After crash-landing in Equestria, Jake is trapped and without a way home. Can he make friends with the ponies? And maybe, just maybe, find a mare-friend?
Fluttershy didn't expect much when she went to the picnic. Just a normal picnic with her friends. She didn't expect an unknown creature to come out of the forest wanting help. She decided to take him in and look after him.
It all started when I was on my way back to America. I was on a plane bound for New York when it happened. But before I get into all that I should tell you about myself. My name is Jake, I live on my own in New York and worked as a banker, though sometimes I would volunteer for a animal rights group.
Anyway, back to the flight.
I was just sitting there, minding my own business and thinking about my presentation at a school in Washington. It was pretty stressful but it worked out in the end. I didn't expect anything different on the flight that I had taken so many times before to visit my parents.
Boy was I wrong.
The plane started to shake and the fasten seatbelt sign beeped into life above my head. I expected it to only last a few minutes like normal, but it only got worse as time went on. Soon it was obvious that the plane was loosing altitude. People were screaming and yelling for loved ones as the plane kept falling.
I looked out of the window and saw that the wing of the plane had been badly damaged and the engine wasn't working. I started to panic and cowered in my seat.
This was not normal. Plane wings don't just spontaneously break down. From my experience the engines are normally the part of the plane that explodes or becomes damaged. All I could do was stare out of the window and hope against hope as the plane fell closer and closer to the ground. The pressure change felt like it was going to crush my skull!
Before we crashed, however, I heard a deep booming noise and darkness started creeping into the corners of my eyes. I fought to keep from falling unconscious but I knew it was hopeless. I blacked out just before we hit the ground.
When I came to I was still in the plane. I thought for a moment that it had just been a dream. But only for a moment. As I slowly came to my senses I realised that the plane had been ripped in half two seats in front of me. In the forest that surrounded the plane I could see the cockpit about a hundred meters away.
I unfastened my seatbelt and slid out of my seat. As I emerged into the aisle I noticed the bodies. Dozens of bodies strewn about over the seats and in the aisle. When I cautiously walked toward the hole I saw more bodies, men, women, children, all over the ground outside. When I hopped down I felt a sharp stab of pain in my stomach. Looking down I saw that my shirt was covered in blood and a piece of metal was sticking out of my lower stomach.
I knew that I had to get help fast, but I was so cold that I couldn't think straight. Now that I knew that I was badly wounded I could feel my life slipping away. I looked a round me for something to help the pain but everything was ether destroyed or lost in the crash. I knew that there was no point to staying and started to hobble into the forest.
After a few minutes of walking I heard a noise on the other side of the bushes to my right. When I peeked through the bush the sight would have made my jaw drop if I had had the energy to do so. There were six brightly coloured, horselike creatures sitting on a blanket in a clearing. There was a lavender one, an orange one, a white one, a pink one, a light blue one and a yellow one. The lavender and white ones had horns, the blue and yellow ones had wings and the last two had nothing at all.
I tried to push my way through the bush but I could see the darkness creeping around my eyes and knew that I would not last much longer. This was my only hope.
My efforts to get past the bush caused the creatures to look up in alarm. The lavender one jumped up and lit its horn. I could feel myself being lifted into the air but by what I didn't know. I drifted toward the group. The lavender one turned to the others and to my amazement started talking to them.
I couldn't make out any words but from the looks of their faces they obviously thought that I was dangerous. I managed to mumble a few words. "Help me, please" I groaned. When they looked at me again the yellow one saw my bloodstained shirt and the piece of metal sticking out of my stomach, yelped quietly and ran towards me.
The last thing that I remember is looking up into those big green eyes as the yellow creature helped me get safely get to the ground.
I kind of drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. Sometimes, when I woke up, I saw things that I didn't understand so I just fell back asleep. One time I could hear someone talking but I couldn't see who. The voice sounded female though. Another time I think I saw one of the creatures, but I couldn't tell which one.
When I finally woke up for real I had no idea where I was. I knew that I was on a bed so first I thought that I was in a hospital, then I noticed that the room was much more rustic and homely. There were none of those plastic sheets that hide other patients from view, but there were pictures of some of the creatures, birds and trees dotted around the room. There were also bird houses in the rafters, which was a bit weird, and a fireplace against one wall. I felt some pressure around my midsection and looked under the duvet to see what it was. I saw that my stomach was wrapped in a bandage and remembered what had happened.
I had almost died!
The realisation sent me into a panic attack. The door opened suddenly and the yellow creature, along with the lavender one, walked in. When the yellow one saw me having an attack she ran over and, to my surprise once again, started talking to me.
"Hey... Hey, it's okay. You're going to be okay. Just breathe with me, ok? In... Out... In... Out..." She said, (I could tell it was a she because of the way she sounded).
I don't know why but I felt like I could trust her, like she knew what she was doing. I tried to copy her breathing for a few minutes. I eventually calmed down and more-or-less relaxed. I got a bit worried when the lavender one walked up to the bed with a stern look on her face.
"Hello? Do you understand me? My name is Twilight Sparkle. Twi-light Spar-kle. This is Fluttershy. Flutter-shy." She said slowly, like baby talk.
"Wha... What are you? Please don't eat me!" I said, nervously. I started to notice other things around the room as well. The trees through the window and the end of the staircase through the open door. So I was out the second floor.
"Oh! You can speak! Okay, that make thing easier. Don't worry, we're not going to eat you. We are ponies, but a more important question is: what are you?" The pony that had called herself Twilight Sparkle said with fascination, her stern demeanour gone.
"My name is Jake. I am a human." I looked around, "Where am I? How did I get here?" I tried to sit up but the pony Twilight had called "Fluttershy" moved forward and said in one of the softest voices I've ever heard "No!... I mean please don't get up. It will loosen the bandages."
I stopped trying to get up.
"Yes, well. To answer you question you are in Equestria. You just appeared in the forest one day while we were having a picnic. At first I was afraid that you would try to hurt me or one of my friends but Fluttershy here saw your stomach wound. She convinced me to bring you to her cottage so she could help you. I thought that you needed to go to the hospital but Fluttershy made a good point when she said that ponies probably wouldn't react the same way we did. They might have thought that you were a monster. You're not a monster, are you?" A suspicious look appeared on her face.
"Well, last I checked I don't have any tails or claws. But seriously, am I still on planet Earth? I don't think any countries have colourful talking ponies." I asked, worried.
"A planet called Earth? I've never heard of it, and I know a lot about the stars and other planets."
"So how did I get here? All I remember is being on a plane and I crashed. I can't remember anything past that."
Twilight suddenly looked sad, like she was about to announce someone's death. "Is this "plane" a giant metal bird-like thing?"
"I guess so, why?"
Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. She had tears in her eyes and looked like she was trying to hide behind her long pink mane. "We searched the area around where we found you, to see how you had gotten there, and we found the plane. Along with dozens of what did you call yourself? A hoo-man? There were dead hoo-mans all around the crash site. Af far as we could tell there were no survivors other than you."
"Are you sure that no one walked in a different direction?" I felt as if the bed had just opened up and swallowed me whole.
"I did a magical scan of the area. Nopony had been there in months."
"Wait, magic? You have magic?! Can you show me?" I asked, hoping there was a way to get me back home.
"Uh... Okay." Twilight said. And then, right before my eyes, her horn started to glow and one of the pictures on the shelf began to float. It floated down in front of me as I just sat there, amazed.
"Don't you have magic?" She asked as she replaced the picture.
"No! Can you do other things, like teleport?"
"Sure." She lit her horn again at was suddenly gone. Then I heard a voice from my right.
"That's beginner level magic. I can do way more than that." Twilight said in a tone that sounded slightly like boasting.
"Can you teleport objects? Other living things?"
"I guess, but I know what you're thinking and it won't work. I can't teleport things outside of Equestria."
"So I'm stuck here? Well that's just great!" I exclaimed, pretending to only be quite annoyed with the situation, while I was internally freaking out. "What am I going to do now? I can't just go and get a job here, can I?"
"Don't worry. Fluttershy has offered to let you stay at her cottage. As long as you behave you can live here as long as you want." Twilight said as she looked at Fluttershy again, who looked like she was trying to become invisible.
I felt a flood of relief as I leaned around Twilight as much as I could to talk to Fluttershy face to face.
"That is very kind of you Fluttershy. You don't know how much this means to me, thank you." She blushed and hid behind her mane as I thanked her.
She squeaked something that sounded like a "you're welcome" and ducked back behind Twilight.
"Well, now that's sorted, we will give you some time to rest and come back in the morning. Sleep well." Twilight ushered Fluttershy out of the room and closed the door.
I could faintly hear Twilight talking to Fluttershy on the other side of the door. Although I couldn't make out all of it, it sounded like she was talking about me: "can't be sure he is what he... could be a changeling... sure you'll be okay taking care of it?" It faded away as they went down the stairs.
I heard a door open and close and then there was silence.
I knew I wasn't going to learn anything else today so, as the sun set through the window, I drifted into an uneasy sleep with weird dreams about brightly coloured animals.
I awoke to the sound of a bird screeching loudly nearby. In fact, it was so loud that I almost jumped out of the bed in shock. The only thing that stopped me was the tight bandages that I was wrapped in.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and jumped again as the bird screeched again. The little bastard was sitting right on the bedside table. Which was about 10 centimetres away. I feebly tried to swat it away but it seemed to mock me by hopping over my hand and onto the edge of the bed where it screeched again.
Wow, I thought, I must have taken a bigger hit to the head than I realised. I’ve never been mocked by a bird before. Then again, I’ve never seen talking ponies before either. After a few minutes of the bird hoping around noisily it apparently decided that it was bored and hopped off of the bed and out of sight.
Annoyed, I managed to roll onto my back and thought about what had happened to me over the last 24 hours.
“Talking ponies…” I laughed quietly to myself. “Of all the things to happen to me, it had to be talking ponies. Still though, could be worse. I could have died in the crash.”
At this moment the bedroom door burst open (in a manner that I thought to be impossible) and a rainbow blur shot through. I had no time to react before it landed heavily on my chest.
Great, I thought, like I wasn’t hurt enough.
In the few seconds it took me to gather my thoughts the cyan pony that had landed on my chest was muzzle to nose with me. I could instantly tell that it, unlike the others that I had met, this pony was very hostile and, judging by its muscular body, was also very strong. Judging by the similarities of its body I assumed that it was female. After a brief time spent staring at me the pony opened its mouth to speak.
“RAINBOW DASH! GET OFF OF HIM THIS INSTANT!”
The voice was so loud and commanding that we both instantly snapped our heads towards the source.
To my surprise, and apparently the pony my chest, the owner of the most powerful voices that I had ever heard was Fluttershy. She was standing in the doorway with a tray of food balanced on her back. If I had thought that the blue pony, whose name was apparently Rainbow Dash, looked angry then I had no idea what anger really was.
Fluttershy took a moment to put the tray on the floor before taking flight on a pair of wings that I hadn’t noticed before now. As she slowly flew over to us the other pony also unfurled its wings and rose up to meet Fluttershy.
“What do you mean ‘get off him? I was making sure that it wasn’t a dangerous and going to hurt you,” Rainbow Dash said in a huff, keeping an eye on me.
Yep, I concluded, definitely female. Though a bit tomboy-ish, I think.
“I told you to wait for me before going up the stairs and this is why. Even if he was dangerous, he’s too wounded to move out of the bed. I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I had known that you would hurt him more than he already is. Now if I could please talk to you outside,” Fluttershy motioned her head towards the bedroom door.
Rainbow Dash looked ashamed as she dropped to the floor.
“Ugh… Fine. For you. But I’m keeping my eye on you, creature,” she looked at me again, all shame gone from her eyes.
They were outside for a few minutes, which gave me time to think about what had just happened.
Okay, so they both had wings and they’re called ponies. That makes them… what? Pegasuses? Pegasi? I should have paid more attention in history class.
I pondered on this until they came back in, Rainbow Dash with her head hung low and Fluttershy looking more like she did last night, timid and shy.
Rainbow Dash walked over to the bedside and looked at me regretfully.
“I’m sorry for attacking you like that, Mister Jake. I was just trying to protect Fluttershy. I beg your forgiveness and all that crap.” She raised her hoof in a gesture that looked like a proposed brofist. Not knowing what else to do, I bumped it with my fist.
“It’s fine. I would have done the same. Rainbow Dash was it?” I asked not wanting to hold a grudge.
She grumbled at that and nodded, “Just call me Rainbow. Or Dash. Most of my friends call me Dash.”
“I’ll make sure to,” I said as she moved aside for Fluttershy.
“Sorry about that, Little One. Do you want some food? I made some breakfast for you.” She placed the tray heaped with food next to me on the bed. “Or some water?” She turned to the other pony. “Rainbow, could you please get Jake a glass of water?”
Rainbow huffed and walked out of the room.
“Is this enough food? I’ve never had to treat a human before so there might not be enough. Oh, there isn’t enough, is there? I’m so sorry. I’ll go and make some more.” Fluttershy’s’ voice got softer and softer the more she went on but I managed to reach out and grab her foreleg before she left.
She squeaked in surprise and stepped back quickly, hiding her face behind her mane.
“Oh… Uh, sorry. I just wanted to say that this is more than enough, thanks.” I let go and looked at the tray. Fluttershy flicked her ears back in a very cute manner and nodded.
The tray was covered in carrots, apples and what looked like a bowl of oats. Since I had never had oats in my life and didn’t really like carrots I picked up one of the apples. The moment I bit into it I knew that it was not a normal apple. It was the juiciest, most crunchy apple I had ever had the pleasure of eating. It tasted like it was grown with the most care and attention of any apple ever grown.
In short, it was perfect.
“WOW!” I exclaimed as I finished the mouthful of apple. “This is the best apple I have ever tasted!”
I heard a thump from where Fluttershy was standing so I opened my eyes to see that she was on the floor, upside down and stiffed legged. Kind of like those funny goats back home.
“Um, Fluttershy, are you okay?” I ask the frozen pegasus.
She didn’t move for a minute and I was beginning to get worried. As I was reaching over to poke her leg, Rainbow Dash came back into the room. She saw Fluttershy on the floor and trotted over to her side.
“Oh, wipe that worried look off of your face. She sometimes does this when she’s been startled.” She looked at the grabbed of water balanced on her wing and poured some of it onto Fluttershy’s face. She lay there for a few seconds, blinked once and relaxed her legs, snapping out of her unmoving state. She got back to her feet – hooves, I reminded myself, nodded in appreciation to Rainbow Dash and looked at me shyly.
“I’m so sorry about that, Little One. Oh, it’s so embarrassing. I should just go and leave you to eat your breakfast…” She apologised before turning to leave the room.
Rainbow Dash placed the cup with the remaining water on the bedside table and followed her out of the room, shutting the door.
“Well then, that was one hell of a morning,” I mumbled to myself as I looked over to the clock above the fireplace. “And it’s not even 9 yet! If they even use the same times as I do.”
I finished the apple, drained the glass and, having nothing better to do, snuggled back under the blankets and drifted off.
I opened my eyes to see the moon hanging in the air outside the window.It loomed over the hills and filled me with a sense of wonder and, strangely, unease. I didn’t get the chance to ponder on that, however. I could sense another presence in the room. The hairs of the back of my neck stood up as I glanced around the dark bedroom.
My gaze soon fell on a pair of turquoise eyes peering at me from the darkness.
The owner of the eyes saw me looking and stepped into the moonlight. It was a tall, slender pony with a coat the colour of the midnight sky and a mane to match. At first I thought that she was a unicorn like Twilight, although her horn was longer, and then I saw that she had wings like Fluttershy. I also noticed that she had what looked like some sort of crown at the base of her horn and a royal looking necklace/collar around her neck.
The unknown pony stopped at the foot of the bed.
“So, you are the human that Twilight’s letter mentioned. What is your name?” The pony asked me as she looked over me once more.
“Uh… I-I’m Jake. Who are you?” I’m not sure what it was, maybe the way she talked, but there was something about this pony that made me want to get down on my knees and bow to her.
“I am Princess Luna, ruler of the night and co-ruler to the land of Equestria. It is my duty to investigate any new or potentially dangerous creatures in the safety of dreams to determine if you are truly a threat.” Before I could respond her horn lit up a light blue and I felt something new in my thoughts. It was warm and cold at the same time, but not unpleasant. It seemed to sift through my memories, throwing away anything boring or unimportant and taking a closer look at anything suspicious. It only took a few minutes but felt even shorter thanks to the fact that it was a dream.
“Is it over?” I asked as I felt the presence leave my mind. I looked over and noticed that she was sweating and breathing heavily.
Once she had composed herself, she looked at me with a sad smile.
“I did not expect that,” Princess Luna chuckled. “You are a very interesting creature, Jake. Your mind is filled with compassion and love, but also sadness. You feel alone in this world. We are very alike in that regard. I am also out of place. Though I am from a different time, not a different world. Alas, there is nothing you or I can do about it.”
She lit her horn and looked toward the moon, which was now sinking below the hills and out of sight.
Once the moon had fully lowered Princess Luna looked at me one last time.
“Good night, Jake. I will talk to my sister about what I have found and she will decide your fate. Don’t worry too much, I’ll try to put a good word in for you,” she winked at me and walked back into the shadows, disappearing in a small flash of light.
I sat there for a few more minutes, pondering on what had just happened.
“I’m dreaming? So, I guess that means that I can do what I want, then.” I looked down at my torso and tried to will the bandages to disappear. They disappeared, to my somewhat unexpected surprise, and I swung my legs off of the bed. “This is the most realistic dream I’ve ever had, as far as I can remember,” I whispered to myself as I stood up.
I walked over to the door out that led out of the bedroom and opened the door. Down the stairs I went, trying not to trip, only to see a large expanse of nothingness stretching as far as the eye could see when I reached the bottom.
“I guess that makes sense. It’s not like I’ve seen what it’s like down here,” I took one look out into the darkness and returned to bed. “Might as well try to wake myself up, not much reason to stay asleep now. Who knows, Fluttershy might let me have a walk around this time.”
I lay my head on the pillow, concentrated, and awoke in the real world.
