//------------------------------//
// Chapter XII: Simply Human 
// Story: A New Potential 
// by EnigmaShade 
//------------------------------//


Part III: Remnants
Chapter II: Simply Human


“God damn,” Stellis said again, “God fucking damn, man.”
The rest of the ponies looked at him in confusion due to his vocabulary—none of the words being in theirs. I couldn’t bury the smile seeing one of my best friends that I was pretty sure was dead, “Man, you won’t believe how awesome it is.”
“I can imagine,” He looked me up and down for the fiftieth time, “You look like a goddamn cartoon with those colors, man.”
“And we don’t look like this dimension’s equines either,” I said shaking my head still smiling, “Man, I thought you were dead! Where’s your family?”
His face dropped slowly and started rubbing his slightly bearded chin, “They uh… They didn’t make it. When we got separated during that ryack bombing run, we assumed you would find your way to us, so we took off. Man… but Luci walked into a landmine with Yumi in her arms… Francis got out of my grip and ran to where the bomb exploded and… a sniper just…”
He took in a sharp breath. He looked broken down one second, but he immediately hid any apparent emotions, becoming a stone cold man again, “Raymie and I took off. I had to keep him muffled because he wouldn’t keep quiet. We made it here a few years later. All that time we survived. I took him hunting with me a couple months ago. One of the fuckin’ infected clawed him open, just deep enough to hit the jugular… All those years. All those fuckin’ years and he dies by a scratch…”
I put my hoof on his shoulder, “I’m sorry, man… I wish I—“
“No,” He said, back to his stone mood, “You’re here now, not everything is lost. What about Isabelle? Where’s she?”
“She’s back in Equestria now,” I said, “Her name is Sapphire now.”
He shook his head, “What the fuck is an Equestria?”
“The world where I went,” I said, “The one Jason dreamed about.”
He nodded at the floor then looked behind me to the rest of the ponies, “I’m guessing these are your cohorts?”
I smiled and turned my head around at the ponies quietly talking amongst themselves and with the other human leaders, “Yeah.”
“They speak English?”
“They call it Basic,” I explained, “But they speak the same language, yes.”
He walked past me, “Good morning, ponies. My name is Simon Stellis. I’m the leader of this camp. It is a pleasure to have you with us.”
Everypony introduced themselves but Fluttershy. Stellis looked at her expectantly, but she looked away shyly. He turned around and gave me a questioning look, so I explained, “She’s nervous. You tend to have a bit of an intimidating demeanor, man.”
“Well, care to introduce me then?”
I walked next to her and pulled her close to me, “This is Fluttershy. She’s a veterinarian in Ponyville.”
He nodded and looked around at the ponies and spoke as if they were not sitting right in front of him, “What are your relationships with them?”
“Barrier is the brother-in-tradition and bodyguard of my teacher,” I explained.
“She important?”
“She’s the most important in our dimension,” I said, “We’re all her students in a way. Twilight and Pinkie are two of my best friends.”
Stellis gave a slight bow to them, “And the shy one?”
“Fluttershy is my wife,” I said, making his eyebrows lift in surprise, “We have been together for nine seasons but married only a few days ago.”
He put out his hand for a handshake before realizing she didn’t have a hand. Before he could retract his hand, Fluttershy stuck out her hoof. He grabbed her hoof awkwardly and shook it, “It’s very nice to meet you. I hope that we get along in the future.”
Fluttershy spoke quietly, “I don’t see any problems. Shade always talked highly of you.”
“Shade,” He questioned, “Who’s Shade?”
I stood back up, “I am. My name is now Enigma Shade. Human names just don’t work in Equestria.”
“Something that’s been bothering me,” Stellis said changing the topic quickly, “Why are you here?”
“You guys are the very last humans on the face of the earth,” I said. The group had looks of shock, sadness, and anger from my claim.
“How do you know?”
I shook my head, “For the past year and a half the most powerful scientists and magicians in Equestria scoured the earth for human life. This encampment is the final remnants of the human race. They tried over and over and over, but you guys are all that’s left.”
The old man let out a long breath, “Is there any chance of error?”
“Not even the slightest margin of error,” Twilight said, “The only way they could have missed somepony is if they were within ten meters of the borders of this encampment.”
Nhung spoke up when it went silent for too long, “What does that have to do with why you’re here?”
“You’re a bright girl, Nhung,” Twilight said, “Maybe I can take you on as my student when you’re old enough.”
Nhung smiled at the compliment and I explained to her, “Well, we want to bring you guys to our world. You guys won’t last long here, so we’ll share our world and give you refuge. I’m sure you’ll get along well with my daughter.”
“And how would you do that,” Stellis asked.
“The same machine that brought me there,” I said.
“And how do we know that it worked,” A middle aged man said, “If these scientists are as great as you say, they could have easily made a drone of your mind.”
“What’s a drone,” Twilight asked.
“It’s a robot, like in those science fiction books in the library about machine ponies,” I explained, “They think I’m a machine or an empty shell or something that you guys are controlling.”
Barry broke into the conversation, “I told you that I could change him back to his original form for a few hours. You can call in the whole encampment if you want to.”
“We’ll call everyone,” Stellis said, heading toward the door, “I know it’s you, man, but this will make everybody else feel better about the whole thing.”

*

Pinkie Pie hopped around the crowd happily getting to know each and every one of the humans. Fluttershy never left my side and half the time she rode on my back. Barry and Twilight meditated while I carried Fluttershy and Nhung around. Nhung asked Fluttershy all about Equestria. Fluttershy explained everything in the motherly tone that she had.
Nhung got quiet for a moment before asking, “Do I get to be a pony?”
“Of course, sweetie,” Fluttershy said, “You’ll turn into a pony on your way there, just like what Shade did.”
Nhung poked my ear, “Does it hurt?”
I looked back at her, “Not in the slightest. You pretty much fall asleep a human and wake up a pony a second later.”
“What would I be,” She asked, “Would I have wings or a horn or none or both or something different?”
“My guess is unicorn,” I said and Fluttershy agreed with me, “If you have visions like you said, you’ll be a very powerful unicorn.”
“So why are you a pegasus,” Nhung asked. She got extremely quiet and hunkered down when we walked past a man setting up a platform for the transformation. It was the fourth time she’s done it, but she never did the same when we came across women. I figured it was best to keep the subject on Equestria.
“Well, I drew out my body design on the program, but when I got to Equestria, everything changed. I put wings on myself before, but I took them off thinking that Equestria wouldn’t have pegasi,” She rose up again, listening to my tale, “but when I got there, I had wings and my red stripes were in random places and not where I put them. I also grew a lot.”
“Twice his original size to be exact,” Fluttershy said.
“So the program does something,” I explained. “Maybe it looks into your soul or something, but whatever it does, it makes us who we really are.”
We walked past a large, dark skinned man, and Nhung hunkered down again before she could ask her next question. When the large man passed, Fluttershy asked the question neither of us really wanted to ask, “Are you afraid of guys, sweetie?”
I found a nice quiet place and sat down to let the two off of my back. Nhung was quiet at first, but she nodded, “After being in custody for so long… They all look the same…”
“Then why aren’t you afraid of Shade,” Fluttershy asked.
Nhung smiled and looked up at me, “Well, he may look intimidating… but… You see it, don’t you Ms. Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy looked up at me and smiled, “I saw it when we first met.”
“Saw what,” I asked her. They both gave me an evil grin, “What?”
“I can’t explain it with words,” Nhung said, “You just have this… aura…”
Before I could press further, Nhung’s mother stepped out from between two buildings looking nervously around. She spotted us and relief flooded her face, “Nhung, bạn đang làm gì?”
She looked up at me and over to Fluttershy with a nervous look. She kept talking back and forth to Nhung in Vietnamese. Most of the words I could make out, but I still missed quite a bit of it with the speed of her words. After a moment of conversation between her and her daughter, she said in Vietnamese, “Come, I fear they may be dangerous. Please, do not wander off like that again!”
“Tôi xin lỗi đã làm bạn lo lắng về con gái của,” I said, I am sorry to have made you worry about your daughter. The mother froze and turned around to me. I continued in Vietnamese as Fluttershy looked at me with an amazed expression, “I mean no harm to any human here. I mean only to help, and your daughter is a bright and receptive child. We act only as teachers for her.”
“Bạn nói... việt?” You speak… Vietnamese?
“Mostly,” I said in English, sensing she knew the language, “I was once human, Ma’am. I was taught Vietnamese in my time as a US Airman.”
“How do I know,” She spoke with a thick accent, “You speak the truth?”
“At what point would it be a good idea to attack hundreds of armed humans?”
She thought about it a moment, but Fluttershy spoke before she could, “Nhung is a smart young filly. Perhaps we can take her under our wings to protect her and teach her. We can be her bodyguards from any dangers this encampment may still have.”
Nhung’s mother nodded, “I do not trust Mr. Stellis. I do not trust you, but I do not trust him more. Thanh is not so powerful to stop him, but you are. Maybe I will take your offer.”
“Your name is Thanh,” I asked, she nodded but wouldn’t make eye contact, “I will protect her.”
Nhung wriggled free of her mother’s grasp and hugged my leg. Thanh watched from where she stood, “She is gifted. If she trusts you, then maybe I should too.”
She bowed humbly to us and limped away. We tried questioning Nhung, but she refused to say anything else. Instead, she leaned on us or just played in the dirt. About twenty minutes later, Stellis found us and told us the stage and materials were ready for the presentation and transformation. Nhung silently climbed onto my back. I brought her to her mother, who was on her way to join the crowd, and told her it was best for Nhung to stay with her than follow us to the stage. Twilight caught up to us.
“You ready for this, Shade,” She asked. She looked at Fluttershy as if sensing something.
“Is it gonna hurt,” I asked.
Twilight walked quietly. This made me quite nervous. After a minute, Fluttershy nudged her. She sighed, “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t…”
I nodded. I’d been shot, burned, and beaten to a pulp in my time in the military and the police force—I could handle this. Fluttershy nudged Twilight again and whispered something. Twilight shook her head and gave her a friendly foreleg over the shoulder along with a kindly smile.
I stepped up to the stage where Stellis stood. He shouted over the crowd when I approached, “Attention! Attention everyone! Thank you. As you all know, we have been visited by a strange group. A group of equines who claim to be from another dimension.”
The crowd chuckled and seemed disbelieving. Stellis held up his hand, “The problem is, they claim have proof of this. This gathering is to prove once and for all if these…ponies…are telling us the truth.”
The crowd gave more disbelieving chatter. Once again, Stellis held up his hand to silence the crowd, “The Chamber has agreed with me on this. We will allow them to prove themselves.”
He walked closer to me and leaned his elbow, “This…I believe he called himself a pegasus…Anyway, this pegasus claims to be a good friend of mine from when I served in the police in California. His name is now Enigma Shade. He told me to not call him by his old name, so I will honor this wish. His bodyguard friend has the ability to change him back to his form from before he was transformed into this animalistic form for twelve hours. I will be the final judge. If the story checks out, we will welcome them into our humble village. So, Enigma, any words before this?”
“Yes,” I stepped forward, making him take his elbow out of my rib, “This does seem hard to believe, but I will prove it to you. After the transformation, if I can still stand, I will continue this speech, but right now…I just wanna get it over with.”
The crowd’s chatter built up again. Barry walked up the stage with Twilight next to him. She promised to oversee the transformation just in case she needed to lend a bit more magic—whatever was left in her, anyway.
“You ready, Shade,” Barry asked, the scarily serious look on his face made me shiver.
I nodded, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
He nodded and set his horn on my head and took a few steps back, “Sorry about this.”
Sparks shot out of his horn and a tingling sensation came over my body. A terrible sensation of pins and needles overcame my body as hair sank into it and disappeared. A sharp, agonizing pain spread over my hooves as they cracked and formed five smaller appendages with a black shell over them. I gritted my teeth, but soon regretted it. A wicked stabbing pain filled my mouth. My teeth felt like they were being chiseled away at by an invisible hammer. My tongue burned as it shrank along with the rest of my mouth. I let out a silent scream as my organs churned inside me, rearranging themselves and deleting the unneeded ones while making room for others. My voice returned when my throat stopped burning and my silent scream became a loud, agonizing one. Soon, I could not hear myself and my head pounded with pain worse than any migraine. My ears shrunk and manipulated themselves to equal height of my eyes. My nose grew outwards and my ribs cracked and became smaller. I writhed on the floor in agony. I could not sense any of the world around me when the pain stopped. All of my legs felt as if worms were slithering crawling between each muscle fiber, making them smaller in size and turning into more human versions. After a few more moments, my senses returned.
I opened my eyes to find myself facing away from the crowd and at a horrified Fluttershy. I tied to move my mouth, but it would not obey me. A couple moments later a blanket fell over me. Twilight stepped into my sight and her horn glowed a beautiful purple right next to my eye.
“His vitals are the same as the rest of you humans,” She said, “Giving exception to a faster heartbeat.”
Stellis’ voice came next. He spoke with a weak voice to the crowd behind me, “This is, in fact, the man that I worked with all those years ago.”
The crowd broke into loud chatter, making me flinch at the abrupt sound. Twilight lay her hoof over my exposed ear to block out the noise. I moved my arm slowly from under the blanket to Twilight’s foreleg.
“Your skin is,” I coughed a couple times, trying to get used to the new lungs and vocal chords, “So very soft…”
Twilight smiled and stepped away when Fluttershy came up to me, “Are you okay, Shadey?”
I moved my hand to her face, “You’re soft too… Really, really soft…”
I shivered and Fluttershy jolted back, probably afraid that she had hurt me somehow. Twilight called out to the audience, “Where are the clothes he was offered?”
A box landed in front of me and a few men lifted me off the stage into a dead area to help me dress. By the time I was fully dressed, I could stand on my own, but just barely. Every chance I got, I looked at my hands. It was awkward having fingers. Why would anypony need these useless contraptions?
The small group led me back to the stage and helped me walk up the steps. Fluttershy was at my side immediately and refused to leave it. Stellis nodded at me with a huge grin and spoke to the crowd, “See everybody? Tough as nails.”
“Everypony,” I said to the crowd, sounding drunk and weak. A woman I recognized handed me a cup of water and stepped back. I shook my head to clear the dizzy feeling I had suddenly. My fingers worked just like Grip. I guzzled the water and felt instantly better, “Oh, Dear Celestia, that’s good.”
A few people in the crowd laughed. Stellis walked over to me and pat me on the back and helped me stand, “You were gonna tell us something?”
I pushed him away, telling him that I could stand on my own. I looked up at the crowd, “I did not lie when I said I made it to Equestria. I built a machine that turned me into a pegasus and sent me to this new land in order to escape with my life. I have come here to extend this offer to you. I want to bring all of you with me to this new land. I will help you build this machine again, and we will teach you. We want nothing more than to save you from this dying world.”
The crowd remained silent until an older man spoke up, “And what if we don’t want to go to Equestria?”
“That’s up to you,” I said, “But I will caution you that you will not survive much longer in this world. We merely want to extend a hoof of friendship and to give sanctuary to all in need. Our mother, our teacher, sent us here to save you. This is an offer. We will not force you to take it.”
“Can we remain human,” A female called out.
“Unfortunately, you cannot,” I explained, which caused an uproar in the crowd. Stellis raised his hand to silence the crowd, and they did. I continued, “I can create two different machines. One machine to transform you into one of us, instantly and painlessly, to prove to you we mean no harm and another machine to transport all creatures with pony DNA into our realm.”
The crowd started its chatter again. After a moment, another voice rang out from beside me. Nhung was speaking, but I did not notice her come up to me. She grabbed my hand and held it tight, which was an odd sight for the crowd—her hugging a male, “He’s right. I want to go with him.”
After another uproar, I held up my hand just as Stellis did, and the crowd went dead silent, “I would love to talk more about this, but the reverse-transformation has taken a lot of my energy. I must rest, and soon.”
Stellis called out to the crowd, “We have many spare rooms throughout the village, but no empty houses. Is anybody here willing to spare a room?”
Nhung immediately raised her hand, “We have three empty rooms from the Downzer and the Felix families. We can fit all of them.”
Stellis looked down at the woman who had handed me the water, which turned out to be Nhung’s mother, and she nodded. Stellis clapped his hands, “It is settled then. The ponies will stay with the Nguyens. As for everybody else, please show our guests your best hospitality. We will discuss this matter in detail tomorrow.”

*

When the crowd was dispersed, I fell to the ground, and Twilight and Fluttershy ended up carrying me on their backs back to Nhung’s house. Pinkie Pie bounced backwards and talked to me the whole way there to try to cheer me up.
“Wowie, Shade, you looked awesome out there,” She bounced circles around Fluttershy and Twilight. Barry dragged himself forward, wore out from the excessive magic use. Pinkie tried talking to Nhung when I refused to respond to her hyperactivity, “Hey, little filly, you don’t look very happy. Why aren’t you happy?”
“I’m never happy,” Nhung said, and I groaned, failing at showing sympathy. She pat my head and returned her attention to the hyperactive pink pony, “But I think that if you guys can build those machines… maybe I can be happy in your world. If Ms. Twilight will still take me up as her student, of course.”
Twilight chuckled, “Me and my fiancé would love to take you on as our student. We both are very good with magic.”
“You have to introduce me, then,” Nhung said. I nudged Twilight to keep her from mentioning any more about Luna.
Nhung patted her mother, “Mama, do you want to go to Equestria?”
Thanh walked quietly at first, “I do not want to become a pony, but I will follow you always, con gái tôi.”
Thanh led Twilight and Fluttershy to a bed to lay me on. They lay me on top of a mattress and Nhung jumped on with me, refusing to leave my side.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a mattress,” I said. Nhung sat in front of me with her legs crossed, and Fluttershy soon joined her. Pinkie bounced off with Thanh and Barry to find a room for them.
“I suppose I’ll sleep alone,” Twilight said.
“No,” Nhung shook her head at Twilight, “You can stay with me in my room. I don’t want any of you ponies to be alone.”
Twilight smiled for a brief second before her face fell and went blank. Nhung hopped off of the bed and stepped in front of Twilight, calling her name. She snapped her fingers and looked back at us for answers. After three minutes, Twilight shook her head and looked at us, “That was a message from Celestia. She says she’s watching, and… she’s very proud of you, Shade.”
I felt a smile creep across my face, but Twilight wasn’t done, “Sapphire and Dash also want to share how proud they are of you.”
“Who are they,” Nhung asked.
“My daughter,” I explained, “And one of my best friends.”
Nhung nodded and looked back to Twilight, “Is that all?”
“The rest is for me and Barry, don’t worry,” Twilight smiled.
I closed my eyes and groaned, “What time is it?”
Nhung looked up at a wall, “It’s 1400.”
I groaned again, “It feels like so much longer than that…”
Fluttershy pet my head, pushing my hair away from my face, “I always wondered what you looked like before you became Shade. You’re still cute.”
Her comment brought a smile to my face. Twilight laughed and agreed before excusing herself to give Barry his message.
“Hey Fluttershy,” I said, “What did you whisper to Twi before the transformation.”
She looked away and then back at me, “I was afraid it would change you more than just physically… I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t.”
“I’m still me, sweetheart,” I said and I lifted my free arm, asking for a hug. She obliged and we quickly changed the subject.
We talked for the next couple hours. Twilight rejoined us after she gave Barry the message. Nhung left an hour or two in and came back with a bit of food to keep me from falling ill.
“So what do you do in Equestria,” Nhung asked after I finished my short dinner of broccoli soup.
I lay back, my muscles sore as hell, “I’m kinda like a cop.”
“What kinda cop?”
“The chief,” I said with a smile, “I built the Equestria police force.”
“So what do you do, then,” She asked, “I see what your job is, but what do you do?”
I closed my eyes a second, feeling dizzy, “I deal with the victims of different crimes. I help them get over it and make sure the pony that did the crime is punished for it.”
She nodded slowly, “What would you do if a pony killed another pony?”
“That’s never happened,” I said, “For many years no murder was ever reported.”
“What about rape?”
“It all depends,” I sat up, “A couple times we’ve kicked them out of town. A couple other times I’ve had to stop my younger police and other citizens from beating the rapist to a pulp.”
“You’re too kind…”
Twilight looked away, hiding her agreement. Fluttershy looked at her with a confused look, “What do you mean?”
“They deserve nothing less than a slow and agonizing death,” Her whole demeanor changed from a cute young girl to a terrified and hateful teenager.
“Why do you say that,” Fluttershy was the only one who seemed to not understand.
Nhung’s face twisted in anger, but it went to a resigned sadness when she started explaining, “Mama and I were new to America. We lived in California for a year before the Chinese invaded. We managed to escape to Nevada to a Templar Order safety camp.”
She stared at the floor quietly and didn’t talk for several minutes, but she finally continued, “The camp was forced to evacuate, but a few men were told to stay. Mama and I were tied to our beds when we woke up. The camp was empty except for those men…For two years they beat and raped us…
“One of the men showed a bit of humanity and brought us some leftover food, but when his friends found out, they impaled him in front of us. I still remember what he told me that night. ‘You are a strong young woman,’ he told me, ‘Just remember that. You are greater than any of those men up there.’”
Twilight refused to look up from the ground, and Fluttershy stared in horror as she told her story. I listened and refused to show any emotion. Nhung wiped her eyes, “I don’t even remember his name…but he helped me fight back. He made me a rebel, but only until they broke me again...”
She took a shaky breath in, “Three men were ‘teaching me a lesson’ one night…I finally had enough. I bit down hard on him. I almost took it off before he knocked me out…I was chained to the wall when I woke back up. The man I bit came up to me and just started hitting me. His buddies watched and he just kept hitting me. I remember I could see the floor and in front of me. I could see my knees real close up. I know why now, but I didn’t then. I passed out again, and when I woke up, my eye was gone. They made sure I was awake before they took out my left eye. They took a hot—“
Nhung continued to describe in graphic detail all of the horrible things they had done to her over the months she was locked away in the basement of that encampment. She broke off mid-sentence a couple stories later. She sat and let the tears fall from her eyes—lost in the past. I set my shaky hand on her shoulder and she snapped back to reality, “You don’t have to say anymore, Nhung.”
She looked at me surprised. She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve, “I’m sorry.”
Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Nhung and pulled her into a hug. Nhung didn’t fight it—instead she wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and cried into her shoulder. Twilight continued to stare at the ground.
Nhung pulled away from Fluttershy after a few minutes and gave a short laugh, “I can actually cry again.”
Nhung’s mother knocked on the door and told Nhung to go get her dinner. She hopped off of the bed and thanked us, but she stopped before opening the door. She ran over to Twilight and wrapped her arms around the shell-shocked unicorn, “Thank you for giving me back my sight… I love you.”
Twilight never looked up from the floor, even as Nhung ran out the door. Fluttershy and I shared a glance, “Twilight?”
She looked up with red, teary eyes, “How could anypony… How could they…”
I sat up slowly as she continued to stutter out her thoughts, “She is just so innocent… She is just… so innocent…”
I remembered from several seasons of talking to Twilight that she had a very vivid imagination. Nhung’s story must have been more than horrifying for Twilight. She imagined every single event whether she wanted to or not. I yanked the blankets off of me and slid my legs to the floor. Fluttershy tried to stop me, but I shooed her off.
“This is—” she hiccupped, “Not right…”
I walked over to her—my legs made of jelly. When I was right in front of her, I fell to my knees so that I was eye level with her. I raised my shaky arms and wrapped them around her and let my chin rest on her shoulder. She let me hug her, but she still muttered to herself, “How could there be so much evil…”
I let her cry in our embrace. Fluttershy sat back and watched, not knowing what to do. I pet Twilight’s back to calm her. She may have seen some terrible things in Equestria dealing with her sister, but it did not compare to the horrors Nhung had to live through. The story did not shock me. It disturbed me greatly, but it was not shocking. From working in the Special Victims Unit for several years, I had seen much more horrible things than what had happened to Nhung.
But I wasn’t about to tell anypony that.