Running through the streets only seemed to confirm what I already suspected was true. After the whole incident at the café the cobbled together fallacy I used to protect my mind had crumbled, leaving the cold, hard truth in its wake. And the truth was rather simple, what with the animated look everything had and the technicolor humans and the fact there were a bunch of signs around me that said 'Canterlot': I was in the Equestria Girls universe.
Now that I think about it that should have been obvious before.
Anyway, yes, I was a fan of My Little Pony and the related materials despite being a young adult. Sue me, it was a quality show and I will not be embarrassed for enjoying it. And you know, like most Bronies, or fans of any fictional universe really, I'd always thought it would be cool to experience that world firsthand.
Yeah, it's not as good as you'd think.
It's super easy to go on about how awesome something would be if you've never actually tried that thing. Take, for instance, swimming with sharks. I thought it would be absolutely amazing since sharks are such wonderful creatures and now, long story short, there's a bite mark on my upper right thigh.
At least there was before....you know.
But the point is getting magically zapped into your favorite cartoon world wasn't as cool as people thought. It really raises a lot of questions such as: how? Why? How? Can I ever get back home? How? What about my family, will I ever see them again? Oh, did I say HOW!?
Needless to say this was a very stressful time for me.
'What am I going to do? I'm like 5 or something, I don't legally exist here, and it's not like I can get a job or live on my own. Oh my gosh,' My eyes widened in realization, and I almost slipped from the shock of it all, 'They might send me to an orphanage!'
See, it's not like I had anything against orphanages, and I knew that, just like my world, there must be quite a few good ones here, but I couldn't take the chance of ending up in a bad home. But what else could I do? I had no idea how to survive on the street and it seemed to be the dead of winter here, which meant the next few weeks were probably going to be extremely cold, and the police were already after me. What do I do, what do I do, what do I-
That train of thought came to a crashing halt as I ran directly into something. I fell into the snow on my backside and instinctually brought a hand up to my now sore nose. Painful but it didn't seem to be bleeding. With a bit of hesitation, I lifted my head to see what I ran into.
'I don't know if this is a good thing or not'
My eyes met two blue-green orbs set into a yellow face framed by pink hair. Standing before me, clad in blue jeans and a pale pink coat, was none other than Fluttershy herself, who naturally had a very concerned look on her face.
'Is the universe trying to rub it in my face.'
"Oh my, are you alright?" she asked in her soft voice.
There comes a point where you just can't take it any more. When everything just piles on top of you, little by little, until eventually you snap and breakdown. When your poor, fragile mind can't put up with it any more and so shatters like your neighbor's window after you threw that baseball at it.
This was my breaking point.
You're probably thinking 'why would hearing Fluttershy, the kindest member of the main cast, speak be your breaking point'? Well it just felt like if I didn't realize I was in the Equestria Girls' universe before, I most certainly did now. Fluttershy's appearance cemented that fact and also served to ground me. Whereas before all of my thoughts were flitting through my head in my hysteric state, which never truly left time for me to ruminate on them, now it was like the true weight of them hit me all at once. Trust me, that was not an enviable experience.
It's kind of funny how quickly this all went through my mind, I mean it only took like a few seconds. Such a weird thing the mind is, able to go through a train of thought like that in a few moments, but unable to remember where I put my sunglasses.
Anyway, let's get back on track. The point is these thoughts running through my head may have had.....an effect on this body. In other words I burst into tears in front of Fluttershy.
I kind of felt bad in a way, as the horrified look on her face made it clear she thought I was crying because of her. Well I mean, I guess part of it was because of her, sort of. But really, she wasn't to blame, it was the circumstance really, and it wasn't fair that she felt so bad. I opened my mouth to apologize when, suddenly, I was lifted off the ground and brought into a warm embrace. It took me a minute to realize Fluttershy was hugging me.
It was an awesome feeling, warm and absolutely full of compassion. I couldn't even remember the last time I received a hug like this, and it did wonders to calm me down.
"Oh you poor dear, I'm so sorry," She said, rubbing gentle circles into my back. "Does anything hurt? Are you injured?"
She held me out a bit to look over my body as I shook my head no. She seemed relieved, then her face quickly morphed into a look of concern once gain. "Uhm, if you don't mind me asking, where are your parents?"
I couldn't even muster up the same anger I had when the green skinned guy asked me that question. I mean, first of all it was Fluttershy, how could I possibly be mad at her, and second of all, when I thought over my current situation, it was a perfectly reasonable question. I mean heck, if I were in her position I'd probably ask the same thing. But her question only served to bring a fresh round of tears. I guess it brought back that question of 'will I ever see my family again', and mixed with what I was beginning to realize was the emotional maturity of someone my physical age, well, you know. Those tears had the effect of eliciting another horrified look from Fluttershy before she once again tightly embraced me. I could suddenly feel, as well as hear, the telltale footfalls of walking, and looked up at Fluttershy's face in confusion. She smiled back. "Have you ever been to Sugarcube Corner, sweetie?"
~0~
Sugarcube Corner was just as amazing as you've imagined it. It smells like freshly baked pastries, there's sweets all around, and it has that homey feel that I've never seen any restaurant properly pin down before. Basically, my sad child brain went to happy child brain so fast that light wants to imitate it.
As if I didn't have enough things to worry about. Now, as I was coming to realize upon looking back on my actions since I woke up here, I had to deal with a 5-year old's emotions. If having part of your mind become childlike doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. Those thoughts had consumed much of my mind on the way to Sugarcube corner, but had been quickly forgotten upon arrival.
I have a sweet tooth, okay?
Fluttershy's soft laugh filled the air as she saw my smiling face. She made to gently set me down on the floor, and as soon as she did, I ran to the nearest display case. It was full of amazingly decorated cupcakes and a pair of blue eyes and-
'Wait, go back.'
I did a double take and met the gaze of two bright blue eyes set into a pink face, and then I knew my doom was upon me.
"HI!" Pinkie Pie yelled excitedly as she leaned over the counter to be practically an inch from my face. "I don't think I've met you before! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"
If the appearance of the most hyperactive resident of Canterlot didn't render me silent, then that question certainly did. It occurred to me that nobody had actually asked my name yet, probably more concerned with the fact that a child was out alone in the middle of winter. Now that someone actually did ask I realized the pickle I was in. My original name wouldn't fly here, that was for sure. It was kind of disheartening to know that this experience would rob me of my name as well as my body, but I couldn't spend too much time thinking about that with Pinkie Pie looking down at me curiously and Fluttershy coming into my field of view with the same expression.
"I didn't even think to ask for your name!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she stood next to Pinkie Pie, who gave her a 'really' look. You know, the one where you raise your eyebrow so high it looks like it'll come off your head. Fluttershy blushed at the look. "Well he ran into me, there was crying, and I just wanted to get him here to cheer him up."
"Wait, Flutters....did you kidnap him!?" Pinkie seemed to produce a police cap out of nowhere and placed it upon her poofy hair.
"What? No, Pinkie I'll explain in a second. For now, what's your name, sweetie?" Fluttershy asked, turning away from her friend.
'Well, uhm, My Little Pony style name. Color sometimes plays a role, right? I'm blue, so maybe some shade of blue in the name. Or is that too much? Nah, let's go with it. And uh, what else, what do I like. Uhhhhh……..
"Azure Wave!" I blurted out, the energy of my response seeming to throw Fluttershy off balance a bit. Pinkie, on the other hand, leapt forward and materialized a plate from some unknowable pocket dimension that had a single, blue frosted cupcake sitting atop it. I simply stared at the treat.
"Well, Azure? Are you gonna take it? It's your welcoming cupcake!" Pinkie explained.
"Welcoming....cupcake?" I responded, confusion evident in my voice. Pinkie's smile widened further if that was even possible.
"Yeah! Everyone gets one the first time they walk into Sugarcube Corner! So....." Pinkie trailed off expectantly. With a bit of hesitation considering the cupcake had materialized out of thin air, I grabbed it off the plate and took a bite.
To say it was the greatest thing I'd ever tasted would be an understatement. It was the greatest thing I will ever taste, that my descendants will taste, that alternate universe versions of me will taste. It was sweet and airy and every other perfect quality a cupcake could have. I was in heaven.
"Azure?" I glanced over at Fluttershy as she called my new name. Damn, that would take some getting used to. "Why don't you grab a seat over there while I talk to Pinkie for a moment?"
Her finger was pointing to a table on the other side of the room, right by a window with a nice view of the street. I nodded and walked over there with my gateway to paradise, climbing my way into the booth that was now a bit too large for me. Even though I was curious as to what the two were talking about, my attention was drawn to the street. There were a lot more people out and about now, especially considering that Sugarcube Corner was on a main road, and all of their colors were mesmerizing. I was lost in it until I saw Fluttershy slide into the seat across from me out of the corner of my eye. She had a chocolate chip muffin and a sad smile.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" I asked before she could say anything. I had been curious about that considering it must have been about time for school to start.
"Uhm, it's Saturday," Fluttershy seemed quite confused about my lack of knowledge on the day of the week. I blushed a bit and slumped in my seat.
"So, Azure," I looked up at Fluttershy, who seemed a bit uncomfortable, "why were you out on the street so early? And why were you running?"
My mouth opened and closed as I tried to come up with some sort of response. "Well, uh, you see, funny story really, I uh.....was exercising?"
Fluttershy slowly nodded, definitely not believing my answer but probably deciding to not press further. "Okay.....ummm, I know this may be hard Azure, but this is an important question. Do you...do you feel safe at home?"
Oh. Ohhhhhhh. She thought....you know I guess that made sense actually. A kid running alone on the street in the middle of winter who bursts into tears when his parents are mentioned. Yeah, that practically screamed abuse.
"Y-yes, of course!" I practically yelled, which seemed to take Fluttershy back a bit. To be honest my avid refusal probably did very little to convince her.
"Alright, sorry for making you mad. I do still have a few more questions though." Fluttershy sighed, quite an odd thing to see her do, before speaking again. "Have your parents every hit you?"
When did Fluttershy become a one person Special Victims Unit? I understood the concern but this was starting to get weird and uncomfortable.
"No!" I growled, immediately feeling guilty as Fluttershy 'eeped' and hid her face behind the collar of her coat. "I mean, no. I'm sorry about that, Ms. Fluttershy. I've just been really stressed lately."
Fluttershy gave me an odd look as her face came out from behind her collar. "How'd you know my name?"
"What?"
"My name," Fluttershy repeated, "I-I never mentioned it."
Oh no. This was most certainly not good. I had committed the worst offense possible for someone who had been transported to a 'fictional' universe: accidentally using your viewer's knowledge. Fluttershy was going to think I was some sort of stalker or somethin-wait I was a little kid. So maybe she wouldn't think I was a stalker, but she was definitely confused and possibly freaked out.
I was about to respond when two things happened. The first was that some guy with silver skin and salt and pepper hair slid into the booth beside Fluttershy. The second was that a woman with yellow skin and purple hair sat beside me, blocking me into the booth. Both were clad in trenchcoats and, through the opening of the woman's coat, I almost certainly saw the glint of a police badge.
"We're here to ask you a few questions," The silver skinned man said, his gaze situated on me.
"Silver," The woman glared at him, "could you be a bit more polite?"
'Damnit'