This Is All One Big Mistake
I am shivering, I awake in prison. The floors are cold, the ground is dirty, with remnants of gunk, grime, mold, and with the little light I get from my barred window, blood. I am tired. I am tired, hungry, and cold. Everything is a blur, I do not recall what happened or what went wrong, but I know something had definitely gone wrong.
My body aches. My feet are bare, and are now cold. There are bruises located on my back, they feel like I had been hit by a freaking horse, and when I move they sting. So I don’t move. I keep my bare back plastered against the wall. The cold stones that make up my cell provide a pleasant sensation on my bare skin. Cooling and relaxing my aching muscles.
I do not remember much of what had happened in the past twelve hours. All I recall is searching for my friends in the forest nearby Jim’s home, then everything else is a blur. I try to move, but I feel a sudden sting in my leg.
Scooting towards the light in my cell I pull up my dirty jeans and look at the mark on my leg. A hoofprint.
I stare at it in silence. Confused. Unsure, befuddled.
I return to my previous position on the wall, waddling my way back, I sit in a curled like position. My arms resting on my knees, my head resting on my arms.
I don’t move. I don’t blink for a couple seconds. I just stare. Stare and think.
“How could this happen?” I ask. My voice taunts me. My nose burns as I take in another gross breath of air, the stench of this cell smells like old used hay and urine. It disgusts me to no end, but I push this thought away as I try to recall where the others were.
“What happened to the others?” I ask, but once more my voice taunts me. An echo occurs through this prison, this dungeon I have been confined in. My ears twitch for a second then fall as I hear chirping. And something else...voices?
“...Well at least I don’t have to worry about being in a civilized area.”
Minutes pass. Those minutes become hours. Silence engulfs me, and as time goes by so does the darkness. Up ahead is a steel door. Underneath that door, is light. The only light I can now have save for the moon.
There is only one sound that can be heard in the prison aside from the sound of crickets rubbing their wings together off in the distance. My stomach.
I haven’t eaten for a while. I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I know it must be well past dinner time.
My stomach growls louder. I ignore it. I use to do this whenever I was late for work, this was nothing.
More time passes, I do not sleep. I cannot sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see things. Horrible things.
My friends are on the ground. Dead. I hear the howl of one group of wolves, and the snarl of another much more feral beast. Disturbance kicks in, takes over my senses. I am disgusted, and perturbed. My allies are dead and the only weapon I had in my hands were paintball guns. I could feel myself shaking, my body tensing. This was the first time I’d ever witnessed murder, death right before my eyes.
What do you do in this situation?
You run. You run and take cover.
I remember now. I remember what had happened. I remember what we were doing.
Five months ago, a portal in Miami had been discovered by a group of scientists, that theorized this rift, led to another world. A search team had been formed, tested then was tasked to go in there through the rift, after a month’s worth of preparations had been made and ready. I was the leading intel officer in that team.
My name is Stickler. I’m 20 years old, a researcher who had simply went out with his friends playing a simply game of paintball in Jim’s family owned forest...and now I’m in jail.
I don’t get it I thought, a hand now running through curls of black hair. What happened how did things turn out like this? Where am I?
Nothing made sense. I sat there. Minutes passing me by, confused, dazed. Just now realizing my situation. Those images I had been seeing, they were my friends. Oh my God, they’re dead.
I swallow. My friends were- are, dead. How the hell did-
My train of thought ceases as I hear the bolts that keep me locked up in this room go unlatched. I look outside, dawn appears to be rising. The bolts are still being unlatched and I can now see a shadow, underneath the door.
Someone is standing there. My stomach grumbles, making itself known that I am hungry. “Hello” I call.
Everything stops.
My body tenses by the silence. I immediately come to the realization that I don’t like this. Slowly I rise, the cold cobblestoned floor clings to my feet, but I ignore it as the door begins to open.
I notice as the door opens there is light around it. A blue light that surrounds this door. I raise a brow, confused, but then again I’ve been confused ever since I woke up.
The door swings open quite suddenly, and bangs against the wall with a loud bang. My ears are struck with its horrid metallic clanging sound, but they do little to distract me thanks to the sudden burst of light that hits my face.
I raise a hand, look away and shield my face, with tightly shut eyes. For a few seconds I don’t move. I expect whoever locked me up to come and attack, but they don’t.
Slowly I drop my defenses, and open my eyes and stare at the entrance. Standing before me, probably a foot shorter, is a horse. To be more precise, a unicorn.
With light fully flooding the room I see a unicorn, clad in gold armor staring at me. I try to speak, but words fail me.
The unicorn before me, most likely a stallion judging by its features stares at me with a look of bitterness and rage. He says something to me, but I don’t understand the language he is speaking.
“What?” I ask my confusion rising. “Sorry” I say taking a steady step forward.
The creature’s horn flared with bright light, as it shouted and threw a hoof at me in rage. I didn’t need to understand its language to get what it was telling me. “Stay back or else.”
The unicorn, light blue coat, and lapis mane glared at me. A second later I heard the sound of someone or something running in our direction, the clopping of hooves imminent. The next thing I heard was a worry stricken voice ask the guard something.
The guard and his gold arm which now began to sting my eyes due to the sunlight it reflected off it from behind him, said something back to undoubtedly the other guard talking to him. Once again I didn’t need to understand the language to get the gist of things.
His partner or friend was asking if he was alright. I wish I could ask the same, but then I remembered. My friends were dead.
The unicorn said something to his partner that I assumed meant “I’m okay” a second later. I saw something being held in light blue magic.
The unicorn dropped whatever it had in his magic, and kicked it towards me, not really caring that whatever food was in it spilt a bit as it slid towards me and stopped at the center of the dungeon.
A strange aroma filled the air, my stomach responded to this scent by giving out a low deep, and voracious grumble. Food.
I looked up at the guard, but by then he had already turned his back to me and was leaving. I had to say something, I had to ask what was going on, “Wait!” I called out.
The door slammed loudly in an instant as I ran to talk to the guard. If I hadn’t stopped in time, I would have been seriously injured, more so than I already was. That steel door had become caked in whatever light the equine creature used to hand me my food.
If my knowledge on Greek mythology was correct, unicorns used magic.
I shook my head. That...that can’t be right. The room was filled with darkness once again, save for the light under my door, and my barred windows. With this I looked at the food that had been slid to me.
It was soup. I knelt down, picked it up and sniffed it. I had just been locked up and possibly verbally assaulted judging from the shout that came from the guard after he slammed the door on me. I wasn’t about to trust them when I had no idea what I was doing in prison.
Taking my pinky, I dipped it into the bowl of soup that was possibly halfway gone thanks to the guard’s sloppy way of giving my food. Licking my finger, I tasted carrots.
“Carrot soup?” I mused. “Then that means...These animals can think!”
My stomach growled once again. Hunger was yearning for me to shut up and eat. I took another look at the soup, it looked good. I tipped the bowl into my mouth and drank.
It was good, very good. That is till I got closer to the bottom, spitting the soup out of my mouth I gagged at the disgusting taste in my mouth.
HRG! I gagged. I moved the bowl into the light. Spit.
There was spit at the bottom of the bowl. Lots of it. Some consisting of loogies, full of snot in other cases, and others just pure slobber. Most of it had dried at the bottom also, but if that was the case then undoubtedly this thing had been spat in before it was handed to me.
My stomach couldn’t take it. I moved to the farthest corner and released the bile within me. Spitting when I had finished I moved away from my new barfing area.
“Nice... real nice” I said feeling a bit better now.”I hope you're happy out there!” I shouted at my door. “I drank your sick twisted joke, hope that gives you all a good long laugh you sickos!”
There was no reply.
Bending over and ripping a small part of my jeans off I wiped my mouth and spat into the corner a few more times before moving back to my position. I looked at the bowl that had made me barf to begin with and moved it away with my foot, remembering I was no longer wearing shoes.
The majority of that morning was spent in silence.
Day 2, I have been visited by two more guards for lunch and dinner. These guards were a regular horse, and another unicorn they both wore the same gold armor, but the second unicorn that visited must have been higher ranked than the other two. I could tell, because all the guards wore a star at their barrel. The one that had come for lunch, had a single star. This unicorn had two. I suppose that was how they ranked each other. By the number of stars one had, in a way it wasn’t as different as Earth’s military system, then again I could be wrong. I was basing all of this on the few images I got when they opened the door, and even then when the guards came into my cell they always seemed in a hurry to get out of here.
I didn’t bother talking to these two guards when they entered, I’d learned from my first encounter these beings, these horses, didn’t consider me a friendly adversary. Obviously since I was being locked up and getting fed spit.
The food these guys offered me went untouched. I wasn’t about to eat spit soup, or sandwich for a second time.
I ignored the growling of my stomach. It was tough, but I ignored it. As for the food, that was brought to me, I pushed that off to to the side.
Time flew by and eventually the temperature dropped as well. It was getting colder. And so was I. The cold and I never mixed well back home.
Yes, I said “back home”, it’s obvious I’m not on earth anymore. The only reasonable thing to believe is that somehow, someway my friends and I were transported through a miniscule portal firmly connected to Jim’s forest. A portal so ingrained into Jim’s forest that when we had went too deep in it (despite my wishes of not doing so), we must have somehow crossed into the other world on the opposite end of that portal back at Miami, Florida.
I came upon that realization not too long ago. About three minutes or so after the third guard had brought me my dinner. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t dinner time. It was still pretty bright outside when they brought it, but hey. Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.
Having realized that I was now in a completely different world from my own I began trying to think. Think as hard as I could, trying to remember what had happened that lead up to events which ultimately ended up leading to my current circumstances.
I couldn’t. Despite the sun slowly descending at an unnatural rate, I couldn’t help but wonder why this room was so damn cold! At this rate I could catch a cold and I’m pretty sure that these horses wouldn’t be willing to give a captive medicinal attention.
Frustration was beginning to pile up on me. I needed to calm down, I reasoned. Just relax I told myself.
I take a deep breath, hold it. Four seconds pass, then I exhale. Stress leaves with my breathe.
And with that stress I actually end up seeing my own breath. I stare slightly confused. I breath through my mouth once more, and a light cold bit of air travels through the chamber. I...I’m not sure what to say.
It was at a decent temperature before, even despite the floor being cold that was natural. This was a prison holding cell, it didn’t surprise me. But the temperature had went from somewhat uncomfortably cold, to the type of cold where you can see your own breath.
My back that had been against the wall, tenses at the iciness coming upon me and this room. I immediately get up and stand on my feet. In the process I step in something. It must be the food, due to that squishy texture.
I move my foot, wipe it on the increasing cold ground and move towards the window. “Is it coming from outside.”
I lift a hand up, and touch the bars.
They are at normal room temperature. The rest of the room however is not. I glance out the window, the sun is still up, but it looks like it will eventually set in an hour or so. “What is wrong with this world?” I ask, the sun back on Earth never passed by us this quickly.
CRACK!
I spin in place instantly. That sound. It was familiar. “It almost sounded like water freezing over.”
An involuntary shiver goes through me. The temperature has dropped more than I imagined. I need to find warmth or I could catch hypothermia, pneumonia, or sustain serious damage due to the cold.
Quickly I move towards the sound to try and figure out what just happened. Crack! The sound is less loud now. I turn towards it now in the center of this dungeon.
“Over there”, I move towards the spot I pushed my spit soup away towards the barf pile. The smell that greets my nose is sickening, I wish I had a hose I could clean this mess up in a matter of no time. But right now is not the time to worry about hygiene.
Carefully I kneel down, one knee on the ground. Picking up the bowl, I examine it with the dimming light in this room. The bowl is ice cold, and the liquid in it is frozen. The spit in it is disgustingly frozen as well.
My stomach clenches, then to my great disapproval, grumbles. There is ice all on the inside of the bowl. And the temperature is still dropping. Another shiver, and I let out a sigh, my now visible breath travels into the air before disappearing.
I throw the bowl to the ground, tapping it with the side of my foot, booting it in a manner towards the corner. The bowl hits my barf section, makes contact with stone, breaks and a shattering sound fills the room.
I move towards the light shining out my window, and just stand there soaking it in. The little warmth I’m provided helps, but does nothing against the cold nipping at my body. This is all so confusing.
I’ve established that my friends are dead, I’m having trouble believing it still, but I may as well accept it, if I can accept I somehow got into this strange world. I believe it was called Equestria. That was the only thing I was able to understand from the guard who brought me supper.
I shake my head, still not understanding what I’m doing in prison, in Equestria. “Why am I here?” My eyes scan the cell. “What did I do to-” a light catches my eyes underneath the door.
My eyes narrow. Slowly I move towards it, maintain my distance, get on all fours, and place my head inches away from the extremely cold ground. It seemed way colder than other parts of the room.
When I look underneath the door, I see two sets of legs. Instantly I recognize the armor of one of those horses had been wearing.
Just beside it, I see another quadruped, standing beside the one who’s shadow could clearly be seen thanks to the light coming from above it’s head.
One of the guards legs shuffle and I hear it say something. Most likely female, this voice was more light, but still bared that (as I saw it) irrational hatred towards me. The female spoke quickly, and even if she hadn’t I still wouldn’t have understood.
The room’s temperature got colder after she had finished speaking, the light which was a light green around the corners of the space on this door, grew a bit brighter as the room got colder.
My eyes widened as I realized what was happening.
Magic. The unicorn guard in front of my door was trying to freeze me to death. Anger began to bubble within me. It was one thing to lock me up for doing nothing, simply just trying to have fun with my friends, was all I wanted to do before we all got sent off on our mission through that portal, into Equestria, to find and study this place.
It was a completely different thing to resort to torturing me. The food was gross, and at that exact moment my stomach grumbled.
I heard both of the equines freeze, and the green light cracking from the corners of this steel door died instantly.
The unicorn, turned, and whispered to the female equine. “What was that?” I assumed.
“Must be hungry?” I guessed. Silence.
Then chuckles. They were laughing at me. Laughing at my suffering. My expression relaxed, switching from anger, to stony indignation.
“So there are even beings like you here on this planet as well huh? Even on an entirely different planet, there are still beings, sentient creatures like you that laugh at other people’s suffering and make a game out of it HUH?!” I yelled through the crack on my door.
Both ponies froze instantly. It was obvious they didn’t understand my words.
The male unicorn that had been casting the freezing spell on my room shouted at me. The female joined in, they both banged on my steel door with a hoof to tell me to shut up.
Anger. Anger boiled within me. You laugh at my suffering, possibly even killed my friends, lock me up, feed me trash, ridicule me behind my back, and now are attempting to make me sick? And when I shout injustice, you as I believe tell me to shut up?
No. No, no, no. I have always been one to stick by rules, it’s how I got my nickname. I knew how to behave in certain situations, it was another reason why I had been chosen to join in the observation excursion into the portal. But this, this was abhorrent. We’ve had humans, horrible humans; Hitler, John Wayne Gacy,Sex traffickers, Jeffrey Dahmer, and a lot more sickos with strange philosophies or their own twisted reasons for doing things. And now this?
Laughing at me when I’m confused, hungry, disturbed, hungry, and slowly growing angry. “No.”
The laughter stopped. Silence filled the other side. The unicorn banged the door with his hoof again, most likely telling me to shut up.
I rose on my feet, there was still enough light in the room. Good.I moved towards the now hardned sandwich without making a sound. And as I did so the temperature that had begun to slowly go back to normal, began getting colder again. My anger spiked.
Grabbing the solid sandwich I spun on my left foot, and hurled the icewich, at the door. It shook when the icewich hit, the green light stopped instantly, and the sound of metal clanging echoed throughout my cell.
The unicorn had fallen to the ground, just judging from the loud thud that came after his magic had stopped abruptly. The female had moved to check on her friend, and a second later she began shouting at me.
I couldn’t take it anymore. Pacing the floor I moved to the window so warmth could hit me for a brief second. Then after that. I turn faced the door and ran.
Ran right into it.
Slamming my shoulder against it the whole door shook, and I began yelling in one of my many different voices, in the most menacing manner I could. “If you don’t get out of here and this door collapses I’ll kill you where you stand!” Emphasis was added when I slammed both my hands on the steel door and began pounding it over and over again. Switching between my current horror child voice, and speaking in a foreign language completely.
I heard a scream on the other side, then heard the fast paced clopping of hooves going upstairs, there was a loud thunk, then silence.
The ponies were gone. And I had to admit I felt a bit better.
“At least I’ll get some silence and warmth for now. But I feel like letting my emotions get the better of me had crossed the line.
Moving back to my spot at the window, where light was slowly fading I sat down on the cold ground.
“Night will be coming soon”, I said feeling a bit tired. Probably because I didn’t sleep yesterday. Well, now’s a time better than ever to get some sleep. Better now than when those Equestrians were trying to kill me, or at least the guards of Equestria.
I slowly fell into a deep sleep, without fully realizing it minutes after.
I am awake. I am no longer incarcerated in a dungeon in Equestria. I am behind Jim’s house, right in front of the forest with a group of other people. The time? Don’t ask me, we started playing paintball around 4pm and took breaks after thirty minutes.
We were just about to start our second round now after having dinner not too long ago.
Charol, Jim’s girlfriend who was working with the communication team that would guide us through our mission the following week, was with us, and she had teamed up with Jim in our match of paintball. Seven vs Seven. Jim, Charol, Tommy our comedic and perverted friend, Jake, Stone, Steph, and Hotshot, (who’s real name was Bob, but we called him that cuz he was good with cars) were one team. Me, Austin Powers (who was just Austin, but liked the movies a lot and even had his hair done like the actors for Halloween), Joseph, his girl Rebecca, Timmy, Brock (another pervy guy on our team), and my friend Tiffany were the opposing team.
We had went to Popeye's and had gotten a hefty chicken meal about an hour ago, and after some time when the sun had set well in behind the hemisphere, we decided to play one more round of paintball. But this time, the others had decided to go a bit deeper into the forest to get some cover. Much my chagrin.
Allow me to explain. Jim’s family were into the whole environmental preserve deal, and a couple years ago, dating back around our highschool years, his parents had fought for the rights of this forest. They called it the Shaky Creepers. Don’t ask me why they had a weird deal with names.
Anyway Jim and the others and I had decided a month prior to this, that when we all got signed up for our mission, the week before we’d all leave we would hang out together and play a game. Just a good old fashioned round of fun between highschool friends, and friendly co-workers.
Boy, were we so wrong.
“Alright guys” Jim said with a grin that worked well with his freckles. “We’re heading into Horror Willows!” he said wrapping an arm around Charol.
“Dude. Horror Willows? Lord, that is awful” Tommy said.
“It’s really bad” Stone said bluntly.
“I can feel my soul dying from how bad you are with names. That isn’t a disease is it? Will I catch it if you hit me with your paintball” Tommy asked jokingly cowering behind his helmet.
“Alright alright guys lay off him, at least he tried” Charol said smiling sweetly at freckles over there.
“Thanks babe” Jim said planting a kiss on her forehead, “Now you louses and ladies” he said the last word gently. “Let’s get our butts in there and kick Stickler’s teams booty!”
“Hooray” Stone cheered dryly, with a hyperactive Billy and a grinnin Tommy.
“So what are the boundary rules” I asked with a less than pleased look.
“Oh take it easy Stickler” Jake said swatting my shoulder in pleasant companionship. “Why you gotta be so uptight about following rules. Been like that for how long now? Since high school?”
“You should see him at work” Rebecca said with a mischievous grin.
I merely rolled my eyes. “Thanks guys.”
“Ah take it easy brah” Timmy said wrapping an arm around me and forcing me to into a headlock. “Jim’s family has owned this place for years, we all use to go in there and hang out, so what’s the worst that could happen? The place is safe. Don’t let the whole thing with work get to you and ruin a good time alright?”
I remained silent for a few seconds as thirteen other people gave me pouting puppy dog faces. Unable to bare it anymore or suppress my own amusement, I chuckled. “Alright fine. No boundaries necessary.”
“YES!” They all cheered.
“Now let’s get in there and watch some boobs jiggle!” Tommy and Brock said together.
I merely shook my head and the others had their own amusing things to say.
“Alright, everyone gear up, grab your paintball guns, and keep your bag of ammo with you in case you need to reload. There aren’t going to be any stops once we get in the forest. Clear?” Jim asked.
“YES SIR SERGEANT JIM SIR!” Bill said standing erect.
“Bill calm down” Timmy said. “We’re playing a game. This isn’t serious combat practice.”
“Yes SIR Private Commander Timmy Sir!”
“Bill seriously, take it easy”” Steph said, her voice serious.
The hyperactive redhead calmed down instantly. “Sorry.”
“None taken” Joseph replied.
A few minutes passed, and we all spent our time filling our paintball weapons up and gearing up. Helmets, torso braces, radius braces, and shin braces. Oh yeah, helmets with visors also. Once that was done, each of us carried a flask specifically meant for paintballs and walked into the forest.
Both teams stood side by side, before their leading captains turned and shook hands. I shook hands with Jim, and he managed a grin under his helmet. “Get ready to have your ass kicked Rule boy.”
“And watch as rule boy kicks you out of your own forest, Tarzan.” A laugh was shared between groups, before Jim’s team went ahead inside first.
There was one rule I set up. Teams had to go in separately and give the opposing team at least two minutes to prep, before team 2 went in.
A few seconds passed after Jim’s team disappeared, and I watched my teammates shuffle and talk amongst themselves. Joseph was talking to Brock, Timmy, and Rebecca. Austin was trying to get Joseph’s attention as he had the safety on his paintball gun off and had increased the pressure on his gun enough to where he had split the bark between the tree clean off.
“Austin, don’t do that.”
“It’s Austin Powers remember” Joseph reminded. I snorted, “Whatever.”
Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned in my gear to see no one. “Down here.”
I adjusted my gaze down by four inches and stared. “Oh hey Tiff, what’s up?”
Tiffany. A 5’6 girl who was quite well athletically built and was going to be coming in with Hotspot, Billy, Jim, Joseph, Rebecca, Steph, Stone, and I, leading her own team. A minor back up team to offer us cover in case anything we faced as we travelled through the rift and entered Equestria turned out to be dangerous.
Although I know this was a dream, I smiled at her, she smiled back. Tiffany had two freckles on either side of her cheek, they formed almost a diamond of sorts. Cute if you ask me, and since we were all the same age I found her staring at me with a interested smile slightly unnerving. She hadn’t answered my question yet.
“Can I um help you with anything Tiff?” Tiffany merely smiled. “Maybe” she said slyly.
I cocked a brow. “Oh really, and what would that be?”
“Just when we get in there I want you to make sure you’ll have my back” she said flicking a strand of light brown hair out of her sky blue eyes. “You know” I felt a hand grab the harness that held my weapon, around my shoulders get pulled in closer to her, “kinda like how I’ll have your back the entire time. Especially on the mission.” She said with a sweet smile. An innocent smile.
A smile I was pretty sure told me a lot more dirty things were going through her mind.
“I uh I um-” I stuttered. I was never good with girls or anything physical related to them. Heck I’d never even been in a relationship. 20 years old and I’d never even been on a date. Eesh, I could feel myself starting to sweat a bit even though I was wearing jeans, a hoodie jacket, and a simple black shirt that said “Awesome” on it. That and all the necessary protective gear.
“Oh ho ho” Brock’s voice said behind me. I glanced back. My entire team were eyeing the current situation I was in, and they were loving it.
“You go girl!” Rebecca said with a grin.
“Bro, I got protection if you need it” Brock said waving his wallet in the air. Timmy, Austin, and Joseph were all grinning madly at that comment, and since it was impossible to see me blush with my skin tone, they all smirked when they saw my face contort with embarrassment.
My cheeks were burning and no one could tell. Which was a good thing now that I think about. Being black and extremely handsome has it’s perks and disadvantages I suppose. Because one person did notice.
Tiffany did.
Leaning into my helmet she lifted the protective head gear off so I could feel her breath tickle my ears. Which twitched, this kind of contact was NOT OKAY.
I didn’t move though, her grip tightened around my paintball gun’s handle as she whispered something in my ear.
“Keep your eyes on me, alright? Wouldn’t want your guard in here and when we go out there getting hurt now would you?”
I was released, and promptly fell on my butt. Perspiration that had formed on me just a bit around my forehead was immediately wiped away, as I watched Tiff take her position with the others. She high-fived Rebecca as she took up her position.
“Alright guys!” Jim’s voice called. “We’re set let’s do this! You get hit more than once, you’re out remember that!”
“All good here. Hey Stickler get up we’re starting.” I frowned and stared at the others, noticing their wide smirks.
“Screw you guys.”
“Maybe after a movie and some snacks” Tiffany said.
I rolled my eyes. “Move out!”
Day 3, I think. I’m not sure, time seemed to fly by pretty quickly while we were having fun. So far now no one has been kicked out yet, I hadn’t heard Jim use his megaphone so that meant nobody was out.
Yet another precaution I set up.
Shots were fired, paintballs splattered and repressive fire was made. My group and I had split up. Three going around the perimeter heading north, northeast. I had vaguely seen Hotspot’s blond hair make a break for it behind the cover of a thicket of bushes. The team heading northeast to confront Hotspot and any other members of team 1, consisted of Joseph, Rebecca, and Timmy.
Austin and Brock had went in the direction of where they heard Stone’s dull grunts as he got hit by a single paintball from Brock’s weapon Billy provided cover for his hit comrade soon after, emerging behind the shrubs. It was Tiffany and me now. Up ahead I could hear firing, and I had to admit, if it weren’t for us using paintball guns I would assume we were in war.
“Son of a Bitch that hurt!” Hotspot’s yell echoed throughout the forest. Tiffany and I grinned, and soon enough after that we heard the screech of a megaphone coming from wireless speakers that Jim and I, along with the other guys had placed all around the forest.
“AAAAAAAAAnd YOU’RE OUT!” Jim said with elation. But upon realizing it was his teammate he snorted. “Wait what?! Hotspot what happened man?”
The mechanic’s voice came off low from the distance. “Tommy what the heck man you were supposed to provide cover -shots were fired and paint smashing into bark roughly, some not exploding others were sounded- “Okay, Okay! Hotspot get out of the forest you’re out!”
“No one hit Hotspot if you see him, he’s out of the game!”
I grinned and lifted the small speaker placed against my vest. “That’s six on your side now, Jim ya better-”
“ARGH! C’mon Steph that was a cheap shot!” Brock’s voice yelled.
“Then quit gawking at my ass next time and focus on the game!”
Another screech, from hidden speakers. “Brock’s out.”
“Fuck yeah he is!” Steph’s voice shouted off in the distance.
In the distance, Brock stepped out with his paintball gun raised, his body covered in numerous different colors of paint. “Next time don’t make your ass so hard to look away from” there was a shot that flew right by him.
“I’m leaving jeez!” he said picking up the pace.
Tiff and I bursted out laughing after seeing this. Sadly that was our mistake.
POP!
We looked about a foot ahead of us. A blue splattered spot had hit the dirt below us. Tiff and I looked at each other, then without wasting a second more shots were fired at us. We split up and ran.
I ducked behind a tree. Splat! SPLAT! SPLAT! Paint struck the tree I hid behind. I looked around trying to find Tiff, once again in the distance paintball fire echoed throughout the forest, muffling yells and other shouts.
It was a warzone.
Seconds passed and my attacker stopped firing. “Surrender Sticky!” Charlot’s voice called from the distance.
“And If I say no?” I asked more shots were fired and I pressed my back against the tree. “Alright then you asked for it, I’m coming up there.”
I looked around, an inch from my foot. A pebble. I pick it up, as I do so everything slows down. Three shots.
Three shots fly right towards me, one flies right past my arm after I’ve grabbed the pebble. The second, literally past my visor. My eyes followed it the entire time as it slowly passed me. The third, hit my helmet right on the side and exploded, smacking my visor with paint.
I literally stumbled by the force. I had to thank the heavens that I was wearing protective gear because I surely would have been bleeding had that hit bare skin.
I slid pebble in my grasp and quickly rolled as I realized I was tripping up. Just in time two, three more shots shot in my direction and I scrambled for cover.
Landing on the other side of a wall of bushes I rolled out of the way and hit something. I thought it was a tree, but when I opened my eyes I saw legs, Fine legs. “Took you long enough” Tiff said.
“Shut up” I state as shots fire past us.
“You have a way with words don’t you?”
“Tiff” I say sternly.
“What, jeez Sticky take a joke” she chided.
“Tiff duck!”
“What?” For Fucksake! getting up, grabbing her by the shoulder and moving her aside, I fire a couple shots into Billy, Stone, and Jake. All three guys go down with a howl. I accidentally hit Jake on the thigh.
Guy was cussing, like a sailor.
“Who’s out?” Jim’s voice called over the bushes. They had stopped fire.
“Jake, Stone, and Billy.” Tiff replied.
“What a coincidence, I just got Timmy, Joseph and Rebecca.” A female clad in gray gear said, walking right up next to Jim.
“So that means it’s us, (Jim, Charlot, Tiff and I), Tommy on our side, Billy on yours” I said checking off the fallen on my list.
“Yup. Five minute break, guys?” Jim asked.
“Sure.” I agreed.
And that was that. Our little game went on pause, Tiff and Rebecca went out ahead and left. It was just Jim and I making our way slowly back to his place.
And that’s when things changed.
In Miami, the science agency in charge of gathering information on the rift had been able to send a robot through the portal on to the other side. The robot was destroyed shortly after it reached some sort of town, if I remember correctly the video feed looked like “Po- Ville”. After that the bot was destroyed, but not before we gathered some information on where the portal led.
The pictures weren’t made public, just knowledge on the portal. When everyone that was related to going into the rift; Joseph, Billy,Timmy, Tommy, Hotspot, Tiff, Stone, Jake, I, had gotten the pictures we weren’t really surprised.
It was a forest. Just a regular forest. The bot had taken a picture of something that had been carved into no doubt this world’s language that had “ver” and “free” in it written backwards.
I remember musing to the others when we got these images how this forest was called the Everfree Forest. We all had a good laugh.
Who would have thought my joke was dead on.
Jim and I made our way through his parent’s forest, heading back home. Tiff and the others, had long disappeared up ahead and for some reason the walk back to Jim’s was taking longer than I thought. Way longer than it should have.
Then there was scream. A cold, ear piercing scream that made us freeze and our blood run cold. “Charlot!” Jim yelled, he took off. I followed a second after adjusting.
Jim and I had no weapons. Unless you count the little ammo we had in our paintball guns weapons, then again they could be. All we needed to do was turn the pressure on them up.
In a few seconds,we had reached the girls. Tiff was holding a shaking Charlot, who had her helmet off and wept into the young female soldier’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Jim asked first when the two girls came in sight. Charlot ran right into Jim’s arms, bawling.
I looked around, then suddenly noticed an awful smell. The forest had grown wider. There was less cover, the trees were thicker, and everything appeared ominous. Something wasn’t right here.
“What happened?” Jim asked concern in his voice as he looked around. “What did you see?” he asked raising his voice at Tiff.
A firm hand touched his free shoulder. My hand. Jim looked at me, and could see through my helmet that I was not pleased with his current attitude. He needed to calm down.
He scowled, but nodded. Taking in a deep breath, Jim held it. Just like we’d been taught, back at survival camp. He exhaled a second later.
“Sorry Tiff” Tiff merely shook her head, knowingly. Her expression did something to me. It made me feel...strange. There were no tears in her eyes, but she looked greatly perturbed.
“Tiff” I said through my helmet, slight hints of concern in my voice. “What’s wrong?”
Tiff merely shook her head again. “I...I can’t- I can’t tell you it’s. It’s too--”
“Tiffany” Jim said gently but sternly. She looked up, Corporal Jim Ferns held a serious look on his face. “Please, tell us what you saw.”
Tiff bit her bottom lip, looked at me and frowned. Then moved away from the bush she and Charlot had been standing in front of.
Jim looked at me and gestured for me to move forward and take a peek. I hesitated, a second later I was parting bushes and getting hit full time with this awful stench.
My eyes widened behind my helmet. Right before me. Right in front of my eyes. Were four people I knew.
Billy, Timmy, Steph, and Jake...were dead. Their bodies had claw marks, their necks had been snapped, blood oozed out of their wounds and the bite marks into their trapezius muscles were huge, along with horrible stench emanated from their lifeless bodies. On each side, their guns. Their weapons had been broken by some unknown creature, but their trigger fingers still held firm against the trigger.
I felt weak. I felt nauseous. I...I fell to my knees and felt my vision go blurry.
“Jim” I said in a weak voice. “Where are we?”
Charlot whimpered and Jim patted her soothingly. “We’re at my parent’s forest Sticky, what the heck are you asking?”
“Come here...but please...please leave Charlot behind.”
“Stickler c’mon man this isn’t-”
“I said leave her side and come here Jimmy Ferns!” my voice echoed along this forest. And in response a loud growl.
“A-Alright.” A smooching sound was exchanged, then Jim came to my side. “What is-” Jim went silent. His silence was enough to tell me he had seen what I saw. Our friends were dead. Charlot began whimpering loudly again. Sobbing almost. This was her first time seeing a dead body...bodies.
Same here.
Jim fell to his knees with a thud. Tiff, held her arm at the elbow, looking away. Charlot...she was still crying. Steph was her best friend back at work. Her father had helped Charlot get this job to begin with.
This was all one huge tragedy. And it didn’t stop here.
I don’t know how long I’d been asleep, but I now knew I was having one of those lucid dreams. Those type of dreams where you know it’s a dream and you can do whatever you want in that dream. I was having that right now.
Minutes passed, I and the others did nothing but cover the bushes that hid the dead bodies of our allies. I felt sick. And so did the they.
For a while none of us moved or did anything. We just kinda stood there. Well Jim, Tiff, and Charlot did. I just kneeled.
More time passed, and finally realization hit all of us. If they died, then what happened to the others. “Oh no” Jim said, his grip tightening on Charlot who had now calmed down a bit.
That was all I needed to get what Jim was thinking. “The others!” I stood, up, and everyone began reloading their paintball guns. “Turn your paintball guns to the highest pressure possible and don’t hesitate to shoot at anything that growls at you.”
“But what if we hit the others by accident?” Tiff voiced all our concerns.
The sound of balls falling into a chamber stopped abruptly before a loud click sounded. Jim had just finished loading and was waiting for the rest of us to finish.
“Then we hit them and find help, simple...I'll cover our backs.”
*** **** ***
So this was what it was like moving through, Everfree Forest huh? Scared. Confused. Not sure of what was going to happen. Witnessing the dead bodies of your friends.
It was horrifying. Was this what lied ahead of us when we had been assigned the task of crossing this portal? Because if it was, I’m pretty sure I’d tell the head of Experiential Agency that we weren’t going. Sadly this was a dream, and I was simply following my physiological process through it.
For a while Jim, Tiff, Charlot and I moved through the Everfree Forest in silence. We heard birds chirping. We heard frogs croaking. And we felt the wind hit our bodies.
Five minutes passed, I checked the time on my cell. It was almost 6. We’d been outside for nearly two hours now. “Let’s keep moving” Jim said taking the lead. His expression had changed, his military instincts had kicked in. Charlot had also grown serious, she wasn’t crying anymore. After all, she had been strictly briefed that there will be casualties on this mission. We all knew what we were signing up for. We knew it would be dangerous. We just didn’t expect it to be this bad, was all.
Who would?
Those five minutes turned into twenty, then thirty, until finally an hour passed. Charlot stopped. Tired. We’d been walking for awhile now, and even as we looked out into the sky, the sun hadn’t moved that much.
I checked the time again, it was getting to 7:30 pm. This didn’t surprise me though that the sun was still up. Different worlds, different times. Logic.
“Alright, let’s uh” Jim brushed his hand over his face, he looked stressed. Everyone did. “Let’s take a break.”
“We can’t take a break” a panting Charlot said. “Our friends could be fighting for their lives right now. They need us.”
“Well we need rest. After what we just saw, Charlot, babe, we can’t keep going. We need to rest, or the stress will get to us.”
“And I said NO!” she shouted. Jim went silent.
“Charlot, please don’t yell. Who knows if what did this to the others is still out there.” Tiff said gently.
Charlot looked like she wanted to scream, but she didn’t. Her hands clenched and she simply turned around, away from Jim and looked at the sky. She had a hand over her mouth as more tears began to flow when an image of Steph’s lifeless body made a fresh appearance in her mind.
Jim moved over to comfort her, but Charlot gently brushed him away. “I just need some time to take this is all”, she explained.
Jim watched Charlot increase her distance from the rest of us, a heartbroken look on his face.
“Jim” I began moving towards him.
“Don’t” he cut in. “Let’s just find the others and get out of here.
I watched Jim walk in a different direction not to far from us.
Tiff moved up to me, and grabbed my hand. It was shaking. “Are you alright?” she asked.
I looked at her, blankly. I knew she was trying to help but seriously. “Are you alright?”, NO I’m not alright four of our friends are dead, we’re in the Everfree Forest with monsters and there’s nothing we can do about it! The present me shouted.
But my dreamself merely shook his head, that smile of hers was so warm I couldn’t snap at her. “No” I said weakly. “No I’m not.”
Tiff looked away, obviously knowing she’d asked something silly. But before she could get the next words out. We heard that growl from earlier.
“Guys” Charlot whimpered. I turned and looked at her. She was shaking, fumbling for her weapon as she backed up towards Tiff and I. I moved my hand out of Tiff’s grasp and moved towards her.
“GUYS!” Charlot yelled louder. I moved her behind me, and stopped.
In front of me. A wolf. A wolf made out of bark. Tree bark. And not just that, but leaves, logs, and dead branches. It growled and breathed at me. It’s breath was rancid, awful. Simply awful.
The tree bark wolf, timberwolf? Took a step towards us. It launched to bite, but I simply swung my weapon at it and it fell into nothing. Jim came rushing back paintball gun ready.
“What happened?” he asked out of breath.
“A tree bark wolf attacked us” Tiff explained, Charlot ran right into Jim’s arms.
There was no time for condolences to be uttered. Four more growls came at us. And four more timberwolves chased after us, along with some other friends.
There was not enough time to think. Reflexes. My innate ability to act on reflexes was another thing that got me picked along with the others, without thinking I hit the trigger on my gun. Two of the timberwolves, were pierced with a speeding shot, one hit right in the head, the ball didn’t break but went on straight through the wolf’s head. The other, got hit in the side and fell, before both broke into twigs.
Three more wolves came out of the bushes and joined, when they saw their fallen brothers they glared at me and snarled. I took off in a different direction, and saw the others watching me run off with fear in their eyes.
“Don’t worry!” I called as three timberwolf’s chased after me and two more except for the ones I’d downed advanced on Tiff, Jim and Charlot. “Just make sure you stay safe!” I yelled.
Then they were gone, as I focused my attention on one thing. Surviving.
I don’t know how long I had ran, in fact, my now really dirty jeans explained a lot. at some point, my hoodie had begun to slow me down and so had my helmet as it became harder to breath as I ran. Taking my hoodie off as I ran, I looked behind me.
Quickly approaching were the three wolves. I had shot one down earlier, but it had rebuilt in a few seconds. These wolves were dangerous. I don’t know how I killed the other two so easily, because I had hit the one I shot in the face but it still got up, unlike the last one that got hit in the head.
So I did what I had to, I threw my hoodie at one of them, it opened with the wind, and fell on their faces. Then I tossed off all my protective gear, and took off down a different path. As I ran, I kept thinking “I’ve gotta live. I’ve got to relocate with the others somehow.”
A loud howl came from behind me, and I tripped. Something had swept me from below. Spinning on my back I managed to avoid a crushing blow to the back from a wooden paw.
The timberwolf turned it’s head in my direction, I lifted the barrel up to the wolf’s head then click. A shot of red paint shot out of the other end of the timberwolf’s head, it’s eyes lost that sick green color and it died; falling to pieces.
I looked back and it’s comrades snarled, scrambling to my feet I got up, they charged. I felt something snap into the sack that contained most of my paintball ammo, I turned and one of the wolves had a hold on me. The other was rounding to take a bite.
“Nope”, I lifted the but of my paintball gun, smashed it into timberwolf two’s snout, it toppled and crumpled into a heap. I turned to the one holding on to me and tried to smack it off, it dodged. Then a second later, my paintball bag ripped off me.
I didn’t care. I turned, fired, turned and ran. “Run” my brain kept telling me. “Survive” natural instinct kicked in.
And so I did.
How long have I been out here? Minutes, no. Hours? Possibly. Somehow, someway, I had managed to stumble out of Everfree Forest. I was tired. I had scratches on my arms from passing unnaturally pointy bushes that resembled nothing like rose thorn bushes.
Finally after minutes of walking across a empty trail, I found civilization. My mind was hazy. I was too exhausted to think properly. My mind was still in survival mode. “Live, live, live” I repeated. “Friends, find, survive. Kill. Live. Kill, survive.” I kept seeing things.
Wolves were attacking me. At some point I was pretty sure I saw the mythical creature a manticore while I had been running. It had been grossly busying itself with a meal it had already killed. I had hoped that meal was not Jim or the others.
I stumble into the urban town, not sure what to expect. It is day outside once more. I didn’t sleep that night. I had kept up, keeping watch and making sure I didn’t get eaten in my sleep. This place must be “Po-ville” I reasoned with what little rationality I had left.
I moved into “Po-ville” but wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Horses. Or rather ponies everywhere, they were moving about. They were carrying on with business, there were some ponies that went about selling things, others that went about buying things, and all of them were speaking a foreign language to each other.
For a few seconds I was amazed. Then out of nowhere a pink pony, with balloons for a tatto on it’s butt approached me, when she did, her eyes widened. My body tensed.
Survival instinct kicked in, fight or flight was active, but this pony didn’t attack me. She yelled. She yelled in a voice that finally drew all the other inhabitants of “Po-ville” to my attention, then sped off.
I faintly caught one word that sounded like “Pinkie” to me. Was that her name? Was her name Pinkie?, I tried to reason, trying to calm myself. This was fascinating, sentient animal species, and they were all watching me. Staring they were all-- terrified of me.
One of the ponies that had been staring at me began to shake. She was clearly terrified of me, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. She had a pale yellow coat, raspberry mane and a rose tattoo on her ass.
She screamed. Then so did several others, The scream was so loud that I had to cover my ears. Chaos ensued shortly.
Some began throwing bananas and apples at me, others simply flailed around panicking as they screamed. I was getting antsy, survival was kicking in again. But I still had reason.
So I tried to calm them down with reassuring gestures, pointing to my paintball gun, and shaking my head “I meant no harm” was what I tried saying. But they simply got more worked up.
Then one unicorn stallion made the mistake of throwing something, I think it was a wheel or something else at me, I don’t remember. I just remember falling down, getting real mad, then one of them charged me.
I didn’t mean to but this one looked strong, with enough force from those hooves it would kill me.
Survive, natural instinct yelled. “Stay back!” I shouted at the charging regular pony. She didn’t listen. She had three apples for a tattoo. She kept charging, so I did what I had to.
I quickly lowered the pressure on my gun to a point where I knew it wouldn’t kill, and fired. It hit that mare right above the fetlock and she went down, skidding to a stop, her stetson fell off her head and she fell to the ground groaning.
I got up and backed away. The yelling had stopped. The ponies were looking at me, and they were angry.
One filly approached, she was younger, had some strange tattoo on her butt like a shield and lightning bolt. If I had to reason she was the one with the stetson’s sibling, because she was yelling at the younger one trying to approach to stay away from me.
The next thing I knew I was being attacked. I fired, warning shots, but ponies kept getting in the way. That made them all the more angry so I kept firing, and firing, and firing, and firing.
By the time I had finished, most of the town had stopped moving, some were shaking, the ones that had been hit weren’t moving. I panicked for a second thinking I had killed a couple, because they were actually bleeding. This was a paintball, fire it right and you could seriously hurt someone.
I moved to check on a few after I had calmed and was sure none would dare attack me again, but before I could, a pale mulberry alicorn, with rose streaks, and purple hair yelled at me. I stopped moving, then those pegasi guards flew in. With them a taller more regal looking alicorn.
Her tattoo had one of the sun on her butt.
She looked around, saw her fellow equines on the ground, some bleeding, some twitching, others not moving. Then glared at me, I froze. There was so much anger in that stare. The pegasi, her guards that wore the same gold armour descended, I was attacked, I tried to defend myself but my weapon was yanked away from me by a gold force.
The leader of these ponies, the princess that had a sun tattoo ordered her guards to do something. I got hit in the leg shortly after, knocked to the ground, felt a sharp pain and heavy weight on my back, then a blow to my head.
“Hey!”
Shortly after, “Hey!” I awoke in here. “HEY!”
I wake up with a jolt, the prison room is lit, and before me stands another alicorn. She is...beautiful. Her mane flows without wind being here, just like the princess with the sun tattoo had. This one has a moon tattoo.
The princess stares at me, studying me. I look out the window. It is night once more.
Day, 5 or 4 I assume. The princess meets me. She and a few guards that are outside standing guard are staring at me. I back up hesitantly, but stop when my back touches the cold stone of the wall.
“What do you want” I ask in a low raspy voice. My mouth feels dry, and I really feel like I should brush my teeth.
The princess speaks in their foreign language and I cock a brow. She looks at me solemnly, then realizes I don’t understand. A second later her horn glows and I am amazed to see she speaks English.
“I am Princess Luna, Princess of the Night, and we are hear to give you an offer. An offer of which you cannot refuse”, her voice radiates one of business. I simply nod and attempt to stand up.
Her guards, “Vampire Ponies?” I ask, she shakes her head. “Bat ponies,” attempt to immobilize me, but one simple word from her and they cease and desist.
For a while, Princess Luna and I stare at each other. She has a hard cold look on her face, and I simply wait, now knowing what I have done I wait, now understanding why I’ve been thrown in prison. It was a mistake, but no words would make the ones I had hurt believe that.
We stare at each other for what felt like minutes, then suddenly Princess Luna says. “Guards you are dismissed.”
One of the batponies persists, but Luna simply smiles and gives the mare pony a calm smile. “I will be fine, he can do no harm to me even if he tried.” Her words were solemn, and sincere. She knew I had seen what her sister could do when I was dreaming, and I knew she was right.
With hesitance the batponies leave and shut the door behind them. Luna turns back to me.
“I saw what you did in your dreams Stickler.” She paused. “Is it alright I call you that?” I shrug, I don’t really care, I just want to know what happened to the others, and if the ponies I shot are alright. None should have died but if worst scenario played out then...
Luna catches on to what I’m thinking, her hard gaze, furrowed brows, and stern stare, melt into a gentler one. “I see you regret your actions. Much like I have regretted my own.”
I didn’t know what that meant but nodded. She giggled, and for a second the tension in the room died.
“Now back to business” Princess Luna said. “I have seen you never meant to hurt our ponies, you just meant to protect yourself. However Applejack-”
“Applejack?” I ask.
“The pony with the three apples for a cutie mark?”
“Cutie mark?”
“The pony with a tattoo.”
“I see...how is she?”
Luna waved a hoof dismissively. “She is fine, just sour about what you did is all.”
“I...apologize.”
Luna chuckled, “It is alright. Well...actually no it isn’t. Your actions have infuriated a lot of ponies, and my sister not ridding us of you on the spot on your attack at Ponyville, has brought a lot of questions.”
“So what you’re saying is-”
Princess Luna nodded. “They want us to kill you. You injured more than twenty ponies, and four of your shots nearly hit four ponies in the eye, they nearly died, from the shot, but merely suffered a serious headache instead. Had you killed anypony” -Luna’s wings flared- “The outcome would be different.”
I nodded, accepting this fact. “So what now?” I ask after a few seconds of silence. “Going to kill me? Torture me? Have your guards do whatever they want with me, like the one’s who tried freezing me to death?”
Luna shook her head. “No. My sister and I have come up with an offer for you.”
My brow cocked again. “Which is?”
“We will turn you into a pony, and integrate you into Ponyville’s system. We do not have the power to do it, but a friend of ours does. That will be your punishment. We will announce it to the rest of Equestria, but only after we have turned you into a-”
One of the bowls of food that had been brought to me while I was asleep went flying through the air and exploded into glass and whatever else.
“I refuse.” I said sternly.
Luna’s eyes went wide. “Wh-What do you mean you refuse this is your only salvation. Stickler you can’t really be-”
“I will not offer up my humanity for one simple misunderstanding that could have been solved had not your ponies freaked out and attacked me! If you saw my dreams then you know I was just trying to calm them down” I snarled.
Luna’s expression grew sad and she nodded. “I know but, what’s done is done. The past has passed and what has happened, happened. If you want us to save you, you will need our help though.”
“Like I said, I refuse your offer.”
Luna’s gentle expression hardened as she stared at me. “You're being stubborn.”
“I know, it’s common with humanity for us to be stubborn. Now unless you have a different offer, please leave.”
Luna, Princess of the Night, stared at me with a look of surprise. She shook her head and left. The steel door opened and closed, I was left alone to think about her offer.
“No way am I giving up my humanity.”
Day 6, Food is offered, I have lost barely little to no weight, but am famished. It is morning, and apparently one of the guards who’s language I now understood thanks to the spell, told me Luna and Celestia had brought me real food and somehow got me to eat it while I’d been asleep for the past two days.
“Tell them I said thanks” the guards snickered, and the door shut.
I was left alone again.
An hour later, the princess of the sun herself approached me, with her two unicorn guards, and one pegasus guard. These guards had three stars each on their gold armor plates.
“Leave us, if you would be so kind” Princess Celestia said gently.
They nodded and left.
“Have you changed your offer?” I asked when the guards were gone and the door was shut. Princess Celestia merely smiled warmly at me.
“I am sorry all the trouble this has caused you. My sister has informed me of what really happened. I apologize for the loss of your friends.”
I sat up immediately. “Tiff, Charlot, and Jim?! They’re dead?!” I asked with fear. Princess Celestia shook her head.
“After discovering this I had my ponies, search all over Everfree, but we couldn’t find them. Wherever you came from, they must have returned somehow. I apologize for the loss of your other friends though” she said gently, the tall alicorn placed a armor clad hoof gently on my hand, and I smiled a bit thanking her.
“Now, about the offer” she said getting back on topic.
My smile faded, “No.”
“You will die if you do not take it.”
“I’d rather live a human than trade my humanity for something like a misunderstanding like this. If I had seriously injured someone, I want them to know it was me, and not a equine form of myself making up for this mistake. If I had actually killed someone, or much worse like mistakenly decimate the town. Maybe, but this was an accident, I'm not losing something that has been a part of me since I was born. ”
Princess Celestia went silent at that. “I see. And I understand, but the nobles that you injured who had been visiting Ponyville won’t feel the same way.”
“Well that’s too bad then isn’t it?”
Princess Celestia’s wing twitched at that statement, and for a second I was pretty sure I had angered her.
“Yes...that is too bad.”
“Look, Stickler, I have no choice. I do not want to superfluously end a life, but I cannot let you go free after what you have done either. Crimes have been committed, and even if they never were intentional I must make a decision for my nation to see fit, that justice is served.”
“And that justice is having me turned into a pony?” I ask staring at her, quite frankly amazed she had the gall to speak of justice.
Celestia nodded. “In a discussion with three of the noble head families you shot, this was the only option they were willing to accept save your death. There are no other choices Stickler. I am sorry.”
I frowned. The door that had kept my locked up in here wasn’t locked, I icould see it slightly cracked open. Maybe if I-
“Do not attempt to escape. You can’t” Celestia said with her wings expanding. “Even if you could, it wouldn’t bode well for you. And it would just paint an even heavier target on your back. Now, please Stickler. Let. Me. Let my sister and I, help you, okay?” Celestia said with a small smile.
I paced the room, my prison. Things were dire. And I have only two options: Die or become a pony. My eyes glanced towards the door, then back to Celestia, the tall pony who when standing was about an inch taller than me, but sitting was just an inch below my eye level. I let my eyes scan her body.
Her wings had folded again, and I highly doubted she carried weapons. Her guards though, they would be the challenge if I tried escaping. Judging from the past few days while I’d been asleep, the guards hadn’t done much to me. I stopped pacing and looked at the fresh hoof mark on my arm. It stung.
Some however had taken things into their own hands. If I was right, a majority of Celestia’s forces were wary of me, others were brave enough to actually injure me, Luna’s forces I’m not sure. Possibly the same. But in a world of magic, could I survive as I was?
No, I shook my head. “I refuse. I’m not willing to give up my humanity for this. I can’t give up my humanity for this.”
“But Stickler-” I held a hand up for silence, Celestia’s mouth froze like she wanted to continue her protest but she nodded and went silent as I had requested.
“A week from now, my friends and I were supposed to come here and explore this place. Gather information, see where this portal led us, and try our best not to stir up any trouble if we ended up in another country on Earth. But, now that I see that’s quite impossible, I have to say I’m sorry. I deeply apologize for harming your subjects. I, as you may have guessed, was not in the right state of mind, and did not follow my rational side at all when approached. After what I had witnessed how could?
“But for the first time I’m not going by rules here that I set up. This isn’t about following procedure, this is about human integrity. I am not, will not give up my humanity for something that could have been easily avoided had circumstances been different. If you will allow me to go out there and defend myself now that I understand your language, although I’m not sure how long that may last, then I ask you to let me.”
Celestia remained silent and said nothing. “Do you mind if I try something quickly?” she asked. I nodded.
Her horn glowed, and I felt a force wrap around me. There was an attempt to lift me up, but a second later that same force dissipated into nothing and my feet which had lifted just an inch off the ground returned to the stony floor.
“I see” she said in pensive thought. A few seconds of silence passed. Celestia rose, bowed her head to me, said goodbye and that we would meet again then left the prison.
The door shut with a clang, and I was left in my cell wondering what that was about.
Day... You know what? I don’t know anymore, it may be a week, it may not be a week, who knows.
The guards bring me real lunch without having anything in it. It’s actual fruit. Apples, pears, oranges, and even some bread to eat. I gobble it all down greedily, feeling famished.
Once I’m done the mare guard watching over me smiles. “Sleep well.” she said. I stare for a second confused, then my eyes widen.
Glancing over to the bread I had bitten out of, everything becomes hazy and blurry. My consciousness begins to slip. The mare pegasus watching over me smiles wider, and before the drug induced bread completely takes over, I manage to flip her off before falling backwards and passing out.
A grin formed on my lips knowing she’ll never know what that means.
I awake moments later. Taking a quick look around, I am in what appears to be a throne room. Outside, a large and wonderful city.
“Canterlot” A voice tells me.
I look in that direction, noticing I somehow feel different, but I ignore this. The moment my head turns a pink pony, a familiar pink pony is up to my face, staring at me with a smile. “You must be Stickler aren’t you?” the pink pony asked. with her smile dropping. I merely nod.
“Pinkie” the voice that spoke first says. “Settle down you’re scaring him.” A aquamarine unicorn steps forward, her tattoo is a lyra. I just stare silently at her as she approaches.
“Hi, I’m Lyra” she says gently, cautiously approaching me
“And I’m Pinkie!” the pink pony says with a wild grin. Confetti raining down on the two of us.
I attempt to back away to get a better look at them but fall when I stand on my legs. I look down...and am faced with the fact that my brain had been denying since I awoke in the throne room.
My legs weren’t human. I wasn’t human. I was...a pony.
My breathing began to pace. My heart started pounding wildly.
Sweat began to form and soak my dark brown coat.
A mixture of emotions took over, the strongest one. Anger.
“Take it easy now” Lyra said with concern. “We’re only trying to help.”
“GET BACK!” I yelled. At least my voice was the same.
Lyra and Pinkie both stopped in their tracks, and their ears fell submissively. A frown hitting their faces.
I kept backing up. Trying to get away from this throne room. What did they do to me? What have they done to my body!? How did I get in this form? What was happening?! Where were the others?! This is all a dream! I’m still in prison. I’m dreaming.
“This can’t be real!” I yelled, sitting awkwardly using my forelegs for support, only causing rationality to go completely out the window. “All of this is one giant mistake! One huge tragedy! How could this happen?! What did you-”
A cupcake was shoved into my mouth by a light pink hoof, and then I saw Pinkie and Lyra both staring at me with sad smiles. “Shhhh” Pinkie said running a hoof through my mane, my- my hair. Her touch was gentle. It was soothing.
And the cupcake...bittersweet.
I felt tears I hadn’t shed since coming here, since losing my friends and maybe everyone else in the group, build until finally the tears spilt out of my eyes. And I sobbed, muffled only by the cupcake still in my mouth.
“Shhh” Pinkie said gently, soothing me with her touch. “You’ve been through a lot...haven’t you?”
I merely whimpered, more tears spilling. I felt pathetic. And now I’d lost my body. What would humans that came here think? I was an abomination? Traitor? “TRAITOR!” the word forced it’s way in my head.
I shuddered, then Pinkie and embraced me. Lyra stood by watching sadly. Behind us the castle doors were opened, and five other mares, that I assumed Pinkie knew stepped forward. I turned and looked at them. The princesses and two dragons; a young one and another dragon with mismatched limbs were behind them.
Anger sparked once more, then the mare with the stetson I had shot limped forward on her hoof that was healing. She looked at me with a frown, then gently patted my back.
“We’ll help ya get through this. And since we didn’t get off on a good start. Hi, my name’s Applejack” Applejack said with a smile.
I couldn’t speak the bitter taste of that cupcake was still in my mouth. Glancing up at Celestia, Luna, and the dragon with mismatched limbs, the two princesses smiled weakly at me. And I glared angrily at them.
“Welcome to Canterlot Stickler. We truly are sorry things had to be this way.” Princess Celestia said with a frown.
I wiped my eyes, swallowed the cupcake, and Lyra, moved forward and wrapped a foreleg around my neck awkwardly since I was about four inches taller than her on all fours.
“Yeah...” I said in a weak voice. “Me too.”
Author's Note
If this story gets enough likes around 20 or 30 I may do another story on this. This one has been redone and was originally going to be posted last year, but I changed it so many times I just deleted it and didn't bother again. I got this idea on a story about a human's pride, The Weapon He Wields and from Rated PonyStar's Negotiations not too long ago . Many revisions have been made on this story, and ultimately I decided to just improvise as I typed after a few ideas popped up. And well, this is what you got.
Let me know if there are mistakes, I will try and correct them later.
Discuss among yourselves on what you think about this story. Always welcoming comments. Hope you enjoyed reading this as I had as much fun typing it.
