> Your New Life > by Shadow_Fire > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Ugh …where am I…’ You grip your head and sit up slowly, taking in your surroundings. A large expanse of trees greets your vision, along with a throbbing pain in your ankle. ‘Agh! What the heck?!?’ You look down and see your ankle twisted backwards at a rough angle. You prod at it with a finger and the area flares in pain. ‘Grah! Oh God, that hurts! Just what I needed, a broken ankle, and in the middle of some god forsaken forest on top of it. This couldn’t get any worse. At least I know some basic first aid to temporarily take care of it until I get out of here. If I get out of here. What am I thinking; of course I’ll get out. This forest shouldn’t be too large, I’ll just hobble out of here, find a home, and get whoever lives there to drive me to the hospital. Simple.’ You crawl your way over to a pile of fallen branches and start sifting through them. Picking out a few decently sized ones, you take the flattest two and place one on either side of your ankle. Wincing, you take a vine you had ripped off a tree and start tying it around the makeshift splint. You take some of the larger branches and tie them together into a rather flimsy crutch. After using a nearby tree to pull yourself up, you put some weight on it to see if it can support your weight. It does, and you start walking off in what you believe is north. As you start off, you begin to think about what caused you to wind up in this situation. ‘What happened last night? I remember heading off to the bar with my friends… did they do this? No, they wouldn’t have. Couldn’t have, really. Not only are they not smart enough when they’re drunk, but they know I’d kill them. I know the night started out well enough, same as every other weekend. A few drinks, tons of laughs, and a crap load of harassing Jacob. Even if he was drunk, he shouldn’t have let those affections slip. Anyway, what else happened? Greg failed at picking up a chick, again, but that’s normal… that fight! Now I remember! I got into a brawl with that weird guy with a goatee. Creepy dude, that one. I remember after I whooped him, his eyes turned yellow, and he said something about giving me a “new life for the most fun he’s had in ages”. I just passed it of as another drunk, but I guess he was serious. He’s dead if I ever get my hands on him. But first, I have to get out of here.’ After a few minutes of limping, you notice the sound of footsteps coming from behind you. Slowly, you turn around. “Hello?” A smile creeps its way onto your face as you see a figure begin to emerge. “Oh, thank God. You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for someone to help out of here. See, my ankle’s broken, and I was wondering if you could drive me to a hospital.” Your smile begins to fade as the figure gets closer, increasing in size. ‘That’s…much too large to be human…’ Terror spreads over your face as a gigantic wolf steps into your line of sight. Even more so as you realize: ‘It’s…made out of wood. How is that possible?!? Wolves aren’t made out of wood! And it looks pretty hungry… and it’s coming closer… ah, crap.’ Fear overtakes you as you start to limp away as fast as your leg will let you. The wooden monstrosity follows slowly, seemingly able to tell that you’re injured. You hear another sound off to your left, but you ignore it, fearing another wolf. Looking back every now and then, you notice that the wolf has slowed its pace. ‘It’s toying with me. It knows it’s gonna catch me eventually; it’s just taking its time. I have got to get out of here. Hopefully, I can get out of this stupid forest before that happens.' Ignoring the continuous rustling from your left, you press forwards. What you fail to notice, however, is that the wooden wolf has caught up with you. It lashes out with its front paws, sending you flying into a tree. A loud ‘CRACK!’ is heard as pain erupts in your left shoulder. You let out a loud yelp of pain as the wooden beast gets closer. A stinging sensation tears through your side and you move your hand to it. Pulling it back, you notice it’s covered in blood. You attempt to back up, only to press into yet another tree. ‘Stupid forest…’ As the wolf crouches down to make a leap at you, some feminine voices are heard nearby. “Over here! I found it!” “Oh, dear… I think it’s bleeding!” “Well don’t just sit there! Git over there and help the poor critter out!” The wolf leaps and you throw your hands up in defense, only to see a rainbow crash into the side of it. The blood loss has gotten to you by this point, and your vision becomes blurry. The rainbow crashes into the wolf repeatedly, and an orange blur has also showed up to help it. A yellow and pink blob enters your line of sight and starts talking to you. “Don’t worry; everything’s going to be fine. I’ll take good care of you. Now let’s find out what’s wrong…” You somehow manage the strength to speak. “My ankle… is broken… my shoulder might be, too… plus this gash on my side…” The blob stops inspecting you and yelps in surprise. “Y-you can talk?!? Oh my, um, we need to get you out of here now! I should take you to Twilight’s, too. Maybe she’ll know what you are…” You want to object and tell her (you think it’s a her) to take you to the hospital, but you no longer have the strength to speak. She starts to lift you onto what you think is her back when the other two come back. The first one that speaks has a southern accent. “C’mon Fluttershy, we need to go! Ah don’t know how long we have before that varmint reforms itself!” “Alright Applejack. But we need to take him to Twilight’s. She might know what he is.” Another, raspier and more tomboyish voice speaks up next. “Wait, how do we know it’s a guy?” The voice you now know to be Fluttershy’s speaks up again. “I’m guessing based on his voice.” “He can talk?!?” “Yes Rainbow, now we need to get him to Twilight’s, or he won’t make it!” You feel yourself being lifted again, and try to think about the ones who rescued you. ‘At least I found someone to help me. But what’s with the names? Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy? What are they, hippies? And why are they so short? Man, am I tired…’ KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” “No time Twilight, we need your help!” “With what? And what in Celestia’s name is that?!?” And that is the last thing you hear as you pass into unconsciousness. > Awakening > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You wake up, somewhat, to the sound of voices. A hard surface makes itself known beneath you, like a table of sorts. The pain in your ankle and your shoulder has been dulled down to a numbing ache. The gash on your side feels like it’s been stitched up. ‘At least my wounds have been taken care of.’ You try to shift your focus around your now clouded mind to listen in on what's going on. The first voice you hear is one of the ones from the forest. 'Fluttershy, I think her name is.' "Oh, do you think he's going to be alright Twilight?" 'Twilight... that's right, I was being taken to her house to get looked at. Still don't know why I wasn't taken to a hospital. Or why they were surprised by my talking...' "It's a little early to tell, Fluttershy. I'll check his vitals again after I send a letter to Princess Celestia reguarding... whatever he is. SPIKE!" 'Wait, princess? Why would they have a princess? What is this, some sort of cult?' A young, seemingly childish voice responded to her call. "Yes, Twilight?" "Take a letter." You hear the sound of rustling paper and some scratching before this "Spike" character speaks up again. "Ready Twilight." Twilight clears her throat and starts "writing" her letter. "Dear Princess Celestia, a strange creature has appeared in Equestria. 'Equestria? Where on Earth is that? And why do they keep calling me a creature? That really kinda stings...' “Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack had found it limping through the Everfree forest, running from a timberwolf." 'Timberwolf... so that's what that monstrous wolf is called. Note to self, find a lighter.' "Physical examination reveals it to be a bipedal male of roughly (your height in feet) hooves and (your height in inches) inches in height." 'Hooves? Doesn't she mean feet? And she said that a physical examination revealed me to be a male. Wait... PHYSICAL examination? They "examined" me?!? In my SLEEP?!?' While you silently freak out, Twilight runs a hand through your hair. At least, that's what you think it is. "He appears to have no coat, only a peachy colored skin. His mane, which only appears to grow on top of his head, looks to be (your hair color) and feels kind of course, almost like pony hair, but more wiry." 'Why are her hands so hard? And pony hair? Why do they keep throwing horse references into things?' The hard grasper dealies open one of your eyelids, yet you can't see a thing. 'Must be from the blood I lost...' "His eyes are (your eye color) and seem to be much sharper than ours. This fact, along with his combination of both molars and canines, indicates that he is omnivorous. A potential predator, definitely something to watch." The graspers move from your eyes to your hands. As your eye closes, you groan. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all gasp, but Twilight doesn't seem to notice. "His forelegs end in two claw like appendages, much like minotaurs have. I believe they're called hands. They are quite soft, and appear to be made solely for grasping things. His hind legs end with something stranger. They are mostly flat, with five small stubs on the end of each one.” As she continues to list off your physical features, your eyes slowly start to drift open. Depressingly, you still can’t see a thing. All you can see is grey. Twilight continues to list things off to Spike, her and the others seemingly unaware of your consciousness. “One of the most shocking things about this being, however, is that Fluttershy claims to have heard him speak. He listed off his injuries, providing much needed help in treating his wounds. Still, we are not sure what to do with him. We await your response to the situation. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Did you get all of that?” As Spike speaks up again, you notice some color returning to your vision. “Yeah, I got it Twi. Should I send it now?” You hear a loud slap as Twilight sighs. “Of course, Spike.” ‘Did she just facepalm?’ “Ok, ok, I was just making sure.” You briefly hear what sounds like a roaring fire before it goes quiet again. To your relief, your vision has almost returned to you by this time. Still not noticing you awake, Rainbow Dash decided to finally speak up. “So, when are Rarity and Pinkie Pie gonna get here?” “We’re right here darling, don’t worry.” “Yeah, we wouldn’t want to miss out on seeing a super duper new creature thingy that may or may not have come from another world! I mean, really, how could I NOT see it?!? It could be-“ “PINKIE!” Thank god Twilight was still standing there. “First off, it’s a he. Second, Celestia is coming to take a look at him and… Rarity? What’s wrong?” “I-it, he, is awake.” Your eyes widen as you realize that she’s talking about you. You turn your head to thank the girls who saved you, but what you see is not what you were expecting. The six you see in front of you, are ponies. Ponies. The purple pony turns to face you, and to your surprise, starts talking. “Hello there, I’m Twilight Sparkle. And you are?” You sit there and try to formulate the correct response to what just happened. You settle for this. “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?” Twilight visually shirked back from your shouting. “What do you mean?” “Horses don’t talk! THAT. IS. NOT. POSSIBLE.” Another presence chose this time to make itself known. “I beg to differ, human.” You turn to the doorway to see a much taller horse with a horn and wings. It was wearing a crown, and was staring at you intently. Twilight was much less shocked than you were. “Princess Celestia!” Although, you didn’t notice. You passed out again.