"Alright guys, let's wrap it up for the day. We got a pretty nasty storm coming in, make sure everything is weighed down, I don't wanna come in tomorrow and find debris all over the place." Rob, my foreman yells to us. I stood up, back screaming in protest from being bent tying rebar all day, and take my tool belt off, glad to shed the extra weight. 'Just a few more minutes making sure everything's all secure' I think to myself.

After getting the site cleaned up, and punching out for the day, I toss my tools in the back of my truck, praying the heap of junk can make it another day for the drive home. Looking up as I navigate through traffic, I can already see a line of thunderhead clouds coming my way, directly over the highway. "Fuck, traffic is gonna suck" I grumble, flooring it to try and get ahead as much as possible and get clear of the city. I hear the engine protest, but surge forward nonetheless, so after checking for cops, setting the cruise control, and turning on some music, I settle in for the ride. Hearing nothing but screaming death metal, I didn't notice that lightning is already starting to strike around me, until my vision turns completely white, destroying all awareness of the world.

Reality fades back in, just in time to realize that I'm making a beeline for the trees on the side of the road. I can't hear anything, but I'm sure my bald ass tires aren't contributing much to traction, and the last thing I see is a sea of green, and then black.

'fuck, that's gonna leave a mark.'

"Dammit." It feels like I got hit by a freight train, and everything is all foggy. All I'm aware of at the moment is a splitting headache, and an angry buzzing in my ears as I try to remember what happened and where I am. Slowly looking up, I see my airbag in front of me, covered in a bloody impression of my face, and broken glass all around me. I'm pinned to my seat, but I can feel all my limbs, so as long as nothing catches fire I should be ok. Eventually. Gaining some of my hearing back, I listen for any signs of life around me. I'm expecting to hear sirens, voices, anything, but there are none. Just the ticking from my cooling engine. I hear footsteps rushing from behind me, and a concerned voice.

"Are you ok?"

I can't see them, but I'm relieved that someone found me.

"Yeah, I think so, I don't know for sure. I can't find my phone, can you call 911 for me?"

"Call? Who? What's a phone?" I look over, seeing a tan horse, smaller than usual, barely able to look in through my window, and oddly, wearing a stetson hat, of all things. Whatever, I can deal with a farmer dressing up their horse. I just wish she would come around front so I can talk to her though.

Then I realize that the horse is the one doing the talking.

"Who's 911?"

Wow that impact must have been a real doozy. And then the blackness returns.

"It's moving around, I think it's starting to wake up."

The first thing that I notice is a steady beeping. Oh, good, hospital. Opening my eyes, I look for what I'm assuming is either a nurse, or a doctor. Instead, I see another fucking horse, and it's neon blue, with an orange mane for some reason, wearing what looks like a lab coat. And this one talks too.

"That was quite the magical show you put on when you showed up out of nowhere in the middle of Applejack's farm. Do you have a name?"

I'm still trying to CTRL-ALT-DLT my brain into working, but this is getting to be a bit much to process. I can deal with a hallucination of a talking horse after plowing into a tree at 80 MPH, but I was under the assumption that would go away after awhile.

"You're a horse."

"Uh, actually I'm a pony, there's a difference." He deadpans.

"Ok. You're a pony. And you're talking. What in the actual fuck is going on here? Is this some wierd prank you people are pulling?"

"No. This is real, and yes, I can talk. I don't know who these 'people' are that you refer to, but you seem to be in a bit of shock. Let's start off easy. My name is Bedside Manner, I'm the doctor in charge of the ICU today. Do you remember your name?"

"John"

"Ok, that's a good start." He starts writing down notes, and I notice he's got a glowing horn in the middle of his forehead, and is somehow floating a pen and clipboard in front of him.

"Uhhhh.... What is that? And how are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"That thing, with that horn and the floating stuff." I'm starting to get really weirded out, and wondering what kind of drugs they have me on to be seeing this kind of shit.

"Oh, that's my magic. You're not familiar with it?"

"Negative ghostrider." More notes, a curious hum here and there. He approaches my bed, and I instinctively tense up, not knowing what to expect, though I get the feeling he means no harm. Hopefully.

"Please relax, I just want to examine you, see how you're healing is coming along. You sustained multiple fractures, and our healing magic doesn't seem to work on you for some reason."

Magic. They throw that word around like it's a normal part of life, and all it's doing is just adding confusion to this mess I'm in, but reluctantly, I try to calm down, noticing that the beeping from the monitor next to me has been slowly accelerating. He nods, and offers a comforting smile, and his horn lights up again. I feel an alarming tingling all over my body, and for some reason, I can't move. It doesn't hurt, but I still don't like it, and start to tense up again. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"

"Please relax, I'm sure this is new to you, but this is how unicorns do everyday tasks." A little sternly, and I notice he has to strain some to maintain whatever it is that he's doing, and two more horses... Ponies, whatever they are, come in, and try holding me down. One of them seems normal enough, but the other has wings. When they put their... Hooves? on me to try to hold me down, I come completely unglued, and somehow manage to break out of the doctor's magic field. Taking advantage of the break, I fight back.

Working in construction, I'm no stranger to a fight, and the daily grind makes me deceptively strong, despite my somewhat smaller size, and I land a solid jab on the nearest ponie's face, knocking it back and crashing into the doctor behind it. The winged one launches itself up, pulling it's hooves back in what I can only guess is a punch of its own, and I charge forward into it, tackling it, and sending both of us crashing through the glass door and into the hallway beyond.

At this point, I start hearing alarms going off, and see a crowd of multi-colored ponies looking at me in terror. Looking around, I see a door leading outside, and make a break for it, wanting nothing more than to get the hell outta this fucking freakshow.

Crashing through the door, I find myself in a city, one like I've never seen before. I've been to Boston, New York, but this wasn't like any of them. The buildings looked impossibly old, and I couldn't find any direction to go, so I just picked one and ran. I only made it about 50 feet before a much taller white pony, no, this one's a horse! But with wings, AND a horn! I kept charging at it, but instead of tackling it, I found myself stuck in another one of those funny looking magic fields, except this one was golden colored, and not so tingly. I think the proper term for this one would be painful. Really, really painful. It pulled me closer to get a good look at me, and then everything faded to black.

Oh, hello darkness, my old friend.

Author's Note

My first work.