In hindsight, I would have preferred burning to death over what actually happened to me.

Even today I'm not entirely sure what happened at that time. One moment I felt flames close to my face, the next I heard the clacking of hooves and voices crying out.

It took me a moment to fully register that I was no longer in a burning auditorium and that the voices weren't my nieces and brother screaming in the distance and for a long moment I thought I was dead and had gone to wherever people went to when they died.

Then I opened my eyes, and wished I hadn't.

The ponies from My Little Pony? Pretty cute on screen.

In real life not so much. Actually they were down right horrifying to look at if I was honest.

I was in a large room with white walls and pastel colored banners and stained glass windows depicting winged unicorns doing a variety of things. I was laying on the floor in the middle of the room, the floor blissfully cool compared to the floor of the auditorium I had been in before. I saw lines on the floor in some sort of magical circle design around me and just outside the circle were ponies.

Pastel or garishly colored ponies.

I swear the one in the corner would glow in the dark it was so ungodly bright colored.

Their proportions weren't quite what it looked like in the cartoon my nieces would watch, they looked thinner, their legs thinner and longer and their faces less rounded and their eyes smaller and less bugged looking.

They could have been cute, but the colors combined with their slightly to large eyes and off proportions to normal horses dipped to far into uncanny valley and it honestly made it difficult for me to look at them for long.

They were talking back and forth to each other while looking at me, but their voices were so high pitched and they were talking so fast that it was making my head spin.

Or perhaps I was still suffering from smoke inhalation. Isn't that deadly?

There were five ponies in total, each wearing some kind of robes and none of which I recognized from the few times I watched the cartoon with my nieces. All five were unicorns and based on what I could hazily gleam as they argued something about a summoning ritual and some evil the one directly in front of me was most likely the leader.

The pony was bright minty green with white a white splash on its face. Its mane was bright pink and yellow and braided to the floor as was its tail. The pony's magneta eyes turned from one of the other ponies to me suddenly, its horn slightly glowing.

It was talking to me, it's high pitched voice grating slightly and making it impossible to make our quite what they were saying.

Slowly I used my arms to lift myself up from laying down to a sitting position. Thankfully the ponies had gone silent while I did this, as I kept getting light headed and needing to stop near constantly.

The room was honestly just to bright, the voices of the ponies to high pitched, and it was getting a bit hard to breathe. I opened the cloak of my costume, not really having the dexterity to remove it at the moment and reaching behind me to undo some of the ribbon.

I could feel the shift in the air and looked up. The minty unicorn was looking at me with a mix of fear and rage.

It kind of look constipated if I was honest.

The unicorn started yelling at me in a shrill voice that made me cover my ears and sudden nausea to set in. Suddenly all the ponies were yelling, at me and at each other. Unable to take it I vomited, Minty Horn in front of me backing up suddenly and looking at me with pure disgust.

The yelling just got louder until suddenly I was lifted off the ground. I flailed in panic, feeling vertigo and saw Minty Horn's horn was glowing the same color as whatever energy was lifting me before I was suddenly slammed against a nearby wall.

Disoriented, confused, and now in pain I felt rage build up and my stomach twist.

The unicorns were in front of me, horns glowing and pointing at me as I uneasily got to my feet. Some looked afraid, Minty Horn looked enraged.

"Wha-what the fuck?!" I tried to shout but the nausea made me sound almost drunk as I swayed lightly. Minty Horn was saying something but I couldn't focus. My vision was starting to blur and honestly I was feeling to pissed off. That unicorn threw me at the wall, weren't these pricks supposed to be all "friendship is magic" and other childhood lesson spewing excuses to market crappy toys to girls and neckbeards?

Later on I couldn't explain why I was so enraged at that unicorn in particular, but I wanted them to stop shouting at me. I wanted them to get away from me and wished all five would just go flying.

Then suddenly, that's what they did.

I blinked in surprise, seeing the five pastel unicorns laying crumpled on the floor opposite of me. I couldn't tell from the distance, but I prayed they were still breathing. I could feel something strange on my chest and looking down I saw the cheap amulet I had gotten was glowing.

So the fake cheap piece of crap that hit me in the head turned out to be some magical amulet that made vomit bright pastel ponies want to attack me.

It sounded like a concept from some terrible self insert crap fanfic. The only thing I was missing was the cheap edgelordy costume to make me look evil.

I didnt think about the Halloween costume I was wearing as I slowly made my way to the door nearby. If this was some evil amulet then chances are I wasn't going to get a better reception from any other pony and right now I needed fresh air.

I was close to the door when I started to hear the noise from the other side: voices and clattering. Not at all helpful to me who just want to find a quiet place to recover then figure stuff out. Praying the door wouldn't hit when they threw it open I stood by the door so that when it opened I would be blocked from sight.

It didn't take long before the door swung open and a bunch of armored winged ponies trotted in and ran towards the fallen unicorns. Their worried and loud voices filled the room and I quickly ducked out and into the hallway, hiding in dips in the walls and around statues to avoid being seen.

Not easy while still in costume, and I had a few close calls as armored ponies ran around in a clear panic to find me.

By some miracle I actually found my way to the door of wherever I was and it was open, armored ponies standing guard and talking to one pony I actually did recognize.

She was nearly three times the height of the other ponies, her pastel rainbow main floating unrealistically. She was talking with the guards at the door, clearly giving orders before turning around and locking eyes directly on me.

If the uncanny valley on other ponies were bad, it had nothing on Princess Celestia if I was honest.

She didn't even look remotely surprised to see me, nor did she have any hesitancy in approaching me. The glare on her face was unnerving as she stopped a few yards away from me and stood tall.

All of the ponies around me were only slightly shorter than I was, but Princess Celestia absolutely towered over me. In tiny figuring form she was almost cute.

Glaring down at you, taller than you were, she was terrifying. She radiated an energy that made me want to vomit again.

At least she didn't throw me into a wall when I did, and gave me the small grace of looking away to give me a bit of privacy while I vomited.

"Who are you?" she asked. Her voice was surprisingly smooth compared to the unicorns in that room or the rough sounding pegasi running about. She sounded like a disappointed mother instead of a clearly pissed off God in oversized kid's toy form.

I garbled something, I wasn't entirely sure what. My head was killing me and my vision swam making me sway. I needed to get fresh air and clear my lungs.

"I said. Who. Are. You." Princess Celestia repeated. I heard clacking behind me, a lot of it, and didn't need to look behind me to know the guard had vomited. Celestia in front of me clacked a hoof on the floor, showing her growing impatience.

"Kath…" was all I could muster out. I wanted out of this building and into fresh air, I wanted time to recover and gather my thoughts. I could feel that twisting feeling in my stomach again as I saw her talking, but everything was oddly muffled, liking trying to hear someone under water.

This pastel toy was talking, and by what I could tell she was getting angrier. I didn't really think about it, just waved my hand wanting a bit of silence for a moment.

There was a flash of red and then all hell broke loose. Celestia slammed to a wall to my right and next thing I knew ponies behind and in front of me were trying to attack me. I could barely get my bearings as I ducked bellow a pegasus that tried to ram me and made for the very large and stupidly open doors. All sound was muffled so I wasn't sure of what was happening behind me, just willing with all my might that I would get outside.

I wanted some place safe, some place to gather my thoughts. I bolted out the door and down a staircase, looking up to the sky and wishing I was somewhere that looked familiar at the very least.

I remember a flash of red and then slamming into a tree trunk at full speed, hitting the ground and groaning painfully at the impact on both sides.

I gulped air as quickly and deeply as my lungs would allow, hoping the smoke would clear quickly as I laid on the ground for what felt like an eternity. Gradually my head cleared and my sense of hearing returned, but I didn't feel any urgency to get up or even open my eyes as I laid on the ground.

My chest felt warm and I was completely relaxed, taking in deep breaths and smelling pine, mint, and wet dirt around me. It took me a few minutes at that point that aside from bird song there was no other sound around me. No hooves clacking, no shouting.

Just peace and quiet.

I cracked open my eyes, feeling light as I slowly pulled myself up off the ground. Everything hurt from my impact but I felt much clearer and better since getting out of what I assume was a castle.

Looking around I was in a forest, though it looked very different from the one back home. The leaves were so deeply green some looked blue, the trunks of the trees exceptionally dark. Golden light shined through the trees with little orbs of light dancing in the branches and between trunks in a rhythmic motion.

The trees above were very thick, allowing for only ray's of light here and there but despite that there were bushes loaded with berries everywhere and the ground was covered in a thick carpet of grass just as deep green as the leaves above and was so lush that it was like sticking my hand into a shag carpet.

"The fu…" I muttered to myself, looking around. It was exceptionally beautiful, that was for sure, but I still had no idea how I went from Castle full of Hostile Ponies to Oil Painting Beautiful Forest.

I tried to listen for any other sounds beside the distant bird calls, hoping to get some bearings but heard none. With the dense trees I couldn't even tell the directions and the birds didn't sound like any bird calls I was familiar with back home. Sighing I looked around to see if any nearby trees would be easy to climb and found one just a few yards off.

Once I got to it I looked down at the skirt of my dress and took a few seconds tying it so that it wouldn't snag as I climbed and got to work, grabbing branch after branch until I was near the top of the tree. I made a point not to look down and held a firm grip on a thick branch close to the trunk before standing up completely to poke my head out of the leaves of the tree.

I got a good vantage point of the forest around me and the location of the sun. If this world's sun worked like the one in my world, then I was definitely nesting evening as the sky was already showing some red and golds. I could see, faintly, in the distance a white castle resting on a cliff face and reasoned that must be the castle I started at, making the castle south east-ish from me. To the right of it I could see a massive amount of rainbows in the clouds, dipping and bleeding into more clouds. Turning a bit to see behind me and thus north I saw massive snow capped mountains in the distance. The the west I saw more forest and to the east I saw more mountains and forest.

So I saw exactly jack beyond the castle I came from and rainbows and no sense of where I was.

I slowly climbed down to some lower branches I could sit on as I tried to think of my options. Night time was dangerous in any forest, I had no weapons, food, or water, no shelter, no first aid kit, and a bunch of ponies wanted me dead for some reason.

I sighed and rested against the trunk of the tree. Now was the time to prioritize my current issues and deal with them in terms of what was the most pressing issue.

While overall the most pressing issue was getting home, I had no way of dealing with that, so I focused on Shelter, Food, and Water first. The berry bushes near me would, temporarily, take care of food if they didn't make me sick I immediately mentally crossed that off my list. That left water and shelter.

It was a forest that was flanked on two sides with mountains, so it wasnt difficult to assume that there might be caves nearby, and a lake or river I could collect water from. Taking a chance I peeked through the tree again, not holding on so I could go higher and barely saw the reflection of a river and ponds to the east.

The distance was pretty far, but if time moved the same here as my world I reasoned I could make it there in a few hours.

I climbed down and instead of heading off I went to inspect the berry bushes.

The berries looked like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, even some salmonberries and strawberries.

I was thankful I still had the small purse I had brought with me to the dance: nothing fancy or big, just big enough to hold my wallet and keys with some spare room and it had a thin strap that I was able to tuck it under my costume. I was surprised to find it empty when I pulled it out, but didnt feel like dwelling on it then. The contents likely fell out in the auditorium anyway.

There wasn't a ton of room but I figured I could fit a decent amount of the berries inside. As I gathered I wistfully wished I went with a larger purse, and let my thoughts wonder as I picked.

I worried about my nieces, my brother and sister in law, the other families and kids. I hoped everyone made it out alright and that the auditorium would be fixed on time for the prom. Or perhaps they'll rent out a local business? Either way, thoughts of home made me homesick and I didn't realize until after I noticed I couldn't find anymore strawberries that I had picked at least four bushes clean of berries.

I looked down at my back that didnt even loom full, but sure enough at least four bushes were clean of berries. I reached into the bag and couldn't feel any of the berries and looking around I didn't see any on the ground.

Something in my head clicked in that moment and I put my hand back into my purse, willing three strawberries into my hand. I pulled out my hand and indeed there were three strawberries and a dim red glow around the amulet on my neck.

I wasn't surprised, but I honestly felt like I should be. Still, if this thing was going to allow my purse to have infinite storage, I was taking advantage as I picked the surrounding bushes clean.

I started heading east after that, a blood red glow now coming through the trees. I held my cloak close as I walked and wondered what else I could get this amulet to do. So far I figured it had some sort of telekinetic attack, teleportation, and storage ability based on what I had experienced so far.

A forest at night was dangerous but somehow I couldn't bring myself to feel any concern. I held out a hand in front of me, willing a ball of light to appear and with a moment of delay such a ball did appear. It levitated a few inches above my hand and floated where I wanted it to so as to give me more light as I walked. Most games had an MP system for magic and I did wonder if I had some sort of magic point system I had to be worried about as I tried out different things as I thought up ideas.

I could cast a barrier, make light, make myself float (to dark for me to even consider flight), cause a light breeze, make a small fire. By the time I managed to reach a river I had a general idea that, so long as I could imagine what I wanted this necklace could conjure it up for me. Even willing water from the river to float into a drinkable ball that is purified for human consumption required just a thought and a bit of will power.

Food and water secured, my next issue was shelter.

Of course, this was when a patrol of about five pegasi decked out in armor showed up and wanted to fight.