//------------------------------//
// The Changed One- part 1 
// Story: The Changed One 
// by peacevic 
//------------------------------//

Ch. 1

I woke up, surrounded by trees. Trees? Was I hiking? I couldn't remember. I rubbed my head with my... hooves?
"What? Why do I have hooves?" I asked the offending appendages. Then I noticed my coat. It seemed I was now two shades of emerald green, lighter on the body, with my mane and tail the darker color of larger jewels.
"Ok." I said, recovering. Well, as much as you can recover while still conversing with the grass in a forest clearing. "So I'm a pony now. Somehow, I've been turned into a green pony. Who can talk. How do I get home?"
I looked around, hoping that no wolves or bears had noticed the new pony, but saw but saw nothing that pointed me in the direction of my town. Then I looked up, and what I saw cleared up a lot of questions.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. It had to be them. A blue Pegasus with a seven colored mane and a purple alicorn. It could be no one else.
Oh, I thought, I'm in Equestria. The pony thing makes a lot more sense now. I was going to need their help, but they were flying away. I didn't dare shout for them now that I was probably in the Everfree Forest. Which meant I only had one option.
"Rainbow Dash, I need your help." I called, hopefully loud enough that she would hear, but not loud to attract the attention of a hydra.
It worked! Rainbow Dash stopped short, looking around for the source of the plea. Twilight noticed her flying buddy wasn't beside her and turned in time to see Rainbow Dash spot me. An eye-blink later, Dash was hovering in front of me. It was a few moments before Twilight joined us.
"Well' you don't look like you're in any trouble." Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs across her chest. "Mind telling us why you said you needed my help?" Her question was half accusation, half excitement. Maybe this new pony would have something cool to do.
I did, but not for her. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I'm afraid I just used you. Kind of. I had to get Twilight's attention somehow, and I remembered your little trick of cataloging everything while you fly. Luckily for me, it worked."
"Wait a minute." Twilight held up a hoof. "How did you know our names?"
Now the trickiest part. "This may seem like a weird question, but what was the last major threat to Equestria?"
"Uh, Tirek?" Rainbow Dash replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Remember? Big guy, went around stealing everypony's magic?"
"And the Sirens?" I asked.
Twilight's brow furrowed. "At Canterlot High? How did you know about that? And you still haven't told us how you knew our names."
"Ok." I began, glad I hadn't revealed anything about their futures. "Your trip through the portal will help make this a little more believable." I sat down, trying to gather my thoughts so I sounded as sane as possible. "My name is Verdant Spark. Wait- no it's not. Why'd I say that? Why can't I remember my name? It was something like Greg, or Rob... maybe it started with an M?"
Rainbow Dash shot Twilight a look. "This guy seems a little loopy..."
So much for not sounding crazy. "You know what, forget it. It's not important right now. Anyway. I'm not a pony."
Dash flitted a little, pointing. "Yeah, you are. You've got a horn..."
A horn? Oh, now I feel it. Must have missed it when I was freaking out over my hooves. I'm a unicorn, that's pretty cool.
"...And a cutie mark."
So I did... one of a hand holding a sword. That was strangely ominous, though I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to represent. How could that be my special talent?
"Well, yeah, I am now." I retorted. "But I'm not supposed to be. I'm human."
Twilight lit up at that. "Oh! Do you go to Canterlot High?"
I sucked my teeth. "No. I'm... I'm from an alternate reality than Canterlot High. My humans are kind of different. I need your help to get back."
"Wait, wait, wait." Rainbow Dash said, scratching her head. "What's that mean? Alternate realities?"
"You know that the portal connects to another world." Twilight reminded her friend. "Well there's a theory that there could be an infinite number of alternate worlds, all slightly different from the others."
"Interesting." I muttered. "The same theory developed independently in two different realities."
Rainbow Dash frowned. "All right, I get that. But if we assume the crazy guy isn't actually crazy, then what? How can we help?"
"We, as in me and Twilight." I broke it to her as gently as I could. "Not we, as in including you."
"What?!"
I shook my head. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. We're going to be messing with the walls of reality. High theoretical physics, probably some sort of magic as well. I'm not counting on needing your speed, and the idea that there's more than one world is going to be one of the simpler concepts. It's a bad joke, but you'd only slow us down."
"But-"
I'm sorry." I cut her off. "If it helps, I know that you can break the laws of physics as we understand them where I come from. If I turn out bad, you can get to Twilight in seconds."
At that, she lowered herself to eye level. "Yes." She growled. "Yes, I can."
She shot off. I watched her for all the second and a half it took for Dash to leave my field of vision, then turned to Twilight. "You have good friends. I know you know how special that is."
"I do." She replied, all-business mode activating. "Now, I have one more question. How you answer will detirmine whether or not I help you."
"Shoot."
She pointed to my cutie mark. "What is that?"
I looked at it. "That? That's a hand. See, in my real body I-"
"I know what a hand is!" Twilight snapped.
"Right, the portal."
Twilight glared. "I meant, why is the hand holding a sword?"
It was my turn to frown. "I... I don't know."
"You don't know? Really?" Incredulity dripped from her every word.
"I don't know. Since I woke up, just before you flew over, I've been discovering... gaps, in my memory. Like with my name. I..." I trailed off.
Twilight considered me for a few moments. "I don't know if you're telling the truth." She finally said. "But... I don't think you're lying to me. At worst you're just crazy."
I smiled. "So you'll help?"
"Yes."
"Great!" I started walking, with Twilight following a step behind.
"So how do you suggest we begin?" She asked.
"Well," I began, "I told you I'm from a different reality."
"You did."
My smile turned into a grin. "In my reality you, your friends, all of Equestria, it's a show. That's how I know so much about you."
Twilight sped up to match me. "Ok, that's... understandable. How does that help us, though?"
"It doesn't, not really." I said. "But I figure if this reality is one where that show is actually life, then maybe some of the fan interpretations are here, too. And if that's true..."
"What?"
"Then there's someone in Ponyville who can help us. Someone who may be more familiar with this stuff than even you."
Twilight scoffed. "I doubt it. I would know if there were any other scientists in town."
I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Well, he's not really a scientist. More of a Doctor."
Twilight couldn't understand why I was unable to stop laughing.