[SECRET PROJECT]

Once more into the wilderness I went, I've been stuck here for about three weeks now and so far I haven't found the edge of this stupid forest. Luckily I had run into anything dangerous yet like a bear, but I really didn't want to stay here for too long. My clothes were getting pretty ragged now and I couldn't keep living off random fruits for too long. For such a large forest, it had surprisingly few animals. The one or two I had seen immediately scampered off before I could try to catch them. I say 'try' because I've been far too hungry to even think of giving chase lately. The small stream near my 'camp' was all I could use for water, cleaning and everything. I only had one set of clothes though, so usually I kept cleaning to a minimum and used my jacket as a blanket if needed.

The first few days were the worst, I had no idea how to get a fire started, I woke up with a pounding headache each morning and I was starving because most of the fruits I ate now were on the other side of the stream. On the third day I'd grown sick of the cold nights and in my frustration I somehow managed to get a campfire lit. Since then I'd been keeping the fire alive as long as possible, I'd had no idea how I lit it so it was all I could do to keep chucking sticks onto it. I didn't have to worry about the smoke attracting predators apparently, since the sickly green flame didn't give off any. Yes I know that's weird, and no I didn't care at the time since I was just happy to have any warmth.

When I'd woke up the next morning I tried my best to replicate it, with horrible results, so I eventually gave up and went back to looking for civilization. I used the stream first, seeing which way the water was flowing and following it upstream. It took about four hours of walking before I reached the river it came from which led to my next issue. Rather than flow downstream and split into two, this was two rivers that connected into one. I never cared about geography so I couldn't pretend to know how it worked. The river was about fifty feet across and really slow, which made it incredibly easy to cross. That day though I returned to camp first to make sure the fire was still alive.

There was a tree near my campfire that I'd used to start mapping the place, namely each part of the river and around the campfire. Two weeks in and so far I may as well have been stranded in Egypt. Today though, today was different. This morning I woke up pretty late, and for once the headache was gone, it must've been a sign of good luck since on my usual trek I managed to see a plume of smoke in the distance. Even better it was in the direction of one of the rivers so it wouldn't be too hard to follow. I took what was left of my clothes and the stick I'd been using to carve into the tree before putting out my fire. Then I ran, for once I was almost looking forward to getting back home, and the smoke only grew closer as I ran. Usually I couldn't venture too far along the river since it would take too long to get back to camp by nightfall but this time I had a goal.

I'd been ignoring everything else as I ran, my partially ruined shoes keeping me from damaging my feet too much beyond the blisters. I was so caught up in my hope I didn't really pick up on the implications of the smoke. I should've known before I set off, the smoke stack was much too large to be a simple campfire or chimney smoke. So when I'd finally reached the edge of the forest, I wasn't smiling as much as  I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong, the houses in the distance were fantastic to see, almost as much as the barn nearby. I just didn't enjoy the size of hundreds of apple trees, all in neat rows, all alight.

My legs were sore from running since this morning, but I still couldn't just watch could I? So, rather than stand there and watch, I looked around for the edge of the trees and soon found the fence bordering them. I ran around it, staying outside of the trees to avoid getting burnt, and headed to the barn. The least I could do was carry a bucket or two, maybe help fill them with water. Once I rounded the corner and found the entrance I gave up on that. Instead of people scrambling for water, or even firemen running around, there wasn't anyone. Well, there were a few people, but they weren't... people.

A purple unicorn was barking orders at some of the other colored horses. Two of them even had wings, one saluting the unicorn and the other simply nodding before flying off into the sky. A bright pink one without a horn or wings was apparently trying to console another bare one who was shivering next against the barn. Each of them had weird pictures on their flanks as well. It was a surreal sight and I had no idea what to do, so I stood there dumbly as clouds rolled overhead, apparently drawn towards the smoke as they perfectly blanketed most of the trees.  At some point I tried hiding behind the wooden fence, crouching as I watched the weird horses and tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

They were obviously sentient, and obviously somewhat intelligent. No matter how much I wracked my brain I could not figure out where the hell I was. I obviously wasn't dreaming, I've been here for weeks now. Was I hallucinating? Did the fruit in the forest have some horrible side-effect where people looked like colorful horses? No, that wasn't it. It doesn't explain the two who flew off. Was I in a twisted game show? Ehh, no, that wouldn't be it. It'd cost too much. I'd ended up lost in my thoughts, didn't even noticed as the orange horse spotted me, her eyes widening as she pointed a shakey hoof in my direction.

That was also when the two winged ones returned, the blue of the two following her friends(?) hoof before glaring at me and flying right for me. I'd only had a few seconds to react, jumping back as she(?) almost rammed straight into me. "Hey! Who do you think you are? Burning all of AJ's trees?!" She (definitely a she) thought I did it? Why would she think that? Wait, she can talk?!

"What are you talking about?! I just got here!" I was panicking slightly as the pegasus glared at me, looking me up and down before backing off slightly.

"You can talk? What even are you anyway?" She questioned before shaking her head and glaring at me once more. "Doesn't matter, I'm still going to teach you not to mess with my friends."

Whoa there little miss confident, she hand't even met me and she already thought she could beat me? That's just naive, and I really hate being looked down on. I glared back at her as I though of a plan, reaching into my pocket and wrapping my hand around the stone I had used to carve into the tree back at camp. I couldn't risk her getting close since those hooves of hers would probably cave in my ribs, and I wasn't confident enough to hit her from this far away. Maybe I could use her speed against her?

She smirked as she watched me before flaring out her wings and speeding right towards me. I could see why she was so confident with speed like that, I barely managed to take out the rock and pull my arm back. The precious few seconds I had to aim only grew shorter as she drew closer and I had to take a chance. When she was about twenty feet away from me when I threw the stone, twisting my leg as I jumped to the side. The horse barely had time to dodge as she sped towards the rock. My aim was off just a little bit but apparently she was naturally inclined to dodge to the right, attempting to tilt herself out of the way of the rock only for it to nail her right in the forehead.

I'm not really sure what knocked her out, whether it was the rock hitting her or when she crashed into the fence. Either way, I'd somehow managed to win against the speed demon. I only managed to pump my fist and yell "FUCK YE-" before I was cut off by a dull pain in the back of my head. Everything grew fuzzy as my vision swam, and eventually I ended up knocked out cold on the ground as well, not before seeing a few frowny faces above me though, and one... less than frowny face. When I was knocked out though I could've sworn I heard something, it sounded like laughter?

Oh well, that was my first day in Ponyville.