These Earthen Roots

by TristanDreamWeaver


Backstory - Accidents Happen

I woke, aching and sore in all parts of my body. I tried to remember what happened before I was cast into this weird, spacial dimension that I currently reside in. All I remember was the explosion, my DNA getting corrupted back on Earth, and the holding facility the scientists imprisoned me in. After the explosion, I was dragged into some sort of portal, and from what I’m guessing, I ended up here. Wherever I was, it was completely black, with white objects whizzing through on occasions.

Where was I? I wish I knew. My mind’s focus was dragged away by the sight of my clothes and a burning sensation across all parts of my body. I’m hurt. I have burns and tattered clothes wherever I looked on my body, and it wasn’t a nice sight. I drag a free finger across my head, and it turns out that I have a nasty, ragged cut above my left eye. Great.
I looked around; I seemed to be floating amongst the void, enclosed by a space of something. I then brought my hands to the barrier. It felt like liquid plastic, smooth at some points and hard at others. And as much as I tried to punch it, it didn’t break, ripple or dent it in any way. Unfortunately, I came the realisation that I was stuck here. Using what I could remember, I must’ve been travelling. To where, only God knows. I shouted as loud as I could,

‘WHERE AM I?!’

To have no reply, were two things. It was heartbreaking, and unsurprising. I was probably in the middle of literal no-where. The force of my shout shook the space, but not as much as I thought it would. I started to feel an annoying tingling across my chest and hands. I looked across to the blackness, and shapes began to form. Mid-size animals, as far as I could see. Why were they here? I didn’t seem to recall travelling through dimensions, wait… WHAT?! My wounds started to tingle, so I dragged three of my fingers across them, and they seemed relatively healed, but I knew better. Burns like this can still get infected from the outside. I looked at my hands, which had more tingling than the rest of my body, and they were… wait… WHAT?! HOOVES?!

Waving them around my eyes in a frantic motion, I wondered why they were here. I certainly didn’t have them five minutes ago. The fur I now had was light grey, like a raincloud back on Earth. I assumed that they were hooves, anyway. Was I turning into some sort of equine creature? My DNA being corrupted back on Earth must have been a cause of this. Perfect, just perfect.

Suddenly, I was blinded by a flash of yellow light emanating from outside the space. Shielding my eyes with my new foreleg, I waited longingly for it to be over. The constant onslaught of light continued to beam down on the space that I was held prisoner in for about five minutes. What was this? This definitely wasn’t happening before. The light only dimmed itself for a few short seconds, so I grabbed the opportunity to look to the opposite side of the space and saw a mirrored area about 20 meters away from where I lie.

I scrambled to my feet, and ran as fast as I could bring myself to, and smashed my head against it. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt, but what lie before my eyes was a sight to see. Technicolor ponies staring up at me with contempt faces, and white pegasi with gilded armor shouting inaudible things at me. Things began to smash against the space I was in, and suddenly the whole space was now mirrored. Above me were about 50 to 75 pegasi smashing against the roof of the space. Panicking, I started to shout at them, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’ But as I did before, to no reply.

The only real reason I knew these creatures were pegasi, was the amount of interest I took to mythological creatures back on Earth. My attention grew to my torso, which now made me a mid size, full grown stallion. Why would I be turning into one of these foreign creatures? It just doesn’t make sense. First I get exploded into the void, next I’m in a world of foreign equine creatures, and then TURN INTO ONE OF THEM! This didn’t seem good on my part of the forced position of being here.

A sudden sharp jolt of pain goes through my head, after mulling over my current state of being and situation, and then fall to my knees. I struggle to get up, but rise from my grounded position painfully. I touch a hoof to my head and notice I have a small, cone shapes growth coming out of my new light blue mane. I wasn’t a pony, but a unicorn. From what I knew, they could use magic to some extent.

I calmed down a bit, feeling slightly honored that I, of all people, was now a magical being. Having read many stories back on Earth about magic and the like; I have always dreamt of using magic, and here it is. Maybe being here wasn’t a curse. Maybe it was. I won’t know the outcome of this until I’m out of this void prison. I don’t even know how to use my new found ability. I really shouldn’t get my hopes up.

The fury of unrelenting hooves on void had stopped for the moment, and I was sort of glad; I was starting to get a headache. I tried to recall all of my knowledge of equine physiology, and tried to walk; but then fell to the floor of the void with a thud. My footing is completely off to what it should be. ‘Great.’ I said to myself. I stumbled to my hooves and stood firm. I felt my mane drape over my eyes, which was a soft baby blue, straight and fluffy that was about neck length. I parted it so I wasn’t blinded my blue fluffy hair. After messing with my hair for about five minutes, I decided it looked good enough for my standards, and turned my attention back to the problem at hand.

I looked to the mirrored area. It now expanded to my hooves to reveal more of the land and situation beneath me. Grass, same designs of houses I saw before, flowers and even market stalls were revealed to me. The most interesting thing I saw, that wasn’t staring ponies, pegasi and unicorns, was a group of six ponies that were wearing necklaces with various shapes, and the assumed leader was wearing a heightened crown adorned with gems of some description. They were surrounded with a purple veil, conjured from the lead mare. Her fur, oddly enough, was the same color as the aura.

The color of their manes and fur was definitely a sight to see. I could probably pick out an entire palette of colors from them. Pink, purple and orange were some to pick out. Whatever aura they had going on was suddenly dispelled into the air, and the lead mare turned around to the others and started talking between themselves for a while. Once they were done talking I started to notice familiar sights amongst the market. Vegetables and fruit of all descriptions seemed to be available. Bread too, but no meat. Maybe there wasn’t a butcher on this side of town.

I stared back at the team of six ponies, and one of them with a pink mane and yellow fur smiled and waved her hoof at me. That wasn’t normal; she appeared to be the most shy of all of them, and the most scared one of this entire situation. She was always in the back, cowering if someone shouted. I waved back; nervously smiling, and she seemed to be really happy about it. She ran back to her group literally jumping for joy, and the pink one pulled a party popper out of no-where and let it off. And if that wasn’t good enough, they all seemed a bit less stressed.

They got in formation again, and the same aura was cast. Only this time, the lead mare started to glow and the rest of the group started to slowly rise from the earthen floor into the air, bonded by a white light that surrounded them all. The bond went through all of their necklaces, into the lead mare’s crown, and then shone directly onto the bottom of the space. A fine shot of light exploded the space clean in half, and unluckily, I was sent spiraling toward the floor rapidly like a bat out of hell.

I hit the floor with an audible thud, and I was out cold.