It all started when I was on my way back to America. I was on a plane bound for New York when it happened. But before I get into all that I should tell you about myself. My name is Jake, I live on my own in New York and worked as a banker, though sometimes I would volunteer for a animal rights group.
Anyway, back to the flight.
I was just sitting there, minding my own business and thinking about my presentation at a school in Washington. It was pretty stressful but it worked out in the end. I didn't expect anything different on the flight that I had taken so many times before to visit my parents.
Boy was I wrong.
The plane started to shake and the fasten seatbelt sign beeped into life above my head. I expected it to only last a few minutes like normal, but it only got worse as time went on. Soon it was obvious that the plane was loosing altitude. People were screaming and yelling for loved ones as the plane kept falling.
I looked out of the window and saw that the wing of the plane had been badly damaged and the engine wasn't working. I started to panic and cowered in my seat.
This was not normal. Plane wings don't just spontaneously break down. From my experience the engines are normally the part of the plane that explodes or becomes damaged. All I could do was stare out of the window and hope against hope as the plane fell closer and closer to the ground. The pressure change felt like it was going to crush my skull!
Before we crashed, however, I heard a deep booming noise and darkness started creeping into the corners of my eyes. I fought to keep from falling unconscious but I knew it was hopeless. I blacked out just before we hit the ground.
When I came to I was still in the plane. I thought for a moment that it had just been a dream. But only for a moment. As I slowly came to my senses I realised that the plane had been ripped in half two seats in front of me. In the forest that surrounded the plane I could see the cockpit about a hundred meters away.
I unfastened my seatbelt and slid out of my seat. As I emerged into the aisle I noticed the bodies. Dozens of bodies strewn about over the seats and in the aisle. When I cautiously walked toward the hole I saw more bodies, men, women, children, all over the ground outside. When I hopped down I felt a sharp stab of pain in my stomach. Looking down I saw that my shirt was covered in blood and a piece of metal was sticking out of my lower stomach.
I knew that I had to get help fast, but I was so cold that I couldn't think straight. Now that I knew that I was badly wounded I could feel my life slipping away. I looked a round me for something to help the pain but everything was ether destroyed or lost in the crash. I knew that there was no point to staying and started to hobble into the forest.
After a few minutes of walking I heard a noise on the other side of the bushes to my right. When I peeked through the bush the sight would have made my jaw drop if I had had the energy to do so. There were six brightly coloured, horselike creatures sitting on a blanket in a clearing. There was a lavender one, an orange one, a white one, a pink one, a light blue one and a yellow one. The lavender and white ones had horns, the blue and yellow ones had wings and the last two had nothing at all.
I tried to push my way through the bush but I could see the darkness creeping around my eyes and knew that I would not last much longer. This was my only hope.
My efforts to get past the bush caused the creatures to look up in alarm. The lavender one jumped up and lit its horn. I could feel myself being lifted into the air but by what I didn't know. I drifted toward the group. The lavender one turned to the others and to my amazement started talking to them.
I couldn't make out any words but from the looks of their faces they obviously thought that I was dangerous. I managed to mumble a few words. "Help me, please" i groaned. When they looked at me again the yellow one saw my bloodstained shirt and the piece of metal sticking out of my stomach, yelped quietly and ran towards me.
The last thing that I remember is looking up into those big green eyes as the yellow creature helped me get safely get to the ground.
I kind of drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. Sometimes, when I woke up, I saw things that I didn't understand so I just fell back asleep. One time I could hear someone talking but I couldn't see who. The voice sounded female though. Another time I think I saw one of the creatures, but I couldn't tell which one.
When I finally woke up for real I had no idea where I was. I knew that I was on a bed so first I thought that I was in a hospital, then I noticed that the room was much more rustic and homely. There were none of those plastic sheets that hide other patients from view, but there were pictures of some of the creatures, birds and trees dotted around the room. There were also bird houses in the rafters, which was a bit weird, and a fireplace against one wall.
I felt some pressure around my midsection and looked under the covers to see what it was. I saw that my stomach was wrapped in a bandage and remembered what had happened.
I had almost died!
The realisation sent me into a panic attack. The door opened suddenly and the yellow creature, along with the lavender one, walked in. When the yellow one saw me having an attack she ran over and, to my surprise once again, started talking to me.
"Hey... Hey, it's okay. You're going to be okay. Just breathe with me, ok? In... Out... In... Out..." She said, (I could tell it was a she because of the way she sounded).
I don't know why but I felt like I could trust her, like she knew what she was doing. I tried to copy her breathing for a few minutes. I eventually calmed down and more-or-less relaxed. I got a bit worried when the lavender one walked up to the bed with a stern look on her face.
"Hello? Do you understand me? My name is Twilight Sparkle. Twi-light Spar-kle. This is Fluttershy. Flutter-shy." She said slowly, like baby talk.
"Wha... What are you? Please don't eat me!" I said, nervously. I started to notice other things around the room as well. The trees through the window and the end of the staircase through the open door. So I was out the second floor.
"Oh! You can speak! Okay, that make thing easier. Don't worry, we're not going to eat you. We are ponies, but a more important question is: what are you?" The pony that had called herself Twilight Sparkle said with fascination, her stern demeanour gone.
"My name is Jake. I am a human." I looked around, "Where am I? How did I get here?" I tried to sit up but the pony Twilight had called "Fluttershy" moved forward and said in one of the softest voices I've ever heard "No!... I mean please don't get up. It will loosen the bandages."
I stopped trying to get up.
"Yes, well. To answer you question you are in Equestria. You just appeared in the forest one day while we were having a picnic. At first I was afraid that you would try to hurt me or one of my friends but Fluttershy here saw your stomach wound. She convinced me to bring you to her cottage so she could help you. I thought that you needed to go to the hospital but Fluttershy made a good point when she said that ponies probably wouldn't react the same way we did. They might have thought that you were a monster. You're not a monster, are you?" A suspicious look appeared on her face.
"Well, last I checked I don't have any tails or claws. But seriously, am I still on planet Earth? I don't think any countries have colourful talking ponies." I asked, worried.
"A planet called Earth? I've never heard of it, and I know a lot about the stars and other planets."
"So how did I get here? All I remember is being on a plane and I crashed. I can't remember anything past that."
Twilight suddenly looked sad, like she was about to announce someone's death. "Is this "plane" a giant metal bird-like thing?"
"I guess so, why?"
Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. She had tears in her eyes and looked like she was trying to hide behind her long pink mane. "We searched the area around where we found you, to see how you had gotten there, and we found the plane. Along with dozens of what did you call yourself? A hoo-man? There were dead hoo-mans all around the crash site. Af far as we could tell there were no survivors other than you."
"Are you sure that no one walked in a different direction?" I felt as if the bed had just opened up and swallowed me whole.
"I did a magical scan of the area. Nopony had been there in months."
"Wait, magic? You have magic?! Can you show me?" I asked, hoping there was a way to get me back home.
"Uh... Okay." Twilight said. And then, right before my eyes, her horn started to glow and one of the pictures on the shelf began to float. It floated down in front of me as I just sat there, amazed.
"Don't you have magic?" She asked as she replaced the picture.
"No! Can you do other things, like teleport?"
"Sure." She lit her horn again at was suddenly gone. Then I heard a voice from my right.
"That's beginner level magic. I can do way more than that." Twilight said in a tone that sounded slightly like boasting.
"Can you teleport objects? Other living things?"
"I guess, but I know what you're thinking and it won't work. I can't teleport things outside of Equestria."
"So I'm stuck here? Well that's just great!" I exclaimed, pretending to only be quite annoyed with the situation, while I was internally freaking out. "What am I going to do now? I can't just go and get a job here, can I?"
"Don't worry. Fluttershy has offered to let you stay at her cottage. As long as you behave you can live here as long as you want." Twilight said as she looked at Fluttershy again, who looked like she was trying to become invisible.
I felt a flood of relief as I leaned around Twilight as much as I could to talk to Fluttershy face to face.
"That is very kind of you Fluttershy. You don't know how much this means to me, thank you." She blushed and hid behind her mane as I thanked her.
She squeaked something that sounded like a "you're welcome" and ducked back behind Twilight.
"Well, now that's sorted, we will give you some time to rest and come back in the morning. Sleep well." Twilight ushered Fluttershy out of the room and closed the door.
I could faintly hear Twilight talking to Fluttershy on the other side of the door. Although I couldn't make out all of it, it sounded like she was talking about me: "can't be sure he is what he... could be a changeling... sure you'll be okay taking care of it?" It faded away as they went down the stairs.
I heard a door open and close and then there was silence.
I knew I wasn't going to learn anything else today so, as the sun set through the window, I drifted into an uneasy sleep with weird dreams about brightly coloured animals.
