I awoke to the gentle sound of birds‘ twittering, coming to my ears from somewhere in the distance. My ears perked up as I slowly came around; I sensed the soft tingling of fresh grass underneath my hooves and against my exposed belly, and felt the sun’s warming light on my fur.

For a moment, I felt like I was back in Stable Two and taking a nap in the apple orchards, and the memories of my foalhood began to flood my mind.

Then, however, I remembered that this was utterly impossible since I had left Stable Two long ago, choosing a life of threats and adventures out in the Equestrian wasteland over the foreseeable and leaned-back life of a stable dweller.

My eyes slowly fluttered open, then closed again abruptly. The sun was still there, and it was strong - stronger than I had ever seen it before.

I turned my head to the ground, lifting a hoof to shield my eyes from the light, then carefully opened them again.

I was indeed looking at grass – lush, green and juicy … it must have been the most vivid piece of vegetation I had seen ever since I had left Stable Two.

However, the sight of grass unleashed an avalanche of other questions that now came raining down onto my mind – where was I, how did I get here, and most importantly, where were my friends?

Feeling how the last bit of tiredness vanished from my body in an instant, I hastily turned my head and took a quick look around my immediate surroundings.

Grass. Grass, grass and even more grass was everything I could see. I lifted my head a little further, and the first thing that caught my attention was the clear blue sky above my head – for some reason, the normally omnipresent cloud curtain wasn’t there anymore, and I had a clear view of the seemingly endless sea of blue above, as well as…

I pinched my eyes close from the glaring light. It seemed the sun had a lot more power when it wasn’t hidden behind a thick layer of clouds.

More and more questions popped up in my head, but were met by nothing but blackness. I could barely remember my own name, so it didn’t surprise me that I didn’t know where in Equestria I was, or that I couldn't recall what I had done in order to get here.

Finally my eyes seemed to have adjusted to the bright daylight, and my vision slowly began to clear.

Considering that my face was still turned away from the sun, I suppose it was no real surprise that the first thing I saw as I opened my eyes again was what was right in front of me – my outstretched foreleg on a spot of green grass.

My breath caught inside my throat as my look fell onto my ankle, showing no signs of either a stable suit or a PipBuck. My eyes widened as my head spun around, my gaze scanning the rest of my body and confirming my previous assumptions – I was naked, in the purest sense of the word.

I felt how a blush of discomfort appeared on my face almost instantly – partly because being completely nude somewhere in the open was more than just a little embarrassing, but mostly because I felt unprotected; helpless, without my armor and equipment.

My look went back to my PipBuck-less foreleg, looking at the bare ankle with disbelief – my leg showed no signs of strains or injuries, meaning that who or whatever had removed my PipBuck must have removed it without using force, maybe even with the help of professional tools.

This brought me back to the two most pressing questions on my mind: where was I, and how did I get here?

I lifted my head again, taking another look around. The meadow didn’t seem so big anymore now that I could see it clearly; it was a rather small piece of land; rectangular, about fifteen yards in length and width, and confined by a wire fence that was a little taller than me; a big tree that looked just as lush and lively as the meadow I was laying on arose behind me, providing a part of the area with a big, dark shadow.

It took my dizzy mind a few seconds to realize that I was more or less trapped inside the fence, but even that realization quickly faded into the background as I spotted something beyond the limits of my low-security prison.

It was a living creature - that I could tell from the distance. I would have taken it for an alicorn if it hadn’t been for the lack of wings and a horn, and for the fact that the creature’s coat had a dark shade of chocolate brown, while alicorns’ coats were either greenish or bluish.

Besides, alicorns –despite their supernatural powers- looked at least remotely pony-like. The thing in front of me looked … different. The most significant difference being its head which looked like it had been stretched to a gruesome length with the help of a supernatural force; its eyes had lost a significant part of their size and were now mere black dots at the side of its head, and its legs were so thin they looked like toothpicks from the distance – it was a miracle those things managed to carry the creature’s weight.

All in all, the creature seemed a little … sturdier than most ponies I’d seen so far. Its frame was remotely comparable to that of Princess Celestia, even though its belly and flank seemed a little more … buff than that of the Princess, but maybe that was just my personal observation.

In any case, my curiosity had been awoken – while I still felt a little helpless without my PipBuck (or my weapons, for that matter), I felt obliged to get to know more about this unknown creature, if only to find out that it was just a horribly mutated pony or something even less spectacular.

I knew that, if the thing should turn out to be hostile, my chances to survive an attack would be considerably low, seeing as the thing was at least three times my size and I had none of my weapons with me.

However, curiosity beat common sense like it did so often, leading me to the conclusion that I should go and investigate the mysterious being further instead of keeping safety distance and staying out of its field of vision.

Besides, there still was a slight chance that –against all odds- the creature would not be hostile and maybe just ignore me completely or even provide some sort of information as to where I was – there was only one way to find out.

Determination spreading through my mind, I took a deep breath and slowly arose to my hooves.

I let out a gasp as I stretched the muscles in my legs, lifting me up to my full height. My legs felt shaky and aching for some reason; my head was throbbing with a sudden headache, and I had an odd ringing in my ears.

But the feeling was bearable, and the pain turned into a numb ache moments after. Maybe my brain was just releasing painkillers, but after a moment of hesitation, the pain seemed to be gone completely.

Trying to ignore the little pony inside my head that kept on insisting that I should avoid the creature and look for some sort of cover instead, I took a shaky step forward; my hooves sunk into the soft soil ever so slightly as I slowly made my way over to where the creature was standing and munching on some grass.

It noticed me when I was about five steps away from the fence that divided our two pastures; its grotesquely elongated head turned towards me, its black, soulless eyes focused me from the side, scanning me with a mindless look.

I couldn’t help but to feel a light sensation of sickness crawling up my throat – I had already seen quite a lot of mutated monstrosities, and the creature in front of me didn’t even make it into the top ten of the most nightmare-inducing things I had seen so far, but nonetheless I could feel how a shudder ran down my spine as the thing inspected me, probably looking for weak spots and figuring out a possible attack strategy.

A feeling of weightlessness made itself noticeable inside my guts as I realized that it probably wouldn’t have to search for long – without my barding or weapons, my whole body was a single weak spot. Technically the thing could just raise a hoof and stomp me right into the ground and I would have nothing to counter it with.

My legs began to tremble as my mind started making up cruel images of all the many ways in which the creature could end my life, and I forced myself to think of something nice for once.

My thoughts drifted off to my friends, and I thought of Velvet Remedy. What would she do when put in my situation?

Well, she would probably scream and run away, but … no. No, she would talk to the creature and try to establish a peaceful solution. Exactly what I should be doing as well.

Giving the mysterious being in front of me a friendly smile, I hesitantly opened my mouth to say something, but was cut short by the creature: letting out a thunderous whinny that was so loud and sounded so surreal that it made me want to drop to the ground and cover my ears with my hooves, the thing arose to its hind legs, prancing and planting itself in front of me in its full size.

Almost instinctively, my body tensed, falling into a crouch, ready to either attack or run away; an aura of magic formed around my horn and reached for my utility barding in order to draw Little Macintosh and defend myself against the sudden threat.

Unfortunately, however, I quickly realized that there was no barding to draw a weapon from. To make matters worse, I realized only shortly after that there was nothing that could have drawn a potential weapon, even if I had one.

Time seemed to come to a halt as I noticed with horror that there was no magic aura around my horn. Even worse, a quick inspection with my right hoof revealed that there was no horn at all.

My whole body froze in shock. Not only that I was in a place I didn’t know, who or whatever cruel force that had sent me there had also taken not only my armor, but also my weapons and my magic, leaving me as an unarmed, vulnerable, and nearly helpless earth pony.

I dropped back onto my haunches, my empty look directed at the feral creature which had –for some reason- decided to not attack me and instead turned on its tail and trotted over to the opposite end of its pasture, now only giving me a disinterested look with its plump behind.

As the threat had vanished, I could hear my own heavy breathing as I looked at my bare hooves, then slowly led them up to my forehead, hoping that maybe this had all been a mere misunderstanding and my horn was still there after all.

My hooves reached my forehead and touched … nothing. There was nothing there, not even a stump. It was as if I had been born an earth pony.

My look fell onto a small puddle on the grass next to me – the water in it was brown and had a moldy smell to it, but it was enough to show me the reflection of my own face.

I stared at the pool, my lips trembling as my hooves ran over my forehead over and over again, searching for something that clearly wasn’t there.

“No … no, no, no, this can’t be!” a voice in my mind whined, “This can’t be real! This has got to be some kind of messed-up dream!”

Harsh reality got the better of me as I ran my hoof over my non-existent horn one last time before slowly lowering it and blankly staring at my own reflection.

For a moment all I could hear was my own breathing and the gentle sound of wind as it rustled through the tree behind me.

Then, out of a clear blue sky, the muscles in my chest tensed, I took a deep breath and….

“FUUUUUUUUCK!!!!” I shouted out my frustration in a thunderous scream that could be heard for miles.

That’s at least what I thought I would be doing.

The sound that actually came out of my mouth was far from pony-like – a long, drawn out and high-pitched whinny, sounding similar to that of the big creature, just a little ‘smaller’ – a sound of anger, frustration and despair.

I froze in my movement; my voice died away abruptly as I hastily placed a hoof on my muzzle, lowering my head and giving my reflection an unbelieving look.

“Was that … me?” I asked the puddle in front of me; the Littlepip in my reflection replied with a moderately confused neigh.

“Fuck…” I muttered to myself; another muffled neigh came from my mouth.

“Sweet mother of Celestia, this is not good. This is not good at all.” I thought to myself as I continued to blankly stare at the earth pony in the puddle, despair starting to get the better of me.

Then, however, a new flicker of hope enlightened inside my mind as I drew a short breath, then forced myself to calm down and sit still.
“Okay. Okay, don’t panic.” I told myself, “Maybe you’re just a little drowsy from whatever got you here.” I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing calmly, then opened then again.

“Now let’s try this again.” I took another deep breath and accessed each and every bit of concentration I had left in my body, as if I were about to cast a highly complicated spell.

Slowly, thoughtfully, I then opened my mouth again, ready to prove that I was still capable of communicating like a normal pony.

“Hello, my name is Littlepip, and I am a normal pony.” I said in a perfectly flawless and calm voice.

“Nihihihihihi!” I heard myself cheer with a delighted whinny.

“Hurr I’m a stupid damned hoers!” I snarled at the puddle in front of me, contorting my face to a silly grimace.

“Weeehehehehehe!”

“Celestia damnit!” I shouted out my frustration and, ignoring the feral-sounding noise that came out of my mouth, kicked the small puddle, making my reflection go blurry as the water was spilled over the meadow in front of me.

I just stood there for a moment, panting, staring at the brown water with disbelief. “What is wrong with me?” I asked myself after a moment, my look going back to my foreleg where my PipBuck had been for as long as I could remember, “Where am I?”

Then, however, my attention got caught by something else – my ears perked up as I heard a sound coming from behind me. It was a faint clicking that reminded me to that of the Geiger counter in my PipBuck, yet sounded a lot more like if it would come from a pony, as if somepony wanted to attract my attention.

My head spun around; my eyes scanned the area for the source of the noise.

“Hey Li’l one, over here.” a male, subtly familiar voice guided my eyes to their destination, and my gaze spotted … something.

It was another creature I had never seen before. A horribly mutated animal that had lost almost all of its fur, safe for a single spot of orange hair on top of what I suspected was the creature’s head - at least concluding from the black hat that sat enthroned on the spot of hair and the pair of brown eyes that gave me a friendly look.

A set of simple clothing seemed to make up for the creature’s lack of fur, though – a faded brown lumberjack shirt covered most of what I thought to be its upper body, while a pair of blue pants and a set of brown leather boots covered its lower half.

My look fell onto its limbs – its anatomy seemed remotely comparable to that of a hellhound. It was using its hind legs to stand upright while its front legs were equipped with something that looked like hairless and skin-colored claws. One of those claws –as I noticed shortly after- was holding a bushel of carrots, and I could feel how my stomach churned as my mouth began to water at the sight of the vegetables.

With a smile –or whatever one may call the contortion on its hairless face- the creature made that clicking-sound with its mouth again and waved the carrots in front of the fence that divided the two of us. “Here,” it (he?) said and loosened a single carrot from the bushel, pushing it through a hole in the fence, holding it at about eye-level with me, “you wan’na carrot?”

A single drip of saliva formed in the corner of my mouth, then dripped down to the ground. I was mesmerized; a slave to my instincts as I blankly stared at the vegetable. I wanted this carrot; I wanted it so badly, there was nothing in the world I wanted more than this very carrot.

Slowly, almost instinctively, I felt how my legs began to move, turning around and walking into the direction of the unknown creature with the desired plant.

The voice of reason inside my head began to speak up, warning me. I was in a place I didn’t know; I was unarmed, had been taken away my PipBuck and turned into an earth pony by some cruel higher force, and was completely unable to communicate with anything other than feral sounds – approaching weird-looking unknown creatures certainly wasn’t the safest course of action.

Regardless, that voice of reason soon got drowned out by a much louder, much more dominant voice that kept on repeating the same order over and over again: “I. Want. That. Carrot.”

It felt like if I was controlled by some kind of higher force; a relentless desire that forced me to move further and further towards the unknown encounter, regardless of my well-justified reservations. My eyes were tied to the orange fruit; my tunnel vision blurring out everything that wasn’t carrot-shaped as another drip of saliva formed in the corner of my mouth.

My hooves stopped a couple of feet in front of the fence; the two-legged creature gave me an affirmative nod with his head as my head moved forward, my mouth reaching for the desired vegetable.

Each and every alarm bell in my head seemed to go off simultaneously; the once single voice of reason got replaced by a whole chorus of angry Littlepips who all shouted warnings into my direction – “What is this thing and why does it offer me food for no apparent reason?” “Why in the world can it speak while I can’t!?” “Mommy told me not to accept things from strangers.”

However, all those warnings got drowned out by the same omnipresent voice which seemed to command my mind like a slave master. “Gimme. That. Carrot!”

And so I soon felt the rewarding touch of the cold, wet carrot against my muzzle; my mouth opened, my head moving forward to get a hold of my reward, and the warnings in my mind seemed to get louder with every second. “There’s something wrong with this whole thing! There’s got to be something wrong! Be careful, it might be a trap! Abandon mission, abandon mis-“

My thoughts were cut short as my muzzle, drooling in pleasant anticipation, came into contact with the wire fence that divided me from the mysterious being, and I felt how my muscles stiffened as a shot of high voltage ran through my body.

I was petrified for what felt like several minutes, unable to move by an inch despite my instincts that kept on shouting at me, telling me to get myself out of the danger zone.

My body jerked backwards abruptly, an involuntary gasp escaping my muzzle as I was finally freed from the electricity and my legs gave in almost instantly, sending me down to the ground with a soft but noticeable thud.

The next thing I could hear was laughter coming from somewhere in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes to see that whatever had lured me into this trap was now supporting itself against one of the fence’s posts and holding its head which was red from laughter.

“Oh my.” It said and looked at me, wiping a tear from its eye, “Sorry li’l one, but you gotta be a little more careful.”

I looked up at him, frowning, and wondering just what kind of cruel game this creature was playing with me.

“Hey, now don’tcha look at me like that.” It continued with its teasing voice, still giving me that broad grin that revealed its two rows of shiny white teeth, “Here, how ‘bout this?”

I cocked my head to the side, wondering what the creature held in store this time, when I felt something drop to the floor right in front of my hooves.

I gave an involuntary jerk backwards, jumping to my hooves which were still a little shaky and distancing myself from whatever the creature had just launched at me – maybe it was a grenade? A landmine? Maybe it was equipped with some kind of motion sensor which would make it explode if I took another step?

I stopped abruptly, freezing in my movement. One of my rear hooves slipped on the grass, but I could keep myself from falling over again with a hasty sidestep.

Still frozen in shock, I stared at the thing the creature had thrown at me.

It was the carrot.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, and allowed my tensed muscles to relax.

Before I could even think about what I was doing, I had lowered my head and my mouth had reached for the carrot; a lush crunch sound and the fresh taste on my tongue confirmed that my mission had been a success.

I couldn’t hold back a pleased grin as I straightened myself up again, chewing on the carrot like a happy little filly.

“Attaboy.” The creature said with a smile, but then paused abruptly and crouched down, looking into my direction as if it were searching for something underneath my hooves, “Uh, Ah mean … attagirl. Sorry.” He added with a slightly embarrassed grin.

Still busy chewing on my carrot, I gave him a blank stare, my mind too busy taking in every inch of the vegetable to think about what he had just said.

Then, however, it slowly dawned on me, and my face turned red as a tomato in ten seconds flat as I realized that I was still practically nude – and in the presence of another sentient being that wasn’t Homage.

A single bead of sweat formed on my forehead as I tried to cover myself with my tail. This quickly turned out to be unsuccessful, so I tried to cross my hind legs instead - which was even less successful and ultimately sent me headfirst into the soft grass.

Once again, the teasing laughter of my tormentor came to my ears as I picked myself up from the grass and simply decided to rest on my haunches instead.

“Heh, yer pretty cute, you know that, li’l one?”

Despite everything, I could feel my cheeks assuming a light shade of red as I looked to the ground in embarrassment.

“Hmmm…” I heard the creature say in a reflective voice, “Y’know, you might jus’ be the right one after all.” I looked up to see it muster me with an interested glance. Maybe it was thinking of the best way to attack and defeat me; maybe it was contemplating whether I tasted better steamed or roasted; my mind was too overwhelmed to care in this moment.

The creature turned its head away from me, seeming to focus on something on the distance. “Hey Velvet!” it shouted at a volume that made me cringe and fold my ears back, “Velvet dear, could ya come here for a second?”

I had lowered my head to the ground by the time the creature was done shouting, wondering just who or what he had called for.

My question was answered shortly after as another creature entered my field of vision. It looked remotely similar to the first one: it was a little shorter in size; its body wasn’t as sturdy as that of the male creature, and its shoulder-length mane consisted of white hair with a red and gold stripe in it – a combination of colors that looked surprisingly familiar, as a little pony in my head noted.

“Yes, dear?” the second, apparently female creature asked as it stopped in front of the fence, “What is it?”

“Whaddaya think about this one?” the male creature asked, tilting its head into my direction with a grin, “A cutie, ain’t she?”

The female’s blue eyes spotted me, and a wide smile appeared on its face. “Oh my gosh!” it gasped excitedly as it leaned forward, focusing me over the fence with shining eyes, “Why, aren’t you just the cutest, most adorable little pony?”

Not taking my eyes off the amazed creature, I slowly got up and took a step back, bewildered by her behavior.

“Aww, he’s a shy one, Calamity.” The female creature said with a smile into the direction of its partner.

“Um, Velvet…” the other one replied with a slightly amused smirk, “She’s a girl, y’know?”

My ears folded back, and I could feel my face turn red all over again. That is, if my mind wouldn’t be busy repeating what the two had just said.

“Wait … Calamity?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow, “Velvet? As in … Velvet Remedy?” I fell back onto my haunches, too baffled to stand upright.

“Aww, she’s talking to us!” the female creature –Velvet?- giggled, then smiled at me, “Hello~” she cooed sweetly, as if she were talking to a baby, “My name is Velvet Remedy. Would you like to come with us? We can be your new mommy and daddy.”

“Velvet, Ah don’t think she can understand-“ The male said, but cut himself off as my unconscious body fell to the grassy ground with a soft thud, “Ah crap.”

“Oh my gosh!” the horrified shout coming from the creature who called herself Velvet Remedy sounded faint; blurred in my collapsing mind.

“Velvet, get outta there!” the shout rang through the air, seconds before I felt a surprisingly soft touch against my head as somebody lifted it up and I found myself staring into a set two beautiful blue eyes.

“Are you alright?” I could hear the worried question clearly, but even if my mind hadn’t been about to descend into chaos, I probably wouldn’t have known what to answer. Was I alright? I was in a place I had never seen before, had lost all of my weapons and tools, heck even the ability to speak properly, and had now met two creatures who sounded, acted and looked like perfect variations of my two best friends.

So was I alright? For the love of Celestia, I couldn’t tell.

“Velvet … Remedy?” I asked the creature kneeling next to me and still holding my head; my mouth –incompetent as it was- only brought out a muffled neigh.

“I think she’s okay, dear.” The Velvet … whatever it was, said, looking over her shoulder, then back at me. “Can you stand up, little one?”

I slowly closed my eyes. My mind was feeling burnt-out; fed with too much information in too little time.

“Come on, just try.” Velvet encouraged me, softly lowering my head back onto the grass.

Who were these creatures? Where had they come from? And why did they seem like perfect replicas of my best friends?

“Here, try it with that!” ‘Calamity’ shouted somewhere in the distance, and I could feel the creature next to me standing up and … wait, what was that smell?

My ears perked up as my nose took a few sniffs of the air around me: I could smell the wet grass in front of my muzzle; the two-legged Velvet also had a distinct smell that remotely compared to that of her pony-counterpart. However, what stuck out the most was the scent of another certain orange vegetable being swayed to and fro in front of my face.

My eyes shot open; mouth watering once again at the sheer sight of the carrot Velvet was holding in front of me.

“Here, you want it?” she asked me with a teasing smile.

I slowly nodded my head, my eyes never leaving the desired vegetable.

“Well then, come and get it!” Velvet giggled and jumped to her … whatever these creatures had instead of hooves, holding the carrot a few feet above my head.

That was all the motivation I needed. Feeling the power shoot back into my legs, I jumped up too, my mouth shooting upward and instantly snatching at the tempting carrot. It took a few attempts, but finally I managed to lock my teeth around it and let myself drop back to the ground with a pleased grunt, gaining a slightly amused “D’awww…” from Velvet as she watched me chew on the delicious vegetable.

“So, whaddaya think?” The Calamity-creature asked from behind the fence, “She the right one?”

Velvet looked at me silently for a few moments, then slowly nodded her head as an emotional smile appeared on her face. “Yes.” She said softly, “Yes, she is.”

“Well then, Ah better go do the paperwork and get the trailer.” Calamity replied, sounding somewhat relieved as he turned around, “Ya wanna stick with her til I get back?”

The Velvet Remedy-creature looked at me, slowly nodding her head, still with that big smile on her face. “Yes, sure.”

“Fine.” Calamity replied, looking over his shoulder before walking away, “See ya in a bit.”

“Bye.” Velvet said, looking behind herself, then back at me. Crouching down, she led one of her claw-things to my head, then softly ran it through my mane. My first instincts were to flinch, but I relaxed as I saw what she was up to.

“I’m sure you’re the right one.” She muttered, gently caressing my head like a mother caressing her child. “Welcome to the family, my dear. I'm your new mommy Velvet, and the man you saw earlier is your daddy Calamity.” She explained with a caring smile. "I'm sure you'll fit perfectly into our little group."

I looked up at the odd creature with big eyes, chewing on the last remains of the carrot in a corner of my mouth.

Truly, words could not describe how messed-up this situation really was.