> In Unexpected Hands > by A SketchPad > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1: Not a Toy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day was the same as the last. Wake up, shower, eat, go to school, eat, continue, walk home, do chores, play games, do homework, free time, sleep, and the cycle continues. The only dynamics are the activities in school, games, and free time. Your thoughts wander to a universe where you are all the rage. Your amazing skills in artistry, your philosophy on life, the impact you make on the lives of others. Hell, even becoming a representative of your planet to meet new alien life would be amazing! To travel the universe and become a traveling soldiering diplomat that saves the galaxy! But that will never happen. It's all about hard work and causing controversies that would bring you to light and you aren't ready for that type of spotlight. Sighing, you walk down the road, having your music blast in your ears. A little bit of mainstream and vague artists here and there to add more variety. You look down at your phone to see a little bit of Puscifer's song, Humbling River, playing in your ears. A little somber, but you like the message of unity that it sends. "Where are we?" You heard a voice say after the song ended. "Never mind where we are. It isn't important." Stopping, you listen to where the voices possibly are. The rural town didn't have a lot going on, so this would probably add a little excitement. You silently stepped to where the voices were as they continued talking, finding the source of the voices around the corner in an alleyway. You see a dump-truck idly revving its engines with a few dumpsters placed against the wide walls. A bright prismatic colored circle floats in the air. You question it a little before you hear rustling in one of the dumpsters. You reel back into the corner as you hear gagging and...clopping of hooves. Turning back around slowly and silently, your eyes behold two pastel colored horses. Not only that, but one of them sported both wings and a horn while the other just had wings. A purple one and a cyan rainbow haired one, respectively. "Alright. Hopefully, and I do hope, the Alicorn Amulet will not be found and it won't find its way back to Equestria." The purple one spoke. Your eyes widened from her words. They can talk, and not only that, they're from another world. "Can we leave? This place is giving me the creeps. It looks just like Equestria...except filthier." You take slight offense at the rainbow horse's words. But you take a moment to consider the possibility. This 'Equestria' of theirs seems to have less pollution if they think Earth is filthy. "Yeah, let's get out of here." Both of them jumped into the portal. You walk out as it closes, not meeting eye to eye in that split second, sadly. Hearing a door open, you turn to the left as you see your cousin come out of the shop in his uniform. He was the garbage man of this part of the township. He high-fived you and offered a lift to back home in the truck. You nod at this and walk back down the alleyway. As you pass by one of the dumpsters, you see a shining red gem in the darkness of the dumpster. You watch your cousin get in the truck and quickly jump in to grab it. You put it over your neck and hurry over to the passenger seat. "Took the long way home, I take it?" He asks you after three awkward minutes. Looking over, you nod and chuckle. "Thought it would be interesting to take a scenic route. To break the monotony, I guess." You respond, looking out of the window as your street approaches. "Yeah, I get ya. Don't be a stranger, man." His eyes look at you with genuine concern as you hop out of the truck. You smile and wave, walking into your home. Opening the door, you see that your only chore is doing the dishes. A stockpile of plates, dishes, and pans within the sink. You decided to wait a little bit and inspect your new treasure. Taking it out from under your shirt, you look at the black, red, and gray jewel. The top of the jewel was a red eyed unicorn with wings connected to the rhombus ruby with a triangular tip at the bottom. It looked cartoony, but it looked nice. You wondered what made the colorful equines leave this treasure here. Thoughts zoom by your head as you construct many situations. Maybe it was worth so much that its presence was a danger to their society. Or it was a catalyst for a dangerous machine. It could be... "I hope you're contemplating doing the dishes instead of letting your mind wander. They aren't gonna clean themselves!" Your mother says as she passes by, walking outside to tend to her flowers. You sigh and look up at the mess you have to clean. Honestly, you wished that the dishes would clean themselves. Clink. Clank. Klonk. Your eyes widen as the sink turns on and the dishes literally clean themselves. A red aura surrounds the pots, pans, and plates as they float in a single file line, waiting to be cleaned two at a time. A moment passes as the clean dishes get dry and get placed in their respective areas. You watch with a held breath as the dishes are instantly cleaned up and put away. The red aura disappears as you look down at the...what did they call it? The Alicorn Amulet? Yeah, that's it. "This was a trick...this tech of theirs couldn't have..." You mutter to yourself as you go up to your room. Walking in, you close the door and blink for a moment before closing your eyes. Your mind envisions the messy room and you feel the magic of the amulet draw out and reach out to the contents of your room. They all floated across and around, giving out more space and getting rid of the clutter that mostly threatens to trip you. After a few moments, you open your eyes and look around the room, seeing it all perfectly clean. You smile and hold onto the amulet, kissing the red stone in the middle. You think about the portal that opened up at the alleyway. You put a hand on your chin, wondering if you can remake that portal with your own hands. You know it was rainbow in color around the edges, but you didn't know what the insides looked like. You decide to just say the name of the land you wanted to go to. "Alicorn Amulet, please grant me entryway into this land of Equestria!" You say, opening your hands forward dramatically. A few moments pass by. Maybe two minutes. Nothing. You look at the amulet and try something more dramatic. With the red aura around your hands, you pretend to rip open a portal, just for the hell of it. Between your touching knuckles, you see a bright light. You blink and try to pull it apart. The portal seemed to be resisting your action. You let go and move back before the portal would chop off your hands or fingers. You sigh and roll your arms around, hoping to gather some sort of strength. There! You feel a sudden relaxation upon your muscles after that thought. You try again, seeing the bright light again, except this time, it isn't resisting much. You push it open and watch as it stays open. You look in it and look to see rolling hills of apple trees. Your legs guide you into this otherworldly dimension. You look around and see a barn in the distance, with a quaint little house sitting in beside it. You look behind you and see a town that looks like some sort of fancy medieval houses. Thatched roofs with plastered walls and windows with square or diamond shapes. Hearing a thumping noise, you turn around and see an orange pony in the distance, bucking a tree and making the apples fall off. You close the portal with the same way and it makes a loud thunderboom. You slouch at the noise and rub your ears. It was a painful to be up close to that sound. Remembering the orange pony, you look to where she was and see her eyes looking into yours. The both of you stand there for a few moments. 30 seconds. One minute. You backpedal and she steps forward. Again and again, you both move back until you trip over a pebble and flip over the fence. After your face hits the floor, you hear her hooves hitting the ground toward you. You quickly put the amulet under your shirt and run toward town. Her voice shouts for you to stop, but you ignore that. You know for sure that an off-worlder would probably be sent to some sort of Area 51 type of place. You watched enough alien movies to know that it was a fact that would happen. Running through the town, you can hear the screams coming from all the citizens around you. They have no doubt never seen anything like you before. What, with a world full of colorful ponies. A tingling feeling surrounds your body. Looking around, you see that you are floating in a purple bubble. You try to break it, but with no avail. When the bubble bumps on the ground, you fall, your body curving against the bubble. A familiar face surrounds your vision. Her purple fur and her tri-toned hair of purple and pink. Getting up, she seemed to be as tall as your height. You imagine that she could possibly be the same height as you if she were to stand on two of her legs. "Hello. Do you understand us?" the purple pony spoke to you. You look and see a crowd gather around you. They seemed to be afraid, a few of them had angry looks, some of them with excited eyes. You look down, afraid of this kind of contact. You blink and remember the amulet in your possession. You try to will the magic bubble to disappear. After a few moments, the bubble started to fizz, from your feet and to the top as it fizzled away from existence. The ponies gasp and you giggle a bit before pivoting, running forward into the crowd. They all scream and part the way for you. The tingling sensation comes back again, only for you to hit your body with your hands in a dramatic sense as you dispel the magic from hitting you. You look back as the purple pony continued to shoot magic at you, trying to grasp onto your body. "Rainbow Dash, he's dispelling my magic. Try and catch him!" You look back and see the crowd of ponies way back, but the familiar rainbow colored pegasus is dashing toward you. She almost hit you in what you believed was near light speed. But she passed you and stood in front of you yards away. You veer off the trail and head towards the shady looking woods in front of you. You smile as you use your amulet's magic to gain speed. When you enter the forest, you stop and look back, seeing the ponies look at the forest in horror. Getting out of the shrubbery, they spot you and gasp. You smile and wave, saying, "Thanks for the gift, purple pony!". They all look at her as you run deep into the woods. Today was a fun day. You not only entered a new world, you joked and messed with the population of these ponies with just your presence. You can use, augment, and break magic with just your mind. You feel supreme and alive. This was just what you needed to break the cycle of your monotonous life. But you figured enough was enough. You amplify your strength and try to rip open the portal to your world, only for nothing to happen. You didn't feel the sensation around your knuckles. Chuckling, you try again and again, with each attempt making your heart beat with anxiety. "C'mon, stupid amulet. Work!" You say, biting your bottom lip as you try time and time again. You try to use the amulet for other means. You make camp easily, making a bonfire and making a small bedding with the leaves and grass around. Looking at the amulet, you glare at it with anger. It won't let you back home. The more you think about it, the more you feel that the amulet is somewhat sentient. You shake the thing and yell out loud. You feel somewhat better after letting that out, but you aren't going to give up just yet. Getting on the makeshift bed, you snuggle against yourself as the warmth of the fire keeps you from freezing from the cold. As sleep takes you, you can't help but feel excitement for the days to come. > 2: Horizons > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waking up was a harsh task to undertake. Not only was your body hurting from the whole ordeal yesterday, but so did your mind. Groaning, you run a hand across your forehead and try to heal your aches with the amulet. You felt the magic tingling, but your brain protested against it. Flopping your hand down, you come to the conclusion that you're gonna take the whole magic thing lightly today. Nothing that will influence your body. You look toward a few piles of sticks and try levitating them. You feel no pain in your head, so you assume levitation is something really basic. Augmentation on your body, disabling magic, and all the like is probably something really advanced that'll leave you weary the next day. Putting that mental file away, you look up at the sky and smell the air. The sky was shining bright for an early morning. The flora of the forest enhances the scent of nature. The small embers give you that nostalgic feeling of all those times you spent with family around the fireplace. You blink and look down at a random patch of grass. You remembered what happened last night. You can use magic to do everything else, but you can't get back home. It doesn't hit as hard as you thought it would, but the thought scares you that you might be trapped here forever. No, you can't think like that. There's some hope here. Maybe you can try to ease your way into their society, somehow. But you throw away that thought. You kinda screwed that up when you ran, dispelled magic, and entered some sort of forbidden forest that they were afraid of. Maybe offer some apology. Or... You hear snapping twigs and rustling leaves to your left. Looking, your eyes widen at the sight. An amalgamation of logs and bark that formed a wolf. Not just that, but at least three more behind the one closest to you. You look around and glare at them, backing up and away from them. You try casting some sort of fire spell, but your mind yells at you in pain. You try to cast it nonetheless, only for a small ball of fire to pop out and miss, hitting your makeshift bed and burning it. Leaning against the tree behind you, your head is swimming with pain. The timberwolves are walking up to you, still. But only in cautionary steps. They fear you might try it again. No matter how you spin this in your head, you have to go back and hope those ponies might save you. You swing around the tree and run. You know you were going in the right direction. You didn't venture THAT far into the forest. At least you hoped. But you could see the thatched roofing of the natives, telling you that you guessed right. Looking back, you could see the timberwolves coming after you. "They seriously don't care...oh god, please help me." You muttered as you run through the town, startling the natives yet again, but with greater impact with the timberwolves chasing you. Your body shrieked at you to stop; the aching turning into pain from the amount of running. You wouldn't let that happen. As much as you love rest, you doubt you'd enjoy wooden teeth piercing your body. Though, the lasso yanking your ankles has other plans. You fall on the floor and see the timberwolves glide over you. They slam into the walls of someone's home, collapsing into a bundle of twigs. While you would smile, your pained body and slamming headache is more of a priority to fix. That wasn't helping much as the orange pony drags you toward her. In all honesty, now that you think about it, going out in the woods in a strange land was probably not the best idea. "Somepony get Twilight over here!" Her voice rang out. "And Fluttershy, too! He don't look so good." She looked into your eyes and put a hoof to your head. Her gaze is steeled, but it betrays a sense of worry as black encroaches the corners of your vision. Looking up at the sky, the clouds roll by. Your brain makes out different shapes and patterns, causing your mouth to grin as you black out. ~~~ As you see colors swim into your vision, you could faintly hear concerned voices speaking about your well being. You start to discern shapes in the room, seeing books within shelves and the quilt that covers you. Three moving blobs slowly take shape as equines. There was that purple winged unicorn, the orange farmer pony, and a yellow pegasus. You groan as the yellow one wrings out a towel and places it on your head. She seems to be taking your presences well. From the way she hid behind the orange one, you take it she's cool with you. "So..." you weakly turn your head to the purple pony. She gulped and looked down, contemplating her first question. "...honestly, I don't know what to ask him. So many questions to ask, but they're dashing around my head that I can't catch them." "I'll ask. Who are ya, stranger?" The orange pony spoke up. "I...uh...I ain't telling. I'm standing by the fifth amendment." You answer quickly. That causes a confused look among the three of them. "I know how it goes. You ask the questions and if I don't answer, I get roughed up. So with that, I stand by the fifth amendment." "All I'm asking is what yer name is. It's clear you speak our language, but I have no idea what yer spoutin' out." She spoke. She was puzzled, but she was curious as to who you were, that's no doubt. But you aren't going to give them the pleasure of who you are. You raise your hands and try to use some magic to do the ol' bash the back of their heads trick like in the cartoons. No. Not even once today. Your mind is really loathing you, at the moment. You hold your head and groan, hoping to sink deeper into the pillows. "I'm guessing you realize that using magic of that magnitude is bound to cause some headaches." The purple one said. "Don't worry. It'll pass by with a bit of rest." "You're being awfully nice toward an alien. When are you going to probe or dissect me?" You cut straight to the point. "Err...what?" The three of them stare at you with a widened look. "Isn't that how it works? When you have an alien species from another world, you usually hide them from the world and dissect them to learn more about them." "That...no, I...What kind of environment have you been raised in?!" The yellow one yells. She hovers towards you and runs a hoof over your face. "That is not the kind of ponies we are. Why would we ever do something like that to anything?" "Well, TV and movies kind of tell you that aliens are hidden away from public view only to be dissected and used as a lab rat." "And you believe those types of medias without a second thought?" The purple pony deadpanned from your response. You stay silent for a few moments before she says, "I never thought I'd talk about these types of things to another...what are you, anyway? You don't look like a minotaur. You look more advanced for a monkey." "I'm a human." You introduce yourself. "I am a species that survived hundreds of thousands of years of nature. We transformed the Earth around us into our playground. We have discovered and invented many great sciences and knowledges that even you...uhh...ponies...even you ponies would be like 'holy shit, they're amazing'." It left them astonished, albeit the purple one seemed to be very interested in what you've said. She rubbed her chin and shifted her eyes upward, thinking of something to say. "Umm..." She began. "...Have you always been reckless in using your magic?" You open your mouth to tell her you never used magic before using the amulet that you found, but you remember quickly that she and that rainbow pegasus came to your world to throw away that away. You fidget a little bit before she giggles at your antics. "I guess that's a yes. But I have to say, those are really advanced spells that you used." "Well, we're...uhh..." You quickly try to think of something to say. "We may use magic a lot and through genetics of thousands of years, that knowledge is etched into our blood. That's possibly the reason." She nods and looks at the girls. "Well, you stay here and rest. The girls and I will find some food for you to eat when we get back." You wave to the ponies as they leave and rest your head on the pillow. Looking up at the ceiling, you feel something in your pockets bothering you. You take it out and find out it was only your phone. You're kind of relieved, even though you had no signal. You unlock it and start playing some games on it to pass the time until they came back.