I felt an unbearable sadness, as I witnessed that landscape - Solo Wing Pixy
Pixy groaned as he awoke from his sleep. A reporter had just left, interviewing him about the events during a war he wished he could just forget about. Though Pixy can't say he knows how he found him. He was glad he did, oddly enough being interviewed about it gave a therapeutic sense of closure for him. He looked around the run down room he hunkered in for the night, water from the rain outside made the distinct sound drop, drop, drop. Pixy then proceeded to get up and crack his back.
"Ahh, yea that's the stuff right there", he groaned in pleasure, while the cot he was sleeping on was not as bad as some of the surfaces Pixy has slept on, it certainly was no Hilton.
"Guess it's time to get moving, the border is about five miles from here.", Pixy said to himself as he put on his shirt and jacket. He grabbed his AK-47 which was hanging on the wall. Another war had broken out throughout the continent. So Pixy had to be careful or else he may be mistaken for a soldier with his AK-47. Perhaps it would have been better to make the trek unarmed, but Pixy knew that the local insurgents just across the border were very unfriendly to any foreigners. Especially Belkans. Then considering how close he was to the border, going unarmed was just as dangerous. Regardless he was dead set on getting to that border. It's all that has had him going the past few months. To visit every border on the continent, the world, it was the only motivation he had in order to get up in the morning. As he put on his boots and stepped out the ruins of the home he slept in that night. He set forth on his journey to find his next border.
~~~~~~~~~~
As Pixy kept his walk to the border between Erusua and Delarus. Perhaps his journey to find a type of closure was a fool's errand. What he did, well he knew many wouldn't have survived... He just rubbed his head as he kept walking, he looked at the sky as he moved down the old road. A smile crept to his face as he reminisced about his days being a fighter pilot. It had been years since he flew in those old skies, yet not a day went by that he hasn't thought about it. His thoughts then returned the philosophical reasoning on to why he even was on this journey. Borders. Years spent, simply traveling to different countries to see every border. Why the hell, am I still doing this?, Pixy thought to himself as he halted in the road.
Perhaps the world doesn't need borders, but would getting rid of them really change anything? Sure we can cut all territorial ties between countries but a cultural division would still remain. You can't whisk away, thousands of years of prejudice and hatred. The deep religious ties and beliefs that conflicted with each other. The world would be a better place if everyone trusted one another., Pixy thought to himself. A long sigh then escaped his body as he continued to walk. But... That'll never happen... At least not in my lifetime. Maybe there's the answer I've been looking for for all these years..." All the borders he's seem, all he has ever asked himself was,
Why do you exist?
Maybe he knew now that the real reason they existed, it wasn't to cause war and chaos. Rather, to cause a facade of security and peace. What better way to live your life, than to never meet someone who doesn't share your beliefs? As long as people live their life their way, the way they desire. They would be content with it for rest of their miserable lives, they wouldn't care if they were born in and died in the same square mile. As long as they believed they were safe.
Pixy grimaced at that thought, Hell of a bittersweet lesson.
Pixy was approaching, the final border in his quest to travel to every border on the planet. It had taken him years, and though his final lesson on it may not have been 100% satisfying. Maybe those beliefs were enough, or at least that's what he's come to believe. Maybe now he could finally return to his homeland, of Belka. Find a nice girl, and settle down, get a job doing something, though flying was out of the picture. He doubted he could ever return to the sky after what happened during the war. He enjoyed working on his F-15C back in the day. He customized it pretty heavily, it wasn't a normal F-15C, it had some of the most advanced aerodynamic systems money could buy. That jet could hold such slow speeds it could essentially hover while he strafed his targets of course he couldn't hold if for long, it would stall after a few seconds. Then again, a few seconds was all he needed.
"I wonder what happened to her...", Pixy said to no one in particular, after the war he left it behind, it didn't really matter now though, he wasn't flying ever again. Especially not in that jet, an F-15C couldn't even keep up in today's world. With all these new stealth fighters and such, it would be like flying an F-4 Phantom back during the war he fought in. An F-15C was in his opinion the greatest jet of all time, but he knew the odds of an F-15C beating a F-22 or T-50 in a dogfight was minimal at least.
As Pixy kept thinking to himself over his lost F-15C, he didn't even notice he had reached the border. It was funny actually, he looked around and saw no one in sight, just a small abandoned guard post by the road. Everyone must have evacuated because of the war... ,Pixy thought. He was essentially in the flat end of no where, and with the 15 mile trip warring on him, he decided to take a quick rest. He went into the abandoned guard station, and found to his pleasure a bottle of whiskey and a nice leather chair. He sat down and rested his trusty AK-47 on the wall, and cracked open the bottle. It tastes pretty dusty, but hell, after 5 years of traveling, I'll take it. I'm pretty sure from here I can go straight into Eras-, Pixy was thinking when suddenly he heard the distant hum of an engine. He quickly sat up and grabbed his AK-47, turned off the safety and sat behind the wall. God please don't let them be insurgents, and if by you by some damn sense of karma make them, don't let them stop., he thought in his mind. He looked up, Yep insurgents, damn it. he hid back down when the truck came to a stop You've gotta be kidding me!, he thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. When he heard 5 distinct male voices.
"Jacob go check that guard post for anything useful for scrap. We are gonna need every bit for new weapons", said the leader, or what Pixy guessed was the leader.
Oh come on! This is just getting ridiculous! , Pixie thought to himself as he gripped his AK-47.
As the man, who was apparently Jacob started moving towards the guard station Pixie had to think quickly, Erusua was not a country known to be friendly to non-Erusuans. Plus considering these were Insurgents they were going to shoot on sight. His best bet was to surprise attack them, pop and spray them down. Pixy took a deep breath and suddenly popped up and pointed at them and shouted,
"Freeze!"
To his surprise everyone did freeze though probably just in shock, but however that soon wore off as they then raised their weapons and started to fire. Pixy ducked down and took cover as they started firing. He raised up and started firing back, taking down one of the insurgents who was hiding behind the car. Before a lone bullet hit him in the shoulder,
"Damn it, that hurts!" he cursed to himself before he got back up and started laying down more fire on the truck, hitting the tires, since he may as well make the journey to town harder since he was dying anyway, Damn, so close to home too, he thought. When finally one other bullet hit him straight in the gut, causing him to fall down to the ground, but he still had some fight left in him. As he remembered he had a small frag grenade in his left pouch. He took it out bit them pin and tossed it shouting through a pained voice,
"Take that you Eruasian bastards!", as he then heard a loud explosion followed by the screams of the men who had to be dead, Pixy layed there in a pool of his blood. He then hunched himself up on the wall. A lot of things rushed through his head as he sat there bleeding out, he thought of his family, he thought of Belka, he thought of the war. He wondered if when he died, he could fly. He chuckled at the thought of flying with the angels.
He then violently coughed which made him flinch in pain, the large hole in his gut didn't make any movement come without great pain. He dragged himself outside so he could possibly see the sky one last time before he went and joined his mother and father. Groaning as he pulled himself outside he looked around and saw the five insurgents dead, but he paid no mind to them, instead he just focused on one little cloud that reminded him of a, large turtle. When suddenly a large bolt of a rainbow colored lighting struck Pixy squarely in the face which then was met with blackness.
~~~~~~~~~
Pixy woke up suddenly in a large field gasping for air. He quickly checked his stomach for bleeding, but found nothing. Am I dead? he thought to himself. What else could this be? It had to be the afterlife, he was no longer in the flat end middle no where. He was on a low lying hill surrounded by... Burn marks? He stood up, quickly noticing his AK-47 missing, and took a quick survey. A black ring surrounded him, it looked as if there was an explosion... And he was the epicenter of it? He then quickly slapped himself in the face to make sure he wasn't dead or in some type of coma, but instead found just the burning stinging sensation of a slap.
Ok, Larry you seen some pretty crazy things in your years but, what the actual hell is this! , he thought
He looked around using his skills of navigation and found that it was sometime around midday. He decided to head down hill, that's where he would find water, and where you find water, you find civilization. He started walking down the low lying hills towards a tree line. He made a few observations as well, one the air was way too clean, he hadn't breathed air like this since he was a little boy in Belka. Also the environment was a blush green forest, which was odd considering he was just in a wasteland a few moments ago. Also the world around him looked almost... Animated? The colors just seemed way too pastel.
He made it to the tree line and kept his solid pace when he heard two feminine voices, Thank god, people, maybe they know where I am., he thought. However when he pushed through the bushes he found not two women like he was expecting, but two horses? He then made eye contact with two horses, that very obviously were not normal, considering one had a coat of yellow and a mane of pink. And the other had a rainbow colored mane and cyan coat?
"What in the name of hell?!"
"What in the name of hay?!"
"You talk?!", both Pixy and the rainbow maned one said together,
"Ya of course!", the both said together again, looking at each other with eyes that were both increasing in size.
"Okay hold on here before my head completely shuts down, where in the hell am I?!", Pixy asked fearing the answer.
"Equestria, where else?", the rainbow one said confused,
That is when Pixy's body decided to shut down from both the exhaustion of nearly dying and finding out he was in some strange purgatory called Equestira, which was inhabited by talking horses.
~~~~~~~~~
*Beep*, *Beep*, *Beep*, Pixy groaned as he heard the trademark sound of a hospital room. He must have been found after he was shot, and someone taken to the hospital in time before he died of complete blood loss. Well, at least I'm not dead., Pixy thought as he closed his eyes tightly at the bright lights. Before then sighing and opening them and seeing a white tiled ceiling. He perched himself up and somehow felt no pain in his stomach area. Odd, there isn't any pain, I must be on some serious pain killers., Pixy thought before looking at his stomach and seeing no scar where he was shot. Okay something is wrong!, Pixy started to panic as he tried to remember the events that led to him arriving in this hospital. The guard station, the insurgents, the gunshot wound, and a... field? Pixy's head started to throb as he recalled waking in a field and seeing a group of horses... Horses.... Horses? HORSES?!
Pixy immediately called out, "NURSE! ANYONE! HELP!"
When suddenly a white horse with a cross on its backside came in,
"Yes? Is there anything you need?"
Pixy then started mumbling a lot of words very quickly, then somehow managing to get out
"You talk!?"
"Why, yes I do, and if you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?", the white horse said curiously.
"What do you mean what am I?!", Pixy said panicking, as his heart rate started to increase.
"Well, no offense I've never seen a creature like you before, I assume you're from across the ocean?", she asked eyeing a clipboard.
"Listen lady, I don't know what you're talking about, because firstly you're a talking horse, and secondly I am definitely not from across an ocean, I have absolutely no idea where I am, and frankly I am assuming I am dead and this is some crazy purgatory.", Pixy said trying to rationalize his surroundings.
"Well I can assure you, you're not dead, your heart beat monitor over to your left confirms that", the nurse said gesturing to the heart beat monitor next to Pixy, before then continuing, "And you're in Equestria, and don't pass out again, please. One other thing I'm a pony, not a horse, that's extremely racist you giant monkey.", she dead panned.
"What do you mean don't pass out again?", Pixy asked, still rapidly looking around with a nervous look in his eyes.
"Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy the ponies who brought you in, said you fainted after Rainbow Dash told you were in Equestria.", she said before looking back down at her check board.
"Oh hell, so it is true, I died.", Pixy said putting his face in his hands.
"No, we were just over that sir, you're very much alive, but I can tell you have some questions, fortunately for you, another pony named Twilight Sparkle is here to see you, she will answer any questions you may have, and I am assuming she has some for you as well.", the nurse said before looking up at him.
"What about my health, before I came here I had a bad wound in my stomach.", Pixy inquired still not fully understanding how he wasn't dead.
"Well when Rainbow and Fluttershy brought you in you had no obvious injuries besides a mild concussion from your head landing on a rock. You did happen to be missing a bit of blood, however your levels have balanced themselves out, we'll keep you for another night, but then you are free to go.", she said before starting to walk out then stopping, "Hey by the way, what's your name giant monkey?"
"Larry, but everyone just calls me Solo Wing Pixy or Pixy for short.", he said to her.
"That is an odd name, you don't have wings and you're not a pixy.", she said looking at him.
` "Well it's a long story, I'll be sure to tell you it sometime buddy, oh and I'm not a monkey, I'm a human.", he said feeling suddenly feeling a migraine come on, "Oh and hey what about you?"
"Redheart, Nurse Redheart, good to meet you Pixy", she said.
"Likewise Doc and thanks for patching me up", Pixy said to her as she left. When he then heard Redheart say to someone else that he's ready, but don't kill him with questions girls. Pixy then felt a very horrific feeling in the pit of his stomach. It reminded of him the times he was about to be hit by a missile in his jet, that really bad ominous feeling as if you have someone grabbing your insides and squeezing. When suddenly a pink blur suddenly appeared in his face, before Pixy had a chance to react he was overcome with a huge sprung of pink hair in his face and a long string of words that he doubted the best scholars couldn't decipher. Plus... an odd cupcake smell?
"HiwhatsyournameI'mPinkiePieandyou'renewandifyou'renewthanthatmeansyouneedtohaveapartyohnoIbettergodothatbyenicemeetingyou!", the creature from hell said before dissipating as fast as it has come.
"What in the name of god...", Pixie said breathing heavily and holding onto the sides of his bed. Before looking up and seeing the two horses from earlier enter the room, along with three other ones that were purple with purple hair, white with purple hair, and orange with yellow hair. When the purple one spoke,
"Hello, would you mind if I ask you a few questions?", she asked with a hint of trepidation.
"Uh, sure?", Pixy said eyeing the motley group of horses that just entered the room.
"Please excuse the bluntness Mr...?", the purple one began, asking for Pixy's name.
"Larry Foulke, people call me Solo Wing Pixy though, or Pixy for short.", Pixy said repeating himself.
"Alright Pixy, as I said, please excuse the bluntness but what are you?", the purple one asked.
"Could ask you the same lady, but to answer, I'm a human or homo sapien...", Pixy said trailing off as he became lost in the tiles of the hospital ceiling.
"Hu-Man?", the purple one said chewing on the word.
"Just human lady, no pause. Now, a quick question for you, who and what are you?", Pixy said, hopeful to finally get some answers.
"Of course, my apologies my name is Twilight Sparkle I'm a pony, these are my friends Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy", Twilight said gesturing to her 5 friends before continuing, "There's another Pinkie Pie, but she ran off after that... greeting", Twilight said.
"Right...", Pixy said trailing off eyeballing the five suspiciously.
"Hey what are you looking at!", the Rainbow one said with a raspy tomboyish voice.
"Rainbow, that is no way to greet a guest!", a posh refined voice said coming from the white coated pony.
"Soooorrrry", Rainbow said exaggerating the word, before continuing, "Doesn't change the fact that we have no idea what this thing is, or what it wants. It could be some alien invader!", Rainbow said staring daggers at Pixy.
"Rainbow, I'm sure he's not an alien invader, right Mr. Pixy", the yellow coated one asked Pixy.
"I-", was all Pixy got to say before he was interrupted by a thick accented drawl from the orange coated pony started.
"Rainbow it still don't change the fact ya'll are being rude!"
"I really don-", Pixy started before getting interrupted by Twilight.
"GIRLS! Please I'm trying to question him!", she yelled at her friends while pointing at the human who was sitting in his bed staring incredulously at the group..
Pixy just sighed and put his face in his hands Christ, it's like I found a community inhabited by all the six year old little sisters of the world.
"Now, Mr. Pixy can you please tell us how you come to Equestria?, Twilight asked preparing to take notes.
"Well, where do I begin...", Pixy started as he turned his head towards Twilight, before continuing. "I was headed towards a border between two countries back on my planet Strangereal. When I got into a heated firefight with the local insurgents, after I was on the ground dying, I closed my eyes, felt a sharp searing pain, and woke up in a field...", Pixy finished leaving out a few key details, such as how he killed the five insurgents.
"I'm sorry, but firefight? As in you fought with fire? Can you use magic?!", Twilight asked suddenly very excited.
"Is that supposed to be some type of joke?", Pixy asked with a raised eyebrow, before finishing, "A firefight, you know guns, shooting, the whole shtick?", Pixy said moving his hands for emphasis.
"Guns...?", Twilight asked clearly not understanding what Pixy was talking about.
"Yea, guns, you know pew pew", Pixy said gesturing his hands as if he was holding a firearm.
"No, nothing I know of in Equestria matches that.... In-depth description", Twilight said shaking her head.
"Well, definitely not on Strangereal.", Pixy said rubbing his forehead, before a sudden realization hit him. "What a minute... What was that magic thing you guys were talking about!?"
"Magic dummy, can't you see the horns on Twilight and Rarity's noggins?", Rainbow Dash said rolling her eyes.
"Rainbow, darling, you always did know how to make a first impression.", Rarity said staring at blankly.
"Look I don't know what you guys are talking about, but where I'm from, Magic, it doesn't even kinda exist...", Pixy explained looking Twilight with raised eyebrows.
"Strange... Here in Equestria magic is very common. Every form of pony exhibits at least a variation of it. Earth Ponies such as Apple Jack use it to control the soil, Pegasi like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy use it to fly and control the weather, while Unicorns such as myself and Rarity use it concentrated out of our horns.", Twilight explained to Pixy.
"Yeaaaa...", Pixy said trailing on the word, before shaking his head and continuing. "Anyway where was I...? Oh yea, I woke up in a field in what appeared to be the epicenter of a large explosion and wandered my way to those two over there", gesturing to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, "Blacked out and woke up here.", Pixy said finally tapping his fingers on the side of the bed, before biting his lip and continuing, "Listen not to sound rude or anything, but do you have any idea what the hell is going on?", Pixy said hoping for real answers.
"To be honest with you, no. I have no idea how you came to this world. Talk of inter-dimensional travel has always existed in our scientific community, but no real progress on it has been made since Starswirl The Bearded's days. It sounds like you lived on one of these extra-dimensional plains and some type of extreme magical disruption, caused a fission in the fabric of the dimensions. Which led you here.", Twilight said pausing then continuing. "Bad news is, I haven't the faintest idea what caused the disruption, nor how to replicate it, nor how to find your specific dimension. Which means-", Twilight said before Pixy interrupted here
"Which means I'm stuck here...", Pixy said groaning and then having a long winded sigh, before mumbling "Yea sure, why not retire in pony land... Why the hell not..."
"Good news is, I'm not the leading expert in the field of magic in Equestria, the two princesses, Celestia and Luna are far more experienced and knowledgeable than I.", Twilight said optimistically
"Alright, great when do I meet them", Pixy said perking up.
"Bad news... They're both on a diplomatic mission in the Griffon Imperium and won't be back for at least a week.", Twilight said sympathetically
"Yep, should have figured...", Pixy impassively, then continuing "So... What do I do until then?"
"Well... you'll be released from the hospital tomorrow, and for your sleeping situation, I suppose you can stay with me in the town library until the Princesses arrive, and worst case scenario and they can't send you home, I'll help you find more permanent arrangements.", Twilight said.
"Okay then, looks like it's settled... I don't suppose you have any more questions?", Pixy said hopefully.
"Oh plenty more", Twilight said rolling her head, but then seeing Pixy's face paused and then continued, "But... you need to rest, so I'll follow up on any questions tomorrow when I pick you up here in the morning.", Twilight said much to Pixy's gratification.
"Sounds good to me, guess I'll talk to you all later then.", Pixy said looking at the group.
"Absolutely, we'll talk to you later.", Twilight said leaving the room.
"Goodbye alien invader", Rainbow said walking out and waving.
"Get better sugar cube", Apple Jack said walking out.
"Do get better darling, and meet me at my store so we can fix those dreadful garments you're in.", Rarity said to which Pixy eyeballed his jacket.
What's wrong with my jacket...? It's a nice jacket!
"Feel better Mr. Pixy", Fluttershy said kindly as she walked out.
Pixy gave a nod in thanks to the group as he looked out the window to the side of his bed, to see the sun just start to set over the horizon. "Damn... What are the odds.. Still, I can think of worse places to retire, the lack of human championship is gonna suck, but hey I've lived the past five years with minimal contact with the outside world... I'll survive... And damn if that isn't the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen.", Pixy said cracking a toothy smile, before furrowing his brow,
"Still though... This is new."