Ottoman Life

I was drowning. My vision went dark, and my body was weightless as I travelled through an endless void surrounded by stars. Out of nowhere, a bright light, brighter than the sun, brighter than anything I’ve ever seen, flooded my eyes and momentarily blinded me, until at last I hit the ground.

I opened and closed my eyes, plodding to the side as my senses came back again. My back, legs, and arms were in pain, they all felt so null as I could hardly breathe. I closed my eyes so hard that stars painted across my vision. I opened my eyes again when my body came back to life. I raised an arm-

I raised a leg-

My eyes widened, and I jerked back as if I witnessed the most horrible thing in human history. I came to a stop next to a tree where I took deep breaths.

I raised my legs again.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

My mind at once tried to find a reason for the sudden dilemma, my senses became confused as blood boiled in my head. My eyes turned into pinpricks as they travelled along the rest of my body.

For once, I noticed two things, number one, I didn’t have my uniform on, and two, I was no longer a human.

I was a beast

I squeezed my eyes and tears appeared from the corner of them. I opened them again, and my face deflated.

Nothing changed.

“Oh Allah, I seek your protection, please don’t let this be real, please, please, please Almighty,” I shut my eyes again, opened them, the same result.

“Please, please, please, please almighty, what did I do,” I whispered between my teeth. I saw my entire life being destroyed at my feet. Conclusions came for sure, but none of them made sense. I acknowledged death, but it made little sense.

That’s when I thought since when is death considered a bad thing? Is this death? Torture, or is it living in the paradise, as I always believed…. and still do. Death means shutting your life and never waking up again? Why is it torture then?

This was torture, and only Allah himself could decide upon this. I couldn’t be dead, I was alive; I knew I was alive and worse of all, nothing changed on this special fact. I laid on my back and tried to make myself as invisible as possible while trying to push myself onto the trunk of a tree.

The moon was high, and the faint glimmer of the stars decorated the purple skies. I opened an eye and stared at one of the mighty symbols of the heavens.

He abandoned me…

“Calm down, calm down, CALM DOWN!” I screamed as I bucked the tree with no mercy.

“CALM DOWN!”

My fear was making me hyperventilate, and in a last attempt for peace, I sent with all of my forces a hoof against my face. The pain froze my thoughts momentarily, and I collapsed on the floor with a dejected face. My chest rose and fell in a single motion.

I whimpered as I moved my body to the side in a sloppy manner. I stopped for a second when I felt a warm liquid touching my body. I locked my eyes with the three drops of blood that painted this brown fur. I just stared. Not a single word, not a single whimper. I just stared at the blood of an animal, of a dirty animal. Of what I knew, I was some sort of equine. From my height, it could be a colt, but my voice still sounded like it belonged to an adult. Maybe a pony?

Maybe...

Scratch that, in the first place animals can’t talk! It’s satanic, it’s an act of the devil, meaning that it’s magic. In second place, how could I be a pony? It’s not like… I…

I shook my head and placed my legs on the back of my head, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me please you almighty of the heavens and the Earth.”

I raised my head, and my mind wandered into the celestial body. Watching the moon gave me peace. So simple, and yet so special. I bet there’s nothing in the entire universe like it; it is a symbol, the symbol that Allah was still with me, down here, in this dark forest.

Where animals sneaked in the bushes, wild animals just like me.

I raised my hooves and analysed them with a critical eye. Every detail, from the minor scratches to the sloppy features in the centre. They felt weird, like very weird. It was like having a dead tissue on my hands. I couldn’t feel anything, they were dead, not the wind, not the dust. This scared me, I could feel tact with the rest of my body, but not with an essential part of it, my hands. Never again I was going to feel the sand passing through my fingers, or the torrents of water washing my hands, or even those cuts I got from playing as a relentless teenager with knives.

I missed it. It’s sad, you know when you realise a loss of something that in past times, was just another addition to your body. Never learned how to appreciate my hands, I used them to kill, to eat, and to play. Now that I didn’t have them, losing them was an enormous weight in my heart. If only I appreciated them more…..

I sighed. My ears pressed against my head as I stood up and scanned my surrounding with tired eyes.

My rifle.

I was taken aback from the sudden encounter, but it sure was a welcomed one. I looked to my sides and out of pure instinct; I was waiting for an enemy to attack. After my suspicions didn’t come true, I galloped to my precious weapon.

Those old features of Turkish history are behind it. I was proud of having to fight for my country, which extends throughout the entire Middle East with the shining jewel of the moon up in front.

The moon….

Maybe it…

I unconsciously began raising the weapon, the muzzle aligning with my head. I closed my eyes as my hooves tried to find the trigger. The bayonet was softly pressed against my left cheek. That cold metal sent shivers down my spine as that precious thought of ending it all flew into my head.

“What the,” I mumbled while I lowered the rifle. My eyes narrowed as I compared the trigger with my hooves.

“I-I,” I sighed dejectedly, placing the rifle on the ground. I raised my head again, “almighty Allah, I’m sorry- I’m sorry, you control my life and death, I-I, I’m sorry I don’t know what’s happening, please great saviour, please almighty, help- help me.”

I accommodated my sun helmet, picked my rifle again and placed it on my back. I couldn’t stay there, even in my situation, I was sure that I was the prey of any hungry animal here. I could only defend myself with the bayonet until I have the time to make some modification to my weapon.

“Here comes nothing,” I raised a hoof and placed it on the ground, then another, then another. I was trying to learn how to walk, or at least as an equine would do. You may think that this is just like crawling, well, that’s wrong. Having a different body structure changes many things, including my motor skills. I ventured into the forest, praying to Allah that death won't catch me. Either way, it’s his decision how I’m going to die, so it’s in his hands my entire life.

I hated being like this, but without a doubt, this forest was beautiful. Colourful leaves fell from the branches, the lush trees showed all of that precious wisdom behind its crust. The path was covered in mud, I guess this was because it recently rained. I appreciated every detail, every memory it brought. It also made me rethink my location. If I was fighting on our Eastern shores, then somehow, did Allah send me to the Georgian mountains? Where the Russians marched into our lands with the help of those traitors called Georgians. That complicated thing…. Allah could have maybe sent me as an animal to spy on the Russians…. Or was it the devil that with his chaotic games only wants me to suffer?

No, I’m going to stay with the most realistic conclusion, I’m drugged. There’s no other explanation. We have been experimenting with the technological wonders of the German Empire. Maybe one of those gasses, either chlorine or another invention, created visions before I inevitably died.

I reached the border of the forest, where my head picked over a hill which gave me an unobstructed view of the landscape in front of me. I saw a small town, built-in Bavarian European style in front of me. The place looked like it was located in the Medieval era, judging by the lack of any electricity. Now, I know that it’s rare to see that even in my glorious empire, but there’s literally nothing, just nothing. Not a single dangling wire like the ones you see in Jerusalem or Damascus. The lights are an antiquity, I can judge this for the two solitary light poles on each side of the town.

“Uh excuse me, sir…”

My eyes widened. Those four words entered my ears most unexpectedly. They were musical and sounded feminine. My head slowly turned back, toppling with a yellow pony.

We just stared at each other, I was so- confused. Maybe she was the pet of someone? That doesn’t explain the unnatural colours or the unnatural eyes, or that they are so big.

She cleared her throat and awkwardly spoke again, “excuse me, sir, what are you-”

“What the…..” I shakily tried to step back, “h-h-h-h-o-o-o-w-w can you-you speak Turkish?”

She tilted her head to the side, and in a very low tone, she spoke again, “Turkichi? I don’t know what Turkichi is.”

“What are….. You can speak! How can a pony talk!”

She blinked, “you are a pony.”

“I-I-I,” I lowered my head, “how can you speak Turkish, how can you even say words!”

“Uh I-I think that you’re referring to Ponish,” she stopped for a second, before continuing to talk, “and why do you say I can’t speak?”

“I-”

My mind was without a doubt full of questions. I was planning to attack this pony, hopefully, kill her and from there have some source of food- if we don’t consider two things, it is sapient, and it doesn’t look scared, only nervous.

I needed to make the most of it. Even if I‘m stuck in my imagination, this could be a test into reality.

“What was your question pony,” I asked neutrally.

She recoiled from my sudden change of voice, “I-I was just going to ask you what were you doing there, are you like a s-s-s-s-s-p-p-p-p-p y.”

“No, I’m a soldier of the Ottoman Imperial army.”

“Ottoman? What’s that?”

“It doesn’t matter-”

I realised something; I was alone. I didn’t have a place to stay, neither food nor water.

And by law, I could ask a peasant to give me those accommodations whenever I wanted, I'm a servant of the sultan!

I cleared my throat, and took a step forward, “excuse me, ma’am, I’m sorry for acting this way. The only reason I was watching the town here is that I was looking for someplace to spend the night.”

“Really,” she raised an eyebrow, “so you came to Ponyville without having booked a place to stay.”

I raised a hoof to cut her off, “I lost the location of my division, meaning that I am lost in this- place uh I’m sorry but in what’s the name of where we currently are?”

“Ponyville.”

“No, you already said that,” I tapped my chin, “I was meaning a region or country.”

“I uh you-you are in Equestria.”

“Equestria,” I mumbled under my breath. I’ve never heard of a place like that, not in the Caucasian region, not in Greece, or the Holy Land, or Africa. It’s like if my imagination created an entirely alternative world.

“Do you need someplace to stay?”

She interrupted my thoughts. I looked up and narrowed my eyes in suspicion.

“Uh yes, as a soldier of the Sultan, I ask for a place to stay for the night at least.”

“Of course!” she in fact, somewhat beamed at this. Now I’m going to be careful, no one just helps you without wanting something, or without being threatened at night.

“My name is Fluttershy,” she extended one of her hooves. I was unsure of what to do. I cringed as I reached hers, and we did this weird uh handshake expression, you could say. I also discovered new things about my body, like that my hooves were flexible, and unlike the ones of a normal equine, I could move them in circles, for example.

I smiled a bit, “Ahmet Celal at your service.”

“Ahm-met,” she repeated my name several times, before shaking her head and starting to walk towards the town.

“Come on, my cottage is on the other side of the town.”

I nodded as I followed her in sloppy steps. I knew something very well. When we reached that cottage, I was going to be very careful with whatever might be in there. Maybe these are spies.... or maybe the evil British stole the drugs and induced in me for that I could reveal locations of several battalions across the country.

If she is just an allusion to a spy- after all the mind is the most powerful organ of all.

“Allah, please protect me, and don’t let me fall in the hands of those who wish to make evil, protect our children, and please my lord save us from temptation-”

And in that way, I kept praying for protection, because everything could be real or not. I hoped for the latter, but I needed to steel myself for anything.

“Allah is greater…. He’ll protect me from these demons.”

I did not understand what they really were, but I knew they had ill intentions in their hearts. I mean, helping another person in a place like the Caucasus, or the battlegrounds in general, just in books.

Didn't change the fact they're all animals, dirty animals.