The room was dark.
“Agent, do you copy?” Max’s voice whispered in my earpiece.
“Copy.” I replied.
“Good. You need to find the centre of the ship, download any intel you can find, destroy the ship, and retreat. Kill any Wittek you encounter if your cover is blown. This is a stealth mission, Agent.”
“Got it. Remind me, why I am alone on this mission?”
“A large portion of our agents have been taken prisoner by the Wittek. We are keeping the rest here, in case of the Wittek try an invasion on any planets. That includes myself, Stacey, Sage, and Caleb.”
“Right. So, hopefully, the intel I gather will contain information on the kidnapped Agents.”
I trekked through the dark hallway, avoiding traps, cameras, and any Wittek doing hallway scans.
"Almost there," Max said. "Take two rights, a left, and another right. Follow that hall and you should reach the centre.” There was a pause. “Wait, I'm getting a heat signature coming from behind you."
I turned to see five Wittek making a turn to the hall I was in. Hiding behind a stack of crates, I waited for my targets to pass by.
The Wittek are tall dark creatures. You can see their veins, even though they have an exoskeleton. Their fingers and toes are practically claws and they have spikes going down their backbone. Their eyes are completely white and walked slouched, even though they run fast. The Wittek have a high intelligence and are vicious creatures. A formidable enemy.
"Damn, that was close."
I finally reached the centre and plugged a USB that can fit into any port into the giant control panel. The drive flashed red as I waited for the information to pour in.
In less than a minute, the download was complete and the drive glowed green. I ran back the same way I got there only to see a set of Wittek coming up behind me. Before I had a chance to hide, they saw me.
They let out a high-pitched screech, calling for the sight of an intruder to be eliminated. Immediately, red lights and a siren were blaring all throughout the ship.
My metallic wings unfurled from my back and I threw several of my dart feathers at the group in front of me. I ran over their collapsed bodies and sprinted for the exit.
Running for my life, I encountered several more of the Wittek and slaughtered them all on my way out. Up ahead, I saw the escape pods.
I could use these as my shortcut outta here!
Nearing the pods, I felt a sharp pain in my side and saw a blinding white light.
The last thing I remember was falling to the ground.
I came to my senses, feeling the wind blowing at my face and hearing birds chirping.
This feels relaxing… The wind is a soft breeze… The birds are chirping… And --wait! Birds?!
I opened my eyes but immediately closed them. The bright light of the sun was blinding.
My eyes! How did I get out here? All I remember last was the mission… MY MISSION! Where's the drive?!
Groping at the grass with my eyes closed, I felt around for the hard texture of the drive.
JACKPOT!
As I felt the cold metal, I tried to pick it up. My hand only tapped against it.
That was strange... Why can't I pick it up?
Trying again, I realized I had no fingers!
MY FINGERS!! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!?
In a panic, I continuously attempted to continue the mission I had started. My hand kept falling flat against the drive.
Subsequently, after many, many, many failed attempts, I gave up and waited for the blinding feeling in my eyes to cease.
After I felt my eyes return to normal, I carefully opened one eye. The sight before me startled me.
"HOLY HELL!"
There was a furry yellow thing in front of me! As I flailed my arms to get the thing away, I realized it was following me. I tried to stand up and run away, only to fall right on my face. Pushing myself to a sitting position, I looked to where my leg was supposed to be, only to find the same furry yellow thing. I traced it up to where my chest should be and saw the same results. As I looked at what my body now was, I guessed I was a small horse of sorts. Maybe I'd even consider this form as a pony.
Suddenly the wind blew something red and purple in my face. Almost panicking, I realized it was my hair-err- mane.
Since when did my mane turn red, purple, green and blue? Then again, since when was I a yellow horse?
Looking behind me, I saw the same colours on my… TAIL?! Well maybe I should have expected that considering I was pony. I stood and turned, chasing after it to get a better look. I was at it for quite a while.
"Grr… Let. Me. See!" I mumbled as I walked circles.
Realizing I looked foolish, I sat back down. Like what I should have done in the beginning, I reached behind me to pull my tail in front of me as much as possible. My mane and tail had a jagged look and the colours blended from dark at the roots to light at the tips.
Hmm… Same colour as the rest of The Five's elements…
Turning behind me, I saw that my wings had also turned yellow.
At least I have my wings. I'd save time flying rather than walking around on legs I wasn’t used to.
Brushing my mane back as much as I could with a hoof, I felt something hard on my head.
What the…?
Seeing a small pond nearby, I looked down at my reflection to see… a horn?
Well that's something new. Hey, I don't look too bad as a horse…
After admiring my reflection, I sat back down next to the drive. I reached out my front hooves just like I would with my hands to open a portal back to Earth. It didn't work.
Dammit. There were a few possibilities why my powers aren't working.
This world has something blocking my powers.
My powers are weak in this state.
The pony transformation had something to do with it.
There could be something else or just all three together. And either way, even if I could open a portal, I couldn’t even pick up the DAMN ALIEN DRIVE!
In frustration, I looked at the drive and gave it a cold glare. Even knowing it wouldn't change anything, I did it anyway.
Calming my nerves, I looked back at my hooves.
This would take some time getting used to.
I observed more of my new body. As I looked down at my rump, I noticed a weird symbol: a balance scale. In the background were four bars coloured purple, red, blue, and green.
That was the same colour as my coat and hair… and the Elements.
I became alert as my sharp hearing picked up sounds a few meters away from me. My new form suddenly glowed white. When the light ceased, I noticed I lost my horn but I still had my wings. Besides that, transformation of my transformation; all the bright colours that were on me, are now in grayscale.
The hell...will anything ever be normal?! Oh, wait, it can't. I'm a fourteen-year-old superhero kicking alien ass and I ask a question as stupid as that. Though I do wonder why I changed colour and lost my horn. Not that I'm complaining. And what is up with this pony species change too??
Hearing a rustle in the bushes, I ran to the opposite direction and hid behind a tree. Using my training, I tried to separate any surrounding sounds from the bush.
"I… think… alien… freak… friend... don't… evil… trust…"
I managed to make out that the words were coming from several different voices.
"Creep… powers …bad… Think I saw... went... there....”
Shit. They probably saw me. I understood the risks perfectly clear if they were to catch me. Could they be a friend? Foe? For all I knew, it could be a sapient monster from this world.
"Use elements… Celestia… letter…”
Elements?!
With my curiosity peaked, I leaned closer.
"Weapon… dangerous…"
Realizing they must be talking about my drive, wait my drive!
Dammit. What about the drive?! I left it in the clearing! Whoever is on the other side will probably see it! I'm so screwed.
After a few whispers about backup, a princess, and "kicking flank"—whatever that means—a creature that appeared to be the same species as me came out of the bushes.
"Where are you?" A lavender horse with wings and a horn spoke up. She had dark blue hair with a pink and purple streak in it. "I know you are out there! There was a giant explosion of white light and we saw an bipedal figure fall from the sky! If you don't come out, I'll use my magic to find you!"
Magic? I'm not taking chances so I guess I'm running. Wait the drive!
"Hey! What's this?" I heard her asked as she bent over and picked up my drive in a purple telekinetic field. I realized her horn glowed when she picked up the alien drive with what I assumed was magic.
"No. No! NO! Great. This job just got harder." I thought as the purple unicorn/pegasus walked into the darkness of the forest.
I lay flat on my stomach and crawled on the forest floor, heading to wherever the purple pony went. Soon I reached a small cluster of colourful ponies and listened in- hoping to get any information I can use to get the drive back. Thankfully, bits of dirt and leaves stuck to my grayscale coat which made me harder to spot.
"It's remarkable! Wherever this alien came from, they have really advanced technology! If I can crack this open and do some thorough analysis, I could evolve Equestrian tech by many decades!" The purple unicorn/pegasus exclaimed happily as she levitated the black drive.
Within the group, a white unicorn with curled purple hair spoke next, "I don't see what the fuss is about, Twilight Sparkle, dear. It seems like a simple black rock."
Twilight Sparkle spoke again, "That is where you are mistaken, Rarity. I did a scan on the material used to make this, and none of it is recorded or found in Equestria!"
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" A shy yellow pegasus asked the group.
"I agree with Fluttershy," said a raspy female cyan pegasus, "For all we know it could be a bomb!" The blue pegasus flew up to the air and did an explosion sound and gesture with her hooves.
An orange pony- that had no wings or horn- grabbed the flying pegasus' tail and yanked her back to ground level. She spoke in a country accent.
"Now there, Rainbow Dash. We don't know want ta’ scare Fluttershy, would we? Besides, ah think we should leave Twi’ to figuring out what that doohickey is."
"You got a good point there, Applejack." the rainbow maned pegasus replied. She then turned to Twilight, "But I really don't think you should just crack it open. It could be anything!"
"Rainbow, if you're thinking that I'll be smacking it against a hard surface till it splits in half, I promise I'll open it up the scientific way." The lavender pony winked.
Rainbow Dash blushed, "Y-yeah. I knew you were gonna do that egghead stuff..." She awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
"Hey! What's over there?!" A pink pony came out of nowhere and pointed to my hiding spot. My eyes widened and I slowly backed away.
"What are you talking about Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I-is it the alien?!" Fluttershy made an 'eep' sound and hid behind Rarity's mane.
"Well if it's one of 'em alien critters, ah'll make sure it wished it never came to Equestria!" Applejack declared as she started to walking to my hiding spot.
Rainbow Dash followed suit, "If that alien wants to fight! Then let's fight!"
Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed threateningly with magic. Rarity's horn flared as well as she stood to protect Fluttershy.
Pinkie Pie, however, was nowhere to be found.
"FOUND YA!" a high-pitched voice said as a pair of blue eyes stared into mine. "Come outta the bush will ya?" Pinkie Pie's voice screeched in my ear.
"AAAHHH!" I immediately retreated as far away from the group as possible. My smaller height helped greatly, as I was able to run through the bushes.
"After it!"
"You can't run forever!"
"Yer not escaping us easily varmit!"
Even though my smaller height had its advantages, I lacked what those ponies had: speed. Assuming from their height and deeper pitch in voice, there were the adults in this world. They also had more experience with hooves than I do. Which means I’m horribly screwed.
Think! Okay, so these ponies- Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie- seem to only be able to travel by walking and running; except for Rainbow Dash, who has wings and can fly. That other pegasus however seems to be a bit more on the shy side. Considering how she looked like she wanted to bury herself underground like a gopher the moment she heard there was an alien, I’m betting none of her friends would go anywhere scary with her around. Technically I don’t know anywhere scary, but maybe the darkest and thickest part of the forest might work?
Fleeing for my life, I kept running into areas that had the most trees. After what felt like hours, I stopped for a rest.
“Ugh. I didn’t realize sweat was more uncomfortable with fur all over your body. And I thought sweat on skin was bad…” I mumbled to myself as I looked up a tree, “Well, seems like I could crash here for the night.”
Starting with a powerful jump, I grabbed one of the lower branches. Steadily, I started pulling myself up from one branch to another. I eventually reached a part of the tree where the branches were more closer and formed a clawed hand position. Laying down, getting ready to sleep, I realized: this will be one hell of an adventure.
