Day 3
9:34 am
“Firework”

Well, two full days had passed since our initial, uh, crash, and we were rearing up on the third morning. How great. It’s only been about 72 hours, but it almost feels like an eternity.

It took much longer than it should have for everyone to realize exactly what was going on, and that no one knew what the future would hold. For that reason, things had been plenty tense around the makeshift camp we forged. I guess ‘tense’ isn’t the right word for it, more like everyone had their own approach to coping, including me.

I had barely slept at all during the past few nights. I might have gotten about four hours of rest, and another four of just tossing and turning. Lying on my side as a horse was very nerve-wracking, as I had learned that horses are not supposed to sleep like that. If a pony sleeps on their side, their organs get all jarbled or something, and it can be potentially fatal. I can’t remember where I learned that, or if it was actually true. However, seeing as I am still alive, I guess that rule didn’t apply here.

The ground in this area is riddled with tiny little rocks and stones also, which constantly poked into my chest no matter how I slept. Luckily there is a small spot of soft grass in my shelter, so I guess that I made a decent choice when it came to picking huts the first night.

Other former humans were not doing as well as I was, if you could even say that. Tome, for example, is beginning to get on my nerves. I’m not a person who gets annoyed easily, but Tome had a thing for negativity. If someone was trying to do something, such as make a fire or gather wood, you best believe Tome would be there to say something about it.

Yesterday, I was the one tasked with making the fire, again. It honestly seemed that until I could learn to walk, that would be all I was good for. To my undying excitement, I didn’t have to move around to do it. Anyways, whilst making said fire how I normally would, Tome approached me from behind, scaring the absolute wit out of me.

“Trying to make a fire, I see?” he asked, sullenly. His voice was darkened and abnormal. Tome seemed to be on the verge of depression, or he was just fairly good at hiding his emotions. His eyes flickered every time I looked into them. He stared down at me, making me want to shrink back into that little ball of which I was so accustomed to. I shook my thoughts away.

“Trying? When it comes to fire, I never just try,” I chuckled. Tome simply stared at me, his eyes not moving. I gulped a little bit. When he didn’t reply, I mentally shrugged and went back to doing what I had done best. After a few minutes of silently watching, Tome shook his head.

“You’re not doing it right,” he criticized. I almost knocked over the firewood in surprise. As soon as Tome saw me stumble, he jumped at the opportunity. “Here, let me do it,” with a large shove, Tome knocked me flat on my side so that he could attempt to try and do it himself. I proceeded to wiggle around on my side, desperately trying to get back on my belly. By the time I had managed to swing myself up, Tome was almost moving around firewood.

“Tome, what the Hell?” I squeaked, rather embarrassingly. I tried to lean over so I could shove him away, even managing to put my hooves on the side of his body for extra power. I was not as strong as I would have hoped, as the stallion only moved a few centimeters. Tome scowled, but refused to say anything.

“I’m trying to get this done. Maybe if you’d stop taking your sweet ass time, or just make a damn fire correctly, I wouldn’t have to intervene,” his tone was monotonous, to the point that it honestly scared me. His eyes appeared dead to the world, but then again, I couldn’t remember if they looked like that before.

“I just started! I’m the fire expert here! Let me do my job! It’s not like I can do much else, anyways!” I fought back, pushing against Tome a little bit more. Once again, he didn’t budge. It was true, I honestly started making the fire about ten minutes ago, and it’s going to take a little bit, since none of my equipment survived the crash. Well, except for my gunpowder, but that was a horrid idea to begin with.

“Then let me make the fire, and you can use this time to learn how to walk. Problem solved,” he replied, not taking his eyes away from the job in front of him. I tried to open my mouth, but I had no real comeback for that. What he had said did make sense, it’s just that that’s not what I had wanted to do. I got off of my belly and actually managed to stand.

“No!” I shouted like a child. “It’s my job to make the fire, and everything was fine until you showed up!” By this point, Tome and I had managed to capture the attention of a few other former humans. Most of them pretended not to notice.

“You’re starting to annoy me,” I felt my a silent rage build up inside me, but I held it back. “Kid, we don’t need your help. You don’t think other ponies here know how to make a simple fire? Go make yourself useful somewhere else,” Another moment of clarity finally hit me. I barely knew this guy, and already I knew that this guy was not someone I wanted to hang around for long.

“So that’s it? I’m the youngest here, so you automatically deem me useless? I know how to do something better than you, and that makes me some kind of villain to you?” I argued, throwing my hoofs in the air. Tome had gone back to fiddling with the wood, however he wasn’t trying to start up the first. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that he was much more interested in this argument itself.

“No, I never said any of that,” I paused my inner wrath to raise an eyebrow. “What I said is that you should go on and do something else. If making a fire takes you so goddamn long, when I could make one in the matter of a few minutes, then why are you wasting everyone’s time?” I pursed my lips as I dug my hooves into the ground. How dare he say I’ve been wasting everyone’s time? Making fires and fireworks had been my livelihood for most of my actual life! I went into this trip feeling somewhat important, and with one false statement he managed to take that away. I wanted to smack my hoof across his face so badly, but I reevaluated my size and his and deemed that a horrible idea. Before I had another chance to say anything, a dark brown body wandered in between us, and that familiar British accent was apparent.

“Tome, let the poor boy be. He was simply minding his own business before you stomped along,” Omega said. As quickly as the pony entered the conversation, he sauntered off again. Tome looked at me, and I returned his gaze. We had a slight stare down before Tome let out a small scoff, and stood back up.

“Fine, have it your way.”

With some kind of bemused grin, he walked away. I was more than relieved, but I felt a little bad for actually yelling at him. He did have no right to shove me, or say that I was doing a bad job. The conversation between us didn’t last long, but I couldn’t be more thankful for that. I didn’t want to get in a fight with him, physically or vocally. Before I knew it, Tome was sitting down in his hut, reading his book and being a gigantic hypocrite. I didn’t complain. I just hoped that he learned a thing or two.

Today was a bright new morning, and another night complete with not enough sleep. Oh well, I was sure that it would get easier in time. Once I got used to sleeping in this new body, or place, for that matter. When I actually had fallen asleep, I wanted no part of anything else, just my slumber. Once I found my peace, there was no way anyone was going to take that away from me. As I snored away, there was a knock on my hut.

“Geht owwwwt!” I mumbled, my face pressed against the soft grass and disfiguring my words. There wasn’t even a door in my shelter, if someone really wanted to talk to me then they could just walk inside.

Another knock. I subtly shook the sleep from eyes before I opened them. I lifted up my head so my words could no longer be distorted. My throat was horrendously dry, so even still my voice was cracked.

“Who is it…?” I lolled my tongue out of my mouth so that I could actually begin to salivate again. I really needed some water, and I was more than happy that he had such a great supply of it. I wonder if we had enough food left for breakfast…

“Firework, it’s me,” a feminine voice poked through the serenity of the hut, making me want to grab my head in protest. I saw a cherry red body, and put the pieces together. Everything was a complete blur, and I slammed my head back down on the ground. I was going to need to take a shower after this, but I really didn’t care. Windstrom put a hoof on the side of the opening to the hut and leaned in a little bit. “Oh, good, you’re awake.”

“Well, ain’t that great to know,” I grumbled. This had better be important. Windstrom wandered inside of the hut, which I realized was a very awkward idea. To me, the hut was rather large, but that was because of my size. To Windstrom, it was the size of a playhouse. To my disdain, she lied on her belly on the other side of the cramped hut. Apparently, she wasn’t much for personal space. However, as long as she stayed over there, I can’t accuse her of child harassment.

Doing my best not to be rude, I lifted my head off of the dirt again and gave a half-cheeky grin. “Can I help you, miss?” Windstrom rolled her eyes.

“No, not really,” Windstrom sighed. I squinted at her in disbelief as she proceeded to simply lie there, unaware of just how weird and awkward that this situation looked. She inspected the hut, starting from the floor and ending at the ceiling. If it wasn’t for her bright mane and tail, the darkness of the hut could have easily hidden her. A few more uncomfortable moments wandered by.

“Uhm, you know, if someone walks in here, they’re going to ask questions…” I muttered with a grin.

“Shut it,” she deadpanned. I couldn’t tell if the gruffness in her voice was because of the lack of sleep, the inane amount of stress, or because she found what I said to be slightly annoying. She had been on top of everyone lately, making sure that everyone has been keeping busy doing something. Sometimes she asked for others to gather water, or survey the surrounding area, or even look around for food.

We’ve only been here for about three days, and already Windstrom was beginning to look worn. Perhaps she just needed to rest. If I were her, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. I’d be plotting just what needed to get done the next day, or everyone’s course of action. I don’t know if she realizes this, but since she’s in charge, we’re all looking at her when it came to proper guidance.

“Jeez, sorry,” I dipped my head a little bit. When I failed to gain a response, I went on. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing in here? It’s gotta be like five in the morning…” I complained. Windstrom eyes shot towards me.

“It’s ten in the evening,” she chided. “Somehow, Omega found his watch in the wreckage, and it still worked. Apparently days are also 24 hours here, just like on Earth. Great, huh?” I could tell already that Windstrom was not one for science, but I didn’t say anything about it. Surely, she would not take that comment kindly.

“Right…” I trailed. Windstrom cocked her head, before she finally caught on.

“Oh, yeah. Well, to be honest you’re the only normal pony in the group,” Windstrom replied, lightly punching me in the shoulder.

“Pony? We’re humans, remember?” I said. Windstrom shook her head, waving her blonde mane to and fro. It was already ragged enough, but that certainly didn’t help. It was a miracle that I kept mine looking so good.

“Not anymore,”

There was a slight pause. For the sake of actually having my first conversation with one of these ponies, I decided to start asking questions. “Well… what do you mean when you say I’m the ‘only normal pony’ in the group?” I raised my hooves and flexed them when I said those three key words, as if they were quotes. I kept forgetting that I didn’t have fingers. Did you know how hard it was to hold things!? It’s like trying to balance stuff on a beach ball.

“I guess normal isn’t the right word,” she admitted. She rested a hoof on her chin. “I guess that’s the thing. No one in this group is normal…” I wasn’t much for gossip, but my curiosity and unnecessary craving for interaction was mind controlling me.

“Yeah, I guess so. I barely know these, uh, ponies. A few of them I could actually consider a friend, while others…” I refrained from saying names for a reason, however Windstrom was less than subtle.

“I know what you mean. Spades and Tome are just weird. The way Tome acted towards you was just rude, and I wanted to beat up him for it,” I held back a scoff. I honestly doubted that Tome would lose to her in a fight, but boy would that be fun to watch.

“I don’t even know what Spades was up to yesterday…” I added. Windstrom nodded her head. “All those… new facts?” I did a mini-flashback one what had exactly happened and what Spades had talked about yesterday.

Spades was definitely odd, but definitely less creepy than Tome. Ever since Spades had found his cards, which he found scattered about a mile away from the crash, that was mainly what he had been playing around with. It was strange how he could fiddle with cards for hours on end and not get bored. I had the attention span of a goldfish when it came to things that didn’t interest me like that.

Spades had also been doing some kind of experiments. Spades managed to figure out that since he, Omega, and Tome were all unicorns, that they were able to harness some kind of magical energy through their horns.

“But… but magic doesn’t exist?” Turbo stated, immediately after Spades had made the announcement.

“Au contraire,” Omega interrupted, more than eager to hear what the genius had to say. Well, I had wings, so I could really care less. Who needs magic -- even if it did exist -- when you could fly around? Granted, I still had to learn, but I think walking was further up on my list of things to do than that. “Let the chap explain,”

“Thank you,” Spades flipped a lock of his mane out of the way, so that he could see everyone entirely. “You see, there appear to be three types of ponies here,” Spades looked back over at Omega, who seemed to be in on his little presentation.

“Yes! They include pegasus, which is what Firework and Windstrom are,” Windstrom and I looked at each other, before I saw her hoof-bump the air in excitement. “They’re basically ponies who have the ability to fly, obviously. Then there are uh, regular ponies. It’s pretty sad, honestly. They seem to lack wings or magic, but according to my observations they appeared to be much stronger than the other two kinds…”

Nautics, Jolly Rogers, and Turbo all perked up. “Well, that ain’t hard to figure out.” Turbo exclaimed. He lifted up a single foreleg and kissed it, like a regular human would his bicep. Spades rolled his eyes and continued for Omega.

“Well, here’s the thing: if you were strong on Earth, you’re about three times that now,” Turbo squeaked. Jolly Rogers almost seemed to stare off into space, while Nautics appeared to be unconcerned. I guess they really didn’t care what they were. The look on Turbo’s face was unnerving, as he looked like he was going to barrel through the nearest tree just to test out Spades’ hypothesis.

“Then, there’s unicorns. Like pegasus, they’re from mythical greek folklore, and are able to harness different kinds of magic through their horns,” explained Spades. “I have yet to access it, but I know for sure that it is entirely possible,”

Tome was extremely unamused, and flicked his tail boredly. “So, what does this all mean, and why does it even matter?” he asked. A few other ponies nodded in agreement, including me. I didn’t get it, why exactly was he telling us this?

“We need to study up, just in case. We need to figure out how our new bodies work. What if we come in contact with civilization and we don’t even know what kind of species we are?” explained Spades.

“You really think that there might be civilization out there?” I asked, snapping Windstrom out of a small daze. Apparently she had been lost in thought as well. After a moment of pondering, she shook her head.

“Dunno,” she sombered. “You never know about these kinda things. It’s my first time in this world too, ya know,” something about her kind of startled me. Perhaps it was just that she could so easily manage to be so sarcastic and sad at the same time. That’s probably just who she was, and I couldn’t blame her for it. I was trying my best to be upbeat during all this as well.

“Windstrom, are you okay?” I asked, rather suddenly. Windstrom was slightly taken aback by my sincerity, but I could tell that she didn’t mind my asking. If anything, asking that question could almost never do any harm.

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“Oh, uh, you just seem a little… stressed?” I replied truthfully. Windstrom bit the inside of her cheek before letting out a small cackle of amusement.

“Duh, ‘course I am. Trying to figure out our next course of action is always hard. If you make one small screw up one of us could end up dead,” she blinked, as if something had just recently come back to her. “Yeah, and don’t call me Windstrom. I hate that name. If I have to go by a nickname, just have it be Windy. Sounds just a little more badass, right?”

I smiled lightly.

My ears perked upwards as a few voices rang outside of the hut. A few of the voices were exceptionally loud, and I wondered if there was some kind of argument occurring. Windy took this as her moment to leave, and an excuse to get back to her duties. “I’ll take that as my cue to go,” she stated, lifting herself off of her belly. She wandered over to the makeshift door in the hut, but before she exited, she turned around.

“Nice chat,”

***

Day 3
11:03 am
“Jolly Rogers”

Oh no.

As everyone knows, being stuck in this weird new land was definitely not what was supposed to happen. We were supposed to land… uh, somewhere else. You know, I can’t really remember the original plans. Actually, what was the whole point of this?

Either way, we’re stuck, disoriented and confused.

Over the last few days, I’ve been feeling incredibly useless. I mean, my one talent is fixing things -- patching up the ship without any of my tools is downright impossible. So what am I supposed to do? Normally, it’d be a cinch. But of course, most of my tools got strewn about in the crash, and the metal of the ship is so warped that it’s impossible to fix without a melting pot.

So, what am I supposed to do now? Everyone else seemed to be doing alright. Tome and Spades were hard at work doing some kind of studying. They’ve been doing some kind of experiments on themselves, and our new bodies. Mine of which I’d actually been taking a liking to. I’m freaking green! How awesome is that!?
Turbo and Nautics had been working together for a little while. Nautics would occasionally go out to search for food, while Turbo would usually help bring whatever they had back to camp, which usually wasn’t much. I should really get to know Turbo, he seems rather hilarious. Maybe he could help me.

I stood behind the wreckage of the ship. Luckily for us, the smoke and fire were no longer around, so I deemed the area safe. Due to my unnecessary boredom, I decided to task myself in continuing to work on the ship. I knew it was a lost cause, but it passed the time to fiddle with things. I sat on my haunches, and stared down at the bright orange pill bottle in front of me. My name was plastered on it with big bold letters -- my real one, not this stupid nickname.

Why me? I kept wondering this over the last few days, and I was sure it was a common question among everyone else. The general took a liking to me in that one room -- saying that he would be honored to have me in the army. First off, there is no way in Hell that that would be happening. Besides, I had my own life to live. Why would I restrict my life by going to war and fighting a battle that we wouldn’t win? Being in America was practically a death sentence anyways. Secondly, I’m sure there are other mechanics in the army. If I was seriously the only one, then that’s kind of sad. Tanks aren’t that difficult to make, so that fact was downright ridiculous to use as an argument.

I felt so lonely, and I didn’t know why. We’ve only been here for three days, and it already seemed that friends were being made. I see Windstrom and Firework chatting all the time, this morning even. But not me. No, no one wants to take out the time to be my friend. They deem me as weird. Speaking of Firework, I saw the way he stared at me back in that strange army room. I sat directly next to him, and he wasn’t exactly subtle about noticing my occasional twitching. It’s just something that I couldn’t help! I guess I really couldn’t get mad at him though, he probably just viewed me as another guy in the same boat that he was.

I let out a soft sigh as I picked up the tiny bottle in my hooves, and gave it a small shake. The hollow, high pitched sound that emitted from it made me a little nervous. I figured that I only had a few days worth left until I was screwed. With a low grumble, I popped off the cap and downed a single pill. Normally, I had water to wash it down, but I didn’t worry about it. I just used my own saliva as a replacement.

The pill scratched my dry throat on the way down, causing me to shiver. I had never liked taking the pills, but they were more than necessary. My condition was nothing to joke about, and if everyone found out, I would be deemed not exactly useless, but more of a burden instead. Not knowing where to stick my pills, I thrusted the bottle into the tuft of my mane. For some reason, my mane was much more full than everyone elses, and I realized that it was actually thick enough to hold things. Nifty, eh? It’s like my own little satchel!

There was a sound behind me that wracked my ears, mimicking that of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. In this case, however, it was a pony scratching warped metal. I jumped in the air like a scared cat, before I turned around. Apparently, I scared them back, as my only response was a small ‘yelp’.

“Hey, don’t scare me like that!” said the booming voice of Turbo. He lifted his foreleg in front of him, before glaring down at me. “When I was little I always had nightmares about turning a corner and finding a green horse crouched in a corner…” he brought a hoof up to his chin and he casted his gaze upward. “Except this time you weren’t eating my family…” I twitched again, although I couldn’t decide if it was because of what Turbo said or not.

“That’s… a terrifying dream?” I asked more than replied. Turbo just shrugged his broad shoulders.

“Yeah, it was during those strange younger years of mine…” Turbo smirked, and I felt the pressure of his chestnut eyes enveloping me. I took a brief step away from him. The guy was huge, and considering that there was no one else around, I found the situation to be a little… odd. Turbo looked around, gazing behind me out of sheer curiosity. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Nothing!” I shouted just a little too eagerly. Turbo arched an eyebrow. I felt a slight paranoia building up inside me, the one that I had come to despise. I was just glad that I didn’t need pills for that also.

“I’m not much for reading ponies-” wait, what? So, we’re no longer humans now? I’d still rather we refer to each other as people. It’s been three days, guys! Only three! “-but you look just a little jumpy,”

I waved my hoof in a playful-like manner, although it came out shaky and twitchy. My voice cracked a little bit, and I silently cursed myself. Why was it so difficult to act unsuspicious? “Pffft, nah!” To my surprise, I actually didn’t continue speaking. Turbo squinted at me, as if we was expecting me to go on. When I didn’t, he emitted some kind of guttural noise.

“Riiiight… well, ya didn’t answer my question. What’re ya doing?” Turbo asked again. Oh boy, was he playing detective or something? I thought quickly.

“Uh, just… trying to fix up the ship… ya know… the usual,” I smiled brightly, but by looking at Turbo’s shocked expression, I may or may not have come off a little creepy looking. I toned down my smiling a little bit, but by that point Turbo was already slowly backing away. His eyes were wide, as if he was staring at an alien.

“Okay…” he whispered. “I’ll...I’ll just go then…” With that, Turbo slunk back in the direction of which he came in. When he was out of my eyesight, and I deemed that it was the same for him, I let out a sigh of relief.

Surely, Turbo thinks I had a mild case of the crazies. I guess I couldn’t say I didn’t after what just happened, but oh well. I don’t think my chances of making him my friend have increased by any means.

I needed help, and I just hoped someone around the camp could aid me, or at least be by my side. I couldn’t stand be alone here.

I need help.

***

Day 3
5:45 pm
“Rapier”
Canterlot Castle

On top of the Canterlot Castle, my fellow squad members and I were hustling and bustling. We were rushing to gather all our necessary supplies before we went out to the Everfree Forest later that night. Princess Celestia was nice enough to let me do something on my own for once. I was grateful, but after rethinking about how simple this mission actually was, I didn’t think it was all too much of an accomplishment. After all, we were just going out to find the source of some weird smoke that was coming out of the Everfree a few days ago. By now, the smoke was long gone. It was going to be much harder to track the location, but we had a general idea of where it was coming from.

This wasn’t exactly what I signed up for. I joined the guard for danger, even a little bit of action. If I had to do a little navigating and searching through woods just so that could happen, then so be it. Maybe we’ll find something interesting out there, and I’ll be made a hero.

Our squad was rather small, and we only brought who we thought was necessary. The more soldiers, the more weight that the carriers would have to haul. The skywagon that we were using was exceptionally hollow, having enough room for all of our supplies, should we need it. Overall, we’d need around two pegasi to fly the damned thing, as well as two hoof soldiers to aid me.

“Thank Celestia you’re all so light,” said the lime-green pegasus. He wiped a little sweat from his brow, after having been in the sun all day. Him and the other yellow pegasus were strapped together, like a chariot. The lime one, who’s name I believe was Oak, was on the right side of the wagon, while the other one was on the left. “I forgot to drink my milk this morning, I wasn’t all too prepared,” He snickered a little to himself, letting his black mane hang down a little bit.

I rolled my eyes, but I don’t think he saw. Most of the time, us Royal Guard had the tendency to be informal, unless the princess’ were around. In that case, we referred to ourself by our rank. However, since no one of clear importance or higher rank was around, I found it to be entirely unnecessary. Besides, it’s a mouthful to have to say a ponies rank and full name before you say what you needed to say.

I wandered inside of the skywagon to take inventory. All of our supplies were stockpiled in the back of the wagon for easier flying. Unfortunately, the other two soldiers and I were going to have to stand during the entire flight. Oh well, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours anyways.

Skywagons were not exactly a newer creation, but they’re strictly for the Royal Guard only. You wouldn’t find one of these bad boys out on the streets, which made me a little excited to ride in it. The inside was a gorgeous, polished mahogany that shimmered no matter what way you looked at it. There was a total of eight windows: three on the right side, three on the left, and then one on the front and back. Each window, save for the one in the front, had some kind of pink embroiderment on it of suns and moons. The roof was more than tall enough, really. I was slightly taller than most mares my age, and even still I was only halfway to having my head touch the top. I gazed over all of the supplies in the back of the skywagon.

“Food, water, royal gear, yadda yadda…” I muttered to myself, going over my mental checklist. Why did we need royal gear? No one really answered that question when I had asked either. They just say its protocol. Apparently, they expect us to go on this investigation and get into some kind of war.

Okay, that’d be kind of cool.

“Rapier, we’ll be ready in five,” a soft voice protruded just outside of the wagon, before Glory’s silver head poked inside. I barely gave the mare a second glance, before I sent a nod her way.

“Good. We need to get moving as soon as possible,” I told her. Glory was a mare that I specifically chose to come along for this mission. She had potential to be a great guard, but her talent is being wasted by others. Last I heard, she was washing dishes. This only proved my theory that I had around this place. I had seen her application, and she seems more than qualified for most for most of the jobs in the castle. When I had taken a moment to think, I looked back at Glory and cocked my head.

“Uh, isn’t there supposed to be another soldier coming with us?” I didn’t know who the other soldier was. I specifically asked for Glory myself, but Shining Armor wanted somepony else to aid us too, for whatever reason. Glory furrowed her brow.

“I believe so, I… just haven’t seen him,” she replied, truthfully. Without another word, she took out a hair band and tied back her scarlet mane into a ponytail. I wasn’t sure if she was aware, but she had tendency to fiddle with her mane in the weirdest ways. Sometimes she twirled her mane in her hoof, while other times he put in in a ponytail. She told me one time that when she was younger, she woke up and her hair was fully braided. We weren’t the best of friends, but we’d occasionally chat before this mission had ever even occurred.

“If he isn’t here in thirty seconds, we’re leaving without him. He can explain to Shining Armor and the princess’ why he wasn’t on the wagon with us,” I squinted my eyes in frustration. Whoever this stallion is, he sure wasn’t very responsible. I’d have to remember that, surely Shining Armor would want to know this.

Glory nodded, and toddled out of the wagon. I started to mentally count down from thirty, but by the time I got to twenty-three, I got bored and said screw it. So we’d be down a soldier, so what? It’s not like we’re going to be getting in a brawl anyways. I wandered over to the front of the wagon, and poked my snout through the rectangular window made specifically to speak with the wagon pullers.

“Oak! Buttermilk! You two ready to go?” I hollered through the hole. Oak mockingly rubbed his ear, as if I was using a bullhorn to speak with him. Both of them simultaneously began to put on their helmets, making Oak’s black mane and Buttermilk’s snowy one almost impossible to see by the time they had finished.

“Yeah, we’re ready. Could you scream into my other ear, now? No point in only being half deaf…” Oak chuckled. Okay, there was a line between informal and childish, and Oak was directly on it. How he manages to maintain a job working for the Royal Guard is unknown to practically everypony. I saw Buttermilk roll his eyes and sock him in his shoulder, roughly.

“Act yer age,” he muttered. His strange southern drawl caught me a little off guard. For some reason, he didn’t strike me as a pony raised in one of those hick towns plastered all over Equestria. Maybe it was just because of his coat and mane. Most ponies I had the pleasure of meeting from those areas tended to bear darker colors altogether.

Without wasting another moment, I slipped into some of my gear. I didn’t feel any need to put on every single part, so I just put on the metal outings that covered my torso, as well as my helmet. The metal covered my chest, belly, and most of my sides, including my cutie mark. On the chest area was the national Equestrian logo: a half moon and sun. In the middle was a cleverly placed purple diamond. I had to ask why, but apparently the diamond is there because it glows when you shine a flashlight on it. Back in the days where fights would break out, soldiers could just flash the lights on a pony and see if they glimmered to figure out if they were friendly or not. Smart, I’ll admit. Nevertheless, I felt like a knight wearing it.

Glory stumbled back onboard wearing the entirety of her gear, which was the exact same as mine except she bothered to put on the hoof guards. Upon looking at how she maneuvered herself, and at how much her armor clanked, I could tell that this was her first mission, much like me.

I turned back to the pullers. One was slyly laughing, while the other was letting out an annoyed groan. I opened my mouth. “Alright were good to g-”

“Wait! Stop! Don’t leave without me!” an unfamiliar voice yelled. I turned to look at Glory, who shrugged. However it was difficult to tell in her armor. Thinking as if we were twins, we rushed to the window to our left and gazed outside.

An orange unicorn was staggering around outside, screaming and hollering not to let us leave without him. His eyes were frantic as he tried to run to the skywagon, while simultaneously trying to get all of his armor on. To be frank, it looked like he was doing some kind of weird dance while running. He stood up and hopped on his hind legs and everything. “Hold on!”

“You have got to be kidding me…” I mumbled, slack jawed. I had a bad feeling about this already. Was this stallion THAT unprepared? It honestly looked like he just got out of bed. His short, dirty brown mane was frazzled and all over the place. I was going to have to go on a mission with… him?

“Uh, maybe he had a rough morning?” Glory suggested. I didn’t pay her too much attention. By now, the stallion had finish putting on most of his armor. He let out a pained groan as he body slammed the floor of the skywagon, not even bothering to use the stairs. Glory and I stared on in absolute amazement. He jumped back into the air with impressive vigor, and gave a silly salute.

“Private Harvest, reporting for duty!” He hadn’t fastened his helmet correctly. In fact, it was on backwards, causing it to slightly tilt to the left. Goofily, he realigned it and continued his straight-faced salute. Glory and I exchanged an unbelieving glance.

“Uh, Private, you’re late. If you honestly think that you’re getting on this skywagon then you’re sadly-” I started, but the spaz didn’t even let me finish his sentence before he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

“My apologies, Captain! There were a few distractions this evening that lead to my tardiness, ma’am!” I had a feeling that this guy wasn’t very up to date on everything either. Not only is this Glory’s first field mission, but I assume it’s his as well.

“Thanks, I was waiting for someone to do that!” I heard Oak shout from up front. With a quick glance, I noticed that he was now rubbing his other ear. The next sound that filled the air was a dull thwack, follow by Oak’s pained groan. I rubbed the bridge of my nose, thoroughly irritated. While I wasn’t looking, Harvest fixed his helmet so it faced the right way.

“What happened? Why are you late?” Glory asked for me. Harvest lowered his hoof.

“Well… uh… I fell asleep…” he replied, blushing a little bit. He gave me a strange smile that lit up his whole face. He acted as if nothing was wrong here, and it made me a little angry. Instead of hitting him, I smacked my own face instead.

“Private…ugh,” I didn’t know what to say to him at this point. I guess since this dimwit is with us, we have more strength in numbers. “Just… just get ready for takeoff…we’ll be flying through the night. Make sure to pack your pillows, everyone…”

***

Day 3
7:16 pm
“Tome”

This. Is. Insane.

This is absolutely perfect. I had been waiting for something like this to happen. So much had I wanted to get off Earth. I had been yearning for something new my entire life, and here it is right in front of me. I was in a new body, in a new world. Presumably, a magical world straight out of a storybook.

I was a damn unicorn! I had the potential to do magic, and I had not been wasting any time trying to access it. For the last three or so hours I had been trying to figure out exactly how it works, and so far I hadn’t been having all too much luck. However it’s what I figured, but it infuriated me how long it was taking.

Upon the first few moments of waking up in the woods, looking my body over and putting the weird pieces together, I was in some kind of unexplainable bliss. But that had long passed. I am still thrilled about all of this, but I refuse to show it.

I had been making quite a few enemies during the last few days, although it’s not like I give a fuck. They all stare at me like I’m some kind of emotionless weirdo. So what? I actually agree, but they can’t expect me to get all happy around them. Especially when most of the ponies in this group are incredibly stupid and feebleminded.

First of all, Turbo has been pissing me off to no end. His constant blabbering and attitude makes me want to pull out a knife and cut out his damned tongue. Working with him to make the stupid huts had been Hell, really. I did most of the calculating myself, while all he did was sing his little song and move heavy parts. My body was almost as big as his, but there’s no way I’m doing any lifting. Besides, he’s some kind of regular pony, he had the strength to do it by himself anyways. I fricken loathe that guy.

Then there’s Firework and Omega, and what had happened yesterday. It wasn’t my fault that the kid was utterly useless. All he could do was make fires, and his so called ‘scavenging’ abilities were pointless since he can’t even walk. It’s been three days, and the most that he could do was take ten steps before he managed to fall down again. Not only that, but he and Omega team up and practically make a fool of me when all I try to do was help get the fire started. It’s like they’re trying to make me the bad guy. But fine, if they want to be like that, then they can. Don’t expect any more help from me.

Like I said, I was quickly making enemies, and I needed to change that. What if something happened later in time, and everyone was pointing fingers? Say some kind of animal comes to our camp and steals food, whose fault would it be? If I didn’t have anyone on my side, I’d be the one blamed. Especially since everyone had some kind of reason to not like me.

I closed my book and set it in the shady part of my hut. I had read the book a plethora of times, but it just never gets old to me. I maneuvered my large frame out of the doorway to observe my options. I needed to find someone to be on my side, should anything happen. Maybe someone that I could pin the blame on myself, should anything happen.

I looked around the camp and silently studied. The air was chilled, and the sun was beginning to disappear, making the sky a bright orange. I could almost see the moon starting to take shape. Looking at everypony, I noticed that each of them casted a shadow, including me.

Firework and Windstrom were huddled around the campfire, maintaining their warmth and chatting about something. They seemed to be getting along rather well, almost like they were best friends. Firework already had already took a disliking to me, so that was out of the question.

Windstrom was a possibility, however it was not very likely. She was a leader, and I had noticed that was extremely bold, but hesitant. If I wanted to get her on my side, chances are it wouldn’t work. She too independent, and to be honest I’m surprised that she had actually made a friend.

I worked my way around the camp going clockwise. I spotted Turbo lying in his hut, presumable napping. Like I said, there is no way I’m going to be ‘friends’ with him. I didn’t think it would work anyways. The guy may be a little hyperactive, but he certainly wasn’t stupid enough to not ask questions.

Jolly Rogers was still working on the ship, wasting everyone else’s time as well as his. Everyone knew that the ship was a lost cause, yet he continued to hammer away. Either he was extremely determined, or he just had no common sense or reason to stop. He seemed a little off to me, as his twitching had become more and more occurrent. I had a hypothesis, but I will refrain from asking to avoid starting any conflict.

But then my eyes landed on someone who just wandered out of the forest, someone that no one really knew or questioned. Someone who was absolutely perfect to have as someone to be on my side. He was carrying various pieces of firewood on his back, huffing and puffing as the weight had begun to get to him. With a tired groan, he threw the wood on the ground, just outside of the clearing for safekeeping. He was perfect. What’s more perfect was that no one else was around him.

“Hey, Nautics!” I tried to put on one of the most cheeriest voices I could, but it came out a little awkward. Showing emotion wasn’t something that I did regularly, however I forced myself to attempt to fake it. I spoke rather suddenly as I trotted up to him, and surprisingly he didn’t jump. He just stared at me with those weird, questionable eyes. He almost seemed to be confused as to why I was calling his name.

“Hey, Tome…” he whispered. He looked at me, and then to the clearing towards everyone else, and then back to me. I couldn’t tell, but I think the guy was thinking about doing a mad dash. I tried to keep up the friendly conversation.

“How’s it going? What’re ya up to?” As much as I hated it, I might have to do an impersonation of Turbo just to keep this going. He was way more outgoing than me, really. I decided that it was only for the time being, and I silently prayed that Nautics wouldn’t ask any questions. However I had plenty of answers just in case he did. I was a fabulous liar.

“Uh, just… gathering some firewood for tomorrow. Just looking at the sky I can tell that it’s going to rain tonight,” he explained, pointing up to the sky. He was right, way in the distance was a black cloud. I hadn’t quite noticed how windy it was. This guy was skilled all on his own.

“Huh… I guess you’re right…” I muttered, turning back to the pony at hand. He continued to stare at me, as if he was expecting me to walk away so that he could finish his job. This was going in a bad direction, fast. Part of me wanted to cut to the chase, but I knew that that was a terrible idea. Throughout my entire life I’ve learned that if you want to manipulate something, you must treat it as if you’re being as honest as possible. Luckily with this face, it’s impossible to have any tells when I’m lying. “Look, Nautics, I’m just looking for a friend,”

“A… friend?” he repeated, tilting his head a little bit. I wasn’t exactly going to waste any time with this.

“Yeah. I have a feeling that most of the group doesn’t like me because of what happened with Firework yesterday. They view me as some kind of bully, you know?” Nautics’ face softened, and I resisted the temptation to let out a grin. To hide it, I frowned and looked at the ground instead.

“I’m… I’m sorry to hear that,”

“Everyone else here had made friends, or has someone to talk to. Windstrom, Firework and Omega are practically best friends and I saw Turbo and Jolly Rogers chatting earlier today,” Nautics bit the inside of his lip and nodded. He looked like he was going to say something, but he didn’t. Surely he was going to ask about Spades, but even he knew it was obvious that I hated the guy, and that the feeling was mutual.

“Hey, it’s okay. I don’t have many friends either. My life was actually very lonely before this,” Nautics explained. He tried to put a hoof on my shoulder, but I roughly shook him off.

“Please! I don’t need your pity,” I spat. Nautics stumbled back in shock, his mouth slightly opening in an expression of sorrow. “At least you’re somewhat useful, everyone just views me as the second smart guy. All everyone does here is use you-”

“Wait, what?” Nautics interrupted. Perfect. This idiot was falling right for it! If all of the ponies in the group were this dumb, then maybe things could actually work out in my favor. “What did y-you mean by… use me?”

“Are you kidding? You’re practically the most useful guy here! Your only like eighteen-”

“Twenty,”

“Right, and you’re knowledge of the forest is downright impeccable. If it wasn’t for you, this group most certainly would have died from dehydration,” Nautics flushed, and he let out a prideful smile.

“Yeah. If anything, you should be running everything around here. You actually know how to survive in places like these! But no,” The smile on Nautics’ face slowly diminished, and was quickly replaced with a sullen frown. “They use you are their lackey, as their slave, to go and do jobs that they could easily do themselves,”

“Tome… I… What are you talking about?” Nautics was completely flabbergasted at what I was telling him. So far, so good.

“Does it really take a nature expert to find wood to burn?” I asked, sternly. I tossed my hoof over into the direction of the branches that he had just been carrying. He looked back at the ground and shook his head. “Exactly. They’re using you because they’re too lazy to do things themselves. You know what that means?”

“W-W-What?” Nautics stuttered, lifting his head up. I brought my face close to his, towering over him like he was at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I spoke through grit teeth as I said the following words:

“We’re the outsiders. It’s just you, and me.”

Nautics was appalled, falling back on his haunches. “It’s not rocket science, Nautics. It’s just us, and surely you must know that. So what do you say?”

Nautics looked at the ground and sighed, a horrifyingly long moment passed by before the guy slowly nodded his head. While he stared at the ground, I let a large smirk plague my face.

This was going to be easier than I thought.

Author's Note

What do you know? An update! And look at all of the things going on around camp! So many activities and stuff. Also, it appears that our eight MIGHT have some company soon. You know, unless things HAPPEN to go horribly wrong.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Feedback and comments are GREATLY appreciated. Who's your favorite character so far? What do you think will happen next? Stay tuned and find out!

-Cyneryk