//------------------------------//
// Part 1 Becoming (3 Chapters) 
// Story: All Was Silent: Book 1 - Becoming 
// by andthentherewerenone 
//------------------------------//

All Was Silent
By andthentherewerenone

Part 1: Becoming
Chapter 1.

The lab was cold, as it very well should have been at that time. My feet seemed to make a large clatter with each step, though they were bare and rugged. The room just felt so... empty. I couldn't help but wonder why, as all the equipment was running and ready to use.
As I walked toward the eastern wall, I noticed a placard, precariously placed on a shallow little wooden shelf awkwardly protruding from the wall. I reached out to it, then snapped my hand quickly back to my side as I heard the sudden creak of a door opening. I spun on my heel to get a glimpse at my company. 
The man who had just walked in was a stout little man, who stood up to about the middle of my chest. He was wearing a cyan polo shirt, tan khakis (which, by the way, were much too long for a man of his stature), and brown dress shoes which seemed like those of Frankenstein. His unruly chestnut hair waved about in the slight breeze of the door shutting behind him. On his wrist, I saw the same Timex that I was wearing. What a coincidence.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Leonidas,” said the little man, staring down at my bare feet. He slowly began to tilt his head upward until his little, beady eyes met mine. “I am Mark Forrester, the operations manager here at Mariner.” He pushed out his arm, which seemed to be glued to his side for a moment. His small hand was waiting for my approval. I reached out with my hand, an completely engulfed his in a firm, almost crushing handshake. He pulled away, and reached inside his shirt to produce some small spectacles. He flicked them open with his left hand and meticulously placed the spectacles on his nose. He reached in his pocket, causing his khakis to drastically tilt off to the side. He removed his hand, revealing a smartphone that I had never seen before. Perhaps it was one they had invented here at Mariner Technologies.
He placed his index finger in the center of the rather large screen. After a few moments, the screen came to life, with a list of various documents and statistics. He pressed the screen where a little box had been with my name on it in small black print: “Leonidas Leone”. A white screen erupted from the center of the phone. Orderly text appeared shortly after. Forrester opened his mouth with a small smacking sound.
“Leonidas Leone, 2008 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” he began to read my qualifications for the job at hand. “Major in electrical engineering, minor in industrial architecture. Former employee of several companies, including VAIO, Dell, Microsoft, and, most recently...” he paused and squinted at the screen. “...Mariner Technologies, Seattle Branch.” He seemed puzzled that at one point, I had been close to working with him. I have to say, working at Mariner had not been the most pleasant experience of my life. But I could not reminisce on it for long; as Forrester cleared his throat and continued to read.
“On your application, you said you hope to...”
“Gain experience in the study of...” I had butted in, and Forrester retaliated. 
“Experience in the study of other realities. Yes, yes, I've heard it all before.” he seemed less interested in me than he had at the beginning. “But keep in mind these are not mere simulations. There are no computer generated images once you go in.” He pushed his spectacles up on his nose. “Except you.”
I looked down at the floor and awkwardly rubbed my foot back and forth in the dust. I didn't feel all too well about this operation in the first place.
On the state's records, I was unemployed. Had been for just over two months. This was not the case.
The truth was that I was employed by a company called Martins Sciences,  Incorporated. Martins had been a competitor with Mariner since before I was born. They employed me just after I was laid off by Mariner. But they didn't want me just for my skills. They wanted me for the sole reason that I had been employed by Mariner.
I was to be a mole. A snitch. Martins was sending in a previous worker; someone the company's associates had already found trust in. Martins had told me the “Holy Grail” of science and technology is interdimensional, inter-reality travel. Mariner had gotten to it first, and I was to see to Martins getting it.  As in, I was to steal information on inter-reality travel from Mariner and ferry it back to Martins. Though I was upset by the job, a handsome pay awaited me upon completion of the job. I just simply couldn't pass it up. 
“Yes, well then.” the operations supervisor pushed his index finger in the center of the screen again. It dimmed and fell dark, and he replaced the device in his pocket, this time the back pocket. “Your qualifications seem to be in order. So, without further delay...” He pulled off his spectacles forcefully and put them back on the inside of his shirt. He turned his small upper body to a desk beside him, and took up two pairs of workman's safety goggles. He handed me a set, which fit me rather snugly. He took the others for himself. His face was definitely too small for the goggles. “...let me show you Project ID.”
Forrester turned on his heel and waddled over to the southern wall of the lab. I followed close behind him. He stopped in front of the wall, almost pressed tight against it. The little man jumped and seemed to reach for something; but instead of grabbing something, he rather touched the wall with his thumb. It seemed he did this to no avail, as he tried the same thing again with no result.
“Need a little help there?” I asked, trying to hide my incessant giggling.
“I've got it,” Forrester said, probably already annoyed with me.
After a few minutes of jumping and thumb-touching, Forrester angrily stomped his right foot. His large, round dress shoe made a loud “thump”, which echoed throughout the lab.
All was silent. Then a loud boom sounded through all parts of the lab. Glowing blue lines danced across the walls in no particular form or pattern. Out of the remaining gray areas, various types of testing equipment flipped out. There were meters of all sorts, computers, monitors.... then there was a large, cube-like unit. I assumed this was where I would be contained as my consciousness was transferred to the other world. 
“Ah,” interjected Forrester. He must have noticed my staring at the cube, because he now stared with me. “I see you have found where you'll be, uh,” he paused and straightened his goggles. “Sleeping.”
“I'll be in this thing?” I asked him. Frankly, I wasn't in love with the idea of sleeping in a cryogenic freeze in a metal box while my mind was essentially light years away.
“Until we design a better containment unit,” remarked Forrester, rubbing the cube with his right palm. “This has all the... heh... 'bones' of the unit.” he said. “Comfort comes later.”
“It usually does.” I stated dully, analyzing this shiny metal cube.
The containment unit was a perfect cube, all three dimensions about nine feet. It didn't seem to have any way to get it, but there was a small window on the top. I climbed up a nearby work ladder to look in.
Inside the cube, through the window, I could see a place where I would lay, various electrodes and wires scattered throughout it. It didn't look like anything special, but I could see the 'bare bones' the supervisor was talking about.
I heard a noise, sort of like the air being let out of a bike tire. I turned sharply around, as it startled me, and fell from the working step and hit the dusty floor with a loud 'splat'. Forrester, recording something on a paper, looked briefly at me, then quickly returned to his work. “Careful of the narrow steps,” he remarked.
I scowled at him, and looked for the source of the strange noise. An airtight seal, which looked like it was part of the cube itself, had opened. I put my hand on its frame, and warily stepped inside the unit. It was roomy., but what use was that? I was going to be frozen in place, for God's sake!
I whipped around as the door slammed shut, and made another noise like air being now pumped into a tire. A loud, ear-piercing noise broke the momentary silence thereafter. A voice came.
“I-is this thing on?” the new voice was a man, though his voice was very high, and he had a light English accent. “Ah, yes. Very good. Uh, uhh...” the man on the speaker didn't seem too sure of himself. “Heh-heh-hello, Leonidas Leone!” said the man cheerfully. There was silence for a few moments. “I can hear you breathing, you know.”
“Oh, uh, hi?” I didn't exactly know how to respond, he was kind of freaking me out. “Who are you?”
“Oh!” he said this as if he wasn't going to ever introduce himself in the first place. “I am Doctor Sheen, I'll be monitoring you during the time you are in the other...uh....” he stopped again. “...other realm.” There was a bit of crackling, as if he was adjusting the microphone he was speaking into. “Now let's get started.”
“Please put all metal items you have on your person into the slide-out tray.” A tray pushed out of the wall, like an automated drawer. I pulled my wallet and placed it in, but was careful to keep my cash with me.
“Why do I need to give you all my metal stuff?” I asked loudly, still unloading my personal metal items into the tray.
“Because, Mr. Leone,” the man now sounded stern and serious. “Every quarter ounce of metal will attract the waves we use to send you into the next realm, throwing off out calculations by at least 2 kilohertz.” He seemed very passionate about his cause. “So put it in.”
“I see,” I whispered to myself. I pondered my situation. “Has anyone else been to the other realm?”
Silence. It lasted very long this time. Then Doctor Sheen's weak voice came back up. “I did.” it seemed like he didn't want to talk about it too much. “I didn't find any large organisms. But!” his voice got louder. “But! If you do, remember! They are organisms; living, breathing, like you and me.” I could tell it was hard for him to try and sound strong. “There's no telling what they are capable of thinking or doing. So, try not to interact unless you absolutely have to.” He put a great emphasis on the last three words. He then calmed. “Now lay down on that metal frame across the unit from your current location.”
On the other side of the cube, there was a metal frame, which looked fitted for my body. I laid face up in the frame, which slightly bent when I climbed into it.
“Now close all units!” This was not directed at me, but at the systems operator. A smaller box enclosed me into the frame. Though it is strange to think so, this smaller unit reminded me of a coffin.
“Now Leoni--” the voice cut out. There was only static to be heard inside the small box.
“Doctor Sheen?” I yelled loudly. I started to flick the inner speaker with my right hand. And that is the very moment when I saw it. 
My watch.
It was still on my wrist.
My metal watch.
Noise erupted from the speaker. It was Doctor Sheen, telling as if he was far away from the microphone. “Your microphone has cut out!” he exclaimed. “We must send you in now!”
“No!” I screamed. “God dammit, not yet!”
“Godspeed, my friend.” said Doctor Sheen, 	relatively quietly for his distance from the microphone. 
“No!” I yelled. I punched at the box as I could feel the waves being absorbed into my watch, burning my wrist and throwing off the transmission.
I was yelling loudly in defiance as my body was consumed by the brightest light; my mind going from one consciousness into the next.
~*~
If you had just walked into it, the town would have looked dead. Ponyville was usually bustling, a hive of endless commerce just waiting to be carried out. Today was no exception... until, of course, the twitching began.
It was uncontrollable for her, her tail just twitched. Incessantly. Pinkie Pie couldn't explain it... she only knew the tidings this strange occurrence bore.
The entire town knew what it meant as well... why else would they be hiding, going to such great lengths to protect their heads, if there was still such great deals of errands to be run?
No one really knew what was going to fall. They only knew that if Pinkie's tail was twitching, something was due to fall from the sky. Everpony knew that, end that is why the town looked so dank. Something was falling... and now one wanted to find out what; until they were absolutely sure it was safe.
As most of the town was hidden away in their houses, a small crowd was gathering at Sugarcube Corner; Pinkie Pie's place of work.
“I-i-i-i j-j-just kn-n-now-w-w it-t-t-s-s s-s-somth-th-thing b-b-big-g-g-g.” Pinkie Pie was telling everyone of the falling object as if she was some kind of all-powerful oracle. “S-s-s-something h-h-h-hug-g-g-g-e!” she paused for a moment, as to assess her shaking and past sentences. She stated something, which was interpreted by some as “This makes by voice sound weird”. Others interpreted the incredibly shakily emitted sentence to be “Please give me a drawing of a beard”. Surely enough, some just thought she was being Pinkie again; others decided to draw her a nicely groomed man with a beard like an old man in prison. 
Though she had never asked for these strange pictures, Pinkie plastered the cake and pastry ingredient cabinets with them, taking it as an unintended blessing. It was as she was hanging these gifted drawings that her employer, Mrs. Cake, waltzed into the room with a large paper bag. Mrs. Cake glanced over Pinkie’s direction; with such, came a double take and a loud gasp.
“Pinkie!” shouted the old baker, dropping her groceries and covering her mouth with a hoof. “Your tail!”
Pinkie glanced back at her tail, now twitching more violently than ever. “Oh yeah! It’s really silly, isn’t it?” ejected Pinkie, seeming as if her own prediction didn’t seem to phase her at all. “I haven’t seen anything yet. Maybe Twilight is pulling a prank on me with her magic!” Pinkie looked upward and crunched her face in, as to think hard. “Twilight likes pranks now? Ooh, I love pranks! They’re so fun!” the pink mare bounced fluently up and down in a jubilant manner.
“Well, I don’t suppose...” Mrs. Cake pondered something for a moment, then shook her head and omitted whatever that though was. “Nevermind. Are you sure it’s not anything?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m as sure as chocolate cake is tasty!” the pink mare began to bounce in place again. “Oh, speaking of chocolate cake, can we make some?”

~*~
My eyes were most certainly useless. There was no doubting that. I could feel the air rushing past me, trying but inevitably failing to slow my descent. I was falling, alright. I had not idea how high I had started from, nor did I really care to know at this point. 
I could still feel the burning on my wrist... but it was less intense now. It was as if I was.... plasticized somehow, covered in some kind of secondary insulation on my body. I hoped, though falsely, it would protect me from the grounds impact.
My eyes were open, but there was only dark. Infinite dismality, in every direction around me. It was awfully dreary, and almost distracted me from the fact that I was still falling at terminal velocity.
As I fell, I could hear the faint sound of birds, and the rustling of trees from below me. That kind of relaxed me, in the discovery that there was visible life on this... well, wherever I was.
I tried to relax my body, as I had learned countless times in the event of a twister.
I had grown up in the heart of the United States' Tornado Alley, and we were taught always to totally relax if we were caught up in the wind of a twister, such that the impact of the ground would settle on our relaxed muscles and more core-center bones. I just couldn't heed their advice now, I felt strange... almost as if I was unfamiliar with the composition of my body parts. I started to breathe deeply, and brace myself for the impact.
“Good Lord in heaven,” I gasped for breath. “If you can hear me in this place, I am seriously sorry for cheating on Gina in the eighth grade...” I stopped and frantically thought for a moment. “And Elle in the ninth gra--” I was cut off as my jaw met the ground, instantly shattering it and prohibiting my rambling prayer. The rest of my body followed suit, colliding against the ground with a crushing blow and a lot of cracking. 
My hearing and heart's pulsing began to fade, and I was becoming short of breath. I could hear something, though... like crackling, as if someone was attempting to rustle through a bush towards me. My hearing left me, as I felt a warm presence very near me, as I ceased to be conscious of my surroundings...


Chapter 2.

My eyes snapped open. Despite my momentary hope, the darkness still claimed me as its own. I rolled my eyes around, for the sake of comfort. My body was a wreck, it felt; I would have hated to have seen it.
My jaw was still destroyed, making it hang limply open and release excessive drool. My abdominal muscles were in a state of sustained contraction, pulling me slightly into a hunched position. My right arm and leg were heavily damaged, to say the least. I expected they were broken. I had landed mostly on my right side, so my arm and leg on that side took the brunt of the collision with the ground.
The only part that returned to its normal state was my hearing, though there was a continuous, high-pitched ringing. It didn’t help that despite their better state, I could still feel the warm trickles of blood running from my ears. My back had lost all feeling. I couldn’t tell where I lay. I turned my neck to the other side, nearly conquering me for the time being.
As the blood began to unclog my ears, I was able to make out some voices… they were distant mumbles, but it meant that I was not alone. I could hear the hard ‘clop’ sounds on the ground. Judging by that alone, I could tell that where they tread was hard, most likely hard wood or tile. Thank God I was somewhere civilized enough to make a proper floor. Perhaps ‘Project ID’ had failed, at cause of my watch; maybe I had somehow transported back home.	
My watch. I could still feel the accursed metal tainting my wrist. It was resting loosely on my right arm, as if it had been innocent of the crime I was sure it had committed.
My left arm, surviving with but with a large gash, was movable. In one swift motion, I used the majority of my remaining energy to push it over, level with my other arm. I fumbled for my watch with my hand, wishing to unfasten the clasp. I flexed my hand, attempting to open my fingers ever so slightly.
I could not do so. I could not do so, as there were no fingers to unfold.
My hand had become one solid, rounded appendage.
I began to hyperventilate. My hand is gone! I thought, scrambling to recover feeling of how it felt when I hit the ground. I tried to feel it again from my mere memories.
I remembered the rush… even without sight; the feeling was still fresh in my mind. The deafening sound of the air rushing… it was almost like reliving a dream. Come to think of it, I hadn’t felt any fingers at that time either.
Dear Lord in heaven, I thought to myself. Whatever had happened to my hands, it was a result of the failure of Forrester… Dr. Sheen…. Everyone at Mariner. My Panic turned to anger, as I found my scapegoat.
My breathing worsened. My lungs were filled with some viscous liquid; my best guess is some mixture of blood and bile. As my breathing was lesser, so was my heart rate. It lessened in my ears, along with the rest of the ringing.
As my inner noises subsided, I heard those voices again. At the moment, they were still nothing but nameless whispers, but they clarified over time. I listened intently.
“Help your friend, I certainly can.” The voice sounded wise, like and old shaman from ancient Japan. The only difference in this simile is that this voice belonged to a woman. “And I already know that you know my plan.”
A few splashes, kind of like when you skip a rock and ripples, like little waves, lap up on the rocks of shore, were heard throughout the immediate environment. A few steps came around as well. I could hear the sounds of those steps reverberating off something large and metallic; perhaps a large bedframe.
Bedframe. Bed. I was on a bed, I could tell as my back regained feeling. I laid still and broken, like an old toy its kid had forgotten about. That Is all I was; an old toy, used and thrown away by Mariner. I had undoubtedly failed Martins, as well, by now. I imagined that check, that promise of freedom; being torn and thrown in the wind by a laughing Forrester. Had he sent me somewhere on purpose? Had he known my intentions from the beginning?
More splashes, this time heavier, There was a slight grunt of concern made by a different woman, this one younger than the Wise One by quite a few years.
“Are you sure you want to use blackroot, Zecora?” asked the young woman. “I believe that whiteroot is used to bones and teeth.”
I’d believe her, ‘Zecora’. I thought to myself, now interested in their endeavors. She sounds like she knows what she’s talking about.
“Ah, Twilight, my good and honest friend,” began the Wise One, which I could safely assume was Zecora. “I know with potions, on you, I can depend.” Was it just coincidence that she had rhymed her sayings twice in a row? A louder splash, followed by several smaller ones signified someone was replacing the ‘blackroot’ with the ‘whiteroot’. Then a loud splash sounded out, as I assumed they were placing more ingredients into this concoction. I assumed they were making soup or stew or a similar substance, as they kept dropping things in some liquid; and the aroma of carrots, pepper, and other ingredients and spices filled the air around me.	
“Oh, Angel, no!” a voice broke the brief silence; or rather, continued it. The voice was quiet and gentle, but there was certainly fortitude in it, as if there was an inner strength under the woman’s soft-spoken demeanor. She couldn’t have been much of a difference between her age and the age of that other chick… what was her name again? Twilight? “Not the carrots!” she shouted quietly, but evidently with feeling enough to make her point. “Thank you, Angel.”
So now, I was able to count four people around me. There was Twilight, the Smart One; Zecora, the Wise One; Angel, who was probably some little kid who liked to steal carrots; and the Stoic One with the timeless voice.
Someone grunted; probably Zecora. They took slow, heavy steps; they must have been carrying something large. The steps were getting louder. They were coming toward me.	
“Zecora, don’t strain yourself!” Damn, this Twilight chick was naggy. “I’ll take it.”
“Twilight, thank you, my little filly;” said Zecora with another grunt. “Carrying this weight, for me, was quite silly.” Really, how did she come up with these rhymes off the top of her head? There was a grunt of relief from Zecora, as Twilight took a few steps, seeming to go take the large object off Zecora’s hands.
“Where should I put it?” asked Twilight. The sound of this was quieter than her previous comments, indicating that she was now facing away from me. She must have directed that comment at the Stoic One.
“Oh, the head of the bed would be just fine.” She drew out the word ‘just’, as if it would be a burden to Twilight to put it there.
“Isn’t that a little hazardous?” asked Twilight. Judging from the inflexions on her voice, she wasn’t making a shred of effort to lift anything. Was Zecora still carrying the object, though she herself had stated she was too weak for it?
“Don’t worry, my filly friend.” Zecora kept saying ‘filly’ to each person in the room… a nickname, perhaps. There was no effort in her voice either; nor had I heard the inevitable ‘clunk’ of someone putting down the object… where was that which they were attempting to carry? “We shall not drench him and, under him, the bed.”
So far, I hadn’t heard any other male in the room, so I assumed ‘him’ was a reference to me. And the use of the word ‘drench’ had me thinking they were going to dump the soup on me in an attempt to wake me up.
“Oh, I hope this works,” said the Stoic One, worriedly. “Have you done this before, guys?”
“Mmm.” Twilight grunted lightly, seemingly to shrug off the Stoic One. Zecora spoke in reassurance.
“These procedures, I myself, have not done.” Quietly, there was a faint gasp, made by the Stoic One. “But my teachers and predecessors did this for fun.” The Stoic One let out a relieved sigh upon hearing this. Why she should be concerned about some poor bastard like me, I couldn’t imagine.
“Well.” Twilight sounded terribly impatient. “Shall we begin?”
From behind me grew a great warmth. Oh Lord, please not the soup. I groaned in useless protest.
“We must act quickly, for he is almost slain.” The Wise One sounded more scared than wise now. “He must be put out of his pain.”
If ‘put out of his pain’ was like the common ‘put out of his misery’, then that failure at a rhyme was not the last thing I wanted to hear. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I groaned as loud as possible, and swung my left arm violently. For a half-broken, bedridden dude with a large gash on that arm, it was quite the rampage. But it was short lived. Suddenly, a burning came into my entire left arm, as if it was covered with white hot embers straight from a furnace. It slowly came down to my side, against my will. What kind of satanic work was this?
“Now that you’re done, you must drink.” Zecora sounded like she was awfully close to my head. “This will not be as bad as you think.”
With my limbs held in place by some devil force of burning, a hot sludge was poured into my mouth. I tried but failed to pull my jaw closed, to be met by the stinging of a shattered joint. At this point, my mouth was close to overflowing with this slime. It was either swallow, or hold my breath until my death by suffocation. With great resent, I opened my throat and swallowed.
A feeling of sudden, freezing water submersion slithered over my body. Every lesion or injury I had felt colder than ice. The liquid in my chest started to bubble up and move. It flushed out of my lungs like a toilet, upward into my mouth.
I vomited over the edge of the bed. Even without sight, I began to feel dizzy and disoriented. My eyes rolled back in my head, and my tongue hung out of my mouth.	
Then all was silent.
~*~
I sputtered, and a large glob of saliva flew off the back of my tongue. I shut my mouth in disgust at the taste of rust.
Wait.. I could close my mouth... my jaw was healed? I slowly flexed my right bicep. Shakily,my forearm bent up a bit. It was definitely healed, though it felt... foreign in some way, as if it didn’t belong with the rest of me. I shrugged it off. I was sure that feeling come from disuse.
I stretched out my body a little and opened my eyes. The light was so magnificently bright, it was blinding. I pulled my eyes shut and covered my head with my arm. My eyes were on fire; I needed to put some water in them.
I swiveled on the small of my back, and put my legs on the ground. They made a hard sound as the people from before had when they took a step, Had they shod my in my slumber? I shook my left foot rapidly back and forth in short motions. No, there was no shoe. For this sound to keep occurring, then there must have been some large defect the floor. I was thinking floor deformation from some kind of mass flood.
I pushed on the bed with my dual, round appendages. At this point, i had come to terms with the loss of my hands. Even if interdimensional travel was possible, the regrowth of an entire limb was a skill yet to be discovered. I came and stood, and immediately fell on all fours.
Something was strange, though, as I stood there in a crawling position. Then it hit me. My legs had become the same length as my arms.
Holy heavenly God, I though to myself in desperation. I’m.. deformed. I thought hard about my future. My future wife and kids... could they be deformed freaks too? More importantly, would I ever get a wife? I know my face was attractive (at least, in my opinion), but this whole monkey-man ensemble would be a bit of a turn-off.
Without lifting any limb from the floor, I slid about it, attempting to feel for something of use. If I was where I thought I was, then no doubt there was a personal mirror somewhere on the floor. Finally I found what I was seeking. It was probably Twilight’s; she seemed like the kind of chick that would carry a mirror around, constantly checking that her hair was always just right.
I opened my eyes ever so slightly, revealing two piercingly bright slits of light. Despite the pain and dryness it caused, I took it on the chin and waited. As I suspected, as the time passed, the white lines gradually dimmed into a blurry image. I opened my eyes, bit by bit, revealing a circular mirror with a green painted rim. The reflection, though, which was staring back up at me, was the most surprising part.
Its eyes were dark brown, almost mahogany, like the dust of an old, broken brick. It had a short, slightly squarish, but definitely strong snout. That strange, strong image had a shining coat of metallic blue fur which was almost to the point of glowing. Its mane was a dark green, just darker than the leaves of an evergreen tree.
It was a reflection of me. I had morphed into a horse, albeit a very strange one. There was no going back now.
I opened my elongated jaw and cocked it to the side. “Curse them,” I mumbled. “Curse them all.” I swung my right side, grimacing, and knocking a wooden table back a few feet. I flinched at the sound of its impact with the wooden floor... though I couldn’t see it from there, I expected there was heavy damage to both the floor and the table. I let out a thunderous screech.
Let someone else clean it up, I huffed mentally. I’ve got problems of my own.
A faint sob ransacked my thoughts like a band of thieves in old Arabia. I assessed my surroundings, to find the source of the sob, and get a lay of the land a bit.
I was in a rather quaint little shack, to say the least. I had come from not a bed, but more of a rounded futon behind me. The walls were a dark green, similar to the color of my new mane. Painted in brown on the wall, all around me, were brown, teardrop shaped leaves.
There was a strange, earthy stench about the place. I could not recognize it. That is, until I looked down.
The floor was littered with animal supplies; brushes, food, dishes, bandages, cages... who lived here; and more importantly, why didn’t they clean up a bit?
Another whimper, this one louder than the last. It had come from behind a large stack of cages. I was now sure of this. I opened my mouth, daring to speak for the first time in this new form.
“Come out!” I commanded the one who was hiding. My voice had changed minimally, if at all, from my human voice. What the hell was I? A horse that could talk? “I don’t wanna hurt you,” I paused. I must have sounded horribly angry with the one hiding. I lowered my voice to say, “I just want to know where I am.”
A rustling came from behind the stack I was observing. My prediction was correct, someone was behind. They slowly and cautiously moved out of the shadows and into my view.	
Describing her was beyond words; you would have had to see her to believe how she was, but I shall do my best.
Her pink forelock, mane, and tail calmly flowed like one continuous river, gently curving upward at its end. Though I didn’t want it to end; its warm, sweet color was soothing, like a dream long gone. It was like you remember is good, but do not remember what the dream was actually about.	
Her coat was a soft yellow, like a warm, silky beach at sunset. Set upon her flank was an insignia, made up of three butterflies, floating together in a melody of beauty on her body. She had a down-to-earth look to her, yet a soft covering, as if trying to hide something. She stared at the floor, rubbing her hoof on it and turning up dust. She opened her mouth.
“Um,” her voice was familiar. This yellow-coated filly was the Stoic One. She looked directly away from me, still rubbing her hoof in circles on the floor.
“I don’t wanna hurt you,” my words were coming out in short gasps. I was trying my best to make a whispering voice, but it just sounded like a caged, crazed lunatic. “Who are you?”
“Um,”
“Please tell me.”
“Mflsh.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Flsh.”
“Come again?” I took a step closer to the mare, but she shied back a bit. She was getting difficult; my human instincts kicked in again.”Tell me who you are, dammit, or so help me, I will...” I stomped my foot for an emphatic effect.
The mare looked me straight in the eyes. No doubt all she saw was a tax-demanding fool in king’s garb. She looked down, and pushed her rear high in the air, so her front end would go low and protected. She squeaked briefly and looked up at me.
“Er-” I began. I moved my left foot in an explanatory position. “I’m just gonna call you Sandy. Ya like that name? Ya like Sandy?” It was the only name I could think of, while thinking of how her coat compared to a beach. I started to nod slowly, hoping she would give in and start to nod with me. I was hoping she would accept my shoddy offer of a name. She looked up quickly.
“MynameisFluttershy.” said the Stoic One, so quickly it was barely understandable. “Fluttershy.” she slowly repeated.
“Ffffluttershy.” What kind of place was this? The shy, wispy one so aptly named? Bah, what a cliché. I pressed on. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” I waited and put a hoof to my chin. “Where am I?”
“You’re... you’re in my home.” she raised her brow a little. “You’ve been here since you fell out of Cloudsdale to weeks ago?”
“Two weeks?” had I really been unconscious that long? “Wh-where did you say I fell from?”
“Cloudsdale...” her brow raised more; she suspected something. “You are a pegasus, after all.” A rippling came from just behind the mare’s withers. It spread back to just above the flank, and it started to spread outward away from her body. The Stoic One had just produced a magnificent pair of feathered wings from her back. Their span must have been at least the length from her nose to tail. “You really should stretch yours out.”
“My what?” Holy God, if she told me I had...
“Wings.” she jabbed a hoof in the air, pointing at my side. As if by reflex, large, blue, wings engulfed my posterior vision. It was unbelievable. “Your condition would have probably been a lot worse if you were, say, an earth pony.”
Now I understood; I hadn’t died by the fall because somehow, instinctively, my wings had been keeping my velocity minimal. “This is unbelievable,” I said under my breath. “How did you-?”
“Fluttershyyyyy!” there was a rapping at the chamber door. It was accompanied by a high-pitched, melodic voice. “I brought what you wanted!”
“Oh, no!” Fluttershy winced a little. “She can’t see you here!” She looked around desperately, and motioned my to a large chest. “Hide, please.”
“What?” I couldn’t fathom why she would want my to hide in a chest, as there may have been someone at the door who could actually answer my questions in favor of squeaking at them.The door burst open, and I reluctantly curled up into the small supply unit.
I could just barely make out two muffled voices through the thick wooden dungeon of the chest. One was Fluttershy, the other was the newcomer.
“So where should I put it?”
“Um, over there is fine.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” a small thump succeeded the phrase. My, what a strange girl! “So, anyw-” she stopped abruptly, leaving me only able to hear the near-silent sound of my breathing for a few moments. She continued. “What’s in that chest?” Oh, the foolery... I had left the latch to the chest freely swinging as I climbed in! The Excited One had noticed my hiding place!
“Please don’t open that-” Light appeared from above me, and the shadow of a pink, unruly-haired pony loomed over my. She was smiling, but it quickly faded when she got her first glimpse of me. Her eyes widened until they looked as if they would pop right out of their sockets. I smiled as best I could.
“Uh... hi?” With the look this pink one was giving me, I expected I was not welcome in this new place.
~*~
The ruby colt awoke. It was still night, as he intended it to be. Night was the only time he operated.
He stood up from his bed of leaves and twigs, and wandered over to a tree. It was a large and strong tree, probably one that had been in the forest since the dawn of time. Despite its strength and age, though, it was not match for the ruby colt. He swung his back end around and struck the tree dead on.
A cracking sound echoed through the Everfree forest. The tree fell forward. And like a cruel game of dominoes, played by some sadistic child, the trees fell. One by one, they toppled, each a warrior felled by an Almighty Lord of the forest.
And  this Lord smiled. This would surely attract some attention.


Chapter 3.

I sat still crunched tight in the chest. Still above me was the awestruck pink pony. She continued to stare at me, probably contemplating something to say.
She’d better hurry up and leave, I thought. This chest is getting very uncomfortable. Finally, I saw her open her mouth. Her large grin returned.
“Hi!” she reached down and grabbed my hoof, and pulled my into a half-standing position. Whipping her front legs around, she hauled me out of the chest; I was astonished by her ability to do so. She turned to Fluttershy. “Who is this guy, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy looked down. “Actually, I don’t know...” She momentarily glanced at me, then returned to staring at the ground in front of the pink pony.
I huffed. “Leonidas Leone.” They looked completely bewildered by my name; but, they were actually staring at my flank. I turned defensively. I whispered, “Excuse me?”
They turned their heads to talk to me face-to-face. “Where’s your cutie mark?” asked the pink one, cocking her head to the side.
“My... my what?” I looked the her hip. She, too, had a design emblazoned there... two blue balloons on either side of a yellow balloon. What was this strange trend; horses getting tattoos on their hips? Apparently, some things didn’t change between dimensions; girls still liked to get tattoos in strange places.
“Your special talent, silly!” she bounced as she said the last word, hitting the ground again with a graceful thump.
“Never you mind.” I saw no reason to tell her what I was good at; I was an all-around kind of guy. “Who are you anyway?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she bounced in place a few times. “Hi, Leo!”
“Leonidas.” I hated the nickname Leo. It brought back memories, which I’d rather not have relived. “Never Leo.”
She looked a bit saddened, but stayed rather resilient to my pessimism. “Okie-dokie-lokie, Leo!” she bounced away and slammed the door behind her. I had given up the thought that she was ignorant, and now thought she was just plain stupid. Pinkie Pie? Nickname? I sure hoped so; I couldn’t take much more of this simplistic charade.
~*~
The ruby colt walked silently through the forest, the trodden ground being the the trees he had felled not two days earlier. Even with the time that had passed since his massively destructive strike in the Everfree, and still no retaliation from Celestia or Luna. How disappointing.
Smoke rose from up ahead. Finally, some imbeciles to torment instead of these pathetic trees! The ruby colt marched on through the forest’s strife.
He cleared the forest’s edge, unto a small, single-roaded town resembling one of the old west. The first building on his left was a leather tailor, across the way, a saloon. He headed rightward.
The colt entered the saloon without hesitation. He walked up to the bar and hailed the tender, refusing to sit on the lowly stools. “Howdy,” said the tender, drone-like. “I ain’t seen ya in Appleloosa, stranger. You sure you’re headed in the right direction?” The tender pony raised his head and turned it, but did not divert his eyes from the ruby stranger.
“Spare me the small talk.” the stranger hadn’t any need for these superfluous conversations. “Get the key off of your belt. There’s a cabinet below the counter.” he signalled down with his head, and the tender momentarily looked down at it. “Open it and give me its contents.” the ruby pony spoke plainly to the tender, who seemed mildly displeased with this stranger. Warily, the tender reached back to his hip and retrieved a small, silver key, and proceeded to lean down and unlock a cupboard. The tender opened it, and set its inhabitants on the table: a rolled and sealed scroll, and a small vial of clear liquid. He placed them on the counter, still evaluating the stranger. But before the bartender could make any conclusions, the ruby colt turned and began to walk out with the scroll and vial. The tender perked up.
“Hey, stranger!” he shouted across the room. The ruby pony froze, but didn’t give the annoyance the satisfaction of looking back. “I never got your name.”
The stranger scoffed. “I never offered it.” And with that, he exited the saloon.
As soon as he was sure no one was watching, the stranger ducked into an alleyway and downed the contents of the vial in a single, loud gulp. He gasped as he felt the the cold solution trickle down into his stomach. He threw the vial down, causing it to shatter and spread shards at his feet. He stepped on them carelessly as he left the alley. The colt looked up and saw the sign for the small tailor shop.
Taylor’s Tailoring
Leather Of All Kinds!
Perfect, he thought, walking into the shop. A fully blue pony somersaulted out of a corner to greet him, leaving a half-placed pair of gloves on a mannequin.
“Well howwwwwwwdy!” the pony was, for lack of a better phrase, the weirdest inhabitant of a redneck town that the ruby colt had ever seen. She was a unicorn, who had probably heard this would be a good place to get business. The colt enjoyed her senseless naïvety. “We be havin’ a sale on leather jackets now, only 50 bits! Care to try one on, or you got so-”
“Just give me a jacket.” the colt was using a different tone of voice than before, happy she was too stupid to realize who he really was. “And put my name on the inside, too.”
“Alrighty, sir! And who am I makin’ this out to?” she was already levitating the needle with her horn.
The ruby colt just sat staring at her for a while. Then he opened his mouth and uttered a single word: “Cevark.” he said.	
“Okay!” Before long, the name was imprinted inside the jacket in simple red thread. “That’ll be 50 bits then!” a levitated money container opened in front of the ruby colt.
“No.” said Cevark. “It’s free.” His eyes glowed green, and momentarily, so did those of the unicorn.
“O-o-o-oh, yes!” The unicorn threw the money container back, spilling all of the day’s earnings throughout the shop. The leather jacket floated onto the back of Cevark, and he turned an left the shop. “Come again!” shouted the unicorn, still in a hypnotic daze. Cevark laughed heartily as he left the town. He spotted a sign on the way out, reading “APPLELOOSA”. He snickered at the fate that awaited it.
It was a sound that was heard throughout the entirety of Equestria. Louder than a sonic boom; louder than a sonic rainboom. Appleloosa burst into flames, leaving a near-solid pillar of smoke arising into the sky. Cevark smiled, as he thought about his next target; one he had been awaiting to destroy since his first day out of hiding.
Ponyville.
~*~

Within the hour after Pinkie Pie left the house, at least a hundred ponies were lining up at Fluttershy’s door, asking to see “the newcomer”. Naturally, Fluttershy turned down all their requests for entrance with a simple squeak.
As the line subsided, Fluttershy calmed. As the last person - er, pony - left in disappointment, the golden-yellow pegasus came to her futon and plopped down on it, sighing in exhaustion. “Never tell Pinkie Pie about the other ponies in your house...” she said quietly. I laughed a little, as I was pacing.
She stared at me blankly, and I kept pacing, shrugging it off. I looked back a moment later, and she sat, back legs hanging limply over the edge of her futon, fast asleep. Her belly moved slowly up and down, in a slow rhythm.
Just watching her sleep was... strange. I was somehow attracted to her grace and mysteriousness, so much that just the thought of being attracted to her was intriguing.
There was a knock at the door, but Fluttershy did not awake. This roused a different dilemma: should I answer the door, and reveal myself to all; or rather stay, and not receive whatever was waiting for Fluttershy at the door?
My question was answered, as a small envelope pushed under the door, and a hoofed creature made a sound of walking; they were leaving. I traveled over to the door, and pulled the letter into my mouth, and walked over to Fluttershy’s sleeping form. I placed the envelope on her stomach. She turned at the slight disturbance, crushing the envelope beneath her.
It was tempting as hell; I needed to get that envelope and put it somewhere it wouldn’t be mutilated. But in order to obtain the envelope, I would have to reach under her stomach, and disturb her slumber once again.
I couldn’t resist. I quickly reached my hoof under her and scooped out the envelope. The envelope itself was torn, but the contents were still readable. Against all virtue I had left, I read the letter:

Fluttershy,
Appleloosa burned to ground. Traveling there with Applejack to find out what’s happened. Watch for anything weird. Good luck with that pegasus.
-Twilight

Twilight. I had forgotten all about her. She was the one who had helped with my healing. Now she was helping some other pony called Applejack; despite her apparent personality, which as I saw it, suggested against helping others.
I put the letter down on a nearby nightstand. Something had burned down (a town, maybe?) , and Fluttershy... everyone around her... was in some kind of danger. I feared in this new form, protection would be a service I couldn’t provide, but if a threat did come, I wasn’t letting us both go down easily.
She was still asleep. My face flushed slightly as I laid on the couch next to her. It’s for protection, I thought, as I pulled in close to her. How I wished I could have stayed there forever; forgotten my problems and how I would ever get back to earth... but I vowed this would only last the night, and only be a “protection thing”.
The soft sound of Fluttershy’s breathing was soothing, like a lullaby, undulating beneath my head. Slowly, I drifted away into a deep, midday sleep...
~*~
Appleloosa was nothing more than a few charred shrubs and some ashes. Tears streamed Twilight and Applejack’s eyes as they slowly walked. On the dirt road, every now and then, there was a black strip of leather, or a tuft of hair, but there was no evidence of life otherwise.
“Celestia’s name, why?” the words seemed choked out of Applejack’s  throat, her southern accent barely escaping with it. “Why did it happen, Twilight?” She referred to Twilight by her full name, instead of the usual shortening to ‘Twi’.
“That’s what I want to know.” Twilight said. She was sad, though not nearly as sad as Applejack. Applejack had family here; even a small piece of herself was here in the old tree Bloomberg. But, even that, along with the rest of the grand Appleloosa apple orchard, was up in smoke. “And I’m not going to waste any time.” She closed her eyes, and the unicorn horn on her forehead began to glow with a light purple sheen, slightly lighter than the color of her coat.
Around the tow ponies, the aura from Twilight’s horn  wafted like low smoke, into the places where the various structures had stood. Soon, the town was reestablished, still covered in the familiar purple aura. Soon after, all the ponies previously in the town were there, covered in the purple cloud as well.
“Now, what the hay happened?” Twilight watched as the regular, soft bustle of Appleloosa went as it would have before. Applejack watched the apparitions go about, and began to think of the people she knew that would walk by her. Once or twice, she tried to reach out to them; feel them again... but her hoof passed through them, as she secretly hoped would. As she reached out again with a tear coming from her eye, Applejack pulled back her hoof as she saw in the place of a sheriff pony, but a flaming pony, running through its place.
“Oh Celestia,” Twilight’s eyes widened, fixed on a flaming leather shop.
A ruby pony, toting a new leather jacket, crawled out of the leather shop. Just looking at him made Twilight and Applejack nauseous.
His body, from his withers to the tip of his tail, was on fire. His burnt fur and skin slowly flaked off as he crawled, floating away in the storming smoke. The two onlookers cried silently as the ruby colt crawled slowly into the Everfree, he himself also crying from the pain.
The viewers were dazed. They slowly each took a step, in unison, toward the pony crawling away. The two ponies then took off running behind the mirage and into the forest, leaving the town’s ghost buried behind them.
~*~
The early morning sun tore through the entirety of Fluttershy’s home, slowly edging toward where we lay. I still lightly clutched Fluttershy, though she had rolled to face away from me in the night. My eyes slowly opened as the strip of gold hit my face, and I squinted and got up, slipping my front leg out from under the sleeping pegasus and walking to the window.
The sun was rising very rapidly, probably over a thousand times as fast as it would have on earth. As the sun reached  its peak, like it would be at noon, it stopped. Close by, I could have sworn that I saw the silhouette of some pony, flying away towards a large ledge on the side of a cliff. As the pony got onto the ledge, I saw below the ledge a small glint of light... probably just some ore in the mountainside. Did they even have ore; elements here? Were they the same as--?
“Um...” I spun around and saw Fluttershy standing behind me, in the same position as she was when the people had come to get a glimpse at me. She stared up at me, her wings pressed even tighter against her body than usual. “Did you see Celestia?”
“Erm, if that’s the sun?” I said, groggily. Usually, I’d be having coffee after I woke up, but... considering coffee wasn’t good for dogs, I would think it wasn’t good for horses either. “I really don’t know what you call things around here...”
“Celestia’s the princess...” she said, louder this time. She then stood up as I did, as she normally would have. “She raises the sun every day, and Luna brings up the moon at night.”
“Uh huh,” Seriously, the idea of someone actually going and moving the sun and moon... it was impossible. Implausible, anyway... they would burn up or run out of oxygen or something... aaaaand I was a horse. I realized accepting any idea was not against anything I had in my book. “Okay, I think it would be best if I just...” I nodded toward the door with my head. “Left.”
“Oh, no!” she spread her wings, and in one swoop, pushed herself towards the door and stood in front of me. “Zecora said you have to stay here for another day!... And...” she glanced momentarily at the bedside table, then back to me; if I had blinked, I would have missed it. She had seen the letter, and probably read it.
“When’d you read the letter?” I looked at her, running my tongue along my teeth.
“Last night,” she half-squeaked. “I woke up, and saw it when I went to get some water.”
“And what does the letter have to do with me leaving?”
“Well, um, I just thought...”
“I think it’d be better if I got out of here for a while.” That was the last thing that I said before I pushed past her and flung open the door. I walked onto the path, and sucked in the air. Finally, I was able to feel some real air, something to breathe instead of have to smell the animals... but, there was... something different about this air; something strange... I was breathing. I wasn’t breathing as I did on Earth, but I was breathing real air. There was a feeling to it, something that just made me feel... light. Made me feel like I just wanted to run, quit life and just... run.
I took my first steps out of the house, and as I breathed in the air, my vision blurred. A loud popping sound hit inside my ears, and my front legs buckled. I fell onto my side, and groaned.
I could only think, as I felt Fluttershy drag me back into the house. Why would she want me to stay so badly? What could I have done to protect her if I was obviously not even fit to go outside? Had she seen something in the letter that I hadn’t? Was all this feeling just a dream?
No, all too real to be a dream. And... one moment... the letter... Fluttershy still struggled to pull my corpus over the floor. If she had woken up, and gotten up... That would mean that she had seen me holding her... and willingly returned to it?
She, though in a way I hadn’t seen before, was trying to tell me something. She wanted me around, though, for what I didn’t know. She had willingly returned to me. If that’s not a hint, I don’t know what is.
After she had dragged my beside the bed, Fluttershy opened her wings as she had before and flew over to the door. She shut it forcefully and came back over to where I lay. As soon as she had shut the door, I had began to feel better.
“Zecora sprayed something into the air,” she whispered, and leaned down close to my head. “If you’re not always breathing it, then you’ll faint.”
“How long do I have to stay here then?” I sounded like I had when I had first gotten here, and I didn’t feel much better.”
“Just another day.” Fluttershy walked over to the kitchen area, and pulled out some kind of liquid in a pitcher. “Then you can go outside.” She came over and put the pitcher down on the bedside table, then proceeded to help me up onto the futon. “Drink this.”
She flew slightly above me and tilted the pitcher toward my mouth. I opened my mouth and the liquid dripped in slowly. I swallowed it, and loudly gulped. It tasted a bit like french fries, mixed with sage and burnt plastic. I spat on the ground in disgust. “What was that?”
She pulled back defensively and put down the jug. “More of the potion from Zecora.”
“It tasted different this time... you sure that’s what you gave me?”
“Oh, I’m sure...” she took the jug back to the cabinet where she had gotten it from. She shook her head lightly from side to side, then flew back and sat just in front of me. “So... who was your flying teacher in Cloudsdale?” Her eyes got wide, to make like she was interested, but she looked a little saddened by what she was talking about.
I sighed heavily. “Look,” I told her. “I’m not from Clidesdale--”
“Cloudsdale.”
“Whatever... I’m not from there. I’m not from this land--”
“What land?”
“Wherevere ‘here’ is!” I swung my front legs around violently, to signify the environment around us. “I’m from another world.” I paused and breathed in deeply. “I was testing an interdimensional travel machine, and I left my watch on, which screwed it up... and, well, here I am. As a horse.”
She stared blankly at me, trying to take the strange story in. “You mean... you weren’t a pony before?” She pulled backward a little.
“I was a human, and I need to get back to my world. Earth.” I moved to the edge of the furniture, and looked her straight in the eyes. “I am a human, and I... I’m trapped here until Forrester--” She cocked her head off to the side at the name. “Uh, the guy who made the travel machine...” Fluttershy pulled her head back straight and nodded a little. “Can take me back.”
“Twilight once told me there were other worlds,” Fluttershy looked straight upward. “She said that each star in heaven has its own set of planets, and some of the planets might have life, too!” She kept staring upward at the ceiling.
Twilight, once again thrust into my life. “What... what is Twilight really like? I mean, when I just heard her talk, she kind of sounded like a total--” I stopped and looked in her eyes. Thankfully, I stopped myself before the obscenity reached my lips. “Er, snob.”
“Oh, no! I mean, Rarity is like that a little bit, but not Twilight!” She had wide eyes, and she was shaking her head from side to side. Her hair, though, barely swayed with the motion of her head. I kind of liked how her hair could stay in one style, no matter what. What would it look like if it was spread out, and totally out of order?
God, I had to stop thinking about her like that. I wasn’t going to fall for a pony. Though, still, I couldn’t help but be in awe of her beauty. I ignored my feelings and concentrated on her phrase alone
“‘Rarity is a little’?” I pulled in a little closer. “Is that like a... saying  that you ponies have?” Rarity in this world could mean anything! I wouldn’t have known, considering the only glimpse of this world that I had was this house.
“No, um, Rarity is actually one of my friends. She designs clothes.”
“So, um,” I leaned to the side to see her entire body. Not a garment was present. “Does that mean we are both completely nude right now?” Her face turned a bright pinkish-red. “Well, I mean, I hadn’t exactly, you know, though about some pony making me some clothes...”
“Well, really, we only wear dresses and other clothes sometimes, like on special occasions,” Her fave was only slightly less red than it was. “Formal clothes, usually exhibiting French couture, as Rarity says.”
“How do you know about France?” Was I actually still on Earth? “If something’s French, then it came from France, which is on my planet.” I slowly stepped toward her, and spoke sternly. “How... do... you... know... about... France?”
She pulled back. “Well, French is just a word to me, just an adjective...” She squeaked a little. “It’s just something we say, I don’t know how to...” She squeaked again.
For them to know what ‘French’ was, someone needed to have told them. Someone from my world. That could only mean one thing.
Someone had indeed come from Earth, and given knowledge to these ponies. And considering the circumstances, they were probably still present.