//------------------------------//
// Awesome... 
// Story: Humans in Equestria 
// by Dyon 
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I woke up sometime during the night, finding myself still trapped within a net wasn’t exactly my favorite way to come back to the conscious world, and honestly I was a little surprised that I hadn’t been found yet. After having been abandoned to my fate by the CMC and Steel, who was supposed to be my brother here, I had expected my new clubmates to find me eventually. As I peered out into the dead of night around me I could tell that had definitely not have been the case. 

The world was quiet, save for the occasional cricket that would sing its song to the night, and be answered by another. The sky above was completely clear, and the moon hung fully overhead, giving me enough light to see clearly for a good distance into the grassy meadow in, which the tree I hung from was rooted. Sighing, and seeing no real point in waiting for rescue, as it would probably be before morning before I was discovered, I turned my attention to the rope that I was suspended by. 

It wasn’t incredibly impressive, of course after being snared I might have just thought that out of bitterness. The branch the net was hung from was bowing considerably at my weight, and every time I shifted to get a better vantage it would creak a little. I knew the way that I would have to get out of this situation, though I didn’t like it one bit.

“Well, no point in putting off the inevitable,” I said, rolling back over so that my hooves were on the bottom of the net. I found some hoofholds, not an easy thing to on the ropes that comprised the net, but after only slipping through the holes, and smacking my face into the side of the net a dozen times I succeeded. Crouching as low as possible, I quickly jumped as high as I could, hitting the top of the net, before coming down and by some miracle landing in the same place. I couldn’t really get all that much distance while imprisoned here, but my weight hitting the bottom of the net again did cause the branch overhead to shake and groan with the strain of holding me up.

I jumped, and jumped, and jumped, and when I hit jump number twenty-three I finally heard the branch above crack and split. Me, the net, and the rather large branch fell to the ground in a clutter, and somehow, as I lifted my head to inspect the damage around me, I found that I was unharmed. Well, except for the damage that I had done to myself earlier when I tripped over that damned rock. I put my hooves into the mouth of the net, and now that it was no longer taught with my weight, I easily pulled it loose and opened it.

Now free of my prison, I shook myself off like a dog and arched my back to pop it. The audible crack of my spine was a welcome comfort after spending hours cooped up in that confining thing. I looked back to the edge of the grassline, feeling that it had been so much easier to see far away from up in the tree, but I wasn’t about to climb that just to get a better vantage. I looked around the tree, and spotting the gas lamp that had lured me here in the first place, I figured out which way I had come from, and chose my course out. With the lantern swinging back and forth in my maw I began the long trek that would take me all the way back to the Rich Manor, where my certain doom awaited me.

Well maybe not doom, to be honest I actually had no idea what kind of punishment would surely be coming my way, but it had to be severe. Thinking back to my own childhood, I recalled a time that I had absentmindedly stayed out after dark, and my parents went nuts. This was made worse of course by the friend I was with telling them that I wasn’t at his house, when I was over on the couch playing video games. Screw Kirk, he got me grounded for two weeks.

Mr. Rich; at first I had thought that he was the kind of guy that was a strict and strong father figure, but he had been gone ever since the first day that I had gotten to his place. The only ones that I seemed to interact with on a daily basis were the maids and butlers, I wondered if his absence was a usual thing, maybe he didn’t actually care at all. That old stallion though, Dusty, there was little doubt that he was the kind not against using a little spanking to get his point across. I immediately set in my mind that if that was the course he would pursue I would have to fight back to the death, there was simply no other way. A grown man cannot suffer such indignities and continue living, it was impossible, I was pretty sure that there was a rule against it somewhere in the Brocode. 

I stepped out of the tall grass just on the edge of town and made an immediate right turn, walking along the outermost buildings in the hope that it wouldn’t take me too long to reach the road I was looking for. After a few minutes, the pasture having disappeared into memory behind me, the sound of calling crickets faded away, leaving just my clopping hooves on the ground below me the only sound in the night air. I wasn’t afraid, seriously, in this situation I would usually be so tense that even the slightest noise might set me off, but this was Equestria and like I had when leaving the Apple family orchard, I felt an immense aura of safety about the world.

The only place in Equestria that actually had anything dangerous in it was the Everfree afterall, and that was still a ways off, though admittedly not as far as I would have preferred. From all the knowledge of this land that I had, which for some reason seemed to not be as accurate as I would have hoped, there was no danger out to get me. Especially not in a land that had two immortal goddesses always on duty, safeguarding their little ponies from all evil. I screwed my face up as an interesting thought crossed my mind, now that I was a pony and very much in Equestria, would I be recognized as a citizen. 

Sure I hadn’t been born here, but it wasn’t like anypony actually knew that aside from Steel. To anypony walking around I would just look like a normal little dirt pony...err Earth Pony. Perhaps I would be most correctly placed in the illegal alien category, which still felt a little bit off. Sure I was an alien, wow that was a weird thought, but I didn’t think that accidentally falling through a portal into another world was committing an illegal act. I would have to look at a whatever immigration laws Equestria had to be sure, but I thought that the most accurate term would have been, Visitor.

As I finally reached the road that led uphill and out of town, I marvelled at just how easy it was to keep my mind distracted and off task. I was pretty sure that if anypony ever found something shiney enough I would be reduced to rolling around on the ground like a kitten or something as I played with it. Shuddering at the horrifyingly cute mental image, I doubled my pace as the road began to hit its highest angle of ascension. I looked ahead to the moon just above me and marvelled at it once more, with the clear sky, zero ambient light aside from my lantern, it felt like I could see clearly for billions and billions of lightyears out into the void of space. The stars shone so brilliantly, and feeling courageous, I killed the lantern so that they stood out even more. 

There they hung, an infinite amount of twinkling lights in the sky, each surely as beautiful as the sun that Celestia raised every morning. There were no doubt, hundreds of constellations that the ponies had made throughout their history, and in that moment I wished to know what they could possibly be. The moon, the real star on this stage, was far larger than the one that orbited Earth, and far brighter. I could see a craterous surface, but the vast seas that covered the white globe were more defined that I would have expected. One of these days I knew that the ponies would find their way up their. I laughed a little as I crested the top of the hill, that would be a strange day, what with one of their goddesses controlling its movement. 

Thinking about Luna, I looked around in the sky, sure that if there was ever a time that I would meet the Princess of the Night it would be now. I stopped at the top of the hill, setting the lamp down since I could no longer use it, and waited for her to descend out of nowhere. After a minute of silence, I laughed at my own silliness, and proceeded once again on my quest. Of course there would be no reason for the Lunar Monarch to show up around the outside of Ponyville in the middle of the night. Hell, if I was ever going to meet her it would probably be in a dream of mine. 

That sent a shiver down my spine and caused me to halt once again. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that the Princess who oversaw everypony’s dreams might show herself in mine. I didn’t actually remember any dreams that I might have had recently, but I was sure that there were very telling of my true nature. That just wasn’t fair, I was spending all this time trying to hide myself, and she could potentially just show up willy nilly and find me out no matter what I did. I sighed, something that I noticed I was doing more and more of, there was really no helping it now was there. 

I continued once more down the road, determined this time not to be stopped by any random thoughts that would pop up in my head. The still air that had been hanging stagnant around me began to pick up, raking my body with a tendril of cold and sending a shiver down my spine. Then, as quickly as the wind had come it ceased, just in time for me to hear a very dull and meaty thud emanating from a bush to my right. All feeling of safety in the world drained away with that sound, I knew down in the pit of my soul, that nothing good could have possibly made that sound. No, that was the sound of a panther dropping down from a tree, an eagle hitting an unsuspecting rabbit, a navy seal landing on the deck just behind you. That was the sound of the next thing up on the food chain dropping in to see what was up, and finding its dinner standing there like an offering. 

Gulping, and feeling a bit like a character in a badly written horror movie, I turned and looked over to the bush that the sound had come from. There in the bush, staring right back at me and meeting my gaze full on, was a pair of red eyes. The yell that I let out even scared me, as I took off running down the road at full speed, screaming my head off like an idiot the entire way. I passed the schoolhouse, I passed several fields, hell, I think I even passed the apple family orchard before I finally started getting too dizzy from all of the screaming to keep it up. It seemed by that time that my legs had also decided it was a good time for a break, and dropped me unceremoniously onto the ground.

I laid in the middle of the road, panting, and looking wide eyed at the way that I had come running, but it seemed that so far nothing had followed me. I coughed, the strain of all the yelling I had just done finally catching up with me, and tried to push myself up into a sitting position, but my body just wasn’t having any of it. It took three good tries with shaking legs to lift myself onto my haunches, and just sit there continuing to stare down the road. I had calmed my heart somewhat, though all of the abuse that I had put my legs through today had completely ground me to a halt. It would be a miracle if I could stand for a few hours, let alone walk to the house, which I realized just then that I had passed.

“Heh, it was probably just a cat,” I laughed to myself as I felt the world around me finally return to normal.

“Naw, I’m a lot cooler than a cat,” Came a voice just to my left.

I turned my head to see the most awesome pony in all of existence, hovering there looking at me with an extremely amused smirk on her face. Out of a mixture of surprise, joy, and the extreme anxiety that came with being scared shitless twice on the same night, I fell back over on my side, probably looking like a geriatric having a heart attack as I did so. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground next to me, and choked back her laughter at seeing my flailing, and to her credit she didn’t laugh in a scared little kids face.

There she was, the greatest pony in the entire universe, standing there right next to me. The trademark colors of her hair were somewhat muted with it being night time and all, but I could still pick up that there was a distinct array in her mane and tail. Her coat appeared to be a much darker blue, and her eyes popped out more in the night time, but I would not have mistaken that voice anywhere. I noticed that she was incredibly built, Applejack had been very powerful looking too when I had seen her for that moment, but Rainbow Dash had the looks of a swimmer or a runner. Like her body had been infused with lightning, and sculpted of marble to do nothing but race and win.

“You’re...Rainbow Dash,” I said, stunned where I lay on my back and unable to do much else.

“You got that right kid, I guess you’ve heard of me, huh,” she replied, polishing a hoof on her chest as she did so.

All of the ache and soreness fled my body as my mind finally caught up with what exactly what was going on, and I jumped straight to my hooves with a move that would make a gymnast green with envy. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh. I can’t believe that it’s you. Do you even know how awesome you are? Wait, of course you do, because you are you.” I was glad for the first time since coming to Equestria that my new body was quadrupedal, it stopped me from using two hands to fan my face like a complete fangirl. Though...I may have been doing so with one of my forehooves at the time.

“I mean like, like…” she looked down at me, expecting me to elaborate further, but clearly seeing that my words were failing me she just smiled.

“Thanks a bunch kid, always awesome to meet a fan,” she replied, messing up my mane with a hoof. A little part of me was annoyed that she ruined my stylized mane, that had somehow kept its form through everything today, but that little part of me was drowned in a bathtub and buried somewhere that it would never be found.

“Heh, heh, yeah…” I said, my face heating up to unbearable levels and I ran a hoof back over my head to straighten my hair. “It’s like, heh, it has always been kind of a dream to meet you.” I looked off down the road, a bit embarrassed at admitting that.

“Heh,” now she looked a little bit embarrassed. “Well geez, thanks kid. Now I feel kinda bad for scaring you back there.”

The dots connected in my head immediately, the breeze and thud in the bush had been Rainbow Dash landing, and the eyes had been her’s peering out at me. My head sank at the thought of me actually being seen running through the night and screaming my head off like some prepubescent girl.

“Hey,” she said, “no need to feel bad for being freaked out. That was kinda my bad.” 

I looked back to her, and knew immediately the last thing I wanted was for her to pity me. Here I was, standing in front of the only pony whose opinion I really cared about, well that wasn’t entirely true since I knew enough to know that everypony’s opinion mattered. But dammit, this was Rainbow Dash, if she didn’t think that I was cool then I was a failure at life.

“Freaked out, psh,” I said, cutting my hoof sideways in the air, like I could just throw away that thought entirely. “I wasn’t freaked out, that was just...the battle cry I do when I’m about to take a really good run.” That was probably the worst lie that I had told during my entire stay here, in fact just the thought of how bad it was gave me a bit of a headache. 

“Oh yeah?” she questioned, in a tone that surprisingly made me feel like she actually bought it. “I do that too sometimes, though it’s usually when I just get out of bed, and do my warm up flight for the morning.”

It took all my restraint to keep my jaw from dropping. “Heh yeah totally,” I replied, trying to recover. “That sounds awesome, like you, you’re awesome...I think I already said that.”

“Yeah you did,” she said with a smirk, “but that doesn’t make it any less true. I don’t usually say this, but enough about me. What are you doing wandering around so late at night kid?” she asked.

I rubbed my temple, that headache seemed persistent. “I got caught in a net by the Cutie Mark Crusaders so I was stuck outside until I freed myself,” I said without thinking. Shit, I hadn’t meant to actually tell the truth, that was a horrible thing to do. 

I think I heard her mumble something along the lines of “So that’s what they wanted the rope for,” before she laughed nervously and looked down at me again. “Oh, you don’t say. That sucks.”

“Yeah, it’s whatever though,” I said, still rubbing my temple to subdue the burgeoning migraine. 

“Hey kid, you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah I just have this stupid headache...and my legs are so sore that I don’t know if I can walk much anymore...and my shoulder is killing me.” Damn, there was that pitying look in her eyes, why couldn’t I have just said that I was fine like a normal person.

“Wow you sure took a beating kid. Why don’t I help you get on home, where do you live?” she asked.

“Uhh,” I stalled, trying to think if I ever got an actual address. Realizing that of course I hadn’t, and that it probably didn’t matter in this case. I shrugged, “The Rich place. Big mansiony thing with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a huge driveway.”

Rainbow Dash whistled appreciatively at my description. “Wow, I didn’t know Filthy Rich had another kid.”

“He doesn’t,” I corrected, finally managing to rub some of the ache out of my head, “me and my brother are just staying there until we get shipped off to an orphanage or something.” As soon as the words left my mouth I knew just how dumb and awkward they were. We stood there for a few seconds in complete silence, her probably not knowing what to say to that, and me mentally berating myself for being a worthless, stupid, embarrassment

“I think I’m going to go,” I said, trying to get away before I made myself look anymore like a fool in front of the coolest pony in Equestria. Unfortunately, my legs didn’t seem to want to cooperate and I fell flat on my face after taking a single step. “Oof.”

That time Rainbow Dash completely busted out laughing, and I mean really laughing. I was afraid that she was going to fall over with the way she was going on, but after a little bit she did manage to correct herself and calm down to just a giggle every few seconds. “Okay kid,” she said, walking over to me and tossing me onto her back with a wing like I was a ragdoll, “let me take you back home.”

I barely had time to grab onto her before she took to the air like a rocket. The first thing I felt was the wind smack me in the face like a bad ex, causing me to nearly tumble from my seat atop the fastest flyer in Equestria. The weight on my hooves was a huge strain, but somehow I managed to keep still as we made our ninety degree climb straight towards the moon, her completing a few barrel rolls as we did so for effect. I had to close my eyes to keep the wind from peeling back my eyelids, so I had no warning as we came to a hover a couple of hundred feet off the ground, making me shift almost violently once more. 

I opened my eyes and looked around at the world below. It was hard to see much, but I could make out a few sights, and I could even pick out where Ponyville was. Everything for miles around was nearly completely black tonight, but every so often there were some lights to show off some buildings that might still be open for any night owls that wanted to come by for a visit. I was so amazed at this new vantage that it took me a second to notice Rainbow Dash looking over her shoulder at me, probably perturbed by just how much I was shaking. 

“Uh, you alright kid?” she asked, worry coating her words.

I couldn’t speak, the adrenaline in my blood was pumping so hard that I couldn’t form a coherent sentence if I even wanted to. All I could do was smile wider than I thought that I ever had and say a single word. “Faster.”

That seemed to be all the prompting the pegasus needed. She returned the smile and I caught a dangerous look in her eye, my only warning to redouble my efforts to hold on tightly before she went into a complete vertical dive towards the ground. 

This time, I didn’t care that my eyes being blasted by the gale force winds as we flew at top speeds towards the ground. We were going so fast, it seemed nearly impossible that we would pull up in time, but for some reason at the moment I didn’t really care. Rainbow Dash pulled out of the steep dive about a dozen feet above the ground, and began rocketing along the top of the road. I let go of her neck and threw my hooves in the air as she continued to pour on more speed. “Wooooooooooooooooooooh!” I screamed, though I could hardly hear myself over the wind in my ears.

She started to climb again, which I took as my sign to hold on once more, just as we approached the turnoff for the Rich Manor. She did another roll as we sailed right over the top of the gates, barely missing clipping it by an inch, and began to zip in between the trees that dotted the landscape. I was sure that she was going to hit one or two of them, as we passed just beneath their lowest hanging branches, but of course she knew exactly what she was doing and we made it through without any issue. 

The actual mansion started to come into view just as we rounded an evergreen, and somehow Rainbow Dash started to go even faster. I started to let out another cry of triumph, but as I opened my mouth a bug shot right into the back of my throat, and sent me into a coughing fit. Not that it killed my buzz in the least, but it was still gross.

RD wasted no time in getting to the front porch, and taking a sharp climb once more to burn off our excess speed before she slowly descended to the ground and landed gracefully. I had stopped hacking by then, but the shaking in my body had only intensified as the ride went on, and it took me a little while to notice that Rainbow Dash had been saying something to me.

“You can let go now kid,” she said, looking back at me again.

I did just that, and tumbled to the ground, but it took me only a millisecond to recover, and get back to my hooves. “OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, you are AWESOME! That was the most awesome thing that ever happened ever,” I said, practically bouncing in place. No, I was literally bouncing in place. 

“I knew you were awesome, oh man. So fast, you’re so fast, and cool. Man, I wish I was fast like that, and could fly. I mean…” I found myself at a complete loss for words, but it didn’t seem like I needed any.

“Well they don’t call me the fastest flyer in Equestria for nothin’,” she said, puffing her chest out in pride. “And I saw you run kid, you are pretty fast yourself.”

“Really?” I asked, eyes widening as I looked up at her.

“Oh yeah, totally. You had like a whole dust trail going on behind you and everything,” she replied. I felt my heart swell at the compliment, especially seeing who it was coming from. 

“Naw that’s just like…” I couldn’t really do anything other than dig my hoof into the porch a little embarrassed. My mane, that was no longer able to maintain its form, tumbled out over my face as I stared down at the ground.

“Heh, well anyways you’re home now right. And I really gotta go so I’ll see you around…” She stopped for a moment just as it seemed like she was going to take off again. “I don’t think I got your name, kid.”

“Ashen Stroke,” I replied, immediately looking back up at her and shifting my head so that my mane was only covering the left side of my face.

“Ashen Stroke,” she repeated, like she was trying to figure out how the name tasted in her mouth. “Yeah, that is a pretty cool name,” she concluded.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s kinda mysterious, but at the same time it sounds like it fits you perfect,” she said, smiling back at me, bringing a smile of my own to my lips.

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash,” I said.

She bent her knees once more to take off, but stopped for a moment to say one last thing. “And kid, I’m touched and all, but you probably shouldn’t dye your mane just so it looks kinda like somepony else’s.” With that she jumped into the air, putting on so much speed that I lost her in the night sky without seconds.

“Wait a second…” I said to myself. “I don’t dye my mane!” I shouted futily after her, hearing somepony laugh off in the distance.

I looked to my left and locked onto the seam of blue that ran through the black of my mane and tail, and scowled at it. I had actually rather liked that little detail that I had, but it had just made me look like a poser in front of Rainbow Dash, so it and I were now officially on non-speaking terms. I tossed my head back, and smoothed my mane back into place over my head where it fell neatly into line, before turning to the door and slowly creeping up to it. 

The entirety of the Rich Manor was dead silent, I was sure that there would have been somepony running around at this time of night, but as far as I was able to ascertain, there was nopony home. I walked towards the large wooden portal, and unsure of if it would actually work, pushed against the heavy door. It was hard for me to do, so hard that at first I thought the door to be locked, but after a little effort and grunting I found that the door opened. It let out a loud groan as it slowly swung open to reveal the dark entryway that I scrambled into as quickly as possible, closing the door behind me with some more effort. 

Now that I was inside it was very difficult to see where I was going in the dark. So hard in fact, that I smashed my hoof right into the first stair that lead upstairs, forcing me to stifle a yell as I did so. Gritting my teeth, I climbed the stairs one by one until it seemed there weren’t anymore, and I turned towards my room, keeping a hoof on the wall as I did so. Walking along the dark corridor, I passed several doors before I came to mine, and finally reaching it without any incident, opened it carefully and walked into my room. 

With the large window on the wall letting light in, I was able to see much better in here, but the sound of snoring was my first indication that I wasn’t alone. I looked over to my bed, where the snoring was emanating from, and walked towards the noise without a second thought. Having gotten the trick down pat, I nimbly jumped up onto the bed, landing with a little grunt as my legs reminded me of just how exhausted they were. Looking to the head of the bed, I had to admit that I was a little surprised with what I found.

There, snoring like a lumberjack, and snuggling up against one of the plushy pillows on top of the bed, was Diamond Tiara. I had to admit, that the sight of her completely passed out, and not being a stuck up little princess, made her almost...cute. Wanting desperately to know what exactly she was doing in my room, I walked across the top of the bed to where she was sleeping and started shaking her shoulder. 

“Diamond Tiara,” I whispered, getting nothing but a snort in return. “Diamond Tiaraaaaaaaaa,” I tried again, this time she turned away and mumbled something I didn’t catch. Seeing no other way, well that wasn’t entirely true, there had to be plenty of other ways; though they wouldn’t be nearly as fun, I jumped and landed in front of her face “Diamond Tiara!” I yelled.

The filly sprang to her hooves like a cat, and I swear I heard her hiss as she did so. She looked rapidly around the room before her eyes locked onto my smiling face. “What the hay do you think you are doing!” she screamed, her voice nearly cracking as she did so.

“What the hay are you doing in my bed?” I asked, doing my best not to laugh at the show she had just put on.

She looked around the room again, falling out of her feral pose and adopting a normal stance. “Oh, I guess I fell asleep.”

“Well I could see that,” I said. “So why were you in my room in the first place.”

She yawned and rubbed her eye with a hoof. “I was going to find out where you went,” she said, sleep still hanging heavy on her.

I scowled, “Steel caught me in a net and swiped the Ponyville Torch from me.”

DT rolled her eyes, “Please tell me you aren’t playing that dumb game.”

“You know about that whole game and stuff?” I asked, arching a brow.

“Of course I know it, everypony knows about the Ponyville Torch,” she replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “But that game is for babies.”

“Are you just mad that you don’t have a club to play it with?” I asked, trying to verbally stab the hater.

“Psh,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes again, “when I was in charge of the Diamonds we held the torch for five months straight.” 

“Oh,” I said, having fully made myself look like a jackass. “Well, now I know.”

“Now you know,” she agreed, with a nod.

We stood there for a little bit, before I finally built the courage to ask the question I was dying to know. “So, how much trouble am I in for being out late?” I asked.

“None,” she said simply.

“None? Seriously?”

“Yeah, I told Dusty you were staying at a friends house or something. He said it was fine, so you’re not in trouble or anything,” she said, jumping down from my bed. “I just wanted to see what you were really doing, but if you were just playing that dumb torch game I guess I shouldn’t have bothered.”

I jumped down to the floor too, and started to follow her over to the door. “Wow, that was really...nice of you Diamond,” I said, a little shocked the words were actually coming out of my mouth.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” she said as she opened the door to the room. “Just make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Daddy said to look out for you two dumb colts, but I’m not going to lie for you again.” With that, she stepped out of the room and pulled the door closed behind her.

I stood there alone in the dark and silence, trying to digest what had just happened. Diamond Tiara...had actually done something nice and decent. This Equestria definitely had to be different than the one that I had seen portrayed in the show. I looked over to the bed, that my body so ached to get back to, but I knew that with everything that I had gone through tonight there was no way that I was going to get to sleep anytime soon.

My eyes kept roaming the room until they fell upon the desk sitting all alone against the wall. Remembering something, I walked over to it, and after taking a moment to look for some paper and a pencil, I climbed into the chair with my tools. I laid out the several pieces of paper before lighting up the lamp on the desk, and picking up the pencil in my mouth.

“Okay,” I said, putting the tip of the pencil on the paper, “lets see if I can remember how this works.”