Fictional

by Meteorite Shower

Prologue

Meteorite walked with a spring in her step through the streets of Ponyville.

It had been a few weeks since the events of Heart and Hooves Day, and she still felt wonderful. She and Rarity were still dating, and they showed no signs of stopping any time soon. Even if Meteorite wasn't always perfectly knowledgeable on how to act or behave, Rarity still admired her eager spirit to learn.

And Meteorite…

Well. Meteorite simply admired Rarity.

So much so that she maaaay have not been totally honest with her fellow co-workers after the day's shift ended about needing to be in Ponyville that afternoon, as the Carousel Boutique came into her view.

But then, it's not like she was fooling anypony anyway.

---

"Hello?" Meteorite called out, as the door chimes of the boutique sounded as she slipped inside. "Rarity?"

Rarity's head popped round from behind a privacy screen. Yellow tape hung loosely around her neck and her red glasses were slightly askew. "Oh! Meteorite darling!" She trotted out from behind the screen over to Meteorite, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "What brings you here?"

Blushing, Meteorite tossed a hoof back as flippantly as she could. "Ah-heh, I-I was just in the neighbourhood is all, thought I'd pop in."

"I see," Rarity tittered lightly, taking Meteorite's hoof into her own. "Well, I'm almost finished up here, but why don't you wait for me in the kitchen in the back?" Rarity pointed to the rear corridor of the boutique. "You do remember where it is?"

"Mm-hm!" Meteorite nodded, smiling broadly.

"Alright, I'll see you in a moment, darling."

With that, Rarity turned and headed back to her work, looking back playfully over the shoulder once or twice as she did so. Despite the past few weeks of getting to know each other better, Meteorite felt her blush deepen. Maybe it was the glasses.

Shaking her head clear, Meteorite decided to focus on the task at hand and headed to where Rarity had told her to go. As she made her way to the back, Meteorite took the time to take in the surroundings. She'd only been back in the 'residential' part of the Carousel Boutique a few times, and her natural curiosity wanted to take in as much as she could see.

Midway down the hallway, she could see the entrance to the kitchen, but her attention was drawn to a few framed photos lining the wall. She'd only gave them a cursory glance before, having been following Rarity at the time, so she took up most of Meteorite's attention.

Most of the photos were of Rarity's family, but a select few were of her and her friends, all from clearly some kind of event or gathering. None really stood out to her, unsurprisingly, though there was one gathering that sparked familiarity.

The six mares were all dressed up very finely, along with several other ponies, including two she instantly recognised as Princess Candance and Shining Armor.

The Royal Wedding… Meteorite mused wistfully. God, it's been such a long time since then. Heck, this must've been, what, just a few months before I threw myself here in Equestria?

Her thoughts turned to her first few days, and her wistful smile slowly faded, replaced with a look of regretful worry. Perturbed, she shuddered and absentmindedly wandered to the kitchen, where she only gave the room a lukewarm glance-over before finding a chair at the table to sit on, electing to continue replay memories only shallowly buried.

A short while later, the clip-clops of Rarity's hooves on the polished floor grew louder until she abruptly entered the kitchen, flipping her mane to one side with a hoof.

"Terribly sorry for the wait, darling, but you know how it is," she apologized with a smile, which quickly disappeared as she looked upon Meteorite sat at the table with her hooves perched upon it, almost staring vacantly downwards. "Is… everything alright, Meteorite darling?"

There was no immediate response from Meteorite save for a slow blink, until she lifted her head and snapped out of it as she registered Rarity's presence.

"Oh! Rarity! Hi!" Meteorite immediately beamed, shrugging off her previous behaviour with a wave of her hoof. "Sorry, I was just lost in… thoughts and stuff!"

Rarity pursed her lips with concern, not entirely convinced. "Are you sure, darling? You were looking quite… hem, troubled."

Meteorite immediately scoffed playfully, looking away in the process, but her forced lightheartedness quickly gave way as she began absentmindedly rubbing her foreleg with her other hoof. Rarity scooted a chair over and sat down, placing her hoof on Meteorite's.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

Meteorite gradually looked over at the hoof on hers, her heart racing slightly faster, before looking up and into Rarity's concerned eyes. She found herself unable to look away.

"Uhh…" she managed to croak out, swallowing hard. "No…? Well- uh, um… I mean… it's nothing, really…"

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe, darling," Rarity deadpanned.

"Yeah… didn't think that'd work," Meteorite admitted softly, glancing aside. "I guess it has been bothering me for a while now…"

A heavy pause hung in the air as both ponies remained silent, until Meteorite turned to face Rarity. "I just wish… you weren't the only pony I could talk to about this, y'know?"

Rarity frowned as her posture stiffened slightly. "No… I'm afraid I don't know. Why is that?"

Meteorite sheepishly hung her head while maintaining eye contact. "Well, it's… kinda a lot of baggage… and we've only been dating for a little while so… y'know."

"Ahh… I see," Rarity mused, her expression softening. "And you're worried I might be frightened off by your… 'baggage'?"

"Sumthin' like that…" Meteorite mumbled into her chest.

"Hm…" Rarity mused thoughtfully, a hoof laid on her chin. "Well, I'll try to keep an open mind, but Meteorite…" she paused, allowing Meteorite time to look back up at her, "if it is as much as you say it is, well, I'm afraid you're not going to be able to hide it from me forever."

Meteorite frowned, but eventually nodded solemnly. "Yeah… true."

"But, how about we just… unpack a little at a time, hm?" Rarity suggested softly, gently rubbing Meteorite's hoof. "Why don't you tell me what this is all about to begin with?"

A warm feeling of comfort flitted through Meteorite, and closing her eyes with a faint smile, she placed her other hoof upon Rarity's, where they stayed for a few moments of silence. Meteorite then exhaled, relieving a lot of the stress built up inside.

"Alright," she began, sitting up straight as she looked directly at Rarity. "I do need to get this out in the open. It's been building up for far too long. I suppose…"

She swallowed and started again. "It's sorta started up again after everything that happened with us… and… Alexandra…" she said, still not entirely comfortable with openly referring to herself as the author, "it's been a lot to take in, I guess, and… well… sometimes I think back to how it all started and I kinda wish I had done things differently."

Rarity looked surprised. "You do? But I thought we were getting on quite well."

A flash of confusion crossed Meteorite's face, then her eyes lit up in understanding and she shook her head adamantly. "No no no, I don't mean with how we started, I mean… me," she said, gesturing to herself, "being here in Ponyville- well, Equestria I should say."

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed, "I must admit, I have been a bit curious about that, given your- how shall we say… -strange circumstances."

"Mph," Meteorite grunted, "Yeah… I'm not… entirely happy with how I acted back then. I was a bit of a jerk sometimes."

Rarity thought to protest the absurdity of that statement, but the memory of the interaction between Meteorite and Alexandra that she had inadvertently spied upon crossed her mind. It occurred to her that Meteorite must be hiding a lot of herself from everypony, more than Rarity had realized, but…

If Meteorite was prepared to open up here, even a little bit, it could help understand her better.

"Well," Rarity began coolly, "I'm quite sure you are not alone in that department. I'd imagine everypony has their 'jerkish' moments, even me, if I do dare say so myself."

Meteorite bit her lip to hide her smile. "I can't imagine you ever being a jerk."

"You are too kind to me," Rarity said, flashing her a warm smile. Lightly clearing her throat, she continued. "In any case darling, if you like to share your troubles I'd be willing to listen. After all, if you're bothered by your past actions then you've grown as a pony, yes?"

"...heh," Meteorite chuckled under her breath, amused by the word choice. "Yeah… I suppose. But I don't really know where to begin."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?"

Meteorite mulled over her thoughts, glancing down at her and Rarity's hooves.

"Might as well. Good place as any to start…" She glanced up and met Rarity's eyes with her own, a tiny embarrassed smile on her face. "Well… the first thing I remember is waking up face-down in a puddle of mud…"

---

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

---

The better half of a decade ago, an indiscriminate amount of time after the failed invasion of Canterlot by the changelings…

Somewhere down below, in a forest, a purple pegasus utters her first word.

"BLEEEEAAAH!"

Meteorite had not expected to wake up in a mud puddle, though in all fairness there were going to be a number of things today she did not expect. However, since those things were not immediately known to her, being blinded by a face full of mud made for a currently more pressing issue.

Spitting the remnants of mud from her mouth, she weakly pushed herself up to what felt like a sitting position, and raised a hoof to wipe her face. However, upon the first pass of her hoof, she quickly froze, fear settling in rapidly.

For one thing, her face felt wrong. Her hoof had bumped into her jaw which, quite frankly, should not be a few inches in front of where it ought to be. The second thing, though not as immediately pressing as her apparently misshapen face, was that she couldn't seem to unball her fist, either of them, and there didn't seem to be any numbness to them as if she had slept on her arm badly.

Meteorite decided to react to this as calmly as she could, and screamed.

Frantically pawing at her face, she fell back and on her side as she vainly tried to remove enough mud just to see what was wrong. A few moments later, she was able to blink clearly without irritation, only to see a pair of hooves where her hands ought to have been.

She heaved deep and rapid breaths as her mind fought with the information her eyes were telling her. She dared not look away, as if the obvious answer to this maddening sight would flitter away if she did. She slowly turned a hoof, watching as it did but it offered no clues to why it was now part of her. Her wide-eyed gaze slowly drifted down her foreleg, covered with matted and muddy purple fur. She swallowed, ignoring the taste of mud in her mouth, and slowly blinked. A small wish within her hoped she'd see something different when she opened her eyes again.

She didn't.

Mustering all the strength to look away, she turned her attention to her lower half, seeing the same purple fur, with a pale red, and equally muddy, tail messily poking out between her hind legs. A maddened half-giggle escaped her lips as she quickly closed her eyes and made attempts to steady her breathing.

Okay, she hastily thought to herself. I'm… a pony. Oh sweet Jesus, how? This can't be this can't be this can't be this can't be this can't be…! She let out a quick laugh, trying to cope with this fact, but it soon became a quiet whimper as she covered her face with her hooves. Oh god, I've gone mad, haven't I? I've actually gone mad. Jesus Christ…

Meteorite lay still for a minute or so, trying to comprehend her apparent loss of sanity. She wondered where she was in reality, perhaps lying in a ditch somewhere. She remembered there was an expanse of undeveloped land near where she lived. Perhaps she fell down the incline near the road, and was now crawling around amongst the trees and shrubbery, thinking herself a pony. She let out a sob, unable to cope with that thought being reality.

After a while, she sniffed and held out a hoof in front of her, frowning at it. Okay… she thought, forcing herself to remain calm, okay… what if… I'm not crazy? I mean, okay yeah, thinking you're a cartoon pony is fucking nuts, but… what if… this is a dream?

The thought spurred her on, and with some groaning, she gathered the strength and will to push herself up to a sitting position, to consider this line of thinking more. It… seemed unlikely that this was a dream; the forest around her looked too detailed and without the kind of foggy dream look dreams usually have. But… maybe it was a lucid dream? She never had a lucid dream before, so maybe this is how lucid dreams looked. Also, if she was lucid dreaming, then why wouldn't it be about ponies?

Yes, that made sense.

Satisfied that there was a chance that she wasn't dying somewhere in the wilderness, Meteorite decided that she had better get up. She didn't want to waste what was probably her only chance at a lucid dream by wallowing in sadness and mud. Planting her forehooves firmly on the ground, she shakily raised from her sitting position. There was an odd moment of dissociation as she felt the need to push herself further upwards to stand on her hind legs, but she forcibly shook the feeling away, trying to get herself to move on with the dream.

Looking around, Meteorite seemed to be on a dirt path, puddles of mud sporadically placed along it both in front and behind her. The sides of the path were thick with trees, gnarled and twisted, reaching upwards as if to purposefully blot out any indication of the sky. Light still managed to flitter though to allow some vision, but both ends of the path still ended in gloomy darkness. Meteorite involuntarily shivered. Dream or not, she didn't fancy hanging around.

Gritting her teeth, the next step she had to take was, well, taking a step. She slowly lifted a foreleg and tried flexing her… wrist, maybe? Or was it technically an ankle now? Wait, do ponies even have wrists or ankles? Meteorite shook her head clear. She'd have to look that up later once she woke up.

Gingerly stepping forward with her leg, she allowed herself a small smile as she felt brave enough to step forward with her other leg, and yelped as she quickly toppled over as she lost her balance.

"Okay…" Meteorite grumbled quietly, trying to refind her footing again, "maybe this time let's trying walking with all my legs, hm?"

Pushing herself back to a standing position, she solemnly mulled over how exactly. She hadn't really studied how four-legged animals walked or ran, but… it had to be simple, right? I just… gotta walk with two pairs of legs at the same time. Simple. Yeah.

"Okay. Okay, let's… just think about this." She lifted her left foreleg. "If I put this leg forward, I oughta put my back right leg forward at the same time to balance myself out!"

It took her some time to actually pull it off; her body kept wanting to move the same set of legs on either side. But eventually she lucked into the proper way to swing her body so that the alternating stepping pattern felt natural. A few uneasy and stilted steps later, she giggled softly. "Look at me, I'm a goddamn genius, I am." Feeling boastful, Meteorite broke into a trot and landed on her face. There was a lengthy pause, followed by an undignified sigh.

"Dear Princess Celestia," she announced to nobody in particular, her voice muffled by the ground. "Today I learned you have to learn to walk, before you can run." Groaning, she slowly got up and carefully limped her way along the dirt path before her, hopefully leading out of the forest.

---

Meteorite was starting to miss the safety of Australia.

Granted, a darkened road late at night was probably no better than a dark and ominous forest, but at least back then she never had to worry about magical creatures that could probably incapacitate her in one swift attack. Only the venomous brand of creatures.

Also, suddenly being a horse in the middle of said forest didn't quite help her relax.

Meteorite had taken to keeping her head down as she plodded along, all the while ignoring her now aching hooves, only glancing ever so slightly up just to keep track of the path she was on. Even if it was just a dream, she'd rather play it safe and not meet the gaze of any wandering cockatrice.

Truthfully, a part of her was starting to doubt the validity of it being a dream. She had been walking for ages now, and she didn't seem to be heading anywhere. She had been focusing for the last ten minutes or so on Zecora's home coming into play soon as a haven of safety, but to no avail. If she had to be honest with herself, this dream so far, sucked.

Stopping momentarily to rest, Meteorite cautiously turned to look back at where she came from. She briefly considered the thought that she might've wandered the wrong way, and that did nothing to put her at ease. Times like this, she would've strongly urged herself to run back and try the other direction for a bit, just to make sure it wasn't the right direction. However, in this case, the extra noise from running would surely draw unwanted attention, and she also didn't want to land on her face again.

Resigned to the fact she'd have to just see where this way goes, Meteorite turned back to continue, but something off to the left caught her eye. Just almost slightly out of view, through a mass of trees, vines, and shrubbery, appeared to be daylight.

Taking one last glance at both darkened ends of the forest, Meteorite squared herself up and stepped off the path, pushing past bushes and weaving her way between the trees. As the sunshine got brighter, she misjudged her step over a fallen log, and tumbled forward with a yelp, and landed on her back.

"Oww…" she moaned, as she squinted, holding a hoof in front of her face to block the sun. Suddenly, she gasped. "Wait a minute! I'm outside!"

Rocking side to side, she righted herself and stood up, looking down at the forest with an air of smug victory. She turned up a hoof at the forest, before looking at her hoof.

"Oh right," she murmured. No fingers. So she decided to settle on the next best option and stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry at the whole stupid forest, with its dumb thick trees, and its idiotic forest perimeter that… kinda looked like… it ran parallel to the path she'd been walking on. Which meant…

…I could've gotten out of the forest a lot sooner if I'd just looked left more. She paused as she contemplated this.

"…Fuck."

With a disdainful huff of contempt, she gave the forest one last glare before turning around and surveying the vast rolling plains before her. A few isolated trees dotted the landscape, giving shelter to some rabbits, squirrels, birds and various other small critters she didn't immediately recognise. Meteorite carefully scanned the horizon, hoping to spot some form of civilisation, if not just Ponyville outright.

"I don't get it…" she murmured, "Ponyville is supposed to be, like, right next to Everfree Forest. Or at least, Fluttershy's is supposed to be." She glanced behind her. "I mean, that is Everfree Forest, right?" She gave it a discouraged look, before shaking her head. "Has to be."

With a growing sense of feeling lost, she took a few steps forward, hastily losing herself deep in her thought to keep herself preoccupied.

Okay, so. Maybe… Maybe Ponyville is… somewhere nearby. Maybe. Ah, but if this is a dream, which it has to be, right, maybe I just need to focus hard enough and will it into existence?

"I suppose that makes sense…" Meteorite muttered, not entirely convinced by her own reasonings. Nevertheless, she stared intently at the open fields before bringing her hoof around before her, resting into a commanding pose.

"Ponyville, go," she commanded.

Nothing happened. Her hoof wavered slightly.

"Uh… abra…cadabra." She gave her hoof a little shake. "Pony dream, activate!"

Meteorite slowly lowered her hoof, dejected. After a moment's thought, she tried to look up at her own forehead, before feeling it with a hoof, but there was no horn to be found.

Okay, so, not a unicorn. Still, don't think that matters. Should still be able to change a dream regardless. If it's a dream. She scowled slightly. Well, it has to be a dream! Nothing else makes sense. I'm… pretty sure I haven't gone crazy; I think I wouldn't have considered it an option if I truly had. Maybe. I dunno.

She paused briefly, sweeping her gaze across the land. Still, she continued, what else makes sense? You simply just don't magically find yourself in your favourite fandom just because! That's impossible! She snorted derisively. Well. Except in fanfi-

She froze as the thought hit her. Wide-eyed and panic-stricken, she spun around examining the world as if she'd just seen it for the first time, half-expecting to see seams in the landscape or code in the air. There wasn't, but she still felt unhinged.

"Oh god…" she muttered, sounding sick. "This is a fanfic, isn't it?"