Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the rights to Equestria and all of its inhabitants. Kris belongs to me.




CHAPTER 1





BEEPBEEPBEEP -SLAM- Kris groggily turns his alarm clock off. He reluctantly gets out of bed. Just then he remembers that it was payday and that he could have slept in. He shrugs and grabs some clothes from his dresser.

He takes a shower, thinking it would be his last. He took a long shower. He did not care about the water bill. It was not like he was going to be alive to pay it. He showered until the water grew cold. He turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and towelled himself off.

He put on his clothes. He walked out into the living room of his apartment. He then proceeded to write a letter.

"To Whom It May Concern...
I am just going to cut to the chase. I am leaving this crummy world. I am not telling you where I am going to end my life, the point is, I am going to die. There is no reason to send out a search party nor to send anybody to come looking for me. So goodbye and I hope you have a wonderful life compared to mine.
Signed,
Kristopher Brewer"

He left the letter on the coffee table. He walked to the front door and grabbed his keys. He then realized how stupid that was and put his keys back. He closed the door behind him as he walked out the door. He then proceeded to walk to his place of employment.

He went to recieve his paycheck. As soon as he recieved his check he went straight to the credit union bank thing he deposits his money in. He deposits his check and goes inside to close his account. As soon as he recieves his money, he leaves. He wastes no time in calling up a taxi service. As soon as he gets into the taxi, he tells the driver to take him to Grass Valley. He pays the driver in advance, giving him all his money. $2500 goes to the driver. The drivers eyes widened at the amount.

Kris tells him he can have it all if he keeps it a secret where he is going, and explains that he did not wish for anyone to come looking for him.

He tells the driver politely to snap to it. The driver says a quick 'Yes,sir' before driving off. It was an hour long drive. As soon as he reached Georgetown, he told the driver to drop him off. Telling the driver that it was far enough. That he changed his mind about going the extra distance.

The driver let him off on the main street in the middle of town. Kris thanked the driver before shutting the door to the Cab. Kris contemplated visiting an old family friend but thought better of it. He did not want them to talk him out of what he was about to do.

So instead he visited a little park nearby. He located the swings and sat down on one and started to swing back and forth. Not very fast swinging. He just swung gently to reminisce about his childhood. About the good times in his life. And most of his life had been good up until recently. His life took a dramatic turn for the worst,he reflected, when he yelled at his mother for the last time. He saw the pain he had caused his mother so he left to protect her from himself.

He was sure she would greive for awhile upon news of his death. But eventually she would move on with her life. She has to. She has three other children to love and his seven year old neice to watch grow up. Hopefully they would forget about him. He especially hoped his neice would forget his very existance. And all the people he ever met, hopefully they would forget him too.

Life will move on, the tears would subside. The world would be better off without him anyway. He never spoke to anyone about his plans of suicide. He knew they would try to talk him out of it or send him to some mental hospital. So to avoid all that, he kept it hidden. His dark plans of self destruction.

Oh,how he despised himself. He cursed his own very existance. He stopped swinging and started walking down the road in the direction of the forest. The road leads to the Buckeye trailer park. But he was not going there. He was going to where there was trees as far as the eye could see. That is where he was going. To die. To get lost was his plan. How he was going to die would be starvation of both food and water.

That was his plan anyways. But plans don't always turn out like you had hoped them to be. Sometimes the universe has other plans for you. Sometimes it puts things in your lap unexpectedly. Sometimes it gives you the things that you need. With pleasant results.

He finally reached the spot he was looking for. A very steep climb down overlooking the forest he was going to enter. He descended down to more even ground and found himself at the edge of said forest. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before entering. He went deeper and deeper. And got more and more lost.

He looked around him. Everything looked the same. Trees everywhere. Then he reasoned with himself that it was a forest.
He heard a twig snap, he jumped,startled, before running deeper into the woods. He ran and ran,but then he slowed down,and reasoned with himself, "Why am I running? I am here to die, am I not? Let the bastard come and kill me." Nothing was forthcoming, so he shrugged and turned around.

What greeted his eyes, was a quaint little cottage. He cautiously approached it, all the while keeping his distance.

Just then he heard a kindly old voice behind him ask, "Can I help you"? He jumped and spun extremely fast, almost falling unconscious. When he stopped being dizzy, he looked at the source of the voice. It was a little grandmotherly woman. She asked again, "Can I help you"?

He calmed down a little, slowly shaking his head. "No. Just passing through, Ma'am.", He said. "I do not receive very many visitors, why are you in my forest?" ,she inquired. He said, "No reason, just passing through."

He could tell that she did not believe him. She stared hard at him. He nervously stared back. The silence was awkward, and a little unsettling. He felt as if she was staring into the depths of his soul. As if she could read his thoughts.

She stopped staring at him and started walking toward her cottage. "You are staying for lunch." ,She stated, with a tone that said that she wouldn't take no for an answer. He cautiously and reluctantly followed her. Apparently he wasn't going fast enough, because she commanded him to 'snap to it'. For some reason, he feared displeasing her, despite having just met her.

Lunch was a slice of meat pie, with a mixed berry pie for dessert, with mint tea, to wash it all down. He tried to avoid eating or drinking anything at all, because he was determined to starve himself to death. But she would have none of that. She told him to eat every last bit of the food provided, and drink every last drop of drink she served him. He could not understand how this stranger had such power over him. She did not even know him.

When she was satisfied that everything she gave him was in his stomach, she took his plate from him, told him to stay where he was, and washed his and her own plates. He piped up, "Do you need help? I could have washed my own plate, Ma'am." She gave him a look that said, 'Do Not Speak, unless given permission', before saying, "I have it handled, you just stay there. I have a few questions for you". He swallowed hard with nervousness, feeling a sense of dread overtake him. Wondering what it was that she wanted to know, exactly.

When she was finished, she came over and sat in a chair in front of him. "Why are you here in my woods? Please tell the truth", her tone changed from a commanding one, to a gentle, concerned sounding one. "And do not tell me that you are 'just passing through', I know that you are hiding something."

Kris sighed, before baring his soul to her. He started explaining, "Well, my life has basically spiraling downward into the depths of despair. Eight months ago, I yelled at my mother,said some harsh words to her, thus hurting her feelings immensely. I felt really bad for doing it, but I knew that an apology was not enough. So I did the only thing that I could think of, I moved out. I lived with an acquaintance until I could get on my feet. I got my own apartment to live in. I did not try contacting any of my family members, I could not contact my family members after what I did. I did not tell any family or friends where I lived or worked, because I could not face them. I lived day to day in misery, feeling powerless, not knowing how to make life better for myself. I thought long and hard for the past few months. And then it hit me about a month ago. My family would be better off without me, and so would the world for that matter. I didn't have a gun, and I didn't want to slit my wrists or throat.Nor did I want to poison myself. So I thought starvation and dehydration was the method of choice. But I knew that if I tried to do that, I would be found in his apartment,passed out from starvation, and rushed to the nearest hospital. So to avoid that, I decided the bast thing for him to do was take my next paycheck, and cash it and pay for a one way trip to the biggest forest I could think of. The forest that I am currently in. Another reason why I was so miserable, was that I was lonely. I went through life, single. And most women did not interest me. Besides, I am fat and ugly. And they were not appealing enough. And the few that DID appeal to me were already in relationships, and thus had no interest in me. So now you know the truth, I am not just passing through. I am here to die, for my life to end. I do not expect you, nor anyone else to understand. I also do not want anyone talking me out of it. It's just that this world holds no appeal to me anymore. I have no reason to live. I have no family, no friends. They exist, but I have cut myself off from them. If they do receive my suicide note, and the news of my disappearance, I hope that they will not grieve for me. No, it would be best that they just forget about me. Act as if I never even existed. Or if they do grieve, I hope it will not be for very long. A day at most. I hope they never find my remains when I die. Anyways, I am done, that is my story", he stated. "Are you satisfied, Ma'am?" he asked.

She sat back in her chair, apparently digesting all that he had said. "Alright, if you are so determined to leave this world, then I will help you. But first. You need to made to look presentable. I can make you look good. Wait here" she said before going back to the kitchen, coming out with a small bottle full of an unidentifiable liquid. She handed it to him and said, "Drink everything in this bottle. It will help you look better, and help you relax to accept what is going to happen".

He looked at the bottle, lifted it to his nose and took a quick whiff of it. He did not smell anything unpleasant. He detected some cinnamon in there. He lifted it to his lips and drank every last drop. What he tasted was a very delicious, herbal mixture that he could not identify. He sort of wished there had been more of the tasty drink. He asked if there was more, only to be informed that what he drank was enough. He was a bit disappointed about that, but shrugged it off. He was instructed to stand up. He complied without a second thought. When he was at his full height, she told him to look down at himself. He frowned slightly, a bit confused, but he did as instructed. He was shocked to see that all the excess body fat that he had accumulated over the years was swiftly dissolving away, being replaced with lean muscle. And he lifted his shirt to look at his stomach, and noticed that he was getting a six pack. He also noticed that any stretch marks that he had, were gone. And his biceps had expanded a little and had grown firmer. He imagined that he now had the body equivalent to an athletes. He also felt a great calm, and mental clarity come over him, that he had not felt before. It felt as if his mental illnesses had faded away. Only to be replaced with a sense of being normal for once. He hated to admit that he did, in fact, feel and look good.

The old woman asked, "How do you feel"? He stated that he felt better than he had ever felt his whole life. She gave a satisfied 'hmph', with a bit of a smirk on her wrinkled face. He also stated, that he was still depressed, though. She frowned at this. She picked up a brush from a nearby table and groomed his hair. She then maneuvered him over to a full body mirror covered with a cloth. She uncovered it, asking if he still wanted to die. He said that he had no other option, and no reason to do otherwise. She then told him to look into the mirror. He complied, a bit puzzled. What greeted him was not his own reflection. What greeted his eyes was a constantly shifting surface of a mirror. It is as if the mirror surface was made out of water, constantly moving. And in the middle of that mirror surface was a picture of a field of grass, with a nice sized village, about a football fields distance away.

He stared at that image for a good long moment, when the old woman informed him that he now had a reason to live. That he would find everything he needed and longed for there. And when he went there, that it was a one way trip there. And when he went there, he would be the only human in existence to make the trip. No other person, plant, or animal would be able to make the trip after him. She told him that the portal would close permanently.

Before he could turn to ask her any questions, he felt a push on his back. He fell forwards into the mirror surface. Only to find himself kneeling in a field of grass. He stood up and looked behind himself. He was no longer in the little, assertive, old woman's cottage anymore. He noticed that everything was brighter, and more vivid here, wherever here was. He sniffed the air, noticing that everything smelled fresher, cleaner here. In fact, he had never smelt air so clean in the 24 years of his entire life. He looked in the direction of the village he had seen in the mirror, moments ago, and made his way there.

He reached the town sooner than he expected, his new body surprising him with a faster pace not possible for his old self. As soon as he entered the village, he noticed some of the village inhabitants. They resembled equines of some sort. Though there faces were not as long as the equines of his home world. They were also a lot shorter than most equines he had seen in person, being, what he had judged in height, about four feet in height, at their highest. He noticed that the whole village was full of them, and that they were not colored like the equines from home. They were brightly colored, In fact, that were very unusually colored, some green, some orange, some blue. They also had bigger eyes than the equines at home. It amazed him. What also amazed him was that some of them had wings, and some of them had horns. He was very shocked to see that. He was very happy ,too, to see seemingly mythological creatures in the flesh. He was wondering if it was possible if they could speak his language, and if they could, maybe tell him where he was.

He walked in the middle of the village, in the direction of one of them, when all of them looked at him, with eyes as big as saucers, and scurried away from him, into houses and buildings. He tried to call 'Hey, wait' to some of the ones that had not yet found sanctuary away from him. But he soon found himself alone, in the center of the village. He felt sad, depressed even. He noticed a lone, purple equine with a horn on its head, walking down a street, parallel to where he was facing get snatched into a building in the shape of a cupcake by a pair of pink hooves. He sighed sadly. Looking around himself, he noticed several stalls with various types of merchandise. He looked at each stall, looking for something that could possibly help him end his life. He did not care anymore. He felt that the old woman was wrong. He still did not have a reason to live. He browsed each and every stall until he found what he was looking for. At one of the stalls, a type of grill, had a kitchen knife behind it. He snatched it up, immediately, and tested its sharpness, by rubbing his thumb against the surface of the blade, not cutting his thumb in the process.

He walked back into the center of the village and sat on the edge of a fountain. He felt very sad and very negative. He sat there for awhile, felling himself lose his temper a little at the unfairness of it all. Didn't anyone want him? He continued having dark thoughts creep into his brain.

Meanwhile, in the cupcake shaped building, seven of the equine creatures and one reptilian creature watched Kris, from a slightly opened window pane. A one of the equines, with a pure white coat and horn, and purple mane and tail,and clearly female, judging by her voice, asked, "What's it doing"? The purple equine with the horn on its head, the one Kris saw get pulled into the building,also clearly female, said, "I don't know, Rarity. It's just sitting by the fountain in Town Square. He is holding a kitchen knife in his... whatever those things he calls them. Claws? I don't know, but it's looking at the ground, doing nothing. We need to find out what it's doing here. It's our duty". Just then, an orange equine, with a blond mane and tail, with a Stetson on her head, said, in a southern belle style accent, "Hold on there,Miss Twilight Sparkle, it might be dangerous. What if it attacks you"? The equine named Twilight Sparkle, reassured her friend, "Aw, Applejack, don't worry,I have you guys to avenge me if anything bad were to happen to me".

Just then, they heard a male voice, with melancholy heavy in his voice,from the direction of Town Square, shout, "If anyone of you can hear me, and you can understand and speak the language that I do, please come out and talk to me. If you can, but just refuse to come out,because you are afraid that I mean you harm...well, I am not here to do that. However, I if nobody comes out to talk to me by the time I count to ten, there is going to be an unpleasant, and very messy present, where I am sitting. One...Two...

They looked out the window to see him holding the knife blade against the appendage opposite the one holding the knife.

Twilight Sparkle rushed out of the building with the rest of her friends chasing her, trying to stop her from doing anything stupid. As soon as she reached the strange creature, who was clearly sentient, she stopped in front of him. He stopped counting, and looked at her. He noticed that she was the same equine creature that he had seen being pulled into the cupcake shaped building. He lowered the knife from his wrist. Staring at this strange creature before him. He could not help but think that this creatures coloring was quite pretty. Just then he noticed that there were several other similarly shaped creatures a few feet behind this one, He noticed that this purple one and five similar sized creatures,were staring at him, as well as three smaller equines and a purple and green reptilian creature he could not identify. He turned his gaze back on the creature closer to him,thinking that it may be the group leader.

Just then the purple equine, took a deep breath and said,"Hello, My name is Twi---" She was cut off by the strange bi-pedal creatures scream. She noticed that he had dropped the knife, and that he had hurried over to the other side of the fountain, looking back at them with fear. Twilight's horn started to glow, as she picked up the knife and put it on a nearby stall. That way they, and the creature would, not get hurt. She watched the creature as she did this. He watched her fearfully,with a bit of curiosity,and a bit of fascination, apparent in his countenance.

She decided to approach him again, this time slowly and not so strong..........