Fallen

Insertion Point

A quiet evening in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, was interrupted when, on the corner of South Loyalsock Avenue and Broad Street, a strange light began to pulse in the alleyway parallel to Family Wok Chinese restaurant. The light was weak at first, but grew steadily, and the smell of burning metal filled the air. But Montoursville was the kind of town that rolled up its streets at dinnertime. There were very few people out and about. The restaurant was closed. The streets were silent.

But the light continued to grow, to pulse, as if it were living. It had no color, and yet it seemed to be a whirlwind of color, as if someone had taken a paint bucket filled with every color of paint in the world and splashed it onto a glittering mirror. The smell of burning metal intensified. The ground shook. A few streetlamps flickered, and across the street, a truck’s car alarm went off.

And yet, silence permeated the night. The truck’s alarm had turned off. There was nothing, not even a dog barking. Not a single sound broke the deafening silence.

FLASH.

The light contracted and burst, dissipating into the evening air, absolutely silent. In its place, facedown on the alley floor, were seven figures that did not belong in this world.

The first figure to rise was a slim girl with straw-colored hair tied in a ponytail, her eyes green as emeralds and her body covered in ruffled plaid. She had upon her head a hat of cowhide, like a cattle rustler’s hat. Moaning and dusting herself off, she looked around and began to speak in a rustic Southern drawl.

“Everypony okay?”

But as she said this, she realized that her friends, the remaining figures on the ground, were anything but okay. She gasped and bit her lip to keep from screaming, and in the process caught sight of her own hands, her own form. She bit her lip even harder, fighting the urge to shriek until she calmed.

“What in tarnation?” she whispered to herself. “What’s happen’d t’me?”

“Uhhh…” Another figure, a girl wearing a light cyan sleeveless T, her hair like a rainbow, stirred and opened her eyes. “What happened? Where…am I?”

“Dash?” the cowboy-hat girl said, rushing to her friend’s side. “Dash, you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m…I’m…what in Equestria happened to you, Applejack?!”

“I dunno, sugarcube, but looks like you’ve got it too.”

“What?!” The rainbow-haired girl shook her head, regaining her senses, and realized how much she had changed.

“But…the others…”

“In the name of Celestia…”

Every one of them had changed. To Dash’s left was a stirring girl with dark hair that had purple highlights, trimmed straight in an intellectual manner; she wore a mauve jacket over a black shirt. To Applejack’s right were three awakening figures: a pink-haired, pink-sweatshirted, pink-legged girl; a young girl with straight, light pink hair and a yellow T-shirt with butterflies on it; and a small boy, his head adorned with greenish-black hair, wearing a faded purple T-shirt and black jeans. One by one they arose, shaking off dust and despair, trying to piece together their situation.

“Oohhh…” the mauve-jacketed one groaned. “I think I hit my head on something on our way out of…”

She snapped to attention, her eyes wide with fear. “Canterlot! Oh no! Everypony at Canterlot…”

She then caught sight of her friends, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and assumed a look of puzzled amazement.

“Who the heck are you two? What the heck are you two?”

“Um, Twi…it’s us. Dash and Applejack.”

There was no mistaking the voice. The blonde girl was indeed Applejack. Twilight Sparkle, the mauve-jacketed girl, nearly fainted, but snapped from her amazement when the other girls and guy on the ground began to stir.

“Ohh…that was no fun at all…” moaned the girl in the pink sweatshirt.

“N-nightmare…f-fire…” the one with the yellow shirt stammered.

“Uuhhhh…I guess dragons don’t teleport as well as unicorns,” said the boy as he picked himself up and looked around.

“What the…”

“I know, Spike, but we cain’t rightly say why we’re all like this,” Applejack said, still examining her human hand closely. “I’m tryin’ to remember what happened, but…”

“Ooh! I remember!” The pink-sweatshirted girl exclaimed, oblivious to her own transformation. “We were at Canterlot, and the Princess cast a spell on us when…when Discord…”

She stopped bouncing. Their faces became grave. Nobody needed the pink-haired girl to finish. They knew now what had happened.

“Discord…” Applejack said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I thought we had gotten rid o’him for good…”

“Princess Celestia must’ve teleported us…to keep the Elements of Harmony safe…” Rainbow Dash whispered.

“But…” the green-haired boy began, “what about the others at Canterlot? What about the colts and fillies? What about AJ’s family? Where are they?”

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight Sparkle said, shaking her head. “When Discord attacked Canterlot…I can’t remember. There was…fire and smoke and…”

She couldn’t go on. None of them could. However, their bout of tears was interrupted when a metallic banging escaped the confines of the alleyway’s dumpster, followed closely by a shrilly voice.

“HELP! DIRT! FILTH! OH, HEAVENS, HELP!”

“Rarity!” they all exclaimed, rushing to the dumpster. Noticing the lock, Applejack kicked it and sent it flying. They lifted the lid of the giant trash bin and looked inside.

There, covered in banana peels, apple cores, and other forms of refuse, was a splendid-looking girl, sporting well-kempt lavender hair (though a bit soiled from the dumpster) and eyes like diamonds. She wore a plain white T-shirt and blouse that were both stained with trash.

The group pulled their friend from the dumpster, depositing her on the cement ground. She was crying.

“Oh, what a horrid, decrepit place! What a disgusting…”

“Rarity,” Twilight said, her eyes half-closed in impatience, “take a look at yourself.”

“I know! I’m covered in dirt and filth and…what?!”

She noticed her hand, her human hand. Her crying intensified, echoing across the alleyway.

“…ugly, repulsive, mongrel, troglodyte…”

“RARITY!”

She finally shut up, sniffling and smelling like feces. Applejack sighed.

“Listen up, sugarcube. Ain’t no time for cryin’ no more. We gotta find out where we are.”

“Well, that’s not hard,” Twilight interjected. “Princess Celestia obviously used her magic to take us to a new world when she realized that we couldn’t stop Discord.” Her voice faltered a little as she said this. “Judging by your appearances, I’d say she took us to Earth.”

“Earth?!” cried six voices in unison.

The dark-haired girl nodded. “Yes, Earth. The Canterlot Archives have long held scrolls that hold dissertations and theories of other worlds beyond Equestria. The Earth Theory was the most widely-debated theory.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash piped up. “I remember that. Bunch of eggheads thinking that there was a world out there where ponies didn’t talk, and where there were no pegasi or unicorns…” She gulped, realizing what she was saying. “You mean, we’re in Earth?”

“On Earth,” Twilight corrected. “Earth is something called a planet, which is like a big ball suspended in the middle of…well, nothing.”

“But…how is that p-possible?” the butterfly-shirted girl asked sheepishly.

“Princess Celestia must’ve realized that this was t’safest place t’be, Fluttershy,” Applejack said, placing her arm around the other girl’s shoulder. “That would make sense, givin’ the fact that we ain’t ponies no more.”

“Wow!” the pink-sweatshirted girl exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to go to an alien world! Ooh! Ooh! Maybe we’ll meet another alien! Maybe we’ll…”

“Calm down, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “We’ll just have to…”

She stopped talking, for Spike, the green-haired boy, had suddenly gone green in the face. Keeling over, his cheeks bulged, and he clutched his stomach.

“Spike?” Twilight stammered.

Spike looked from left to right, then belched.

A spurt of green fire burst from his mouth, and birthed from the fire was a scroll, secured with a red ribbon, upon which a seal adorned with the letter C lay.

A letter from the Princess.

“Open it, Twi!”

“O-okay…” she stammered, unraveling the scroll. Clearing her throat, she began to read.

My little ponies,

I imagine right now you are confused and scared. The attack on Canterlot gave me little time to formulate a plan to protect you and the Elements of Harmony. This is, unfortunately, the last letter I will be able to send for a long while.

You may be fretting over your new forms. Do not fear. For you to remain covert in your new world, called Earth, (“Whaddaya know, Twilight was right,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, before being shushed by everyone else,) I used my magic to change your appearance to reflect the natural image of the denizens of the world you now inhabit. You may have lost your wings and horns, but sacrifices had to be made.

Know that you are not the only ponies of Ponyville, or indeed, Equestria, that now live on the Earth. Luna and I did our best to save as many as we could, but…to say that Discord’s forces were overwhelming would be a serious understatement.

But this will not last, my little ponies. I am currently in hiding with my sister, correlating a resistance back in Equestria. Discord does not know you are on Earth. He does not suspect that I have moved the Elements. When the time comes, when all is well, you will be able to go home. But home is not where you want to be right now.

As I write this, Discord’s armies have spread all over Equestria. Along with Canterlot, Baltimare and Los Pegasus have fallen. I regret to inform Applejack that Appleloosa has been completely obliterated (AJ started choking up.) So many have perished in the course of this fruitless war.

In this dark time, I have a task for all of you. Those I could save, I transported to Earth, to the area you now inhabit, but because of the nature of the teleportation magic, not all ponies will arrive at the same time and place. The humans of Earth, the most populous species, have yet to comprehend the existence of our kind, and I cannot say with certainty what may happen if humans should discover us. That is why I task you, all of you, to find every pony that I have sent to Earth. Find them, and guide them to safety. You will know when a pony is about to appear; Pinkie Pie will help you there. In the meantime, find your way. Do what you can to stay hidden, stay safe, and stay alive. The lives of so many ponies rest on your shoulders now. I hope to see you again in the future, but for now, my blessings are upon you.

Good luck.

—Princess Celestia

The ponies-turned-humans stared at each other in silence. Overhead, the stars twinkled. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog barked.

“‘Pinkie Pie will help you there…’” Pinkie Pie said, running her fingers through her wild hair. “Hey! She must mean my Pinkie Sense!”

“Appleloosa…obliterated…”

“What are we supposed to do now?” Rainbow Dash snapped, but not even a second later, another scroll leapt from the green flames of Spike’s burp. But this scroll was unsealed, unmarked. Twilight opened it.

Come to the house on Reynolds Drive. You will know which one. The directions are listed. Be quick. They may be watching.

—J

“J? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know, but whoever sent this sent it through Spike, so maybe it’s another pony!”

“B-but what if it’s a trap?”

“Who would spring a trap on us here?”

“Beats me.”

“I think we should go to this place,” Twilight finished. “Whoever sent this is a pony with connections to the Princess. I trust this pony.”

“‘They may be watching…’ Who’s they?”

“No idea.”

“Well, you’re certainly helpful today, Applejack.”

“Rarity, do us all a favor, and kindly shut up.”

“Well, I never!”

“That’s right, you never do shut up…”

“You’re the one that needs to shut up, AJ!”

“EVERYPONY, SHUT UP!”

Spike’s outburst silenced the warring girls. He looked at all of them, then blushed. “I mean, a, every-human…oh, whatever. Look, we’ve been changed. We’ve been sent here for a reason. We need to find this J guy and try to help anypony else who might end up here!”

“But how will we know who’s a pony and who’s not?” Rarity exclaimed, glaring at Applejack. “We’ve all been turned into…people! Won’t they be turned as well?”

“Undoubtedly,” Twilight Sparkle answered. “But the Princess mentioned Pinkie Pie. That can only mean that her Pinkie Sense is meant to help us find others!”

At this, Pinkie nodded rapidly, only stopping when Fluttershy calmed her.

“So let’s find this J, and…well, hopefully save Equestria!”

“Yeah!” six voices cried out in unison. Again. With that, the odd group of teenagers moved from the alley onto South Loyalsock Avenue, following the directions written on the sheet.

* * *

When they arrived on Reynolds Street, Pinkie began acting up, telling the other ponies (er, girls) that the fourth house down was the one to go. The fourth house down looked like it hadn’t been inhabited for years. The windows were cracked, the lawn was unkempt, and the wood was rotting. A derelict swingset stood in the overgrown yard, broken and rusty. The mailbox was black with grime. Leaves, weeds, and twigs choked the ground in front of the house. On one stretch of wall, somebody had spray-painted the word ‘CONDEMNED.’

“Uhhh…” they all began, but Pinkie Pie, twitching and itching, nodded.

“This is it! My Pinkie Sense has never been wrong!”

“I ain’t seen a house this broken since that storm knocked down our barn few years back,” Applejack uttered.

Before they could say anything else, the dilapidated front door of the house swung open, startling them all.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the light of a candle, was a being that stood on two legs and was taller than anything the girls had ever seen before. It had to be a human, but something about it seemed equine. It raised its arm and motioned the girls forward, after looking right and left. They hesitated, but slowly approached the door, crossing the weedy yard and entering the house.

The exterior of the building appeared rundown and ramshackle, but the interior was bare. Empty. Deserted. The walls were white, the floors were white; even in the darkness, everything looked white. It looked like nobody had ever lived here, and it reminded several of the former ponies of their homes, when they first moved in.

As they walked through, Twilight got a better look at the strange thing with the candle. It was definitely human, but something kept nagging at the back of Twilight’s mind, something that kept telling her that this thing wasn’t human. It walked on two legs but had cloth-wrapped hands that looked suspiciously like hooves. It was clad in a white hooded sweatshirt and black jeans, and its hood completely obscured its face. The figure didn’t say a word as it guided the girls to the kitchen area.

Unlike the rest of the home, the kitchen looked like it had been lived in. A few sleeping bags lay on the wooden floor, surrounding the countertop that was laden with food, water, and scrolls. A portable closet stood where the refrigerator would have been, and scattered across the floor were dozens of pieces of potato chips. The hooded figure motioned for the group to sit down, and they did, plopping down on the floor as the figure placed the candle on the countertop.

“You received the Princess’s message, then?” the figure asked. The voice was low and male, almost like Big Macintosh’s, but not quite. It had an air of uncertainty to it, as though the person underneath the hood didn’t trust these people.

Twilight, stunned that the hodded figure had spoken, nodded slowly. “Yes, sir…may I ask who you are?”

He didn’t move. “My name is Jet. I am…was…a member of the Princess’s royal guard.”

“Jet? What kind of a name is that?” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

Jet leaned forward, revealing crimson brooding eyes that gleamed in the shadows of his hood. “I would thank you not to get on my nerves, Rainbow Dash. If not for me, you all would still be wandering the streets.”

“But who the heck are you?”

Jet stared into space, his red eyes sagging. “Like I said, I was once a royal guard in Princess Celestia’s court. When Canterlot fell, and when the Princess cast her teleportation spell, my men were busy corralling those who had begun to flee Discord’s rampage. But…the Princess had been wounded. Her magic had been splintered. Even her sister could not correct the flaws of the spell. I blacked out, and when I awoke, I looked like this.”

He lifted his hood, and everyone gasped. Beneath the sweatshirt’s hood was a gaunt, raggedy face with a rough brown beard and short, straight hair. But what made the girls gasp was the morbid array of scars that adorned Jet’s face. Every spare inch of flesh was scarred or grazed, and his face had the visage of an overused cutting board. A particularly large gash ran down through his right eye across the bridge of his nose, and Twilight was surprised that he wasn’t blind. Hoodless, Jet looked exposed, weak, and pitiful.

“That is why I hide my face,” Jet continued. “The spell changed me, alright. But…you must realize…such a being with a visage as mine is hardly welcome amongst the hordes of humans in this world. I had to hide, to steal away from society. The teleportation spell being broken as it was, I arrived here several months before you did, anticipating your arrival at Princess Celestia’s request. Now that you are here, our mission can commence.”

He sat down with them. “The last thing the Princess said to me before I left was to protect those who would come soon. She meant you, and all the ponies of Equestria.”

“So, where does that leave us?” Applejack asked.

“This place is abandoned.”

“You don’t say?”

“Shut up, Dash.”

Jet cleared his throat. “This place is abandoned. Has been for years. I’ve made it into a refuge for the ponies arriving through the Princess’s portal spell. You may bunk here, call this place home. What’s mine is yours.”

“Hold up, one last thing,” Rainbow Dash said, getting to her feet. “How can we trust you? How do we know you’re not just a human?”

It was such an obvious question that all the girls almost slapped themselves for not asking it sooner. Jet stared into her eyes.

“Now that’s the million-bit-question, isn’t it, Dash?”

He smiled, and Rainbow Dash looked amazed. He addressed the others.

“The hour is late. We must rest.”

* * *

Twilight tossed and turned, but she could not sleep. Everybody else was asleep, but she was wide awake with fear.

Her world had ended. Her life had ended. That day in Canterlot…those final moments with the Princess…

Gone.

She had complained about her life being hard before, but right now she would do anything to be a pony again. Not a whole day had passed, and yet she felt uncomfortable in her new skin. The others didn’t seem to mind as much. Heck, they’d been through worse.

But was this the life they had to live now? Hiding, rescuing human ponies, and hoping one day everything will turn out alright?

She sighed and closed her eyes, expecting restless sleep. Only time would tell the future.