A/N: I'm immediately starting this right after chapter two was posted, so hopefully it'll be a faster update.
I opened my eyes, saw the gray of the walls, and was about to go back to sleep when I remembered that I couldn't afford to stay asleep. "Oh," I said, and immediately recoiled at the sound of my voice, surprised. Noticing the fire was low-I don't know how it survived the night, but I piled more firewood on top of it and started to eat some of the plants I'd gathered yesterday. How the hell did I not notice that? Looking at my surroundings once more, I begin to notice how many paintings, books, and tapestries I missed on my way in last night. I resolved right there and then to learn about where I am-and how I get home.
These tapestries… so intricately designed-no way it was those horses. They can't hold things with their hooves, so who made this? Or if they did, how?
I once again had a "genius" moment and realized I must be in the palace's library. God I'm such a dumbass. I swear to God, if I wake up in one more library I'm gonna… what's this? A glint of a gold-like metal caught my eye-a book. Something was important about this book, I can't describe how I knew, but I could just… know that it was important. I pulled it off of the shelf, and looked at the cover. A picture of a unicorn with emerald eyes stared right back at me, along with its embroidered corners. Opening the cover, I read the title aloud.
"The Mare in the Moon…" There was no author listed. As I turned the page, I noticed that there were a couple pictures in a foreign style of drawing. I brushed it off, and started reading.
"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects: all the different types of ponies.
But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Night Mare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.
Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of The Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon—"
"...and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." I noticed that I said aloud the last part, and immediately froze stock-still, hoping nothing had heard me reading aloud.
As I sat there, I had some time to think to myself about the book I was holding in my hands. What made it so important? It sounded like a damn fairy tale. But if it's a fairy tale, why does it feel so… real? Well, that really hasn't helped at all… I should see what else I can find, but at least I know what this place is called now. Equestria… has a bit of a ring to it.
Having found some other books based on historical fact, I read that the two rulers were in fact the winged unicorns mentioned in "The Mare in the Moon," Luna and Celestia. Seems like a damned communist regime, but there's peace. Moving from the historical books, I looked for anything that might have a record of human life. No such luck there, but considering I'm in Ponyland-er… Equestria, that's not surprising.
I spent the next couple of days wandering the castle and the surrounding area-only to hear they were looking for me. However, I saw that same purple one, with several others were the only ones looking for me. That, or I didn't see any of the other search parties.
Being on a food search, I went out into the surrounding forest and was left to my own thoughts, but not for long. The search party had returned, and was looking grim.
I'm not sure why I'm so damn important to these ponies, but they're gonna find me one of these days. Besides, as far as I can tell, they're not armed. Why would I even think they're armed? They can't even carry anything, except on their backs. I might as well just come out…
"Twi-Ah' don't think ah can take 'ff anymore time from tha farm, we find it today 'r we don't find it at ah'll."
"I agree with Applejack, this is taking much too much time off of my busy schedule, and a huge order just came up. Darling, I don't think I'll be able to do this for much longer."
"I don't know either… Angel's been upset that I haven't been at home… but I don't know… I think I'll have to call it quits tomorrow if that's alright…" I heard a somewhat strange squeaking noise after this quiet voice.
I took this moment to make my presence known. Drawing my knife, I thought: Here goes nothing… might as well use some intimidation.
"Come on, everypony, it's got to be here somewh-"
I jumped out from my hiding spot, and threw my knife through the air, sticking the blade inches away from the leader's face. They all screamed loudly, and I stood as tall as I could with the weight that I STILL couldn't figure out as to what it was. I must've looked pretty damn scary with all the dirt and dust on my face, along with being about their height. (if they were to stand on two legs) I probably looked like a soldier that just fought his way out of hell with my army coat on.
"Who the hell are you and WHY did I wake up in this place?" I yelled angrily, but secretly impressed at how cool that sounded. However, after the initial surprise, a blur of every color went past my face as I was knocked to the ground, leaving me vulnerable. "So it's that kind of party…" I muttered under my breath, only to have another blur, this one shaded pink, jump on top of me and pin my arms and legs to the ground.
"A PARTY! I LOVE PARTIES! What kind of party will it be? I hope it's a surprise party! Or a birthday party! I wonder" I cut off this pink pony's tirade by lifting up first my right arm, then my left in an effort to push her off. What the hell went wrong? Pushing off the ground with my back and pushing up with my arms, I flipped her end over end as I stood and took a defensive stance.
"Alright, the knife was just for intimidation, as was the yelling, but please, I can do this all day if that's what you ponies were looking for!" I stood ready for another attack, but got hit hard from behind and fell to the ground, again. This is becoming repetitive. Somewhat expecting this, I rolled to my feet and swung out with a fist, only to be lifted up into the air and swallowed by a reddish purple glow
"HOW DARE YOU!" The meek, yellow Pegasus started to walk towards me, eyes fixated on mine. From what I had seen before, this was completely out of character for the yellow Pegasus. "YOU COME HERE ALMOST DEAD, THEN YOU DO THIS? Just because you're not like us, and afraid of where you are, DOESN'T mean that you can do that. You DO NOT, hurt ANYPONY here, got that?"
Dammit Brian, look away… look away… Wait a second, afraid of where I am hmm? I'll show you afraid.
"No. I don't. Because whatever the hell brought me here, is bringing me out. I don't even know if I'm alive right now. I very well may be dead, in a coffin right now. Did it occur to you that maybe I'm not afraid of where I am, but afraid of having to face what I've done in my life? Maybe you should think about that before you start to tell off somebody you don't know-because maybe there's more to them than what you have seen, because you've seen NOTHING." My voice steadily rising from a whisper to a shout, then a full out roar as I finished, the pony seemed very shocked and afraid, as did her "leader" and her accomplices.
"Well, now that you've oh-so-graciously rolled out the welcome mat, I think I'll go back to where I was before. And by that, I mean where I've been living for the past FIVE days in this crappy 'Equestria' or whatever the fuck you call it. (every single one winced at my language) Not where I can say I've lived most of my life, because that's not here. And you've taken that away from me." The ponies were silent as I grabbed my knife, sheathed it, and began walking down the dusty road to where the castle is located.
"WAIT!" I heard one cry out, as I marched down the road.
This should be good. "What now?" I yelled over my shoulder, still walking away.
"Don't go…" The purple unicorn had run up behind me, and was currently trotting beside me.
"Give me one good reason." Now actually talking to one, I felt nervous, not having many friends back home.
"I think we just got off on the wrong hoof. Look, my name's Twilight Sparkle, and those five ponies back there are my friends. I know who you are though." She said, unnerving me even more. How does she know my name? How would she? It hasn't been spoken here at all!
"Humor me." I replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Would your name happen to be," she struggled slightly with the pronunciation, "Brain… Bree-an…"
"It's Brian, don't wear it out."
"Oh, alright then… Well I'm Twil-" I cut her off quickly.
"…Twilight Sparkle, I got that the first time." We walked along in silence for some time, the group of other ponies trailing far behind as they talked amongst themselves. "I know this is kind of weird for you, because I'm not… a pony, but could you please tell me how I got here?"
"I can't say I know, because I actually found you at the edge of this very forest, and…" she trailed off.
"Let me guess, lots of blood, lots of burns, the usual."
"I'm not sure how that's normal for you, but yes. I didn't-still don't know what you were, but I couldn't just leave you there. I had to help you, so I took you back to Ponyville and-"
Cutting her off once again, I interrupted with my usual brand of sarcasm. "Ponyville? What a creative name. Let me guess, the next town over is Horsetown or Unicornopolis?"
Irritated by my sarcasm, she continued in an annoyed tone. "and did what I could to heal you. You were so beaten and broken… You wouldn't believe how many splinters I had to remove."
"And that included stripping me buck naked and putting my clothes on the other side of the room? Seems like there's more to this. Would you have anything to do with the fact my back feels like there's a car on it?" I unpleasantly recounted waking up and not knowing where I am, then realizing I was unarmed, naked, and discovered.
"No… maybe… well… there is one more thing but I think that can wait for now. Anything else you want to accuse me of?" She catches on fast. Interesting.
"I don't know if I should be saying this, or even at all, but I can't help but to ask. Am I alive? Or is this purgatory? Because if I'm dead, I'm gonna go haunt the shit out of the people back home." I said, with somewhat of a menacing undertone. I could tell she was made a little nervous by that last statement.
"Of course you're alive, you still have your five senses, no? And besides, if you were dead I'm assuming you wouldn't be here." Twilight replied, in a calm manner.
"Right… well… I think I should be going now, so which way is the United States of America?"
"The what?"
"…"
"What? Seriously, what'd I say?"
My longest chapter yet-and the one that's taken me the least amount of time to finish. I'm sorry that it takes so long to update, but I'm working on this whenever I get the chance. For the people following this, constructive criticizism would be appreciated as I don't know if I'm doing well or not (with the exception of PS3Concerned) . Read and review, people
~Lazer