Chapter 1: The Celestial Plane

Dan stormed down a long sidewalk of Los Angeles, small body shaking with rage. However, this anger felt much different from his usual brand of unreasonable, psychotic fury. This anger held the bitter pain of rejection and humiliation, an anger that Chris had knowingly inflicted on him.

Dan, after a great amount of denial, had finally told Chris of his secret feelings towards him. These feelings were nothing new though, Dan had quietly harbored them ever since the two had met in Summer camp so many years ago. It was only recently that he'd come to terms with them.

But even after all the confusion and mental agony these feelings had caused the man, Chris had the gall to reject him! To say that he didn't return the feelings, to remind him that he was married to Elise, even to say that Dan was crazy for feeling that way in the first place! Dan let out a loud, wordless yell as he recalled the night's events, too upset to keep silent.

"D-Dan, stop! Wait a second…." The small man heard a familiar voice call. He glanced behind him to see Chris running after him, his lack of athleticism keeping him from going very fast. Dan shot the other a look of anger and turned to face forward once again, furious that Chris had followed him.

"Dan really! Please stop! I-I didn't mean to make you cry…." Dan's walking paused for a brief moment when he heard Chris say the last sentence, feeling now more than ever the dried tears that had made a thin crust around his eyes.

"Sh-shut up!" Dan yelled, quickly regaining his composure. He quickly rubbed the crust off of his face, starting to walk again, this time a little faster. He heard Chris' footsteps speed up as well as the larger man attempted to catch up to him. Dan growled lowly as he realized that Chris was still trying to follow him. "Don't you have a damn wife to spend time with?!" He spat angrily, voice breaking just a bit at the end. The other didn't reply, just continued to pursue him. Dan let out a noise of irritated exasperation and kept walking, becoming consumed by his enraged thoughts. After a few long minutes, Chris had managed to catch up to Dan, panting heavily. He quickly extended a hand, placing it on Dan's thin shoulder in an effort to keep him from moving any far forward.

And it worked to some extent.

Dan immediately halted, whipping around to face the other, green eyes blazing with enmity. Chris shrunk a bit, realizing that perhaps this wasn't the best method for stopping the other.

"How dare you touch me!" Dan roared, slapping Chris' hand away in resentment.

"Dan please…. I just…. want to talk-" Chris pleaded, still panting heavily from running for so long.

"NO!" The smaller man shouted, turning and beginning to run, just wanting to get away from the other. In order to get closer to his apartment, Dan ran into the street, keeping an eye out for the familiar neon Los Paradisio sign connected to his apartment. Chris, seeing the possible dangers of running into the street, tried to call Dan back to him.

"Dan wait! Get back over here!" He yelled, motioning for the other to come back.

"Fuck you!" Was all Dan said in reply, stopping for a moment to yell back at Chris.

Suddenly, a loud noise broke through their words, the loud, deep sound of a car horn. Dan spun to see the source of the noise. But his eyes were quickly forced shut as he was covered in the bright fluorescent beams of headlights. Dan lifted a hand up to try and see, realizing that a car was hurdling towards him. The man froze like a deer at the realization, unable to move.

"DAN!" Chris screamed, eyes widening in terror.

Dan quickly squeezed his eyes shut, unable to do anything else as fear gripped his entire body.

He didn't even feel the car slam into him. The impact was so powerful that Dan's nerves didn't even register it at first. Dan slammed into the ground less than moment later, landing hard on his back. His green eyes stared blankly at the sky, the bright stars becoming blurry and dark.

"Dan….! Dan….!" A seemingly far away voice yelled. Through his fading vision, Dan saw a large dark figure appear to his right, crouch down, and wrap his strong arms around him. "Dan…. Listen to me…. Ok….?" The blurry figure begged. "I'm going to get you to the hospital…. Just hang on…. Ok….?

Ok….?

Dan….?" The voice, along with Dan's vision, faded completely to a deep, dark, heavy blackness.

"Dan…." A soft, feminine voice called, worming it's way through the blackness, like a lantern on a foggy night. Dan's eyes slowly opened as he heard the voice, vision still somewhat blurry.

"Dan…." The voice called again. It sounded like whoever was speaking was coming closer.

"Wha…. What is it….?" Dan mumbled quietly, forcing himself into a sitting position so that he could see whoever was talking. He tried to look around, but could see nothing but bright shades of greens and blues. His eyes scanned slowly around the infinite space, trying to find the person that had spoken.

Out of the immense green-blue space a figure emerged. Tall, glowing white, with long, flowing blue, purple, green, and pink hair. It was walking towards him, calling his name in a kind, soft voice. Dan opened his eyes a little wider in an attempt to make out more of the blurry figure. As it approached, Dan realized that what he'd assumed had been a person calling his name, wasn't a human at all! It was an equine, or more specifically, an alicorn. It was tall and thin with sparkling white fur and golden fleur-de-lis boots fit snugly around her hooves. The alicorn wore a large, gold necklace-like accessory around her neck, with a purple, diamond shaped jewel placed in the middle. Dan noticed that in front of the alicorn's long horn, a shiny golden crown was perched, adorned with a single purple gem.

The creature continued to approach the small man, this time in silence. Dan blinked several times, hardly believing what was coming towards him. The alicorn, who was much taller than Dan, stopped just a few feet away from the man, her large violet eyes looking down at him. she lowered her head so that her eyes were level with Dan's.

"Hello Dan." The alicorn said in a soft, kind voice. Dan stared awestruck at the creature, his mind trying desperately to form response.

"Um…. H-hi…." The man said quietly, still staring at the equine in amazement. "Where…. Where am I….?"

"The Celestial Plane." The alicorn replied, raising her head back up to display her full height. "A place that exists between realities, a place that any living thing must pass through in order to enter a new realm." The human blinked, still trying to fully understand the situation.

"So then…. Why am I here….?" Dan asked, his tone confused.

"You are here," The alicorn began, "to learn." The man tilted his head to the side, his confusion increasing at the statement.

"What do you mean? What do I have to learn?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Maybe I'm dreaming….' Dan thought to himself. 'It would make definitely sense….'

"You are here to complete six lessons Dan." The alicorn said. "You must learn kindness, generosity, laughter, honesty, loyalty, and magic. Only once you have done this will you be able to return to your reality and your home."

"R-return?!" Dan said, eyes widening as the alicorn's words began to sink in. "What do you mean?! Did you kidnap me?!" The human said, his voice getting louder as he began to panic.

"Dan. You have not been kidnapped. I have brought you here to learn the magic of friendship."

"Magic of….?! You can't be serious!" Dan yelled, trying to stand. But as he went to move, he found he couldn't. His arms, his legs, even his torso were incapable of movement. The man looked frantically back up at the equine, a mixture of terror and anger evident in his eyes.

"Do not fear Dan. You will be in good hooves." The alicorn said calmly, leaning her head back down, purple eyes focused on the human. Dan stared dumbly at the creature, mouth slightly agape.

"I-I'm not scared!" The man retorted, quickly trying to compose himself. "I'm not scared of some dumb horse! You're going on the list you no-good, stupid-!" Dan's outraged words were cut off as the alicorn leaned down and touched the tip of her long, slender horn to his forehead. The human's yelling instantly died down as a feeling of exhaustion swept through his body. "You…. You're…. G-gonna…." He mumbled, beginning to sway side to side. "You're…. Gonna…. Get it…." Dan mumbled, falling unconscious in front of the alicorn.

The creature smiled and leaned back up, her horn glowing with a soft yellow magic. The alicorn began to carefully levitate Dan off the ground, bringing his limp body around and setting him on her back, his chest leaning against the back of her neck. She smiled and began to gracefully walk away, bringing Dan into the magical world of Equestria.