Tales of Xillia: Dawn of Equestria

With blurry eyes he would awake to the world of the living. The sight of the green tree tops greeted him as they waved peacefully in the summer breeze. A cascade of sunlight shone through the pockets in the branches, laminating the ground in beautiful light. Indeed it would have been a truly glorious sight for anyone to behold, and he would surely have enjoyed it to its fullest.

Had it not been for the agonizing pain erupting throughout his body.

His body, laying limp, could only contort his face as the pain wrecked his being. So weak that he was that he could not sooth any discomfort he felt. He laid there, like an open book, like he was inviteing the pain to spread throughout his body. He couldn't even remember ever being in this much agony before and he felt in his heart that if he survived, he would make sure to never be in a position like this ever again.

He tried his best to gather his thoughts, to block out the pain, but it was just too much for him. It felt as though days had past, but he knew that it had only been minuets. It didn't matter either way however. He would just have to endure it. He closed his eyes, his face showing a form of grimace due to another wave of pain erupting.

Maybe it would never go away.

Maybe it would be forever cursed to lie where he was and endure it. No one to help him. No one to comfort him. He hated that line of thinking but he had no choice but to accept it. What else could he do? He laid upon the soft grass and accepted his fate hoping that at best, he could get used to it.

And then Nothing.

His eyes went wide as the pain just washed away, as though it had never been there from the beginning. He could feel his muscles relax, after being in constant pain and a deep sleep seemed to seep into his very being. A beam of sunlight found its way to his body, drying the cold sweat he had formed after his ordeal. It felt amazing. More amazing then anything he ever felt in his life. He slowly began to let his worries slip away from him for now, needing rest more than anything.

Before he slipped away however, an image appeared before him. An image of a girl with bright blond hair and a sliver of green jutting up at an odd angle. He reached out his hand to the image that plagued his mind, but she would just look down upon him with sorrow. Her mouth moved saying something he could not hear before turning to walk away and disappear, her wild blond hair flowing in the wind.

Before she did however he uttered one word. One solitary word. A word that he fought with all of his heart to say.

"…Milla…"

And then everything went black.

He awoke once again, the scene a complete contrast to what he had seen before.

It was dark now, and he surmised that the sun and fallen long ago. The chirps of the crickets could be heard all around him, rousing him more and more from his pain enduced slumber. He moved one of his limbs, finding it sluggish at best, but quite moveable. He needed at least some good news and finding that he was still in control of his body was defiantly a plus. With great strain he was able to lift himself to a sitting position. He took his time to examine his surroundings.

As he had suspected, he still seemed to be within the forest. The addition of night made it a more foreboding place then before. He could hear little else then the sounds of the night time bugs and was glad for it. If a monster had attacked he would have been in no shape to fend it off.

He raised a hand to touch his face but found something flat press against him instead. He raised an eyebrow and gave his hand a long hard look. To his utter amazement he found that he no longer had hands, and upon further inspection, he no longer had feet either. In their place however were a four hooves. He let his eyes wonder to the rest of his body finding that not only did he not have hand but he seemed to no longer be human.

In place of his human legs were that of an animal's hind quarters. To make matters worse he no longer had his pants. He sighed and decided to focus on the matter at hand. Looking back down he could see a pure white fur and he could feel it flowing in the wind. He ran up left hind leg until he reached the start of the black coat he wore.

Why keep the coat and not the pants? He thought to himself.

Yet again he shook his head. No time for analyzing. Gotta keep a clear head and find out what is else changed about me.

He held out his new foreleg, finding that he indeed still wore the same coat he had been traveling in. His hooves ran over his face, finding that it too had changed. He let it feel it for a good few seconds, finding that he had a muzzle and animal like ears and ended his inspection on a hard large growth that jutted from his forehead. He lowered his forelegs back to his side and shook his head in disbelief.

I'm supposed to be human. What happened to me? And where are the others?

A small whimper behind him caused his new ears to flick in responce. "Huh? Who's there?" His voice was not deep but not young either, the perfect blend of adult and youth.

With slight resistance the once-human turned fully around to find a small little being laying behind him, shivering and crying, curled into a ball. He tried to get to his newly formed hooves, finding them still unstable but useable none the less. With unsteady hooves he trotted towards the downed being, making out more and more of the figure that lay behind him. A short but elegant purple dress covered most of its body, but he knew that whatever it was, it was like him, due the to pair of hind and fore hooves it had. Its voice was just that of a young lady. A girlish tone he flet he knew all too well. In fact, as he got closer to the being, he could see that the dress it wore looked awfully familiar, as did the purple and pink doll resting against her face.

"Jude…Jude…W-Where are you?" He could hear her say. "I-I'm scared Jude…Please…I need you…Where are you?"

He pasued before inching a step closer.

"Elize? Is that you?"

The being reacted with a twitch and uncovered her hooves, revealing a tear stained face and the same growth sprouting from her forehead as well. He could see pale blue fur upon her face and dirty blond hair on top of her head. It wound have been cute, if it wasn't contorted in fear clasping something purple and pink within her hooves tighter.

She looked upon the him with confusion and then fear. She would then cover her eyes, doing her best to hind from him.

Seeing this he lowered himself to the ground and nuzzled her gently, not really knowing how else to comfort her.

"Elize." He began to say in a soothing whisper. "It's me. Jude."

Her ears flicked a bit before looking up towards the one before her again. Her eyes scanned over his body and head before widening with reconiton.

"J-Jude?" She asked in a shaky tone.

Jude nodded sitting down and pulling the girl towards him in an embrace. She winced at first but relaxed as she felt herself lay against his chest. Elize looked up and at him, her emerald green eyes staring into his autumn brown ones.

"I-It is you Jude…" She said as tares started to flow down her face again. She buried her face into his chest as she began to sob uncontrollably. "I…I was in so much pain…I thought…I thought I would be…"

Jude pulled her closer, letting his hoof stroke over he hair gently. "I'm here Elize…I'm here." He closed his eyes as he comforted her, needing someone close just as much as she did. It was quite some time before he felt her sobbing die down and get softer until he could hear nothing but her soft snores. She had cried herself to sleep.

He looked up into the sky, finding a large opening to view the night sky and frowned. "What in the sprits happened to us?"

Jude made his way through the forest, carrying Elize upon his back. Though she was almost the same size as he, she did feel much lighter than he suspected. He grew more and more accustomed to his new limbs as he walked, or well trotted. Still, he could feel his strength depleting with each step. He needed to find someplace safe for her to rest. As he walked he mulled over events in his head.

What was the last thing I remembered? We were at the inn. In that…that…waveren town. What was its name again? Gah I forget.

He looked back to find the girl still sleeping soundly upon his back. He could hear her mumble something along the lines of Jude and ice cream. He smiled softly before turning back to face the path he had set for himself.

I have to find out what's going on. For both our sakes.

He paused as something in the distance caught his eye. Squinting his eyes he could make out a building of some kind in the distance. Smiling brightly he set forth a fast pace towards the haven, praying that he would find a safe place to rest.

It wasn't long before he reached it finding that it was in fact a large barn. He gave a cautious look around before making his way to the front of the structure and finding the latch to the door. He wrapped his hoof about it as best as he could before tugging it slightly. It opened with ease and he smiled brightly.

"Thank goodness for whoever left it unlock. I'll have to apoligze to them later though."

Trotting inside he made his way into the structure, finding that it was quite spacious. He found, not to his surprise, a pile of hey in the corner of the building and proceeded to guide his delicate cargo upon the makeshift bed. She only stirred once before settling down and snuggling up to the little doll she had named Teepo.

He nuzzled into her gently, before settling down beside the hey, folding his for legs under his chest.

A quick rest is all I need. When I wake up then I find out what the heck is going on.

It wasn't long before he too succumbed to sleep, drifting off into a rather pleasant dream of his own.

"Hey! Wakey wakey lazy bones!"

Jude opened his eyes lazily before closing them once again, he hadn't felt this tired for a long time and he was not about to let someone wake him for anything. "Uhg…Just…a few more minutes Leia…" He said groggily. He waved a hoof away, trying to bat his aggressor away.

"Ah would but your kinda sleeping in MA barn there partner."

He opened one eye to find a sight he was not accustomed to.

A orange animal with brightly yellow hair stood over him with eyebrow raised. Its hair and tail seemed to be tied into a ponytail and upon the top of its head was a strange brown hat. Bright green seemed to bore into him, doing their level best to size him up.

He looked up towards the newcomer and looked around at where he was at. He had to assume he was still in the barn. It was very barn like in appearance after all. So the only conclusion he could come up with was that this barn belonged to the being, who in fact might be a girl, standing in front of him. He raised himself up slowly before and was about to say something with the yawn of Elize caused him to look back. She rubbed a hoof over her eyes before looking towards Jude and the barn owner. It took a bit for her to register what she was looking at but as soon as she did her eyes went wide and her mouth slightly agape. It was at this time that something rose up behind her floating behind her.

Something purple and pink.

Something Jude knew would break the ice and clear any tension in the room, no matter if he wanted it to or not.

Something named Teepo.

"HAY! A NEW FRIEND!"

It then lunged at her.