Sometimes something comes up that changes your entire life. Same goes for Alex after he found himself in a different world. However not everything changed: he still has his love for music and Heavy Metal.
Life can be weird sometimes. Fate has plans for us, and we never know those plans. Same goes for Alex. After some tragic events, he finds himself in a foreign world without any plans for the future. Maybe something can help him out... And that something is Music.
Story alters between first and thrid person views.
Sex tag is only for sexual themes and references. No clop in this story. A mature side story is out!!
Cover Art done by the awesome FlutterTrash! Go check out his DeviantArt. Image is used with permission.
There he was, standing on the edge of the pier, ready to end his lousy life. Alex was a normal, german guy in his mid-twenties. At least for the first impression he was normal. But that was currently not the case. Within a month, his whole life turned into the living hell. He just couldn’t take anymore, that’s why he just wanted to disappear from this miserable world. He looked down into his own reflection, in the cold water below him, ready to jump and just drown.
--- One month prior ---
Alexander Windhund, a 25 year old guy, with slim but still athletic build, brown short hair and brown eyes that where covered by some sport glasses, was as happy as he could be. Everything worked out for him, even with his psychic illness ADHD. He had a nice girlfriend, since one year, his job was good paid and he liked it there and everything was fine with his friends and family. That should change over a weekend. They received a phone call from the neighbors of grandfather, that they heard a very painful scream coming from his house on Friday evening. The ambulance was informed immediately afterwards and he was transported into the next hospital. Alex mother wasted no time to get ready, packed up a few things and stormed out of the house to get to her injured dad, by car across Germany. Sunday afternoon the bad news reached the rest of Alex family at home. His much loved grandpa passed sadly away. He fell from the stairs and ended up a broken hip and an open wound. Unfortunately the wound infected itself and he died 2 days later of blood poisoning. For Alex a part of his world just braked away, he loved his mother sided grandpa, more than his other grandparents. He always made him smile, had interesting stories to tell and was always up for some card or board games. But the best thing was his house and the nature around it. It was an old house build in the fifties of the old German Democratic Republic surrounded by the beautiful nature of the Erzgebirge at 800m height. He just couldn’t believe it was all over now. But that is life for you, nothing remains forever.
--- Two weeks prior ---
The whole family as well as good friends gathered together to give the passed one his last honor. For Alex it was a bit harder than for others. Not only he and his family had to bury his beloved now, no, he also lost his job on top of this. The funeral itself was one, heroes like Alex’ grandpa deserved. He was for over 60 years in the firefighters in his village and was even ‘commander’ of his group during his career there. After all people made their farewells and the pastor started to carry his urn to his grave, his firefighters brought out their instruments and started to play a low and sad tune that gave that funeral a completely new setting. It was a funeral of a local hero and everybody should know about that. Many sad tears where shred that day.
--- Earlier Today ---
It was just too much to berry. After the funeral Alex tried to get his life back on track and tried to get a new job as fast as possible. But nobody needed his skills right now. Refusal after refusal came back and it drifted Alex even deeper into loneliness, sorrow and isolation. His parents and friends he known since childhood tried their best to lighten up Alex’s mood, but they didn’t succeed very much. He needed only one person at this time: his girlfriend. But she had no time; to wrapped up in her own personal problems with her family and even harder trouble at her workplace, took her pretty much out of free time. Today Alex received a phone call that just crushed his last hopes to get at least halfway back on track. Under the pressure of her parents, his girlfriend canceled the relationship with him. Alex knew from the first day he visited her, that her parents didn’t like him very much. He was good from the outside, but through his psychic disease, he sometimes was more like an 8 year old child; something her parents just couldn’t stand. But this sealed a quite drastic decision Alex made. He didn’t want to take and live this miserable life anymore. So he just went outside, without telling his parents, raced with tears in his eyes past old military buildings and bunkers downhill to the new build pier for a small ship to carry tourists across the lake.
--- Now ---
There he was standing on the end of the pier, ready to end his life. He looked down into his reflection and saw the miserable person he currently was. Alex closed his eyes and took in one last deep breath before jumping with his eyes still closed. Because of that he didn’t see that his reflection was suddenly replaced with an image of a small town. It looked animated and had a lot of white houses with yellow hey as roofs. As Alex touched the cold water below, his world swirled away into complete darkness.
Alex didn’t feel any cold water. He felt like he is traveling through an empty void, with nothing to see and nothing to hear. It felt so wrong, but still so right at the same time. His emotions went crazy; fear, joy, happy- and sadness swarmed Alex’ numb body. His brain told him to do so many things at once, but he couldn’t even focus on one. Suddenly a bright light flashed before him and he had to cover his eyes to not be blinded right then and there.
When the light faded, Alex felt light like a feather. Sadly only for a moment before everyone’s worst enemy, gravity, took hold off him again. Like a huge rock had thrown upon him and its weight bringing him very fast down towards the hard ground. And hard the ground was, when Alex hit it, he could feel several bones of his body crack. Without any chance to compensate his free fall, his head unfortunately also impacted on the cold stone. On the impact all of his senses went numb instantly.
After a few moments he slowly awoke again. His ears ringing, his vision blurry and his head felt like it was going to explode any second. At least that was the massive headache he felt more than anything from his body. He tried to move but didn’t feel any reply. Where am I? was a question that formed in his brain. Alex slowly looked around, with the little movement his broken body still aloud him. He was laying on cold stone, inside of an old and destroyed castle. And from the looks of it, it seemed that this castle was placed inside of a big and scary forest.
Then his eyes caught sight of something strange. Six small figures stood against one every tall one. Because of his blurry eyesight he could only catch the colored outlines of said figures. The six were purple, pink, orange, cyan, white and yellow, the big one was black and it looked like it also had wings and a horn too. Suddenly light erupted from the small things and a rainbow was sent into the air above them. A bloody rainbow?! For real now? Alex questioned himself more and more where he currently was.
A very loud scream came from the black monster as it was engulfed in the rainbow and a few seconds later totally consumed. The scream rose higher and higher and Alex was trying his best to somehow cover his ears, because the higher the scream went, the higher was the pain he felt. Then the rainbow vanished, leaving a smaller blue figure behind. A few moments later Alex was blinded, as the sun rose above the horizon and filled the castle with very bright sunlight, to bright for his weak body and blurry eyesight. If Alex hadn’t closed his eyes just in time, they would have burned straight out of his eye sockets. Then another tall figure was standing in the castle; it was also white and warm sunlight surrounded it. The tall figure first seemed to talk to the little ones before making its way over to the small blue one, they shared a hug.
Without any warning Alex suddenly had to cough up very violently and loudly as he spat out some blood from his mouth. This is not good! he thought before his sight went out and his body numb. Then he heard a gasp and a shrieked “Oh my …”, before somebody else nearby screamed: “We need to get him to the hospital, NOW!” After that Alex world went dark again once more.
Inside of the black void of nothingness, a very small and faint noise reached my ears; it sounded like a very distant ‘Beep’. I wondered if I’m dead now and in hell. I couldn’t be in heaven; otherwise it would have been bright and more … more ‘living’. Here it’s just dark, cold and lonely. The beep noise reached my ears again, this time a bit louder and nearer then in the beginning. Am I still alive? was a thought that entered my mind. If so, where am I and why I am currently here? And why should be still alive? I just can remember that I jumped from the pier into the water.
The rest is just clouded and full of pain. ‘Beep’; again that tone and this time pretty close. I just shrugged it off and went to turn around to go my way into the darkness again. Suddenly a white light appeared not far from me with the beeping coming straight out from it. I found myself pretty confused and just stood there, dumb folded, between light and darkness. Before I could do anything, I was pulled towards the light by an invisible force and I wanted to scream right then and there, but had no air in my lungs to do so. The world swirled away one more time.
My senses returned very slowly towards me. I could make out a constant beeping tone from right next to me, but my ears were still filled with a slight ringing, every time the ‘Beep’ reached my ears. With every second that passed my body feeling also returned to me. My body was still pretty numb, but something was very off; it didn’t feel like the body I was used to be in. “Maybe it’s because you nearly broke yourself in half!” my brain snapped at me. I just stopped myself there; it was currently just too much; too much questions, too many wonderings and too much pain. Maybe some more sleep will help. And with this I felt myself drifting away into the void of dreams.
I don’t know how long I slept, when my body senses and feelings returned to me painfully slow. ‘Beep’ … and of course this bloody noise is also there, AGAIN. I was still questioning myself, if I am alive and where I am. I guess there is only one way to find out if I am still with the living I thought. I tried to open my eyes and failed horribly; it was like they were glued together. I tried it again, this time with more effort, but still failed. I grunted and put much more effort and force into this attempt. I ignored that my body was practical screaming at me, because of all the pain that was still there. I guess if I can feel pain, I am very much alive. So maybe I’m just half dead?
I finally managed to open my eyes, but it was a slow and painful process. The first thing I recognized was that everything around me was white. Yay! I am in heaven! my mind screamed cheerfully; I wondered myself if that was currently the case. A constant ‘Beep’ noise reached my ears yet again and changed my attention to my left side. I turned my head very slowly because everything felt wrong and stiff. A heart monitor stood there on the left side of my … bed? I looked down and noticed I was indeed lying there on a bed, inside in a white room, with white beds, curtains, white windows and other stuff; it seems to be I am in a hospital at least. The noise of a door opening derailed my train of thought. “At least you’re awake!” a nice and soft feminine voice said. I turned my head slowly into the direction the voice came from; what I saw there made my jaw crush onto the floor.
I stared at it … sorry her, for the longest time. What the hell?! I was in awe and couldn’t find any words to say at least something to bring me out of my stupid, staring stupor. This is very awkward. “Hello, my name is nurse Red Cross, dear. Do you have a name?” the equine form asked in a voice of an angel. I picked up my dropped jaw and closed it, while I was trying to shake my head to get some clean thoughts trough my brain again. “What are you?” I asked, still trapped in an awful awe. Very clever Alex, you just made a fool of yourself in front of her. My mind basically underlined that statement with a mental, triple face palm.
She looked at me like I offended her or something. Red Cross softened her expression after a short while and said with a light smile on her face: “Well I am a pony of course. And I am working as a nurse here in the Canterlot Central Hospital.” Somewhere in my brain something clicked like it knew that name of the city, Canterlot, but because I was still pretty banged up, nothing useful came to light. I took in a sharp breath of air and said with all the strength I could bring up at this point: “To answer your earlier question, Miss Cross, I indeed have a name. Alexander Windhund to be exact. And I have no bloody idea how I ended up here. Everything just feels wrong and hurts pretty bad.”
Nurse Red Cross still held that soft smile as she spoke to me: “Alexander Windhund? That is a strange name I’ve never heard of. And how you ended up here, well the princesses found you seriously injured at the old castle in the Everfree Forest. They wasted no time to bring you here and get you medical treated.” Suddenly her face changed to an expression like a light bulb went on in her head. With wide eyes she said: “Speaking of which, I should let the princesses know that you are finally awake. They wanted to speak to you in person, when you wake up again.” With that she turned around and left me to myself again.
--- Some time later ---
I was still on my bed, thinking about what the nurse told me. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Then three firm knocks from the door destroyed every hope of more ‘thinking time’. “I am awake,” I called out. The door opened and two white ponies with golden armor and blue mane and tail stepped into the room and took each side of the door and stood to attention. A little bit of fear entered my system as I noticed that these ponies where armed with a spear. Must be military or something like this, I thought. One of the golden armored equines cleared this throat and announces: “Behold and welcome the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”
Two tall creatures walked into my hospital room. One was white, wore a golden crown and golden regalia, both with a purple gem in its middle and golden ‘shoes’. She had also a rainbow like mane and tail that flowed in an invisible eternal wind and beautiful pink eyes. The other one was grey, had a little black crown on top of her head and also wore a black regalia with a white crescent moon on it, plus some blue ‘shoes’. She had a light blue mane and tail and tale blue eyes. I should mention here that both of them and a horn AND a pair of wings and also some sort of tattoo on their … rear. The white one had a golden sun, while the grey one had a black cloud with a white crescent moon. I’ve never seen something like them before in my entire life.
Both princesses walked over to my hospital bed. While the white one had a nice and calming smile on her face, the grey one held up a stoic and unreadable expression. They both came to halt in front of me and the equine form with the sun on her rear, looked up to me.
She spoke in a very chilling and motherly voice: “Hello. My name is Princess Celestia, Princess of the sun and Co-ruler of Equestria.” Then she gestured with her hoof to the black pony next to her and continued: “This is my sister, Princess Luna, Princess of the night and also Co-ruler of Equestria.” Luna looked up to me, but didn’t change her expression anytime.
“Nice to meet you both,” I said with much happiness as I could bring up at this very moment. “And since you introduced yourself it only seems fair, if I do the same; my name is Alexander Windhund, you may call me Alex, princesses. I also bet we have many questions to each other, so why don’t you start?”
While Luna looked somehow unease and exchanged a quick glance over to her sister, Celestia hold her ground and still had that clam smile glued to her. “I guess a good question to start is: how are you feeling?” she asked.
“Better, but not quite over the hill yet,” I answered as normal as I could. There is bloody royalty in front of me!! my mind practically screamed. It filled my system with an uneasy feeling of light fear that I was still in a damn hospital and the first guests that visited me, except from the nurses and doctors, had to be of course the rulers of the country/kingdom I am currently in.
The princess of the sun seemed to be satisfied with that answer. I guess it is my turn to ask something now. “Does anybody of you know how and why I ended up here in this country, called Equestria?” I said.
Celestias smile seems to falter. With a sad look in her eyes she answered: “That we sadly don’t now, my dear subject.” Wait? What? Subject?! “But we will ensure you that you don’t need to worry about that our ponykind will cause you any harm in our kingdom!” Celestia exclaimed proudly.
“Oh-okay” I answered unsure of what to think about that statement. And why did the princess called me her subject? Now I was the one that felt unease. “Excuse me, Princess Celestia,” I asked with a worried tone in my voice, “why did you call me-“. I never got to finish that sentence. My mind was suddenly clouded and my body screamed to me in pain. I found myself broken on hard ground, a very black creature advanced slowly on me. It was as black as the night, had fangs, wings and a horn. Fear and terror crept up my system and I screamed for my life. I must have screamed the whole hospital together, but I didn’t know that.
Both princesses looked up to me, unsure of what to do, while I screamed in terror. Celestia had a worried expression on her face, while Luna’s was in complete shock. A doctor and a nurse crashed into my room, ignoring the princesses completely. After a short time the doc said: “I would say that he is currently suffering from some kind of bad memory flashback.” He turned to the nurse and continued: “Nurse Red Cross, please give him some painkillers and something to calm him down. I can’t afford that he terrorizes the whole hospital again.”
With that the doctor turned away and got out of my room, while Nurse Red Cross begun to work her magic. It was until then, she finally noticed the royalty standing next to my bed. Her face flushed red from embarrassment; she then bowed to them and said: “We should leave him alone for a bit to let him calm down.” Both princesses noticed that with a nod and left the room together with her.
--- Some time later ---
The rulers of Equestria reentered my room, still worried expressions on their faces. “Hello Alex. Do you feel better?” Celestia asked motherly.
What a stupid question. I just had the worst nightmare possible and you are asking me if I am ok? my mind asked sarcastically back. “Yes, I feel a bit better” I answered; my mind just face palmed.
The princess of the sun offered me a soft smile after hearing that. She spoke in a calm tone to me again: “Sorry for asking, but what exactly did you see, Alex?”
My face went pale and I felt sweat breaking out in different regions of my body. “I-I-I saw the mo-most terrifying monster in m-my entire life,” I stuttered. I took some deep breaths to cool myself down. “I was lying in some sort of castle and there was that black thing. Like a nightmare with a horn and a pair of wings. Its eyes just filled me with fear and terror, so I just screamed for my life.” I went even paler and the princesses had the word ‘worry’ written over their faces again. Luna just turned and walked out without saying anything.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked the only princess left in the room.
She sighted and answered: “Sadly yes, my subject. The wounds are still fresh and you just throw a little bit of salt in it.”
I flinched at that one; “I’m sorry,” I muttered afterwards.
Celestia trotted over to me and put a hoof lightly on my head. “There is really no need to be sorry. You couldn’t know.”
I could see that there were tears forming in the corners of Celestias eyes. “What couldn’t I know, Princess? And why do you keep calling me ‘your subject’?” I asked.
The white royal sister rubbed a fore hoof over her eyes before she had a smile on her face again. With her clam and motherly tone she answered: “First, that is a story to tell some other time. And why I call you my subject? Well, you are one of my subjects, my earth pony stallion.”
Wait? WHAT?! I only realized now why my body felt wrong the whole time. I am a pony now, an earth pony to be exact. At least I am still the same gender my mind told me. But still: A PONY! I just felt my vision go blurry and my eyes roll back into my head. “Alex? Alex! Are you ok?” I heard Celestias voice fainting. Alex.exe stopped working.
Dear Customer,
MIND sadly detected a problem with Alex.exe and had to shut down BRAIN to prevent it from further damage. Please try to reboot your system some time later again.
Two awful weeks. That’s the time I needed to get myself back in such a state, that I could at least leave the General Hospital in Canterlot. I wasn’t back to 100%, no. My new body was still pretty weak and I had hard problems walking properly in the beginning. To describe my new appearance, of an earth pony, one word would be enough: black. Black as charcoal or most clothing in the Heavy Metal scene back on earth. Black body, black messed up mane with white spikes, black legs, with white fetlocks and a short, spiked black tail with white stripes in it. I was pretty amused by the fact that my eyes weren’t also black or white … well in a part they are. When you mix black and white together you get grey. They could also be silver my mind stated. I don’t know; I never was a person (pony now) for colors or arts.
All problems considered; with the help of Princess Celestia’s personal staff, it was going uphill for me again. I was in a new world, not judged by my appearance or my behavior. I was so glad for this; I could start back at zero and maybe achieve things here, I never dreamed of reaching back home. At least that was what I thought. Fate just rubbed its hands together with an evil grin on its face.
After I was released from the hospital, I was basically homeless. But the Princess of the Sun herself stated that I was staying at the royal castle, so she and her medical stuff could still watch over me, just in case something was happening again. I was pretty scared at first to stay directly at the palace where the royalty of Equestria resided. But Celestia with her motherly character and voice talked my fears away with ease.
--- Later this day, somewhere inside of the Canterlot Castle ---
It was late in the afternoon when I looked out of the window, back in my room in the very own royal castle. The sky was blue and was filled with light clouds as the sun was beginning to descend towards the horizon. I never thought that I would stay here, when I first arrived in this world. But until now, everything had turned out well for me. I turned my gaze back towards my room. While it was made out of the purest white marble, the rest of the room didn’t follow that color scheme entirely. It had blue curtains for the windows; on the floor a red carpet was laid out and while other royals may preferred a bed also made out of fine stone, I told Celestia, that back home I slept on beds with a wooden pattern. And now a king sized wooden bed, with a soft mattress, was my portal into the dreamscape.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock* I wonder who that could be.
“Come in!” I called out. The door to my room opened and a mare in a maid outfit walked in.
“I’m sorry to disturb, but I’m here to inform you that there will be no dinner with the princesses today. Princess Celestia is still busy with her day court and Princess Luna is off to a diplomatic mission. You still can have dinner in the dine hall or go out and eat in one of the many restaurants Canterlot has to offer. I wish you a good day.” With that the maid bowed, turned and walked out of my room.
"Well if the princesses are not available, I guess my best option would be to go out and find a nice place to eat," I said to myself. I looked back at my closet. It had not much clothing in it, because in most cases the fur of a pony is enough to keep you warm. But that was not my point of interest; it was the body mirror that stood right next to my closet. I walked in front of it, gave myself a quick look over before I grabbed my pocket with a good amount of bits in it and headed out of the castle towards the city. I haven’t seen much of Canterlot expect from the hospital, so I was pretty eager to find out, what the city held for me.
As I walked out of the castle gates, I noticed that there was a carriage parked in front of them. Ähm … why is that here? I wondered myself. Suddenly an earth pony stallion in a brown jacket approached me with also a brown cap atop of his head.
“Are you Mr. Windhund?” he asked in a friendly tone.
“Yes, I am. What can I do for you, Mr …?” I answered back. I didn’t expect to meet anypony so soon.
“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Golden Road, but most ponies just call me Roady and I’m the carriage rider of the princesses. Princess Celestia informed me that I should meet you here to show you around the city.”
My eyes bulged and nearly fell out if its sockets. WHAT?! Can Celestia read my mind or something? my head screamed. Back at the castle Celestia just had to snicker in the middle of a conversation. Everypony turned their heads towards the Princess in confusion.
“Well … I don’t know what to say really. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
“It’s really no problem.” Mr. Road said with a smile.
“Alright, we should get going then.” And with that I started to walk again.
“Halt! And where do you think are you going?” Golden Road said with a stern tone.
“Into the city of Canterlot?!” I answered back with a tone that stated that the answer should be obvious.
Roady had to laugh very heartily that this. “And why do you think me and this beauty”, he gestured with a hoof towards the carriage, “are here? We don’t walk into the city. We are driving.”
“Are we really using a royal carriage for this?” I asked back, but still stunned from the fact that this carriage was just here for me.
“Well, it’s not the carriage the Princesses would use, but otherwise, yes. We are using this ‘royal’ carriage to get into town.” Mr. Road said as he got into the driver’s position. I entered the carriage and we were off.
The ride towards the city was calm. And against all of my expectations the Canterlot castle wasn’t built in the center of the city; it was located in the north of the city. While we rode though Canterlot Golden Road explained a lot about some Equestrian history. How Canterlot became the new home of Princess Celestia after the banishment of Nightmare Moon (this also included the story of how Princess Luna turned evil) and how Celestia was voted to rule over the newly founded land many centuries ago.
The capital of Equestria has an interesting build. In the north, next to the castle lived the nobles and other high society ponies, as well as Princess Celestia’s School. The center of town was filled with shops, parks and other stuff where you could spend your money on. Mr. Road even told me that the city has a high school here. The western side of town inhabited all middle class ponies and two kindergartens, one for ‘normal’ colts and fillies and the other one for small ponies with huge magical abilities. Some of them would be the lucky ones, who get a spot in Celestia’s School for gifted Unicorns one day. The south of the city was, against my imagination, the industrial part of the town. There was a power plant, a water cleaning facility and other big buildings that produced things for the ‘daily life’. The eastern side was … well … it wouldn’t qualify for the title ‘Ghetto’, but it was clear that only ponies with low up to no money would settle in this part of town. I don’t know why, but I felt a light tug on my heartstrings as I felt sorry for these ponies. If I had landed somewhere else when I entered this world, I could have ended up as poor as them.
--- Later that day ---
The sun had already set but the sky was still lit with a nice and hearty red tone, when Mr. Road and I arrived at a nice looking restaurant. I climbed out of the carriage and turned my head towards him.
“Are you coming with me or am I alone from now on?” I asked.
“As much as I would like to join you for a real fancy dinner, I sadly have duties to attempt to. Have a nice evening, Mr. Windhund.” he answered before he took off again.
I took a few steps to get up the stairs that lead to the entrance of the restaurant. And Roady wasn’t kidding when he said: "It’s good, but really fancy looking." It was an understatement. That thing wasn’t a place where ‘normal’ ponies would go to dine, it was a small palace! "Well now I am curious to find out HOW good these dishes are that they are serving here," I said to myself. And with that thought, I entered ‘The Canterlot Cusine’.
As I entered the restaurant a servant shoot me an asking glaze, before I said to him: “Excuse me, good sir. Do you still have a table for one?”
The servant looked me over for a second time with a questioning expression on his face. After a few seconds of thinking and looking over the table list he finally answered: “In fact we do. Please follow me.” I wonder what that was all about. my brain told me as I followed the servant deeper inside the establishment. I should found the reason for it soon enough.
While I followed the pony through the pretty filled restaurant, I caught a glimpse of some other patrons looking back at me with expressions of disgust or utter shock. As soon as we reached our destination, a booth with a window that gave a nice look of the city, the servant turned and told me: “This will be your table, mister. Please suit yourself and make yourself comfortable. A waiter will be with you shortly to take your orders.” He slightly bowed after he was finished and walked off again.
Not long after a waiter appeared and he took my order for a fresh salad and some hard cider. Some ponies told me that hard cider from Sweet Apple Acres was the best cider in all of EQ. Who was I to not take a chance to try some out? While I waited for my food to be brought to me, I looked out of the window. The sun had already set and night had slowly begun to crawl out. The view that was there before my eyes was really nice. Maybe not that good when you had the view from one of the castle towers but this was still good. Some ponies outside where coming from work and where on their way towards home, while others were doing the opposite. A lot fewer ponies tend to do some grocery shopping before their trip home/to work.
I looked out of the window and enjoyed the view over the city of Canterlot, I failed to notice that I was the point of a lot of attention. Nearly everypony that had sight of me idle chatted with their partners/friends about what I would do in such fancy place as this restaurant. Most of their eyes were filled with fear that Nightmare Moon and her Children of the Night were back. I mean my almost completely black coat could easily assume such thing.
After some time my meal was brought to me by the waiter that took my order. When I changed my view from window, back to into the establishment, I finally noticed all the ponies basically staring at me. When they also noticed that I looked back at them with a questioning glaze, they all turned their heads away. Mentally shrugging I decided I was distracted long enough and began to eat. However, unheard by my ears, the conversations about me never seemed to fade.
By the time I was finished with my meal (which was absolutely tasty and the ponies where definitely right about the cider) I still had ‘room’ for one dessert. I looked around to find a waiter to take my order again. When I spotted one, he was talking with other patrons and they all glanced over to me from time to time. The feelings of worry and fear entered my belly region. And let me tell you this: when you have a bad feeling in your guts, something even worse is most likely going to happen. This time shouldn’t be any different.
Once the waiter was finished with his conversation, I waved him over to me with a hoof. When he came closer I noticed that he had a serious expression on his face. It only made the negative feelings in my guts worse.
“Hello, good Sir. I would like to …” I begun.
“I am sorry but out for the safety of our other guests we would please you to leave our establishment.” the waiter said with a straight face. A lot of emotions raced through my mind and my jaw was about to drop, but I held my ground. Dumb folded I looked back at the waiter and said: “And what’s the reason for that ‘step’?”
“Well other patrons are full of fear, thanks to your outside presence. And that’s why we would like you to leave our restaurant.”
Anger and hate rose up in my system. It’s just like back on earth! Now I’m gonna be judged my outside appearance!! I just looked coolly up to waiter and answered with the coldest voice I could muster: “I’m sorry, but I did nothing wrong here. So I’m sadly declining your order.”
The waiter was surprised that somepony dared to stand up to him. It never happened before in his career. He raised his voice and said: “Sir, this is the last time I order you to leave this restaurant immediately. Otherwise I’m going to call the guards!”
That was it! If he wants to play like this, two can play this game. I stood up from my place and nearly shouted back at the waiter: “I am NOT gonna leave this restaurant because others are scared of my look!!” For emphasis I narrowed my eyes on the waiter and flared my nostrils for good measure. Of course this drew the attention of all the others back to me.
The poor waiter’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks and a bit of sweat escaped on his forehead. Before he could retreat to call the guards, other guests came over, some with hate in their eyes.
One of them was a yellow mare, with purple mane and wore a fancy dress. She dared to get into my face/muzzle and nearly yelled at me, her voice full of anger: “Now listen to me, mister! I don’t know who you are, but how dare you to scare us with your Nightmare Moon presence! Get out of here and go back to the tartarus where you belong, you monster!!”
My eyes widened and my jaw fell agape. Did I really just hear that right? I was in a stupor and failed to notice that a small mop of angry ponies formed around my table while they all were shouting insults at me. One word especially echoed through my mind again and again.
Monster. Monster. MONSTER!
Tears welled up in my eyes and I only knew one way to escape this hell. So I reared up and broke into a full gallop, nearly running over several others, but in my blurred vision I failed to notice. I just continued to gallop through the streets of Canterlot while tears freely feel from my face. I only had one place to run to: the royal castle. I ignored everything on my way to my destination; the calls from the restaurant guests, the angry voices of carriage drivers and finally the shouts of the guards at the front gate of the castle. I just ran past everything and when the stress and adrenaline left my system I collapsed on a bench and cried my eyes out. I was so busy with myself that I failed to notice three things:
1) I ended up in the maze in the royal gardens, near the fountain to be exact. 2) The night, the moon and the stars were out on full display and 3) That somepony just landed near me and slowly came closer.
Luna just came back from a diplomatic mission from Yakistan. The kingdom far up in the frozen north was, despite its ‘awayness’ from Equestria, one of the most important allies in both military as well as economic means.
She was about to land on her tower at the royal castle when the princess of the night heard the commotion below her. Several guards were shouting orders to stop something from entering the castle grounds.
But it was all up to no use as a black blur shot through the front gate and made its way into the royal gardens. The night alicorn was raising an eyebrow, before she took off in hot pursuit.
The black unknown came to a stop at the fountain inside of the maze that was located in the middle of the castle’s backyard. Luna was about to dive bomb the intruder, when she heard loud sobbing from the black mass below her. Is this some kind of cruel joke? she questioned herself.
Suddenly everything went quiet except from the noises of crickets and the slow flapping of lunar wings. Luna then chose a different way of approach from the one originally planned and landed as quietly as possible near the fountain. A few feet away from her was the black invader, collapsed on a bench. Without a warning ‘the thing’ stirred and the younger alicorn sister had to gasp in shock as a short black tail with white stripes was revealed. Since her return a few months ago, she only came to know one pony with that appearance.
“Alex?!” Luna said aloud in shock, but the black pony gave no reaction. With a worried look on her face, she slowly approached her friend that was motionless as a rock. She put a hoof lightly on his head to check on the vital signs. The results were that Alex was alive and breathing, but seemed to be unconscious and he was getting colder. What happened to you, my little pony? was one of the first thoughts that entered the mind of the night princess. But before more precious time could be wasted with ‘worried thinking’ Luna lit her horn and teleported Alex and herself into the castle’s infirmary.
--- Later that night ---
Alex found himself yet again inside a black void. The last thing he could remember was a blurry vision of a fountain. ‘What happened to me again?’ was the question he currently wanted to be answered the most.
Suddenly the black void disappeared and changed into something colorful. Alex was lying belly down underneath a japonese cheery tree in full blossom, while some small white cloud decorated a blue sky here and there. Birds inside the tree were chirping a happy tune and enjoyed the warmth the spring sun was giving them. Alex’s gaze wandered around as he took in everything that his current surroundings held for him. It came to a stop when he spied a little lake in which some ducks and swans decided to go for a swim. Our black pony friend mentally sighed while he enjoyed the beautiful sight.
Sadly this image wasn’t a long lasting one; the sun, clouds and animals vanished only to be replaced with the most amazing night sky Alex ever laid eyes on. While still lying beneath the tree, a chill ran through his spine as the cold night air touched his coat. Suddenly even the ground, the lake and the tree vanished into nothingness; Alex closed his eyes and prepared himself for a long fall that never came. As he opened his eyes again he found himself in the orbit of the moon and the stars.
Alex awoke in his semi-sleep state when the first rays of Celestia’s sun softly touched his coat and spread a welcoming warmth through it. His eyes felt dry and his throat cried out for the coolness of a glass of water. Last night was one of the strangest ones Alex had since he’d come to Equestria. First he faced and fought Nightmare Moon, only to be saved by a dream walking Luna. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they started to argue about different themes. It all ended with a tearful hug and a sleepless night for both of them.
He stood up, stretched and trotted over to where his body mirror was located. Despite the shortness of his mane and tail, they both looked like they went through a war, they were a complete mess. He also noticed that his eyes were indeed bloodshot and too dry to spend any more tears. The large rings around his ‘viewports’ made the whole situation a lot worse. Suddenly his stomach grumbled loudly and his mouth let out a silent prayer for water once again. ‘Better fetch some breakfast’ his mind encouraged him.
Alex was about set set a hoof on the double door to leave his room when they swung open towards him without any warning. This action knocked him of balance and he landed onto the cold marble floor with a loud ‘thud’.
Getting a face full of door: Best way to start your day! his mind stated.
“Alex?”, an all too familiar voice called into his room. A pained groan was the only answer the lunar alicorn got. Finally spotting a black mass with all four hooves pointed towards the ceiling, she shrieked: “Oh my gosh, are you alright?”
After standing up and giving his head a quick shake, he answered: “Yeah, I’m good.” He got to his hooves, dusted himself off and asked Luna: “What are you doing here, anyway?”
She didn’t answer his question. The night alicorn just enveloped Alex in a bone-crushing hug. “I was just so worried about you, my child! After all that happened last night...” Feeling tears welling up again, she tightened her grip on him and sobbed into his short, spiked mane.
Feeling the oxygen hugged out of his body Alex answered: “Shhh, it’s ok, but *gasp* I need air!” After being released and taking a huge inhale of life-giving air, he hugged Luna back. “I was more worried about you than myself, I must admit. I’m glad and thankful you saved me. I do not want to think about what could have happened...” A small shiver made its way down to his spine.
“So what do you say we grab some breakfast?” Luna asked.
Alex gave a small nod: “Sure, it does sound like a plan.”
They both left Alex quarters and made their way through the hallways of the castle. Tension was building up rather fast between them and Luna tired to break the ice first.
“Is something on your mind, Alex?” Luna asked while rubbing her neck bashfully and with a hint of worry in her voice. Alex hesitated to respond as they continued their way towards the dining hall where Celestia would most likely waiting for them.
Finally Alex replied: “I’ve been thinking hard about stuff all night, Luna. Since sleep was no option after all that happened … *sigh* Can we please not talk about it right now?”
Luna opened her mouth and was about to answer, but the words died on her lips. She remained silent and followed Alex to their destination. Luna pushed the doors open with her magic, then she and Alex entered the dining hall. Celestia was sitting at the far end of the great dining table, her lips pursed against a piping cup of tea.
The solar alicorn enjoyed the early hours of the day. She took a small comfort in the way the world around her slowly woke alongside her rising sun, and how her fellow ponies would get on with their lives. She took the cup of jasmine tea from her mouth while she savoured its flavor. It had a nice fruity taste to it that calmed her nerves before she threw herself to the stress of ruling over a whole kingdom.
When the sound of the doors to the dining hall being opened reached her ears, Celestia looked up, her eyes finding her sister as well her “VIP” (Very Important Pony) from the other world. But Celestia sensed immediately that something was off. Luna looked like the moon would be gone forever soon, while swirling thunder clouds loomed over Alex’s head.
Celestia glanced between both ponies before asking calmly with a small smile to lighten the mood: “Good morning everypony! You both look worried about something. Is everything alright?”
Alex and Luna looked up so meet Celestia’s eyes, but neither of them said anything. They trotted to their places at the table and wordlessly took a seat.
The table was laden with a great variety of vegetables, fruits and drinks. While Celestia started her mornings with a nice cup of tea, Luna needed at least one pot of coffee before her system operated at 100%. The same could be said for Alex, except he needed some chocolate milk and a glass of orange juice before he was ready to tackle the day. But, since arriving in Equestria, he hadn't seen any of his favorite foods. Of course it made sense—ponies were vegetarians—which made him feel that much more estranged when he imagined a plate heaped with bacon and eggs. First thing he'd do when he returned to earth—if he ever returned—would be to go straight to a steakhouse and order the biggest porterhouse on their menu.
Alex eyed the array of breakfast drinks. He'd never been a coffee or tea kind of guy, and right now his options for cold drinks seemed limited to water. He heaved a grumbling sigh, then leaned over the table to reach the water pitcher. Luna, upon seeing his struggle, nudged the pitcher closer with her magic. Celestia watched this in smiling silence, mildly buttering a slice of toast with her own magic.
Most of the breakfast was held in silence, and the tension in the room continued to rise. Finally it was too much for Celestia to bare: “Ok, I can clearly sense that something is off with both of you. Would anypony please be so kind to give me some insight?”
Alex sighed heavily, then replied: “It’s nothing. Just an annoying thing that happened yesterday. I went to a nice restaurant and some snobs started saying stupid things about me, calling me names, laughing behind my back.. They called me ‘Monster’ and ‘Son of the Nightmare’, and a few other things I don’t want to repeat.”
Both alicorns were shocked and they opened and closed their jaws a few times, looking for possible answers.
"Well, I can't account for my subject's rude behavior," said Celestia, shaking her head. She sighed and continued, "A guest in Equestria should always feel welcome, and I apologize on their behalf. Please, don't let it get you down, Alex."
"It's funny," scoffed Alex, his forehooves crossed, "You both led me to believe Equestria was a good place, a world free of discrimination. Guess that disease ain't exclusive to my world after all. Guess there's not a leader strong enough to completely snuff it out—not here, or anywhere."
"My subjects aren't all like that, believe me," Celestia said with kind earnest. She smiled with the warmth of an afternoon in summer. "I will introduce you to them myself, today. We shall walk through the city of Canterlot together."
"No...no, I'd rather not," said Alex, his eyes fixed on his breakfast plate. He didn't know if he should say what he really wanted to say, that it wasn't worth the chance. Even with Celestia beside him, their vicious, judgmental thoughts would be like quiet grubs, digging through the dirt beneath their eyes, unseen. He knew how people acted. Now he knew ponies, too.
Luna added: “Well, these are sadding news, and I’m terribly sorry that you had such an unpleasant experience. I think it isn’t quite uncommon that ponies are still talking about my former evil. My reforment wasn’t like 10 years ago you know?”
“Of course I know that!” Alex spat while bringing a hoof down on his side of table, which caused dishes to clatter and drinks to spill. That action only caused him to get more frustrated. Alex then walked over to one of the large windows that overlooked the city.
Both alicorns watched him with extreme concern. When Alex fell out of the sky nearly two months ago and was on the verge of death all ponies present were extremely worried about the new, unknown pony. He was rushed into the Medical Wing of the royal castle and iIt was a real miracle he even survived. But being a complete stranger to a new world and inside an unknown body, Alex was like a newborn foal. So both of the royal sisters full heartly made it their personal task to take him under their wings and guide and educate/train him about Equestria as best as they could. Major problem: Being co-rulers of an entire nation took time and responsibility. That left the three of them less time then they would have liked to have. But over the little time they had Alex became like their own son. Luna did enjoy their “Mother-Son-Time” the most. He loved nights, the moon and the starts and often stargazed together with her before she had to retire to her dream walking duties.
After another sigh he continued: “You know, it is just another copy of my other world. I was bullied, picked on and ignored because I was different. I tried my best to fit in, but nothing really helped. And then I get a second chance here, to be not an outsider only to find out this nightmare starts again!”
Alex started to sob quietly: “W-Why can’t I do som-something right for one blo-bloody time? Why does it feel like no matter what I do, I fail miserably at it?!” His voice rose and anger mixed into his feelings. That anger became soon to much to bare and it needed a ventil to be let out. With that Alex reared up on both hind legs and with a battlecry he punched a hoof through the window he was standing infront.
For the alicorn princesses everything happened in slow-motion. As soon the sound of glass shattering reached their ears they both teleported straight towards Alex and wrapped four wings and hooves around him in a tight hug.
The black stallion cried this anger and worries out while both sisters tried their best to comfort him. After a short while Alex calmed down enough to talk again. With a sad smile he said: “Thanks. I really needed that one.”
Both alicorns retreated slightly from the hug only for Luna to notice something red on Celestia’s snow white fur. She let her gaze wander to Alex hoof he stuck through the glass. Some glass shards managed to sunk into his flesh. “We still need to get you some medical treatment though.”
--- Medical Wing, Canterlot Palace ---
My hoof was now wrapped up in some bandages. The removement process was not a fun one. Each shard stung as it was carefully removed from the doctors. As soon they were finished I was given some water to refresh himself as well as a bed to rest upon.
Some time later hoofsteps approached my bed. Both princesses strode slowly to their destination.
“Are you okay, Alex?” Celestia asked in her usual motherly tone.
I averted my gaze away from both rulers. “Yeah, I’m alright.”
“Alex, I’m…” Luna started. I waved my uninjured hoof to interrupt her.
I turned my head towards them and what I saw tugged hard at my heartstrings. They both looked so beautiful and full of pride, yet they both had concern and worry written all over their faces. ‘Just because of stupid old me’ I thought to myself.
Come on big guy! It’s now or never. my mind encouraged me. “Listen…” I said quietly. “I need so tell you something very important, but … can it be somewhere more private?” I asked fearfully.
I was never so unsure in my life before. How would they react to my news? Would they still like me as they do now? What comes after this? So many questions filled my head and I was thankful that Celestia broke up my train of thought.
“Since the doctors still want to watch over you for a bit I sadly can’t just teleport us out of here. But at least I can do this.”
Her horn began to glow and soon a yellow bubble was formed around us. As her glow died down I asked in awe: “What is this?”
“This is a sound barrier, Alex.” Luna answered. “We can talk in private now and everything outside this bubble won’t get a sibile from it.“
“Wow okay. So …” I tensed up and no more words came out of my mouth. I tried to swallow the lump that formed in my throat but it seemed to be stuck there.
