Out of Breath

Chapters

Terror
Phantom Pain
Panic

Terror

Emily opened her eyes slowly, giving a huge yawn.

Man, these hospital beds kill my back a little more each night.

Fully opening her eyes, the 17 year old froze. The forest. She was in the forest. Shaking her head, Emily tried to blink away the woods in front of her. When the forest stayed instead of fading into her white hospital room, she knew she was in deep trouble. When breathing became harder, she knew she was screwed.

Emily stumbled to her feet, grasping at her constricting chest.

No, please. Not here, not now.

Wheezing, the girl stumbled to the edge of the woods and towards the small cottage in a large field. She needed help, and she needed it now.

Fluttershy watched as the unconscious creature began to breath easier. Whatever had happened had ended when the animal collapsed. Flutershy stood up and circled the animal. She wanted to bring it inside and get it confortable, but there was no way she would be able to carry it. The small pegasus galloped inside and quickly came back with a blanket. She covered the bipedal animal and sat down next to it.

"Oh, I hope Twilight gets here quickly"

The shy pony didn't have to wait long. Twilight came running across the field with a saddle bag full of books. The hawk Fluttershy had sent was gliding above her.

"Fluttershy! What happened? Are you-"

Twilight stopped mid sentence at the sight of the alien creature. Her eyes widened in bewilderment.

"I-Is that a human?"

Fluttershy flicked back an ear in confusion.

"A what?"

Twilight shook herself.

"Never mind that, let's get her inside."

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all sat around the asleep human. The human was asleep on a bed in Fluttershy's spare bedroom. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as she hovered over it. She reached down a cyan hoof to poke it, but it was slapped away by Applejack.

"Dash, don' go pokin' it. It's tryin ta sleep!"

Rainbow Dash frowned but back peddled away from the human.

"I just wanted to see if it would wake up. Jeesh!"

Rarity frowned.

"Rainbow Dash, dear. From what Fluttershy was saying, this poor creature is not well."

Rarity's eyes traveled over the animals clothing

"It's sense of fashion is quite ill as well."

Pinkie Pie was bouncing around in excitement.

"Oh, I've never met a human before. Twilight what's a human? OH! It's so sad! She's the only human here and she know nopony. I have to throw her a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. And a 'Get Well Soon' Party! I hope she wakes up soon! She has no friends yet so I hope when she wakes up we can all become friends. Oh this is so exciting! What kind of food should be at the parties? What do humans eat? I bet she loves cupcakes! This-"

Pinkie Pie was cut off by Twilight sticking a hoof in her mouth.

"Pinkie Pie, please be quite. The last hing we need right now is-"

Applejack interrupted her.

"Look! She's wakin' up!"

Phantom Pain

Voices, along with a painful cramp, woke Emily up. Her body was heavy and tiered, a sign of her last attack. She cracked an eye open and looked up at the people surrounding her. Correction, the ponies surrounding her. They stared at her with wide eyes as she sat up.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

A pink, fluffy maned, pony jumped up onto the bed and grinned at her.

"Err. . . "

Pinkie Pie was quickly pulled off the bed by her tail. An orange pony mare wearing a Stetson spat out her tail and frowned at her.

"Pinkie, give her some space."

Southern. Emily smiled slightly. The purple unicorn shushed them both before turning to the human.

"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

"H-hi. Ah'm Emily."

The Stetson wearing pony smiled at her own southern accent. Human or pony, a southerner was a southerner.

"We'll howdy Emily. Ah'm Applejack. You already met Pinkie Pie an' Twilight. That there is Rainbow Dash"

Applejack pointed at the hovering pegasus. She was aptly named.

"This is Rarity"

A styled unicorn tossed her mane, smiling.

"And lastly, this-"

Applejack pushed a cowering figure out from behind her to bed.

"is Fluttershy."

Fluttershy glanced at Emily through her mane. Emily recognized her as the pony from earlier.

"It's nice to meet y'all, but. . . where am Ah?"

Twilight smiled kindly.

"You're in Ponyville, which is in Equestria."

"Ah-Ah've never heard of Equestria."

Twilight nodded.

"I didn't think so. I'm not sure, but I think you may have somehow jump dimensions.

Jumped dimensions?!

Emily's eyes widened in fear. Her heart skipped a beat as she took a shallow breath. Tears started to gather in her eyes. Twilight saw this and stepped forward, her horn glowing.

"Whoa, now. It's alright."

The second the magic touched the shaking human, all panic left her. She hadn't felt this calm in almost two years. However, when the panic left, so did the adrenalin. The cramping in her leg intensified. Emily reached down and started to massage her knee.

"H-how did ya do that?! That-that was amazing!"

"It's just a simple calming spell. Nothing really. Now, I've sent a letter to the Princess. She might be able to help you get back home. So until we get a reply, we'll help you as much as we can."

Emily smiled as she dug her knuckled gentle into the muscle above her knee.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Um. . . uh. . . is-is"

Everyone looked over at Fluttershy, making her blush even more.

"Um. . . is s-something wrong with y-your leg?"

Emily looked startled at the question.

"Nah, just some phantom feelings. Gets cramped up if Ah walk to much."

Pinkie Pie bounced over.

"What's phantom feelings? Is it like a ghost? Is it fun?!"

Twilight yanked back the bouncing mare.

"Pinkie Pie, don't! Phantom feelings are. . . are. . . "

Twilight swallowed, looking pale.

Emily sighed as she pulled back her left pant leg. Everypony gasped. Just below the knee joint, the leg was gone. In place of it was a prosthetic. Rarity fainted. Fluttershy started to cry. Pinkie Pie pined back her ears and frowned.

"T-that doesn't look fun at all."

Panic

Fluttershy sang quietly while she cooked her breakfast. She had just finished feeding the animals and decided she was hungry as well. Angel, her bunny, was staring out the front window. His ears were twitching in curiosity. The Pegasus giggled and went back to making her oatmeal.

Thump thump thump

Fluttershy looked over at Angel, who was pounding his foot on the floor. Angel jumped up and down, waving his paws at his owner. Fluttershy frowned and put the mixing bowl down and trotted over to the bunny.

"What is it, Angel? What's wrong?"

Angel pointed with a white paw at the window. Fluttershy walked over to the window and looked out.

"Is there someone outside? I don't-"

Fluttershy stopped short at the creature she saw. It was a tall animal, walking on two legs. Or more like stumbling. The creature was fur-less except for its short blonde mane on its head. It was wearing strange clothes and shoes. Fluttershy squeaked and ducked down behind the window sill.

"O-oh dear. I w-wounder what that i-is."

The shy little pony peaked out the window again at the animal. It stumbled sideways and it's legs buckled underneath it. It landed with a soft thud in the grass outside of Fluttershy's cottage.

"Oh no!"

Her fear of the strange animal was washed away with concern. She galloped out the door and over to the creature. Fluttershy stopped a few feat in front of it. It held its paw to its chest, and Fluttershy could hear as the animal tried to take in wheezing breaths. It looked up at her and Fluttershy let out a startled cry.

The creature had tears flowing down its face, fear dancing in its eyes. Its face was extremely pale and it was shaking. The worst, however, was its lips. The were turning a frightening shade of blue. The animal opened its mouth several times, as if trying to talk, and collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.

Veterinary instincts kicked in and the young pegasus turned to one of the many birds she cared for.

"I need you to go and get Twilight Sparkle. Can you do that for me, please?"

The hawk saluted her before flying off. Fluttershy knelt down next to the fallen animal. She brushed back some of its mane from its blue eyes. It was looking at her, almost silently pleading with her. It was breathing fast and shallow, wheezing.

"C-Can you understand me?"

The creature nodded.

"Alright. I need you t-to keep breathing. Help is on the way."

The creature smiled slightly and lifted a shaking paw. It reached out and placed it on Fluttershy's hoof. Fluttershy gave it a reassuring smiled and held on to its paw. It opened its mouth, as if trying to speak. It gave a strangled sob and clenched its jaw. The creature suddenly shuddered, eyes rolling back into its head, and it went completely limp.

Oh no