Hippophobia
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit work of fan fiction. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro.
Chapter 1
Conrad Reiter threw his backpack on the floor with a loud thud and flopped over on his bed. He lay there with his face buried in the pillow, muffled groans just barely escaping the soft, cotton-stuffed fabric. He punched the bed a few times and pressed his face in deeper to let out a scream of anger.
This was the ninth or tenth time those other kids had teased the high school sophomore for his fear of horses. But today was different. One of the kids came in wearing a horse mask and jumped out to scare him. Conrad was on the floor, crying in front of everyone. When the bully removed his mask, Conrad lunged at him, pinning him against the wall and repeatedly punched him in the gut.
Now, in his hand, he held his letter of suspension for starting a fight. The other kid got away with it, saying he was just showing off the mask he got for the school play of Robin Hood.
That bastard gets away with it every time, and I get in trouble, Conrad thought, I'm sick of this. I hate this school. I hate those kids... I hate horses!
He rolled over, then kicked off his shoes when re realized he was still wearing them. Staring up at the ceiling, he wiped his eyes on his sleeve and wished he could escape, go somewhere, if only for a while, where no one would mock him for his fears. More so, he wished he could get over these fears altogether.
As he put on a pair of ear buds and turned on his MP3 player, he sat quietly, still staring at the ceiling until he drifted off to sleep.
Conrad jolted awake and jumped forward, getting to his feet faster than most people could even climb out of bed. He was standing up now, feeling wide awake and bewildered at the same time. He blinked rapidly and looked around.
Instead of his bedroom, he was in a lush, green forest with lots of thick undergrowth and tall trees without any low branches. Light filtered down through the high canopy of leaves, giving the glen he found himself in an almost supernatural look.
"Wow," he said to himself, "this is a nicer dream than I usually have. But where am I?"
Walking into the tree line, Conrad frequently looked left and right, trying to find either a landmark or some way out of the woods. A root sticking out of the ground caught his foot, causing him to trip. He picked himself up, brushed off the dirt, and realized something new: his lip was bleeding.
"Wait a minute..." He faced the tree next to him and gave it a solid punch. He quickly recoiled from the pain and grabbed his hand. "Ow, jeez!" He seethed at the pain. "OK, so this isn't a dream. Then how did I get in the woods? I don't even live near any woods!"
The reality of the situation began to sink in. Oh, crap. I'm lost in the woods, no idea where, and I don't remember coming here. It's not a dream, and I couldn't have sleep walked here. That leaves one other possibility... He gasped at the conclusion he came to. "I've... I've been kidnapped!"
Panic set in, followed by adrenaline. "Help!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but received no answer. "Hello! Anyone! I don't know where I am! Help!"
Having no bearings and no one around, Conrad decided his only option was to pick a direction and go. Running the way he already was, towards the setting sun, he eventually came to a shallow river.
The water was crystal clear, and had colorful, smooth, round stones of varying sizes under the surface. It reminded Conrad that he was thirsty. He knelt down and cupped his hands in the water, bringing it up to his mouth to drink. After quenching his thirst, he wiped his mouth and looked around. The trees on the other side were thinner than this side, and above them seemed to be pillars of light smoke rising into the sky.
Conrad heaved a sigh of relief and bent down, putting his hands on his knees as he caught his second wind. Civilization! I thought I'd never find it!
Jumping from stone to stone, Conrad reached the other side and started in the direction of the smoke. He stopped short on the river bank when he heard a twig snap. He froze in place, barely moving his head to face the source of the noise.
The bushes to his right began to rustle, and a creature began to emerge. Conrad saw the muzzle first, and then the rest of the head. A brown creature with a darker brown mane that was spiked backwards down its neck. His breath caught when he realized he was looking at a pony. Not a horse, but it scared him all the same.
His heart nearly stopped when the pony looked at him with its unusually large eyes, and then turned its head towards him. Conrad gulped and took a step back. His face turned pale as the pony began to approach him.
Just stay calm. It won't attack if I stay calm. He was visibly sweating and trembling now, his heart racing. "N-nice pony... g-good pony..."
The brown stallion was completely out of the brush now. Conrad noticed something curious about it: someone had branded him with a picture of an hourglass on his flank. What was even more curious was the pony was now making facial expressions at him, slightly frowning with one eyebrow raised.
Conrad tensed up when he saw the pony open his mouth. "Excuse me? Are you lost?"
Every bit of color in Conrad's face drained away. Everything went dark for him as he lost consciousness and fell face first on the ground.
The pony leaned down and gave the strange new creature a curious sniff. "Oh, dear. And I'm not the right kind of doctor for this."
Yeah, I know, I have too many stories going on at once. I can't help myself. I get an idea, it gets stuck in my head and won't give me any peace until I write it out. So, yeah, enjoy another story about another poor unfortunate soul's tormented psyche.
867975 I know that feel bro
Good luck on the story
This will be great.
img.ponibooru.org/_images/451c290cf8230fd44f22896e99d8ada6/84126%20-%20caption%20dis_gon_b_gud%20spike.jpg
He faints...
I swear that in almost every HiE fic, the human faints :P It's like they become anemic fainting goats...
Oh well, I'm more amused than off put anyway, continue!
I too am afraid of horses.
I would've thought hippophobie would be fear of hippo's :p
You learn something new every day
872566 'Hippo' is Greek for horse. 'Potamus' means river. Thus hippopotamus= river horse.
867975 And I am rather surprised by the quality of this, tracking.
either he pissed himself or shit himself lmao
*sigh* He's never the right kind of doctor
Indeed.
Totally tracking this story. I hope this guy gets over his fear. Very different from the other HiE fanfics in a way that he was approached by Dr. Whooves first instead of one of the Mane 6. Very interesting...
Well... This is certainly original at some point, having a pony fearing person sent to equestria. This can only go extremely well or extremely bad.
I'll look out for more chapters!
Always good to add something to my Favorites. I really liked this! Well written and funny for how short it was. I'm excited to see what you have in mind for Conrad and Whooves.
Disliked on my other accounts, good luck getting featured.
872566 Actually, it's incorrect, Equinophobia is the fear of horses. Hippophobia is the same thing, but more of a surname
interesting premise, I'll be watching you.
I like this kind of twist, keep going, bro
874011 Dude, what the buck? Why would you make extra accounts just to dislike a story? That's really immature.
874174 Hey I checked that Ernest guy's profile, he said he was leaving FiM Fiction 6 months ago. Lol, he's on a drunken stupor rage it seems. Don't listen to him and ignore what he does. BTW love this story. Please post another chapter soon!
874174
Checked out his account, told him where to go.
Here, have a free thumbs up while I'm at it.
Oh Doctor, you're such a troll.
In all seriousness though, this is actually a pretty interesting twist to something that I usually hate. Nice job.
874174
He's just an asshole who's been disliking stories and giving no good reasons as to why.
Mainly the stories that involve humans it would seem.
874011 I'm seeing 56 ups to 4 downs. I don't think your plan is working
874970
I'm pretty sure all four of those are his considering he mentioned on another story that he disliked it with four different accounts
875002 Well, the experiment that says how many sockpuppets he can have hating at the same time before the mods IP ban him is on
Tracked for the one liner at the end. Will be watching this hoping for more of the same.
You have my attention.
Finally, a Human in Equestria story that isn't terrible.
The Doctor is always the right kind of doctor.
I've wondered what would happen if someone who was afraid of horses ended up in Equestria!
872525 and yet you're on this site... not sure whether to laugh or pat on the back
Ha, that's fuckin' funny.
He just needs lots of drugs. Then he'll be fine! *offers lots of mind-altering substance samples from the evil all-powerful pharmaceutical industry* But remember, only the first one's free. >:}
hmmm, a HiE/Docter Hooves fic, interesting...
I shall read on!
874036
They're both 'fear of horses'; 'equinophobia' mixes Latin and Greek roots, which apparently you're not supposed to do, and 'hippophobia' is pure Greek.
Why is this the first story to do this?
Im confused i feel pain in my dreams.... oh well i dont give a fuck back to the story
872465
To be fair, this situation is almost certainly impossible by any logical or scientific reasoning known to man.
And that, combined with hippophobia, equals
A teenager with a fear of horses ends up in Equestria
what could possibly go wrong!
6902707
Murphy: YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME?
Well, this happened again.
5407918
hur hurr pot horse