Falling Into the Unknown

As I entered sleep, I felt myself coming to that misty field again. I didn’t know why this happened, but it had to have something to do with ‘Luna’, that blue pony that kept appearing. This time, I figured that, since this was technically MY dream, I could alter it however I wanted. I then made a decision; I would encounter Luna on my own terms. Using my imagination, I made up a scenario similar to the second mission in Battlefield 3. I figured that it would confuse Luna the most, and I had always liked that mission anyway. Quickly, sandstone buildings sprung up around me, and I found myself in a typical built-up Arabic city.

Since this was my imagination we were talking about here, I figured that I could make my dream do whatever I wanted it to. I thought myself up a M16A4 with an ACOG scope, along with an M1911 as a sidearm. Now it was time to begin my task: confusing the hell out of Luna. I figured that she would be trying to come to grips with whatever my dream would throw at her, so she would be too busy to try and look for me very hard. Since it was my dream, I could have simply ended it, but where was the fun in that?

I quickly made my way down an alley, M16A4 at the ready. I carefully peered around the next corner. Luna was right there, apparently trying to sneak up on a pair of Iranians. It surprised me that my mind was generating all of this, but I guess I’ve played enough video games in my life for my mind to fill in the blanks – like enemies.

I saw Luna’s horn glow, apparently trying to do something. A blue light shot from it, hitting one of the Iranians, making the creation of my dream go down. The other one turned around, but was quickly hit with another blue light. I realized that Luna was probably trying to find me, so I decided to oblige. Moving around the corner, I stepped into full view and whistled. She quickly turned around, stopping as she saw me, the apparent source of the dream.

“Hi there,” I said in a cheerful voice. “Remember me?”

Her horn glowed again, and I shot at it. To be fair, I was only trying to knock it off, not completely eject her from the dream. The moment it hit her, she vanished, and I felt the dream dissolve around me. Apparently, even though it was my dream, she was the one that had been holding it together.

I woke up slowly, the light filtering in through the holes between the sticks. My fourth day here was beginning, and already it seemed it was up to a glorious start. Stumbling out of the hut into the bright sunlight, I noticed that it was probably around ten in the morning.

I walked two feet over to my pack and dug out three apples, two for me and one for the guard that I had knocked out two nights ago. I still knew I couldn’t really let her go, she already knew where my camp was, and it would be suicide to alert the town to my position after last night.

Quickly eating most of one apple, I tossed the core into the bushes and continued on to the x-frame sheltering the tied-up guard. Once I stepped into view, she glared at me. Apparently, nothing was forgiven, not that I could blame her. Once again, I wondered what would happen eventually. I doubt I could keep the guard here forever, so eventually I will probably need to move locations. It would suck, too. I had already spent two days working on my little house, but to leave it would take a few minutes at most. It surprised me how attached I was to this location. After all, I would eventually need to leave it. With the recent string of events, I knew Ponyville would put out a huge search force, and I wanted to avoid any encounters if I could.

I threw the apple into the little enclosure, and she began to eat it. I decided to spend some time scouting around for a water source. If I didn’t get water, we – it surprised me that I was thinking of ‘we’, as me and the guard had nothing in common – would both die. I knew it had been two days since she had last had water, and I hadn’t had any since early yesterday morning.

I grabbed my empty water bottle and set out along the forest. I knew a river ran through the town, I had seen it several times in the past few days. If I could find one of the little streams that fed it, then I knew I would be set for water. I knew that the little streams that fed the river would most likely be clean, and that by stumbling around the river I would eventually find one.

Within five minutes, I had found the river. It was around twenty feet across, and calmly flowed through the forest, with fairly thick brush at each side. The water looked crystal clear, so I decided to risk using this. I dipped the empty water bottle into the river, coming up with around half a bottle full of clear water. I cautiously took a sip, and marveled at how it was absolutely tasteless. It was better than the tap water that I had inside the dorm, and THAT was filtered at least three times! Quickly filling up the bottle, I put the cap back on and started heading back to camp. Now that I had a clean water supply, I could finally begin being self-sufficient.

I looked up into the air, noting at least three flying ponies searching the area, going into small loops whenever they thought they saw something. I knew they wouldn’t find me, not with my camouflage BDUs on. I quickly made my way back to camp, noting that the number of pegasi patrolling over my section of forest had increased to five. Just in case, I planned to pack up my supplies so I could be ready to move quickly.

I arrived back at the camp to the sound of something moving around in the x-frame set up for the guard. Looking it, I saw her trying to slip the vine off. I gave a small smile, knowing she would not be able to do so, and she glared right back at me, stopping her attempts at my faint smile.

I held up the water bottle, and she cocked her head, trying to discern what it was before seeing the water inside. Holding up one finger, I suddenly had an idea. I sprinted out of the camp, headed for my supply stash at the edge of the forest. I reached it in three minutes, quickly uncovering a portion of it and pulling out one of the fabric strips. I quickly folded the corners in and ripped a piece two inches wide off of each. Unwinding the thread from each, I tied them together in a long string about a centimeter wide by two feet long. I stretched it, and it held. First, though, I had to test my hypothesis.

Normally, I know cotton doesn’t do well in water. But, since this is Equestria and fuck logic, I decided to test this theory. I open the water bottle, and poured some water onto the fabric. It didn’t get absorbed or fall through; it merely stayed on top, as if the fabric was waterproof. Regular cotton, my ass. I poked several holes in the fabric square, now a rough octagon, along the sides. I slid the string of the fabric through the holes, alternating inside and out, and pulled them one it was all through, making a small, waterproof pouch. I tied it together and, viola, I had an instant bag that could hold any liquid. Covering up the hole again, I headed back towards camp, walking this time.

Looking into the air, I saw a fast moving trail of rainbow. Judging it to be more of this universe’s weird physics, I just kept walking. The patrolling pegasi would not find me any time soon, not if I could help it.

Eight minutes later, I got back to camp, momentarily taking a deep breath. I had been walking or running the entire morning, and I was completely tired. I knew I had something else to do though. I walked over to the x-frame to check on the guard.

The moment I crouched down outside of it, she glared at me. Was this going to become a common theme? I guess so. I set the little waterproof pouch down on the ground, opening it slightly to make a crude bowl, and poured some water inside. My tasks done for the day, I stepped back inside the hut to gather together my supplies. I had fifteen apples left inside of the pack. I quickly stuffed my attachments bag inside of my backpack, along with my laptop. My knife and my G-17C went into my belt, with the G-17C inside of its holster. The Sa-58 went across my back, the strap going diagonally across the middle of my chest. I was now ready to move out on a moment’s notice.

Looking around, I saw that I had forgotten a few things. Packing my sleeping bag down into a small shape, I put it and my binoculars inside of my backpack. The 12 feet of vine I had left, and the two water bottles, went into the pouches on the side of my backpack. The whole assembly was around thirty pounds. I wondered at the low weight for a moment, before realizing I was in a world from a cartoon, and physics seemed to be its’ bitch.

The medical case I got from the hospital was another matter. Having nothing else to do, I attached it to the left side of my backpack with a strap, so I could easily reach it with my right hand If I needed to. Although all of my gear was bulky, I knew I would every bit of it if I was to survive in the woods. Having nothing else to do, I lay dwn on the ground for a short nap.

I was awoken suddenly when the sound of flapping reached my ears. Judging it to be wings, I pushed my backpack onto my back and sat up, preparing to use whoever made the noise. In the midafternoon sun, I looked out of the hut through the small cracks on the side, to see what was out there.

Lo and behold, a blue pegasus was flying towards the ground near my camp. It flapped its wings and landed around twenty feet away, where I lost sight of it. Judging it to be important to my survival, I quickly got out of the hut and lay down in a bush at the edge of my small clearing. The underbrush was thick in this area, so I would be well-hidden. Suddenly, a blue face poked through the gap between two trees ten feet away from me, looking around the small clearing and seeing the hut. It jumped back when it heard a small groan from the x-frame, and quickly scrambled around to look. It nearly gasped, probably because it had found the tied-up guard, and it quickly spoke something and lifted off into the air.

I knew I had little time left. As soon as it lifted off, I scrambled to my feet and ran through the forest, making sure to take the path that offered the most concealment from above. The brushed snapped at me as I ran through the forest, only able to see around forty feet in front of me. A light green bolt suddenly snapped past my head, impacting on a tree and leaving a tiny burn mark. I looked behind me to see three ponies giving chase, one a unicorn. They were slowly falling behind, but the unicorn continually launches small blasts on me, probably trying to incapacitate me. I noticed a mountain in front of me, about a mile away. I knew I could make it at least halfway up in the next ten minutes, so I headed right towards it, to give me the advantage of height.

The ponies had probably lost me by now, as I could no longer hear or see them. Looking up, I saw the pegasi clearly tracking me, unable to dive down because of the thick trees and undergrowth. I pulled my Sa-58 from behind my backpack, although the process took around twenty seconds. Stopping for around three seconds, I slowed my breathing down enough and took a shot, the round purposely missing the circling blue pegasus by around ten feet. It climbed higher, and I started off again, thankful for the brief breather.

I reached the base of the mountain and started the climb up, the thick trees and undergrowth aiding my climb. Although I knew I wouldn’t gain much time by this, I hoped to at least delay them. Strangely, as I reached the halfway point, they all started going away, apparently still very nervous about the forest.

I sat down for a moment to catch my breath, looking out at the surrounding landscape. I was about 2,000 feet up on the mountain, where the trees and undergrowth were much thinner. Looking up at the top, I could see that it was nearly bare of trees. I started to climb more, hoping to find a cave or something to take shelter in.

Ten minutes later, I was still climbing, around a hundred feet from the top. Strangely, near the top it leveled off, for what reason I couldn’t tell. I grabbed onto the final rock and lifted myself up, emerging onto a flat around fifty feet across, and around eighty feet from the top. Looking around, I saw that there was a small cave. I looked around the base of the edge, marveling at the view. On the side of the mountain you climbed up, it was a fairly gentle angle. Moving over to the other side, you noticed a sheer cliff, at least 3,600 feet up, and at the base of it a small lake stretched. The view would have been nicer if the cliff wasn’t at a sheer 90 degree angle.

I move back from the edge and started towards the cave, hoping to find some shelter inside. Although I knew that moving into a semi-dark space was a bad thing, some light was provided by small holes in the roof.

Thirty seconds later, I sprinted out of the edge of the cave, glancing behind me at the two misshapen things chasing me. They looked just like the strange scorpion-lion thing that I had shot four days ago, only there were two of them now, and they were chasing me. I shot two rounds back at them, hoping to deter them. It didn’t work. Knowing I probably had seconds left before they caught me, I took a deep breath and sprinted forward, aiming for the cliff with the lake. I could see several ponies in the distance, watching this, but that didn’t matter. Two seconds later, I jumped off the edge.

The sensation of falling hit me like a brick. To buy more time, and lengthen the in-air time to about 24-26 seconds, I spread out, making a vastly larger area and slowing myself down. I fell down, shooting right through a cloud and causing mist to bunch up on me. Suddenly, I felt a force on my back, and looked up to see that blue pegasus grabbing onto me, dragging me higher into the air and turning towards Ponyville. I knew that, if we reached there I would not longer be protected. So, gathering my strength, I twisted in the air, flipping it on its back, and kicked off.

I was around 5,000 feet up now, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. Suddenly, I got an idea. Twisting around, I saw another pegasus trying to catch up to me. I had no idea why they were trying to save me, only that I didn’t want it to happen until I reached the right altitude. Putting my hands to my sides, I shot forward, then spreading them out to slow down, causing the accelerating pegasus to shoot past me.

I was around 2,000 feet off of the ground now. I needed to wait for the right moment. At around 1,000 feet, six seconds later, I began to slow down, making it easier for one of the now three watching me to try and catch me. One of them made them attempt at 600 feet, and grabbed onto me at 400. Seeing the ground rush up, I saw that this was the perfect moment. At 200 feet, we had slowed down to about 20 feet per second, with the ground still moving up. Forest stretched in all directions, and I judged this to be the best time. At 100 feet, we had slowed down to almost nothing, so I suddenly turned around and kicked off, sending me into the trees below.

“Freedom! It actually worked!” I yelled, right before I hit the first branch at 5 feet per second. Then another one hit me. Then another. About ten branches later I slowly hit the floor of the forest, my entire body aching from the adrenalin and the small bruises I had sustained. All in all, I was probably the first human to live after freefalling from 5,000 feet onto the hard ground. I still don’t know if they count catching onto a pegasus and them jumping off a parachute, but I wasn’t in any shape to argue. I slowly got up, checking my surroundings and letting out a small groan. I looked up to see the pegasi circling, apparently very pissed off that I had nearly killed one of them just to reach the ground, safe and out of their hands. I slowly turned around and gave them the middle finger.

Moments later, however, I felt something hit me on the left side of my head, and saw purple sparks from the impact wash in front of me. I felt myself slowly falling down, unconsciousness claiming me.