Chapter One

I rushed to where I had awoke, hoping to find the rift and go back through. I tripped over my feet...or rather hooves only once, but I got there. Thanks to my bag being there, I knew exactly where I had awoken from. I reached out with my senses and was surprised. I couldn't sense anything. It was possible that the rift had collapsed when I went through and became unusable. It was also possible that my magic didn't work here. Either way, this was bad. It meant that I was stuck here.

I growled as I sat down, taking a few deep breaths and thinking to myself. "Ok, Hero, think," I said out loud to myself. "You went through a rift that started to collapse around you. You passed out and awoke in this colorful land. You're a pony." I tapped my hand...hoof on my chin...muzzle...thinking. "I'm dead. I died and this is my punishment. Who knew that hell was a colorful place!" I stumped my hooves on the ground in frustration but sighed softly. "Ok, maybe I'm not dead. But what the hell is this place?"

I decided to go back to the lake and looked at my reflection. Despite being a pony, I still had that punk look with my mane being green and spiky. I still had my piercings all over my face with three in each ear, two over one eye and one over the other, one in my nose, and one in my lip. I stuck out my tongue to see the stud was still there. As I was inspecting myself, I noticed the pointed horn on my forehead. I stared at it for a while, concluding that it was the reason I had such a headache. A body forcefully transformed like I had just went through would give muscle aches and pains. Having a horn grow out of your head was not a pleasant feeling.

I looked over at my back and saw the leather coat draped around me. It had apparently changed also to fit me in this form. My forearms were still through what would be the arms of the coat, but the rest was just draped over my back and my tail. And now I'm conscience of my tail. I also realized that I didn't have any clothes, and I had a lot less metal on me than I had before. Besides my piercings, I had my necklaces and my bracelets were resting on my hooves. But now I had bracelets on my back hooves also, even though I didn't have any on my ankles before. As for the metal that I had under my clothes, I still had some in the form of bands around my forearms and gaskin, but that was it. Nothing around my chest and body at all.

I sighed, lowering my head close to the water. If I was going to get out of here, I was going to have to find a rift to take me back. Or someone who could make a rift. I had to wonder who would be here, if they were all ponies like me, or normal humans. I don't know which I would refer. If I could find a human, I might be able to get them to turn me back to normal at least. But I would probably get more attention than what I needed. On the other hand, if I find more ponies, they might treat me like humans in my world did; avoid me like the plague. But would there be a pony who knew how to open a rift or where to find one? Could I even communicate with them? I knew I could speak, but I sounded fine to myself. I don't know what to expect if I found another pony or a human. I might freak a human out if a pony came up to them and started talking. I might freak out a pony if they couldn't talk like I could.

I sighed and went back to my bag and started to reach for it. Then I remembered that I didn't have hands. "Fuck you too, bag," I said, softly. I sighed again as I leaned down, took the strap in my mouth, and whipped it over my shoulder...where it slid off my other side. I growled as I slipped my hoof through the bag, whipped it again, and had it hung off my other side. With my bag in hand...with my bag in hoof...that sounds stupid, by the way, I started walking.

I was lucky enough to have awoken near a dirt road. I would able to follow it and hopefully find a town or something. It was only after a few minutes that I started to get the feeling I was being followed. I looked around. There weren't any trees nearby nor any large rocks, so if someone was following me, they couldn't hide. Unless they knew how to throw up a veil. I reached out with my senses but couldn't feel any magic. Though if they were good, I wouldn't feel it anyway. But then I wouldn't get the feeling they were following me neither, so what the fuck. I growled, turned, and continued to walk.

"Ok, I give up," came a voice from somewhere behind and above me. I spun around, not spotting anyone or anything but some clouds. "You're no pony I've seen around here. You new or something?"

"Who wants to know?" I asked, scanning the path and sky for a sign of someone.

"I do," came the voice. It seemed like it had come from a cloud that was almost over top me. And now that I thought about it, it was a lot closer than any other clouds. "So, who are you?" I started to analyze the voice. It wasn't anyone I knew, but I could tell it was a feminine voice. She somehow had a tom-boyish tone to her too.

"Great, now clouds are talking to me," I thought, but I assumed that it wasn't really a cloud talking but someone hiding behind the cloud. "Why don't you show yourself first? I don't like talking to someone who wants to hide."

A head popped out from over top the cloud, giving me the impression that she had been laying on it and just rolled over to look at me. The pony had a light blue fur, and it's mane was spiked forward with different colors, giving it a rainbow effect. And it looked natural. I did notice that this pony didn't have a horn, meaning that not only where there other ponies, but ponies with different physical traits. "That's a lot of metal," she said. "But I have to say, that looks totally awesome."

I arched an eyebrow, or where my eyebrow would be if I still had them, at her. "Umm, thanks?"

"I'm Rainbow Dash. Though you probably already knew that. You know, being an awesome pony as I am."

I rolled my eyes. She was that kind of person...or pony. A hip, probably athletic type who thought highly of herself. Reality check, not everyone knows your name. "Never heard of you," I said. I turned and continued to walk. Though I had to admit, the name was interesting. I had to wonder if she was given the name because of her hair. And it would be a little cliché if she was a fast runner, but still interesting.

"Aww, that sucks," she said. I looked up as I saw her flying over me so that she could look at me again. Her wings flapped steadily, keeping up with me while she remained in the air and above me. "So, where you from? What brings you here?"

I wanted to ignore her, but if I wanted to get out of here, it might help if I knew where here was. So, I had to play somewhat nice. "Nowhere you would know and I have no reason to be here. I don't even know what land this is," I told her as I looked up at her. I looked at her wings. They reminded me of Pegasus. Maybe in this world, pegasus wasn't a mythical creature, but a breed of pony. Thinking about it farther, I would be in the form of a unicorn.

"You mean to tell me you traveled all the way out here and you don't even know what Equestria is?" She sounded surprise by this fact. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. Anyone from this dimension would have heard of the land. But I wasn't from here, so I wouldn't have heard of it. It would be shocking to someone if they heard of such a person, or in this case a pony, who had never heard of Equestria.

I sighed. "Look, I don't really have time to stop and chat," I said. "I've had a long day and I would like to find a place I could sleep."

"Oh, I got you!" she said, excited. "Well, you're close to Ponyville. I'm sure someone will be able to give you a place. I would offer my place, but it's kind of in the clouds and you don't look like you could fly with that heavy coat on."

"As long as it's not over open water, I don't care," I mumbled. Though she had a point. Even with wings, this coat would be constricting them, making me unable to fly. Thinking about that, I remembered the muscles on my back that weren't normal. I realized then that I did have wings. I could move them too, but only just thanks to the coat.

"Oh, I know. Applejack has plenty of room, she could probably offer you a place to sleep." With that, she took off, flying at high speed away.

"Yep," I said to myself. "She lives up to that name." I started to race after her.

I have to say this, if you're not use to running on all fours, you're going to get tripped up. My back legs kept going faster than my front and I found myself planting my face in the ground. I had to stop and regroup myself. If I was going to get anywhere, I was going to have to get use to this new body. I started by thinking of how my normal body moved and how horses moved. Then I started to move slowly, thinking about my movements as I trotted forward. Once I started to get use to it, I started to go faster. Though, I had already lost Rainbow Dash.

Instead, I was treated by the face of a pink pony with bright pink curly hair popping up in front of me. "Hey!" she shouted in a loud, upbeat voice. I jumped back a bit, surprised. My natural reaction was to attack her, but I was more surprised that she was so upbeat about coming up to someone like me. Not to mention, I had no weapon or a way to fight in this form. Plus, I didn't know if I could use my abilities from my world. "You must be new here. Are you new? You must be new, cause I don't know you. And I know everypony in Ponyville! I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you!" This hyperactive pony was going crazy. She was hopping and running around as she spoke, talking like an over active teenage girl on a cell phone. And she was still talking, what about, I did not know, but she was still going.

"Wooh! Chill the fuck out!" I said, trying to keep track of where she was. But that was nearly impossible. I actually found myself getting dizzy, and I could keep track with things moving at the speed of sound. I didn't know if this was because I'm not use to this body or if she was just like that with her random movements. But whatever the reason, she stopped when I spoke.

"Oh my, that's such a bad word," she exclaimed. "Are you a bad pony? That's ok. We can still be friends. I love making new friends. Oh! I should throw a party for my new friend!"

"No! That's quite alright!" I said. "Look, I'm just..."

"Oh, but I love to throw parties! I am Ponyville's number one party planning pony! I mean, I didn't get this cutie mark for nothing!"

There she goes again, speaking nonsense. But it was when she gestured with her head and a little shake of her tail that I noticed the image of three balloons on her butt. Was that what she was talking about? Come to think of it, Rainbow Dash had something on her butt too. I didn't really notice it before, but there was something there. But I couldn't remember what.

"Listen!" I said again, getting annoyed. "I'm looking for Applejack. Do you know..."

"Oh, you're looking for Applejack?! Are you a friend of hers? A relative? Or are you her special pony?!" She gasped. "And she never told me."

"No!" I shouted. "I don't know her. Look. I'm new here. And someone named Rainbow Dash told me she might be able to give me a place to stay."

"Oh! You need a place to stay? You could always stay at my place."

"That's quite alright!" I said. "I'll just check out this Applejack's place."

"What's this about checkin' out my place?" I heard a new voice say. I looked down the path and saw an orange fur pony with yellow mane and wearing a cowgirl hat. Her mane and tail both had a red ribbon tied on them. It fit with her southern country accent. She had two baskets strapped to her back, each hanging on either side of her, and both were filled with gold coins.

"Oh, this pony was!" said the pony named Pinkie Pie, or at least that's what I thought she said her name was in all that chattering she did. "He's new here! He said he's a friend of Rainbow Dash and that she said you might have room for him to stay!"

"I'm not friends with Rainbow Dash," I said. "I just met her before I ran into you." I put a hoof to my face, my headache getting worst. "I just want some sleep."

"I offered him my place, but he said that he rather stay at your place," Pinkie said. "I think he might have a thing for you, Applejack."

"Pinkie Pie, would ya calm down for one pickin' minute," the pony I assumed was Applejack said. "No pony could ever get some rest with ya runnin' around makin' all that ruckus." Pickie Pie pouted as Applejack came over to me. "Rainbow did mention a new pony needin' a place to stay. Ya must be 'im. Ya sure ain't any pony I've seen here in Ponyville. Where ya..." but she was cut off when she made eye contact with me. I felt the Soul Gaze begin instantly.