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// Rough landing 
// Story: Traveler of Realms: The Equestrain Chronicles. Act I 
// by fsujs 
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	I wish so much I could finally just go home.  I am a traveler of sorts, but not of places like you would normally think.  I do not transverse locations, across space, or even through time.  My fate is far crueler, as I travel into different planes of realities.  I say travel, but it’s more of a violent yank by an unknown force into the next dimension.  They are always completely different, but the formula is always the same.  I am dropped into a world beyond strange and must set some event into motion before I can move to the next place.  I am not always the hero, in truth I am only what I am needed to be.  

“I have finished the work I was sent to do,” I said standing before a crowd of thousands.  “The old king is dead; you may build your land however you wish now.”  The crowd cheered, being the hero always felt good, but it had lost its luster as my longing for home grew exponentially with each new realm I visited.  “I will leave you soon, and hopefully will finally return home, but first,” I said focusing.  I reached a hand to Kent who had acted as my general in the battle.  He extended his fist, allowing me to cover it with my hand, as was the custom in their realm.  It was like the honor of a military salute with the kinship of a bro-hug.  

In that moment I willed my armor, which had chosen me to be its wielder for a time, into liquid state, and transferred it to him.  “Kent,” I said, “I know you well enough to know you will lead these people in the way that is right”.  He looked at me with shock.  I stepped back as the armor bonded to him, making him the people’s new leader.  As the armor set, and the crowd cheered, I felt it.  I looked down to my core and saw the saw the white light.  I knew that the armor was my last tether to this place.  The light grew and a gasp echoed through the crowd as they noticed.  Brighter and brighter it grew till I was completely engulfed in it.  I closed my eyes and waited.  The light burst out like a bomb, and instantly I was gone.  

I reopened my eyes when I felt air on my skin.  Though it was night, I could tell this new world was rich with color.  Everything seemed serene but, things are never that simple with me.  “I’m in the sky again,” I said with realization of freefall.  “Realm 1010 is off to a great start,” I thought.  I fanned out my body, back to the ground to slow my fall.  I took a deep breath, and calmly began yelling for help.  This happened all too often but it always meant there was some flying species nearby.  I fell for longer than I was used to, but looking over my shoulder proved the ground would be coming soon.  

I looked back up and saw a dark figure that had not been there before, racing for me with great speed.  My rescuer reached me far too quickly for me to clearly see their face.  The angle and speed that they pulled up at made the blood drop from my head, I have no idea how I even stayed conscious.  Several seconds went by before we landed.  I was dropped to the ground.  “Are you okay?” came the feminine voice of my rescuer.  

“Uh, ya,” I said sitting up.  My eyes were closed as I rubbed my forehead trying to get the world to stop spinning.  Most everything was fuzzy and numb, but my senses were slowly returning.  “Thanks for the rescue by the way.”  I looked up trying to see her face, and as sight returned I saw the face of a dark blue unicorn staring back at me.  “Looks like this is going to be an interesting realm,” I thought.  

I stood slowly staring strangely, confused as to where the magical creature’s rider had gone.  The pony was almost as tall as I was, with her head easily reaching my chest.  “Might I inquire as to what you are?  I am curious as to how one without wings got so high into the sky or made such an impressive display of magic with no horn,” the creature said, rustling a pair of wings I hadn’t noticed before.  I was slightly surprised by it speaking, but it explained the missing rider.  

“Well,” I said, “where I am originally from, we’re called humans.  As to how I got in the sky, and the light, I am currently a traveler of sorts.  

That elicited an unsatisfied look.  “Do not toy with me,” she said with slight malice.  “I may not know all, but one does not become ruler of the night by being a fool.  My sister and I have powers over sun and moon, but I have never seen such a massive surge of magic as to illuminate my beautiful night as though the day had come.  Now tell me, who you are, how you got into the sky, and what you are doing in my Equestria”.

“I would be more than happy to your highness”.  I began to elaborate, “My name is John, and this is the 1010th... world I have come to visit.  I am brought to these worlds by an unknown force, but my purpose is either start or fulfill an important event that is about to happen or already is in the process of happening.  That bright light you saw, that was how I entered your world, though, I cannot speak for certain that it is magic, for all I know it’s an incredibly advanced technology.  I’ve kept a detailed journal of my journey thus far if you’d like to look at it,” I said removing my backpack.  

“That will not be necessary,” she said.  “I believe you, somewhat.  I have witnessed things far stranger than your story, but not much stranger.  Tell me John, do you always enter new worlds through the sky, and how far away in my sky are these other worlds that you speak of”.  

“I’d say counting this one; I have probably dropped from the sky about the two dozen times, so not normally, no.  As for these other worlds,” I paused looking skyward, “it’s impossible to tell, because the stars are always the same.  It’s more like I'm being dragged into different planes of reality.  That's why personally I call them realms instead of worlds, but that usually confuses the unintelligent”.  Her scowl softened, as she processed the information.  She nodded slightly, still skeptical but at least no longer seeing me as threat.  “If I may,” I said raising a hand towards her head.

“What are you doing?” she said recoiling, fire rising in her eyes.  

“Forgive me,” I said retracting my hand slightly.  “I forgot you are royalty.  I was merely going to do what I call imprinting.  Basically it is an ability I have for these journeys letting me take on the general appearance of whatever I touch.  It’s very helpful for not standing out in a crowd of beings that are not human in appearance”.  

She looked at me for a minute, studying me, trying to discern if my words were true.  “Very well,” she said removing a hoof from its shimmering shoe.  “You may imprint on me, but only to keep you a secret from the general populous,” she said lifting the hoof towards me.  “There’s no telling how much of a panic something like you could cause.”

I reached out and cupped the hoof gently.  The energy caused by the transformation rushed through me.  I could feel my bone shifting, growing, and changing.  It was agony.  My skull felt as if it were breaking, and regrowing in a new shape and then breaking again.  My hands and feet were turning into hooves, but it was not as if the bones there in where simply disappearing.  They were grinding in upon themselves, splintering and turning to dust, so they could reform differently.  I became aware of my tail bone as I felt it grow through my skin.  My back felt as though my shoulder blades were living up to their name, as I felt something actually rip through from under my skin.  Then in an instant it was done.  

The pain was over, but I was drained from the ordeal.  I slumped down on my hind, landing painfully on my new tail.  I looked down at my new forelegs.  My fur was a very rich shade of brown, and my hooves were gray.  Turning to see my tail, I learned that I possessed wings.  My tail I discovered to be two toned, one color matching close to my actual hair color and the other being a much darker color that only shown through if I let my hair grow especially thick.  Panting heavily, I mustered myself up on all fours.  I looked up to see that I had lost a good foot and a half in the transformation.  Scraps of memories circulated in mind that had unintentionally been leeched in the imprinting.  “You’re only… the princess?” I asked looking into her eyes.

“How do you know that?”  She was stunned, “I said only that I was ruler of the night, I made no mention of being princess!”

“I’m sorry,” I said holding my hoof to my head.  “It’s not an exact science.  Sometimes I accidentally draw a few memories from whoever I imprint on.  It was not my intent please forgive me”.

“Listen to me well,” she said so solemnly, I could feel her scathing glare.  “You look like a Pegasus now, and it will do you well to act like one.  I never want to see nor hear you again.  I do not trust you, and an interloper such as you is sure to only cause trouble, so mark my words.  If I even smell something wrong that makes me think of you, I will see to it personally that you are plunged into the depths of my sister’s sun.”

“Celestia, the high princess, she’s been slacking a lot lately, why is she so mopey?  It’s not like she should be sad with how much everypony enjoys her beautiful day,” I said, not even process my own words till the last one left my mouth.   I realized that she had triggered another memory scrap in my mind.  I looked up and her face was filled with wrath.  

“You keep those thoughts of mine to yourself,” she said barely controlling herself.  “I must return to my castle, Celestia will be worrying if I am gone much longer”.  She raised her wings and was about to fly away, when the scraps processed enough to be able to discern them.

“You’re not wrong to be mad at her,” I said finally removing my hoof from my head.  I looked her in the eyes, “not with how much more she has.  Depressed or not, she has no excuse for how she’s been treating you.  You don’t deserve her slacking her responsibilities with the sun onto you because she’s sad, it not fair to you.  You’re not wrong to be upset Luna, you deserve better”.  

She tried to raise an angry facade, but anyone could’ve seen past it.  She felt no one understood her plight, until now.  As her eyes began to water, she turned her head and shut them.  Then she was gone, flying far away into the night sky.  I sat again, letting the scraps do the job of piecing together information of this world.  It might take quite some time to make sense of them all.