//------------------------------// // A Whole New World // Story: Keep on Dreaming // by Noogy //------------------------------// A few hours had passed but I couldn’t be sure how many before I came to my senses. When first I peeled open my eyes, my vision was blurry and I could barely make out the shapes of whatever it was I had been looking at. I blinked a few times and my vision started to clear, I raised a hand to rub my eyes only to find that doing so caused a shock of pain to shoot through my shoulder muscles. I groaned as I fought through the pain to continue rubbing my eyes, making my vision clearer. I rolled onto my side and could now see my surroundings. Trees, small bushes and shadows of the early morning sun littered the landscape before me. But there was something strange about these trees and bushes: they seemed too... green. It was an idyllic kind of green, a perfect shade one only finds in fantasy worlds and story books. Where the hell am I? I slowly sat up and cringed at the pain flowing through the muscles in my back, I felt something warm on my top lip and brought my hand to my face. As I brought my hand away for inspection I noticed my fingertips were covered in blood, I could feel the blood running down my chin now. I groaned in pain as I leant over to place my weight on my left elbow so the blood would fall to the ground and not onto my hoodie. While my nose was bleeding out I took the time to have another look around, I noticed that the sky was clear, not a single cloud in sight. My nose eventually stopped bleeding so I spat on my sleeve and used the wet fabric to wipe away the blood from my chin and top lip. Good thing this isn’t my greyish white hoodie, or that would have made a terrible mess. I decided to try and get up; as I crawled to my feet and stood up straight I was hit with a rather nasty case of vertigo and fell flat on my ass. I yelped out in pain when my tailbone connected with the hard ground beneath me. Fuck that hurt! I managed to kneel and rubbed my coccyx, it felt a little better but I could still feel the light pressure of the muscles convulsing in an attempt to make the pain go away. Finally stumbling to my feet I stretched out my arms but had forgotten that the muscles were still tender from… “Wait. What the fuck happened?!” I exclaimed to myself perhaps a bit too loud. “I remember the moonbeam and the noise but how... Where am I?” I spun around on the spot looking for any sign of anything familiar. My heart rate increased as I realised that my surroundings were alien to me, without thinking I started to run. I had no clue what I was looking for but I knew I had to find something that I recognised. I continued to run even though the muscles in my back and thighs were screaming at me to stop, the pain caused tears to form in my eyes but I still pressed on. I burst through a thin tree line to find a dirt road but I was running too quickly to stop, the road was at least a 3 foot drop down a rocky embankment. Vertigo kicked in again as I took another step but found there was nothing there. I plummeted face first into the hard dirt road and coughed as the air was forced from my lungs. I slid a good foot from where I had first hit the ground. I cried out in pain as my body came to a halt. I lay there for a solid minute, gasping to get the air back into my lungs. Every muscle in my body hurt and I broke down into tears. I had no clue where I was and I was in quite severe pain, if that isn’t reason to cry then I don’t know what is. “Why is this happening to me?” I managed to whisper out through the flood of tears. “Oh my goodness! Are you okay?” came a quiet voice about 6 feet to my left. I turned my head and blinked away the tears to see a yellow horse with a pink mane, teal eyes and wings staring at me. I didn’t know what to say or even think, my eyes widened and my jaw hit the dirt. She can’t be real! I pulled my arms out from underneath myself and forced my body into a sitting position. Blinking a few times just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things I said “This isn’t possible! How are you in my world?!” It came out a little rougher than I intended to and the yellow Pegasus shrunk back behind her mane. “Oh no-no-no, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to raise my voice.” She took a step backward and sunk low to the ground as though she were trying to disappear from sight. “Please! I don’t pose any threat to you.” I almost begged the Pegasus. She seemed a little more at ease and raised her gaze from the ground to me. “Are you hurt?” She practically whispered, I had to strain just to hear her. Oddly enough, the pain had all but ceased when I first saw the Pegasus but her question reminded me that I was, in fact, injured and I winced as it all came rushing back. “Yes,” I cringed. The pain almost proving to be unbearable at this point. “I need to get to a doc…” Before I could finish my sentence the shock and pain proved to be enough to render me unconscious again. I collapsed onto my side and I closed my eyes. ------------------------------------------------- I groaned as I felt something wet on my forehead, I reached for the soggy object on my face but I was stopped by what I could only explain as a hoof. The sudden realisation of what had happened dawned on me and my eyes snapped open. Though slightly distorted at first my vision quickly adjusted to the dimly lit home. I angled my head slightly to the right and saw a smiling face looking down at me. It was the same Pegasus from before. “How are you feeling?” She said gently with a smile. I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and the light blanket “Uh… I’m fine now, my back is still a bit sore but I’ll manage.” “Oh! Let me help you with that!” before I could voice an objection she had pulled the blanket away with her teeth and hopped up on the bed beside me. It was at this point I realised I wasn’t wearing my hoodie or my t-shirt. She placed her fore hooves on my shoulders and started to rub. “Oh yes, you’re very tense!” she said in a caring tone and looked into my eyes. We both blushed and turned away. Feeling rather uncomfortable with a pony I wasn’t sure existed massaging my shoulders, I shuffled to the edge of the bed, quickly stood up and removed the wet rag from my head. She looked shocked and a little worried, sinking behind her mane yet again. “Oh… was I too forward?” she gently asked while staring down. I spotted my shirt on the small dresser to my left, grabbing it and trying to cover my now exposed top half. “N-no,” I said uneasily “It’s just I don’t know what’s going on here. Am I dreaming?” “No,” she gently whispered while still trying to hide behind her mane. “You’re in my house.” She confirmed. “And how did I get here? And why am I half naked?” I questioned. “Oh…um, I brought you here, you fell unconscious out on the road and it’s my duty to care for sick or injured animals. I uh… hoped you wouldn’t mind.” “And what about the clothes?” I almost sounded angry. She shrieked and stumbled off the bed at the other side. She answered nervously, “I didn’t think you needed them, we ponies only really wear clothes on special occasions…” She trailed off into a whisper that was barely audible. “Well I’m not a pony and I’m not an animal either, I’m a human.” I said calmly, trying to reassure her I wasn’t going to harm her. She looked up at me with those big teal eyes and asked, “A human?” “Yes a human, we’re the dominant species on Earth.” I said almost to over eagerly. She looked puzzled at first but her facial expression quickly changed from confused to worry. “I think we should go see Twilight,” she said timidly. “Twilight Sparkle?” I questioned. I was almost certain she meant Twilight Sparkle but waking up in a world filled with brightly coloured trees, bushes and a Pegasus kind of made me think that anything was possible at this point. “Oh yes that’s her! Um… how did you know her name?” She asked with a rather confused look on her face. “It’s a very long story; maybe we should just go see Twilight first?” I answered, hoping she would not press the issue further. It would be hard to tell her that I knew about all of the ponies in Ponyville and that they were from a child’s cartoon show. She simply nodded gently, I put on my t-shirt and we head out the door on our way to Ponyville. I hope everything goes well…