Homeward Unbound

Utter confusion and shock is the general mess going on inside of my head right now, as I scan for where the main entrance to the school should be, only to find trees, trees and more trees. A forrest surround the tiny clearing of which I now stand, confused to my wits about what could possibly have me end up here.

Where the hell am I? Why am I in a forrest and what the fuck was that tornado thing that happened just a few moments ago?

"HELLO?!" I shout out to nobody in particular. My panic only seems to get worse as there is no response whatsoever. Nothing in sight but snow, and a vastly big forrest that I seem to have somehow ended up in. "Anybody out there?!"

Receiving no response but the chilly draft from the cold air, I but both palms to my face, trying to get myself to calm down and think straight about my situation.

Okay, so I was trapped in a vortex of snow just in front of the main entrance to my school, which all in itself is nowhere near possible, and now I'm in a forrest, far from anything that seems to have any lick of sense?

See, the thing is, I would naturally jump to the conclusion of me still dreaming, but I have a pretty clear mind on whenever I am actually not dreaming. Such as fully remembering when waking up, doing all the things I naturally do and all of that. There's just a noticeable difference between when you know you're actually awake and when you're dreaming, at least for me. So I don't think I'm dreaming.

But then how else do I explain what just happened?

I groan as I rub my face with my palms, clearing my mind of these conflicting thoughts. My eyes bright up as I realize that my phone is still in my pocket, like it always is. Thank god.

I gleam as I navigate through to my contacts, and settle with calling my mother, as I would always inform her whenever something completely unnatural happens to me, which to be honest, this is the first.

I hit call and to my great dismay, all I hear is a disheartening beep. "Fuck." I curse. No signal, of course. Why am I not surprised?

I shift between looking towards the trees, and back to my phone a few times before sending a message for my mother to "call me". It'll send automatically whenever signal is in reach, and she will most likely call back as soon as she can. Until then...

I sigh as I plonk the phone safely in my inner pocket of my coat, making sure that it will be safe from both the cold, and me loosing it out of my pocket by accident. That would not be good. I quickly take in my surrounding once again as I hesitantly choose a direction to start walking in. Without the sun, nor moon visible from my position, I am unable to deduce where any direction might be, so I just pick the one that was in the general direction of where the main doors to my school would be.

As I start walking, I shudder in thought as once again I think back to what just happened. How does something like that just happen?

Thanks to the white snow, and the trees being a relative fair distance between each other, I am able to slightly see where I'm going. That is to say, I am able to not walk into a tree. I can in fact see very little due to the darkness.

Walking further, I keep getting more disappointed by the fact that I don't find anything else but more woods. I've been walking for about five minutes, and all I see is still this damned wood.

As if my prayers were answered, I could hear something other than eerily silence.

"We gotta get her to the hospital, she's not safe here!" I hear faintly in the distance, although the tone of whoever said that doesn't really lift my spirits. Who's not safe, what happened?

I decide to approach this carefully, and make as little as much noise I can as I close in on the voices behind the treeline. A little ahead there seems to be another little clearing, and I can barely make out shapes in the distance between the trees. The voices are talking to someone who seems to have gotten hurt by something, and now remembering them saying "It's not safe here" isn't exactly making me feel less worried about my situation.

As I finally get a clear view of the voices, I come to a complete halt as I stare dumbly into what was what I thought were people talking to each other.

But no, Instead I see the impossible scenario of three horses with scarves and beanies, tending to another horse who seems to have injured itself. One horse was dark colored, the other was a shade of light yellow, and the pony being tended to was white as the snow.

I quickly hide myself behind the tree I had snooped out from, and completely loose all sense of awareness.

WHAT THE FUCK?! Why... How?

As if I wasn't going through enough this morning, this was just the icing on the cake. How dare the laws of nature twist itself twice in one morning? Horses don't talk. Horses don't talk. Horses don't..

I squint my eyes shut as I keep repeating this to myself mentally. I open them quickly and take another glance towards the horses.

I instantly resume my hiding position. Horses do talk. Horses do talk.

What am I supposed to do? Should I come out and try talking with them? No. For all you know they could have every intention of murdering me on the spot if they think I'm dangerous... Or they can just be dangerous out of the concept of being dicks.

My head is spinning now, as I realize the ponies must have heard me moving back to hiding behind the tree, evident by the silence that followed.

"Did you hear something? I think I saw something move over there.." One of the horses said, sounding... worried?

We can't afford being paraniod, Thunder Lane, Light is in trouble!" The other horse with the female voice replied. "Help me get her back to Ponyville!" She ordered, causing this "Thunder Lane" to turn in his tracks.

As I feel eyes were off me, I carefully adjusted my position to sneak a view of the scene in front of me, still trying to figure out what was actually going on.

"Sorry.. my bad." He went over to the horse who was now leaning against the female horse, adding for extra support. "You'll be all right, Light. We're gonna get you to that hospital in no time." He added, causing a pained smile by the injured horse.

For some strange reason, the two horses spread out their wings... Oh, they have wings... wait.

These things can fucking fly. They're pegasuses... or pegasi. I don't give a shit about how it's worded, I'm just flabbergasted by the fact that I'm seeing this.

The two horses start flapping their wings, taking off with relative ease as they lift the injured horse with them, heading towards the left of where I currently stand, leading further off from where I had originally come from. As they are out of sight, I hesitantly step out into the clearing, still having my eyes on them as they ascend into the sky, still being able to see them despite the dark skies, thanks to their bright colors. Why are they colored like candy?

I remove my hat as I stare dumbly at the horses as they slowly vanish from my sight, and out of my reach behind the treetops. I crouch down an grab a handful of snow in my fist, stand back up, and dump the load of snow on top of my head.

Ah, much better. That honestly helped easy my mind for a little. I noticed despite the cold, I was sweating heavily, and I doubt it was from the thick clothes I was wearing. I have been panicking for a while now, and I seriously need to calm down before a vein bursts within me.

I once again think through everything I've seen so far... and to be honest, I don't feel comfortable right now. I feel down right lost. Talking horses? That's... just not normal.

I rub my temples as I try to figure out some sort of reasonable explanation to all of this, which proves unsuccessful. I groan as I stare up into the night sky, giving it a grimace, as if it were at fault for bringing me to this place.

Also, where the hell am I?

I grab for my phone in my pocket, checking if my message had sent. Nope, nothing. I still see no sign of any signal bars on the top right of the screen, and I defeatedly sigh. At loss for ideas about what to do, I start to get worried. It'll probably be sunrise in a little while, and I need to find somewhere that's inside before I start getting cold. Luckily I packed myself in with warmth today, so I won't freeze anytime soon.

I think back at what the two horses said about heading to a hospital. Where there is a hospital, there is most likely a local area, which means society.

I look back into the direction of where the horses had vanished from my sight, staring into it, waiting for my mind to be clear.

I take a deep breath as I hesitantly start to walk. "Here goes nothing."

It's been a good half hour of just walking now, and I feel myself getting increasingly tired. Mostly from stomping through the snow, which makes trekking considerably more difficult. There's still no sign of any clearing, lights or anything anywhere, although I see the sun is starting to rise. Thank god, finally I am able to see a little more of this god forsaken place.

I reflexively look at my phone from time to time, still no damn signal. I tried calling the emergency service after I slapped myself mentally for not doing it sooner, but I got the same beep as last time I tried dialing.

Giving up on that for now, I was determined to get to this place the horses were heading. I hope to christ they didn't take any sharp turns somewhere in the sky, as it would probably lead me nowhere but into more trouble. I am now just following what faith I have that I'll somehow get out of this place, and fast.

Just a short while later, the sun has finally started to show itself beyond the horizon. I sigh in relief as I see signs of it, and how much more bright this forrest has now become. It doesn't change the fact that I am lost, so my thoughts trail back to the matter at hand. Find civilization.

Suddenly I hear something a little ways to my left, which prompts me to stop dead in my tracks. More voices.

I don't want to loose my trail of where the pegasi flew, but I have the general direction stamped into my mind, and I nervously take silent steps towards the voices in the distance. Once in reach of hearing, I stop and hide behind a tree, cautious to the fact that this may be more of the talking horses. Hopefully not. I cease my thoughts to be able to tell what the voices are saying.

"So what exactly are we looking for again?" A female voice asks. "I told you, I don't know what it is we're looking for yet, we just need to investigate where the twister happened, check for clues of any magical disturbance." Another female voice replies.

I glance out from behind my hiding spot, and I see them. Six more horses, all wearing winter gear. Scarves, beanies, fluffy saddles and boots. Some of them even have jackets.

Now I'm more surprised as I see that not only is there horses without wings too, but some of them even have horns! Unicorns too? One of them has both wings AND a horn. What even is that?

I stare at them in awe, still not getting over the fact that this is actually happening, and I continue listening in on the conversation.

"So Twilight, what do ya reckon we're gonna find anyway? The princess seemed mighty sure this here twister wasn't just some accident." A peach colored horse says with a thick southern accent, catching me off guard.

Hang on a second. Twister? Are they... Are they talking about the thing that got me here?

"I'm honestly not sure, Applejack. I'm just really eager to investigate this phenomenon. But I want you all to be on your guard in case anything off is to happen while we're here." The unicorn+pegasus combo commands. getting five nods in return. Applejack? Twilight? What kinda names are that?

I struggle as I take in all this information that I have no idea what means, and I forget that I was supposed to be quiet.

*snap*

Why does there always have to be a fucking twig, even in the snow? I mentally groan, now having gotten the full attention of all the horses as I quickly dash behind the tree again, hoping they didn't see me.

"Uh... did you guys see that?" Another asks. Shit. shit. shit.

"Yeah... I think something is hiding behind that tree over there." The one I remember as Twilight responds. Fuck.

My mind goes on overdrive, and I fully panic. Shit, they know I'm here. What the hell do I do?! I struggle as my mind has it's conflict within my head, and it only resolves into a single conclusion of extreme instinct and fear.

Run.

I dash from my hiding spot, running as fast as my legs can carry me back towards the direction of where I was previously headed, not daring to look back to see if the horses had started their pursuit. All I could think of was getting the hell away.

Earlier...

Twilight walked back and forth impatiently as her friends worriedly stood by and observed her every move. They had waited for Rarity to come out of fifteen minutes now, and they all knew why.

"For Celestia's sake, Rarity, are you almost done in there?" Twilight shouts towards the door to Carousel Boutique. "Just a moment, dear" The white unicorn responds with a fluttering voice from within.

For the past fifteen minutes since Twilight had informed Rarity about the little investigation they were going to do in the White Tail Wood, she has been obsessed to do what it seems like she always does before anything slightly of interest; dressing for the occasion. Her other friends luckily only had one set of winter wear, although they did have a slight grumpy attitude at the idea of getting up to adventure this early in the morning.

But peaceful slumber can be set on hold, as investigating what could be something quite extensive is far more important.

Finally, after what seemed like hours , the door flew open, revealing a white unicorn, taking a pose as to show off her style.

She smugly smiled at Twilight. "Why Twilight, don't be like that. After all, some of us needs to look fabulous." She only received a dead panned glare from Twilight. "Come now, Twilight. Don't be so glum. What has gotten you so anxious today?" She asks, looking slightly worried at her alicorn friend.

"Sorry Rarity, but I really want to investigate this! It could be something crucial, and the princess asked us to find out what it is, so I really wan't to get going before the end of the week." She sarcastically replies, causing the unicorn to grin. "Well, we're waiting for you now." She states as she takes point, heading towards the pathway out of town followed closely by the rest of her friends.

Twilight only sighs in defeat, realizing Rarity is now simply toying with her, and moves on.

The girls stop before leaving the town edge, and huddle in a circle to plan their trip to the woods. "Okay girls, you all read the letter. We're just going to be investigating the general area of where this happened. It's quite a trip, at least forty-five minutes give or take." Twilight explains.

The girls nod in affirmation. "Okie-dokie Twilight! What do you think we're gonna find? Oh, oh, I know! Aliens!" Pinkie finishes ominously, drawing a chuckle from the group. Pinkie, despite being woken up this early, seems to have no problem being present. In fact, she gives of the same gleam and slight spring in her step she always carry with her.

"You've got some imagination, Pinkie. It's probably just a mess up in the weather planning." Rainbow added, seemingly confident of her professional deduction on her experience with the weather scheduling and it's effects.

Twilight feeling assured everyone was ready, and slightly less grouchy, she took point as they headed for the forrest.

It had now been a good half hour of walking through the forrest, none of the girls really had anything to add as they trekked through the winterfallen forrest as the sun was making it's slow ascent towards the sky. The whole trip was mostly silent. Even Pinkie Pie hadn't really been talking. Probably thinking through her alien theory a bit more.

Most of the girls had been too lost in thought about preparations for Hearth's Warming Eve. The presents had mostly been all accounted for, some still required packing, but that would be dealt with later on, it was still a week and a half left after all.

Fluttershy was busy scanning for any traces of animals out and about, not because she wanted to meet them, quite the opposite. She would be quite concerned if she saw animals running out at this time of year, but she assured herself that nature had it's ways to make sure the animals stayed in hibernation.

To Rainbow Dash's pleasure, they did pass by the current resting place for her pet tortoise; Tank. She happily went over there for roughly ten minutes to casually chat with her pet, knowing he was sleeping, but it made her feel better with dealing with the fact that she wouldn't see her pet again until Spring.

Resuming their walk, the silence was almost killing. Feeling the need to break the awkward tension, Rainbow spoke up. "So.. uh, nice morning, eh?" She hesitantly said to no one in particular, giving space for anypony to reply.

"Oh, it sure is. The snow looks so nice and untouched." Fluttershy added with glee. That caused the rest of the group to fall out of their trance, as they started to look around.

The snow was pretty much flawless, and the sun now barely touching over the horizon made it sparkle slightly, making it even more wonderous to behold. "Winter sure is cold, but it sure has it's special way of bein' natural and pretty." Applejack added, agreeing with her butteryellow friend.

"Oh, I can't wait to get back to Ponyville to make a really big snowpony, and then I'm gonna build an even bigger snowalien!" Pinkie exclaimed, now returning with her alien tales. Twilight smiled. "And what do you think that would look like, Pinkie?" Pinkie suddenly appeared in front of Twilight, as usual, out of nowhere. "I don't know, that's what makes it so exciting!"

Rainbow was feeling tired already, not really feeling up do doing much today, much less go on a hike. "Argh, how much further is it Twilight? I don't wanna waste my time here when I could spend my time reading through the new Daring Do book, again."

Twilight frowned. "I would say it's about twenty minutes towards this direction." She points a hoof leading towards the general direction she's walking towards. "And I'm sorry, Rainbow, but I need all of your help in case this turns out to be something out of the ordinary."

"So what exactly are we looking for again?" Rainbow asks. "I told you, I don't know what it is we're looking for yet, we just need to investigate where the twister happened, check for clues of any magical disturbance." Twilight responds, also wishing they could arrive soon. She was instructed where to go, and the clearing should be considerably easy to find. If not she would search from the skies.

"So Twilight, what do ya reckon we're gonna find anyway? The princess seemed mighty sure this here twister wasn't just some accident." Applejack pipes in. "I'm honestly not sure, Applejack. I'm just really eager to investigate this phenomenon. But I want you all to be on your guard in case anything off is to happen while we're here." Twilight finishes, receiving an affirmative nod from the five mares present.

*snap*

To say the sound stood out, was an understatement. It sounded fairly close, and it was more clear to the ear due to the silence that had fallen over the group after the conversation ended. Twilight's head, along with the other five, snapped to the direction where the noise came from. A twig, it sounded like.

For less then a second, they saw something dash behind a tree roughly 10 meters from their current standpoint. They all stopped in their tracks, and shared a confused look, seemingly all having seen something going behind that tree.

"Uh... did you guys see that?" Asked Rainbow, apparently curious about if the others saw what she saw, seeking for confirmation from one of her friends. Twilight firmly nods.

"Yeah... I think something is hiding behind that tree over there." She replies, causing Rainbow to get in a better stance, in case this was a sign of trouble. To drive the point home, she flared her wings to their grandest position manageable.

As Twilight was about to cautiously shout out a meek 'hello', some... dark, tall creature emerged from the tree, making a mad dash towards their left. Twilight and the gang was startled quite by this, Rainbow even loosing her posture in a few seconds of shock. "What the hay is that thing?!" She splurted out, looking between Twilight and the... thing.

Twilight was now very confused. "I... I don't know! I've never seen something like that before!"

Pinkie's eyes grew to pinpricks. "Ohmygosh! I knew aliens were real!" Twilight glared at the pink party pony. "Pinkie!"

"It's running away! What do we do Twilight?" Rainbow asked hurriedly, causing Twilight to panic slightly more. "That thing was spying on us!"

Twilight was running like a steamtrain, glancing between the direction of the investigation, and the creature's mad dash between the trees, now a much further distance away. She was sweating. How would she know that this creature isn't just a startled animal? She's never seen the likes of it before. It was bipedal, and the speed of it was quite impressive, but was it safe? Why was it spying on them?

"Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack. We don't have any idea what this could be, but we need to split up if we're gonna be able to do this without loosing our objective. Me, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie will be heading towards the clearing, while you three follow this thing and find out where it's running off to. Don't scare it though, we have no idea what it could be. And be careful!" She commands, getting a nod and an excited grin from the pegasus. "On it!" She salutes as she dashes towards the direction the creature had gone.

"You girls be careful too!" Rarity shouts as she and Applejack tries to keep up with Rainbow Dash. Twilight sighs, looking towards Fluttershy and Pinkie. "This could turn out to me more complicated than we anticipated."