Cameron, opened his eyes to hear the sound of his mother, shouting “BOY! Get down here now!”
Groaning, he reluctantly got out of bed and started to make his way downstairs, to where his parents were sitting in the living room.
He had a pounding headache and his eye was still swollen from where his stepfather had punched him. Entering the living room, his mother suddenly roared in an accusatory tone, “You little thief, you've stolen more food from the fridge, haven't you?”
“No, mummy. I haven't eaten anything.” he tried to tell her, however, his stepfather stood up grabbed him by the collar of his torn shirt and pinned the nine-year-old against the wall.
“Don’t lie to your mother boy,” he said menacingly.
Cameron, who was shaking with fear, whimpered “I’m telling the truth.”
His stepfather growled before taking him over to a table and forcing him to lay his hand flat against the wooden surface. He then told his wife, “Go get me my hammer.”
His mother immediately went off to find the toolbox, while his stepfather spat, “What did I tell you what would happen if you stole again.”
Instead of answering, Cameron only shook his head, causing tears to drop everywhere. His mother returned with the hammer and gave it to his stepfather all the while Cameron was screaming, “NOOO!”
However it was in vain as his stepfather slammed the hammer down onto his finger causing the boy to scream in agony; his stepfather merely ignored him and slowly broke every finger on his right hand, before pushing his stepson to the floor.
The stepfather then noticed a wet patch beginning to form on the crotch of his stepson's small pyjama bottoms as the stench of urine filled his nostrils. His mother then screamed, “You trampy little boy!”
His father then pulled him onto his feet before punching him again in the face causing his nose to spurt out blood. “You back to your room, you waste of space.”
Cameron could only hobble to his room, clutching his right hand. Arriving back into his room, he collapsed onto the mattress that served as his bed.
Looking down at his hand, he sobbed upon seeing that some of them were bent at odd angles. He tried to stem the blood that was pouring, from his nose with his dirty rag of a blanket.
As he slowly cried himself to sleep, he couldn't help but wish for someone to take him away; for this living nightmare to end…
As the broken boy slept, the room got warmer as a shimmering effect fell over the room. Suddenly a mysterious blinding light began to light up the room. A cracking sound could be heard for a second before the light left as quickly as it had appeared along with the boy.
***
Cameron was startled awake by an unknown force. Looking around he could see that he was no longer in his bedroom but was now in what appeared to be a forest of some kind.
“Where am I?” he asked no one in particular. He pushed himself onto his feet but then instantly fell over. Reaching for something to hold onto, he screamed,”Aaaaaagh!”
What was once his hand, was now a weird-looking black hoof. Looking at the rest of his body, he was shocked to see that he was both naked and covered in black fur.
Cameron thought that he was dreaming and snapped his eyes closed while whispering “Wake up, wake up.” However it was no use as he opened his eyes to find that nothing had happened, he was still in the forest.
He then shouted, “Help! I’m lost, I don't know where I am.”
Suddenly he heard a deep, guttural growl coming from behind him. Turning around, he was horrified to see a weird, stick monster with glowing, green eyes, slowly approaching him in what looked like a pouncing position.
Cameron attempted to flee but only to end up tripping again. Thinking that this was the end, he curled up into a ball, praying that it would be painless.
The stomping of jaws and pain of teeth ripping into flesh never came, instead, Cameron could hear the beast whimpering, slowly opening his eyes, she a yellow horse with a long pink mane. The horse had wings that were flared in a threatening manner towards the monster. Then to his surprise, the horse spoke, “Leave now.” it said sternly.
Even more surprisingly the beast complied and quickly bounded off into the forest. The horse then turned around and slowly walked towards him. Cameron tried to shuffle away all the while he was saying, “Get away from me.”
Being backed into a tree, he was stunned to feel its hooves pulling him into a hug. To Cameron, who had never felt any type of compassion was thrown off by the act of kindness.
“What are you doing doing, out here, by yourself,” she asked.
Cameron explained reluctantly, “I don’t know where I am.”
“Oh no, you’re in the Everfree Forest,” the horse told the nervous boy.
“I don’t know what to do. I’m covered in fur and something is wrong with my hands.” He said.
The horse gave him a confused look before saying,” Erm, I don't know what hands are but you're a pony like me, you're supposed to be covered in fur.”
“WHAT! But I’m not a pony, I’m a human.” his outburst caused the pony to jump in fright.
“Why don't you tell me your name?” she asked shyly.
“It's Cameron.”
“Hello Cameron, my name is Fluttershy. I don't know what a human is but maybe my friend Twilight can help.” she greeted herself.
“Okay but where is this Twilight and can I look into a mirror?” he asked, anxious about the way he looked.
"Oh, I'm sorry but I don't have a mirror with me but I'm sure Twilight might have one. Twilight is the town's librarian in Ponyville." Fluttershy explained.
***
Throughout the walk into town, Cameron kept bombarding her with questions. Most of which Fluttershy didn't know the answer to, so instead she tried to explain to the colt about where he was. "You're in Equestria, which is ruled over by two alicorn princesses: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."
"How far, from England are we?" Cameron asked.
Fluttershy had never heard of any place called England, "I'm not sure."
"Oh."
Fluttershy could see that he was saddened by this news so she tried to reassure him by saying, "I'm sure Twilight will know."
The colt merely nodded. They walked the last leg of the journey in silence, where they finally arrived at their destination. Cameron was amazed to see that the librarian lived inside of a massive tree.
Fluttershy knocked on the red front door, which opened to reveal a small purple dragon causing Cameron to gasp, "Is that a dragon!"
The dragon flexed his small muscles while saying proudly, "Yep sure am."
Suddenly they heard a voice come from inside of the tree and shout, "Spike stop showing off and let them in!"
Spike let them both pass, where Cameron couldn't help but stare at the amount of books that lined the shelves. "Hi, Fluttershy and who's this." a purple unicorn asked while ruffling Cameron's mane.
"Hello Twilight, I found this colt in the Everfree Forest, his name is Cameron. He says that he doesn't know how he got there and that he was a human" Fluttershy explained.
Twilight gave her a sceptical look, Are you sure he wasn't lying to you because while I admit that Cameron is an unusual name, I have never heard of humans before."
"He didn't look like he was lying and he seemed to freak out when he found out that he was a pony. He also asked about a place called England."
Twilight rubbed her muzzle in thought, "Hmmm, I know for a fact that England is a made-up place, I have studied the map of the world five times, and there was never a place called England."
Cameron then walked up to Twilight and said, "Excuse me but do you have a mirror?"
"Of course. Here you go," Twilight said pulling a mirror out of a drawer and levitating it over to Cameron, whose jaw dropped at seeing the mirror floating in mid-air. He tried to hold the mirror but to his disappointment, it kept falling to the ground.
Twilight, who was worried that the mirror would smash, decided to intervene and held up the mirror in front of the colt, who gaped at seeing his reflection. He slowly touched his face and mane, making sure that what he was looking at was real. Instead of looking at a human boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, he was now looking at a black, pony with a spikey dark red mane and bright red eyes. he turned to see the rest of his body and was surprised to see a spikey dark red tail and wings.
That was when he realised that he could feel the extra limbs and flared the black appendages similar to how Fluttershy confronted the wooden beast. Twilight watched this with deep interest and whispered to Fluttershy, "This is definitely not normal colt behaviour, he could be lying or have mental health issues, if I were you I would send him to the orphanage."
"I don't know how I feel about sending him to an orphanage," Fluttershy admitted looking down at the black pegasus colt with sympathy in her eyes.
Twilight sighed and said, "It's either that or you take care of him yourself."
Fluttershy knew that she didn't have enough time or space to be taking care of a potentially troubled pegasus. Sighing with deep regret, she said, "I can't take care of him. I'll take him to the orphanage now."
***
Fluttershy then called, the colt to follow her. Leaving the library, Cameron asks, "Where are we going now?"
The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, causing Fluttershy to speed up. "I'm taking you to a place that will help you."
"Will they help me get home?"
"Yes," Fluttershy said wanting to limit the amount of conversation.
Finally, Fluttershy said, "We're here."
They had arrived in front of a small brick building surrounded by a steel fence, making the place feel more like a prison than an orphanage.
Cameron's face fell at seeing the sign above the gates. Ponyville Orphanage. "What are we doing here?"
"I'm sorry, Cameron."
"No I don't want to go in there, that's where they send all the unwanted kids." Cameron pleaded with Fluttershy. Ever since he watched Annie, he had been terrified of orphanages especially when his parents would use it to threaten him.
Cameron refused to move causing Fluttershy to do something that she never liked doing. Cameron began to whimper as he remained transfixed by the stare, his wings drooping to the floor and ears folding down onto his his head, Fluttershy knew that the stare had done its job. Cameron shakily began to move forward, not wanting Fluttershy to stare at him like that again.
They entered a dingy lobby, where an elderly mare was sat behind a run-down counter. Approaching the counter, Fluttershy greeted, "Hi there, I found this colt in the Everfree Forest, I think he might be a runaway."
The mare looked up from her magazine that she was reading and approached the colt, where she asked, "Name?"
The colt answered nervously, "Cameron."
The mare scoffed, "Weird name, I don't like it.."
She then looked towards Fluttershy, "You can leave now."
"Oh okay, well goodbye, Cameron," she said, however, he ignored her. Fluttershy quickly left the building, still feeling guilty for sending Cameron to such a horrible place.
"Come on colt, you're lucky, a space has recently opened up," she said menacingly, leading him up a flight of stairs to a corridor lined with doors. She took him to a door near the end of the corridor before opening the door to reveal a small room that contained a bunk bed, a scooter and several crude drawings of a blue pony with a rainbow mane. He could hear the sounds of light snores coming from the top bunk.
"Quick get into bed, now." He quietly crept into the bottom bunk and pulled the thin blankets over himself. The mare then told him, "You are expected to be awake at six am sharp, any later will result in punishment. Your roommate will explain the rest of the rules to you in the morning."
She then left shutting the door behind and locking them in, leaving the room in darkness...