A Change of Scenery

Stone dug into my hands as I climbed, and I cursed under my breath at Mark for convincing me not to wear gloves. He was a good deal ahead of me, climbing the rocks like a mountain goat. In hindsight, I think that accepting to go rock-climbing with him may not have been such a good idea. The strain it put on my muscles almost made me wish that I was back in the military. Almost, but not quite.

"Where the hell is that ledge you talked about?" I asked, trying to avoid entanglement in my rope and gear as I climbed.

"Just a little bit farther, Jack," he replied, looking down to check our height, an act that I wouldn't do since I valued my life.

Mark and I have been friends for years, and getting me to climb the side of a cliff was just one of many insane things that he had somehow managed to trick me into doing. He's an adrenaline junkie, and while I wholeheartedly agree that he should do what he enjoys, I don't believe that I should be inclined to risk breaking my neck or becoming a pancake on the ground if I lose my grip.

Such thoughts aside, rock-climbing wasn't too bad. The view was pretty amazing, as long as I didn't look down, and it served as a good way to stay in shape. The military had gotten it into my head that I needed to stay fit, so I did. I'm a regular member of the gym in town, and I have a bit of exercise equipment at home in case I don't feel like driving. I guess it also helped that I live alone, so after work I can do things on my own time.

"You alright?" Mark asked, bent over a ledge with his hands on his knees as he looked down at me.

"Yeah, just thinking about stuff." I replied, realizing that I had spaced out for a second. Attempting to make up for the lapse, I searched for a good hand hold and pulled myself up.

"Probably shouldn't be doing that too much when you're so far from the ground." He was smiling, knowing that it tempted me to look down.

"Don't remind me." I glared at him and hauled my body and gear onto the ledge.

"Hey, all you had to do was say no when I asked if you wanted to come."

"And let you have all the fun?" I put on a fake smile. "I don't think so." He was right, but there's no way in hell that I'd tell him that.

He grinned and laughed. "All right then. We can rest here, then climb further up before it gets dark."

"Sounds like a plan." I glanced around, relieved to find that the ledge was actually larger than what I had expected. I had hoped that the whole climb wouldn't take too long, but the large cliff still looming above me destroyed that dream.

"Looks like it's going to rain," Mark said, squinting at some clouds in the distance. "We may not be able to finish the climb today."

"Good thing we brought food, then." I tried to sound saddened by the news, but my face was probably backstabbing me with a look of relief.

"There's a cave here too, which means we don't need to get our gear wet."

Rest and a dry place to sleep? I would've jumped for joy if I wasn't afraid that I might slip and fall to my death. Instead, I opted to start removing the belts and straps constricting my body, trying to get them off as fast as I could without getting them tangled together or showing Mark that I really wanted them off.

"Plus," he continued, as if reading my thoughts, "we might as well rest for a bit. We may have to stay here overnight."

"That bad, eh?" I replied. Looking over at the approaching clouds, I was surprised to see how just how close they were. It wouldn't be long before they were overhead, and if it decided to rain we'd probably get drenched pretty quickly.

With the threat looming ever closer, I helped Mark move our stuff into the small cave nestled in the rocks. Bit of a tight fit, but it was roomier on the inside, so it wasn't all that bad. Mark pulled out a pair of sleeping bags while I worked on getting the food out of my pack. Mostly it was just granola bars and stuff to keep up our energy, but we had some soup mix in case we wanted a hot meal while we were out here. Mark always had one of those little camping stoves with him, so it wouldn't be too hard to use some of our water to make some soup in the morning or something.

"Sorry that we can't go any higher, Jack," Mark said, rolling out his sleeping bag and lying back with his arms crossed behind his head.

"It's fine," I replied. "We can't control the weather out here, so there's no point in apologizing for it."

He chuckled and blew some hair out of his face. "I guess, but I still wish we could have gone farther."

I shrugged and rolled out my own bag before looking back outside. The clouds were getting pretty close, and a couple had already made it overhead, pelting me with a couple raindrops before I pulled my head back into the cave. "Yep, the rain's already starting, and it looks like there's gonna be a lot more in a few minutes."

"Dammit. Looks like we might be sleeping here tonight." He scowled and glared at the cave entrance, as if his blue eyes could make the rain go away if he concentrated hard enough.

"Better than losing your grip and falling to your death."

"True..." He looked a bit sad at being unable to finish the climb, but even he's not crazy enough to try and climb a mountain while the rocks are wet. Instead, he just sighed and took off his shoes before easing his way into the sleeping bag.

"I guess I'll get some shuteye while we wait for the rain to pass by," he continued, making himself comfortable and closing his eyes.

"I'm with you on that one." Moving while light still entered from outside, I took my shoes off and slid into my sleeping bag, glad that the floor of the cave was rather smooth instead of littered with annoying rocks.

With a final glance to the cave entrance, I closed my eyes and fell asleep. Unfortunately for me, I'm a light sleeper who is vulnerable to bright lights.

I woke up with a low groan, my hands moving to my face automatically to keep the light out. Squinting angrily at my watch, I saw that I'd only been asleep for a few hours. Allowing my eyes to open a little further, I looked around to find the source of the light that had disturbed me. It appeared to be coming from around a corner near the back of the cave, and I cursed it under my breath as I wriggled out of my sleeping bag and stuffed my feet into my shoes. It crossed my mind to try waking Mark, but I could fire a gun near his head and he wouldn't flinch, lucky bastard.

With the laces of my boots tied and my body reasonably awake, I moved toward the back of the cave, irritated to find that it just led to a small passageway. Crouching down, I was able to move through it into a slightly larger cavern with water running noisily into a pool near the back. The light seemed to emanate from the pool, so naturally I thought that I was hallucinating for a moment, or possibly dreaming. I punched myself in the arm, and unfortunately it was not a dream. So with a dull ache in my arm, I walked over to the pool and looked down into the water, squinting to see if I could spot the source of the light.

"Dammit," I muttered, "why does this light have to fuck with me now, of all times?" I muttered under my breath, wondering how the hell it was in the water and still shining so brightly. I swore, if I found out that Mark had tossed a waterproof flashlight or something in there just to mess with me, I would get even by seeing if he could sleep through a bucket of cold water poured on his face.

The entire time, while I argued with myself over the origins of the light, it remained in the pool of water, taunting me and ensuring that I wouldn't be able to sleep. With a small sigh of defeat, I realized that I'd have to go in the water to get rid of it. Taking off my boots and socks, I rolled up my jeans and stepped into the water. My foot was barely submerged before my eyes shot open and my entire body shouted violently at my head for the rude awakening.

"HOLY HELL THAT'S COLD!" I shouted, jumping back from the water. If I were back in the army, someone probably would have pushed me in for that, but since I wasn't there anymore, I had to force myself to get back in the water and start wading toward the light. My body started shivering as the water moved up past my ankles, so I tried to go a bit faster, hoping to get it over with as soon as possible.

Note to self: Never assume that a pool of water is shallow.

As I got to the point where I almost on top of the light, my foot connected with nothing and I fell straight into the water, my entire body suddenly clutched in its icy grip as I snapped my mouth shut to keep from inhaling water. The light was almost blinding under the surface, and I thought I could make out some kind of stone in the center. Shivering like my body was having a seizure, I reached out and grabbed it, only to be sucked away as the pool suddenly gained a current.

My mind was freaking out by then, so I panicked and tried to get to the surface, which seemed suspiciously brighter than it should have been. However, I couldn't think much about how light had gotten into a cavern. I was much too busy trying to get some air in my lungs. Managing to right myself so my feet were scraping against the sandy ground, I pushed myself upwards, gulping in air as I broke the surface. Completely ignoring the fact that I was somehow outside, I swam toward the bank and hauled myself out of the water.

It wasn't until I fell forward onto the grass that I knew something wasn't right. Struggling to contain my shivering, I wiped the hair from my face and looked around. The sun was blazing in the sky, but it looked... off... The grass was brighter than grass has a right to be, and to my left was a mountain much too large to be the one that Mark and I had been scaling, with waterfalls pouring from its side. I looked to the right, and even the shivering stopped as I froze.

In front of me was a castle, and not the kind that I would ever imagine. This place was huge, and seemed to be more decorative than anything. It was like something from a coloring book, with waterfalls cascading into pools that flowed into more waterfalls that descended down the mountain, and structures that just didn't look possible.

If I hadn't spotted something out of the corner of my eye, I might have stared at the place all day long. As it turned out, I forgot the icy feeling pricking my body like needles for a moment and sat still, as if I was just looking at the castle. Whatever it was that was heading toward me, it was coming fast. I heard footfalls grow louder as it raced toward me, and it sounded like someone heavy running at me through the grass. There was something else though, an odd sound like metal scraping and clinking together.

Pushing the thought out of my head, I waited three seconds, then jumped to my feet. My assailant hesitated, and I took the opportunity, sweeping their legs from under them and pinning them down without hesitation. As I raised my fist to strike, I blinked and looked down at my target.

Huge blue eyes stared at me with a look of horror from beneath a golden helmet. The thing had a coat of white fur, and more golden armor on its back, with some kind of star insignia on the front. The last thing I noticed were a pair of wings spread out on the grass, trapped beneath my legs.

"What the fuck?" I gasped. Somehow ending up outside in front of a castle was one thing, but a pony with wings? I could almost feel my sanity beating itself to death.

Sensing my hesitation, the freak of nature pushed me off, causing me to land roughly on my back with a grunt. I tried to get back up, and looked up just in time to see a pair of hooves just before they got to meet my forehead. The only thought that occupied my brain as I blacked out was son of a bitch, that hurts!