An explosion rang out, but that didn’t bother me.  My eyes could barely keep themselves open; what they could make out were the brightly lit ocean blue sky, the various shapes of the passing clouds, the red streams of blood that flew off my face, and the azure flame that had engulfed my entire being.  The direction that the fire was blowing was set at a viciously moving angle.  This meant one thing; I was falling…no I was crashing.  There was nothing I could do to stop this; my limbs were useless as they felt they were made of jelly.  Pain flowed through each of my muscle like the blood rushing through my veins.  Lungs felt harsh and empty signaling I had lost the ability to breathe on my own.  What had happened to me was a rush to my head.

I gently closed my already weaken eyes and waited.  I don’t know how long I’ve been plummeting now, but in my state, it felt like an eternity.  Soon afterwards I was greeted with the Earth and the force that followed from the great speed that came from falling from such a distance.   I hit the ground so hard and at such an angle that my body was ricocheted and thus continued on.  Every so often my body would get close to the ground again, only to graze it and become a ragdoll left to fly across the stone rocks that raced pass me.

Sheer pain was the only thing I know at this point and only more of it was brought on for the next couple of minutes as I seemed to become an unstoppable force since nothing has succeeded in ending my prolonged crash.

At one point, I was forced to violently spin like a top in the air because I made contact against a rather large boulder as it felt like, trying to prevent me from continuing further.  Whatever it was, it worked.   It had re-angled me and I was slammed into the ground, creating a crater I don’t know how deep.  I was an abandoned toy; all I could do was lay there, unmoving.  I could no longer feel the pain that had overcome my body, instead, I felt like just a dying head.  I did my best to at least open my eyes a little.  Past my hazy vision I could make out at least six silhouette figures, standing at the edge the made my hole.  My lids closed and I was devoured by the darkness.  Was this it?  Have I just died?  All I could do now was let my spirit rest.

I was stuck in the shadowy world that my body had created for me.  For how long, I do not know.  What seemed like years in this emptiness was soon interrupted by what had sounded like a high pitch ping, going off in rhythmatic fashion.  It was here at this point, I could feel my appendages only to be greeted with my old friend once again.  Pain.  Even though the feeling was vexatious, it wasn’t as grueling as my experience coming down.  I think now I should be able to move since I’m not being overcome by the physical affliction.

With the electrical pulse of my brain, my fingers twitched.  This was a good start considering the position I’m in.  Next I’ll try to open my eyes and expose myself from the nothingness of my lids.  I unfastened them slowly just to be greeted by a blinding over head light and an extremely white ceiling followed by a flat beige wall.  Within my peripheral I could make out green drapes covering my left while sitting on a metal table on my right was a small little box with a grid on its screen.  It was a heart monitor.  I guess that explained the sound and answered where I was.  Was I saved by him again?

I placed some pressure beneath my right palm and helped pushed myself up.  I immediately felt like throwing myself back down because of the sensation that hit my head.  I probably got up to fast.  That was my initial thought until suddenly my mind was filled with random images.  No, these weren’t just random images.  These were memories, my memories.  It was what had transpired before waking up in this hospital.  It was what happened before I found myself in the air plummeting.  I could recollect it all; the screams of various battle cries, blood soaring through the air like a natural bird, swinging my bladed weapon against my foes, the numerous multi colored explosions all around where I stood, staring into the eyes of the one man I sought to kill, glaring the fangs of what I had become,…I could remember everything.  Mentally I wore what one would call an ‘insane smile’ but that was only because I hit the point of realization.  I had finally regained my full potential, my true strength.  I could now finally face my so retched enemy as an equal now.  Now nothing can stop me from achieving my goal.  Now I stand a chance.  Now I can make Reiku pay for all the wrong he has caused me!

I was on the verge of crazed, victorious laughter, but that was interrupted with the voice of a young man directing his tone at me with an “Excuse me sir, but are you feeling alright?”

I regained my proper thoughts and slowly tilted my head upwards, but to my surprise didn’t find the person who said that.  Instead what stood at the end of my temporary bed was a horse.  No, it seemed half my size so it was more of a pony.  I took noticed that its coat was that of a golden color while his mane and tail were a wood brown.  What really caught my attention of the animal that stared back with such uncertainty in its eye was: one, the mane appeared to be stylized.  Two, this pony was wearing a white lab coat, glasses, and had a stethoscope around the collar of his coat.  Three, on the animal’s flank is what looked like tattooed blue screen with an incline, most likely representing a heart monitor.  And four, and this was the most notable thing about it; protruding from the center of the creature’s forehead was a horn.  Was I looking at a….unicorn?

“Hmm the patient appears to be in shock.” Those words came right out of the pony unicorn and in the same voice as the same one earlier.

The first thing that zipped across my mind was probably the natural reaction of shock and confusion.  But with the things I’ve experienced in life that feeling soon passed on.  So with that aside, I started with the simple.

“Where…am I?” I asked with a bit of grogginess in my voice.  Aside from the grogginess, I could also tell my voice still had that battle-tone emotion.

“Why you are in Ponyville General Hospital.  It’s good to see that you’re actually responsive.”

My mind trailed off when he said the name Ponyville.  I decided to put two and two together currently and make a guess.  Place with pony in its name; unicorn as my attending physician. I must be in some land of horses.  Well as much as I wanted to be rattled in confusion, I couldn’t find myself.  This was just another number in my massive list of unusual places and awkward situations I’ve been in.  I couldn’t really feel any different from the rest.  However, I wonder if the local denizens will be able to fair with me.

The doc began going through the obligations of explaining of how long I will have to rest and recover.  He said a month; mentally I say today.  There was really nothing from doing so to stop me.  I’m not an average human.  The second he steps out to visit his other patients, I’ll just use my powers and heal all my wounds.

I don’t know if it was perfectly timed or just by coincidence, but when I had the thought heal my wounds; the horned physician got to listing them.  Multiple cuts and lacerations to the head and body, bruises, a few broken bones, minor burns, some internal bleeding, and deep puncture wounds.  I didn’t like him saying the last one only because I had completely forgotten about that injury and when he mentioned it, its pain just wanted to say “hello.”

I was told by the pony that it was miracle that I survived.  He just went on and on about it, but something else caught my fancy.  I proceeded to look over the doctor and saw a multicolored blob.  No, it just wasn’t any multicolored blob; it was a cyan blue figure, same common figure as the doc’s, but no horn.  Instead, its notable feature was the two feathered wings tucked against its side.  On the flank sat a cloud with a bolt of lightning in the three colors of red, yellow, and blue.  And when I said multicolored, I meant that its mane and tail were the exact same colors as a rainbow.  I managed to catch a good glimpse of the face and was able to determine that this pegasus pony was indeed female.  She stared at me with her brilliant rose eyes, not with uncertainty, not with curiosity, but with familiarity.  Almost like she just reunited with an old friend or relative.

“Ahh, I see you’ve returned Rainbow Dash.”  The colt announced.  Rainbow Dash, something about the name just wanted to make it roll off the tongue, I know it did for mine since I couldn’t stop myself.  “Yes Rainbow Dash; if it wasn’t for her and her friends, you would of never have made it here alive.  In fact, Rainbow here was extra persistent about us treating you.  You’re lucky it was only physical injuries we had to deal with because I have never seen anything like your anatomy before.” He continued.  Has never seen a body like mine; that further proves my earlier guess of this being an only equine population.  Wait?  If humans don’t exist here, then why was Rainbow Dash extra persistent about me getting medical attention?  My mind ran through reasons why she would want to help an unknown creature.  The only two possible reasons why she may have felt compelled on rescuing me was either to become famous for discovering a new species or she was naturally kind at heart and couldn’t bear to see any living thing hurt.  I decided to go with the second thought since from what I’ve heard in science fictions is that the alien is always dissected to learn more about how they function.

I looked over to Rainbow Dash and thanked her.  She placed a hoof over her chest and in a boastful manner stated “Yeah, it was no problem.  Just doing what I had to do.” I see she takes gratitude well; it made me want to chuckle a bit.  However I couldn’t, not when I saw the smile she had on fade away the second she looked towards the window.  She seemed…forlorn.  I had somewhat of curiosity, but decided not to pursue it.  It wasn’t my place to ask, at least not yet.

The room fell into an awkward silence as the cyan mare stood there.  Luckily the doctor broke this silence, but probably not in the best way.  “Because of your head injury, I would like to perform some quick tests.” At least I have someone that’s professional about his career.

“First off, can you tell me your name?” He began.

“It’s Inrei, Inrei Ikumatse.”

“Interesting name.” He said while possibly jotting it down on a clipboard. It was interesting, but for all the wrong reasons.

“Now then, can you remember how you got here?” He continued.

I didn’t have a response to this one, I could remember the before and after, but not the during.  I didn’t willingly come here nor was I forced.  I’m pretty sure I survived the events that transpired before my being here.  I had to be alive; if I wasn’t could this be my afterlife?  That just seems illogical.  So I still must be alive, maybe it’s a dream.  I proceeded to pinch myself, but the pain that filled my arm as I strained it closer to my other one made me retreat my attempt.  Yup, definitely still living and awake.

  The remainder of the tests was a simple hand-eye coronation, tracking with a flashlight which I must say was interesting to watch only because he used telekinetic powers to wave the torch around the air.  I knew unicorns were said to be magical, but I didn’t know they could do that.  The little device danced around while being held by a soft blue light that also illuminated from the colt’s horn.  After the unicorn’s display of magic he had one final test to perform, the old tap the forehead to find pressure and I must say if he had a fist then I’d be pretty sure he was trying to punch me.  It didn’t hurt, only annoyed the hell out of me as it created a minor headache.

I rubbed my head for some comfort, but the banging of something outside the room seemed to persist on the previous feeling.  This ‘clopping’ sound stopped in front of the room’s door and was shortly opened.  Entering my room were five other mares in the order of a lavender unicorn with dark sapphire blue mane and a dark pink highlight in it; a regular pony and when I say regular I mean there were no wings or a horn.  The appearance of this equine was a tan coat and long blonde mane and equally colored tail that had a little red scrunchie tied to the end.  Two other things about this mare was the cowboy hat that sat atop her head and the freckles that rested on her cheeks; with her overall appeal like this, it put the image of farm girl into my mind.  The third mare that stepped in had a radiant feel to her; this unicorn was a soft snow white and a really stylized purple mane, it looked like it may have taken a few hours just to get her hair perfect for the day.  And lastly the final two entered the same time, only because the completely pink pony who bounced in seemed to have given an ‘encouraging’ push to the yellow pegasus that had nervously peeked her head into the room.  With all of them in the room now, I had also noticed one other thing about them.  On each of their flanks sat tattoo like symbols as well.  The purple one had this red gleam, a sparkle if you say.  The tan one had a set of apples.  The white one had what appeared to diamonds.  The pink one settled down enough for me to see a group of balloons.  And the yellow one had a flock of butterflies on hers.

Right now I felt like those one kind of people that are hired by carnivals just to sit in some cage or behind a window while labeled somewhere on the cell was a sign that was worded “freak” only for the customer to stare at and judge.  But recalling from memory, the doctor said that Rainbow Dash and her friends did save me, and I do remember seeing at least five other figures before blacking out.  This must have been them.  It gave me some relief.

The purple unicorn cleared her throat, probably to give herself some preparation time to find the right words and begun “Greeting sir, as a representative of Equestria, we would like to welcome you.  I’m Twilight Sparkle.” There was quite a bit of confidence in her voice that made it seemed like that other humans existed here as well.  But if that’s true, then why is it that the physician has no knowledge of body like mine?  Hmm; I’ll ask later, for now I’ll listen on.

“Name’s Applejack.” the tan pony started next; with her accent, I may have been dead on with the whole farm girl bit.

Following Applejack was the other unicorn whose tone seemed as haughty as the wealthy “I am Rarity, darling.  I took the liberty of stitching your clothes back together.  One must always look their best, especially in such fine fabrics.”  She produced a raven black set of jeans, dress shirt, and over coat all made from cowry cloth out of a finely hand-err hoof sewn saddlebag, situated against her side.  That was actually really….kind….of her?  Wait.  All my clothes have just been handed to me by the sea blue light channeled together by Rarity.  I shifted my legs around and I could feel all the little fibers brushing my unprotected lower half.  Remain calm Inrei; you don’t want them to realize the amount of embarrassment that is welling up.  Just act natural and….the colt is the only one actually wearing clothes.  That would mean that the six mares standing before me are naked….Okay then.  Suddenly my embarrassment turned to natural confusion.  I couldn’t appease my confusion due to me not having the slightest clue on how they would react to nudity and also because the yellow pegasi muttered something.  I wasn’t aware that a voice could get that low in decibels.  I think what she said was somewhere along the line of “Fluttershy” Her voice was just very soft and when my eyes turned to meet hers, Fluttershy immediately looked towards the ground like she was in trouble.  Was she scared of me?

Lastly that left the pink pony; to my amazement she was already on the bed shaking my hand, no it was more like she was jerking it off.  “Hiya, I’m Pinkie Pie!  Nice to meet you Mister Alien!  By the way, did you know you look like that other alien?  Oh what is your favorite food?  Mine is cakes, cupcakes, chocolate, cake again, but most of all, anything that is SWEET!-“the high pitched pony was suddenly cut off by both hooves of Applejack and Twilight Sparkle pulling the overly energetic mare back.  Even though she was snagged back, arm was still in the shaking motion.  Just how much energy does she have?  She must have enough to power an entire city block!  I had to replay what Pinkie Pie said just to make sure I heard it all correctly.  

“Did you know you look like that other alien?” The very second I got to those nine words; my heart paused as it skipped a beat, various muscles slightly tensed up, and I think I even stuttered a little.  Sure there have been cases before in human history where two beings would share physical characteristics, but out of every soul I’ve ever met, there is only one that is similar to me.  The one man I so desperately sought to kill.  So would this mean that they know Reiku?  I believe I discovered a reason for staying longer here now.

“Pinkie, you know that Rainbow still hasn’t fully gotten over that incident yet; so why did you bring it up like that?” the lavender mare said scolding her friend.  Hold on, I thought they pulled her back to prevent her from overwhelming me.  What was this incident?  Did Rainbow Dash and Reiku or ‘other alien’ as Pinkie Pie called him have some sort of relation?

Aside from the heart monitor attached to me, the room was silence as all eyes shifted from me to the cyan mare who still stared out the window.  Applejack went up to console her, but Rainbow Dash simply shook her head and as quietly as a mouse, left.  Suddenly, my need for revenge was put aside and replaced with, not curiosity, but concern.  Deep down in my gut, I felt terrible.  I have the definitive feeling that, that pegasus is indeed an innocent soul and that I would only bring her more pain because of my animosity towards Reiku.  That wasn’t me; I can’t bring myself on hurting those who didn’t deserve it.  I couldn’t say anything; I just couldn’t find the right words for the situation.  The more I searched, the more it added to my pulsating headache; it felt like it could kill a bull walrus alone.

“I’m sorry to having to cut this short, but we should really check up on-“Twilight Sparkle had started before I raised my hand to stop her.  “It’s perfectly understandable; she’s your friend so go.”  Some of my worry died down knowing that those close to her would be there in her time of need.  Even though I figured that they were good souls for rescuing me; if I hadn’t then, then their actions now just proved it.

With my mind at ease, I decided to get some rest to help me absorb today’s events and what may proceed in the upcoming future.  My eyelids swallowed me in the vast darkness and I drifted off into the realm of dreams.  No, there weren’t dreams I begun experiencing…these were nightmares.  Nightmares of my past.

I could locate myself in the front of a small group; we were talking, laughing, smiling.  That was the last time I actually had a reason for smiling like that.  We came across a brick red metal door that matched the rest of the stone wall.  I was the only one with a key to it, so it made since I would be the one to open it.  I unlocked its only bolt and wrapped my fingers around the chipped gold knob.  Physically I still wore that smile, but mentally it was anxiety.  I didn’t want to open this door.  I didn’t want to see what was on the other side.  Something bad is on the opposite side of this door; I know it to be true.  My emotional heart was pulling me back in an attempt of me remaining ignorant.  I can’t proceed, I don’t want to.  One of the voices behind me told me to hurry up, and with a twist of the wrist, it was too late.  The metal door creaked open with such speed that even it seemed to hide the prolonged truth.  The crimson sprays of blood scattered the wall.  The apartment’s lounge table was concaved so much that an object had to of been jack hammered into it to create that much debris and broken curve.  Potted plants were no longer existent as the ceramic jars laid shattered across the wooden floor boards, their dirt in mounted piles with the greenery blacken as a new moon night.  Suddenly, the group I was in was spread all over the room.

The one woman with braided raven black hair was on her side while she clinched a three and a half inch diameter through and through hole on her chest as blood flooded from it and the open wound across her face.  A man with former auburn hair now dyed red leaned against the broken dry wall.  The wall was as broken as his glasses with the spider web cracks in it.  He laid there motionless in a pool of his own blood; he could have easily fooled people for a statue if his skin pigment was stone gray.  Another woman sat on former tan now turned dark red couch with her left arm missing and major burns etched on her middle-aged face.  Her scarred face appeared to be reaching up to her singed golden blonde hair.  A third, but much younger woman was four feet to my right.  She was found there on her stomach with one arm reaching for me as her peach white skin changed colors from the crimson liquid that seeped out of the numerous cuts which had swallowed her body.  And lastly, a pregnant woman about my age and whose name forever echoing in my ears; “Aurelia” hung from my shaking hands as blood trickled out of the open cut across her stomach.  This injury could be only inflicted by a large blade.

My breaths stuttered with each gasp of air I exhaled.  Escaped tears crawled against my cheeks.  My knees couldn’t bare my weight anymore and I collapsed on top of them, still holding that pregnant corpse.  I slid my arms around her back and embraced the lifeless body as much as I could.

“No…!” passed out of my lungs.  “No…no…no no no NONONO!!!” I couldn’t bare my sorrow anymore and it all flooded out.

I looked up with my watery vision; standing in front of me was a hooded robed man.  Held within his right hand was a rather large scythe, the same size as the man if not taller.  The staff handle was a cool darken black, almost appearing to be the shadows itself.  A tiny yellow-orange dagger blade sat on the bottom while the main blade was yellow, orange, red, and red orange; the same colors as a twilight sky.  Circling the back head of the scythe, floated five dark orange spikes.

As the assailant turned to me, the air felt heavy, fear devoured every fiber of my being, and as much as I wanted to avert my gaze, I just couldn’t.  Seeing into the shadow hidden eyes of his, I was given the nostalgic feeling while matching contact with him.  Who was he?!  What did want from me?!

He pulled down his hood and revealed his face to me; wood brown eyes, long chocolate blonde hair, and a young handsome face that carried a stern look.  He looked like me.  He looked just like me!  He looked just like the way I did years before I came into my appearance now!  He was me…no, I could tell.  He wasn’t me, I was him.  And his name rang out clear as a bell in my head, but I couldn’t comprehend it at the time.  

This inhuman creature raised his arm and angled his left leather gloved hand, so it pointed directly at me.  From nothingness, a ball of bluish-green light materialized until it fit into his palm.  Afterwards time slowed for me and I sat in that same spot paralyzed from both fear and pain.  I jotted my eyes downwards to find the woman in my arms replaced with my own blood.  My body ached as I could feel my warm liquid oozing out of what felt like hundreds of deep openings.

This is it and I can’t stop him.  I couldn’t determine the time it took for the energy ball launching at me.  It was too fast.  And I, was once again, consumed by the darkness.