The Magic Orrery

At first there was only darkness when I regained consciousness. I couldn't feel anything, see anything, hear anything- I was alone in the endless black. The first thing I regain is my hearing, and the first thing I hear is the wind.

It is so very, very soft. I have a feeling that, if it weren't for the absence of my other senses, I wouldn't have noticed it. It has all the force of a gentle whisper; its sound cascades over me in a tide of peace and calm. As I float here, listening, I can hear something else flowing to the rhythm of the air.

It feels like... grass. That has to be what it is. There's grass all around me, it sounds like, as I can hear the faint rush of their collective wave as it glides towards and over me from the distance, again and again. It's under me, too- I know because it's the first thing I can feel. Soft blades rest against against my body on all sides, with just enough force to tickle but not enough to irritate. My sense of smell returns to me, and they smell... strong. Not like, too strong, it's not an overwhelming scent, but it's... I don't remember grass smelling like this. It smells sweet- almost mouth-wateringly so.

What? That's not right, grass isn't supposed to smell delicious. I jolt my head upright to snap myself out of whatever strange funk I was just caught in. I open my eyes, and my breath stops in my lungs as the most beautiful vista I've ever seen spreads out before me.

I'm lying in some sort of meadow. Wave upon wave of brilliant emerald grass rolls out from under me and far into the distance, like a giant ruffled comforter. Bright yellows, soft periwinkles, and lush vermilions freckle the landscape in the form of hundreds of thousands of flowers. My current position on one of the higher hills gives me a perfect view of the surrounding area- beyond the edge of the hills below rests a tranquil wood, its twisting gingerbread trunks topped with a lush canopy of gold and green. And beyond that, far into the distance, bold lavender mountain crests tear into the sky, almost fully encircling the hemisphere before me. I squint. I think I can see something out there... something clinging to the face of the mountain ridge.

It looks like... a fortress. Like an elven kingdom, straight out of Lord of the Rings. But instead of white towers and silver arches, the castle before me looks like something out of a Mary Blair illustration, albeit many times more brilliantly rendered. Its tall gold and violet spires catch the light of the sun perfectly, and the whole edifice seems to glow with a divine aura. Water freely flows off the edge of the marble precipice the castle rests on, cascading downward and disappearing into the billowing mountain mists below. Stranger still, even from this distance I can see birds circling above the fortress, occasionally diving down into its walls or rising from them. If they are birds, then they must be big, big birds. After several minutes of staring, only one, clean question rings out in my mind.

Where the fuck am I.

I hear a muffled groan to my left and am startled out of my thoughts. A figure pushes itself up from the grass a couple yards away from me. It looks like... a horse, of some sort. Although I've never seen a horse with soft rosy fur and a shimmering silver and white mane. I get the feeling that very few people have.

It only manages to push its front half off the ground, its thin, elegant legs wobbling and struggling to stay up. The horse flicks its tail up from the grass and I see that it's much longer than a horse tail, and devoid of any hair except for a little puff at the end. Pink fluff billows around its small hooves, and piercing through its body-length waterfall of a mane is a long, spiraling pearl horn. I realize what I'm looking at: it's not a horse. It's a fucking unicorn.

My voice is caught in my throat and I'm unable to squee with excitement at the fact that I'm mere yards away from a mythical creature. Fortunately for me, the unicorn's voice fills the empty air for me.

"Guh, Celestia... what the buck happened?"

Ok, that's not exactly how I expected a unicorn to talk. I didn't really expect a unicorn to talk at all, but seeing as they're mythical creatures the ability to speak isn't much of stretch- its voice was about what I would have expected anyway, vaguely reminding me of wind chimes. I'm mostly surprised at the tangible exhaustion and acid in its voice. There were a couple words in there I didn't even recognize, but again, it should be more surprising that a unicorn can speak English at all.

"I swear to the sun, Henry, the next time you get us into something like this I'm-"

For a brief moment, I see a familiar flash of color reflected in the creature's eyes. Its pupils dilate slowly as it stares off into the distance for a moment. Its eyelids flicker, and then, as if waking up from a daydream, it shakes its head back and forth a few times, silver hair flailing everywhere. It quickly pushes itself up from the ground and onto its four tall, spindly legs, and I'm taken aback for a moment by the sudden change in dexterity. It must've still been sleep-addled the last time it tried to stand up. Wait a minute... did it say Henry?

"My mane!!" My reclining body jumps a little at the unicorn's sudden outburst. "GUH, Mellow Breeze, this is the LAST time I follow you on some foolish adventure into the meadows for long periods of time! I look terrible!!"

My immediate confusion at the unicorn's sudden change in demeanor is cut short as my attention is brought to another figure a ways away on my right. A smaller magenta figure rises out of the grass and stumbles back and forth on its legs for a moment, before falling back to the ground. Red and maroon hair tumbles over its eyes and muzzle.

"If you idiots had just followed my plan this wouldn't have happ... ened..."

The rainbow glow appears again in this other horse's eyes, but I'm too distracted by what it just said to really pay attention. Something about a plan? I distantly remember a plan of some sort, but right now my head feels like I've been rolling down a hill for the past ten minutes. Maybe that's what I've been doing?

"Your mane's fine, Glitterdust, you're just a pretty as you always are. Half the reason I brought you out here is so you could learn to chill out for a sec." The horse yawns and stretches her legs, as well as her... wings.

My mind reels again as two huge gold and red wings splay outwards from the sides of this tiny pony. I can see the muscles flex and turn underneath the fur, and the light passing through the very slightly translucent feathers makes the appendages look almost like stained-glass windows. It's absolutely gorgeous, and my heart stops in my chest. I'm looking at a pegasus, a real pegasus here, right in front of me, next to a unicorn. I think I might pee myself.

The unicorn blushes a deep, glittery shade of pink. "I-I... thank you! I mean, of course! Yes, no, of course, you're right, it's fine. I'm fine!" She twists her long, slender neck to the side to hide her face, still blushing, and mumbles quietly, "Pretty as always..."

The pegasus stops stretching and laughs cheerfully. "Well, I think we've been gone for long enough. We'd better hoof it back to Ponyville. Empathy, wake up. We gotta go."

I hear another groan, this time very nearby. I turn my behind me to see a little teal pony flutter its eyes groggily and raise its head. Darker teal bangs drift about its eyes on the right side of its face, and its mane in the back is put up into a tiny ponytail. It winces as its bright pink eyes absorb sunlight for the first time in hours.

"Kyle, Henry, when I'm done with you idiots there's not gonna be anything lef-"

The pony stops when his eyes meet mine. As the rainbow light glows in his eyes, the agitation and fury in his expression fades away completely. His pupils dilate and he stares at me, wordlessly. I can see the faint wisps of recollection forming in his mind, his brow twitching as the pieces come together for him. Finally, he whispers...

"...Grasswhistle?"

Um. Excuse me? Was that directed at me? I'm about to turn around to check if there's a fourth pony on my other side, but then I catch my reflection in the blue pony's eyes. It looks... off. Sort of stubby... with big eyes, pointy ears, and...

My stare shoots downwards at my own body. Or at least, where my body should have been. Instead of my arms and chest, below me I see two yellow-green horse legs, complete with fur and hooves. I spin my head around and accidentally roll myself over in the process- from between my legs, I can see another pair of legs farther back, and beyond that... a fluffy green tail flicks back and forth through the air.

Before my brain can react with words, I realize I'm already screaming.

I thrash around in the grass, desperately trying to gain my bearings, but these stupid horse limbs just don't bend like human limbs do, and I keep falling on my face whenever I try to stand up. The blue horse from earlier keeps trying to hold me still (or hug me, I can't really tell) but I'm far too panicky to adhere.

"Whistle! Whistle, please calm down, what's going on??" Much to my surprise, upon hearing his voice, my tantrum almost immediately peters out. There's something strangely calming about the sound of his voice, it's like my body can't resist. Suddenly, both his arms are around my neck, and he's pulling me upwards and against his chest, so that I'm sitting on my haunches. He's hugging me tight, and it's clear he's not going to let me go until I'm ok.

And... I am. I feel a lot better. I should be freaking out, I should be going crazy right now, I woke up as a green horse in a Disney landscape. But I can't help but feel profoundly safe in his arms. I return the hug to the best of my ability- I don't want to let go.

The unicorn and pegasus have run over to our side, looks of concern plastered on both their faces. The winged one squats down beside me. "Empathy, Whistle, what happened?"

"I don't know. Grasswhistle started panicking when I said his name." The little teal stallion turned back to me, and the worry in his eyes was palpable. It almost looked like he was about to cry- I almost started tearing up myself.

"I... I don't..." The sound of my own voice unnerved me. That's not what it used to sound like right? What the hell is going on? Questions and memories flicker about inside my head as I try to weave together some sort of explanation. I remember... something about a plan... we were... we! Kyle... Kyle, Henry, and... and Jackie! We were indoors... the antique store, that strange device... the police showed up, the rainbows...

I sit up a bit as I start to generate some real questions. I was indoors, in an antique store! How did I get here? And who were these three talking horses I woke up next to? As soon as I asked myself that last question, it dawned on me.

"...J... Jackie...?" I stare back into the teal pony's eyes. He doesn't appear to register that name at all. "Whistle, I don't understand what you're saying. What's a jackey?"

He doesn't recognize the name, but I can't resist the terrible feeling that I know who I'm looking at right now. I look back at the unicorn and the pegasus. "...Kyle? Henry?"

The unicorn winces and rears her head back a tad. "Empathy, is Grasswhistle speaking another language or is this headache I have more serious than I thought?"

"I don't know." The little stallion turns back to me. "Whistle, you look like you've seen a ghost. Do we need to take you to the hospital?"

I can't see my own face, but I don't doubt that he's right. It certainly feels like I'm looking at a ghost. And my hunch is cutting at me too deeply to ignore it any longer.

"Jackie..." I speak up, "...you three. Kyle, Henry, and Jackie, it's you isn't it? It has to be! What happened to you? What happened to me??"

The stallion, whom I'm pretty sure is Jackie but whom the other two keep calling Empathy, only looks more perplexed. "Grasswhistle, I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Those aren't our names and all we've done today is walk out to the meadows to take a nap. Unless that's what you mean by something happening to us?"

"Well, something definitely happened to him. He went crazy in his sleep." The pegasus' laugh is cut off by a small jab to the shoulder from Glitterdust... er, Kyle. "Mellow, he's clearly having a panic attack, show some tact for once." Mellow Breeze, the pegasus, just scowls and crosses her front legs. She has to be Henry... I know it.

"My name isn't Grasswhistle!" I huff, although saying that somehow feels like I'm lying to myself. "It's Nathan! And you three aren't horses, you're my three human friends Kyle, Henry, and Jackie! We were just in the basement of an antique store stealing a little house, like, what feels like minutes ago! How do you all not remember? You were all bickering about it when you woke up!"

My outburst receives nothing but silence and empty stares from all sides, even from Empath- ugh, Jackie. Pegasus Henry just turns around and starts walking away. "Yep, he's crazy."

Unicorn Kyle exhales and looks me in the eyes, not bothering to crouch down to my height. "Whistle, dear, not only have we been in this field nearly all day, there aren't any antique stores for miles around, not even in Ponyville. We aren't thieves! We aren't horses either, we're ponies, and we're certainly not..." She scoffs, "...hyu-ming!"

"I... what? Ponyville? Where are we? Why are you insisting you're not human?? How the hay did we-"

I feel a hoof gently fall over my mouth- stallion Jackie is softly shushing me. "Whistle-"

"Nathan!" That was louder than I intended it to be. For a brief moment, guilt washes over me, until I remember that Jackie was mean to me all the time and I never retaliated. She deserves my anger! But... right now she's being unusually kind, completely unlike how she ordinarily is. What's going on? Am I sure that these are my friends?

"Gra-" Jackie stops, debating something quietly in his head before continuing. "...N-Nathan. It's clear you're really scared right now. It's not safe for you to be all the way out here when you're in a state like this- we need to get back to Po... town, and get you some rest. I promise you, once we get there, we can start trying to figure this out. Ok?" He smiles gently.

I don't understand what sort of supernatural powers Jackie gained when she turned into a little blue male horse, but it is impossible for me to panic or disagree with him when he speaks to me like that. In stunned silence I simply nod and try to stand up, only to fall back down onto my elbows. Panic hits me again when I realize what had caused that flailing episode earlier: I don't know how to walk.

Emp- Jackie's gaze somehow looks even more concerned. "Nathan? Are you ok?"

Weakly, I lift my head to look up at the pony and unicorn that stand before me. "I-I... I can't walk." I look back down at the grass in shame. "...I don't know how."

The blood drains from Glitterdust/Kyle's already rather pale face. "Y-you can't? But... you walked all the way here? How did you-?"

Without warning, I feel a couple soft, magenta legs wrap around me and pull me into the air. "Doesn't matter right now," I hear Mellow Breeze/Henry's voice from behind me, "let's just get him back to Pony-... town, then we can figure out what happened. Hurry up, I can't hold him for too long." I start gliding in the air over the grass, Henry still latched onto me tightly. Kyle and Jackie follow behind and quickly surpass us, easily catching up to Mellow Breeze's carefree speed. Guess that's where she got her name.

Guh, no, but it's not her name. Her name's Henry! His name is Henry! My thoughts are interrupted by the loud growling of my stomach. Henry laughs quietly to herself. "Yeah, I'm starving too, Whistle. When we get back to Ponyville we'll nab something to eat."

I don't have the energy to argue with her anymore. Even though I desperately want my friends back, I quickly realize that I'm in a foreign land I don't recognize, and I have no idea how to get home. I'm going to need their help in order to survive in this place for as long as I'm here- then when the time comes, I'll bring their memories back. I have a terrifying feeling that I'm going to be the one that'll have to figure that part out... after all, I'm the only one who has any memory of my humanity at all.