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Opening Letter To The Readers274 words
Chapter 1: Prelude To A Time Of Darkness.953 words
Chapter 2: The Darkness Encloses3,113 words
Chapter 3: A Stranger In A Foreign Land3,919 words

Chapter 3: A Stranger In A Foreign Land

We all have those points in time where we are woken up from sleep: completely disoriented, not fully aware of our surroundings, and very likely unable to figure out who, or what, is standing directly in front of our faces.
Well, when our hero finally came to the second time, this was exactly how he awoke.

John was extremely dizzy. He felt as though someone had thrown him into a washing machine and turned the spin cycle on. He could barely make out what he was seeing: though he could tell that he was outside. After a couple seconds of mental spinning and twirling, the vertigo stopped, and John could see clearly.

"Where the heck am I?" He thought. Of course, it took him a while for his surroundings to fully register with him.

"W-Why does everything look all...cartoony?!" He said in a slightly panicked tone.

And John was right: despite the fact that there was more "detail" and "space" than any regular cartoon, everything was still quite cartoony. In a way, it all reminded John of a Pixar movie. This wasn't everything. Staring him right in the face was a figure. In fact, the figure resembled those in those nightmares.

However, it was not the hazy, indistinct figure that he saw in those dreams. It was, in fact, flesh and blood. It's full features were distinguishable. It's fine fur colored a light blue. It's wide, light purple, eyes were shiny as one would see in an eye that was wet with tears...or, at least, mildly coated to keep the eye hydrated. There was a mark on her rump: that of which appeared to be a white colored lightning bolt inset of a white circle. It was, as John soon realized, A pony from that show.

The pony gawked at John and John, likewise, gawked back. After five seconds of stares were exchanged, both John and the strange pony screamed as loud as possible. The two scooted away from each other and John, not paying attention to where he was going, fell into a large pond. This caused John to panic even more.

"Help! I can't get out!" He said: only to shortly realize that the pond was not that deep. "Oh...right."

The pony stood back afar off: a terrified look on it's face.

"Um...Hi?" John said as kindly as he could.
The pony continued to stare at John as it raised a hoof to wave.

"I...uh...seem to be a bit lost." John said. "Where am I?"

After a few seconds, the pony spoke.

"Y-you're on the outskirts of Ponyville." She said.

"Ponyville?" John thought. "There doesn't happen to be a telephone I can borrow right?" The pony gave John an even more surprised look.

Of course. Throughout the entirety of what he saw in that episode, there seemed to be a considerable lack of technology. No cars, only carriages. No phones, only letters.

Not to mention, of course, that this was a cartoon and he had just come from what he knew to be reality. So if there were dimensional barriers to cross, the chance of doing that to send a letter back home was impossible.
And on top of it, what if he was a pony all along!? What if what he knew to be reality was all a dream or a construct in his pony mind!?

Obviously, the female pony could tell that John's mind was frantic. In fact, he was practically hyperventilating.

"Hey." She said. "HEY! Stop that! You're freaking me out!"
John diverted his attention back to her: her face indicating sincere concern but extreme annoyance. He smiled nervously.

He began to step out of the pond before looking down at his reflection in the water. The first and obvious thing to note was that John was no longer a human. He had transformed, somehow, someway, into the same equine figures of the show: a pony.

He no longer had hands or feet, but instead, four pairs of hooves on a set of legs that were suited for quadrupedal mobility. His coat was white and his eyes were blue. His black mane was combed back as if mimicking a 30's business cut. And on his own rump was what appeared to be an orange colored asterisk set in the center of an orange circle.

He was too paralyzed by the sight to scream any further: not to mention the other pony who started to approach the pond.

"Need some help?" She said as she briskly held out a hoof to John.

"Yes." John says.

He grabbed her hoof and she helped him out of the pond. However, once on his legs, he lost his balance and collapsed forwards.

"Oof!" He says.

"Sorry about that!" She says helping him up again. "And sorry for screaming. You scared me back there: popping up out of nowhere like that and all."

"Popping up out of nowhere?" John said: starting to get the hang of standing on four legs.

"Yes! You just popped up in front of me." She continued.

"Interesting." He mused.

"Anyways. I'm June Bolt." She said.

"Uh...John." He stuttered. "John Carson. Nice to meet you."

The two stood in silence for a couple seconds before John spoke.

"So Ponyville is the next stop?" He said.

"Yes." June stated.

"Do they have any scientists? Any research teams working on dimensional physics?" John said.

June gave John a curious look. Though she also seemed to bear a hinted understanding of his predicament. She shook her head plainly and started to trot off with a flick of her tail.

John felt helpless: he was trapped in this universe for, to his knowledge, eternity.

He sat down onto the ground by him: supporting his weight with his front legs.

"I guess..." He said to himself, "I will have to get used to this new way of life."

The thought struck his mind like the dead ring of a hammer hitting a nail. He had to not only gain the ability to act and think like a pony from the show, but he also had to get the chops to let go of his past life.
So, with a deep inhale, he wobbly stood up on all fours. Then, with even pace, he went down the road in the same direction as June.

It wasn't long for him to catch up with her. In fact, it partly seemed like she was just waiting for John to turn up.

"So how far is Ponyville from here?" He said to June.

"About we're coming up on it soon. About a half a mile away." She said with a smile. "I take it you've never been there before?

"Yep." John responded.

As if on cue, the tops of the buildings could be seen over the top of a hill.
He didn't know how, but something about the colorful, picturesque scene made John feel a bit more cheerful than he was minutes ago.

As Ponyville become more visible over the top of the hill, this strange cheerfulness increased and was soon followed by an odd sense of belonging.
After a minute, the two of them had passed the first buildings of the small town. Ponies around them carried on with their usual business: seemingly paying less attention to the fact that at least one of them had never been here before.

However, there was an odd sense of warmth and friendliness. The ponies, whenever they passed by, tended to wave kindly at John and June. Some would give a casual hello, others a "howdy" and few would even ask how they were doing.

John's cheeks were becoming sore. He was smiling almost compulsively as each pony approached: partly to hide his pre-existing depression, the other part out of a strange enjoyment of the situation.

"Welcome to Ponyville John." June said as the two walked down the streets.

"Oh...Thanks." He said: almost forgetting she was there.

June smirked.

"Now I suppose you need someplace to live?" She said. "There's a directory in the library. We might be able to find an empty house somewhere around."

John nodded understandably. He just hoped he could find a way back ho—
Wait...that purple pony! The main character of the show! She was able to teleport and place a spell on that ragdoll. If he could find her, maybe he could let her know of his predicament and get her to send him back!

The only problem was finding the pony. She obviously had to live around here: this was, after all, the city from the show.

However, the gears in John's mind suddenly stopped whirring as a loud, shrill, and over-exaggerated inhale sounded shortly by his ear.

Standing right next to him, a pink pony bearing a rather buoyant mane could be seen staring at him. Her facial expression indicated a look of extreme surprise.
John himself was equally surprised at the sudden reaction. The sudden zipping away of the pony only made him scrunch his face in shock even more.
June appeared unfazed by all of the commotion.

"The heck was that?" John muttered.

"Oh that was just Pinkie Pie." June said nonchalantly. "She always does that with new ponies."

Pinkie Pie. Of course, that pink pony who is friends with the purple one! The two approached a large tree that stood in the center of a square. The tree appeared to have a door at it's base and several windows in it's trunk.
For some reason, this tree was familiar.
June tapped her hoof on the front door.
It took a few seconds for the door to open and, when it did, the two were greeted by a small, green dragon: the assistant of the purple pony.

John's eyes lit up. He was about to come face to face with the pony he wanted to see.

"Yes?" The dragon said to the two.

"Hi Spike!" June started. "I hope you and Twilight don't mind, but my friend here just came in and we need to look in the directory for a bit?"

June grinned: a rather cute, cartoonish, "squeeing" noise emanating from her mouth. The dragon, known as Spike from what June called him, stared grimly for a while and looked back inside.

"You might not like the sight of this." He said opening the door.
Inside, books were toppled, some were flying into shelves, and a rather disgruntled looking, purple coated, winged unicorn could be seen picking the books up, checking them, and sending them into the shelves.
It was her! Finally! John could ask for her help!

As John grinned wider, June's grin dropped into a rather concerned frown.

"What happened?" She asked Spike.

"We don't know." Spike said. "It was like the whole library shook and sent the books flying off their shelves."

"Is anypony hurt? Is there anything we can do to help?" She continued.

Spike looked back at the purple pony inside.

"I think Twilight would like it if you both helped her pick up and sort the books." Spike continued.

He opened the door even wider to let John and June walk inside.
The pony, named Twilight, turned around and gave the two an slightly surprised look.

"June! What are you doing here?" Twilight said as she shelved a book. "And who's this?"

"This is John." She said. "John Carson. We needed to look in the directory so that he can stay somewhere in Ponyville."
Twilight looked at John with an even more shocked expression and muttered something under her breath
John grinned widely. All he had to do was ask he if—.
"But, we understand you need some help?" June continued: interrupting his train of thought.

Twilight's face lit up.

"Yes I do." She said formally. "We had something that shook the entire library earlier. As you can see, most of the books fell out of the shelves and became disorganized. June, do you think you can speed sort these books for me?"

She pointed to a huge pile at one corner of the library. June nodded and stepped towards the pile. She closed her eyes tight and then, with a loud crackling noise, she opened her eyes: her eyes white aglow by some tremendous phenomena.

The books shot up from the floor surrounded in a field of electricity.
She quickly brought each book to the front of her face and sorted them to their respective shelves. Within three minutes, the entire pile had been reduced to two books: both of which Twilight sparkle put back herself.

June quickly shut her eyes and reopened them: returning to their original state.
She lowered her head and heaved an exhausted sigh before turning back to the two.

"Thanks!" Twilight said as she put two books on to a shelf: one of which looked like a bible.

John's jaw was wide open and his irises were the size of pennies as he attempted to process what had just happened.

Twilight chuckled at John's facial expression.

"So John Carson, you're new to Ponyville?" She said.

"Yes. Yes I am." John said: snapping out of his shock.
Just then, a crash comes from outside.

"What in all of Equestria was that?" Twilight said: expanding her wings in surprise.

John looked up to see a blue figure plastered against one of the windows. The red, yellow, and orange highlights at the top of it's head bore striking resemblance to a plush toy Mark used to cherish deeply: it was Rainbow Dash.

"Mphstinkinpincipye!!! Dash could be heard: her voice muffled from the collision.

Slowly, Dash started to slide down the window until suddenly falling to the ground with a loud THUMP!!!

"Oh dear." Twilight said as she raced out the front door.

John and June followed suit to eventually be met by a disgruntled Rainbow maned Pegasus and a severely concerned, albeit chuckling, purple Unisus.
Dash appeared to be peeved beyond all manner possible: and the fact her wings were upside down and connected to her belly made it all the more clear why she was cranky.

"Rainbow, what happened?" Twilight said: stifling a laugh.

To some degree, John suspected Twilight knew what happened.

"Ugh." Dash exclaimed. "Ask Pinkie Pie. She's the one who surprised me with some Poison Joke an hour ago."

Twilight looked back smugly.

"I figured so. Come on. Let's get you to the spa so that we can wash this off." She said.

Dash folded her wings and looked up at June and John.

"Hey June. Who's this?" She said: repressing her irritation.

"This is John Carson." June said.
Dash raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Huh. So this is—." She said before Twilight interrupted.

"Okay! I really think we need to get going Dash!" She said.

John raised an eyebrow and looked at June. She too, sat on her hind legs and shrugged in the best manner she could as a pony. She then got back on her fours, and began following Twilight and Dash. Jon, seeing he had potentially no alternative, followed after June and the other two.

Upon reaching the so-called spa, the two ponies in charge of the establishment (to which, being completely ignorant of the show, he didn't know the names of) began to fill a large pool with an assorted set of herbs and spices.
Dash stepped into the pool before, suddenly, another voice pops out from behind.

"Twilight darling! How are you?" The voice said: it's posh nature driving John to look back to the source of the sound.

Walking nearby was a white coated mare with a purple mane. The mark on her rump was that of three diamonds, and as her voice implied, she appeared to be very elegant and formal: this was Rarity. Standing next to her was another, light yellow coated, female Pegasus. Her mane was a light pink and the mark on her own rump was that of three butterflies: it was Fluttershy.

"Rarity! Fluttershy! Hey!" Twilight responded. "We're doing fine. Um, but Rainbow..."

Twilight looked back towards Dash, and likewise, Rarity and Fluttershy looked at Dash to see her upside down wings.

"Ask Pinkie Pie." She said: as if sensing they were curious about the problem.

Rarity nodded her head understandingly before taking notice of John.

"How do you do?" She said trotting up to John. "I am Rarity."

"John...John Carson." John replied.

Fluttershy was cowering in the back.

"And you are?" John said.

She blinked her eyes nervously.

"F-Fluttershy." She whispered.

"Say what now?" John said again.

"I-I'm F-Fluttershy." She whispered a little louder.

"Futtersci?" John said.

"T-that's Fluttershy darling." Rarity said.

"Fluttershy?" John said. "Ah...well nice to meet you." John said with a calm and assuring nod.

"N-nice to m-meet you too." She responded quietly.

Dash was finished bathing by the time this discourse had ended. Her wings were in the upright position and, as so, she was hovering over the group.

"Now I'm gonna go get back at Pinkie." She said. "She's setting up a small party down at Sugarcube corner. Oh she's sooooo going to get it."

"I heard that!" A familiar voice said at the front of the shop.

"Speak of the devil!" June remarked quietly.

As so, Pinkie Pie was slowly making her way over to the small group.

"Ahh darn it!" Dash said.

"Yep! You're gonna have to get up pretty early in the morning to prank the Pinkster!" Pinkie said.

She walked up to John, and with no clear warning, she grabbed him by the hoof and speedily dragged him down the streets of Ponyville.

"H-hey!" John sputtered as the wind blew into his mouth. "W-what's t-the big idea?!"

"You'll see silly!" Pinkie said.

"I don't think this is the best way to start an introduction!" John said again. "Somebody help! I've been kidnapped by a lunatic pony!"

"Somebody?" Pinkie said. "There's no buffalo here silly!"

"What does that have to do with anything?!" John responded: his irritation growing more and more.

"I don't know!" Pinkie said.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" John screamed as the two continued down the streets.

John could see she was heading towards one single building: a bakery from the looks of it.

"Oh no! This mad mare is gonna murder me!" John thought.

And as soon as Pinkie approached the building, She thrust him through the door, causing him to land inside among a crowd of many unfamiliar ponies.

"Surprise!!" They all shouted.

John looked about him in a panicked manner.

"What is this?! W-what's going on?!" He said.

"Oh silly! It's a welcoming party welcoming you to Ponyville! DUUUHH!!!" Pinkie said.

John smiled nervously.

"This whole town is insane!" He thought.

"We've got cake, balloons, pin the tail on the pony, a pinata, candy, and music." pinkie continued.

"T-that's good!" John chuckled: slowly backing away towards the door. "But..uh...oh! I just remembered!"

John turned around and started towards the door. But the rest of the group had just entered the door: unintentionally blocking his path.

"Let's PARTAAYY!!!!" Pinkie screamed: music suddenly flooding the room.

John lowered his head and frowned before walking towards the snacks table.
John cocked his head to the side in curiosity as most of the food was apple related.

"Howdy stranger!" An orange pony with an okie accent said. "What'cha hankering fer?"

"Uh...I...I'm just looking." John said slowly backing away from the table before colliding with another, turquoise pony.

"Hi! I'm Lyra!" The pony said holding out a hoof.

"N-nice to meet you." John said shaking the hoof and, again, backing off.

"Heya newcomer!" A grey, walleyed Pegasus said. "I'm Ditzy! Some ponies call me Derpy."

"P-pleasure." John said.

"Time Turner!" Another brown, British sounding pony said. "Sometimes known as Doctor Hooves or simply 'The Doctor'"

John turned his head a bit at this.

"The Doctor? You don't happen to be—." He said before being interrupted again.

"Hi! I'm Bon Bon! I'm Lyra's older, saner sister." Another tan pony said. "Just a quick word of warning about her, she's crazy about humans! Whatever you do, do not mention the word 'human' when she's nearby."

"HUMANS?!? WHERE?!?" Lyra could be heard in the back.

Bon Bon looked back at Lyra with a glare before looking back at John

"Uh..I-I won't!" John said.

"Hello sir! The name is Octavia." A grey pony said. "It is an absolute pleasure to see you. We truly hope you have an excellent stay in Ponyville."

"Y-yes I—." John said before being interrupted again.

"Hey dude! Glad to see ya here!" Another white coated pony said: lifting her funky eyeglasses to reveal a pair of red-irised eyes. "Hey. If there's a jam ya want played, old Vinyl gotcha covered m'kay?"

"Yes." John chuckled as he backed away slowly. "I'll...I'll keep that in mind."
John turned around and quickly walked back. However, he soon collided with yet another white coated pony.

"Oh. Hey. You're the new guy huh?" The pony said. "What's your name?"

"Um. It's John. John Carson." John said.

The pony suddenly looked at John with an extremely surprised look on his face.

"John?!" He said? "John Carson?!"

"Um...have we met before?" John said with a nervous smile.

"Mark! It's me John! Your friend!" The pony said.

John stared at the pony with a surprised expression for a couple of seconds before everything suddenly went to black.

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