"Aaargh! Shit!" Simon shouts and throws his arms forward as he fell to the ground after being changed back from his stone frozen state. He started wondering if he really was turned into stone and what could've done such a thing. He tried standing but he froze up as he saw a large snake-like creature slither away. "Was that a snake?" He thought to himself, "What was wrong with its head?" He stood up and looked at the forest that surrounded him and began to panic. He nervously ran his hand through his black hair. Not knowing where he was he was unsure of what to do. Should he move forward and risk getting even more lost than he is already, or should he call out for help and hope someone finds him. While trying to decide what to do he heard a faint echo of laughter. He tried to scream out for help but the words caught in his throat. Instinctively he ran to where he thought the voices were coming from.
After almost an hour of progressing through the words he was ready to give up searching for any signs of life. As he was about to lay on the ground to rest, he noticed a strange, faint blue light radiating from what seemed to be a wall. He wasn't familiar with what it was as it was distant but he moved towards it in hopes that he might find some other people nearby. He didn't call out as it was dark out and if there wasn't anyone around he didn't want to risk getting attacked by any wild animals.
He reached the source of the blue light and what he saw before him made him turn as white as a ghost. In front of him lay a giant sleeping creature similar to that of a bear but it seemed to be made of stars. It was at least bigger than a two story house. In shock of what he had just encountered, Simon stood there, unable to move. He wasn't sure of what to do, he was completely terrified. He would scream but the most he could manage was a small "Squee."
The large creature shifted in its slumber, knocking over a small tree that was unfortunate enough to be growing nearby. As the tree fell it made a large cracking sound that broke Simon out of his fear induced trance. He ran as fast as he could as far as he could away from the beast, slowing down only when he was sure he was safe enough. After finding a spot to rest he began to think about what happened so far. He was turned to stone, supposedly by a snake with a weird head. He is lost in a forest he is nowhere near familiar with. There was a giant space bear sleeping in the forest, hopefully the only one in the forest. His growling stomach made him realize something else. He needed to eat. Soon. If he couldn't find anything to eat within the next few days he is doomed to die. But right now he is too tired to look for food. Right now he would just sleep and hope he was breathing the next morning.
* * *
Stiff back. Sore neck. Aching legs. What a great way to start the morning. At least he thought it was morning. The trees around him were so big and tall he couldn't see enough light to tell if it was coming from the sun or the moon. It didn't really matter right now though. He needed to find something to eat. He set off wandering aimlessly, occasionally calling out for help, hoping he could at least find some small animal he could cook over a fire. Provided he could make a fire. So far he hasn't come across any life that he was able to spot out. "Stuck in a forest and all the food is hiding from me. Fucking fantastic."
Hours passed and Simon is still without food. He thought he would never find something to eat, let alone find his way out. He looks around him for a place where he could rest comfortably for a few minutes. He spots a patch of bright blue flowers in the distance and walks towards it. He lays down on the bed of flowers and breathes a sigh of relief at how comfortable it was compared to the raw forest floor. He drifts away to sleep happily with the thought that even thought he was hungry, he was at least comfortable for the time being. When he awoke he felt great. He started to get up but as he reached over to lift himself up he noticed his arm was as white as a sheet and his hair had turned white as well. He felt like a skeleton. When he tried to get up he found it difficult. His bones seemed to be weak and almost flexible. He eventually got to his feet and kept walking and thought if he was dreaming. There were so many things that are just so unreal. Maybe the last few days were all a dream. After all he can't remember how he arrived in the forest, and the two creatures he did happen to see were too strange to be real. And then there's his skin. Thinking about all these points he was almost sure he was dreaming, until his stomach convinced him otherwise. "Strange creatures or not, this hunger is all too real."
After a bit of awkwardly stumbling through the forest he saw a small house in the distance. He made his way to the house and knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone home? I need some help. My body is all.. I'm not sure really what's going on.. Hello?" A moment passes and then a woman’s voice is heard within the house. "Enter." Simon struggles to get a grip on the door for a second then manages to get it open. Inside he sees many strange masks and trinkets, and sitting opposite of him behind a large pot, a small hooded figure. He couldn't quite make out her face but at the moment it didn't matter what she looked like. What mattered is him finding a way to get himself back to normal and to get something to eat. "Hello, I was wondering if you could help me out. Earlier I found myself completely white and my bones feel a lot weaker and more flexible than normal. Not that they usually are flexible but.. Never mind, I think something is wrong with me. Is there some kind of cure or something that might be able to fix me?"
"I think I may know what is wrong with you. Have you made contact with flowers of blue?"
"Um.. Yes, I have, actually." Simon replied, "Not too long ago, I was resting on a whole patch of blue flowers. Is that what is causing this?"
"Yes, and I'll have your cure in no time. I will have to ask, though, that you wait outside."
"Thank you. Thank you very much. Also, I don't mean to ask too much, but, see I've been wandering this forest for about two days, I believe, and I haven't had any food since. If it's not too much, could I maybe have something to eat?"
"I am sorry but I fear, I have no food to spare you here. But you may be able to take your fill, in the nearby town of Ponyville."
"Ponyville?" Simons whispers under his breath. "Well thank you, and where can I find this town?"
"It is not that far from here, that town. Keep to the east and you'll be there by sundown."
"Thank you so much. I don't think I would've made it much longer without your help. My name is Simon by the way."
"Zecora."
"Zecora.. Thank you." Simon said as he stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He sat against the side of the house, relieved that he may actually survive the night. He began to think back to what Zecora said. Ponyville seemed like a strange name for a town. If anything it sounded rather gay. Maybe something great way back in history involving a pony inspired the founder to name the town such. It better be one great story. Thinking about the past two days, and how things could've gone differently, how he could've never found this place or Zecora, or anybody. He probably would've died. No. Not probably. He WOULD have died if he hadn't found this place. He was thankful he did. After a few minutes he drifted to sleep.
Simon awoke to large pot nearby him, that wasn't there before, and a note on his lap that read
To make your symptoms go away
In the water you must bathe.
Afterwards, head away from my home
And you will see Ponyville for your own.
He found it a bit strange that she spoke in rhymes, but he didn't care. After all she was the one who pretty much saved him. He got in the pot and bathed himself as instructed and after a little while, he felt as good as new. Now the only problem left was finding food. Actually he knew where to find food, now he needed to find the town.
He headed away from the house and soon he saw sunlight and a clearing in the distance. Simon now went into a full run, eager to leave that dreaded forest. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw up ahead were the same blue flowers that made him as he was before. He slowed down and was careful not to touch any of them. After he was out of the forest he smiled. He had survived when he thought he wouldn't. He felt good. Simon began walking forward looking for the town called Ponyville. After a while he saw something in the distance. It looked to be a small, colorful town. He kept forward to make sure it was exactly what he thought it was. He was right. It was a town. There was no mistaking it. Before him was the town he was looking for.
Ponyville.
Simon walked towards the town that lay before him with a hunger that would put any establishment out of business. Or maybe it's the other way around. As he got closer he noticed that it was very colorful. He was able to tell it was a colorful town when he first spotted it, but now getting closer it seems a lot more colorful. Well he wasn't coming to judge their taste in colors. He was here to satisfy his hunger once and for all. He made it to Ponyville and began looking around for someplace to eat. A restaurant, maybe. He noticed that there were two places that looked like they served food., but it didn't look like anyone was there. In fact, it didn't look like there was anyone anywhere. Everything looked empty. Maybe there was something going on, like a really big party or something like that. He walked around and tried to see if he can find anybody, or hear some commotion anywhere that might prove him right. Then again, Zecora never mentioned anyone was here. Not specifically a least. But why would she lead me to a ghost town.
"Are you alright? You look confused" Came a girl’s voice from behind him.
Simon turned around he saw no one there who could've said it. There was no one around except for a small purple unicorn, standing about four feet high from hoof to head, with a navy blue mane that had two stripes of different shades of purple. He had never seen any unicorn, or any animal in general for that matter, that was purple. As a matter of fact, he had never seen a unicorn. There was also, he noticed, a picture on the rear end of what looked to be a six pointed sparkle shape with smaller little sparkles around it. He forgot about looking for where the voice could’ve come from and out of curiosity, cocked his head to the side, staring.
“Um.. Are you ok?” The unicorn asked, also tilting her head to the side in a slightly confused manner.
This made him jump back nearly tripping over himself. He couldn’t believe it. There was no one around aside from him and the pony, but unicorns don’t talk. Only people talk. Unicorns don't even exist. He had to be dreaming. Or maybe he was high. Yeah, that was it. He’s hallucinating and a purple unicorn was talking to him.
"Can you talk? Can you understand me?" The purple pony asked.
After a few moments of hesitation he decided to answer. "Yes I can talk, but how is it that you are?"
"That I am what?"
"Talking! How can you talk! Ponies like you shouldn't be able to talk! It's not natural!"
"Why, everypony talks. Why would it be unnatural?."
"It just isn't. I'm not quite sure why I'm even talking to you right now.. Wait. Did you say everypony? So there are more of you?"
"Of course. They are actually hiding from you. One of my friends spotted you coming out of the Everfree forest and feared the worse. The things in there aren't really the friendliest of creatures. But we've made the mistake of judging without actually knowing anything before. Anyway my name is Twilight Sparkle, what's your name?"
"Simon."
"Well, Simon, what brings you here to Ponyville?"
He is quiet for a moment. If this is a hallucination, then why am I having this conversation with her. It can't be a dream either because nothing ever makes sense in dreams. Including conversations. Maybe he should just go along with it. If he's dreaming, he'll have to wake up sometime, and if he's halucinating than he'll eventually stop. All of a sudden there was a large growl. Both of them look at his stomach.
"Heh. Actually, I came here to get something to eat. I've been lost in there for the past two days now and haven't had anything to eat since. I met a someone named Zecora in the forest who told me to come here and that I might be able to get some food. Also I need a place to stay til I can get my bearings and figure out how I can get back home."
"Okay well you just stay right here, I'll be right back."
"Okay, then" He watched Twilight trot away to one of the buildings. After a few minutes he sawabout a dozen ponies coming out, including Twilight. A few of them branched off into other buildings and more and more ponies streamed out of the buildings and moved around, most of them glancing at him from a distance. One thing he noticed, they were all colorful. Some were pink, some were blue, some were green. There seemed to be one of every color.
He looked back to the ponies approaching him. One of them, a pink pony with a darker pink curly hair, was ahead of the others, bounding toward him with a big smile on her face. By the time the others were about half way she had already reached him.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! So you're going to be staying here for a while, right?" Simon hesitated for a moment considering whether he should say yes, after seeing thath the majority, no, the whole town was made up of colorful ponies. He decided he didn't have much of a choice either way, he had no idea where he was.
"Yes, I am."
"Welcome to Ponyville! Gasp! You're new here! That means you don't know anypony! And if you don't know anypony then how are you gonna get along with anypony? You know what this calls for? A party!" With that she sped away. By this time the others had reached him. There were five ponies in front of him. There was an orange pony with blonde hair wearing a cowboy hat, another unicorn, this one white with purple hair in one large arc that curled at the ends, Twilight, a blue pony with short rainbow hair, and a yellow pony with long pink hair that it seemed to be hiding behind. He noticed that each of them had some kind of picture of some sort on their rear ends.
"Simon, these are my friends, Applejack,"
"Howdy."
"Rarity,"
"Hello."
"Rainbow Dash,"
"Hey."
"Fluttershy,"
"Um.. Hi."
"And Spike." Just then he noticed what seemed to be a small dragon pop out from in between the ponies.
"Hey there."
"You've already met Pinkie Pie."
"Yeah, about that, she said something about a party?" He said still staring at Spike.
This time Applejack, the orange pony, spoke. "Whoo boy. Pinkie sure does love her parties. She'll find a reason to party even if there ain't no reason to party for."
"Uh.."
"Soooo," said Rainbow Dash, the rainbow haired pony, "what are you? Are you some kind of diamond dog?"
"Rainbow Dash," said the white unicorn, Rarity, "Don't you think that was a bit rude?"
"Well, I'm not really sure what a diamond dog is, but I'm pretty sure I'm not one. I'm human." Just then Rainbow Dash leaped toward him, speading her wings to glide a bit, and landed next to him, looking at his hands.
"You're claws aren't very sharp."
He was shocked for a moment then snapped back into focus. After all, it's just a dream, right?
"They're.. They're not claws, they're just my finger nails. I guess they're like claws, but they're not intended to be sharp. Did you just fly?"
"Yup." she said raising her hear high. "I don't mean to brag, but I'm just about the fastest, coolest, most awesome pegasus ever to come out of Cloudsdale. Fluttershy is a pegasus also."
Simon looked at the yellow pony, still timidly hiding behind her hair. She looks back and him and spreads out her wing enough for him to notice it, but not to its full length.She then snapped it closed and averted her eyes to the ground.
"A pegasus.." Simon said to himself under his breath.
"Well," Twilight began, "I'm sure we're all curious and have a question or two in mind, but I think we'd better get you something to eat before you pass out. I think the questions can wait." Just then Pinkie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"No! You have to wait til the party to eat! That way you can try everything! If you eat now then you'll get full at the party and then you won't be able to try all of our delicious goodies!"
"Pinkie Pie" said Twilight, "he hasn't eaten in two days, I think we should let him eat something before your party."
"No, it's alright, I think I can wait a little longer. When is the party going to start?"
"As soon as I finish the cupcakes! Then we'll have everything ready!"
"That fast?"
"Well, I was already setting up a party, then you came so we can make it your welcome party."
"What kind of party would it have been if I hadn't showed up?"
"Um... Yeaterday was Tuesday so that would make it a Wednesday party! Well better check the cupcakes!" Then she bounced away.
Simon watched her leave, then turned to the others. "... A Wednesday party?"
"Like I said," Applejack responded, " that pony right there will find any reason to party."
* * *
The party was held in a library. He could help but think of how ironic this party was. Simon decided before the party to stay close to Twilight, but he found that a bit difficult as Pinkie was introducing him to every pony that was there, and from the looks of it, there were thousands of them. That's what it looked like to him at least. There were so many and Pinkie was spitting out so many names that he could only grasp about one or two for every ten ponies she mentioned. After about half an hour she had introduced him to all the ponies in the room plus her toothless pet alligator, Gummy. Although he had eaten already he had worked up another appetite just in time for Pinkie to bring out a huge cake about three times as tall as her, and just as pink. It was surrounded by cupcakes of different colors.
"Wow, she really went all out with this. And this was intentionally for just some random party? . . . How did she get that cake in here?" He spent the rest of the party socializing with those who approached him and lurking near the walls trying to be invisible.
* * *
After the party everything was cleaned up. Simon helped out as much as he could then after the place looked more like a library, he spotted out Twilight and walked up to her.
"Twilight." He began.
"Yes?"
"You're familiar with this town. Is there a place I might be able to sleep for the night?"
"Well we have a spare bed here. You're welcome to sleep there if you'd like."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
"Your welcome. You look pretty tired. Why don't you go and sleep. You look like you could use a good nights rest."
"That sounds great now actually. Thank you, again."
"No problem. Goodnight, Simon."
"Goodnight, Twilight." Simon said as he lay down in bed. He closed his eyes anticipating when he would wake up, and everything would be back to normal.
Whatever that was.