I was falling, wind whistling through my fur. How had I...?
The memory only took a moment to come, but in that tiny moment, the ground came up toward me menacingly. I barely had time to get ready for impact before I slammed down, scattering a crater of dirt around me. I was stunned, unable to move, unable to breathe, as stones and debris from the tower rained down around me. Huge stones threw up plumes of dust as they hit and shattered all around.
I tried to curl into a ball, to protect myself, but my limbs wouldn’t answer me. A rock – I don't know how big – smashed into my leg, and I screamed, only for my scream to be cut off when another hit my head.
* * *
“Hye! Hye! Kawe pu!”
Despite the little girl's voice, the first thing I became aware of as I came to was the crushing feeling in my lungs. It was a struggle just to draw breath. Then the burning headache, and pains from a hundred other places on my body, all clamoring for attention.
At least I was alive. I peeled my eyes open with an effort of will. They still didn't focus very well, but I could see an orange face with purple hair looking down at me. My eyes cleared a little with a few painful blinks. This was a girl unlike any I'd seen before. Slightly built and winged, and far more colorful than any of the peoples I was familiar with. She wore outlandish tightly-fitting clothes, and looked too cute to be a denizen of the demon realm, though who knew. Maybe in the demon realm, demons looked different. Where was I?
“Who the fuck are you?” I mumbled.
She just tilted her head to the side and looked at me as if perplexed. “Rae uyo koay? Od uyo kseap Shiqique?
I closed my eyes again, too exhausted to worry about this stupid little girl and this stupid language barrier. I needed to focus my ki on healing so I could...
It wasn't there! I tried again, but I only got the weakest threads of ki, barely enough to heal a paper cut. Where the hell was I that there wasn't any ki I could channel?
When I opened my eyes again, she was turning away and shouting, “Mmu... Mi gogin ot og dinf Brinwoa Hads. lelsh wonk thaw ot od!” as she left.
I closed my eyes again, and focused on what healing ki I could manage to scrounge up. Fuck. This recovery was going to take a very long time.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, there were three figures huddled around me, all speaking in gibberish. One was the orange and purple one from before, but now there was also a yellow one with pink hair, and a blue one with a whole rainbow in her hair. These bright colors were giving me a headache. Or was my headache making me see colors? Fuck.
What had Genko done to me? Where the hell was I?
I tried to rise, but immediately fell back to the ground again. And what the hell was up with this lack of any ki? Normally, I would have been mostly healed by now, even if I was almost dead. Instead? Hardly any progress.
“Uoy knith hess gingo ot eb yako?” the blue one said.
I groaned. “Why can't anyone in this hellhole just fucking speak the standard tongue? Where the fuck am I that's so ass-backwards they haven't even adopted that yet?”
“Goodness, language!” The yellow one said.
I stared at her and blinked. Huh. So at least one of them could talk properly. “You... you can understand me?” I asked, being much more careful to be polite this time. I had no idea who these people were, but injured and deprived of ki as I was, I was in no position to be picking unnecessary fights.
“Of course.” She smiled. “I can talk to all kinds of woodland creatures. It's my special talent.”
The blue one spoke some gibberish again, pointed into the distance, and the orange one ran off. This place was fucking confusing. 'Woodland creatures'? What the hell was she talking about?
“It looks like you're hurt pretty bad. How about we get you to my cottage and get you bandaged up, hm?”
I nodded slightly. That sounded very good at the moment. It was always a good idea to not die.
“Okay, just hold on. Twilight's coming, and then we'll be able to move you safely. I don't think you're fit to walk, or even be carried, right now.”
I had to agree with that, though I had no idea how she thought the end of the day would help. And it was only late afternoon – twilight would be a long time away still. But whatever. Not like I was in a position to argue. And not like I had anywhere to go either. With no idea where I was, where would I even be going?
The pause in the somewhat one-sided conversation seemed to bother the yellow one. “So,” she said, drawing out the word, “What's your name, and what brings you all the way to Ponyville?”
“Mizuki Tanaka,” I grunted out.
Her eyes went wide at that, and she backed away a little. “Oh my. That's an ... interesting name for a wolf-creature. My name is Fluttershy.”
“Wolf-woman. I won't have anyone going around calling me a 'creature'.”
“Uh-huh...” She paused for a long moment, looking down at me with one eyebrow raised and her hand on her chin. “You do look like you'd normally walk upright, and you're wearing clothes like a person ... but you don't know how to speak, and all the other wolves I've ever seen were animals, so that makes you an animal, right?”
“An animal? Fuck you! You don't know who I—” I coughed, spattering blood over my muzzle. “Fuck.”
“Language!”
Oh for fuck's sake, what a prude! And the nerve of her, telling me to watch my language after she just called me a fucking animal! Prudes are always like that, thinking they can say any damn thing they want as long as it doesn't include one of their arbitrary list of 'bad words', and thinking that following their stupid rules makes them a better person. Fuck that and fuck them!
I'd had enough of this. “Where's Genko? Tell me!”
“Is ... Genko your mommy, little wolf? Do you want your mommy?”
Oh for fuck's sake!
Another woman was approaching, being led by the orange one who first saw me. This new one was obnoxiously purple. Good to see more coming, though. Maybe I'd get more out of this new one. I was really starting to have a distaste for this Fluttershy. Like the rest of them, the purple one had wings – maybe they were all some sort of avian hybrid? But their feet were hooves, which would be very strange for any birdkin. And the purple one had a big horn in the middle of her forehead. Really weird. Maybe I was in the demon realm. Maybe the rumors were true ... Genko really could transport people there, and now I was stuck there. I glanced around again. The demon realm really didn't look how I expected it to. It was ... nice, except for the new craters.
The purple one touched down next to me. “Mi Sciprins Whittilg Larksap, dalpees ot teme uoy.”
The blue one shook her head. “Ti dotens pakes Shiqique.”
“Od uoy pakes Lod Shiqique? Nonaffirig? Zebiree?” she asked. None of those words rang a bell. “Lewl, I suges dwe retteb teg rhe ot Treshulft's lacep. Meco no.”
Without warning, she enveloped me in some kind of ki and lifted me. Only it wasn't ki at all. I couldn't feel it! I could only see it and hear it as she floated me off, following the three others.
Great, so now not only was I in the demon realm, not only was it nothing like I expected, but they also had some other completely different form of ki they could use and I couldn't. I was fucking doomed!
Genko would pay for this! ... But would he? How was I going to manage that? Ugh. It's just one thing after another in my life. Just when I think I've got it figured out, fate comes around and fucks me over, just for the fun of it.
The demon things carried me a very long way, and I have to admit, their magic was quite gentle. Maybe they don't like their meat bruised. The whole way, I seethed at what that bastard Genko did to me. Cut off from my army, cut off from everyone I knew, cut off from all the major ki channels, even cut off from... My sword! Where was my sword? I looked all around, despite the pain when I twisted my neck. How could I have let them take me away without—
“Easy, easy! You could damage your spine!” Fluttershy rushed over to me and held my head still. She was surprisingly strong ... or maybe I was just surprisingly weak at the moment. “Twilight, can you hold her still until we get there?”
The purple one nods. “Urse.” And suddenly the weird ki around me was also holding my every muscle, keeping me totally immobile. Great. Now I was really fucked. “Uoy nac elt og own.” As soon as she said that, Fluttershy let go of me, not that it would do me any good. The purple one's ki was strong.
Wait... When Fluttershy spoke, I understood it and the purple one ... Twilight, also understood it. And when Twilight spoke, Fluttershy seemed to understand it, but I couldn't. “Wh— What the hell?” I struggled to turn and look at Fluttershy, but I still couldn't move at all. “What's going on? How come all of them can understand me, but only you bother to talk to me? Who are you?”
“I already told you, I'm Fluttershy. Oh goodness, I think you might have a concussion.”
“But why won't they talk to me if they can understand me?”
She patted my shoulder as I floated. “Oh, silly. They can't understand you.”
“But...”
“Oh... I guess maybe you've never heard of me. Some critters are very surprised when they first find out that there's a pony who can speak to them. It's my special talent.”
Special talent again. Was it some kind of ki, then? Not any kind I'd ever heard of, but who knew. Maybe in the demon realm, there were things like that. And why did she call herself a pony? Besides the hooves, she looked nothing like any horse-kin I'd ever seen before. None of this shit made any sense. Maybe she was right and I had a concussion. A bad one.
But screw this language shit. I had more important things to worry about. Maybe she could help me with that, though. She seemed unusually nice for a cannibalistic demon-spawn. Maybe she would tell me if I asked... “Where's my sword?”
“Your sword? Oh, Scootaloo has it. Scootaloo, show her the sword.”
A big smile on her face, the orange one hopped up next to me and held up my sword. All I could do was turn my eyes to see. That god-damned little thing was so smug and proud to be holding it! “Get your fucking hands off it, you little bitch demon! Give it to me, give it to me right now so I can cut your fucking head off with it!” After a moment, I realized that was probably not the best choice of words for an injured captive to use, but that sword is a part of me – it really gets under my skin to see someone else ... fondling it like that.
“Thwa idd hes ays?” Scootaloo asked, turning to Fluttershy.
“Um, she said, um...” Fluttershy rubbed the back of her neck for a moment, blushing. “She said, 'Thank you for carrying that for me.'”
I sighed. “Um, thanks for that. I'm sorry about the whole cutting off the head comment, I guess. I'm usually not so...” Well, I usually was, actually, but my threats weren't usually so ... impotent or inappropriate.
“I'm sure you're just stressed from your injuries.” Fluttershy smiled at me again, but this time there was a hint of doubt in her eyes.
Great. If I wasn't careful, I was going to scare off the only demon ... or 'pony', whatever ... here I could actually talk to. Great going, Mizuki, I thought to myself, how's the whole scary bitch thing working out for you? Enjoying it so far?
“Okay, Mizuki, we're almost there.” She remembered my name. I guess I should be grateful. But I didn't feel grateful. For all I knew, these were all just Genko's friends, and all this was their idea of fucking with me before they chowed down.
I floated through some kind of door; I could see the frame of it pass by me. Mostly I could only stare at the roof of this building though, since I couldn’t even turn my head. Still, it looked rustic and small. Probably better than a field medic's tent, but not by much.
I was laid down on a green couch, and then the weird ki released me. I sank into the soft cushions and quickly lost my will to try to get up and fight these so-called ponies. Fuck it. It wasn't like I could fight them off anyway, not in my condition, and not when they'd already demonstrated that just one of them could hold me completely immobile. And these cushions were comfortable. For the first time since Genko cracked that egg, my injuries began to feel a little less painful.
“She looks really bad. I'd better get started on it right away,” Fluttershy said to the others.
They all replied in a variety of their gibberish. I didn't even bother to listen this time. I was already focusing healing ki again ... the little of it I could scrape together.
“Um, actually...” Fluttershy said back to her friends, “Can Rainbow Dash go send a message to Princess Celestia about it instead? I could really use your help, Twilight. If... if that's okay with you.”
“Fo soruce ti si!” The blue one shot out through the door in a flash. Damn she was fast.
Twilight, the purple one, came over next to me, though. Both she and Fluttershy leaned over me. “Do you still remember that anesthesia spell?” Fluttershy asked. Without any answer from her, Twilight's horn began to glow again. Their ability to channel ki must have something to do with those horns... I wondered what happened to the other ones' horns. And what was a spell? What did anesthesia mean?
The feel and sound of that strange ki made me wince again, fearing what might happen this time. But I quickly found myself fading, passing out. Had the blood loss finally gotten to me? Damn... Well, it was an okay life, I guess. As my vision faded to black, I just wished I could have fucking killed Genko before the end.
* * *
Groggily, I opened one eye, then the other. Where was I...? Slowly, the wooden ceiling brought me back to the—
That big yellow face filled my vision. “Oh, you're awake? How are you feeling?”
I jumped up grabbing for my sword – it wasn't there! I— “Ow! Oh Fff...” I collapsed down on the to floor, tangled in some kind of sheet. “Motherfucker that hurts!”
“Language!” Fluttershy said, holding her hands over the ears of a squirrel. After a moment of watching me writhe naked on the floor, she sighed and helped me back up onto the couch. “Please, you need to stay still and recover.”
Looking down at myself, I saw they'd done their best. It still hurt like hell, but not as bad if I didn't move. There were bandages all over me, and one of my legs was in a cast from the knee down. Fuck. Without my ki, I was going to have to heal like some normal person! Being normal was the worst. I looked around again. Well, other than the shitty healing process, not much about me would be normal in this world. Still the worst. Of course, there was that one other little issue...
“Why the fuck am I naked?”
Fluttershy winced, picking up a sheet from the floor and putting it on top of me. She didn't mention the 'language', but I could see the flash of reproach in her eyes. “Well, you were covered with a sheet until you jumped up and started swearing in front of all my animal friends.”
These beasts were her 'friends'? The place was crawling with them, but I had assumed they were just a pernicious infestation of vermin. Whatever. It didn't matter. “But, my things...”
“Um, well, we had to take off you clothes to treat your injuries. And the clothes were filthy and torn, so I had Scootaloo take them over to Rarity's. It's so strange that you seem to care so much about it... Most animals never wear clothes at all. I guess you could, um... You could borrow some of mine until she's done. ... Once you're ready. For now, you shouldn't move.”
I groaned and let my head fall back on the cushions. The mere thought of wearing the frilly pastel clothes this thing had on. And that skirt was way too short for a woman with any self-respect. Come to think of it, the other ones had been dressed very similarly ... just my luck, to be rescued by a bunch of demon whores.
“We... kept your, um, sword nearby. Because you seemed pretty attached to it.”
I glanced over at where she was looking, and there it sat, leaning against the wall next to a bookcase that held more vermin than books. Well, at least I had my sword. Not that I could do much with it at the moment.
The purple one walked into the room from somewhere else, still wiping her hands dry. “Lalifiny shawed pu. wosh rou nitteap? Ho, si hes kawae?”
My eyes narrowed a little. I didn't like this one, this Twilight, they called her. The last thing I remembered, she was using her freaky ki to put me to sleep. I'd thought I was dying. “She didn't ... do anything to me while I was out, did she? You know, while I was unconscious and naked?”
Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth. “No! No of course not! My goodness! Why would you even think that? We only bandaged your wounds. That's it.”
“Well, I don't know who you are...”
“I told you, I'm Flutter—”
“I know your god-damned name already. I mean I don't even know what you are, or what you want with me. Or what she wants with me.”
Twilight gibberished something; it sounded kind of like a question. Maybe I was already beginning to pick up on their language.
“Um, well, I...” Fluttershy bit her lip. “I don't really feel comfortable repeating what she said.”
I glared. “Go on, tell her.”
Holding her hands on her hips, Fluttershy looked back down at me with a surprisingly hard glint in her eye. “You should just relax and rest. I need to go have a talk with my good friend Princess Twilight.” She walked brusquely out of the room, back where Twilight came from, and Twilight hurriedly followed her.
Great, way to go, Mizuki. I kicked myself mentally. Even that hurt! Way to go, you've already alienated the only people here you know, maybe the only ones in this whole place that would ever show kindness. Fuck.
Well, whatever. I could almost hear the two of them talking about me in the next room, but I tuned it out. Not like it would matter anyway, probably. What I needed to do now was rest and focus what little ki I could on healing my thrashed-up body.