The Duo from Dirt

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter One: White Mind
Chapter Two: Dark Sky
Chapter Three: Start Somewhere, but Not Here

Prologue

I feel my fingers going numb from the cold as they grip the steering wheel, my body gently vibrating from the truck’s heavy engine. My ass’s starting to become numb as well, these cheap seats don’t comfort for the life of them. This poor truck’s on its last leg.

“God, I really need to fix ya’, Nellie. Tomorrow, girl. Tomorrow.” I mutter to the inanimate object moving me. Next to me, in the passenger's seat, is my CO2 rifle case, inside containing the actual weapon. I scoff at it, and look back to the dirt road ahead of me. Under the moonlight, I see a two story, hardwood house appear to the right of the road, right off the countryside. Tall pine trees surround the area, and a giant wheat field can be seen behind the structure. Puts up my turn signal just incase, and I make a hard right. The wheels bump up and down against peebles as the truck makes it’s way between two barbed fences, and down a narrow dirt driveway.

My foot presses on the breaks as the truck nears the right side of the wooden house. A quick turn of the keys, and the truck engine dies. Grasping my backpack and my rifle case, I open the door and exit the truck. Moonlight peers down on the land as I use it as guidance to make it to my home’s porch. I shake off the dirt and grime from my boots, and open up the door. Inside I see my mom and dad cuddled together on the couch watching what I assume is Friday Night Football.

“How was the rifle match, honey?” My mom asks in her tender, motherly tone.

“Shit.” I mumble. My parents give me a hard stare for my choice of diction, but they realize it must have been that bad if I had said that. I wasn’t much for cursing and bad-mouthing, but we all have our moments.

“Rio Valle took first by long shot, Pastura Verde took second, and we got third. Our sporter team was disqualified for missing one team member, and Mike’s rifle was jammed on precision. It was bad.” My voice makes it seem like I've repeated that exact sentece all day.

“Sorry to hear, boy. You hungry? Some food’ll take yer mind off of what troubles you?” My pops asks in his normal, stern tone. I simply shake my head and walk up the stairs that are on the right from the living room. Makes my way down the hall and opens the last door on the left, entering in and tossing my backpack on the bed. Sets my rifle case down near by the bed, and kicks it under. As I take off my stetson, I see my computer monitor’s blinking in my peripheral vision. I see Skype has a gold glowing ‘1’ next to its Taskbar icon. I quickly kick off my boots and fall down on my rolling chair. Turns over and grasps my mouse with my right hand, clicking on said icon.

Missed call from Phoenix at 8:53 p.m. I read it quietly to myself. Drags my mouse over to the little blue phone icon and clicks it, pulling my brown hair back and putting on my headset.

BEEP-BEEP-BE-BE-BEEP

Skype sounds off for a while before I hear a click and I hear background noise.

~~~Phoenix~~~<

“Y’ellow?” I hear my friend call from the other side of the Skype call.

“Yo, what’s up, James. I tried calling you earlier and you never answered.... what were you doing?” I ask with a questioning look.

“Eh, I had a rifle match for ROTC today. Don’t ask about it, please. I’d rather forget it even happened.” My friend’s voice takes a stronger tone to it as he finishes his sentence.

“I won’t since you sound a little pissed about it. Must of went bad I guess… so what do you want to do to cool yourself down?”

“Well, didn’t you say you’ve been wanting me to play that one, “tee-tee-tee” thing with ya’ on Gmod? I personally think it sounds stupid, but if you say it’s fun, then I’ll give it a whirl… couldn’t be worse than shooting a 3 on kneeling...” I hear him mutter.

“And I speak the truth that it is fun and I will show you why once we start… so you in?” I ask with a suspenseful look.

“Yeah, whatever.”

~~~~~~<

Several hours later, and a few minutes of James getting ticked off at the foolish Gmod game type, the duo decide it’s been enough for one night.

“What the hell, Phoenix, I thought you said that was gonna be fun… bunch’a jerks on there killin’ everyone for no reason. Admin didn’t even do anything either. Last time I listen to you for fun advice.” James grumbles, rubbing his eyes.

“Well I didn’t know that was going to happen, that was really crappy, I ain’t doing that again. Sorry for upsetting you, I wanted to cheer you up with killing innocents, but looks like that didn’t happen.” Phoenix says with an apologetic tone.

“Yeah, whatever. It’s twelve’o clock. Damn it... I’ve got a English AP exam tomorrow, and you kept me up, you fool.” James says in a facetious manner.

“Hey, you the one who didn’t decide to quit after, what, 30 some matches? So it ain’t me fault, okay? Suus.” Phoenix says in a joking manner.

“Suus yourself, you turd. Heheh, whatever man. I need to go to sleep. Catcha tomorrow, friend. G’night.” James says through a long yawn.

“Alright then, see you later bruh.” Phoenix says through a very groggy expression.

With that, the two hit the power buttons to their computers, and head off to get rest and fight life’s challenges of tomorrow.

~~~James~~~<

“Mmnh… mmn… I wanna ride the horsey… GYAH!” I wake with a jump when loud music is blasted through my phone right next to my ear. My older brother, standing there with a innocent look, my phone in his hand. “Time for school, buddy-boy.” He says in his casual, deep voice before turning off the music and setting down my phone.

All males in my direct family, including myself, have rather deep voices. People in my English class always “volunteered” me to read to the class then the opportunity arose because of my voice. It gets more annoying than flattering. What’s a magnificent voice when it sounds like someone karate chopped your trachea after so much reading?

I groan loudly in annoyance. I look over to my awake phone screen and see it’s 7:32. “Geez, I was about to sleep in… thanks, Jake. Can’t believe I’m a whole hour and a half away from the tardy bell.” My brother chuckles and rustles my hair before leaving my room. I sit up, popping my back in several places before letting out a prolonged yawn. Geh, mornings...

Practically falling out of bed, I slither towards the bathroom. I exit my room and enter another adjacent to mine, shutting the door. Stripping from my sleeping clothing, consisting of basketball shorts and a white tank top, I turn on the hot water and get some paste on my toothbrush.

About a half hour later, I come out of the bathroom smelling like a new man. A new man that’s half asleep. I walk towards my room and get on my jeans, brown longsleeve shirt, and my boots. Proceeds to stuff my phone into my pocket and take my backpack onto one shoulder before running downstairs.

It was a Saturday, but I had a damned AP course that required weekend tests for English. I make my own breakfast of toaster strudels and orange juice before using my mobile vacuum to suck it all down, not even savoring the cherry filling of the strudels. I look at my watch and see it’s 8:22. “Still got forty six minutes… guess I’ll take Nellie to the shop right quick.” I tell myself as I make for the door.

I scrutinize myself, trying hard to remember if I had forgotten something. After two run-arounds, I figure I’m ready for the world, and it was ready for me. I open the door and I’m kissed by a blast of cold air on my exposed face. My eyes squint and I shrug my backpack higher on my shoulder. I take a step onto the porch and it looks like a normal morning. Clouds above, giving the world a blue hue to it. I take another step onto the dirt, and-- … the dirt. I stepped in dirt. Why does it feel like I’m stepping in shi-- …

“What the hell is this?” My eyes widen as I see my boot phased through the dirt, a white-ish aura surrounding my shin. The surrounding force on my leg looks inexplicably odd, almost majestic. You know, if it weren't sucking me into oblivion. I try pulling back, and that results in me getting pulled deeper. "W-What the--?" My mind thinks of anything that can be logically applied to my current situation.

“NO WAY! GOD ALMIGHTY! QUICKSAND APPEARS ON MY DOOR AS I’M TRYING TO GET A DIPLOMA! JUST-- ... AH LOVE YOU, EARTH! JUST FREAKIN' LOVE YOU!” With that said, I’m torso deep into the ground. I try to scream more blasphemies into the sky, hopefully waking my parents and brother, but I find my throat strained. Attempts at yelling and struggle replaced with furious fits of coughing. What’s happening to me!? I ask in a major panic. I know quicksand doesn’t have any sudden side effects, and it kills you from suffocation, but that doesn't explain-- ...

...

Darkness. Surrounded by darkness. My mind dies on me, and I feel myself slip away...

~~~Phoenix~~~<

Sleep eludes me as I start to wake, but my eyes remained closed for the time being. I smell coffee brewing downstairs and that always tells me that my dad is awake, as per the usual. Continuing to lie down with my eyes closed, I knew that I ain’t going back to sleep anytime soon.

The sounds of footsteps coming from the stairs and knowing that would be my dad who is doing his usual duty of waking me up early, so we can prepare ahead of time than being the late timers as they usually say. I remain there rested as the sound of the door opening and also the sound of glass sitting gently against wood.

As I would know, my dad starts shaking me from my bed to wake me up like he had always done this in many years of my life. Also as he shakes me I immediately open my eyes and look up at my dad staring down with his usual calm smile.

{Good morning! I brought up some coffee for you, son} My dad said in a hand signing motion.

I look over and spot the coffee on my nightstand with a bunch of papers stacked next to it. I reach out to grab the coffee while looking at the clock which read 6:30 a.m. Its still pretty early to wake up now, but whatever. The earlier the better. I think as I bring the tip of the mug to my lips and take a sip of the drink. Still bittersweet as I remembered, but I’ve been used to it.

{Thank you, dad. By the way is mom up yet?} I signed back and my dad shakes his head.

{She slept late again. I told her to sleep, but she insisted on playing her games.} My dad signs to me. I laugh at that, same old mom. She ain’t going to change much and I love her that way. My dad gave me a hug and went back downstairs to freshen up. Taking another sip of my coffee, I think back at how this routine of ours still is the same as many years ago.

I down my coffee like I usually do and get up on my feet quickly to stretch. several bone pops later, I open my room door and take a left to the restroom door. I enter knowing my usual routine of freshening up. I immediately take off my clothes and jump in the shower to take my 15 min. bath. 1 bathing session later, I come out feeling pretty hyped for the trip we are going, which will be to Dallas, TX.

After putting new clothes on and brushing my teeth, I walk downstairs to see my dad going to wake my mom up and I immediately walk back up stairs since my mom is not much of a morning person. I walk back inside my room when I hear shouts coming downstairs and don’t get me wrong, my parents love each other very much to argue like that. I open my closet door and take out my luggage that was prepared yesterday by my mum. I carry it downstairs and see my mom getting inside their room to get her clothing to freshen up herself.

I go to my dad and tap him on the back of his shoulder to get his attention. {Hey dad, you hear anything good about Dallas?} I ask in a quick fluent sign.

{How can I hear if I am deaf son?} My dad immediately laughs and pats me on the back, but I give him a deadpan look that says, “seriously?” Both of my parents have been deaf for all their years with me. My mom was born with it while my dad had gotten into an accident that caused him to lose his hearing. I started to learn sign language when I was just a one year old child, from observing them mostly. Later on I started to learn more and more until I was practically an expert (somewhat) in sign language. I even showed James how to use sign language since my parents wanted to speak with him in sign. So he and I have been on tutor sessions ever since. Now he can sign fluently with them.

I felt the need to go outside to take a walk in the park… heh. Walk in the park. Anyway I grab my luggage and open the front door only to get smacked on the cheek with cool air. I like this time of the weather. Taking in a breath full of fresh air, I step down the porch on the dirt, only to feel my foot slip through, which the end, result is me faceplanting on the ground.

“Ow! The hell!” I rub my nose only to find that my foot or rather feet slip in even more on the dirt. I look at my feet to see the dirt looks odd, and kinda blurry around my ankle. I continue to stare at this anomaly, and it looks like a whitish type ring surrounding both my thighs. I begin to panic as I see more and more of my legs disappearing inside of it. The freak is this shit? I dun even know anymore. Why in the fuck is this happening? The shit. Alright cool, ya. Getting sucked into a ungodly whole is an everyday thing. I am fucking done and dead, my friend. Fuck this sheit and scr---- My throat feels like it's on fire, and it's super swollen. I can't seem to speak even if I wanted to.

I reach out to grab anything to stop this, but my hand swipes the air. I watch as my hand gets enveloped inside; the small tunnel of light starts to close on me. My eyes start to become heavy… very heavy…

...

~~~???~~~<

“Spike! Stand still!” Twilight snaps at the purple dragon who is floating in mid air, a purple magical aura surrounding him.

“It’s kind of hard to do that when you have no control of your motions, Twilight.” Spike replies sarcastically.

“You’re not trying hard enough! We need this spell ready and perfect for Celestia!” Twilight replies in a haze of desperation.

“So, like… what are we doing again?” Spike questions as he is head over heels.

Twilight sighs. “We’re trying to get this runewarp spell to work so Royal Guard units can be transported anywhere when needed with minimal error, and from what scouts have reported, there’s something happening odd happening down by Dodge City and it’s going to need investigation. Incase worse comes to worse, we have this nifty spell that can get strength down where need-be.” Twilight says in a big breath, tiring herself out.

Spike nods, not really understanding what she’s ranting about, but he doesn’t want another preaching.

“Okay, let’s get this thing done and gone… and I won’t run away this time.” Spike says with a fixed expression. Twilight’s horn glows slightly brighter, and Spike is set down. “Now that’s a good dragon!” Twilight giggles, receiving a glare from Spike. “Okay, ready, Spike?” Twilight asks.

The dragon gulps and nods. The room starts to glow a soft lavender, as Twilight’s horn glows brightly. Her eyes close and her muzzle scrunches in focus. Next to Spike, a white blob of light starts to appear on the ground, growing slightly larger and larger as Twilight’s horn pushes magic out of it.

After a few dramatic seconds, Twilight’s magic dies, and the shining white light on the ground fades. In its place is the wooden floor of the library, but the texture of the ground looks watery and blurry. “Now, then my trusty assistant, step into the rune if you will.” Twilight says in a preppy tone, obviously annoying Spike. He rolls his eyes before doing as asked.

The purple drake gingerly puts his foot onto the distorted ground, and it phases through, earning a slight jump from him as he pulls back. “Spike!” Twilight snaps. “I know, I know! ... Gosh, I can’t get used to this...” Spike says before setting a foot back into the rune. This time, it sucks him as a vacuum would.

“GYAAAA--” … “--AAA-- OOMPH!”

“Wohohey!” Twilight looks behind her to see Spike had face planted onto her backside. “Really!? Rrrrrgh! I thought I placed the rune to my left! No, no, no. This simply won’t do! I need this spell ready by today!” Twilight’s mane starts to become disheveled and her pupils become smaller as she silently mutters things about some sort of magic kindergarten.

“When’s the deadline again?” Spike asks sitting on the floor, his eyes rolling around comically in their sockets.

“Next week!” She retorts.

“Next wee- Next-- … NEXT WEEK!? You’re getting worked up over nothing, Twilight! You still have plenty of time. Ease up a bit for once.” Spike says with a slight frown.

“... Okay. I’ll “ease up.” Could we at least practice this a few more times, Spike?”

“Twilight.”

“Please?” Her eyes grow slightly bigger.

“No, Twili--”

“Please?” Her eyes become unimaginably big, and they start gleam.

With a sigh, the dragon breaks. “Okay, okay! … Stop with the eyes. Hate it when you do that. It’s not fair.” He mutters the last two sentences.

Twilight rubs her two front hooves together and a big grin takes her lips. “Now that is a great assistant!”

“Don’t push it.”

“Hehehe… sorry.” Twilight blushes a little.

Spike walks back to his original position before the warp moved him, and he crosses his arms, regretting his decision immediately. Twilight’s horn begins to pulse magic again, and the rune reforms. She is already gradually getting better at a spell she just learned thirty three minutes ago. Twilight nods, giving Spike the green light.

Spike takes a step into the rune, bracing himself to get sucked in. He doesn’t immediately get dragged in, so he takes this opportunity to ask: “Hey, about that Dodge City thing--”

“Dodge City!?” Twilight gets her focus interrupted at the sudden outburst of Spike’s words.

Spike lets out a scream as the rune closes in on his leg, trapping him in place. “Nyah! Twilight! My leg! Get me oooouuuuut!!!” He cries out, the rune starts to gurgle and grope, trying to close.

Twilight’s horn glows a violent purple as she panics, mustering all of her power to try and get the rune open. The room becomes a disco of different shades of lavender as magic pulsates from the unicorn attempting to rescue her friend.

The blood flow to Spike’s leg starts to die, and his limb begins to numb. “Twilight!!! It hurts!!!” Twilight’s hooves dig into the ground as massive surges of magic are being flung around. Twilight had succeeded to cast and scatter tons of runes randomly around in unknown places in the library, but failed to located the one that bear-trapped Spike.

Seconds turned into hours for the poor dragon and he start to feel dizzy, not used to enduring the amount of pain he’s currently in for so long. Finally, the rune’s jaw opens, and the dragon flops to the ground. Twilight rushes up to his aid, tears streaming down her eyes as she looks at his unconscious friend.

“S-Sp-Spike? Spike!?” She shakes him a little. She notices immediately that the purple dragon’s entire left leg was more purple than the rest of his body. It was so dark, it was almost black. Twilight brings a hoof to her mouth and she gasps. Reacting as fast as she can, she lifts Spike up in her magic, and rushes him upstairs to her room. She sets him down on her bed, and Twilight scans Spike with her glowing horn, looking for any abnormalities.

Relief fills her uneasy mind when she finds out Spike’s only unconscious, and the only major damage is broken foot bones and a broken tibia and fibula. Blood flow was restored just in time to save the limb and Twilight casts a quick sub inflammation spell on his leg to help with blood flow. She gives the sleeping prince a kiss on the forehead before wiping a tear from her eye. She proceeds to dart out of her room, making her way downstairs.

“F-Fluttershy probably knows how to deal with this! S-She’s great at this kind of stuff! Tending to hurt animals and such! Right?” She tries to comfort herself with words as she makes her way to the door. Twilight trips over air and she faceplants.

“Owie! Mmngh!” She holds her muzzle as she looks for the culprit of her fall. She spots a rune she edged over. Now that she realizes it, there’s a rune over there too. And there. And there… and… there… and… “What did I do?” She quietly asks herself. She stands up and begins tapping to her last magic reserves, having burnt herself out on what happened a few minutes ago. She starts to perform the Uncast spell again and again. Basically a Ctrl+Z for unicorns. Once she feels that there’s no presence of her magic in the air for several hundred miles, she sighs, completely exhausted.

“Now… to Fluttershy’s...” She says between heavy breaths. Too tired to use magic to open the door, she just opens it like a normal pony, and slowly makes her way to Fluttershy’s.

Author's Note

Welp, here's my first attempt to create a... what you people call, fan fiction. Of course, this is a project between myself and a buddy of mine. If you see that the grammar or typing style is different in different areas of the story, it's that we have two people typing this out. Myself typing James and the MLP cast, Phoenix being my friend.

So, as any author would say, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, constructive criticism, and helpful tips that'll make these stories more visually and content pleasing. Hope to see your guys' responses.

Chapter One: White Mind

~~~James~~~<

I hear muffled, distant wind. Everything’s still dark, and I can’t feel anything. Slowly but surely, I feel my senses coming back to me, and strength fills my muscles. The wind becomes more clearly heard as that particular sense of the six is the first to fully restored. The wind is calm and steady. I feel slightly relaxed from the gentle breeze. After a few idle seconds, I muster energy to wiggle my fingers. They run through something warm and soft, yet bumpy in texture.

“Mmmn… gnnnhh…” I manage to groan out as my eyes slowly crack open. The rest of my senses return to me, and immediately feel the sun beating down on my body. Once my eyelids decide to open, I see the clear blue sky, and the sun gives my eyes a jolly, painful smile. My eyes close again in reaction to the harsh light. I run my fingers through the ground again, and it feels like loose dirt. I lift my arms up to my chest and rubs my eyes with my knuckles. The… sun. Later. Hungry… thirsty… course… home… place… thing? My mind is unclear and hazy. I reopen my eyes slowly and let them adjust.

I push on my elbows to try and get myself upright, getting into a sitting position. Scanning my surroundings, I see nothing but dirt and patches yellowed grass as far as my vision goes. This familiar sight was no stranger to me. I lived in the countryside, after all.

Maybe--h-house-- my-- stil-- my--. I shake my head to reset my thought-train, trying to focus.

Maybe… maybe my house is around here. I think… I think this is place… kinda familiar. Ummm… house. Where is it? What does my house look like again? I question, my thoughts a mess. Now that I give it more attention, I can’t seem to remember anything. I don’t remember what I was previously doing, I don’t remember where I came from, I don’t know how I got here, and hell, I don’t even remember my name! … Who am I?

I still remember how to speak- or think- in English, and I can still recall sign language, and something else that has to do with language. But… everything’s a blur.

It also seems that basic survival skills haven’t eluded me as I instinctively try to call out to no one in particular, “H-- Hngh! Gmph!” My ‘voice’ gets caught in my throat and I start to cough out a lung. Attempt after attempt to make my voice heard, it all results in the same fate.

Can’t… speak. Can’t speak. Esto no es bueno… Spanish. I remember Spanish. It being my mother tongue, it recall it rather easily, but I can’t remember where I learned it. Or how. Or why. Why am I even here? What’s my purpose? What--.

Thirsty… My mind says on its own, cutting me out of my thought train. Indeed I feel that my throat’s dryer than a damn desert , and I feel like I’m attempting to swallow a rock. I look around, and then I look at myself. I see that I there’s a backpack laying on the floor to my right. I reach out for it and pick it up. Sets it down on my lap, my legs going criss-cross. I take the zipper handle in my index and thumb before proceeding to run up, across, and down the top of the bag. It opens up and I peer inside.

I see some notebooks, a pencil case, and… Yes! I reach inside the bag to take out a bottle of water that’s laying at the bottom. The bottle has a plastic, flimsy label that reads Dasani. My mind starts to hurt and my eyes slightly close as things start to attack my mind.

“Grrrrnh!” I groan loudly as I massage my temples with my fingers. I remember something… Dasani. Water company. Company. Buisness. Enterprise. Money. Currency. Profit. My head stops hurting after the surge of memory attacks. I suddenly recall those things, and what they mean. I give two hard blinks before shaking my head. Looking down at the bottle of water, and a smile creeps onto my mouth.

Uncapping the top, my chapped lips greet the bottle and I chug the water down greedily. My throat immediately feels cooled and refreshed, and my body feels rejuvenated.

Mmmmn. Feels good, man. Feels good. I say in my thoughts before I recap the bottle, the liquid being halfway drained. Stuffs it back into my backpack and scavenges around it some more. Nothing else but notebooks and pencils. I look up back at the sun that’s beating down on me, and I groan. Go away… shoo. Stupid sun. Sighs before forcing my weight forward, onto my heels and finally standing. Bones pop in my knees, back and neck as I flex and stretch my slightly cramping body. Looks around my area and I spot a familiar black stetson hat laying on the floor.

Oh, hey! My ha-- “Gggrrrrrhhhh!!!” My head starts to throb again, bombarded with memories. Cowboy hat. 17th birthday. I’m 20. Family. Dad bought it. Piñata for children. Friends at party. Happy. The pain ends once again as I try to focus. More memories had just finished punching my brain.

Strange... things that mean something to me, give memory. I chuckle. I guess you can say they’re Random Access Memories!

“GGGH! MMMNGH!” The pain returns with a metal baseball bat to my skull as I remember something else. Random Access Memories. Daft Punk. Music. Love music. Music on phone. Pirate music. Uses computer to pirate. Computer is… I don’t remember. The pain, once again, subsides instantly once the thoughts stop striking me.

That’s the last corny joke for a while...

Damn it. If that’s gonna happen every time I remember something, I might as well be ignorant for the rest of my life. This sucks... Oh, right! Phone! I quickly slap the pockets of my jeans with my palms two or three times, and I feel something lumpy and rectangular in the right pocket, and something smoother on the left pocket, this item taking a square shape to it. I reach into the right pocket and pull out a grey, rubbery object. Success! I think as I look down at the slim, silver object in my hand. It is surrounded by a hard box-type object that reads Otterbox. I don’t remember where all of this stuff came from though. All I remember is that I had them, not their locational origin. I didn’t complain.

I press one of the buttons on the right the device, a wide smile on my face.

Shit. I frown as the screen wakes and there’s a 4 pin lock on the phone, and I sure as hell don’t remember what it was. I sigh in defeat before stuffing it back into my pocket.

I reach down to pick up my stetson hat. Once in hand, I use the other to wipe off the dirt and dust on it. I grasp my long-ish dark brown hair and pull it back before setting the hat on my head. It fits nice and snug as I remember it to do. My parents bought it a size and a half bigger than it should have been back then for the reason to not have to trash it after a year of use.

Glances up at the sun once more with the protection of my hat. I see that it’s on it's setting phase, but it’s still high in the sky.

Alrighty, let’s head east. My brain commands as my feet begin to move to the opposing direction of where the sun is going to set. I slip my left arm through the backpack’s strap to get it more comfortably hitched to my back, and shrug it up into a place. I keep walking with home as my destination.

~~~Twilight~~~<

I trot quickly towards the edge of Ponyville, mumbling to myself that it was my fault, and I shouldn’t have forced Spike to do something he didn’t want to do.

“Oh, Spike. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m… ” I choke between tears and gulp, letting out a soft sigh.

“I shouldn’t have. But I did. How can you ever forgive me? I almost ended your life all because of my arrogance. Oho, Spike...” I hiccup, a tear streaming down my cheek.

As houses start to become less and less in number, the edge of Ponyville nears me. Even though I’m completely exhausted, I kick into a trot-run to make it to Fluttershy’s quicker. Crossing a bridge that stretches over a river, the border of Ponyville is now passed. I now follow a small dirt path, and within a few short minutes, I arrive at the front of a cabin-like house with many bird cages surrounding it. A pretty stream runs across the front yard, and I cross it using a much smaller bridge carved out by hoof. I trot up a few dirt and log steps to reach the front door, and knock quickly.

I hear shuffling on the other side of the door and a lock undoing. And another lock being opened. And one more. The door finally opens. A yellow pegasus pony hiding behind a long pink mane pokes her head out slightly.

“H-Hello?” she says just above a whisper.

“F-Fluttershy? It’s me Twilight…” I reply with a similar tone to hers. The door then swings open wide, a smile on the mare in front of me.

“Oh, hello, Twi… light… Twilight?” She looks at me in confusion. She notices my eyes are bloodshot red, and my cheeks damp with tears. I don’t attempt to hide my emotions.

“Twilight, are you okay? You look awful!” Fluttershy looks at me with a gentle gaze. “Please, come inside.” She steps aside for me. Slowly trots in, hanging my head low.

I clear my throat. “ Fluttershy, I-- ... Spike was injured in a spell test today. It’s his leg. It was caught in a rune and it closed around him. I think it broke a few of his bones. I… it was… an acce… accident.” I start to sob again. I feel something brush up against me. Fluttershy had come up next to me and wrapped her wing around me, giving me an encouraging smile.

“It’s okay, Twilight. Accidents happen. You don’t need to stress over it. I can go over to him. I can take care of him.” Fluttershy whispers in a motherly tone.

“Y-You can?” I sniffle.

She simply nods, the smile not leaving her face. Her amazing way of making someone feel happy through a hard time never ceases to amaze me. I’ll need to look into it later. Maybe there’s a book about manipulating feelings I can check out.

“My bears wander into the Everfree forest and sometimes, they step onto a poacher’s filthy bear trap. I’ve dealt with injuries like Spike’s for quite some time. I can definitely help him.” Fluttershy explains. I can’t help but to smile.

She lets her wing fold back onto her side. “Let me get my medical supplies, and we’ll head off to get Spike patched up. Does that sound good to you, Twilight?” I nod at her and she trots off to a room left to her living room. A few seconds later, she comes out with white saddlebags with a red cross on them strapped around her back.

“Ready?” She asks.

“Ready.” I reply. Right afterwards, she goes to the door and opens it. She glances back into the living room, but she isn’t look at me. She’s looking at something behind me.

“Okay, Angel bunny, you stay safe while momma’s gone. Don’t open the door for strangers, okay?” She tells a white bunny that’s gawking back at her. He just crosses his arms and sticks his nose in the air, closing his eyes. With that, we trot out of Fluttershy’s and head back to the library.

The warm Spring sun is high up in the sky, but I feel so cold. The thought of Spike not being able to walk ever again haunting me. My little assistant won’t be able to assist me anymore.

“I see that look in your eye, Twilight. Don’t be worried so much. It’ll all be o-kay.” She puts a tender emphasis on ‘okay.’ “How bad was it anyway?” She asks.

"His leg was dark purple, and it was very swollen." I mutter.

“Any internal bleeding?” I simply shake my head to her question.

“I don’t believe so. No signs of it when I checked.” I reply in a soft sigh.

“Oh, that’s great, then! I should have him patched up in a jiffy!” She replies with enthusiasm.

I don’t know if it’s that easy, Fluttershy… After galloping for some time, and me being spaced out in thought, we arrive at the front of my library. I grip the door in my magic and swing it open, not sure how earth ponies and pegasi deal with always opening those things with hooves.

“Where’s the patient?” Fluttershy asks in a silly tone. She seems very confident, and I don’t know why. My Spike might lose his leg and she’s here making funny remarks.

“He’s upstairs in my room. C’mon, I’ll lead you to him.” I start for the stair case and make my way up to my door, Fluttershy tailing right behind me. I swing the door open and let my yellow friend trot in first, her being the doctor and such. She immediately makes her way to Spike who is sound asleep on my bed. His leg looks slightly worse than when I first left, but it might have been worse had I not casted the healing spell on him. She gives him a quick look down on his injured limb.

She proceeds to gently poke it and massage it to feel for any bones that decided to house themselves inappropriately in his leg. She makes quiet agreement sounds to herself as she feels around.

She giggles. She literally just giggled. Why!? Spike is--!!

“Oh, this is simple. I thought it would be much worse! Twilight, you really need to learn to ease up.” Fluttershy says good-heartedly.

Uggh! Not you too! I roll my eyes at the familiar words.

Fluttershy then takes Spike’s leg into her two hooves, and then proceeds to do the unimaginable. She presses down on his leg with great force, and then with a loud “Hai-ya!”, she karate chops Spike’s leg.

“Aaaaahhh!!!” Spike jumps into consciousness after the smack.

I stand there, jaw wide open. “Fluttershy are you out of your mind!?” She ignores me as she reaches into her saddle bag, pulling out a roll of bandaging tape. She beings to wrap it methodically around Spike’s foot and shin, tying it together with her mouth.

“Voila!” She murmurs, smiling down at Spike before kissing his newly made cast. “All better.”

“All better?” My eye twitches. “All better!? You might as well have had impaired him for the rest of his life, you--!!” As Twilight is rambling at Fluttershy, she begins to pout and shy back, letting out a quiet cry of distress.

“Woah, Twilight. Chill, dude. I feel fine. I’m not sure what Fluttershy did, but I can move my leg again. Other than the annoying swelling and it stinging a bit, I’m fine.” Spike says nonchalantly.

I look at the poor cowering mare behind the bed. “... Oh, Fluttershy, I’m sorry… I… just… there’s a lot going on with the princess and that’s got me all stressed out, and now Spike is hurt and it’s my fault… I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. Can you forgive me?” I gaze at Fluttershy sympathetically.

She nods a bit before standing up again, blowing her mane from her face.

“Why did you smack Spike’s leg like that?” I ask the still timid mare.

“B-Because… his bones weren’t broken. T-They were just d-dislocated. A quick hit back into place and the bones should recover on their own.” She stutters out. It all makes sense now.

“O-Oh… well… I...” I blush a bit, feeling very ashamed at getting mad at Fluttershy for helping me. I feel awful. Again.

I hear the pegasus giggle. “It’s okay, Twilight. There’s not need to feel bad about it. What’s past is past.” A small smile takes her lips.

I swear this mare always knows what I’m thinking.

“Don’t think about it too much, Twilight.”
I’m not surprised.

“Well, I’m going to head home to give my animals some lunch. Call me again if you need anything, Twilight.” She makes her way to the door. I give her a solemn smile and nod. She exits the room, and I hear the front door gently open and shut. I see Spike staring at me.

“Spike...” I sigh. “I’m really, really sor--”

“Twilight, I’m hungry. Do we still have that big green emerald I got from Rarity?” I look at him, dumbfounded. I nod slightly, confused.

“Can you bring it?” He says. I sigh and roll my eyes.

“Sure thing, you silly dragon.” He smirks at my remark and lays back down. Heads downstairs to fetch him his rewards for being a practice dummy.

~~~Phoenix~~~<

“James...James… where have I heard that name from?” Waking up from a hazy spell, I feel that I have awoken, but my eyes remained closed. Wind passes over me and I shiver just a little from the coolness from it. I try to move my limbs but to no avail. So I remain lying down for a while and start to feel the heat dawning on me.

“W- Grr! Hrghn!” I get to a jump start with a horrible coughing figgit coming to me. Something must of caught up in my throat that started this reaction. Trying to catch my breath from the coughing, I open my eyes quickly but I regret it immediately.Ah! Fuck my eyes. Clenching my eyes in pain, I quickly bring up my hands and rub them with the side of my index finger to relieve the stinging pain that was happening.

Great, the sun hates me now. I continue to rub my eyes since that just stung like hell, for looking directly at it like an idiot. The stinging feeling slowly dies down, I keep my eyes closed until it starts to feel better. After a few seconds, I reopen my eyes at a decent pace. I look up to see the sun of course, and a nice light blue sky above me. I feel like I’ve been lying on a patch of grass with the sound of running water near me. Immediately the feeling of thirst comes to me and I push up with my arms so that I can sit up and make a quick scan of my surroundings.

Trees…a lake....grass...more trees… even more trees… just trees... great. I start to ponder as to why I am in a forest since I left… left...home? Trying to make the answer appear out on my hands, I couldn’t think of anything that comes to mind as to my home. Now that I think about it, do I even have a home to begin with? Actually who… am I? Why am I here? I rack my head from side to side to try and remember, but nothing comes to mind.

Man… I am feeling rather parched right now. When was the last time I drank or ate anything? I look around a couple more times and I see a black object in the distance. I push myself up in a standing position, but dizziness hits me as I took hold onto a tree in order to keep myself from falling down. I knew that what I was feeling now, was Orthostatic Hypotension … What?! Orthostatic Hyp- the heck is that about? Where did I learn that, and ‘how’ did I remember that?!

Grngh! I clench my head as pain erupted out of no where. It felt like a thousand bees stinging me at the same time, Which is not fun by the way. Orthostatic hypotension… medical field… Health and Human services… a PN… My head continues to pound with ungodly pain that I may or may not have experienced before. Clenching my eyes I sit down rubbing my temples to make this gosh darn headache go away. Slowly the pain starts to die down, changing into just a throbbing feeling instead of a pinchy/stinging one. I used to be a nurse before, but that’s all I can recall for now.

“What was that pain plus remembrance that just happened? Did recalling a memory hurt me? Man I dun even know and I do not wish to go through that again.” Ignoring the throbbing pain, I reopen my eyes and stand up slowly to head for the black object in the distance. Approaching the object, I see that it is a type of luggage. I lower myself to inspect if there was any damage of any sort or if it was looted already. It seems that it was in medium condition, it didn’t look old nor did it look new. I figure that someone must have lost their luggage here in an accident or in a hurry. I pondered if I should open the luggage, but that would be invasion of privacy or so I remember. Deciding that someone must of forgotten it here and didn’t come back for it.

Should I open it? Ah screw it, I’m opening it. Opening it revealed certain items that were inside like; clothes, food, a phone, a knife, a flashlight, some spare blankets and thats about it. Zipping it back up, I turn it over and see a name tag attached to the luggage. Flipping the name tag over, I see that it says “Phoenix O’dwyer.”

“Phoenix O’dwyer, this must belong to him.” Flipping the object on its front side, my stomach grows in anger as the gods fight for power in order for who gets the food first that lands inside. I recalled that there was food inside this luggage. I reopened the luggage and take a freshly packed sammich inside. Observing the sammich it looks new, not even moldy. It must of been here for just a few minutes. I eat the sammich slowly as to not to kill my stomach if I hadn’t eaten in a long while. As I finish my sammich, I stand back up to head for the lake that was nearby.

Before though, I looked at the luggage that sat on the floor and pondered if I should take it or leave it for Phoenix O’dwyer who could be looking for it. I don’t think that he would be looking for it if he lost it in the forest. I might as well take it so that it won’t go to waste. With that in mind I grab the handle attached on the side and pull back. The handle goes back until it stops with a sounding click that it is locked in place. Now with everything prepared, might as well get a move on to the lake to quench my thirst… for some odd reason I find that very humorous. Being prepared earlier then being a late timer is best as they usually say.... “whoa, deja vu.”

Looking at the suns direction which is in the east, I start walking in hopes of finding a way to the entrance of the lake that might or might not be fresh water. So with that in mind, I march into the same direction as the river in hopes of finding a lake.

Continuing my stroll through the forest in search of the actual lake in hopes of finding fresh water. Glancing from left to right, I start to see more wild life now than I did before. Small critters hanging around trees, flying around, and… did I just see a flying squirrel? Wow never seen those types of squirrels before. Ignoring that last animal before I become strangely addicted to it, I continue to follow the stream down to find said lake.

Geez, how far out is it, some hundred meters away or what? I shake my head in annoyance that I have not gotten closer. I mean, everything looks the same but whatever. Crunch after crunch of fallen leaves being crushed by my op feet. I glanced up and see that it has gotten more cloudier since I woken up. Eh, I’m okay with that, screw you sun. My ears register a sound of tiny water droplets falling on the leaves of trees.

Ah great, is it going to rain on me now. That is freaking great, love you too weather! Just loving it. I quicken my pace so that I ain’t pelted with multiple droplets of rain. I do quick scanning of my surrounding to see if there is a habitable place to camp out in. After what felt like hours even though its just been a few minutes. I spot a mossy cave entrance in the middle of the thick trees. I dash it in the direction so that getting out of the rain would be better then getting wet. One mistake that I did not foresee is lowered spiked branches sticking out of the tree bark. In my quick running movement, I didn’t have time to slow down which resulted in cutting my leg up pretty nice.

Ah! Fuck me man. I shake off the pain since being drenched in rain while I dress up my wound would result in me getting an infection or being sick. I don’t like both options so, I moved on. Instead of stopping at the entrance to spot any wildlife that could be inside. I slid inside the cave and I put both my stretched out arms out to stop myself from getting hurt even more. Arms at the ready, I see the end of the cave which fortunately did not contain wildlife. Pushing against the wall, I fall flat on my arse and received little pain so I’m aight.

Geez, that was just too close for comfort. I let myself lie back, trying to regain my breath quickly as possible. Hearing the rain pouring heavily outside, I am lucky I was able to get inside, there being no wildlife in here to maul me dead. The feeling of adrenaline slowly leaves and the pain on my left leg coming back. Damn, cut myself pretty good. Im too tired to patch it up right now, even though I should.

Listening to the rain, I close my eyes, no longer feeling pain, just tiredness. I lay there listening to the calm soothing rain as I start to drift off into sleep. My conciensence wears out as sleepiness just killed me.

~~~James~~~<

About an hour into walking, I notice a large grey shadow start to take the land from behind me. It’s enveloping everything rather quickly, and before I know it, I feel something land on the brim of my hat. I glance up at the clou--

Mngh! Damn it! I flinch and close my left eye, wiping off the droplet of water that sniped my pupil. Just my luck. It’s gonna pour. I say in thought as more and more drops began to pelt the earth. I notice that there’s more grass than dirt near my feet, then I realized that I haven’t bothered to look up since I started walking. My neck started to hurt too. I take my index and middle finger up to the right side of my chin. Giving a quick twist of the neck, it pops comfortably in several places.

Mmn~ … that’s the stuff. My brain mutters.I flex my jaw bones a few times before noticing I’m about to enter a forest. Looking left, there’s forest, and looking right, there’s more forest.

When’d this all get here? I really need to start paying attention. My eyebrows furrow. Something could of came out and bit my arm off, and I’d be none the wiser.

Wait a minute. Forest has trees, and trees need water. Lakes! I can refill my bottle! A smile takes my lips and I bite the inside of my cheek. Guess I’m not as unfortunate as I thought.

I speed up my walk as I enter the forest, stepping over a few bushes. The first thing I note is that the lighting is much dimmer, and everything has a green hue to it. I didn’t mention this before because I hadn’t have it much thought, but this land. This area. This place. It feels strangely peaceful. Even though I was alarmingly thirsty back when I woke up, I was still able to relax.

I like it here. Maybe I can spend the night under a tree or somethin’. My mind contemplates as the rain picks up. It starts to feel cool and dense inside the forest, rain dripping down from random leaves from the tall trees. I can barely see the sky between all of this vegetation, but at least the sun wasn’t violently kissing my skin. It wasn’t hot, but the sun was still annoying. I keep walking through the forest, occasionally jumping over a bush or slapping away some vines or branches. I can hear birds now. Must be pretty deep in this here forest. I come to that conclusion.

My body starts to shiver and tremble. The air feels colder, and the rain wasn’t helping. As the sun goes into the horizon, it quickly becomes dark in the forest. More animals are heard, including crickets, frogs, and some sort of flying insects buzzing near me. The rain isn’t letting up. Actually, it’s gotten even worse. It’s definitely pouring.

Maybe sleeping in this place won’t be so dandy. I correct myself, trembling and letting out stuttered breaths. I start to turn my head left to right, looking for a place to hide the storm, and maybe the night, out. The forest floor is really bumpy, full of leaves, twigs, and uneven ground. It’s getting harder to walk around as my clothes become damp and saggy. Maybe a little bit further. Just a little bit further. C’mon, don’t stop now. I try to mentally encourage myself as my limbs feel stiff, and my fingers frozen.

A few more minutes of walking, and I start to lose hope. I don’t remember where I entered from, I’m pretty sure I walked in a circle. That one tree looks familiar. I think.

I’m freakin’ lost… God, please… give me strength… I start to lose feeling in my hands and my eyelids feel heavy. I decide to close them and keep walking, hopefully not tripping over an over sprouting tree root.

I love forests. I love rain. I love the night time. But the three at the same time… I need an adult. My movement is but slow limps, feeling nothing in my legs, hands, ears, and nose.

CRACK

I fall flat on my ass as I hold my now moss-covered bleeding nose. God almighty. What the hell? I open my eyes a little. I see I ran into a rock wall covered in moss. I look a little to the left of the rock wall, and it caves in into… a cave! Yes! I might make it tonight!

My happiness is shot down as I give this logical thought. It looks big enough to house a bear or two comfortably. It’s really dark, so if there was something in there, I couldn’t see it.

Freeze into a wet popsicle, or get mauled by bear… I wonder how much blood I have in me. I think as I get up and start to make my way towards the cave entrance. I step into the cave timidly, my boots gently clacking against the rock. I reach into my pocket that housed my phone, and I take it out. Gazing down at the device in hand, I give a silent prayer. I lift it up, the screen facing away from me. Proceeds to use my thumb to push the on/off button. I gulp as the screen lights up and I flinch back a bit.

…

I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of… nothing. The cave is empty, and it looks unused. Ah, thank you, God… I sigh in heavy relief.

Walks deeper into the cave before I let my backpack flop off my back. Takes a seat down aside of it. I drag the bag to me as I search it for something useful inside of it. I check the two smaller pockets on the backpack. The medium-sized one contains only a pencil sharpener, a protein bar, and some erasers. I take out the food stick and set it down on my lap. Checks the small pocket and I find a lighter, a piece of paper with a 9 digit number with a little heart on it that has the letters “Ammie” inside of it. I’m not sure who or what that is, but it’s not important right now. I take out the lighter and close up the bag. Lets the bag fall over as bring up the lighter close to my face. Thankfully it has gas in it.

I take the lighter in my shaky, near-frostbit right hand and flick it on. I put my left hand over the small flame, letting the warmth seep into my skin. After a few minutes, feeling returns to my now warm left hand. My right hand gives the lighter to the left, and I proceed to do the same as before. I note that my clothes are a becoming a major hindrance to my survival. They’re cold and wet. I set the lighter down and stand up with some trouble due to my clothes sticking to my skin. I take off my stetson hat and let it fall next to the protein bar.

Welp… here goes nothin’... I think as I reach for the collar of my shirt. I pull it over my head and yank it off with some trouble. Like that feeling after you swim with some sort of clothing on and afterwards you try and take it off, but it feels like it got 4 sizes smaller. I rip it a little around the shoulder part while trying to take it off, but it comes off successfully.

Now. Pants. I reach for the button on my jeans and make it come loose. I pull down the zipper and take ahold of the jeans by the belt loops. Pulls it off with less trouble, but the jeans come inside out as I take them off. Tosses my shirt and the jeans off to the side which just leaves me in my tighty-whities.

I come remember my peers giving me a hard time for wearing these particular underwear types when we’d suit out for PRT in ROTC, but I could care less about their judgment. The were too damn comfortable.

My underwear had become a thong from them getting soaked and I looked ridiculous trying to take them out of my behind.

To hell with this thing… it’s not like anyone’s around anyway. I don’t give it a second thought as I pull them off. Tosses it to the pile of clothes, and I glance around. Being naked feels weird… I say to myself as I feel a breeze on my nuts. I did feel my body warming up though, so that was a plus.

I sit back down and take the lighter back in hand. I fire it up, holding it close to my face so it can defrost my nose and cheeks. My nose stopped bleeding quickly, but not tending to it caused blood to stream down my nostrils, to my mouth, and down my chin. After the flame warms up my nose, I feel it carefully. Luckily it isn’t broken, but it hurt to even touch.

Seconds pass me and my face feels like it’s back to where it belongs. Sets down the lighter and takes the protein bar to me. I quickly reach for the backpack in a small forward lunge and unzips the biggest pouch. Takes out the water bottle and sets it down next to me. I proceed to unwrap the protein bar, hungrier than I’ve felt myself ever be. Takes a bit chomp out of the bar before forgetting what I was eating. Protein bars were rather thick, so it wasn’t the brightest idea to take almost half of it into my mouth.

I chew like a dog eating peanut butter for a while before my saliva decomposes the bar. Swallows it down, and it lands happily in my stomach. Chocolate marshmallow was always my favorite. I eat the rest of the bar a little slower, taking occasional sips of water. Once my meal, or what you want to call it, is finished, I lay back and stare at the dark cave ceiling. It’s slightly visible, my eyes having adjusted to the dim lighting of the cave. I start to toss thoughts around my mind, wondering where I am. Where I might find someone for some directions. Or get a proper bite to eat. I sigh, closing my eyes. The sound of rain pitter-pattering with the trees and dirt outside was relaxing, and sleep is quick to accept me into its arms…

Then I hear something snore… snore... time for beddie-bye...

Wait. My eyes blast open.

Something snored. Inside. With me. In the cave. My heart feels like it wants to beat out of my chest cavity.

~~~Twilight~~~<

I move upstairs with a big green emerald held in my magic. Trots to my room and I gently open the door. I am greeted with a purple dragon sleeping on my bed.

So much for being hungry, huh? I sigh with a small smile. I levitate the gem to the nightstand next to bed and let go of it. It’s ready and waiting for the little drake once he wakes up. I look out side the window that’s next to my dresser, and I see that the sun is setting.

Rainbow Dash came in earlier that said some of the weather ponies had made their clouds move south from Cloudsdale, but something went wrong with the factory’s production system, and the clouds had been magically “teleported” to Appleloosa. I swore to her that I didn’t know the cause of it. Even if I did make a magic light show earlier today… and I kind of set a bazillion runes everywhere. Hehehe, woopsie.

From what she said, the rain will come through Appleloosa, to Dodge, and then to Ponyville. So tomorrow, Dodge is gonna get some rain.

Dash had left before I came back up to check on Spike, so I couldn’t tell him about our trip to Dodge to investigate the Badlands was going to be a bit wet. He had fallen asleep right after I had left the room, I figure. Fluttershy really knows her stuff. I haven't heard a peep from him.

“I’ll pack another raincoat for you, Spike.” I whisper to myself as I close the door gently and let the little guy sleep. I decide to get some early shuteye for the trip, and seeing that my bed was occupied, the couch was just as nice. Not really, but it’s better than the floor.

I trot towards a cubby in the living room, and take out a blanket with my magic. Makes my way towards the couch upstairs, and lays down on it, letting the blanket wrap around me. Snuggles into it, trying to get comfortable. After I find a suitable position on my side, and close my eyes, ready for the rainy field trip tomorrow.

Chapter Two: Dark Sky

~~~James~~~<

God, please no. I go into shock as I realize I’m not the only living creature here. I try to feel for my phone, but I am unable to find it. I hear the snoring again, and my pupils dilate. My skin is covered in goosebumps, and my heart starts to beat in my throat.

I don’t want to to die like this! This is pathetic! Why me!? why, why, why-- My brain goes on a free fall of panic, and something rubbery in texture touches my hand. I grasp it, knowing it’s my phone. I bring it as quickly as I can to my chest. Fidgets my thumb around the sides of the device before I feel thumb run over a button.

Keeping the screen facing down on my chest, I press it. The device gives no light to the interior of the cave from its current position. I quickly twist my wrist to the left and the screen moves with it. For the split second that light covered my left side, I saw nothing. I flash it again, and same deal. Nothing.

With saliva gathering in my mouth, I let out an audible gulp. I compose myself, before adjusting my grip on the phone in my sweaty right hand. I flash my right side with the screen quickly, and I see nothing. One more spit of light that way, and nada.

Where was that snoring comin’ from? It’s not like I imagined it. At least I don’t think I did. Maybe I did. Maybe I’m just going insane. I sit up, letting the phone screen face away from me. I did infact see nothing. I see that I’m not deep enough in the cave to see what’s on the far right side. My phone light dies down at a certain point, about 4 meters out. I’d have to crawl down there myself.

I decide to get up onto my feet to check and see if I don’t have a hidden neighbor. Starts to walk down the cave, my bare feet softly landing against the cold cave floor. Stretches out my arm that’s holding the phone to its full extent, and keeps shining away the darkness around my cone of view. So far, nothing. Which is good. I hope it stays this way.

“Ghhhh!” I jump violently as a loud thunderstrike is head just outside the cave, and I turn the phone and my head to look behind me. Just rain pouring down to the dirt and grass on the ground outside the cave. I’m such a damn sissy. I scold myself as I return my gaze forw--

“HUHH!” I blurt out even louder than before as I see a hairy thing in the darkness. Not sure what it is, my body reacts before my mind does, and I give the creature a swift kick on its exposed body part. My foot hurt like hell after that, but the adrenaline that was injected into my system made me not care. I leap backwards and pick up my still wet clothing and backpack. Quickly slipping the backpack on and holding my apparel in arm, I sprint out of the cave, hoping I didn’t just seal my fate.

As I run, my feet stomp against the forest floor. I begin to get scratched up by twigs and branches grazing my bare skin. Continuing my running, I don’t know what direction I’m going. But there had to be an end to this place.The sooner I’m out of this forest, the better.

Eventually, my lungs burn too much to keep going. I come to a stop under a stout tree just over my height. The leaves of the vegetation protecting me from the 25 degree rain. I pant onto my shoulder as I have my right arm extended out to the bark of the tree to keep me balanced. After a short few seconds, I return to a normal breathing rate. I was pretty fit and strong, a lifetime of manual labor as a child and teen built me up quite well. And ROTC didn’t really have use for those who weren’t physically up to par, so that was another factor.

I feel something brush up on my back. It feels soft and small. I turn around quickly and see a chimp hanging off a branch, his arms hanging near my rear. I make a 180 to turn my body to the rather funky looking animal in front of me. It just stared at me.

Hehe, you look kinda cute. You’re a lot smaller than I remember you guys to be. I study the chimp. He starts to bounce up and down on the branch slightly, causing it to shake a little. It makes me chuckle. You are kinda cute. I rephrase myself.

Then the little guy ends up giving the most stupid smile I’ve ever seen. A smile only a chimp or a monkey could pull off, where their lips kinda bend up and down. I smirk at the critter, wondering what’s up with it. And then he reaches out and snags my freakin’ clothes. My grip isn’t too loose on it, so I manage to pull right back.

We start to play tug-of-war with my clothing, me inching towards the winner’s circle. I know that there’s nothing in my clothes, so even if I did lose, I wouldn’t actually lose too much. I was beating this little cheeky bastard at his own game, so I wasn’t worried.

Then, the thing trying take my clothes does the unthinkable. It uses one of its feet to slap me across the face, hanging onto the branch with its other foot. My grip slightly deters, and that decides the winner. The little shit pulls my stuff out of my grasp, and he smiles again. He flings himself up onto the other side of the branch, and runs across it to the top of the tree.

Crap! ... Agh… well, you’ve won it fair and square I suppose. I shake my head as the chimp leaves my line of sight. I still have my backpack on, so at least I’ve got that going for me. Start to walk again in the same direction as before, my eyes feeling a bit heavy.

After walking so much in the cold air, the numbness returns to my body parts. Although, I’m not quick to give up as I notice less and less trees are surrounding me. My feet and legs ache, and my face is stiff. But I kick into a jog nevertheless.

After what feels like forever, I can see moonlight. Actual moonlight! None of this green-hue-barely-visible crap. I jog faster and faster, the exit and I about to meet.

With a leap, I dolphin dive over a some tall hedges that were blocking the edge of the forest. It’s almost like they were planted there on purpose. Landing on my back, I roll forward onto my feet. Cool sand is felt between my toes. I look around slowly, taking in as much detail as possible. I see desert in front of me for miles.

LIfe just doesn’t want me around anymore, hmn? I think as my head hangs down in disappointment. Still looking around for something that might tell me otherwise, I find nothing. Actually, I lied. I did see something, way out in the distance. It looks like maybe a small town. It’s just… really, really far out. I’m in no condition run my ass all the way out there. My feet are screaming pain into my nervous system from overuse and I had not gotten sleep in about 16 hours. I was tired, irate, and in pain. Nothing really seemed to be going my way today.

My left foot goes forward, then my right foot. Then my left, then my right.

I had to actually talk to my legs to get them to move. My muscles protest against me every step I take, fatigue wrapping itself over me like a blanket.

I could go for a blanket. And a bed. And food... and my home…

I sigh through my nose, not really wanting to go on. But the human body isn’t as easy to give up as one might think.

Limping towards the town several miles out, I try to push on.

Hmnngnn… mmnh... wuh?

I open my eyes that I didn’t even know I closed and I see that I’m laying flat on the ground. The sand feels cool against my chest and cheek, and it’s strangely comfortable. I try and get my arms to lift me up, but they just tremble violently in failure.

A… nap… sure does sound good right now. Just… a few minutes… and I can keep going… sleep...

>~~~~~~<

She fidgets and groans quietly on the couch, sleep running away from her. She ends up tossing the blanket on the floor accidentally. Grumbling in annoyance, her hoof hangs off the couch so she can pick it up. Feeling around for it, it doesn’t come back to her. Reaching out a bit further, her arm fully stretched out, she still can’t seem to find the blanket.

“Eep!” Twilight’s eyes grow wide and she falls off the couch, landing on her side. She shakes her dizzy head and looks around. She spots the blanket, which had been tossed to the other side of the room. She sits up and climbs back up onto the couch, forgetting the blanket. She lays there, her eyes gazing at the ceiling of the library.

Why can’t I fall asleep? I’ve got a big day tomorrow and I’m acting up on me. She thinks, a small pout forming on her lips. Her mind is shooting thought after thought on what might be happening near Dodge. She was informed it might or might not have been the Badlands that she needed to worry about, but something definitely happened there. Something even Celestia couldn’t quite point out.

Dodge has always been a quiet place filled with honest ponies. She couldn’t imagine it being the actual town that was causing a problem.

Twilight fixes her gaze towards the window next to the couch in the living room. Luna’s moon peers down at her with great majesty. Twilight keeps staring at it, her mind easing down. She feels as if she were being cradled by an unknown presence, and sleep starts to take over.

You’re good at your job, Princess… Is the last thing Twilight’s mind puts out before drifting off.

>~~~James~~~<

I smack my dry lips and I rub my eyes. It was still dark out it seems. No light was harassing my closed eyelids, making my vision pitch black instead. I stretch a bit, and my toe hits something hard.

“Gyt!” I flinch in pain and sit up. I end up not sitting up as my head bangs on something hard, sending me back down to a laying position.

“Mmrrrhhh!” I hold my forehead in pain and irritation. I open my eyes slowly.

What in the hell… I see a dark grey ceiling above me. Looking down, I see that the ceiling above me is being supported by metal bars that look approximately 3 feet tall. The ground was cold and hard as well.

This is gotta be a bad dream. Or some sorta sick joke.

I can’t see outside of the cage as it’s covered with a heavy navy blue colored blanket. I kind of do feel warm come to think of it, plus I did sleep rather well. I hear something gently humming. Sounds… kinda like a fridge. Or some sort of electrical appliance.

The bars are too close together for me to put my hands through, so taking off the blanket so I can see my surroundings was a no-go. I shuffle a little in the cage trying to get comfortable. This cage is 4 sizes too small, so I believe.

My thoughts are cut off by the sound of something ruffling around. And then creaking. Like a bed protesting under its owner's weight. I hear a moan, followed by more shuffling around. The voice… it sounded feminine. And the creaking did sound like a bed. A bed with a very old mattress. Just then, I realize that I am still clothless. Maybe indecent exposure caused them to cell me. I couldn’t be too sure.

Why don’t they cram that dumb monkey that jacked my clothes into this thing? I’d be perfect for the little asshole.

I hear some more shuffling and something hits the ground. Not too hard, but it sounded like someone planted their feet onto a wooden surface. With slippers or something on. It was an audible impact, but it seemed muffled by something. Judging by a bed being by, at least I thought it was a bed, I take a wild guess and say whoever was sleeping on it was up and about. I would knock on the cage, but I don’t know what’s on the other side. Maybe a pet dog. Or a pet tarantula. Or another chimp to steal the rest of my-- ...

My backpack. They took my stuff. Great.

“Hmn. You awake there, fella?” I hear a country-twanged voiced gently murmur. It sounded kind, but a kind person wouldn’t put another being in a cage half his size. I hear muffled steps come closer to the cage. I calm myself, trying to look calm and relaxed so I don’t intimidate the person on the other side of my confinement.

The blanket slightly lifts up in front of me, and dim yellow light floods the cage. From the small opening, I see a pair of blue bunny slippers looking inside at me. One looked occupied from the visible bulge, and the other just sitting there next to the other, empty. Then a huge turquoise colored eye appears on the small opening. That right there, was the scariest thing I had ever seen. It caused me to stagger back in the cage. I hear a gasp from the other side, and the blanket falls back down. My back presses against the bars behind me.

WHAT. THE. HELL. WAS. THAT.

My heart beat rises at the creepy vision in my head of the eye. It was huge, it was really huge, and the skin color next to the eye that I was a creamy yellow. It looked almost sickly. Maybe they had jaundice. Although I got but a glimpse of the person on the other side, so it might have been the lighting.

“Shoot. I didn’t mean to scare ya’.” The woman says tenderly. She said that like I would talk to my turtle when I’d bust into my room from school, causing him to shove his head into his shell.

I hear one of the most feminine giggles of all time before she audibly clears her throat.

“Why don’t we try this again? I’mma lift up this here sheet, and I don’t want you freak out on me. Ready? Here we go...” The voice says just above a whisper. I see the blanket lift up very slowly. Closing my eyes so I don’t get blinded the coming light, I hear my heartbeat in my ears.

“There we are. Boy howdy… you sure are pretty big. Shoulda gotten a different cage for ya’, pal.” She says in a slight tease. The light goes through my eyelids, causing them to sting a little. A few seconds of adjusting, I open them to see the world around me.

What the…

I rub my eyes to remove the hallucination in front of me.

It… it’s still there.

Facing me. Looking at me. Smiling at me.

It was a horse-thing. A… yeah… a horse thing. It was… I couldn’t… it looked... Okay, first of all, its eyes were too big for its skull, its snout was abnormally small. Its colors were yellow and blue. A yellow coat, blue hair and tail. Worse of all, it was clothed. Well, a scarf and a green shirt was all it had on, but it was still clothing. I wasn’t clothed. A horse has clothes and I don’t.

I guess that monkey wanted to put on some jeans twice his size, hmn?

I don’t even know what it was, but it looked like a horse. It was… about 3-4 feet tall. I couldn’t exactly tell from being forced to sit on my ass from the height of this cage.

Actually, wanna know what the worst part was?

… It talked. I wasn’t able to. It was talking to me in Texan English, and all I have been able to do since yesterday was groan and yell.

Yeah, this is a dream alright. That, or this is some sorta next level prank.

“You look… weird.” IT tells me. Says the damn talking horse thing.

“Like… s’more stranger than the usual straggler we’d find getting lost in the Junction forest. Com’n to think of it… you’re kinda handsome in way. Yer features are strange. You have a tad bit less hair than others I’ve seen.” The animal continues to speak, analyzing me.

I don’t even know what it’s saying. I am just too occupied by the fact that there’s a talking horse in front of me. I don’t do drugs…

But LSD is a helluva thing.

Convinced I’ve lost it, I just look at it. It’s still talking about who-knows-what. I don’t notice my jaw is open wide until I feel a drop of saliva slither down my chin. I must of looked mentally ill.

Oh boy, it’s time to pee. My brain signals to my body, and I being to manually hold it in. I haven’t urinated or taken a dump in a whole day, so it’s biting back on me now. I put my thighs together and I squirm, trying to keep it in me. I notice the facial expression on the horse change.

“Oh? … What’cha doin’, pal? Need to pee?”

I instinctively nod. Immediately after, I hear a gasp from the animal in front of me and it scampers back a few steps. Her sudden change from friendly and approachable to scared and shocked almost caused me to leak it all out on her wooden floor.

“W-- What was that?” She asks barely above a whisper. I give her a confused look, wondering what I did. I didn’t secrete or anything. Right?

“D-D-Did you just answer me?” Her eyes are the size of pinpricks. Whatever this horse thing is, it is very animated and full of expression. I simply nod again, not knowing what the big deal is.

She faints... Shit.

I sigh in annoyance, my only ticket out of this cage is now unconscious. I start to devise a rather tedious plan to escape my confinement. I’m prepared to spend hours on end to escape into freedo--

Hey, there’s a key right there. I spot a small key on a stout cabinet to my left. The bars of the cage, just as said before, are still too small for my fingers. But an idea strikes me.

I fidget around the cage until I'm on my back. Once in said position, I press my back onto the top of the cage, and I make a little forced hop inside it. The cage moves towards the cabinet by a few inches. I repeat this process a few times before I’m right next to the cabinet. It’s a decent size bigger than cage I’m in, so reaching the key won’t be too hard.

I gather up all my strength for one big push, and I slam my back onto the cage top. It goes up high up enough to slightly surpass the cabinet’s top, and the corner of the cage catches the edge of the cabinet’s top. As the cage descends with my weight, it causes the cabinet to tip over to its side, falling down with the cage. The key falls down, landing on top of the cage on its side. In other words, it gets stuck on the top of the cage instead of slipping through the bars.

... I wish that happened with my old phone that I dropped on a stormdrain... I groan.

I don’t give up yet. I haven’t cut my nails in a week, so they’re about a quarter of an inch long. My pinky nail is long and pretty thin, so I’ve got my tool.

Note to self: Need hygene time after this.

I stick my pinky between the bars, and poke at the key with my nail. It slips through successfully, and falls into my palm.

Nice.

I look at the lock on the cage, and it’s facing my direction. The lock was put on wrong, so I was fortunate that it wasn’t correctly placed. If that were the case, the key wasn’t going to do me any good as I couldn’t slip in through the bars to unlock it. I slide the key between the bars and give it a slight turn. As soon as the key gets stuck on the bar and unable to turn anymore, I hear a clicking sound from the lock and it hangs loosely, still attached to the key.

I lift the key up, having it still connected with the lock. The lock goes up with the key, and it’s off.

Hehe, years of JCLC paying off.

I give a push to the gate with my hand, and the cage opens. Crawling out like a cockroach suddenly exposed to light, I fall on my chest. Ignoring the fall, I get up and stretch.

Aaaahhhh… Beautiful freedom. I sigh contently, popping a few bones on my back and neck in a twist.

I look over to see the blanked out animal on the floor to my side. Now that I can get a closer look at the thing, it’s a little smaller than I thought it to be.

Kinda looks more like a pony than a horse. I contemplate. Even though this was probably a weird dream or something, I still take sympathy on anything that looks in need of assistance. I slowly inch my way towards the passed out equine and lean down. I pick it up gently, and carry it in my arms towards the one-person sized bed I assume she was sleeping in. Laying her down on it, I pull the covers over her.

IT’S TIME TO PEE! My mind yells, and my bladder is getting ready to obey.

I look around, holding my crotch so’s to keep my liquids inside for a little longer. I see a door on the right side of my cage, and dash to it. I knock it open, and I am greeted with a thin hallway with two doors, one on either way. Down the hall I see another door that has sunlight peering from under the door frame. I quickly open the door to my left, and it’s a storage room full of small boxes. I close that door and open the other.

Jackpot!

I step into the bathroom before shutting the door behind me. Goes up to the abnormally small toilet, and aims my weapon.

Mmmmmnnn… My golden waterfall collides with the water from the toilet underneath me.

I keep peeing, and it starts to get weird. Geez, how much was in my bladder? I’m peeing like a horse… no pun intended.

Finally, my bladder empties, and I reach for my jean's zipper.

Right, no jeans. No anything as a matter of fact. I flush the toilet and look over to the sink. There was no soap or anything anywhere, so I decide to skip washing my hands. I exit the restroom, and think about leaving back out into the wild. Or where ever I happen to be,

My backpack! Need’a find it. I realize. I walk back to the room of my waking, and open the door. Now that I look at the room, it looks cozy. One small window right above the bed. A desk with some books and quill in the corner of the room in front of the door, a small bed on the right side of the room, some cupboards, a cabinet that I knocked over, and a dresser.

Then there’s the cage I was in. The grey steel box looked out of place in this warm looking room. I spot my backpack next to the bed the pony is sleeping on, and I make my way to it.

“Mmnnhh, ghnnn… daddy?” I hear a voice quietly call out. I pickup my backpack, and when I stand back up, I a pair of big familiar turquoise eyes gazing up to mine, causing me to stop like a deer in headlights. Drops my backpack to the ground and I blush a little. She looks like she’s about to pass out again.

“W- … W-What are you!?” She asks with large amounts of fear in her tone. I am not sure if I should be worried or not, but if something were to happen, I would be able to fight this thing.

“What? C-Can’t answer me all of a sudden? How did you break out of your cage!?” I can't answer... An idea pops into my head as I reach into my backpack and take out a notebook along with a pencil. I open it up to a new page that isn't filled with calculus and I scribble something out. I note her eyeing me in fear and interest, so I write as quick as possible, hopefully keeping this pony from exploding.

I flip the notebook and show her what I wrote.

*Um, hello?* It reads. I see her big pupils scan the words and she looks up to me in what seems like disbelief.

“W-What… are you?” She asks, her eyes never leaving mine. I being to write out another message.

*I am a human. My name is James Day. I would like to politely ask: What the hell are you?*

“M-Me? I-I’m a pony! Just like everypony else here! And… and you can’t be human! There’s no way a human can write and understand what I’m sayin’! There’s just no way!”

My eyebrows arc at her words. I jot something quickly before displaying it to her.

*Well, from where I come from ponies don’t really talk ether. I almost had a heart attack when I first saw you. Now that I think of it, where am I?*

She takes a little bit of time to process my words, trying to wrap her head around the subject.

“R-Really? … They don’t talk?” She asks with a bit of uncertainty. I shake my head. “Well… you’re in Dodge Junction. E-Equestria.” She timidly replies to my question.

Well, shit that don’t sound like ‘Murca to me.

“S-So… w-where’re you from, … James?” She asks just above a whisper. I write down something quickly.

*I’m from Lubbock, Texas. United States of America.*

“... I have no clue where that is...” She says, stupefied. I’m not surprised for some reason. “Um… w-well, this is… weird. Y-You see, humans don’t really talk in Equestria. Or think. Or do anything except make good display pets or act as working animals when trained.” My eyes widen at her words.

A perfectly perfect parallel universe? What the hell is this, practice?

Well, for an alien creature being right infront of her, she's handling me quite well.

I start to write some more words onto the paper before showing it to her. *I see. Well, likewise could be said from where I’m from. Ponies are mainly exotic pets. This is really strange for me, and after what I’ve been through, I’m surprised I didn’t just give up on living right then and there when I saw you. Nothing right now can really get under my skin for some reason. Maybe I'm just tired.*

She nods in understanding. “... Umm… well. Why aren’t you talkin’? I thought you said you could.” She tilts her head slightly. That… looked kind of adorable.

I write down a message and present it to her. *Well, ever since I’ve arrived at this strange land through… I can’t remember how I got here actually. Anyways, I haven’t been able to talk since I got here. I don’t know why, but everytime I do, it feels like something is preventing my vocal cords from vibrating.* Her eyes scan the paper. She leans back into the bed, a puzzled expression on her face.

“Can’t say I know what’s wrong there, pal.” I see her smile sheepishly and she clears her throat. “W-Why don’t we start over? Meeting somepony in a cage isn’t really the best way to meet anypony at all.” She chuckles.

I nod before writing a quick message. *Before we “start over,” I’d like to ask: why was I in a cage?*

“Uhh...” She blushes a little. Again, that was actually kind of adorable… W-What am I thinking? “H-Humans are known to be violent when not disciplined right. I couldn’t really take a chance on you tearin’ me a new one while I was asleep... s-sorry about the size of the cage too.” She states. Seems reasonable, I guess. I nod in understanding.

“Welp… let’s start over. I’m Fiddle Faddle. Or just Fiddle. Pleasure to meet you, Mister James.” She extends a hoof. I smile and reach out for her hoof. I see her retract slightly when I smile, and I immediately stop.

“S-Sorry… I’ve… just never seen a human smile before. T-They don't actually... have facial expressions. They... just kinda look at you. Y'know? A-And your teeth are very sharp… i-it scared me. Sorry.” Her cheeks pinken again before composing herself. I reach for her hoof, and give it a gentle shake. The texture of her hoof was silky and soft because of her coat, but since it was still a hoof, it was hard. What was weird was that her coat ran all around her hoof. Unlike a normal horse where you can visually see the horse’s coat stop before the hoof. I start to wonder how ponies "handshake" if they don't have hands.

We break grip. I see she retracts her hoof to her face and looks at it strangely. I pick up the pencil from the notebook in hand and write something out.

*Something the matter?* She looks up from her hoof to see what I wrote.

“... That felt… odd. What do you call those?” She points at my hands with her hoof. I think she meant my fingers as that was only part that got to shake her hand. Or hoof. Whatever.

Jots my question down and displays it to her.

*These?* I wiggle my fingers. She nods twice with curious eyes. Now that I’m clearly staring at them, her eyes are kind of pretty. A bright shade of blue, and her eyes look like they’re shining. Like someone who is about to cry, but without the redness. Her eyes were certainly something to admire.

What the hell am I talking about? It’s a pony. Their eyes are small... and rectangle...

But her pupils were strangely, and perfectly, round. Maybe arguably oval, but nevertheless.

I write down my note and display it to her. *They’re called fingers, Miss Faddle.*

“Fine-gurs?” She tries to pronounce it. I wonder how she doesn’t know what they’re called. Humans appear to be in this land, and monkeys have them. Maybe they just don't have a word for it or something. I shake my head at her honest attempt and write something down.

*Feen-gers* She reads it and says it, properly this time. I chuckle. She jumps slightly at that.

Serious? I roll my eyes at her reaction. Is everything I do scary to her?

“... Sorry. Again. But… you just don’t know how weird it is to see a human expressing emotion for the first time after a whole life of humans doing the same thing.” She exclaims. I guess I see where she's coming from.

I quickly write my retort and show it to her. *Likewise could be said about you.* I see her take my words into consideration, and I see her eyes look around at everything but me.

“I… guess you’re right. Sorry for bein’ so weird. I’m just trying to take this all in without passing out again.” She lets out a shy chuckle. I nod at her and smile, not showing teeth. She sees me do so, and she smile back.

Well, that’s new. Pony doesn’t flip her shit when I breath.

“Well, I should welcome you to my home since I kind of dragged you here. Do you have a home?” She asks. I take the pencil into my hand and flip the page, opening a new one.

*I had one. I don’t know where it is. I just kind of woke up near a forest and passed out in the desert. I don’t know where my family is, and I don’t know how I got here. I really don’t have anything.*

… I don’t have anything… heh, too familiar. Too familiar. Memories from my past come back.

I shake my head and try to toss them out of my thoughts.

I see empathy grow in the mare’s eyes. “Oh. Well, that’s kinda sad… I know how it feels to have nothin'. The only reason why I have this house is that I built it with the help of my dad… but he’s not with us anymore. I can pay for the water bill because of that over there.” I see her point at a black case that is in the shape of a violin. I jot something down.

*I’m so sorry for your loss… and is that really your way of income?* She reads the message silently, and she nods.

“All I have is this house ‘n’ that violin over there. My family… they live in different parts of Equestria. And the closest familiy member I have is a very successful cousin over at Ponyville, but she isn’t able to help me out because she too busy to go through all the paper work to send bits… and I don’t have enough money to get a train ticket from here to Ponyville. If I save up to get one, that means no water for two months...”

Wow… sounds like this girl is having it worse than did. I at least had a family when I was living in the dirt… she doesn’t have anyone…

I scribble something down quickly. *So… you’re all alone?* She reads my note and nods, looking down at the sheets of her bed. I write something else down.

*And you don’t have a lot of money?* She shakes her head. I feel my heart beat in sorrow for the pony in front of me. She really did have it worse than I did, and I thought I had it bad. I look behind me and see the door to exit her house down the hall, and towards freedom. My gut tells me to do the right thing. I look back to the pony, and then to the door that leads to the exit of her house.

Should I do it?

I look back at the pony laying in bed. Her eyes are shimmering and shaky. I glance back the front door again.

It’s now or never.

…

*... Have you ever considered getting a pet human? One that... might be right infront of you for that matter?* I begin to write down that message. I wonder if I should present it to her. I'm not sure what she'll think, and I feel weird just writing this... I show her. Her eyes grow comically big, and they start to glister even more than before.

Not knowing what hit me, I stagger back a step as a yellow dart shoots across the room and tackles me with the tightest hug I’ve ever felt. Even though it hurt like hell, I felt good. It always feels good to make someone happy. Just as I have always done back at home.

I feel something wet on my chest as I look down at the source. The little yellow mare had began tearing up while she was hugging me. I feel her grip become firmer.

I lift up my hand, and wrap it around her soft back.

Author's Note

Welp, change of plans. Instead of two authors on this story, now there's one.

ayy lmao

So, all of what you guys read is done by me. If you feel like leaving a commet to tell me how I did or what I should do, it'd be much obliged.

Chapter Three: Start Somewhere, but Not Here

“Food? N-No, wait, meal! Dinner?” Fiddle guesses. I facepalm and reach again for the notebook. After jotting a quick thing down, I present it to her.

*C’mon, Fiddle, this is the fourth time...*

“‘Xcuse me in not being a master at reading ‘feengers.’” She replies mockingly.

I’ve spent all of yesterday evening teaching her how we could communicate without writing everything down. We both agreed that it’s tiring, and boring. I had remembered how to use sign language to communicate after I was counting with my fingers last night.

Also I noted that Fiddle is quite dedicated, and a very, very fast learner. She picked up the basics of sign language within a few hours of teaching her. She has trouble with a couple of words though, like ‘flying’ and ‘fate.’ She has still much to learn, but hey, so do I.

We also discussed about keeping my intelligence hidden. She said there might be an issue with scientific figures in the “royal scene” if word got out. Right now, it really seems like this little pony needs someone for company, so I don’t want to do anything to take that away from her.

“Hmnn… Eat?”

I nod with a smile.

“Ooh, how did I forget that one!” She bangs her head with her hoof.

Doesn’t that hurt? Hooves tend to be pretty hard.

I slowly sign out a few words to say, *Do you think you have this?*

“Do… you… think… you… have… this...” She repeats each word. “You betcha.”

*So are we ready to leave?* I sign out with a little more speed.

“Even’f I wasn’t, we NEED to go. If I don’t get a permit for you soon, and the sheriff finds out, you’ll be put down.”

Geh…

“Are you ready to leave?” Her big sky blue eyes give me a stern stare-down.

*Ready as I will ever be* I reply.

With that, she hops off the bed and trots for her hat. I sit up from the cage I was sitting on, and pop my back a few times.

Nnnh~ … Damn. Nothin’ like a good minefield in your back.

Fiddle makes her way out of her room and into the hall. I follow close behind her, still haven’t explored her house. Feels rude to do that without permission anyhow. As we walk exit the hall and enter the living room, I see that… there’s really nothing here. Obviously the left side of the house is meant for a kitchen, considering all of those wall and ceiling shelves. The right side of this small empty room would probably be a living room. Nothing’s living in it though.

“Oh… one last thing… I need to put a collar ‘round your neck so other ponies see your mine, and not some stray human in the middle of town. … D’oh, c’mon, now. Don’t give me that look.”

My face consists of two squinting eyes, my mouth hung open retardedly, and my palm facing the sky.

“Speaking on facial expressions, remember not to show any emotions… humans here don’t. And you prolly don’t wanna reveal yourself by smirkin’ at a pony who tripped over or somethin’.”

Giving a nod of understanding, she turns and heads towards the kitchen. She fumbles through a cabinet on the opposite side of a small bar table that cuts the kitchen in two sections. She takes something out.

Really?

“Sorry if this is uncomfortable, fella, but it’s all I have right now...” She trots back to me with a two-inch thick old rope. Maybe 7 feet long.

She motions with her free hoof to come down. With no resistance, I get down on one knee, and our eyes are leveled with each other’s. She does quick work of making a noose big enough to fit my head through, and she tosses it on me like she just wrangled a bull.

“It fits you, fella.” She giggles.

*Don’t push it* I sign with a mildly annoyed expression.

“Ahem… right. Time to head out.”

That said, she opens the creaky old door that exits her house, and the sun shines brightly down on us.

Damn sun… go away.

The noose around my neck-- … “collar” around my neck tugs on me. After my eyes readjust, I see that Fiddle had already exited and is a few paces ahead of me. I lean down a bit to get out of the doorframe with my forehead intact, and we start to walk towards the town.

It’s not too far away. Maybe a three minute walk and we’re there. I see that the town is aligned in a T shape. Buildings facing each other parallel to form the body of the T, and the top portion is aligned with buildings that appear to be jails and offices of some sort. Other than the annoyingly hot sun, lack of vegetation, ass-ton of old or dying trees, and creaking buildings, I can see why might some folk call this place home.

Walking closer to the town, I see ponies go about in their own business. Many of them wearing these adorably weird cowboy hats, vests or shirts, and gear belts. Looks weird when you think about it.

That mustn't be the only thing looking weird because as we approach the town, ponies are already giving me eyeballs. Stares that say, “Ooh, look! A doggie!”

“Almost there, fella… sheriff’s office is but a lick away.” Fiddle says quietly.

I see that we’re walking towards a more sturdy looking structure, and it has a rather big wooden star engraved onto the front of the building’s wall. Also, metal bars surround the windows. Looks almost like a jail.

We make our way up the crooked steps to the sheriff’s saloon doors, and Fiddle holds them open with her wings. It’s kinda odd how she can use her wings as extra limbs. I can see that being pretty useful from time to time. She tugs me in with the “collar,” and I stumble right behind her.

I see two big jail cells that take up half of the room inside this building, and one pony is sitting inside the right cage. He’s tinkering with something, but I can’t see what it is. The pony is strange-looking. Kind of skinny in frame, and his mane is disheveled. He smells like beer too.

“Eh-hem.”

I hear someone clear their throat. Certainly didn’t sound like Fiddle, too masculine. Turning my head, I see a pony sitting in a fancy-looking desk in the corner of the room. He’s chewing a strand of hay, and he’s staring at me… not even at Fiddle, at me.

“T-Top of the mornin’ Sheriff.” Fiddle stumbles to say. Judging by her lack of composure, she doesn’t meet 'n' greet very often.

“Mornin’, young’n. I can see what brings you here. What does it need? Permit?” The sheriff’s grizzly, fatherly tone seems familiar.

“Y-Yessir. Permit. H-How much will it b--”

“Ah, don’t worry yourself, miss Faddle. No charge… unless you wanna pay hundred bits for one, sure.” The sheriff interrupts Fiddle before she finishes.

“N-N-No! I-I’m dandy! Thank you ver’ much, sheriff… you’re too kind.” Fiddle’s ear lay on her head, and she looks over to me, smiling a little bit. I keep my unfazed look in place, staring at her, then at the wall.

“Righty-o. Let’s see if he passes the tests to be certified...”

The sheriff lazily rocks himself off his chair and begins to walk towards me. As he stands but inches from me, his head only reaches up to my upper belly. Actually, he’s quite tall for a pony. From what I’ve seen, at least.

I stare at him, face blank and dull. He takes a step to the left, and another to right. My eyes follow him, wondering what kind of “test” this is. He then raises a hoof up to my face. He then puts his hoof on my chest. Force coming from his hoof, he pushes me back hard enough to stumble me. I quickly recover and stare at him again, kind of annoyed.

“Hmm. Certainly a very passive one. Bunch’a humans usually fail that part. This one didn’t do much as react to contact or force. Where’d you find this guy?” The sheriff turns his attention to my small yellow friend.

“I-- he… Um… I found him… in the desert… he was dehydrated and looked ill. S-So I took him in.” Fiddle plays with her mane as she explains.

“Found ‘em, ey?” The sheriff scrutinizes me. “That’s one hell’ova dangerous thing to do, miss Faddle. You’re lucky this one’s so easy going, or it’d be a problem.”

“U-Understood, sheriff. I assure you aplenty, he won’t bother anypony!” Fiddle swings her hoof positively in a upside-down arc.

“Right.” The sheriff slowly walks back to his desk and takes a square piece of paper out. He then takes the quill atop of his desk and dips it in a ink well. He then writes on the paper, quill in mouth. “Here ya’ are.” He comes over and gives the paper to Fiddle. Must be the permit.

“Nngh.” I groan as something stamps my head. I see that the sheriff stamped a happy face in blue ink on my forehead. Fiddle giggles a little, and I look at her. She immediately stops, holding in another chuckle.

“Scurry on now, young’n. And keep that human well kept. Remember, animals abuse is against the law”

“Animal abuse is against the law” ebleblebleh! I mock him in thought.

Fiddle tips her cowboy hat to the sheriff, and he returns the gesture of respect. We exit through the swinging doors, and back into the town. Now I see more ponies going about, some hauling small wagons with ores, vegetables, tools, and all other types assorted items. These ponies are all so hardworking and dedicated… man, the people back home should really take a page from these guy’s book. Lot of lazy-asses back home… myself included.

“Mmkay, fella, I’mma need to get to work in a little. We’re gonna head home and I’ll be back in a few hours… hopefully with some food enough for both of us.” She speaks with her gaze locked to mine.

We start to walk back home, this time with heads a little higher than before. That’s one obstacle already removed. I’ve met two ponies so far, and both of them pleasures to be around. Maybe this place isn’t that bad. Well, not bad when you’re not stuck in the middle of a friggin’ nowhere and actually in civilization. Maybe it was a Godsend that I didn’t get stuck a town of bears or something that wouldn’t mind having me as dinner. Can all animals talk here? Obviously humans can’t… bullshit. But what about all the others? Like rabbits? Birds? Deer maybe?

Coming down from my train of thought, I notice we’re already home. That was considerably faster than before. Fiddle pushes her door open, and holds it open for me. I walk through.

*Huh, shouldn’t I be holding the door for you?* I smile.

“Shouldn’t you is caring door for you?” She asks, tilting her head as she enters.

Heh.

I shake my head and sign again, slowly this time. She studies my hand movements closely.

“Ooooh. Funny, you.” She smiles at me and walks down the hall to her room.

“Makes yourself comfy, Jame,” She calls from her room down to me in the ‘living room,’ “I’ll be back before you know it! And don’t worry about ponies knocking… nopony ever comes here anyway.”

… Damn. That’s… depressing…

I see her trot back a minute later in a some sort of cowgirl get-up and a nicer hat than she was previously wearing. Her outfit consisted of a rather nice vest with a long sleeve plaid shirt under, and some slacks. She looks… rather nice. Huh.

“You take care of yourself. Don’t run off. Make sure the blinds of the windows are down if you’re gonna do any monkey-business, and please don’t--”

*Okay, mom. I understand.* I gesture over dramatically.

“... Okay… okay. I’m goin’ now.” She smiles and heads out the door, closing it behind her, and locking it.

I mean, it’s not like you can’t bust the door down. It’s so fragile and weak, you could just punch it off its hinges.

The small home floods of silence, and I’m left standing there in the middle of the living room with nothing to do.

Weeelp… Let’s explore shall we?

I look down the hallway and into Fiddle’s room…

… I don’t want to be rude neither. Going through a girl’s stuff is a surefire way to get your ass kicked.

Who cares. S’long as I ain’t stealing, right?

I walk down the hall towards her room, ducking under the small door frame. I get a good look around her room again… and it’s probably the most well kept part of her house. Not talking about the physical architecture of course. The floor creaks, the roof’s coming off, the walls are pretty much falling over, and there’s plenty of little cracks in the boards where little bastards can crawl in and bite you while you sleep. Reminds me of how my old hut used to be before we built our new home.

Something inside me feels a bit heavy, and deep pity fills my heart. Letting out a sigh, I come up with an idea.

Money's a problem. So, it’s the least I could do. Let’s see…

I look around the room for anything useful, my attention draws towards the small cabinet next to the cage where the key was. I take a few steps to get it and I crouch down.Opening the drawer, I smile.

Perfect… but. Its handle's kinda falling apart. Just a little.

I take out a rather humorously small axe that’s in poor condition. One swing of this thing would probably break it into pieces. Nothing I can’t repair, though. I stand up and walk towards the window above Fiddle’s bed. Looking out of it, I see the mountains and several trees outside her home. The trees look like they’re ready for winter, in the middle of the summer.

Mmm. I hope I ain’t lucked out.

I walk out of Fiddle’s room and towards the living room. I poke my head out the window and see if there’s any passer-bys. Nothing? Good. Opening the creaky old door with care, I exit the house and into the beating sun. It’s actually cooler out here than it is in the house. Geeze.

Makes my way behind the house and over to the trees several meters out from Fiddle’s home.

AH, FFF-- NNH!

I hop off my left foot in pain, and hold it with my free hand that isn’t holding the axe. A nice three inch long thorn stuck right up the heel of my foot, sitting there proudly in its new home.

… Alright, you little shit. You’re coming out the easy way, or the easy way.

I take my index and thumb fingers and latch onto the head of the menace. I pull on it, and my skin comes with it.

“Ggh-- gnhh, errrhhh!” I rumble out as I pull the thing out of me. I tend to forget how much these things actually hurt until I step on one.

“AAAHN… Mmmn...” I manage to pull it out with a little bit of blood stuck to its major point. I lean down and dig up a hole in the dirt, placing the spear of death inside and burying it back up.

Never come back, you hear?

I haul myself back up without using my left foot, and I start to hop over to the tree field again. Considering there isn’t too many weeds to hide the little claymores, it’s easy to avoid stepping on them. There really isn’t too many either, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

After a few moments of inconspicuous hopping behind Fiddle’s house, I make it to a tree. The closest one to her home.

Good?

I feel the tree’s bark, squeeze it, and lightly punch it.

Good. At least one thing’s still right.

I look up and study the tree’s branches. Some are nice and thick, good for a swing, other are thin enough to slice water. I put my left hand above my head and use my right foot to push myself off the ground, making good enough air to grasp a thick branch. I hang there for a little before using my abdomen to swing my legs up to the branch, hanging there like a chimp. I flip myself over to get atop of the branch, and I sit there, catching my breath.

Am I really this outta shape? Man. That’s pathetic.

I set the axe down between my thighs and look up at the thinner branches of the tree. I spot a perfect candidate that could be used as a fibre. I use my glutes to hop up a few inches and catch the branch, pulling down on it until it comes off and into my hands. It’s about 5 feet long and no thicker than an inch. I look down at the axe and measure its size compared with the branch. Considering I was right about the branch’s measurements, the baby axe is about three feet long. I guess small tools for small ponies.

I cut off two 2 foot long pieces of the branch, leaving one foot of branch remaining. I couple the fibres on each side of the axe’s handle, and I cut the last foot of branch in half. I tie them around the handle to act as two constraints. I don’t remember where I learned to tie a super-tight knot, but I still know how to do it. I’m not complaining.

I take the axe into hand and grip it well, feeling the handle.

Seems stable now. These trees are like bamboo. Never seen them before. Don’t look like bamboo though. I mean, bamboo doesn’t really grow in the middle of a damn desert. And it isn’t a tree. More of a long stem.

The stone of the axe is still in decent condition, and it looks like it can cut. It was just the handle that might of caused an issue. I look down at the thick branch I’m sitting on, and firmly grasp the axe. I lift it up, and bring it down with a cause, cutting a decent sized gap into the thick branch. This thing can surely cut… it’s stuck. Damn it.

Prying it out of the branch, the axe finally breaks its hug with the tree’s limb.

… Alrighty. Time to get to work.

~~~~~~<

I let the wood roll off my arms with a deep sigh, onto the floor of Fiddle’s storage room with off of those empty boxes. I had thought they were filled with goods or something. Just a dusty old room that hasn’t been entered in… years maybe. Even the door knob was dusty. Perfect hiding spot for all of this damn wood. I don’t want her to find out what I have planned for her. I hear a door creak open in the living room.

SHIT, SHE’S HOME. GOTTA GO, GOTTA GO!

I quickly dust myself off and tippie-toe out of the storage room, closing the door and hopping into her room. Stealthily opens up the drawer where I had found the axe, and I set it in, closing the drawer.

“Hey’a, fella. I’m back!” A sleepy-eyed, mane disheveled, clothes wrinkled Fiddle walks in the doorframe with her violin in one hoof, and a grocery bag hanging on her right wing.

*You look bad.* I use simple terms to make sure she understands.

“... Rough night… Good thing is, I got three performances tonight… yaaay me!” She drops her violin and set the grocery bag on top of the steel cage. She crawls onto her bed, and lays motionless.

Gosh. Poor thing.

I walk over to her and gently poke her shoulder. She lets out a quiet snore.

Out cold already…

Looks over at the single bag of groceries. Hops over to it, and holds it open with my hands. I see a carton of eggs and a can of… what is that? I pick it up and read the label. Ooh? Frijoles? Don’t mind if I do! This girl knows simple eating, but good eating. This is what I used to eat as a child since it was the only thing my family could afford at the time. I can’t really fathom the fact that these equines live similarly to humans. It’s… weird. Like, it’s just something I can’t really grasp.

More snores sound off from the sleeping horse. Pony. Thing. Still don’t really know what to call these things. They call themselves ponies, but I just don’t see the resemblance. Except from their height of course…

Cutting three trees and then chopping up the wood really gave me a hunger to be reckoned with, and I’m also sleepy. But… I don’t want to be rude and eat without her. She bought herself this food. It’s more hers than mine. I’m not sure how much she wants to give me. I guess I could just sleep on an empty stomach. Yeah. That sounds reasonable.

I walk over to the floor next to Fiddle’s bed, and lay down on the wooden floor. It’s oddly comfortable… I guess anything’s comfortable when you’re sleep deprived and tired. Time to wait till morning… time for rest…

Goodnight, Fiddle.

~~~~~~<

… Mmmn… that smells… mmmnnnn….

I snap out of sleep when I realize some is indeed cooking up. Smells delightful. That or my stomach is willing to eat dog shit. Let’s go see--

Ah. Right. Male human body struggles are still a thing…

I think as I stare down at my morning wood… where’s that axe?

I get up and cover myself with my hands and I peek through the door frame. Fiddle still seems to be in the kitchen, unable to see me in the hall. I don’t want to scar her pretty, big blue eyeballs with my horrid standing man meat. It’s one thing to see it flaccid… another thing to see it ready for use. I tippy-toe to the restroom and close the door.

Safe ‘n’ sound.

I let nature take its course in the toilet as I relieve myself from unneeded waste. As the urine waterfall dissipates, I exit the restroom and make my way towards the kitchen. Before I even enter her sight, I hear her call:

“Good mornin’, fella! Ready for breakfast?” Fiddle says in a singing, upbeat tone while looking over to me.

*Oh. The stove works?* I sign slowly.

“Well, where else would I cook m’food, silly?” She smiles playfully and reaches down into a cabinet.

She takes out two plates, and two forks from another cabinet. With the skill of a master cheif, she uses her muzzle bang the handle of the pan down, and the eggs come soaring through the air, and land perfectly on the plates that she’s holding with her wings. She then trots over to the kitchen bar table and sets the plates down across from one another. She then turns around to get the bean can she left heating up, and she brings it over with her two hooves.

She sets the bean can inbetween the plates and takes a seat on the stool near her plate.

“Breakfast’s ready, fella. Hungry?” She looks over to me with a friendly smile.

She doesn’t stop smiling. She’s so… happy. She lives in a shithole with a shit job and she smiles… heh. Wow.

*Yes. Very hungry* I walk over and sit down on the stool. I look like I’m squatting to take a dump from how low to the ground these stools are. Still, there’s pretty comfortable. *Thank you very much* I sign before picking up the fork.

“You’re very much welcome, fella. Now dig in, b’fore it gets cold.” She picks up the fork herself and pokes her egg, bringing it to her mouth.

I repeat after her, and take a chunk of egg into mouth.

Ohoho, blissful egg… so delicious.

Fiddle picks up the can of beans and uses her fork to scoop some out and onto her plate. She then holds the can out to me. I take it from her and start to scrape some out for myself. I see that she didn’t even take half… there’s still a lot left in there. I take out as much as she did for herself, and I offer it back to her.

“No, no. Ts’all yours, fella. I’m probably gonna get full with this.” She says genuinely.

Either she’s lying, or she eats very little... I hope she eats very little. I don’t want her going hungry because she’s too nice to properly feed herself.

I scoop up the rest of the beans with my fork and land them on my plate. I start to dig in, taking as much beans as my fork can hold in each bite…

I note something… odd...

I look up from my food to briefly look at Fiddle, then return my gaze to my plate. My feeling was right. Fiddle’s just staring at me. In silence. She’s still eating. But she’s just staring at me.

I set down my fork.

*Can I help you?* I sign slowly, keeping my facial expression as soft as possible so I don’t come off to her as mean.

“Um, oh. N-No. Why?” She looks at me oddly.

*You’re staring at me. Like if I was wall.* I simply sign.

“Pardon my rudeness. It’s just… strange. Seeing you do things like eat. With a fork. Properly… like a pony. Y’know? It’s something to get used to... ”

*Trust me. Same here.* I smile at her, picking my fork back up and finishing up the last of my egg.

“Finished?” She looks at my plate. I nod to her and she gets up to take my plate and hers to the “sink.” Or small bucket that she fills is just enough water to wash the dishes. She gets a small green sponge from the sink counter and starts to wash the dishes.

“Hey’a, fella. I’ve actually got some good news for you.” She says without looking to me.

“Tonight I got booked for a few more performances. If I get at least four tonight, I might actually get enough for a train ticket, and the fee for a pet aboard the train. We might be able to visit my cousin in Ponyville!”

My eyebrow arches and I walk over to her. She looks at me with a hopeful smile.

*Are you sure? You looked dead last night after three. Three performance. Four?* I sign, giving her a concerned look.

“Oh, don’t worry yourself, fella. It’s okay! I got a good rest last night. I think I’m ready for it.” She responds to my concern with a tooth-filled smile.

… She’s very positive. Maybe a little too positive.

“Besides… I hope we can get out of this dump… the years I’ve lived here I could never call this place home.” The smile that always takes her lips seemed to just disappear after she said that.

*Okay. I wish you luck. Do not get hurt.* I sign with a sympathetic smile.

Fiddle looks into my eyes and smiles. She turns and starts to trot down the hall.

“I’mma freshen up and head out, mmkay? Take care of yerself.” She enters the restroom and closes the door.

Guess I’ll be alone again. This time, with a little more daylight alone. Hopefully I can finish up this project in time. I walk towards Fiddle’s room and sit down on the cage, listening to the muffled pitter-patter of water from the restroom. I see Fiddle’s hat laying there on her bed. Tan colored, brown belt with white gems in it. Probably fake gems… she’d probably sell them for money if they were real and had value.

The restroom door squeaks open, and a damp Fiddle trots out with a towel wrapped around her mane. Interestingly enough, she doesn’t bother clothing herself before coming in here. This is the first time I’ve seen her without that little shirt and scarf she always wears… looks… like, not odd. But more of--

Gah, what am I doing? Stop looking at her, you weirdo.

She makes her way towards the dresser behind me, and I hear her open it up. I don’t look back at her, simply staring at the wall in front of me. The clinking of plastic cloth hangers give the impression that she’s picking out something to wear.

“Perfect. Hmn. No. No, no, that wouldn’t look good.” She mumbles to herself.

Since when was she a fashion diva?

I remain staring at the wall for a minute longer before I hear the plastic banging of the violin case. I look over to and see her.

Woh…

She looked… fancy. I couldn’t even tell that she was a cowgirl in this state. She looks like a… professional orchestra player. She’s wearing a black tux with a bow tie, thin black eyeliner (how is that even a thing for these ponies), and her mane is combed to form a thick bun to the front, and curly ends from the hair that droops down to her back. It looked… pretty damn neat.

“... What? Too much on the artificial?” She tries to look at her eyeliner.

I shake my head, probably looking like a dumb ape. I don’t like makeup, but… it… didn’t look half bad. Her entire get-up was well composed actually. She looked like she would play for a concert or something… maybe that’s what she’s planning for.

“I need to get goin’, fella. Remember, house only, window blinds.”

*Mom. Really. I got it.* My expression bored. I quickly reach over to the nightstand where my notebook is and I take my pencil. Blocking Fiddle’s exit from the doorway, I write something down.

“H-Hey! I need’a get goin’! C’mon, now. Move yourself--”

I present to her what I wrote.

“... Nails? What’ya need nails for?”

I put my index finger to my mouth, puckering my lips

“Um… I got nails. One box I think. In the kitchen cabinet on top. Why would you need--? Wu-hey!”

I get behind her and start pushing her down the hall, her fancy shoes gliding across the wood. I stop her at the front door, and I open it. I look over to her and point outside.

“Um. Okay? I… guess I’ll be going?” She looks at me strangely.

I nod and point again. She slowly trots out the door, still looking back at me. I close the door on her. I go to the living room window and check if she’s still there.

Nah, she’s trotting towards the town. Good, good…

I turn and run towards the kitchen, check the far right ceiling cabinet in the kitchen.

Bingo.

I take out the small box of 100 nails. A near perfect amount from what I’m going to need.

I walk back towards Fiddle’s room and I open up the cabinet that contains the axe. Axe in one hand and nails in the other, and walk towards the storage room that’s right outside Fiddle’s room. I make my way toward the far left corner of the room where a bunch of boxes were stacked, and I move them apart to reveal the large stack of wooden planks I had cut yesterday. I smile, and flip the axe 360 degrees in style.

Time to get to work… again.

~~~~~~<

Goodness gracious, my hands freakin’ hurt… just one more nail, it’s game set. C’mon…

With a trembling hand, I lift up the axe towards its blunt side, aim the nail on the wheel’s left axle… and… and--

“NNNRRRHHH!!!” I cry in pain when I smash my thumb. For the hundredth time.

I shake my bleeding hand to try and air off the pain.

Crap! Did I get blood on the wagons?

A quick inspection of the wagon I’m closest to, and nothing. Good… would’a had a heart attack.

Alright. One more time. It’s not that hard, man. Not that hard… one… two… and--

I swing the axe once at the nail, and it impacts the head successfully.

Aaaah, thank the Lord… finally.

I start to hammer, or hamaxe, the last nail into place. I run my only non-bleeding pinky finger across the nail to check if it’s flush. Perfect.

I stand up, sweaty, tried, bleeding, and sleepy with three hand-crafted wagons out of that weird-ass sturdy wood. I roll the wagon that I just finished, and it rolls smoothly. I set down the axe and open the door to the storage room. Cool air blows on my face for a moment of sweet relief. It’s not really cool air, it’s hot. But it’s a lot damn cooler than that stuffy old storage room. I make my way towards the door adjacent to the storage door, and enter the restroom. I turn on the faucet and immediately put my hands in, even if the water is piping hot. No need to give Fiddle a big water bill.

I air dry my burning, stinging hands, and I make my way to the living room. A quick inspection out the window, and I see that the sun is setting, but not completely gone. It’s gonna get cold soon… can’t wait. This heat’s killing me.

It seems Fiddle isn’t home yet, and I don’t know how long I’ve been working on those three wagons… maybe I have time to sell ‘em. Maybe…

I contemplate how I’d get such a thing done. I start to pace up and down the hall, staring out Fiddle’s bedroom window, and then the living room window when I arrive at each point.

I snap my fingers with a smile.

Got it. Yes, this’ll work.

I make my way over to Fiddle’s room and reach for my note book. I take a piece of paper and pencil, and write something down in the best handwriting I can.

“HAUL WAGONS FOR SALE, 100 BITS EACH” I write… bits? That’s what she said, right? Not… bites? Beads? I sure hope it’s bits or else I’m gonna look like an idiot… alright.

I reach into my backpack and pull out a extra shoe string I had left in the biggest pocket.

I wish I could remember my parent’s faces, not where I left a damn shoe string.

I rip out the page from the notebook carefully. I take the shoe string and run it across the two hole punches farthest apart. I tie it around my neck like a necklace, and the paper hands off on my chest with the words displayed to the world.

I study it again, and revise my plan...

Hmmn… maybe I need to be a little more specific. Alright.

I flip the page facing me and I take the pencil in hand, writing a few more instructions down.

“HAUL WAGONS FOR SALE, 100 BITS EACH”
“Give bits to human, and take wagon of choice. Thievery will be punished by human.”

Welp… here goes something.

I reach down into my backpack and take the second extra shoestring into hand.I flip the page back so the text faces the world, and I walk towards the storage room again. Ties the wagons together so they form a small train, and I pull on the two front handles where ponies would hinge themselves. I good measurement on how it should be when I was studying the other ponies going about their business yesterday.

Mother of f-- just… AW DAMN IT!

I fling my arms up in anger when I realize that the wagons… won’t fit through the door frame… … the door frame’s weak… I could probably just bust it down… tell Fiddle that a burglar and I tussled it out… maybe…

I walk through the door frame with the shoe string in hand, and I pull it when the wagon gets stuck. The wall creaks and snaps lightly…

… Hnhg! Sorry, Fiddle!

I muster up a great pull with both of my hands, and the wagons break through the wall, making the hall dusty and difficult to see in. Coughing my lungs out, I rush out of the out, wagons rolling behind me. They break through the front door as well, making a nice jagged outline of the wagon.

Fiddle is gonna have my head on fine china. If she doesn’t own any, she’s going to save up for some fine china, cut off my head, and then place it there…

I try to hold my cringing in from the damage I caused, and I start to walk towards the town. The street lights are already coming on, and big red glowing text on a particular building says, “SALOON.” The dirt is relatively cool, so standing around won’t be a pain. I walk a bit faster, trying to keep pace with the sunlight. Can’t really sell to working ponies when they’re none out.

I compose myself and straighten up my facial expression, entering the town. Ponies stare at me strangely, wondering what I’m doing. I walk in front of a small store looking building, and I stand there, sign facing out. I make sure the wagons stop to my left in a line, out of the way of the entrance of the store. Ponies are still looking at me strangely. One little baby pony starts to approach me. She’s adorably tiny… urge… to… s-smile… rrrrhhh….

“Paapaa… paapaa! Wook, paapaa! Hyuuman!” The little filly starts to crawl on my leg.

“Get it away from it, dear! It’ll hurt you!” A stallion quickly swoops the little foal from my leg.

I remain staring at the two blankly, not moving.

“... Wagons for sale?” He continues to read through the page. “Hmn. Don’t you need one, Shaink?”

A large dark blue pony slowly makes his way over… now this guy. This guy is huge. Huge. Muscular and tall… he’s… intimidating.

“Punished by human? Hah… maybe I should steal it, just to see what this thing has in him… but nah. That’d just get the sheriff on my ass. Yeah, I do need a wagon. But I need one that can handle my line of work.” The pony by the name of Shaink speaks in a grumbly voice.

“You’ve broken three wagons this past week. I just think you need to carry less ores per haul.” The pony holding the foal says.

“Working double is for idiots.” The behemoth retorts. “Hmn. I guess I’ll ‘buy’ one. How would this work?”

I slowly raise my palm facing up, my arm making a right angle and my face remaining unfazed. Doing this for a long time isn’t really hard. Your face muscles just get used to doing nothing, and it’s easy…

“That sign says to just give the humans 100 bits. Just do that I guess.” The father says.

“What if I give it sixty? It won’t know the difference.”

“I don’t know… that would still be considered thievery.”

“Nopony would even know. Here...” The pony pulls out a small baggie and hands it to me.

I bounce the coin bag in my hand a little. It’s… heavy. Definately a lot of golden coins… but not heavy enough to convince me it’s a hundred.

“Hurh…” I groan out. The ponies look at me in surprise.

“You see? It’s trained. It knows. Just buy it correctly or leave it alone.” The father scolds.

“Hnnh… What’s the quality of these things? I don’t wanna put bits into a piece of junk.”

“Could you try and roll it?” The father looks at me uneasy.

“Hmn. If it attacks me, I’ll kill it.” The wall of flesh walks over to the wagon on the far right of the line, and he touches it. He bangs on it a little, and he rolls it with the leeway that shoe string gives it.

“Huh. Wow. Well made. Might have been produced in of them factories you hear of these days.”

Thank you very much. I guess.

“Alright, here.” He trots to me and and takes his coin pouch back. The takes out another with a the number 100 stitched onto the pouch. He leaves it on my hand, and it’s considerably heavier.

He trots towards the wagon he was investigating, and he unties it from the shoe string. He grasps the one of the handles of the cart and starts to walk with it.

“You tell your owner a much obliged, you hear.” He tells me sarcastically, and he breaks into a laugh.

You’re welcome… shithead…

~~~~~~<

The sun is just about down, and the sky is painted a beautiful orangey-yellow color. I see less and less ponies walking around, and certainly less working ponies.

Maybe I should head home… one wagon is good enough… I gueeeess… I hoping there would be--

I hear something break near me and a wheel comes rolling by me, falling over and laying on itself right in front of my feet.

“Con-sarnit! C’mon! Not now!” A voice calls to my far right.

I see a young looking stallion unhinging himself from his wagon, a wagon that’s laying on its side with a bunch of vegetables laying all over the floor.

Ooph. That sucks, fella. I wish I could help…

He sighs and starts to load the vegetables on the wagon again. After he places them all back on, he looks around for something.

“Uuuugh… friggin...” He starts to trot to me, a angry expression on his face. In an angry fit of mumbling, he doesn’t notice me near the wheel. He picks it up with his mouth, and he looks at my feet. He slowly starts to look up. Our eyes meet.

“MMMP!” He drops the wheel from his mouth.

I flinch when the wheel barely misses my toes, and slams onto the dirt heavily.

“O-Oh… man…wooho… almost got me there, you… I’mma… just get this wheel. A-Alright?” He slowly moves towards me again.

He freezes when he hears something snap, and break. We both look over and see that his wagon had come apart, dropping all of the produce on the ground.

His ears lay flat on his head and he sighs.

“Just me and my luck...” His head hangs. “Can one thing happen right today?” He looks up to me, and his eyes lazily move to the sign on my chest.

“W-Wait… what? Sale? A hundred bits!? Crazy talk!”

He looks down at the broken wheel between both of us.

“... Got no choice, do I?” His upset eyes look at mine. I remain a mannequin.

He reaches into his saddle bag things and rumbles around through it. I slowly lift up my hand, palm up.

“‘Kay, do I just… put it on you? Or…? Oh.” He puts the baggy on my palm, and its weight is familiar.

He gives me an awkward smile, and he goes over to the wagon on the far right, and he unties it. He rolls it over to his produce, and he unhooks the hinge from the old wagon. He places it on the new wagon and he hammers it in place with his hoof.

Fits like a charm. Damn, I’m good.

He starts to put back all of the vegetables back on the wagon. After he fills his wagon again, he steps into the belt and hooks himself up again. He slowly walks with it, and he smiles.

“Waoh, nelly! Smooth as butter! Gee, worth the bits.” He trots away with a smile towards the other end of town, and out of sight.

Sweet. Two down, hopefully I can sell this last one… not sure how far 300 bits would get someone, but I guess anything could help Fiddle. One more. Shouldn’t be that hard? Right?

~~~~~~<

My feet hurt…

It’s been… however many freaking hours I’ve been here. It’s dark out, and I haven’t seen Fiddle yet… I might as well go home already. This shit sucks…

I hold the two bags of coins in my right hand, and I use my left to grip the handle of the third and last wagon. I start to waddle home with sore feet. The doors to the saloon in front of my barge open, and a fancy looking old stallion stumbles out. He’s dead drunk.

“I… say. Time… for the couch in the home land of in the heart… of Equestria...”

He spots me. Dear God stay away please.

“He--” He lets out a burp that smells of rum from all the way over here. “Hey, you there… what’syerbusiness… come here… I wanna tell you a secret...”

He starts to fumble his drunk self over to me. I start to walk a little faster.

“Hey, now...” The old coot appears literally infront of me.

How the hell…?

“Oh. A sign. I like to read… reading is for...” He hiccups, “The… the intellectually inclined!”

His bloodshot eyes scan through the sign on my chest. He takes a sold thirty seconds to read about 12 words…

“A-A thousand bits!? That’s preeetty steep for my wallet, boy’o… Deal!”

… D-Deal…?

He reaches into his coat and pulls out a fat bag of coins. He pushes it onto my chest and it stumbles me back a step. He then tips his top hat to me with a smile, and he trips away with my last wagon…

… Did… really...

I look at the bag in my arms.

I guess… Fiddle can forgive me for the walls?

I start to waddle home again with three baggies filled with these golden pieces. It… feels good. And, I could even dance in joy right here and all these drunk ponies could care less. Huh. Maybe I’ll save the dancing for later… my feet still hurt.

Making my way back home, I can’t help but let a smile take my face.

~~~~~~<

I step onto the porch of Fiddle’s house, and the door’s open.

Did I leave the door open? Sure hope not.

I walk in through the giant hole in the wall that was once the door. I look around… and…

God, what happened here?

The walls have holes in them. Most of them evenly sized. The kitchen is a mess, and the extra eggs Fiddle had bought are all cracked on the floor. I set the bags down near the kitchen, and I slowly make my way down the hall. I notice a dim flickering light in Fiddle’s room…

Is… she home? Did she not go through town?

I slowly walk towards the door frame of Fiddle’s room, and I peak inside…

Oh?

I see Fiddle’s room is a mess. Completely trashed. Her drawers and cabinets are all tipped over and broken, the cage is on its side, and pieces of clothes are scattered everywhere… pieces of her suit... and Fiddle Faddle is lying her bed, face coupled in her arms… and crying.

Slowly and steady, I creep up to her. I stand near the bed and softly put my hand on her shoulder. She seems startled as her head snaps at me.

“Y-... Y-... You...” She says between huffs of crying breaths, “... I thought… I thought you left...” Tears trickle down her cheek from her blood red eyes. Her makeup is running too...

I simply shake my head, gazing at her solemnly.

“W-Where we you…? I-I told you not to leave!” Her voice slowly drowns out, and she starts to cry again.

…

I sit down on the bed and put my hand on her back, sighing. I don’t really know what to do…

Should I apologize? Maybe I shou--

Fiddle wraps her arms my stomach, crying into the blanket sheets.

Poor girl… I really messed this shit up…

I gently stroke her mane, letting this wave pass through Fiddle…

~~~~~~<

*So… what really happened?* I write down on my notebook before present to her.

“My… my first performance got cancelled… so I had to wait in the middle of a party alone where I didn’t know anypony… then, in my second performance, I didn’t have the right sheet music, so I couldn’t keep up… my third performance… it wasn’t even a performance… it was just a… frat party of some sort. Then, on my last performance, my D string snapped in the middle of the performance, hit another pony in the eye, caused him to drop his bass on top of a cello player, and rendered the cello player unconscious...”

… Wow. Just… wow.

I quickly jot something down and show it to her.

*I’m sorry to hear that...*

“... And once I came home… and saw you were nowhere… I thought you left… and I kinda… snapped. A little...”

*”A little.” I’d like to sincerely apologize for disobeying you and wandering off like that… and I’m really sorry about your house.*

“... It’s okay...” She sniffles. “It’s fine… at least the house is st--”

A force hits us like sack of bricks when the roof comes down on our heads.

Aagh, shit… … Fiddle!

I push myself up from my laying position, knocking over the planks that were on top of me. I look around and can’t see Fiddle. It’s so murky and dusty. I start to move planks and wooden shards out of the way, digging for her desperately.

No, no, no, no, no! … Fiddle? Fiddle! ... Fiddle?

I move one last large plank to reveal the small dust-ridden pony laying on her side curled into a ball, crying silently.

This… can’t get and worse… … Hmn?

I look up--

“Hrh!”

No, I don’t look up. Instead, I get a water droplet dead in the eye… I look up again with more caution.

Ah! Of course! Rainclouds! Just… I don’t… this shit…

My eyes open widely.

The money! I had forgotten about it!

I tap the sad little Fiddle’s shoulder, and she look over to me. Her face looks dead and grey. I hop out of the rubble I’m surrounded by. I come back with a smile. All she can see is my head from the hole she’s in.

“... W-Why are you smiling? W-Why? Please… just tell me why...” She says between sobs.

I crouch down and roll the bags into the little hole she’s in. They land on her side, and she quickly sits up.

“Wh-What are these?” She stares into my eyes in confusion, “Are these… bit bags?”

I nod with the smile that never left my face. I hold up my hands and slowly sign:

*1.2.0.0.*

“One… one th… Ono thousand two hundred!?” She sits up straight, her eyes the size of pen pricks.

I nod again.

“W-Where!? How!? J-James?” She stutters.

Rain starts to drizzle down more and more, picking up pace in a matter of seconds.

I put my index finger to my mouth and reach down with both arms, picking her up out of the rubble along with the coin bags. I hold her like a princess on my chest…

Her face looks so defeated. Her eyes show no life, only despair. I walk out of the rubble and onto the dirt, and set her down with the bags. The smile doesn’t leave my face.

*Ready to visit cousin?* I sign.

Her pupils grow immensely, shimmering in the moonlight. She stands on her hind legs and pulls me in for a hug.

“T-Thank you… t-thank you... thank you so much...” The wetness I feel on my chest isn’t rainwater. I wrap my arms around her and return the hug with full heart.

A loud as hell thunder strike breaks us apart, and she picks up the coin bags.

“C’mon, we don’t wanna be caught out here. Let’s get to the train station...” She looks at me, and I look at her. We both smile.

She turns and starts to trot towards town. I look back at the rubble and go towards the ‘front of the house.’ I reach in through where the kitchen was and pull out the dreaded noose of death. Or my collar. I run back to Fiddle who’s staring back at me, wondering what I’m doing. I present the handle end of the rope after I put the collar around my neck.

“Oh, right. Thank you...” She giggles. I roll my eyes with a smile.

We both make our way towards the train station once more.

I look around at the nighttime town of Dodge. Drunk ponies causing shows in and out of the saloon, law ponies making sure they don’t do anything stupid, and a strange scent of... apple cider? This place is so peaceful. These ponies are at least. Obviously there’s a couple of assholes here and there, judging from that one walking wall of meat earlier. But there hasn’t been any major problem here. And it’s a western town. Usually these places have a thief or so occasionally.

We walk up the steps that lead to a ticket booth for the train station. Fiddle goes up to the pony working the stand.

“One ticket, and a pet ticket, please.” Fiddle says.

“You betcha. Pet?” He leans down behind the counter.

“Human.” She simply replies.

“Ah, I see.” Says the pony, coming back up with two tickets, “That’ll be twenty-five bits, ma’am.”

Fiddle opens up a bag that has the 100 stitched onto it, and takes out the exact amount. Fiddle pushes the coins into the little slot under the window of the ticket booth, and the pony slides the tickets under the same slot.

“Thank you kindly, sir.” Fiddle says as she tries to tip her hat. She realises that she doesn’t have it.

“No, thank you, ma’am.” He smiles friendly-like and look at me.

Fiddle and I look at each other. Fiddle sighs.

“My hat...” She looks back in the general direction of where her home was, “... Ah, well. I guess we can see about getting another… maybe in Ponyville.” She smiles at me.

I try my hardest not to smile back, it’s become a habit to smile back at Fiddle when she does to me… wonder why.

“Train coming in from the South!” The ticket pony announces to us, as we’re the only two customers there.

The train starts to pull up in front of us. It… looks so stupid. It looks like a generic little girl toy train, and they way it moves… it bounces up and down as it goes along. What?

The doors of the train open, and the both of us enter. We find a seat near the back of the cart. There’s maybe two or three other ponies in the cart, all sitting in separate areas of the cart. We sit on the left corner seats, and Fiddle gets the window. I see Fiddle staring out the window in silence. The midnight sky reflects off her eyes so perfectly, it’s strange.

The train cart doors close, and the rumbling of the seat tells us that the train is moving on. A pony in a waitress uniform comes in from the cart in front of ours.

“We will be arriving at Ponyville in 7 hours. Do not be afraid to ask a train assistant for anything! Thank you.” She announces softly to the few of us in the cart.

She does a 180 and leaves the cart the same way she came in. A quick glance at Fiddle, and I see her eyes are closed and her mouth is slightly hung open.

Hmn. Sleep does sound like a good idea… Good night, Fiddle.

Author's Note

Welp, finished a chapter. Finally.

I hope to get some good feedback from you guys, it'll help me 'git gud' at writing these things.

Thank you for reading, and good day. :moustache: