Act by Instinct

Beginning of Chapter 2

"Applejack, I think it's just best if I show you. Drop the cart and follow me"

Twilight led one of her best friends, Applejack - a farm pony who works at a nearby farm land known as 'Sweet Apple Acres', which has the best reputation for it's high quality apple products in all of Equestria. Back to where Spike had found the strange creature in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Applejack dropped the farm cart that Twilight needed to borrow on the road, and set of after her. It was not long before she stopped and turned a 180 towards Applejack.

"Applejack, what I'm about to show you will probably give you a shock, but please remember that it is unconscious and it's not dangerous."

After hearing what Twilight just said, Applejack had discovered an all new meaning of confused. What did she mean? What was unconscious? Twilight then turned back and walked passed the tree. Applejack still confused as ever with a hint of fear hesitated to follow, she took a large gulp and slowly made her way round....

Then realising what Twilight meant earlier when she saw what was directly in front of her lying on the ground. When Twilight came out of nowhere and started yapping about some 'strange creature' and that she needed to borrow Applejack's farm cart to move it to a safer place, She weren't kidding!

Applejack was at first shocked, scared, speechless. But as soon as she remembered Twilights words from earlier. She started to calm down and her breathing began to slow back to normal.

"Twi, mind tellin me what en tire'nation is that...thing?" Applejack asked with so much confusion, it was practically leaking from her.

"I have no idea Applejack, I'm just as confused as you are right now, but all of this will hopefully be explained later. Because right now we need to get it into the cart and make our way to the library before it gets dark."

They all understood the situation, Applejack and Spike nodded in agreement and they all carried the strange creature to the farm cart parked on the dirt road. For it's size you would expect the creature to be really heavy, but surprisingly it only weighed around 75kg - which was still heavy of course (for pony standards), but lighter than expected.

It took them a good amount of team effort to drag and carry the unconscious body to the cart, luckily it was just big enough to fit the creature in. They were all at the cart and now they had to try and lift the body onto the cart without further harming the creature.

"Okay...on three. one...two...three!" The alicorn grunted with the remaining breath she had left. Applejack and Spike got under the creature and was lifting it up with all their energy, Twilight was helping by gently levitating it onto the cart.

After a few struggles, they finally succeed. the whole gang was panting from tiredness. Applejack wiped her head with the back of her hoof.

"I'll say...all' that apple bucking today...really has gotten to me, it's like ah ran for 20 marathons.....without stopping" The farm pony stated while catching her breath back.

After also catching his breath, Spike decided to ask. "So what do we do now Twilight?"

She just finished hiding their 'cargo' with a large blanket using her levitation. Turning around "Now that we have it hidden, we can now head back to Ponyville without causing a commotion. Applejack can you help me pull the cart back to my place?"

"Sure thang Twi! I too want to see what this thing is. Ah probably have no choice anyway, imagine what everypony would think if they saw their princess pullin a cart on her own with hidden cargo. It would be kinda suspicious don't ya think?"

She does have a good point, since when do alicorn princesses do labour work anyway? Even if Twilight was not a princess everypony knew her as a 'bookworm'. So either way it would be strange.

"Your right, I will need your help no matter what. I hope you don't mind"

"Don't worry about it sugercube, pulling a cart across Ponyville is nothing compared to what ah do everyday as a livin. Now let's buckle up and get moving before any nasty critters decide to make an appearance, and don't worry I can manage on mah own." Applejack was more than fit enough to pull the cart on her own. Also letting Twilight just walk alongside instead will lower the suspicions.

Twilight nodded in approval and muttered a "thanks" before they set of to Ponyville, Spike was riding on the edge of the cart while Twilight kept at Applejack's right side. When they finally left the forest they all saw the sun descending behind the hills - making room for the moon to rise and create the night.

"Just in time" Twilight muttered to herself while on their way to the library. She could imagine the horrors that they would encounter if they stayed there just a few more minutes. Even on the outskirts of the Everfree is dangerous, especially at sunset.

It was just gone 18:00, and the town were doing what they usually do on a Saturday evening, either that be hanging out with friends, go to the club and get wasted on cider, or just catching up on some work in their spare time.

The group were almost there, the library came into view - a house which looks like it was built out of a tree. Fortunately for them nothing too eventful occurred during their journey, apart from the occasional stare gained here and there, nothing bad happened. The group finally made it to the front door, luckily the door was just wide enough to fit the cart through so without hesitation, Twilight opened the door and stood to the side to allow Applejack to pull the cart through carefully.

Once they were all inside, Twilight shut the door with her magic and made sure it was locked. Once done she then proceeded to shut all curtains to stop anypony from peaking in.

"Phew, we made it. Thank you for the help Applejack, if you didn't show up then we would probably still be stuck in the forest." Twilight then went over to Applejack and gave her a friendly hug to show how grateful she was.

"You're most welcome sugercube, Ahm happy to help!"  Applejack returned the hug, she always loved seeing her friends so happy and giving them a helping hoof is one good way to assure that.

"So what will yall do now Twi? We can't have anypony else seeing it, and what happens if it decides wakes up!?"

"For now I'm going to lock it in the basement, it is the most hidden and safest place at the moment. In the meantime I will need to inform the Princesses of this event." She then turned to her number one assistant. "Spike can you go and fetch me a blank scroll, ink and a quill while we get the creature into the basement?"

"On it!" He replied before turning a 180 and ran upstairs.

"Okay Applejack, help me with this"

The girls both dragged the creature downstairs into the basement, once they reached the floor they gently put the creature onto an old mattress that was just a bit too small, but they managed by bending it's knees so it's feet weren't dangling of the end.

With the creature finally secured they both headed upstairs out of the basement. Applejack was the first to leave then Twilight, but before she left she turned around to get one last look at it before leaving and locking the basement door.

Spike was waiting for them with the things that was requested at the ready, quill and scroll in claws, waiting for the command

"Are you ready Spike?"

He nodded in response

"Okay" she cleared her throat before starting. "Dear Princess Celestia...." and thus she began to tell the story of what happened today with her strange finding.

????

..................................

......."wha"........."what happe- Ow!"

Pain - the first thought and feeling invading her barely conscious mind. She felt like she had been struck by a mighty war hammer, and to top it of been kicked by an elk all over her body like a punch bag.

No matter what limb she moved, it felt like burning in hell.

"where *cough*...Where am I?"

Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was the ceiling. After rubbing them several times she then looked around at her surroundings, at what appears to be a dark room. It was pitch-black in fact, but thanks to her cat-like eyes she was able to see around her thanks to her night vision.

The room was a mess, littered with dust everywhere on everything and what appeared to be old contraptions. They looked like something that the harani would build - a neighbouring human race that lives in peace with the firran and have showed them the crazy metal inventions that they build, They were known as 'The pioneers of the continent'.

Looking around more there appeared to be a tiny speck of light coming from upstairs through the cracks of a wooden door with a rusty handle, this confirmed that she was in some sort of building, and maybe this was the basement or some sort of storage area.

"Did I get kidnapped, how did I get here? I don't remember fighting or anything.....I..can't remember..."

Georgina was just lost, she couldn't remember anything that happened recently - not even quick images.

"Maybe I can find some answers with the populace, this structure looks like it was built by the harani, so all I got to do is go up there and ask them. Easy enough"

She then proceeded to get up, but then was quickly reminded of her current state.

"Ouch, forgot about that. *cough* I hope I brought some spare....ah ha!."

On her side was a small pouch which contained some backup items incase she lost her bag or she had run out. Reaching a hand down she was relieved that there was 3 small healing potions which are used for minor injuries, bruises, headaches etc. Grabbing a bottle she opened the top and drank the warm tingly liquid, feeling the healing taking effect and the pain slowly going away. it brought a smile on her face as she sighed contently.

"Ahh, much better"

Moving her legs over to her side, reaching the floor, only then to realise how low on the ground she was. She counted to three in her head and slowly but gently stood up, at first her eyesight went fuzzy and she started to feel a little bit dizzy - using the wall as a support to keep her up. Six seconds later her eyesight went back to normal and she felt fully stable again.

*cough* *cough* "When was the last time this place was cleaned? There's dust everywhere" She stated while blowing dust away with her right hand.

Eager to get out of the dark confined room, Georgina saw the light from earlier and decided to head towards it. There was a set of basic stairs leading up to a door. With utmost care she started to make her way up the rotten stairs, creak after creak with each step she took. Half way up however she stopped when her hearing picked up something, it was voices - very faint though.

"Even if they are harani, I need to pick my next movements carefully. They could be pirates or bandits."

Agreeing with her own warning, she got on all fours with her hands on the stairs in front and legs on the back - in an attempt to try and lower the noise she is making. very carefully she made her way up to the door and stood up, then realising how low the ceiling was, and how short the door was. The top of the door came up to her shoulders, while she had to lower her head a little to avoid banging her head.

"I know the harani are short, but this seems a little silly." she chuckled to herself.

The voices from earlier were now allot more understandable now that she was right next to the door. Crouching down she peaked through the keyhole, temporally blinded for a second before her eyes refocussed. From her view what she saw were not harani, but what seemed like equine creatures with a wide range of different colours.

There were six of them all standing around in a circle, while talking to each other....

Wait a minute! Last time I checked, equines were not capable of physical speech. This is not a dream because I remember the pain from earlier, they're not a hologram or fakes because their eyes are tracking each other and interacting with their emotions, and I've seen ghosts before and these are nothing like them, especially when you can clearly see them breathing. So these must be a new sentient race that we have not encountered before...

If there was one thing the firran do best, it would be analysing difficult situations with quick thinking and resulting in reasonable conclusions or assumptions. This feature gave them the advantage in battle, spying or just anything in general.

Georgina was staring at the small equine creatures in awe, admiring each of their features. Hmm, seems like they have unicorns and pegassi here too...

The first one was a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane.

The second was a regular pink equine with a puffy dark pink mane.

The third was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane

The fourth one was another regular equine, this one seemed to be orange with a blonde-yellow mane. This one was also wearing a hat for some reason.

The fifth was a yellow pegasus with a bright pink mane.

The last one really got Georgina's attention, it was a purple equine with a purple and pink mane striped together, but this equine had both wings and horn. She had heard of a similar creature before from a story when she was still a young child, but the name of it was long forgotten.

Georgina then started to pay attention to what they were saying.

"But what if it's dangerous!? It could seriously hurt somepony!" the white unicorn asked - almost shouting.

"I can assure you Rarity that if it does pose a threat then the princesses will handle it." the purple one replied. "Besides it's locked in the basement so it's going nowhere."

"Oh yeah, even if it does get out then I'll take it down easily!" the cyan one stated with cockiness in her tone, while hovering above the ground with it's fore-legs crossed.

"Rainbow, you haven't seen what we have seen. To be honest you wouldn't even last five seconds - No offense partner, this creature is like nothing yall' ever seen."

"Not to mention that it could also be sentient" The purple one added.

"Sentient?" the four confused equines said in unison.

"Yes, when me, Applejack and Spike found the creature, it was wearing some form of basic yet unique clothing. So we assumed that it could be from an intelligent evolved species from a far away place, that is the best assumption that we have so far."

So they're the ones who brought me here, but what are their intentions is what I fear most. Georgina was in a difficult situation. she had three options...

Option 1: She could easily break down this door and make a run for it, but that will no doubt cause them to go hostile on her.

Option 2: She could knock on the door and be as diplomatic as possible, asking for answers and at the same time, giving her race a good first impressions.

Option 3: She could just wait it out and see what happens, but she had a reputation of being impatient sometimes - something that runs through the family.

She thought about this for a good amount of time, whatever move she makes now will probably determine her future in this mysterious land. She was tempted with just breaking down the door and legging it, but what lies beyond this room exactly? It wasn't worth the risk.

Okay, you can do this Georgina. Just stay calm and be as innocent and friendly as possible.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

The second she knocked the room went dead silent with a few gasps, killing all their previous conversations.

"Hello?"

End of Chapter 2