//------------------------------//
// So THAT'S Where We Are! 
// Story: It Gets Better 
// by Flame Star 
//------------------------------//

    When I finally emerged from the forest, I was tired and exhausted. That blast, which I remembered as the Orbital Drop, almost immediately depleted my energy. I wouldn’t be using any of my abilities until I recharged: and that wouldn’t possible until I reached an open flame to absorb some smoke to fuel my powers. Brushing away the undergrowth and lower limbs of trees, I spotted a house on the edge of the forest. I exited the thicket of trees and made my way toward the house, knocking on the door. I quickly began to feel dizzy, collapsing just before the door opened fully. The last thing I saw before my eyes slipped shut was pink hair and a white rabbit.
“A week, maybe two? I’m not quite sure just how much damage his body sustained before he made it here, so it’s hard to tell exactly when he’ll be fully recovered.” spoke a voice which I could not yet see, though it sounded near and somewhat concerned. Groaning, I slowly opened my eyes, and was greeted with grating mid-morning brightness shining in through the window.
“Ah, fuck, that’s bright!” I held up a hand to cover my eyes, eliciting a gasp from the room. Lowering my hand, I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I was in a rather cluttered room, apparently on the couch next to the window. Animals scurried around here and there, but eight people sat on chairs: two of them my friends, Joey and Lindsey, but the rest, all girls, I did not recognize. There was one with long, straight pink hair, who kept hiding behind it; another with similarly colored hair, through she looked fit to burst from excitement. Another, this one with chromatic hair of all the colors of a rainbow, sat looking slightly bored, but still concerned at the situation. One that I took to be a farmer, as she wore a stetson and leather boots, seemed to be scolding the rainbow-haired girl, but she was being paid no heed by the girl in question. Finally, the last two, who had horns sprouting from the top of their foreheads, seemed both fascinated and concerned: one had long purple hair, styled in a way that projected elegance and grace. The other looked rather...bookish, one that seemed more for reading than action. She also had purple hair, but shorter, with two streaks running through it: one pink, the other a darker shade than her hair.
“As a great man once said, ‘you can’t kill me’.” I smirked as I spoke, chuckling slightly as I began to sit up. As I did, pain flashed in my chest, and my hand flew to my chest just below my left shoulder. “Fuck…” I trailed off, holding up a hand as one of the girls began to rise and move towards me. “I’m fine.” Taking a deep breath, I finally managed to get myself sitting upright, taking a better surveyance of my surroundings. The room seemed to be a sort of...cottage, a quaint little home removed from the hustle and bustle of urban life.
“Alec, we...we thought you were a goner when you stayed behind. How...how did you survive?” Joey asked, unbelieving of my ‘luck’.
“Let’s put it this way: I’m tough as all hell.” I replied, earning a small snicker from the rainbow-haired girl. Flashing her a look, she was smiling, covering her mouth with her hand to hold back what I assume would normally evolve into raucous laughter. “Anyway...would, uh...would you girls mind giving us three a moment? I, uh...need to talk to them for a second.”
The six unfamiliar faces all looked at each other for a moment before slowly getting up, heading up the stairs and out the room. The rainbow-haired one was the last up, and as she looked back down at us, I flashed her a quick wink. She first looked a bit shocked, but soon smirked and returned the wink before heading the rest of the way up the stairs.
“Guys, as crazy as it sounds, I know where we are.” I said, turning to my two companions.
“What, really?” Lindsey answered, sitting forward on her seat.
“Yeah. Now, uh...just bear with me, because it’s going to sound fucking insane when I say it.”  I replied, looking at both of them as I spoke.
“Just spit it out already, Alec. Where are we?” Asked Joey, obviously becoming a bit agitated.
I paused a moment before I continued, looking for the best way to say this. Leaning forward, I whispered to the two. “Equestria.” I then sat back against the couch, looking at them both. They were incredulously, looking at me as if I were insane.
“...are you fucking stupid? Equ-” I cut Joey off before he could continued, pointing at the stairs. He understood what I meant, and chose his words carefully as he continued. “That place, doesn’t exist.”
“I can prove it. Those six girls? All characters from the show. I didn’t at first, but now I recognize them. They are the ‘Mane Six’, the main characters of the show. Don’t believe me?”
“No, I don’t believe you.” Replied Lindsey, crossing her arms. “If we’re where you say we are, then why are they on two legs?”
“Maybe...maybe we’re in some...alternate universe, right? Where all of them are humans instead of...ya know. I mean, after all: we just randomly got transported to some forest and gained superpowers. Is anything else really that farfetched?”
At first, they seemed like they were about to reply, but could not quite form the words that they wanted to say. “Alright, maybe you are right. But if you are...then how do we get back?” Asked Lindsey, looking up at me.
“Get back? Why the hell would we want to get back?” Shot Joey, turning to look at her. “Do you see what we are now? We’re strong, we’re powerful: we can make a name for ourselves here. Start over, be what we want to be.” Joey stared at her for a few moments before turning to me, as if looking for validation. “Right, Alec?”
I stayed silent as I mulled over the options being presented here: return home, or stay here. “We really don’t have any choice but to stay here…” I paused as Joey turned towards Lindsey, already looking triumphant. “...for now, at least.” I continued, causing Joey to turn towards me again. “We’ll stay here for as long as it takes, but we’ll try and find a way home. But when the time comes, if it comes, I’ll leave the choice to return home on an individual basis.”
The two seemed to accept this, slowly beginning to nod to both themselves, and then to me. I called the girls back down to the room, and the filed in, taking their seats once more.
“What all can you tell us? How did you get here?” The bookish one asked, seeming genuinely interested in our situation.
“We, uh…” I looked at the other two, silently asking whether we should lie or tell the truth. Getting not much of an answer from either of them, I decided myself.
“We showed up in the woods outside of town. We didn’t know where we were, and so we set out to try and find a town or some other sign of civilization. While we were walking, we stumbled on some wolves. I told the other two to go ahead, while I held them off. They ran, but I stayed back to fight them.”
At this, the shy pink-haired girl hid further behind her hair, seeming to almost visibly shake. It took a great amount of willpower to pretend that I didn’t know why she was acting this way :a plight not shared by my two companions.
“Wolves? You fought off wolves? And got out of it unscathed? How?” The girl continued, incredulous to the happenings I was describing.
“Well, ah…” I bit my lip, thinking of the best way to explain. “I’m gonna need someone to start a fire.”
Everyone in the room looked taken aback, staring at me like I was crazy. To be fair, what I had just said was rather…screwy.
“I have powers. All of us do. Mine are powered by smoke. But, I used up all that I had when I fought the wolves in the forest. So, I need to absorb more in order to...demonstrate.”
I held out a hand, indicating for help up. No one reacted immediately, prompting the chromatically-haired girl to rise from her chair and help me to my feet. I thanked her with a small nod, which she returned before returning to her seat. Looking around the room, I gestured to the door. “Shall we?”


----------


After we had all filed outside, Lindsey lit another torch for me to power myself from, as she demonstrated her own abilities first. She started with a few simple spells: mostly healing spells. Then, however, she went for a Shout. Angling her head towards the sky, she drew in a deep breath, before bellowing to the sky. A wave of force shot out from her mouth, blasting clouds out of its way before dissipating high in the sky. The girls stared, wide-eyed, at the raw power my friend possessed, before Joey stepped forward. Drawing his weapons, he showcased his martial abilities, stabbing and slicing at the air before summoning a swarm of rats. Initially, they moved towards the girls en masse, but were dispelled just before they could reach them. Handing the torch back to Lindsey, I flexed my hands, ready to get to work.
“All that? That’s nothing compared to me.” I smirked as I cracked my knuckles and neck, shaking out my hands before channeling smoke along my right arm. It was a mixture of sorts, combining the smoke with fire and ash for added impact. I started off by firing a few simple bolts into the sky, getting a feel for my new powers that I had yet to explore in full. Charging up something more powerful, I released a wave of fire and ash skyward, easily surpassing the bolts in power. Finally, I focused on an ability entirely different from everything I had shown: from another power set, even. My chest reared up as digital wings sprouted from my back and my body shot up into the air, hovering a few feet off the ground as my new wings flapped behind me. I smirked down at the group, chuckling ever so slightly. “You could say that I’m a bit of a badass.”