Falling Into the Unknown

I woke up, for the first time in two days, slowly and peacefully. No gigantic mutants or portals to interrupt my sleep now, at least. I yawned and stretched my arms out, feeling the sun through the small hole in my little tree alcove. Pulling/dragging myself out of the sleeping bag, I set out to gather enough stuff to grab supplies with.

I decided to dump my backpack out, and leave all of my stuff here, except my G-17C and my binoculars. Putting the now empty backpack on, stuffing my G-17C into its holster, and putting the binoculars around my neck, I felt ready to tackle to task of getting supplies.

First, all humans needed food. I had heard my roommate - curse him - talk about an apple orchard, so I decided to head towards where I thought it was.

Five minutes later, the trees thinned out into what looked like an apple orchard. Luck was on my side, apparently. I heard some booms in the distance, at least half a mile, but I wasn’t concerned. Walking to the base of a tree, I quickly picked twenty apple off of the low branches, and put them inside of my pack. Water would be a problem later on, but I am sure I can find a stream at some point in the woods.

I spotted one of the orange ponies in the distance, walking towards my position. I knew if I stayed there much longer, I would definitely be discovered. So, taking a deep breath, I moved out from behind the tree and ran.

It probably wasn’t the best idea, because moments later I heard the sound of yelling and rapid footsteps - or whatever they call running here. I looked behind me and saw the orange one giving chase, although it couldn’t match my speed. I quickly broke out of the orchard and entered the forest again, watching as the orange pony stopped at the edge and gave a frustrated yell.

I made it back to the campsite within three minutes, panting from the effort. I lay down on the outside of my sleeping bag to catch my breath, and patted the backpack in appreciation of what I had just done. Although I didn’t want to steal, I knew it would eventually come to be that stealing would be the only way I could survive.

“Well, at least I have food.” I mused to myself, once again tapping on the now full backpack. Next, I felt the need to make a proper shelter. Although I couldn’t just go to town and ask to buy a house, especially after the last 24 hours, I felt I could easily build something small and concealable in the forest.

First, I found a clear area about six feet in diameter. Perfect. I formed a crude frame of seven large sticks, and then layered smaller sticks, one on top of the other, in the gaps between the large sticks, all except one side. Finding that it was still sturdy, I tied the large sticks together at the top with some vine that I found, still attached to its root. With luck, it would still grow while it was holding the building together, helping keep it stable. For the last step, I put plenty of fresh branches and leaves all over the outside, easily hiding it from any observers, casual or otherwise.

Moving inside, I had an area about five feet wide inside, plenty of room for me. I dug down inside the hole using a stick I found and my hands, and within twenty minutes I had a hole around one foot deep, covering the entirety of the inside of the little hut. I layered large pieces of bark around the edges of the hole, both to keep out water and to provide some comfort.

One hour after starting, I had a respectable temporary house that would help hide me from both the ponies and the weather. I quickly moved my stuff inside, finding enough room inside to store all of it. I took a swig from one of my water bottles and about half of the remaining sandwich, and then lay down on the sleeping bag, opting to rest for a short while. I closed my eyes, and descended into my dreams.

Once again, I found myself in the misty field. Ahead of me, the blue pony was apparently waiting for me. Why it - Luna, I reminded myself - kept appearing in my dreams, I do not know, and the mechanics of how it did so would probably give me a headache. Having nothing better to do, I walked over to her.

Coming within a few feet of her, I saw that the curiosity was gone, replaced by what looked by a stern stare. Not knowing what else to do, I returned the glare, staring into her eyes. It spoke several words that I still did not understand, so apparently it was pissed of at me.

“So, are you angry because I killed a gigantic mutant, or because I stole a bunch of apples so I could eat? In any case, I don’t care.” Having said that, I forcefully exited my dream, mentally telling it to stop. A few seconds later, I found myself inside of my hut, staring to the darkness outside. Apparently I had been asleep for more than a few hours, instead of the five minutes the dream lasted.

I sat up, rubbing the back of my head where it had laid against one of the bark panels that made up the sides of my hole. Suddenly, I heard a thump outside of the hut, followed by the sound of breaking leaves. Grabbing my G-17C, I loaded a clip and poked my head outside. Seeing nothing, I turned to my left and froze.

Staring at me, two feet away, were a pair of eyes. Attached to what looked like a Pegasus outfitted with armor. Panicking, I lashed out with my foot, striking the white pony right underneath its jaw, knocking it clean out and causing its helmet to bounce off. The moment the helmet fell off, a brief glow encompassed the Pegasus as it changed from a white coat to a dark blue one. Knowing what I knew about the show, it was probably some sort of disguise thing switching off, or something like that.

I cursed myself mentally. Although I wanted to let it go, it now knew where my house was, and I couldn’t have that. I didn’t want to kill it either, so I guess I needed to somehow keep it prisoner. Wouldn’t be too much of a drain on my resources, what with all of the apples I now had. I gathered a bunch of the super-strong vine that I had found earlier. Finding a sharp rock, I repeatedly slammed it into the vine until it slowly frayed and then snapped, leaving me with two pieces about two feet long each.

How did the vine get so tough, anyway? I shrugged. As long as it worked, that was good enough for me. I walked over to the still knocked-out pony, and tied both its front, and then its back feet - hooves, I slapped myself mentally - together. However, I wasn’t going to have it be in the same hut as me. It’d be both awkward, no matter its sex, and it might have a chance at kicking me, which I would love to avoid if I could.

I made an x-frame out two long branches, and tied it together with some of the v ne. I leaned the basic frame up against a tree, and covered the side with small, straight sticks, making it both a roof and a wall. I camouflaged it with more tree branches, so it could not be seen as well. Which lead me to a big question; How had I been found? It probably wasn’t a random patrol, so there must be something giving away my position. Looking around, I didn’t see anything obvious. Except for the dirt I had thrown outside when I dug the pit.

Cursing myself for my stupidity, I started to spread it around, making it more even and natural. Within two minutes, the small clearing just looked like it had several random streaks of dirt, perfectly explainable in a forest, and easily missed. Moving over to the guard, I picked it up and started to carry it to the small shelter I had built, grabbing several pre-cut vines along the way. I also made a secondary discovery when I set it down inside of the shelter – it let out a high-pitched groan, too high to be male. I tied the vines to the tree and then around it – her, I should really stop calling everything ‘it’ – to keep it from moving away, even with the tied legs.

My workload finished, I set out for the bed. Even though the dawn was beginning, the midnight surprise took a lot out of me, and I needed my sleep. Lying down in the sleeping bag, I came to the conclusion – I would have to go it alone. I couldn’t trust what I couldn’t understand, and I couldn’t understand a word those ponies said. Therefore, I can’t trust them. Shoving my thought patterns out of my head, I closed my eyes and fell into a restful sleep.