//------------------------------// // The Beginning // Story: An Enchanted Melody // by DeathMustang //------------------------------// The lights of the city outside her window shimmered as she gazed out. The pollution made the air thick with dark clouds making the local people ill. Annie sighed as she gazed out over the city that she called home, though this place was anything but a home. Hardship, disease, this world grew worse with each passing day. Sighing again, she stood up, tired of the depressing sight. Drawing always helped when she was feeling down, hearing a crash down stairs, she glared at the door. They were fighting again! For nearly nineteen years she’d leave with her Uncle, loathing it every day. The man was a drunk and an asshole. His, so called, wife was the biggest bitch on the planet. Most days, Annie went about her days ignoring them both as best she could. Once she was twenty three years old, she would be out of this place. She was leaving this town all together to find a place where she could be of use, to a place she could forget. Sitting down Annie took out her coloring pencils and started drawing. She used odd colors but they all seemed to fit together. It was a horse-like creature that was tall with long slender legs, a long curved horn, a deer- like tail, and its fur was light purple with black and green markings. The horn was green along with its hooves. The most striking feature was the emerald eyes that seemed to look back at her. “Meow,” the sudden sound startled her. Looking down at her feet she saw a calico tom rubbing against her legs. “Hey darling, how’s my best boy doing?” The cat purred happily as she rubbed behind his ears. “You’re the only one that gets me Orion. I wish there was someplace you and I could go. Where we could leave this polluted nightmare behind us, but where could we go. The Drunk down there only cares for my parents’ money. He won’t even look for us.” The cat hissed at the mention of the man who always tried to kick it. Annie looked down at the picture giving it a look over. She liked it a lot, and it made her think of her nickname. “I’ll call you Enchantix.” She smiled at the picture; as its emerald eyes seemed to look back her. “Come on Orion lets go to bed.”She picked up the cat and made her way to the bunk that was her bed. Stretching out, she curled up with her beloved cat looking out the window one last time. Through the smog, she saw a shooting star glimmer on its way through the sky. “I wish I could find a place to belong. A place where I can truly be free.” She closed her eyes allowing sleep to take her, never seeing how the stars shined brighter or how the picture she’d drawn vanished without a trace. § Annie groaned as the sun shined in her eyes. Laying her arm over her eyes she tried to go back to sleep. Wait a minute! SUN! Her eyes shot open only to shut them again at the glare of the blazing orb. How could this be? The sun was completely blocked by the smog! How could it be shining so brightly? Once her eyes settled she looked up to see herself lying in a forest clearing. Where was she! She stood only to fall back down looking back at her legs. Annie nearly screamed at the sight. She was some kind of horse. Sitting up on her haunches, Annie looked herself over. Somehow she’d become the very creature she’d created last night. Everything was the same right down to the markings. How was she a horse for crying out loud?! “Meooowww,” a low meow came from behind her. “Orion.” she leaped up stumbling a few times before getting her legs beneath her. “Orion darling. Where are you?” She looked franticly for her pet only to see him lying a few feet away. She hurried over, worried that he was hurt. “Sweetheart are you alright?” She carefully picked up the calico, not sure how that worked with hooves. “I’ve been better.” A low voice answered her back. Annie gasped, nearly dropping the calico. “You just talked!” The cat opened its eyes, bright blue met green. “You can ….Whoa MISTRESS! What happened to you?!” the cat cried out. “I don’t know. The same thing that happened to you to make you talk, I would say. Also, seeing I’m a horse now, nothing will surprise me at this point.” She stood up on all fours resting Orion on her back. The cat rubbed all over her back liking her new form. “What should we do now Mistress?” Orion looked out over the clearing. “I honestly don’t know dear. I guess the one thing we can do is find civilization.” She picked a random direction letting her gut tell her where to go. “If we don’t find anyone by nightfall, I’ll see if I can find some shelter for the night.” She concentrated on putting one hoof in front of the other. How did they get here? Why were they here? So many questions that needed to be answered! Was this possibly some kind of messed up dream?! She sighed stepping over a log being mindful of the cat on her back. ‘Still though’ she thought to herself. Dream or not, it was beautiful here and much more pleasant than the nightmare her home was. If this was a new world then she could start over here. A new home, new life, and even a new name maybe? Enchantix is what she called this form; it had a nice ring to it when she thought it over. So that would be her new name Enchantix. She silently pondered on what waited for them here in this new place. Would there be a better life here or would it be another nightmare. § It felt like hours had passed before Enchantix saw any signs of life. A well-worn trail leading to the edge of the forest told her that someone lived here. The question was who and what? She couldn’t be in this form by accident; there was a reason for everything that had happened to her. The other life forms that lived here had to be the same. Orion slept peacefully on her back, his paws gently kneading into her fur. She smiled at the sleeping feline, glad that she wasn’t alone in this place. He seemed to be taking the fact he could talk very well, if the near endless chatter was anything to go by. Lowering her head to get through the brush, Enchantix found herself overlooking a large apple orchard. It had the biggest, reddest apples she’d ever laid eyes on. The sight of them made her mouth water; it had been years since she’d eaten a fresh apple. Trotting up to the nearest tree she plucked one from the lowest branch. She still wasn’t sure how exactly she was picking things up with hooves but she wasn’t complaining. The apple was delicious, far better than the tart, rotten ones she was used to. Tossing the core away she looked around at the massive orchard. Why did this place seem so familiar? Why did it feel like she’d seen this before? She’s never been to a real orchard before; any that remained at home were closely guarded because of the rarity of fruit. She stepped through the trees admiring the beauty of the orchard. Birds sang and flew around, tempting Orion to try and catch them. The feeling of familiarity didn’t leave her as she kept walking. That is until she spotted an all too famous sight. The barn that was in front, she’d seen once before! Her mind seemed to go blank as she realized where she was. Suddenly a lot of things made sense as she looked out at none other than Sweet Apple Acres. She was in FREAKING EQUESTRIA! How did she end in this place?! This couldn’t be right! This had to be a mistake! Enchantix felt her heartbeat skyrocket as she panicked. Orion stopped in his attempt to catch a bird as he heard his mistress panicked breathing. “Mistress…mistress what’s wrong?” he nuzzled up against her legs trying to get her to look down. “What’s wrong is that we’re in Equestria! I know this has to be a dream because this is impossible!” Enchantix nearly screamed. “Equestria?” Orion cocked his head to the side in confusion. “What’s that mistress?” “Remember that TV show you and I watched that one time about the ridiculous ponies? The one that I swore I’d never watch again?” The cat nodded. “Well somehow we’re now in that world. Somehow we’ve been transported to another universe!” “But how!?” “I don’t know. All I do know is this is that I’m freaking out!” Enchantix spoke on cutting him off. The sudden sound of hooves alerted her. Quickly, she grabbed Orion by the scarf of his neck and leaped into the nearest tree. Peeking through the leaves, she watched as the Apple family came into view, or at least they looked like the Apple family. Hold on here, this wasn’t right. Why was Applejack a stallion!? Sense when was Big Macintosh a mare!? She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was the Apple family only they were gender-swapped. But, that would suggest that she was placed inside an alternate universe of the version she was used to. Ugh! Why was all of this so complicated!? This made everything even harder now. Because Enchantix knew that even though she was technically in the same world, things would be different because of the swapped genders. She needed some serious answers, and she knew just the place to get them, the Ponyville Library.