//------------------------------// // Chapter1: This is Not Home // Story: Scorched by Fate // by Scorch215 //------------------------------// “Planting!” I shouted into the mic I wore as I started to plant the explosives on the computers in front of me. “Got your back.” I heard in reply from one of the two others with me. “Shit contact!” Another voice said and I heard weapons fire to my lift. I ignored it as I focused on the task before me knowing I was in good hands. After a few more moments an alarm started to sound as red light flashed from the explosives I just planted. With the task done I spun around and raised my rifle just as an enemy soldier ran through the door behind, I didn’t have time to aim so I just pulled the trigger and the rifle kicked in my hands as the enemy soldier dropped. “Get ready they are going to be on us any second.” I said as I moved to a corner of the room and lay on the ground. Aiming down my scope I swapped between watching the two doors into the small officer I was in. I could see another soldier dressed in tan and carrying a LMG with a box mag posted up at the windows overlooking the main warehouse we were in to my right while to my left another soldier with a carbine was covering the catwalks that lead to the second story officer. I could hear boot falls and something being said in Russian between the sound of the alarm that continued to blare from the computer against the wall. A moment later all I could hear was the LMG as my squad-mate opened up on the Russians as they rushed the room to try and disarm the explosives before they could detonate. As I lay there I heard the carbine join in on the gun fight as the Russians came at us from the catwalk as well, and then I saw a small object come sailing through the window leading towards the catwalks and my blood ran cold as I start to move. “GRENADE!” I yelled. The other two started to move to get clear. My squad-mate with the LMG managed to just get clear but the other was much closer and I saw his body sail through the air as the small explosive went off in the small room. “Damnit Jedi is down.” The soldier with the LMG said as he got his feet under him. As I moved to help the downed soldier my mic exploded with a single word. “FUCK!” I flipped around just in time to see a gasmask wearing Russian empty his mag into the only other standing soldier before he could bring up his LMG. I wasted no time aiming down my scope and putting three rounds into the enemy soldier. I started to move to help my recently downed squad-mate but before I cook more than two steps another soldier rushed into the room. I quickly dropped him as well and then staggered as I was shot in the back. I dropped and spun around, rifle still up and dropped the Russian that just came in from the catwalk door. I looked back at the LMG soldier on the ground. “Damnit.” I said as I saw it was too late to save him which meant I was on my own. I could hear more boot falls heading for the stairs as well as more on the catwalk outside. I was on my own against what remained of the enemy and they knew it. I quickly reloaded and just finished as the first Russian entered the room and the fight was on. The room was filled with the sound of automatic weapons fire and me repeatedly yelling “Shit shit shit!” over the sound of the alarm behind me. When my rifle clicked empty I quickly drew my pistol and emptied its mag into another two enemy soldiers. I ran to the far wall to try and take cover as I desperately tried to reload my pistol but before I reached it my body jerked and I went down as the last Russian soldier in the area flipped around the door leading to the stairs to the main floor. I could only watch as the black armored Russian ran for the flashing computers as the alarm changed. Just before he could reach it though the explosives I had planted went off and destroyed the computers. “HA!” I yelled and a moment later everything went dark and message appeared in front of me. YOU HAVE BEEN KICKED FROM THE SERVER “Oh come on really?!” I yelled in anger. “Admin kick you too?” The voice of the LMG soldier said through my headset. “Yeah, what about you Jedi?” I asked. “Same.” The carbine soldier, Jedi, said in annoyance. “Guess he didn’t like the fact we wiped the floor with him and his team.” The LMG soldier, Havoc, Said. “I hate when they do that.” I said in annoyance. “I mean that was the first game we found that wasn’t anything but full eagles on their team and noobs on our side.” I grumbled as I clicked the message away. “Yeah well the admin is a little bitch who doesn’t like to lose.” Jedi said with a chuckle. “Yeah well it’s not our fault we kick ass.” Havoc said. “I hear that.” I said with a chuckle. Suppose I should explain yes? These are two of my closest friends Jedi and Havoc are what they go by for the most part and we just got kicked from a round of Rush in the game Battlefield 3 because we managed to take out five of the objects on our own and the server admin kicked us for it because he was on the other team and thus was losing bad. We are used to that because me and my crew, don’t ask why we call ourselves that but we do, are highly tactical, we tend to only chat between games and while in came we only speak when needing to. Where we are, what we are doing and where the enemy is and such. We have been gaming for a couple of years now and know what each other is going to do in combat without having to be told for the most part. We did have a fourth man but he recently had a kid so that has kept him busy, we don’t mind as the three of us can still kick all kinds of ass. “So shall we look for another game?” Jedi asked. I glanced at the clock and blinked as it was already after mid-night. “Actually think I’m going to head out for the night and get some sleep.” Is aid. “Dude seriously just one more match then you can sleep.” Jedi said. “Naw we have no idea how long the match will last and I’d like to get some sleep.” I said. “Sleep is for the weak.” Havoc said in a deep voice to sound like some sort of ancient warrior from a movie or something. I rolled my eyes as I know he is joking. “But I like my sleep and besides we have all day tomorrow to game and I’d like to be awake to deal with the responses to our request for a fourth man for heists.” Is aid. Do to us being down a man we had been looking for someone to help us do the heists in GTA online for the sixth time, it was not going well because so far everyone who response to our call on the social club was lone wolf hotshots who did not play well with others nor like to stick to plans and it really screwed with our group dynamics and had a habit of being beyond annoying as they kept dying on us. “Yeah I suppose you’re right.” Jedi said. “So tomorrow then.” “Till then.” Havoc said. “Night guys.” I said and left the party before shutting off my Xbox. Grabbing something light to eat before bed so I don’t wake up to hungry in the morning I drop into bed and let sleep claim me. <<>> I groan and mumble a few curses under my breath as sunlight assault my eye lids and I reach for the blankets to pull them further up to block the offending light but can’t seem to find them. Rolling onto my back while keeping my eyes closed due to them not wanting to open do to sleep I shift my hand along my bed as I keep shifting. For some reason lying on my back is extremely uncomfortable as I feel something digging into my back. However my sleep addled brain is focusing on the fact my bed feel very strange and I carefully crack an eye lid open see what’s wrong. All I see is dirt and not my mattress or blankets so that explains it and I roll over to put my back towards the morning sun. About a minute later my eyes shoot open as I register the fact I was looking at dirt and not my mattress or blankets or anything from my room. I quickly roll over and stare at the ground I am laying on blinking several times as I work through the sleep to try and figure out where I am. Carefully I look around and all I see are trees, trees, trees and a single bush around me. Blinking once as I take in my surrounding I speak. “How the hell did I get in the woods?” I freeze at the sound of my voice, at least I think it was my voice as it said what I was thinking but definitely did not sound like my voice in the slightest, it sounded more…feminine. “Ok I misheard.” I said and carefully listened to my voice. “Or I am still half asleep and so am just not hearing things right, yeah that’s it.” I said in my still feminine voice. I reach up to rub my eyes in an effort to wake up more and pause as I stare at my hand and try to figure out what is wrong with it. It wasn’t that hard. “Where the fuck is my hand!?” I yell as I look at the dark grey stub where my hand should be. I can still feel my hand but it is clearly not there and I lift my other hand and find it has suffered the same fate as my right hand, both ending in dark grey stubs. Trying to shift my hand I watch as the stub moves as if it’s attached to my wrist. Carefully I tap them together and I hear a clopping sound as if they are made of something hard like wood. Behind them I notice my legs laying on the ground and vary carefully I roll over and sit up and stare. My feet have suffered the same fate as my hands and both end in dark grey stubs however the dark blue and black tail that is resting under them holds my attention as the care lays spread out on the ground and I blink. Very calmly I look down and find myself wearing a black jumpsuit of some sort with pocket on my chest and down the sleeves that end half way down my arms. These are definitely not the jeans and shirt I went to sleep in. “Well then this is definitely the strangest dream ever and I’d like to wake up now.” Is aid in my feminine voice that is one of the many things I am adding to the mental list of why this dream is strange. Ignoring the fact my brain is telling me everything around me is real do to the fact I can feel it I decide to prove to myself that this is a dream. Normally I’d go with the cliché of pinching myself but without fingers that’s not really an option so I go with the next best thing and slap myself across the face. Did you know that slapping yourself with something that seems to be made of a substance that is harder then your normally soft hand also hurts a lot worse? Who knew eh? “FUCK!” I said as I pick myself up off the ground and rub my stinging cheek with my stub of a hand. It was at this point my theory of this being a dream shatter and my eyes shrunk to pin pricks as adrenaline was dumped into my system. “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!!” I yelled as I jump up and start to run in a random direction. I didn’t even make it a single step before I fell flat on my face and got to find out what the dirt tasted like. It was lying face down in the dirt I realized my face was no longer flat but that I had a muzzle that my nose and mouth was attached too. Trying to stand back up against I find standing on two legs is impossible as I keep following over. The third fall I manage to catch myself with my arms under me and that seems to keep me stable. Apparently whatever I was did not walk on two legs but four. Taking a few deep breaths, the shock of my faceplant having calmed me of my panic, I noticed my vision was partly blocked by my hair with matched the tail I seemed to have in color scheme. Ignoring that fact I brush it out of my eyes I work on another theory as to what’s happening considering the dream theory didn’t pan out. “Ok the only other thing this could possibly be is I’m in some sort of coma or something. I probably got up in the middle of the night and tripped or something.” Is aid and nodded. “Well time to wake up from this coma dream.” I said as I eyed the nearest tree. Making my way over to it as best as I can, I have no idea how to walk on four legs but it seems to be a bit like crawling in how I have to move my legs. Stumbling a few times and ignoring the fact I need to practice walking like this as I’ll be waking up soon I rear up and place my stubby arms against the tree and lean my head back. “Wake up!” I said as I smash my head against the tree. “Wake up!” *Thwack* “Wake up!” *Thwack* “Wake up!” *Thwack* The third hit causes me to lose my balance and I stumble to the side, I swear I actually see stars flying around my head as I collapse on the ground and lost consciousness. <<>> I have no idea how long I was out for but waking up with a splitting headache made me remember the fact that if I was in a coma caused by head trauma it probably wasn’t a good idea to add to it by smashing your head into a tree over and over again even if it was just inside your own head. Groaning I reached up and gripped my head in what I assumed were hooves now that I thought about it, even if I had never seen hooves that were covered in the same fur as the legs but it was the only thing I could really think to call them. As I rubbed the side of my head to try and get the headache to leave I became away I was laying on something soft like a bed. Carefully opening my eyes afraid it was just a trick of the mind I looked down and found myself laying in what could only be a hospital bed. Noticing a steady beeping noise I looked to my right and smiled as I saw a heart monitor and an IV drip beside the bed with a small night stand with a vase and a single flower in. I have been in hospital rooms for many different reasons in my life from extreme sickness, to a broken are to emergency surgery and despite being in many different hospitals it was impossible to mistake the white walls and smell of disinfectant in the air that all hospitals used, the only difference was the decoration and the color of the blankets and curtains. “Hah it worked! Take that head trauma!” I said pumping my fist only to freeze as I saw my dark grey foreleg and heard my still feminine voice. Damnit head trauma one this round. Sighing I lay back in bed and looked around, there was a pitcher of water beside the bed and I licked my lips as I became aware of how dry my tongue was. Reaching for the pitcher and glass I paused as I stared at my arm that ended in a hoof. How the hell do I pick anything up? Come to think of it why does this look like a hospital? How did I get here? I had a brief flash of some random hiker finding me and calling the cops and then me somehow ending up in the hands of some scientists or something but I dismissed that I doubted id be placed in a hospital room if that was the case. At least not without some guards around or a camera watching me. Checking the walls and ceiling I confirmed there was in deed no camera anywhere in the room, least none I could see and I don’t think they would hide it. Licking my lips once more I became aware again of the fact I was thirst and began to try and think of how to get the water. Carefully I tried to grab the glass with both of my hooves but the damn thing just slipped from my grasp and bounced onto my bed. I tried several more time and managed to hold it stead but that was while it was empty, if it actually had something in it id be soaked. Sighing I dropped the glass on the bed and stared at it as the gears in my mind turned. Slowly I raised my hoof and looked it over, turning it this way and that. It moved with the same range of motion as a hand attached to my old wrist and I could feel my hand still despite clearly not having one. Concentrating I thought about opening and closing my fist and I could see and feel some small muscles flex where hoof met leg. Blinking I eye the glass and opened my “hand.” Reaching for the glass I closed my finger around it and lifted my leg, the glass came with it as if it were suction cupped to the blunt hoof. Well that is a big F.U. to logic now isn’t it? Filing that little impossibility away for later and partly chalking it up to coma dream logic and placed the glass back on the table and carefully grabbed the pitcher in the same manner as I did the glass. Slowly I began to pour the water into the glass, making sure I kept an eye on it in case I started to lose my non-existent grip. Once the glass was about half full I placed the pitcher back where I got it as I didn’t want to press my luck incase logic decided to return to the world. Grabbing my glass of water I brought it to my lips just as the door to the room opened and I could hear voices talking on the other side of the curtain. “Fluttershy I’m sure she’s fine, like Redheart said she only had a minor bump on the head,” A feminine voice said.” She probably just flew into a tree or something, you’ve seen Dash crash worse and have almost no injuries, pegasi are built to take impacts like that.” “I know but…I just found her lying in the middle of the path and when she didn’t wake up I was worried.” Another softer voice said. “Well you did the right thing bringing her here Miss Fluttershy, she could have been injured but luckily she was fine.” A third feminine voice said. It was then the curtain was pulled to the side reveling three being. All three were had four legs, one was cream colored with red hair, another was purple with darker purple and pink hair and horn and the last was yellow with bright pink hair and wings. That one eeped and hide behind said hair as she saw me sitting up in bed, glass of water almost to my lips as I stared at the three of them. The cream colored one blinked in surprised and I noticed she had a nurse hat on. “Oh, you are awake well that’s good, how are you feeling?” It asked in the third voice I heard before the curtain had been pulled to the side. I felt my eyes become pinpricks as my mind could only come to one logical conclusion on what I was seeing. “DEMON HORSES!!” I yelled and threw my glass of water at the closest one’s face.