Cock Block

Sort the items in the back of the warehouse... why doesn't she sort them herself? Officious little bitch.

Jesse had had enough of his boss treating him like shit. He'd been on a 'probation period' at his job for the last six months, because apparently that's the time frame of paranoia and non-existent job security they liked to put each new recruit through. Boss was an asshole—he called in sick one day in four months on account of a bug, and now she was sticking him with the most infuriating tasks possible if only to get him back for it.

Didn't help that she was only a year older than him. Real power hungry though, the type that'd do anything to remind you they made an extra dollar fifty an hour and had a slightly longer job title. Still, nothing he could do to offset his cruel fate, so he sucked it up and went along with it. He'd be looking for another job soon enough, though he doubted he had much of a chance finding one in the current market.

Back of the warehouse really wasn't used. Hadn't been in years, from what Jesse knew. It was where the company stored the shit that had been recalled, that wasn't being sold or put to any other use. In other words, it was the equivalent to the dusty old boxes one might find in their basement or attic, and filled with worthless crap that no one would ever ask after.

Of course, that didn't mean he got away with doing nothing. Boss would come and check, almost certainly, so Jesse had to appear busy. Clipboard out, he started taking stock, opening boxes and counting items, recording and sorting, boring work.

As he did so, his mind drifted, as anyone's might when slogging through menial labour for hours at a time. There was no one else back here, no shock, so he didn't worry about being caught in quiet contemplation and having his alone time ruined.

He fucking hated it here. This job was complete shit, and almost certainly not what he wanted to be doing with his life. A sigh as he continued to push boxes and tick boxes. Lots of boxes. His apartment was decent; serviceable, if a little spartan, but he felt rather alone in it. Few online friends he played games with, couple of local buddies from high school that he'd kept in touch with, but they were at best time fillers.

Jesse knew he could be doing something better with his life, he just didn't know what. Was difficult to make his mind up when he was too tired from work to think half the time, but he knew that anything would be better than this.

Jesse was working through the room rather quickly. Didn't know why, it probably wouldn't get him out of it any faster, but he could hope. At the back end was an extremely dusty, cobwebbed set of boxes. The oldest lot there, from the looks of things, and a lot of them had crumpled in on each other under their own weight.

This was going to be a fucking pain to sort out. Jesse took his time pulling the top ones off before trying to slide the small towers of cardboard away from the far wall's corner, but they were scarcely budging. Jeez, whatever was in there really was heavy. He redoubled his effort, just wanting the job over with, though the moment he finally managed to clear one of the large layers of cardboard away, he saw something behind them against the wall that made him quickly raise an eyebrow.

There were small, luminescent cracks against the wall. They were glowing like some kind of spiritual neon, sort of thing he'd imagine seeing in a fantasy game. They weren't carved into runes or patterns, nothing of the sort, just etched into the wall in a haphazard manner, almost resembling an opening.

That, and they seemed to radiate with some kind of heat. Jesse forgot about the boxes. He forgot about his shitty boss and his shitty job. He had something new to be curious about now.

Reaching forwards, he attempted to touch the wall, squeezing between the multiple containers that still blocked his path, and found himself having to lean against it in order to bring himself forwards. Well, not just lean against it...

But fall straight through it.

Ever fall horizontally and land vertically? Jesse hadn't, and it was needless to say that it threw him for a pretty serious spin. Sunlight stabbed at his eyes, something he'd almost forgotten after spending most of his time either working the evening shift or cooped up in his bedroom, and he had to take a couple of minutes to adjust to the brightness.

That, and work out where the hell he was. He'd just been at work, he knew that. He'd clearly fallen through the wall, it was the only logical explanation, but looking around him... there was only field. No way back, nothing glowing, it all looked completely normal. He couldn't explain it. Had he been teleported, or something? Teleportation wasn't a thing, surely. That was pure fiction, a technological dream.

But if that was the case, how was he here? He pinched himself, felt a sting. Probably wasn't dead or dreaming. World seemed more vibrant than usual, almost as if it had suddenly become more verdant and healthy, and pollution had stepped back a thousand years. A silly thought came into Jesse's head—could he be in the past?

He gave himself a small chuckle as he stood, but it was only an attempt to hide his nerves. This was all freaking the hell out of him. Jesse had no idea where he was or how he'd got there, and the closest speck of civilisation seemed to be miles away. He could barely see the buildings.

Pulled his phone out of his pocket. No signal. Tried waving it in the air some, but no luck whatsoever. Guess he was stuck with walking all the way to that strange looking village and trying his luck with a cell connection. Hopefully they weren't a bunch of rednecks, or people that didn't speak a word of English.

The walk was surprisingly pleasant. Everything looked nice, almost nicer than real life, if that made sense. His steps fell quietly on the grass, and the one time he saw a woodland animal, a squirrel, it almost looked smaller than it should've. Maybe it was a baby, or a retard squirrel.

He put the thought out of his head. Still, in an area as calm and peaceful as this, he imagined the local residents were probably quite nice. Wasn't a guarantee, of course, but it was the hope he was banking on as he continued making his way over to what were now beginning to look like buildings from hundreds of years ago, done up in a more modern aesthetic. Jesse thought as much because they were smaller than the average buildings, and people were shorter once upon a time. He couldn't be in America anymore, if that was the case. They didn't have any buildings that old, or people that short.

He tried again for signal, but still no luck. A couple of wild horses could be seen walking in the distance, though their coats had odd colours. Stranger still, they almost looked like micro horses, about a third the size of a real stallion. Babies again?

That, or something was seriously off about this place. He hadn't seen any people, and everything seemed too small. It was only when he paid attention that he realised the largest, tallest building in the town seemed to be some kind of glowing tree with big fuck off dangly bits.

Okay, seriously, was he in some kind of Elven fantasy? This was really damn strange.

Couldn't hurt to walk over and find out, Jesse supposed. He was seeing more horses as he walked, watching them walk about and chatter amongst themselves and wait.

Talking horses? Was he on fucking drugs?

Jesse's legs felt weak all of a sudden. He dropped to the ground, into a sitting postion, feeling increasingly dizzy as he attempted and failed to comprehend what the fuck was happening. He was in some place he'd never seen before, and he didn't know how he'd got there. The animals were talking. The fucking animals were talking. He tried to make sense of it, to make it all compute, but each word of rational thought that entered his mind sounded increasingly like the symptoms of an acid trip.

Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, screaming out. He hoped that when he woke up, this strange hallucination would be gone, but upon opening his eye, he just saw more confused horse faces looking at him. His heart began to slow, just a tad. They weren't attacking him. Nothing bad was happening to him. This was fucking freaky, sure, but he was still okay, in some sense of the word.

They didn't look anything like any horses he'd ever seen in his life. They were small, cute, fuzzy as a bear's ballsack. Like something you might see in a cartoon. Two approached him, both of which he didn't fail to notice had wings, and began to check him over, seeming to be moving in an attempt to comprehend something about him. "A-are you alright?" came the voice of a yellow coated one, who was currently running her feathers along Jesse's back in a calming, reassuring motion.

Jesse didn't really know what to say, whether there was anything he could say that would be the truth right now, but he tried to be brave in spite of it. "Yeah... yeah, I think so." Jesse gave the apparently female horse a nod, looking her over a little more closely as he had the chance.

"You hear that, Rainbow? He can speak!" the yellow one all but cheered, if you'd ever heard something cheer at below the decibel level dog toys operated at. Not only were these horses smaller than usual, they were oddly proportioned. More curves, longer lashes, strange marks on their back ends... it was pretty adorable, if not totally wacky.

"Yeah, Flutters, I can hear that," the one that was apparently called Rainbow (which made sense, considering her mane) responded, tone rather rough and tomboyish. She squinted at him, as if she was trying and failing to recall some vague memory. "You a stallion? You sound like a stallion, but you don't look anything like one."

"I..." Jesse bit his lip. How was he meant to answer that? He was pretty sure he understood what Rainbow was asking, but the answer was written across his face. What kind of horse would Jesse ever be? "I'm a man?" he ventured, hoping that'd help explain things, and her eyes only widened at the confirmation.

"Oh..." Rainbow's cheeks seemed to redden a bit. It was a nice contrast with her blue fur. "No wonder you're so scared right now. You must not have a clue what's going on." She turned to her friend, and Jesse tried to keep up with the craziness. "Fluttershy, we should take him to Twilight's." The yellow pony, Fluttershy, nodded vivaciously, and Rainbow turned back to Jesse. "Would you like that, dude? We can look after you, make sure you're all okay."

There was something in her tone that he couldn't quite catch, but he was sure it wasn't anything important. Was she elongating her words a little, drawing them out? Her eyes were trained on him, she almost looked predatory, but caring at the same time. "Uhh, I think so? I'm pretty scared right now, honestly. Scared and confused."

"Don't worry," Rainbow chuckled, running a hoof along his cheek. Christ, was she soft. "We'll take good care of you, we promise. Nopony wants to see a poor stallion having a hard time, especially one that isn't even a pony. Isn't that right, Flutters?"

Fluttershy nodded at once, seeming very passionate about the matter. "Oh, yes, though I don't think the word for him is still 'stallion', Rainbow. The principle definitely applies, though. We need to keep you safe and happy..." She batted her eyelids at Jesse, softly, slowly, and around her, with her sweet tone and calming voice, he felt that little bit more safe. The pony called Rainbow was different, though. She excited Jesse for some reason that he hadn't yet put his finger on, which might have been something to do with the fading panic attack muddling his thoughts.

"Okay... I guess I'm coming with you guys, then?"

"That's right!" Rainbow smirked, spreading her wings. "Don't worry, we know how to be chivalrous for our stallions." Without another word, Fluttershy did the same, and the two of them went about picking him up and spreading him across their backs and lifting into the air, gliding towards the large glowing tree in the distance.

Luckily, Jesse didn't have a fear of heights, but being ten feet off the ground and carried by two... magical horses?—that was a little bit perturbing. Still, they seemed well-natured, that and happy to help him, maybe a little too much so. Maybe if Jesse went to this Twilight person, or rather, pony, they'd be able to help him work out how to get home.

And if not? Well, at least they seemed friendly... that and cute as all hell. Plus, he'd not have to see his damned boss for a while. Jesse imagined he could handle staying here for a little while, should he have to. He only wondered if he should've found the plots of the two ponies that carried him to be the perfect pillows that he did as they continued to fly him to what they called 'safety'.