A World Away

by Hodd

Chapter 5; Starting Anew

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Chapter 5; Starting Anew

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Darkness slowly gave way to a widening sliver of light, as my eyes cracked open. My head throbbed, DJ Pon3's beats still thumping in my head. I closed my eyes again, willing the light away. When this failed, my eyelids rose once more. I was still in Sugarcube Corner, I knew that much, blurry images of pink beginning to focus. Mere inches ahead of me, however, was a round, mint-green shape emblazoned with a small image of a harp-like instrument.

"Ugh, Lyra, get your flank out of my face!" I protested, but to no avail; she wasn't waking up any time soon. I pushed her rear end away, and sat up, scanning the room. Must have been one hell of a party, I thought to myself. The place was a disaster. Ponies lay scattered across the floor, half empty drinks sat strewn all around, and even DJ Pon3 herself had passed out, now laying across her turntables, glasses half falling off.

I waded through the ocean of debris, and made my way to the nearest couch, sitting with a thump. Judging by the light, it was well past noon, and only just now, did everypony begin to stir. I placed my head in my hands, and sat for what seemed like an eternity. I looked back up to see that most of the guests had left, and a few still remained unconscious. The rest wandered about, searching for items they'd left behind, or trying to find the pony they'd come with.

Me, I sat there, quite frankly because I had no idea what to do. What does a teenage kid from Earth do in Equestria? That was simply a question I had no answer to. So I sat. And I sat. And I sat. The next time I looked at my watch, it was 3:24. I'd been sitting for two hours. By that time, Sugarcube Corner was all but deserted.

I finally stood, and limped towards the front door, still sore from partying. The sun is what struck me first. God, since when was the sun so bright? I laughed a bit inwardly as I realized how stupid that sounded. With a sigh, I began to walk. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I walked nonetheless. As I passed through Ponyville, I saw a multitude of things: two parent and their young foal playing in a meadow, ponies hard at work selling their goods or tilling fields, and even a wedding.

It was then that I realized something; if I'm stuck here, I have to make a whole new life for myself. Sure, Equestria is practically a dreamland with almost none of Earth's major problems, but having to start a whole life anew was... Spooky. Sixteen years of life prior to now, for nothing. I felt my stomach clench as the thought bounced around in my head. A whole new land of opportunity but... Where to start?

I found myself walking to Twilight's library. I didn't really know why. I mean, why not? What else could I do? I could walk to Sweet Apple Acres, meet the Apple family, or perhaps pay a visit to Fluttershy's cottage. Despite all this, I kept walking. Soon, I found myself looking up at a large tree adorned with a large door and a sign marked 'Library.' A jingling from the bell hanging on the door took Twilight a bit off guard.

"Oh, hello Damien. What can I do for you today?" Her tone was cheery, and comforting.

"Um, well to be honest, I don't know."

"You don't know?" she asked with mix of amusement and skepticism. "How do you not know?"

"Well, as you can imagine, coming from a world that's so different, this place is a bit of a shock. I don't even know where to begin, well, living."

Twilight looked at me. I couldn't place her expression. "What's Earth like?"

I was taken slightly off guard by that. "I- Huh?"

"What's Earth like?" she repeated.

I small knot formed in my stomach. "Well, Earth is... Imagine Equestria, but..." I trailed off. "Earth is nothing like here. It's full of us- people. So much so, in fact, that some people can't even eat. Disease and famine ravage much of the world, and some find it acceptable- even when they have the resources to help- to sit back, and ignore it. Every day, wars are fought, and people die for petty, unnecessary reasons."

Twilight recoiled. "You lived there?"

"Well, I didn't live in the bad parts. I lived in a neighborhood. Things were okay there. I never had to worry about food or anything, I mean."

"I see... So, living conditions vary around your world?"

"Oh, of course. The richest of people ate well, and lived in huge mansions, while the poorest of the poor starved in the streets," I replied.

"That's awful..." She looked at the ground, obviously struggling to imagine what I'd described to her.

"That's why I'm so confused on where to start here," I began. "This place is amazing. I mean, if I am stuck here- oh yeah that reminds me, any progress on how I got here?"

"Oh, um... No. I did a search in the archives of all the libraries I could find, and none had anything relevant."

"Okay," I replied simply. Inside, I felt like rejoicing. Perhaps I could stay here after all! My mind snapped back, when I realized Twilight was watching me intently.

"What were you saying earlier?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry. I was just asking you what I should do now. Should I look for a place to stay, get a job, make friends, what?"

"From what I hear, Applejack is always looking for a helping hoof- or whatever is on the end of your arm," she said, pointing a hoof to my hand.

I chuckled a bit. "This is my hand, Twi."

"You mean like what Spike has? But, you don't have claws. You have whatever those things are."

"Those are fingers. Similar to claws, but without the talons."

"Your race really is strange," she said, face twisting in observation of my limbs.

"I could say the same about you." I gave a small laugh to indicate that I was joking, and bid farewell to Twilight.

---

It was late afternoon when I reached Sweet Apple Acres. The sun had just started to wain, casting long shadows across the ground. Applejack was in the South Field, bucking apples as usual.

"Applejack!" I called out.

She heard me, and trotted over. "Oh, howdy there, Damien. What brings you 'round these parts?"

"Well, actually, I was wondering if you had any work available. I need to pay for a place to stay," I replied.

She rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm... Tell ya what, partner, if you can work the cider press, I'd be happy to let ya stay in the guest room!"

A smiled a bit. "Well, I've never worked a cider press, but hey, how hard can it be?"

"That's the spirit! Come on, I'll show you your room."

I followed Applejack into the farmhouse. It was about what you expected from a typical farmhouse, not counting all of the apple themed decorations adorning the walls, furniture, floorboards, molding, paintings, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, so on and so forth. We made our way upstairs, and found ourselves in the doorway of the room I was to stay in.

"Here you are. Shelter for the weary traveler," she said, giving a joking wink.

The room itself wasn't much, but it was something. A simple bed lay at one side of the room, and a plain dresser and mirror occupied the other side. A single window near the bed was what caught my attention. In the distance, the sun finally lowered, extinguishing the last tendrils of orange light before finally to darkness. A fair distance away, the lights of Ponyville flickered through the trees. I turned around to see AJ standing by the door.

"Hey, partner. Just checking to see everything suits ya right," she said.

"Everything's fine, here Applejack. Oh, and thanks again for letting me stay here."

"Aw, don't you worry yourself about that, Sugarcube. If anypony should be doin' the thanking, it should be me. It ain't often we get visitors, not to mention a visitor that works," she added with a smile. "I'll make sure to wake you up for breakfast."

"Thanks, AJ."

With that, she walked down the hall, and entered her own room, closing the door soon after. I gave an exhausted sigh, and fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. In what felt like an instant, my eyelids slid shut, bringing the day to a close, as I drifted away.

Comments

[Archer]

FIRST! and good chapter :3

[Hodd]

527123

Thank you Man, this is going to be a long fanfic lol

[SkyStream]

hum.... this:
I chuckled a bit. "This is called a hand, Twi. And this 'foreleg' is an arm."

"And what are those strange appendages that split from your hand?"

"Those are fingers. They help us grab things, and manipulate objects," I explained.

doesn't work, after all,SPIKE has arms, hands and fingers or whatever the hay those are called for a Dragon but still, even if those have a different name, Twi would have USED the words that correspond to that instead of trying to identify them as pony parts

[Hodd]

527144

OH SHEEIT!!!

Yeah, the arm part doesn't work. DAMMIT!

Edit; WAIT!!! I think I can fix it

[Hodd]

527144

Ok. I fix.

[SkyStream]

527206

now that sounds better... and why did I forget that dragons have claws like a newb.....

[Sparknanator]

u should make it were they find a way to send him back but he wants to stay and they turn him into a pony

[nonameguy0010]

Yayyy! AJ is one of the better ponies. I love when ppl get jobs on her farm!

[Late Registrator]

doing pretty good buddy I look foward to reading more simple yet entertaining