The Atlantean

Oh my head.  What happened?

...That's right, Colony Alpha was destroyed.  Now what do I do?

I opened my eyes, but ended up immediately shutting them a second afterwards for two reasons.  The first reason was because of sun glare instantly blinding me, but I considered this to be minor compared to the other reason.  My other problem was with my eyes and the red substance that oozed into them.  Noting the crimson liquid in my mind, I painfully struggled to get the back of my hand to my forehead.  Just like previously, I quickly drew my appendage back from the stinging sensation.  From the pang given to me, I would gladly exchange this feeling for a hangover any day.

From that one small moment of sight, I managed to gain so much knowledge of my situation.  I’ve crashed landed, the cockpit for the Lambda-9 is only good for scrap metal now, and by some miracle, I’m alive with what feels like a good number of injuries.  In fact, my entire body feels like a giant mass of pain.  However as much I hurt, it is a good sign.  Because my entire body is hurting, it means that I have all my limbs…even though they may be damaged.  Since I’m up now, I should try to tend to my wounds and make contact with the others.

I reached for the release latch, but missed it.  With my next attempt, I basically slammed my whole hand into the handle, but as I did that, I noticed something horrifyingly off.  By the way I hit the latch, my fingers have gone straight through the metal.  I tried with my other hand and had the same result.

“This can’t be good.”  I muttered to myself.

I brought my hands to my face and to my dismay, I can feel my fingers on my hands, but I can’t feel any of the appendages on my cheeks.

Please no, please don’t let it phantom pains.

I positioned my arms in front of myself and slowly opened my eyes while praying.

What’s wrong with my hands!?  Where are my fingers!?  What happened to my arms!?  My body!  My legs!  They’re the same!  What has happened to me!?

My hands and feet have been morphed into some kind of curved, hard like surface, almost like the hooves of an equine.  My uniform and my flesh-no, my flesh is still there, it’s just not covered by my uniform anymore, instead of clothes, I find that an abundance of small silver gray hairs, stained in blood, is covering my skin like a coat.  And remembering how my face felt when I brought my hands…hooves…these things that are my limbs now, my face did feel slightly elongated.

This can’t be right!  I have to get out of here!  This is terribly wrong!

I stumbled with the release latch due to terror enveloping my thought process, my hyperventilating causing me to go light headed, and me no longer having thumbs.  As time passed, I finally managed to pull the handle out and slam as much weight I could throw into the door, forcing the metallic structure open.  I yelped as I landed against the dirt and soon afterwards, felt even more pain pressuring against me, but unlike the current feeling devouring my being, this one was a searing sensation in a certain part on my body.   I looked to the lower left side of my chest and saw a rock, no not a rock, but that crystal of mine wedged into my flesh.

With both my hooves, I reached for it, but a medical thought ran through my brain.  If I remove the jewel now, I won’t be able to treat it and I’ll likely bleed out.  Both my physical condition and the thought of death made me feel empty, until tears eventually welled in my eyes.

Why?  This isn’t fair.  What did do to deserve this?  Is it because I took part in a military of a power hungry empire?  Is this my punishment?  To be turned into some sort of freak?  And am I to die as this freak?

“You really need to get a hold of yourself, because right now you’re still alive.  This gives you the chance to survive and fight on.”

That voice, that voice belonged to Kannu.

I immediately looked up and surveyed the area.  Upon realization, I figured that was just my memory replaying her words.  Knowing this left me in depression again, I don’t want to be alone.  No matter how I look at it, I am alone, and those words hold some meaning.  I am still alive, I can still survive; somehow.  If I’m going to live, then I’m going to need to get a full grasp of my situation.

How damaged is the Lambda-Holy crap!  I survived that!?

A ship, once in the shape of a pyramid, is now beaten with massive dents to form a badly shaped cone.  Both the thruster engines and cockpit window are gone; the only difference between the two is that the glass is simply shattered, while the engines are nothing but scorch marks that reach all the way to the seat; in fact if I had actually noticed, I could have left through the hole where the thrusters use to be.  And lastly, the two plasma cannons have been bent backwards, possible due to the drag created from the crash impact.  The Lambda-9 is now nothing but a huge pile of scrap metal; hardly anything looks salvageable.

As I stared at the former vessel, I saw a reflection on one of the still intact silver coated panels.  The image I’m looking at is possibly a horse of some kind, with its eyes and mane a matching brown while its coat was gray. Again I looked around the area, but saw nothing.  I tilted my head and saw the animal mimic the action.  Suddenly my eyes widened along with the creature’s.  I turned my head back and looked down, in my field of vision is a brown tail made of hair attached to me.  My mouth was agape as I started back at the horse, sharing the same expression.  Out of the blue, I could hear myself laughing hysterically.

I’m a horse?  I’m a fucking horse!?  Oh this is just un-fucking-believable!  Wait, I’m not even a full horse; I’m a fucking pony!  This is just so fucking lovely!  I always wanted to be a damn pony!  Are you deities up there having fun toying with my life!?  Come on you almighty smiters, if you’re going to do this to me, then at least have the decency to smite me already you assholes!

Oh what’s the point of arguing now?  If I continue to flip out, I’ll eventually suffer from too much blood loss, and then that would be it for me.  It’s not really an ideal death.

“Survived a crash land only to bleed out as a pony” I dramatically stated to myself.  Boy, I can tell this is already going to be fun.  I guess I should go look for a doctor now, or in my case a vet.

Okay now, how do four legged animals walk so easily?  Maybe it’s like a baby crawl.  If it is, then it shouldn’t be too hard.

First, I’ll start by getting myself into a sitting position.  With my new limbs, I gradually forced myself up twice onto my bottom.  My entire body is still hurting; there goes any idea of this being a cinch.

One…Two…Three!

I rocked myself forward on the third number and made it onto all fours without fall over.  Even though I was being eaten away by pain, I found that standing was actually relatively easy.  I’m not sure how I’ll work the back legs, but my front limbs move as freely as my arms use too, allowing me to balance myself.  If my hind legs are anything like my old appendages, then maybe I can keep my center and walk.

First step with my front right leg, success.  Second step with my back left leg, this feels so awkward.  I can feel my limb moving, but it feels just so unnatural to me, I can’t fully comprehend the knee bending the opposite direction.

With the lost sense of balance and unable to reorient myself, I soon found myself with a face full of dirt.  I coughed out the ground, but what I saw spat out with the mud terrified me, aside from my saliva, there was also a crimson hue in the mix.  I’m still feeling light headed, and with the amount of blood I’ve lost, I probably won’t make it that far.

Why didn’t I train to be a medic?

After a few agonized hisses and struggling back up, I finally got the hang of walking…on my fourth attempt.  And can I even call this walking?  I’m more likely shuffling my feet-I mean hooves along the ground.  Either way, this will have to do.

Next I had to get a layout of the land.  Flat grass land beneath me, healthy looking trees to the distance in front of me, trees to the right and left, even more trees behind me, and a scorched trail leading to my ship.  At least there isn’t a cloud to cover up the sky and sun.  If this is Earth or a planet like Earth, the sun should move in the same direction.  It was a harsh couple of minutes of standing around, but I managed to determine that this planet’s sun is setting west.

With my knowledge now, I headed to the northern tree lines.

I don’t know how long I have been moving for, but as I continued on through the trees, I mentally noted that one side of the forest was nothing but the healthy looking trees and plants, while the other side seemed gloomy.  That half of the forest had darker green leaves, along with a thicker plant life and different vegetation; there were lifeless and dried out trees scattered along its land, vines entangled with the area like spider webs, and giant leaves that blanketed the area and shrouded it from all light.

Seeing all this made me instantly agree with my gut to stray away from this place.  But as I began to shuffle away, I heard a howl followed by growling.  I scanned the dark region with my widening eyes with the hopes of spotting nothing.  My legs violently trembled as I witnessed blocks of lumber with glowing green eyes, moving towards my general direction.  I have the feeling that they don’t fully see me yet, but they definitely know my location.

I panicked.  I threw myself in the opposite and unintentionally collapsed on my stomach.  It wasn’t the sound of me tripping, but me screaming out in pain that triggered these predators to begin chase.  I didn’t want to yell out, but as that crystal embedded in me got pushed further in, I couldn’t help myself.

After a cough of red mist, I vigorously threw each limb out for my forward direction.  As much as I wanted to summit to the pain and rest so I could momentarily stop hurting, I couldn’t.  I knew if I did, the barking creatures sprinting after me would kill me.  I have to get as far away as I can.

I take back my comment about calling the gods assholes and telling them to smite me.  I’m sorry!

With each beat of my heart, with every push of my hooves, and every pant I exhaled, I could help feel myself slipping away.  My body burns, my vision is starting to fade, and I feel like I’m drowning.  Have I really come all this way just to become food to these animals?  No, I can’t give up yet.  I refuse to die like this; I’m going to go out like a coward.

With all my remaining might, I flopped myself onto the trunk of a nearby and scraped my four legs along the bark in such a way, I managed to climb my way up the plant while staying latched on.

The jagged wood cut into my flesh while that rock in my chest was wedged even deeper, both worsening the affliction I was already plagued with.  But no matter how much I struggled, no matter how agonizing it was, if I can succeed, I can end this life of mine on my terms.

The moment I hit the strong branches, I hooked my left hoof around the one that was going to be my perch and released my grip on the trunk.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the strength to pull my body up, so I ended up dangling like hanging fruit.  As I hung, one of the animals lunged at me, it hit, but wasn’t able to sink its teeth in me to drag me down.  The bright side of that attempt was that I was pushed with enough momentum and force, that the swing was enough to for me to bring my other limbs onto my branch.  I hugged that tree like a child would to his or her mother.

In my final moments, I decided to see what the creatures chasing me actually looked like.  Once I directed my eyes downwards, I could see a pack of dogs; five dogs all made of wood.  Three would jump up and snap at me, while the fourth barked at me as the fifth used its leaf like tongue to lick up the blood I had just vomited out.

I guess this is it…

As I lay against the wood, I gradually moved my front hooves to the jewel that remained inside me.  I did my best to clasp onto the crystal, but the second I reached it, all control over my limbs were lost and my legs swayed in the air.

With nothing left I could do, I simply watched these predators; however something was odd with them now.  The pack remained motionless as they all stared off into the same direction; whatever was over where they look emitted a strange blue light that I could catch a glimpse with the corner of my field of vision.  Suddenly my ears picked up on the sound of an explosion, which caused the light’s illumination to increase.  Whatever this thing was scared off those who were about to it me.

Leaning my head in attempt to see what the source was, my sights were greeted the tree branch and the rest of the world spinning.  If I could still feel my body, I bet that would have hurt.

My vision now was met with the red stained grass and something purple in the distance.  It looked like a horse-no a pony.  This equine was odd with its colors; this animal stood in a lavender coat while both its mane and tail were a darker purple that had a pink streak through the hair.  There were three other highly odd things I noticed about this pony: the first was the tattoo like symbol on its flank, the second was the horn that sat on the animal’s forehead, and finally the third were its bird like wings.  Just what crazy world am I on?

“Oh my goodness!  What happened!?  Are you alright!?”  A female voice asked from the pony's mouth.

The pony talks?  Well I must be going insane in my last few seconds.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you.  Come on stay with me!”

At least my crazy brain gave her a sweet voice.

The last thing my eyes could pick up was a pick light glowing from that mare’s horn.  After that, I couldn’t feel anymore, I couldn’t hear anymore, and I couldn’t see anymore.  My entire world was consumed by darkness.

I’ve heard people say many things about when you die, that you feel at ease, you get to see all your dead relatives, and if you got to die in peace with no regrets, your afterlife will be perfect for you.  Either people have false fantasies about death or I don’t get to receive that serenity.

Right now my conscious seems to be floating in an inky black void; there is no happiness, no relief, and on the bright side, no pain.  But this realm of this, what is its purpose?  To bring the dearly departed into the dark depression that is being lifeless?  Or to show that being alive is merely just being in a shell we call life?  And what in the gods name is that pinging sound?

The entire time I’ve been in this black realm, there has been a constant beeping sound with no point of origin.  Whatever it is, it’s annoying.

With nothing to do in this void, time has become truly tangible; I wish something would happen to pass the boredom, something aside from that noise.

As that thought flowed through me, my eyes noticed something.  There was a light breaking into the darkness of this world.  I can’t tell what it is, but I can sense freedom emitted from it.  I reached out to the light and chased it.  The moment I reached the illumination, I was consumed by it.  For some reason, I felt no fear as my body disappeared in the luminosity.

My body hurt…Wait, my body hurt?  How is that possible?  I died, didn’t I?

Aside from physical senses, my vision has also returned.  I can see a blinding over head light and an extremely white ceiling followed by a flat beige wall.  Within my peripheral I could make out green drapes covering my left while sitting on a metal table on my right was a small little box with a grid on its screen, in fact that box is making the noise I could hear.

I extended my arm out to make this thing stop, but as I did that, I noticed my arm was still an equine’s leg.  Witnessing this froze me.

What has happened to me?  Why am I a horse?

I pushed myself up into a more comfortable position, laying down on my back didn’t really feel that good.  This pain signifies I’m alive, it signifies that I truly am a pony now.  I wanted to scream.

Before I could do anything, my ears picked up on the sound of a young woman humming next to me.  When I turned to see who it was, there wasn’t anyone there except a gray pony with a blonde mane and golden eyes that she kept cross-eyed.  I noticed two things with this equine; the first was the set of bandages wrapped around its head, while the most notable thing about this animal was the bird wings on its sides.

The female humming stopped when the pony noticed me staring at it.  This can’t be real…

“Hello there!”  The pony said in a goofy voice.

“Hello.”  I responded.

WAIT!  The pony just spoke!  H-how!?  If this mare just talked, then wouldn’t that mean that the one I saw before…It’s official, I’ve gone insane.

“My name is Derpy, what’s yours?”  She said with a smile.

“I’m…I’m Yvel.”

Great, I’m probably adding onto my own insanity by talking to the pony.  Just what should I do?

“Hi Yvel, so how did you get yourself here?”  Derpy asked while still maintaining her smile.

Considering how she has that bandage and examining my body again I’m almost fully wrapped up, “here” must be a medical station.

“I’m not sure, being honest.”  As much as I don’t want to prove to myself that I’m crazy, I’m at least not going to lie to the imagination.  What would be the point to do so?

As Derpy was about to say something, an audible, metallic knock echoed from our left.  We turned simultaneously to the sound and witnessed it open.  Entering the room was a light purple pony, in fact that’s the same one I saw before blacking out.

“Princess Twilight!”  Derpy declared with a bow and an even bigger smile.

In the same voice I heard the lavender mare speak in before, she spoke.  “Hello Derpy.  I heard you got into a little accident, how are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling much better, see!”  The wall eyed pony lifted up the front of her mane and part of the wrapping to reveal a single line of stitches on her forehead.

“That’s good to hear, just try not to touch it while it’s still healing.”  The pony who I had no trouble determining to be this Princess Twilight, then turned to me.  “How about you?  You gave me quite the scare when I found you.”

I couldn’t find the words to say, or to be more accurate I didn’t find anything to say to my figments of imagination.  In the end, I turned my sight downwards.

“It’s alright; you don’t have to be shy around me.”  Twilight spoke gently to me.

“I’m not shy, it’s…”

“It’s what?”

If I’m going to be honest, now is the best time.  “I’ve gone insane.”

“Insane?  How?”

“Well…talking ponies.  That’s absurd, and plus, well I’m a pony.”

There was a moment of silence while Twilight gave me a shocked look, Derpy on the other hand looked more like she didn’t understand what I was talking about.

The purple pony’s expression soon turned into a light chuckle, “Maybe you hit your head too hard, but if you truly think you’re insane, then I’ve got news for you.  I’m real and so is everypony else, this includes you.”

My eyes went as wide as dinner plates, “that’s not every reassuring.”

“Why do you say that?”  Twilight’s tone changed to a slightly dejected one.

“If you’re all real, then that’s fine.  But if that is truly the case, then why am I a pony?”  I could feel my words shake with trepidation.

The mare placed a hoof on one of mine, “Easy now, just try to relax.  Why don’t you start from the beginning?  If you’re not a pony, then what are you?  Where are you from?”

I looked deep into Twilight’s purple eyes and felt at ease as I saw concern behind her expression.

“I’m an Atlan-“

“Twilight you’re back!”  A bubbly and high pitched voiced screamed.

The next thing I saw was a pink blur zip past my eyesight’s and crash into the lavender mare.  Now on the floor was the purple equine, but being hugged by another, one that was completely pink with a poofy mane and tail.

“Oh I missed you sooooo much Twilight, but now you’re back and we can have lots and lots of fun!  Come on Twilight, you don’t want to be late for your welcoming back party!”  This mare’s words were filled with so much energy, I could barely comprehend it.

“I missed you too, but now isn’t the best time Pinkie.”  Twilight sighed, but still managed a smile to the one she called Pinkie.

The hyper energetic mare helped her friend back up, but once she spotted me, she bore a giant grin.

“Hey I’ve never ever EVER seen you before!  I know everypony in Ponyville, but since I’ve never met you before, you must be new here!  Hiya, I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?”

I can barely keep up with her, but at least I managed to tell this Pinkie Pie my name.

“Nice to meet you Yvel, so how did you end up here?  By the way what kinds of desserts do you like the most?  I like chocolate, cake, brownies, chocolate again, ice cream, and anything sweet!”  After saying that, Pinkie unleashed a loud gasp.  “Derpy?  I didn’t know you were in this room!  I’m glad you’re alright, and here I got you your favorite!”  Seemingly out of nowhere the hyper mare pulled out a plate with some type of bread on it.

“A muffin?  Thanks Pinkie, you’re the best.” Derpy announced as she took the food from Pinkie.

My eyes darted between both Twilight and Pinkie, hoping for some sort of answer on how that pink pony did that.

“That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie, now what were you about to say?”  Twilight said.

“Right, I’m an-“

“Ah think found her, ah can hear Pinkie chatting away in this room.”  A woman with some type of accent I haven’t heard before shouted outside the room.  Soon afterwards, a tan pony with a fedora entered the room, after her was a cyan blue mare with wings and a rainbow mane, then another winged pony, except her coat was a blonde yellow and her mane was pink, and lastly was a snow white horned mare with a deep purple mane that was curled.

The four new equines crowded around Twilight, all of them welcoming her back and embracing her with a hug.  Considering how Pinkie and these new ponies are acting around this Princess, the six of them must be close friends, while Derpy isn’t as close.

“When we heard you had returned, the five of us didn’t expect you to be here at the hospital.”  The white mare began.

“Yeah, so what brought ya here Twi?”  The tan pony asked in her strong accent.

“Sorry I wasn’t able to meet you at the library like I said I would, the reason why I’m here is because of him.”  Twilight directed at me.

“Oh I see, looking to get yourself a coltfriend, ayy Twilight?”  The blue pony slyly stated.

“Rainbow!”  Twilight voice rose as she blushed.

What’s a coltfriend?

“Don’t worry, I’m just pulling your leg.” Rainbow teased.

“I’m here to find out what exactly happened to Yvel.  You see when I returned to Equestria, I found him critically injured.”

“Oh my, um sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt.  Please continue.”  The yellow mare added while being very quiet.

“Thank you Fluttershy.  Please continue Yvel.”

“Well as I was saying, am Atlantean.  My home was attack, and after that I ended up here…in this body.”

“That sounds a bit crazy to believe.”  Rainbow commented as she scratched her head.  “You’re attacked, and then you turn into a pony, yeah…”

“Now Rainbow, as odd as that sounds, that was just rude.”  The snow mare mentioned to her friend.

“What’s an Atlantean?”  Pinkie energetically asked, but seeing how she’s always hyper, this might be normal for her.

As the questioned lingered in the air, all eyes laid upon me.

“I guess the best way to explain what an Atlantean is…human?”  I wasn’t really sure how to answer that question; these ponies probably don’t even know what a human is.

“Wait, so you’re saying that you’re actually a human that was turned into a pony?”  The group closed in.

This is either a sign of hope or doom.  What is so interesting about a human to them?

I nodded and waited for a response.

“If you’re actually telling the truth, can you come to the library located in the center of town?”  Twilight asked with a beaming smile.

I don’t know why, but I found this expression of Twilight’s to be adorable, I was about to agree because of Twilight’s cute face until the white pony jumped in.

“Now Twilight, we all know you are probably eager to test out what you learned, but you just returned.”

“Yeah, plus you probably wouldn’t want to accidentally blow the new guy up, now would you.”  Rainbow started teasing again.

What!?  Just what does this girl plan to do to me?  I’m a bit afraid to ask.

Twilight nervously chuckled, “It happens one time and they don’t let you live it down.  Okay, what do you suggest then, Rainbow?”

It is official, I’ve returned to feeling uncomfortable.  I do not like where this is heading.

“Hmm, I know someone that can help.”  Rainbow stated.

“Are you thinking-“

“Yup, him.”

Before this goes on any further, I wanted to get a say in before the whole situation turned against me.  For starters, who this person is that they are thinking of, among other things.

I was too late to add my voice, for a walnut brown stallion wearing a white coat entered the room and stated, “I’m sorry ladies, but visiting hours is over for now.”

“If you’ll excuse us Yvel, we’ll see you later.”  Twilight declared.

This resulted me feeling a bit dejected, I have so many questions I want to ask, but it seems a timed schedule just ruined that chance for me.

“Hey wait, before you go, can you tell me what this place is?”  I asked, catching the group before they were gone.

Twilight stopped and turned around, “Oh, I’m sorry.  As one of the royal princesses, I’m glad to be the first to welcome you to Equestria.”

The six mares left, leaving me alone with Derpy who was still eating the meal Pinkie gave her.  Seeing as the gray pony had a full mouth, I decided to just get some rest; it certainly has been a day I’ll never forget.

Equestria, what yonder await me here?

I closed my eyes and thought about all that has happened to me recently, but as my memories played back the feeling I received from that dragon, I was filled with dread.

I can sense the dragon, it’s here…