Isaac's Storm

by EquusStorm

2. A World Away

Pain. An intense, searing pain. This was the first sensation he felt after having fallen into this strange place. Reluctant to open his eyes, being terrified of what he might find, he lay on the cool ground for several moments as he regained full consciousness. With his right arm Isaac felt the ground around him. It felt much like a forest floor - perhaps the forest he had been in only a few minutes ago. Maybe this whole thing was all a bizarre hallucination and I just fell over a log or something! A glimmer of hope lit up his face as he opened his eyes, hoping to find himself in the old-growth tract, and in the state it was before the pit appeared. But he quickly saw that the forest he had awoken in was much unlike the upstate New York woodlands he knew well. Giant tree trunks - many with a gnarled, menacing appearance - stood high above the forest floor, holding thick crowns of leaves heavily festooned with vines and moss. Dense undergrowth filled many corridors, and low ground not far away held a swamp. Clusters of blue flowers swayed in the breeze. But the most bizarre thing about this forest was its very character: There was very little texture in anything other than clumps of dirt that had accompanied him in his perilous fall. Everything was flat and two-dimensional.

Surely, such a place could not be real, and he pinched his arm twice in an attempt to wake up. But he was really in this strange new place. Looking around with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, he noticed that the sky was mostly dark, indicating that it was probably the same time here as it had been back on his home street. Assuming, of course, that he hadn't been unconscious for a prolonged period of time. Isaac remembered he had carried his cell phone, and whipped it out to provide a bit more light for exploration. As he slowly stood up, thoughts of ponies began to once more fill his head, and a cold realisation hit him. A chill ran down his spine as he slowly muttered, "I must be in... the... Everfree Forest."

Isaac racked his brain, trying to ascertain exactly how he had wound up in a fictional world. Or, rather, in a world that until now he assumed was fictional. "This can't be happening! I mean, apparently it is, but... I can't... how can... if I was... how did..." If ever there were a feeling that could not be expressed properly in words at all, this would be such a feeling. It was a mixture of elation, confusion, terror, apprehension, and curiosity. On the one hand, being in Equestria was a brony's ultimate dream. On the other had, his mother and family would be searching frantically for him, and would eventually assemble a massive manhunt, throwing his sleepy little town into disarray. Furthermore, the front door had been left unlocked. What if someone had broken in while he was wasting time in the forest? "This can't be happening! This is not possible! Am I really in Equestria?" Sure, Isaac had read plenty of human-in-Equestria fanfics in his time, but to actually be living his very own story was more than he could comprehend. Seth's gonna love this one... if I ever manage to get home. Isaac's mind was, predictably, spinning in a maelstrom of thoughts. Had his obsession led him to somehow dream himself into this situation? Had Isaac's fragile brain finally given up and thrown him into fatal fantasies? No. No. No no no no no no. No no. No. I can't be... this can't be... The possibility of this happening was unfathomable to anyone in their proper mind. Surely there was an explanation. Surely there was. Surely any moment he would wake up in the woods he 'fell' from. Or at a hospital. There was no chance that this could actually be occurring. The sweat pouring off his brow attested to his excruciating attempts to rationalize the situation. He had no idea how to properly react.

After about 15 minutes of his slow descent into madness, he found himself lying face-down on the forest floor, attempting to wake up. Wake up, dammit. Wake up. Really bein' here would be the most awesome thing ever but I never get lucky. He wanted this to be real, he really did... but he had to be rational. How could this be happening? And why was he unable to justify how real the place felt? The air was clean and crisp, just like in the forest near his home. The dirt felt cool and the leaf litter crunched nicely under his fist, just like at home. The whole atmosphere of the place, while looking like a cartoon, felt undeniably real. None of his dreams had ever been this realistic. And... what would happen if this really was Equestria? Somehow, it must have been. Surely. There was no reason that he could logically be here, but there was no reason to deny his new surroundings. And all the pony-esque stuff he had found in the woods... did that have a connection? Did the sudden change in surroundings indicate something bizarre had happened with the very fabric of reality? What about the pit, that made no sense... neither did surviving such a violent fall with virtually no serious injuries. Denial and horror started to fade into acceptance, and within a few minutes, he started to feel more excited than he had ever been before. "This makes no sense whatsoever..." he muttered to himself. "...but I guess... I guess I can... wow. Since I'm, here... if I'm really here... if this really IS Equestria... oh god, I could meet my favourite ponies!" But with that thought, he began to hear distant voices coming down the trail through the forest.

"AGH, I'm not ready for this yet!" With heart wildly pounding, Isaac leapt off the ground and behind a shrub and hid himself as best he could within its twigs. He listened very carefully to try to determine which character the voices belonged to. He quickly recognised the first as one of his favourite characters - Twilight Sparkle. The thought of actually being in the same realm - indeed, the same forest - as a character from MLP filled him with feelings he could not quite describe; the excitement was simply overwhelming. And utter disbelief still held a part of him. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming, this simply is too incredible to be true. The events were taking their toll on his head. How could this be even possible? Suddenly, he identified the second voice as that of Zecora. "They must be on their way back to Zecora's home deeper into the forest!" he whispered to himself. This was going to be amazing, as much as he feared that his disappearance was going to cause chaos back at home. An adventure in Equestria... there could be nothing better! But wait... what if the actual characters were not like they were portrayed to be on the show? What if this was a fundamentally different Equestria than he had fallen in love with? This fear only increased his heart rate more, as he sweated profusely. He tried to remain as quiet and still as possible as the two ponies passed by mere paces away. To his relief, he noted that neither of them had apparently spotted him. Perfect, more time to plan my next move.

Isaac attempted to catch a few more passing glances of the ponies he had thought to be completely fictional as they rounded the next bend, but darkness hid them from view. After a minute or so of waiting, to make sure he was completely out of their line of vision - if indeed they would detect him in such low levels of light - he emerged from the shrubbery and timidly stepped back onto the path. "Now that that's over with..." Isaac suddenly realised another feeling that had been steadily trying to make its presence known amongst the confusion. The stale cereal from earlier had satisfied his appetite very little. He was hungry. However, having just landed in such a place, and knowing nothing of his surroundings other than what he had seen on the show - and roughly an hour of experience - he had absolutely no idea if anything in this world was edible to a creature such as he.

The young man looked around using his cell phone light, attempting to find some harmless-looking berry or seed to taste. As a test, of course. Because if he couldn't eat the food here, and was stuck here, how would he survive? "Well, looks like I'm actually IN Equestria, so then I'd probably be able to interact with the place... surely I can eat." After a few moments of stumbling down the dark trail, he happened upon a plant loaded with what he could only assume were blueberries. "Well... I guess there's no harm in at least trying something here... if I don't then I'm just gonna die." He carefully picked one and looked it over from all angles. He smelled it, licked it, tried to analyse it any way he could before actually eating it. After all, how could he know if it really was a blueberry? The very laws of reality were different here, surely the plant life would be too.

If it smells like a blueberry, feels like a blueberry, and looks like a blueberry, it probably is. At least in our world. Realising the potential for trouble here in the Everfree, home of the poison joke and many fierce creatures, anything could bring harm. But surely... surely this was safe. And if it wasn't, surely he couldn't be blamed for eating it, since he had done all he could do with such limited time and knowledge to analyse it. "The hell with it! Why am I being so dramatic over a damn blueberry!" With that, he suppressed his concerns, threw it into his mouth, and bit down. The sensation in his taste buds that followed would be remembered for a very long time. It was indeed a blueberry... however, its taste was so vastly superior to that of earth blueberries, that it could hardly compare. It was the most amazing thing he had ever tasted. "MY GOD!" he exclaimed, completely forgetting his plan to go incognito for as long as possible. But the berry was simply too good. He craved more. MORE. He had to get as much of this stuff as possible. He began to cram handfuls of the fruits into his mouth. Handful after handful were plucked from the bushes to feed his cravings.

Nearly half an hour must have passed since he began to contemplate eating an Equestrian blueberry, but he scarcely cared. His initial fears had been virtually forgotten, and his mind had drifted away from his near-encounter with Twilight and Zecora. So, too, he had forgotten that he was supposed to be hiding whenever he heard hoofsteps or voices. He had wandered a few paces off the trail but was still close enough to be vigilant, if he hadn't been distracted by his feast. And so, predictably, his presence in Equestria was seconds away from being revealed. He backed up, onto the trail, nearly full, and pulled out his cell phone again to help light the way to a place in the woods that he could stay the night. But as the light came on and he turned in the direction of Zecora's cottage, he found himself face-to-face with a purple unicorn.

Both screamed and jumped back, startled to say the least. Immediately the little unicorn's horn began to glow as she rapidly backed away from him. On pure reflex, and without really thinking, he lunged towards the pony, yelling "Wait! Don't leave! I-" With that, he landed right in front of her, and was caught up in a blinding flash. Suddenly and instantaneously, he felt like his very molecules were reappearing a great distance away.

Author's Note:

I was going for the italics being Isaac's thoughts with the quotations being reserved for spoken words, but as you can see, it isn't working out that well. Expect that to be another change when I update this, as this here is the raw version of the chapter.

So yeah, this is Isaac's rude awakening in the land we all dream of visiting. I like the way it's written and I probably won't change that much in the future. The Everfree blueberries will play another role in the story soon.

EDITORS AND PRE-READERS WELCOMED, come to my PM box to apply :P

Comments

[King_Krysalis]

Agian I'm first.....yay?!?!

anyway great story and if I woke up in the everfree fprest there would be alot of Gangnam style happeneing