Lost In Equestria

by Lord Midnight

Chapter 3

The world blurs and I land hard on something hard and white. What happened? I was running home after the best night ever and then… I feel a blank spot in my memories, like something should be there but isn’t. I unsteadily rise to my feet and look around. My eyes meet the gaze of a massive white horse with a strange ethereal mane and tail. No, a unicorn. No a winged unicorn. It’s looking at me with surprise then somehow it looks angry.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“You just spoke? Wait, you're sitting on a throne and wearing some kind of gold crown and necklace. Your some kind of King? Great I got knocked out on my way home and now I’m dreaming.”

“I am Princess Celestia. Who are you?”

My mind comes to halt oh well, if this is a dream I might as well play along. Strange for a dream this sure hurts a lot, and she feels real. Actually no, her power is way too immense to be real. She’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. Not to mention that weird impossible hair. Maybe she’s a godess. Wait, if she’s a goddess then why am I in front of her?

“I’m dead aren't i?”

“What? I don’t think you're a spirit. It’s hard to tell, I’ve never seen a creature like you before.”

“I was running through the city, it was the best night ever. My group won the VD&D tournament and Shady agreed to go out with me. I even got bulbs for several rare flowers, including the sacred Midnight Lotus. I was headed back to my home and I remember feeling a lot of pain and being knocked to the ground. Somehow I ended up here. Oh, where are my manners. I’m in front of royalty.” I bow and continue. “Greeting Princess Celestia, I am Katdestro of the noble clan of Ironheart.”

She has a pensive look on her face. “Where are you from?”

“Ticonderoga city, Eastern zone, Earth, the milky way, whatever you call my universe or multiverse or omniverse.”

“Interesting, so I was right. You’ve been displaced from your native world by an unknown magic.”

“Magic? I get that I’m either dead or dreaming, but isn’t magic a bit much?”

She arches her eyebrows at me with a smile. “You are very much alive and awake-”

“We can confirm this. I am Luna, Princess of the Night.” Another winged unicorn walks into the room behind me, she is darkly colored and has a flowing hair reminiscent of stars.

“So what you're saying, is that somehow I magically ended up in a world of talking winged unicorns with weird glowing hair and of all the places I end up in the throne room with the princesses of the realm? So is the king gonna execute me when he finds me?”

“King?” Luna questions.

“Execute?” Celestia asks me.

I look back and forth between them. There is way too much power in this room. Way too much. I haven't felt anything like this since the last meeting of masters. All of it from those two beings. Perhaps princess is another word for goddess here? Luna said she was the Princess of the Night.

“Wait. Pause! Luna, Princess of the Moon? Celestia, Princess of the Sun?”

They look at me in surprise at the outburst. “Indeed.” Celestia tells me.

I pull my blades from their sheaths and they take a combat stance wings flared and horns glowing. “Wait! I just want to show you something! That’s so weird, see I can prove I’m dreaming. Look at the names of my swords. The sword of the sun” I hand it over to Celestia who picks it up in some kind of glowing field “and the sword of the moon” I hand the second one over to Luna who doest the same. “Look at the base of the blades. The names of the swords. Either I’ve fallen straight into mythos and am talking to the ones that raise the sun and the moon or-”

“You are, I raise the sun every morning.”

“And I the moon every evening. These swords are interesting. They feel so heavy, they appear resistant to magic, and they seem to be styled and named after us.”

I dazedly reach to take back the swords but slip and slice my finger on Luna, the sword, not the winged unicorn. As the small pain burns and I watch the drop of red blood well up and fall to the ground it sinks in. This is real. I’m actually in another world and I need to get back home. I sheath my blades and look at the two horses in front of me.

“I really am in a different world. You have magic right? You can send me back home?”

Celestia’s face shows a sadness. “I’m afraid that research into traveling to other realities is in it’s infancy. I am uncertain where to begin with sending you home.”

I fall backwards and land on my rump at this statement. “Cat, I’m afraid that if you're going to be in my realm, you will have to surrender your weapons until we are certain you're not a threat to our subjects.”

Makes sense, I suppose. Not that I’m going to hand over my only possessions without even trying. “How will I protect myself?”

She looks at me like I said something crazy. “What would you need to protect yourself from? Equestria is a peaceful country where Harmony rules. Here my little ponies can live happily without fear. Cat, put aside the dangers of your old world, you’re safe now.”

I sigh and nod. I slip my swords off my back and set them at Celestia’s feet. Next I unhook my Scorpion chain and drop that at Celestia’s feet. At the appearance of the hidden weapon her eyebrows raise in surprise. Next is the two straps of throwing knives. Celestia takes a step back and Luna’s horn has a soft glow. Reaching under my outerwear I begin unhooking all the straps and drop my harnesses with all my other type gear in the pile. With a small chuckle I pull out my staff and drop that in the pile, by now Celestia looks worried and Luna is definitely on edge. Finally I drop the two tool bags in the pile and bow again.

“Is-is this normal for you? Or were you on a battlefield?”

“This is my standard gear, but life is a battlefield, so both I guess.”

“You are a warrior? Your world must be a truly dark and dangerous place to live if your outlook is so dark. This is all your weapons?”

“Apart from my Altered body, aye.”

“Altered? Altered from what?”

“There are two kinds of humans. Citizens and Altered. Citizens are the normal people, they work and do citizen stuff. Altered are humans who have trained their bodies and their ki to a point where the physiology is different. For example a normal body has red muscle and white muscle with only a little pink muscle that has the best traits of the other two in between. I am 60% pink muscle, resulting in higher endurance, resilience, speed and strength then a citizen with the same build, however this comes at a cost of increased weight and metabolism. Pink muscle is far denser than the other two and I weigh a lot more than a citizen of the same build.

“Another example is my brain, citizens use about 30% of their maximum potential. I use about 60%. My eyes and bone are the result of genetic modification and good breeding. My eyes perform far more saccades and my bones are a lot harder to damage. Good breeding and the blood of Grandmaster Emeris also resulted in my ki having a good natural base and being easily trained.”

“It sounds like the purpose of the Altered is to exist to fight. What great enemy does your species have that it requires such warriors?”

“We are strong so we can rule and protect our subjects. Strength is a way of life, I do not know how your land has peace, but mine is through fear. Would be criminals know that you never know how strong someone is and even if you can pull off the crime, you must deal with the nobles.”

She looks at me with a hint of disgust. “So your tyrants that claim peace can only be obtained through bloodshed.”

“Perhaps, but humans are naturally chaotic and destructive beings. An herbivore like you could never understand the mindsets that can exist amongst those evolved from predators. We almost destroyed ourselves long ago, but Emeris saved us. He taught us to value strength and to follow the teachings of the Elements of Harmony, living for love and tolerance. Honesty, Loyalty-”

“Generosity, Kindness, Laughter and Magic. It is a surprise that your world has the Elements of Harmony as well. I thought you said your world didn’t have magic?”

“It doesn’t. Magic is more of a concept, the magic of friendship, being stronger together, being creative and thirsting for knowledge. It’s different from the magic of this world, yet I suspect that you would find it in more abundance here, if this world is as peaceful as you claim.”

“So what Element of Harmony do you possess?”

I smile. “I’m decently generous, but hardly a saint. I had been alone for a long time, never letting anyone close enough to be a friend, until I met Shady…” I trail off as it truly hits me. I fall to my knees and my eyes burn as I fight back tears. Shady. I have to get back. “I have to go back. I have to go to Shady. She’s going to miss me, and I need her.”

“Are you okay?” Celestia’s face is one of compassion and kindness. I leap back away from her.

“Don’t look at me like that, kindness only reminds me of her. Shady is the kindest person you’ll ever meet, she’s quiet and shy and absolutely adorable. I miss my friends. Bolt, he’s always cocky and can be a little grating, but his Loyalty is unmatched. Johnny is random and sometimes the things he does makes no sense, but he can make anyone smile no matter how dark things are. Donny is the one that always holds us together. He’s obsessed with books, but he always know what to do. Suzie is always generous, even if she is a bit obsessed with her looks.”

Celestia’s eyes go wide. “And you're always honest and hardworking. Good with plants and dependable. Family and friends are highly important to you.”

“Indeed, how did you know that?”

“Because you and your friends are parallel to our world. Our worlds version of you is Applejack, she’s an earth-pony mare and the Element of Honesty.”

My brow furrows in confusion. “How can you be an Element? I get if she’s embodies it well, but being recognised as the embodiment of it?”

Now it’s Celestia’s turn to be confused for a moment. “The Elements are more than just concepts here, they are physical objects of immense power, tied to the force of Harmony itself. They are wielded by six mares who are the greatest heroes of our age. Follow me.” She leads me through the castle along the way they fill me in on Equestria. They seem to be reluctant to let any silence fall and for that I am grateful. I learn a lot about Equestria and then they give me a brief history lesson using stained glass windows.

It was dusk when I arrived, and now it’s getting late. They insist that I get some sleep, despite me not really needing or wanting it. Despite the soft bed I can’t sleep. My mind is buzzing with the day’s events and I feel a dull ache in my heart. Will I find a way back home to be with Shady and see my family again?

I hear my door open and bolt upright reaching for a nonexistent sword next to my bed. It’s just Luna and she looks surprised by the sudden movement I made at her entry. “Hi again Luna. Can’t sleep either? Then again as the princess of the night are you nocturnal? Wait, why would a goddess need sleep? So if none of us needed to sleep why did I have to go lay in a bed?”

“Your kind is nocturnal?”

“Naw, I just need 12 hours a week, sometime less or more depending on ki usage. So it’s just really not my bed time yet. So what brings you here?”

“We searched the dream realm for you and was unsuccessful. So we came to find your dreams from the source. We had not thought that thou was still awake after two hours.”

“Who else was trying to break into my dreams?”

“Apologies, the royal we is a habit from olden times. I try and speak like the modern ponies, however sometimes old habit appear.”

“Makes sense. What did you do with my gear? Please be careful with them, especially the swords. They are my most prized possessions.”

“Why would weapons be so important to you? We spoke the truth when we told you that this is a peaceful land.”

I narrow my eyes at her, that had better not be her evading telling me she had them destroyed. “I am a warrior, even in a peaceful land they are important. Remember when you handle them that you are handling the shards of my soul, and the spirit of my ancestors. Those swords especially. They belonged to the greatest hero of my world, a legendary warrior whom I am descended from. Not to mention I’m going to want them in perfect condition when I return home.”

“Than I understand the swords, but the rest... why do you consider forged metal to hold your soul?” She appears unphased by my outburst and has a curious expression.

“Tell me, that crown upon your head, is it important to you? Mere metal and jewels given a shape.”

She looks at me in surprise. “Indeed, but it falls into the category as your swords. Priceless not because of it’s shape, but in how it has shaped the world.”

“Indeed, and my gear is how I shape myself. That chain represents countless years spent mastering it, teaching it, and being taught in return. Now” I rise from the bed and look her in the eyes letting my voice drop to a low dangerous tone “ya haven't answered da question on what cha did with my gear and weather it’s safe.”

Her horn lights at the threat and a scowl forms on my face. “I assure you everything is fine, locked away in a royal vault until we can trust you.”

I relax and flop back down on the bed relieved. “That’s good, no chance of anything happening to something stashed in the royal vault. One less thing to worry about. Tell me, what would it take to go home? What exactly is the difficulty?”

“I cannot answer that, however there is one unicorn who has studied the field better than anypony else. My sister’s student, Twilight Sparkle. If anypony can answer your question it is her. Most consider the field to not be worth the effort of studying, but young Twilight is known for studying anything she comes across.”

I sigh. “If it’s in order to go home I’ll do it.”

“Why are you not looking forwards to meeting her? I assure you that she is a good pony,despite her obsession with learning.”

“I don’t want to meet them. This world’s version of my friends. Exspecially not this world’s Shady. Not because if Twilight is anything like Donny she’ll have a thousand questions for me about my world, but because it’s gonna hurt. I’m holding on to the skeleton of hope, but if Twilight tells me there ain't any… Fine, I’ll go meet them tomorrow.”

“Very well, I will have my sister send Twilight a message to expect your arrival and will arrange for a transport there. The train isn’t going there tomorrow. For now, try and get some sleep and have pleasant dreams.”

She leaves me alone with my thoughts. Theres no way I’m going to be able to sleep, so I need to occupy my time.

Morning comes and Celestia finds me outside with my legs holding onto a tree branch while I alternate between curling up frontwards and backwards holding onto the position. This exercise builds most of the muscles needed for endurance during a fight.

“What are you doing?”

“Exercising, Couldn’t sleep so I worked on my training.”

She blinks at me as I continue my exercise. “How did you even find your way out of the castle? My guards would have raised a fuss.”

“Well I considered just going out the window, but it turns out that your guards couldn’t fault the logic of what possible harm is there in escorting someone out of the castle and they understood the need to use hard exercise to get my mind of things. That Echo pony even decided to exercise with me, she left at sunrise and you might want to check in on her. She wasn’t looking very good when she left. I gotta say, ponies weren't what I was expecting. I mean somehow they managed to look cute despite the fangs and batwings, but still not what I was expecting.” I drop out of the tree and land in a bow for a moment. “Anyways, how are you today, Princess Celestia?”

“Those were thestrals, one of the night pony races. Of the day ponies there are the magical unicorns, the flying pegasus who control the weather and the strong enduring earth ponies who grow food and work the land. Of the night ponies there are the moon ponies who are similar to unicorns, the thestrals who fly and fight Nightmares who enter this world, and againap who wield a strange shadow magic. Your transport is ready to leave, though I must say I have my doubts about this. Had Luna not already promised you I would have you stay here a little longer.”

“Even if I was a threat, not that I am unless threatened, do you not trust your student? Oh, and another thing, why is everybody nude? You know aside from the guards armor and occasional pony wearing some manner of fancy outfit?”

She looks at me in surprise. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, is there a taboo against being without clothing in your world?”

“Very much so, it is vulgar to not wear something at the very least to cover your nether regions and chest.”

“I see, there is no such taboo here. Try not to feel awkward about it, however difficult that may be.”

I shrug. “Understood, alrighty so where is this transport?”

She leads me back into the castle up a lot of stairs and I find myself in front of a chariot that is hovering just a bit off the ground with two pegasi hooked to in ready to pull it. With an uncertain grin I step into the chariot and am surprised when Celestia steps in next to me. She explains that she feels a need to be there personally for the meeting and I can read between the lines that she doesn’t trust me in the slightest. Despite the awesomeness of the ride through the sky it is a quiet ride with me leaning against the side sullenly.

As we are approaching the little town suddenly a massive tornado appears near the town. I stare at it in shock. “Princess we need to do something, evacuate the ponies or-”

I cut off at her chuckle, I guess this is normal? Looking more carefully I notice that it isn’t moving and there are a lot of pegasi inside it, moving in line with it and seemingly creating it. We touch down at the base of the tornado and Celestia explains it to me. By the time she’s done explaining how weather works in this strange world the tornado has does it’s job and a lot of pegasi land with a bow. Several who look sick land off in the distance and a group of unicorns in white outfits rush over to them.

A pegasi with a cyan coat and the entire spectrum of the rainbow in her hair, er I mean mane and tail, hovers excitedly in front of us. “We almost didn’t have enough power to do it princess, but once they heard that you would be here personally not even being sick was enough to keep Ponyville’s flyers away. If only they had been in top condition, we could have beaten the record. So you're the visitor that Twilight is waiting for? I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria.”

I facepalm. “For the love of the blood gods… you really are some kind of female version of Bolt. Element of Loyalty right? You love anything athletic and hate losing, mushy stuff or anyone knowing that you secretly have an egghead side? Gods, you even sound like Him! I told him he had a chicks voice!”

“How did you know that? Are you a-”

I grin knowing what was coming and cut him- I mean her off. “If I was a spy I wouldn’t admit it, why are you asking? Are you a spy? Can you prove to me that you're not a spy?”

My grin widens as she blinks at me and flaps backwards with a strange look on her face. “Lets… lets go talk to Twilight.”

I laugh “I thought it would hurt seeing this world’s versions of my friends, but really it feels kinda nice. Something familiar, you know? Now I’m actually looking forward to meeting the other Element of Honesty.”

Dash shoots me another weird look as me and Princess Celestia follow her. She takes us to a library in a tree where a frantic purple unicorn is cleaning the immaculate library like she is in the throes of an OCD fit. Upon seeing us all the cleaning supplies vanish with a pop and she shouts “Princess Celestia!”

“And her plus one. Let’s see, lives in a library and has some OCD issues. You have got to be the Element of magic, but this one was easy, who else but the Element of Magic would I be coming to consult on a way home?”

“Greetings Twilight, I see you received my letter well enough. I’ll leave Cat to introduce himself.”

“Hi, I am Katdestro, you can call me Cat. Somehow I got sent to this world from another and was told that you are the current expert in the field of traveling to another world. I was wondering if you could tell me my chances of being able to go home. Oh, just figured I should explain some of my weird comments from earlier. It’s a parallel world and I’m my worlds parallel of your Element of Honesty. Your this world's version of my friend Donny and Dash is this world's version of my friend Bolt. I would really like to meet myself, er I mean this world's version of me. The Element of Honesty.”

Twilight freezes at my words like she’s trying to absorb them. Suddenly her eyes droop and she looks at me sadly. That bad huh? I expected it but I still cling to hope until she says the words.

“Cat, the studying of other worlds is in its most basic form. The absolute best we can do get temporary glimpses of other worlds at random. All I know about the field is what I learned from Starswirl’s books and what little research I have done myself. It could take years of study to advance the field enough to send a living being through whole. There are rumors that the field used to be more well known, to the point where Starswirl had an assistant from another world. Not much is known about them besides they were of the species human from the world Earth.”

My eyes light up at the good news. “That’s my species and world! So someone has opened a portal to my world before! It is possible! This is better than I had hoped, at least theres a chance. Now, how exactly was this Starswirl’s research lost? Is it impossible to translate or destroyed?”

Celestia looks at me sadly. “Much of Starswirl’s research was stolen by an old enemy. If it still exist it is in the shadow dimension of Tambelon. It would be the height of foolishness to go seeking it however, as nopony knows how to enter Tambelon, and even when the way was known, few had ever survived to leave.”

I nod and think about it. “So, our best bet is to some available researchers studying the field to rediscover the secrets. If a goddess is afraid to go somewhere, that’s the last place I ever want to have the misfortune of ever venturing.”

“Princess, might I have access to the Starswirl section again? I think I can discover the secrets again.” Twilight looks eager and I’m happy to see her so enthused about it.

“No, I will assign a team to this project. Your studies are too important to neglect with this singular and highly dangerous field of magic. I will allow you assist the team, but not at the detriment of yourself or your studies.”

Harsh but understandable. Poor Twilight looks like she’s been kicked and I want to cheer her up. “So I bet you have some questions for me?” Her eyes light up but I cut her off. “I’ll let you interview me, but I have a condition. I want to meet all the Element Bearers of this world.” I hesitate for a moment debating excluding Kindness from it. But there's hope now, hope of seeing Shady again so I decide I’ll be fine.

She nods in understanding. “That sounds like a good idea actually. Dash, go get Fluttershy and Applejack, I’ll get Pinkie and Rarity. This way Cat can explain his story to all of them at once.” Dash flies off at Stepping speed and Twilight disappears in a flash of purple light. I walk outside the library and a pink pony Steps in front of me with a grin on her face.

“Ohmygosh! Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and you must be new, because I know everypony in Ponyville. Not that you’re a pony, actually I don’t know what you are. You know what this calls for?”

“A party?”

Her eyes widen at my response and she starts bouncing around me. “Omygosh, do you love parties as much as I do? Or are you a mind reader? What am I thinking right now?”

I blink. “I’m pretty sure no one in this world loves parties as much as you do, Johnny does, but he’s not in this world. As for what you're thinking, I’m pretty sure you don’t even know. Though I would hazard a guess that it’s something completely unrelated to this, like what flavor of cupcake taste like triangle.”

She stops and stares at me. “Have we met before? It feels like I’ve met you before. For some reason Big Mac comes to mind, it’s like you're one of him from an alternate reality that resulted in you having a different personality because of the different environments but deep down you're the same.”

I feel a small shiver and turn around to look back at Celestia in the library. “Spooky pony is spooky. Princess Celestia is it too late to hide before the Element of Kindness shows up?”

“Um… I can leave if you don’t want to see me. I don’t mind... I’m sorry.”

I turn and a sliver of ice stabs my heart as I behold a small yellow pegasus peeking at me sadly from behind a curtain of pink.

Comments

[Lord Midnight]

6324982 There are a lot of pop culture references in that map, it is a map designed by an insane brony shortly before he caused the apocalypse. The entire story will be pretty dark, this is a human who doesn't want to be in Equestria and really doesn't belong there.

[Hawkx1]

You get a tracking due not enough story in Equestria to rate giving this a fav or thumb up yet