//------------------------------// // Preview // Story: A New World, A Fresh Start // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Thank you all for reading. If you liked it, then I'm happy. If you didn't, I did my best damn it. If you hated, oh well, I'll still love and tolerate you. Fear not, Rick will return. Look forward to "Home Again" I've been told "A New World, A Fresh Start" came off as rushed, so I will take more time to write "Home Again" to prevent that in the future. For now, enjoy this preview chapter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 Bright light filled Rick's eyes. Even raising a hand to shield them did no good. The last thing he remembered was a monstrously huge bear about to do its best to turn Rick inside out. "Where am I? What happened?" He got to his feet, that is, he would have if there was even a ground to stand on. He realized he was floating in a type of limbo. No up, no down, there was even an echo. His words just seemed to… cease, not swallowed or erased but just gone. He knew he was talking and he heard his words, but that was it. "Well, to answer your first question," a voice form his past started, "you are between worlds. And to answer your second question, you got yourself killed." Rick spun quickly and dropped his jaw. His eyes grew to the point of hurting, "Hanna? Annie?" "We sent you to that world because you deserved happiness. When we died, you shut down your heart. After everything you did for us when we were alive, you deserved to better. Annie and I decided you needed to go to a place where a warm heart like yours is cherished." "Hanna, Annie!" Rick floated toward his long dead wife and daughter. He spread his arms wide to embrace them. There was no contact, he drifted right through them. "We aren't here, Daddy. We are in heaven with Grandma and Grandpa." Hanna patted Annie on top of her red hair. "That's right; we are in a different world. But it's not your time. You are going to be sent back to live your life with your new family." Rick felt crestfallen; he suddenly thought he had betrayed his lost human family. "B-But I want to be with you." "You can't, as I've said, it's not your time." Hanna's ghostly hand hovered over his cheek. For a moment, Rick thought he would give anything to spend the rest of eternity just like that, when suddenly, a cloud appeared before him. Across the center of the cloud appeared his pony friends. Twilight was in a hospital bed, while the princesses, Shining Armor and the five other ponies Rick came to know and think of as family were also in the room. He could see that Twilight was yelling at her brother. "What's going on? Why is she so mad?" "Shining Armor has just told her about your sacrifice. She blames him for your death." Rick looked closer, he saw Twilight's horn flare, a jug nearly smashed into Shining, and all the things in the room float up to follow suit. "But I told him to leave; He had to in order to save her." "It doesn't matter, right now Twilight is so hurt that she just needs to blame someone, it doesn't matter who. You mean so much to her and all these other ponies even though you were only there for such a short time." Rick gave in, "okay, I'll go back." "Very good. You will be sent back and changed to better fit in." Hanna wrapped him in a spiritual hug. "I just have one question before I go, why a world of talking ponies? Not that I'm complaining or anything, I like it there, a lot. I'm just a little confused." "That was my idea, Daddy," Annie chimed in. "I should have known. Where did you come up with the idea, Sweetie?" He could see his daughter try to answer, but there was no sound. Hanna and Annie were beginning to fade. "No! I want more time! I need to be with you! Don't go, don't leave me again!" He tried to reach out for them, but there was nothing there. He was enveloped in a blinding white light again. When the light faded, he heard birds chirping and felt a breeze on his cheek. He lowered his hand and opened his eyes. He was shocked to find he had lost all the fingers on the hand in front of him. He was even more shocked when he raised his other hand and fell face first into the grass. "Oh yeah, 'changed to better fit in,' this is going to take some getting used to.