It was a clear and bright night in Equestria while a lonely shooting star fell from the night sky over Ponyville.

A lone show-wagon rolled along the dirt road, pulled along by a unicorn who looked up when the light of the star caught her eye,
“A shooting star… I hope my wish comes true… And I'll get my second chance…”

* * * * *

As the morning sun rose over the lush land of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle jumped out of her bed, vigorous with excited energy.
“Spike! Spike, wake up!”

The little baby dragon raised his head with a big yawn, before he rolled over in his tiny bed nestled at the base of Twilight’s own staring up at her and blinking like an owl,
“It’s Saturday, Twilight… Five more minutes!” he groaned.

But by that time the lavender unicorn had already brushed her mane and was fresh for the day,
“Today is the day, Spike!”

“What that’s supposed to mean?” he muttered sleepily.

“Oh you know! Today Princess Celestia will send me…” For a moment she stood perfectly still, allowing the suspense to build, then took a deep breath in anticipation, “The book!”

“A book…” the little dragon muttered under his breath, “Well, how great! Twilight, have you looked around? This is a library!” he exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he tried to get back to dreamland.

“Not just any book, Spike!” she snapped back, “We are talking about a book that is over 2200 years old! Oh, I’m excited Princess Celestia allows me to read this! Such an old tome, and one so prized by the princess must be worthy for my studies”

Three firm knocks sounded from the door, and Twilight immediately dashed downstairs to the front door to answer it. Normally Derpy Hooves delivered every letter and parcel in Ponyville. This package however, was delivered by a royal delivery stallion.

“Good morning, miss!” he greeted cheerfully, “Are you Ms. Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded, beaming,
“That’s me alright! And you have a delivery for me?”

He then opened his saddlebag with his muzzle and removed a clipboard, holding it out for her,
“Certainly, miss! Just your signature here for the paperwork.”

Signing on the indicated line, Twilight then received her long awaited packet with glee, waved the stallion farewell and trotted back inside unpacking her prize,
“There! ‘Prophecies of old – Warnings from the past and manuals for the future’. Oh, the title alone gives me the shivers!”

Twilight giggled like an overjoyed filly on Hearth’s Warming,
“Oh, I have to thank the princess so much for completing my library with this.”

Spike then finally came down the stairs as Twilight put the big sturdy tome on a book-rest.

As she opened the tome, a male voice began to sound from the book,
“Hear me, reader of this book! It is written that someday the void beings will return…”

Spike looked up,
“Hey, Twilight! Is somepony in that book or is it trouble?”

Shaking her head with a smile, the unicorn explained,
“No, Spike… It’s a magic tome. It’s supposed to do that.”

The eldritch voice of the tome continued,
“But be warned. Their defeat was merely a dark deceit. When the two sisters part and reunite… When the children of ponykind suffer from the locusts of the south… But none wanted to believe they would ever again exist in our lands. And when the events unfold… they will unfold in fire!”

A magic flame sprang out of the tome and depicted a large dragon-like being, deformed and black.

As the dragon spat fire all around, the voice of the tome continued.
“But there is one they will fear, a being that will come from a faraway land. He will come and rise to aid ponykind’s mightiest heroes. And they will name him Tilerions, Child of Man! He will do what nopony can do and will lead ponykind into a greater future.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw a lone figure emerge from the book and stand up to the great beast. It had a strange form as it walked on its two hind legs. Also it wielded a bright prismatic blade against the black dragon. Then suddenly music began playing from the tome. It sounded medieval and ancient, with many deep voices chanting in repetition, accompanied by horns, cellos, and drums. Spike and Twilight almost jumped in surprise as etheric voices began chanting,

With this the tome shut tight and fell to the ground, immobile as if it was made of lead. Twilight and Spike looked at the book, jaws dropped open, before looking at each other.

The baby dragon was the first to find words for this peculiar situation,
“Woah, talk about odd music… What was that?”

Shaking her head to get a grip of herself, Twilight tried to gather all the facts she could summon up,
“That was a hymn in the ancient alicorn language, Spike. It seems someone foretold the coming of a great being, a being which is not a pony and will eventually become a hero. This might have been written even before the founding of Equestria. How exciting! There are historic hints that alicorns in the ancient times had the gift of foresight. These words, ‘Equresia’ and ‘Chrysiala’ Sound awfully similar to Equestria and Chrysalis, the Changeling queen, don’t you think? Oh it will take days to rhyme it into modern words. That is, if I can even translate it properly.”

Spike frowned distastefully at the second name,
“Queen Chrysalis? But didn’t Shining Armor and Princess Cadence kick her and her Changeling minions out of Equestria half a year ago? I didn’t see any unique beings walking around on two legs then. Not before and not afterward. Maybe this is just a myth or legend?”

Twilight gave her assistant a slightly annoyed sidelong look,
“You also believed the Mare in the Moon was only an old Ponytale, Spike.”

The little dragon shrugged,
“OK, point taken, you were right that time for sure. You have another gut feeling about some bipedal being showing up anytime soon? I mean come on, Twilight! Iron Will perhaps? Or myself? You know there aren’t many bipedal beings in Equestria.”

Twilight first frowned upon the claim of her assistant, then tipped her hoof in thought,
“Actually you do have a point there, Spike. Nopony I know walks on two legs. Well, except Lyra Heartstrings.” both shared a glance before they chuckled, “So, Spike… Ready to go through the daily checklist?”

With a sly grin the little baby dragon held up a very long list and a quill,
“Getting Spike to fetch the checklist… Check!”

Twilight giggled amused of his foresight,
“So, what’s next on the list?”

With a brief glance at the list, he narrowed his eyes and unhappily muttered,
“Shopping…”

They went down the checklist, item by item, as the basket Spike carried became heavier and heavier while they made their way from one end of the market to the other.

Twilight was thinking ahead, looking at the time,
“Good job, Spike! Due to my organization and your assistance we’re ahead of schedule. Why don’t we use the free time and head to the park? We can rest a bit on one of the benches while we double check the checklist.”

The little baby dragon smiled a little as they passed the fountain in the marketplace,
“No complaints here, Twilight.”

* * * * *

Reaching the park, Twilight noticed a wagon she hadn’t seen in a while.

As Spike set the basket on the ground, he noticed it as well,
“Hey, wait a minute… isn’t that…” he looked up to Twilight, “You know… Trixie's show-wagon?”

It was right then that the blue showmare in question stepped outside her wagon and seemingly began to prepare it for an upcoming event.

Twilight nodded with a slight smile,
“It's her alright… Come on, let’s get a closer look.”

* * * * *

Trixie was tugging something huge and heavy across the stage as more and more ponies gathered around her stage. The mysterious object was nearly twice the mare’s height, three times as wide and looked to be probably seven times her own weight.

Twilight saw what Trixie was doing and wanted to say something to greet her, but a stallion managed to raise his voice before her,
“Not again, Trixie… We’re sick and tired of you and your boasting!”

Raising a hoof and shaking her head, Trixie took off her magician’s hat and bowed to the crowd,
“No! I’m done with boasting! Today I will prove that I’m a big magician and redeem myself! No big show, no big words, just one spell to show to you all.”

As the ponies heard this, their attitude changed from borderline anger to curiosity and they gathered around her little stage even closer. Twilight saw her friends gathering with the crowd. Trixie had already prepared for her little show and she unveiled the huge form on stage to be an unshaped diamond.

Rarity arched a brow in surprise,
“Where in Equestria did you find an unshaped diamond? These are very rare. Usually gemstones come in all shapes and sizes! Unshaped ones however mean they are not ripe! This little darling might even become one big hunk of a diamond!”

Receiving sly grins from the rest of the Mane six, Rarity chuckled nervously,
“Ahehe… Never mind…”

Applejack chuckled,
“No matter how ya put it, Rarity, gemstones always will be your cus-tom!”

While Rarity muttered something inaudible, Trixie went on,
“With the help of Rainbow Dash, I, Trixie, shall turn this unshaped diamond into a Rainbow Gem!”

The cerulean Pegasus mare with her wild rainbow mane landed on the stage, cocking her head and slightly annoyed,
“What for? Can’t you do it on your own?”

Trixie chuckled shyly,
“Yes, I can do it, but for the coloration of the gem I’ll need your assistance. You see, during the spell, the diamond will take the colour of the first light that shines upon it. So instead of the bright sunlight which will let the gem shine white, I will need the colorful light of your Sonic Rainboom. This spell will need your speed and my timing.”

Twilight cocked her head intrigued,
“Well, I think we should let her at least try, Rainbow. There is no Ursa Minor around and I don't see how even Snips and Snails could cause trouble this time.”

Rainbow sighed in frustrated surrender,
“Fine… I’ll do it. Once! So you better go and do it right.”

Unlike Trixie's former treatment of Rainbow Dash, she nodded, beaming with a grateful sparkle in her eyes,
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash! I assure you this will work!”

The Pegasus on the other hand only rolled her eyes,
“Yeah, whatever! So you say this is about timing? My Sonic Rainboom has to go off the second you perform your spell?”

Shaking her head Trixie responded,
“Oh not just anywhere… Almost right above it! That’s why I have chosen the park! So you can fly without the obstacles of buildings. I’ll try to withhold the spell until the timing is right.”

The plan took image in Rainbow’s head and she nodded as she tipped her chin,
“Good thinking. I never tested the effect of my Sonic Rainboom on buildings, so I can’t guarantee I wouldn't break anything. But you guys better duck just in case. I don’t want to blow you away. I mean... yeah I want to, but not literally. So let’s do this!”

Dash took to the air, climbing high into the sky above the park until all of Ponyville was visible to her. Accumulating magic and condensing it at the tip of her horn, Trixie gritted her teeth as she focused on the spell in her mind. The strain was intense and maintaining this kind of spell was actually bordering on painful for her. The gathered crowd of ponies stood back from the stage, silent in anticipation, willing to give the braggart another chance. Trixie was grateful and swore not to waste their faith as she pushed her concentration to a new level.

Rainbow Dash hovered high above the ground yelling down,
“All set up here, you guys! What about the boasting wonder?”

Looking up to Rainbow while sitting in a trench she had conjured with her magic for her friends, Twilight then looked over to Trixie.

By then, the showmare’s horn was shining brightly,
“Trixie? Are you ready?”

A drop of sweat ran down Trixie’s forehead as she spoke through gritted teeth,
“I’m set! The spell is ready! I can cast it any second now!”

Hearing this, Twilight nodded briefly and raised her head to yell up to her Pegasus friend,
“We’re all set down here!”

Performing some loops to build up speed, Rainbow dove at a shallow angle so she could approach the little stage almost horizontally. The slightly higher pressure closer to the ground required Rainbow to expend more energy in order to maintain her speed; she couldn't keep it up for long. She saw the stage approaching quickly and gritted her teeth, only just managed to break the sound barrier directly above the unformed gem, then angling herself upward and away from it.

There was a bright flash as the park, and better portion of Ponyville, was awash in the vibrant colors of the rainbow. The blast on the other hand was powerful. Several mares and stallions were blown off their hooves, rolling and tumbling through the park and ending up in several bushes and trees.

As soon as the blindingly prismatic light faded back to normal, Pinkie Pie stuck her head out of the trench,
“WEEEE! Let’s do that again! It’s just like a rollercoaster ride without the rollercoaster!”

Applejack raised her head beside Pinkie, giving her a stern look,
“Pinkie Pie, what in tarnation is a rollercoaster?”

Bouncing out of the trench, the pink earth pony giggled happily. With a questioning look Applejack turned into Twilight’s direction, seeking answers.

Twilight could only shake her head in ignorance,
“It’s just Pinkie Pie. Who knows what she’s thinking?”

The four slightly ruffled mares slowly followed her out of the trench. Twilight looked up to the stage. Trixie still stood up there, her mane a complete mess, her eyes shut tight, ‘Wait, just wait… You performed the spell and right on time…,’ she thought with a big grins ‘Ooooh… I’m so going to surprise them all when I present the Rainbow Gem with a big Ta-Daaaa! and a victorious pose! It will be so awesome!’

Trixie then jumped up and brought herself to a dramatic presenting pose,
“Watch in awe… Ta-HUH?”

The first thing Trixie heard was laughter coming from behind her. Trixie opened her eyes and looked upon the place where the unshaped diamond had rested before. She did her best not to tear up. Where the unshaped diamond once sat, she could now only see a scorch mark in its place. There was no Rainbow Gem. There wasn’t even any of the unshaped diamond left. She bit her lip as the laughter behind her became louder. First only a few ponies giggled, but more and more ponies pointed their hooves at her and began to laugh.

* * * * *

Meanwhile in another dimension…

It was a bright, sunny day in Nevada, as a lone figure roamed around the Great Basin National Park. It was Tyler Jones’ third visit to the park and he absolutely adored camping there. It was his summer vacation and he had always loved visiting either American or European natural preserves. His friends and acquaintances knew Tyler as a jack of all trades and master of socializing. He was one of those people who could fit in equally well at either a German Oktoberfest in casual clothing, or a British Charity Gala in a tuxedo and tie. It was easy for him, analyzing people's psychology and learning all their quirks and triggers. He could easily adjust his behavior to match others’ expectations of him.

As far as the twenty-eight year old was concerned most other people just didn't consciously change their behavior to suit their situation unless they were forced to. For Tyler, it was fun to adapt, it was a challenge.

Tyler had an affinity for nature. He wasn’t particularly good with animals or anything, but it was only when he was out in the woods, trekking through mountain ranges and strolling through fields that he felt at home.

He lived for his born purpose: he was a predator and all the world was his prey. Survival, danger, and ‘the hunt’, this is what made him feel truly alive. His other personality traits were oddly unrelated. He was, depending on situation, either a refined classy gentleman or the energetic life of the party, sometimes he even managed both simultaneously.

Out there in the wilds he always had his trusty backpack and belt with him. Together they held all of his survival equipment, which included a large hunting knife. He felt complete and capable, equipped like that. Tyler had just returned from a not-quite-so-successful fishing trip. He hastily wiped the sweat off his brow and combed his left hand through his dark hair before he looked at the medium sized fish impaled on his homemade fishing spear.

While his catch would be frying in a pan, he planned to read another chapter of Sun Tzu’s ‘The art of war.’ He had already read through the text five times, and still, even on his sixth read through, he was learning things he had missed before. The history of ancient war intrigued him. It jostled around in the backpack he was wearing, nestled in alongside other literature. The book were perfect for those quiet little evenings at the campfire without television to distract him. After all, “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “The Godfather” were good literature. There was also a Playboy magazine, but he probably wouldn't browse it before his third day out in the wild.

Then suddenly, only a few meters from his camp, something shot from the skies and impacted the ground right next to him. The impact knocked Tyler off his feet, flinging him like a ragdoll several meters away. Stunned and on his back, he saw a vibrant ribbon of rainbow light, leading straight up into the blue sky, ‘Wait a second, rainbows curve because of light refraction, they don't appear in vertical ribbons! Am I hallucinating?’

Tyler shook his head in an effort to clear it. The translucent beam of light remained for a few moments, then slowly began fading away right in front of him, ‘Now what?’ He thought with a chuckle, ‘A pot of gold? Yeah that would be fitting.’ As he slowly stood up, he realized his fish was lying in the dirt next to him, pulped from the pressure of the impact. His lunch was ruined. Casting his gaze to either side, he looked around, trying to see what had caused the impact. At first all he could see was showering dust, dirt, and debris. As the cloud of dust cleared slowly, he saw the ground had formed into a small crater two meters to the left of him, presumably the point of impact.

With a whistle he realized just how lucky he had been, ‘If the meteor had impacted a mere two meters to the right it would have killed me. Wait a second, the explosion had way too much force for a crater that small. The pressure alone should have pulped me like my poor fish.’ He was puzzled about the seemingly unfair laws of physics, but waved it away. He wasn’t into meteorites, asteroids or other objects falling from the skies. It didn’t matter right then. He had survived and the crater was there.

Tyler carefully approached the crater, curiosity piqued. As he peered into the crater, he saw a shining gemstone sparkling in all the colors of the rainbow, emanating what felt like warm light.

“What the?” he asked out loud examining the gemstone, “This little fella wreaked this much damage?” he thought out loud for a moment.

Several other thoughts sprang to mind, ‘Maybe it’s alien technology? Maybe it’s radioactive! I shouldn’t be here! I saw enough Blob movies to see where this is going!’ his mind tried panicking for a moment before he consciously squashed the uncontrolled thoughts.

“Victorious warriors win first, then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” he quoted out loud to himself.

‘ Fear and uncertainty have killed more than danger itself. I am in control of my mind.’ he drew in a deep breath and forced his mind to calm and began utilizing his logic, ‘ Nah, it’s solid. It can’t be a Blob. Hmmm, the heat and friction of the fall through the atmosphere will have sterilized it. Now where are those NASA guys or Men in Black who usually appear when a shiny rock falls out from the sky right in front of you?’ Getting a grip on himself, he shook his head and took his knife in hand and reached out the blade toward the rock. The sharp steel blade tapped at the surface of the gem causing a musical crystalline ping, ‘Sure is rock solid.’ He put his knife away and carefully touched the gem for a split second to check if it was hot.

But it turned out to be as cold as any other gem would be, so Tyler reached out for it and held it in his hand,
“Well what do you know? It’s some sort of Rainbow Gemstone. I wonder if it’s a Mystic Topaz?”

As he examined it more carefully he noticed an iridescent glow emanating from inside the gem multi-hued sparkles reflected off his eyes. As the glow intensified his eyes widened and he tried to rid himself of the gem, but for some reason it was stuck to his hand. Panic shot through his mind and as his attempts to throw away the gem became more frantic the light it was emitting became so strong that it blinded him and engulfed him in a sphere of prismatic light. Then, with a thundering bang, the bright sphere of light collapsed in on itself and both the Rainbow Gem and Tyler Jones vanished from the face of Earth.

Tyler wasn’t dead though, he was falling through a vortex of bright rainbow colors. Heat enveloped him and he began screaming; screaming in pain and panic. There was no up or down, no consistent features he could use to orientate himself, and no gravity, just this tunnel of shining colors. Lightning shot from one side of the vortex tunnel to the next and the moment he saw it he hoped he wouldn’t be hit. ‘ Am I going to die? Is this tunnel taking me steadily closer to my inevitable demise?

Then, in the distance, he could see something. It wasn’t a bright light, but it was closing in very fast. Now another fear grew in him. The fear of colliding with the end of this tunnel.

* * * * *

Meanwhile in Ponyville…

With a chuckle Rainbow Dash landed and trotted towards Trixie who was still staring disbelievingly at the scorch mark where the unshaped Rainbow Diamond should have been. The laughing crowd was already gone.

“Ah, don’t sweat it Trixie! Look at it this way: you discovered a new way to make rocks disappear!” with a laugh Rainbow flew off.

The rest of the, now dissipated, crowd also returned to minding their own business in the park.

By then Twilight had approached Trixie with an encouraging smile,
“Hey Trixie,” Twilight addressed sympathetically, “That wasn't so bad...”

“Yes it WAS!” the blue unicorn interrupted tearfully, “For ONCE, I was sure I had discovered something completely new! Something to show that I’m not just boasting.” she lowered her head broken-hearted, tears welling in her eyes, “But my failure only proves that I have yet again achieved nothing!”

Trixie trotted away behind the stage brokenly. Twilight sighed as she heard Trixie sobbing behind the curtain. She felt bad for the blue unicorn, she was trying so hard but kept ending up with failure as her only reward. Being a magician herself Twilight had sensed the amount of magic Trixie was able to muster. For once, Trixie was not using simple illusions but had cast powerful magic, only for it to apparently fail so miserably. The peace of Ponyville was shattered once again as another Sonic Rainboom appeared out of nowhere.

Twilight raised her head in surprise,
“Another Sonic Rainboom? Rainbow Dash, you’re overdoing it!”

“What am I overdoing, Twilight?” the Pegasus asked, lying on a cloud right above her.

Twilight shook her head in disbelief as she looked at her friend in shock,
“Rainbow? If you are HERE, then who made that Sonic Rainboom over THERE?!?”

As the Pegasus mare shifted her eyes to the direction her friend pointed, her jaw dropped. A Sonic Rainboom, her trademark move, which only she could perform, was dispersing over the Everfree Forest nearby.

Challenged in her pride, her face became determined as she saw the rainbow coming down from the colorful explosion above the Everfree Forest,
“What the . . . “ Dash trailed off, eyes wide with disbelief, “Who would . . . who COULD perform MY signature move!? I’m going to find out! So far no one except me can do this! And I want to know who did it!”

In the blink of an eye, she was off her cloud and speeding off toward the prismatic contrail descending over the Everfree Forest. By now the rainbow trail had lost height and was falling towards the ground swiftly.

* * * * *

Cold air whipped all around Tyler as he fell, unconscious and limp toward the hard, unforgiving ground below. It was not until an absurdly fortunate collision with a grey Pegasus mare with blond mane that he regained consciousness. His limp body impacted the poor Pegasus and sent both of them whirling and spinning wildly. Tyler’s eyes snapped open and for a brief moment he saw the ground rushing toward him at an obviously dangerous speed. Fear got the best of him, as he saw the closing ground coming towards him and he did what any normal person would do in the same situation, he panicked. He flailed his arms wildly already knowing it would do no good. Terror gripped his heart as he saw his imminent death approaching.

Rainbow Dash was flying nearly fast enough to pull off a second of her signature moves when she saw two fast-moving forms collide in the air. She had enough time to see wings on only one of them and instinctively changed direction to an intercept course with the other.

Mere meters away from his demise, something caught Tyler roughly around his middle. His body jerked as his descent was slowed substantially by whatever had latched onto him. He heard what sounded like a grunt of exertion, which puzzled him to no end, even in his still-panicking mind. Unable to think of anything else to do, he looked above and behind him. He saw the cerulean coat of . . . ‘What IS that?’ The Pegasus was carrying him in her front hooves while a mane of every color in the Rainbow shined brightly on her head as she carried him horizontally, two meters above the ground.

“What the?!?” he asked aghast.

Rainbow Dash began speaking before she even got a good look at who it was she had caught,
“You have a lot of explaining to . . . ” she trailed off as she took a brief moment to look down.

Each of the two parties gazes met, eyes wide with disbelief. With a surprised shriek, Rainbow dropped the strange creature while she backpedaled in the air. Tyler fell the short distance to the ground and rolled uncontrollably several times until the kinetic energy propelling his body had exhausted itself. Adrenaline still pumping, he surged to his feet for a second before a dizzy spell hit him, forcing him onto his hands and knees as the Pegasus landed not four meters away.

Both were now facing each other on the ground, eying each other warily. Rainbow Dash had never seen anything like this creature. Its body was long and slender, with spindly legs of different sizes. It looked awkward and ungainly to the cyan Pegasus. Instead of hooves, it had claw-like things similar to what Spike had. But it sure wasn’t a dragon. It had no scales or wings, it didn’t even have a coat. Despite the obvious differences, it was huge, really huge. Those long, thin limbs... ‘Are they fragile and slow, or are they quick like a spider’s?’

The creature’s strange claws began slowly inching toward what looked like a larger version of one of Pinkie’s cooking knives as it slowly moved away from her, ‘Is it afraid of me? It might be as confused about my appearance as I am about it.’ Before the situation degenerated into a fight, Dash decided to try to talk with this thing, ‘It can talk, so maybe I’ll be able to reason with it.’ The Pegasus snorted, irritated by the tedious situation, ‘If only Twilight were here,’ Dash thought nervously, ‘She’d be the best diplomat.’

Rainbow, being well known for her boldness, spoke up first,
“What… What are you?”

As she tried to take a step forward, Tyler’s knife whipped out of it’s sheath, Tyler holding in a shaking reverse grip and looked at the creature in front of him with wide eyes. To say that Tyler was baffled by Dash’s ability to speak would be a gross understatement.

He couldn’t decide if ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ was the better option,
“You stay the fuck away from me! I’m…. I’m armed! If you come any closer, I’ll open you up!” Rainbow stepped back and carefully sat down, which prompted him to nod. “Y-yeah! You sit down there like a good blue-pony-thing and do nothing while I… I…” Tyler’s brain was being overloaded.

Here he was, crouching on the ground face to face with a talking pony with wings and a girl's voice, ‘This isn’t possible! But then again, being sucked through a tunnel of colorful light by touching a mysterious space gem wasn't possible either... until now apparently. This has to be some sort of hallucination or something.’ That’s when a new thought occurred to him, ‘I’m drugged and in some sort of PUNK’D television show!’

“You can come out now, folks! The shows over! You sure did get me there! Heh, good one!” he was grasping at straws and he knew it.

‘Show?’ Rainbow cocked her head as she observed the strange creature. Shaking her head a bit, she began to worry, ‘This creature doesn’t have any problem threatening me. It’s got a knife, but this knife is obviously not for cutting food, it’s more like some sort of weapon.’ But despite all that, it seemed to be placated for the moment now that Rainbow sat still and didn’t make any threatening movements. Thus, she got an idea, Maybe this thing, whatever it is, only uses its weapon when it’s in danger. If I sit here and talk to it, maybe I can calm it down and convince it that it doesn’t need to be afraid of ponies.’

“You’re not a pony, diamond dog, dragon, griffin or anything else I’ve ever seen. What the hay are you?” Dash asked bluntly.

He recollected himself from his previous surprise and parried her brashness in kind,
“And you’re not a human. Since when can ponies talk? Or fly for that matter!”

Rainbow snorted again, this time in surprise, I was was right about this creature, uh, human apparently. He, I’m assuming it’s a ‘he’, can talk and he can be reasoned with.’
“Since forever? We ponies have lived here for thousands of years. And since when do ‘humans’ exist?” Dash queried using air quotes, not an easy feat with hooves.

The young man chuckled, and again returned fire,
“Since forever? You’re just some kind of animatronics or something like that! Yeah,” he said sweat trickling down his back, “Talking pony wants to tell me that there are no humans around here. Yeah right, humans are the dominant species.”

“Nu-uh! Not in Equestria!” Rainbow parried seamlessly.

Now Tyler was stumped, ‘Equestria? I’ve never heard of a place called Equestria. Not as a state, country, legend or myth. I could believe the sunken city of Atlantis maybe, but not a place where talking, flying ponies would give me funny questions.This feels too real.’
“E-Equestria? Now where the heck is that?” he felt what little conviction he had slipping, “I was in Nevada a moment ago!” he yelled.

“Look around you, stupid! This land is all Equestria! And you’re sure as hay are not the dominant species here!” she snapped back.

Now for the first time, Tyler took a more serious look around. The little winged pony was right, ‘This isn’t like any place I’ve had seen before. What worries me the most is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any cameras anywhere. This is a wide and open field with no place to hide. This is real.’
“This certainly isn’t the Great Basin National Park.” he muttered softly. The shock and mental trauma built up from all the sudden events was too much for him. He sat down and flopped his head into his hands. He was getting a headache and it felt like it might become a migraine, ‘If this is real and the strange tunnel wasn’t a drug induced trip, then where the hell am I?’ “Great,” he whispered softly, “How did I get here?”

The cerulean Pegasus looked at the creature before her, deeming it more and more harmless, ‘It’s probably a colt or stallion, depending on age. Probably a stallion, I can see beard on its chin. It’s obviously lost, but that’s not important right now.’
“Beats me,” she said casually, “I’m more interested in how you managed to perform a Sonic Rainboom.”

The young man looked up,
“Excuse me… A-a what?”

“I said a Sonic Rainboom. I’m the only one in Equestria who can perform one and only if I fly hard and fast enough. Can I come closer? I’m getting tired of shouting like this and can you put that knife of yours away?”

Tyler stood up slowly, towering over Dash’s shorter stature and put the knife back into its sheath. Looking to her as she tried to give her best assuring grin, he nodded,
“You really are a pony, huh? Hell, at least you aren’t a predator.” He slowly approached the cyan Pegasus, and tentatively reached out his hand toward her. Dash held her ground, too proud to show how unsure she felt. She managed not to flinch when he patted her head. Tyler’s mind spun as his hand felt the warmth of her body, ‘She’s the real thing. This is a real coat, real hair, no hard plastic or any whirrling gears when she moves, not a single sign of animatronics.’ Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she heard him say “Good pony…”

Slapping his hand away from her head, she expressed her displeasure,
“Hey! Stop treating me like an animal! I’m nopony’s pet!”

He mindfully held his hand back from his knife, wondering for a moment the winged pony would attack him, before he realized she was only demanding proper treatment, ‘Huh… Seems to me that she thinks like a human. No human I know would like to be treated like a pet or animal’ He nodded then and crouched down so he could look her in the eye. The Pegasus was female from what he could tell from her voice. Her behavior was somewhat masculine, but her voice was too feminine to be a male. She obviously didn’t mean him any harm right now whereas a male might.

With a calm voice he addressed the cerulean Pegasus,
“What and who are you, little pony?”

Rainbow smiled and stood proudly on her hind legs, using her wings for balance,
“I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria and you are?”

Tyler smiled and stood up,
“I’m Tyler Jones, a human from Earth at your service, Rainbow Dash. Thanks for saving me. And sorry for threatening you with the knife.” he offered his hand to shake, only to realize she didn’t have any hands to use.

Rainbow frowned for a moment, before she remembered that griffins often greeted each other with a clawshake. His extended claw seemed to indicate he was offering something similar. She smirked and laid a front hoof into his palm to shake,
“Cool, so, now that you don’t intend to use that knife of yours anymore, how did you get here, Tyler?”

“Tsk. If I knew that, I wouldn’t have been so agitated at first. There was this gem . . .” he began.

“Gem? What does a gem have to do with this?” Dash asked.

“I was getting to that. It was shining in all colors like a rainbow and . . .“

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she cut him off in mid-sentence,
“A rainbow gem?!?” she asked.

“That’s what you guys call it? It fell right from the sky. As soon as I touched it, it began to shine and then… then… urgh…” his mind went blank. Tyler shook his head trying to clear his suddenly muddy thoughts. An overpowering dizzy spell struck him. prompting him to fall to his knees. He clutched his head, eyes squinted shut,
“I . . . I can’t remember… and my head . . . it hurts…”

Rainbow laid a hoof on his shoulder as he was kneeling on the ground,
“Must have been a tough ride, whatever brought you here. A ‘human’ like you with no wings can’t fly, that’s a given. I say some weird magic is the reason you appeared out of nowhere.”

A name sprang into Rainbow’s mind, ‘Trixie.’ The blue unicorn seemed most likely to be the responsible party,
"Anyway, you better come with me to Ponyville. I bet Twilight or Princess Celestia will know what to do with you. We should probably see about those weird headaches too, while we’re at it.”

‘Magic? Twilight? Princess? All these information snippets don’t make any sense. But Rainbow did, in fact, save me. We may be two completely different species, but she seems to be one of the good guys. It would probably be in my best interest to stick with her until I know what the hell happened to me. This camping trip just became much more serious than I expected.’

In his mind, Tyler tried to sort things out, ‘First rule of survival: find shelter, then find food and water fit to consume!’ He suddenly remembered something,
“I hit something on the way down!”

Rainbow tipped her chin with her hoof in thought,
“Hmmm… seems to me that you most likely collided with another Pegasus. We should go see who it was.”

Tyler nodded and stood up, as Rainbow continued,
“Great, on the way, we can talk a bit.”

“What do you want to know?” Tyler asked.

“Surprise me.” Dash shrugged, “I’ve never seen a creature like you before. Are there many of you where you come from?”

He looked up, surprised to see that she was hovering beside him as he walked back in the general direction he thought another pony might have landed,
“Oh, umm… There are lots of humans like me, but certainly not exactly like me. Humans come in several skin colors, shapes and sizes. Some of us have a lighter skin tone, like me, while others have a darker, almost black skin tone and still others have more of a slight tone of red, yellow, or brown. Some are tall, some are short, some are fat and some are slender. But there are certainly no humans with skin as blue as your coat.”

His comment made Rainbow laugh,
“Yeah, I can’t imagine you in such a color either. This would look strange.”

As they walked on, moving along the edge of the Everfree Forest, they found a Pegasus with a gray coat below a tree. From the looks of it, the gray mare had crashed through the branches of the tree and plowed right into the ground, leaving a half meter furrow in the ground.

Tyler hastily ran forward and kneeled down next to her,
“Shit! Is he . . . or she OK?” he patted the gray Pegasus on the cheeks, “Come on! Snap out of it!”

Rainbow watched the movements of the strange human as she recognized the Pony,
“Yo, that’s Derpy! Don’t worry, she’s tough!”

Tyler looked up to Rainbow in wonder,
“Really? It’s nothing for you Pegasi to get knocked out by a guy with luggage in midair? Amazing!”

By then the gray Pegasus opened her eyes wide with a derpy expression on her face and jumped back onto her hooves,
“Y, yus… I am awsum!”

Leaning back, Tyler grimaced as he looked into Derpy’s eyes,
“Damn! I think I hit her too hard.”

After one inspecting look from Rainbow, the cerulean Pegasus mare shook her head,
“Nah! She’s been that way her entire life.”

With a deep sigh of relief, Tyler patted the gray Pegasus on the head,
“Thank god. Sorry I bumped into you.”

The gray mare looked up at him, not recognizing his shape,
“Hey… Rainbow Dash, who’s this feller? Is he a new friend of yours?”

Rainbow looked up at the human, seeing his eyes looking back at her as well,
“Well… At least he seems to mean us no harm, Derpy. I think he’s OK.”

The gray Pegasus mare nodded and shook Tyler’s hand vigorously,
“That’s good! Every friend of Rainbow Dash, is a friend of mine as well!”

Tyler was surprised that she could grab his hand with hooves instead of hands,
“Uh… Yes! So, Miss Derpy, what do you do for a living?”

Derpy then closed her eyes and took a proud stance,
“I am the Ponyville mailmare!”

Looking to Rainbow Dash in abject disbelief, Tyler arched an eyebrow. Rainbow rolled her eyes and nodded,
“That she is, but letters tend to have a one or two day delay on a regular basis.”

Derpy then opened her eyes again and smiled,
“Which reminds me Rainbow Dash, can you point me in the direction of Ponyville?” Getting her mailbag out of the tree, Derpy presented it to her. “I still have some letters to deliver.”

Giving herself a facehoof, Rainbow looked toward Derpy, annoyance written all over her features,
“You lost your orientation again? Derpy, as the mailmare you should know exactly where you are at all times! Fine, just this once, and please don’t lose your orientation again!”

Turning the sitting Derpy into the right direction, Rainbow sighed,
“Now fly straight ahead and you can’t miss it!”

As the gray Pegasus took to the air, Tyler chuckled,
“Nice character… She seems to be a little bit clumsy, but pleasant all the same.”

Rainbow sighed,
“She’s OK, but she can be difficult at times. To think she’s married already.”

Tyler chuckled,
“Love sometimes emerges the craziest couples I guess. So Rainbow, is it a long way to Ponyville? I’m unfamiliar with the area for obvious reasons.”

“Nope! Not far at all. Just beyond Fluttershy’s cottage over there." Dash said, trotting in the indicated direction.

When they arrived at the cottage, Fluttershy was feeding her many critters and birds around the cottage as she did daily, quietly singing all the while. With gentle strokes of her wings, she hovered a few inches above the ground, feeding everyone from the raccoons down to the smallest field mice.

The action prompted Tyler to shake his head with an admiring smile,
“Well, well, would you look at that. If that isn’t the very definition of adorable?”

As the yellow Pegasus heard the voice of a complete stranger, she turned to face Tyler. Seeing him, she squeaked in fright, and jumped into a bush.

Tyler took a step back, hands up,
“Hey, Rainbow is she a friend of yours? I… I didn’t mean to startle her.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked, peering around Tyler, “Oh, that’s just Fluttershy. She’s friends with all of the forest animals, but she’s very shy, especially towards strangers. She’s super skittish, don’t worry. Come on out, Fluttershy, there’s someone I’d like you to meet” Dash called.

Tyler nodded and sat down in front of the bush, reaching out his hand towards the blue eyes peeking out from the bush with a smile,
“Aw, don’t be afraid, little one, I won’t hurt you. I promise.” As she slowly emerged from the bush, he nodded encouragingly. “There you go. See? I’m just a nice guy in an unfamiliar form.” he said as he reached out to Fluttershy’s mane, caressing the nervous yellow Pegasus.

Still shivering like a fawn, she slowly got used to his hand,
“R-Rainbow? What kind of creature is this? I’ve never seen something like him before. Is he from the Everfree Forest?”

Rainbow only rolled her eyes,
“He’s just a strange creature I found when he appeared out of nowhere above the Everfree Forest. He seems OK though. As long as you don’t give him a hard time, he won’t harm you.”

As Tyler noticed Fluttershy’s jumpiness slowly vanish, he raised her chin a bit,
“You have a nice singing voice. I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m sorry. My name is Tyler by the way. So you can talk with the little animals of the woods?”

With a timid little nod the yellow Pegasus looked up to him. He smiled down at her warmly and Fluttershy felt herself relax. She then flapped her wings, lifting up into the air to give him a closer inspection,
“Translucent bipedal mesomorphic embryonic and . . .” she then closed her eyes and sniffed ever so slightly at Tyler’s face, chest and crotch, although she made sure to keep her face further away from the last spot, “According to his scent and voice I presume… male?”

Tyler looked at Rainbow with wide eyes and even though Rainbow looked at him with wide eyes as well, the cerulean Pegasus simply shrugged casually. He then gave Fluttershy a nervous grin. ‘Is this the way ponies identify unrecognized species?’ he wondered.
“Aheheheh . . . Yes, I’m male… But you could have just asked…”

Still caught up in her fascination of the new and unknown species, Fluttershy raised Tyler’s chin and opened his jaw gently. Her eyes inspected his teeth and her pupils grew larger,
“Oooh… Incisors, canines, bicuspids, premolars, and molars! Rainbow, you found an omnivore!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes,
“A what-vore? Fluttershy! Your crazy devotion to animals make you sound like Twilight!”

Tyler then shook his head and pulled back to escape Fluttershy’s inspection,
“It means I eat everything.”

Cocking her head, Rainbow inspected him,
“So, like greens and vegetables?”

With a nod, he folded his arms,
“Yes, and meat of course.”

Fluttershy nodded in confirmation, beaming happily to be confirmed herself, but in the next second, her eyes went wide and her pupils shrank down to tiny dots,
“MEAT?!?”

With a yelp, she jumped back into the bushes while Rainbow stepped back half a meter,
“Does that mean you eat ponies, too?”

“No! I could never do that! Honestly, who could eat a creature that could talk? I mean I do eat fish, poultry and cattle, but eating talking ponies? Nah, not a chance.”

Rainbow arched a brow,
“I see… Well, just for your information, animals here are all intelligent to some degree. While some cattle have the ability to speak, the smaller mammals like the woodland creatures all have a certain degree of intelligence.”

“I see.” he said slowly.

Tyler took his knife and looked at Rainbow, who eyed him thoroughly before he rammed the blade into the soft ground so only the hilt was sticking out.

That was when another voice became louder.
"Ah! Fluttershy! Nice to see you..." A unicorn stallion of green coat and yellow mane came out of the woodwork, apparently up to greet Fluttershy, but upon taking note of Tyler, he froze in motion. "...see you... Oh, sweet Celestia... What the frying hay is that creature?"

Rainbow, looking over to the stallion arched a brow and cocked her head.
"And you are? I don't know you."

Fluttershy now intervened.
"That's Wheat Wacker. He moved in recently from Baltimare. He's a herbalist. We sometimes come across each other at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Hello, Wheat Wacker!"

That's when the stallion took notice of the knife in the ground.
"Is that a weapon? Is he dangerous?"

Rainbow shook her head.
"Nah, he's cool! We got this. He was scared of me at first and tried to defend himself with it, but now he surren-"

She was rudely interrupted as Wheat Wacker's facial expression got darker.
"He attacked you?!?"

Leaning her head slightly back in confusion, Rainbow then shook her head more vehemently.
"What?!? No! He held it up to keep me at a distance! He was at least as scared of me as I was of him! But Like I was trying to say: He already surrendered it to us just now. Again: We got this!"

"Well, if you say so... I don't like the looks of him..." he simply stated and trotted away, the others folllowing him with their eyes.

Rainbow snorted in frustration.
"Asshole... Probably one of these bucking pony purists…"

Tyler wasn't sure how to take this all. Either he just witnessed some sort of pony racism or in this case more like specism against him or some more complicated thing. Given, to the uninitiated ear the story of him threatening Rainbow with a knife wasn't very convincing of him being peaceful. So he was admitting that there had to be some healthy skepticism against him. Looking back to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the human nodded,
“I want to return home. But for that I need a bit of help. If that means I have to trust you, I think you should have reason to trust me as well. I’ll hand this knife over to you.” stepping away from the knife, he sat down a few meters away, “What do you say? Will you folks help me to return home?”

Rainbow looked over to Fluttershy who poked her head out of the bushes, a leaf stuck in her mane,
“Well then, Fluttershy? Come on, I think we should do it. What better way to show intentions than to offer up your only weapon?”

With careful and timid steps, the yellow Pegasus stepped outside the bushes and approached the buried knife. Opening her mouth she turned her head sideways and bit down on the handle, then pulled it out of the dirt. Eyeing that blade timidly, Fluttershy turned around and slowly walked into her cottage.

After she hid the weapon, she returned to Rainbow and Tyler, who was then looking around,
“So, about these woodland creatures, would you introduce me to them, please? I’m rather fond of animals. Back on Earth, animals are usually too scared of humans because we don’t speak each other’s language. Only the tamed ones who are used to our kind have lost their fear of us.”

Fluttershy looked around a bit,
“I don’t know… you… you know, they actually come to me because I spend time with them, but… sure I can ask them. The rest is… you know… up to them…”

After letting Tyler know she wouldn’t force any of her animal friends to go to him, she asked around, but most of the animals still seemed wary of Tyler. Nonetheless she brought two squirrels to the human. The pair were red squirrels and much larger and more healthy than any Tyler had ever seen before. The squirrels leapt off Fluttershy and approached Tyler with little trepidation.

The squirrels ran up his arms, as he crouched a bit, making himself smaller,
“Oh, careful! Don’t fall down!” Fluttershy exclaimed softly.

As the two squirrels sat on his shoulders, they inspected the human thoroughly, tickling his ears with their little paws and noses.

Tyler’s eyes widened and he jerked away suddenly in surprise, Rainbow cracked up and fell over,
“They gave you a wet nosey! Ha, ha, ha!”

Fluttershy giggled as she approached Tyler,
“Now, now, you two… don’t misbehave in front of our guest.”

Tyler reached for one squirrel with his palm up. The squirrel first sniffed at the offered hand before it jumped onto it. Seeing as Tyler assumed the little critter would run away instead of jumping on his palm, he gasped in surprise. Reaching out with his other hand, he began to pet the squirrel.

The squirrel made a few chittering noises and Fluttershy nodded,
“Yes, they do feel good. Tyler, what do you call these?” she gestured to his hands, “They are not hooves, but they aren’t claws either.“

Tyler chuckled,
“These? We call them hands and every intact hand has five fingers.” the other squirrel on his shoulder ran down his arm to his palm and took a stance as if it would like to be petted as well.

Now stroking one squirrel with a thumb and the other with the index finger, Tyler managed to pet both squirrels.

Fluttershy smiled as she looked around,
“The animals seem to like you!”

Looking around, Tyler recognized that there were many animals sitting or standing around him suddenly. Either out of curiosity or because of the realization that he wasn’t a threat.

A little hummingbird fluttered over and landed on his head,
“It’s a miracle.” he said, mist welling in his eyes, “It’s like, the garden of Eden.” with careful movements he looked down at the small animals surrounding him, “Thank you, little ones. I’d like to visit you and your little friends once in awhile if you don’t mind, Fluttershy.”

With a warm smile the yellow Pegasus trotted to him,
“If you behave like you did today, I’m sure they don’t mind having you around.”

He stood up as the critters and birds left him, looking as though he was deep in thought.

Rainbow Dash addressed the human again,
“The garden of what? Meh, not important right now. So, big guy… What’s on your mind?”

“I think I have a problem. You see, being omnivores we humans have a very diverse diet. Not only do we eat vegetables, herbs and fruits, but also meat.”

Fluttershy shuddered, still not comfortable with the concept; Tyler continued,
“Yeah, back on earth we humans eat all sorts of animals, but here, the animals are sentient, or at least close to it. And the little critters of the woods are friends to a good willed Pegasus I now know.”

Fluttershy, now seeing his dilemma looked up again,
“So… this means…?”

With that question he knelt before the nervous Pegasus, crossing his heart,
“I swear that I won’t harm any of your little friends Fluttershy.” ‘Besides, it won’t hurt to have friends in this place. Who gives a damn whether or not they’re ponies?’ Tyler thought to himself.

With an expression of relief and joy, Fluttershy jumped into the air,
“Y-You mean it?”

Determination shined in his eyes as he nodded,
“No bunny stew or roast duck for me. I’ll miss it, but if I can gain your friendship with this, I’ll happily look elsewhere for food to complete my diet. I still need a way to get proper fiber and protein if I want to stay healthy. Any ideas how I can manage to do that?”

“Duh!” Rainbow interrupted, “Why don’t you hunt down some of the animals in the Everfree Forest? Or go fishing? Also some ponies have pets that eat fish and they buy that fish on the market. That’s three ways to get you some meat.”

Slightly baffled, he looked up to the cerulean Pegasus,
“The Everfree Forest? Sounds special, but don’t you have friends among animals there as well, Fluttershy?” he asked looking towards the yellow Pegasus.

With widened eyes, she took a step back,
“What? No… I- I couldn’t! None of my little friends come from the Everfree forest.”

“It’s a place we ponies avoid.” Rainbow explained, “There are strange animals living there, predators, you know. Not a place you want to live in… well… except Zecora of course! She’s a zebra.”

Tyler nodded in thought, only half listening. There were many things to learn in his situation, but had already made a good impression on three ponies. Obviously these ponies meant him no harm and were more afraid of him than he was of them. At least the one called Fluttershy. It seemed a bit odd here with the pegasi roaming the skies and talking to little critters, but that was OK. He had other ways to eat, ‘Sure, I can’t expect to find a fast food franchise around the corner, but there is water, there is also food to nourish me and should my stay be prolonged, there should be a way to achieve a complete diet. No harmful environment, water and food. This is a good start, now I'll just have to find a temporary shelter until I can find a way back home. As he came out of the woods with Rainbow Dash, they arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville, ‘Civilization… What a relief. No makeshift shelter, no campfire. Tyler thought, and smiled, ‘I can do this.’

proofread by Truthseeker