Ponyville

by milawynsrealm

Chapter 7: Reflection

Zecora nearly jumped at the sudden noise, causing her to drop all her gathered herbs onto the ground. She quickly turned to see an unconscious, blue unicorn pony that had hit a tree that was only inches from where she was standing. Noticing that he had rolled down the steep hill, she quickly came to the conclusion that this stallion was not looking where he was going. And on top of that, he was also obviously lost. Few ponies ever dared to venture this deep into the woods alone.

Still unsure about the close call, she slowly approached the body and nudged him with her hoof. A soft moan escaped from his open mouth. He was still alive. Aside from the apparent bruising on side, there didn't seem to be any serious damage from what she could see.

But something was wrong. Quickly examining her surroundings, she noticed that the air had eerily gone quiet. Even the wind was refusing to blow. She knew quite a few species of animals that reside in the forest, but only a tiny hoofful were considered to be timid. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary right away, but she could somehow feel that something was out there. Probably watching her.

Despite her questions of curiosity to see if somepony else was around, but she did not want to linger. Too many things in this forest to avoid. But if there was indeed another pony out here, it would be wrong of her to leave that pony lost in these woods.

“Is anypony out there? If so, please do not dispair.” she cried out, loud enough to reach earshot of any nearby ponies, but not enough to attract the entire forest to her location. She got no response.
She tried once again just to be sure. But she once again heard no voice or any telltale signs of immediate equine movement. After she had draped his heavy body over his own, she started heading off back to her hut. From there, she could properly treat him.

Aside from the stallion's body sliding off the side of her body a few times, her trip back to her home was uneventful. After approaching her door, she placed the stallion down on the ground while she opened her door to get him inside.

After getting his body inside her hut and onto the floor, she was able to more comfortably examine the damage. It was mostly light bruising with a few scrapes, and only a tiny bit of red. The stallion was still knocked out from the whole ordeal, but seemed to be also lightly mumbling something. Nothing coherent, but at least it told her that he was still alive.

Putting some healing ointment onto a cloth, she lightly dabbed it on the affected areas. He winced in pain as the dabbing continued, but apparently it was not enough wake him up. After bandaging his body up, she placed a blanket on top of him, put a pillow under his head, and allowed him to sleep it off. While she waited for the mystery pony to wake up, she decided that she wanted to get back to work.

Unfortunately, she was so much in a hurry getting home with the strange pony, that she had forgotten all about the ingredients that she had been collecting in the forest. But at the same exact time, she could not simply abandon this pony in need, especially if she discovers that he needs further help after he wakes up. And besides, she remembered all too well the last time she left her hut with a certain filly still inside. For now, she just had to wait.

---

“What I still don't understand is why he was watching that 'show' in the first place. It still creeps me out.” Rainbow Dash stated while hovering beside her friends, who were walking further into the dark forest.
Twilight, was using a simple tracking spell to find Daniel. Since these woods are devoid of any pony life (or at least supposed to be), she was just focusing on finding the closest pony to her. It took a little adjustment to get it right, but she managed.

Several witnesses had seen Daniel galloping into the Everfree Forest, so they had a basic idea of where to start. Unfortunately, they weren't able to coax Fluttershy out of her house at all. Ever since she heard about the show, she refused to leave her house or speak to anypony for any reason.

“Ah' don't know. Whacha lookin' at me for?” Applejack responded in an annoyed manner.

“I wasn't looking at you. I just want to know why he was watching us in the first place. And what else do you think he knows about us?” Dash retorted.

“Really Dash, I'm starting to suspect that you're more upset about that 'Daring Doo' reference he made then you are about that...um...show? Is that what it's called darling?” Rarity said as calmly as she could conjure up.

“I think he called it a Tee Vee show. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure I can ask him.” Twilight responded. It was obvious that she was looking forward to his eventual answer, although the notion of a perfect stranger knowing more about her than the other way around still felt a little bit creepy to her.

“Ooh ooh! And ask him if Humans like parties. I still have to throw them all a party.” Pinky said happily in a sing-song manner, a bounce in her step as usual.

“Pinky! I'm not sure that it's a good time to be throwing a—.” Rarity said to Pinky, before being rudely interrupted.

Pinky got an idea, “Ooh, I know. We'll throw them all a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party at the same time. It'll be huge with lots of games and cake! But wait! They're all from another country, so this should be a 'Welcome to Equestria' party. Wait, wait, wait. They're from another world, so maybe we shoul—.“

“PINKY!!” Rarity shouted at the top of her lungs. Aside from her encounter with Prince Blueblood, her friends never saw her yell before, not at this volume at least. Upon seeing her friends stare at her in shock and disbelief, Rarity quickly regained her composure to the best of her ability, and then continued after clearing her throat, “Pinky darling, with all due respect, we have no idea how they will react to a party. We've never encountered these creatures before, and for all we know, they could react badly to it.”

“Wow Rarity, when did you become so insightful all of a sudden?” Twilight asked.

“Let's just say that a month back, I had my first Griffon client. It...didn't end well.” Rarity said, shuttering at the last sentence.
Rainbow Dash laughed out loud for a while when an image of Gilda in a fancy and lacy dress crossed her mind. Rarity was not pleased. “That's not funny Dash. I spent a whole day cleaning up that mess. All that work, ruined!” Rarity scolded, stomping her hoof.

“So Twi, what's Daniel like?” Applejack asked, wanting to quickly move the conversation in another direction.
Twilight gave this some thought. “He...seems friendly enough. I can tell that he's trying to adjust, but I can also see that he's having some difficulty.”

“Such as...” Dash said.

“He's having to learn everything all over again. He didn't even know that he could grip things with his hooves until I showed him. And he was even surprised when I showed him that he could eat directly from a plate.” Twilight said.

Rarity winced at the thought. But then again, the notion of eating directly from a plate was just another item on the list of things that Rarity considered uncouth.

“Ah can't imagine havin' to learn everything all over again. Just how different are these Humans anyway?” Applejack asked.

“Well, one of the scientists showed me a photograph found in one of the houses. They're basically a form of hairless primate that walks upright on their hind legs. They have a peachy pink color skin with manes on top of their heads. And from what Daniel had told me, Humans also have a nudity taboo. Basically, they have to wear clothing all the time.” Twilight stated.

“Wearing clothing all the time? I simply cannot imagine having to wear clothing all the time. It would get sweaty after a while one would think.” Rarity remarked.

“Humans don't have fur like we do. They must wear it to keep warm.” Twilight said. Then she continued after processing Rarity's statement more closely, “And besides, some ponies do wear clothing all the time.”

Before Rarity could continue the conversation, Twilight's horn began to flash more intensely with each passing step. “I think we're getting closer.” Twilight stated excitedly.

---

As my mind quietly slipped in and out of consciousness, I began to recollect bits and pieces of what had happened. A frequent question that I had kept asking myself was, 'what was that thing?' It didn't seem like any animal that I knew about, nor did I think that whatever it was, it seemed to be completely shrouded in the shadows. But at the same exact time, I was in the Everfree Forest. There were probably dozens of creatures there that are not featured in the show.

I tried to move, but with no success. Darkness still surrounded me and my body seemed to refuse to move, despite my mind's attempted will to wake up. But it also seems like that whenever I thought about my body at all, my mind tries to contemplate my new body and what it now means to me.

Like my hooves for example. Back at the library, when I was examining them on and off at times, I could see that I didn't just have furry stumps. In the show, you didn't see the hooves on most ponies since the cartoons were going for a simplified look. In real life though, it looked quite a bit closer to a standard equine hoof. It's just that my hooves were dark blue and the color of my hoof blended with the my fur so well, that it wasn't easily noticeable at first. And when I looked at the bottom of any hoof, it looked exactly like the bottom of a horse's hoof, with a 'v' shape and everything from what I could tell from first glance. I wasn't well versed in equine anatomy at all, so I wasn't really certain.

In all honesty, I didn't really want hooves at all, despite learning that I can, to a limited degree, grab things with them. But it still felt like someone just chopped off my hands and then just covered the stumps with something hard. That I felt more like a limb amputee than anything else, and that now made me feel inferior. Like I was somehow weaker than before and less capable.

Ever since 2008, I have been wishing to simply go somewhere else. To simply escape the problems of the world I was from. Thinking that somewhere else was better than here. When I saw and fell in love with the TV Show, “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”, it felt like an escape for me. It was someplace to go inside my own mind and escape the problems of the world.

All this time, wanting to run away from my problems, only to find myself stumbling onto new ones. That, basically, I was essentially back to where I started. Only this time, I have to learn how to use a new body, and on top of that, I have to learn better interpersonal communication skills with a culture that I barely understand. Even though I was told that a way back was being researched, I still had a lingering feeling that at the very least, it will take a while for them to come to some kind of resolution either way. And if I was indeed stuck here for the rest of my life, my heart sinking at the thought, at least I will still be with my family.

As the world began to fade back into view, the first thing that I saw was one of my hooves resting in front of my face, but not so close that it was touching my face. So that's what acceptance feels like. All this time, I was trying so hard to force myself to accept the current situation so blindly, that I failed to realize that I was ignoring the reality of the situation. That I wasn't putting into account the situation I was exactly in and what it now means to me. Even with knowledge of the show, there was so much that I still didn't know about this place. Topics that the creators of the show either didn't have time to go over, or couldn't for obvious reasons.

“Well, look who's awake.” A female voice said.

As I tried to get up, my aching body prevented me from continuing further. I turned to see a light brown pony sitting upright, resting a clipboard on her hoof, examining the pages closely. Judging from her hat, she must have been some kind of nurse.

“Hi.” was all I could muster at the moment. I was still in the process of waking up.

“Hi.” she replied without taking her eyes off the clipboard. Then after a short while, she placed the clipboard on the end of the bed, then looked at me.

“So, how are you feeling?” she asked, managing a half smile.

“Well...aside from the aching, I feel okay.” I said.

“That's nice to hear. From what I heard, you went...erm...what I mean to say is...” she said. It was obvious to me that she was actively trying to avoid insulting me or from getting me emotionally going again.

Smiling, I simply intervened, “It's okay. I think I know what you meant to say.”

“That's nice to know. Well, from what the report says, you hit that tree pretty hard when you took a tumble down that hill. Just be glad a certain zebra was there to find you.” she said, now a bit more relaxed at my presence, but obviously stern at my apparent recklessness.

“You mean Zecora?” I asked.

“You know her?” she responded, a little surprised.

“I never actually met her. I've...heard Twilight mention something about her before.” I stated, trying to avoid the whole 'TV show' bit from going public. It was bad enough as it was that my ex-humanity was already out in the open, thanks to me of course.

“Well, we'll keep you for another day just to be sure, but other than that, all you need is to do plenty of resting up until it fully heals. Okay?” she asked.

“Okay.” I responded.

“Oh, and before I go, I believe that you have some visitors to see you.” she said.

“Daniel, sweetie? Is that really you?” a familiar voice said tearfully.