Hello, I am recording this message on my tape recorder, so that people can find out what happened up here in case I die. I'm on a flight to Denver, Colorado right now and everyone is gone. I swear there were others when we took off, but I dozed off for only a few minutes and everyone is gone. Did I miss the Rapture or something?

My name is Max Turner and I’m a used car salesman. Being alone on an airplane at 20,000 feet is bad, but it’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me today. I’ve transformed completely into some kind of animal. I seem to be a small, light gray horse or pony of sorts. Not a natural-looking one either; I have a white mane and tail with a single red line that runs through the center of both. My eyes have also changed color and are now a deep blue. Also, wings. Wings! Now that wouldn't be so bad if the wings weren't only one and a half feet long for my roughly three foot long body. Truth be told I haven't tried them out to see if they work yet. If I had to describe myself in a word, unfortunately, it would probably be...."adorable."

Is this God's revenge for dishonest car sales? If so, this is really messed up. Really, it was only a few thousand dollars. Not worth a species reassignment and being turned all girly and so darned cute! I was perfectly happy with my human set up thank you very much.

Despite my previously considering that this is the doing of God, I must mention that I had a dream during my brief nap when (I presume) my transformation occurred. I saw a peaceful and idealistic land called “Equestria”. I "flew" over this lush green place and after seeing all this in what seemed like seconds, I met this blue “alicorn” named Princess Luna who told me that being left here on Earth was an accident and many ponies were doing everything they could to help. Part of me desperately wanted to stay in this dream world of harmony and be a part of it. But an equal part of me was loyal to Earth. My home world, even with all its flaws and man-made damage, was my home and I wanted to stay here too. Then I woke up and noticed the changes to my body.

I am convinced that this is just my new 'pony' brain trying to offer an explanation....But it also raises the question of how did I dream I was a pony before I even woke up to find out I was a pony? Is “Equestria” where everyone vanished to? Will I go there someday as well? These different possibilities are making my head hurt. Now, most people would panic at this point, what with being a new species and all, possibly being effected by animal instincts or whatever, but I can't focus on that right now, I need to focus on surviving this situation before I panic about my change.

Now back to topic. I have about two hours before I reach Denver and this plane runs out of fuel. I've been trying to not only learn how to walk in this new pony body, but also out of necessity I've been bucking on the cockpit door. I've actually started to dent it. I should be through it in about an hour or so at this rate.

Either these doors are not as safe as they want you to think or I'm just a lot stronger now. Whatever the case, then comes the problem of crashing this plane safely. God, if you're up there, get me out of this and I swear I'll be a good little pony thing for the rest of my life. I'll even go to little girls' parties to atone for my scamming, just get me out of this. Damn, I never even considered the thought that I might one day be on a plane alone, as a colorful pony. Maybe Trevor deserves this fate, but not me! Whatever, I just need to get this door down.

I'm in! I managed to dent the door enough to get it open and I'm in the cockpit now. Have I mentioned that it’s a pain to push the record button on this recorder with hooves? Anyway, I just need to find out how to fly this thing. I forgot to mention that this situation I'm in is eerie as hell.

The fact that I'm sitting like this is surprising due to the fact that I'm pony, well, 'Pegasus' is more accurate but this is off topic. It's like the passengers and crew just vanished. It's freaking me out even more then I was already. Also, I just realized that to fly this thing correctly I need to reach the rudder pedals on the floor, great. The plane is on autopilot so I'm good for now but flying without the rudder is going to be almost impossible.

I put the headphones on and there is no one speaking. I've tried to broadcast but no one is talking back. Things are looking pretty bad for me. Not only do I have to land this plane, it seems so far that I'll be doing it on my own.

This is it. I'm sorry. I'm getting kind of emotional right now. The 'low fuel' alarm just went off and I can hear the engines struggling to burn what's not there anymore. In a few minutes I'm going to crash into the ground and become a smoking crater. Then my family will have to scrape what's left of me up into a shoe box and bury me in a field somewhere because I'm gone and can't make a living for them anymore and they can't afford a proper funeral for me!

No! You know what? I may die but for the first time in my life I'm going to try my hardest to do something right! I'm going to do this for my family! I don't even know if they're still out there, but I'm doing this for them, to make them proud of me! I'm going to be the man they deserved and if I get the chance, if they're still here, I'm going to make up with them for being an ass all this time, for not representing myself, my business, and my family correctly!

And if they're not a-around any m-more I'll find survivors and be a useful p-person to society for the first time in my life.

S-sorry, I'm getting emotional again, it’s funny you know? It took losing my humanity and getting tossed into a situation like this to realize what a thirty-one-year-old failure I've been, as a father, as a husband, as a son. If I survive, if I get a chance I'm going to make the most of my life however it turns out, I'm going to do my best.

Sorry about that, I've recomposed myself but now the engines have completely failed and I am taking control of the airplane. Just push this...that's it! The plane is in my control. I have butterflies in my tummy. Here we go, I'm just going to turn and look for a place to land (or crash). I'm looking for a field or a road or something flat. There! I see a field with a few trees I think. It’s amazing I can see it so well even from this altitude! Maybe a bonus to having a new body? On that note this body seems tons more expressive, the eyes are much bigger and my ears fold back in emotional situations, as I've observed first hand...hoof. I almost died from my own cuteness.

Alrighty; here we go, controlled descent in a spiraling pattern until 1,000 feet and then level out and turn for a final approach on that field. I have played Ace Combat 5 so I know some basics on flying, kind of.

New update: that 'field' only has a few trees like I thought but they're really big and the ground is not level and is extremely rocky but I'm at a thousand feet and I have no thrust so I can't change my approach now....you know what? What if I jumped? Why did I not think of this before? I have wings and they might not be big but they should slow me down enough so I don't die when I hit the ground.

That's it! That's what I'm going to do. I can't survive a crash in this plane but I might be able to survive a jump out of it. I'm heading to the nearest exit, the pressure on the inside and outside of the aircraft should be equal now because I've descended, so I should be able to open the door up and jump out. But once I do that, I'll need to look out for the main wing and tail elevators...God help me. I've got my carry-on bag with me and I'm opening the door now.

Well, I survived, as you might be able to guess 'cause you're listening to this recording and it's intact. When I jumped out of my plane I got rather disoriented, but I fortunatly fell under the wing and missed all of the plane's flight surfaces I was worried about. Then came the 'fun' part: learning to fly in minute or less. I opened my less than impressive wing-span and somehow, someway, my fall turned into a glide.

It was a strange feeling, like an instinct, but don't ask about the physics of something my size flying with wings like this. Maybe I’m just really light now, whatever, I'm just happy to have another chance at life.

Here's a strange development. I have this picture on my flanks of a heart inside of a twister or tornado. I didn't notice it before, but for some reason I feel it has a meaning. I started out on that plane an arrogant, thieving, sales-man, but up there I had a huge change of heart in a whirlwind of emotion. I feel that I could help other people turn around their life as well if they wanted. But I'm probably just being silly, not noticing it might have been a result of the stress I was under at the time. For some reason I feel that I should call it a cutie mark, but at the same time I shudder at the thought. Anyway, I’m a changed...pony, now, and I'm going to live like it. So, whoever is still out there, whatever you are, you're not alone. This is Max to whomever: Good bye and good luck.

Author's Note

Hello~! So this is actually my very first story and I'm actually rather pleased with the outcome. The hard part for me was sitting down and saying "Come on! Just type something!" But after I started it came pretty naturally to me. I have quite a few ideas lined up for later chapters, but I'd love to hear some of your own ideas on situations that would really suck to get stuck in. Also, what did you think of this? What can I improve? Were you able to relate to the character in such a short story? Go ahead and give me your feedback, I'd love to know what you guys think.