Equestria's Knightby Malcho1234Chapters1 Arrival2 A night of thinking, a day of walking...3 ...and a short trip down the hole...1 ArrivalCherry Blossom was running for her life... Okay, that wasn't true, if her pursuers caught up she would probably live... Though with the way these savages did things she would be better off dead. It was just a week after the caribou had invaded Equestria, using the power of the perverted Crystal Heart to twist the minds of the majority of the mares and stallions, turning them into sex-crazed beasts. However, it didn't work on everyone... Some mares and stallions remained sane, resisting the effects. And yet they were outnumbered by their corrupted brethren, not to mention the caribou... Cherry Blossom was one of those mares. She had been captured and collared in Ponyville, used and abused several times before she managed to escape. There was only one place she could think of that was safe was the Everfree forest... It was strange to think of the place as safe, with all the dangerous monsters that lived in it... And still, the most dangerous monster for Blossom just reached her, tackling her to the ground. The caribou grabbed her by her mane, pulling roughly as she tried to kick him off. "You thought you could escape from us, you dumb bitch?" The caribou growled before yelling in pain as she managed to grab his arm and bite it. The male drew his hand back, and the mare used the opportunity to scamper away. Unfortunately she didn't count on his partner, who back-handed her, sending her spiraling to the ground before pinning her down with his hoof. "You bitch!" The one that got bitten snarled as he walked over to her, ripping his loincloth. "You'll pay for this!" Pushing the other caribou aside he grabbed the pony's tail, lifting it before forcing himself on the mare. Cherry Blossom cried out in pain as she felt his member invade her. "No! Please no!" She cried out, trying to buck him off her. Unfortunately, he had a good grip on her and couldn't be easily dislodged. As he continued to rape her the crying mare was forced down, her face buried in the grass as her tears flowed freely. She refused to let herself feel any pleasure of the vile act, instead filling her mind with a single plea: 'Help me, help me, oh dear Celestia, anyone, help me!' She never expected anything to answer her plea... So imagine her surprise when a few seconds later the air in front of her ripped apart, a figure clad in armor falling from the hole with a loud clank... There was one fact about the Everfree that wasn't common knowledge - it was magical. And not in the way the entire land of Equestria is magical... No. The magic there was powerful, wild, chaotic, raw... And it was old... Older than Equestria, older than the Sisters... Maybe even older than the Alicorn race. And as such it had some level of sentience, even though no unicorn would ever believe this. It was this magic that felt the mare's plea. It had been a while since it had been addressed... Even if it wasn't directly, the mare had asked for help. The magic "saw" what was happening... Not only in the forest, but throughout Equestria as well. It witnessed one vile act after another - rape, torture, murders... Things that went against the natural order. There were a number of magical things in the Everfree that had achieved some level of sentience. The Everfree magic "contacted" them, showing them what was happening. What followed was, for a lack of a better words, a "council" of sorts where the various magical entities decided on an action. They needed to find someone to fix this mess... Someone strong, someone with the right ideals, someone who wouldn't give into the temptation that the desecrated Crystal Heart would give him. And so the combined magic of the Everfree and any Artifact and Entity that dwell in it started to search. It didn't take it much to check all over Equestria. Finding nothing that fit those criteria it expanded its search, drawing magic from all over the lands. Then it did something that hadn't been done before. It pierced the Void Eternal, searching into the neighboring Dimensions. The magic started to search the strange yet familiar creatures there... And it immediately found a suitable match. He had the right qualities... He was even addressing himself as a knight... Yes... He will do nicely. And so the combined magic of the Everfree pulled him into Equestria. Of course, it never thought of asking him if he wanted that... It was another day at the job for me... I was standing in front of the restaurant, dressed in armor that shone under the may sun as I gave out leaflet and greeted the customers... It wasn't a bad job, actually. After all, how many people had the opportunity to dress like a knight for a theme restaurant? I'm sure that there aren't many... Of course, there were some downsides to the job... Like being put in a stuffy armor for the whole day, for instance. Or the bathroom breaks... Trust me, those sucked. And then there were the different kind of people that I had the misfortune of meeting... I smiled at a pair of girls as I gave them a leaflet, my eyes lingering on their bodies when they walked away. Turning my head back to the other side I almost yelped in shock as by the smelliest gypsy hobo I've ever seen (there were plenty of those around here) looked at me from less than thirty centimeters from me... "Ugh... Here you go, ma'am..." I said, trying to be polite as I took a step back and handed her a leaflet in a lame attempt to get her away. It didn't work as planned... She took the leaflet from my hand and stepped even closer to me. I don't think I managed to hide my disgust from her... But it didn't seem like she thought anything of it. "You will have an interesting time." I gagged as the stench of her breath hit me. Thankfully, I had the space to bend over as I fought to keep my lunch in since she walked away. "Damn bitch..." I muttered, glaring at the gypsy's back before turning around. I had to continue with my job, after all. Unfortunately, my foot slipped on something. As I lost my footing and fell I closed my eyes instinctively, bracing myself, waiting for the impact with the sidewalk and the loud clanking that my armor was going to cause... And waited... When nothing happened for a couple of seconds I opened my eyes.I was met with... Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Gone was the restaurant, gone was the street and the pedestrians... Only emptiness surrounded me. It wasn't even black or dark or anything... It was just... I don't even know the words to describe it. Of course, I did what any reasonable, sane individual would do in my situation - I panicked. What? Don't blame me, you would've done the same. So, as I said, I panicked. Normally, that would help me get the fear out of my system. But now it did nothing... Flailing my arms just had me slowly spin through the air, and screaming accomplished even less... I'd love to think that my voice had echoed over the abyss, but I couldn't hear it at all... It was as if there was no sound in this place. "This sucks..." I muttered, or at least tried to. I don't know how long was I falling through the abyss... If I was falling at all, that is. Motion and gravity seemed to be another two things that didn't exist in this place... Was I even moving? Or was I just staying in one place? As I was thinking about that my mind trailed off into other directions. How much time would I spend in here? Will starve or thirst to death? Will I... My train of thought was derailed as a speck of color drew my attention to itself. I watched wide-eyed as it grew... It was something... Something that was approaching... Something green... As it came closer I realized I was seeing grass... It was a way out! And I was headed straight towards it! As I passed through the portal I felt a few very familiar and welcomed things, like the motion of my body and the hold of gravity. I almost laughed in joy at being able to feel those... And then came the inevitable end of all flying things. The ground. There was a loud clank as I impacted the dirt and grass, my armor voicing out my arrival. Groaning, I lifted my head and spat out the dirt from my mouth. I felt like passing out... Too much happened for me... But that was the last thing someone in a new situation needs to do. And so I looked around. Well, not exactly around, since the moment I lifted my eyes from the ground I was met with a sight that quickly shot up on the top of my "Weird Shit List". A trio of beings stood there... One obviously female, if the breasts were any indication, with the other two looking male... Their feet ended with hooves, their faces in short muzzles... They were covered in fur, with the female being a cherry red color and the two males' being brown. The males had deer-like horns on their heads... Oh, and the tails... Let's not forget the tails. As an avid roleplayer I knew the right term for that thing. Anthro. The bane of fandoms and good roleplays everywhere... Oh, and it seems that they were in the middle of having sex. Yeah, typical anthros... I stood up, ignoring how shocked they looked, and brushed the dirt off the armor. Was it me, or did it weight more than it used to? Oh well, it didn't matter. I was about to apologize and turn around before the female cried out a single word that made me stop: "Help!" Now, I've always been a sucker for a female needing help... Well, with a few exceptions, but still... And I couldn't ignore this. Especially when the male deer that was fucking her pulled her head and slapped her hard. "Hey!" I shouted, stepping forward. "What is going on?" The other male stepped in front of me, blocking my sight of the female. "Shut up, ugly. This doesn't concern you." He growled, coming up to me. He probably looked tough, he definitely thought he was tough... But he was standing in a loincloth in front of a guy who was wearing full plate armor... So yeah, I wasn't very impressed. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" I quipped and stepped closer. It turned out I was half a head taller than the anthro, which kind of intimidated him, if the way he took a step back was any indication. Still, its antlers were a bit higher than me... But not by much. "Shut the fuck up!" He growled again, slamming his fist in my chest in an intimidation attempt. I fell to the ground in a clang of metal, but that was all the effect it had on me. He was another case though... Apparently nobody taught him how to punch, if the way he howled in pain and clutched at his thumb was any indication. Yeah... Dumb anthro. You don't punch with your thumb in your fist, you're just begging to get it smashed. "Hey! What gives?" I shouted. Seriously, what was his problem? "You fucking cunt!" He yelled. I could see the tears in his eyes from where I was sprawled down. Then he tried to kick me, bringing his hoof further back than necessary before swinging it forward. Seriously? I had more than enough time to roll to the side, making the stooge stagger as he didn't hit anything. But it didn't seem to deter him much as he managed to get his bearings before I could stand up, and tackled me. Then he started punching me as I was trying to push him off... I didn't feel the ones that landed on my armor, but the few that hit me in the head... Those I definitely felt, prompting me to fight back. Rearing my fist, I punched him in the face once, twice, three times. There was a satisfying crunch and a gush of blood from his nose. His hands moved back to clutch at it, opening him for a punch to his chest that expelled all the air from his lungs. I pushed his body off me and I scrambled to get up. "What's your problem?" I shouted at him, rubbing my cheek. "I didn't do anything to-" "Look out!" The girl's shout made me turn around, just in time to get a thick tree branch to the face which sent me back on the ground. Shit... I had forgotten about the other two. I guess that they didn't continue to fuck while the other guy attacked me... Shaking my head to clear it I looked up and immediately rolled to the side with a yell, the branch impacting the ground where my head was just a second ago. The damn deer just tried to brain me! "Stay still, you stupid cunt!" He grunted as he swung at me and I scrambled on all fours to get out of the way. The fucker was much stronger than the other guy... He was also bigger, standing almost as tall as me (sans the antlers). "Yeah, right!" I shouted, jumping back. Thankfully, his swings were clumsy even against an opponent like me, so I dodged them without that much trouble. The deer even managed to overextend his swing, which allowed me to try to tackle and disarm him. It didn't work though as he pushed me away with ease and even smacked me in the chest with the branch with enough force to make me loose my breath. "You dare interrupt my time with that mare? I'm going to kill you and rape your corpse before I rape her again!" That made me freeze for a moment, which was enough for him to try and brain me again, my helmet clanking like a bell as I was sent on the ground. And yet I didn't feel the blow as much as the others as my mind locked on one word that he said: Rape... Now, there are a few things that I don't condone... Rape was one of them. As a matter of fact, it was one of the things that really pushed my buttons, and it pushed them hard. Now it made sense... The damn things were rapists... It explained the girl's plea for help, the hostility, the attempt to kill me... I saw the branch coming down to hit me again, but it never hit as I rolled out of the way. I was feeling angry... No, enraged was much more fitting. My vision went red as I pulled the decorative sword from the scabbard on my side. The thing was just there to complete my suit, but it was still made of metal which was sturdy enough to beat some sense in the rapists. Now, the fact that the armor I was wearing was heavier than before I arrived here, wherever it is, should've told me that something was wrong... But then again, I was fighting a naked anthro deer rapist, so odd weight was very low on my list of things to think about. And so I swung the sword, aiming to hit the deer's wrist, a half-forgotten memory telling me that it would make them drop the branch. Of course, things didn't go as planned. Not only did I miss his wrist, but the edge of the sword that I knew from experience was so dull that it couldn't even cut cheese somehow managed to bite in his forearm, eliciting a scream from the anthro. I was too angry to care though and pulled the weapon, a gush of blood flowing out of the wound. I swung again, this time the blade hitting its intended target - the side of his head. Once again the sword bit deep in bone and was almost pulled off my hands as the anthro's whole body turned into dead weight, emphasis on dead. Turning around I homed in on the other rapist. I don't know what was he planning to do before I had killed his comrade, but now he was staring at me horrified. With an almost feral growl I charged at him. I didn't think, I just let my body move on its own. I barely felt any resistance as the blade skewered his body. I could see the bloodied tip that had emerged from his back... With a kick I pushed the anthro from the sword and onto the grass. The thing was either in too much pain or shock to even scamper away as I raised the sword high before bringing it down with a roar of anger. Maybe it was a trick of my mind, but the anthro's eyes seemed to cross as it looked at the blade wedged between them before the life left his body... Putting a boot on his head I pulled the sword from his cranium, ignoring the bits of brain matter, blood and bone that came out with it. A shake of the blade got rid of most of that before I leaned down and wiped the rest off his coat before sheathing it. My body was still moving by autopilot, acting after things I've read in books and off the internet. A sound made me turn around just in time to catch the sobbing girl as she slammed in my chest. At first I thought she was attacking me, but her arms wrapped around me as she buried her face in my chest and started sobbing. I could hear the words "Thank you" being muttered over and over again. The rage from earlier melted away, replaced with feeling of awkwardness. Crying girls was something I had little to no experience in... "Shh... It's okay..." I whispered patting her back. It took me a few minutes before she calmed down. I managed to get her to sit on a log and flipped my visor up so that I could look at her face. "Now, what's your name?" I asked her. "Ch-Cherry... Cherry Blossom..." She sniffed. "Cherry Blossom... That's a beautiful name." I smiled reassuringly. "I'm Jordan... Now, Blossom... Can I call you Blossom?" She gave me a nod and I continued, asking the most important question: "Where am I and what is going on?" It wasn't long after she started explaining to me that my smile faded and I started to curse inside my mind... So here I was, in a place that combine two things I didn't particularly like - the show "My Little Pony" and Anthros... Normally that would have already had me walking away and letting the ponies take care of whatever they were facing with their rainbows, "Magic of Friendship" and whatever other shit they used. And yet... I would have to be a heartless bastard to leave behind the girl that was sobbing in my chest. She was a living, breathing, sentient being that I had just saved from being gang-raped. I would be no better than those deer I just killed if I walked away and left her to her own devices. "Alright, alright..." I said, awkwardly patting her back. "You can come with me..." My words had the effect of unleashing another round of tears, this time of joy. The girl... No, wait, the right word for a female horse was mare, right? Yes, the mare was now trying to crush my armor with all her strength as she thanked me again and again and... You probably realize how awkward and uncomfortable I felt, right? I mean, less than an hour ago I was just giving out leaflets, dressed in a cool armor and sweating under the sun. Now I had become a knight in shining armor for this mare after I had... I had... And then it hit me. I had killed. I had killed a living, breathing, sentient being. And not one, but three of them... Sure, it was self-defense, and they were about to rape someone, something that they probably did quite a few times before this encounter, but still... I killed them... I felt sick to the bottom of my soul... The world seemed to spin as the words kept repeating in my mind. I killed. I barely managed to push Blossom from me before I bend over, dropping on my knees as I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the grass. The worried mare crouched next to me, her hands holding me as I heaved. "Oh god..." I breathed out. "I killed them... I killed them..." The armor rattled a bit as my body began shaking from the shock. I was a monster, I was a murderer, I was... I felt my helmet being lifted up, allowing my long hair to spill out. A soft hand touched my cheek, turning my head up. I found myself blinking against the cerulean eyes of the mare I saved. "You saved me from those caribou... No, from those monsters... They deserved to die... They would have done the same to you if you hadn't defended yourself... If you hadn't defended me. What you did was putting down a bunch of animals..." Her voice was soft, and yet her words carried to my soul, for a lack of a better word. Maybe it was the way she said it, or because it was what I wanted, no, what I needed to hear, but I calmed down a bit. And she was right now that I think of it... They were like rabid animals, and they had to be put down like ones. It wasn't easy, but I guess it spoke a lot about my character if I felt bad... Right? "You're right..." I breathed out and lowered my head... That had the side effect of having her breasts in my view, but those were the last things on my mind right now. "Rabid animals need to be put down, even if it pains us to do that..." Still shaking, I pushed myself off the ground and rose up. The mare was smiling up at me and I smiled faintly in return. "Thank you..." "No." She interrupted me. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for letting me come with you. Thank you for..." She tried to hold back her tears. "For protecting me..." Wiping her eyes she looked away from me. Her eyes spotted my helmet from where she had set it on the ground and she bent down to pick it up. Wiping some dirt from where it had clung onto the metal she lifted it up to me. Taking it in my hands I looked over the thing. It looked pretty ordinary, with a narrow slit for the eyes and holes below it... The only decoration on it was the cross in the front. The thing was really constricting, not allowing for a wide field of vision... a real knight's helmet. Using one hand to hold my hair back I put the helmet on, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it felt now. It took me several minutes of fixing my hair before it would fit comfortably... I realized something: I would have to cut my hair short if I wanted to be able to put this thing on without trouble... "Fuuuuuck..." I groaned out to Blossom's befuddlement... Author's Note Hello my dear readers. You're probably wondering "What the hell is this?" Well, the answer is simple: an idea that just wouldn't leave me alone, making sure I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else until I wrote it. And so here you go. The main character is a human, an average Joe (or Jordan in this case) who will have to deal with a lot of things throughout the course of this story. He won't have any magic or be a master swordsman... But he still has his humanity, with all its pros and cons. And that's something that no creature on Equis has ever dealt with... Hopefully now I'll be able to finish the next chapter of EAFaW... As usual, read, review and point out any mistakes I have made in my sleep-deprived state. And if you have any ideas and suggestions then toss them my way, I'll take good care of them. Also, if this gets featured I'm eating my hat... 2 A night of thinking, a day of walking...The sword sinking in the anthro deer's cranium, the life leaving it as those eyes looked at me accusingly, wondering why did I take his life in this peaceful world... I woke up with a gasp, my chest heaving rapidly. Cold sweat covered my skin, seeping in the little amount of clothes I had on. My right side was cold from the night's chill, while the left was pleasantly warm from the fire I had managed to light up a few hours ago... Why did they made it look easier on TV? Oh well, it didn't matter. There was fire that kept me reasonably warm during what sleep I could get between nightmares... Damn, those things' death hit me harder than I thought it would, even with knowing that they were rapist slaver anthros... Did that make me a good man or a bad one? I had no idea... A whimper interrupted my musing, drawing my attention to the side where the mare I saved slept. It seemed that I wasn't the only one having nightmares, if the way her face was scrunched up in fear was any indication... It was to be expected though, with what she told me... We spent most of the afternoon walking through this "Everfree Forest", having decided to cross it before thinking of our next move. Meanwhile, Blossom continued with her explanation of this world, the country of Equestria and the recent events. It sounded like the show... Well, my idea for the show, that is. I always thought that it was some girly thing, full of rainbow-farting unicorns, friendship, too much pink and other bright colors like that... This world, this Equestria... It used to be like that. The last time they had conflict was when a species of insectoids called "Changelings" tried to invade, an endeavor that failed spectacularly when their Queen was banished with the power of "love"... Yeah, that sounded gay to me too. Especially when the Changelings, a species that at first I thought were some kind of Zerg or Tyranid counterpart to this world, turned out to be feeding on love... Can this get more gay without having same-sex couples banging each other on the streets? I had one word for this world: Bleh... Then these deer, or "caribou", had come, raping and twisting the ponies into rapists and servants... Those that resisted were either broken in or outright killed... Cherry Blossom had been one of the few that were lucky enough to stay sane from the effects of their... magic, and their training... I grimaced. Just thinking about that made me clench my fists in anger. As a human coming from a world without Magic I thought it was something cool and amazing, or badass when two Mages duked it out... Yeah, I was a bit of a nerd. I used to read a lot of fantasy and science fiction in school, something which slightly influenced my career choice... Yeah, not the best thing overall, but I got to wear a cool armor... Anyway, the point was, Magic was supposed to be great. Not the thing that these deer, these caribou made it... I remember punching a tree in order to vent my anger at what I heard. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do at the moment. I was just one human in a world full of anthros... If this was the original Equestria, with the "normal" ponies, then I would at least have the advantage of having fingers... Another whimper returned me to here and now. Blossom was starting to toss in her sleep... Sighing I stood up and walked around the fire, stopping next to her. For a few moments I hesitated... What should I do? Should I wake her up? "No... Please, don't..." Those words quite literally made my heart hurt... Grimacing I reached down, placing my hand on her shoulder. The reaction was immediate... Blossom woke up with a start, her eyes wide with fear. "Agh!" I exclaimed, falling backwards on my ass as she screamed. Damn, she had one hell of a voice... I think my ears rang for a few minutes after that... While I was clutching at my head Blossom tried to scramble away from me. "Goddamn it!" I exclaimed, rubbing my ear. It seems that she recognized my voice... It was either that, or the strangeness of the curse made her pause long enough for her to recognize me. "Jordan?" She asked, blinking at me. I bit back a sarcastic reply, instead just nodding... I doubt it would've made things better. "Oh Celestia, I'm sorry!" The mare was immediately next to me, checking my head. "Did I hit you? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to..." "I'm fine, I'm fine..." I reassured her as I stood up. "Or I will be once my ears stop ringing..." I muttered before shaking my head and looking up at her. When I arrived in this world I didn't have much on me... The decorative armor and sword that turned real for some reason, a pair of pants that kept my legs from chaffing, underpants, socks and shirt, my phone and my wallet... And I more or less listed my possessions in order of usefulness. Right now all but my clothing lay on a pile nearby, and only my shirt wasn't on me... I had given it to Blossom as soon as I saw her starting to shiver... Well, that, and after I managed to get the damn armor off. I must say, it was a good thing the shirt was a few sizes bigger for me... Even now her breasts were straining against the fabric, making for a rather nice view... I shook my head, trying to keep my mind out of the gutter. Could you fault me? The mare wasn't bad on the eyes, even if she wasn't human, and I was a red-blooded straight guy... You get the picture. Shaking my head again I once more returned to the here and now, something that I had to do quite often in my life. "You looked like you had a nightmare... Are you okay?" I asked her bluntly. I would've preferred to be a bit more subtle, but I wasn't in the mood after today's events. "I... I'm fine..." Blossom said, looking away from me. "It was nothing..." Now this made me frown... I wasn't exactly good at reading people, and I was even worse at reading women... But then again, what guy is good at that? Still, even I could see the outright lying. She was scarred from what happened to her and just didn't want to bother me... So I did something impulsively. I reached out and pulled her in a hug... It was hard to tell which one of us was more surprised... I wasn't the kind of guy to just hug a girl. Normally I was too shy for that. But she just looked so... How do I explain it? Lost? Alone? Something like that. For a few seconds she just stayed still, frozen in surprise. Then she wrapped her arms around me, clinging desperately as she cried in my bare shoulder while I rubbed her back. I don't know how long did we stay like that since my phone was on the other side of the fire, but eventually she cried herself to sleep while she still clung to me. She looked a lot more peaceful now... Almost too peaceful for me to try and move her. Unfortunately my position wasn't the most comfortable... I moved slowly, trying to pry her hands off me... But the mare didn't seem to like it... She grabbed me one again in her sleep, causing me to stumble and fall on my back. This didn't seem to disturb Blossom much, as she just snuggled in my chest and continued to sleep. "I guess I'm sleeping here..." I sighed lightly, so I wouldn't disturb the sleeping mare before looking down at her. A few strands of her pink mane were obscuring her face... Reaching out I gently brushed them away, revealing her peaceful-looking face. It was so different than the troubled mare that she was just half an hour ago... I couldn't help but smile. This was how people should go to sleep... At peace, without trouble, without having to worry about tomorrow... Without having to worry about being used and abused... At that thought my smile faded. Damn these caribou... Damn them to hell and back. Nobody had the right to do this to even one person... And yet, they did it to an entire nation, to an entire sapient race... Wrapping my arms around Blossom I made a silent vow, my face set in grim determination. I would protect this mare with everything I could... And I would do anything to help her people. I may be one guy, one being who didn't even belong in this world... But sometimes all it takes is a single spark to start a fire... A single person to start a rebellion that could free nations... History had many examples like that. And I was going to be that person, that spark... No matter the cost, I would help the ponies. With that thought in mind I closed my eyes, allowing sleep to claim me once more... I woke up reluctantly, like I always did. At least the light wasn't shining in my eyes this morning, like it usually does... And I hadn't kicked the covers off... Though... The blanket had a strange shape... And it felt oddly heavy and furry... And pleasantly warm... And breathing... Wait what? Okay, I guess it was time to properly wake up... Opening my eyes I looked up. The first sight of the day was something that my still-sleepy mind first mistook for cotton candy... A few blinks later I realized that it was just hair... Pink hair that belonged to an anthro horse... My mind was slow on the uptake, but eventually it booted up and the memories of yesterday came back. With a sigh I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. This was going to be one of those days... And something told me that any day in this world would be one of those days... Oh well. I'd just deal with it when the time came. For now, it was time to get up... But first I would have to get the snoozing mare off me. Looking down again I reached out, brushing Blossom's hair away. She looked kind of cute, sleeping like that. She was even drooling a little... On my chest... "Eww..." I voiced my opinion with a grimace. Strangely, that was enough to get her to stir. I watched her as she tried to stay asleep for a minute before slightly opening her eyes and looking up at me. "Mornin'..." She mumbled sleepily before laying her head back down on my chest. I grinned widely, realizing what the situation would turn into. Comprehension in: Three... Two... One... "Huh?" Called it. Her eyes opened suddenly and she looked up at me in surprise. Next thing I knew she had shot herself up, scrambling away from me. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, much to her confusion. "Wha-? But... How..?" She actually looked quite lost... After laughing at the cliche for a few more seconds I yawned and stretched. A sigh escaped my lips as I heard a few satisfying pops. "Good morning, Blossom." I greeted her after I stood up. "Sleep well?" The mare blushed and mumbled something, looking away from me. I couldn't help but chuckle again. Blushing girls always amused me and... Wait, what? My chuckling ceased abruptly as my mind once again caught up and I stared at Blossom, causing her blush to deepen. "What the..?" I voiced my confusion. How the hell was I seeing her blush? She had a coat of hair, for God's sake! And not only that, but the coat was red. Red! How was she blushing through that? "Ugh... It's too early for things like this..." I groaned. I decided to throw this into the "deal with it later" pile along with other things I didn't feel like thinking about at the moment... Or ever, for that matter... Shaking my head I looked around. The camp was the same as when we went to sleep, with the exception of the fire having gone out at some point of time. Oh well... It wasn't like we'd need it anyway. There was nothing to cook, after all. As if to add one more cliche to the slowly expanding list my stomach decided to let its presence known with a loud gurgle. "Shuddup..." I scolded it, to Blossom's amusement. "Well, looks like we're both hungry... How about we eat?" Both my mind and stomach agreed with her. But the former pointed something out: "What are we going to eat?" The way she looked at me was as if I asked the most stupid question possible... "Why, grass, of course." I facepalmed... Of course my question would sound stupid to her... She was a horse. Of course she'll eat grass... "That's good for you, but there's a problem... I'm a human." She gave me a confused look, prompting me to explain further: "I can't eat grass." I said and showed her my teeth for emphasis. I had noticed that her teeth were flat, not unlike a horse's. Blossom bent down to look at my teeth, blinking in confussion... Again. "Why can't you eat grass? Is it bad tasting or something?" I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "I don't know, I've never eaten grass. We humans can't even digest it..." "Oh..." Was all she could say in return. There was a short pause, filled with uncomfortable silence before she spoke again: "What can you eat then?" "Well..." I began, wondering what to say. If she was anything like a real horse then her diet would be strictly vegetarian, and if my (biased) opinion about the show was also correct then killing animals for their meat was a crime... I would have to gently break in the fact that I ate meat... "I can eat fruits and vegetables... Dairy products... Bread, sweets, stuff like that. I can't eat grass, hay, flowers and leaves though..." I paused for a bit. There was no way to say it gently, or at least I couldn't think of one in the short amount of time I had... "I also need some meat in my diet..." I put it bluntly. I guess that if I did it like pulling a band-aid - fast and direct, then it would mitigate the impact... The reaction was instantaneous. Her eyes widened in fear and she started to move away from me. Not the reaction I wanted... "Y-y-you're a... C-carnivore..." Her voice trembled as she shook... Seriously? Was she thinking that I would eat her or something? "Omnivore." I corrected her, raising a finger for emphasis. "And it's not by choice, just the way my species evolved. And before you freak out..." Okay, it was a bit late for that... "Further..." I added after a short pause. "I would never eat a sentient creature." She seemed to calm down a bit at that... But not much. "Look..." I sighed. "I had enough chances to eat you yesterday and during the night... Plus, there were the deer yesterday, which I killed..." I ignored the way my stomach churned at the thought. Now wasn't the time to get sick. Though... They do say that venison is quite delicious... No, I shook my head. There was no way I could eat those deer anthros, even with the atrocities they committed. "Besides..." I continued. "We humans would eat horse meat only in the direst circumstances." "Really?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. I could see that my words were getting through to her, which was good. "Yeah. Horses and dogs are two of Humanity's staunchest allies... They have been our companions, guardians and helpers throughout the ages. We have tribes that were almost literally born on horses." "Wait, how?" Blossom interrupted me. "What do you mean born on horses?" "What I said, of course. Mothers would climb on the horse to give birth." She stared at me for a few seconds... I stared back... What was wrong with my explanation? I was... Oh... Right. I had forgotten something crucial - I was talking to a horse... Pony.. Thing.... You get it. "Right, one detail you should know: humans are the only sentient species on my planet. Horses, dogs, deer, cows and such are just animals, like the birds in the trees around us." I was hoping I gave a good analogy... I wasn't going to ignore the possibility of the animals being able to think and talk like me and Blossom. "Anyway, as I was saying, it is a sign of things hitting rock-bottom when we have to eat horses or dogs." "That... Sounds strange..." Blossom admitted. I just shrugged in response. "It's the way my planet works. If it's any consolation, this place is just as strange to me..." I paused for a bit before adding: "If not more..." There were a few seconds of silence between us before Blossom spoke again: "Can you tell me more about your world?" "Sure." I nodded. "But first, I'd suggest we find some food... At least something that I could eat." A forest like this would surely have at least some berries or nuts that were edible... Right? After doing my morning bathroom stuff I took my helmet and set on to search for something edible while Blossom stayed behind to guard the camp and graze... Okay, that one was a bit insulting, but she was a horse woman that was eating grass, what am I supposed to call it? Anyway, it seemed that luck was on my side. It wasn't even five minutes after I set on to search for food that I stumbled upon a large patch of wild strawberries. That was good, since I was no Bear Grills... My stomach rejoiced as I devoured the tasty fruit without even thinking about washing them or anything like that. Once I was satisfied I started to pile the rest of the ripe fruits in my helmet for later consumption, as well as for Blossom. She would probably like them... I was right, because when I returned to camp she gave me a tight hug before devouring a good portion of the strawberries. I chuckled as I watched her moan in delight at the taste before going to put my armor on. The lower body parts weren't easy to put on, but I managed. Thankfully, Blossom was finished with her breakfast by then (and had even spent a few minutes watching me while I was putting the damn things on). I doubt I could've put the rest on if she hadn't helped me... With that annoying task complete I collected the other stuff I had pulled out of the pouches on my waist. Blossom decided to hold the helmet with the strawberries for me, and apologized in advance for any that would get lost. I managed not to laugh at that... It was easy to see that she liked the strawberries and wanted to eat more. "Alright, just don't eat them all." I said, chuckling at her blush as I started my phone. I wanted to see what was the time... That, and to see how long have I been in this world. The digital clock said that it was 11:38 Earth time, and I think that it was more or less accurate for Equestrian time as well. It also meant that I have been here for about twenty or so hours. I couldn't help but sigh. Twenty hours away from home... Twenty hours of missing... I briefly wondered what were people back home thinking about my abrupt disappearance. Were they worried? Was my boss furious about me leaving without telling him, or was he concerned because I hadn't taken my belongings? Were my friends searching our hangouts for me? Were my parents crying, wondering what happened to me? Was the police starting a nation-wide search for me? I took a deep breath to calm myself down and rubbed the tears from my eyes. It wasn't the time to dwell on this... There was nothing I could do at the moment. It was better if I dealt with it when the time was right... Like when I had some sense of security in my life. Reaching to the shut-down button of my phone I pressed it. No sense wasting battery... Just before the screen turned white with the Nokia logo I noticed something strange about the battery indicator... It showed it was full. And yesterday, when I shut it off, it was only at four out of seven lines. "Damn thing must be glitching again..." I muttered under my breath before pocketing the device. After making sure that the fire was out (Only YOU can prevent forest fires!) me and Blossom continued our trek through the forest. As promised, I started telling her about Earth. Her reaction was, as I expected, a mix of curiosity and appall. And I was only giving her a mild version, excluding a lot of the wars and other gruesome stuff like the Inquisition, slavery and such. I made sure to keep the history lesson on less bloody things, though that was only with the recent history. I told her about human rights activists like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, about great scientists and inventors like Archimedes, Newton, Einstein and many others. Blossom seemed fascinated by that. But she seemed to want to ask me something, because she interrupted me: "What does "Manowar" mean?" I paused at that and turned around to look at mare. She was staring down at the shirt I had given her, the Manowar logo stretched over her breasts. Below it was the image of the album art of what I thought of as the best music to come out since the dawn of time - Manowar's Warriors of the World. I remember her being a bit appalled at the image, but it was better than walking around completely naked and... "Wait, you can read that?" I asked in surprise. "Yes, it's written in plain Equish." I felt a twitch in my eye at that. What was next? Having an analogue of the French language? "So? Is that him? Is he a god of some sort?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the question. It was probably a valid one for someone from another world. "First, Manowar isn't a single man, but a group." I explained. I briefly considered lying to her, but then chased the thought away. It wouldn't do any good. "They're a band. A Heavy Metal band." Blossom tilted her head in curiosity, a rather cute and amusing sight. "Heavy Metal?" She asked, just as I expected. "It's a genre of music. Usually it's loud and fast, though it can also be slower and quieter, melodic. There are many sub-genres. Symphonic, classical, trash, black, power, alternative..." I continued to list genres, only confusing her more. It took me a full minute to figure that out and I sighed. "Why don't I just show you, hm?" I asked her, getting a nod in return. Fishing my phone from the pouch I turned it on. There was no sense in preserving the battery, it wasn't like I could call anyone here, and I would prefer to listen to some music while I could... As the old-ish Nokia booted up I thought about which song should I put on. I had serious doubts that Blossom would like most of Manowar's stuff, but I was sure there would be a few songs she could like. Of course, I had other bands' music on the memory card, but we started our talk with Manowar and I wanted to introduce her to the wonderful world of Metal with my favorite band. Hmm... Would she like Blow Your Speakers? Brothers of Metal? Or... Aha! I knew the perfect song! As soon as the phone finished booting up I started the music player and quickly found the song. "Come on, we can walk and listen." I told her, prompting her to look up from the phone and to me. "Is that your gramophone?" She asked before looking at me confused (and maybe slightly offended) when I burst in laughter. "No, it's not..." I said when I was finally capable of speaking again. "No, this is my phone. I told you about how we can communicate instantaneously with other parts of the world, right?" Blossom nodded at that. "Well, this is what we use for that. It also has other uses, like taking pictures, sending messages..." I smiled and started the song. "And play music." I had figured that she would like a song about friendship, and I was right. Blood Brothers was one of my favorite songs by the band, right up there with Warriors of the World itself. We walked the next five minutes in silence, enjoying the song. Well, silence with the occasional singing from me... By the end we had emerged in a less foresty and more rocky part of the Everfree. As the song ended I hit the stop button and turned around to look at Blossom. "So?" I asked, waiting to hear her opinion. "It sounded odd... But I liked it." She smiled to me and I smiled back. It always made me glad to have good music appreciated. "I'm glad to hear that. I have other songs that you might like... But I think that they should wait until we camp for the night." I said, switching my phone off and pocketing it before turning around to continue our trek. The day was going good enough. I wanted it to end well too, with some of my favorite songs. I had so many that I could show Blossom and... A sound interrupted my musings, making me pause and look around. It sounded like... cracking... I looked down. Indeed, the ground under mine and Blossom's feet was cracking apart... "Look out!" I shouted and lunged forward, pushing the mare away from the forming hole. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to escape it... As the earth under me disappeared and I fell into the darkness I could only think of one thing: "This is going to hurt..." Author's Note Whew... I know it has been a while, but I just couldn't get the muse to write this chapter... And now I made it in two days, using up all my spare time... As you can see, not a lot of action, but some necessary development, showing how our Knight sets his goal. And I'm also trying to show how he copes with taking a life for the first time... Just like I think I would... As for what I said about a single man being all it takes to start a rebellion, I'm more or less right. I know at least one example from my own country's history. Now, for the songs... Manowar is an amazing group, and their songs have inspired me greatly in writing this chapter, as well as planning some future parts of the story. As for those of you who expected some Caribou slaughter... I'm sorry. We'll get to that, but it'll take some time. But I'm sure that [can sate your bloodthirst in the meantime. And with that I'm out and off to get some much-needed rest. As usual, read, review and point out any mistakes I made.](https://www.fimfiction.net/story/177794/the-fall-of-the-caribou The Fall of The Caribou) 3 ...and a short trip down the hole...Clank! "Ooof!" Thun! "Agh!" Drunn... "Urgh!" Clang! "Aaah!" Thud! And that more or less summed up my journey down the literal rabbit hole... I don't know if I blacked out or not... It was too damn dark down there to even guess. What I knew, however, was that I felt like I went ten rounds against a concrete mixer, inside the mixer itself, and lost each and every round. In other words, battered and bruised, and in a lot of pain. Just as I predicted. I wouldn't be surprised if my armor looked like someone had banged on it with a hammer... I opened my eyes with a groan of pain and looked around... Or at least I think I did. It was pitch-black and I couldn't see anything. Something which spelled B-A-D in my mind... There wasn't even light coming from the hole I fell into! Though it was to be expected, since it wasn't a straight trip down, something I was glad for... Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived the fall. "Fuck..." I swore as I pushed myself up. I was alone, underground, without food or water. Could the situation get any worse? And of course, as if the universe just wanted to spite me, I heard a sound from somewhere to my right. I gulped audibly and fumbled around with the pouch I kept my phone in. It was the only source of light on me. Too bad I wasn't a smoker, or else I probably would have carried a lighter with me... Finally I had the phone out and booting up. Unfortunately the light from the screen wasn't enough to illuminate whatever was making the sound... And speaking of the source, it was coming closer and sounded like... Tapping? Like multiple fingernails tapping on the stone... For some reason it stirred a memory inside me, but I couldn't put my mind on it... If I had more time I probably could have figured it out, but I was more concerned with getting some light at the moment... Finally the phone was ready. I quickly pressed the button for the flashlight, silently thanking the designers who made it a bit bigger than the rest of the buttons. The white light illuminated the surrounding area, confirming what I already suspected - that I was in a tunnel underground which stretched in the darkness in two directions. Above me was the hole I fell through. I heard the sound again and immediately shined the light in that direction. And there it was. With eight leg and eight eyes, covered in chitin and hair and looking at me with something akin to surprise was the biggest fucking spider I've ever seen in my life! The damn thing was the size of a St. Bernard! Now, I didn't scream in terror like a little girl. No, I let out a manly yell of surprise and... Oh, who am I kidding? I almost shat my pants at the sight of it! But can you blame me? The thing was big enough to startle an Australian! Hell, it was surprising that there wasn't a health bar hovering over it! Unfortunately, my scream prompted it to lunge at me. I fell on my back, my phone clattering on the stone floor as I tried to hold the mandibles away from me. Fortunately, it landed with the flashlight up. Unfortunately, that allowed me to see some sort of green liquid that dripped from the mandibles and onto my breastplate. I could only hope that it was just strangely-colored saliva, and not poison or acid... I didn't want to think of what might happen if it bit me and injected that thing inside the wound. It's bite alone would hurt enough... I think I screamed my lungs out as I tried to force the monstrous spider off me. Finally I managed to kick it off and scurried back, trying to get some distance between us. Unfortunately, the spider wasn't generous enough to stay down... It righted itself up within moments and once again pounced at me. This time I managed to roll away, causing it to impact the stone floor with a hiss. As it got back up so did I. My hand moved to grasp the only weapon I had and pulled it out. The sword slid out of the sheath with a hiss that emboldened me a little... This time I was the attacker. With a yell I lunged forward, bringing the sword down. Green goo flew in the air as the sharp edge bit into the spider's caparace, the thing shrieking in pain. I continued hacking at the spider until it was an unidentifiable mass of green goo and chitin. After a bit I paused, panting heavily as I stared at it. A leg twitched and I let out a startled yelp, resuming my hacking. Finally I stopped, lifting my sword from the remains and looking at myself. The front of my armor and my face were splattered with the spider's remains, and I could see chunks of its caparace sticking on the metal. The sight was rather gruesome, and that was without taking the smell in consideration... One word: Yuck! Unfortunately there was no way that I could clean my armor now... Well, I suppose I could use my hands, but it would just transfer most of the gunk on them instead. "Fuck..." I voiced my displeasure with a groan. My last shower was yesterday morning, and I was already starting to smell. Now I had the scent of spider guts on me as well... Again: Yuck! Shaking my head I walked over to my phone and picked it up. A quick check showed only one bit of discernable damage. The screen had a scratch covering a bit of it, but it was only superficial. I smiled at that. The Nokia was a bit old, but was sturdy like its indestructable predecessor. ive dropped it from greater heights than that and it only had minor scratches. Still, I sighed in relief. The piece of technology was my only source of light down here and it would've been bad if I lost it. Holding the phone carefully and trying to protect it from the gunk that covered me I looked around. Nothing had changed in my surroundings (if you discounted the pile of spider a couple of meters away)... I had two choices. Go left or go right. Both corridors looked equally level so either of them could lead me to the surface... My train of thought halted with a mighty screech as I heard a now familiar sound... The sound of many hard legs tapping against stone... In other words, the sound of many spiders coming from the right tunnel. Well, that solved my dilemma for me... "Yeah..." I drawled out. "Nope... Nope, nope, nope nope!" I said to myself as I turned tail and ran down the left corridor as fast as I could. I could only hope that it would lead me to the surface and back to Blossom... I had no idea how long did I run, but my mind eventually realized the fact that I could hear only the sounds of my footsteps, my heavy breathing and my armor clanking. As soon as it did I slowed down, eventually stopping completely. Placing the hand that held the phone on the stone wall for support I bent over, panting heavily as I tried to get my breathing under control. Damn... That was quite the run... I could feel the sweat covering my body under the shirt and pants I wore under the armor... Hell, I could see the droplets falling from my face. "I hate running..." I muttered with a groan as I righted myself up. And I really did. It always made my legs ache and tired me out... I preferred walking. I could endure fast walking for hours. Running also did another thing to me that I hated - it made me thirsty as hell... I had the feeling my mouth was dry as a desert. "Bleh..." I summed up my feelings on the matter. I had to find some water soon... Oh well, there was probably going to be an underground stream somewhere ahead... I hope... Using the phone to light my way I continued walking at a brisk pace, my sword held ready to fight off whatever terror lurked in the tunnel. Soon I realized something - the tunnel was too straight to be natural... With that in mind I started to pay more attention to the walls. I wasn't an expert, but I think I saw several places that bore tool marks. If I was right then something made these tunnels... Maybe this was an old mine? I could only hope so. It would mean that there was an exit to the surface, and I needed that badly... Soon the tunnel led me to a large chamber, about the size of a large house or a small mansion. As I shone the light around I found out that it was the converging point of nearly a dozen tunnels... Shit... This just complicated my situation. I had no way of knowing which tunnel to take. Any of them could lead me to the surface and Blossom... Or deeper underground. To repeat again: shit... I leaned against the wall to rest for a bit as I tried to figure out which tunnel to take. Finally I sighed and gave up. I'd just pick one at random when I was done. In the meantime, I wanted to see how long would my light last. As I unlocked the phone I looked at the battery indicator and blinked. Full? How the hell was it... My train of thought was once again halted as I saw it go empty. Then there was one bar, two bars, three... "What the..." I voiced my confussion. The phone was charging itself? How? That was impossible! Then again, I was in magical pony land, so maybe I should use that word a bit less often... I had no idea of the laws of Physics here, or how Magic affected them... Still, if my phone's battery was charging itself I couldn't complain. It meant two things - no limit as of how long I could listen to my music, and no limit to the light at the moment. Both were good for me right now, especially the latter. I silently thanked God, Satan, Tesla, Edisson, Zeus and whatever other deities and scientists I could remember... With my current predicament (taken to another world or dimension altogether) I couldn't rule out their existence... As I was struggling to remember if I had missed anyone important I noticed something. A magenta light was coming from one of the tunnels to my left. I immediately shone the light of my phone towards the tunnel. The light's source seemed to stop and... "H-hello?" My eyes widened as I heard the female voice. "Wh-who's there? I warn you, the Great and Powerful Trixie knows powerful magics t-that will cast you to Tartarus..." It was clear to me that she was scared... This could be bad, since her claim of being able to send me to Tartarus migt be real... Blossom told me that the unicorns here could cast spells... And everyone knew that a scared Mage was a deadly Mage... "There's no need for violence." I called out as I walked to the center of the chamber and turned the flashlght of my phone out before pocketing it. The bearer of the voice let out a surprised squeak and, if the way the light receded in the tunnel, backpedalled a bit. "Wait!" I called out. "I mean you no harm!" The light stopped. "T-Trixie doesn't trust you..." She said. "Trixie can't trust a s-stallion..." I couldn't fault the mare. I would've been the same, with the current situation in Equestria... "Well, you're in luck then." I replied with a smirk. "I'm not a stallion." "Then... What are you?" The mare (I was ninety-nine percent sure she was a pony) asked. "That's... A bit complicated..." I had the feeling that if I told her that I was an alien/dimensional traveler it would only make things worse. "Look, what matters right now is that I'm immune to whatever is driving the stallions sex-crazy, and that I'm helpless down here." Not the exact truth, I had my sword and phone so I wasn't that helpless, but still. I held my breath as I waited for her answer. The silence stretched for so long that I almost felt like she left... Only the fact that the light remained where it was showed me the opposite... "O-okay..." Her answer came after what seemed like an eternity to me. I siged in relief... "Trixie will come out... But if you try anything funny, Trixie will show you that Trixie isn't called the Great and Powerful for nothing..." "I promise." I said with a nod. I didn't have any intentions of doing anything to her anyway. Slowly the mare walked out of the tunnel. As I suspected, this Trixie was a unicorn. Her figure, covered in azure fur was rather curvy, just like Blossom's... So far I had seen only these two mares, but that seemed to be a trend here. Unlike my friend she was clothed in a dark blue dress, with a cloak on her back and a wide-brimmed pointy hat on her head. Her horn was surrounded by a magenta aura and a ball of light in the same color was floating a bit above it. There was a short moment of silence as we looked at each other. Then her violet eyes widened in what I at first thought was surprise... Her short scream showed that it was fear though. It took me a second to figure out why she reacted like that before I mentally slapped myself upside the head. Here I was, an unknown being, with his sword drawn and his armor still covered in that spider's remains... I'd be scared at the sight of myself as well. "Wait!" I called out before she could bolt away. "Don't run! I know that this looks bad, but I mean you no harm! I just had a run-in with a spider..." Thankfully the mare stopped at my words. I could see her tremble in fear... Slowly she turned around, gulping at my gore-covered sight. "S-spider?" She asked and I nodded. "One of the b-big ones?" "Yeah..." I shuddered at the memory of the big-ass spider I had killed. I hoped that was the last time I met any of those things... The mare's response took me unaware. She almost threw herself at me, and if I was cleaner I think she would've hugged me. I had to start carrying a towel for these occasions, and maybe... No, bad mind. Surviving first, curvy anthro fantasies later. "Thank Celestia!" She exclaimed. "Trixie was worried she would fall prey to those monsters! But now Trixie has found a protector..." She continued in that manner for a few minutes as I stood there stunned. Finally she noticed my distress and looked me in the eyes. "You will protect Trixie, right?" She asked me. I could see the plea in her big violet eyes... And I caved in. I was raised to be chivalrious to the ladies... Plus, I was always a sucker for a pretty face, especially when the girl it belonged to was in need. "Alright, alright." I sighed. "I was going to do that without you needing to ask anyway... So, Trixie, was it?" I asked, to which she nodded. "I'm Jordan... Pleasure to meet you." I was about to offer her my hand to shake when I rememberd that it was covered in semi-dried spider guts and dropped it down awkwardly. "Jordan... That's a weird name..." She said and I frowned. Seriously? "It's a common name in my country." I growled. "From my point of view you ponies have stranger names than mine." Trixie blinked at that before leaning towards me and taking a look at my face. "You're not a pony?" She asked confused, at which I rolled my eyes. "Yes. If you remember the start of the conversation I mentioned that I'm not a stallion." She opened her mouth. "Human." I interrupted her before she could ask the question. "From another planet... Or dimension, I'm not sure." I intercepted the next one and smirked as she growled to me. "No, I don't know how I got here." I was fighting a full-blown grin now. "Will you..." She started, only for me to interrupt her again: "No... Well, maybe yes. Do you have any water?" I asked. She huffed in indignation before sighing. "Very well. Trixie supposes that she could help her guard with that." The light from her horn intensified and the ball of light dimmed before a canteen popped into existence next to her. As I stared at the conjuration she floated it to me. "Well?" She asked after a few seconds. "Aren't you going to accept Trixie's grattitude?" "Wha-?" I asked confused. My mind was a bit distracted by the magic... Knowing that something like that was possible was one thing, but seeing it for yourself? Totally different. "Oh, yeah." I took the canteen and eagerly took a few gulps of the water within. The cool liquid felt so good as it went down my parched throat... "Ah... Thank you." I sighed in relief as I lowered the now considerably emptier canteen and shook my head to remove the droplets that had dripped down from the corners of my mouth. "You're welcome." She said as I took another gulp from the canteen before handing it back. "Ah... Keep it, Trixie has more water." I nodded and put it in one of the free pouches on my waist. I noticed that there was some spider goo on it as well... Probably the reason she told me to keep it. A groan from the mare made me look at her. She was rubbing the base of her horn, her face twisted in a grimace. "You okay?" I asked concerned. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has been using her magic for too long... Even she has her limits..." I nodded in understanding. Her Mana or whatever was probably running low from sustaining the spell... Or something like that. "In that case, allow me to take over for a bit." I said, reaching for my phone. "What?" She asked. "How are you going to provide light? The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't see a horn on you, nor does she see a torch..." I sighed. Seriously? Were they so concentrated on magic? And was their technology so low? Blossom told me that they've been at peace for a thousand years... And that their immortal Princesses-slash-Goddesses ruled for hundreds more before that... One would think that they would have advanced at least to our level of technology... "I'll just use some human ingenuity." I said and lit up the phone's flashlight. Trixie's eyes widened in surprise. "What is that?" She asked, leaning closer to examine my phone. "A device with many functions. I'll tell you more, but I think it's better to walk and talk than stand around..." Trixie agreed with me wholeheartedly and so we were off. Choosing a tunnel was easy. We just picked one at random and set off. The conversation between us was more or less the same as the one with Blossom earlier. I told her about Earth and my life on it, she told me about Equestria and her life here. It was interesting to see how her life differed from Blossom's. While the normal pony was selling cherries she grew in her yard, the unicorn was a travelling show... Showmare, as she called herself. Doing magic shows like those Vegas stage magicians I really wanted to see one day... She was really interested about how our Magicians did such tricks without having real magic. I managed to tell her a few tricks I knew from shows I watched on the TV... All in all, the walk was a pleasant experience. If only she would stop speaking in third person about herself... "You know..." I started, flashing the light over thr tunnel around us. "I think we went down the wrong tunnel..." In the past hour or so it had gotten smaller, and cobwebs started to appear over the walls... "T-Trixie a-agrees..." The mare was visibly nervous and was standing close to me... Well, close to my back, to be more precise. I was nervous as well... I was tense, my right hand gripping my sword tightly while the left was holding my phone. At least my armor wasn't rattling as I tried to control my shaking... "Perhaps we should go back..." My voice betrayed my nervousness. "The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees as well..." Trixie said from behind me. I nodded at her words and looked around. "Let's go with plan B... Return to the chamber and take another tunnel..." I said, nodding towards the cobwebs. "T-The one opposite of this one looked better to Trixie anyway... " It was funny how I was thinking the same thing... "Yeah... Let's go." I said as we both did the smart thing - turned around and fled. Hey, don't blame us, it was cler that the tunnel led to the spiders' lair. And I've played enough RPGs to know what was waiting for us there - the grandmother of all fucking huge spiders. Unfortunately Fate seemed to have other plans... Plans involving my ass and a lot of spiders trying to bite it, if the sounds coming from the tunnel were any indication. "Okay, that tunnel just became a bad idea as well." I remarked, turning around for the second time in as many minutes. "Back to plan A." trixie gulped audibly but she nodded as we hurried back down our original path. "Take over the light." I commanded after a couple of minutes of fast walk-slash-nearly running. It was remarkable how far the sound must be carrying in this tunnel... "Why? Your torch is doing just fine." She asked. "Because I want to have my hand free." A two-handed grip would be better... Or at least it would make me feel more confident... Both were good. I turned the phone's flashlight off as the magenta light of her magic bathed the tunnel. "Look for a side passage or something." I commanded again as my eyes scanned the web-colored walls. Finding anything would be hard... The light coming from Trixie's conjurd orb wasn't that much and we could pass a tunnel or a crack in the darkness without seeing it... And the spiderwebs, which were becoming increasingly denser, didn't improve things either. Just as I expected, we didn't find anything before the tunnel ended. My eyes widened as they took in the cavern... It was big... Huge. Trixie's light could only illuminate our immediate surroundings, but I could see the wall behind us stretch up and around in the darkness... Of course, that wasn't the only big thing around... No, there were spider webs. Big spider webs that covered every surface. Some of them reflected the light from Trixie's orb while others seemed to glow... No... A better look showed that they were covering patches of mushrooms that glowed with a pale, eerie light. Convenient... "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly." I muttered. Trixie looked at me confused, but I ignored her. "Come on, we should find a way out... And I think it'll be better to stop the light, it's giving away our position." The mare nodded and silently dismissed the orb. Thankfully the mushrooms provided enough illumination for us to see where we were going. "Don't touch the spiderwebs." I warned Trixie as we made our way down a relatively clean and rather straight path. "Why?" She whispered back as I helped her climb some rubble. "The spiders will feel the vibrations." I explained, hopping down onto the caven's floor before helping the mare down as well. "They'll know we're here and they'll come for us. Plus, I don't know how strong or sticky the web is..." I nodded towards a spiderweb that covered what looked like a side passage between piles of rubble. It looked quite thick and sticky... I was sure that if I touched it then it would stick onto me. Or maybe it was going to be the opposite? The sound of dozens of chitin-covered legs clicking on stone told us that we've done the right thing by getting away from the entrance. A few seconds later the sound stopped... If I was to guess the spiders had crawled onto the web. Silence descended upon the cavern, the only interruptions being the hiss of spiders in the darkness. I felt a shiver run down my spine. We could be set upon by spiders at any moment, and we had no way of spotting the attack... I looked at the surrounding spiderwebs that disappeared in the dark. Each of them could be hiding dozens of spiders... "Come on." I whispered to Trixie. "The sooner we put these spiders behind us the better." "Trixie agrees with you." She whispered back and we continued walking... The chasm was deep... The illumination from the mushrooms wasn't enough for us to see much, but I doubted that we would've spotted the bottom even if we used my phone and Trixie's magic. What we could see, however, was the mass of webs that covered the chasm, as well as the multitude of spiders that were crawling over it... I put my hand on Trixie's mouth as she peeked over the edge, just in time to muffle her scream. I didn't fault her... I barely restrained myself from screaming myself. I had never seen that many spiders in one place before, and I could have quite happily lived my life without witnessing that sight... I put a finger in front of my lips, telling Trixie to keep quiet. The mare nodded and I moved my hand away from her mouth before pointing at a bridge that would allow us to cross the chasm safely. We made our way to it, trying to step as quietly as possible. As we started crossing it I looked around. The glowing mushrooms allowed me to clearly see the tons of spiderwebs that covered every surface of the massive cavern. It was impressive, to say the least and... And I stumbled as my foot kicked a loose rock. Both me and Trixie watched in horror as it tumbled over the edge. Time seemed to slow down as it fell in the chasm. Both me and Trixie looked at each other and gulped simultaneously. "Run!" Author's Note Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'm back. As you'll no doubt be happy to read, I decided against rewriting this story, like I'm doing with The Cabal and EAFaW. I've touched a few things in this chapter, but it's overall the same. The next one is already partially done, though I don't have that much time to write... Finally, as I wrote in my latest blog post, I'm thinking of making a story with the same self-insert character, but with a bit darker methods. Instead of being Equestria's noble Knight, he'd be the Warlock, master of demonic arts... Or would-be master.
1 ArrivalCherry Blossom was running for her life... Okay, that wasn't true, if her pursuers caught up she would probably live... Though with the way these savages did things she would be better off dead. It was just a week after the caribou had invaded Equestria, using the power of the perverted Crystal Heart to twist the minds of the majority of the mares and stallions, turning them into sex-crazed beasts. However, it didn't work on everyone... Some mares and stallions remained sane, resisting the effects. And yet they were outnumbered by their corrupted brethren, not to mention the caribou... Cherry Blossom was one of those mares. She had been captured and collared in Ponyville, used and abused several times before she managed to escape. There was only one place she could think of that was safe was the Everfree forest... It was strange to think of the place as safe, with all the dangerous monsters that lived in it... And still, the most dangerous monster for Blossom just reached her, tackling her to the ground. The caribou grabbed her by her mane, pulling roughly as she tried to kick him off. "You thought you could escape from us, you dumb bitch?" The caribou growled before yelling in pain as she managed to grab his arm and bite it. The male drew his hand back, and the mare used the opportunity to scamper away. Unfortunately she didn't count on his partner, who back-handed her, sending her spiraling to the ground before pinning her down with his hoof. "You bitch!" The one that got bitten snarled as he walked over to her, ripping his loincloth. "You'll pay for this!" Pushing the other caribou aside he grabbed the pony's tail, lifting it before forcing himself on the mare. Cherry Blossom cried out in pain as she felt his member invade her. "No! Please no!" She cried out, trying to buck him off her. Unfortunately, he had a good grip on her and couldn't be easily dislodged. As he continued to rape her the crying mare was forced down, her face buried in the grass as her tears flowed freely. She refused to let herself feel any pleasure of the vile act, instead filling her mind with a single plea: 'Help me, help me, oh dear Celestia, anyone, help me!' She never expected anything to answer her plea... So imagine her surprise when a few seconds later the air in front of her ripped apart, a figure clad in armor falling from the hole with a loud clank... There was one fact about the Everfree that wasn't common knowledge - it was magical. And not in the way the entire land of Equestria is magical... No. The magic there was powerful, wild, chaotic, raw... And it was old... Older than Equestria, older than the Sisters... Maybe even older than the Alicorn race. And as such it had some level of sentience, even though no unicorn would ever believe this. It was this magic that felt the mare's plea. It had been a while since it had been addressed... Even if it wasn't directly, the mare had asked for help. The magic "saw" what was happening... Not only in the forest, but throughout Equestria as well. It witnessed one vile act after another - rape, torture, murders... Things that went against the natural order. There were a number of magical things in the Everfree that had achieved some level of sentience. The Everfree magic "contacted" them, showing them what was happening. What followed was, for a lack of a better words, a "council" of sorts where the various magical entities decided on an action. They needed to find someone to fix this mess... Someone strong, someone with the right ideals, someone who wouldn't give into the temptation that the desecrated Crystal Heart would give him. And so the combined magic of the Everfree and any Artifact and Entity that dwell in it started to search. It didn't take it much to check all over Equestria. Finding nothing that fit those criteria it expanded its search, drawing magic from all over the lands. Then it did something that hadn't been done before. It pierced the Void Eternal, searching into the neighboring Dimensions. The magic started to search the strange yet familiar creatures there... And it immediately found a suitable match. He had the right qualities... He was even addressing himself as a knight... Yes... He will do nicely. And so the combined magic of the Everfree pulled him into Equestria. Of course, it never thought of asking him if he wanted that... It was another day at the job for me... I was standing in front of the restaurant, dressed in armor that shone under the may sun as I gave out leaflet and greeted the customers... It wasn't a bad job, actually. After all, how many people had the opportunity to dress like a knight for a theme restaurant? I'm sure that there aren't many... Of course, there were some downsides to the job... Like being put in a stuffy armor for the whole day, for instance. Or the bathroom breaks... Trust me, those sucked. And then there were the different kind of people that I had the misfortune of meeting... I smiled at a pair of girls as I gave them a leaflet, my eyes lingering on their bodies when they walked away. Turning my head back to the other side I almost yelped in shock as by the smelliest gypsy hobo I've ever seen (there were plenty of those around here) looked at me from less than thirty centimeters from me... "Ugh... Here you go, ma'am..." I said, trying to be polite as I took a step back and handed her a leaflet in a lame attempt to get her away. It didn't work as planned... She took the leaflet from my hand and stepped even closer to me. I don't think I managed to hide my disgust from her... But it didn't seem like she thought anything of it. "You will have an interesting time." I gagged as the stench of her breath hit me. Thankfully, I had the space to bend over as I fought to keep my lunch in since she walked away. "Damn bitch..." I muttered, glaring at the gypsy's back before turning around. I had to continue with my job, after all. Unfortunately, my foot slipped on something. As I lost my footing and fell I closed my eyes instinctively, bracing myself, waiting for the impact with the sidewalk and the loud clanking that my armor was going to cause... And waited... When nothing happened for a couple of seconds I opened my eyes.I was met with... Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Gone was the restaurant, gone was the street and the pedestrians... Only emptiness surrounded me. It wasn't even black or dark or anything... It was just... I don't even know the words to describe it. Of course, I did what any reasonable, sane individual would do in my situation - I panicked. What? Don't blame me, you would've done the same. So, as I said, I panicked. Normally, that would help me get the fear out of my system. But now it did nothing... Flailing my arms just had me slowly spin through the air, and screaming accomplished even less... I'd love to think that my voice had echoed over the abyss, but I couldn't hear it at all... It was as if there was no sound in this place. "This sucks..." I muttered, or at least tried to. I don't know how long was I falling through the abyss... If I was falling at all, that is. Motion and gravity seemed to be another two things that didn't exist in this place... Was I even moving? Or was I just staying in one place? As I was thinking about that my mind trailed off into other directions. How much time would I spend in here? Will starve or thirst to death? Will I... My train of thought was derailed as a speck of color drew my attention to itself. I watched wide-eyed as it grew... It was something... Something that was approaching... Something green... As it came closer I realized I was seeing grass... It was a way out! And I was headed straight towards it! As I passed through the portal I felt a few very familiar and welcomed things, like the motion of my body and the hold of gravity. I almost laughed in joy at being able to feel those... And then came the inevitable end of all flying things. The ground. There was a loud clank as I impacted the dirt and grass, my armor voicing out my arrival. Groaning, I lifted my head and spat out the dirt from my mouth. I felt like passing out... Too much happened for me... But that was the last thing someone in a new situation needs to do. And so I looked around. Well, not exactly around, since the moment I lifted my eyes from the ground I was met with a sight that quickly shot up on the top of my "Weird Shit List". A trio of beings stood there... One obviously female, if the breasts were any indication, with the other two looking male... Their feet ended with hooves, their faces in short muzzles... They were covered in fur, with the female being a cherry red color and the two males' being brown. The males had deer-like horns on their heads... Oh, and the tails... Let's not forget the tails. As an avid roleplayer I knew the right term for that thing. Anthro. The bane of fandoms and good roleplays everywhere... Oh, and it seems that they were in the middle of having sex. Yeah, typical anthros... I stood up, ignoring how shocked they looked, and brushed the dirt off the armor. Was it me, or did it weight more than it used to? Oh well, it didn't matter. I was about to apologize and turn around before the female cried out a single word that made me stop: "Help!" Now, I've always been a sucker for a female needing help... Well, with a few exceptions, but still... And I couldn't ignore this. Especially when the male deer that was fucking her pulled her head and slapped her hard. "Hey!" I shouted, stepping forward. "What is going on?" The other male stepped in front of me, blocking my sight of the female. "Shut up, ugly. This doesn't concern you." He growled, coming up to me. He probably looked tough, he definitely thought he was tough... But he was standing in a loincloth in front of a guy who was wearing full plate armor... So yeah, I wasn't very impressed. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" I quipped and stepped closer. It turned out I was half a head taller than the anthro, which kind of intimidated him, if the way he took a step back was any indication. Still, its antlers were a bit higher than me... But not by much. "Shut the fuck up!" He growled again, slamming his fist in my chest in an intimidation attempt. I fell to the ground in a clang of metal, but that was all the effect it had on me. He was another case though... Apparently nobody taught him how to punch, if the way he howled in pain and clutched at his thumb was any indication. Yeah... Dumb anthro. You don't punch with your thumb in your fist, you're just begging to get it smashed. "Hey! What gives?" I shouted. Seriously, what was his problem? "You fucking cunt!" He yelled. I could see the tears in his eyes from where I was sprawled down. Then he tried to kick me, bringing his hoof further back than necessary before swinging it forward. Seriously? I had more than enough time to roll to the side, making the stooge stagger as he didn't hit anything. But it didn't seem to deter him much as he managed to get his bearings before I could stand up, and tackled me. Then he started punching me as I was trying to push him off... I didn't feel the ones that landed on my armor, but the few that hit me in the head... Those I definitely felt, prompting me to fight back. Rearing my fist, I punched him in the face once, twice, three times. There was a satisfying crunch and a gush of blood from his nose. His hands moved back to clutch at it, opening him for a punch to his chest that expelled all the air from his lungs. I pushed his body off me and I scrambled to get up. "What's your problem?" I shouted at him, rubbing my cheek. "I didn't do anything to-" "Look out!" The girl's shout made me turn around, just in time to get a thick tree branch to the face which sent me back on the ground. Shit... I had forgotten about the other two. I guess that they didn't continue to fuck while the other guy attacked me... Shaking my head to clear it I looked up and immediately rolled to the side with a yell, the branch impacting the ground where my head was just a second ago. The damn deer just tried to brain me! "Stay still, you stupid cunt!" He grunted as he swung at me and I scrambled on all fours to get out of the way. The fucker was much stronger than the other guy... He was also bigger, standing almost as tall as me (sans the antlers). "Yeah, right!" I shouted, jumping back. Thankfully, his swings were clumsy even against an opponent like me, so I dodged them without that much trouble. The deer even managed to overextend his swing, which allowed me to try to tackle and disarm him. It didn't work though as he pushed me away with ease and even smacked me in the chest with the branch with enough force to make me loose my breath. "You dare interrupt my time with that mare? I'm going to kill you and rape your corpse before I rape her again!" That made me freeze for a moment, which was enough for him to try and brain me again, my helmet clanking like a bell as I was sent on the ground. And yet I didn't feel the blow as much as the others as my mind locked on one word that he said: Rape... Now, there are a few things that I don't condone... Rape was one of them. As a matter of fact, it was one of the things that really pushed my buttons, and it pushed them hard. Now it made sense... The damn things were rapists... It explained the girl's plea for help, the hostility, the attempt to kill me... I saw the branch coming down to hit me again, but it never hit as I rolled out of the way. I was feeling angry... No, enraged was much more fitting. My vision went red as I pulled the decorative sword from the scabbard on my side. The thing was just there to complete my suit, but it was still made of metal which was sturdy enough to beat some sense in the rapists. Now, the fact that the armor I was wearing was heavier than before I arrived here, wherever it is, should've told me that something was wrong... But then again, I was fighting a naked anthro deer rapist, so odd weight was very low on my list of things to think about. And so I swung the sword, aiming to hit the deer's wrist, a half-forgotten memory telling me that it would make them drop the branch. Of course, things didn't go as planned. Not only did I miss his wrist, but the edge of the sword that I knew from experience was so dull that it couldn't even cut cheese somehow managed to bite in his forearm, eliciting a scream from the anthro. I was too angry to care though and pulled the weapon, a gush of blood flowing out of the wound. I swung again, this time the blade hitting its intended target - the side of his head. Once again the sword bit deep in bone and was almost pulled off my hands as the anthro's whole body turned into dead weight, emphasis on dead. Turning around I homed in on the other rapist. I don't know what was he planning to do before I had killed his comrade, but now he was staring at me horrified. With an almost feral growl I charged at him. I didn't think, I just let my body move on its own. I barely felt any resistance as the blade skewered his body. I could see the bloodied tip that had emerged from his back... With a kick I pushed the anthro from the sword and onto the grass. The thing was either in too much pain or shock to even scamper away as I raised the sword high before bringing it down with a roar of anger. Maybe it was a trick of my mind, but the anthro's eyes seemed to cross as it looked at the blade wedged between them before the life left his body... Putting a boot on his head I pulled the sword from his cranium, ignoring the bits of brain matter, blood and bone that came out with it. A shake of the blade got rid of most of that before I leaned down and wiped the rest off his coat before sheathing it. My body was still moving by autopilot, acting after things I've read in books and off the internet. A sound made me turn around just in time to catch the sobbing girl as she slammed in my chest. At first I thought she was attacking me, but her arms wrapped around me as she buried her face in my chest and started sobbing. I could hear the words "Thank you" being muttered over and over again. The rage from earlier melted away, replaced with feeling of awkwardness. Crying girls was something I had little to no experience in... "Shh... It's okay..." I whispered patting her back. It took me a few minutes before she calmed down. I managed to get her to sit on a log and flipped my visor up so that I could look at her face. "Now, what's your name?" I asked her. "Ch-Cherry... Cherry Blossom..." She sniffed. "Cherry Blossom... That's a beautiful name." I smiled reassuringly. "I'm Jordan... Now, Blossom... Can I call you Blossom?" She gave me a nod and I continued, asking the most important question: "Where am I and what is going on?" It wasn't long after she started explaining to me that my smile faded and I started to curse inside my mind... So here I was, in a place that combine two things I didn't particularly like - the show "My Little Pony" and Anthros... Normally that would have already had me walking away and letting the ponies take care of whatever they were facing with their rainbows, "Magic of Friendship" and whatever other shit they used. And yet... I would have to be a heartless bastard to leave behind the girl that was sobbing in my chest. She was a living, breathing, sentient being that I had just saved from being gang-raped. I would be no better than those deer I just killed if I walked away and left her to her own devices. "Alright, alright..." I said, awkwardly patting her back. "You can come with me..." My words had the effect of unleashing another round of tears, this time of joy. The girl... No, wait, the right word for a female horse was mare, right? Yes, the mare was now trying to crush my armor with all her strength as she thanked me again and again and... You probably realize how awkward and uncomfortable I felt, right? I mean, less than an hour ago I was just giving out leaflets, dressed in a cool armor and sweating under the sun. Now I had become a knight in shining armor for this mare after I had... I had... And then it hit me. I had killed. I had killed a living, breathing, sentient being. And not one, but three of them... Sure, it was self-defense, and they were about to rape someone, something that they probably did quite a few times before this encounter, but still... I killed them... I felt sick to the bottom of my soul... The world seemed to spin as the words kept repeating in my mind. I killed. I barely managed to push Blossom from me before I bend over, dropping on my knees as I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the grass. The worried mare crouched next to me, her hands holding me as I heaved. "Oh god..." I breathed out. "I killed them... I killed them..." The armor rattled a bit as my body began shaking from the shock. I was a monster, I was a murderer, I was... I felt my helmet being lifted up, allowing my long hair to spill out. A soft hand touched my cheek, turning my head up. I found myself blinking against the cerulean eyes of the mare I saved. "You saved me from those caribou... No, from those monsters... They deserved to die... They would have done the same to you if you hadn't defended yourself... If you hadn't defended me. What you did was putting down a bunch of animals..." Her voice was soft, and yet her words carried to my soul, for a lack of a better word. Maybe it was the way she said it, or because it was what I wanted, no, what I needed to hear, but I calmed down a bit. And she was right now that I think of it... They were like rabid animals, and they had to be put down like ones. It wasn't easy, but I guess it spoke a lot about my character if I felt bad... Right? "You're right..." I breathed out and lowered my head... That had the side effect of having her breasts in my view, but those were the last things on my mind right now. "Rabid animals need to be put down, even if it pains us to do that..." Still shaking, I pushed myself off the ground and rose up. The mare was smiling up at me and I smiled faintly in return. "Thank you..." "No." She interrupted me. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for letting me come with you. Thank you for..." She tried to hold back her tears. "For protecting me..." Wiping her eyes she looked away from me. Her eyes spotted my helmet from where she had set it on the ground and she bent down to pick it up. Wiping some dirt from where it had clung onto the metal she lifted it up to me. Taking it in my hands I looked over the thing. It looked pretty ordinary, with a narrow slit for the eyes and holes below it... The only decoration on it was the cross in the front. The thing was really constricting, not allowing for a wide field of vision... a real knight's helmet. Using one hand to hold my hair back I put the helmet on, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it felt now. It took me several minutes of fixing my hair before it would fit comfortably... I realized something: I would have to cut my hair short if I wanted to be able to put this thing on without trouble... "Fuuuuuck..." I groaned out to Blossom's befuddlement... Author's Note Hello my dear readers. You're probably wondering "What the hell is this?" Well, the answer is simple: an idea that just wouldn't leave me alone, making sure I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else until I wrote it. And so here you go. The main character is a human, an average Joe (or Jordan in this case) who will have to deal with a lot of things throughout the course of this story. He won't have any magic or be a master swordsman... But he still has his humanity, with all its pros and cons. And that's something that no creature on Equis has ever dealt with... Hopefully now I'll be able to finish the next chapter of EAFaW... As usual, read, review and point out any mistakes I have made in my sleep-deprived state. And if you have any ideas and suggestions then toss them my way, I'll take good care of them. Also, if this gets featured I'm eating my hat...
2 A night of thinking, a day of walking...The sword sinking in the anthro deer's cranium, the life leaving it as those eyes looked at me accusingly, wondering why did I take his life in this peaceful world... I woke up with a gasp, my chest heaving rapidly. Cold sweat covered my skin, seeping in the little amount of clothes I had on. My right side was cold from the night's chill, while the left was pleasantly warm from the fire I had managed to light up a few hours ago... Why did they made it look easier on TV? Oh well, it didn't matter. There was fire that kept me reasonably warm during what sleep I could get between nightmares... Damn, those things' death hit me harder than I thought it would, even with knowing that they were rapist slaver anthros... Did that make me a good man or a bad one? I had no idea... A whimper interrupted my musing, drawing my attention to the side where the mare I saved slept. It seemed that I wasn't the only one having nightmares, if the way her face was scrunched up in fear was any indication... It was to be expected though, with what she told me... We spent most of the afternoon walking through this "Everfree Forest", having decided to cross it before thinking of our next move. Meanwhile, Blossom continued with her explanation of this world, the country of Equestria and the recent events. It sounded like the show... Well, my idea for the show, that is. I always thought that it was some girly thing, full of rainbow-farting unicorns, friendship, too much pink and other bright colors like that... This world, this Equestria... It used to be like that. The last time they had conflict was when a species of insectoids called "Changelings" tried to invade, an endeavor that failed spectacularly when their Queen was banished with the power of "love"... Yeah, that sounded gay to me too. Especially when the Changelings, a species that at first I thought were some kind of Zerg or Tyranid counterpart to this world, turned out to be feeding on love... Can this get more gay without having same-sex couples banging each other on the streets? I had one word for this world: Bleh... Then these deer, or "caribou", had come, raping and twisting the ponies into rapists and servants... Those that resisted were either broken in or outright killed... Cherry Blossom had been one of the few that were lucky enough to stay sane from the effects of their... magic, and their training... I grimaced. Just thinking about that made me clench my fists in anger. As a human coming from a world without Magic I thought it was something cool and amazing, or badass when two Mages duked it out... Yeah, I was a bit of a nerd. I used to read a lot of fantasy and science fiction in school, something which slightly influenced my career choice... Yeah, not the best thing overall, but I got to wear a cool armor... Anyway, the point was, Magic was supposed to be great. Not the thing that these deer, these caribou made it... I remember punching a tree in order to vent my anger at what I heard. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do at the moment. I was just one human in a world full of anthros... If this was the original Equestria, with the "normal" ponies, then I would at least have the advantage of having fingers... Another whimper returned me to here and now. Blossom was starting to toss in her sleep... Sighing I stood up and walked around the fire, stopping next to her. For a few moments I hesitated... What should I do? Should I wake her up? "No... Please, don't..." Those words quite literally made my heart hurt... Grimacing I reached down, placing my hand on her shoulder. The reaction was immediate... Blossom woke up with a start, her eyes wide with fear. "Agh!" I exclaimed, falling backwards on my ass as she screamed. Damn, she had one hell of a voice... I think my ears rang for a few minutes after that... While I was clutching at my head Blossom tried to scramble away from me. "Goddamn it!" I exclaimed, rubbing my ear. It seems that she recognized my voice... It was either that, or the strangeness of the curse made her pause long enough for her to recognize me. "Jordan?" She asked, blinking at me. I bit back a sarcastic reply, instead just nodding... I doubt it would've made things better. "Oh Celestia, I'm sorry!" The mare was immediately next to me, checking my head. "Did I hit you? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to..." "I'm fine, I'm fine..." I reassured her as I stood up. "Or I will be once my ears stop ringing..." I muttered before shaking my head and looking up at her. When I arrived in this world I didn't have much on me... The decorative armor and sword that turned real for some reason, a pair of pants that kept my legs from chaffing, underpants, socks and shirt, my phone and my wallet... And I more or less listed my possessions in order of usefulness. Right now all but my clothing lay on a pile nearby, and only my shirt wasn't on me... I had given it to Blossom as soon as I saw her starting to shiver... Well, that, and after I managed to get the damn armor off. I must say, it was a good thing the shirt was a few sizes bigger for me... Even now her breasts were straining against the fabric, making for a rather nice view... I shook my head, trying to keep my mind out of the gutter. Could you fault me? The mare wasn't bad on the eyes, even if she wasn't human, and I was a red-blooded straight guy... You get the picture. Shaking my head again I once more returned to the here and now, something that I had to do quite often in my life. "You looked like you had a nightmare... Are you okay?" I asked her bluntly. I would've preferred to be a bit more subtle, but I wasn't in the mood after today's events. "I... I'm fine..." Blossom said, looking away from me. "It was nothing..." Now this made me frown... I wasn't exactly good at reading people, and I was even worse at reading women... But then again, what guy is good at that? Still, even I could see the outright lying. She was scarred from what happened to her and just didn't want to bother me... So I did something impulsively. I reached out and pulled her in a hug... It was hard to tell which one of us was more surprised... I wasn't the kind of guy to just hug a girl. Normally I was too shy for that. But she just looked so... How do I explain it? Lost? Alone? Something like that. For a few seconds she just stayed still, frozen in surprise. Then she wrapped her arms around me, clinging desperately as she cried in my bare shoulder while I rubbed her back. I don't know how long did we stay like that since my phone was on the other side of the fire, but eventually she cried herself to sleep while she still clung to me. She looked a lot more peaceful now... Almost too peaceful for me to try and move her. Unfortunately my position wasn't the most comfortable... I moved slowly, trying to pry her hands off me... But the mare didn't seem to like it... She grabbed me one again in her sleep, causing me to stumble and fall on my back. This didn't seem to disturb Blossom much, as she just snuggled in my chest and continued to sleep. "I guess I'm sleeping here..." I sighed lightly, so I wouldn't disturb the sleeping mare before looking down at her. A few strands of her pink mane were obscuring her face... Reaching out I gently brushed them away, revealing her peaceful-looking face. It was so different than the troubled mare that she was just half an hour ago... I couldn't help but smile. This was how people should go to sleep... At peace, without trouble, without having to worry about tomorrow... Without having to worry about being used and abused... At that thought my smile faded. Damn these caribou... Damn them to hell and back. Nobody had the right to do this to even one person... And yet, they did it to an entire nation, to an entire sapient race... Wrapping my arms around Blossom I made a silent vow, my face set in grim determination. I would protect this mare with everything I could... And I would do anything to help her people. I may be one guy, one being who didn't even belong in this world... But sometimes all it takes is a single spark to start a fire... A single person to start a rebellion that could free nations... History had many examples like that. And I was going to be that person, that spark... No matter the cost, I would help the ponies. With that thought in mind I closed my eyes, allowing sleep to claim me once more... I woke up reluctantly, like I always did. At least the light wasn't shining in my eyes this morning, like it usually does... And I hadn't kicked the covers off... Though... The blanket had a strange shape... And it felt oddly heavy and furry... And pleasantly warm... And breathing... Wait what? Okay, I guess it was time to properly wake up... Opening my eyes I looked up. The first sight of the day was something that my still-sleepy mind first mistook for cotton candy... A few blinks later I realized that it was just hair... Pink hair that belonged to an anthro horse... My mind was slow on the uptake, but eventually it booted up and the memories of yesterday came back. With a sigh I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. This was going to be one of those days... And something told me that any day in this world would be one of those days... Oh well. I'd just deal with it when the time came. For now, it was time to get up... But first I would have to get the snoozing mare off me. Looking down again I reached out, brushing Blossom's hair away. She looked kind of cute, sleeping like that. She was even drooling a little... On my chest... "Eww..." I voiced my opinion with a grimace. Strangely, that was enough to get her to stir. I watched her as she tried to stay asleep for a minute before slightly opening her eyes and looking up at me. "Mornin'..." She mumbled sleepily before laying her head back down on my chest. I grinned widely, realizing what the situation would turn into. Comprehension in: Three... Two... One... "Huh?" Called it. Her eyes opened suddenly and she looked up at me in surprise. Next thing I knew she had shot herself up, scrambling away from me. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, much to her confusion. "Wha-? But... How..?" She actually looked quite lost... After laughing at the cliche for a few more seconds I yawned and stretched. A sigh escaped my lips as I heard a few satisfying pops. "Good morning, Blossom." I greeted her after I stood up. "Sleep well?" The mare blushed and mumbled something, looking away from me. I couldn't help but chuckle again. Blushing girls always amused me and... Wait, what? My chuckling ceased abruptly as my mind once again caught up and I stared at Blossom, causing her blush to deepen. "What the..?" I voiced my confusion. How the hell was I seeing her blush? She had a coat of hair, for God's sake! And not only that, but the coat was red. Red! How was she blushing through that? "Ugh... It's too early for things like this..." I groaned. I decided to throw this into the "deal with it later" pile along with other things I didn't feel like thinking about at the moment... Or ever, for that matter... Shaking my head I looked around. The camp was the same as when we went to sleep, with the exception of the fire having gone out at some point of time. Oh well... It wasn't like we'd need it anyway. There was nothing to cook, after all. As if to add one more cliche to the slowly expanding list my stomach decided to let its presence known with a loud gurgle. "Shuddup..." I scolded it, to Blossom's amusement. "Well, looks like we're both hungry... How about we eat?" Both my mind and stomach agreed with her. But the former pointed something out: "What are we going to eat?" The way she looked at me was as if I asked the most stupid question possible... "Why, grass, of course." I facepalmed... Of course my question would sound stupid to her... She was a horse. Of course she'll eat grass... "That's good for you, but there's a problem... I'm a human." She gave me a confused look, prompting me to explain further: "I can't eat grass." I said and showed her my teeth for emphasis. I had noticed that her teeth were flat, not unlike a horse's. Blossom bent down to look at my teeth, blinking in confussion... Again. "Why can't you eat grass? Is it bad tasting or something?" I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "I don't know, I've never eaten grass. We humans can't even digest it..." "Oh..." Was all she could say in return. There was a short pause, filled with uncomfortable silence before she spoke again: "What can you eat then?" "Well..." I began, wondering what to say. If she was anything like a real horse then her diet would be strictly vegetarian, and if my (biased) opinion about the show was also correct then killing animals for their meat was a crime... I would have to gently break in the fact that I ate meat... "I can eat fruits and vegetables... Dairy products... Bread, sweets, stuff like that. I can't eat grass, hay, flowers and leaves though..." I paused for a bit. There was no way to say it gently, or at least I couldn't think of one in the short amount of time I had... "I also need some meat in my diet..." I put it bluntly. I guess that if I did it like pulling a band-aid - fast and direct, then it would mitigate the impact... The reaction was instantaneous. Her eyes widened in fear and she started to move away from me. Not the reaction I wanted... "Y-y-you're a... C-carnivore..." Her voice trembled as she shook... Seriously? Was she thinking that I would eat her or something? "Omnivore." I corrected her, raising a finger for emphasis. "And it's not by choice, just the way my species evolved. And before you freak out..." Okay, it was a bit late for that... "Further..." I added after a short pause. "I would never eat a sentient creature." She seemed to calm down a bit at that... But not much. "Look..." I sighed. "I had enough chances to eat you yesterday and during the night... Plus, there were the deer yesterday, which I killed..." I ignored the way my stomach churned at the thought. Now wasn't the time to get sick. Though... They do say that venison is quite delicious... No, I shook my head. There was no way I could eat those deer anthros, even with the atrocities they committed. "Besides..." I continued. "We humans would eat horse meat only in the direst circumstances." "Really?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. I could see that my words were getting through to her, which was good. "Yeah. Horses and dogs are two of Humanity's staunchest allies... They have been our companions, guardians and helpers throughout the ages. We have tribes that were almost literally born on horses." "Wait, how?" Blossom interrupted me. "What do you mean born on horses?" "What I said, of course. Mothers would climb on the horse to give birth." She stared at me for a few seconds... I stared back... What was wrong with my explanation? I was... Oh... Right. I had forgotten something crucial - I was talking to a horse... Pony.. Thing.... You get it. "Right, one detail you should know: humans are the only sentient species on my planet. Horses, dogs, deer, cows and such are just animals, like the birds in the trees around us." I was hoping I gave a good analogy... I wasn't going to ignore the possibility of the animals being able to think and talk like me and Blossom. "Anyway, as I was saying, it is a sign of things hitting rock-bottom when we have to eat horses or dogs." "That... Sounds strange..." Blossom admitted. I just shrugged in response. "It's the way my planet works. If it's any consolation, this place is just as strange to me..." I paused for a bit before adding: "If not more..." There were a few seconds of silence between us before Blossom spoke again: "Can you tell me more about your world?" "Sure." I nodded. "But first, I'd suggest we find some food... At least something that I could eat." A forest like this would surely have at least some berries or nuts that were edible... Right? After doing my morning bathroom stuff I took my helmet and set on to search for something edible while Blossom stayed behind to guard the camp and graze... Okay, that one was a bit insulting, but she was a horse woman that was eating grass, what am I supposed to call it? Anyway, it seemed that luck was on my side. It wasn't even five minutes after I set on to search for food that I stumbled upon a large patch of wild strawberries. That was good, since I was no Bear Grills... My stomach rejoiced as I devoured the tasty fruit without even thinking about washing them or anything like that. Once I was satisfied I started to pile the rest of the ripe fruits in my helmet for later consumption, as well as for Blossom. She would probably like them... I was right, because when I returned to camp she gave me a tight hug before devouring a good portion of the strawberries. I chuckled as I watched her moan in delight at the taste before going to put my armor on. The lower body parts weren't easy to put on, but I managed. Thankfully, Blossom was finished with her breakfast by then (and had even spent a few minutes watching me while I was putting the damn things on). I doubt I could've put the rest on if she hadn't helped me... With that annoying task complete I collected the other stuff I had pulled out of the pouches on my waist. Blossom decided to hold the helmet with the strawberries for me, and apologized in advance for any that would get lost. I managed not to laugh at that... It was easy to see that she liked the strawberries and wanted to eat more. "Alright, just don't eat them all." I said, chuckling at her blush as I started my phone. I wanted to see what was the time... That, and to see how long have I been in this world. The digital clock said that it was 11:38 Earth time, and I think that it was more or less accurate for Equestrian time as well. It also meant that I have been here for about twenty or so hours. I couldn't help but sigh. Twenty hours away from home... Twenty hours of missing... I briefly wondered what were people back home thinking about my abrupt disappearance. Were they worried? Was my boss furious about me leaving without telling him, or was he concerned because I hadn't taken my belongings? Were my friends searching our hangouts for me? Were my parents crying, wondering what happened to me? Was the police starting a nation-wide search for me? I took a deep breath to calm myself down and rubbed the tears from my eyes. It wasn't the time to dwell on this... There was nothing I could do at the moment. It was better if I dealt with it when the time was right... Like when I had some sense of security in my life. Reaching to the shut-down button of my phone I pressed it. No sense wasting battery... Just before the screen turned white with the Nokia logo I noticed something strange about the battery indicator... It showed it was full. And yesterday, when I shut it off, it was only at four out of seven lines. "Damn thing must be glitching again..." I muttered under my breath before pocketing the device. After making sure that the fire was out (Only YOU can prevent forest fires!) me and Blossom continued our trek through the forest. As promised, I started telling her about Earth. Her reaction was, as I expected, a mix of curiosity and appall. And I was only giving her a mild version, excluding a lot of the wars and other gruesome stuff like the Inquisition, slavery and such. I made sure to keep the history lesson on less bloody things, though that was only with the recent history. I told her about human rights activists like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, about great scientists and inventors like Archimedes, Newton, Einstein and many others. Blossom seemed fascinated by that. But she seemed to want to ask me something, because she interrupted me: "What does "Manowar" mean?" I paused at that and turned around to look at mare. She was staring down at the shirt I had given her, the Manowar logo stretched over her breasts. Below it was the image of the album art of what I thought of as the best music to come out since the dawn of time - Manowar's Warriors of the World. I remember her being a bit appalled at the image, but it was better than walking around completely naked and... "Wait, you can read that?" I asked in surprise. "Yes, it's written in plain Equish." I felt a twitch in my eye at that. What was next? Having an analogue of the French language? "So? Is that him? Is he a god of some sort?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the question. It was probably a valid one for someone from another world. "First, Manowar isn't a single man, but a group." I explained. I briefly considered lying to her, but then chased the thought away. It wouldn't do any good. "They're a band. A Heavy Metal band." Blossom tilted her head in curiosity, a rather cute and amusing sight. "Heavy Metal?" She asked, just as I expected. "It's a genre of music. Usually it's loud and fast, though it can also be slower and quieter, melodic. There are many sub-genres. Symphonic, classical, trash, black, power, alternative..." I continued to list genres, only confusing her more. It took me a full minute to figure that out and I sighed. "Why don't I just show you, hm?" I asked her, getting a nod in return. Fishing my phone from the pouch I turned it on. There was no sense in preserving the battery, it wasn't like I could call anyone here, and I would prefer to listen to some music while I could... As the old-ish Nokia booted up I thought about which song should I put on. I had serious doubts that Blossom would like most of Manowar's stuff, but I was sure there would be a few songs she could like. Of course, I had other bands' music on the memory card, but we started our talk with Manowar and I wanted to introduce her to the wonderful world of Metal with my favorite band. Hmm... Would she like Blow Your Speakers? Brothers of Metal? Or... Aha! I knew the perfect song! As soon as the phone finished booting up I started the music player and quickly found the song. "Come on, we can walk and listen." I told her, prompting her to look up from the phone and to me. "Is that your gramophone?" She asked before looking at me confused (and maybe slightly offended) when I burst in laughter. "No, it's not..." I said when I was finally capable of speaking again. "No, this is my phone. I told you about how we can communicate instantaneously with other parts of the world, right?" Blossom nodded at that. "Well, this is what we use for that. It also has other uses, like taking pictures, sending messages..." I smiled and started the song. "And play music." I had figured that she would like a song about friendship, and I was right. Blood Brothers was one of my favorite songs by the band, right up there with Warriors of the World itself. We walked the next five minutes in silence, enjoying the song. Well, silence with the occasional singing from me... By the end we had emerged in a less foresty and more rocky part of the Everfree. As the song ended I hit the stop button and turned around to look at Blossom. "So?" I asked, waiting to hear her opinion. "It sounded odd... But I liked it." She smiled to me and I smiled back. It always made me glad to have good music appreciated. "I'm glad to hear that. I have other songs that you might like... But I think that they should wait until we camp for the night." I said, switching my phone off and pocketing it before turning around to continue our trek. The day was going good enough. I wanted it to end well too, with some of my favorite songs. I had so many that I could show Blossom and... A sound interrupted my musings, making me pause and look around. It sounded like... cracking... I looked down. Indeed, the ground under mine and Blossom's feet was cracking apart... "Look out!" I shouted and lunged forward, pushing the mare away from the forming hole. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to escape it... As the earth under me disappeared and I fell into the darkness I could only think of one thing: "This is going to hurt..." Author's Note Whew... I know it has been a while, but I just couldn't get the muse to write this chapter... And now I made it in two days, using up all my spare time... As you can see, not a lot of action, but some necessary development, showing how our Knight sets his goal. And I'm also trying to show how he copes with taking a life for the first time... Just like I think I would... As for what I said about a single man being all it takes to start a rebellion, I'm more or less right. I know at least one example from my own country's history. Now, for the songs... Manowar is an amazing group, and their songs have inspired me greatly in writing this chapter, as well as planning some future parts of the story. As for those of you who expected some Caribou slaughter... I'm sorry. We'll get to that, but it'll take some time. But I'm sure that [can sate your bloodthirst in the meantime. And with that I'm out and off to get some much-needed rest. As usual, read, review and point out any mistakes I made.](https://www.fimfiction.net/story/177794/the-fall-of-the-caribou The Fall of The Caribou)
3 ...and a short trip down the hole...Clank! "Ooof!" Thun! "Agh!" Drunn... "Urgh!" Clang! "Aaah!" Thud! And that more or less summed up my journey down the literal rabbit hole... I don't know if I blacked out or not... It was too damn dark down there to even guess. What I knew, however, was that I felt like I went ten rounds against a concrete mixer, inside the mixer itself, and lost each and every round. In other words, battered and bruised, and in a lot of pain. Just as I predicted. I wouldn't be surprised if my armor looked like someone had banged on it with a hammer... I opened my eyes with a groan of pain and looked around... Or at least I think I did. It was pitch-black and I couldn't see anything. Something which spelled B-A-D in my mind... There wasn't even light coming from the hole I fell into! Though it was to be expected, since it wasn't a straight trip down, something I was glad for... Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived the fall. "Fuck..." I swore as I pushed myself up. I was alone, underground, without food or water. Could the situation get any worse? And of course, as if the universe just wanted to spite me, I heard a sound from somewhere to my right. I gulped audibly and fumbled around with the pouch I kept my phone in. It was the only source of light on me. Too bad I wasn't a smoker, or else I probably would have carried a lighter with me... Finally I had the phone out and booting up. Unfortunately the light from the screen wasn't enough to illuminate whatever was making the sound... And speaking of the source, it was coming closer and sounded like... Tapping? Like multiple fingernails tapping on the stone... For some reason it stirred a memory inside me, but I couldn't put my mind on it... If I had more time I probably could have figured it out, but I was more concerned with getting some light at the moment... Finally the phone was ready. I quickly pressed the button for the flashlight, silently thanking the designers who made it a bit bigger than the rest of the buttons. The white light illuminated the surrounding area, confirming what I already suspected - that I was in a tunnel underground which stretched in the darkness in two directions. Above me was the hole I fell through. I heard the sound again and immediately shined the light in that direction. And there it was. With eight leg and eight eyes, covered in chitin and hair and looking at me with something akin to surprise was the biggest fucking spider I've ever seen in my life! The damn thing was the size of a St. Bernard! Now, I didn't scream in terror like a little girl. No, I let out a manly yell of surprise and... Oh, who am I kidding? I almost shat my pants at the sight of it! But can you blame me? The thing was big enough to startle an Australian! Hell, it was surprising that there wasn't a health bar hovering over it! Unfortunately, my scream prompted it to lunge at me. I fell on my back, my phone clattering on the stone floor as I tried to hold the mandibles away from me. Fortunately, it landed with the flashlight up. Unfortunately, that allowed me to see some sort of green liquid that dripped from the mandibles and onto my breastplate. I could only hope that it was just strangely-colored saliva, and not poison or acid... I didn't want to think of what might happen if it bit me and injected that thing inside the wound. It's bite alone would hurt enough... I think I screamed my lungs out as I tried to force the monstrous spider off me. Finally I managed to kick it off and scurried back, trying to get some distance between us. Unfortunately, the spider wasn't generous enough to stay down... It righted itself up within moments and once again pounced at me. This time I managed to roll away, causing it to impact the stone floor with a hiss. As it got back up so did I. My hand moved to grasp the only weapon I had and pulled it out. The sword slid out of the sheath with a hiss that emboldened me a little... This time I was the attacker. With a yell I lunged forward, bringing the sword down. Green goo flew in the air as the sharp edge bit into the spider's caparace, the thing shrieking in pain. I continued hacking at the spider until it was an unidentifiable mass of green goo and chitin. After a bit I paused, panting heavily as I stared at it. A leg twitched and I let out a startled yelp, resuming my hacking. Finally I stopped, lifting my sword from the remains and looking at myself. The front of my armor and my face were splattered with the spider's remains, and I could see chunks of its caparace sticking on the metal. The sight was rather gruesome, and that was without taking the smell in consideration... One word: Yuck! Unfortunately there was no way that I could clean my armor now... Well, I suppose I could use my hands, but it would just transfer most of the gunk on them instead. "Fuck..." I voiced my displeasure with a groan. My last shower was yesterday morning, and I was already starting to smell. Now I had the scent of spider guts on me as well... Again: Yuck! Shaking my head I walked over to my phone and picked it up. A quick check showed only one bit of discernable damage. The screen had a scratch covering a bit of it, but it was only superficial. I smiled at that. The Nokia was a bit old, but was sturdy like its indestructable predecessor. ive dropped it from greater heights than that and it only had minor scratches. Still, I sighed in relief. The piece of technology was my only source of light down here and it would've been bad if I lost it. Holding the phone carefully and trying to protect it from the gunk that covered me I looked around. Nothing had changed in my surroundings (if you discounted the pile of spider a couple of meters away)... I had two choices. Go left or go right. Both corridors looked equally level so either of them could lead me to the surface... My train of thought halted with a mighty screech as I heard a now familiar sound... The sound of many hard legs tapping against stone... In other words, the sound of many spiders coming from the right tunnel. Well, that solved my dilemma for me... "Yeah..." I drawled out. "Nope... Nope, nope, nope nope!" I said to myself as I turned tail and ran down the left corridor as fast as I could. I could only hope that it would lead me to the surface and back to Blossom... I had no idea how long did I run, but my mind eventually realized the fact that I could hear only the sounds of my footsteps, my heavy breathing and my armor clanking. As soon as it did I slowed down, eventually stopping completely. Placing the hand that held the phone on the stone wall for support I bent over, panting heavily as I tried to get my breathing under control. Damn... That was quite the run... I could feel the sweat covering my body under the shirt and pants I wore under the armor... Hell, I could see the droplets falling from my face. "I hate running..." I muttered with a groan as I righted myself up. And I really did. It always made my legs ache and tired me out... I preferred walking. I could endure fast walking for hours. Running also did another thing to me that I hated - it made me thirsty as hell... I had the feeling my mouth was dry as a desert. "Bleh..." I summed up my feelings on the matter. I had to find some water soon... Oh well, there was probably going to be an underground stream somewhere ahead... I hope... Using the phone to light my way I continued walking at a brisk pace, my sword held ready to fight off whatever terror lurked in the tunnel. Soon I realized something - the tunnel was too straight to be natural... With that in mind I started to pay more attention to the walls. I wasn't an expert, but I think I saw several places that bore tool marks. If I was right then something made these tunnels... Maybe this was an old mine? I could only hope so. It would mean that there was an exit to the surface, and I needed that badly... Soon the tunnel led me to a large chamber, about the size of a large house or a small mansion. As I shone the light around I found out that it was the converging point of nearly a dozen tunnels... Shit... This just complicated my situation. I had no way of knowing which tunnel to take. Any of them could lead me to the surface and Blossom... Or deeper underground. To repeat again: shit... I leaned against the wall to rest for a bit as I tried to figure out which tunnel to take. Finally I sighed and gave up. I'd just pick one at random when I was done. In the meantime, I wanted to see how long would my light last. As I unlocked the phone I looked at the battery indicator and blinked. Full? How the hell was it... My train of thought was once again halted as I saw it go empty. Then there was one bar, two bars, three... "What the..." I voiced my confussion. The phone was charging itself? How? That was impossible! Then again, I was in magical pony land, so maybe I should use that word a bit less often... I had no idea of the laws of Physics here, or how Magic affected them... Still, if my phone's battery was charging itself I couldn't complain. It meant two things - no limit as of how long I could listen to my music, and no limit to the light at the moment. Both were good for me right now, especially the latter. I silently thanked God, Satan, Tesla, Edisson, Zeus and whatever other deities and scientists I could remember... With my current predicament (taken to another world or dimension altogether) I couldn't rule out their existence... As I was struggling to remember if I had missed anyone important I noticed something. A magenta light was coming from one of the tunnels to my left. I immediately shone the light of my phone towards the tunnel. The light's source seemed to stop and... "H-hello?" My eyes widened as I heard the female voice. "Wh-who's there? I warn you, the Great and Powerful Trixie knows powerful magics t-that will cast you to Tartarus..." It was clear to me that she was scared... This could be bad, since her claim of being able to send me to Tartarus migt be real... Blossom told me that the unicorns here could cast spells... And everyone knew that a scared Mage was a deadly Mage... "There's no need for violence." I called out as I walked to the center of the chamber and turned the flashlght of my phone out before pocketing it. The bearer of the voice let out a surprised squeak and, if the way the light receded in the tunnel, backpedalled a bit. "Wait!" I called out. "I mean you no harm!" The light stopped. "T-Trixie doesn't trust you..." She said. "Trixie can't trust a s-stallion..." I couldn't fault the mare. I would've been the same, with the current situation in Equestria... "Well, you're in luck then." I replied with a smirk. "I'm not a stallion." "Then... What are you?" The mare (I was ninety-nine percent sure she was a pony) asked. "That's... A bit complicated..." I had the feeling that if I told her that I was an alien/dimensional traveler it would only make things worse. "Look, what matters right now is that I'm immune to whatever is driving the stallions sex-crazy, and that I'm helpless down here." Not the exact truth, I had my sword and phone so I wasn't that helpless, but still. I held my breath as I waited for her answer. The silence stretched for so long that I almost felt like she left... Only the fact that the light remained where it was showed me the opposite... "O-okay..." Her answer came after what seemed like an eternity to me. I siged in relief... "Trixie will come out... But if you try anything funny, Trixie will show you that Trixie isn't called the Great and Powerful for nothing..." "I promise." I said with a nod. I didn't have any intentions of doing anything to her anyway. Slowly the mare walked out of the tunnel. As I suspected, this Trixie was a unicorn. Her figure, covered in azure fur was rather curvy, just like Blossom's... So far I had seen only these two mares, but that seemed to be a trend here. Unlike my friend she was clothed in a dark blue dress, with a cloak on her back and a wide-brimmed pointy hat on her head. Her horn was surrounded by a magenta aura and a ball of light in the same color was floating a bit above it. There was a short moment of silence as we looked at each other. Then her violet eyes widened in what I at first thought was surprise... Her short scream showed that it was fear though. It took me a second to figure out why she reacted like that before I mentally slapped myself upside the head. Here I was, an unknown being, with his sword drawn and his armor still covered in that spider's remains... I'd be scared at the sight of myself as well. "Wait!" I called out before she could bolt away. "Don't run! I know that this looks bad, but I mean you no harm! I just had a run-in with a spider..." Thankfully the mare stopped at my words. I could see her tremble in fear... Slowly she turned around, gulping at my gore-covered sight. "S-spider?" She asked and I nodded. "One of the b-big ones?" "Yeah..." I shuddered at the memory of the big-ass spider I had killed. I hoped that was the last time I met any of those things... The mare's response took me unaware. She almost threw herself at me, and if I was cleaner I think she would've hugged me. I had to start carrying a towel for these occasions, and maybe... No, bad mind. Surviving first, curvy anthro fantasies later. "Thank Celestia!" She exclaimed. "Trixie was worried she would fall prey to those monsters! But now Trixie has found a protector..." She continued in that manner for a few minutes as I stood there stunned. Finally she noticed my distress and looked me in the eyes. "You will protect Trixie, right?" She asked me. I could see the plea in her big violet eyes... And I caved in. I was raised to be chivalrious to the ladies... Plus, I was always a sucker for a pretty face, especially when the girl it belonged to was in need. "Alright, alright." I sighed. "I was going to do that without you needing to ask anyway... So, Trixie, was it?" I asked, to which she nodded. "I'm Jordan... Pleasure to meet you." I was about to offer her my hand to shake when I rememberd that it was covered in semi-dried spider guts and dropped it down awkwardly. "Jordan... That's a weird name..." She said and I frowned. Seriously? "It's a common name in my country." I growled. "From my point of view you ponies have stranger names than mine." Trixie blinked at that before leaning towards me and taking a look at my face. "You're not a pony?" She asked confused, at which I rolled my eyes. "Yes. If you remember the start of the conversation I mentioned that I'm not a stallion." She opened her mouth. "Human." I interrupted her before she could ask the question. "From another planet... Or dimension, I'm not sure." I intercepted the next one and smirked as she growled to me. "No, I don't know how I got here." I was fighting a full-blown grin now. "Will you..." She started, only for me to interrupt her again: "No... Well, maybe yes. Do you have any water?" I asked. She huffed in indignation before sighing. "Very well. Trixie supposes that she could help her guard with that." The light from her horn intensified and the ball of light dimmed before a canteen popped into existence next to her. As I stared at the conjuration she floated it to me. "Well?" She asked after a few seconds. "Aren't you going to accept Trixie's grattitude?" "Wha-?" I asked confused. My mind was a bit distracted by the magic... Knowing that something like that was possible was one thing, but seeing it for yourself? Totally different. "Oh, yeah." I took the canteen and eagerly took a few gulps of the water within. The cool liquid felt so good as it went down my parched throat... "Ah... Thank you." I sighed in relief as I lowered the now considerably emptier canteen and shook my head to remove the droplets that had dripped down from the corners of my mouth. "You're welcome." She said as I took another gulp from the canteen before handing it back. "Ah... Keep it, Trixie has more water." I nodded and put it in one of the free pouches on my waist. I noticed that there was some spider goo on it as well... Probably the reason she told me to keep it. A groan from the mare made me look at her. She was rubbing the base of her horn, her face twisted in a grimace. "You okay?" I asked concerned. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has been using her magic for too long... Even she has her limits..." I nodded in understanding. Her Mana or whatever was probably running low from sustaining the spell... Or something like that. "In that case, allow me to take over for a bit." I said, reaching for my phone. "What?" She asked. "How are you going to provide light? The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't see a horn on you, nor does she see a torch..." I sighed. Seriously? Were they so concentrated on magic? And was their technology so low? Blossom told me that they've been at peace for a thousand years... And that their immortal Princesses-slash-Goddesses ruled for hundreds more before that... One would think that they would have advanced at least to our level of technology... "I'll just use some human ingenuity." I said and lit up the phone's flashlight. Trixie's eyes widened in surprise. "What is that?" She asked, leaning closer to examine my phone. "A device with many functions. I'll tell you more, but I think it's better to walk and talk than stand around..." Trixie agreed with me wholeheartedly and so we were off. Choosing a tunnel was easy. We just picked one at random and set off. The conversation between us was more or less the same as the one with Blossom earlier. I told her about Earth and my life on it, she told me about Equestria and her life here. It was interesting to see how her life differed from Blossom's. While the normal pony was selling cherries she grew in her yard, the unicorn was a travelling show... Showmare, as she called herself. Doing magic shows like those Vegas stage magicians I really wanted to see one day... She was really interested about how our Magicians did such tricks without having real magic. I managed to tell her a few tricks I knew from shows I watched on the TV... All in all, the walk was a pleasant experience. If only she would stop speaking in third person about herself... "You know..." I started, flashing the light over thr tunnel around us. "I think we went down the wrong tunnel..." In the past hour or so it had gotten smaller, and cobwebs started to appear over the walls... "T-Trixie a-agrees..." The mare was visibly nervous and was standing close to me... Well, close to my back, to be more precise. I was nervous as well... I was tense, my right hand gripping my sword tightly while the left was holding my phone. At least my armor wasn't rattling as I tried to control my shaking... "Perhaps we should go back..." My voice betrayed my nervousness. "The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees as well..." Trixie said from behind me. I nodded at her words and looked around. "Let's go with plan B... Return to the chamber and take another tunnel..." I said, nodding towards the cobwebs. "T-The one opposite of this one looked better to Trixie anyway... " It was funny how I was thinking the same thing... "Yeah... Let's go." I said as we both did the smart thing - turned around and fled. Hey, don't blame us, it was cler that the tunnel led to the spiders' lair. And I've played enough RPGs to know what was waiting for us there - the grandmother of all fucking huge spiders. Unfortunately Fate seemed to have other plans... Plans involving my ass and a lot of spiders trying to bite it, if the sounds coming from the tunnel were any indication. "Okay, that tunnel just became a bad idea as well." I remarked, turning around for the second time in as many minutes. "Back to plan A." trixie gulped audibly but she nodded as we hurried back down our original path. "Take over the light." I commanded after a couple of minutes of fast walk-slash-nearly running. It was remarkable how far the sound must be carrying in this tunnel... "Why? Your torch is doing just fine." She asked. "Because I want to have my hand free." A two-handed grip would be better... Or at least it would make me feel more confident... Both were good. I turned the phone's flashlight off as the magenta light of her magic bathed the tunnel. "Look for a side passage or something." I commanded again as my eyes scanned the web-colored walls. Finding anything would be hard... The light coming from Trixie's conjurd orb wasn't that much and we could pass a tunnel or a crack in the darkness without seeing it... And the spiderwebs, which were becoming increasingly denser, didn't improve things either. Just as I expected, we didn't find anything before the tunnel ended. My eyes widened as they took in the cavern... It was big... Huge. Trixie's light could only illuminate our immediate surroundings, but I could see the wall behind us stretch up and around in the darkness... Of course, that wasn't the only big thing around... No, there were spider webs. Big spider webs that covered every surface. Some of them reflected the light from Trixie's orb while others seemed to glow... No... A better look showed that they were covering patches of mushrooms that glowed with a pale, eerie light. Convenient... "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly." I muttered. Trixie looked at me confused, but I ignored her. "Come on, we should find a way out... And I think it'll be better to stop the light, it's giving away our position." The mare nodded and silently dismissed the orb. Thankfully the mushrooms provided enough illumination for us to see where we were going. "Don't touch the spiderwebs." I warned Trixie as we made our way down a relatively clean and rather straight path. "Why?" She whispered back as I helped her climb some rubble. "The spiders will feel the vibrations." I explained, hopping down onto the caven's floor before helping the mare down as well. "They'll know we're here and they'll come for us. Plus, I don't know how strong or sticky the web is..." I nodded towards a spiderweb that covered what looked like a side passage between piles of rubble. It looked quite thick and sticky... I was sure that if I touched it then it would stick onto me. Or maybe it was going to be the opposite? The sound of dozens of chitin-covered legs clicking on stone told us that we've done the right thing by getting away from the entrance. A few seconds later the sound stopped... If I was to guess the spiders had crawled onto the web. Silence descended upon the cavern, the only interruptions being the hiss of spiders in the darkness. I felt a shiver run down my spine. We could be set upon by spiders at any moment, and we had no way of spotting the attack... I looked at the surrounding spiderwebs that disappeared in the dark. Each of them could be hiding dozens of spiders... "Come on." I whispered to Trixie. "The sooner we put these spiders behind us the better." "Trixie agrees with you." She whispered back and we continued walking... The chasm was deep... The illumination from the mushrooms wasn't enough for us to see much, but I doubted that we would've spotted the bottom even if we used my phone and Trixie's magic. What we could see, however, was the mass of webs that covered the chasm, as well as the multitude of spiders that were crawling over it... I put my hand on Trixie's mouth as she peeked over the edge, just in time to muffle her scream. I didn't fault her... I barely restrained myself from screaming myself. I had never seen that many spiders in one place before, and I could have quite happily lived my life without witnessing that sight... I put a finger in front of my lips, telling Trixie to keep quiet. The mare nodded and I moved my hand away from her mouth before pointing at a bridge that would allow us to cross the chasm safely. We made our way to it, trying to step as quietly as possible. As we started crossing it I looked around. The glowing mushrooms allowed me to clearly see the tons of spiderwebs that covered every surface of the massive cavern. It was impressive, to say the least and... And I stumbled as my foot kicked a loose rock. Both me and Trixie watched in horror as it tumbled over the edge. Time seemed to slow down as it fell in the chasm. Both me and Trixie looked at each other and gulped simultaneously. "Run!" Author's Note Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'm back. As you'll no doubt be happy to read, I decided against rewriting this story, like I'm doing with The Cabal and EAFaW. I've touched a few things in this chapter, but it's overall the same. The next one is already partially done, though I don't have that much time to write... Finally, as I wrote in my latest blog post, I'm thinking of making a story with the same self-insert character, but with a bit darker methods. Instead of being Equestria's noble Knight, he'd be the Warlock, master of demonic arts... Or would-be master.
