So this is how it happened.

I was falling from the sky. Clutched in my right hand was a knife, the kind you could cut a turkey with, big and sharp. Below me was a whole city I didn't recognize. It was going to be really damn lame if I just splattered everywhere. Kind of cool to see, but still lame. Before I could consider it for long, I landed with a loud thud. I wasn't dead though. I heard someone scream like something happened to them.

I sat up and saw I was in the middle of a flower bed of all things. It was apparently enough to break my fall.

"What is it?" asked a female voice before she ran away. I was pretty sure that shrill voice belonged to a chick, but hey, maybe some dude had just shrieked like a girl. What were they wearing? It sounded like hoof beats.

Looking up, I could see it was the middle of the day wherever I was. It was bright and clear. "God damn these are the best graphics I ever saw," I loudly proclaimed as I pushed up to my feet, still holding my knife. What else was I going to do with it?

I was in the middle of that city I saw from above. It was all made of crystal of different shades of colors, mostly blues and purples. As games went, definitely top of the line. How did they get me into it like this? I turned the knife, thrusting out my avatar's arm and giving myself a quick little cut.

Son of a! That hurt! That really... hurt. Blood welled where I had nicked myself and dotted the blade I was still holding. If this was a game, it was the best damn game I'd ever seen in my entire life. I could see NPCs running around, including one rushing away from me. It was a horse? Why did horses sound like chicks? Was I in some kid game? Why would a kid game have blood and pain?

I spun the blade in my right hand as I surveyed the scene, trying to figure out where I was, or who... I suddenly realized I had no idea who I was, and that bothered me a little. I went through all this trouble making the perfect Chara getup, knife included, just to end up here. Hey, I remembered something, at least. I was visiting a block party, right. There were tons of people partying with me. I was getting compliments and the attention from a few girls, and some guys too, whatever. I was... Was... Shit, I couldn't remember if I was a boy or a girl. How messed up is that?

What'd I do at that party? Right, drinking, being loud, having a blast. This girl just came up, said she had the perfect thing to finish the outfit. She pulled out these fake blush things to go over your cheeks. They looked so incredibly stupid, my drunk mind thought they were perfect. I slapped them on, then the whole falling thing, you already know that.

I heard the flapping of wings. A horse in golden armor landed in front of me, a spear in its mouth, though it didn't seem to stop it from speaking. "Stop right there." Beside him some words showed up like 'Mercy' and stuff, I ignored them.

Well crap, the game's first real fight! I could almost hear the fight music in my head. Kinda beefy for the first one, wearing gold armor and everything. He looked more like a midboss than a random encounter. Whatever, I was going to punk him and win this game easy. I raised the dagger and he lowered his spear. "Cease immediately." When I took a step forward, he jabbed me, right in the shoulder. Fuck that hurt! At least it was the left one, not the stabbing arm. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will. Drop your weap--"

I stabbed him right back, shoving my dagger where his armor didn't cover. His entire throat was wide open, so I made myself at home, thrusting it through even as he tried to talk. He sputtered to a stop, and started to choke. A shaking hoof raised to the dagger as if he couldn't even believe how easily he'd just been owned. He leaned against me, which just drove the knife deeper. I think he tried to say something, but he couldn't, what with being stabbed like that. His collapsing weight forced the dagger from my hand.

I put a foot on his cooling corpse and yanked the dagger free. It was a lot more red now. Christened for battle? Yeah, that sounded about right. I felt money appear in my pockets. Yeah, even the game was rewarding me!

"Cease that," I taunted his fallen form, kicking it once before I wiped the worst of the dagger on his fur, then walking down towards the nearest street. I wasn't going to find much just hanging out in a bed of flowers all day.

A pony was gawking at me, I noticed. She wasn't wearing armor like that guard, just an NPC. I lunged at her. "Boo!"

She shrieked in fear and recoiled, but didn't run away. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I raised a brow at her.

"That?" She pointed a hoof at the guard. "Why would anypony want to do that?"

Was it some kind of test? "Because he was in my way. Because he asked stupid questions." I raised a dagger at the pony. "Want to be next?"

She took a slow step back, but still wasn't running. She focused her glittering diamond eyes on me. "N-no, but I won't let you h-hurt anyone else. P-please stop..."

I gave the knife a little twirl. It felt natural in my pudgy fingers, like it belonged there. "Afraid that isn't an option, and you're getting in my way. You know what that means, don't you?" To her credit, she struck out at me with a hoof, but I slid under it and swung the knife as I went, sliding across her belly. She wasn't just crystal in appearance, her hide resisted the swift disemboweling. Why didn't they have the crystal ponies as the guards?

She suddenly came down on me before I could stand up. Her face full of tears, she crushed my head against the sidewalk. It went dark. Did I die? Fuck that noise! How do I press continue in this thing? I wasn't going to die that easily.

"N-no, but I won't let you h-hurt anyone else. P-please stop..."

What the? She was standing in front of me, shivering with fear, but firm with resolution. I wasn't dead, and she didn't seem to remember killing me.

I wasn't going to let her take charge of combat that time. Without answering her, I dashed away. She was too high level for me, obviously. I'd come back and get her later, after some grinding. She called out to me, but I lost her behind some buildings.

Maybe walking around with my dagger out all the time wasn't the best idea. I tucked it in my belt and it seemed to vanish suddenly, handy. I had an inventory!

Another horse came clip-clopping down the road. She wasn't one of those crystal ones, perfect. She was bright blue, with a wizard hat and cloak on. Something about her screamed important NPC. Maybe... I should set my sights lower before I took her on.

"Who's there?" Ah shit, she saw me. She was looking directly at me. "What strange creature are you? The Wise and Learned Trixie has never seen the like before."

I stepped out from my hiding place. "Caught me.  I'm... Chara." I could remember that, but not my original name. "What's your name, horse?"

She frowned at me. "Didn't Trixie just say? She is Trixie. Have you heard of her?"

Her way of talking was kinda stupid. "No, can't say I have." Oh well, I was stuck in this conversation and running away from everything felt lame. Maybe I could get a little information and cut that smirk off her face later. "Where are we?"

"We are in the Crystal Empire. You did not answer Trixie's question, what are you? Or is Chara the name of your kind?" She flipped her silver mane. It was going to be so great to take her down a few pegs.

"Sure, we'll go with that." I waved a hand. "Say, where do normal horses hang out, you know, the ones that aren't crystal?"

Trixie blinked at me. "What a strange query. This is the Crystal Empire, you'll find many more crystal ponies than not, but there are some, such as me. Servants of Equestria who came to  help the city recover are your best bet. Why?"

Good enough. I turned from her. "Thanks, see you later." I walked away from her, leaving her with an expression between angry and confused.

There we go... A few blocks away, I saw some little crystal horses playing in the street Best yet, they had one not-crystal friend with them. If I could get him away from his buddies, that'd be some quick points.

I stalked towards them while trying to look entirely non-chalant. They spotted me and looked curious. One of the crystal ones scampered up to me. "Hey! What are you?"

That was going to be a popular question. Ah well, let's see how this works. I smiled at him, showing all my teeth in a nice row as my knife appeared without asking it to, ready and willing. He shrank back, and started to turn, just in time for me to drive it into his flank. His crystal hide tried to turn me away, but I wanted to kill him. I wanted him dead. I wanted him to bleed. My dagger glowed a dark red as I pierced the flesh and embedded it deep inside him until I hit the bone. He squealed and cried. His friends panicked. He put out a hoof to them, "Help..." His little friends ran away, leaving him to me.

"That's too bad." I pulled the dagger free, blood oozing from the wound. He staggered back, then tried to run, only to collapse in pain. I walked towards him slowly. "Give me a reason not to."

"Please! I never hurt you or anything. Leave me alone!" He was crying a little and scrambling to stand up. Was he in shock or something? The rules of the game was pretty top rate.

"Shame you're holding all the EXP." I held the knife in both hands and brought it down on him, driving it deep into his side. I felt a sudden urge to cut to the side and sliced him open, somehow knowing that I'd cut his heart. His struggles stopped instantly, and he flopped to the ground. Money tinkled in my pocket, and I felt power rushing from the little brat for a brief moment of bliss. Yes, that was the EXP I was talking about! Heart, right. I'd be sure to remember that in the future.

I had a whole city to work through...

"Hey."

I turned and there was a floating orb of smoke in an alleyway. "Hey, come here. We need to talk. I think we're on the same page." The orb split into a big green grin. "We're going to change the world." Next Chapter: 2 - It Continues Estimated time remaining: 1 Minutes