//------------------------------// // 2: Strange New Land // Story: A Cynical Pony // by TwiPON3 //------------------------------// Sunday 25 March 2018 10:30, Ponyville, Daria Morgendorffer's POV I felt my body change somewhat, but the terrifying part was that I was actually falling from a height that was above the clouds. If I screamed, someone would figure out that I'm in danger. Right? "For the love of God, will someone help me?" I fell through a cloud, so I closed my eyes, although it wouldn't do any good if I didn't make it down alive. Sunset Shimmer's POV "Anyway," I said to Starlight as we were walking away from Sugbarcube Corner, "You really should've seen the look on Human Sunset's face when she-" "Shush!" We both heard a pony screaming as she was falling "It looks like a crystal pony," Starlight said, narrowing her eyes. "Oh Celestia," I looked up, "That's not a pony!" "Are you saying..." "That's a human! Come on! We need to get to Princess Twilight!" We galloped back to the rebuilt Golden Oaks Library that the Princess was refurnishing. Princess Twilight's POV I was in the new Golden Oaks Library, writing a catalog for the books so ponies could find what they were looking for in an efficient amount of time. My plans soon changed when Starlight and Sunset came in. "Hey, Twilight!" Starlight said, running up to the library with Sunset. "Hey, Starlight and Sunset! What's up?" "Somepony's falling out of the sky!" "What?" I ran outside as fast as I could and looked up, "Oh my Celestia!" I used my magic to teleport the unidentified pony to the ground. "Pleasebeokay! Pleasebeokay! Pleasebeokay! Pleasebeokay! Please be okay!" When she was down, the oddly-shaped mare was out cold for about 30 seconds, "THIS IS HORRIBLE!" Sunset checked her vitals, "She's okay. She just passed out because something was too much to process. Other than that, she's fine." She woke up right after that, but didn't move, "SWEET CELESTIA!! SHE'S NOT MOVING!!!" "TWILIGHT!" Sunset said, slapping me with her hoof. "I needed that. Thanks." "She's just tired. Trust me on this one, I live as a human, like, 90% of the time." "Okay," I said after breathing, "I'll take your word for it." Daria's POV I was encompassed in this strange light brilliant raspberry aura before hitting the ground, face first. "Are you okay?" someone said. "Dude, are you a human?" "Yeah. I'm fine," I said, not even bothering to really move. "Are... you okay?" I felt two growths on my head, one where my nose was, my fingers and toes were stiff, and I could swear it felt like I had a tail. Well, might as well get up while I still can. "What... happened to me?" The first thing I noticed after I really bothered to move was that my glasses had came off. "Dammit. I lost my glasses." "Are these them?" a brilliant-amber colored figure asked me, encompassing what looked like my glasses in a light brilliant opal aura. "Lemmie try 'em on," I said, groping for the fuzzy, circular, black frames. As I put on my glasses and the world became clear, I saw what had given them to me: a horse with a horn. "I'm Sunset Shimmer, by the way," she said, holding out a hoof with a smile. "Did you just talk?" "We can all talk," she said, "We're ponies. Specifically, I'm a unicorn." "Yeah," I said, taking a look around at all of the ponies, "And I'm a human," I looked at what should have been my hands and feet, but they were hooves instead, "Or I should be." "You look like something happened to you from an anime." "Anime?" "You're a human, and you don't know what anime is?" the lavender pony with a horn and wings said, "Where are you from?" "Lawndale." "That's a nice name." "I feel like I'm in the 60s." "What?" the bright purple one with a horn said as the amber one began to think about things as I said them. "What I'm saying is," I said, "Your sunny 60s optimism is attacking my bitter 90s cynicism." "Bitter... wait! What day is it to you?" Sunset Shimmer asked me. "It was Wednesday 04 August 1999 at 22:23." "Well," the bright purple one with a horn said, "Starlight Glimmer by the way, it's Sunday 25 March 2018 10:30 right now. You're safe here. You're in Ponyville." "You've been gone for 18 years, 7 months, 20 days, 12 hours, and 7 minutes, since you left your world." I did the math in my head, and realized that the the figure that the amber unicorn Sunset Shimmer said was right. I just then noticed that my clothes were itchy, so I stood up and started scratching, "What's... with my clothes?" "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, by the way," the lavender unicorn with wings said, "I'll take you to the Carousel Boutique and see if Rarity would make you some clothes that won't make your fur itch." "Like another outfit's going to solve my problem." Thursday 05 August 1999 05:30, Lawndale USA, Helen Morgendorffer's POV I had been sitting at the kitchen table for about fourty-five minutes now, worried about my older daughter. Last night hadn't really let me get much sleep. As a matter of fact, I really didn't know what was going on. Quinn had came down about ten minutes ago to get some carrot sticks while she was getting ready for school. "Mom? Dad? Have either of you seen Daria? I'm getting worried that something really bad has happened to her." Jake was drinking pot-after-pot of coffee, and I was just sitting down with my head propped up in my hands. I'm pretty sure my husband didn't hear her, "No, sweetie. Nothing yet." "Will you let me know if you find anything out?" "Of course we will, Quinn." "Thanks, Mom," she said, going upstairs with a small bowl of carrot sticks. "Did Daria ever come back last night, Jake?" "How the hell should I know?" I snapped at him. "You were up all night, pacing around the house!" "I don't think so." I settled back into my original position, resting my chin on my hands with my elbows on the table. I'll just call Eric and take the rest of the week off. I have the vacation time, anyways. "Is there any coffee left?" He picked up the pot, "No?" "Can you make some more and pour me a cup with some sugar in it? I'm going to call and take today and tomorrow off." "Okay," he said, making another pot of coffee as I opened a notebook to a section labeled FINDING DARIA - POSSIBLE PLACES, and I sat and thought about places that weren't listed. Jane's House Amy's House Not a big list of possibilities. "Here you go, Helen." "Oh, what now, dammit?" "I just finished the coffee for you." "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. I didn't get much sleep last night." "Are you sure that one cup will do it?" "Jake, I barely ever drink coffee. I could probably just make a pot after you leave and go on that throughout the day." "I just wish we actually knew something." Jake sat down and looked at the list, then held his head up in his hands, just as I had done before I opened my notebook, "Not many places that she could be, huh," he looked at the second entry, "How could she get from here to your sister's house? It's a two-hour trip." "She's taken the bus before, Jake. Plus, she has a driver's license now. And her friend's brother has a van, I think." "Right. Maybe you could call her." I looked at the clock on the wall, "Jake, it's 05:45 in the morning. I'm not going to wake up Amy." "What about her friend?" "No. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't wake up." "So we really don't have a way to get any real info on anything." "Not for another few hours, at least," I said as he got me the phone, "Eric calls at all hours of the night, so he should get this one from me."