//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Sunset Shimmer - HiE // by CrossRedstone //------------------------------// Sunset groaned, as she was lying on the ground and her brain feeling like Pinkie Pie was hitting it repeatedly with her drumsticks. But then again, that was better than having several limbs broken. After how she lost control over her motorcycle, she could call herself lucky to be still okay. “Note to self.” Sunset groaned, as she put her hands on the ground. “Never EVER go over the speed limit ever again.” the normally being a unicorn vowed, as she slowly pushed herself up from the ground. Eventually she managed to get back on her feet and checked her clothes. Her black and purple leather outfit was surprisingly intact, despite driving over fifty miles per hour! Taking off the jacket, the girl found some bruises on her arms and even her stomach, but else there weren’t any obvious injuries. “Now that’s strange.” The girl mused putting her clothes back on. “Hopefully there’s no internal damage. Okay, now where did my helmet fly off to?” When Sunset started looking around the field she landed, the Equestrian noticed something strange. Or rather she noticed the lack of something. For starters, she couldn’t find the road she had been driving on. Instead of the road there was only a huge, seemingly endless field of grass with a few trees here and there and a mountain. Secondly her motorcycle and helmet were gone! The Equestrian girl looked around, thinking the two items might have flown a little further ahead. Another possibility was of course that she had been the one who flew away from the road and miraculously survived the whole ordeal. Unlikely, but what else of an explanation was there? Going with that train of thought, Sunset went into the direction she thought the road was. But since she couldn’t find it after five minutes of walking, she figured she went the wrong way. “Oh, duh!” she slapped her forehead. “The internet you silly pony. Looks like the tracking option is good for something.” With those words, Sunset searched for her phone in her pockets. But sadly it turned out that thing was busted. Not only was the display broken, but it was bent over, as if it was made of rubber. The hardware inside was probably broken. “Well crap, that thing was expensive. And the warranty expired just two days ago.” Letting out a sigh, Sunset put the damaged phone away and just went the opposite direction. She figured if she tried out every direction, she had to find the road eventually right? And thus, ignoring the pain various body parts were signaling her brain, the girl went onto her not so epic journey to find her motorcycle and her helmet, before the evil police forces stumbled upon the scene and took in her license. As she walked through the field, Sunset thought back to what occurred at the accident. Since it had been a Sunday morning, the road had been fairly empty, thus the reason she drove a little faster than was actually allowed. She did slow down, when she had to drive a turn, however, the accident happened on a straight line. From there on her memory was a blurred mess. Somehow she had lost control over her motorcycle and came off the road. She flew through the air, at least she thought she did and then...that was where everything went black. Must have hit my head pretty hard. Hopefully it’s not a concussion. She thought to herself. The former pony, actual pony in another dimension, was brought out of her own thoughts, when her boots made the all too familiar noise of hitting stone or asphalt. However, instead of finding a road, she stood on a cobblestone path, which led towards the mountain Sunset noticed earlier. “Strange, I don’t remember there being a mountain near the 66th. Whatever, if I follow this path, I might be able to find someone who has a functioning cell phone. Hopefully Big Mac can pick me up. … What’s with me and talking out loud today?” Shaking her head, Sunset followed the cobblestone path towards the mountain. Since someone clearly bothered keeping this path intact, the mountain may be some kind of tourist attraction, maybe leading to a path to wonder. On top of it was snow, so maybe skiing was a thing here. Although, considering how steep the top was, maybe you just had a nice overview from somewhere a little below the peak. Sunset wandered down the path for around ten minutes, until she found a little hut in the distance. Maybe they’ll allow me to use their phone. I just hope somepony...someone’s home. Hmm, old habits die hard. The closer she came, the more details she could make out. The hut was completely made of wood, with flowers planted around it, except for the doorstep. There was also an entrenched garden in which even more flowers bloomed, from roses to chrysanthemum. Everything appeared to be present, at least everything that grew in this climate. In a free corner of the garden, there was a swing set up, painted in blue and red. When she was only a few feet away, Sunset had to stop. Now that she was really close, the girl saw just how small the entire hut was. The door looked like a child might be able to get through and the door and the windows were pretty low, just reaching Sunset’s chest, when she stood in front of them. Flower curtains blocked her view into the room. The entire building appeared to be about a story and a half tall in total. “Okay…..maybe the people living here….are really small?” she suggested to herself, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. That explanation was quickly thrown out of the window, when the door opened to her left side. Stepping out of the small hut was nothing more and nothing less than a white coated pony, wearing the signature royal guard garments, except for the helmet, which the pony carried in a yellowy magical field. The same field covered the pony’s horn. Sunset’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks upon identifying the pony as a unicorn. The pony in return...made some kind of noise, Sunset didn’t really bother listening, as only one thing went through her head. I think I lost it. And with that, Sunset fell to the side and hit her unprotected head against the wall. That was a weird dream. Sunset thought to herself. Well, not as weird as the one last week though. The girl stretched her arms and let out a hearty yawn. She tried to get out of the bed, only to hit her head against something hard. With a yelp, Sunset’s head hit the pillow underneath again. Groaning the girl rubbed her head, trying and failing to ease the pain. Opening her eyes, she saw what the problem was: the ceiling was unusually low today. Also her bed felt somewhat uncomfortable. Carefully the former Equestrian moved her legs out of the bed and got into sitting position. Looking around, she found out that she was not in her room, but in someone else’s. This is becoming a bad habit way too fast. She thought to herself. The room was fairly simple decorated. Curtains in front of the window, a green tapestry, a small dresser and a nightstand. Everything necessary for a guest room. The weird thing was, everything was so tiny. The bed was so small, that someone had gone out of their way to put three mattresses on it, so none of Sunset’s body parts would be dangling from anywhere. “Wait, so that wasn’t a dream?!” the girl exclaimed. As if to answer the question, the door to the room opened and a pegasus mare entered the room. She had a light lime colored coat, with a dark green mane and tail, the mane being tied up into a ponytail, purple-reddish eyes and a blooming rose as a cutie mark. Sunset needed to rub her eyes, in order to make sure she was not hallucinating. When she still saw the pony, she couldn’t help but say: “You’re a pony.” The mare titled her head, blinking a bit. However the mare quickly put on a smile and said...something. “Uh, excuse me?” The mare wore the same questionable expression as Sunset did. The pegasus said something again and yet again, Sunset didn’t understand word. It wasn’t that the pony was talking gibberish or anything. The girl could clearly make out words, even though she didn’t know the meaning of them. And that was it! It was as if the mare was speaking an entirely different language. “You’re not understanding me, are you? That’s weird.” Sunset put a hand under chin, thinking. “How can this be? I never had any trouble understanding the humans, when I...wait a second. I am in Equestria. I AM IN EQUESTRIA?!?!?!?!?” The exclamation startled the pegasus mare, who flew into the air, until her ears touched the ceiling. She looked down at the girl angrily, until she noticed that said girl had was staring into the air, the eyes shrunk to pinpricks. Confused the mare flew down, until she was on eye level with her strange guest. She waved her leg in front of Sunset’s face, but there was no reaction. Next she poked the girl, but it was the same result. What a strange creature.