//------------------------------//
// The Beginning of a beautiful beginning 
// Story: Starting on a New Hoof 
// by Dracoraun 
//------------------------------//

       I looked for my friends, which should be near my location at the time, but they couldn't be found in my sights. I laughed. It was probably some kind of prank again. They just wanted to give me a hard time before my trip to ponyville. After a bit, I was just fed up. I sighed and sat my flank down next to a tree. It all felt so strange. Being a pony and all. My name is George Reddam, or, it used to be. Before things began going crazy and all. Now they call me High Wing, as the first time I flew I went far too high and passed out. I don't want to get into details. Most of the time they just call me crazy, but I really don't like it that much. Anyways, I better start from before all this insanity started.
It was a day like any other, y'know, going to school. Not paying attention. Staring at Sarah. You know. The usual. Now, back to Sarah. There's always a girl that none of the guys like, the strong spirit that they can't control. Intimidates them, though they will never admit it. I liked her, though. I wasn't entirely sure she liked me, I was kind of, well, I was a slacker. Never thought school was interesting. They said I was really smart and had potential and whatever, I never bought into any of it. Thinking back know, I would give up everything for just a day back in that life. None of this confusing nonsense to deal with.
Anyways, after a day of being yelled at by my teachers, classes finally ended. Took long enough, let me tell you. Well, as I left the halls, I was looking for Sarah somewhere around. You would think after looking at her for so long in class that I could spot her anywhere, but I guess not. While looking for Sarah, I may have walked too far into the road, and a car drove past me, almost hitting me. I said some things to that guy that I shouldn't really repeat. I felt better for a while, but turns out he had some friends around. They weren't all to fond about what I said. I got beat pretty good, a black eye and chipped tooth an' all. Not that the other guys got out of it unscathed. Think I broke one of their noses and a couple of them will have black eyes as well. Even after taking the beating to that extent, I still didn't give up. I was yelling some profanities at them as they walked away, calling them some pretty bad things and insulting their mothers in numerous occasions. Either they didn't think I was worth it, or they didn't care. They just kept walking away. Anyways, that fight gathered a larger crowd then I expected. Turns out, Sarah was in that crowd as well. And what's even better is she didn't really like the guys I picked a fight with. Get this, she walked over to me and said,
"You OK? You got hit pretty hard"
"Yeah, I'm fine... just hope this tooth isn't loose...." I responded. Not the smartest thing I've said.
"Well, you did a brave thing standing up to those jerks. Even though you kind of provoked them..." Sarah said
"Yeah, well, they had it coming to them eventually." I said. Then in quick afterthought, I added, "Do you want to go to the movies sometime?"
She laughed, and I was sure that meant a no, but her answer took me off guard.
"Sure," She said "But don't take me to any of those chick-flicks that most girls my age overrate. Let's go see the newest horror film" She stated
I could hardly believe this was happening. The insanity of this situation made me think that I actually had been hit by that car, and this was some kind of dream, but that notion was ridiculous, so I just shrugged it off.
"Sounds... nice." I said. I still think I should've said something better.
"Well, it's settled. Saturday good for you?" She asked.
"Um, sure. That'd be great" I said, dumbfounded.
"See you later, then." She said, and walked off.
My joy seemed to make me float over to the buses, but it ended almost as fast as it began. Turns out, I was fighting for a good fourty-five minutes, and I had missed my bus entirely. That meant I had to walk home, and I lived an entire six miles from school. Trust me, I was not happy about this. I made it pretty clear with a fairly loud profanity. I started my walk home, and about an hour in, I saw some strange man approach me. He had a hood over his face, and caried a weird amulet in the shape of horse's head. I thought he was some crazy old man trying to sell me some insane thing for ridiculous amounts. Or a hobo. Either way, I decided to listen to what he had to say. What harm could it do, right? Well, obviously it did a lot more then I expected.
"Don't go into the dark alone. Remember, you will never be alone " He said in a raspy voice.
"What? I don't have any damn time for this." I grumbled.
"Take it." He said, presenting the amulet to me " Do not hesitate to fly free. Be strong, Reddam." he whispered.
"Um, okay?" I took it out of his hand, and then on second thought, I said, "Hay, wait a damn second, how the hell do you know my na-" But he was already gone. Suddenly, the surrounding area was a lot darker then before. It was night. I knew there was no way in hell that was possible. I started to run faster, and I noticed the amulet began to glow. I felt like something was off. I didn't know this road I was running down. I had taken a wrong turn. Suddenly, that amulet flashed with a brilliant light, and I could not see anything. After that, all that I could remember was blacking out. A little while later, I awoke in a grassy plain. I had never seen it before.
"Where the HELL am I?" I shouted. Not like there was anyone around to hear me.  Within seconds of saying this, some freaky-ass horse with wings just apeared in front of me. Of course I began screaming my lungs out, making the weird winged horse thing look at me strangely.
"Are you okay?" It said.
"Holy CRAP, you can talk!" I shouted.
"Well, of course. I can talk like every other pony." it responded
"Wh-What?! You're a freaky horse-thing with wings!" I yelled even louder.
He then looked at me strangely, then said,
" Well, I think that would be called a pegasus, and you're one too. Are you okay?"
"What in the name of hell are you talking about? I'm human!" I yelled again, obviously confusing it.
"Human? What's that? Anyways, you can call me Thunder Storm, or just Thunder if you want." Thunder said
"This is too weird. Too. weird. Where am I exactly?" I asked in exasperation.
"You're near Mareopia, a fairly small town pretty far from  Ponyville or Canterlot." Thunder explained, as if I had an idea of what those things were even supposed to be.
"This is a joke. This is a joke right?" And after I said, that I spotted that I had hooves, and I began to scream again, the shock causing wings on my back to pop out, further startling me, making me scream even louder. Thunder patiently waited for me to finish my mental breakdown. Real nice.
"You're obviously not well," He started, "We should take you to see a nurse pony."
"A nurse? This guy needs a psychiatrist and a team of neuroscientists to study him. He's the biggest nut-case I've ever seen!" A voice said.
"Great, now I'm hearing god damn voices. Maybe I am going insane." I stated
"No, you nut job, look up." The voice said. I did. And I saw a another pegasus above me.
"Yup, another flying pony. And this makes me sane how...?" I asked rhetorically.
Thunder's nose scrunched up and he looked at me funny. At least, I thought it was funny. I couldn't really tell with these ponies, or pegasus.
"You sure do talk funny. Where are you from, uh... wait, what's your name?"
A name. That I could do. "Uh, my name... yeah, it's George Reddam."
"George Reddam? What kind of name is that?" said the pony flying above me.
"It's a better on then yours, whatever it is!" I snapped.
"Hah! better then mine, eh? My name just happens to be Stormy Heart, and I'm the sister of Thunder Head here." she chided in response.
"Stormy Heart? Sounds like if your mother thought much more, she woulda had an aneurism and died!" I shouted, already past the point of saying reasonable things.
"I don't even know what an anumism is!"
"It's aneurism, numb-skull!"
"Both of you cut it ou-" Thunder started to say, but I couldn't hear the rest of it because the next thing I remember is falling flat on my ass, then promptly blacking out.
After that, I remember opening my eyes just a slit, seeing hooves at the side of me. My head hurt way too much to shout out in shock, though.
"Is he okay?" I heard a voice say to the side of me.
"I think so." A different, lower voice said. I figured the two voices were Thunder and Stormy.
"Did he have an... amuspasm?" the first said.
"aneurism..." I mumbled with great effort.
"Yeah, he's fine." The second said in a very flat voice.
After a couple of seconds, I cleared my head enough to sit up.
" This all doesn't make sense to me..." Stormy started
"Yeah, I never heard of anything like it. This stallion may be spewing random nonsense, but he surely isn't normal. " Thunder responded.
" I have never heard of magic just not working on somepony before." Stormy said.
"Are you forgetting I'm here? I know I'm just about the most forgettable and non-special case around here, but cut me some slack." I said, extremely sarcastically. What could I do.
" It's deeper then you could even imagine. Magic doesn't work on you." Thunder said with grim finality.
"Woah-woah-woah. Hold your..." I looked at him " ... horses. Magic? There's suddenly magic here? Like, wave-your-wand, I-turn-you-into-a-frog kind of magic?"
Stormy responded instead, starting with her head shaking.
"You are really, really weird. I've never heard a remark like that before. No, Unicorn magic."
"Great. Unicorns. Kill me now, why don't you. " I shoved my face into the pillow, trying to bury myself from this insanity.
Thunder, of course, rolled his eyes again then tried to roll me over.
"Don't worry, apparently magic doesn't work on you, anyways." He said, then sighed. "How about coming out with us, so we can teach you to fly?"
"Oh? And what makes you think I don't know how?" I remarked snidely.
" The fact that you don't even know what a Pegasus is." He responded nonchalantly.
"Touché."
"Whatever that's supposed to mean."
"Forget it."
He laughed, as if there was anything funny about this situation. "Come on, the nurse says you're gonna be okay. Only Stormy here thought you had a anuwhatever."
"For chrissake, aneurism! "
"You say the weirdest things" He said, still laughing.
"Whatever. Let's just go try to teach me to fly, or... whatever." I tried to sound like I didn't care at all, but truthfully, I actually kind of did. I mean, who hasn't had dreams of flying before? I just, for some odd reason, felt like I shouldn't show any enthusiasm.
"Sure, just follow us, we'll take you to a place to fly. A nice, safe place." Stormy said.
"Was that some kind of insult?" I grumbled.
They seemed to blow off my last remark and trotted out the door. I rolled off my bed with a loud thump, then rose to my hooves awkwardly. I seemed to have an easier time if I didn't think about actually having hooves. Mainly because having hooves was insane on so many levels. After raising to my feet, or, hooves, I slowly walked out the door as well. Oh, what fun awaits me in the world of magic and flying horses? I certainly wasn't excited.