Being me really sucks.
No really. It does.
My name's Dante, Dante Demarco. I was a mercinary for the U.S government, operating as an unlisted asset. I didn't exist. No cell phone, no birth certificate, no social security number...I had been whiped clean.
Of course that meant I was viable as a test Subject for whatever the hell they wanted to sign me up for. This time around I get to be part of a lab jockey's personal experament. They have been testing a machine that moves objects from one place to another. Teleportation, a technology of the future.
And I get to be the guinea pig. 'Yay.'
I sat there, decked out in full combat armor, holding a large rifle, and waiting for the metal door frame with all the flashing lights, and sites to rien on. They planned on moving me across the room, and it was supposed to be easy. One of the scientists walked over, and had me fill out a clipboard of what I had eaten, how much o weighed ect, ect. When he finished, he gave the men behind the glass wall nearby a thumbs up, and rushed out of the room. I just stood there, scowling.
"Alright Mr. Demarco, I am required to inform you, that you may lose a bit of weight during the transition, nothing serius really, just a bit of displaced mass." Whover was talking quickly shut down the intercom, and the men behind the glas began powering up the machine.
I waited patiently, for some sort of bright lifhtshow, but in reallity a heavy humming filled the air, as the lights glowed a bit brighter. The air inside the door frame shimmeted like a mirage, or heat rising off the tarmac, admittedly it was a bit disappointing, but I was here to get paid.
"Whenever your ready, Mr. Demarco." The voice said.
I shrugged, and rolled my neck around, a bit stiff from standing still for so long. Grafting my gun up, I ran forward, sprinting really, and passed through the 'gate'.
A white flash blinded me, and suddenly I could see my own body several feet ahead of me, moving in slow motion as if I had still been running, it would have mde me panic, but I was pretty out of it now. What I saw next was, highly disturbing. I got a front row seat to my body turning to dust, litwraly I got to watch it dissolve into a multicolored sand that began evaporating right infront of me. It was quick, and painless, but the moment my head disappeared, the same bright flash agent off, and I was suddenly running foreward again, a cool breeze blowing over my skin.
My now totally naked skin.
When my right foot came down to take the next running step, something odd hppened. My knee just kept going, no resistance, or anything it just didn't stop. As you can guess I tumbled foreward, arms flailing Wildly, but it didn't do any good. When I finnaly stopped rolling, two things stood out.
One, I was lying in muddy grass.
And two, I was missing a foot.
I think it was the shock, but I didn't panic, I just stared at the smooth blank stub of my knee. It was like the leg had never been there. No pain, or anything it just didn't exist.
I screamed, I screamed, and yelled, and threw one hell of a fit.
"My damn leg, is gone! What the actual fuck?" My voice carried quite a bit, echoing back, but I was too busy hyperventalating.
I snapped, I really did. I got so paniced, that my combat training didn't even kick in, hell I just sat ther naked, and yelled about my missing limb. When I finnaly began to calm down, and look around, it was quite obvious, that I was sitting in what seemed to be woods, though a lot of the trees where changeing colors, to a more fall like set of leaves. I stood using a nerbye tree-an oak maybe?-as a crutch. My brain finnaly seemed to catch up at this point, and I quickly gabbed the low hangging branch above me, and snapped it off for a cane. Ever step was more of a hop, where the limb was used as a pivot, I will admit, I fell down quite a few times, but at the very least I was mobile.
In a half hour of hobbling, as I like to call it, I could still see the tree, I had taken the branch from. Though it was quite a few yards behind me. A few random curses, mostly aimed at the scientists, escaped me every few minuets. Eventually I began to get tired, the constant hopping was quite a workout, so I sat down in the grass, and tried not to cringe at the feeling of grass tickling my bare ass. I new I was filthy, covered it mud, and bits of grass, but it didn't occur to me just how bad I looked, until someone nearby screamed, and ran off yelling about a moster in the woods. My pride aached at being called a monster, I was a bit narcissistic at times, but what guy isn't? The rest of me suddenly became very optimistic, and I stummbed to my foot, and began following the direction the voice had come from, somewhere behind me.
I hobbled quickly, but eventually lost the owner of the voice, though I did find a road,one they had presumably followed. Unfortunately following a road, even a short one, is quite tiring when hopping every few feet, and once again I found myself setting on the ground, pouting, with a scowl on my face.
While I sat on the side of the road, someone managed to sneak up behind me, again, and I suddenly found myself floating upside down in what seemed to be a pink bubble. Muffled voices, much like being underwater, began to crop up, and from the bushes, about six...
'What the hell are those.' My mind sputtered.
They almost looked like horses, but they were too small, and thier faces, well I could tell they were faces. Each on was a different bright color. In fact the sight was kind of cute in an 'Aww' sort of way.
Didn't stop me from freaking the fuck out.
I struggled around, arms bumping into the sides of the bubble, which sent an electric tingle down my spine. I tried to make out what the little not-horses were saying but it was too distorted. Eventually I huffed, and floated there, my branch discarded in the dirt. With yet another scowl on my face I cay taped the bubble closest to the purple, -horned?-, horse. It, -she?-, stopped talking, and looked up at me, I pointed at the ground. Obviouly I wanted to be put down, but when the things mouth droped open, and I hit the ground as the bubble popped, I wanst ver pleased. A three foot drop onto my back was enough to wind me, and when I sat up the not-horses, where sitting infront of me with u easy expressions.
That is until the yellow one saw my leg, or lack thereof.
In a blink she was beside me, rambling about how everyhing would be okay, and trying to see if I was bleeding under all the mud, while it was a comforting thought that someone was concerned for me, but I still didn't need the attention. So i gently put a hand on the not-horses back, and put a bit of pressure, two small feathered winds twitched close to my fingers, but I ingored them, and the not-horses whimper, as I carefully pushed her aside. When she was at an arms length from me I sat all the way up, and tucked my stump under my other leg, crisscross style. Thankfully, mud and leaves had stuck to most of my body, so I had a makeshift cover for my indecent parts.
I tried to open my mouth and speak, but the purple one bet me to it.
Nervously she stepped a few inches closer. And began to speak a gibberish I had never heard. Strangley enough, it wasn't the clear English I had heard earlier.
"Ordea'n tué, gothesá, de Twilá Sparketr ."
Her, as the voice was feminine, speech was obvously a language, and I had heard what I assumed was a name, so I gave my own.
"Dante Demarco." I held out a hand. "pleased to err, meet you?" 'I think.'
The purple not-horse, did a little dance, like she was exited, and begn rambleing off in that strange language.
"Omma, de ogsén, futh, Ponen. Dr crossá etun?"
Twiliá, as I think her name is, pointed a hoof at herself on the word 'ponen', I assume that is the name of her species, or mabye they are teying to tell me they aren't food. I can't be sure, but I'm going to assume the former. The strange language was like a mix of German, English, Irish, and Spanish, all at once, it made my head hurt a bit, but at least it made meanings quite clear. The second part sounded like a question and if I was right, she wanted to know what I was.
"Human." I said, pointing at myself.
Obviously she got the point, as she became even more exited, that or i had agreed to something very bad, and didn't know it.
Turning to the other, she said a few short words, and pointed at a few of them. In a few seconds they all looked ready to leave and she waved for me to follow. Idiot that I was, I knew walking along with some random creatures, was probably a bad idea, but I didn't ha e much choice, I grabbed my stick and stood carefully, getting a few sypethetic looks, and a cring from the yellow one, before I began to hobble along behind them.
They spoke in hushed tones, each a bit diffrent, but still loud enough for me to hear. It didn't do much good, as I still couldn't understand much, if any at all. The word Human, was tossed around quite a bit.
I stopped suddenly, when I fell down, cussing and ranting again. The Ponen, were nice enough to stop, and the orange one even helped me stand back up. I smiled and patter her side, which I was leaning on, and she tipped her Stetson to me, which would ha e made me chuckle had I not been running on cynicism for most of the day. Twiliá seemed to notice my problem, and frowned. I could practically see the gears turning behind those eyes, as her little horn lit up. Second later I found myself standing of my own power, and when I looked down, a translucent purple duplicate of my left leg from the knee down, glowed softly on my left leg.
I tried moving it around, but it was stiff like glass, and didn't flex well. That and I literally had to left feet. With a shrug, I began walking forward with a slight limp, but it was better than hopping.
I held onto my branch anyway, I was a bit fond of the sturdy peice of wood.

An hour or so of my limping gait, we came out of the woods, to find the road had lead down the hill into a small town, or village that looked a bit...rustic.
Some of thw houses were thatched okay. It was behind the times. But what caught my interest, was the multitude of colorful Ponen running around the streets. It was a plesant suprise, because it meant these creatures where civilized.
The purple one, Twiliá, spoke again. "Vencoma, tú Ponnen Villn."
I could only guess as to what she is talking about, but it was a start. We all began moving again, and soon we were walking between roses of apple trees, all of diffrent colors as autum turned the land into a rainbow. Offer nearly twent rows of trees, which I assumed was part of an orchard, we came to the small farm at the edge of the massive farm ground. We crossed the open space between the house, and the barn, which we quickly when inside. I sat down on a wooden buck, and to my disappointment, the fake leg disappeared, and I was left with a stump again. I shivered, while the girls talked, the setting sun had left a cold chill in the air. Thankfully the orange one noticed, and a large blanket was draped over my shoulders. She frowned when she noticed the thick mud caked to my hide, and left the barn from a side door. I assumed she was offended, or something and sat quietly. No amount of combat training was any use, in a situation like this I was completely reliant on instinct, and reason. Both of which I had quite a bit of. Addmitedly I was a very poor mercinary, being twenty, I had signed up because of the large amount of money involved, in fact I was more of a hired thug, than a soldier. My combat training was mostly target practice, and tactical training, oth of which were useless now.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when the orange Ponen tapped my shoulder. What she showed me was nothing short of a godsend.
A large metal tub, the size of a large bathtub, was filled to the brim with bubbles and hot water. With a smile, I patted the stetsoned Ponen, and hobbled over to the tub. It was a struggle to get in but once I was lying in the hot soapy liquid I really didn't care.
The mud, and filth scrubbed off with a bit of force, and I found myself looking at a lot of small scratches, and cuts from my tumble down the hill. It wasn't serious, but I'm not a doctor. The purple Ponen, finnaly finished talking to her friends, walked over to me and said something.
"Vús, en sproka Ponen, linguá?" She asked a smile on her muzzle.
I sighed, language barriers suck. "I'm sorry but I don't understand."
She frowned, her expression mirroring mine, when suddenly she lit up with a smile. Leaning foreward, she put her two front hooves on the edge of the tub, and let her little horn glow so bright it hurt to look at. A few seonds later a pressure filled my head, and it almost felt like someone was 'knocking' on my mind.
Startled, I unitentionaly relaxed, and the pressure flooded in. A strange feeling, like being in an old library, the smell of books, and paper filled my mind, with a warm lavender scent mixed in flooding my senses for a moment before fading to a dull feeling in the back of my mind.
'Can you understand me?' It was the same feminine tone of Twiliá's voice but it was in my head.
'Sorry if I'm invading your privacy, but I needed to speak to you, and all thoughts are the same format.' *I could almost hear how nervous she was.*
'That's, okay...I guess. Any chance you can do this with the others?"
I watched her club down off the tub, a sheepish look on her face. '*Sorry but I don't know how to do more than two ponies at a time. My names Twilight sparkle by the way.'*
I frowned, and shrugged. '*Oh well, it was a good idea, strange though for me your name sounds like Twiliá Sparketr.'*
She tapped a hoof on her chin*. 'Strange, my name is nothing like that, mabye it's more than just a language issue.'*
The confusing statment was, for the most part, ignored, and I asked a diffrent question. '*Think you can play translator.?'*
She smiled. '*Shure.'*
Turning back to the others, Twilight, as I would have to remember, called them over, and began a short but pointed conversation, one I was privy to half of, though I could understand their responses by body language well enough.
Before long, the five unamed ponies, as Twilight had said, lined up in a row and gave there names. While I heard gibberish, Twilight relayed their actual names to me with startling ease, as if I had just heard them say it on their own.
With a smile I held a hand over the edge of the tub. "Dante Demarco, pleased to meet you."
Twilight spoke more gibberish, and they each in turn shook my hand. How a hoof can create a grasping effect I''ll never know. A few more minuets passed, with the girls chatting, and me relaxing in the now lukewarm water, when a thought occured to me. A lame leg is useless, but my knee still functioned. With a proper replacement I could easily adjust to walking around, I may have been a hired thug recently, but I had a few odd hobbies that could be put to use. With a grin on my face I gathered one of the towels Applejack had left me, and stood, wrapping the towel around my waiste. I informed twilight of my intention, which she told to Applejack.
While they talked about my idea, I used the large blanket, and a few bits of metal wire from the barn walls to fashion a toga of sorts, complete with a pair of wrapped underwere, much like actual Romans wore. It was shabby, and honestly looked very unappealing, but it was better than nudity. My smile just kept widening as my idea grew, Twilight, and Applejack both left the group, who were now watching me, and began following me as I found myself at an old log pile. It was mostly firewood, but that was more than enough. While I dug for a peice of good wood, I had Twilight ask Applejack for some belts, and more cloth. Both of them where confused, but if my idea was a success I would t need the big clunky branch anymore.
Applejack came back just in time for me to find a nicley shaped log, just long enoguh to make an effective pegleg. Using the belt, cloth, and a bit of Twilight's magic, we ma aged to put together, a stilt strap-on leg that for all its function looked like a log tied to my knee.
My first few steps ended in the dirt, and hay of the barn floor, but after thirty minuets of practice, and some encuragment from the girls, i manage to linp my way arround. It was uncomfotable, and would most likley begin to hurt in an hour or so, but I could walk, and in time maybe improve the hunk of wood.
'That was clever, a wooden leg, what kind of person comes up with that?' Twilight mused.
A sly grin split my face. '*Someone in desparate need of a leg of course!'*
Twilight giggled, and began speaking with her freinds again, but I noticed the blue one, Rainbowdash, was eyeing me. I couldn't quite read the emotion behind it, but her intent was clear.
I don't trust you.
I just gave her a shit eating grin, and let her make of it what she would. I was a bit of an ass at times. Standing again, I began walking around the large tub in a circle, using it's rim as a handrail while I practiced. I would be eating diet a few times a day, but it was definatly an improvment.
Twilights voice flowed through my mind again. '*Applejack said you can sleep in the guest bedroom tonight, it's going to be cramped, but it's better than sleeping outside.'*
I nodded, and let myself be led inside the old farmhouse and shown the guest bed, which admittedly was very pony sized. My legs from the knee down would hang off. I gavé Applejack, a smile, and a thumbs up. She rwsponded with a nod, and walked out. Curiosity got the better of me, and I tried to tall to Twilight again.
'Does this thing have a range or something?' The answer came a bit slower but it still got to me.
'No just a bit of latency if I don't focus, how's the bes?' She sounded diffrent, disapointed maybe?
'Small, but very soft.'
She giggled again, and we chatted for a bit before she herself went to bed. I laid there wrapped in a too small blanket, in a too small bed, and idly wondered why I felt so comfortable here.
