Prologue
By The Critical Wizard
My story is unlike that of anyone else who lives here. Like most people I get up in the morning and have breakfast and go off to my job. Just like everyone else in Equestria I love my job, as it is what I was destined to do for the rest of my days, and I just love everyone here in Ponyville. Everyone is so nice and everything is just so bright and colorful. It is the most amazing place I have ever been. But unlike everyone else I have a story that is unlike any you could have ever heard before. I am of course referring to the story of how I came to be in this wonderful world. As I think back on it now it still doesn't quite make sense. What originally brought me here? Did I miss anyone from back where I came from? Well maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and I should start at the most logical place, the beginning.
One extremely cold winter night in November I was in my college dorm room and looking up MLP pictures on Reddit and listening to Manowar and Dio and other heavy metal bands. I didn't really have much going on now that I think about it, as I had already completed my homework for the weekend, and I would only have two days of classes later that week as Thank's Giving break was coming up as well. But even so it was Sunday and I would have classes tomorrow so I couldn't stay up too late. I decided to try and get to sleep so I could be fully rested by tomorrow so I closed my laptop and went to bed. I wasn't tired so I laid in the dark for a bit, just staring up at the ceiling, and thinking. It was weird, earlier that day when I had taken a nap, I didn't sleep well the night before, as I was semi-conscious I could have sworn I heard a voice. It was female and soothing, but also soft and close up, I actually turned to see my empty room in the mid afternoon sun. Empty. It sounded so close and inviting but even stranger then that was it wasn't in English. It was in another language and I still felt like I understood it. It sounded weird but felt like "come closer to us". This wasn't the first time I had seen something in another language and know what it meant. When I was at my friend's house sleeping on his couch I could "see" in my mind's eye the Nordic letters for J,O,S,H,(space),M, and A. His house was also the only place where I successfully astral projected.
As I thought about the voice, the Nordic letters and the time I had astral projected, all I could think of was why was all this happening within month's of each other? What could all this mean? As I thought on this I started to feel myself lifting out of my body. I didn't fight it and I didn't really focus on it. I knew my mind and soul was trying to tell me something and all I had to do was listen and follow it. J in Nordic runes means "year", O means "estate" as in rich or good, S means "sun". H means "hail", M means "human", and A means "god". As I flew around in the astral plain I could see so many colors Orange, Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, and right at the end of where I was going was pure White light. I moved towards it without resistance. As I moved through the light all the other colors moved and aligned themselves into patterns of building's and mountains and grass and water and so much more. Then as the blinding white and yellow light of the sun came up over the horizon I saw as all the colors intensified and I saw something that resembled Ponyville. I was ecstatic and I was so excited to go and see all of my favorite characters from the show and everything that I forgot I wasn't really there, it was only an astral projection. I flew over to the city and looked around, at first I didn't see anyone and it was pretty empty, then all at once the clock tower hit nine and everypony in all of the city seemed to be out and about. I watched as ponies of all ages moved around me, buying and selling goods, the sent of baked treats floated out of Sugar Cube Corner, I looked up and saw the pony with the rainbow mane clearing the clouds from the sky. I wonder who actually pay's her for her services I thought to myself. I also noticed how fast everypony was actually moving, I looked back at the clock and saw that it too was moving faster as well. That would make sense I guess since when you astral project it has an adverse effect on time, it's sped up here and slowed down in the real world. Then I remembered the voice and how it sounded, I got the strongest feeling as though it was coming from the direction of Canterlot and that if I went there I would find the source of the voice. Since this is a world dominated by thought all I had to do was concentrate and I could feel myself moving towards the castle. I fazed through the roof and landed somewhere in the main hall. I could see all the stained glass windows of all of the mane six's triumphs. I could hear the voice in the other room, it sounded sped up like everything else, I moved closer and could see Princess Celestia talking with Princess Luna they were changing positions so it was going to be night time soon. I concentrated and slowed time down to normal but it did no good they were still speaking another language. But I could now identify that the voice I heard belonged to Princess Celestia. By the tone of their voices they were just having a sisterly conversation, when suddenly Luna stopped mid sentence, pointed at me and said something in their language. Celestia turned and looked, nodded, and said something. Unlike before when I had a strong feeling about what it would translate to, I could not figure out what they were saying. Celestia then used her magic to make Nordic runes appear, first an M, then an A, then T, T again, and then underneath it a B appeared. My name is Matt and the Nordic letter B means "Birch" which is only one letter off of my actual last name. The runes faded, and she left the room, the entire time Luna didn't move her eyes from me. even as I left she followed me all the way out of the room and out of the castle. She didn't look angry or distrustful but more like, expecting. It was night time now and I had to be getting back to my body, unfortunately, so I flew over Ponyville one last time. As I flew through the city I could see everypony lying down to get some sleep, except for Twilight, it seems like she was getting in some late night studying. As I went past her window I could see her turn and stare out the window at me. It must be like an Alicorn thing or something. I just waved and flew on my merry way not wanting to bother her. I was now over the everfree forest and I could see the tree of harmony. I flew down and got a closer look. It was fantastic, it had all of the mane six's cutie marks as well as Celestia's and Luna's. I reached out and to my surprise I could feel the tree. Like actually feel it, it was smooth and crystalline but also warm and alive. I felt something else too, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Well now it's time to move on I guess. I flew off again and as I was flying over a mountainous area a beam of light and energy came flying up out of nowhere. I dodged but it looped down and hit me right in the back and I felt myself falling to the ground. The bast itself didn't hurt so much and actually felt nice, but the tree I hit my head on was not as inviting. As I lie here slowly drifting from consciousness all I can see is the full moon rising up from over the mountains and a small glimmer of light coming from a cave entrance. I close my eyes and drift into an unnaturally comfortable sleep.