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/ Through The Veil/ Story: New Land, New Customs, New Life...New Love?/ by StormHoof32/-/

Alan stood in his kitchen, waiting impatiently for his bagel to finish heating up. He was running about 15 minutes late, and he was worried. He'd never been late in his life. As soon as his bagel was done, he grabbed his coffee and left his house, locking the door behind him. He walked over to his car and got in, placing his coffee in the cup holder and the bagel in his mouth while he started his car.

The reason he was so worried was because he worked with one of the most well renowned researching firms in the U.S. He worked for TRI, or the Texas Research Institute. And today was supposed to be a huge day. They had been working on a project for years now, and now he was getting to be a part of it. When he joined the Institute 2 years ago, he didn't expect to be given a large job. And he wasn't to this day he was still used as their coffee runner.

Until he got the call over the weekend. They had called him to tell him that they had gotten the Portal up and running, and they wanted to send him through as a test subject, to take notes on whatever was on the other side. He was ecstatic at first, but after thinking it over he realized that he might not be able to get back, and he'd never see the earth again. When they explained to him the return device however, his hope rose, if only slightly.

Alan, smiled as he remembered that day. Driving down the road he came up onto an intersection, taking a left he headed up to the large Research Facility. The Institute was large enough that all the researchers owned homes on the property, and Alan's home was only a short distance from the Research Facility, Only a mile or two.

He pulled into the parking lot, having finished his bagel, grabbed his coffee and headed inside. He flashed his I.D. to the Secretary at the front desk who opened up the door to The Main Research Room. as he walked in he was greeted by some of his friends who worked some of the smaller Projects they had going. They all told him good luck, and he knew, he might need it.

Alan opened another door at the end of the hall, which lead to the Portal room, and when he looked toward the center, the device was indeed running and a large Multicolored portal was shimmering in its frame. He had to admit, it was large enough to fill half the height of the room, and he found it quite intimidating.

"So Alan, you ready to go?" One of the Researchers asked. Alan had met him when he first started working here. His name was Anderson, but as usual, he preferred to go by Andy.

"As I'll ever be man. To be honest, I'm hoping that return device of yours works. Otherwise, this is going to be goodbye." Alan said, chuckling nervously.

"Not to worry man, according to all the calculations you should be good to go." Andy laughed. If there was one thing that annoyed Alan about Andy and that was the fact that he never really took anything seriously.

:You better hope so, or i swear if I die in this thing, then I will come back and haunt you." Alan said, being more serious than he should have been.

He got into the casual clothes he had ready for this. They figured it would be best to wear something comfortable. Once dressed, he walked forward, stepping in front of the portal. Andy walked up and placed a small black box in his hands.

"This is the return device, Open the lid and press the green button to open the portal and step back through to the Research Facility. Press the red one to get rid of the open portal. Understand?" he explained.

"I got it. Whelp, here goes nothing." Alan replied, as he took a step through the portal.

-Just so everyone knows, from here on out, it is going to be first person. Enjoy.

As soon as I stepped through the portal, I immediately noticed the difference in the feel of the air around me. It got heavier, as though the pressure went up ten-fold. I had to say, it wasn't one of the best feelings in the world. It felt like hours as I traveled through, but as I neared the end, I felt like I was falling. I remembered being told that when I went through, I couldn't panic, otherwise it could cause the Portal's destination to switch.

Well I panicked.

I started freaking out as I felt the air begin to rush past my face, Then right in front of me, a hole opened up, getting wider the closer i got to it. As I looked through, from what I could see, the ground was covered in bright green grass, grass that looked almost too healthy. As though it had never come in contact with any harmful pollutants in the air.

I came flying out of the portal and landed face first onto the ground, hitting hard enough that I thought I had died when my vision went completely blank.

When I awoke, I tried to roll over, but every muscle in my body ached like I had just finished the worlds most strenuous workouts. I managed to lift my head up so that I could look out ahead of me. The sky was dark and there was a large full moon up in the sky. I couldn't help but notice that it was a beautiful sight. I lied there for hours before I was able to finally lift my self up enough to roll over and sit up.

I then proceeded to check myself for any broken bones, but I thanked god that there were none. Looking over I noticed that there was steam or smoke or something rising from over a hill to the left of me. Curious, I pushed myself up and hobbled over the hill. I was met with an interesting sight, it was a small village decorated with little moon cutouts and other decorations. The buildings themselves were pretty interesting, they were made in an old fashioned design, almost as though they were from the middle ages.

I slowly made my way down the hill, moving closer to the village, hoping to talk to somebody of intelligence. I didn't know where I had landed, but if there was a village then somebody had to live here. I made it to the entrance and stepped into the village, only to find something that had caught me off guard. Small multicolored horses were running back and forth, setting up more decorations, apparently in a hurry.

One of them, what looked like a Purple horse wearing a hat and cape with bells on them and a fake beard came up to me, and said one thing.

"What are you?" it asked.

I passed out.

I don't understand what it was with me and passing out today, but it happened twice now. I awoke feeling warm and comfortable. Rolling over, I realized I was in a bed, a small bed that was a bit too small for me, my feet hanging over the edge. I sat up, grunting in the process. I couldn't have been lying here for too long, because my muscles were still pretty sore.

When I looked around, I saw quite a few bookshelves in the room, and a small basket at the end of the bed, with a small cushion and blanket sitting half-hazardously in it. I found myself wondering and wondering where in the world, or in this case, universe, I was. Then causing me to jump, the door opened, revealing the Purple horse.

"W-who?" was all I could say.

"Oh good your awake, I wanted to talk to you, My name is Twilight Sparkle. May I ask who you are?" she said. I could tell it was a female. I think the term was mare.

"Uh...Alan, my names Alan...HOW IN THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING!" I freaked, the fact that she was talking just now getting to me.

"Whoah, calm down. Now need to freak out. As to how I can talk, everypony can talk, even foals, at least when they are older." Twilight replied.

"B-but, horses aren't supposed to talk?!" I said, dumbfounded.

"Please sir, we prefer to be called Ponies. Horses can't talk that is true, but we Ponies can. That's the only thing that separates us, that and the fact that all the Horses live in the Everfree forest."

"So If I may ask, What are you?" Twilight asked.