//------------------------------// // Ch.1: "What the hell happened?" // Story: Possibilities: Angels of Equestria // by Apollo and Artemis //------------------------------// Twilight was in her mini observatory in her tree home when she saw what looked like a shooting star streaking across the night sky with a glorious white tail. "Wow... wait, why is it getting bigger?" Twilight asked to nopony in particular as the shooting star passed above her house and crashed near Fluttershy's house with a deafening boom. "Spike! Wake up!" Twilight yelled from the balcony of her tree home. "W-what? what happened, Twilight?" The baby dragon asked, still sleepy. "Something crashed near the Everfree forest! We need to see if somepony got hurt!" Answered a frantic Twilight as she moved for the door. "We need to see if Fluttershy is alright!" Twilight grabbed Spike and galloped to Fluttershy's cottage. As they got out of Ponyville and dirt roads began to show, they saw Fluttershy leaving her cottage to see what had crashed near it. "Fluttershy! Are you alright!?" Twilight shouted, panic clear in her voice. "I'm fine Twilight. I came out to see if any of my animals got hurt." Fluttershy responded. They looked over to Fluttershy's garden; the chicken coop being completely destroyed and a twenty foot ditch dug behind it. They first checked on the animals to make sure they were alright, and sure enough, they were. They ran to the end of the ditch that was dug by the shooting star and were surprised by what they saw. Four ponies, one mare, one stallion and two fillies, all unconscious and injured by the crash. "Oh my goodness, what happened to them?" Fluttershy asked as they approached the unconscious ponies. "They must have been hit by whatever crashed here. We have to get them to the hospital." Twilight said and Fluttershy nodded in agreement. She teleported them all to the hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next evening, Leo's head was throbbing. "Ugh, my head. I'm gonna kill Cierra when I see her again." He then noticed he was in a hospital bed in a room with waxed tile floors and roof and a single window. "Huh? Why am I-" Leo cut himself off and froze when he looked at what was once a hand. It was a hoof. Leo was panicking even more when he saw the rest of his body. He was still wearing his trench coat and his necklace over a gray coat and black wings with a white mane and tail. Well, at least that didn't change. Leo thought to himself. He was about to contemplate what Cierra did to him, when the door opened to reveal another pony, this time with a horn on his head, who appeared to be a doctor. "Good, you're awake. My name is Caramel." The doctor named Caramel said. Leo couldn't help but grit his teeth. He had a lot of bed experiences with doctors, but not of the medical kind. "Leo. Where am I?" Asked a confused Leo. "You are in Ponyville Hospital." Leo fought down the urge to laugh at the completely unoriginal name as he asked his next question. "Were there any others with me?" Leo asked, fearing for the safety of the girls. "Yes, actually. They're in the other room." Leo breathed a sigh of relief. He had to hand it to them. They were resilient. Then he remembered whose fault it was for them to be here in the first place. "Hey, can I go for a walk on my own?" Leo asked and Caramel put hoof to his chin in thought. "Sure. We were planning on discharging you, your wife and your children in the morning anyway." Leo was confused by the doctor's words. "Wife and kids? They're not my wife and kids. Well, at least not yet." Leo said the last part proudly, with little seriousness in his voice and Caramel chuckled. "Do you plan on proposing to her?" He asked. "I dunno. I might have to think it through, but she seems like a really good choice." Leo said. Then he realized what he had just said. He shook his head several times to rid himself of the thought. Keep it together, man. You can't think about that now. the voice in his head said to him as he turned to the doctor. "So, can I go for a walk?" Leo asked as he got out of bed and the doctor got out of his way to allow him to go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leo walked out and signed the release forms (How he did this is beyond me) so everypony could leave in the morning. Leo walked out behind the hospital where he was well out of earshot. He sat on the grass and let loose a mighty cry of rage that would have made the Dragonborn quiver in fear and probably knock over the hospital if he aimed it. "CIERRA!!!!" The last thing he expected was a reply. "Yes~?" came the curious and irritatingly singsong voice of Cierra from seemingly nowhere. "You can hear me!?" Leo shouted and Cierra giggled on the other end. "Yes. And before you rage on me, I have to give you a few tips." Leo was seething, but he needed to listen because she definitely knew more about this place than he did. "Fine. I'll listen." Leo said with a sigh. This was getting old real fast. Sometimes he wished that Cierra would call for something normal, like a 24-hour gaming session or something. "Alright, first: know your vocabulary. Someone = somepony Anyone = anypony Everyone = everypony Hell = hay Fuck = buck God = Celestia Woman= mare Man= stallion Girl= filly Boy= colt." Cierra said and Leo gave a questioning look. "Wait, wait, wait. This is fucking retarded." Leo said in protest. "Well you'll have to deal with it." Cierra said. "Fuck you." Leo spat, the venom dripping off of his words. "Ooohhh, when?" Cierra taunted. "When I get out of here, that's when!" Leo shouted. "Okay, I'll be waiting." Cierra said seductively. What the fuck did I just say? Leo thought to himself. "Anyway, just mind your manners. Don't swear." Cierra reminded him. "Dammit." Leo whispered, but Cierra managed to hear it anyway. "What did I just say?" Cierra was really pushing it. "Fine. Is that all, or do I have to sit here for another hour, listening to you blabber on about how much you want me to fuck you?" Leo said and Cierra flinched on the other end. She began to blush at the thought of being in bed with Leo. She had to admit, he was pretty cute, and his.....yeah. He was perfect, in her opinion. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and returned to the conversation. "Yes, that's all. Oh, wait! There's a bag in the hospital room. You should go get it." Cierra advised. Leo went back to his room to get the bag. Inside the bag were the necessities. Money. Food. Water. All their clothes. Everything was here. Even the cape and necklace. "Huh? I thought I put that in the other dimension..." Leo thought as he left the bag in the room to check on the girls.He opened the door slowly, so as to avoid waking them. They were sleeping like angels (It was true for the oldest girl). Leo pulled up a chair and decided to wait for them to wake up. Leo fell asleep almost immediately. The following morning almost made up for last night. The light allowed him to get a better look at the girls. In one of the beds was a bright orange filly with a messy blonde mane and wings who was sleeping soundly. That must be Runa. Guess she's a pegasus then? Leo thought. In the next bed was a white filly with a long pink mane and a horn. That is definitely Emily. And she's a unicorn. Cool. Leo thought more. In the last bed was an ice blue mare with a blonde mane and black wings like Leo, but slightly shorter. That's definitely Irune. She's like me! Even better. Leo thought as Irune started to wake up. "*yawn* Aaahh!! I'm a pony! You're a po-" Irune screamed, but Leo covered her mouth with his recently acquired hoof. "I know. We're all ponies." said Leo. The screaming woke up the other girls. "This has to be some kind of joke!" Runa shouted. "Waahhh! Why am I a pony?" Emily said. "Calm down, everyone. I can explain." Leo said as he gathered the girls around him and they prepared for his well thought explanation. (One explanation later) "So Cierra turned us into ponies?" Irune asked. "Yep. Guess we have to deal with it." Leo said. "And we have to talk like that?" She asked again, with a much calmer voice. "Yep." Leo said, still angry at Cierra for not telling him. The conversation was interrupted by a visit from a lavender unicorn and a yellow pegasus. "Thank goodness, you're all okay." The yellow pony sighed in relief. "You all looked like you weren't going to make it. How did you all recover so quickly?" The lavender pony asked. "That's confidential." Said Leo. "Can we at least know your names?" The lavender pony asked. "Leo, Irune, Runa, and Emily. Yours?" Leo said as he pointed to all of them one by one. "Twilight Sparkle" The lavender unicorn said. "fluttershy..." Fluttershy said in a barely audible tone. "Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that." Leo said, putting his hoof behind his ear. "Fluttershy..." Fluttershy said in a slightly louder tone. "Ah, Fluttershy. A very nice name you have there." Leo said. Fluttershy tried to hide a blush behind her mane, but Leo caught that. Do I really have that effect on people AND ponies? Leo thought to himself, despairing inwardly. "Those are some pretty strange names. Are any of you from here?" Twilight asked. "No. And thus, we have nowhere to stay. Do you know anywhere we could stay?" Leo asked. "I can't say I know of any houses that are for sale here, but... If you're up for the work, I could introduce you to my friend Applejack." Twilight said and Leo piped up. "Work? What kind of work?" Leo's eyes lit up at the mention of work. He couldn't wait to get at least a little of his old monster/demon slaying life back. "Applebucking, mainly." Twilight said and Leo couldn't help but have a small frown appear on his face. I'm gonna be kicking trees? Eh, better than nothing, I guess. Leo was a little disappointed, but it was better than nothing. "Alright, lets go." Leo said and they left for Sweet Apple Acres. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The walk to Sweet Apple Acres wasn't a quiet one. "Hey, what do your cutie marks mean?" Asked Twilight from the front. "Huh?" Leo said as he looked back on the others flanks. Runa had a picture of a black scarf wrapped around a blade. Emily had a picture of a metallic panther skull. Irune had a picture of a blue mask with a crest of three ice crystals and bright blue wings. The picture had the shaft of her scythe sticking diagonally out the side of the mask as the blade curved under the mask. "I don't really know." Leo said with an apologetic smile and Twilight gave a questioning look. Before she could ask what they meant, they had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and were greeted by an orange pony with a Stetson on her head and three apples as her cutie mark. "Howdy, Twilight, Fluttershy! Who're yer friends?" The orange pony asked with a Southern accent and Leo chuckled inwardly. This is the most stereotypical southerner I have ever seen! Leo thought about the mare. "Hi, Applejack! This is Leo, Irune, Runa and Emily. They're looking for work and a place to stay." Twilight said as she pointed to each of the other ponies. "Hmm, y'all look like yer strong enough. Why don'tcha buck that tree?" Applejack said as she looked to Leo and gestured to the tree. "Me? Alright." Leo said as he removed his trench coat to reveal his glistening black wings. Fluttershy, Applejack and Twilight's eyes went wide in awe at the size and color of the wings as they stretched. They were jet black and their feathers glistened in the sunlight. "Forgot how much my wings ache when they get cooped up for too long. Anyway, here I go." Leo said as he gave the tree a good, swift kick with one of his legs. All the apples fell and landed in the bucket as the ponies applauded by stomping their hooves into the dirt. "I gotta hand it to ya, ya did a mighty fine job. Only other pony Ah know that can buck a tree with one hoof is mah big brother, Big Macintosh." Applejack praised Leo for his skills. She expected him to be strong, but not that strong. "That's all Ah needed ta see. Yer hired!" Applejack said and Leo chuckled. And so it begins...