more important question is, how the hay are YOU real? I've never seen anything like you before. Not just that, you can also speak our language. And why are you wearing clothes? Are you some kind of fashion freak or something? I have a friend named Rarity who wears stuff like you, but only for, like, parties and stuff."
"Well, um, it's kind of hard to explain," I said. "But I still don't get how YOU'RE real! You're from a TV show!"
Rainbow did a face-hoof in exasperation.
"Look, I don't even know what in Equestria this TV thing is."
"Well, from where I come from-"
"Hey, what's that in the grass?" Rainbow interrupted. "Is that something you brought with you?"
"What?" I asked. Wow, Rainbow Dash had the shortest attention span ever, but I guess since she had never seen anything like me before, she was just curious.
Rainbow flew over and grabbed something out of the grass near where I had been lying.
"What in Celestia's name is this thing?" she asked.
"My iPad!" I said in surprise. "I must have been touching it or something when I came here."
"What does it do?" Rainbow asked.
"It's like- for- music, and playing games-"
"What's this button do?" Rainbow asked, jabbing at the device. A second later, she gasped. "That's a picture of ME!"
"Yeah- I have you for my background, Dash."
Rainbow swiped her hoof over the screen. "Music," she must have read. "What's this?"
She tapped at the screen again, and the speakers, which were turned up, began playing Eminem's song, "The Real Slim Shady".
"Um... Look, Dash..." I said. "I don't think you want to listen to that one-"
Rainbow tapped the screen again, and "Happy?" by Mudvayne began playing.
Rainbow listened for a moment. "This is ok, I guess!"
"Rainbow..." I said. I took a step towards the pegasus and my injured leg nearly gave out. I stumbled and only barely managed to keep my balance.
Rainbow turned to me. "You have a good taste in music, whatever the hay you are."
"My name's Nick," I said. "I'm a human."
Rainbow Dash dropped the iPad in the grass. "A HUMAN? That is so AWESOME! I thought humans were only myths!"
I laughed a little, causing my chest to flare in pain. "We're real."
"You know who'll be really happy to see you?" Rainbow asked. "My friend Twilight Sparkle! I bet she knows about humans- she reads all the time about everything."
"Rainbow," I said, gasping a little with the effort of standing up, "could we please head back now? I really need help fast."
Rainbow Dash glanced at the shard of metal sticking out of my leg and the blood that covered my hand and lower half of my pants.
"Yeah, you're not looking so good, Nick. Let's get you back to Ponyville. I can't wait to show you to all my friends! I bet they can help."
Chapter 3: Meeting Twilight Sparkle
I followed Rainbow Dash as she led me in the direction of Ponyville. With each step, my chest and leg burned in agony. I almost didn't care. I was in Equestria, living my dream.
I kept staring at Rainbow as I followed her. I had to admit, she was actually really cute. In fact, I'd say she looked 20% more beautiful than the prettiest girl at my school. Not that I cared for human girls. They never liked me, I never really liked them. But still, you know what I mean- this was no human girl, this was a pony- Rainbow Dash. And she was still better than any human girl I'd ever seen. Oh great, I haven't even been awake for an hour and I'm already getting these thoughts , I thought to myself.
"You still got your music-player thingy?" Rainbow Dash asked, startling me out of my thoughts.
"Oh- yeah, I got it," I said. I had picked up my iPad before we had started walking and I now held it in my left hand since my right was still bleeding like crazy.
"Could you play something on it?" she asked. "I really like rock. I'll never forget how Rarity changed our music at the Best Young Flyers Competition- that music was SO uncool."
"Um... I guess," I said. "What do you want to listen to?"
"Any kind of rock music that sounds cool would be cool with me," Rainbow Dash said.
"Um... let's see..." I said, turning on the iPad. "Oh, here's a good one."
I clicked the song and "Not Falling" by Mudvayne began to play.
"This is pretty good," Rainbow said. "I haven't really heard a lot of hard rock."
"Mudvayne's one of my favorite bands," I said.
My leg suddenly flared in pain and I stumbled and nearly fell.
"Hang on, Nick!" Rainbow Dash said. "We're nearly there!"
"Damn it, I hope so!" I said under my breath.
"Look!" Rainbow said. "There's Ponyville, over there!"
I looked in the direction she was motioning in and I gasped. There was Ponyville, and it looked exactly how it did in the show. Even from a distance, I thought I could recognize a few buildings, like Sugarcube Corner and the town hall.
"One thing I should probably mention," Rainbow Dash said. "Nopony has ever seen a real human before, so they may get a little, ya know, freaked out by you."
"Wonderful."
"Don't worry," Rainbow laughed, "I'll be there right with ya."
We continued walking and my leg and hand continued bleeding. Soon, the song playing was over and a new one came on. It wasn't by Mudvayne and it was softer rock but I could tell by Rainbow's expression that she approved of this song, too. Damn, this pegasus had a good taste in music.
As we approached Ponyville, we passed one pony. Sure enough, as Rainbow had predicted, the pony stopped and stared after me with her jaw gaping like I was the world's weirdest freak (but in a way, I guess I was). Rainbow gave the pony one of her everything's-cool smiles before continuing.
"So, Nick," Rainbow asked. "Where did you come from? I can tell humans aren't from Equestria- by the looks of you, I'd say humans aren't even from this world."
"I come from this planet called Earth," I replied. "It's a nice planet, but I'd honestly rather live here."
"You'd rather live HERE?" Rainbow asked, surprised. "But you just got here. How do you even know if you'll like Equestria?"
"Trust me, Rainbow; I've seen this place before."
"When? How?"
"It's a long story," I said.
"Well, you can tell me later, we're here."
Rainbow Dash and I walked into the town, down Main Street. There had to be at least sixty ponies walking around there, doing their daily whatever, and they all stopped talking and moving and just stared at me as Rainbow Dash led me down the road. I was trying not to look like a total dumbass in front of all these ponies, but I wasn't sure I was doing a very good job. I mean, I was a creature they had never seen before- a creature covered in blood, to be more exact. I don't think I exactly made a good first impression.
"We'll go to Twi's library, first," Rainbow said. "She can use her magic and help you right up, I bet."
"I hope so," I said.
"Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash said. "I know you're from this Earth-place and all, and you're apparently a human, but you still haven't said how you know so much about us."
"Er... Do I have to tell you now? Like, right now right now?"
"Yeah," she demanded. "I want to know!"
All of the ponies on the street were still staring at us, so I kept my voice down. "Well... You know, Dash... Where I come from, you're just fictional characters from a TV show."
"Fictional characters?" Rainbow said in disbelief.
"Um... Yeah."
"Um... Ok then... But wait, what's a TV? You still haven't told me that."
"It's like my iPad," I told her, "but it's a lot bigger and it just sits in a room and you can watch stuff on it."
"I see," Rainbow said, her voice sounding strange. I knew what was bothering her. She was still trying to take in that she was only a fictional character in my dimension. Her next words proved it.
"Nick? You weren't lying about all of us just being fictional in your dimension, were you?"
"Nope," I said quietly. "It's true."
We continued walking. We were almost at Twilight's library; I recognized it.
"Why do you have a picture of me on that iPad thing?" Rainbow asked. "No offense... But that's slightly creepy. And it looks exactly how I do, here in real life."
"I was always your biggest fan, Rainbow," I said. "And there's other humans back in my dimension that have pictures of other ponies for a background on their iPads, too."
"You're my biggest fan?" Rainbow asked. "That's so cool!"
We stopped at the door of the library. Behind us on the road, everypony was still staring at me. I think the only reason they didn't panic was because Rainbow was with me acting like everything was normal. Or at least close to normal.
"I just have one more question," Rainbow asked. "Back in your dimension, with your show about us- was I awesome in the show?"
"Yep," I replied with a smile. "You were always the best, Rainbow."
"Cool!" she said. "Well, do you want to knock?"
I raised my fist, preparing to knock- but then hesitated. I was about to meet another pony of the Mane 6- I wondered how Twilight Sparkle would react when she saw me.
"Oh, just do it," Rainbow said. "I'll explain everything to her."
"Well... Ok."
I raised my fist and knocked on the door. The door, like everything else in this dimension, looked animated, but it felt real. I guess it was actual wood, come to think of it, just a different type in a different dimension. The door opened and Twilight Sparkle stood there. I was kind of surprised that she wasn't an Alicorn princess- I guess I don't know everything.
For a moment, Twilight just stood there, staring at me and then at Rainbow Dash, who was next to me.
Twilight didn't freak out, thank god, but when she spoke, it was in a curious confused tone.
"Um... Rainbow? Who is this? And why is he... covered in blood?"
"It's... a long story, Twi," Rainbow told her. "I found him near the Everfree Forest, where I was practicing."
"Wait..." Twilight said, staring at me with a thoughtful expression on her face. "That's not... a human, is it?"
I found the strength to talk. "Um... Yes, I am a human."
"Oh my gosh!" Twilight said with delight. "You're an actual human! You can even talk- the myths are real!"
"What's all the racket about?" a tired voice said. I looked down as Spike the dragon appeared next to Twilight in the doorway. This just kept getting better and better.
"Wha- huh?!" Spike said in surprise, staring up at me. "T- Twilight, what is THAT thing?"
Twilight laughed. "Oh, Spike, he's just a human."
"B- b- but you told me humans were only myths!" Spike said, beginning to sound hysterical. Man, that dragon got worked up easily.
"Well, sometimes myths are wrong!" Twilight said with a laugh.
"But what if he's dangerous!" Spike said, holding the sides of his face with his claws. "What if he has some sort of weird, evil power that will destroy us all!"
"I'm not dangerous, and I certainly don't have any special powers," I told Spike as Twilight laughed.
"Woah!" Spike said. "He can talk! He can even speak our language!"
"I sure can," I agreed.
"I do have a question," Twilight said, which I translated in my mind to 'I have a LOT of questions about you'.
"But first, come on in, both of you," Twilight said. "You're attracting a lot of attention."
Twilight was right. The ponies out on the road were all still staring at me, and some new ponies had come out of nearby buildings to join them.
"Yeah... That's probably a good idea," Rainbow Dash agreed. "And he's still got a piece of metal sticking out of his leg."
We all walked into Twilight's library (well, because of my leg, I more like stumbled in), and Spike shut the door behind him.
Twilight noticed the pain I was in from my leg. "Here, have a seat," she said kindly. Her horn glowed purple and a chair from upstairs floated down, surrounded in a purple light, and set down near me. I quickly sat down in the chair, grateful for the chance to finally rest my leg. I took this moment to look around Twilight's library- sure enough, it looked exactly as it did in the show.
"Ok," Twilight said, and I moved my gaze to her. "So, what's your name? I haven't asked you yet."
"His name's Nick," Rainbow said, answering for me. Twilight glared at her a little but I nodded. "Rainbow's right, that's my name."
"Well, Nick," Twilight asked me. "How the heck did you end up in Equestria? All I have to do is look at you to tell humans aren't from this world... And possibly not even this dimension."
"Well-"
"Hang on!" Twilight said. "I'm so sorry, I just forgot!"
Twilight's horn glowed purple again, and I felt the piece of metal that was stuck in my leg gently slide out. I looked at it, floating in the air, and gasped. I was wrong about the piece of metal being only six inches long; it was closer to ten inches and four inches from the bottom was covered in red. That thing had really been jammed in my leg.
"Shit," I muttered.
I suddenly felt liquid running freely down my leg, flowing out from the wound at an alarming speed.
"Um, Twilight..." I asked, but the unicorn was already on it. Her horn glowed purple again, and I felt the muscles and skin in my leg rejoin together, but not fully repair themselves.
"Sorry," Twilight said. "I'm not good enough to heal bad wounds like that completely. Just be careful, or you'll pull the skin or the muscles apart again. If you manage to not hurt it any more than it already is, it will heal by itself completely after awhile."
"Oh man, thanks, Twilight!" I said. "I can't believe you just did that for me!"
"Oh, it was really no big deal," Twilight said, but still looked pretty dang proud of herself. "Now, back to what I asked before- how did you get to Equestria?"
"It's a really long story, actually," I replied, "but I'll tell it so you can understand it. To make a long story short, there was a really bad accident in my dimension- one that actually came very close to killing me. That's why I'm covered in blood, in fact. That's how I got hurt."
Twilight looked thoughtful. She paced around in front of my chair for a few moments, then looked at me again. "But that still doesn't tell us how you got here. Do you remember?"
"I honestly don't remember," I said truthfully. "I was just lying there, and then I fell unconscious, and I woke up here."
"Interesting," Twilight said thoughtfully. "You know, if you haven't been in Equestria for any more than two days, based off of magic and scientific theory, I have a spell that could temporarily send you back to your dimension."
"Temporarily?" I asked.
Twilight nodded, her eyes closed in sadness. "I'm sorry, Nick, but there's not a spell that anypony knows that could something back to it's original dimension permanently if it's already switched dimensions once. From what I know- and this is all just based off of theories- if one object switches dimensions, it's impossible to send it back to its original dimension permanently. You could send it back temporarily- but it would fade after awhile and just re-appear in the dimension it got sent to, but for good this time."
"Wait," I asked slowly. "Are you saying that you could send me back to Ea- my dimension, but I'd come back here after awhile?"
Twilight nodded. "I'm sorry, Nick," she said sadly. "If you haven't been in Equestria for more than two days, I could use the spell to send you back for awhile- but you'd come back here after twenty-four hours."
"That's great!" I said.
Twilight looked confused. "You're not sad that you can never see your own dimension again if I send you back for one more time? And even if I don't send you back before two days, it will be too late to see your dimension whatsoever!"
"I know how this sounds, Twilight- but I'd much rather live in Equestria than my old dimension."
"But don't you have friends there in your dimension?" Twilight asked.
"A few," I said. "But most of them just don't get me. Trust me, my friends will forget about me soon. I know what you're thinking. 'Nice friends, right?'"
"But what about your family?" Twilight asked. "You surely must have a family in your dimension that cares about you!"
"My family thinks I'm dead. They think I died in the accident." Suddenly, I felt sad for the first time as this harsh truth sank in. "They think I'm dead. I don't know if I should face them since I'll just have to say goodbye forever, anyway."
Twilight looked like she felt bad for me. "Do you want me to send you, then?" She asked. "You'll fade and re-appear in Equestria in twenty-four hours."
"Yeah... I guess," I said. "I want to see my dimension one last time."
"Ok, I'll go get the book that the spell is in," Twilight said. "Now, where would it be?"
"I know where it is!" Spike said proudly. He ran over to a nearby bookshelf and climbed it, grabbing a book from the top shelf. He jumped back down and handed the book to Twilight.
"Oh, Spike," Twilight said with a laugh, "I don't know what I would do without you."
Spike grinned proudly.
Twilight flipped to a page in the book. Then, she stared at me in concentration.
"This is a really difficult spell," she muttered. She closed her eyes, her horn began to glow-
"Wait!" I said. Twilight's eyes opened and her horn stopped glowing.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"Could Rainbow go with me?"
Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight stared at me in surprise.
"Well, if she wants to, obviously," I said quickly.
"A chance to see a new dimension?" Rainbow said. "AWESOME!"
"I don't know!" Twilight said. "It's theoretically possible-"
"Wait, I've just found a problem," Rainbow said. "If you send me to his dimension, won't that mean I'll never get back here to Equestria, since I've switched to a new dimension?"
Twilight laughed. "You don't need to worry, Rainbow, I don't know any spells to send anything to new dimensions for the first time- that is VERY advanced magic. There hasn't been a unicorn in fifteen thousand years who has had the power to do that. Which, by the way, goes to show how old this book is just for this spell. The princess gave it to me."
"Ok, I'm officially confused," Rainbow said. "How does this all work then?"
"I'm using a spell to temporarily send an object- in this case, Nick- back to his own dimension because he's already somehow switched to our dimension. I'm not sending him to his dimension for the first time. Theoretically, if you are touching him when I send him, Rainbow, since you HAVEN'T switched dimensions before and you are a living organism, Nick's dimension-print will become a part of you, too, and you'll both head back to Nick's dimension and you'll both fade and re-appear here when your time runs out." Twilight turned to me. "The only problem is, taking Rainbow with you will decrease your time there from twenty-four hours to maybe only five or six."
"That's good enough for me, if Rainbow still wants to go," I said. "Well... Rainbow? Want to come visit my dimension?"
Rainbow hesitated a bit, then walked over and extended her wing. I set my iPad, which I had still been holding in my hand, on the floor of Twilight's library and took Rainbow's wing in my hand. Her wing was softer than I expected. It felt comforting.
"Are you both ready?" Twilight asked.
"Ready as we'll ever be," I said, standing up from the chair I had been sitting in, still holding Rainbow's wing.
Twilight looked at the book and closed her eyes for concentration. Her horn began to glow. At first, nothing seemed to be happening but after a minute, I saw the white mist surrounding me and Rainbow. The mist grew thicker, and I could just barely make out Twilight, grunting from concentration, her horn literally sparking and crackling as it glowed. Finally, the mist grew think and dark, and I couldn't hear the sound of Twilight's magic anymore. Then, the mist cleared. Me and Rainbow were standing near a small town, about a fifth of a mile away from the road that led there. We were back on Earth- or at least, I was back. This was Rainbow's first time here. She looked around in amazement.
"Please be careful, Rainbow- the people here aren't used to seeing ponies like you."
"Got it," Rainbow Dash said confidently. "Um, Nick? You can let go of my wing, now."
"Huh?" I said. I realized I was indeed still holding Rainbow's wing and I let go quickly, turning a bit red. "Sorry about that!"
"Don't mention it," Rainbow said. "Well, I guess you have about five hours to get prepared for your new life in Equestria- we better get started."
"Yep," I agreed. "But just remember, be careful and don't let anyone see you."
"Don't worry, I won't," Rainbow said. And with those words, her and I headed in the direction of the town. Time to get prepared for when I headed back to Equestria.
Chapter 4: Twilight Listens To Music
AUTHOR'S NOTICE: I've noticed this story has been getting a lot of dislikes, and I've noticed the SAME people in the comments for every chapter, complaining about this or that. And while I don't mind constructive criticism, I think it's messed up how you just dislike the story and then complain about everything. Here's a quick reminder to you before I start this chapter. (1) It's my story, my style of writing. You don't like where this story is going, just don't read it! It's that simple. (2) if you see one, two, heck, even FIVE things that I should change, tell me by all means! Just be kind about it. I don't need comments ten miles long that tell me how I practically need to change every damn line. It's my style of writing, and telling me to change the whole story is making it YOUR story, NOT mine. Don't like my style, just don't read it!
***
(This chapter is NOT told in first-person)
***
When the mist that had been swirling around Rainbow Dash and Nick had cleared, they were both gone. The spell had worked. Twilight grinned happily, sweating and exhausted. That had taken a tremendous amount of magic and she had almost not been able to finish the spell. She had managed to, however, and now all she could do was wait five hours until Rainbow and Nick re-appeared in Equestria. Suddenly, her smile faded. She had never used that spell before, and she was pretty sure the two would end up on Earth... But she had no way to control exactly where they would end up there, she realized. She hoped that they would come back alive... But what had been done was now done, and there was no point in worrying about it now. To take her mind off where they might have (died) landed, Twilight decided to do some housework and hope for the best.
Twilight used her magic and sent the chair Nick had been sitting on back upstairs, and noticed the black, rectangular device that Nick had set on the ground before he had left. It was his property... But it wouldn't hurt to just take a look at it, Twilight told herself. Besides, it was something from another dimension, and she was just curious. She walked over to it and saw a button on the bottom. She touched the button with her hoof, and the screen flashed on to a picture of Rainbow Dash and some message that read 'Swipe To Unlock' at the bottom. The picture of Rainbow Dash was weird enough, Twilight knew, so what else might be on here? She swiped her hoof over the bottom of the screen, and a list popped up, which held the names of some things.
Twilight touched a name on the list, a song called "Determined" by somepony (human, she reminded herself, not pony) named Mudvayne, and it began playing out of the device. She listened for about a minute, and then gasped. This song was not very nice at all. The singer swore a lot- more than Twilight had ever heard in her whole life- and began to song about very inappropriate things.
What is Nick doing with songs like these? Twilight thought to herself. In a corner of the screen was an arrow. Twilight tapped it and a different song began playing, a song called "Break Stuff" by some guy named Limp Bizkit. This one was just as bad as the first.
"Isn't there any nice songs on here?" Twilight thought out loud. She looked at the screen some more and noticed something that said 'Playlists' in the bottom corner. She tapped on that, and another list came up with the names of the playlists. The one that caught her eye was the one titled 'My Life'.
She tapped on that one, and saw several songs in there. One was called "Happy?", which was another song by the Mudvayne guy, another was called "Beautiful", by some person apparently known as Eminem, and there was one called "Last Resort", by someone called Papa Roach. There were also a few others.
Twilight wondered what these songs all had to do with Nick's life. She tapped on the first song, "Happy?" and began to listen to it. It was hard rock, not her type of music at all- but she forced herself to listen to the lyrics, wanting to see the message that the song had. And by the time the song was over, she had definitely gotten the message. This guy sounded depressed, like people kept bringing him down, and he hoped they were "happy", since all he was had been taken. Twilight thought it was a pretty sad song.
Twilight clicked on "Last Resort". Not her type of music either, but by the time the song was over, she had been shaken by that one even more than "Happy?". This guy was "contemplating suicide".
"I can't believe this," Twilight whispered to herself. "What kind of life did he have before he came here?"
She clicked on the one marked "Beautiful". Once again, not her type of music. It was happier than the other two she had listened to, but down under, it had the same meaning.
"I've heard enough," Twilight whispered. "Oh Nick, what did those other humans in your dimension do to you to drive you to create a dark playlist of songs like this?"
***
Twilight didn't do much that day, she just paced around the library and waited for Rainbow Dash and Nick to return. She was upstairs, reading a book, when she finally heard a loud commotion downstairs. She ran to the top of the stairs just in time to see a flash of violet light and white mist, and then Rainbow Dash stumbled out, tripped and landed on the floor of the library. A few seconds later, there was another flash of light and mist about seven feet from her, and Nick fell out.
As Nick picked himself up, Twilight noticed that he looked out of breath and sweaty, but he was carrying a bag so he must have gotten what he needed.
"How was it, you two?" Twilight asked as she ran down the stairs.
Rainbow Dash looked up. "Yeah- we appeared too close in public, and all I'm saying is that those humans are NOT used to seeing somepony as awesome as me."
"We ended up near some Canadian village," Nick said, "but we were seen. I was able to get the stuff I needed but things were beginning to look bad near the end. Some guy chased us for three miles with a hacksaw, and then we were pulled back here."
"I can see why Nick doesn't like his dimension," Rainbow said in a grumpy voice. "Those humans are SO uncool."
"I could tell," Twilight said.
"What do you mean, Twi?" Rainbow asked. "You weren't there."
"I mean, I have a good idea of what Nick had to go through in his life in his dimension," Twilight said. "All I had to do was listen to some of his music to tell that."
Nick looked up. "Y- you listened to that while I was gone?" he said.
"I did," Twilight said. "I don't know exactly what you were going through, but I could tell it was nothing good."
"Don't take that music literally, Twilight," Nick said. "Those songs are depressing, but I just listen to them because I like them."
"Does he have any other music on there besides that Mudvayne stuff?" Rainbow asked. "I mean, Mudvayne's good and all, but I honestly like softer rock music."
Rainbow turned to Nick. "No offense."
"None taken," Nick replied. "We all have different tastes in music."
"Look," Twilight said, "I don't know who this Mudvayne guy is, but I am saying is that some of those songs on there sounded really depressing."
"Sounds about right," Nick said. "Sounds like what my life was. But I'm glad I'm here now. I guess I don't need to worry about that stuff anymore."
"I hope you don't," Twilight said. "Don't be fooled though, there's someponies out there who aren't exactly nice."
"Some gryphons, too," Rainbow added darkly, and Nick knew she was referring to Gilda the Gryphon.
"Well," Twilight said after a moment, "it's getting kind of late now. I'm guessing you don't have a place to sleep, but you can sleep over on the couch in the other room. I'll have Spike set it up for you. And tomorrow, I'll show you around Ponyville!"