Alien amongst Men

Chapters

Rude Awakening
Change of plans
Under the Radar
Escape & Evasion
Change of Pace
Questioning Reality

Rude Awakening

---- Day 1 ----

The date is May 27th 2017. The time is 10:12 AM. Time of incident was sometime between 11:17 PM on May 26th 2017 and 10:00 AM on May 27th 2017. This journal belongs to a man named James. The contents of this journal will most likely depict James's day-to-day life.

Slowly but surely my sleep riddled brain brought me into a state of consciousness. As per usual I laid my head back onto my pillow and shut my eyes. I placed my arm over my left eye to block out the diffused light coming from my curtains. As soon as my arm reached my face, I had a feeling that something wasn't right. I raised my arm and opened my eyes to inspect what seemed to be the problem.

Naturally, my sleep riddled brain always has my back and instantly interpreted what was going on. "Oh, that's new." I said before rolling over and trying to go asleep again. It took my brain about five seconds to figure out what was wrong.

My eyes shot open and examined the problem. My arms were covered in a dark gray fur, and I was significantly lacking in the hands department. I threw off the sheets to examine other parts of my body.

Everything on my body was covered in a dark gray fur, and my brain had now concluded that I have hooves instead of my usual hands and feet. After dealing with the hooves situation, my brain then frantically tried to make sense of the situation it found itself in. There are some things you just can't explain with logic, and turning into a horse overnight is one of those things.

At this point, I was overstimulated by the current situation, and looking at limbs that obviously weren't my own wasn't helping. I desperately needed something, anything, to distract my mind from thinking about the situation any further.

Usually, I'll spend my time flipping through social media to keep my brain occupied while I wake up. So naturally, my arm goes for the phone, but I instantly run into a problem. The first problem is that I don't have opposable thumbs or fingers. Also hooves are far less electrically conductive when compared to fingers. This unfortunate fact causes hooves to be terribly ineffective when using touch screens. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure I'm a small horse." I paused for a moment before laughing. "I never thought I'd ever say that in my entire life."
I paused. "Actually, aren't small horses called ponies? The world may never know."

I slowly and carefully lifted myself onto all fours and tried very hard to keep my balance. It was incredibly awkward, difficult, and stiff. I tried my best to keep all four hooves planted, but even the slightest movement caused my center of mass to shift, and me to fall onto the bed again. I became very happy with my decision to use the bed as the standing training area.

Here's the fascinating part about the brain that I think about a lot. It can learn and find ways of doing things so you don't have to consciously think about placing one foot in front of the other. It took me several hours to figure out how to stand, and it took me several more to learn how to walk.

I'll spare you the details of my numerous attempts to stand. I lost count at a certain point during the training exercises, but I feel like I've fallen over a dozen times. At some point during the training, I was hearing an all too familiar sound that reminded me of exactly what time it was. It made sense really, I had been trying to walk for several hours now, and I hadn't once stopped to grab something to eat.

After hopping down from my bed I stumbled a bit, and I struck a shelf that was placed against one of the walls, causing an item or two to shift slightly. I quickly looked over my knickknacks to make sure none of them were smashed. After confirming that none of my knickknacks were damaged, I proceeded to make my way to the door.

I reached up towards the door knob and froze. I had a sudden realization that maneuvering around inside of my home was going to be an uphill battle. All of the doors in my house had a circular knob with almost no way to rotate them with hooves. I pondered my options for a little bit before I eventually reached a solution that would allow me to open the door.

On special occasions I would wear a nice belt. However, I had forgotten which drawer I kept my belts in because I very rarely go to social gatherings. I figured the first place I should look was the bottom drawer of my dresser. I went with the bottom drawer because it was the easiest to open and look through. After a couple of minutes, I found the belts tucked underneath some pants in the bottom drawer.

The plan to open the door worked in my head, but we'll just have to see if it works in practice. I put one end of the belt into a loop and fastened it to my right foreleg. I draped the belt over the handle in a U shape. I grabbed the free end of the belt in my teeth and pulled downwards. I heard a very slight click sound and I pushed the door open.

At this point, I had spent a whole lot of time cooped up in my room trying to get comfortable with my new body. That's a feat easier said than done, by the way. I had gotten very hungry at this point, but I figured it was best to solve the door problem before anything else. It took about ten minutes to open all of the doors in the house. There aren't that many doors in the house, it's just really difficult to open doors with nothing but a belt, my hooves, and my mouth.

While I was walking towards the kitchen I was thinking about what I would like to eat. When I was human and I had a significant lack of hooves, I was pretty good at making a bird's nest. As much as I'd love to have a bird's nest, I figured it wouldn't be such a good idea, and I wasn't really looking forward to the clean up.

I eventually settled on cereal because it was easy to prepare. I hopped up onto the counter and I managed to bring the cereal box down without dropping it once. I dropped it twice. I grabbed a bowl in my teeth and used the bowl like a large spoon to collect the cereal in the bowl with minimum mess. Out of habit, I grabbed a spoon and placed it next to the bowl. At first, I was using the spoon, but I eventually found out eating straight out of the bowl is incredibly efficient.

Not much happened for the next hour or so until I found something that shocked me. Okay, I know I should've noticed this several hours ago, but I guess looking at my back never really seemed like a priority at the time. I have wings. So that statement I made before about being a small horse that can talk isn't really accurate anymore. Tomorrow, I'll try and figure out if I can use them. I've already taken some sleeping pills because I don't think I'd be able to sleep after something like this.

---- Day 2 ----

I don't think I've slept like that since I was a kid. I can't tell if that's the sleeping pills or the fact that I'm in a new body. I'd probably be able to figure out what was responsible for the good night sleep by not taking the sleeping pill the next time I go to bed and see how that goes.

In case you're wondering, I didn't take the sleeping pills because of the stress or anxiety of having my body changed. I took the sleeping pills because I was too excited to start flying. It reminded me of when I was a kid and we were going to a water park the next day. I think I got about four hours of sleep that night.

Alright, let's start making progress with flying. Now, I know this isn't going to be easy because moving muscles that you've never had before isn't exactly the easiest task in the world. The first idea I had to move my wings was to sit in a comfortable position and focus my attention to my back. I didn't really look at the clock to figure out the exact time I started, but it felt like hours. I'll probably do this technique once or twice a day.

The second idea was made while I was doing option one. There's a lot of things our bodies do that are involuntary, and one example of that is breathing. I eventually reached the idea that if there was a way to trigger the wings I could figure out how to use them from that. The one way I thought of triggering the wings isn't really that pleasant. I'll be jumping from a height.

I'll probably use option two at night to avoid being seen. I don't really have an abundance of places to jump from for that matter.

In case you're confused on why I'm hiding from the world, it's because I want to surprise people. If you think messing with people is a bad idea, you can go fuck yourself. I might just be the only pegasus on this entire planet. I think I can allow myself a little bit of fun.

---- Day 3 ----

Alright, so I somehow managed to pass out after staring at my wings for a little too long. I must've been tired because I stayed that way for six hours. I guess my brain is still getting used to the whole two extra appendages thing. I can't really blame it. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one to ever have this happen to them.

By the way, if you ever feel like you're in the need to have every bone and muscle in your body hate you, just turn into a pony and pass out on a hard wood floor. If turning into a pony is a little impossible, you could just ask me for some tips on your weird little pain fetish.

---- Day 4 ----

I'm actually writing this during day five because day four didn't offer me enough time to write this all down.

When I woke up, it was raining hard. After eating breakfast I decided to peak through the curtains to my house. The fog was so thick that I could only see about twenty meters and every so often I felt like I saw something lurking within the concealing blanket of fog.

For a moment, I considered the possibility of climbing to the roof and attempting to fly under the cover of fog. My brain immediately replied with a plethora of situations that would inevitably result in my death. The first possibility is if my wings didn't extend, causing me to fall from the roof of the building. The second possibility is if someone managed to see me if I did fly. Another situation is if I flew directly into the ground because I couldn't see twenty meters in front of my face. There's probably some other situations that I'm forgetting.

After pondering the thought of flying for a while, I felt like it'd be a good idea to make something to carry my book so I can continue to write things down. A few ideas flew around my mind like fireworks as I walked towards my office. I call it my office to make it sound cool, but in reality it's just a room with a table that's short enough for me to draw on.

I was in the middle of planning my saddle bag when I heard something I haven't heard in months.

Knock knock knock.

My body froze, but my brain did not. It was frantically asking questions. "Who are they, what are they? What do they want?" My brain slowly reached the conclusion that if I want answers, I'd have to go to the door.

With a sigh, I stood up and slowly crept down the hallway towards the front door. I stopped right before the door came into view. I raised my voice a bit and asked "Who is it?" There was a slight pause before the figure spoke. "Uh, you ordered a large package of Halfpops. I just need you to sign something to confirm the purchase."

I thought for a moment. I was running low on cereal, and most of the other things I had in my kitchen were either difficult to prepare or were made of meat. I let out a deep sigh and said "I'll sign it, but I need you to promise me something." I had positioned myself in such a way that I could see the man's reflection in a bit of glass, but he couldn't see me.

There was yet another pause from the man at the door way before he spoke. "I guess it depends on what you're making me promise you." He said, sounding a bit confused by the conversation at hand.

"I want you to never tell anyone about this encounter after I sign my name." There was a longer pause that seemed to stretch on for a little too long. Finally, he spoke. "Uh, sure. Just make this quick, it's cold out here."

I took a deep breath, walked towards the glass door, and opened it. There was a young man standing there with a look of complete and utter confusion on his face. I looked up at him while he had the clip board in his hand.

"Can I have the clip board please?" I said, which caused the young man to jump. "O-oh. Uhm. Yeah, hang on." he said, fumbling with the clip board before holding it next to my face.

"Where do I sign?" I asked. "Uh, right here." He pointed with a shaky finger, obviously still at a loss for words. I grabbed the pen that was hanging on a thread and just wrote out my name. When he was walking back to his delivery van, I'd see him look back every few seconds. Man, the look on his face was priceless.

I grabbed my box of halfpops and made my way inside. I didn't bother putting the box away. I wanted it to be as easy as possible. Once my heart settled down and I was capable of basic cognitive ability, I made my way back to my office and began designing the saddle bag again.

The design for the saddle bag was meant to be simple, sleek, secure, easy to slip on, and comfortable. My first design matched all of the requirements, but I had forgotten about the wings. I moved a couple of pieces around and managed to get a design I was happy with.

The entire saddle bag was meant to be black so it would blend in well with my coat. The bags on the sides were slim and aerodynamic. The part of the bag that rested on my back would have a durable water proof bag so if I were ever thirsty, I could drink from the bag using the retractable rubber hose. There were wide straps that would press themselves against my chest to keep the entire thing from coming loose, and there were some other straps in place to keep the entire vest from rotating.

Remember when I said that I'm writing day four on day five? I wasn't kidding. Shortly after finalizing the design, I fell asleep in my office so I had to write it today. I'll start work on that vest tomorrow, which will be day six. Tonight, I'll be trying to get these wings to actually move.

---- Day 5 ----

My whole schedule is messed up right now. I finished writing day four a couple hours ago and I ended up doing some chores around the house while I waited for night fall. At this point, I had already turned off all the lights in my house to not draw attention to it. I start walking towards the back door to my house and open the door.

I walked out onto the porch and looked up towards the roof. Without thinking, I just jumped on to the roof. Keep in mind this jump was about two meters, so it couldn't have just been a simple jump. I ran through all the possibilities in my head on how I could get up on top of the roof. One of them was just magic and the other one was that I managed to use my wings to get onto the roof. I did a dumb little victory dance before suddenly losing my balance and falling.

My eyes slam shut as I braced for impact. Seconds became hours, and hours became years. I waited for the impact, but it didn't come.

Slowly, I open one eye. My entire field of vision was filled with the blur of grass. I turn my head to the horizon and then towards my back. I needed to remind myself to keep my attention away from my wings and on my surroundings so I didn't crash.

I was losing some altitude, so I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to flap my wings. I started trying to flap them. On the third attempt, they moved. I gained as much altitude as possible so I have more room for error.

After learning how to move my wings, I thought it'd be a good idea to learn how to turn. I adjusted my roll and started adjusting my pitch. I began flying in a wide arc and I ended up just taking in the scenery. So far, I have learned out to take off, glide, turn, and flap my wings. There was one more thing I had to learn how to do though. I needed to learn how to land.

I scanned the area to find a suitable landing platform. I spotted a large warehouse to my right and started traveling towards it while decreasing my speed. Everything was going exactly as I hoped it would. I was approaching the roof at a generous pace and I flapped my wings to decrease my speed. With the grace and subtlety of an earth quake, I slammed into the roof of the warehouse and slid a few meters before coming to a stop next to an air conditioning unit.

My head heart a lot and I had ringing in my ears. I looked around and saw there was a me-sized dent in the metal for the roof. I looked at my body and noticed several cuts and the occasional gash across my flank. I was more than happy to just rest there, but distant shouting from down below and the sound of rushed footsteps made me choose otherwise.

I shifted my weight to stand up again, but I suddenly felt an immense amount of pain shoot through my left wing. I wince at the pain as I turn my head around to look at what was wrong.

My attention was brought away from the pain and brought to the three men in uniform as they threw the door open. Their attention was first drawn to the large dent in front of them, then to the blood trail, and then to me.

"Surprise!" I said weakly.

Change of plans

Their attention was first drawn to the large dent in front of them, then to the blood trail, and then to me.

"Surprise!" I said weakly.

I don't know who was more in shock. I'm laying there with a broken wing and pain surging throughout my whole body, and they're standing there with their mouths half way to the floor. Granted, they've probably never seen a talking pony before, but I'm currently injured and I want some medical attention so I can go on my merry way.

To break up the silence I asked "Could you call an ambulance please?" I laugh slightly as one of them flinches and fumbles with a phone and almost drops it. The other two seemed a little hesitant to approach me, but they still tried to provide some sort of support. Support that was significantly lacking in physical contact, which I appreciated.

The man on the phone was still talking, but I wasn't really listening to him. I was too busy being pelted with questions from Sir Red-hat. "Are you okay?" The one with the red cap on asked. "Other than the broken wing and gashes along my flank, I'm fine. Speaking of which, can we cover those up?"

He stood up and rushed over to a red box labeled first-aid and brought it back. He quickly opened it and found some medical wrap, but fumbled a bit. I watched him unwind the band and I let him cover my wounds. One of the men, I'll just call him Fred, finally managed to build up the courage to speak.

"Are you an alien?" he asked.

I looked at him with a look of surprise on my face. After about a second or two of staring, a small grin emerged on my face. That grin morphed into a smile and then laughter. I don't know why I found it so funny, but Sir Red-hat joined in on the laughter. The laughter started to die down, but then I looked at Fred. He still had a look of complete confusion on his face, and that caused me to laugh even harder. Long story short, I didn't answer his question.

Laughing hurts like hell, by the way.

Sir Red-hat was still curious and he ended up asking me most of the questions. "What are you?" he asked. "I'm a pony, but I have wings." I said. Sir Red-hat stated "I work on a farm just north of here, and I've never seen a pony like you." That part actually intrigued me. I hadn't seen myself in a mirror ever since the change, so I was eager to see what I looked like.

I asked him to let me see what I looked like, so he pulled out his phone and took a quick picture and turned it so I could see. I looked like shit, but I did see what he meant. I had a short snout, eyes that took up half of my face, ears on the top of my head, slightly fluorescent yellow eyes, and a mane that was darker than my coat.

The wait for the ambulance to arrive took about ten minutes, and during that time the two had become relaxed and had become far less hesitant to ask questions. One of them brought up why I smashed into their roof. I explained that it was my first time flying and I was trying to land when I misjudged my speed.

They must've forgotten that I had wings because the next thing they asked was "You can fly?" which I replied with "Not any more." They were incredibly eager to know anything and everything about flying. Even if I wanted to write down all of the questions and answers, I couldn't. I think I stopped listening after I started hearing sirens.

You can really tell if a pegasus isn't listening to you because you'll see their ears swivel away from you. At that point, my ears were pointing towards the sound of police sirens and my eyes were tracking the police lights.

Two police cars pull up near the building, followed by an ambulance and a fire engine. The car doors open, followed by rushed footsteps from officers. Another set of doors open, followed by another door and then the sound of something hitting the pavement. The sound of rushed footsteps can be heard coming from inside the building below James. The doors to the roof fly open and there are two men in uniform standing there. One of them stops at the doors for a moment to lock them in the open position.

The other officer scans the roof looking for something before his gaze lands on me. "You better have a good reason for calling us to save an animal instead of a man who might actually need help." the not-so-happy officer says. I'll call him Officer Cranky because fuck him.

The officer that opened the door walked up to the two men sitting next to me and started asking some questions. "What happened?" he asked. "This pony collided with the roof of the warehouse." they answered. "When did it happen?" he asked. "Quarter past twelve." they replied. "Why not a veterinarian physician?" he questioned. "You'll see." they replied while looking at me.

The man that called the police was in the middle of a heated discussion with Officer Cranky when the paramedics arrived with the stretcher. They saw the officer speaking with Fred and Sir Red-hat and started walking towards me.

One of the paramedics, a woman, knelt down next to me while examining me. "Boy, you really hurt yourself, didn't you?" she asked, not expecting an answer. "Horse noises." I said. I laughed a little when the woman flinched slightly. Officer Cranky seemed to notice this when he said "What, did the animal growl at you or something?" with a slight laugh.

The paramedic looked up at the officer and said "N-no. Uh, it spoke." The officer seemed to find this amusing because he laughed and said "That's a great joke, I'll have to use that one at the next social gathering." The paramedic said "No, I'm serious. It spoke."

Here's the thing about me, I'm a prick. Messing with people is what I do. As much as I'd love to scare Officer Cranky, I'd find it far more interesting to see that paramedic passed off as a crazy person. It might not work though, because Fred and Sir Red-hat would most likely be interviewed to get more information about what happened.

Now that I think about it, if I just sat here in silence, they wouldn't really pick up their speed that much. If I were a human, I'd be very patient with them, but right now I'm a talking pony with wings, and I'm hurting all over. I want to get to the hospital.

"Can we get to the hospital, please?" I said. Everyone looked at me. Well, everyone except Fred and Sir Red-hat because they were used to this somehow. Everyone had the priceless look of shock™, but I found Officer Cranky's face the most satisfying.

After they gained some composure, they lowered the stretcher as low as it could go. They asked me if I could get up and I said no. I was really out of it at this point, so I forgot how they actually got me onto the stretcher without harming me. We made our way down from the roof and into the ambulance.

As they were closing the doors, I caught a glimpse of a news van that was probably going too fast for conditions. If we had been in there for five more seconds, I bet there would've been a camera or three shoved in my face. Turning into a horse and crashing into a building's roof was embarrassing enough, broadcasting it to half of the country would've just been overkill.

The paramedics must've gotten this next part into habit because the next thing made me laugh a little. They took a pulse oximeter and was about to place it onto my finger until they realized that I don't have fingers. They let out a little hmph before they asked me about my pain.

I said my entire body hurts but my left wing hurts the most. They offered me an anesthesia mask and I gratefully accepted the offer.

---- * ----

I open my eyes and observe my surroundings. I was inside of a library, and everything had a green hue to it. There were aisles of books in every direction. They became obscured by a white mist and there was a faint sound of wind. Every fifteen seconds or so there was a sound of a single toppling can. There was a rhythmic bass tone every few seconds.

The edges of my vision seemed to warp violently and every step of my hooves was over exaggerated by an unnatural echo. I heard the sound of hoof steps behind me and I quickly spun around and placed myself in an attack stance. No one was there. After a few seconds, I relaxed my posture slightly.

I began exploring the area I found myself in, and I was trying to piece together how I got here. I ran everything through my mind. I was on a rooftop, then I was in an ambulance, and then here. "This is bizarre." I said and immediately regretted it. I made a mental note to never speak here again because the reverb in the room became painful quickly.

I heard a distant thump every few seconds. It took me several seconds to figure out what the sound was. Row after row, the book shelves fell down. I tried to move my legs, but I couldn't. I was struck.

Then I woke up.

I was laying down in a hospital bed and there were a couple machines to my left and right. On my right, there was a large window and from what I saw, I wasn't on the bottom floor. To my left, there was a wooden door with a hoof-compatible door knob on it.

After getting my bearings, I started to examine the state of myself. My legs were untouched, but my left flank had a couple of gauze secured on with some sort of non-adhesive medical tape so it didn't stick to my coat. I decided that I wouldn't speak at all so I could get out of here as soon as possible.

My thoughts were cut short when a man, wearing a white jacket and a stethoscope draped around his neck, walks in. He looks at me and grabs a pair of blue rubber gloves from a glove dispenser. I'll call him Doctor Blue Gloves for that. He obviously didn't know I was capable of speech because he didn't say a word as he approached me. He examined the readings on the machines and noted the results on a clip board he had in one hand. I noticed, pinned onto his jacket, was a little name tag. I didn't really care about his name, but I did care about what kind of doctor he was.

He was a veterinary physician, and he's probably never seen a horse with wings before. "Man, I've never seen a horse with wings before." He stated while shaking his head slightly. "Alright, let's get you up. We need to get that left wing checked out." he said while removing the sheets. I think he was a little surprised that I actually got up and followed him. That's probably unusual for him.

"Man, that paramedic told me you could talk. Isn't that crazy?" he stated and let out a slight laugh. "Why am I telling you this? You won't even be able to reply." he said. Boy, don't you go testing me.

After a short walk, we reached the room in which I'd get my wing scanned. He stopped at the doorway and was surprised that I actually went into the X-Ray machine. Doctor Blue Gloves was about to move me, but then he realized I already had myself placed in the right area. I'm doing this because I'm impatient, by the way.

Doctor Blue Gloves starts pressing some buttons on the machine, and shortly afterwards he tells me that we're done. I get up and did a little stretch. I think I heard Doctor Blue Gloves say something along the lines of "D'aww" when I did that. From now on, I'm calling him Doctor Faggot.

The pain medication from before was doing its work well because all I wanted to do at this point was sleep.

---- Day 6 ----

I would've slept in longer, but I was awoken by a nurse changing out the blankets. She apologized quietly a couple times before she put on the clean blanket. I didn't feel like speaking, so I just looked at her before closing my eyes again.

Of course, all good things must come to an end because Doctor Faggot walked in with a folder in one hand. He took something out of the folder that was probably the X-Rays he had taken yesterday. I examined the X-Rays while Doctor Faggot spoke with Nurse Blanket and from what I saw, the injury wasn't too serious and it had just been dislocated.

I flinched a little when Doctor Faggot put his hand on my shoulder. I watched him pull out a large needle that contained, what I can only assume to be, some sort of sleeping agent. Now, if I were a human, I'd be fine with this, but at that moment, I felt like he was treating me like an animal. I can't blame him, but I wanted him to not stab me with a needle.

"I'm fine, just put the wing back in its place." I said while holding a hoof up to hold him back. He blinked at me before putting the needle down and scratching his head. After thirty seconds of silence, he reached towards my wing and grabbed it firmly. "This is won't hurt a bit." he said before popping the wing back into place.

Of course it hurt like hell, but after it was relocated I was able to move it with little to no pain. He seemed to find it fascinating because he watched me silently while I tested them out. I pushed myself out of bed and started walking around the room, moving the wings occasionally.

Of course, I wanted to see if I could fly again, and the doctor wasn't objecting to anything I was doing. I started flapping my wings at a regular pace and eventually started to hover. The doctor let out a slight gasp when my hooves stopped touching the ground and I simply hovered there.

The surprising thing about pegasi is they're incredibly quiet during flight, so Doctor Faggot and I were able to have a casual conversation while I hovered in front of him. He explained that my worst injury was the dislocated wing and the other injuries were minor cuts and bruises. That detail made me happy because that meant I wouldn't have to stay there for that much longer.

He asked me if I was still in pain, and I said I was still a little sore. He left the room briefly before entering again with the IV behind him. He attached the IV to my arm and we had a ten minute conversation.

I told the Doctor I was getting a little tired and I was going to be resting. The Doctor said goodbye and made his way out of the room.

I laid there for about five minutes before something grabbed my attention. Someone in the hallway was talking about me. They spoke in whispers, but I could still hear them.

"What are you doing, Doctor?"
"I'm calling someone. Horses are not supposed to speak or fly."
"What do you expect those people to do?"
"I expect them to come here, contain it, and question it."
"When do you think they'll be here."
"Well, I'll tell them to get here at the dead of night. It will be asleep by then."
"How can you guarantee that it will be asleep?"
"Well, it said it was feeling tired. That's from the IV in its arm."

I think my heart skipped a beat after I heard that sentence. I examined my arm and found the IV. Thankfully, the adhesive he used to secure the IV to my arm didn't adhere to my fur very well and it just fell off. I wasn't really sure how to get the needle out with hooves, but after a bit of tinkering, I got it out. I got a tissue and applied pressure to the hole to stop it from bleeding.

After the bleeding stopped, I wanted to get rid of the tissue, so I tossed it out of the window. I could've flushed it, but I didn't want to risk making noise.

I was really tired and nervous at this point. If I went to sleep, I'd have enough energy for my flight out of here. However, if I overslept, I'd end up getting caught by the people Doctor Faggot was going to be calling. I eventually decided that going to sleep was my best option, and I laid down in the bed. Within a minute, I was out cold.

---- * ----

An armored vehicle traveled down the streets towards the hospital that contained the creature. Inside the vehicle there were twelve men with assault rifles, pistols, tasers, batons, flash bangs, and hand cuffs. They were taking no risks with the creature they heard about.

Everyone knew what the plan was, and what they were supposed to do. The vehicle came to a stop, and they nodded to each other.

Their journey to the room that contained the creature was vicious, efficient, and wordless. The door to the armored vehicle flew open and out came twelve armed soldiers in staggered column formation. One of them threw the door to the building open and each member of the team pushed the door open as they passed it.

The citizens were understandably concerned at the sight of the soldiers as they passed, but a couple of security guards convinced them to remain calm as the soldiers did their job.

The soldiers distributed their numbers into two different elevators and went up to the fourth floor. Waiting for them was the man that called them there. The soldiers approached the man and asked him if he had seen the creature leave the room. He said the creature was on a sleeping agent that was administered by an IV placed in its foreleg and he had not seen the creature leave the room at all.

The soldiers nodded to him and made their way to the door that led to the creature. The entire team stacked along the wall next to the door and one of them placed their hand on the door knob. He nodded his head and he threw the door open. All of the soldiers swarmed the room with their guns drawn. A couple soldiers entered the bathroom, but most of them entered the main room with the bed.

There was not a single weapon fired that night, but for all the wrong reasons. There was no creature anywhere in this room.

Under the Radar

---- Day 7 ----

I woke up and heard the sound of people talking. I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was a quarter past midnight. My mind connected the dots between the conversation I heard before, the time, and the conversation in the hallway. One of the voices asked "Has the creature left the room?" another voice stated that the creature was on a sleeping agent and that it had not left the room. Unfortunately for them, I removed the IV from my foreleg and was very much aware of the conversation in the hallway.

I knew that staying in that room would be a bad idea, so I quickly made my way to the window, opened it, and jumped through. Hovering next to the open window, I closed it swiftly but quietly. I flew away from the hospital and tried to figure out where I was.

I had never been in this city, so I was at a complete loss. Usually I would solve a problem with trial and error, but I figured that was probably not the best idea.

I flew over to the tallest building I could and I landed on it. I needed some time to think and flying around was distracting me. I figured that if I wanted to get back to my village I'd need a map. I figured finding an actual paper map was going to be the easiest to find.

I launched myself off of the tower and began my quest for the lost city map.

I arrived at the closest gas station I saw and landed on the roof. I laid down and poked my head out from over the edge of the roof. I scanned the environment and spotted a rack with a couple maps on it. However, this gas station was connected to a McDonald's, so you can expect there was a lot of people. I got up, spread my wings, and flew to the next gas station.

The journey to the next gas station took about ten minutes at a casual speed. I wondered, for a moment, how long it would take at full speed.

Again, I landed on the roof of the gas station, poked my head out, and started observing my surroundings. I quickly spotted the maps, but I noticed a problem. For whatever reason, there was three cameras pointing towards the maps. Appearing on camera as a pegasus is like putting a cat in a blender, you don't fucking do it.

After I searched seven gas stations, I finally found unprotected maps. I landed on the pavement and trotted up to the maps, but as soon as I grabbed the map I heard a car door shut from behind me. I was about to fly away, but a tug on my tail and the voice of a child stopped me.

I simply froze and tried to act like a statue. The child said "Look, mom. A pegasus!" The mother of the child replied with "Yes it is, honey. Want to get a picture with it?" The child answered with "Yes please. I don't know this pony's name though. I wonder why they didn't put Rainbow Dash in front of the gas station though."

The mother raised the camera and pointed it at me. I knew I couldn't let this woman to take a picture of me, so I did the only polite thing I could. I turned my head and said, "No pictures please." I grabbed the map and blasted off into the night sky.

After a while, I slowed my pace and simply enjoyed the scenery. A small smile crept across my face as I felt the wind travel through my coat. It was nice being able to see the world from a new perspective.

I began to breath a little heavy and my heart rate increased. That confused me quite a bit because I was flying at a casual rate. I started going through a list of things that could cause my body to react in this way. Unfortunately, my brain started thinking about how when people are about to flat line, their heart rate tends to increase.

My heart rate was beating through my chest, and each breath made me wheeze. I needed to land now. Instead of going for the tall building, I settled with a flat roofed building with a greenhouse on top. I landed clumsily and ran inside the greenhouse to rest there for a bit. The entire time I was constantly thinking that I was just going to drop dead and be dissected after they found my body.

I threw myself onto the floor and curled up into a ball. I was absolutely terrified at the thought of being cut apart. Every little sound that I heard while inside the greenhouse caused me to jump. I was shaking violently and my eyes were pouring tears.

I thought that the Doctor put something inside of me that could track me and cause this to happen. I felt like the monsters that were in the hallway at the hospital were only seconds away from catching me. However, after several minutes had passed no such monsters showed up.

The shaking subsided, my breathing slowed, and my heart rate returned to normal. After several minutes of laying there, I got up with wobbly legs and sat on my haunches to take a few deep breaths.

I pulled myself off of the floor and walked out of the greenhouse. I opened the map, found the city I was in, and then located the village that I lived in. It would've been incredibly easy to do this if I had a compass, but I didn't have a compass. I ended up looking for landmarks to the north and tried to figure out my direction from that.

It was actually pretty hard to figure which direction was north from roads alone, but I got it. I pointed northwards with my hoof to make sure I didn't lose track of which direction was north while I checked the map. After I figured out which direction was north, I was able to find which direction I had to travel to get to my house.

I spread my wings, launched myself off the roof, and flew towards my house. Other than a couple of gusts of wind, the journey back to home wasn't really all that eventful.

I arrived at my house a staggering five minutes later and landed on the balcony. I forgot to lock the door when I left last time because I wasn't expecting to be gone for that long. I pushed the door open, walked inside, and locked the door behind me.

A small grin crept across my face as I realized I was safe at home. I let myself plop onto the floor to let myself relax a bit. I knew I was doing something before I left to go flying, but I had forgotten what I was doing. An idea made its presence known in my head and I thanked my past self for documenting everything. I flipped through the pages in my notebook and found out I was making a saddle back for my notebook and other things that might need carrying.

I walked over to my office and looked at my last design. My brain pointed out several flaws in the last design that I needed to fix. I flipped to the next page in my Engineer's notebook and began drawing several different views to get every little detail. I noted down the materials that I was going to be using and how I was going to secure certain bits together.

After an hour or two of drawing, I remembered what that child had said at the gas station. "Rainbow Dash?" I muttered to myself. I trotted over to the room that contained my computer, powered it up, and opened the browser. I slowly typed in the words into the search engine with a pen in my mouth.

A sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail appeared on screen. The pegasus named Rainbow Dash had an uncomfortable amount of similarities with my own body. After some further research, I discovered it was from a children's cartoon called My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic.

This search has me more confused about my current situation than I was before searching this up. One thing I had a hard time wrapping my head around is how my body could be from a children's cartoon.

---- * ----

There was a man in his late fifties sitting at a desk surrounded by paperwork. He had bags under his eyes, gray hairs showing from the little hair he had left, and a gray suit with a blue tie. Last night, he sent twelve soldiers to extract a strange creature from a hospital, but failed. Somehow, the creature had escaped the room while under the influence of a sleeping agent.

Thankfully, the raid wasn't a complete loss. They received valuable information about the anatomy of the creature and the physical description. The doctors had finished profiling the creature's DNA with the blood they extracted from it. The Chief was hoping for some good news today and getting the results from the blood test was going to be incredibly helpful.

He pushed away his thoughts with a heavy sigh. He really needed to get caught up on the wall of paper.

---- Day 8 ----

The construction of the saddlebag is going well. I'll list of the things I did in order. I made the water reservoir first, followed by the under belly straps, and then the bags. I haven't secured the bags to the main vest yet, I still have to figure out a way of connecting it without weakening the seal for the reservoir.

I'm taking a break from making it right now. I'm actually eating those half pops I bought a little while ago. I should have the saddlebag done by tonight if everything goes well. Today's been a pretty relaxing day, all things considered.

Also, here's a thought that should've passed my mind several days ago but hasn't. Why am I documenting everything that happens and why am I putting so much effort into keeping that documentation with me? To be honest, I don't know. I think it's because I've always liked the idea of a notebook full of information. There's something oddly satisfying about looking at a notebook and seeing an entire page filled with fine print. Perhaps the reason why I document this is because I want people to know my story after I die, and having the book with me at all times helps me with that.

I wanted to burn some time, so I trotted over to my workbench. I opened the middle drawer and grabbed the soldering iron. I was about to grab the solder from the drawer, but then I realized it's probably not such a good idea to have lead anywhere near my mouth.

Although I didn't think it was possible, I figured it'd be a good idea to at least try and improve the dexterity of my hooves. I grabbed the solder with two hooves and placed it on the table top. I tried to grab a pencil with my hoof, but failed miserably. I tried again, this time using fetlock to squeeze the pencil. Using the fetlock had some success, but friction was the main problem. I'll have to design something out of rubber to fix the friction problem, but I was happy I was able to even pick up the pencil. I had greater success holding the soldering iron because it was larger.

I ended up spending a good part of the afternoon fiddling with wires, soldering, and improving the dexterity of my hooves. It's actually pretty surprising what you can do without hands. After all this practice with soldering and wiring, I figured it was time to start gathering the materials I'd need for this little project of mine. I'll need heat shrink tube, a good pair of black ear buds, dielectric grease, and a microphone with some sort of wind shield.

I walked back to my office and started making the saddlebag again. I attached the bags to the side of the vest with a strap. I also wanted a way to secure my phone to the vest, so I had the strap extend to the underbelly of the vest and I sewed it down every five centimeters. I used the clip on the back of my phone pouch to slip it onto the strap. After I finished the underbelly straps and finalized the water reservoir, the saddlebag was done.

I'm going to draw out the wiring schematics for the battery pack and the headset until night time falls. I'll be heading out tonight with the saddlebag so I can gather the materials I need. The first thing I did was draw the batteries in parallel so I could get a larger storage capacity. I included a way to allow the batteries to be charged in the schematic, and I included a switch to shut off the circuit when it isn't in use. I really should've done something more time consuming because this process took about fifteen minutes to complete. I still had six hours until nightfall, and I barely had anything to do.

I took the time I had to eat some more food because I was peckish. It probably wasn't necessary, but I had an entire six hours to burn. I got them a year ago during their halfpocalypse advertising campaign. They gave out free halfpops to a bunch of programmers.

I'll skip over everything I did during the six hours because it wasn't really worth writing home about. Nighttime came, and I flew out the back door. The first thing I wanted to get was a bunch of lithium ion batteries, or a few of those phone charging batteries. I figured I could get those from BestBuy, so I began flying towards that city I was at before. It was a Sunday, so they've been closed for a while.

I knew that they had security cameras, so I needed to shut them off before I got in there. I landed on the roof of the BestBuy without incident. The architects must've not expected someone to be able to get up here, because the security was absolutely atrocious. I walked up to the surveillance room and just opened the door. I was surprised that they didn't have a security guard in there, but I wasn't going to complain. I shut off the computers and walked down the staircase that lead to the room that held all the electronics. On my way, however, I spotted their storage room. I ended up going in there to look through the boxes. After about ten minutes of going through the boxes, I found what I was looking for. I grabbed six of the batteries and went for the door.

I looked up briefly, and had to do a double take. I saw a little red dot that blinked every few seconds. "Oh... fuck."

---- * ----

The Chief was in the middle of finishing some paper work when his phone started ringing. Sighing, he answered the phone. "You better have a good reason to call me at-" he was cut off by the person on the phone. "The creature has been spotted on camera at the local BestBuy." The Chief quickly got up from his chair and threw on his jacket, "I'll be right there." he said before throwing the door open.

There was over twenty police cars and a helicopter at the BestBuy when the Chief arrived. He wanted to see the creature himself, and he really wanted to speak to it. The Chief's mind was trying to figure out why the creature was at a BestBuy when an officer rushed up to him and handed him a sheet of paper. The sheet of paper showed a pegasus searching through some boxes in the storage room. "Why is it in Infrared?" the Chief asked the officer. "The room is completely pitch black, Chief. None of the lights are on." the officer replied. "Has the creature left the building yet?" the Chief asked eagerly. "No, we have a helicopter viewing the roof, and an entry team positioned at all exits. They're all in position, and they'll be entering in thirty seconds." the officer said. "There's no escape this time, horse. We'll catch you, and then there will be no escape." the Chief said aloud.

Escape & Evasion

I looked up briefly, and had to do a double take. I saw a little red dot that blinked every few seconds. "Oh... fuck."

Apparently turning off the surveillance computers doesn't mean the cameras turn off. I really wish I would've known that before I went into a building that was completely filled with cameras. My ears swiveled to hear the sound of an approaching helicopter, the sound of several car engines, and several diesel engines. Those diesel engines were especially concerning because it probably meant they have several SWAT teams arriving in Lenco BearCats.

I crept over to the door and opened it slowly. I looked down the hallway to my right and saw nothing. I looked to my left and saw, again, nothing. The way to the exit was to the right, so I crept down the hallway. The engines to the police cars were still running, but the BearCats engines had stopped.

I could hear people talking outside the building as I walked down the hallway. I didn't have to see them to know that they were law enforcement, their words were direct, informative, and simple. After a minute of cautious movement, I reached the staircase. I glanced back down the hallway and noticed an exit sign at the end of it.

A few seconds later, I heard a loud BANG followed by the sound of rushed footsteps from the end of the hallway. I quickly ran up the staircase and made my way to the surveillance room. I could only assume that there were more than eight people there, which meant they would clear the two rooms incredibly quickly. I pushed the door open and walked out onto the roof.

I knew there was a helicopter somewhere above me, but because its lights were off, it blended in with the night sky. I attempted to locate the helicopter through the sound its blades, but failed miserably. After a couple of seconds, my vision was suddenly engulfed by a blinding light. I lowered my stance and raised a hoof to block out most of the light. I had completely forgotten about the SWAT team downstairs, but hearing the sound of several rushed footsteps on the stairs reminded me of their presence.

Without thinking, I spread my wings and took off. My heart was racing, and I desperately wanted to get away from potentially violent soldiers. Pushing my body to its limits, I flew as fast as I could to escape the police helicopter. At first, I was confident that the helicopter was not able to catch up with me, but the sound of a gradually approaching helicopter caused me to lose my confidence. This was not going to be as easy as I would've hoped.

What would've taken me five minutes at a casual pace has taken me five seconds to fly at this pace. I knew for a fact that I couldn't fly at this speed for very long, so I needed to figure out a way to escape this helicopter before I tired out. It seemed the helicopter had a problem with acceleration, so I used my agility to my advantage.

Taking my first option, I flared my wings and experienced up to nine Gs. It was difficult to withstand, but the sight of the now distant helicopter made me thankful that I did it. I spun around and started flying in the opposite direction as fast as I could go. I needed to put as much distance between me and that helicopter as possible. I changed direction a couple times to make it more difficult to predict my movements. After all that flying, I was completely exhausted, so I landed clumsily on an apartment building to rest.

I wanted to make sure I had everything and that I knew what the plan was so I knew where to go after here. I wanted to rest for a bit before I did that, so I crossed my forelegs and rested my head on my hooves. I was panting heavily while I lay there with my eyes on the sky.

After about five minutes, my heart rate had decreased to a comfortable level, and my breathing had slowed as well. I opened up my saddlebags and started looking through them. The six batteries were there and I started writing down the day's events up to this point. After about ten minutes of writing, my attention was slowly brought to the sound of a distant droning. The droning reminded me of the sound an airplane might make.

I continued writing in my book while the droning continued. Occasionally I would look up from my book to observe my surroundings. I got about halfway through my notes before I noticed something slightly concerning. The droning didn't seem to be going away. It sounded like it was coming from directly above me while circling in a fifty meter radius. From the information that I had, I was able to conclude that it was a UAV. I had never seen or heard a UAV before, but I knew what they were capable of. UAVs were equipped with cameras so I knew that it was looking directly towards me.

Sighing, I placed my book back into my saddlebag, closed it, and spread my wings. I flapped once and instantly felt a sharp pain shoot through the muscles of both wings. I must've pulled something during my last flight because my wings hurt like hell. I peered over the edge of the building and saw over twenty police cars hauling ass down the road towards the building that I was on.

Saying that I was afraid would be an understatement at this point. If I was able to fly, this situation would be incredibly easy to avoid. However, both my wings had locked up. I guess it wasn't such a good idea to fly at top speed less than a week after suffering an injury.

I frantically skimmed my surroundings in a sad attempt to figure out what to do. I spotted a door and made a b-line straight towards it. I didn't care about making noise; I cared about getting out of here. I threw the door open and ran down the flight after flight of stairs. If there were any people sleeping before this, they definitely aren't sleeping now. Seriously, hooves on metal makes a shit ton of noise.

Halfway through, I was pretty out of breath, so I stopped. I heard a door open from somewhere below me and then the sound of over twenty people running up the staircase. They obviously didn't care about the element of surprise because all of their radios were going apeshit and they were making an awful lot of noise. The police were only three stories away from me when I decided to open the door and book it down the hallway.

The police didn't know which floor I was on, but it was only a matter of time before they found out. If I knew the police well, they'd be sending K9 units to look for my scent and then me. I knew that running would be a fruitless effort, so I decided to just hide somewhere until they found me.

I slowed my gallop into a trot as to not make as much noise. My wings still hurt like hell, but if I found an area to rest I'd be able to fly within an hour if I was incredibly lucky. I turned a corner and almost missed the open apartment door on my right. The door was held open slightly by a tiny block of wood near the bottom of the door. I pushed the door open and peered inside. Thankfully, no one was home. I crept in and let the door close behind me.

I wanted to make sure there was no one home before I made myself at home. I checked the nearest door to me and it turned out to be a small closet for jackets and shoes. I shut the closet quietly and made my way to the next door. It turned out to be a bathroom with a toilet that needed to be cleaned soon. I was mainly trying to make sure no one was home, I didn't really care what the residents had in their home.

That all changed when I entered the bedroom. I opened the door and saw a bed, desk, computer, nightstand, and a couple of My Little Pony posters. Having these posters would've been perfectly understandable to me if the room looked like it belonged to a little girl, but this was the only bedroom and it felt like it belonged to a male college student. After clearing the entire house, I ended up chilling on the couch in the living room and writing today's events into my journal.

Ten minutes later my ears swiveled to locate the sound of a door latching which was then followed by the sound of footsteps down the main hallway. I glanced around the room trying to find a place to hide. Unfortunately for me, I picked the one room with no places to hide except behind the couch and in the kitchen. I hopped down from the couch and was about to make my way to the kitchen when a voice from the hallway could be heard.

"Who's there?" the voice from the hallway said. Some time passed before they spoke again. "If you don't tell me who you are, I'll call the police over here. They have the entire building under lock down."

Taking that as a threat, and therefore as a sign that I should comply with the person's orders. I made my way around the couch and towards the hallway so the person could see me. The man went wide eyed and mouthed the words "What the fuck." while staring at me. "You wouldn't mind if I crashed here for a bit? I injured my wings during the flight here." I stated.

It took a moment for the man to speak again, but when he did he was nothing short of enthusiastic. "O-oh yeah. Uhm. No problem. D-do you need anything?"

"I'm feeling a little peckish right now, but for the most part I'll just be resting on your couch if that's fine with you." I said.

"Oh, uhm. You're hungry then? Okay, I'll grab something from the fridge." the man said before disappearing into the kitchen.

While he did that, I ended up lying on the couch while finishing up today's events in my journal. Writing in the journal has become a habit and a fun little pass time, by the way. The man came back and handed me an apple. I thanked him while he placed the rest of them on the couch next to me. I took a bite from the apple. Apparently this guy refrigerates apples.

We ended up watching the television for the rest of the night. I actually went to bed way before him. Before I went to bed I wanted to know the man's name, so I asked him. After a quick name exchange, I found out his name is Max. I rested my head on my forelegs and quickly fell asleep.

---- * ----

The officer standing next to the Chief spoke into his radio. "Entry team alpha?" there was a brief pause before the man on the other end gave conformation. "Entry team bravo?" this time, they gave conformation quickly. "Entry team charlie?" another conformation was heard from the radio. "Scout alpha?" there was another reply. "Alright, that's everyone. Ten seconds until breach. On my mark."

The officer brought the radio to his mouth and counted down the seconds. The second hand on his watch reached zero, and he said one word. That's all it took to cause an army of sound to explode across the once silent night. Sounds of doors being thrown open, and over thirty pairs of boots striking the pavement as they entered the building. The officer was completely confident that they could catch this creature. With the amount of fire power they had, it was near impossible to escape them.

After about a minute had passed, scout alpha reported that he had visual on the creature on the roof. There was a massive amount of radio traffic after that statement. Everyone in that entry team wanted to catch the creature, so they were rushing to the roof to catch it. However, there was a slight problem a few seconds later. Scout alpha reported that the creature was traveling over two hundred kilometers per hour north bound. It had already engaged in a pursuit, and was having difficulty keeping up.

The Chief began to issue orders into his radio. He called for a UAV to be deployed and to scout the entire city. He ordered the police to distribute themselves to different sectors of the city. Lastly, he called for K9 units to be put on standby in each sector of the city. He crossed his arms and began listening in on scout alpha, the helicopter.

As the seconds stretched by, scout alpha gave updates on the situation as the rest of the team listened. "Jesus fucking christ, this thing is fast. I'm pushing the heli to its limits." he began. "It's going just under two hundred forty-one kilometers per hour, Chief."

The Chief spoke into his radio. "I need you to keep up with it as long as you can. I've just deployed a drone and a couple K9 units."

A couple of seconds passed before scout alpha spoke again. "Yeah, I should be able to keep up with it, but I don't know how long the helicopter can handle this. We usually don't have targets going this fast. It must be really tired th-" he cut off. "Holy fuck!" Scout alpha shouted.

Displaying full concern for his team, the Chief spoke into his radio quickly. "Scout alpha, what's wrong?"

Scout alpha spoke again. "Chief, it just disappeared. It was there just a couple seconds ago, but it's gone!" Scout alpha's concern could be heard in his voice. "Chief, we lost it. I'm heading back to land. It's lit up like a Christmas tree in here."

About twenty minutes had passed since anyone used the radio. The Chief was pacing nervously back and forth in front of his squad car. He desperately wanted information on the suspect. He leaned against his squad car and rubbed his fingers against his temples. At the moment, all he knew was that the target was a Pegasus, was incredibly fast, was capable of seeing in the dark, had a need for batteries, and was wearing a saddlebag.

Suddenly, his radio let out a loud crack and then spoke. "The target has been spotted on the roof of the apartment building. It appears to be distracted with something in front of it." there was a pause before it spoke again. "It appears to be writing something in a book."

The Chief's eyes widened and he quickly got into his car and hauled ass towards the apartment building. He knew where it was because it was the only apartment building in the entire city. He checked his rear-view mirror and noticed five squad cars behind him. It seemed everyone shared his enthusiasm in catching the creature.

The radio cracked again, and began to speak. "The target has put its book back into its bag. It's peering over the ledge and it's looking northward." About fifteen seconds had passed before the radio spoke again. "The target is on the move. It just threw the door open and it's heading down the stairs."

Another voice began to speak on the radio. "This is entry team alpha, we're inside the building and are now heading up the staircase. Two K9 units are with us right now."

The police swarmed the staircase and made their way to the roof. The first ones through the door was entry team alpha, and then the K9 units. The dogs were let off their leash and they began sniffing the floor.

After about half an hour, the dog handlers figured out the dogs weren't finding anything. One of them radioed the Chief, "Chief, the dogs are having a hard time picking up a trail. Should we keep at it?"

The Chief's voice came through the radio. "If your dogs couldn't pick up a trail that fresh, there's no use in staying up there. Come on down and help inform the residents to keep an eye out for the creature."

---- Day 9 ----

I was awoken from my slumber by Max. Apparently he had made breakfast for the two of us. How generous of him. I got up from the couch and stretched each leg individually. I tried to stretch my wings and I quickly figured out how bad of an idea that was. I let out a quiet yawn while I walked towards the dining room. Of course, Max was waiting for me with a smile that came off as a little creepy. It wasn't a forced smile or a smile that was brimming with hostility. Seeing people smile always made me a little uneasy.

I hopped up onto the chair that Max had set up for me and I began to examine the food. It was a breakfast pie. On the top, it had a thin crust of baked cheese and spinach. Inside, it had cheese, eggs, celery, thinly cut carrots, broccoli, and onions. The smell and appearance was enough to impress, but the flavor was an unknown. I raised my gaze to look at him with a hint of suspicion. He must've caught that because he asked me if something was wrong.

"No, nothings wrong." I looked down at my breakfast pie with slight curiosity. I smelled it briefly before saying something. "It's a nice breakfast pie. What's in it?"

Max replied with, "It's called a quiche, but you can call it whatever you'd like I guess. It has cheese, eggs, celery, carrots, broccoli, onions, and a couple oats. It's a vegetarian quiche because horses don't eat meat." he seemed pretty proud of it. For whatever reason, he had a fork and a knife set up on a napkin. I wonder if he's aware that hooves aren't the best at gripping utensils.

I moved the plate a little closer to me and took a bite of the quiche. I don't know how I went through my entire life without having a quiche before because this shit was amazing. I ended up scarfing the entire thing down in a few bites, and I also burned my mouth a little bit.

Max seemed very pleased that I ate my entire slice. He got up and put another slice of quiche on my plate. He set the quiche back onto the table and went back to his seat. He continued to eat his own quiche while we ate our breakfast.

Suddenly, Max spoke. "The police came to the door last night. They told me to keep a look out for you and that if I found you that I should call the police immediately." he paused. "What did you do to cause three SWAT teams, the entire police force, over five dogs, and a helicopter to show up?"

I looked down at my hooves briefly before saying, "I stole six batteries from a BestBuy." there was a slight pause before I spoke again. "I guess being a talking Pegasus could've caused them to freak out a little." I said while waving a hoof.

Max let out a slight laugh while saying, "Seriously, that's it? Dude, that's rough." He shook his head before continuing, "What did you need those batteries for, James?"

I took a bite from the quiche and began chewing it. Using a foreleg, I covered my mouth while I spoke. "I designed something a couple days ago, and I needed some batteries." I paused to swallow and to take another bite of the quiche. "If you want, I could show you what it is." Before I even finished that sentence, I could see Max was excited.

We finished up our breakfast and Max ended up doing the dishes. I did offer to clean them, but he said that I should rest. I went to the living room and laid down. After about fifteen minutes, he came back in.

I wanted to mess with him a little bit so I decided to point out something that was in his room. "Hey, Max. What's with the posters?" Mid-step, Max froze and had a mix of surprise and embarrassment on his face. Apparently I wasn't supposed to know that. A small smirk crept across my face.

"W-what posters?" Max asked while rubbing his neck.

"The ones in your room, Max." I said while pointing with a hoof. "The ones with ponies on them."

Max let out a deep sigh and then spoke, "James," he started, "I guess the cat is out of the bag. Follow me, if you're going to show me what you do, I might as well show you what I do."

I got up from the couch and followed him to his room. I don't know why he was showing me to his room, I had already been in there. Perhaps he had something that I hadn't seen yet.

He pushed the door open and let me walk inside. "Max, I've already seen your house. I cleared every room before I settled in."

He silenced me and started speaking. "James, have you ever seen the show My Little Pony before?" I shook my head. "Okay, I guess I'll have to explain the posters a little." He motioned towards one of the posters, "This one shows Rainbow Dash; she's a Pegasus with a rainbow mane. She's a member of the Wonderbolts and the fastest flyer in all of Equestria." he made a sweeping motion with his hand while saying that last part. I nodded my head to let him continue.

He moved over to the next poster and began to explain it. "This one's some nice fanart of a pony named Twilight Sparkle. She's an alicorn and the princess of friendship." he stopped when I laughed a little. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Did you just say princess of friendship?" I let out a little laugh. "Does that mean I can be the princess of communism?"

"First of all, you can't be a princess, you're a dude." he stated.

"Did you just assume my gender?" I shot back.

Max laughed at that statement and then continued. "Anyways, she's the princess of friendship." he put a lot of emphasis on that one word. "She's the student of Princess Celestia and the element of magic." he stated before moving to the last poster. "This one is another bit of fan art. It's a character named Vinyl Scra-" He stopped when he noticed me holding up a hoof to silence him.

"Isn't My Little Pony a kid's show?" I asked him.

Change of Pace

"Isn't My Little Pony a kid's show?" I asked him.

Max became a little bit more tense than he normal was. It wasn't obvious, but he definitely shows a small amount of discomfort with the topic. I don't blame him though he's a grown man watching a kid's cartoon after all.

Max let out a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah, I guess it is." he stammered. "But it's a really good show." He said impulsively, a subtle blush appearing on his face. "Perhaps we could watch it a little?" he asked with a sheepish grin.

I thought about it for a moment. I'm not really the most masculine guy around and I'm not the most human guy around either. My gaze drifted to the side as I thought about the question and its benefits. I'm not the best when it comes to psychology, but I know my way around manipulation. A couple of prods here, a couple there, and he does what I want. If I treat him with kindness and respect, I could eventually use him to get things that I need. He has a job, money, a car, and he's human. Everything in that list is beneficial to me, and I like benefits, so I looked up to him with a smile and accepted.

Max nodded slowly as he sat there. His expression was unreadable for a several seconds as he lost himself in thought. Max snapped out of his trance and looked around the room with confusion. Once his eyes landed on me he pulled the chair out from under his computer desk and sat down. He motioned for me to do the same, and I did. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "James," he started, "how did you get here?"

The question could mean one of two things. Either he wanted to know about my journey before I entered his apartment or he wanted to know how I got on Earth. Telling him about my journey here would contain less risk, and he'd restate his question if I answered incorrectly. "Well, I landed on the roof after being chased by the police. I suffered a wing injury a couple days ago, so-" I said before being cut off.

"No, James," he said while holding up a hand, "How did you get on Earth?" he restated.

"I, uh." I paused.

"Please, James? I want to know." Max persisted.

"Well, shit." I thought. Well, I don't have a story I'm willing to give him. Humans are social creatures though, and social creatures have emotions. Perhaps I could play with his emotions to manipulate him into dropping the subject. I don't like acting like a child to get what I want, but this was the first option that I had. If Max doesn't sympathize with me, I'm just going to assume he's a sociopath and get the hell out of Dodge.

Time's up, let's do this. "Well, uhm," I started. A single tear escaped my eye, and I looked towards the ground, avoiding his gaze. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I managed one word before I placed my hooves against my eyes. "Sorry," I said, "give me a moment."

A couple of minutes had passed before I finished my emotional theater, Max was no longer in the room. I checked myself over and made sure I hadn't made a mess of myself and then left the room. Max was slouching on the couch with a slight frown on his face. "I might have over done it a bit." I thought.

I plopped down on the couch next to Max and, after a moment, began to speak. "I'm sorry you had to see that." I stated.

Max nodded without saying a word.

I let out a deep sigh before speaking. "Max, I've been on a long journey to get here; to get on Earth." I paused. "There are some things," I said carefully, "that I wish that we not speak of. My journey to Earth brings back painful memories of when I was in Equestria." I said, lying through my teeth. "I will tell you the truth when I am ready."

Max nodded, his gaze still locked on the floor. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I-" he started, choking on his words. "I'm sorry. Do you still want to show me your designs?" he asked.

I smiled and then spoke. "Sure." I went through my saddlebags. I found the engineer's notebook, set it next to me, and then opened it. I flipped through the pages until I found the wiring schematics I made a couple days ago. Max had brought his gaze away from the floor at this point, and he was peeking over my shoulder.

Pointing with a hoof, I began explaining the wiring schematics. Max is many things, but he is not dumb. He spotted many mistakes I made in the design that had been over looked. Long story short, Max could prove incredibly useful, and I'll try my hardest to keep him with me.

Max looked at his watch before his eyes widened. He shot out off of the couch and ran to his room before exiting with some nice clothes on. He had a white short sleeved dress shirt, a black vest, a red tie, and black dress pants on. He was busy pushing a comb through his hair while he ran through his apartment in a rushed frenzy.

"Uh, Max? What's wrong?" I asked while he was quickly slipping on some black dress shoes.

He looked in the mirror and adjusted his hair a bit while he spoke to me. "I just looked at the time. I'm late for my job. Don't murder anyone while I'm gone, okay?" he said before grabbing his car keys, throwing the door open, and running down the hallway.

I sat there for a couple of minutes before saying "Oh, fun. I got Max's apartment all to myself." I pushed myself into an upright position and carefully leaned back so I wouldn't damage my wings. I grabbed the remote and pressed the power button. The television didn't turn on. I clicked it a couple more times and then looked to my side. "Whoops, wrong remote." I said before grabbing the correct one.

I pressed the power button again and heard a small click from the television. A few seconds later, the screen sprung to life and displayed some old sitcom from the late 1990's. I ended up spending the next ten minutes flipping through the channels.

"There's bound to be something good eventually." I said. I flipped to another channel and the room was filled with music as it displayed several colorful ponies. I threw my head back and let out a groan of frustration. "Well, I might as well see why a grown man would watch a children's cartoon." I mumbled.

As the episode continued, a frown slowly grew on my face. The ponies hired by Fluttershy's friends clearly had no fucking idea what they were doing and it was pissing me off. It pissed me off so much I ended up writing a three page essay on how much I hated the story.

After it ended, a thought occurred to me. If my new body looks almost exactly like the one in the show, perhaps the creator of it has something to do with it. To be honest, I have no idea how I reached that conclusion, and I think I might just be losing my mind.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed something start emitting light from Max's room. Cautiously, I pushed myself off of the couch and creeped over to Max's room and opened the door. Apparently Max's computer monitor had turned on because of an automatic update for Windows.

My attention was brought away from the computer and towards the rest of the room. Originally, I only noticed the My Little Pony posters, but now I'm noticing Max's other posters. Max seemed to be a fan of rock because he had Metallica, Tool, and Led Zeppelin posters. "This guy has good taste in music." I said under my breath.

I walked out of Max's room and started pacing around the house. All of the windows in Max's flat were covered by heavy curtains. All of the windows were closed too and there was no circulation. The air was slightly musty, but mostly stale. I walked into the living room and onto the patio. The air was cold, damp, and had a slight breeze to it. I sat back on my haunches to take it all in.

As a kid, I always found rain to be relaxing, and now was no different. I laid my forelegs out in front of me, and shortly afterwards, I laid my head on top of them. I only meant to relax there for a bit, but I underestimated the power of rain. My eyelids became heavy and the world around me slowly became more and more distant. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

Several hours later, I was woken up by a loud crack of thunder. My coat was soaking wet and my joints ached. I stood up and stretched each leg individually. I hate to admit this, but I ended up shaking myself off like a dog. I'm still not used to being an animal, and acting like an animal feels degrading.

I would've continued to sleep on the patio, but my coat was still damp and I was shivering. I opened the patio door and entered Max's flat. I quickly trotted over to the towel cabinet and grabbed three towels. I quickly made my way to the bathroom and turned the shower on to my preferred temperature.

I'll spare you most of the details about my shower. It wasn't really all that eventful, but what I will say is this; cleaning your own feathers is a fucking pain in the ass. Well, it wasn't necessarily the feathers that were the pain, but it was the fact that I had to clean them with hooves. I have a hard enough time picking up a fork, and now I have to clean my own god damn feathers. Long story short, I won't be taking showers very often.

After drying myself off and brushing my mane, I grabbed one of Max's albums from his room and brought it into the living room with me. I carefully put the CD into the CD player and pressed the play button. While it started up, I trotted over to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal. I grabbed the bowl in my mouth and brought it into the living room. I ate my dinner on the couch and listened to Nine Inch Nails.

Once I finished my dinner, I stood up and put the bowl into the sink. I went into the living room again and got myself comfortable on the couch. I laid my head down and shut my eyes.

I was woken up by the sound of a door opening, followed by something slamming into a wall. I silently walked towards the hallway leading to the entrance of the flat. The apartment was still pitch black, by the way, so I was the only one able to see anything. Much to my relief, the person that had entered the flat was Max.

Max ended up collapsing into his bed without a word. I didn't know him very well, but from the way he acted and how he set up his home, I could only assume that he was an introvert. I'll have to ask him when he gets up in the morning.
Knowing how someone works could prove to be very useful. Yes, I'm going to see what makes him tick and then manipulate the shit out of him. Do you have a problem with that?

---- Day 10 ----

I've just noticed that I've only mentioned the date once throughout this entire notebook. For most people, it's June 6th, 9:13 AM. For me, it's breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, Max and I just had another delicious meal. I'm starting to feel a little guilty with how generous Max is being. In the two days that I've been here, Max has made me two fantastic breakfasts and I've given him nothing. I'll have to figure out what I can give him to return the favor.

I tried to help Max with the dishes, but he insisted that I shouldn't. I tried to nudge myself in and help clean, but he told me guests don't clean up after themselves. I think Max and I are having our cultures clash.

Afterwards, Max and I just decided to watch the television until he needed to go to work again. We were in the middle of watching some cartoon when Max checked his watch. He pushed some buttons on the remote and, of course, My Little Pony was displayed on the screen.

I gave him a questioning look and he said, "Trust me, it's good." while waving a hand.

While watching the episode, I noticed how action packed it was. I really need to stop thinking into things so much because I ended up questioning how a creature could steal something that doesn't exist. I'm talking about magic, by the way.

I had to admit, I did enjoy the episode, but I did end up asking a lot of questions about how most of it worked. I've just realized that I'm questioning the logic of a children's cartoon. As much as I hate overthinking things, it's something that has actually saved me more than once. I guess that's why they call me the leader. What the fuck? I didn't write that, and no one calls me that.

I'll have to talk to Max about writing in my notebook. It's a little confusing why he'd do that though. If you wanted to make fun of me, it'd be better to write something like "James likes dick." or something along those lines. I don't want to accuse him of anything, so I'll have to figure out a way to bring it up without being confrontational. That's a task easier said than done because it almost always feels like you've just accused them with a bit of sugar coating.

It was my turn to pick what we were going to watch, so I picked up the remote and began flipping through channels. I went through about twenty channels before I stopped on the news channel. Normally, I don't watch the news because of how absolutely trustworthy they are. However, this time was different.

On the screen, there was an image of a light green blur displayed. It was viewed from a low angle and showed something large flying over the streets of a city. There was some text displayed on the screen and it read, "UFO spotted in New York City."

Questioning Reality

There are times I stop and think about things that I normally don't question. The questions hurt. They hurt a lot.

I often find myself questioning why people find me so funny. That sounds dumb, doesn't it? I often tell myself that to keep my emotions at bay. I tell myself that everything will be fine. However, questioning why people would consider me, of all people, funny, it somehow seems warranted.

Let me explain my reasoning here to the potential reader. I do not consider myself as a funny person. I simply speak and people burst out laughing. In my mind, you have to try to be funny, and that's the only way to get people to laugh at something. Do you want people to laugh? Tell a joke.

If I'm not telling jokes, people shouldn't be laughing. So the only other explanation to this is that they're faking it. I've somehow implanted it in to my mind that I'm just such a sorry sap that no one could possibly think that I'm good enough. They probably pity me and are therefore trying to cheer me up and laugh at jokes that aren't funny so I feel like I belong.

When I speak, I carry very little emotion. It becomes difficult for others to pick up on what I mean. People often receive false positives when I act certain ways. For example, when I become quiet, it doesn't mean I'm upset or having a bad day. It simply means I wanted to be quiet and not talk.

When I don't smile, it doesn't mean I'm upset either. If you tell me a joke and I don't laugh, it doesn't mean I'm upset, it means your joke wasn't funny. Telling me to smile when I don't want to smile, isn't going to make me smile.

I often question if there's something wrong with me. I often ask myself why I continue. Asking these questions feel productive, but when examined further, they reveal the exact opposite. Asking one question reveals several more. Each question reveals a broken part of me that I have trouble dealing with. I shut myself off from the world and wish that someone would just say hello.

Sometimes I wonder if my mental capabilities are suffering as the days go on. Humans do not have the capability to gauge themselves, and I'm afraid to reveal my problems to a professional because I don't want to lose my own freedom. For all I know, I could be losing my mind, and I'd have no idea. That scares me.

I've had conversations with friends and forgotten what we had spoken about. I had forgotten the entire conversation we had a mere week after it had happened. I do not know if I had forgotten the information sooner, but it is very likely that I had forgotten the entire conversation in less than twelve hours. That friend has displayed concern that one day I'm just not going to know who they are.

I feel cold and alone. I want someone I can spend time with. Someone I can count on. Someone I can call a friend.

There are things I cherish, like the blissful happiness of when I was a child. When I was carefree and had no responsibilities, I didn't view things with logic or with an understanding. Everything was magical, and everything seemed so perfect. Thinking back on the times when I wasn't a cynical prick makes me realize how broken of a person I am.

I hold onto things because I have so little of it. When I was a human, I'd find myself in a cold room with a cold bed. I got sick of the feeling and started taking frequent hot showers. I'd curl up in a ball and let the warmth wash over me until the hot water ran out.

I used to never listen to music, but now I use it as a distraction so I don't realize how lonely I am. I spend entire days or weeks without proper social interaction. I lie to myself and say that social media will provide that interaction I crave. However, nothing can ever replace the experience of talking to someone face to face.

I would procrastinate and tell myself there's plenty of time left in my life. Well unfortunately life comes at you fast. I failed to anticipate the totally likely event that I'd turn into a fucking bird horse. When I was a human, I was a simple visit to school away from a proper friend. However, after turning into a Pegasus, I'm entire country away from someone of the same species.

Sometimes I question if I could find someone that would be able to put up with me. I convince myself that trying to find someone like that would be incredibly unlikely. Today's society has people of my age sitting at home on their laptops or computers. Hardly anyone goes outside. I am no different.

The situation has only been made worse with the addition of a whole new fucking species. For all I know, that green blur in New York is the only other person that could possibly relate to what I've gone through. Actually, fuck that. That green blur might not even be a Pegasus, but rather a prank that some engineer made on his free time.

On the topic of questioning if things are real are not. I'm still questioning if any of this shit is real. I mean, seriously. Let's think rationally here, I just woke up as a Pegasus after spending my entire life as a human? No, I don't fucking believe that for a second. I refuse to believe it.

However, there's a small part of me that wants to believe that I'm not alone. A part of me that believes this is actually happening and that green blur is an actual person. It's so unlikely that someone else would be in the same position as I am in. However, it's also incredibly unlikely that a human could turn into a Pegasus.

The chances of someone waking up as a whole other species is incredibly low. However, it was proven to be a percentage above zero a week or two ago. As much as I'd hate to travel across the entire country to find something that doesn't exist, I'd hate to leave that person all alone.

This situation is fucked in so many ways I've lost count. I'll have to talk to Max after I get out of this bathroom. I want to find this green Pegasus. I need to find that green Pegasus.

Until next time, reader.