//------------------------------// // Entries 18-33 // Story: A Long Journey Home // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// Entry #19 I’ve never seen so freaking many apples. God damn there’s a lot of them. Entry #20 I met three young ponies. Apparently I’d stumbled upon someone’s farm, and after having eaten my fill of apples (they were kind of small, as with everything else in this world), I took a nap under one of the trees. I woke up to three young ponies (a white unicorn, yellow earth pony, and an orange Pegasus) apparently trying to figure out what I was. “Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Identifiers!” That’s what I woke up to. Monster. I get it, I’m different. I’m like nothing they’ve ever seen before. That doesn’t make me a monster. As I stood up they screamed and ran. I’ve never felt so awful. If I can’t go home, at least I want to make a new one. Entry #21 I’ve reached Ponyville. Its size is nothing in comparison to Manehattan; I’m as tall or taller than almost every building. The streets are empty, like when I first walked through Manehattan. I’m not surprised, but it still kind of bites. Oh, someone’s trying to get my attention. Entry #22 Earth ponies kick hard. Big red one kicked me in the knee. I’ll probably be limping for the next few days, if not a week. Apparently one of those little ponies from earlier ran home and told her brother on me. I’m not exactly hard to find, I suppose. I went down when he kicked me, found myself face to face with my attacker. Punched him in the face. There was a loud snap and he booked it. The little yellow pony had been watching – I’d never seen such terror on anyone’s face. It’s pretty clear my own strength far exceeds the normal pony. I hope that red one will be ok; I didn’t mean to hit him that hard. Entry #23 I finally met the pony Celestia sent me to see here – a purple unicorn named “Twilight Sparkle.” I’ve given up on finding a source of masculinity here, aside from that one red pony. Didn’t meet her in the way I intended to, though. She tried to hold me down with magic – apparently someone told her about the monster on the loose. Her magic, a purple aura, the same color as the stuff that brought me here. Her magic was strong – nowhere near the princess’ strength, but far exceeding Lock-n-Key’s. I think I understand why, though. There was no pressure on my mind. Both Lock-n-Key and Twilight Sparkle only used magic to restrain me physically, while Luna both held me down and violated my mind. She’s bringing me back to her house, a large tree. It’s the only place big enough to hold me, but she had to magic the door bigger. Entry #24 These damned earth ponies. There was an orange one waiting in Twilight Sparkle’s tree. Kicked me in the nuts. Passed out from the pain after a couple moments. I was down for a while. I think it was a couple days pony-time. I’m not sure if I’m gonna work quite the same from now on. Apparently the orange one, a pony named Applejack, was the yellow one’s older sister and the red one’s younger sister. Evidently I broke his jaw – upon “Applejack” revealing this, Twilight immediately stopped paying attention to me and bolted to his house. Relationships seem to be normal, at least. I just wish she hadn’t left me alone with Applejack – I ended up basically hugging her to my body to keep her from building up enough force to kick me again. Entry #25 Twilight brought all her friends over. After fixing Big Mac’s (the red one) jaw, she went and called them all over. There’s a pretty white unicorn (“Rarity”) with purple hair and an incredibly angry expression, a pink earth pony that hasn’t stopped moving since she got here (“Pinkie Pie”), a yellow Pegasi with pink hair that’s been hiding behind someone else the whole time (“Fluttershy”), and a blue Pegasi with a brilliant rainbow mane who’s been stuck next to Applejack the whole time (“Rainbow Dash”). Apparently Fluttershy is some kind of animal expert that they brought in to inspect me. She never got around to it though; she was too terrified of me. None of this is helping make me feel any better. They mostly hid behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Entry #26 Twilight Sparkle is the one that brought me here. I almost killed her when I heard, I think. Tried to hit her about has hard as I’d hit the red one, but she managed to nearly stop my fist with magic. Nearly. I can’t imagine the slight, female pony’s body is anywhere near as durable as the larger male pony I’d hit earlier, and even the softened, slow blow knocked her off her feet. After she got back up, she apologized. At the moment I’d wanted to hear none of it, but then she explained something else – it was an accident, and it hurt her too. She’d been trying to teleport someone else (apparently she can teleport, and anyone touching her would go with her, but she can’t teleport others), an owl. Apparently that owl was gone to my world, and she had no idea how to get him back. I tried to explain the differences between losing a pet and losing a child (like my parents have…), but I can understand somewhat her feelings. I’ve lost pets before. Entry #27 Twilight sent me to visit the red pony today. He’s a bit sore, but his pride’s hurt more than anything. It seems like magic is pretty nifty stuff, even if I didn’t want to encounter it. Apparently this pony’s full name is “Big Macintosh,” but everyone calls him Big Mac. He was awful sorry for kicking first and asking questions later, but if something upset his little sister. Speaking of whom, I met her too. Cute little thing. Her face continually showed an expression somewhere between hate and terror. Big Mac was able to coerce her into introducing herself – her name is Applebloom. I think it’s going to take a while to repair my relationship with her, and likely her friends, too. Entry #28 Twilight gave me a brief history of her encounters with Nightmare Moon (Apparently Luna used to be a little crazy) and Discord (the physical embodiment of chaos – sounds kinda like Q from TNG), and how she and her friends used something called the “Elements of Harmony” to take the evil out of Nightmare Moon (and subsequently turn her back into Luna) and to encase Discord in stone. It sounded pretty badass to me, until she told me it was basically a rainbow cannon. Kinda a let down. Aside from these events, apparently Equestrian history has been relatively peaceful – the last “murder” was before the millennia of Nightmare Moon being trapped. Twilight’s account was more personal and emphatic than what I’d gotten from Lock-n-Key back in Manehattan, but covered the same stuff pretty much. It’s late now, and she’s going to bed. She made me promise to tell her about my people’s history tomorrow. I can’t imagine this going well, humanity compared to this near-utopian society. Entry #29 I was right. Twilight’s been crying for hours after hearing how awful human history and current human society is. I don't think I’ve ever sat and thought about it so much until now. Humans kind of suck. Entry #30 I slept through a day and a half, pony time. While I was asleep, Twilight seems to have recovered form the shock of humanity, and her assistant came home. Now this guy I can identify with – he’s just a baby, apparently, but he has the maturity of about a 14-year-old guy (even if about the intelligence of a 10 year old). He’s got a massive crush on Rarity; she’s practically all he can talk about. I say good for him, but… I’m not sure. According to Twilight, different species of ponies can have children (or foals, as seems to be the proper term), typically taking after the father, but I doubt a pony and a dragon can have a normal relationship. Especially considering my discussion with Twilight earlier – Spike (the dragon) will be big one day, too big to be her assistant. And hence, far too big to maintain a normal relationship with a pony. Entry #31 I need somewhere else to stay. As is, I’ve basically been curling up in the main entryway of Twilight’s house to sleep, which is problematic seeing I’m there for about two days at a time. The only suggestion so far has been a barn – except Applejack owns the barn. I don’t think she’ll let me stay there. I’ve terrified her sister and I broke her brother’s jaw. She’s the one that kicked me in the nuts (and tried to do so a second time). This will be a problem… Entry #32 She tried to kick me again. Wasn’t ready for it. Thankfully, Twilight caught her with magic before anything connected. Seeing that has cemented one thought: I am definitely physically stronger than any pony. I might be able to use this to my advantage somewhere. Entry #33 I was right. Twilight managed to convince Applejack to let me stay in the barn, on one condition – I work for her. Apparently, to pick apples, the ponies kick the trees. For some reason, this causes all the apples to drop of the trees. According to Applejack, this is very hard work for a pony. She had me try it – I kicked a tree in half. Terror on her face. It’s cool to be so strong, but… I don’t want to scare people so badly. She had me try again, a lot softer. The apples fell easily, kicking maybe half as hard. It’s not that tough, but there are a lot of trees. At least I’ll be able to help somewhere.