A Journey Unthought Of

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 2 REVISED

I stared at the mint colored unicorn in front of me, then I took a long, hard blink. She was still there. She flipped her ear with her left hoof, making sure that she was hearing things correctly, and then returned to staring at me.

“What are you,” we both blurted out at the same time. We both flinched at the other's speaking, and then we returned to looking at each other.

“Where did you come from?” she asked as she looked around my body, trying to analyze exactly what I was.

"This feels real," I muttered to myself as I leaned forward to get get a better look at her, "so how are you talking?"

Blinking, the unicorn looked at me with an arched eyebrow, "What kind of a question is that?"

"You're a horse," I exclaimed in frustration, "Horses don't talk! They don't have horns, or hairstyles, or whatever that tattoo thing is-"

I felt some sort of force strike against my cheek. My face stung like I had just been slapped, but nothing was anywhere near my face. As I looked again at the unicorn in front of me, I saw that there was some sort of visible aura around her horn that was quickly fading away.

"You better watch the language," she declared as she looked at me with a cold expression, "I don't know how you speak Equestrian so well, but call me a horse again and I'll kick your flank like you wouldn't believe!"

I stared in uncomprehending disbelief at her.

"How-" I sputtered breathlessly, "How did you do that?"

Now angry and confused, she brought the bottom of her hoof up and shrugged her shoulder, adding sarcastically, "Uh, I'm a unicorn. I can do magic: that's kind of our thing!"

Seeing that the strange being in front of her was almost mesmerized by the sight of her horn, she grew a little uncomfortable at the attention.

"Look," she exclaimed, trying to steer my attention somewhere else, "How about this? I told you something about myself, now you tell me something about you. You know I'm a unicorn, but what in the name of the stars are you?"

My eyes returned to her face, and I thought about how utterly strange it was to have to introduce myself by what species I was. “Well," I coughed nervously, "I, uh, I’m a human.”

She cocked her head and looked at me quizzically, “A what?”

Nervously I exclaimed, “A human, yes! Look at me! A head, two arms, two legs, hands, feet, and hairy! I’m a human!”

"Do you have any other volume setting besides 'Spastic and Loud'?" she asked sardonically.

“Right now, all things considered, I think I'm taking the existence of a mythological animal fairly well," I said as I raised my voice. I looked at her again, I saw that she was starting to get scared. Something about that struck me: would she be acting this real, this human, if she were just a figment of my imagination? I consciously lowered my voice, and I tried to speak more calmly.

"I'm sorry," I declared with a sigh as I rubbed my eyes with my right hand, "I'm frustrated, confused, and just a little bit scared. I am really far out of my depth right now on what's familiar and what isn't, so I'd kindly appreciate it if you gave me a chance to not completely freak out."

Uneasy, but still curious, the unicorn offered me a hoof.

“Do you have a name?" she asked.

Perplexed, but somewhat recognizing the symbolism of the action she was doing, I took her outstretched hoof in my hand and shook it slightly, "Yeah. I'm Adam."

"I'm Lyra Heartstrings,"

“What kind of a name is 'Lyra Heartstrings'?” I asked without thinking.

Lyra shrugged, "I dunno. What kind of a name is 'Adam'?"

I was about to respond, and even had my mouth open to do so, when her words struck me. Realizing their validity, I shrugged and pointed at her, "Touché."

---

After standing up and nearly hitting my head on the ceiling of the quaint cottage, Lyra led me outside to look out on the small meadow that surrounded her’s and Bon Bon’s home. It stretched out for about 50 feet before hitting the forest edge on two sides: one to the west behind me, the other to the south. It was almost noon from what I could tell. The cottage had a view down to a little town in the plain below the foothills; the grass was green as far the eye could see. A large mountain was off in the distance, on the side of which I could see a large, pristine castle-like city sitting. The entirety of the landscape around me was quite picturesque.

“So where am I?” I asked as I strolled out and away from the home behind me.

“Well, you’re in a grove near the Everfree Forest, but more specifically you’re in Ponyville, in the land of Equestria”, she quipped.

I gave an involuntary snort of laughter.

“What? Is there something funny about it?” she asked with a half-cocked eyebrow.

I waved my hand at my side, “No, it's just...nevermind.” She couldn't see it, but there was a smirk on my face.

"What's so funny about the name 'Equestria'?"

I looked back at her, "A nation of...ponies that lives in 'Equestria'? That just sounds so typical!" I chuckled to myself, and then muttered the next few words so that only I could hear myself speak, "Maybe this is all fake, and I'm just delusional."

She looked at me indignantly, “Oh really? And what sort of strange named place are you from 'Adam the Human'?”

“It’s a place called Earth.”

“You think I'm funny because I live in a place named Equestria, but you live in a country named after dirt? That's rich.”

“Actually, it’s the name of my planet.”

Her jaw dropped in surprise, “You're an alien? I guess I should have figured, but you own an entire planet?!”

I gave a quick bark of laughter: I couldn't help smiling after a question like that, “I wish! I live on it, but it’s not mine. I'm no one special.”

She looked up at me, still trying to make sense of who I was, “But you still have a country or a town that you live in, right? What sort of place do you call home?"

Here my smile faded. I looked up to the clouds in the sky, “I don’t have a home.”

"What do you mean? Everypony's got a home!" she replied.

"Yeah," I scoffed, a small amount of bitterness escaping into my voice, "That's the dream, anyway."

I decided to sit down on the grass. I rested my arms on my knees, a position I was habitual in taking up. I had to admit, the ground was pretty comfy; much springier than the asphalt I was used to.

Lyra cocked her head and looked at me, "Wait, are you seriously saying you don't have a home?"

"Why?" I asked as I looked at her skeptically, "Why do you care?"

"Because that sounds horrible," she replied, visible aghast at how casually I seemed to be talking about my condition.

"Yeah, it kind of is, which is part of the reason I don't want to talk about it," I replied matter-of-factly, and I returned to looking off into the distance of the unfamiliar landscape around me.

Hurt by how I had dismissed her concern so callously, she stood and looked at me for a very long time. After a while of watching me zone off into space, and me wondering exactly how long this delusion would last before I either woke up or passed on, she lay down in the grass a few feet away from me. I noticed, and found it a little odd that she stayed, but I didn't bother to look or acknowledge her in her new position.

"I saved your life," she quietly declared.

Surprised by what she had said, I turned my full attention back toward her. I didn't say anything, but I suppose my eyes communicated to her that I wanted her to go on.

"I saw you fall out of the sky. You fell into a river, and I saved you."

I blinked a little after she had finished. I remembered bits of the insane journey, the flash of light, and the fall, but it was just fragments. As I realized I had been rescued from drowning by the mare, I also became conscious of how I had been treating her. I definitely hadn't been setting the best example of myself, that was for sure. I sighed and quietly murmured to her, "Thank you." We sat in silence for a few seconds, and I realized that there was still something that needed to be said, "I'm sorry I was so agitated with you."

"It's OK," she replied after a while, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings asking about your home."

A few more seconds of awkward silence passed between us. I felt some fluid still clinging stubbornly in the back of my throat, and I started to cough to try and remove it. Becoming alert at the sound of wheezing, Lyra put her hoof on my left shoulder. "Why don't we get you checked out with somepony who might be able to help you," she quietly asked.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," I commented quietly as I stood up.