A human is forced to endure the trauma of being stuck in a different world, and the fearful looks he gets from the locals.
If I could go back to having my boring old normal life in San Diego, I would take the opportunity in a heartbeat. But no, I'm stuck in this strange... yet somehow familiar world of ponies. You can laugh at that if you wish, I won't. It's not as funny as it sounds as soon as you get a good look at what I have become.
I am no longer the man I was, at least not physically. I have somehow ended up in the body of the video game character Raiden. Not the one from 'Metal Gear Solid Two', No. I have become the one from the franchises spin off, 'Metal Gear Rising Revengence', and because of that. I am no longer fully human; most of my body has been changed into a cybernetic frame.
I'm afraid too show my face to the public; ponies don't like the walking cybernetic man with a sword, go figure. I've just been hiding in the shadows for now until i'm able to find someone too help me. I will then ask for their assistance in returning myself back too normal. I just hope I can find someone capable of this soon, not sure how much more mental strain I can take.
How rude of me, I haven't even told you my name. I don't care what I look like now, I will always go by the name of Arin.
[Displaced story]
I know what you're thinking, not another one of these stories. For Christ sake do they ever stop?
Well personally these stories are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I wanted to give one a try. You can complain all day long, but It won't change my opinion on these stories, and the group of people who write them.
With that being said, feel free to converse about the story in the comments. Except for complaints about this being a Displaced, they have already been said ten-thousand times. Complain instead about grammar, story structure, pacing, characters, et cetera. Those are the real worthwhile complaints that can make me improve as an author.
P.S Comments that are beyond rude, and just slander for slander sake will be deleted from this point on. If you hate the story, there is no need to be a dick.
Rumbling can be heard from the car driving over the old dirt road; a road that hasn't been driven on in a good while. The dirt path was located somewhere in the Sierra Nevada's, Arin would not remember where this road was exactly located in the Nevada's, it was a complicated maze of winding roads just to get too it.
Arin had been visiting his old friends from high school; it was a get together for old time sake. A way to show that they haven't lost touch after these past six months. Arin was working as a part-timer at a Burger King fast food restaurant as he was going to college. Majoring in Economics and Psychology; after earning his Bachelors, he was gonna try his luck at getting into law school.
"Arin you there?" Asked a brown haired blue eyed female next to him.
Arin didn't hear her. He was lost to his imagination as he thought of how long it has been since he had seen his friends, and how they have changed over the past six months.
"Hello? Earth to Arin," the woman waved her left hand in front of Arin's face.
Arin snapped out of his daze and looked at the person beside him. "Sorry Claire... I was lost in thoughts, is all."
"Is that so, if I may so bold to ask, what were you so lost in thought about?" Claire looked at Arin for an answer.
"Nothing really, just thinking about how long it's been since any of us have seen each other."
"Yeah, it sure has been awhile," said Claire reminiscing on past memories.
"You can say that again," the dark skinned driver joined the conversation. "We really shouldn't stay separated so long. It's just not the same without you guys, you know."
"Yeah, I feel ya," responded Arin sympathetically.
There would have been a passenger seat in the front of the car, had it not been tattered from old age. It was the only seat that really had the effects of age hit it hard.
"So... where exactly are we going again Steven?" Asked Claire curiously.
"There's this cave I've been hearing about lately around these parts. I had no idea where it was exactly, luckily for me there was a nice old gentleman at this gas station that gave me a map that pointed out the location of this so called cave. Never got that mans name, oh well." Answered Steven.
"Great, that's reassuring. Taking directions from a map that some random old man gave you..." Arin snarked.
"Hey, you can learn a lot from your elders," replied Steven.
"He's right," added in Claire.
"True, but you can't trust every old person you meet. Could have been a convict in his prime."
A screeching noise from the breaks, and a sudden lurch forward signaled that the car had stopped.
"Look, there's the cave. We're here," said Steven pointing to an ominous caves entrance.
"We're in the mountains, probably just luck we found a cave here." Arin continued his previous argument.
"Yeah, yeah. keep telling yourself that, whatever makes you sleep at night." Replied Steven too Arin's complaints.
Arin just grumbled in response.
"Oh, come on boys. Lets just get out of the car and check out that cave already. Been cooped up in here for awhile now," interjected Claire.
"Yeah, I really need to stretch my legs." Added Arin.
The trio got out of the car, closing each of their doors respectively. All three took a moment to stretch their sore muscles, and then proceeded to walk towards the cave entrance. Arin in the back, Steven in the front, and in the middle was Claire.
The cave entrance was about fifteen to twenty feet high, and thirty to thirty five feet wide. It was pitch black, no light entered its gaping maw. Steven pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, and shined it downed the caves ever awaiting gullet. The looks of the cave were about what you would expect. Brown drab floor with some bumps; There was water leaking from the ceiling, probably ambient water from the source that carved out this cave.
"Oooooooh, spooky," Steven joked.
"Yeah, it is pretty creepy..." Claire stuttered a bit in her speech as she said that. She was probably spooked at the caves atmosphere.
"Hey, we haven't came across any bats so far. So that's a plus," Arin tried to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I guess you're right..." She replied.
The group continued down the caves ever lasting pathway, hoping to find something worth their troubles. Maybe some precious metals or gems?
A glow caught Arin's eye as he walked. "Huh... what's that," He pointed a finger to the strange blue throbbing light coming from a small opening on the side of the cave.
"Strange, suppose we should check it out, may be some kind of pricey material," suggested Steven. The group approached the small opening. "I don't think I'll be able to squeeze through that small of a opening though"
"I'm too claustrophobic... and a bit scared." Claire shivered out.
"I guess that leaves me then, I'm a small enough frame I should be able to squeeze by if I tried." Arin then squeezed himself into the small opening, moving inch by inch deeper into the unknown. After a moment or two, he finally made it into another chamber of the cave on the other side of the opening.
"You alright?" Called Steven."
"Yeah, there's another chamber on the other side of the opening." Arin then looked towards were the light source was coming from. "I'll be back in a sec, I'm just gonna check out what this blue light is."
"Be careful!" Claire yelled with caution.
"I will, don't worry." Arin then proceeded down the new chamber, the light growing in luminosity the closer and closer he got. Eventually he reached yet another chamber, this one having a pedestal in the center. That had been where the light was coming from; a sword floated slightly above the pedestal.
"What?" Arin questioned. He then walked up to the pedestal, squinting his eyes because of the intense blue light. Once he got to about two feet away from the pedestal, the light dimmed, and he was able to get a better look at the sword in question. It was black, shiny, looked ludicrously sharp, and most of all, deadly.
"Strange... why the hell is there a sword way down here, it makes no sense." Arin wondered. "And, somehow I feel like I have seen this sword somewhere before..." Arin was about to grab the sword unconsciously, but then pulled his hand away. "No, it could be booby trapped..." Arin took another look at the sword; how tantalizing was it to just reach out and grab it. "Ahhh, screaw it."
Arin then picked up the sword by the handle. The blades glow lessened to a even dimmer glow, and Arin then looked at his reflection off the shiny sword. "Guess it wasn't booby trapped after all..." Arin turned around to head back to his friends, but a sharp pain traveled up his arm. Eventually his entire body was enveloped in a blanket of pain. "Uuuuuuggggghhhhhh!" Arin grunted out, before succumbing to the pain, and passing out. Hitting the rocky floor below, hard.
Blackness, nothingness, this was what surrounded Arin. Smothering him like the grip of death himself. He felt nothing, he couldn't even show emotions; just another empty vessel traversing the void. The empty space between dimensions, a place where nothing but deaths cold touch existed.
It could have been minutes, hours, months, years. Arin didn't know, it was impossible to tell time here. It felt like he would be here for eternity; never to see the light of the day again. Forced too be a sack flesh stuck in a place where time doesn't flow. A place where he would forever be stuck with the uneasiness of the void.
"Another... and so soon," said a deep echoing voice that surrounded Arin at all sides. "Progress is going so well..."
A loud popping sound resonated across the void, followed by a stray beam of light striking Arin across the face. Arin grumble with the uneasiness of his eyes reacting to the light; not having seen light in so long affected his eyes. The light grew brighter and brighter, reaching a point where it felt like he was up close to the sun itself.
Just as soon as the light came to it's climax, it dissipated. Leaving a now conscious Arin shaken in slight pain on the cold ground. After another moment of regaining bits of consciousness, Arin felt the need to breath scream out to him. Eyes shooting open, Arin took the deepest breath he had ever taken in his life.
Arin coughed in between intervals of breaths. He tried to stand up, but kept on falling back onto the ground, face first. He then decide to just sit, and look at his current surroundings. He looked around him, taking note that he seemed to have somehow ended up being transported to a fog filled forest.
Something was funny with his vision though, it looked like he was looking out of a security camera; definitely something that didn't seem normal. He went to wave a hand in front of his face, his right one to be specific. What met his gaze sent fear through him, and made his heart sink in his chest. A black, metallic looking hand with pointed tips at each finger and thumb greeted him. The strange metallic structure traveling up his entire arm, overlapping what looked like grey synthetic looking muscle.
"What th-" Arin stopped his speech as soon as he heard his voice. It sounded raspy, like he had been punched too many times in the throat, or he had been smoking most his life. He was no smoker; resented the idea of turning his lungs a sickly black. Standing up, now able to stand without his daze affecting his motor skills. He looked down at what he could see of his body, the same black frame greeting him across his entire body.
Feeling his face, he felt the structure of it not familiar to his own rugged shape. Instead it was a more smooth sharp shape. His jaw however was made of the same metallic material as his body, and for some reason a bandanna was rapped around his left eye. He then ran his hands through his hair, longer then what he previous thought it to be. Pulling it in front of his face, he took note of it being a platinum blonde.
The realization hit him like a frat train; he knew this body. Knew what all the metallic intricacies and artificial muscles were from. If he was correct, he was somehow in the body of the video game character, Raiden.
This is impossible... Arin thought to himself, not believing in what he was looking at. He knew this had to be some sort of dream, or a sick joke. That's why he decided to give himself a punch in the gut; pinching wouldn't really effect him all too much considering his armor plating. To his utter shock, he felt that, slightly. Still, he felt it all the same.
"What the hell is happening to me!" He yelled out to no one in particular; freaked out over his impossible body. His mind was running overtime, pushing too the point of where he was gonna have a psychotic break. Collapsing to his knees he whispered softly to himself, "Why... How could that sword do this. It had to be that sword... I mean what else could it have been." He would have cried if not for his new eye lacking the biological methods of doing such. "It must have been cursed, that's the reason why it was glowing; had some sort of magical enchantments."
After another couple of moments of mourning his tragic change in appearance, he stood up again knowing that he had to find some help. Hopefully they could look past the whole cybernetic man thing.
Suddenly, a notice appeared in his vision. It was alerting him to movement in the area. He looked around trying to get a look at whatever was watching him, "who's there?" A group of vicious, hungry glowing green eyes appeared in front of him. They came closer and closer, reveling to Arin the wooden beasts that stalked him. Wanting to make him their next meal. "Oh, Shit!" Arin stammered out in fear.
He backed away slowly, not sure what to do, what could he do. He never encountered such wild beasts before, especially ones that looked like they jumped right out of a fantasy book. He had grown up in San Diego, the only wild beasts there was from the zoo, and they were secured behind walls and cages. These animals were free and roaming these woods.
When the wooden beast in the front of the pack got into pouncing distance, Arin did the only thing he could think of at the moment, run. And so he ran, ran away from the pack of monsters in a random direction. Hopefully he would be able to lose them, or find a way out of the forest and call for help.
He was running so much faster then he should have been, must have been the new body of was his. He felt a hot tingling feeling in his feet, he looked down for a moment. Only to notice electricity was surrounding his feet, pushing him even faster. He was like a lightning bolt, moving so fast he could have kept up with an accelerating car.
Taking a look back, he noticed that he put a great distance between him and the pack. They were still on the chase, so he didn't slow down for a moment. moving past more bushes, and dodging trees he noticed a opening in the forest. Light shining through it, it must be the exit to the forest.
Accelerating he pushed himself out of the forest, putting on the brakes. At how fast he was moving he put indents into the ground as he sled to a stop. Dust coming from it, enveloping his vision for a moment. Looking behind him into the forest as the dust settled, he took notice that his hunters had stopped their pursuit and turned back into the mystic forest.
"Thank... god," Arin still couldn't believe how fast he had ran, it felt so exhilarating. "This body came in some use, I guess..." Arin turned back around, pointing away from the forest he once been in. He took note of his new surroundings; It looked as natural as the last environment. Except it had less trees, and more grass and flowers. He saw a building not to far away, had a grassy looking roof, and yellow walls with circular windows.
"Might as well see if anyone's home, I need the guidance to where I am after all. Hope they see mysterious looking guests often." He then proceeded to the housing in question, still shaken up over the days events, and it hasn't even ended yet. The sun was still high in the sky; same place it was when he entered the cave with Claire and Steven. Claire and Steven, Arin thought. I hope their okay right now, hate to see them in the same boat as me. He shook that thought out of his head, and focused on the task at hand. He had to ask the occupants of this cottage for any information on where he was right now.
Walking up to the cottage front door, he knocked lightly to get the owners attention.
"One moment," came a light female voice.
Arin waited outside patently for the girl to open the door. After a couple of moments standing there the door opened, and both the owner of the cottage and Arin gasped in shock. In front of Arin was a little buttered colored horse looking thing. It had pink hair, and its eyes took up most its head.
"Uhhhhhh," was all Arin was able to stammer out looking at the creature in front of him.
The little thing shuddered in fear before dashing back into its home, slamming and locking the door behind it. "W-what?" Arin let out silently.
"Please go away, please please please go way Everfree monster." Came the same female voice from before, somehow coming from the strange equine that opened the door a second ago.
"What?" Arin said again, this time more audibly. Why was there a little horse creature living in this house, and second off how did it know to talk? Not wanting to provoke the female horse any longer, and not wanting to further confuse himself. He walked away from the house. "Okay... that was definitely not normal. Then again, what has been normal today?"
He looked up to the blue sky saying one last thing before he started walking down the dirt path next to the house. "I hope I can find something sane in this madness soon, this is just to much..."
Arin was walking down the dirt path that was next to the yellow equines cottage; he had been walking for around five minutes now. After a moment or two more, a couple of small cozy houses appeared in his range of vision. They were a similar coloration as the cottage from earlier, except that their roofs were brown unlike the green grass like look of the cottage. Their windows were also not circular, but instead shaped square like a normal house.
Hope that there are actual people who live in this town, I don't think I ever felt so alone in my life... Thought Arin, Every creature I've encountered so far has been animals. One being a talking one, but that's besides the point. There was no humans to interact with so far, and that was digging under Arin's skin.
Arin got closer and closer to the cluster of buildings, minute after minute; the buildings grew more in number giving this upcoming area the right to be called a town. It looked like a nice and cozy town, so he hoped that the locals would be much of the same.
A sign was on the side of the dirt path, it read. "Welcome to Ponyville! Home to the nicest ponies in Equestria."
"W-what..." Arin said now sounding like a broken record. "Ponyville... ponies... Equestria..." After a moment of flabbergast Arin opened his mouth again. "Ponies... that explains the little horse from earlier, but seriously? I'm I supposed to believe that I have somehow got stuck in a world with sapient ponies, while in the body of Raiden? I think that swords curse was insanity..."
Not wanting to enter the town knowing it was full of more ponies who would probably run in terror at the sight of him, he decided to walk on the outskirts of town; see what the locals were doing from a distance. Taking a turn at the sign, he started to walk a circle around the right side of the town. He went from tree to tree, bush to bush in order to make himself less visible. After a good moment of doing that he finally got a good vantage point on a hill, behind a bush on the right side of the town.
A whole spectrum of ponies could be seen with all colors of the rainbow. Some of them having horns, and wings. Some less fortunate being basic with neither of the two. A thought came to Arin's mind. He then said it aloud to himself, "now that I think about it. Didn't that yellow pony have a pair of wings?"
He continued to look at the ponies, watching them go about their daily lives. Some set up stands at what looked to be the local market. One stand was selling apples, the pony next to it had orange fur and yellow hair. For some reason that pony was also wearing a stetson hat. So they also wear clothes, well it doesn't look like the norm considering the others walking around are completely naked technically speaking.
Looking up to the sky, he could see a blur of colors swooping from cloud to cloud. His enhanced vision was able to make at that it was pony shaped, but it was moving so fast it was hard to determine what defining features it had. After knocking away a couple of clouds in the sky, for some reason. It stopped and Arin was able to get a better look at it. It was a cyan coated winged pony, but its most defining feature was its rainbow colored hair. both its hair and tail was every color you could imagine, and that was definitely different from the other colorful ponies; they were colorful, but not that colorful.
The pony wiped sweat from its brow, and looked around satisfied at the job it had just done. Unfortunately for Arin, with the pony looking around at her work, she met eyes with him and that made his heart skip a beat. He dove back under the bush in order to hide his visage, hopefully the pony would just shrug it off and pretend to never have saw him.
He could hear the wind being disturbed by the flapping of powerful wings; closer and closer it drew, eventually it was right up close to him.
Clop, Clop.
Sounded hooves that landed on the ground in front of the bush Arin was hiding behind.
"I know you're there, show yourself," came a raspy female voice. It didn't sound pleased, and knew that she had him cornered.
Arin slowly raised himself up reviling himself to the winged pony.
The pony gasped in shock, then blew air out of her noise. "Alright, what type of monster are you supposed to be?"
"Monster, I'm no monster I am a human." Protested Arin.
"Human... never heard of it. How can I be sure you're not lying, I mean look at you. No matter how cool it looks, that is defiantly not what any friendly individual would look like." She argued.
Arin looked down to the ground, "Yeah... I know I look like a freak, but you need to hear me out." The thought of trying to reason with a pony hit his mind; Never thought he would do that in his lifetime.
"One minute, that's all you're getting. Then if I still think you are a threat to this town, you are gonna get well antiquated with my hooves. Mr.pain, and Ms.pain."
Arin had to act fast, say something to convince her that he was not some evil scary monster. Okay, the scary part may be true, but that's besides the point. "If I really wanted to hurt these ponies, don't you think I would have done it by now. Monsters don't sneak around towns. They go into them and slaughter everyone, no remorse."
The cyan pony still held her dagger glaring gaze at Arin for a bit, but it was wavering. A moment later she finally let her defense down, and relaxed her muscles. "I guess that makes sense, but why are you snooping around this town for?"
"Same reason you accused me of being a monster, the looks." He replied to her question.
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"No problem, I don't blame you just look at me."
She let out a little laugh, "Yeah... so what's your name anyway?" She asked him.
"The names Arin, and yours?"
"My names Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in all of Equestria." She boasted proudly.
Looking at her hair he said, "Rainbow Dash, huh. Makes sense considering the hair."
"Mane, and I think that's where my parents got the inspiration for my name. That, and that I love to fly around very fast."
"Speaking of flying fast, when you were wacking those clouds away earlier it was hard to see you moving. Could only make out a pony shaped rainbow blur in the sky." He said with a bit of awe,
"Hey, don't put yourself down too much, like I said. Fastest pegasus in Equestria, and you seeing my movements at that speed is pretty impressive. Most ponies can't keep their eye on me when I'm going that fast."
"That is a pretty cool skill, wish I could fly. That would be awesome." He complimented her
"It is awesome, you feel so free when you are in the sky... you know you're a pretty cool guy Arin. We should hang some other time." She turned around, and continued to say. " have to get back to work, still a couple of clouds left in the sky, and all."
"Wait!" Arin reached out, and grabbed he shoulder. "Don't leave just yet, I have a couple important questions left. Foremost being that I need a place to lay low. Ponies are more than likely gonna react like you did when you seen me, either that or be scarred into a coma."
She turned around, and looked at him again. "I think I know one place that should work for the time being."
Rainbow and Arin were walking through an apple orchard for about three minutes now. They took the long way around town to get here in order for Arin not to be noticed. "These trees seem to never end, who owns all this?" Asked Arin.
"My friend Applejack, she along with her family run Sweet Apple Acres; best apples in all of Equestria. Any apple related product you may want, they have it." Rainbow Dash replied.
"With this many apple trees, I don't doubt it. Also, Applejack? Surprised she hasn't be sued by Kellogg's" Arin let out a soft laugh.
"What do you mean by that?" The pegesus asked.
"Oh, nothing you wouldn't understand." he replied.
"If you say so, anyway we're almost there." They continued on their trek until they came across a nice little tree house. "This tree house belongs to three fillies I know, but they are out of town right now. Something about visiting their friend in Manehatten. My friend Rarity got a fashion deal there, so she though it would be nice to bring the little squirts along for the trip. Said it would be a excellent place to get their cutie marks, city of opportunity after all."
Arin had many questions to ask her about what she just said, but thought to just save it for later. He had had such a ridiculous long day, and thought some rest would do him some good. He didn't feel all to tired, but he knew it was good for him.
"There should be couple of sleeping bags in there somewhere. Heard Scootaloo talking about it being there for slumber parties."
"Thanks, this means a lot to me." Arin thanked Rainbow Dash.
"No problem, always willing to help a friend in need."
"Friend?" Arin questioned letting the thought linger in his mind.
"Yeah, friends. You're cool enough, so I guess that we're friends and all." She replied.
"I'd like that, thanks."
"Again, no problem don't need to be so sappy."
He let out a little laugh, "Yeah."
"I got to get going now, the boss is gonna flip when he hears about me leaving my post." She turned around, and said to him. "You gonna be okay with me gone?"
"I'll be fine, you can head off to your job." With that Rainbow Dash took off into the sky, becoming just a blur on the horizon. Arin then turned around and made his way up the ramp to the tree house. "Nice girl, who knew ponies could be so nice." He opened the door to the tree house, and stepped on in.
The tree house was small, only having a singular table with a pair of chairs, a couple of small chests, and a pedestal where someone could give a speech.
"Eh... It'l do for now." With that he set out to find the sleeping bags, first looking in the chests. To his luck, they were there. They were really small for him, so he decided to just lay them down on the floor to sleep on, hopefully making it more comfortable. It wasn't the greatest, but it worked. Before closing his eyes, he thought of his friends Claire and Steven, and finally his new one Rainbow Dash.
