//------------------------------// // What the Shell? // Story: Teenage Mutant Ninja...Ponies? // by MemoryLane //------------------------------// "Ungggh..." I groaned upon regaining consciousness. My head was throbbing like never before, and I brought my appendage to soothe it, hoping to feel cool fingers gently touch my forehead. I didn't. I was still in too much pain to think correctly, so I didn't take the time to question it. I'm sure that my headache was the culprit behind this. Ugh...what happened? The last thing I remember was falling through the Tele-Portal with Raphael, then everything went black. I felt something cool tickling my back, and I took a solid guess that is was grass. I was on the ground, great. I slowly opened my orbs, only to get a eyeful of the EXTREMELY bright sun. I grunted painfully as I covered my eyes, once again with my arm, closing my eyes as I did so. The tip of my arm came in contact with something new on the top of my head. A moment later, when my eyes once again adjusted, I slowly stood up, which I found more difficult than usual. For some reason I felt pressured into walking on all fours. Why couldn't I stand normally? I heard a grunting noise behind me, causing me to swiftly turn. I'm just going to say this now, I was extremely surprised at what the shell I was looking at. It appeared to be a green...pony...lying on the ground. Actually, there were three in all. Wait...a HORSE!? Two of them appeared to be knocked out, while one was just getting to his feet. I looked at my surroundings, completely bewildered. It was a gorgeous day, and there were plenty of birds soaring through the sky. At least I thought they were birds...I appeared to be in some sort of field, surrounded by various fruited trees. "What the..." The pony was grimacing as he stood up, trembling and almost falling back down to the ground. The pony looked awfully familiar...eventually, it gained it's balance. Then I noticed something, something that I kind of wish I didn't. The pony was wearing an orange mask. "...Mikey...?" I leaned closer to him intuitively. No, surely that can't be him! Of course the Tele-Portal wouldn't do that to him! No way! At the sight of me, the pony's eyes widened, almost in fear. He backed up a little bit, afraid. "W-Whoa! Talking horse!" He shrieked. Well, he's a talki- WHAT!? "What!?" I replied, trying to get a good look at myself. I looked straight down, expecting to see reptilian feet. I was heartbroken when the only thing I was able to see were forelegs. No way, I'm a horse!? "I am!?" I asked, rather dumbly. Mikey just nodded slowly. "Mikey! It's me! Leo!" I told him, only making his eyes grow wider. "W...what happened? Why are you a pony!?" Mikey hollered, causing the other two figures to stir. One of the figures was wearing a red mask, while the other was wearing purple. I took an educated guess at who they were. I took a good look at Mikey, his eyes were still the same bright cerulean blue, and he had a frightened scowl on his visage. Oh man, this is bad... I couldn't help but notice that he still had his nunchaku with him. That's odd, I didn't remember him having it before he got sucked through the portal. He was wearing pajamas, right? I turned to look at myself, noticing that I also had both of my katana's. Well, that's a good thing. There was a strange picture of the very same bright red blades on my...buttcheek? I turned my gaze back at Mikey, looking at his buttcheek. Just a little embarrassing to admit, but still, it had to be done. Instead of swords, he had a tattoo of a single orange nunchuk. "I don't know! Why are YOU one!" I said. I didn't mean to sound childish, but I wanted to let him know that I wasn't the only pony around here. Mikey looked down and promptly began to spasm and freak out. Just what I expected out of him at this point in time. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but a pair of large wings opened up from each one of his sides out of shock. My youngest brother is a flying pony...I was simply awestruck. "Leo! What the...I have wings? But I thought I was a pony!" He cried, trying to manually push the wings back down in his manic state. Even I knew that that wasn't going to work. Hm, ponies that can fly...I've heard about creatures like that, although I could not for the life of me remember what they're called. Eventually, Mikey relaxed and his wings fell down on their own. I have a feeling that Mikey's going to hurt himself with those things. "What is going on!?" I heard a gruff voice behind me shout. I turned around, only to see Raphael helping Donnie to his feet. It seemed that he and Donnie had already taken note of our predicament. Donnie was still wearing his purple mask, rubbing his head in a similar way as to me just a few minutes ago. He was of a marsh color, and on his flank was a purple, wooden bo staff. Speaking of that, he had it lying horizontally on his back. Also, he...he had a large HORN IN HIS HEAD. "Donnie! You have a horn on your head!" Mikey beat me to it. Donnie's eyes widened as he touched the horn in question, inspecting it for a few moments before smiling, amazed. "I'm...a unicorn?" Donnie questioned himself. Wait, didn't that also mean that I was as well? I brought a...hoof...up to my forehead, and sure enough, there was a large horn on the top of my head. Well, I've lost it. My brother and I are unicorns. This is my worst nightmare come to life. To be honest, I'm not surprised that Donnie knows all of this. "What about me?" Mikey said, motioning towards his wings. Yes, I was quite curious myself. It was going to start bothering me if I didn't remember what Mikey was, it was right on the tip of my tongue... "Mikey...I think you're a pegasus..." Donnie said, rather slowly, almost as if he didn't even want to say it. Well, that was the word I was looking for anyways, so at least now I won't have to worry about it. I was honestly concerned for Mikey. Can you imagine? As if Mikey wasn't obnoxious enough, now he can FLY. We might as well find a hospital while we have a chance. I was sure he's going to hurt himself in some way. "What about me?" Everyone turned to Raphael, who was waiting patiently. Of course, he was wearing his usual red mask, along with his sais in a holster on both of his sides, much like my swords. He had a tattoo of them on his buttcheek as well. Donnie and I looked him over carefully, but he appeared to lack a horn or a pair of wings. "I think you're just a regular horse..." Donnie muttered to Raph's distaste. He narrowed his eyes, great. Now he's going to get jealous. Not like there's anything to be jealous of. We're all horses. "So you three get to be magical beings while I'm a regular freakin' horse?" He scoffed, looking off into the distance. "Whatever." Yeah, I knew it. He still has a problem with me after what had happened back in the dojo. We'd have to have a chat about that later. But right now was not the time. "This...this is insane!" Mikey was smiling now as he began to flap his wings, at first off beat. But he soon got the hang of it as he slowly began to fly in the air, but just barely. He could only get about three inches off the ground. Ohhh no! I didn't know how to grab him, since I didn't have hands anymore, so I bit down on the end cloth of his mask and brought him down to reality. "No Mikey!" I told him, and he frowned unhappily. "Aww! Come on! I've always wanted to fly! You know, one with this wind!" He fantasized. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the rest of my brothers, keeping in mind to check up on Mikey occasionally. I had to make sure that he didn't take off, after all, I'm the eldest. "Donnie! What the shell did that thing do to us!? Where are we!?" Raphael suddenly hollered at Donnie, who was once again backing away meekly. He was looking left and right, it sure wasn't hard for him to get intimidated. "I-I don't know! That wasn't supposed to happen! It must've malfunctioned!" Donnie was wracking his brain trying to look for an explanation. I'm siding with him on this one. Donnie's too smart to let something like that happen. Although, it was the first time that the darn thing even turned on, maybe there was a hidden problem inside of it which caused this? How were we even going to get out of here? "Calm down, Raph." I said monotonously, not in the mood to put up with his anger issues. I smacked my forehead with my hoof. "Why should I!? It's his fault we're in...God knows where!" Raphael shouted back at me. Maybe that was a bad move, once again taking the side opposite him. Just because he's my brother, doesn't mean I HAVE to side with him. Most of the time his viewpoints on things are...to put it bluntly...wrong. "But...I..." Donnie looked at the ground, saddened by his simple mistake. His beautiful machine, gone. Along with everything we held dear in New York. "Dudes..." I heard Mikey speak up. There was a large hill to our right, one that Mikey decided to investigate. He was staring over the edge in awe. "I don't think we're in New York anymore..." Oh boy. All three of us walked over to Mikey, and to my surprise it was a lot easier to get used to this body than I originally thought. All the movements came naturally, almost as if I was still a turtle. All four of us gazed over the hillside. It was gorgeous. We were overlooking a small town, no bigger than a single New York district. The houses were all of various different hues, some sticking out more than others. Some where bright pink, while others were a dark brown. It was astounding! There appeared to be a marketplace that was absolutely jam packed with other ponies. I say other unicorns down there, a few other winged horses, and some that simply lacked both characteristics like Raphael. The ponies...most of them were bright and colorfully, smiling gleefully as they did their morning routine. There was a sign on the outskirts of town, which I read out loud for the sake of all my brothers. "Welcome to...Ponyville...?" *** A few moments later, all four of us agreed to walk into the lively town full of ponies. I was almost impressed, this place wasn't like our hometown at all...everyone seemed to be happy and smiling. It gave me a genuine feeling or satisfaction. I wonder what the crime rate was in a place like this. I'm sure it's damn-near nothing. Who would steal in a place like this? I've been there for five minutes and I already feel better. Donnie was trying to ask ponies for help and information as we walked down the street, but that was getting us nowhere, as he wasn't much for socialization. "Excuse me? I-" "Hi!" A bright yellow pony with a white mane cheered as she walked right passed him with a large bag full of fruits and vegetables. Donnie sighed, and spotted a dark magenta pegaus to his right. He turned to her, shell-bent on getting some sort of information. This was getting us nowhere. "Hel-" The pegasus didn't even let him finish his introduction before she gingerly flew away in some hurry. Well, that certainly was rude. Donnie was starting to get a little frustrated with the lack of cooperation from many of the towns ponies. "Ugh..." "Donnie...that's not getting us anywhere..." I told him, to which he nodded knowingly. He almost seemed depressed, although I can't blame him. He's going through a lot right about now. "It couldn't hurt to try..." "This place irritates me..." Raph grunted. That's what I expected. Raph was never one for "pretty, pretty things", so I assumed this place was on his list of things of which he didn't give a crap about. He wasn't going to be of much help, that was for sure. That's fine, we didn't need him. If he wants to pout, let him. He's just not going to bring the rest of us down. "Well that's-" I started. "HI!" A high pitched, ear shattering voice shrieked from behind us, scaring the absolute wit out of Mikey, who was so startled that he ended up on the ground. The rest of us turned to look at the sound of Mikey's equally high pitched scream. Standing over him way a VERY pink (and slightly chubby) pony, who was grinning ear to ear and staring Mikey down. Not in a creepy or intimidating way, but more of in appreciation. Her mane was like cotton candy, and the closer I got to her, the more the smell of flour became apparent. I couldn't help but notice that her and Mikey had very similar colored eyes. Mikey was lying on his back now, contemplating what to do as the bouncing pony stood over him. "Uh..." I think this pony's a little crazy...or a little hyperactive. She appeared to be incapable of standing still as she was shifting her weight frequently. The pink pony quickly bounced off of Mikey, apologizing and helping him back up to his hooves. She let out some sort of embarrassed "Squee" noise as she did so. "Sorry about that! It's just that I've never seen any of you here before! Which made me think 'Hey! Maybe they're new!' and if you guys are knew, then that means that you don't have any friends! So I thought that I would-" The time bomb called "patience" was slowly ticking inside of Raphael, burning down to a minimum. He covered a hoof over his ears, not sure how to cover both due to gravity. I was sure if he had tried to cover both he'd end up face first in the dirt. "Oh my God. SHUT UP!" He hollered. I knew his pain, her voice can get...unbearable. I didn't mean to be rude, but I couldn't help stare at the tattoo on her buttcheek. It was three party balloons...I wondered what that meant...I was sure our tattoos mean something as well. Obviously it represented our weapons, but I was sure there's more to it than that. "Hey! Be nice to the little lady!" Mikey shouted back at Raphael, who raised an eyebrow at him. I'll admit, I've never seen Mikey talk to Raph like that, no matter if he deserved it or not. He turned back to the cotton-ball pony, a dumb smile plastered on his face. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Party pony extraordinaire! Nice mask!" She spoke kindly, toning down her voice a little bit to better suit Raphael. So is that what her tattoo means? Did our tattoos depict our jobs? Is that it? Mikey quickly introduced us all, telling Pinkie Pie our full names and nicknames. I'd really hate it if I was being called nothing but "Leonardo" all day. Pinkie Pie simply smiled, appeased by our friendliness. I had a weird feeling about her...she seemed to be...hopping with excitement? She seemed unable to physically control herself, like her mind and her body were moving at two different mind altering settings. "Nice to meet you! It's so great to have new friends! I'm friends with everypony in Ponyville!" She beamed oddly. Everypony? Is that like a slang term for "everybody"? I'm sure we could get some information out of this pony if she turned serious for a moment. "This means I'm going to have to throw you all a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Raphael and Mikey's ears both perked up excitedly. Strange. "Party, eh?" Raph said, having a change of heart now. He trotted up to Pinkie Pie with a sly smile on his face. "Well, if you say so, I'm always down for a party!" Mikey raised his hoof, as if you ask a question to Pinkie Pie. "Will there be pepperoni pizza?" "What's 'pepperoni'?" Pinkie Pie's head tilted to the side in confusion. Oh, I forgot. Horses are vegetarians. Even if they did have cows or pigs here, I doubt they ate them or used them to make food or ingrediants. I doubt they even knew that they were edible. Mikey replied by getting down on his hind knees and crying out loudly to the heavens. "WHYYYYYY!?" He sobbed loudly. This must be a nightmare for him... "Pinkie..." I started, she instantly turned her attention to me, smiling warmly. "We're not from here...and we're kind of lost..." I wasn't sure how to explain this. Part of me wanted to find somepony else to answer our questions. I changed my tactic in mid-sentence. "Is there anyone that could give us some information of where-" Pinkie Pie inhaled, an idea popping in her head. "Oh! Yes! My bestest friend Twilight is a wiz when it comes to information!" She spoke, I felt a tinge of happiness at hearing her say that. "She works in the library! She's super smart!" Perfect! Now we just needed to find her! Before I even had the chance, Pinkie gasped loudly. "Oh no! I forgot! I was baking cupcakes! BYEGUYSSEEYOULATER!" I didn't have another chance to say anything else before she sped away at a speed that even The Flash would find impressive. I say Donnie sigh rather loudly. "WAIT!" I called after her. "WHERE'S THE LIBRARY?" It was too late, the pony was gone. Great. At least we have a few leads. Mikey seemed oblivious, staring at the pony with a dreamy expression on his visor. He let out a saddened sigh as she left. I'd rather not know what was going through his mind right now. "Isn't she adorable?!" Mikey cooed, completely forgetting the situation at hand...er, hoof. Does Mikey...nah, I'm not even going to question it. It was none of my business anyways. He continued to pull on his orange mask softly. Sometimes, I wondered about that kid, not just for his health, but mentally. "Who's up for a trip to the Library? Hm?" Donnie grinned, for the first time since we've been here. "I'm sure this will all blow over soon." His smile then soon changed to one that almost concerned me, it was almost scared, as if doubt was clouding his mind. "Right?"