The Runaways

Chapters

The Great Escape
Unexpected Detour and Seperation
Unfamiliar Territory
Breaking and Entering
A Different Kind of Southern Hospitality

The Great Escape

Southeastern Arkansas near the Mississippi River
August 12, 1851

It had been a week on the run for the young caucasian man and a group of 16 other fugitives mostly children and some older men and women all black-skinned through the hot and humid Arkansas countryside. So far they had managed to evade capture from the authorities on their way to the Mississippi River where they would make their way north all the way into Canada where they could live in freedom. But they still have a long way to go before they can get there. The fugitives in question were wanted for escaping from their masters plantation, meaning the dark-skinned fugitives were runaway slaves. And the young caucasian man accompanying them, Nathanial Haggart, was also most likely wanted for aiding their escape as that was a serious offense thanks to the recently passed 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. What's interesting is this young man just happens to be the son of the slaves owner, William Ross Hages. William Haggart was the owner of a relatively small tobacco plantation in the area and he was a wicked man who worked his slaves to the point of exhaustion and would beat and abuse them mercilessly if they got out of line or failed to complete a task exactly as he wanted it done. Or sometimes for no reason all at except to vent his frustration and anger, usually whenever he was drunk. Nathaniel also suffered at the hands of his father as his father would beat him as well during his drunken fits of rage. And now they were finally free from that vile man, at least for now.

They were now little more than a few miles away from their destination at the Mississippi River. It was 3 in the afternoon and the group of runaways were camping inside of a cave where they were waiting for the cover of darkness and for the men to return with some food and maybe some supplies, which usually consists of whatever they could gather from the wild or steal. At the caves entrance hidden behind a boulder was a young 25 yr. old black man named Gordon who stood watch over their hiding place armed with a rifle, hatchet and a large kitchen knife he had pilfered from a farm along the way to the Mississippi. Other than those weapons the only possessions he had were his raggedy pants, a worn-out pair of shoes and an iron collar around his neck connected by a chain to a pair of manacles around his wrists and fetters around his ankles. They never could find a way to get them off. His torso was bare revealing a multitude of lacerations from his masters whip and a brand on the left side of his chest. Unlike the other blacks inside the cave he didn't belong to Haggart, but was a runaway slave from Louisiana who was owned by a cotton planter named Ishmael Alexander; the name that was branded on his chest and the one responsible for most of the scars on his body.

He had been guarding that cave for about 3 hrs. and the only things that happened during that time was Gordon having to chase away a cougar that tried to enter the cave and one of the women in the cave Gertrude freaking out over a corn snake slithering up her leg. But after all that time Nathaniel and 2 others blacks Jake and Glover had finally come back from their outing laden various supplies. Glover was carrying a sack of potatoes on his shoulder, along with some extra clothes. Nathaniel carried a sack full of wild berries, some cattails from a nearby marsh and some fish he shot with his crossbow. And Jake had a blueberry pie, some more clothes, some lead shot and powder and an extra rifle.

After a warm welcome the caves occupants quietly ate their food, saving what wasn't eaten for later, and waited for the night to come. They simply ate the fish raw for fear that a fire and smell would draw unwanted attention. The rest of the caves occupants consisted of another black man named Saul, a 35 yr. old freeborn black from New Jersey who was an unfortunate victim of the Fugitive Slave Act who was kidnapped by U.S. Marshals and sold into slavery in lower Arkansas because he was falsely accused of being a fugitive slave. He always walked with a limp in his left leg because he'd made an escape attempt but was caught by Haggarts' man and they cut out his Achilles Tendon so he couldn't run away.

And there was Jake who had been the property of the Haggart household since he was born. He and Nathaniel were best friends and were the same age, 17, and this whole escape plan was something they came up with together one night while Mr. Haggart was away drinking. They had planned to flee to Canada together, start their own business and be partners. There was also 14 yr. old Glover and his younger brother and sister 8 yr. old Toby and 11 yr. old Kizzy. And there was also 9 yr. old Joshua and his older sister 13 yr. old Ruth the son and daughter of Saul and Tess. And lastly there were the 7 yr. old twins Betty and Dee Dee. All the older women consisted of 29 yr. old Tess who was Saul's wife and Joshua and Ruths aunt, her sister 19 yr. old Kenzi, 17 yr. old Lisa and her cousin 18 yr. old Abby, 21 yr. old Broomhilda and 20 yr. old Gertrude.

"So Nate," asked Gordon "Ya have any idea what we gonna do when we git to the river?"

Nathaniel twiddled a fish bone around his fingers as he thought of an answer. "Well... while me, Jake and Saul were out huntin' for some vittles an' supplies I came 'cross someone that might be willin' to lend us a hand. An abolitionist family jus' up the river a little ways north got some boats they'd be willin' to let us use. They've offered to let us stay for a while an' even told me where we can find some safe houses along the way."

Everyone was excited to hear this news. They had spent a week on the run hiding in whatever makeshift or natural shelter they could find all the while having to keep a constant lookout for slave catchers so it was nice to sleep someplace safe, if only for one night. It was also a boost to their morale to be one more step closer to freedom.

"Didja git the names of 'em people Nate?" asked Gordon.

"Yeah, their names are Howard and Susan Brookes. They run a ferry at their place. And they're the ones who gave us 'em taters, pie, clothes an' guns."

"Remind me to thank 'em when we git there."

Within a few hours the sun had set and the night had come and the fugitives had left the cave and were headed towards the Brookes house. They moved about as quietly as possible so as not to attract the attention of any slave catchers that might be in the area. Every night was like this, usually they would only go a few miles, usually 3 to 5, per night all the while they would keep an eye out for any danger. And due to the density of the trees visibility was extremely low at night so Nathaniel would have to scout the area out during the day so he could find the safest route. And this night visibility was nearly nonexistent since the night had gotten cloudy during their wait. After a while they were near their destination when they saw the light of several torches and lanterns approaching the house. In the light of those torches they saw about 9 men with guns and dogs. Slave catchers or maybe U.S. Marshals.

Nathaniel suddenly felt a feeling of dread come over him. Were they there to interrogate or arrest the Brookes or were they gonna stake the place out and wait for him and his group to show up and take them captive? Even though he and his band of runaways were armed with guns, knives, clubs, a pair of crossbows, a crude spear, a hatchet and even Mr. Haggarts hangar sword they weren't about to risk a confrontation with them. But they still readied their weapons just in case. He watched as they knocked on the door of the house. Shortly afterwards a large man with a long brown beard answered the door. Nathaniel recognized him as Howard Brookes. He and the armed men began talking but Nathaniel couldn't make out what they were saying due to the distance. One of the armed men, presumably the leader, showed Howard some kind of paper, perhaps a warrant or maybe a wanted poster. At the same time the other men went onto the property, most likely to search the place. Finally after what seemed like an eternity they left. But the fugitives decided to wait a little while before approaching the house, just in case the armed men were still in the area. After about 30 minutes Nathaniel finally decided it was safe to head to the house.

He approached the house by himself while the other remained behind. He knocked on the door and after about a minute a middle-aged brunette woman answered the door with a shotgun in her hands. "Oh, Nathaniel it's you." she said as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She was Susan Brookes.

"Who is it, dear?" asked her husband from the next room.

"It's Nathaniel, hun." She answered. "C'mon in, an' bring your friend in too."

Nathaniel then signaled for the others to come inside and they all came in. While Susan was helping the others get settled in for the night in the attic Nathaniel was talking with Howard.

"Who were those guys that came by earlier?" he asked.

"Slave catchers," Howard answered, "an' the one leadin' em was a U. S. Marshal lookin' for some runaways from the Madison farm. Ya saw 'em huh?"

"Yeah," Nathaniel said as he felt a knot form in his stomach; his worst fear had been confirmed. If he and the others had arrive any sooner and they would've most likely been caught. Yet it was a small comfort that they weren't necessarily looking him and his group. "Did they say anythin' else?"

" Oh yeah, they threatened to arrest me an' Susan if they caught us aidin' fugitive slaves. They already know I've been arrested once fer that. Spent 12 years in prison fer it." Howard unbuttoned his shirt and show his young friend a series of scars, all made by a whip. "When they put me in prison the warden said to me 'since ya love niggas so much, ya can be beaten an' worked like one'. So I spent 12 years in hard labor an' all the while the guards would flog me, sometimes for the fun of it."

"That's jus' awful" Nathaniel said as he shook his head in disgust.

"I know, but I'd happily endure it all over again if it means helpin' 'em poor souls outta bondage." said Howard as he buttoned his shirt back up.

Nathaniel couldn't help but admire this man. It must take a lot of courage to do what he was doing right now especially when he'd already paid the price for doing this very thing once before. His father and others like him would view this good man as nothing more than a criminal who had no regard for "property" rights. He wished there were more like him in the south.

"So ya got anything that can git that chain off Gordon's neck?" he asked hoping to change the subject a little.

"Sadly I don't. Someone done stole my tools from the shed a few days ago. So I'm afraid he's gonna have to wear it a lil' while longer."

He patted Nathaniel on the shoulder and said to him " Ya need to get some rest. We got some things to discuss t'morrow." Nathaniel nodded and made his way to one of the makeshift beds in the attic. Before going to sleep he said a prayer as he did every night.

" Lord God, thank ya' for helpin' an' the others get this far. An' thank ya' for leadin' us to this couple who're riskin' all to help us, an' I pray that you'll watch after 'em an' us as me an' the others make our way to freedom. And watch over other fugitives like Jake an' the others where ever they are. An' please provide us with safe passage along the river. In Yer holy name I pray, amen." And with that he went to sleep.

The next day the blacks mostly hung around in the attic, just in case the prying eyes of the slave catchers from last night were in the woods nearby, while Nathaniel and the Brookes came up with a plan to head north via the Mississippi River. They decided that Nathaniel and his group should travel up the river at night while there was still no moonlight and bring the boats to shore before morning and hide themselves and the boats till night fall until they reached the Fairfax family in Kentucky about 100 miles upriver on the east side in Mississippi state. After that they waited until nightfall to put the plan into action. They loaded up 2 boats with supplies including some sacks of food, medicine and clothes on their backs and they all bid each other farewell as Nathaniel and the runaways prepare to shove off. But then he heard something that made his blood freeze.

The barking of dogs. A bunch of them and they sounded close.

At that moment everyone, except the Brookes got on the boats as quickly as possible and shoved off into the river and started paddling as quickly but quietly as they could, all the while the barking of the dogs grew louder every second. But before long they had made it to the middle of the river and the barking of the dogs stopped. Nathaniel looked back at the house and saw the light of several torches and lamps all around the house. He pulled out a spyglass from his pack and looked back at the house with it. Through the spyglass he could see several armed men around the house searching the place and looked on in horror as he saw Howard and Susan being dragged out of the house in cuffs rather violently. One of the armed men even hit Howard in the head with the butt of a whip while another hit him in the face with a pair of shackles.

Nathaniel simply slumped down on the side of the boat with a sudden feeling of grief and guilt at what he had just seen. Tears streaked down his cheeks as he thought about it. The Brookes have been caught and Howard would more than likely go back to prison to be tortured and beaten some more, probably for an even longer time than before. And he couldn't help but feel it was his fault they were in this mess. All he could do was pray that God would keep them safe somehow. Nathaniel was stirred from his grief induced state by Jake.

"C'mon Nate, we need to get movin' before they find us."

Nathaniel managed to suppress some of his grief and guilt as he helped paddle upriver.

Author's Note

Even though Saul is a fictional character, what happened to him was in fact a reality for many freeborn or freed blacks even in free states. The fugitive slave laws of 1793, and later 1850, essentially allowed slave catchers and government officers to kidnap any black, whether a slave or not, and take them south to be sold into slavery and all it would take as the word of a white man. It denied a black person accused of escaping slavery any semblance of due process. And accused fugitives were not allowed to testify on their own behalf or offer any evidence countering the accusation that they were escaped slaves. It's estimated that several thousand blacks were the victims of such a practice. There was also financial incentives for enforcing these laws as those charged with enforcing them received $10 for every fugitive returned south and $5 for hearing a case, but not issuing a certificate of removal.

I gave 2 characters the names Joshua and Glover as a reference the famous fugitive slave Joshua Glover who had escaped from the Garlands farm near St. Louis Missouri and fled to Wisconsin where he lived for several years in a one room, dirt floor shack near the shores of Lake Michigan. However his owner Garland found out where he lived and had 3 U.S. Marshals arrest him and bring him back. He ended up staying a jail in Milwaukee. But later a newspaper editor named Sherman Booth organized a protest for Glovers release with a crowd of around 3 to 5,000 people. But when their demands fell on deaf ears they busted Glover out of jail and helped him escape north to Canada through the Underground Railroad. His escape essentially strengthened to case for state nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Unexpected Detour and Seperation

Somewhere along the Mississippi River, midnight
August 14, 1851

For hours Nathaniel and his black cohorts paddled up the Mississippi River in the moonless night with only the stars to light the way. In one boat was Nathaniel, Jake, Gordon, Saul and his family, Gertrude and Kenzy while the twins, Lisa, Abby, Broomhilda, Glover and his siblings were on the other. Even while he was paddling Nathaniel couldn't help but think about the Brookes and the fate that might be awaiting them. Howard and Susan would most likely be on their way to jail. Howard's punishment would probably be even more severe this time around. Susan would likely go through what Howard went through. And it's a possibility that they may've simply been lynched instead. Such things weren't unheard of. Even though the near total darkness hindered their vision, Nathaniel was glad of it since no one on the boat could see the tears that he was shedding for them, though he was pretty sure the others shed tears of their own for the brave couple that helped them get one more step closer to freedom. The Brookes didn't deserve any of that. His black friends didn't deserve to go through this whole ordeal; being hunted like dogs because they dared to flee from their masters cruel hands. But one thing he certain of: he would not let it all be in vain. He couldn't.

As they paddled they would look towards the banks for any light from torches or lanterns. But so far the only lights were from a few towns and houses they had passed by. So far everything was going smoothly. But then something happened; a storm had suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere, accompanied by a strange fog that was unusually thick and had a bluish color to it. And strangest of all the fog seemed to be glowing. But on upside at least now they could see. The water began to churn violently as soon as the storm arrived. It's arrival was so sudden that they didn't even have time to get to shore so they could wait it out.

"Where'd this storm come from?" asked Tess as she and her children began to get scared as the turbulent water churned more violently every minute.

"Dunno hun, but we best head to shore before we git sunk." said Saul.

"Yeah, we should." said Nathaniel in agreement. "Hey," he called to the other boat, "Head to shore. We're gonna wait this mess out."

"A' ight," yelled Glover from the other boat.

As they attempted to paddle to shore the river began to resemble the sea during a hurricane as the churning waters had turned into massive waves several feet high that threatened to capsize their boats and send everyone to a watery grave. By now reaching the shore wasn't possible, all Nathaniel and the others could do is try to survive the torrential waters. The air was filled with the sounds of crashing waves, howling wind, thunder, rain and screaming children and adults, Nathaniel's boat was almost flipped over by a wave, in the process losing a few oars and almost losing Ruth and Kenzi as well, and other boat just narrowly avoided a direct hit by another wave only managing to hit Lisa and Abby at the back.

"Guys," Nathaniel hollered at the other boat,"try to stay close. We gotta stay together or we're all dead."

Just then a wave began to form behind them, sending them straight towards Nathaniels boat. The two vessels collided sending Broomhilda, Betty, Toby and Kizzy flying onto the other boat and sending Gordon and Kenzi overboard.

"Gordon! Kenzi!" Nathaniel and the others called out. Gordon was struggling to keep himself afloat because of the chains still wore and Kenzi didn't know how to swim. And the enormous waves only made thing more difficult.

"Saul, Tess, Gertrude help me I can't swim!" Kenzi cried out as she struggled frantically just to keep her head above the water

"Nate, Jake, help! I can't swim with these chains!" Gordon cried out as he struggled to paddle with the shackles still around his wrists, neck and ankles.

Nathaniel grabbed one of the remaining oars and reached out to Gordon with it and at the same time Saul grabbed a rope and jumped in after Kenzi.

"Gordon, grab the oar. I'll pull ya in." Nathaniel called out to Gordon, who tried his best to swim over to the oar so he could grab it, but the current was making it difficult. But Saul had managed to help him reach the oar after he'd saved Kenzi. Everyone had managed to get back in their own boats but then an uprooted cypress tree came at them from on top of a wave, its roots straight up in the air began to fall towards them like a giant club.

"Oh shit, LOOK OUT!" Nathaniel exclaimed as everyone tried to get out of the way of the tree just before it made a direct hit on both vessels effectively destroying them both. Everyone was swimming, or trying to swim, for whatever piece of the wreckage they could stay afloat on. Nathaniel and Jake clung to part of the bow. Saul, Tess and Ruth clung to a piece of the portside. Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua hung on to part of the aft. Gordon clung onto one of the broken roots of the tree. The twins tried to climb up on a piece of a bottom board. Lisa, Abby and Broomhilda clung to a broken piece of one of the boats starboard hull. Glover and his sibling clung to a piece of the other boats bow. As everyone struggled to remain on their makeshift rafts, the current caused everyone drift apart in different directions. Their screams were overpowered by the howling wind and crashing waves.

Nathaniel and Jake tried to call out to the others but to no avail, all the sounds of the howling wind, waves and thunder drowned out any cry he or Jake made. And they had lost sight of them as well. Nathaniel could once again feel his spirit being crushed. It was to become too much for him. First they spent a week running through the woods like scared rabbits, then the Brookes got arrested for helping him and his friends and now they were lost to this hellish storm and its weird glowing fog, most likely drowning at that very moment. He wanted nothing more than to try and save his friends, but was powerless to do so. but that would have to wait until they make it out of this storm; if they made it out of the storm. At that moment the strange storm began to quiet down. The howling stopped, the thunder and rain stopped and the water was beginning to calm down until it was a smooth as glass. Again they tried calling out for the others, but there was still no answer. And the fog was starting to dissipate revealing the clear night sky with a full moon shining brightly in the night. The 2 simply looked at the moon and themselves curiously.

"Hey, Nate wasn't there s'posed to be no moon t'night?" Jake asked Nathaniel.

"No, there wasn't." he answered "Let's jus' git to shore an' rest an' try to look fer the others in the mornin'. I'm jus' so tired."

"Me, too Nate."

The 2 boys steered their makeshift raft towards the rivers bank and once they did they simply crawled over to the roots of a large oak tree and drifted off to sleep, but not before Nathaniel prayed that the others had survived and made it someplace safe.

Canterlot Castle
Shortly after midnight
Down the marble halls of Canterlot Castle a blue figure walked silently towards one of the castles main bed chamber, her footsteps muffled by the long dense red carpet. The figure in question was a female equinoid creature with dark blue fur and a blue mane and tail that billowed in a non-existant breeze and sparkled like the night sky itself and teal eyes. A pair of bird like wings were folded on her back like a feathery cape and on her head was a long spiraling horn. She was dressed in a regal black gown that faded to black at the bottom and decorated with glittering patterns made to resemble the stars can crescent moon patterns, black silk gloves that went up to her shoulders with a pair of silver bracers over them, black high-heel boots tipped with silver toes, a black tiara upon her head and a decorative blacke gorget around her neck with a silver crescent moon on its surface. She is none other than Princess Luna, Mistress of the Night and co-regent of the kingdom of Equestria. She approached the bed chamber of her older sister Princess Celestia. A pair of guards in full suits of polished golden armour standing outside her salute the Princess of the Night and resume their watch while Luna knocks on the large gilded oak doors.

"Come in." called a soft sleepy sounding voice from the other side. And Luna enters.

"Tis me, Tia," said Luna to her sister who was sitting in a large regal bed with the sheets covered in sun patterns and colored in orange, yellow, white and blue. The older royal wore a white sleeping gown with gold trim. Her prismatic mane was wrapped in a series of curlers.

"What is it Lulu?" the elder sister asked still sleepy.

"I wish to speak with you about some rather disturbing dreams I've encountered during this nights travels through the Dreamscape."

"Disturbing?" Celestia asked "How so?"

"Well for starters, the beings within the dream were not like anything I've ever seen before; they didn't look like Ponies but rather had dark skin instead of fur, had flat faces with only triangular-shaped nose instead of a muzzle, roundish ears on the sides of their heads and some of them had wooly black hair." Celestia only looked at her younger sibling with confusion.

"Well, that is certainly is strange, Lulu but they just sounds like the dream of somepony with a vivid imagination. What's so disturbing about them?"

"What's so disturbing about them is that they don't appear to be just dreams but memories. And all of them show these creatures in all sorts of pain and misery. Images of them being beaten, whipped and tortured by other creatures like them with pale skin. And I can even recall seeing images of what looked like the dark beings being sold to the pale beings and being made to work in fields of cotton. And all the while I could hear those poor creatures cries of agony, the cracking of whips, the barking of dogs and shouting in a language I can't understand. I dare not go into the exact details of these memories for they're just too horrible to describe, but it looked like those dark being were slaves to the pale beings."

Celestia tried to process what her sister had just told her. These memories her sister just described were indeed disturbing. In her long years of life they both had seen slavery and the depravity that went along with it; from the Diamond Dogs, The Crystal Empire under the rule of the now deceased King Sombra and the former Draconian Empire to the east.

But as for the description of the dark and pale skinned being, she could recall no memories of such beings anywhere in the world. Although she did recall her pupil-now-turned-princess Twilight Sparkle describing creatures just like them inhabiting the world her ex-protégé Sunset Shimmer now called home.

"Are these the memories of a single individual, Lulu?"

"Several actually, dear sister. About 17 if I recall. 16 of the dark being and 1 of the pale beings. Male and female, mostly consisting of children of their kind. And they all seem to share some sort to each other."

"How so?"

"Well I looked deeper into their more recent memories and they all seem to have pleasant memories of the pale being like he was their friend or something like that. And in some of their even more recent memories I can recall them all running through a forest of some sort in the middle of the night and meeting some more pale beings, one with a beard and another that appeared to be female, who lived along the banks of a large river. They offered boats to dark beings and their pale friend to go someplace upriver, but the pale couple were taken captive by other pales beings armed with torches and guns. And the last memories depicted the group of dark beings and their pale friend getting caught in a strange storm accompanied by this strange blue glowing fog. Their boats were destroyed and ended up getting separated."

"Glowing blue fog?"

"Yes. And this fog in question had some kind of thaumatic signature and I felt that signature not too long ago in different parts of Equestria. One near the Wonderbolt's training camp, another somewhere by the Crystal Empire, another near Manehatten, another near Appleloosa, another in the northern part of the Everfree Forest near Ponyville and another somewhere near Canterlot. And I have reason to believe this fog somehow brought these beings into our world."

"How do you guess these beings are from another world?"

"Because I can't recall seeing any of their kind anywhere in this world, though I do remember Twilight describing such creatures in that other world that Sunset Shimmer now calls home."

"As do I Lulu, and as interesting as all of this is perhaps it would be best to further investigate this matter in the morning. I'll be sure to send a letter about this to Twilight. In the meantime, good night Lulu." with that Celestia went back to bed.

"Good night Tia." said Luna before leaving her sisters room to resume her nightly duties.

Author's Note

And here's where the group officially land in Equestria.

Unfamiliar Territory

Ad by Web ShieldXXAd by Web ShieldXXNathaniel & Jake
Location Unknown

Jake was the first to awaken, his vision blurry and his head feeling groggy, his body felt stiff and sore like he had been stuffed into a very small box in a less-than-comfortable position. Slowly and groggily he removed the pack on his back and stretched feeling relief as the stiff muscles loosened up and his bones popped into place. Last night was without a doubt the roughest night he had ever experienced in his life. He looked over to his best friend and former master who was still asleep at the roots of the oak tree. The night before had been an especially harrowing experience for him. Jake considered waking him up, but decided against it feeling his friend could use the rest after all he had been through last night.

He looked through what little supplies they had left. Despite losing most of their supplies in the storm he and Nathaniel had managed to keep some of their personal effects like some spare clothes, a medical kit, some food, the map to the safehouse, Nathaniels Bible and other books and their weapons in the sacks they wore on their backs. He and Nathaniel still had their rifles slung across their backs and pistols in their packs and some powder and lead shot, but they were likely useless at the moment due to the powder getting wet. They both still had their hunting knives and Nathaniel had even managed to keep his granddads old hangar and Jake a small hatchet. The crossbows however were lost along with the bolts for them.

He inspected the guns to see if the powder was wet, and it was. Their spare powder was wet too. Plus some water had gotten into the barrels of the rifles so they were totally useless for the time being. He cursed mentally as he turned his attention to the food. The dried meat the Brookes gave them might still be good, the bread was soaked and falling apart. The remaining potatoes might also still be good, as were the apples and pears though they were bruised. The canned goods they had would definitely still be good. He might still have to forage, hunt or steal some fresher food though in case the food especially the meat and bread started to spoil due to being wet for who knows how long. Nathaniel had taught him how to hunt and forage and use a gun. He had even gone on hunting and fishing trips with him and Mr. Haggart, though his job was dressing the game. Lastly he checked the clothes, they were wet but still in good order. He laid them out to dry along the river bank placing rocks on them to keep them from blowing away.

Once he was satisfied that everything was in order Jake decide to look around. He looked at the river and noticed it didn't seem nearly as wide as before. The Mississippi River was a mile wide or more at some places but the river before him appeared to be no more than 50 yards wide at the most. So they may've floated into a separate river or stream. But that idea was thrown out when he got a better look at his surroundings. The trees were sparse in contrast to the familiar dense forests and woodlands of Arkansas. And there were also mountains including one right behind their camp. And to his knowledge there were no mountains along the Mississippi.

'That storm must've blown us really far off course.' he thought to himself.

As he sat down next to his friend his mind began to drift towards his other friends and fellow runaway slaves; Saul and his family, the twins, the cousins, Gordon, Broomhilda, Joshua and his brother and sister and Gertrude. He wondered where they were now and if they too were still alive like him and Nathaniel. He also wondered about where they may be doing right now if they were still alive, if they were running around in the wild somewhere, found someone who would be willing to give them shelter or if they had been captured. He didn't like to dwell on that possibility but he couldn't help it. That possibility was real for him and Nathaniel as well. This thought made him look around for anyone who might be watching. It was at that time he heard Nathaniel stirring from his sleep.

"Hey Nate, how ya feelin' man?" he asked.

"Feel like crap." Nathaniel answered groggily as he stretched his stiff muscles.

"Yeah, it was a purdy rough night, huh?"

"No kiddin'." Nathaniel looked over at the clothes laided out on the bank. "I take it all our stuff got wet?"

"Yep, includin' our gunpowder, our food an' your books. The rest of our stuff's gone, includin' that crossbow of yours."

"Fan-damn-tastic," he cursed rubbing his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Ya seen or heard any of the others?"

" 'Fraid not. I don't even know where we at. Jus' look at the mountains 'round us."

"Mountains?" Nathaniel asked with a perplexed look on his face. For the first time since he woke up he got a good look at his surrounding and indeed he saw the mountains. He couldn't help but look at the scenery in disbelief. "No way." he said. "This ain't right. There shouldn't be any mountains along the Mississippi."

"I don't think we on the Mississippi no more, Nate." Jake added.

"Lemme see the maps, Jake." Nathaniel said as Jake handed him the still damp maps. After a few minutes reviewing the maps he couldn't find anything on them that matched their location. At this point he realized they were seriously lost.

"Jake, I think we're lost. There ain't nothin' on any of these here maps that matches our location." He and Jake said down beneath the oak tree attempting to ponder their next move. After what seemed like several minutes Jake finally broke the silence.

"So...What we gonna do, Nate? We gonna try an' look fer the others?"

"Yeah." Nathaniel answered. "I don't leave 'em out here. But if we can't find 'em we'll jus' hafta go on without 'em."

He took no joy in saying that. He wanted everyone to go up north together, but it didn't look like that was going to happen if they couldn't be found. Jake and the others were like family to him despite their differences in skin color and social status. In fact they were more of a family to him than his biological family. His mother died when he was still a toddler, so he had almost no memory of her, and his father was an abusive drunkard and fiend who treated him almost as badly as he did his slaves. The only other relative he had was his uncle Bartholomew, whom was William Haggarts' oldest brother. But he hadn't seen or heard from him in years due to the fact he and William didn't get along too well due to Bartholomew being an abolitionist. So he was all but kicked out of his life by his father. The only real family he had left were the slaves. Leaving them behind would like him abandoning one of his own family to die.

After the boys got a quick breakfast consisting of the dried meat and potatoes they decided to explore around for a bit to see if they could find any of the others and maybe find some more food and most importantly find out where they were. They started their search by following the river which seemed to go near some tall flat-topped mountain with a waterfall on the side. So far they found none of their companions, however they did have some success scrounging up fresh food. There were some blackberry and raspberry bushes and mulberry trees along the river. They gathered some more cattails in marshy parts of the river and even managed to catch a few bullfrogs, a turtle, some crawdads and even a good sized catfish that was stranded in a sinkhole. As they got closer to the mountain they noticed what looked like a road going up the side of it. There were odd ring-shaped clouds near the top and what appeared to be large birds flying through them, but they were flying way too fast to be any ordinary birds; and both of them swore they saw some of the "birds" leave behind multicolored streaks behind them as they flew.

Daylight was beginning to wane and the sun was setting by the time Nathaniel and Jake reached the foot of the mountain and found that it really did have a road going up along the side of it. So they reasoned that their might be a town or at the least a building of some sort on top. Otherwise no one would bother putting a road up there.

"Well, whaddaya say, Jake? We go up that there road an' see what's up there?"

Jake merely shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure. Don't see why not? Might git us a good look at the land 'round here from up there. An' we may find us a place to stay fer the night."

Receiving his answered Nathaniel and Jake made their way up the mountain. By the time they were a quarter of the way up the mountain it was dark and the moon was out. Down below they could see the lights of a town that looked to be no more than a few miles away. It was too far away for them to reach tonight so they just kept going up the mountain road. After what seemed like more than an hour of walking they were near the top and they caught a glimpse of the one of the strange ring clouds they had seen earlier as it shown a silverish blue color in the moonlight. They both kept wondering how it was keeping its shape and how come it hadn't blown away in some breeze and what purpose it could possibly serve as this cloud seemed ...artificial to them. It just wasn't natural. Eventually they just forgot about the strange cloud and kept going up the road. Finally they reached the top and looked down over the side. They could see the lights of the town more clearly now and it looked to be a relatively small town or maybe a large village. They'd have to see tomorrow.

They turned their attention back to what could be up on top of the mountain. And they did indeed find something up there. The first thing they saw was a rainbow colored waterfall and a long rectangular black patch of earth with white streaks running down the middle of it that ran from one end of the mountaintop to the other going all the way to the edge of the cliff with a small brook going underneath it at one end. Jake took his hatchet and tapped on the black earth with the backside and found that it was bouncy, like rubber backed by something hard like stone. He then put his hand on the black rubbery substance and found it to have a very rough and hard texture to it. Nathaniel knelt down and felt the strange substance too. Neither had seen or felt anything like it before.

"Whaddaya think this could be?" Nathaniel asked Jake, whom only shook his head and said:
"Beats me. Ain't no road that's fer sure."

While they were trying to figure out the purpose of the strange black surface Nathaniel caught sight of something ever more bizarre on the other side of the mountain top. He elbowed Jake and pointed him towards what he was staring at. And both boys simply stared in amazement, shock and utter disbelief at what they say:

Buildings. A series of buildings...made out of clouds.

There was just no way it was possible; the ring clouds and strange black surface was strange enough, but this just straight up defied any logical explanation. How could such structures even be made, how would they not blow apart in the wind and who or what could even live in them? There were even lights in the windows meaning they were occupied. They decided to get a closer look at the largest cloud-building which appeared to be the main building. It was about 2 or 3 stories high with some steps going up to the main entrance with strange statues on either side. Strange as in they were made in the image of winged humanoid figures in flight with faces that possessed equine features and horse-like tails trailing behind them and both statues looked like they were made of bronze. The boys just dismissed the statues as strange artwork and began testing the cloud to see if it could hold any weight. At first they tried to touch it with their hands only to feel nothing but cool water vapour. Next they threw a rock on the cloud only for it to go straight through making a light "poof" as it fell through the vapour.

"Well, don't look like we're gonna be gittin' in there." said Nathaniel. "But seriously, what could live in a house made of cloud?"

"Angels?" answered Jake, unsure if that last statement was an actual question or a rhetorical one.

"I don't think angels live in cloud houses Jake." Nathaniel answered.

Before either one could say anything else they heard a feminine voice call out from above. They looked up and saw a figure with bright orange hair looking down at them from an open window on the second floor. She said something to them again but the boys couldn't understand what she was saying, like she was speaking in another language. And judging from her tone they could tell she wasn't very happy. Instead of trying to respond to whatever it was she said the boys just took off running while the figure shouted angrily at them. As the boys ran for the road that lead down the mountain they heard whooshing sounds somewhere above them. They looked up a saw a winged figure gliding through the air past them, turn around, stop in mid air and land on the ground in front of them. It was the same orange-haired figure as before but this time they got a better look at her now. She was wearing a red robe of some sort with flame patterns on the cuffs and hems and some slippers to match and her hair wasn't just orange but orange and yellow giving it the appearance of a flame. She also had what looked like a horse-like tail behind her of the same colors.

But what really stuck out to the boys, besides the golden bird wings and flame-colored hair and tail, was her face: it possessed the equinoid features the bronze statues with pointed ears on top of her head rather than the sides and the flame-like hair in question was really a mane. A short snout protruding from her face, more resembling that of a cat or short snouted dog than a horse and she had a pair of very large forward-facing orange eyes giving her face some semblance to that of a Humans. And she was covered in golden fur. In short she was a woman with the head of a deformed horse and bird wings. However the boys weren't as concerned about her physical appearance as they were about what she had in her hands: a double-barreled shotgun. And it was pointed right at them.

She shouted something at them that they couldn't understand, but they could guess the meaning and raised their hands over their heads.

Author's Note

Nathaniel and Jake meet one of the inhabitants of Equestria, and you can probably guess who she is. The next few chapters will focus on the other runaways and their encounters with the inhabitants of Equestria. The very next one will feature Gordon and his run-in with the family of a certain pink party pony.

Breaking and Entering

Gordon
Location Unknown
It was sometime in the afternoon when Gordon awoke. He had washed up on a riverbank somewhere still clinging to those same roots from the night before. The chains on his manacles had caught on one of the tendrils. It was perhaps the only time in his life he was greatful to have those accursed chains on him as they had prevented him from drowning since he couldn't swim with them on anyway. He untangled his chains from the roots and looked himself over and found, much to his chagrin, that he lost his back pack, which contained all of his supplies including his clothes and food. He lost all of his weapons as well except for his knife. And he lost his right shoe was well.

'Jus' great.' he thought to himself. He had no food, no extra clothes, one worn-out shoe, his friends were all missing and he was lost in the middle of God-knows-where. But worst of all he had no way to defend himself besides a lousy kitchen knife, and that wouldn't do him much good against a band of gun-toting slave catchers if he ran into any. Having no reason to stay on the riverbank he got moving. His first priority was getting some food, clothes, weapons and most importantly Nathaniel and the others and something to get that damn collar and shackles off of him.

He hated that damned thing with a passion. The heavy iron collar would always dig into his collar bones, leaving raw blisters and sours. And shackles would not only restrict his movements, especially when it came to walking, but would dig into his wrists and ankles mainly his Achilles tendons making walking uncomfortable, running even more so. The worst part about them was the degradation and humiliation that came with wearing them. It was a constant reminder that to society he was nothing but an animal, a beast of burden, if not lower. And for him the path to real freedom could only be uptained once he got rid of those wretched things.

He followed along the river moving as quickly and quietly as he could manage moving from tree to tree and bush to bush doing his best to try and remain hidden. All the while he kept an eye out for Nathaniel and the others as well as for anything to eat, and so far haven't seen any sign of them and the only food he managed to find were a handful of grasshoppers he managed to catch, a very meager meal at best. The little jumping insects tasted awful but at least he had something in his stomach.

After what seemed like an hour or more of searching for his companions he still had no luck finding them, however he did come across something almost as good: A farm. That meant food, supplies and perhaps even a means for him to finally be free of that wretched collar and shackles. It also meant an enormous risk of getting captured if he were to try and get something from there. There was no way of knowing if the owners of the farm were abolitionists who were willing to help him or if they would take him prisoner and turn him over to the authorities, or worse, take him back to his old master or be sold back into slavery, if they don't kill him first for trespassing. And though very unlikely, there was still a chance that Nathaniel and the others might be staying on that farm. Normally he would've considered just avoiding the farm altogether, however he was in need of supplies so he would just simply have to take the risks.

He approached the farm through a thicket of trees to avoid being seen. When he got a closer look at the farm he noticed several things: first he didn't see anyone working the fields, slaves or otherwise, even though it was sometime in the afternoon, but the second and most obvious thing that stuck out to him was the fact that there no crops of any kind planted out in the field, not even weeds it would seem. And the ground itself didn't even look like it's been plowed. In the place of crops there were piles of rocks scattered all over the property. All the fields were filled with nothing but rocks of various sizes from rocks the size of his fist to ones the size of his torso. This had Gordon completely baffled; why would a farm have whole fields full of nothing but piles of rocks? By all accounts the rocks didn't seem all that special; just ordinary rocks.

He decided not to dwell on what the rocks were for and proceeded to look around the outskirts of the property to find the best point of entry that would allow him to go onto the farm without being seen from the farmhouse. He decided his best chance would be to enter from a direction behind the barn where the view from the house was blocked. And from there he would find, or make, a way inside the barn and look for what he needed and leave. He hated having to steal from people and always having to sneak around the countryside hiding like some hunted animal, but he didn't have much choice. Being a fugitive slave meant he couldn't afford to trust anyone, white or black, to offer him food and shelter lest they send him back into bondage. Nathaniel and the Brookes were the only exceptions.

He approached the fence surrounding the rock fields and squeezed himself through the horizontal beams of the fence. Once he was on the other side he drew the knife out from the waistline of his pants and made his way towards the barn as quietly as he could manage, holding his chains in his left hand in order to try and reduce the sound of their rattling, maneuvering between different rock piles.

The whole time his heart pounded and he began to sweat, not just from the heat but from nervousness as well. If he were caught now, he'd be in big trouble, especially since he had a weapon in his hand. And he was especially wary of the rock piles that were large enough for someone to hide behind as there could be someone hiding behind one of them right now, waiting for a clean shot at him. If that were the case at least the rocks would provide some cover.

After about 6 minutes or more he finally made it to the barn. It wasn't very large barn; more like an extra large shed. It was a very plain looking wooden building, much like the thatched roof farmhouse behind it. There was also a tall wooden silo near the farmhouse right across from the barn and all 3 buildings were surrounded by a wooden fence. After squeezing through the second fence Gordon searched the outside of the barn for a way in.

Pinkie Pie & Family
Pie Family Rock Farm
Even though she writes to her parents often, Pinkie was glad she finally got some time to spend with them, especially since all of her other sisters Marble, Limestone and Maud were also visiting. So to her it was like a little family reunion. It was the first day of her week and a half long vacation and she decided to spend it with her family since she hadn't seen them in a while. They were all really happy to see each other and spent the first part of the day sharing the details of their lives and careers. Limestone was a secretary for a mining company near Dodge Junction, Marble had found her talent for sculpting things from stone and set up a studio in Vanhoover, Maud was a rock scientist and Pinkie was a baker and party planner in nearby Ponyville.

"So Pinkie," asked her father Igneous Rock, "how have things been for ya in Ponyville lately?"

"It's been GREAT, papa!" Pinkie answered excitedly.

"Me and your father read about all those things you and your friends have done, like that party you threw for your friend, Rainbow Dash I believe is her name. And how that other friend of yours Twilight became princess," said her mother Cloudy Quartz. "Seems you've had quite an exciting life since those friends of yours came along dear, what with saving Equestria multiple times and all." She puts an arm around her pink daughter, giving her an affectionate hug.

"Yep, our little filly is quite the hero." interjected Igneous also giving his daughter a hug.

"Oh stop you two." Pinkie playfully protested.

"Oh, by the way Maud, didn't you meet Princess Twilight once?" asked Limestone,"What was she like?"

"She likes books." Maud answered bluntly. "And she lives in that tree that's also a library."

"Didn't it get destroyed by that Tee-rick guy not too long ago when he attacked Equestria?" asked Marble.

"It's Tirek, Marble." Pinkie corrected. "And yeah it got destroyed but she also got that super-duper awesome new castle she's living in now. And me and my friends even have our very own little round table!"

"Speaking of which Maud, what were her other friends like?" Limestone asked.

"Well her friend Applejack really likes apples and says she grows the best apples in Equestria but they just taste like apples to me. I tried to help her peel apples for apple cider but it did not work out. Rainbow Dash likes racing, flying and playing games, though she didn't care for mine and Boulder's game of Camoflauge. Fluttershy was really into animals and Rarity was really into fashion and clothes. She even commented on my frock, asking me what it said. I just told her it didn't talk because it was a dress."

"Oh, that reminds me," interjected Cloudy Quartz," I have to check on the laundry outside."

"I'll go with you, mama." said Marble as she followed Cloudy out the door.

At the same time outside, Gordon had been busy sticking his knife in between the planks of the sides of the barn and wiggling it around testing for any loose boards that he could pry loose an opening for him to enter. He wasn't about to go through the main entrance lest he be spotted by the farms residents.

His attempts to find an opening were cut short when he heard the sound of a door opening followed by the sounds of people talking. From the sound of the voices they belonged to a pair of women talking excitedly about something in a language he didn't understand. 'Must be foreigners,' he thought. As quietly as he could, holding his chains to try and muffle their rattling, he snuck over towards the corner of the barn and risked taking a peek at the owners of the voices.

He saw a pair of female figures attending to some clothes on some clothelines. One looked like an older woman wearing a nice-looking dark grey long-sleeved dress with a grey plaid collar that went down to her calves, some dress shoes and her unusual cool grey hair was done up into a bun. The younger one was dressed in a short-sleeved lavender shirt with a very wide collar that was almost the width of her shoulders, a pair of black pants that came down to her knees and on her feet she wore some kind of sandles and she had straight shoulder-length hair the same color as the older womans but slightly darker.

But what was really shocking about them was the fact that they weren't Human as evident by their faces and horse-like tails. Their heads and faces vaguely resembled that of a horses with their pointed ears and muzzles and their hair was really more like that of a horses mane than that of a Humans. However their snouts were extremely short compared to that of a regular horses, bearing more of a resemblance to the snout of a cat or a short muzzled dog. And their eyes were extremely large yet very Human-like. And both had a coat of grey fur though the younger of the pair had slightly darker fur than the elder. From the neck down most everything else about them looked human.

All he could do was stare at the strange pair of creatures. 'No way they can be real,' he thought to himself. Maybe the heat and adrenaline was making him see and hear things. Or maybe it was something in those grasshoppers he ate earlier, they may've eaten something with hallucinogenic properties before he ate them. Just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating he took his knife and pressed its point into the flesh of his index finger and in one quick motion he flicked the point across the skin, cutting deep into the flesh and causing Gordon to let out a pained grunt before sticking the bleeding finger into his mouth. He may've cut too deep.

Marble and Cloudy's ears gave an involuntary twitch when they heard a strange sound from somewhere nearby.

"Mama, didja hear something?" Marble asked her mother.

"I did." answered Cloudy."It sounded like somepony groaning. Sounded male too."

They knew it couldn't have been Igneous because he was still inside with his other daughters.

"Mama, ya think there could be a trespasser on the far-" Marble cut off her sentence when she noticed what looked like somepony peeking out from the side of the barn with had a poofy mane. The instant she saw it it ducked back behind the barn, making a thumping sound in the process along with what sounded to her like a chain rattling.

"Mama I saw something by the barn!" said Marble.

"And I heard it too." responded Cloudy as both mares made their way to the barn to investigate the strange sounds.

To see if his idea worked he peeked back over the corner. Unfortunately for him the two horse-women were still there, but this time they had stopped what they were doing and were looking around. Did they hear me, he wondered. All of a sudden he felt his heart skip a beat when the younger horse-woman looked in his direction. He immediately ducked back out of sight and in his momentary panic he practically slammed himself against the side of the barn causing his iron collar to thump loudly against the wood. Without thinking he gripped his collar with both causing the chains to rattle loudly. He froze and mentally cussed himself out for his stupidity because surely if the horse-women didn't hear him before they would've definitely heard him this time.

Unfortunately his fears were confirmed as he heard footsteps coming his direction. Panicking he took off running towards the back of the barn as fast as his still fettered feet could take him. He wasn't about to let those things catch as there was no telling what they might do to him if they did.

He reached the backside of the barn and as he looked for a place to hide he noticed a loose board near the opposite corner. Without a second thought ran over to it and pried it loose and squeezed himself inside, pulling the loose board back in place just a moment before the horse-women made to the backside of the barn. He heard them talking in their strange language just on the other side of the wall. He even heard what sounded like sniffing on the other side, as if they were trying to smell him. He sniffed himself and found that he had a particularly strong odor from not bathing in a while. 'Oh great they can smell me now too,' thought Gordon fearfully.

He heard them talk some more and then go back the way they came. He watched the entrance of the barn from behind a wall of hay in the back. He just knew they were going to come inside the barn and look for him. After a minute of waiting he cautiously went over to the barn door to see if they were still outside. For all he knew the horse-women knew he was in their barn and were simply waiting outside for him, ready to pounce as soon as he tried to get out. He heard the horse-women talking outside again in front of the barn. He peaked through a crack between the boards of the barn doors and saw, much to his relief, that they were going into the house. He slumped against the barn door and sighed in relief. He was safe, at least for now.

As Cloudy and her daughter made their way to the barn their ears picked up the sounds of a chain rattling and somepony running, as if whoever was making those sounds were wearing chains around their feet. They quickened their pace as they neared the right corner of the barn hoping to see the culprit before they ran off. But by the time they got there whoever had made the sounds had disappeared. However they did detect an unfamiliar scent, and it was very fresh, only about a few seconds old. They could tell it was male, and that he really needed a bath, but they couldn't tell what he was. Whoever was there wasn't a Pony.

Marble noticed a small red stain on the corner. She placed a finger on it to find that it was still wet, leaving a red stain on her fingertip. She brought the finger to her nose and took a whiff. It was blood. And from its smell it belonged to the strange male. He must be bleeding. Cloudy took notice of the blood and smelled it. " Whoever was here might be wounded or hurt." Cloudy stated. "We'd better find him and see if we can help."

They followed the scent all the way to the back of the barn where it abruptly stopped near the left-hand corner. Marble looked around the other of the barn while Cloudy followed the scent out towards the rock field. "I don't see 'em nowhere, mama."

"He musta ran back through the rock field. He couldn't have gotten in the barn, the front doors are the only way in."

"You think he could've used some kind of teleportation spell to get away?"

"Dunno dear." Cloudy answered as she and her daughter made their way back towards the house. "But if he's still around we'd better tell Igneous and your other sisters. He could be dangerous."

"What makes you say that?" her daughter inquired.

"You remember the sound of those chains? He may've been wearing shackles of some kind, meaning he may be an escaped convict." said Cloudy with a hint of fear in her voice. She knew there was a prison about 12 miles away. She and her husband would often deliver rocks to the prison for the inmates sentenced to hard labour to bust up. It's possible an inmate could've escaped from there. And that thought made her worry because that prison was home to several ponies serving life without parole and even some death row inmates. Having a potentially violent criminal near her farm or family was the last thing she wanted.

"So Pinkie, are you goin' out with the Cheese Sandwich guy?" inquired Limestone. "From the way you described him he sounds like your type, what with the party-planning and all."

"Uhh..no." answered a slightly flustered Pinkie."I've only known him for one day. And besides he's a travelling party-planner so it's kinda hard to date somepony that's always on the road, dontcha think?"

Limestone thought about it for a moment before saying "Good point."

"Though I will admit he is kinda cute." said Pinkie in a dreamy tone with her cheeks turning slightly red as she daydreamed about the travelling party-pony with his luscious caramel-colored coat, lovely afro-like brown mane that resembled chocolate cotton candy, lovely chartreuse eyes and most importantly his perfect dazzling smile. And his laugh and the way he could sing. Oh, how they made her feel tingly all over.

Ting!

Pinkie rubbed the nape of her neck in reaction to the unfamiliar sensation she felt, snapping her out of her fantasy. "You okay, Pinkie?" asked Limestone slightly perplexed.

"Yeah, I'm fine just a weird sensation is all." answered Pinkie just before getting same sensation again. Shortly afterwards Cloudy and Marble came back in the house.

"Girls, where's your father?" Cloudy asked with some concern evident in her voice.

"He went to the bathroom." answered Maud. "Why do you ask?"

"We think there may be a trespasser on the farm." This caused everyone to look worried, even Maud. "Me and Marble found a strange scent by the side of the barn. It smelled like someone male but it didn't smell like a Pony and Marble said she saw someone peeking at us from behind the side of the barn. And he also sounded like he was wearing chains around his feet. I think he may be an escaped convict from that prison nearby." The last bit caused Limestone and Pinkie to gasp and Mauds eyes to widen.

"Maybe that's what's been making that tingly feeling on the back of my neck! It must be my Pinkie sense telling me someone was on our property."

"I'll go fetch your father, while the rest of look around. But be careful; whoever he is may be armed and dangerous." Cloudy stated as she made her way to the bathroom.

"Alright," said Pinkie taking the lead. "Limestone, Marble check around the house. Maud, me and you will go check out the barn."

"Got it." the other mares said in unity as they went to their tasks.

After the horse-women went inside Gordon started to look around the barn. At the back were stacks of hay bales, most likely their food. To his right against the wall was a long table with strange red boxes on top and beneath it with multiple drawers on their fronts. Above the table was a cupboard and on the wall itself several tools were hung from some kind of flat wooden surface that was perforated with many holes. The tools themselves consisted of different kinds of wrenches, hand saws, screw drivers and hammers.

To his left were an assortment of larger tools, namely pick-axes, mauls, sledge hammers and a few gardening tools, hanging neatly on a rack. The floor of the barn was densely packed earth that was almost as hard as a rock. But one thing that caught his eye was a strange glass orb attached to a rafter in the center of the barn.

While he looked around a hundred different questions about the farms inhabitants ran through his mind: What were they? Where was he? Was he even in the States anymore? Were there more creatures like them around? Were they friendly or hostile to Humans? What would they do to him if they found him? Murder him right where he stood? Use him as a sacrificial victim to whatever gods they worshipped? Torture him? Eat him? Sell him back into slavery? Or keep him as their slave?

He went to look at the tools above the table with the red boxes. The first thing he grabbed was a 5 lb. blacksmiths hammer. Then he grabbed a hacksaw and another saw with a rather strange edge. Unlike the typically sharp-toothed sawblade this one had a very rough gritty edge. He tested it on one of his manacles and found that it did indeed leave a noticeable mark on the iron cuff. He ran his right thumb back and forth against the edge and to his amazement it didn't slice open his finger even though it could clearly cut into the metal of his manacles. It would come in handy when it came time to cut the manacles and collar off. The other would be good for cutting the chains. The hammer could serve other purposes.

He proceeded to raid the red chests which happened to be made of metal, and within the drawers were an assortment of different chisels, files, rasps, some sandpaper, nails, screws and a variety of other strange tools he couldn't recognize with strange black cords attached to them. He took one of the chisels and a file as those might come in handy when he gets ready to get rid of those accursed chains and for after he gets rid of them. When he got what he wanted he took a burlap sack he found beside the table and started to put the loot in the bag. But before he could put even one tool in the bag he heard someone trying to open the barn door. Frightened, Gordon ran for cover behind a wall of haybales next to the table.

He ducked behind the haybales just in time before the barn doors opened. He looked through a crack between 2 bales and saw a pair of horse-woman that were different from the ones he saw before. One of them was pink with a poofy mane and tail that was a darker shade of pink and she wore a rather bizzare outfit: a red shirt beneath a short blue denim jacket, a pair short blue jean shorts, thigh-length blue and yellow striped stockings and a pair of light blue knee-length lace up boots of some kind.

The other was grey like the pair he'd seen before with a purpleish mane and tail and a blank expression on her face. In contrast to wild fashion sense of the pink one, the grey one was dressed in a more conservative outfit, namely a greenish grey frock that came down to her knees with a wide black belt, a pair of black pants and black calf-length boots.

He could hear the sound of the horse-women sniffing the air and then talk to each other in their language. The pink one spoke with a chipper and bubbly tone with the grey one's was very monotone. But Gordon was too nervous to really notice. They could smell him and he was now trapped in the barn with them with nowhere but a wall of haybales to hide behind. He would be caught for sure this time. His nervousness quickly turned to fear when the pink one's tone changed from chipper and bubbly to angry. And then it dawned on him that he left the tools out and left the drawers of the red metal boxes open. He mentally cursed himself for his stupidity.

When Pinkie and Maud made it to the barn door they proceeded to lift the wooden brace that kept the barn doors closed out of its brackets. As they got it out of the brackets they both heard the faint sound of chains rattling inside.

"You hear that?" asked Pinkie in a hushed tone.

"Yes, I did." answered Maud as she placed the brace up against the wall.

Pinkie and Maud opened the door and entered the barn but found no one inside. Pinkie then sniffed the air and she did indeed find an unfamiliar scent.

"Maud, you smell that?" Maud stiffed the air, around the barns entrance in particular, and answered.

"Sure do."

"Mama and Marble were right, it's definitely doesn't smell like a Po.." Pinkie noticed the drawers of her fathers tool chest were open and there were several tools lying on the table alongside a burlap sack, "..ny? That's strange, Papa never leaves his tools lying around."

As she and Maud got a closer look at the tools on the table they recognized the blacksmiths hammer, hacksaw and tile saw that normally hung on the wall and they recognized one of the files and chisels that their father always kept in the tool chests. Pinkie smelt

"So it's not just a trespasser we have here," said Pinkie in a very serious tone, "but a thief too." At the same time she reaches into her mane and pulls out a revolver that had been colored to look like it was made from different pieces of candy and pastries. With her thumb she cocked back the hammer, producing a metallic 'click'.

Gordons blood turned cold when he heard a metallic click. He recognized that sound: it was the sound of someone cocking back the firing mechanism on a gun. He was now officially terrified. He broke out in a cold sweat, his heart was racing and his whole body was trembling. His fear was intensified even greater with one of the horse-women shouting something in an angry tone. They were going to kill him, he just knew it.

"Pinkie, when did you get a gun?" asked Maud, genuinely perplexed over the fact that her sister owned such a weapon.

"Papa gave it to me when I moved to Ponyville, remember?" answered Pinkie in her regular chipper tone.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Maud then reached down to her boot and pulled out a small dagger. Pinkie pointed at the wall of haybales at the back, deducing that that was the only possible hiding place within the barn. Her voice suddenly turned serious again.

"Alright thief, c'mon out from behind there! We know you're there so COME OUT!" The mares approach the haybales, Pinkie with her gun still pointed at the haybales and Maud ready with her knife.

"Listen you," Pinkie shouted "You'd better show yourself right now! If you do we'll go easy on you. We're armed so you'd better not try anything." Still no answer from behind the bales. "We're not playing! Come out with your hands up!" She moves in closer to the thiefs hiding spot where she can faintly hear rapid shallow breathing from behind the haybales.

Gordon could hear the horse-women coming closer to his hiding spot still shouting, most likely telling him to come out. He was now in full panic mode. He looked at the large kitchen he still had clenched in his hands. Right then he made up his mind: 'Ain't no way in hell I'm gon' let 'em freaks take me alive. If I'm gon' down I'mma takin one of 'em with me. He took a deep breath and ran out from behind his hiding spot knife in both hands ready to stab anyone in his way yelling at the top of his lungs.

Just as Pinkie was about to round the corner to confront the intruder she hears someone inhaling and then a dark-skinned figure charges at her from behind the haybales yelling at the top of his lungs with a large knife in his hands ready to stab her. In a moment of panic Pinkie instinctively squeezes the trigger. BANG! A bullet flies out of the muzzle and hits the figure on the right side of his abdomen, burrowing a hole in his flesh just below his ribcage and exiting out the back embedding itself in one of the haybales behind him.

The figure dropped to the ground screaming in agony attempting to cover his wound with his shackled hands as the 2 mares looked on in shock, with Pinkie being the most shocked of them both. While the figure was writhing in pain on the ground they managed to get a good look him. The dark-skinned figure wore nothing but a dirty, tattered pair of shorts and one shoe on his left foot. Around his ankles were a pair of fetters and his wrists were bound in manacles that were attached to an iron collar around his neck via a pair of chains. And his back was covered in a spiderweb of scar tissue. What really stood out to them was the lack of fur and tail, the ears on the sides of his head and his flat face with only a triangular nose.

While they were busy staring at the wounded figure on the floor he got up and tried to make a run for the barns entrance.

"Maud, stop him!"

Maud grabbed ahold of the chain connecting the figures left hand to his collar. The figure in turn slashed her arm with his knife, carving a gash in her right forearm forcing her to let go of the chain. He dropped his own knife as he ran for the entrance running right past Marble and Limestone who had come to investigate the commotion in the barn.

"WAIT! STOP!" Pinkie cried out to him. She looked at her gun, which was covered in specks of the figures blood, along with her hand. She threw the weapon down in disgust, more from having shot him rather than the blood itself, and proceeded to run after him as he made his way to the rock fields.

"STOP! PLEASE! YOU'RE HURT! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO SHOOT YOU!" she called out desperately to him, but he ignored her and continued running. "IF YOU DON'T STOP RUNNING YOU'RE GOIN' TO BLEED TO DEATH! LET US TAKE YOU TO A DOCTOR!"

Gordon just kept running. Terrified out of his mind and in excruciating pain from that gunshot wound right side all he could think about was getting as far away from those horse-people as possible. He made his way to the rock fields as fast as he could with his still fettered feet. The whole time he wimpered, groaned and cried from a combination of the intense pain and terror. Each step he took sent a fresh wave of pain from his wound, but he couldn't stop. He couldn't afford to. The one who shot was most likely looking to finish the job. He could hear her screaming something at him, but he didn't care. Getting away was the only thing that matter to him now.

As he ran through the rock fields he failed to notice a partially buried rock jutting out in front of him. The chains of his fetters snagged on the rock causing Gordon to fall down face-first onto a large rock at the bottom of a rock pile. His forehead slammed hard onto the rock stunning him. His head was filled with a throbbing adding to the intense pain of the gunshot wound. He sluggishly rolled over on his back cradling his bleeding forehead with one hand and his bullet wound in the other. The blow to his head was now causing him to loose consciousness. As his vision begins to fade he sees a pink blur enter his field of vision. Then everything went dark and all sound ceased.

Author's Note

THe longest chapter yet for this story and the first chapter to feature one of the Mane 6. This chapter also marks my very first attempt at writing one of the main characters from the show. Criticisms in this regard are welcome. I may end up re-editing this chapter if it receives enough negative criticisms to warrant it.

In the next chapter Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua will receive a very different kind of southern hospitality.

A Different Kind of Southern Hospitality

Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua
Location Unknown

It was still dark when Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua washed up to shore after the mysterious storm finally disappated and the waters were still once again.

"Is it over?" asked a still shaken Kenzi, her little nephew clinging to her side still frightened by the ordeal he'd just went through.

"I think so." answered an equally shaken Gertrude. "Yeah, I think the storm's gone."

They managed to stand up from what was left of their boat. Their clothes were completely soaked along with their supplies, including their food and spare clothes.

"Aunt Kenzi, y'know where ma an' pa an' Ruth are at?" asked Joshua, greatly worried about the fate of his parents and older sister.

"I dunno Joshua," answered Kenzi also worried over her sister, brother-in-law and niece. "That storm back there sho' did a number on us. We must pray that the Lord got 'em someplace safe."

"We better pray the Lord got us someplace safe. Could be slave-catchers all up in here, ya' know." interjected Gertrude as she wrung out her dress.

Kenzi just ignored Gertrudes comment and continued trying to comfort her nephew. "Who knows Josh, they could be right up the river a-waitin' fer us, along with Nate an' the others." The words of his aunt provided him some comfort, but Kenzi herself was still a little uncertain as to whether or not they'll find her family, Nathaniel or the others. They had no idea where they were. Another thing the 2 women noticed was the full moon in the night sky. They both knew for a fact that there was no full moon in the sky when they set off on the river before the storm hit. It was a supposed to be a new moon tonight.

"Wasn't there s'posed to be a new moon tonight?" Kenzi asked Gertrude as they both stared at the glowing white orb in the sky in disbelief.

"Yeah. This don't make no sense." answered Gertrude. "But in any case we better find someplace to sleep tonight. We'll worry 'bout Nate an' the others in the mornin'."

"Yeah," Kenzi agreed. She was feeling pretty tired, as was little Joshua most likely. The storm from earlier left them all exhausted. The women and little boy took their supplies and began looking for a place to sleep away from the river. And thanks to the moonlight they were able to see their surroundings and what they saw was just as confusing to the 2 adults as the storm and the full moon. In the moonlight they could see that they were in a canyon of some sort. Gertrude and Kenzi had heard Nathaniel talk about a great big canyon way out in the dry arid New Mexico Territory east of the state of California. At first both women thought they had somehow wound up there somehow, but quickly dismissed it as none of the rivers branching out from the Mississippi River went anywhere near that area.

Maybe they wound up a canyon in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. None of them had been there but had heard Nathaniel and Jake talk about them during their hunting trips in the Highlands up north with master Haggart. But the canyon they were in didn't fit any of the descriptions of the ones in the Ozarks or Ouachitas. For one thing all the trees in the canyon weren't the tall densely packed shortleaf and loblolly pine trees they were familiar them. Instead they all looked like plants that would normally be found in drier climates such as mesquite, juniper, sage bushes, tamarisks and even a few cacti. Another thing they noticed was how dry the air felt in contrast to the humidity of Arkansas they were familiar with.

'Where on earth are we?' Gertrude thought to herself as she looked over the strange moonlit landscape.

"Hey Gerty," said Kenzi, "ya see all these weird trees 'round here?"

"Yeah. They look 'em trees an' plants that grow out west from that Nate showed us in that book one time don't they?"

"Yeah, they do. But Gerty that don't make no sense. There ain't no way we coulda ended up someplace out west simply 'cause a some freak storm, an' in a single night no less."

"I know hun, it is weird."

After about 30 minutes the 3 fugitive slaves found a small little cavern at the bottom of the canyon wall. After making sure nothing was in it all 3 of them settled down and prepared to go to sleep.

"Hey, aunt Kenzi," said little Joshua.

"What baby?"

"Would ya like to say a prayer fer Ma an' Pa an' the others?"

"Sure we can sweetie. An' we can pray fer ourselves too."

Kenzi and Joshua laid down on their bellies with their hands clasped together in prayer when Joshua looked over to Gertrude and asked, "Gerty, ya wanna pray too."

"Sure hun," Gertrude answered. And with that Joshua started his prayer.

"Dear God, thank ya fer keepin' me an' Gerty an' aunt Kenzi safe from the storm. An' thank ya fer helpin' us find this place to sleep tonight. An' please look after Nate an' the others if they made through the storm an' keep 'em safe. An' 'specially look after my ma, pa an' my sister an' help us find 'em. In Yer name we pray, amen."

"That was good, baby." Said Kenzi before starting her own prayer.

"Sweet Lord thank ya fer givin' us a way out of our bondage. Thank ya fer such kind an' compassionate souls like Nate an' the Brookes who're willin' to risk their own freedom an' lives to help out those of us who're oppressed. I pray that wherever Nate an' the others are y'all keep 'em safe an' I pray that y'all keep us safe wherever we are. In Yer Precious Son's name I pray, amen."

And Gertrude finished with her own prayer.

"Lord I know I don't pray very often, but I do want to thank ya fer gettin' us out of slavery an' on the path to freedom. An' like Kenzi I'm also thankful fer folks like Nate an' the Brookes who've risked everything to help us. An' I also pray y'all keep 'em safe an' keep us safe in this strange new land. This I pray, amen." And with all their prayers being said all 3 went to sleep with the hopes that their prayers would be answered.

Later the next morning Kenzi was the first to stir from her sleep due to strange pricking sensation on her right hand as though something was crawling on it. With her left hand she rubbed her eyes and brought her right hand up to her face to look at it which caused the pricking sensation to intensify. Once her vision cleared she saw what was making the pricking sensation on her hand and saw that a very large brown tarantula almost as big as her hand was crawling on it. It was the biggest spider she had ever seen; and Kenzi was terrified of spiders.

Upon seeing the big hairy arachnid on her hand Kenzi went into a panic. She screamed and flailed her hands about wildly, flinging the tarantula into a nearby bush. She then got up and frantically rubbed her clothes and hair and dancing about like some crazed fool, all the while still screaming at the top of her lungs. Naturally the commotion woke up Joshua and Gertrude.

At first Gertrude and Joshua feared that slave-catchers, bandits or hostile natives had found their little, but that dispelled when they saw Kenzi dancing and screaming like a madwoman.

"Kenzi, what's wrong, hun?" asked a concerned Gertrude who'd ran up to her friend to see what was the matter.

"Spiders! Big hairy brown spiders crawlin' all o'er me!" answered Kenzi, who was still in panic mode.

"What spiders? There ain't no spiders all o'er ya."

"Yes there was! I saw one on my hand when I woke up!" Kenzi then went over to her pack and pulled out her knife and started looking around. "Where's he at? Imma gon' kill that damned thing."

Gertrude grabbed her by the arms and started shaking her, "Kenzi! Calm yer ass down! All this damn screamin' is gonna attract 'em slave-catchers or bandits or Injuns or somethin'." And with that Kenzi finally calmed down deeply embarrassed by her behavior in front of her nephew, and over the potential risks it might bring.

Gertrude merely shook her head in disbelief. "Lord o' mercy, all this foolishness o'er a damn bug."

The 2 women checked their supplies and found that most of their foodstuffs had survived being soaked, with exception of the bread, though the dried meat and cheese might spoil after a while. They still had the spared clothes Susan Brookes had given to them along with some of their grooming items like combs and brushes. They still had the pistols, powder and balls that Howard Brookes had given to them along with the knives Nathaniel had given to them when they departed the plantation. And they still had the maps the Brookes had given to them that lead the way to the safehouse they were supposed to go to on their way north, but now it seems it would be of little use here. And they also had their Bibles that were parting gifts from the Brookes and their medical kits.

"Looks like we still got most of our stuff." Gertrude said as she finished looking through her stuff, "Now let's git outta here before someone shows up." And the 3 left their camp and followed the river.

In the morning light they got a better look at their surroundings. The whole area was indeed every arid looking with mesquite trees, juniper trees, sage bushes, thorny bushes, yuccas, agaves and various kinds of cacti, mostly nopal cactus, all over the place with the land along the riverbanks being fairly lush and green with salt cedars, elms, the occasional oak and aspen trees. The canyon walls were made of reddish sun baked earth, sandstone and shale. And even though it was still morning the temperature was already starting to rise quickly. But luckily the trees along the river provided some shade from the heat. Gertrude and Kenzi noticed how dry the heat felt in contrast to the familiar sticky humid heat of Arkansas.

As they trekked along the river they saw several different kinds of flowers, some of which they heard Nathaniel talk about, like bluebonnets and Mexican hats. They also saw some flowers they had never seen before in various shades of red, yellow, orange, pink, purple and white, giving some of the flowers the appearance of flames. Some of the cacti were also sporting colorful blooms of their own, like the yellow and reddish-purple blooms of the many nopal cacti in the area. They also saw a little of the wildlife, mainly consisting of several varieties of lizards, snakes, ground squirrels, more tarantulas; much to Kenzis' horror, some turtles in the river, and a coyote.

But about midday most of the animals had retreated back to their homes to escape the heat, with the exception of a few lizards and snakes and insects. They had also begun to notice the river was becoming narrower and narrower with each mile they walked. And it appeared to be getting shallower. Before long the river had begun to look like a creek and in some places the creek were little more than a series of ponds until eventually there was nothing but a dry riverbed. By the time they had reached that part of the river they had already drank all their water once and refilled their waterskins at one of the ponds.

"A'ight y'all," said Gertrude,"It looks like we's gon' be without a waterin' hole fer a while so we's best try an' conserve our water."

"Sure thing, Gerty." said Kenzi, "I jus' hope the Lord keeps watchin' o'er us an' see us through in this place."

"Jus' like He did with Moses an' the Israelites in the wilderness, right aunt Kenzi?" said Joshua.

"Yeah baby, jus' like Moses an' the Israelites." answered Kenzi.

"Maybe the Lord'll send us some manna from heaven to eat." Gertrude joked. "Or maybe some quail. An' after that give us a nice cool drink o' water from a rock."

"Could happen," Joshua answered causing the women chuckle.

After about an hour of walking the trio were out of the canyon and in front of an open expanse of desert with the plants consisting of an even greater variety of cacti, including ones that had arm-like branches, mesquite and acacia trees, juniper bushes, more thorny bushes, these little plants with fat tender leafs and some more agaves but no sign of water. The landscape was mostly flat with a few mesas off in the distance. "Lord help us," said Kenzi as they make their way into the desert.

It was already past noon and the sun was beating down on them with about as much mercy as an overseers whip. There was barely any shade where they could get at lease some relieve from the sun. The feathery leaves of the mesquite trees provided virtually no shade at all and the acacia trees only offered a little shade, and even then the shade seemed to offer little relief. What's more the intense heat sorely tempted them to take a nice long drink of water in order relieve the intense thirst they had developed. But instead they took less than a mouthful of water at a time, which didn't help much at all, especially since the water in the skins was starting to warm up due to the suns heat. But soon the heat would be the least of their worries for their water was starting to run low and now they were starting to regret departing from that river. And little Joshua was starting to have stomach pains.

"Hey Gerty," said Kenzi.

"What Kenzi?" she responded.

"I'm startin' to think we shoulda never left that river."

"Me too, hun."

"An' I think Joshua's gotten sick too."

The way Joshua was groaning and holding his stomach didn't go unnoticed by the older women. They themselves were starting to have pains in their own stomachs. So they stopped for a moment at the foot of a large mesquite tree to rest and take some medicine. They knew from Nathaniel and Jake that getting sick or injured in the wilderness could be fatal especially if you didn't know the right plants or have the right medicines to treat it.

Gertrude opened up her medical kit and took out the medicine that was made for stomach problems, which was in a little dark glass bottle that had the label painted green so she could identify it since she couldn't read, took out a table spoon and poured some of the medicine into the spoon and drank the bitter-tasting liquid, causing her to gag from the awful taste. This caused Joshua and Kenzi to laugh.

"Uuugghh! This stuff tastes like cat piss!" Gertrude exclaims in disgust.

Joshua started laughing even harder which made his stomach hurt even worse. Kenzi gave him a spoonful of the same medicine, and he too gagged. Then Kenzi took a spoonful of the medicine and also gagged at the foul taste. " I dunno what's worse; the stomach pain or the medicine fer it."

After taking a few moments to let the medicine settle they start eating some of the fruits and dried meat from their packs.

"Hey Gerty," asked Kenzi, "Whudduya think gave us that stomach ache?"

"It was probably that water we drank back there." Gertrude answered. "We shudna drank from 'em pools. Somethin' in it musta made us sick."

"Shudda boiled it first or got it back where the river was still flowing. But the most important question is where are we gonna git mo' water?"

" I dunno, Kenzi. Maybe we'll find some somewhere out here."

After a while they got back on the move. The stomach pains from the bad water was still there but thanks to the medicine it was only faint. But that was now the least of their worries. They had to dump what was left of their water since it might make them sick again, but now they had no water and it didn't like they would be finding any anytime soon. The temperature only seemed to rise higher than before. The 3 fugitives could feel the exposed parts of their skin burning from the suns intensity. The heat was beginning to sap their strength and their thirtst grew fierce, intensified by the lack of water, sweat was pouring off of them, and they all started to feel light-headed. Kenzi spotted one of the succulent plants that looked like a rounded stone that had been split into several pieces. She had a thought.

"Hey Gerty, didn't Nate say desert plants like cactus was s'posed to have water in 'em or somethin'?"

Gertrude thought for a minute before answering. "I think so. Why, ya think there could be some water in 'em weird plants?"

"Yeah," said Kenzi. "It's worth a shot anyway. Beats dyin' o' thirst."

Kenzi plucked the plant and split it with Gertrude and Joshua. The women took a bite of the strange little plant and while there was indeed moisture within the plants plump bulbous leaves but it was extremely bitter tasting, in fact it left an unpleasant tingling sensation on their tongues. They immediately spit the disgusting plant out. Joshua, who never took a bite of the plant, threw his piece down.

"Uuugghh...It tastes even worse than that medicine we jus' took!" said Gertrude.

"I can't git the taste outta my mouth!" said Kenzi with her tongue sticking out trying to rub the taste off.

After that unpleasant experience they continued walking. The sun was just as brutal as ever, even though it was starting to set, and there was still no water in sight. One small bit of relief for the women was that the foul-tasting juices from those plants were gone. And they could see what looked like the light of a campfire near the foot of a nearby mesa. And that was where they headed; fire meant people and people meant possible water, shelter and other supplies. There was a possibility that the campfire belonged to a group of outlaws, hostile Indians, or worse slave-hunters or someone who didn't mind turning in a group of fugitive slaves to the authorities. But it was worth the risk if it meant getting some water.

But as they headed towards the firelight Gertrude and Kenzi were starting to feel a buzzing sensation in their brains and they were suddenly unable to think or see straight. Gertrude could've sworn that the landscape was changing colors and moving around like ripples in water and the sun was moving randomly in the air, and the plants almost appeared to be dancing. And Kenzi could've sworn that when she looked down at her feet they were running in reverse, even though she was walking forward, and she saw herself right beside a pair of Joshua's. And she even thought she saw the faces of Nathaniel and the others on the cacti, singing random gibberish.

" Oh my god! Josh, Gerty look it's Nate an' the others! They've been eaten by 'em cactuses an' it's makin' 'em sing abuncha nonsense! We gotta git 'em out!"

"What'cha talkin' 'bout aunt Kenzi?" asked Joshua. "There aint nothin' in 'em cactuses."

But Kenzi didn't hear, having already rushed over to one of the cacti with her knife drawn and proceded to try and cut it open. Sticking her hands with multiple cactus thorns in the process. "Aunt Kenzi, stop that! Yer gittin' yerself hurt!" Joshua yelled to his aunt but she didn't seem to notice his shouts, or the cactus thorns all over her hands. At the same time Joshua heard Gertrude scream, turning his head to see her pointing a pistol at another cactus.

In her current state of mind she had imagined that one of the tall limbed cactus was her master Mr. Haggart, who kept ordering her and the others to come to him in a very agitated, slurred tone with a bottle of liquor in his left hand and a bullwhip in his right.

"Stay away from us, ya bastard!" yells Gertrude right before she fires her pistol at the cactus she's imagining as her former tormentor. The lead ball succeeded only in knocking off a few of it thorns.

Sheriff Silverstar, Braeburn and Company
Campsite at foot of mesa
30 miles south of Appleloosa
A posse consisting of several stallions(around 30) from Appleloosa and Buffalo braves led by Sheriff Silverstar of Appleloosa and his deputies Braeburn and Troublehooves with Little Strong Heart leading the braves(also numbering around 30) in Chief Thunderhooves place had made camp for the evening. For close to 3 days they had been searching the desert for a band renegade Buffalo warriors and their ringleader Whitehorn. Whitehorn was formerly a member of the Buffalo tribes leadership, in charge of upholding the tribes ceremonial and religious laws and customs, and that position wasn't by mere chance. He stood out from every other Buffalo in the tribe because of his snow white fur, a trait so rare that one born with it was seen once every few generations. It was believed that a Buffalo born with such a coat were touched by the gods and were destined to be their representatives to the mortal realm, hence they were usually groomed into the life of priesthood or other important position. They were known to be much more proficient in the Buffalos magical arts than others, being able to equal or even rival that of a Unicorn. However the white coat and proficiency with magic came at the price of being unable to bear offspring. So naturally the life of a celibate shaman seemed the perfect role for them.

To say that he took his job seriously was an understatement. He had a reputation for being a fanatical traditionalist and xenophobe who treated with scorn any deviation from tradition or tribal culture no matter how harmless or beneficial it might be. And his fanaticism got even worse after the Appleloosa Incident when Chief Thunderhooves and then acting mayor/sheriff of Appleloosa, Silverstar, signed a treaty agreeing to a compromise for the use of the land traditionally used by the Buffalo for stampeding. It also established trade between the Buffalos and the Ponies. Whitehorn was so enraged by this that he tried to attack Thunderhooves in a fit of rage during a council meeting. Thunderhooves ended his already strained friendship with the albino Buffalo and banished him from the tribe, along with some of his followers who left with him of their own accord. It wasn't until a few weeks later that they got news from Appleloosa that Whitehorn and his followers had set fire to several of their apple trees and shot and wounded some poor stallion that tried to stop them, wounded 4 monks in an attack on the local mission and robbed a train that had a shipment of guns, armour* and other equipment that was supposed to go to the Appleloosan militia. Silverstar issued a warrant for the arrest of Whitehorn and his warband and Thunderhooves also called out a manhunt for him to the surrounding tribes. For 3 days Silverstar and his posse searched the badlands but found nothing.

While the posse rested by the fires they discussed various topics like the metal goods the Buffalo had received from the Ponies and all the leather, bead and silver work, jade, amber and turquois the Ponies received. Cuisine and music were also discussed; record players and radios in particular of great interest to the Buffalo who never had access to electricity until recently. They also played music; the Ponies played banjos, harmonicas and violins while the Buffalo played flutes, pipes and hide drums. They also swapped stories ranging from stories about historical figures, myths and legends to personal stories of great deeds and not-so-great deeds. These sort of things happened every time the posse made camp.

While the posse were talking amongst themselves, Braeburn and Strongheart were having a conversation of their own. There had been some things he had been wanting to ask about Whitehorn since she and her father had known him on a more personal level, but he kept forgetting.

"Hey, Strongheart, since this Whitehorn feller was a friend o' yer dad's, can ya tell me a lil' more 'bout what he was like?"

Strongheart hesitated at first " Well, the first thing that I can tell you about him was that he wasn't exactly a friend to anyone, including my father. He always felt friends would interfere with his duties as shaman."

"Sounds like how mah cousin's friend used to be. Y'know the Princess o' Friendship? From wut AJ said that gal use to be a real recluse."

"Yes, I remember her. But anyhow Whitehorn also very controlling and would get furious if a ceremony or a ritual wasn't performed as precisely as he wanted. He even slapped a performer who took a misstep during a rain dance."

"Yeesh." Braeburn winced. "An' I take it he only got worse when Appleloosa was founded?"

"Oh you have no idea. When he learned that your people planted the orchard on our stampeding grounds he was enraged to the point of demanding that we massacre them. But luckily my father had better judgment than him and sternly rebuked him for even contemplating such a heinous act."

"Ya can't be serious! A massacre?!" Braeburn responded in shocked disbelief. He knew Whitehorn was a radical even from the beginning but he had no idea that he was that bloodthirsty. "Shouldn't that've been grounds fer excommunication or somethin'? I know it'd be grounds for arrest where I'm from."

"Yes, he shouldn't been. But my father, for reasons that elude me and everyone else, still believed that blowhard could be reasoned with." Strongheart said in a slightly irritated tone while clinching her eyes shut and clasping the bridge of her snout with her thumb and index finger as if the very memory of that incident was an annoyance. "It wasn't his best decision."

"And when my father signed the treaty between our tribe and your people Whitehorns' desire for violence got even worse. He would frequently get into heated arguments with Thunderhooves and some of the other members of the tribe over Pony-made goods and the presence of the Pony priests sharing the Veritian faith with us, claiming they were destroying our way of life. During a counsel with the village officials Whitehorn got so angry he threw a sabre at him; it missed my father by just a few inches and pierced the covering of the teepee they were meeting in. Father's patience with him finally reached its limits at that point and he beat the tar out of him right in front of the other officials before banishing him from the tribe."

"And that's when he started terrorizing Appleloosa." Said Braeburn. The part about Thunderhooves beating up Whitehorn was news to him.

Just then a loud pop resounded in the air, like gunfire, from somewhere southeast of the camp. Like a swarm of agitated ants the stallions and bulls scrambled for their weapons and cover in anticipation for the coming attack. For several anxious minutes everyone waited in complete silence, but their minds had the question of whether or not they were about to attacked and whether the assailants would be Whitehorns war party, Changeling raiders, a rival Buffalo tribe that were enemies of Thunderhooves people or some random gang of bandits. Some entertained the idea that the gunshot was from a hunter or maybe traveler shooting a snake or something.

Most of those possibilities were eliminated; Changeling, being magic users, didn't have much use for regular firearms, preferring thaumic arms instead which didn't make the distinctive sound like gunfire. The land they were in belonged to the Thunderhooves tribe. And bandits simply wouldn't be stupid enough to attack such a heavily armed group like the posse. Whitehorn was still a possibility, but it would've made more sense to attack from the northwest where there some high ground from the edge of a mesa instead the southeast where it was flat. The hunter or traveler ideas were also a possibility but they couldn't be too sure. A few of them including Silverstar smelt the air but didn't find Whitehorn's scent. Though they did find a scent from someone or something completely unknown coming from there.

Silverstar decided they needed to investigate, so he had everybody put on their armour, spare ammo bandoleers and other weapons. Once everyone was kitted out the posse was split in groups: one group would stay to guard the camp while the other groups would investigate the surrounding area. Braeburn and Little Strongheart led one group south, Silverstar led one towards the mesa and Troublehooves led another eastwards.

Kitted out with bullet-proof padded jackets, lamellar, scale and plate armour and bullet-proof shields and armed with shotguns, level and bolt action rifles, automatic rifles, thaumic rifles*, revolvers, hatchets, clubs, spears, bows and arrows, knifes and swords the Braeburn group numbering around 15 slowly advanced through the brush and mesquite trees spread out about 15 ft. like a search party so as to cover more ground. No one spoke a word as the makeshift battalion crept forward for everyone was tense, enough so that nearly everyone had an itchy trigger finger. They all knew that if it really was Whitehorn they'd be in for the fight of their lives, since his forces consisted of a large number of veteran warriors, many of whom had skill with firearms, whose fighting prowess could easily match that of any Equestrian militiaman or professional soldier. And it didn't help that it was now twilight.

As the group continued its advance they could hear something, very faint somewhere among the brush and cactus ahead of them. "Bray, y'hear that?" said one of the stallions. Braeburn listened closely and he did in fact hear something. It sounded like someone shouting frantically, what they were saying he couldn't tell. "Yeah, I do hear it. It sounds like someone yellin'." Listening closer he was able to make out 2 more voices, these sounded panicky. The group advanced towards the source of the strange voices and as they crept closer they could smell a strange scent in the air. The smell wasn't that of a Buffalo so they ruled out Whitehorn's warband, but it also wasn't that of a Pony either or any other creature they were familiar with. However they could make out that at least 2 of them were adult females and one of them was a male, most likely a child.

As the they drew closer the sounds of yelling became even clearer. They sounded very frightened and one even sounded somewhat angry. Nobody could make out what they were saying because it sounded like they were shouting in a foreign language. A little ways more they were almost to the source of the yelling, some of the members of the group could even make out the silhouette of 3 figures behind the brush. They got close enough to get a good look at the figures and they did not know what to make of the sight before them.

They saw 2 strange-looking creatures with dark skin and flat faces with triangular noses wearing female clothing and a 3rd dark-skinned creature about the size of a foal. One of the female creatures was stabbing away a saguaro cactus like a maniac, screaming something in an indiscernible tongue as well as beating the cactus with what looked like a flintlock pistol; Braeburn surmised that she was the one who made the gunshot. The other female was frantically going between different cacti trying to cut large chunks out of them with a knife of her own. Neither of them seems to notice the thorns covering their hands. The foal-sized one looked confused and distressed and kept yelling at the others in whatever language they spoke apparently trying to make them stop.

"Braeburn, do you have any idea what they are?" asked Strongheart. " Or why they are acting this way?"

"I dunno ," answered Braeburn, "but we gotta stop 'em b'fore they hurt themselves worse 'n they already are."

Immediately Braeburn and his posse approached the female creatures to try and stop them. The one stabbing the cactus started freaking upon seeing them and charged at Braeburn with her knife raised screaming like a banshee. Braeburn refrained from shooting her and instead used his rifle to block her attempt to stab him and tried to reason with the hysterical creature. Besides the knife he could also see several large cactus thorns stuck deep in the flesh of her hand. It was a wonder she could still grip the knife or that a thorn hadn't punctured her carpal vein. She simultaneously tried to stab and club him with the pistol while Braeburn kept on the defense until he finally saw an opening and whacked her in the side of the head with the muzzle of his weapon, knocking her unconscious.

"Sorry t' do that ma'am," said Braeburn apologetically. "but it was fer yer own good."

At the same time the other stallions and braves were trying to restrain the other female who was fighting back fiercely. One of them got a muzzle full of thorns for his trouble when the creature slapped him across the face. Another was almost got cut with the knife she had in her hand. Her struggling came to an end when a brave hit her on the head with a 12 inch stone club knocking her unconscious as well. The smaller creature however had fled screaming somewhere into the surrounding brush as soon as Braeburn showed up with Little Strongheart in pursuit.

Joshua simply had no idea what to do about Gerty and Kenzi's sudden irrational behavior. All he could think of do was try to yell at them to stop. He had even tried to physically stop them from hurting themselves with the cacti but it they were bigger and stronger than he was and seemed to not even notice his attempts to stop them or reason them. He was practically on the verge of tears over how utterly powerless he was to stop the madness around him. Never had he felt so helpless in his young life. But before he could burst into tears he heard a rustling and several voices in the brush in front of him and saw several figures imerging from the brush. Joshua immediately froze in terror at what he saw.

Coming out of the brush were at least 15 strange-looking creatures that looked like humans but had faces like those of either a strangely-colored horse or a buffalo. All of them were wearing either a padded coat of some kind or some armour, with the buffalo-men wearing Plains Indian-type clothes while the horse-men were more American-style clothes and were armed with some kind of strange-looking rifles that he'd never seen before and other armaments and one of them process to speak to Gertrude in some strange language. As soon as she saw them Gertrude charged at one of the horse-men with her knife and pistol screaming "Back ya devils!" while another group of horse and buffalo-men ganged on his aunt to try and get her knife away, but she fought back. The only thing he could think of to do at that moment was run away as fast as he could screaming in fright as he did. As he ran tears streamed down his face from a combination of pain from exerting himself running, fear and shame. He was ashamed that he was running away like a coward instead helping his aunt and Gertrude fight off those things. For all he knew he had just left them to die some horrifying death at the hands of those creatures just to save his own hide. But he knew he wouldn't stand a chance against them; he was just an 8 year old runaway slave boy and they were probably warriors judging from their gear. And having been a slave all of his life he had been conditioned to not fight back against his aggressors no matter what. He just barely had the courage to escape with Nathaniel and the others; having the courage to actually fight like his older companions was still beyond him.

When he felt he had gotten far enough away he stopped by an overturned mesquite tree to rest. The pain in his side was becoming too much to bare. Hopefully he had gotten away, he ran pretty fast and it was now almost completely dark. But then dread overtook him when he heard the sound of someone running through the brush. He looked in the direction the sound was coming from and out of brush just 20 yards away came one of the buffalo-men, an unusually slender one compared to the others who were fairly big and muscular. It looked like might be a girl. But Joshua didn't care about any of that: he just started running again the moment he saw her.

Running through thorny desert brush in near nighttime wasn't a good idea as Joshua kept tripping over things, almost running into cactus patches, getting stickers in his legs and having his arms, hands and face scratched up and shirt ripped on thorns and dead branches. His little marathon ended when he accidently stepped into some animal burrow and badly injured his leg and making him fall flat on his face. He lay on the ground wailing in pain as he felt the bone snap just above his ankle and the cartilage of his nose break on impact with the hard ground. He also felt a searing pain pulsing through his veins around the same area as the fracture that seemed to extend throughout his body from there. On his shin where the source of the searing pain originated it felt like a large pair of needles had been jabbed into his skin.

All he could do was lay there and cry until he fell into unconsciousness from his head injury and sheer exhaustion. The last sight saw before passing out was a horse-man with a white face and brown coat standing over him.

"Jus' mah luck," was all Troublehooves said when he saw the pitiful little dark-skinned flat faced creature now lying unconscious after crying in pain. From the looks of it he had scrapes and cactus thorns all over him, a broken foot, a broken bloody nose and what looked like a snake bite on the same broken leg. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a Badland Pit Viper(a highly venomous bright red and green snake) slithering out of the hole the creature stepped in.

Strongheart arrived a few moments later and chopped the lethal serpent in 2 with her tomahawk and struck its head with the back of it before turning her attention to Troublehooves and the now unconscious creature.

"Troublehooves, we must get this creature back to camp quickly before he succumbs to the serpents venom."

"Ah'll git 'em thar right 'way." said Troublehooves as he lifted the creature onto his shoulders and headed back towards camp with Strongheart and the rest of his group as quickly as possible.

"Iff'n ya don't mind mah askin' Miss Strongheart, whut 'xactly is this thing we're bringin' back to camp?" asked Troubleshoes referring to the little creature he was carrying on his shoulder.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered Strongheart. "We found 2 more of his kind but older and female. And they were behaving hysterically, attacking cacti with knives and a pistol. When we subdued them this little one ran away."

" Explains where that gunshot came from."

Within minutes they were back at camp. Braeburn and the rest of his group had already gotten there and had the 2 female creatures in one the covered wagons being examined by the camps doctor, but not before being put in restraints should they start acting hysterical again once they wake up. A sniff of their breaths revealed the cause of their hysteria: the acidic smell of the Goofy Rock plant, or the Fools Drinking Gourd as the Buffalo called them. They were large bulbous succulent plants native to the desert that resembled rounded stones split down the middle. While it did store water inside its fleshy interior in order to survive the desert heat, that water was laced with a powerful hallucinogenic(and foul-tasting) chemical to protect itself from predation. Typically used in religious ceremonies by the Buffalos, it was also used by thrill-seeking teenaged colts and fillies to get high on. The Equestrian Medical Society and various other research groups have been studying the plant in hopes of developing psychiatric medicines and pain killers.

After removing the thorns and cleaning up the blood, the doctor treated both the female creatures hands with antiseptics and bandaged them and applied a cold pack to their heads where they were struck. Other than that and some signs of heat exhaustion and thirst they had no other visible injuries. The hallucinogens from the Goofy Rocks would simply have to burn out of their systems. The younger creature's injuries were more severe. After he was also put in restraints he was given some anti-venom medicine the Buffalo medicine bulls had provided. The bones in his leg were put back in place and a cast was applied. The structure of his nose might've been unfamiliar to the doctor but fixing it proved rather simple. His other head injury would have to be looked at closer at the doctors clinic. Once the patients were taken care of the posse decided to return home so that the strange creatures could get to the hospital. Besides their hunt for Whitehorn and his bunch had proven fruitless and everyone had their own lives to get back to.

Gertrude awoke with a terrible migraine and a throbbing in her head. Everything that happened before she blacked out was a blur, though she could vaguely recall seeing strange creatures with horse and buffalo-like heads and human-like bodies followed by a sharp pain on her right temple that felt like the all too familiar feeling of hit in the head; something her old master did to her a few times back at the plantation. Speaking of which she sworn she saw him sometime before she blacked out. When she rubbed her face she felt something covering her hands, like cloth along with a slight stinging sensation whenever she moved them. She opened her eyes to see what it was. Her vision was blurry at first but soon the blurriness went away and she saw that her hands were wrapped in bandages like crude whitish gloves. She looked in bewilderment at her hands for a moment wondering why her hands like that and who wrapped them before looking around at her surroundings.

She was laying in a one-person bed with light blue and white sheets in a strange room. She saw 2 other beds in that same room that also appeared to be occupied along with chairs, bedside tables, a pair of doors and strange devices she had never seen before. She got up to see who was in the other beds and found that it was Kenzi in one of them still asleep with her hands also wrapped in bandages and a bandage on her head. Gertrude felt her own head to see if she also had a head bandage. And sure enough there was. She looked at the other bed and saw little Joshua also asleep but to her shock appeared more worse for wear than herself and Kenzi and practically had her on the verge of tears: his leg was in a cast, his head was more heavily bandaged than hers or Kenzi's and his nose looked like it had been broken and put back in place. Seeing the others in this condition only added to her confusion. What on earth happened to them before she blacked out? She sat down on one of the chairs and tried to remember what happened to them out in the desert, but it was all a blur. At the same time she was puzzling over where they were and who bandaged them up.

Did they do so out of good will or did they have some ulterior motive for fixing them up? Maybe whoever treated them only wanted them healthy again so they can be put back in chains or something worse. She also contemplated if their mysterious healer was also responsible for their equally mysterious injuries. However there was one small comfort: nobody was shackled to their beds. So they weren't being held prisoner, at least not overtly. But she knew they would have to get out of here once the others healed up, even if they had to break out of there.

Gertrude looked out of the window near her bed to see where they were but all she could see was an alleyway between them and a brown wooden building(the one she was in was painted white) and it was slightly dark out, either still in the early morning or late evening and no one was out. She got off the bed and made her way to the door to see if she could peek outside. But she froze immediately when the doorknob turned and opened. She could only stare with a wide-eyed expression of shock and horror at what she saw while just barely suppressing the urge to scream: the sight of some female humanoid creature with a horse-like head with lilac skin(or fur?) and 2 toned hair of pink and light green on her head and tail. She wore a white coat with a gray shirt underneath and a provocative knee length skirt and white shoes. It looked just like the strange creatures she saw in her visions before she blacked out. It spoke to her in an undiscernible language.

It was too much for poor Gertrude to take in. Her sight went from the horse-woman to the ceiling and straight to black within the span of 2-3 seconds.

Author's Note

s* Despite the invention of firearms in Equestria, armour was never made obsolete thanks to the invention of metallurgical spells that made conventional steel plate proof against all but the largest caliber bullets, the discovery of a light yet strong metal that could already withstand gunfire without the use of spells and the use of a super strong silk made by giant spiders that's lightweight yet strong enough to stop most caliber bullets.

* Thaumic guns are guns that fire concentrated bolts of magic instead of bullets. The preferred weapon of choice of magic users like Unicorns and Alicorns it channels the wielders magic into a special battery-like chamber behind the barrel where it's held until the trigger is squeezed and discharged through the barrel which is lined with magnifying lens and reflectors to concentrate the magic into a deadly highly concentrated bolt.