After three whole days of walking through that damn cold dessert, I managed to find a small sliver of hope. Or what I thought of as hope. As I followed the train tracks to god-knows-where, I saw a rather sudden change in weather. The side that I was on was nothing but an empty vast cold environment, but on the other side, a mere footstep away from me, stood a vast scorching desert. It was as if a wall had built itself between those two terrains. This 'wall’ had no in-between the two polar opposite lands, as if something magical had happened, stood side by side. As soon as I had stepped onto to the other side, I felt the intense heat of the sun burden itself down unto me. I had nearly passed out from the sudden shift but was thankfully still standing.

At the feeling of what I had just experienced, I could do nothing but gasp in shock of what I was feeling. I immediately thrown off my jacket as fast as I could and was swiping away the sweat that was beginning to build up on my brow.

I picked up my jacket and kept walking. But as I walked, I kept thinking about what I had seen back at that 'wall’. That sudden shift in weather should have been impossible. It defied every single law of nature, and made a naturalist look like a fucking joke. But there it was, standing as defiantly as I was. Maybe it was my psyche giving up on me, or maybe it was the fact that I was simply hallucinating. No matter how much I tried to think of a logical solution to what I saw, I always kept coming back to the same answer; hallucinations. I soon gave up on trying to solve what I had seen and went back to focusing on walking

And walked I did. I had probably walked for hours, ignoring the pain in my feet as I kept pushing forward through the dried desert. At that point, I had lost all sense of time entirely. As far as I knew, I had walked a few hours but it could’ve been days for all I cared. It still didn’t stop me from gasping for air as the sun tried burdened my skin. I kept walking across the vast, empty, desert, always remaining on the train tracks as I kept moving forward. Sometimes, I would find myself laying on the sand with my eyes closed and my body blistering before I would get up and start walking again.

Every few minutes I would take out a water bottle from my backpack and drink from it to try and cool myself down. But, after maybe an hour, I had drank every last drop of water that I had. I groaned in annoyance and continued to walk through the harsh land as I moved forward.

Eventually, after walking for god knows how long, I managed to find another sort of 'wall’. This wall was separating, what seemed to be, a calm, green forest from the intense heat of the desert. In the state that I was in, I just no longer cared for what I was looking at. I stopped questioning reality a long time about and I walked head on into that forest. The dense foliage covered most of the tracks and made me nearly blind in the small room that it gave me. But with the sun blotted out from my sight, I felt relief from the intense heat and welcomed the coolness that the forest had given me. But with the benefits of being away from the intense heat, came the serious consequences. Somewhere along that dark, inky path, I had lost the track of the tracks and had ended up wandering the blackness of the forest.

It was quite threatening to be in that forest with such thick foliage that even the sun couldn't shine through. I was scared for the longest time. I had no idea where I was anymore and for all I knew I was going to die. I tried to walk again only for my legs to give resistance to my actions. I tried forcing them to move from their stiffness, but began to realize what was happening. Even with the adrenaline pumping through my veins, and the wind of the forest blasting my face, I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in three days and my body thought it'd be a great time for a nap. There was no warning, no signal, nothing; I just passed out where I stood.

The one thing that woke me up hours after I fell into that blissful sleep was the feeling of a claw pawing at my back. I immediately, almost out of instinct, reached for my gun. But as soon as I made any sort of motion, I felt the pressure on my back increase and immediately ceased my movements. I have no idea what that thing is now. But back then, I assumed it was a bear, or some other predatorial animal that had found a hefty meal.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I was scared out of my mind. If I did something, I would be clawed to death. If I did nothing, I would be eaten alive. Either option would have ended up with me dead, a rather unsavory thought. I felt its large paws continue to claw at my back as it put more pressure on me, almost till the point where it got unbearable. But just as I was about to scream, I heard 'something' else.

I had been in the police department for over seven years of my life and I knew the sound of a dog's bark or yelp. But that thing was so different- so foreign to me. After hearing it yelp, I felt the weight on my back immediately disappear, then heard the mysterious animal run back through the forests thicket.

I laid there and waited, counting the long seconds as I laid still. Time seemed to have slowed down for those ten minutes of my life because I felt every single second pass over as if it were an hour. During my still state, I heard the many sounds and noises in the forest that I had not noticed before in my tired state. The empty howl’s of wolves as they looked up into the sky, the creaking branches of the trees as the winds passed through them, and even the sounds of snapping twigs as I laid in that spot. They all echoed around and through my body as I laid on that patch of dirt. After counting the endless seconds and listening to the long reverberating sounds, I pushed myself back onto my feet and ran for my life. It's hard to say how far and how long I had ran in that pitch black forest, but to say that I cared would be lying. I didn't care where I was going or how far I went, I wanted to be as far away from that animal as I possibly could be.

I managed to push myself between the thick stumps of those trees and swatted past the long sticks that stuck out from the small bushes. I ran for what seemed like a lifetime before I fumbled through a small clearing and slumped onto my knees to catch my breath.

I had no idea if that beast had followed me or not, but it gave me a small sense of security to be away from it for a while. I waited a few minutes, breathing in haggard breaths as I sat there. While I sat there, I listened to the forest again. I flinched every time a heard a noise behind me and stiffened when I heard the howling of a wolf. I slowly pulled out my revolver and held it close to my chest. Maybe it was paranoia from what had happened earlier, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

As soon as I had catches my breath and calmed down my racing heart, I looked around the small area that I was in. The only notable thing around me was the small, flowing river that glistened in front of me. The moon's glow bouncing off of its smooth surface. I ever slowly got back on my feet and carefully walked towards the body of water. When I was no less than a foot away from it, I dropped down onto my knees again and dunked my head underneath bits surface. I began to guzzle down the cold, luxurious water that cooled my burning head. I chugged and chugged down mouthful after mouthful of water. I had never been so thirsty in my life. Soon though, I pulled my head up out of the river, gasping for air as I shaked my head to get the water off of it. After that, I began to lay my body down against the cold dirt as the night air blew across my body. But as I rested against the ground, wiping away the splint strands of hair that clung to my face, I looked up to the sky.

I nearly reeled back in shock. The night sky itself looked like something out of folktale. I could just tell by looking at its purple hue, its magnificent collection of stars, and the size and brightness of the moon that it was a cosmic impossibility. My mouth went agape ask stared up into the sky. The moon was too big. There are too many stars. What I was staring at was impossible. And the floated there as if it were meant to wander the sky. That's when I began to recall events. My car had leaving tracks in the snow, my revolver shouldn't have been with me at all, the sudden change in temperature, and now the moon in the sky.

‘Maybe I am crazy’ I thought to myself. My brain pulsated with curiosity, a longing to know what I was looking at. But even then, I thought I was imagining things-hallucinating- even after I had slept. I was so content to ignore the signs and pin them on some sort of other reason. I no later rested my head back down onto the ground and let the cooling feel of the winds soothe me into the blissfulness of sleep.

I felt the rays of the sun poke at my skin shyly waking me up from my gentle sleep. My eyes slowly cracked open to the warm feeling that washed over me. As I got up off the ground, stretching and yawning as the bones in my body cracked back into place, I let the cool morning breeze bathe me in its lasing glow. My body was in pure bliss, my mind was clear, and I felt like I could die happy on that spot. I haven't slept that well in months, and everything just felt so peaceful and serene in that moment of nothingness.

And, like everything else in my life, it was taken away from me in an instant. I heard the sound of someone’s voice and the sound of clopping hooves against the dirt. My mind stiffened as I listened to that immaculate sound, my heart racing as I continued to listen to that voice. I didn’t bother to wait for it to disappear or make itself visible, I ran towards the sound of it. In my mind of panic and hope, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was just grateful at meeting someone else in this damnable world.

I had ran towards its sound, even with the blisters that were forming on my feet. I didn't stop even when the sticks from the bushes whipped my face. The only thing that had stopped my careless run was a loose branch that had stuck up from the ground. I lost my balance and came tumbling through the small thicket of the forest. As soon as I heard a yelp and the galloping of hooves, I knew that I had scared whoever was there along with their horse. I begrudgingly pushed myself off the ground, brushing off the dirt that clung to my shirt, and looked around for any sign of horses or the people who were there.

The only thing that I could find from the scene were deep horse shoe marks that peppered the ground around me. The marks themselves were rather deep and were very noticeable, but I had no clue where they went. I got down on one knee and looked down at the ground, scrutinizing the details as I tried to figure out where they had went. I looked at their hoofprints, the way they moved around one another, the way they curved and aligned themselves. Years of hunting experience taught from my grandpa started to pop its way back into my mind, and I soon found out where the horses had went to. But, while I searched through the scene, I did notice that there weren’t any human footprints, but thought nothing of it at the time since the horses prints probably covered them.

But as I looked in the direction they went, I felt… I don’t know. I felt like something dangerous was going to happen if I went there, as if my life would depend on it. It’s what stopped me from following them immediately. I stood at that lining for a good ten minutes as my mind battled with itself. If I went with them, I could finally find a safe haven and seek medical attention. But what if they found an animal out there? I would just be walking into a feast where I would be the next course of food. As my mind battled with itself, it was clear which side was winning. I was just so desperate for human contact that I didn’t care about what might have happened to them or the terrible feeling that settled in my stomach.

So, I began to follow their tracks, going into the black forest once again. But as I continued to walk through the darkened forest, keeping my eyes heavily on the horse's tracks, I realized that I had forgotten my grandpa’s jacket. I stopped in my tracks and looked back the way I came. I thought about going back there and getting it, but I would have lost myself in the thickness of the forest if I went back and would never get another chance to meet other people again. I hesitantly took my gaze back and continued following the tracks to where that horse were going. But I had no idea what I was getting into.

Eventually, after following their tracks, I saw the trees canopy split open again and I felt the sun's gaze shine down upon my dirt ridden body. I took myself away from the sun’s bright rays, and looked around the open field that I had walked into. The fields green, tamed grass blowed with the cool wind. And the light green leaves from the trees calmed me from my trepidation. About a mile or two away from me, I could see a bustling village with enough horses and buildings to be considered civilization.

To me it was the most beautiful thing that I had seen in months; I was so delighted to see it. But I couldn't even take a step towards it before I heard a sudden yell.

"There it is!" Its voice was childlike and was so high pitched that I swear my eardrums almost bursted.

I swiveled around and caught a glimpse of a small pink colored horse with a tiara on its head printed on its hindquarters. Next to her I could see another small horse, about her size, colored in silver, wearing glasses, and had a silver spoon printed on its flank. But as baffled as I was by their existence, what happened next truly made me want to rethink my life.

"Wait up girls! We shouldn't be this close to the Everfree, who knows-" A horse, taller than the other two, had come up behind them. Her purple fur, dark blue hair, the mark of a star on her flank, and the horn on her head had left me speechless. It was like my mind was in a trance, unable to escape the prison that was built around it. But as I stared at her, my mouth getting more agaped, she slowly put herself in front of the other two and took up a protective stance. And even though it tried not to show it, I could see the utter fear in her eyes. It turned its head around to the other two and told them “Go. Run. Get help!”

My brain lurched; unable to accept what it just saw. A small little horse had just spoken English as if it was its first language. I could hear it speak English all day long, and I would never be able to accept the fact that it just spoke. But as soon as its horn started to glow a purple hue, I snapped out of whatever spell my mind had put on itself and, out of fear, ran back into the forest. As I did, I heard it yell at me, telling me to stop running and that it wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t believe it, and kept running further and further into the forest.

As soon as I was certain that I had lost her, I feel onto my knees and started to hyperventilate. My mind kept telling me what I saw was impossible, but my eyes told me a different story. I wasn't sure what to think. I started to think that I truly had lost my sanity.

Author's Note

Hi everybody, I'm going to take a guess that you guys aren't that happy that Diamond Tiara had caused James to be in such a predicament. Well not to worry, she will be punished in the future. But until then lets see what her little mistake leads to.

If you see any grammar mistakes that I missed, please tell me about them in the comments and I will try to fix it. Thank you for your output, and have a nice day.