Stranded Beyond the Equestrian Veil

by Typist Gray

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Science Fiction, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore
Length: 4251

Aliens have come to Equestria, though not of their own choice. Known as a tyrant and a champion in his home world, Fel and friends must adapt to the seemingly peaceful land of pascal talking ponies. But what if he wasn’t the only one to cross the v

Aliens have come to Equestria, though not of their own choice. Known as a tyrant, a champion, a bully, a father, and even a murderer in his home world, Fel, along with his companions Isaac and Noel, have not only been stripped from their world but of their forms and forced into the shape of ponies. These beyonders have only ever lived in the harsh and unforgiving environment of their home, Felarya. However, to get back, they must do what they can to adapt to the seemingly peaceful land of pastel talking ponies with tattoos on their butts; a jarring transition to be sure. Will they be able to find a way back home peacefully, or will Fel’s diminished state force him to give in to his less pleasant urges?
To make matters worse, strange omens have been observed by those who know what to look for and whispers have been heard in the most unsettling of places. If Felarya is a world where Fel, at best, can be called one of the lesser evils, how will Equestria fare if he wasn’t the only one to cross the veil?

I'd also like to credit DFatman for proof reading.

Published 2015-11-16 14:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-16 14:30:01 UTC

Chapter 1: Cutie Marks and Curiosities

“Oh buck me.” Fel groaned. His entire body ached and his fingers and toes were completely numb. His mind was a jumble with frightening thoughts. “Threat. Enemy. Incapacitated by enemy. Escape. Must escape.”

“Fel.” A woman’s voice called.

“Noel?” Fel muttered, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. The familiar voice of his nurse calmed his nerves considerably. Something nudged him. Was it Noel? It felt like some animal’s muzzle. Why wasn’t she examining him? Fel strained to open his eyes. Eventually he was able to see the pleasant noon sun, the calming yet oddly short trees, and the white unicorn staring down at him with concerned eyes.

Fel blinked in shock as he stared up at the unicorn. He’d never seen one before, never imagining a creature associated with peace and purity would ever be able to survive in the harsh jungles of Felarya. No doubt the wretched predators would swallow her whole without a second thought. Fel pushed past the anger this thought brought out and resumed his focus on the unicorn. It was a mare with a spiral indented white horn. No other noteworthy observations on the body, but the face had an unsettling familiarity behind it. For one, it was hidden a hood and face cover which concealed all but her eyes, which were yellow with slits for pupils.

“Are you alright, my lord?” the unicorn asked in Noel’s voice. “Your body, your new body does not appear to be injured,” she corrected.

“Noel?” Fel whispered as he took a double take of the sight before him. Noel, the humanoid woman he’d excavated and revived so many years ago, was a unicorn. “You’re a unicorn,” he observed, feeling foolish as he did so. “Your shape has been augmented. What could have done this?”

“I do not know,” Noel admitted coldly. “However, I am not the only victim of this augmentation.”

“Not the only…” Fel grimaced as her implication took hold. “Dear god in heaven, no!” he exclaimed. His hands shook with fear as he moved them into view, where he learned he had no hands, but hooves and gray fur. For a moment he said nothing as he stared at the stumps before him. Augmentation. The very thought of the word caused Fel’s stomach to turn. My sacred shape has been desecrated by outside augmentation.

“My lord?” Noel asked. She was worried, in so far as a thing like her could feel such emotions. She knew the anger her master was feeling, for she regarded her shape as highly as he did his own, but it would not do to speak of such things without first being asked. Since he gave her life, empathy was one of the many things he’d been working to teach her, but she still needed to learn. For now, what worried her was what her master might do if the rage took him.

Finally Fel spoke. “I’m going to kill someone.” Fel stated matter-of-factly. Gritting his teeth, he pressed each of his hooves firmly into the grass and slowly worked to push himself up. His knees, unfamiliar with their new shape, wobbled a moment, but eventually he stood at his full height. “I don’t know who did this, but I will make them suffer for this insult.” He looked to Noel, who had watched him in quiet stillness, and barked. “Situation report!”

“Isaac and myself woke up first.” Noel informed. “He has gone ahead to scout the surrounding area.”

“He like this too?” Fel gestured with his hoof to bare fuzzy chest, experimenting with the strange sensation of hoof over body hair as he noted his nudity. It bothered him, but only because of the prospect that his gear might have been stolen.

“He has wings,” Noel added. “His new shape is reminiscent of the winged beast Pegasus.”

Fel scrunched his horse face in annoyance, and then exhaled in relief. “Pegasus? And you a unicorn? Why is the first word to pop in my head ‘typical’? That just seems so wrong.” Fel paid Noel no mind as he practiced trotting around her, craning his head to get a better look at his new form. Second to the lack of fingers, toes, or his regular tail, the large horse shaft bobbing along as he trotted was the most unsettling aspect of this shape. Instinctively Fel attempted to reach out for this new appendage, to feel and to see in a way his physical limbs just couldn’t manage, but nothing happened. “Continue,” Fel urged as he repeated the action to no avail.

Noel craned her neck to follow Fel’s every move. “I am missing many of my instruments, my lord. But my internal censors appear to be intact, though functioning at a fraction of full capacity.”

“I see.” Fel nodded, processing this new information amidst his rising panic at not being ablt to reach out and interact with the world as he usually would. “This is most unsettling. Yo Isaac!” He called into the sky.

After a moment of quiet, a black Pegasus descended from the sky with the speed of a falling rock. He was screaming in terror, but thankfully a tree managed to break his fall. With a few grunts and whines, he managed to wiggle his way through the brush to poke his head out of the side. “These lousy wings are so freaking tiny. How does anyone stay up with these things?”

“New body, soldier.” Fel said with a commanding voice as he assessed the Pegasus before him. Pitch black fur, white Mohawk mane, short stumpy tail, and what was probably an average sized shaft hanging beneath his belly. “You are in an alien environment and your body doesn’t work as you expect. What do you do?” Protocol existed for a reason and right now it was their best shot of figuring out what was going on. However, as Fel looked between his nurse-turned-unicorn and body guard-turned-pegasus, his heart sank as the most logical answer began to take hold in his head.

Isaac took a breath. “Remain calm. Assess the situation.”

“Very good. Also, I have the grave suspicion pronounced ‘any pony’.”

“Pony?” Isaac was taken aback as he finished untangling himself from the brush. “Like those little horse things?”

Fel inhaled deeply through his nose. “I fear so,” he lamented as he looked around. “I have a feeling I recognize this place.”

Isaac looked over at Noel, but then realized the construct would give him no help, so returned his gaze to Fel. “Don’t leave us in suspense. Where are we?”

“Probably.” Fel held his head high to survey the surrounding area. It was a meadow with sparse numbers of trees. A much denser forest could be seen off in the distance, as well as some mountains further out. They were all so smooth and well rounded, not the jagged and random shapes he’d come to associate with nature back home. Even the clouds looked like perfectly solid pillows, rather than random clumps of air, as they drifted across the sky. “Based on the texture of the land as well as our bodies, my money is on the kingdom of Equestria.” Fel turned back to his comrades with a more serious expression. “Aten-hut!” All three stood at attention.

“Sir!” The unicorn and Pegasus said in unison.

“We’re in need of a sit-rep people.” Fel had shifted to his military voice. “Best I can figure, we are in the realm of Equestia, a kingdom run by talking horses for talking horses. Threat level is low. Most undesirables keep a respectful distance from civilization. Weapons. Isaac.”

Isaac parted his legs and spread his black wings out as wide as he could, visibly straining his body a moment before giving up on finding what he was looking for. “I got nothing. No guns, blades, or projectors. If they’re there, they ain’t coming out.”

“Noel.” Fel addressed the white unicorn-shaped construct.

Noel casually turned to look at her naked body, then back to Fel. “I never had any weapons, my lord.”

“Naturally.” Fel confirmed, a bit annoyed. “Anything else?”.

As she stared intently back at him, Noel’s eyes widened. “My lord! Your sword. Your pistol and dagger. Those items are irreplaceable.” She said with what sounded like panic.

“Noel!” Fel barked, causing the unicorn to bow solemnly. Grimacing, Fel looked over his own naked horse-shaped body, particuclarly the areas where artifacts normally rested. As she said, they were all gone. “Huh,” Fel grunted lightly. “For some reason, this doesn’t bug me as much as the augmentation,” he observed casually.

Isaac frowned as a new thought occured. “Could they have taken them?”

Fel flinched. They could only refer to the ones Fel hated most, but never spoke their names for fear of inviting their attention. For now, he resumed surveying his body. “Possible, but more likely our stuff is being held in a pocket dimension and will be returned to us once we leave.” Then Fel motioned towards Isaac’s wings. “Another possibility is that these items were deemed part of our natural forms. They’ve likely been grafted on as skin and will reconstitute once we change back.”

“Heh,” Isaac huffed. “I guess that makes sense for my cyborg bat butt, maybe even Noel,” he gestured with his head without actually meeting her in the eye. “But what about you, boss? Blades grafted into my wings ain’t exactly the same as a sword you carry around all day.”

“It’s only a theory, but it’s all we have to go on at the moment,” Fel admitted. “Regardless, we do not have them now and know of no immediate means or reacquiring them. Just focus on the here and now.”

“What about the key?” Isaac added.

Fel froze, mentally chiding himself for forgetting something so important. “Other items.” He listed in his military voice. Fel pressed his left front hoof against his chest and began rubbing it in circles. Once he got used to the sensation, he experimented with different levels of pressure until a familiar bump. “Hmm. That one’s definitely still there.” Throwing caution to the wind, Fel bucked in the air, waving his legs as much as he could before returning to the ground. “And it doesn’t appear to be rupturing any organs.”

Noel cringed. Her master had just done something very stupid, again. And despite its redundancy, she felt the urge to tell him as such, to chide him for taking such a risk. But then the urge went away. Noel ran a quick internal scan, or as close as she could manage in this limited form, but couldn’t find any signs of the error that would bring about such thoughts. For now, she would attribute it to spending too much time around such animals (her blanket term for sentient animal life) and perform a more thorough diagnostic later.

Fel then extended his left front hoof to the side of his body and strained himself as Isaac had done. “It ain’t moving though. I don’t have any pockets so it should go without saying I’m left wanting for medicine.” Fel turned to Isaac. “At least you never had anything worth losing.”

“Course I do.” Isaac countered with a cocky grin. “I just don’t bring my precious things on expeditions through hostile territory like a dumb-flank.” Isaac paused in realization at what he’d just said. “Dumb-flank,” he repeated. “Dumb-flank. Aaaaaa” he strained to force his mouth to make the desired sounds “aaa-flank. Plot hole.”

“Mother bucker,” Fel added.

Isaac tilted his head in confusion. “What the hey!?” he pressed his hoof against his throat, but couldn’t detect any abnormalities in his alien anatomy.

“It appears we’re experiencing full K-PAX.”

“K-PAX?” Isaac inquired.

“K-PAX is a rare phenomenon of interdimensional travel,” Fel explained. “Based on the universe of the same name, K-PAX states that when a life form travels to new worlds, the traveler may sometimes take on the form of one of the local creatures, as opposed to its own form, simply because it is a more efficient way to be. It’s like how explosive decompression is more efficient than being intact when exposed to the vacuum of space. Typically it only happens when traveling to a world substantially different from your own. It seems that the universe has decided that a near paradise of talking candy colored horses is significantly different from wretched jungles of giant sociopathic vorephiles. Go figure.”

“I think I remember that theory,” Isaac nodded. “But what about the censorship? It’s bucking annoying.”

“No argument,” Fel sighed. “Unfortunately this is also part of the K-PAX. In some extreme cases, the traveler’s mind might experience limited alteration to think like that of the native life forms.”

“You seem really calm about this,” Isaac said as he eyed Fel carefully. “I’d have thought you’d be the first to, ya know, fly off the handle at having his mind messed with.”

“Normally you’d be right,” Fel smiled. “However, I’m currently reciting three separate meditation mantras in my head simultaneously. I’m also rationalizing to myself that there’s no conscious force controlling me, so there’s really nothing for me to focus my terribly terrible rage on. But you can be sure that the instant I do find a focus, I am going to relieve all my stress upside its head.” Fel concluded with a light snarl as he envisioned exactly how that would play out. “Regardless, back to taking inventory. Noel?”

“I still have no pockets.” Noel confirmed.

“Splendid.” Fel said sarcastically. “Powers.”

Isaac turned away from the group and faced a tree. He inhaled as deeply as he could and let out his mightiest roar. A startled bird flew away. He then looked back towards the others in shame. “Buck.” He muttered. “May as well be mute if I can’t pull a decent echolocate. What kind of pipistrellen (large sentient bat) can’t echolocate?” he asked despondently.

“Agreed,” Fel nodded. “You’re not nearly as sexy without that voice,” he said with utmost seriousness.

“Shut up,” Isaac waved his hoof dismissively, but couldn’t hide the appreciative smile for his friend’s attempt to lighten the mood.

All eyes then fell on Noel. The unicorn paused to close her eyes and search within herself. “If I read the flow correctly, it appears that my energy must be focused through this horn on my head,” she crossed her eyes as she strained to look at the appendage in question.

“That’s an affirmative.” Fel said. “Unicorn magic is channeled through the horn.”

Seeing no need to inquire why Fel would refer to her energy as magic when he knew better, Noel’s horn began to glow and three large lights appeared around her. The lights grew until they were the size of ponies and took the shape of solid spheres of white blue light. The spheres slowly spun around her as she focused. In an instant the spheres folded into themselves until they became cubes, triangular pyramids, cones and a variety of other shapes as she experimented.

Noel then turned her attention to a nearby tree. She flattened the shapes into disks and flung them like buzz saws into the tree, cleanly slicing it into three segments. Before the segments could fall, the disks wrapped themselves around the segments and held them in place. The disks carried the segments back into their original spots. Gradually the disks vanished, melting into the tree and healing all wounds.

Noel nearly collapsed to the ground as sweat dripped from her mane. “As previously stated, my powers appear to have dulled considerably, but otherwise remain intact.”

Fel nodded, ignoring how her robotic tone irked him so. “Now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” He grinned as he crouched slightly. A moment passed and the smile slowly faded into a frown. His face scrunched as she strained again, but still nothing happened. “No.” He muttered as his fears resurfaced. “I can’t… I can’t move.”

“Can’t move?” Isaac asked with concern. “What can’t you move?”

Fel looked at him with heavy breathing and panicked eyes. “I’m stuck.” He patted his forelegs with his hooves. “I can’t move. I can’t reach out like usual. I’m… I’m stuck in this… stupid… body!”

Noel and Isaac’s eyes widened in realization. Fel was stuck inside his own body. His greatest asset, the power that had allowed him to come out on top against almost ever foe he faced, was now gone.

“This is not good,” Isaac grimaced.

Fel held a quivering hoof in front of his face. “I can’t move. I can feel it inside me, but I can’t even stretch a single centimeter outside this body. Darn it. I’m gonna cramp like crazy if I can’t stretch soon.”

A stinging pain spread over Fel’s face. He looked up to see Isaac retracting his hoof from the punch. The pair glared at one another as Fel calmed himself. “Focus.” Isaac ordered.

Fel took another breath and closed his eyes. “Focus. Right. Thanks,” Fel exhaled. “My powers are more physical than mystical, so it’s only logical that they wouldn’t be affected by unicorn magic.” He assured himself.

“Um, Fel.” Isaac hesitated, and then gently placed his hoof across Fel’s smooth forehead.

Realizing what his body guard had demonstrated, Fel felt all emotion lift from his face. He slammed his head into the ground in frustration.

“Um, Fel?” Isaac asked cautiously.

“Figures,” Fel spat. “You two get physical mobility and world altering powers, and I’m stuck with being a filthy earth pony, fit only to till dirt and smash rocks. On top of everything else, I’ve been made less than.” Fel said with as much venom as he could muster. “I am definitely going to kill someone for this.”

“Come on then fearless leader.” Fel looked up to see Isaac had extended a hoof and giving his best encouraging smile. “Less than or not, you’re still Fel, the biggest most hated plot hole in all Felarya, the guy who makes a hobby out of pissing off gods, and the guy who’s gonna get us out of here so you can go be a thorn in someone else’s side back home, right?”

Fel looked up into the eyes of the black Pegasus stallion. They were different, but the look behind them could only have been one of his most trusted friends. “Hay yeah!” He proclaimed.

“Hay yeah!” Isaac nodded. “Now what’s our next move?”

Fel pulled himself up. “Right. Recognize our limitations and make due.” He said more for himself than the others. “First thing is to find civilization to get our bearings. From there we head north. If memory serves correctly, there’s a neighboring empire which holds a portal. It only goes one way, but we might be able rig it.”

“How are we going to rig it without tools or your powers?” Isaac asked.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Fel said casually.

“For that matter, why do we need to find civilization first? Why can’t we just start heading north?” Isaac pointed out. “It’s not like we’re any strangers to walking. Well, at least not you guys.” He shifted his weight between his legs. “Maybe civilization isn’t so bad after all.”

“Because, at best, it’s about a day’s journey by railroad which runs through all major settlements.” Fel said dryly.

“That is also a good reason.” Isaac nodded. “So how do we find a settlement anyway?”

Fel closed his eyes, bracing himself for his next admission. “My illusions don’t work and I can’t stretch. About all I have left is my telepathy.” He shifted his head as though trying to locate something. “I can’t hear specific thoughts. It’s more like a noise. And I can’t distinguish between different people’s noises. But… I can tell there’s quite a bit of noise to the west.” Fel said in triumph.

“We have a direction then, my lord.” Noel confirmed.

“And a backup plan or two.” Fel said proudly. “Now let’s get going so I don’t have to stay in this body any longer than necessary. But before that, let’s check out our cutie marks.”

“Our what now?” Isaac asked.

“I recognize this universe.” Fel assured confidently. “Here, each of us gets a magical butt tattoo to signify our special talents.” He was met with silence. “We’ll start with me.”

Fel turned to the side and presented his flank for emphasis. Adorned on his rump was a single rose. The petals were black, the leaves were divided into seven elegant segments, and six additional stems grew from the base, each with a closed bulb at the end. The whole flower had an air of regality and strength with a peculiar hint of some unseen threat. Beneath the flower was a much larger shadow stretched out like a claw, threatening to encompass all in its grasp. “A fey-rose. Nice.” Fel nodded in approval.

“Seriously.” Isaac berated. “You got the Kadar imperial crest. What kind of talent is that?”

“Poor naïve bat boy.” Fel shook his head. “The fey-rose is more than a suitable crest for the empire. It is my first great weapon. A common native plant, improved upon for a higher cause. This simple flower was the final cord which ended a war, ensuring Kadar’s eternal dominance.” Fel threw himself onto his hind legs and held his forelegs out to either side in triumph. “It is the symbol of my INDOMINATABLE POWER!” though it was sunny, a bolt of lightning struck ominously in the distance. “Mwahahahaha!”

Fel’s arms began to spin vainly as he tried to maintain his balance. Inevitably, he fell on his back with a humiliating thump. “Ugh.” Fel groaned as a burst of pain seared though his back. When it faded, he looked up to see his body guard and doctor looking at him with pity and concern respectively. Like a reflex, he pulled his forelegs in, blushed, and made a sound like a squeaky toy.

“Did I just squeak?” Fel asked with newfound surprise.

“You sure did.” Isaac confirmed with a smirk.

“Whatever.” Fel grumbled as he pushed himself into a sit.

“How did you summon the lightning?” Noel asked.

Fel looked off in the direction of the flash.

**********

Elsewhere

“Darn it Derpy!” Rainbow Dash chided the gray mare for setting off the storm cloud too soon.

“I just don’t know what went wrong.”

Meanwhile

**********

“No idea.” Fel said coyly. “Guess I just have excellent timing. What about you, Noel? What’s your special talent?”

The unicorn named Noel turned her flank to face the others. Her cutie mark was a glowing white blue which almost blended into the rest of her fur. It was a circle with three evenly spaced slices removed. The tips of the slices, which didn’t quite make it to the center, were connected by thin lines which formed a triangle at the center of the circle. Naturally, both Fel and Isaac were able to recognize it almost immediately.

“The symbol of your stasis pod?” Fel said inquisitively. “That’s not very creative.”

Noel took a moment to absorb the symbol, reflecting on what she saw as compared to her companions. “The simplest verbal translation of the symbol is ‘Noel’. When understood in proper context, it embodies all of my functions. It is all that I am and all that I am meant to be. If I may be so bold, assuming I understand what these marks mean, then this symbol is most appropriate.” Noel bowed humbly.

“Yeah, I guess.” Fel conceded. “And what about Mr. tiny wings?”

Isaac had finally managed to unstick himself from the tree and fell with an undignified thud. When the stars stopped spinning, Isaac looked up to see both Fel and Noel staring at him with looks of horror. He followed their gazes to his cutie mark. It was a fey-rose. But unlike Fel’s this was lacked the five of the additional bulb stems or a shadow. What it did have was a single flower and bulb stem, with the former held in the loving embrace between the blades of common pruning shears. Isaac looked back at his companions, and returned a villainous smile.

“Shut up!” Fel said with fuming indignation.

“I didn’t say anything.” Isaac replied, still smiling.

“You were thinking it.” Fel sneered, pressing his forehead against Isaac’s.

“Is that a fact?” Isaac pushed back.

Fel looked as though he wanted to say something, then turned in a huff. “Obviously whatever force put us in these bodies only had a passing knowledge of cutie marks and gave us a substandard job.”

“Obviously.” Isaac smirked. “You sure it’s safe to turn your back on me, little flower?”

“Firstly, never call me that again.” Fel said sternly. “Secondly, never call me that again. Thirdly, if you really were the shears to my flower, I’d have crushed you in your crib.”

“Yeah right.” Isaac rolled his eyes. “If you did that, you’d have no one to listen to your daily whining.”

Fel glanced suggestively over at Noel’s expressionless face.

“No one who’d be willing to put you in your place, anyway.”

“Yeah.” Fel nodded in defeat. He held up his leg to Isaac. “Bro-hoof.”

Isaac mirrored the gesture, the pair bumped their skin coated hooves, and laughs were shared.

And so the trio set off for their destination, unaware of the design that had been laid out for them.

Author's Note

And so begins my second attempt and trying to breathe life into this story. Hopefully this works out better.