Wyatt found himself slowly drifting back to consciousness. He had no idea what happened. Had he somehow hit his head at the convention? He looked around and it seemed like he was in a hospital room. He’d recognize the cloying smell of antiseptic in the air anywhere. Wyatt continued to examine his surroundings and noticed that he was the only one in the room. Wyatt decided to throw the blanket off of him and see if he could find anyone that could help him figure out what had happened to him. When he did, he found himself in a hospital gown.
‘I guess this is better than being put in here while still in the costume,’ Wyatt thought.
Just as he was about to leave the room, the door opened and a nurse entered the room. Only it wasn’t a person. The nurse seemed to be a white furred, pink haired, horse woman wearing the stereotypical nurse outfit, complete with the little hat. Wyatt’s eyes widened the instant he saw her. He could feel his jaw slacken and his words failed him. The same couldn’t be said for the horse nurse.
“Oh, you’re finally awake,” she started with a sweet smile. “How are you feeling sir?” The horse nurse talking seemed to be the thing to cause Wyatt’s mind to fully break as he collapsed to the floor in a sitting position. The nurse let out a gasp and she rushed to Wyatt’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sir, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Wyatt managed to collect himself enough to speak. “Where am I?”
“You’re in Ponyville General Hospital. You were found unconscious by a helpful mare who brought here.”
‘Ponyville, that doesn’t tell me anything,’ Wyatt thought, holding back a frown.
“Um, how long was I out?”
“About two days,” the nurse answered, her smile falling slightly. “We don’t know why though. You didn’t seem to be injured. Now, let’s get you back into bed and I’ll go get the doctor.” She offered as she held a hand out to Wyatt. He nodded and accepted it and the nurse helped him back into the bed. She walked away and just as she was about to leave the room she turned back and flashed Wyatt a smile. As soon as she left, Wyatt’s mind started to race.
‘What the hell is going on here?! Why was that nurse a horse-lady?! A-am I dreaming?’ Wyatt looked down at his arm and pinched it. He flinched from the pain, but nothing else happened. ‘Okay, either this is one vivid hallucination, or this is really happening. What happened to me?’ He thought, trying to recall the events before he fell unconscious. The only thing that seemed to stick out to him was the smiling man. ‘That bastard, did he do this to me? Did he do something like this to the other people that disappeared from those other conventions?’
Before Wyatt’s train of thought could continue, the door to his room opened and the nurse walked back in with another horse-person. Wyatt guessed that this one was male due to its figure. The doctor had a coat of yellow fur and brown, swept back hair. He was also wearing glasses, had a stethoscope dangling around his neck and was staring intently at a clipboard with what Wyatt assumed was his chart. Oh and one other little detail, there was a horn coming out of his forehead! Wyatt’s doctor was a unicorn.
“Welcome back to the waking world,” the doctor joked. “We sent word to the mare who found you. She was quite worried about you.”
Wyatt adjusted himself in his bed so he was sitting upright and replied, “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to make anyone worry about me.”
The doctor laughed a little at that. “No need to apologize, you were ill after all. Though with what we haven’t been able to figure out. Considering you’re obviously not a pony we’ve had some trouble making a proper diagnosis. Anyway, would you mind telling us your name so we can have it on file? Also, could you sign this release form stating that you’ll come back here for some follow up examinations? It would be a great help to us in case you were to have a more serious injury in the future. Though, Celestia forbid that ever does happen.” The doctor finished, a blue glow surrounding his horn and clipboard and floating it over to Wyatt along with a pen. Wyatt flinched slightly, but grabbed it and looked over the form.
“Umm, what kind of examinations are we talking about here?” Wyatt asked.
“Nothing too invasive, basically a check-up and some x-rays,” the doctor explained with a wave of his hand. “We already took a sample of your blood and are pleased to tell you that you are fully capable of getting transfusions from a pony. If we do believe something other than that is needed then we’ll have another form prepared for you.” Wyatt continued to scan the form, making a quick check to see if there was any trapping language hidden within it. Satisfied that everything seemed to be in order, he signed his name on the bottom line. He held out the clipboard and pen and the doctor took it in the strange, blue aura again. The doctor checked the signature and gave a nod. “Thank you very much Mr. Carter. Is there anypony we can contact to come get you?”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” the doctor replied, not sure what to say. “I’ll leave you here for now. The mare who brought you here should arrive shortly,” the doctor said as he turned to leave.
“Alright, thanks for everything Doctor,” Wyatt said as he settled back into the bed. He then curled up and shivered as he wondered if he’d ever see his family again.
Wyatt didn’t know how long he was like that until he heard, “Wake up sleepyhead!” His eyes shot open, he rolled out of the bed and fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and bedsheets.
“Pinkie, I think you scared him,” a voice offered softly.
“I did?” the voice that had woken Wyatt up asked. It was then quiet for a while before he felt someone helping him out of the twisted blanket. When his eyes were uncovered he came face to face with a mare with a large poof of pink hair, pink fur and bright blue eyes looking at him with a big smile. Due to how close she was he couldn’t tell what she was wearing “I didn’t scare you, did I?”
Wyatt rubbed a sore spot on the back of his head and wanted to be annoyed with the mare. But one look at her caused that idea to die instantly. There was no way he could bring himself to stay mad at the bubbly being in front of him. “You just surprised me, that’s all.” He said with a sigh.
“Ooh, was it a good surprise? Because who doesn’t love a good surprise every now and then? I know I do.” She finished with a giggle.
“It was the best surprise I’ve gotten all day,” he said with a chuckle, technically not lying.
“I’m glad to hear that!” the pink mare enthused, her already large smile growing as she helped Wyatt up. “My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?”
“I’m Wyatt Carter, but you can just call me Wyatt.” Pinkie giggled again and Wyatt quirked an eyebrow at her. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, I was just trying to come up with a nickname for you!” She beamed. “Right now I’m workshopping Wy-Wy but that doesn’t feel quite right.”
“Okay,” he answered, still confused but accepted the response. “Are you the mare that brought me to the hospital? If so, then thank you very much.”
“That wasn’t me silly! That was Twilight!” Pinkie’s eyes widened as if she just realized something. “Oh, that’s right! You still have to meet my other bestest best friends!” With that, Pinkie hopped away from Wyatt and revealed that there were five other mares in the room. They were all a variety of bright colors that nearly seared his retinas. And of course it reminded him that his only covering was the thin hospital gown. They each had little grins on their face, most likely due to the young man’s confused look. The first one to speak up was an orange furred mare with long blonde hair done up in a loose pony tail. She was wearing a red flannel shirt, well-fitting jeans and resting atop her head was an old but well maintained Stetson. She walked up to Wyatt and started shaking his hand with a strong grip.
“Howdy there Wyatt. Ah’m Applejack, pleased to meet’cha.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” Wyatt offered with a smile. The next pony to speak was a cyan furred mare with rainbow colored hair and rose colored eyes. She was wearing a blank tank top with a cloud and a tri-colored lightning coming out of it, with black jogging shorts. Wyatt’s eyes widened when he noticed the large, feathered wings on her back.
“S’up, I’m Rainbow Dash.” She said with an outstretched fist.
Wyatt tapped her fist with his own and replied, “S’up, um… I think your wings are cool.” This caused Rainbow Dash’s eyes to light up and a cocky smirk to dominate her face.
“You’re damn right they are!” She boasted as she extended her wings. “These bad boys make me the fastest pegasus in Equestria. Can even pull off a Sonic Rainboom with ‘em.”
“That sounds awesome!” Wyatt affirmed with a grin. “I’d love to see you pull that off.”
“Sure thing, I love showing off my stunts to anypony who’ll watch.”
Then, a white unicorn mare with hair that was expertly coifed into a violet curl came up to him with a few graceful steps. She was wearing a light blue blouse and a black skirt that stopped just above her knees. “Hello there, I’m Rarity. If you ever need something fabulous to wear, then be sure to come to me.”
“Thanks, I’ll definitely be needing some new clothes. I’ve only got one set of clothes and I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.”
“Why do you not know that?” A yellow pegasus mare with pink hair asked only to tense up when Wyatt looked at her. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking that is?”
“Well to be honest, I don’t even know how I got here,” Wyatt explained. “And not to offend any of you or anything, but talking ponies, especially ones with wings and horns is insane to me. I’m having a hard time thinking any of this is real. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’m hallucinating and I’ll eventually be back to the reality that I’m accustomed to,” he finished.
“Oh,” the yellow mare said, unsure of how to respond. “I’m Fluttershy, nice to meet you,” she said, barely audible.
The last pony to step forward was a lavender furred unicorn mare with navy blue hair with a purple and pink streak running through it. She was clad in a white button up shirt with a purple sweater over it and a pink, plaid short skirt. Her violet eyes were lighting up and she rushed toward Wyatt. “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. When you said all that it piqued my curiosity. Does that mean that you’re from another world? If so, you could be living proof that there are other universes out there!” She said in a blur as she let out a squeal. “I am so going to write a letter to Princess Celestia about this. Would you mind if I ran some studies on you? I would love to see what I could learn from you.”
“Sure,” Wyatt agreed with a shrug. “The hospital’s already going to be doing some tests on me so I don’t see why you can’t. Just don’t do anything too crazy.”
“Of course,” Twilight replied with a quick nod. “If I suggest something too crazy just be sure to let me know.”
“Alright,” Wyatt said as he walked over to the door. “Twilight, thank you for bringing me here. And I hope I can see the rest of you again. I have to go get my clothes and find a place to stay and work for as long as I’m here.”
“Why don’t you stay with me?” Twilight suggested. “Seeing as I’m going to be studying you it would make things easier if you were close by.”
“Are you sure that’s okay?” Wyatt asked. “I don’t want to impose on you or anything.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Twilight dismissed with the wave of her hand. “I have plenty of room at my home.”
“Okay, but I plan on doing some chores for you at the very least,” Wyatt told her. “I’d hate to be a burden on you.”
“If you insist,” Twilight replied with a smile. “I don’t think I could say no to free house cleaning. Now, let’s go get your things and I’ll show you where I live.
Wyatt nodded and he led the mares down the halls to the closest nurses’ station and asked to retrieve his things. The nurse in charge of the station disappeared for a little while before returning with a bag that held his clothes, and another that held his watch, his keys, his wallet, his phone, and his camera. This puzzled Wyatt and he looked up to the nurse.
“Umm, is this everything I was brought in with?”
“Yes, that’s everything,” the nurse confirmed with a nod. “I even double-checked just to be sure.”
Wyatt then turned to Twilight and asked, “Is this everything I had on me when you found me?”
Twilight quirked an eyebrow at that. “Yes, why do you ask? Are you missing something?”
Wyatt stared at the bags in front of him intently. ‘What is going on here? Where is my costume and the case with the cards? Shouldn’t they have come with me too? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.’ Wyatt then looked up and saw that the ponies were all staring at him.
“Oh, here’s my watch,” he said, pointing at the bag. “Nurse, is there a room I could use to change real quick? I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Sure thing, just follow me,” the nurse said as she got up and indicated for Wyatt to follow her.
When Wyatt was done changing, and got dismissed from the hospital, the girls led him into town.
“Welcome to Ponyville,” Twilight said just as they entered the town square. “This might be a small town, but you won’t ever have to worry about being bored.”
“Really? Sounds cool,” Wyatt said as he glanced at all of the rustic buildings. “This looks like your typical sleepy town to me.” He said as he snapped a photo of a building he liked.
As if on cue, a pony screamed in the distance and a rumbling noise grew closer. Moments later, a crowd of ponies came running and started pushing at Wyatt and the girls. “Everypony run!” one member of the mob shouted.
“It’s a monster!” another screamed.
Wyatt looked back as he got swept up into the crowd. Through gaps in the shifting mass of bodies he was able to make out what looked like a strange creature stalking its way into the town. Wyatt’s eyes widened when a gap in the crowd opened wide enough for him to get a good look of the creature. It was a large, corrupted, humanoid bat-like creature with red, leathery wings attached to its arms. Wyatt recognized this creature. It was an Undead, a monster from Kamen Rider Blade.
Wyatt struggled against the motion of the crowd, trying to push himself out. He was eventually able to free himself and wound up inside of an alley. He poked his head out and saw that Twilight and the others were all glaring at the creature, intent to fight it.
“Whoa, looks like this thing got one too many whacks with the ugly stick,” Rainbow Dash laughed, pointing at the Undead.
“Rainbow, now is not the time to be making jokes,” Twilight admonished before glaring at the creature. “We have to stop this thing before it hurts somepony.”
With that, Twilight charged her horn with a pink aura and fired a beam into the Undead’s chest. If the thing was affected by the beam at all, it didn’t show it. Twilight recoiled for a moment, but kept firing beams at the Undead while it charged at her. The Undead reached out, wrapped its hands around her throat, and lifted her off the ground, choking her. Wyatt paled and his mind started to race, not knowing what to do. Rainbow Dash and Applejack did not share that problem. Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and started to dive-bomb the Undead while Applejack bull rushed it. Just as Rainbow was on top of it, Applejack pivoted on one foot and attempted to roundhouse kick the Undead in its side. The Undead reacted quickly, removing one hand from Twilight’s throat and backhanding Rainbow Dash out of the air and sending her flying through the window of a nearby house. While it did that, it moved Twilight so that Applejack kicked her. Twilight cried out in pain as she was knocked out of the Undead’s grip and landed on the ground with a solid *thud*. Applejack recoiled from what she did to her friend, giving the Undead plenty of time to attack her. It thrusted both of its arms into her solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying a few feet.
Wyatt watched the events unfold with a look of horror as his mind was sent racing. ‘What the hell is going on here? Why is there a monster from Kamen Rider in this world? If someone doesn’t do something, these girls could die!’ Wyatt looked between the group of ponies and none of them seemed to be able to move. They all looked terrified. A pit formed in Wyatt’s stomach and he wanted to scream in frustration. ‘I wish I could do something! But what could I do? If I go out there, I’d die.’
Wyatt closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at the scene in the village square. The Undead was moving back towards Twilight, who had managed to pull herself to her knees. She charged her horn one more time but the Undead just grabbed her throat again. Wyatt’s eyes threatened to bug out of his skull. He clenched his fists and growled in frustration. ‘That’s it, I can’t just sit back and do nothing! If nothing else, I can hopefully distract the thing long enough for them all to get away.’
Wyatt was about to rush out of the alley when he felt something in his hands that wasn’t there before. He looked down and saw that it was the buckle to his costume along with the case for the cards. ‘Where did these come from?’ Wyatt wasn’t sure, but he felt the need to do something with the buckle. ‘Screw it, might as well try it.’ He stood tall and pressed the buckle to his waist. In an instant, a belt shot out of it and wrapped around his waist. Then, he opened the case and pulled out a card.
“Henshin!” Wyatt boomed as he slotted the card into his belt and pressed in the gray handles.
He had expected nothing to happen. Instead, a strange voice called out, “Kamen Ride: Decade!”
Then, 10 grey silhouettes surrounded him and converged on him. A flash of light gave way to reveal Wyatt in a black armored suit. Next, card shaped objects came from the center of his buckle and formed lines on his helmet. Once the last line on his helmet settled, color appeared on his armor and his eyes flashed green. Wyatt took one moment to look himself over in disbelief before snapping back to reality and running out of the alley and towards the Undead choking Twilight.
“Put that mare down you monster!” Wyatt shouted, his voice distorted. The Undead looked up and held Twilight out, daring him to attack. Wyatt shot the thing a glare, though it was lost through the helmet.
“What in tarnation?” Applejack asked, having picked herself up and grasping her stomach. Wyatt didn’t bother to react and reached into his card case again. He slotted another card into his belt and the voice rang out again.
“Attack Ride: Blast!”
Wyatt’s card case shifted and transformed until it was shaped into a crude gun. He aimed carefully and pulled the trigger so the blasts from his gun hit the Undead’s shoulder. Sparks erupted from the impact sight and the Undead released Twilight, recoiling from the pain. In a burst of speed, Wyatt managed to catch Twilight and placed her on the ground gently before turning his attention back to the Undead. He slotted another card into his belt.
“Attack Ride: Slash!”
Wyatt’s card case transformed again, this time into a sword. Wyatt charged the Undead and slashed it across the chest. More sparks came from the monster and it took two steps back. The Undead flapped its wings and took to the sky. The Undead dive-bombed Wyatt, using its wings to slash at him. Sparks came from Wyatt’s armor and he groaned in pain. The Undead made a few more passes at him and he tried to swing his sword at the monster, but its speed in the air was too much for him. Wyatt cried out and fell to the ground after one pass. The Undead prepared for another attack, but Wyatt picked himself up quickly and shifted his case back into a gun. He pulled the trigger just as the Undead was starting its attack. Wyatt scored a direct hit on its wings, knocking it out of the air and sending it crashing back down to earth. Wyatt pulled out one last card and slotted it into his belt.
“Final Attack Ride: D-d-decade!”
Ten grey cards appeared in front of Wyatt. He placed his card case onto his belt and jumped into the air and stretched out his leg to deliver a kick to the Undead. The cards shifted and followed the descent of his kick Wyatt passed through the cards in a blur and when he passed through the final card a circle of what looked like barcode surrounded his foot. Wyatt let out a roar as he kicked the Undead in the chest. The Undead let out a cry of pain as it exploded in a small burst, scorching the ground where it was. The mares all watched what had just happened with slackened jaws.
Twilight managed to pull herself up and asked, “W-who are you?”
Wyatt looked at her over his shoulder and couldn’t resist saying, “Just a passing through Kamen Rider, remember that.”