A Conversion's Mistake.

"Agony"

"Pain"

Off the Coast of Anchorage Alaska

The Jaeger heaved with every forced lurch.  Riley trying to keep the neural overload at bay as the Comm Pod shook and groaned. Several dozen feet of water was displaced with each step the damaged Goliath of steel and cables made. Blood dripped from his mouth as he forced Gipsy to continue to limp towards the beach. The pain was becoming unbearable, even as his right foot caught upon the sand and he began to fall. Gipsy's remaining arm reached out, trying to stop her own fall. Riley's arm jerked out, to the best of his ability he managed to slow the titans descent to earth. As it crashed he began to loose consciousness, a pain erupted in his side as well, looking down to see some of the control panel had pierced through his suit and in between his ribs.

As the world began to grow black he stumbled out of the Comm Pod, groaning. An elderly man and a young boy stood before him, but no sound came. Slowly his mind receded into itself, or what remained of it. As he lay on the beach his mind rung with the sounds of Gipsy's clash with the Kaiju, the wail of its talons tearing into her hull, finally the pained cry of his brother as the Comm Pod as he was torn free of it, severing the Neural Hand Shake and their bond. He felt like dying, the pain began to grow with each second as he drifted through the endless void of the shattered pieces of his thoughts. As he drifted towards what he through to be oblivion, a pair of voices echos through his mind at once.

"You must not give up!" the female voices echoed out at once, causing him to stop in his tracks, and for the shadows to cease their movement towards him. If anything they seemed to recede back and away from the fragments of his and his brothers lives that drifted through his mind. As Riley looked about for the source of the voices, he finally found them, a pair of small glowing lights that seemed to shine and illuminate the darkest sections of his mind. A calming breeze flowed through him as he gazed upon both, steadily shifting himself. He stood before them, the twin lights that had kept him from allowing his suffering to end.

"Who are you?" Riley asked with some concern but curiosity had found a way to creep into his voice as he gazes upon them both, the twin lights seemed to glow with an intensity that put him at ease, yet he couldn't help but feel cautious around them. They had been able to keep his mind from shattering with ease, someone or something must have intervened on his behalf. The question that decided to make itself know as he asked them both.

"We are the Shobijin, guardians of Infant Island." they state, their words causing the lights to radiate once more with each word before they slowly dull. They speak at once, causing some confusion to Riley who was already confused enough from just the appearance and their nature, but now that he had been able to put a name to them, they seemed to confuse him even more. Steadily they rouse up to look into Riley's face, though he himself could not look directly towards them, the lights to intense from the tiny spheres that he had to shield his face from them before he spoke once again.

"Alright I'll bite, what are you doing in my mind? Why did you stop me from allowing this to end? I don't want to continue, with my brother gone I have nothing left in this world." he states, his voice beginning to rise with anger towards these so called Shobijin. Who ever they were they had robbed him of his ability to even see his brother once more. All he had left were what remained of his shattered thoughts, the memories that were left over from the Neural Hand Shake, and his final thoughts regarding his brother before he retreated into his own mind.

"We could not let you perish from this world. You will be called upon once more. "When the Wall falls, and the Dome draws near. His eyes will alight once more, and all shall tremble." they stated at the same time. That synchronized speaking.that they seemed to be able to do was beginning to get on his nerves, though their choice of words gave him pause, as he cracked open an eye, he is assaulted by another blast of light, almost as if the two did not want to be viewed by him just yet. Steadily he works up the nerve to ask another question.

"Dome? As in the Dome that surrounds the Ponies? What do you mean it will draw near? And Wall, what wall? The wall between the worlds? Are you saying that the Portal is just the beginning? That it will begin to expand?" he was receiving more questions then answers at this point in time from there two, yet they seemed to not want to reveal the truth to him just yet. Almost as if they themselves had something to hide. Then there was the final part of their words, that sent a shiver up his incorporeal spine, something about what they said filled him to the brim with dread. He institutionally looked behind him, like one would to make sure they were not being followed.

"You will know when the time comes Human. For now it is time for us to depart. May the moth watch over you child. Stay safe." with that the twin lights extinguished themselves from existence, and Riley was allowed to drift through his mind once more, alone with just his thoughts. Yet another set of questions left unanswered, what did they mean by moth. Did they mean the little insects that flew into bug zappers? No that couldn't be, why would he need to be looked after by something that was stupid enough to congregate around light. Maybe it was symbolic, like a god or goddess or something. He groaned within his mind, holding his head as a new sensation blasted through him. Pain, much like when he had felt before he slipped inside his mind. Could he be waking up now? Could his body finally be giving in? Suddenly the sensations stopped as he began to be released form the hold of his mind, a sign he was either dying or he was waking up.

10:00 A.M. Major General, Quebec Canada

Riley awakens with a groan, his eyes beginning to slowly flicker open as he was finally released from the suspended mental walk. Immediately after opening his eyes he jams them shut, the light filtering in to the room proving to much for his eyes to handle.He left his eyes closed for several minutes before steadily opening them once more, the light now blocked by a young, glassy eyed, brunet nurse. He could barely make out the name tag that sat upon her ample chest, but as he focused on it, he manages to catch a glimpse of the name before she moves off and he if forced to shut his eyes as light floods them once more. All he was able to take away from the name was a single letter.

"I"

"O your awake?" a voice echos out, at first Riley believes it to be the nurse I, who he had dubbed her since his sight had not returned to full optimal abilities. Then he noticed a subtle difference in pitch form that of the opposite gender. It was the voice of a male. Steadily he turns his head away from the light till he could no longer feel the heat of the sun upon his face, with that he was able to once more open his eyes. What greets his eyes is the scowling face of none other then Stacker Pentecost, his commander int he Anchorage Shatterdome. His mere presence sent a chill down Riley's spine as dread slowly welled inside of him. Steadily Stacker brought up his hands, resting his elbows upon his knees while he places his hands before his face. Intertwining the darkened skinned fingers within one another as he looks to the bed ridden Gipsy Pilot.

"How long was I out for?" Riley asked, his voice cracking from disuse for who knows how long.

"Three months." Stacker stated before sighing to look at him.

"You disobeyed direct orders Riley." was all that was stated, a wall already put up around Riley's mind shattered even as he had begun to build it, preparing for the inevitable, he was not prepared for what was to come, but he had to listen, he needed to take responsibility for his actions. Slowly Stacker breathed out, looking to him. "Your actions cost not only cost us a Jaeger, but your brother. I say this with a heavy heart Riley, but from this day forth, you are relived of duty, and striped of your title of Jumper." he slowly stands up, looking down on the wounded warrior. Slowly he raises a hand up and places it up against his forehead. "It was an honor serving with both you and your brother Riley." the salute lasted for but a moment before Stacker turns on his heel and walked past the nurse, who's name Riley finally was able to read out.

"Ingrid Standly"

Her name no longer interested him, he was dead in the water. His actions had caused the death of his brother, but not only that, Earth had one less guardian now, which left them vulnerable to Kaiju attacks. Tears began to stream down the sides of his cheeks as he looked up at the ceiling, he couldn't even believe what his own cockiness had caused. A new voice slowly filters in to the room, a small and quiet voice, causing him to look down at whom it might be. What greeted him was not a human child, but a pony, normal stature, must mean full grown. One of those ponies he had read about and seen from time to time. Her coat was a muttled grey, her eyes a shining gold that seemed to stare off into opposite directions as she watched him, her flank was plastered with seven bubbles. The nurse had left as he had begun to cry, and in the lapse of that time, the filly had wandered to investigate the noise.

"Whats wrong mister?" she asked, a slight lisp to her voice, which causes him to wince, though the tears never cease their endless caress down the sides of his face. "Did somethin bad happen?" she asked again, padding into the room, looking up at him. Even in his warped mind, he couldn't help but wonder where this little one's parents might be. His momentary lapse in concentration causes the Filly to tilt her head, before jumping up and onto the bed, looking over his multiple wounds. "Did you have a bad boo boo?" she asked as she sat down on the bed.

"A very bad boo boo yes." a voice echos out from behind her, causing her to turn to look upon another pony who had followed her into the room. This looked to be a male, or stallion as he remembered them being called. A soft chestnut colored his mane and coat and an hour glass adorned his side. Slowly he walked over to stand beside the bed. "But nothing some good R and R shouldn't fix. Why don't you introduce yourself to the mister Riley." At first the fact the pony knew his name causes him some bewilderment, he just chalks it up to the sheet on the front of the board that hung from the end of his bed.

"Ok! My bad, I'm Derpy, Derpy Hooves." she commented, though Riley was quite perplexed as to why this mare would be interested in him to begin with. Watching her eyes he noticed how one would focus on him while the other would stare off into the distance, a slightly unsettling feeling to begin with. "And this Time Turner." she states, pointing to the stallion. To say he was confused would be an understatement. Riley had no prior experience with Ponies, and yet here he was, right out of ER, and he was getting his first interaction with them. Slowly he nodded his head as the wall eyes mare introduced themselves to him. Though the other pony seemed to cringe at that name for some odd reason.

"Now Derpy, we really must be going, you can't just wander off from the maturity ward like that." Time Turner chided the mare who jumped down and followed him out. Though before he left, Time Turner turned back and walked over to actually shake Riley's hand. Compared to skin, his fur was rather silky, which was strange considering how close to the ground it was in correlation to the rest of his coat. "You are going to do great things Mister Riley, great things." Before Riley could respond, he was moving out the door with a "Alloon-ys!" Once more Riley was left with his thoughts, his questions, what little answers he had, and a myriad of confusion.