A/N – Welcome back! Just a few quick announcements for everypony today. First, I'd like to thank all those who gave my story a read and favorite it, you're awesome! Secondly, I'd like to mention that I intend to keep a regular update schedule of early Tuesday mornings for the foreseeable future, so stay tuned if you like my story. Last but not least, I received a request from user princessanastasiaromanov464 to make mention of an issue; unfortunately, after speaking with a moderator about such an action, I've found out that what I can post about the issue is limited, so I apologize in advance for that. The issue stems from a captive Orca named Lolita; all I can do is give you that tiny bit of information and ask that you research the topic if you're interested. Those are all my announcements for this week; barring some major catastrophe (like a zombie apocalypse) I'll have a new post next Tuesday. Hope to see you all then!

I came to sometime later feeling like I had drunk myself stupid after losing an MMA bout… badly. My eyes were closed, but I could tell I was on my back. I could feel something soft underneath me, likely grass from the feel of it, and something warm on my front. I immediately regretted my decision to open my eyes as I was greeted by the sun shining into them from directly above me. I immediately closed them again and covered them with my hand as I let out a grunt of pain. Well, that explained the warmth.

My actions seemed to have drawn someone's attention as I heard a young woman's voice from somewhere off to my left, "Are you okay, mister?" She asked me.

I groaned and tried to sit up, but I felt very weak, and I couldn't bring myself to get to a sitting position, so I decided to just lay there and let myself recover. I could still remember fragments of that crazy dream, but something was telling me it was more than that. The pain I felt when I relived that supposed memory was too real to be something from any dream.

"Ooh, My head…" I groaned. "That must've been one helluva party last night." I could feel something poke me in the shoulder; it felt hard, but it was only poking me gently, so it didn't hurt.

The woman spoke again, "What party was that mister? I don't think Pinkie Pie had a party planned for yesterday." She sounded close; she must've been kneeling next to me.

I chuckled a bit. "I wish I could tell you, I don't remember anything from yesterday besides going to see a movie with my wife. Then I had some crazy dream that I died and two creatures wanted to take me to another world."

"Wow, that does sound like a really crazy dream. Hey mister, what's a 'movie'?" She asked; the confusion obvious in her voice.

This caused me to be confused as well; how could she not know what a movie is? I decided to see who I've been talking to, so I used the hand covering my eyes to instead shield them from the sun so I could open them. Once my eyes adjusted to the light somewhat, I looked around as best I could, still not really being able to move very well.

I appeared to be in a field of some sort from what I could tell, and the only thing near me besides a tree was a small pony with a grey coat and a blonde mane… Unusual, but not impossible I supposed, especially if it had been dyed that way by the pony's owner. The most striking feature about it however, was its eyes. Not only were they huge, but they were a deep orange at the top that faded to yellow at the bottom. It also had the single worst case of wall-eye I've ever seen, the right eye appeared to be focused on me, and the other was looking somewhere up above it.

"Well hey there, who might you be?" I asked the pony in a cheery voice, thinking it might have wandered away from its owner. I didn't expect an answer, I had just asked in an attempt to earn its trust, the way you would a dog or other critter.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Derpina Hooves, but my friends call me Derpy, so you can too." She said, smiling at me.

I was shocked, this pony just spoke to me, and in that young woman's voice no less! With my brain still trying to figure out what was going on, I decided to play along for now. "Hi… uh, Derpy." I said, not sure what to make of her name. "My name's Blake. Do you know where we are right now?" I hoped if I could find out where I was that it might help me figure out what was going on.

Derpy looked at me… I think, and then replied, "Sure, we're in the public park in Ponyville. You must be new here, is there someplace specific you need to go?" She seems eager to help at least.

"Ponyville, huh? Can't say I've ever heard of it before. What state is it in?" It was probably some small town in the south, though how did I get down south from Utah overnight?

She looked at me -I assumed her right eye was where she was focusing her gaze- quizzically, then asked, "What's a 'state'? Is it something outside of Equestria? I've never been outside of Equestria before." She asked.

She must think I'm some kind of foreigner. Though why did the name 'Equestria' sound so familiar? Then it hit me, I had a flash of that dream, and I remembered two Alicorns telling me they wanted to bring me to a place called Equestria. That, along with the vivid memory, must mean that it wasn't a dream, and I really did die. But why could I only remember fragments of what happened clearly?

Remembering her question about going someplace specific, I responded, "I think there was someplace I was supposed to go, but I can't seem to remember where, things are kinda hazy at the moment. And yes, I suppose you could call a state something from outside of Equestria."

Derpy looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry things are hazy for you. Here, have a muffin. It'll cheer you up if nothing else." She said with a smile while reaching into one of a pair of packs she had draped across her back. I had somehow missed them before; and if I had to guess, I'd call them saddlebags, but that somehow didn't seem right.

I reached out and took the muffin from her hoof; how she managed to grab and hold it like that was a mystery to me, but like so many other things recently I decided not to question it. "Uhm… Thanks." I said, accepting the generously given muffin, suddenly realizing I was ravenously hungry.

As I took my first bite of the still warm muffin, I tasted a mixture of different fruits. I could taste strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and even a hint of what I thought was mulberry. "What kind of muffin is this?" I asked Derpy between bites, trying not to devour the muffin despite my hunger.

"That's my special Everyberry muffin." She replied with a grin on her face. "I just baked them this morning for a snack while I'm on my route." I was curious as to what kind of job she could have, but I was hesitant to ask.

I smiled at her, noticing that the muffin seemed to be giving me a boost to my strength. I still didn't think I could sit up yet, but I could now move my arms with only a little difficulty. "Thanks Derpy, that was delicious. Though I'm still feeling pretty weak, so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna lay here for a bit until I can stand up again. I appreciate you helping me like you have, but I don't want to keep you from your job."

She looked at me quizzically for a moment then nodded. "Ok Blake, if you think you'll be ok by yourself. I'll stop by later to see how you are." She looked up at the sun for a moment, then over to the tree before looking back to me, "Do you want me to help you over to the tree so you can have some shade? I'd hate for you to get sunburned."

I hadn't thought about that, and it was a good idea. "I'd appreciate that a lot Derpy, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be. So far all I seem to be able to manage is to move my head and limbs a bit, I can't even sit up on my own."

She smiled again and moved to help me up. "That's ok, us pegasai are stronger than we look, so it shouldn't be a problem." She wrapped a hoof around my neck and positioned herself to allow me to do the same. When I got up into a sitting position, I noticed the wings on her side that had been hidden by her bags before.

Derpy hoisted me onto her back and grunted under my weight, I was obviously heavier than she had thought, but she was making a valiant effort to not show it. We were almost to the tree, which I guessed was only around fifteen feet away when we started, and was now closer to five, when Derpy tripped on something. She went crashing to the ground and I rolled off of her back and onto my left side, feeling a sharp pain in my arm.

It felt like I had landed on a rock or protruding root, but the pain was manageable, so I ignored it for the moment. "Derpy, are you ok?" I asked worriedly, looking over to where she had fallen. Fortunately I had landed just a couple of feet away, so it was easy to spot her.

She was rubbing her snout with a hoof and had her eyes squinted with tears welling up in them, so I guessed she had landed on her nose when she fell. I tried to maneuver closer to her, but in my weakened state, it was slow going. She looked over to me and immediately came over to try to help me back up. "Sorry about that Blake, sometimes I can be clumsy." She said apologetically.

I smiled warmly at her and did my best to climb back onto her. "There's no need to apologize Derpy." I said comfortingly. "It could have happened to anyone, that doesn't necessarily make you clumsy. Plus, I'm just glad you're ok." I told her honestly.

She smiled at my words and finished carrying me to the tree. When we got there, she used her wings almost like arms to help me off of her back and up against the trunk of the tree. When we had worked me into a sitting position against the tree, she smiled at me and turned to leave. "I need to get back to my route; this mail won't deliver itself ya know!" She smiled even brighter and added, "It was nice meeting you Blake, I'll be back later if you're still here."

I chuckled and said, "Oh, I'm sure I will be, I doubt I'll be going anywhere for awhile." She waved and took off. I watched her for a moment before leaning my head back against the trunk and closing my eyes, intending to take a nap.

A moment later I felt something warm and furry wrap itself around me. I opened my eyes again to see that it was Derpy, hugging me tightly. She seemed to be sniffling a bit, and I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back as tightly as I could manage.

"Thank you Blake." She said as she tightened her hug. "You're the first one to call me Derpy…" She released her hug, and when she backed away, she was smiling; but I could see that she had indeed been crying. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she took off in the direction she had been heading before.

I sat there and pondered what she had said; I was the first to call her Derpy. Suddenly, something she had said earlier came to my thoughts; my friends call me Derpy. But she had said that I was the first to call her that… The realization hit me like a barrel of bricks; Derpy had never had any friends before.

I was saddened by this, how could anyone not like a sweet pony like her? But at the same time I was happy that I could be her friend; and that we had been each other's first friend here. I smiled slightly at that thought as I drifted off to sleep.

As I dreamed, I thought about what had just happened, about the sensations I had had, and how real they were: the soft feel of the grass, the warmth of the sun, even the feel of Derpy's hoof; which had been hard, but not as hard as a real horse's, almost like rubber. And her coat, which had a plush, downy feel to it; like a greyhound's coat but shorter.

I still wasn't entirely convinced that this was really happening, but I believed it more and more; this was way too vivid to be a dream, and I never touched anything that would cause me to hallucinate.

I was awakened sometime later by the feeling of something hard poking me in the chest. I groggily opened my eyes to see a different pony in front of me. My vision was still somewhat blurry, but I could see that this definitely wasn't Derpy. "Hey dude, are you ok?" The new pony asked me in a feminine voice.

The pony in front of me had a white coat with a messy, two-tone electric blue mane and tail. I couldn't see her eyes as they were being covered by a pair of purple, oval sunglasses. I also noticed a horn sticking out of her forehead, leading me to believe she was a unicorn.

She was looking at me with what I assumed was a worried look. "Yeah, I think I'm alright." I said as I shut my eyes and stretched. My eyes shot open again as I realized that I could move again. "Well that's convenient, looks like a muffin and a nap was all I needed." I said with a smile.

The pony's expression shifted to what looked like a confused one. "All you needed for what, dude?" she asked.

I chuckled as I thought about what she'd say if I told her the truth. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Let's just say things have been unbelievably crazy lately."

The white pony chuckled as well. "I hear ya, had my fair share of craziness too. Name's Vinyl Scratch by the way."

"Nice to meet you Vinyl, I'm Blake." I said as I extended my hand towards her to shake. Vinyl looked at my hand for a moment before realizing what I was doing and extended her hoof to do the same.

Once we broke the shake, Vinyl appeared to look me over a little more thoroughly. "Can't say I've seen you around Ponyville before, you new in town?" she asked with an unreadable expression.

I nodded, "You could say that. Just got in today, I think…" I said trailing off as I realized I had no idea how long I had been laying in that field before Derpy had originally woken me up.

Vinyl cocked her head in a questioning manner. "What's that s'posed to mean?" She asked, obviously confused.

Unfortunately I had no easy answers, as I wasn't entirely sure myself. I was somewhat coming to terms with this being my new reality, but I still couldn't remember everything, and I still didn't remember all the details of my meeting with the princesses, even some of what had come before was fuzzy in my mind. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself, most of my memory is pretty hazy right now. I'm actually not even sure how long I was in this field before Derpy found me." I told her.

"Wait, wait, wait… you met with Derpy?! As in Derpina Hooves!?" She asked, sounding worried. It seemed to me like she was afraid of Derpy for some reason, although I couldn't see why. She was so likeable, and had even helped me without hesitation, even though she knew next to nothing about me.

It was my turn to give Vinyl a questioning look. "Yeah, she gave me a muffin and even helped me over to this tree so I'd be out of the sun. Why, is she some kind of criminal or something?" I asked, somewhat annoyed at the way Vinyl reacted to Derpy.

This apparently shocked her, based on the look on her face. "No no, nothin' like that. She's just… Klutzy… Bad things tend to happen around her, not that any of it's her fault. Let's put it this way, not too long ago, she accidentally almost destroyed town hall. We're still not sure how either."

I nodded my head in understanding. "Well, I can see why that might be cause for concern, but I don't think that's a good reason to avoid her. She was very kind to me when I needed it, and that kind of character is all that counts in my book."

Vinyl looked down at the ground sheepishly and drew small circles in the dirt with her hoof, embarrassed. "Yeah, you're right…" She said dejectedly "Just 'cause she can be a klutz doesn't make it right to avoid her. It's not fair to her."

I smiled at this. "Hey, we all make mistakes, what's important is that you learn from those mistakes and don't repeat them." She seemed to perk up at this. She looked back up at me and smiled.

"Thanks Blake. You're a pretty cool… umm, stallion?" she asked, suddenly unsure. "I never even thought to ask what you are; you're obviously not a pony."

I chuckled at this. "Yeah, I'm kinda unclear on all that stuff too. I'm a human, and a male human is called a 'man'. 'Guy' is a fairly widely used slang term, and would be appropriate here. Though since as far as I can tell, I'm the only human around, it'll probably just be easier for you to use whatever terms you normally would, and I'll try to adapt to using them too." It made sense as I thought about it, after all, it would be easier for me to get used to their way of speaking than it would be for them to get used to mine. Not to mention it would be pretty arrogant to ask that they change their society to make things easier for me.

"Human, huh? Thought you were just myths." She said, seeming to take that thought in stride. "I have a friend that I know would love to meet a living, breathing human. If you're up for it, I can take you to meet her, even give you a bit of a tour of Ponyville in the process." She smiled as she said this.

I thought about it for a moment, and realizing I had nothing better to do –that I could remember at least- I replied, "Sure, but let's take it slow, I'm not sure how I'll do on my feet yet."

She looked at me quizzically again. "That reminds me, earlier you said Derpy had to help you to the tree. Why couldn't you get there on your own, are you hurt?" She suddenly sounded worried again.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not hurt. I don't know why yet, but when Derpy woke me up the first time, I was very weak. I couldn't even bring myself to sit up on my own. But after I ate the muffin she gave me and had a nap, I feel much better. That reminds me, how long was I out?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I had no idea how long I had slept for.

Quickly finding the sun, I used an old trick my dad taught me to see how many hours had passed. By using four fingers held straight out, with the width of all four being roughly one hour of the sun's movement, I figured that I had slept for just about two and a half hours against the tree. And boy, could I feel it.

"What the hay was that about?" Vinyl asked seeming confused. It made sense, since she didn't have fingers, she couldn't use that trick. I doubted any pony could for that matter.

I smiled. "Just a trick my dad taught me." I held up my hand again like I had before. "See, the width from edge to edge is about one hour of movement of the sun in the sky. So if I count how many times I can fit my hand between two specific points, I can determine how long I have from one point to the other, like how many hours have passed since the last time I checked, or how long until sunset." She seemed really interested in what I was showing her, though I couldn't tell if it was actually what I was explaining or just the fact that I had hands.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool dude, kinda makes me wish I had hands, though my magic is still pretty useful." She broke her gaze away from me for a moment and looked up at the sky before looking back to me.

Deciding that I had been on the ground for long enough, I decided to try and stand up. It was slow, difficult going, but I managed to get to a kneeling position that I could stand from. As I started to rise, I was hit with a wave of vertigo, and almost toppled over. I heard a strange sound as I started falling, then I felt myself being lifted upright again. I looked over to Vinyl to see that her horn was glowing with a familiar billowing aura that was light blue, the same color as the lighter streaks in her hair. I then looked down at myself to see that I was coated in the same aura.

"You ok?" Vinyl asked as she gently righted me and held me in place until my head cleared and I could stand on my own.

I smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, thanks for the save." I tested my balance by shifting my weight to make sure I wouldn't fall over again. I was still a bit shaky, but I could manage. "I should be fine now, just got a bit of vertigo from standing up too fast." My smile widened a bit as I realized I could now stand on my own, even if I was still a little weak.

Vinyl chuckled. "No prob." Her expression suddenly turned to a worried one. "You sure you're ok? We don't have to go right now if you don't think you're up for it." It was refreshing to see this kind of concern for someone, especially when that someone was essentially a stranger.

"Thanks Vinyl, but I'll be ok. Besides, I think getting up and moving around will help build my strength back up. If nothing else, it might help jog my memory so I can at least remember where I'm supposed to go. So, first thing's first, why don't we go meet this friend of yours?"

She smiled and nodded her head once. "Sure, sounds like a plan to me. Let's go!" She said, heading towards a path a short way off that I hadn't seen before.

I followed close beside her. As we walked, the path moved along the edge of some woods to our left. We made some small talk along the way, mostly just getting to know one another. It turns out that Vinyl is Ponyville's resident DJ. She has her own recording studio and everything. I wonder just how advanced technology is here. "There's Fluttershy's cottage." She said suddenly, pointing to a homely looking cottage ahead of us and bring my mind back to the present. "She's kind of the resident veterinarian, she's really shy though."

As we moved closer to the cottage, I noticed several birdhouses and various feeders and shelters around the cottage. It would seem that she does more than just care for sick animals; she must also have quite a few pets herself. I also noticed that the roof of her cottage had what looked like grass growing on it. There was also a small bridge over a stream leading from an offshoot of the path we were on up to the cottage.

As we were about to pass by the bridge, we heard a sound coming from the woods near the cottage.

It was a scream…