//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Waking Up 
// Story: Through the Mirror 
// by jackofalltradez 
//------------------------------//

	I slowly returned into the land of the living from a deep, refreshing sleep. God, that was so good, I thought. The magic of sleep never ceases to amaze me. As I slowly eased into the world of the conscious, I pondered the amazing dream I had last night. 

I was in Equestria, Ponyville to be exact, doing things I enjoyed, such as baking apple pie with Applejack, racing Rainbow Dash (On foot; didn’t lose by much), talking with Twilight about metaphysics, bird watching with Fluttershy, baking cakes and pastries with Pinkie Pie, and making clothes with Rarity. It was very enjoyable; I wish the dream had never ended. But alas, one must always wake from their slumber eventually. 

With that, I slowly opened my eyes and sat up. The first thing I noticed was that I had a major headache. I closed my eyes and wondered why I had a headache. After about twelve seconds, I suddenly looked up as I remembered what had transpired during the previous night to see if my reflection was still there. That’s when I noticed that my surroundings seemed different. I looked around more closely. What the…?

Apparently, I was still dreaming, because I was DEFINITELY not in my bathroom, and this sure wasn’t my bedroom, either (Though it looked rather nice, and something I might like). I was in a red canopy bed with a dark lavender roof with tassels. The room had pale lilac walls, and there was a sweet smell in the air like perfume or flowers. There was a medium size closet in front of the foot of the bed, and a nightstand on my left with a lamp on it. 

It was still quite dim in the room, so I reached out with my hand and turned on the lamp. When the light came on, I noticed that there were more things in the room. There was what looked like mannequins, a sewing table, and some mirrors. The mannequins looked strange, somewhat resembling a small horse, but the sewing table appeared well stocked and the mirrors were polished. That’s when I noticed something was lying next to me in the bed. I looked over and saw… No way, I thought. This can’t be real. 

There, lying next to me was what looked like a sleeping white pony with a dark purple mane. The pony was sleeping, slowly breathing in and out. It appeared to be the source of the sweet fragrance. Yep, I’m DEFINITELY dreaming, I thought. 

By this time I was starting to freak out, when something clicked in my mind. 

Dude, this totally looks like Equestria, I thought. 

So, if this is Equestria, then that would be Rarity… 

…

Wait, why am I sleeping with Rarity?!, I suddenly thought. Was last night even a dream?

Lots of questions were swimming in my head when, if this is Equestria, Rarity stirred.

“What are you ever doing up so early, darling?” Rarity asked, sounding groggy.

“Um… uh…,” was all I could manage. I’m usually very calm and collected, but right now I’m close to a nervous breakdown from my mind having to process the situation at hand. 

“Are you feeling alright, dear?” Rarity asked, now sounding concerned. 

Dear?, I thought. I’m must be a friend, because she calls all her friends “darling” and “dear”.

“Jack, please say something,” She asked with growing concern. 

“Um, how do you know my name?” I asked. I admit in hind sight it was probably a stupid question, but it was all I could think of at the moment to say.

“What do you ever mean, dear?” She asked. 

“Uh, well, I don’t … this is really confusing,” I mumbled. 

On one hand, I’ve always wanted to go to Equestria and live there (Even though I was pretty sure it didn’t exist).  But now that I’m here, it was really confusing seeing how Rarity already knows me, and I’m in her bed. 

“What do you mean by confusing, Jack?” She asked. By this time she was sounding very concerned, and sounded confused herself. 

“Um, you see, I don’t really remember ever being here. I mean, I don’t ever remember being in Equestria,” I said. 

“What are you talking about, dear? You’ve lived here ever since Fluttershy found you in the Everfree forest eight years ago,” Rarity said. 

“Really? I don’t really remember any of that.” I said, starting to become frustrated. 

“So you don’t remember anything, Jack? You don’t even remember the new line of clothes you helped me put together yesterday?” Rarity asked, surprised.

“Nope, nothing… wait, did you say I helped you make a new line of clothes yesterday?” I asked.

“Yes, you helped me make some turtle dove inspired gowns for the spring fashion show,” Rarity confirmed.

“That’s weird, I remember dreaming about that just last night,” I stated. Then I said, “There’s something I've been meaning to ask you: why am I in your bed?”

“Well, you see, Jack, you’re my husband.”

My mouth dropped open. 

“We’re married,” Rarity deadpanned. 

Right then, my mind had decided it had had enough after a nerve-racking five minutes, and I fainted. 

When I came to, the drapes were pulled back and light was coming in through the window. I decided to take this time alone to think over what I had learned of my new surroundings.

So far I had found out I’ve apparently been living in Equestria for eight years, I’m married to the pony Rarity, and I don’t remember any of it exceot for a dream of what had apparently transpired yesterday. A pretty strange day so far by anyone’s standards.

While I was still digesting this information, Rarity came back in to check on me.

“So you seriously don’t remember anything other than a dream?” Rarity asked. 

“Well, no, I don’t remember anything from here, but I do remember about when I lived on Earth,” I said. 

“What’s Earth?” She asked.

“Well, from what I remember, I lived on Earth from birth, and I was going to school to get a job of designing and engineering unmanned vehicles, or drones. I got knocked out by my reflection last night, March 19, and then I woke up here,” I explained. “Speaking of which, what is today?” I asked.

“Oh, today is March 20, darling,” Rarity answered.

“Coincidence?” I asked.

“It seems too connected to be a coincidence,” She said with a puzzled expression on her face. Her face soon became composed again. “Well, I would think it would be best to take you to Twilight, she understands these things better.”

“So Twilight’s here too? And Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash?” I asked.

“Yes, of course. Were they in your dream too?” Rarity asked.

"Yep, they were too," I said, "But I didn't know you were real."

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying you knew about us before that dream you had?" she asked.

How did I know about Twilight, Rarity and the others? Obviously because I had watched the TV show My Little Pony on Earth. But how do you explain to someone that you know them from a supposedly fictional TV show from a different planet?

“I think it’s best if we discuss this with Twilight, because I’m pretty sure the answer would baffle you both,” I said.

As I stood up, something in the back of my mind started nagging me, like something might be wrong. I searched for the reason for the nagging, and the answer I found was unsettling.

“Wait, I just thought of something. I just realized I might have changed physically," I said. I stood up and walked over in front of the mirror. Everything looked normal. I was still 6’2”, still had my storm-blue eyes, mousy colored hair, and surprisingly, the clothes I had been wearing when I fell asleep.

“Well, everything seems normal, so I think we can head over to Twilight’s now,” I said.

Rarity looked at me and smiled. “Yes, I just hope she can help you, Jack,”

“Well, let’s hope so. Let’s go,” I said. We went down the stairs into Rarity's boutique and went out the front door. I opened the door up to see the sun shining and inhaled the fresh air. I held the door open for Rarity to step out, as manners dictated, and stepped out behind her and shut the door. And with that, Rarity and I started walking over to Twilight’s library tree house.