Stranded away

Chapters

Chapter 2 - (Welcome) to equestria ! [Re-written]
Chapter 3 - Let's go on an adventure !!!
Chapter 4 - Let me tell you the story of the _
Chapter 6 - Time for some more plot !
Chapter 7 - Action! Explosions! Michael Bay! Oh, and a snake too I guess...
Chapter 8 - Tribulations in Canterlot
Chapter 1 - The name's Peter ! Not Pete ! [Re-written]
Chapter 5 - Encounter of the third kind

Chapter 2 - (Welcome) to equestria ! [Re-written]

Nothingness. The absolute end of all existence. Stillness, frozen outside of space and time . Nothing could possibly pierce through the veil where—

A strange sound rang across the emptiness. Regaining consciousness, I instantly focused on it, trying to locate the source of the noise. The ringing increased the more I kept focusing on it. Progressively, sensations replaced numbness, along with a vivid throbbing pain somewhere around my chest.

‘Well, at least, I know for sure I’m alive’ I thought, finally getting my eyesight back, blinking as light assaulted my poor cornea. Slowly, my eyes accustomed to the lightning, color and shapes forming in front of me. My immediate surroundings came into focus: my body was resting on a wooden floor. Familiar furniture surrounded me. Coffee table, counter, oven... I was in my kitchen? I looked around one more time to make sure. Yup, that’s mah kitchen!

I looked at my chest, from which the stinging was coming from. I pulled my t-shirt up, my eyebrows rising as I gazed at the uncovered area. My skin over the sternum was covered in burn marks, some deeper than other. ‘How did that happen?!’

I stood up, much to the wound’s dismay, a sharp pain causing me to wince as the damaged flesh was strained by the sudden motion. I moved around the room, only to look in surprise at what could only be described as a tornado aftermath. Every single object was out of place, most of them were lying on the ground, broken in hundreds of pieces. I looked back at the living room to witness it had gone through the same ordeal. ‘At least, the tv is still in one piece’ I thought glumly.

“Did an earthquake strike the town while I was out?” I pondered, walking from room to room, each of them showing the same amount of damage. “If the whole house is like this, it’ll take weeks to get everything back to normal...” My eyes slowly grew wider. “What of my bedroom then…” My heart stopped beating. I ran towards my room, knocking a small cupboard on the way. I arrived to my room to see my computer tower laying on its side. The screen had fallen off of the desk and my keyboard was currently hanging from said desk by its cable.

“My porn!” I sprinted towards the hardware, pulling the tower with shaky hands. I re-adjusted both the keyboard and screen, before trying to turn the poor thing on. I pushed the power button...Again...I mashed the button in hope that the small blue LED behind it would flicker to life and my computer would start. After a minute or so, I settled with repeatedly hitting my head on the wooden desk.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shi--” My gaze fell onto the electrical socket on the nearby wall, to see that the cable had been disconnected from it. My eyes followed the snaky form of the black rubber cord back to my computer. I sighed in relief. ‘Of course’, I thought with a smile. ‘If the cable isn't plugged in, then no wonder I can’t turn my machine on!’ I connected the power cable in the machine and walked back to the front of my desk, pushing the button once again, smiling widely… And nothing happened. My smiled stayed on a bit longer, before shattering to pieces when the machine refused to activate.

“Come on!” I yelled, slamming my palms on the desk. ‘That’s it’, I thought, ‘My CPU’s dead! Marvelous! Fantastic!’ I heard the phone ring again in the living room. ‘Great, now what? My house is in shambles, my computer’s dead… Maybe this time I’ll receive a call telling me that a zombie apocalypse has started?!’ I sulked as I put the phone against my ear. “Hello?”

“Peter! Is that you?! Answer me!” The voice of my sister yelled through the phone’s speakers. That’s it guys. The zombies are here! “Peter?!” Kate insisted.

“Yeah, it’s me Kate, calm down. What’s the matter?” I inquired, surprised at the nervousness of her tone.

“You’re asking me that?!” Came the furious answer. “You fucking disappeared and you’re asking me to calm down?!” She screamed in the phone. Even through my bleeding eardrums, I had to give Kate a point: I didn’t give any signs of life last night, and for a good reason.

“Yeah, about that...I’m so sorry, I...To be frank, I don’t really know what happened. I guess I blacked out or something. I only woke up a few minutes ago and I--” I was cut off as the screaming started anew.

“I don’t care about that! Where were you last night?!”

“Last night? Well, I went to a friend’s birthday party, went home, and... I apparently slept on the floor.” The yelling stopped, and an awkward silence started to settle in. I was about to question my phone’s reception, the voice of my sister came back through the speakers, this time exploding with laughter. I waited a few seconds for the fit to pass.

“Care to share the joke?” I asked, pretty sure the main subject of it was my own stupidity.

“Oh my god!” Another fit of laughter. “Were you so drunk that you couldn’t even recognize your own home?!” She added. “So, which friend’s house are you in right now? I bet it’s John’s.”

“Hey!” I said indignantly. “First, I wasn’t drunk last night! Second, I’m calling from my own apartment! I’m in my living room right now!” I switched to video call to support my answer. Silence once again greeted me.

I was seriously beginning to worry now. “Kate, what’s going on? What’s with all the questions?” Still no response. I was about to press on when the call switched to video mode on Kate’s side.

“Look at that.” She said, leaving the device to do the explaining. She was currently recording her own computer screen. On it was a news flash, with a reporter standing in front of a building I instantly recognised.

“...Asked the neighbours about the tenant. From their testimony, they hadn’t seen him in the last two days. No one expected such a turn of event for the 121 Sushi Rolls Road. Fortunately, no victims were reported so far. Authorities are still trying to--” The speech was still going, but I couldn’t focus on it anymore. The cameraman had directed his shot on a part of the building that had rendered me completely speechless.

Most of the structure was featureless and bore the usual depressing shade of grey big buildings generally had. The part that had caused such an uproar was on the second floor, or more precisely, what wasn’t: there was a gigantic hole where my apartment used to be.

My jaw twitched as I tried to form a coherent sentence, and utterly failing, a feeling of dread steadily growing in my mind. After what seemed like an eternity to me, the video stopped.

“Please, Peter. Tell me what happened! Where are you right now?” Kate pressed on. “Mom and Dad are worried sick about you!”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I walked up to the door and, with a deep breath, I turned the knob and opened it.

“Peter?” My sister asked again. The phone fell on the ground, released from the weak grasp of my hand. The voice called from the device’s speakers, but its words were lost on me. My mind had gone blank from the sight that was laid in front of my eyes.

Gone were the malodorous streets, the depressingly grey buildings. A large oak tree stood right in front of me. The old fellow had aged to the point where vines had crept up all the way to the top of it, giving it an air of Christmas tree. The oak was not alone in that case: a whole forest surrounded me, the canopy reaching a good twenty meters above the ground.

“Peter?” Kate asked, snapping me out of my stupor. “Peter, can you hear me?” I shakily picked the phone from the cemented ground, my eyes going from tree to tree, still unable to make heads or tails of this situation.

“Kate…I think I’ve lost it.”

After a lengthy explanation and having showed my sister my predicament, we both stayed silent, hoping one would bring something up that could clear this mystery up, or at least give a plausible explanation.

“Peter?” Kate asked.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve lost it too.” I groaned. At least, she sees the same thing I do. Fortunately, my phone could show...Wait, that’s it!

“Kate! Can you try to locate my phone?” I heard a gasp, followed by what I guess was the keyboard being obliterated by my sister’s energetic typing .

“Something’s not right…” I heard my sister mumble. “Peter, your number’s still the same as before right?” I answered by the affirmative. “It’s not possible... I must have made a mistake somewhere! I’m gonna try again!” More typing ensued, with the same result, according to Kate’s cursing.

“It’s ridiculous!” She said in exasperation.

“What’s the matter?”

“Each time I’ve entered your phone number, it said you were at the same place! In the building!” She said in exasperation.“How did you even get in that mess in the first place?!”

“If you manage to find an answer to that, please tell me, I’d be glad to know how.” I replied with a sigh. A thought suddenly came to me. “Wait a minute…I’m in the middle of a freaking forest, I shouldn’t even get a signal to begin with! There has to be an antennae nearby. That means...”

“You’re closer to civilization than we thought!” My sister finished my thought for me. “Though, the problem remains. We can’t call any form of rescue since we can’t even locate your phone.”

I leaned against the large tree as I tried to be rational about the issue. Kate was right. I couldn’t hope for anyone to come to my aid, considering I couldn’t get my own location right. That meant I only had two options: on the one hand, I could wait inside for someone to fly above my out-of-place house and get a team together to come and investigate. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a bad idea: from the thick bushes, large untouched plants around me, it looked like Man had not come to this part of the world for a long time, if at all.

On the other hand, I could try and explore the forest in search of a settlement. This option was not much better than the previous one, but at least, I could explore and hopefully gather a bit of food or water. To be frank, I don’t think I could last more than a few days with the ressources I had on hand.

It suddenly hit me. I had no electricity at the moment. Without it, my phone battery would inevitably drain, leaving me utterly stranded in the middle of nowhere and no one to call for help! The sheer thought caused me to hyperventilate: If I had landed somewhere in amazonia, I could wander for months in such a forest!

Breathe in…Breathe out…Let’s remain calm: my phone is not dead yet, and I still have a connection to the outside world through Kate. What could I do to overcome the most pressing matter? I had no electricity on hand, true. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t generate a small amount of it with what I had with me! After all, I was an engineer! Well, I was still finishing my studies, but still! I spent years sharpening my skills and knowledge, mastering theories of physics, optics….Or I could just ask my sister to google “How to build a generator”. For now, I needed to spare my device’s energy and scout out the immediate surroundings.

“Alright. To sum it up: neither of us know what’s going on right now. For all I know, we’re both hallucinating somehow, and this entire day has just been a lucid dream. In any case, I need to know where I am. Considering how useful my phone has been at locating me, I suppose I’ll have to go and find out myself.”

“You wanna go by yourself?!” The ear-splitting scream deafened me for a second. “There are so many things wrong with that plan, I can’t even list them all!” I sighed. Of course she’d be against it. Anybody in their right mind would be against doing such a stupid thing. But it was the only valid option I had at the moment.

“I know.” I said placating tone. “But at the same time, I can’t stay in the house forever. I’ll eventually run out of water or food, and I’ll have to move out. As of now, I just want to do a quick reconnaissance of the area surrounding my place.” I could still feel her hesitating through the phone. “I’m gonna be careful, I promise. In the meantime, can you try to tell Mom and Dad of my...Predicament? I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“...Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“You’d better come back soon Pete.” She said in a softer tone. “We’ll be waiting for you. So don’t take too long!” She added with a weak chuckle. I absentmindedly nodded.

“I’ll try to make it as fast as I can. Still gotta be sure I make it back in one piece though.” I said with a smile. “Wouldn’t want you to hear that I died to a raccoon. I don’t think the family’s pride could survive that!” I heard my sister exaggerate a gasp through the phone.

“Of course! If you get killed by anything less than a bear, we’ll be the laughing stock of the entire county!” Kate finished with a laugh, that I soon shared.

“All right then!” I straightened up, looking towards the door. “I’ll be back soon Kate. Wish me luck!” I said, before hanging up. I went back inside to collect a few empty bottles I forgot to throw away and an old compass I kept in one of the entrance drawers. I put the small trinket in my coat’s pocket and with a sigh, walked out of the flat--which now looked more like a one-story house-- and stepped into the unknown.

While the forest might have appeared intimidating at first, the ambiance had progressively shifted to a much more welcoming mood. What little light filtered through the thick foliage fell on the ground in a hundreds of smaller rays, creating just as many golden dots on my path.

Most of the wood’s soil was covered in a uniform dark green moss blanket. The sparse spots that were yet to be consumed by the viridescent flood allowed one to gaze at the few plants, emerging in various shades and sizes in between the rocks and massive roots of the nearby trees. Flowers of various teal colors punctuated my walk, forming little pastel marks ranging from dark purple to neon blue, confirming once again that I was definitely far away from home.

Some of these flowers would grow in bushes, forming small patches of a specific color on the side of the way. One in particular caught my attention: the plants in it were entirely blue, from their petals to their very stamen.

‘Weird’, I thought. ‘If these flowers needed to be pollinated, shouldn’t their center stand out from the rest?’ I picked one of the navy blue flowers to smell it, and was disappointed to find out it had no specific odor. ‘Well, nothing’s perfect I guess’. I still kept the “blue wonder” as I decided to call it and resumed my walk North.

As I pressed on, I began hearing a sound akin to a faucet leaking droplets on a hard surface. I hurried my pace towards the noise, which steadily grew stronger as I progressed under the thick canopy. After some time, the trees around me gave way to a small opening in the canopy bathed in the cool afternoon sunlight. A luxurious vegetation grew freely in this small area devoid of the oaks I had grown accustomed to until now. The ground, which before was hard and dry, had become much soggier, to the point where I buried my shoes up to the ankle with each step I took towards the noise. With a loud ‘squelch’, I peered in between the reeds and semi-aquatic plants to discover a small but steady current of one of the clearest waters I have ever seen in my life. Hesitantly, I dipped my hand in the translucent liquid and waited.

Upon feeling nothing other than the pleasantly cool water rushing in between my fingers, I stood up and undid the straps of my backpack. A minute and a half later, I was ready to head out with now five plastic bottles full of fresh water. Hopefully, the stream would not die out anytime soon.

A smile formed on my face. ‘Perhaps the whole survival plan wasn’t going to be so difficult after all!’. I strapped everything back, hoisted my backpack on my shoulders and took off merrily towards my home, the wet splashing sound made by each step I took creating a rhythm for the song I was singing to myself.

The day was just starting to set over the horizon, the orange-reddish rays lighting the forest grounds for the few last hours before nightfall. The shadows cast by the now diagonal sunlight were steadily growing giving the dense forest an air of melancholy. The last diurnal critters were regaining their nests one by one, crinkling through the dead leaves and branches around me.

Soon, the forest was completely devoid of sound. Not a gust of wind, not a breeze. Nothing came to disrupt the thick veil of silence that had covered the canopy above me. For the first time of the day, I felt as if I truly was alone. My very respiration seemed excessively loud in comparison to the environment I was in, and I often found myself holding my breath, trying to minimize the noise I could make. The sunlight had now become completely horizontal, lighting only the top of the trees around me, plunging the rest of the woods in darkness.

If before I could have felt unwelcomed in the silence of the sylvestrian kingdom, now I felt downright oppressed. I walked faster, wanting to reduce the time I would have to spend in this place to the maximum. I had to be close to home now. Just a matter of minutes and I’d be--

A sudden shuffling sound behind me interrupted my train of thoughts. Startled, I turned to face the direction of the sound. I stood there, unmoving, focusing my attention on the nearest patch of bushes, ready to spring into action at the tiniest disturbance in the foliage. I waited, and upon hearing nothing more, I reluctantly turned back to where I was. I was becoming jumpy. Still, better to be cautious in this forest.

The night starting to rise didn’t help. The contrast between the day’s heat and the night’s fresher temperatures was causing humidity to escape the woods in the form of a thick fog, obscuring the view even more. The cold damp air was piercing through my clothes, causing me to shiver. The trees, now akin to black poles stretching towards the uniform dark canopy seemed uncomfortably close to me.

The branches, with my very fertile imaginations, almost looked like hands reaching out to me. Each tree I passed, I couldn’t help but glance behind it, in fear something was hiding behind it. Each root seemed to sprout out of the ground to try to make me trip. Did I mention I was terribly afraid of the dark?

As the luminosity was steadily decreasing, it was becoming difficult to see even two meters in front of me.

“How much longer until I reach the house?” I asked, impatient. I was certain to have taken less time earlier today. Was it just my mind playing tricks on me? I took my phone from my pocket. My eyes bulged at the number displayed on the screen. It was half past ten! It couldn’t be. My smartphone had to be broken. There was no way four hours had passed without me noticing.

I pressed on, using the phone’s lamp to light my way. I couldn’t recognize anything familiar that could clue me in the right way. I took the compass out of my vest’s inner pocket and stopped right in my tracks as I felt my legs grow weak at the round device in the palm of my hand.

“Wha…” was the only thing I could manage to say, looking down at the gyrating needle in the center of the polished glass. I blinked twice, trying to shake off what could only be an illusion. ‘What is wrong with the compass?!’ I hit the glass surface, trying to bring the inanimate object back to its senses, only to not avail. ‘Dammit! Don’t do this to me now! Without the compass, I won’t be able to find the way home!’

My musings were interrupted by the same strange noise from before. I turned, blood freezing in my veins. It sounded much closer this time. No doubts this time: something had followed me all the way over there. Why? All the animals that I encountered during the day had either fled or shied away when I approached. It was either an extremely curious herbivore, or...I hoped it was an herbivore.

I stood motionless, waiting for the animal to move again, only to be greeted by silence. That animal was smart. If it was preparing for an ambush, it could wait for hours for me to get tired before attacking. ‘When’ being the only variable. One thing was certain, though: I wasn’t going to wait it out. I took a long breath, and in one fluid movement, turned around and ran as fast I could in the opposite direction.

It appears the creature had lost its patience too, judging by the thunderous howl I heard behind me. I could soon hear the heavy pounding of the predator’s steps mirroring my own. I pushed myself as I hard I as I could, ignoring the burning sensation slowly growing in my muscles.

The sound of the creature’s steps grew louder. ‘It’s closing in on me!’ I thought in terror. My lungs were burning. My mind was getting foggy. I could feel the blood pumping in my ears, my heart beating in the desperate attempt to fuel muscles with enough energy to escape my pursuer.

I was about to lose hope when I noticed the trees around me were getting sparse. A clearing? I looked forward, and saw a familiar cubical shape stand out in the moonlight. With renewed vigor, I sprinted with a strength I didn’t know I had towards the meadow. I was approaching the house of salvation, the creature hot on my heels, when I remembered I locked the damn door before venturing out.

I cursed internally, going instead for the window. Like most windows, it had a small concrete edge on it. I ran up to it, jumped on the protruding edge and used it to quickly climb on the top of the flat.

As soon as I reached it, I let myself fall on the roof, and proceeded to fill my lungs with as much air as possible. Tears of relief flowed on my cheeks as a shaky breath escaped my lips, despite my burning chest. Now that the adrenalin was wearing off, my limbs were beginning to grow stiff from the recent overuse. Though with difficulty, I looked back to where I thought the creature was and stood frozen at what I saw.

A long emaciated body covered in a dirty brown fur stretched to a good two meters in length. Bald spots dotted the matted coat of its torso, revealing the sickly white skin where the shadow of the rib cage clearly showed. Thin fleshless legs surprisingly supported the weight of the famished-looking beast. The dark paws underneath would have been barely noticeable, were it not for the five centimeter long claws jutting out from them and burrowing into the forest soil. A long hairless neck bearing countless cuts and bruises linked the rest of the body to what I could only guess was the head of the thing.

Twisted antlers grew from the mass of hair that sat atop of the creature’s skull in nearly every direction, creating something akin to a thorn bush. The only details left visible were a long muzzle from which protruded enormous canines, and an evil red glow coming from the otherwise empty eye sockets of the creature. Saliva flowed endlessly from the maws of the beast, its muzzle twitching as it turned its head in different directions. A low growl emanated from the creature as it approached the house, getting closer to my location.

A soundless scream escaped my throat as I witnessed the embodiment of terror below me suddenly come to a halt and turned its eyeless face towards me. I then saw the monster shift its balance on its hind legs, and slowly moving from all fours to a steady stance on two legs, hoisting itself up until its head nearly reached the rooftop of my house. ‘It’s almost as tall as my house!’ I thought in horror.

I hurriedly hid myself from view, hoping to escape to the monster’s haunting gaze. I heard a scraping noise, followed by a long black foreleg gripping tightly the extremity of the flat roof My heart stopped. Was it trying to climb over the wall?! I backed away from the foreboding claws of the creature. I thought about jumping off to the other side, but immediately dismissed the idea. I wasn’t confident in whatever ounce of strength remained within my body, and trying to outrun a beast of this size in my condition would be downright suicidal.

I watched with bated breath as the claw frantically tried to grip at something that obviously wasn’t there anymore - my body . After a minute of trying vainly to grasp at me, the foreleg retracted back below the roof, followed by a low growling. Soon, I heard the sound of leaves and branches being crushed, sign that the monster was moving again. The noise grew more distant, going back to the forest.

I waited until I could no longer hear anything from my surrounding but the sound of insects and the cold wind blowing over the woods. I forced my body to move, fighting against my still active instincts ordering me to stay up here until the end of times. I peeked from the rooftop and looked at the meadow around the house, my eyes searching for anything out of place. Once I was as sure as I would ever be of my immediate surroundings, I carefully climbed down and set foot on earth. I had my keys at the ready, and immediately reached for the door. I tried to move the keys as quietly as I could, constantly looking back at the ominous forest behind me. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door unlocked in a metallic ‘clack’. I pushed the door open and rushed inside, before slamming it behind my back, and clumsily locking it back up.

Once I was certain nothing could enter the now secure house, I walked into the living room, not bothering to take off my shoes or coat, and let myself slump into the sofa. My unfocused eyes roamed the room, the nightmarish visions of the beast still plaguing my mind. What was that?! An automaton? There was no way the creature I saw could be alive, simply judging by the empty eye sockets. It had to be a robot. Still, who in their right minds would give it this monstrous appearance? The being’s image popping up in my mind was enough to make me double check my surroundings, A cold sweat starting to drip down my back. I would not have a restful sleep tonight, that bit was certain.

After regaining a semblance of calm, I stood up, wincing as the fabric of my shirt rubbed against my chest. I really need to get that zone bandaged. I walked to the bathroom, warily glancing outside through the windows as I went by the hallway.

Finally arriving in the bathroom, I took my shirt off, glancing at the state of the wound. After making sure there was nothing warranting a spray of sterilizing alcohol, I took a roll of gauze and prepared the different bands that i would use to bandage the zone.

I quickly applied the bands on the damaged the area, hoping the burns would not turn into something worse—who knows what potentially deadly illness crawls in this forest searching for a host to infect? My stomach, which hadn’t lost track of time, decided to make its presence known by emitting a low rumble. Curious, I checked my watch: it was now eleven o’ clock. Maybe I could eat a bit before going to bed.

I checked inside the fridge. “Hmm…with all this, I can survive…maybe 3 days? Well, better than nothing.” I shrugged, before taking out of the freezing coffin half of a steak and a handful of pasta. I put the meat into a frying pan and poured a liter of the water I had taken from the source in a pot to boil. I then added two pots in which I emptied the remaining 4 liters from my plastic bottles. That would take care of any parasite or bacteria inside. “Thank you, Pasteur” I silently prayed.

While the water progressively heated up, I decided to call my sister in order to update her, and by proxy, my family, on the state of affairs on my side. I heard the phone ring several times before the familiar voice filtered through the speakers.

“Peter, is that you?” I released a sigh upon hearing my sister’s voice through the device, bringing a somewhat homey feeling in this outlandish place.

“Yeah, it’s me. How are you doing?”

“I’m alright, but I think I should be asking you that question, Pete! You didn’t call in hours, and from what i can hear, you look like you’ve run a marathon. What happened?!” She asked impatiently.

“Well,” I started in a joyful tone, “I had a nice long stroll in the woods, got myself some water and was attacked by a monster on the way back!” I chuckled a bit at my own derisive tone.

“…What did you say?” Kate replied incredulously.

“Well, to be honest, I’m not really sure myself. It might have been a construct of my fear-addled brain after being chased all the way to—“

“Something was chasing you?! Oh goodness, are you alright Peter?” I heard a different voice shout through the phone. My eyes widened.

“Mom?”

“And your father” added a much deeper voice. “I heard you were having fun without us?”He snickered. “You should have told us, we’d have brought some popcorn along!” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to notify you next time.” The smile slowly disappeared from my face as I continued. “That being said, I am still unsure about the animal that was chasing me…” I proceeded to relay them my story; the creature part was the one which got the most mixed results: Kate and Mom sounded horrified by the fact that such animals were roaming nearby—to which I had to agree—while my dad had remained completely silent. When I finished my tale, the deep voice of my father started again.

“How long can you survive with what you’ve got right now?” He asked, already suspecting the poor state of my rations.

“No longer than three full days. After that, I’ll be out of food.” I said, the gravity of the situation causing everyone to fall silent.

“As I thought. You’ll have no other choice but to venture out again.” He said grimly. I nodded, forgetting that they couldn’t see me doing so.

“And that is if I manage to find something edible…” I thought back to the conversation I had earlier with Kate. No one would be coming to help me, and I couldn’t afford to stay put and wait until I ran out of rations. Would I be able to find something close to civilization in three days time? This forest looked like one of the primeval forests where no man has ever set foot into. Yet, it was the only viable option I had right now.

“So what are you going to do?” Dad inquired. Hm. I could try and pack everything and go, but without any idea of where to go, it would just be same as throwing my rations out the window. I had to choose a promising direction, and stick to it. In order to do so, i’d have to climb to a high place and have a good look around. I nodded absently to myself.

“I think I’ll first have to take a look around. For that, I’ll use the first day to scout out a suitable way out of this forest.” i said confidently. “From what I’ve seen today, there’s little to no danger walking through the woods during daytime. Unless those...Robots...things can hunt 24/7, I should be alright!”

I was pretty sure my parents weren’t buying it. Hell, even I couldn’t put any credence into the words i just said. They were just shallow reassurances based on nothing more than a few hours spent in a specific part of the forest. Still, that was yet the best chance I had at the moment, and I had to take it.

Silence greeted my answer. All of us knew there was nothing else to do, yet none dared say anything to encourage a behavior that would certainly lead me to my grave. I heard footsteps, and my mother’s voice rang through the speakers.

“Peter...Perhaps there is not other way around the problem. But I want you to be careful…Please be careful, alright sweetie? I…I don’t want to lose you”. She said, before taking a shaky breath. “I love you my baby. Please come back to us safe and sound.”

“I will come back, I promise you.” I comforted her the best I could, telling her that I would be alright. I didn't even know where I was, and what dangers could await me outside the clearing. It suddenly dawned upon me that I very well might be dead tomorrow. A shiver ran down my spine. She said a last goodbye before leaving the room with my dad and handing the phone back to my sister.

“So, I’m curious, how did you do to convince them to believe us?” I asked. I was not doubting of my sister, but hearing that not only had your son somehow escaped from the gigantic hole in the building he was living in, but that he also was teleported to a completely different place with his house was a rather big pill to swallow.

“Oh, well I used my natural charisma and my great and dexterous eloquence to convince them of course!”She said proudly in the phone.

“I’m sure the footage I gave you from my new location didn’t help you in the slightest?” I added with a chuckle. There was a pause.

“....Perhaps”. We shared a good laugh we both desperately needed. When my breathing calmed down, I asked another question.

“On a different note, Kate : do you have the plans for the generator?”

“Yes, even if I’m not sure how you’re gonna manage to build one. It requires a lot of materials. Not to mention the raw energy such a device needs to properly work.”She was right. Even if I found enough wires and metal by cannibalizing my old affairs, I still had the problem of the energy input. I already knew the nearest source of water was not an option…Speaking of water…Shit!

I ran back in the kitchen, quickly checking the boiling water, which was now on the verge of spilling its near-overflowing contents on the floor. I cut the gas and plunged the pastas in it. Good thing I always preferred gas cooking, or I would never have been able to use the stove. I also cut the gas under the other pots and put them aside to fill the plastic bottles with the now sanitized water. Well, at least I would not die of dehydration.

“Peter? You’re still there?” After verifying that the gas valves were closed, I put the phone against my ear.

“Yep, I was just having problems with the stove.” I heard her laugh. My cheeks reddened as I guessed which event she was recalling.

“Hey! That was not my fault, okay? I was seven! How could I know metal plates were not compatible with the microwave?!” This only seemed to fuel her amusement, the laugher coming through even louder. I huffed.

“I’ll have you know, the electric arcs were beautiful! ...At least until the microwave imploded...” I soon joined my sister chuckling at the memory.

“Anyway. I’ve sent you what I could find. Hope that helps!” I heard the small beep indicating that a new mail had arrived. I quickly looked over the contents, smiling as the schematics appeared on my screen.

I was about to answer when a flash of light attracted my attention to the window. I looked to my left to see that the moon was rising over the canopy, bathing the room in a soft white glow. ‘To think the day had passed so fast…’ My eyes widened as the night aster brought the answer to my problem.

I walked to a compartment 2 meters wide that I used as a makeshift storeroom. I rummaged through the boxes of my highschool years until I stumbled upon the one I was looking for. I looked on the side of the dust covered carton container and read aloud: ‘2007-10-5: techno project’.

I smirked and pulled the box out and opened it….before coughing profusely due to the cloud of dust particles flying right into my larynx. Once my throat stopped aching as if it was on fire, I pulled out thin layers of green solid plates, and gently put them on my right. I counted twelve 25 x 25 centimeter squares. That was more than enough if I wanted to cover my ‘roof’ with them.

“Sis?” I asked the phone, to which I heard an affirmative answer. “I think I may have found a way.” The small solar panels we built with the class were still intact for the most part, which was good. The fact my house currently stood in a clearing with no tree in the nearest fifty meters to obliterate the sun was even better. If I could connect those panels to the generator, and link the latter to the local current transformer, I could hopefully get some power back.
“What do you mean?” Kate inquired.

“Well, do you remember those solar panels I worked on during my techno classes?” I heard a gasp as Kate realized where I was going with this. I heard her quickly type on her keyboard.Soon enough, she came back with the information I needed.

“Well, from what the source says, you would need at least six square meters to provide barely enough energy to power the generator which schematics I just gave you.” My sister’s voice echoed worriedly. I blanched upon hearing the news. I did not have enough to cover such a surface! I may have something around 9 functioning panels, but that would only cover a third of the total required space! I just hoped the power those panels could produce would be enough to at least charge my phone’s battery.

“Thanks Kate. Though I think I’ll wait until tomorrow before going back out.” I said, already dreading to go near those woods. “I think I’ll shut my phone off during the night in order to save a bit of power. I hope you’ll forgive for not being able to spend enough time with you Kate”. I added apologetically.

“Oh, don’t worry!” My sister replied in a fake ominous tone. “I’ll make sure you can’t get away from your family for a whole week straight once you come back !” She finished triumphantly.
“Well...Good night then… .” She said hesitantly . My eyes softened, and a small smile formed on my lips. I understood, as I was reluctant to hang up too. I knew however that I had to spare whatever battery I had left.

“Thanks Kate, I’ll be alright.” I answered softly. “Good night Kate.”
I hung the phone, and looked at the picture of my sister on the call history. With a sigh, I pressed the on/off button and stood up. I looked back at the forest through the window. I shook my head, trying to banish the thoughts that welled up inside. I would have to be extremely cautious, even if I was to travel during daytime. Who knows what abominations lurked in this place.

I would also have to gather more water before tomorrow night, if I wanted to plan for a long travel. The idea of getting back in the woods was certainly not something that I looked forward to. Still, it was the best option I had at the moment.

I walked to a small shelf with boxes stacked in a disorganized manner. I turned towards a small carton filled with bubble wrap. I rummaged a bit through it before pulling a wooden crossbow. I looked at it, remembering the day when I finished building it. It was quite powerful considering the materials it was made of, and fired the bolts at a very satisfying distance. My gaze then turned towards a small carton just on the side of the one containing the weapon. I sighed. ‘Guess I’m not training anymore’, I thought as I opened the box, revealing three neatly stacked steel bolts shining softly in the moonlight.

I woke up from a dreamless slumber, groggily stumbling around my room trying to find the lightswitch, still thinking in my half-asleep state that I was still back home. Only when the switch failed to light up the room did I remember where I was. Suddenly very aware of my situation, I ran towards my phone, and checked the time. I relaxed upon reading ‘9:30’ on the LED screen. It was still early in the morning.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I quickly dressed up, packed bags with empty bottles, stuffed my compass in my vest pocket, before stepping outside...Then coming back in as I forgot to take my crossbow and its munitions.

This time, not wanting to leave any details up to fate, I decided to head east. Should I be wrong and that the creature from last night roamed both day and night, I would at least be able to avoid the zone in which I suspected the ‘elk’ preyed. Perhaps I could even use this opportunity to spot some potential food source, no matter how unlikely it sounded.
I walked through the maze formed by the impressively large trees that in all likelihood had decided to use this morning to block my path by all possible means, all the while carefully keeping an eye on the compass all the while.

For now, the compass was working perfectly.

I discovered some berry bushes—which sadly didn’t matter, since they had nothing on them. I found another river, probably the one of the tributaries from the source I saw the other day.
Five minutes later, all four of my bottles were filled with crystal-clear water, and i was on my way.

Nothing interesting came up during the travel, aside from the occasional critter crossing my path. I walked on, my crossbow firmly secured around my shoulders by a long leather band. After an hour, and not finding any hill or cliff to observe the landscape, I opted for another route and instead looked around for a suitable tree.

I looked at the nearest one-- A pine from the looks of its bark and needles -- and spotted a branch low enough for me to climb on it. I tentatively grabbed it, and after making it did not break when I applied some weight onto it, I began my ascension towards the top. Climbing wasn’t very difficult: the foliage was sparse, and the massive tree supported me without moving an inch. I finally got on the highest strong branch, and looked at the impressively vast forest, its progression only limited by a mountain range far to the north.

A lone mount peaked far above the others even farther north, dominating its surroundings by its sharp snowy top. Looking West, I spotted something akin to a clearing approximately three to five kilometers from where I stood, the wild patch of grass breaking the otherwise constant luscious green color of the thick canopy. I narrowed my eyes at a strange detail in the middle of the supposed clearing. It almost looked like ruins of some kind. I could not ascertain my claim however, since from that distance, everything looked like a blur of colours to me.

I looked at the time: 10 am. I could make it and return home before nightfall. I carefully climbed down the tree, which proved to be more difficult than my previous ascension. The long, slippery bark of the pine covering each branch was destined to be my downfall as my foot found no purchase on the last offshoot of the tree, allowing me to have a face to face meeting with the forest soil. Fortunately, the fall was only a meter high, and though I was certain I would feel that tomorrow morning, nothing seemed to be broken.

Shaking myself from the remains of the discount spa treatment, I checked my compass before heading West. The magnetic needle was thankfully still pointing in one direction, and not losing its marbles like the previous night. For a compass to behave as such, there would have had to be a powerful magnetic field around the zone where I was. It could either be because of the magnetic north --which, considering my basic knowledge of Earth’s geography, was impossible-- or some man-made construct that emitted a wave powerful enough to disrupt it.

The latter --and most plausible-- would also prove my theory concerning the nature of the creatures I encountered to be correct. If there was such a device in the forest, that meant there were people with means to build it. ‘Thus, there had to be a station or a camp somewhere nearby!’ I thought back to the hellish creatures from before.

‘People with such scientific abilities would have no problem building robots in the shape of those creatures!’ I realized as I clapped my hands together, scaring the nearby birds, who fled away in a hurried and confused flapping of wings. I paid them no mind as I continued on my train of thoughts. ‘With a complex hidden in the middle of a forest, it was obvious that the intentions of its builder were to hide it from prying eyes. It would only be logical for such an operation to protect their base in such a way!’ I concluded with a satisfied smile.

An occasional root sticking out would make me trip, reminding me of the burns on my chest as pain would reappear temporarily as my torso hit the ground. I would have gladly applied a lotion on those wounds, if I had any. My medical cabinet only had a few items in it. Sadly, lotion for burn wounds was not among them.

While the vegetation up North looked like the kind found in temperate deciduous woods, the one present here belonged more to a tropical rainforest. Instead, dense patches of fern grew everywhere, covering the entire ground. The blades, all dotted with orange-coloured spores, grew up to two meters in hight, and more than half a meter in width. Some of the fiddleheads that sprouted from the middle of the plants were even bigger than my hand!

Flowers of unrealistic proportions and bright colours appeared from time to time amidst the dense leaves surrounding them. Some of them sported large white petals, long orange T-shaped stamen protruding from their center. Others instead had a spear-shaped head composed of dozens of blood red needly petals, stretching to an impressive 30 centimeters in height.

The air too had changed, becoming thicker and more humid. The clothes I wore were starting to stick to my body, making the simplest move uncomfortable. The temperature had steeply risen to an unpleasant degree, causing my body to sweat profusely, the salty liquid burning as it went over the bandaged wounds.

‘How could a forest’s climate change so much in such a small radius?!’ Thought as I wiped away the sweat forming on my forehead with the back of my hand. ‘Could it be one of the experiments from the potential scientific complex?’. I thought, with a mix of awe and fear. Is it going to be some kind of “area 51” thing, where the local government is trying to hide powerful weapons and experiments and kills or discredit those who come near them? I certainly hope not.

The trek was becoming harder, the overgrown plants transforming in obstacles, hindering my progress throughout the woods. Fortunately for me, the terrain remained relatively flat.
The trees were getting fewer and fewer as I walked, the vegetation slowly receding into more reasonably sized plants, though their exotic appearance and the temperature remained.

After an hour of agonizingly slow trudge, I was able to see a clear patch of grass head of me . The tree cover was slowly dissipating, allowing the moonlight to highlight the surroundings, casting a soft white light upon the meadow.

I was about to step out into the clearing when rustling came from the other side of the forest. I sunk deeper in the bush I was in as the noise grew closer. I carefully removed some branches out of my face so I could see what was happening, and almost immediately regretted my action : emerging from the shadows, a familiar emaciated frame stepped into the light, revealing the image I had tried to chase from my thoughts ever since last night.

The creature stood here, and for a second, I wondered what it was doing. Soon enough, it turned its head towards the depth of the woods, where I saw several shadows converge on the first monster. My eyes widened in horror as I counted now five of the things standing in group in the clearing, their bloodied nostril flaring as their head swiveled around, trying no doubt to catch a specific smell.

‘Why would people put smell recognition in their animatronic anyway?’ I mused as the “elks” moved around. One of the elks suddenly rose to a two-legged stance, the lights dancing in its eye sockets locking onto my position. It howled ominously and the members of the pack followed suit, turning towards me. Heat left my body as time seemed to stand still.

The pack was starting to advance. I could try to run, but the effort would be wasted against an entire pack. I quickly looked at the surrounding trees, but their branches were too high to even think about climbing. Still under the bush, I moved my hand over the belt holding the crossbow. I then quietly armed the weapon, loading a bolt and locking the rope behind it, internally cursing myself for not verifying if the weapon was in working condition sooner. With my luck, the tension applied on the wooden frame would brake it, and the sound would definitely attract them towards me.

The feeling of dread returned more powerful than before as I raised the medieval armament.
Cold droplets of sweat ran down my neck. Sounds from the outside were dimmed to a distant whisper as a burst of adrenaline allowed my hands to regain some shred of steadiness.

I pointed the crossbow towards the nearest creature, and as a soundless breath escaped my lips, the bolt soared through the air as a streak of light, flying towards its target with unbelievable speed. The creature had no time to react as the projectile reached its target, steel meeting flesh and bone, shattering the first and tearing the last, reducing what used to be the beast’s head to a gory cloud.

The animal fell limp, crashing on the ground. As I was hurriedly cocking my crossbow, a crackling noise coming from the dead body distracted me. A yellowish fog had slowly surrounded the dead predator’s body, and before I could make a witty remark about the nature of the cloud resembling that of a cartoon fart, the whole thing suddenly burst in flames, engulfing the carcass in a raging inferno.

Soon, the entire body had been consumed by the fire, the only reminder of the creature’s presence was the greyish ash that had gathered on the ground. I stood here, mouth agape, unable to process what just happened before me, my eyes desperately trying to relay information to my failing brain.

The sudden death of what must have been the pack leader impressed greatly the rest of the monsters, as they all began to step back. ‘Too slow’, I thought, reloading the crossbow. Another flash of chrome, another sickening crack, and another body fell to the ground, spontaneously igniting. Unable to find the thing killing their pack members, the creatures backed away, before going into a full blown sprint towards the opposite side of the forest, their tails between their legs howling as they did.

I waited a full minute, blankly looking at the “remains”—if one could call a pile of smoldering ashes remains. When I could manage enough willpower to move and finally approach the dead animal’s “body”, I knelt down and moved the wooden pieces away, internally hoping to find a mechanism of some sort behind it. I moved the dust away, only to find charred dirt under.

My eyes widened in horror. These things were not robots. They were true “living” beings. Since they all looked the same, it had to be the general look of the species. ‘How could something like that even exist?!’ I stood up, almost falling back due to the lack of energy left in my legs. Turning away from the charred circle left on the ground to look at my surroundings.

As it turned out, the “small” clearing I had spotted from the tree was way larger than what I had previously thought. The meadow was cas in two parts by a deep ravine, creating a large “island” in the middle.

On this lonely piece of land sat what I had correctly surmised to be ruins. Indeed, the remains of a once impressively large castle laid in complete disrepair, moss and bushes growing out of the porous mortar in between the old stones. I looked incredulously at the sight in front of me. How the hell did a european-style castle arrive in this forest?!

Deciding to satiate my curiosity, I searched for a way to reach the other side. After a few minutes, I spotted an old wooden rope bridge joining the two parts together. I gulped, seeing as many of the wooden planks had fallen off. If the bridge was half as old as the castle, going through the dilapidated construct was a clear death warrant. I walked up the the large
rope holding the bridge together, and tugged at it, testing its resilience, and was surprised as the fabric held fast, looking as good as a newly made one.

Temptation building inside me, I still decided to look down the ravine. A steep drop of at least thirty meters greeted me, and I suddenly remember I had a fear of heights, my brain blacking out for a split second. Coming back to my senses, I backed away cautiously from the edge, afraid the abyss might swallow me if I stared too long at it, a few droplets of sweat dripping down my back.

Looking up at the sky, I saw the sun was close to reaching its peak. Around eleven then? As if on cue, I heard my stomach emit a low rumble. Good thing I always had some snacks in my bag. I couldn’t eat here, knowing the demonic elks from earlier might still be close by.
I looked back at the rope bridge, fear and resignation fighting a raging battle in my mind.

Gripping and tugging again the cord, ascertaining my decision, I let out a shaky breath, before putting weight on the first plank. Seeing as it did not break under my weight, I moved the second feet, still firmly grasping the thick and robust rope. I progressed slowly, sometimes having to jump over a cracked or missing plank.

“Who the hell was in charge of the construction planning!” I grumbled as I nearly missed a step. “You had enough stones to build a freaking castle, but when making the only road to reach it, you decide to make it out of shitty wood and strings?!” Apparently, the head architect’s spirit still roamed around the place, as the plank on which I just walked on suddenly broke in half. Fortunately for me, I still had a firm grip on the main rope, holding onto it for dear life as my footing was brutally taken away from me.

“Don’t look down, dont look down, don’t look…Oh god dammit I looked down!” The bottom of the ravine was at least eighteen thousand kilometers deep! ‘Is this the entrance of Hell?’ I wondered, my left leg, which was still on a solid plank weakening at the sight. Managing to keep my bladder in check, I held my grip on main life-line to the point where my knuckles grew white, and shifted my balance back onto the previous wooden platform.

The rest of the hazardous walk happened without incident, and as my feet finally touched the other side, I released a relieved sigh, before letting myself fall on my backpack. On the bright side, I did more exercise in two days than I did in my entire existence!... Now that I realise it, that thought alone is quite depressing.

I rose from my previous position, and took the first good look at the castle in front of me. The two large wooden doors that must have stood proudly as the first sight the visitors had of the glorious edifice were now bashed in, the wood partially rotten away and worm-eaten. The ornate door knockers were placed strangely low. ‘These people were significantly smaller than our actual average size.’ I thought as I touched the knocker.

Statues placed on both sides of the entrance seemed to be made out of a material that reminded me of marble. There were now sadly reduced to rubble, the only intact part being the plinth. Writing on said plinth used an alphabet I was completely unfamiliar with. From the looks of it, the written language appeared to be a mix between idiographic and syllabic system, several symbols mixing with smaller, letter-type characters. Taking my phone out, I quickly snapped a picture of it. ‘If no one had heard of this language, then I might have stumbled upon a new civilization!’ I thought excitedly.

Pushing one of the massive doors inwards--an causing it to promptly fall off of its rusted hinges--, I took my first step into the old structure. I looked around, impressed: while the outside seemed unassuming, the inside was surprisingly well preserved. Tables and chairs, all with intricate carvings that could only come from the most skilled craftsman of the time, stood in the middle of the massive room. Some books, their pages yellowed by time, laid on the ground in disarray, far away from the large oak bookcases which used to house them.

Goblets made of various metals shining in the sunlight that filtered through the large holes in the ceiling stood along with plates of the same quality, collecting dust in this forgotten place. I looked with an unexplainable sense of nostalgia at the scene in front of me. ‘What caused these people to abandon this land? Was it an attack? Did they die to some mysterious disease?’ I let my hand mae contact with the cold stone of the largest table, revelling in the cold feeling that was transmitted through it.

From what remained of the ceiling still hung large tapestries, emblazoned with the colors and symbols of their ancient owners. among them, two stood out from the rest: they were the largest ones and stood above the far end of the room, their triangular end a meter away from two massive chairs --‘thrones’ I corrected myself observing the hanging fabric.

The first had an orange base colour, depicting a stylized sunrise behind a mountain range. Gold threads of precious fabric intertwined with the curly forms symbolizing the sunrays, the light-reflecting metal catching the attention of the onlookers--and mine.

The second was contrasting with the first one, as its main theme was that of a waxing crescent of the moon high in the night sky. The same mountain range depiction as the first one this time plunged in darkness. The royal blue fabric used for most of the tapestry was only interrupted by the silver-plated thread coursing through the crescent of the moon.

I stood still, eyes locked on the symbolized night aster, my brain blacking out again. After the windows no boot failure mode was engaged and my mind could focus again, I shook my head. That was the second time in a single day. Hope I didn’t catch something.

I looked at the tapestries again. Something about them seemed familiar...I tilted my head in thought. Suddenly, it clicked, and my eyes widened. It was completely similar to what the castle in the show looked like! Now that I looked around, everything look eerily similar to how the the sister’s castle appeared in the cartoon.

That thought alone was enough to provoke a chain reaction. In a second, all the events that happened in the two days came into memory. The creatures, the castle in the middle of nowhere, the climate change, the compass disruption...The teleportation. It all came crashing down as a wave of nausea hit me. I shook my head in disbelief.

“No, there’s got to be a better explanation…” I said as I walked around aimlessly. “I’d rather believe that a secret government project backfired at my flat and teleported me all the way in the middle of Amazonia than thinking that!” I yelled at myself for thinking such a thing to be possible. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice that my current trajectory was leading towards the wall on the decorative sets of armors standing at attention near it.

Crashing painfully against the smooth stones, I fell on my back, shaken by the sudden impact. Trying to stand up, I didn’t notice the suit wobbling from the vibrations sent by my recent collision, and inevitably fell upon me in a loud clatter of metal. Once the avalanche stopped, I pushed the parts of the armor away from me. I froze as a specific part rolled away on the cold marble ground. It was a helmet with an elongated front.

That alone was not what caused my blood to turn to ice. A long metal horn protruding from the forehead of the equine-shaped helmet. I stood up in shock, looking at the rest of the armor: there were no gauntlets or boots, but four hoof-shaped tubular leggings. The pauldron, instead of a large plate of metal, was instead thinner but longer. I looked at the other suits, and they all followed the first in their forms.

I backed away, my quickening heartbeat becoming painful as I found that breathing was becoming difficult. As if on cue, my wounds began hurting as well, sensation, combined with the rest, became too much for me to handle. I ran. Away from the castle, from the sight that proved my worst fears to be true. I pushed past the doors and went outside, tears brimming in my eyes.

‘If I truly was where I thought I was, then my family…’ I ran, towards the bridge, before tripping on one of the pieces from a nearby statue and falling front first on the grass. ‘I can’t accept it!’ I rose my head, looking at the distant mountains. ‘I refuse…it’s not fair...’A ray of light reflected from on of the farthest mountains blinded me for a second. I squinted at the height to distinguish a shape connected to the side of the peak, several pointed towers emerging from it, a small flow of water falling under the alabaster architecture.

This last sight acted like a trigger, causing me to slump back against the ground. “No…”
Everything clicked in: the unearthly creatures, the failing localization system, the ruins in the middle of the forest. Tears rolled down my cheeks as the barrier broke, opening the gates for my feeling to explode.
I laid there, unable to talk or move, as the remembrance of the caring faces of my parents and sister appeared in my mind. Those faces I would never see again. I could not bear it any longer, and in the clearing I was in, I cried, harder and louder than I ever did in my whole life. All the memories we had shared together became a swirling maelstrom of despair that shook my entire body as powerful wails escaped my throat. I cursed this world and the fate that brought me here as I let the hatred that filled my heart out, only to leave bitterness in the whole it tore.

I lost track of time, my thoughts mixing together in a an incoherent mess, exhausting the last ressources I had stored within. My vision lost focus on this world that seemed greyer and duller, my mind shattering with the emotions running rampant through it.

My eyes closed, and I for once welcomed the sleep, bringing a sweet relief to the pain I felt as I lost consciousness, in the clearing now bathed in the warm midday light.

Not far from there, two shadows soared through the skies, their slitted eyes scanning the forest with otherworldly precision for anything out of the ordinary. The sleeping human went completely unnoticed as something in a specific meadow caught their attention.

“What is it?” The first shadow spoke.

“I have no idea,” the second replied “but we need to report it to the rest of the team”.

Chapter 3 - Let's go on an adventure !!!

I stirred from my dreamless slumber, sensations slowly greeting me back as my eyes fluttered open. Vibrant green vegetation surrounded me as I rose to a sitting position, gathering the slightly fuzzy thoughts from yesterday. My mind seemed much clearer and my emotions were back in check. I got up, dusting myself a bit and started to walk back towards the castle.

The way back was much calmer, the daylight bringing back the songs of the birds and the sounds of the diurnal animals. The whole environment seemed completely different during the day, almost giving the forest an inviting aspect.

My thoughts, however, were far away from here. I knew that I could not go back home, and that I would probably never see my family face to face ever again, no matter how much my heart ached.

I looked at the phone in my pocket. My only way to speak to those I hold dear. The only link to the world I was born in. Those thoughts brought another terrible realization that made me stop from sheer shock as I pondered the gravity if the question I asked myself. “Mom, Dad and Kate…How could I bring myself to tell them what I painfully discovered not ten hours ago?

With a sigh, I sat on a nearby stump. Maybe it would be better if I simply refrained from contacting them again… They would think I was eaten by something, or that I died some way or another.

The cowardly idea was thankfully interrupted by the unexpected ringing of my device. Surprised, I saw Kate’s number written on the liquid crystal screen. Shit! I forgot to turn it off last night.

The ringing sound resumed, reminding me of my previous dilemma. Against my better judgment, I answered the call, pressing the phone against my ear.

“Hello, Kate?”

“What the fuck Peter?!” she nearly blew my ears off. "What is wrong with you?! Do you know how much Mom and Dad were worried when you didn't call this morning?! Do you know that we had to constantly calm mom so she would not call the cops and the army to send a rescue mission to everywhere?!" I was speechless by the sheer-but deserved- vocal agression. I heard some panting noises through the phone, Kate having no doubt to regain some of the precious oxygen to breath again.

"Kate, I-"

"Shut up!" she started anew. "You careless bastard! You had us worried sick back here! They...they..." She started to fumble for words.

“Do you know how much you worried me?" she said, sniffling a bit at the end."When you didn't call this morning, I thought...I just...I...." She choked on the last word, unable to finish the sentence. I felt my heart ache as I realized how much of an ass I just was. I complained about me being alone, but I never did think about their reaction about all this. I smiled softly. At least, I could tell them I was okay now.

“No, nothing. Everything’s alrigh—“ I stopped, exhaling heavily. “No, everything’s not alright.” My hesitation was immediately picked up by my sister, as she voiced her growing concern.

“Peter, what happened?”

I sighed. There was no going back now. “Could you tell Mom and Dad to gather around...” I looked at my watch “around three? I think they’ll need to hear it too.” Nothing could be heard from the other side, which was rather scary knowing Kate's explosive temperament.

"Pete, I don't know what happened, but...Please, tell me that you're okay. You know you could tell me if something was wrong, right?" She pressed.

"Of course, sis, I know. I just...I think what I'm about to say should be heard by everyone. Please, I'll tell you everything. Just give me time." Once again silence greeted my ears as my sister pondered what to do. After what flet like an eternity, here voice filtered through the phone once again.

“Okay, see you then.” She hung the phone, leaving me to my thoughts. I put the phone back in my pocket, careful to turn it off this time, then started to walk back to my house.

It took less than two hours to get back, the white concrete walls quite noticeable in the middle of the clearing. I looked at the building that would probably become my house for the foreseeable future. Time to go to work, I guess. I unpacked the panels, the couple of wires to connect them together and disposed them on the roof. Once they were all in place, I connected the wires to the nearby electrical outlet on the side.

I climbed down, went inside, silently praying for a miracle to happen as I flipped the light switch on, and looked expectantly towards the light bulbs in the living room. I did not have to wait: the room’s luminosity rose as the center of each lamp shone with a smooth orange light, slowly increasing in intensity as time went on. I silently cheered as one by one, each machine in the kitchen was brought to life. A light humming sound started to fill the room as the refrigerator started.

Of course, only two or three devices could function with the energy my panels were providing, so before heading to my room, I went to disconnect the fridge when I nearly tripped on a fallen chair. Curious, I put it back up, not remembering to have made it fall in the first place. Huh, Weird.

I could not help but feel anxious at the thought of having the power back, as it also meant the moment to tell my parents the truth was getting near. I was nearly hoping that the computer was broken when I got into my room.

Fate however had another idea, and the soon the lights of the imposing black device flickered to life, followed by the screen proudly displaying its Windows logo. Surprisingly, it was one of the first times where my computer did not need to do any update or check the core’s integrity, which would have been very welcomed today, pushing the uncomfortable moment further away.

The loading screen soon disappeared, replaced by the typical light-blue windows seven wallpaper. I waited for a few minutes, as the computer finished loading all the programs need for my desktop.

I looked as the update manager quickly downloaded some minor update, as I—

I stopped my musings and looked at the black and green dialogue box showing the status of the download with wide eyes. ‘How do I even have internet here?! I’m on another planet, possibly in another universe for all I know, I could not even be on the same plane of existence?!’
I looked at the internet icon more closely. ‘And I’m at 200 Mbytes per second?! I’ve never been able to go past 80 in my whole life!!

Deciding to let it be, I focused on the dreaded blue and white Skype icon before double-clicking on it. Once in the menu, I scrolled down my contact list, coming to a stop when the familiar pseudo ‘Home’ appeared on my screen. I am not proud of it, but upon seeing the name written on the specific contact, I had been tempted to shut Skype and pretend not to be here. The idea of confronting them and looking at their face when I would reveal the news was a terrifying prospect.

Fate, being the same asshole as he was before, decided otherwise, resulting in an incoming call from those I was afraid to talk to.
“…Fuck.”

As expected, upon hearing the news, my parents and sister were extremely perturbed, the worst being my mom, who disappeared from the video conference, but could still be heard crying from afar.

After a bit of talking—and calming the poor nerves of mom—we were able to go down to the more pressing matters.

“From what I gathered yesterday, there was a castle on the mountain, which was the obvious sign that other intelligent beings—hopefully friendly, herbivorous ponies—would exist here. However, it is at least 20 kilometers away from here, which would represent quite the travel. I also sighted another one, which was in ruins.” I said, remembering the different landmarks I saw.

“Do you think this ruin could prove interesting?” asked Dad, quick to refocus on the new task. I shook my head. If my memory was good, there was nothing that could help me survive in those ruins. No food nor water, no weapons…But it had books, and books are knowledge. And knowledge is power. If I could decipher the local writing—which was unlikely—I could maybe learn more about the forest and have more chance at surviving in this world.

“I don’t think so, but I will be able to learn some more about my surroundings and I think that’s exactly what I need right now: to be able to prepare and act instead of reacting to events.” My dad nodded, as did my sister. My mother came back in the camera’s focus.

“I think that I’ll be going tomorrow, and will reside at the castle for a full day. I will try to call you every day from now on. Is that okay with you?” I asked, giving them time to reflect on the information I just said. My dad nodded.

“I agree. You simply can’t stay here, waiting for something to happen.”

My eyes fell on my mother, who was surprisingly warmly smiling despite the drying tears on her cheeks. She nodded to her husband, who moved away so she could properly face me.

“Peter” she started, love radiating from her demeanor, “I know those last hours must have been very exerting on you. I know they were for us. But know that: you are not alone. No matter the distance, no matter the predicament, you have a family that loves you. Don’t ever forget that. Alright?” I could only nod, my throat being too tight at the moment to allow any answer.

“If you ever need us, never hesitate to call. We will be here, at home. Okay?” I nodded again. She smiled to me even brighter than before.

"I know living here will be difficult. Please, Peter, no mater what happens, promise me to never let yourself down. I know it will be hard, but know that we will always be there for you." I nodded.

“I shall, mom.” I choked. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The call ended.

I do not know how long I stayed on my chair, staring at my computer screen and mulling over what happened ever since my arrival here and what my plans for the future were.

This world would most certainly become my tomb, as I had currently no way to go back. Even though I could still contact my family, I could not allow myself to spend time talking to them. As much as it pained me to admit it, I needed to move on. Wallowing in self-pity would do me no good. I looked one more time at the blue desktop screen, before eventually standing up and walking away. As I walked out of my room, I felt somehow much lighter than I was before, as if a weight had suddenly been lifted from my shoulders.

I walked into the living room, sat on the sofa, and took a pen and a sheet of paper from a nearby block, and started writing down my ideas.
‘Okay,’ I thought. ‘If I want to survive out there, I first need to make sure my house is fully operational.’ I then proceeded to check every single part of my new improvised HQ, beginning with the electrical devices. All in all, everything seemed functional.

I began looking in the other rooms before discovering a very important problem, along with the feeling of my bladder asking for immediate relief: my toilets were not connected to any water pipeline anymore, which meant that if I had to go, I would need to use part of the water I collected in order to use the amenity. But then, if I sacrificed water for the WCs, I would not have enough to wash myself up the following morning.

I shrugged. I would have to bathe in the river, like our ancestors used to do.

I resumed the checking process of my base of operations, which took me the rest of the day. The last rays of the sun were bathing the living room in a melancholic orange, as I checked the hour on my watch. Hmm… 6.35 pm. The sunset is a bit early here, even more for summer. I wonder if the seasons here were any different from the ones back home.

I paused in my work to look at the already rising white orb in the darkening evening. Contrarily to the one orbiting around the Earth, damaged and scarred by the multiple collisions with numerous asteroids, this one was completely devoid of them, offering its pure white surface for anyone to see.

A feeling of calmness and peace washed over me as I looked at the celestial body which continued rising higher in the sky. This pleasant feeling did not last long, soon interrupted by a loud rumble. Looking for the source of the perturbation, I realized it was in fact my stomach.
“Well, I did walk a lot today.” I remarked with a chuckle. I walked over and opened the fridge. Searching in the frozen wasteland, I settled on a few slices of pizzas I ate some time ago. Nodding to myself, I took the dish put it in the microwave, setting the timer to two minutes.

While the food was pre-heating, I decided to prepare my water for the night. I filled one bottle that I had placed near my bed, while I put the rest in the fridge. I could use it for at least two nights if I rationed myself before I would need to fill it once more.

Eventually, the microwave stopped, and taking the still fuming dish with me, I set myself on the living room’s table and ate away. Food too would become a problem in the future, should I fail to find a decent source of either fruit or meat in the next few days. I also had the possibility to go exploring the castle ruins in hopes of finding some map, or even some armor or weaponry. Considering the limited amount of bolts and the currents inhabitants of the surrounding woods, I thought the latter option was certainly not overkill.

I could also try to find my way out of the woods and contact the locals. This last option was risky on many levels: one, I did not know how far the forest stretched, and was more likely to get lost in the wooden maze rather than actually getting out of it. And in the case I succeeded, how could I be sure that the indigenous population would welcome me? For all I knew, they were going to chase me down, believing I was some kind of monster, the episode in which Zecora first appeared was proof enough of the ponies’ xenophobic tendencies.

For now, finding food was definitely my priority. I finished my meal, put the plate in the sink, and headed back to my room. After all I had been through during the last two days, the perspective of having a good night’s sleep was heavenly right now.

Slumber took me nearly as soon as my head hit the pillow, my thoughts drifting towards another plane of existence.

The trees were flashing past me as I ran through the woods. I hoped that if I maintained my current speed, I still had a chance to escape and that slowing down would result in my immediate death, the ominous shadow behind me getting closer each passing second. I had no weapons to defend myself, no apparent place to hide. The only hope I had to escape was to run faster than my unknown aggressor.

My heartbeat was slowly eclipsing all other sounds as more blood was being pumped in my veins. My limbs were screaming for a break, my muscles on the verge of rupture as I pushed myself to go faster, the thing chasing me now mere feet away from me.

I could hear the hoarse breathing clearer, my future and the woods darkening around me. Roots and branches were growing twisted, the canopy becoming thicker as I ran, the shadow behind spreading around me and to extend to my sides.

I was beginning to think I might as well stop and surrender to my pursuer when voices started to be heard in the distance. I could not understand what they were saying, however, the tone and pitches were eerily familiar.

I ran towards the voices, only to find myself in a clearing, beneath the smooth glow of the moon. In the middle of it stood my father, mother and sister, all of them smiling at me, as if nothing were wrong, completely unaware of the danger roaming in these woods.

Still running from the shadows, I tried to yell at them, to warn them about the thing chasing after me. My attempts were met with silence as I found myself unable to speak. My desperation growing, I ran faster towards them, my eyes moistening from the pain of my aching muscles.
As I was about to reach them, a flash of light coming from a nearby mountain blinded me, forcing me to shield me eyes from the sudden aggression. When my eyes could open again, I looked at the mountain where the alabaster castle tower imperiously just like the day I first saw it, its golden cupolas reaching towards the skies.

“No…” The sight of the castle somehow brought a terrible feeling of dread, as I turned to see were my family was, only to see wild grass and flowers.

I ran towards the now empty spot, trying to grasp them, looking for something that obviously was not there. Nothing… Just like a mirage, they had disappeared, and would never come back. A tear rolled down my cheek. I had lost them…

The breathing reappeared, albeit much louder than before.

“Alone…” The voice whispered, the world darkening around me at an alarming speed. I ran away from the whispers, hoping to get away from it all.

“You cannot flee…You cannot escape…” The voice insisted, echoing in the forest, emphasizing each word and causing them to resonate as a sledgehammer in my mind. I redoubled my efforts, the voice laughing at my own distress.

“You will die here… Alone…” The words echoed. I closed my eyes as I ran faster, branches slapping against my face, leaving hot burning marks on my cheeks.

“Alone…” The voice ranted, unrelentingly pursuing me.

I arrived in another clearing, much more familiar this time. The box-shaped concrete house standing in the middle of it looked like a beacon of sanity in a world of madness. I ran inside, slammed the door shut, and locked it with a strength and speed I did not know I had in me.

I slumped against the wooden frame, the voice from before now completely silent. My heartbeat was still pounding painfully as the image of the smiling faces of my parents and my sister refused to leave my mind’s eye. I walked to my bedroom, wanting nothing more than to lie down and let slumber take over, eventually washing the horrible events away.

Sleep however eluded me; turning in my bed, I tried to empty my head of thoughts, but to not avail: the words of the shadowy being still echoed in my head. Moving around, I finally settled in lying on my back, looking at the white ceiling.

My eyes wandered for a bit, suddenly noticing a small crack in the structure above me that seemed quite recent. Directing my gaze on another part of the ceiling, I spotted another crack. Surprised, I looked back at the first one, which seemed to have gained a few inches. I shook my head. ‘Probably the lack of sleep.’ It would also explain the visions I had earlier and the chase part. Could it all be my imagination? A small noise brought my attention to my desk, the sound apparently coming from my computer, which for some reason was still on.

Grumbling, I walked up to my desk, and clicked on the shut down option. Playing its little jingle, windows began to close the desktop and the programs in it, only to stop after a few seconds, a small dialogue box popping up. A program seemed to be actively running, preventing the computer from shutting down. I looked at the rogue element in surprise.

“An mp3 file? Weird, I don’t remember listening to music today. Or is it an update to my media player that forced it open?”

I opened the folder, and played the file in it curious as to what it was, the file being untitled. For a few seconds, no sound no sound being played, and I was about to close the useless file when I heard a faint sound of coming from the speakers.

I turned the volume up and listened at the words, barely at whisper-level at first, but grew clearer as time went on.

“Alone…Alone…Alone….” chanted the speakers with the same voice as before. I jumped in fright from the chair and immediately pressed the power button, stopping the ranting of the speakers, leaving me shaking in the dark.

“It can’t be real… It can’t be real…” I repeated as a mantra as I went back to my bed, nearly falling off of it in the process. I pleaded to whatever deity was listening to bring sleep to me, so I could get away from this all.

My eyes wandered once again, setting one more time on the cracks in the ceiling, trying to find a way to distract my tormented brain. My eyes widened as I saw that the cracks had grown, so much it could not be a simple judging mistake this time. Some of them had joined each other, forming some kind of distorted letters. It read, A, L, O—

I shut my eyes. I did not want to see it! It could not be real, I knew it, yet why did it frighten me so much? I just wanted to sleep, to fade away from this reality, from this nightmare! I just wanted to be left….Alone…

I could not bear it anymore. I screamed as the words from before came back to my mind. I ran away from my house and into the forest.
“Leave me!” I screamed to no one in particular, as the ranting from before came back, chasing after me. I stopped running and came to a halt. I had no will to continue. I turned back to face the darkness.

The whispers stopped.

Something moved in the shadows in front of me. A form appeared from behind a tree, walking towards me. The wait was agonizingly slow, until the creature finally stepped into the light, revealing my opponent.

I immediately recognized its features as my mouth involuntarily opened in horror. It was I, only, much slimmer…No; slim was not strong enough to describe the lack of flesh on the bones, clearly sticking out under the sickly pale skin. Its clothes were partially torn off, its ribs clearly visible under its shirt. The worst part probably was the face, the cheekbones showing as were the orbits, the eyes devoid of life. If its eyes were not looking at me, I would have sworn the being in front of me was dead.

“You cannot escape…” My alter ego said. “You will die here… In this world, forgotten from the ones you love.” He laughed grimly.

“What do you want?!” I cried. “Why do you torment me?!” I screamed at my doppelganger, its stony expression unfazed by my sobbing form. The whispers resumed, joining the ranting of my other self, twirling around me in a bitter breeze, penetrating my soul.

In a desperate move, I threw myself at my clone, channeling in a roar all my hatred about this world that had striped me of my beloved ones. I ran towards him, unleashing a devastating right hook, and was about to connect with his jaw when my face brutally encountered a wooden floor, I heap of covers falling on me.

I looked around blearily, my heart still thumping in my ribcage, as cold sweat formed on my brow. My ears were listening for the smallest sound, looking for any signs of the whispers. When nothing other than the sound of my own breathing could be heard, I finally allowed myself to relax, letting out a breath I did not know I was holding, before slumping against the mass of covers.

I breathlessly chuckled. It was a dream, I assured myself. I looked around, the feeling of dread slowly subsiding as the first rays of dawn filled the room in a warm soothing glow. The comforting smell of my house greeted me, a subtle mix of old paint, dust, and a somewhat musky smell, which all together formed the familiar scent that formed the fertile ground where my memories laid.

I shakily rose, my eyes darting in every direction, still haunted by last night’s very realistic dream. Nothing seemed out of place: the very same room I spent years in, browsing the internet, reading, masturbat—ahem! All in all, everything seemed like it was before, my good old room that accompanied me through my college years.

I walked over the desk, turned the pc on and sat down, waiting for the engine to boot. As I watched the desktop loading its icons, I could not help but to think back to what my dream double told me. I shuddered. I was not alone, mind you. I still had contact with my family, I knew that. However, the nightmare brought forth a preoccupying realization: could I bear living the rest of my life stranded away from my home world without any intelligent physical entity other than me?

I had made up my mind: I needed to check the castle. I was not even interested in visiting the old ruins anymore. I would travel there, even if it killed me. The prospect of meeting another intelligent being was all the motivation I needed.

I explained my plan to my family, which at first strongly advised me against it, but after a few minutes of arguing—and a promise to my mum that I would bring my phone with me on the trip—I managed to convince them.

Ten minutes later, I was out, my backpack safely attached, a small cover for the potentially rough nights, a few bottles of water with a pack of jerky beef—yes, I always have some jerky beef—an apple in said bag, and my trusty crossbow, loaded, a small pouch containing the rest of the bolts on a belt around my waist.

I deeply inhaled the smells hanging in the air while steeping out of my house.

“Ahh…I love the smell of adventure and potential death in the early morning!” I said in an exaggeratedly deep voice, before entering the canopy and stepping in the unknown.

Darkness encompassed me as I progressed through the thick foliage which came low enough to brush against my head periodically, causing me to jump, looking for a potential aggressor, before realizing what caused my surprise and laughing at my own foolishness.

The walk was quite peaceful, small critters sometimes running away from me, terrified of the giant bipedal wereape monster that disturbed the quietness of their home.

The same beautiful lys-like poison joke bushes paved my way. I had at some point decided to cut one and to put it in my jacket pocket, careful to not directly touch it with my bare hands, holding my breath all the while. If this plant was at least as powerful as described in the show, it would not doubt constitute a very useful weapon, If I was not dumb enough to unleash its effects upon me. I sincerely did not want to know what this thing could do on humans.

Now that I thought about it, that may have been the reason why the animals ran away from me, the evilness of the navy blue flower radiating its dark influence so that even the smallest creatures would cower in fear in front of me!

I chuckled at the image of me holding a poison joke bush threateningly towards a group of ponies, said group falling into chaos trying to escape from the mass-murdering plant, suddenly appearing in my brain.

“Stand back and bow to me Equestria! Close your doors, hide your weak, your young and your old, for I, Peter the third, have a chlorophyll-based organism in my hand!” I shouted to no one in particular, continuing on my merry way.

Surprisingly, no creature of nightmare was drawn towards me upon hearing my rather loud declaration of war on Ponykind.

“Strange,” I thought. I would have expected that something would have shown by now… The woods stayed silent, as if to upset me even more. I mean, I was not hoping for something bad to happen. I was not suicidal mind you. But come on, this is an adventure! Not a silly forest trip with grandma to gather plants and mushrooms! I grumbled as I walked on. I encountered monster on my first day here, and now nothing?! This place was enjoying making me crazy, I was sure of it.

The sun had just begun to disappear over the horizon when I decided to set up camp. The skies had taken a red-purple hue, darkness creeping up quickly as the last rays of light illuminated the clouds above the horizon. The temperature had started to lower significantly, humidity from the moss and humus piercing through my clothes and giving a feeling of intense cold. The covers would definitely come in, handy tonight.

I set up a small rudimental detection system by hanging some tin cans with a small cord between some trees. I ate a bit of my rations, and setting my sights on some old stem, laid my head on it, drew the covers over myself and let sleep slowly take my away, the lullaby of the nocturnal insects reminding me of the nights my friends and I used to share when we camped together, years ago.

I was abruptly awoken by the metallic sound of one of my cans ringing to my left. My hand firmly grasped my crossbow as I jumped up, aiming at the approximate location of the noise, ready to unleash hell upon the unsuspecting fool who would dare to attack—

*Chirp?*

“What?” I incredulously stared at the small blue jay that currently stood on the food container, a snail in its beak. As I held still, the bird resumed its work, trying to break open the poor being, using the metal can as a makeshift anvil, causing another series of metallic sounds.

I groaned, putting the crossbow aside as I slumped against the stem. I looked at the time. Two am. The moon was still out, a white-blue light filtering through the thick canopy, giving the whole forest a feeling of untouched serenity. During those early hours, where all creatures were asleep, one could see the woods in their primal, true unaltered beauty.

Time seemed to have stopped; the soft moonlight was reflected in hundreds of ways through the humidity-born water droplets on the leaves, just like millions of mirrors, the whole place being lit up in the most beautiful kind of way.

I walked in a daze, beholding the rare sight displayed in front of me. The night did not seem as cold as before. My mind was at ease, ‘as if I just entered a sanctuary,’ I thought as I strolled through the maze of leaves and trunks. I was so enthralled by the spectacle that I nearly missed the soft cracking sounds ten feet away from me.

Snapping back to reality, I quickly hid behind the nearest tree and waited for the thing that caused the sound to walk away. When the noise grew more distant, I risked looking towards the source of the sound.

For a fraction of second, I saw the shape of a small grayish pony, its light orange mane flicking in response to its movements, casually trotting down the same way I did. Its yellow eyes looked with interest at my empty camp, before resuming its walk, and disappeared behind a bush.
I stood there for about a minute, unable to move as my brain pained to registered what I just witnessed. ‘A…Pony?’ I blinked twice. ‘A pony !’ I mentally screamed as I chased after it.

I ran, my hopes and desperation growing each second, fueling my energy and my speed, my brain ablaze with the possible encounter with another sapient specie. My senses did not even realize the scratches and cuts I was getting from smashing against branches and roots as my mind solely focused on the image I saw, as I sprinted even faster forward.

Soon enough, my stamina was depleted and I was forced to stop, catching my breath as I took in my surroundings.

If my camp’s location looked like a little heaven, the place I was now in was a completely different story. Most of the trees around me were dead, their crooked branches reaching for the black skies, as if pleading for their torment to end, knotted roots intertwining in a sickly embrace. The dirt was covered with a thin layer of grayish moss, climbing to the base of the hollow trunks, where some half-rotten parasite mushrooms hang, nicely completing the dreadful picture in front of me. A small cover of fog, probably oozing from a nearby bog, had started to creep up, rendering the navigation more and more difficult by the second.

“God damn it! How did the pony managed to navigate through this shit?!”

“What does ‘shit’ means?”

“Aaahhh!!”

I jumped at the sudden voice coming from behind me, in a combination of moves that would have brought shame to Bruce Lee’s films, I quickly turned around to find myself face to face with a gray filly, staring at me with mirthful eyes.

“Wow, you have the same voice as my mom when she’s scared!” The little piece of concentrated diabetes giggled, earning a frown from me.

“Hey” I objected, “I wasn’t scare—ok, maybe a little.” I admitted, looking at the young pony as she smiled at me.

“What are you mister?” She asked in a little voice, observing me with wide curious eyes. “I never saw anything like you in my entire life!” She jumped around me, exited to have found a new oddity in the forest.

I chuckled at the energetic foal. I sat on a nearby boulder and proceeded to tell her of my species, a bit of my world and how I was brought here. When I looked back up to the filly, I saw her staring at me with a sad compassionate smile. She came up to me and patted me on the knee.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you. Being ripped from your family…” She started, but was interrupted as something rustled in the bushes nearby. I instantaneously sat up and took a defensive stance, placing myself between the potential threat and the filly.

The bushes soon split, revealing… another pony? I lowered my guard as the new equine approached me cautiously, its light gray fur and black mane perfectly mending with the forest around us. He was much taller and seemed much older than the filly. ‘An adult maybe?’ It was hard to tell, considering they all looked like cute little plushies from my point of view.

After a few seconds, the pony smiled brightly at me, vaguely reminding me Pinkie Pie, before extending his hoof at me.

“Hello, my mane is Grayhoof!” The pony exclaimed, before stepping aside, and motioning towards a mass of fog, which had started to dissipate, only to reveal a village nestled in a small clearing in the woods.

“And welcome to Sunny Town!”

Chapter 4 - Let me tell you the story of the _

I could only stare at the village as my brain desperately tried to find a logical explanation, before settling for a, “Fuck it, I’m outta here.”

“Wha … bu-but, the village … I … How?” I asked in a delicate Shakespearian style, dumbly motioning towards the settlement with my hands. The pony looked at me, then at the small town, before letting out an ‘ah!’ of understanding, rushing towards a bush and unentangled something from it.

Looking closely, I saw that it was a wooden picket with a panel of the same material neatly nailed on it. A sign? The wooden surface was covered in moss; one could read the name ‘Sunny town’ carved in faded golden letters on its surface.

“I forgot to clean around a bit, sorry,” Grayhoof bashfully said before gently nudging me with his muzzle. “We don’t get many visitors here, you know.”

“Come on, let me show you around a bit! Or …. would you prefer to stay here?” he asked, looking at me for confirmation. I nodded, and began following him, still unsure about all ... wait a minute…

“Wait!” I warned, turning around, looking at the spot the filly occupied not two minutes ago. Grayhoof stopped in his tracks and looked at me, confused as he tilted his head to the side.

“What is it? Is there something wrong?” I looked at the grayish stallion.

“I-I saw- ...There!” I pointed at the old stump. “There was a pony! Right there!” I looked at Grayhoof. “I mean there was another pony, standing right here!” I rushed back to it, frantically looking around. “We must find her before something happens to her!”

“Wait, hold on! Another pony?!” he asked, “what did she look like? I don’t think anypony ventured out of the village, but better safe than sorry.”

“Well,” I started, “she was, about … half as tall as you,” I pointed at him while gesturing at his legs. “She had gray fur, a bit lighter than yours, yellow cloudy eyes, and a small, shrilly voice. Do you know of her?” I asked, urgency seeping into my tone.

The pony stayed silent, his face becoming an unreadable mask for a few seconds, his eyes staring into the nothingness as in deep thought. Finally, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Sorry, I don’t remember seeing such a pony recently at all.” He turned back, and started to walk away, “ you know, a lot of things can be mistaken for something else with this fog, even more at night. Are you sure of what you saw?”

I stayed silent. I couldn’t have dreamt of our conversation, did I? I looked back at my improvised guide, and caught him looking at the stump… smiling?

“Anyway!” Grayhoof exclaimed, snapping me out of my musings, “Let’s go! Let me show you around and to introduce you to our little hamlet!” he cheered while marching forward.

I looked one more time towards the forest before following him while trying to wrap my head around all of this. Could she have been nothing more than a delusion created by my mind?

We walked on a small dirt path, which quickly changed to a smooth paved road, leading to maybe ten or so small cobblestone houses. Each one had a variety of decorations hanging from the borders of their roofs: be it lamps, small colored flags, or simply carved wooden sculptures on the sides.

The stones that composed the habitations seemed to be fairly recent, as no marks or blackening had happened on them. The rooftops were covered in slates, which would indicate an ocean nearby, considering the origins of the rock. That, or they had commercial relations with other towns.

As we walked further in I noticed something weird in the sky above us. I had looked earlier at the time, and right now, it should be around three and a half in the morning, yet no stars could be seen along with the moon. Low clouds were covering the entirety of the settlement, obscuring the skies even further.

The smells of burning firewood soon greeted us as we arrived at the outskirts of the town. The odor of the dried grass and the night air mixed in a very relaxing scent, which reminded me of the countryside I used to go to when I was on vacation.

I looked at my improvised guide as we toured around the village. His head was bobbing left and right as he hummed a song I did not recognise, smiling all the while. His black mane seemed slightly unkempt, some strands of hair standing out, giving him some sort of lunatic look, which was nicely completed by his carefree attitude.

We soon arrived at a large and well decorated stand which was filled to the brim with pastries, sweets, drinks and other sugar-based goods. A punch bowl was hanging from a large wooden pole, which also served as an attach point for a number a small colorful lamps garlands, which were the only light sources in the village.

“Are we celebrating something?” I asked my guide, who chuckled good naturedly.

“Why, do we need a reason to be happy?” he asked me.

“Uh … I suppose not?” I answered, a bit at a loss for words. ‘Did those ponies organize a full fledged party just for the sake of it?! This place is freaking ElDorado!’ I thought while following Grayhoof towards a group of villagers that had gathered near the table and whose attention was now entirely focused on me.

“Fellas!” he hollered, “look at who I brought here!” The group quickly joined us, rushing and swarming around me and observing my form in unconcealed awe. The ponies looked at me, walking around to take my humanness, I guess. It gave me time to look at the assembled, colorful equines. Some of them seemed wary of my appearance, not that I could blame them. I would freak out if some giant decided to come to my place. Now that I looked at them, I was at least one meter taller than most of them.

Thankfully most of them were simply curious, if not outright welcoming, as they all greeted me in one indiscernible happy exclamation. Soon enough I found myself the target of a hundred questions as the pastel ponies pressed against me from all sides.

“What are you?”

“Where are you from?”

“Do you like schneeballen?”

“You’re so tall!”

“Folks, folks!” my guide and savior arrived and gently separated the ponies from me. “I know you’re all eager to meet this traveler, but, please, show him some personal space,” I chuckled nervously at that.

“It’s okay, I was just a bit surprised is all,” I said, putting my hands up to reassure the ponies around me. A mare came up to me, her fur and her poofy mane both a vibrant green, her eyes the very image of liveliness and curiosity.

“Hi! I’m Three Leaf!” she excitedly said while bouncing up and down in a perfect Pinkie Pie manner before she extended a foreleg towards me. “What’s your name, sir?” asked the carbon copy of our favorite cupcake loving pony.

“Pleased to meet you, Three Leaf. My name is Peter,” I shook her hoof, the hard surface giving an alien feeling when I grasped it. There was no heat coming from the equine appendage, which was surprising since the flesh was mere inches under the hard keratin covering.

As I pondered the potential thermal regulation problems of this pony, another one, a stallion this time, decided to approach me. He had a brown coat, orange mane and tail with a large smile etched on his face, pretty much like the rest of the ponies here.

“Well, a pleasure to meetcha for sure!” he said, giving my hand of brofist. Should I say brohoof? Oh well. “I certainly never saw something looking quite remotely like you. Are you from around here?” he asked the question which was obviously on everypony’s mind as all the ponies nodded in agreement.

“Well,” I started before stopping to rethink my answer. Should I have told them I came from a completely different universe, they would probably think of me as a demented individual. “I come from very far south, and was heading up towards the town of Canterlot in hopes of finding some documentations,” I lied.

“Canter-what?” the pony asked me, genuinely surprised by the name I just gave. What? Isn’t canterlot supposed to be Equestria’s capital city? Maybe it was named differently in this world.

“Uh… A castle on the flank of a mountain, home to the princesses Celestia and Luna?” I questioned. I saw only confusion written on the faces of the audience. I was about to question further when Grayhoof intervened.

“Forgive us, but in Sunny Town the ponies rarely go outside, and the knowledge we have of the outside world is rather … erm … thin,” he admitted, smiling apologetically. “ We have lived here in autarky for several generations. Our fathers and forefathers never judged useful to venture out, since we have everything we needed here.”

To demonstrate, Grayhoof pointed at two fields which were growing several varieties of crops. “The first and most important part of what we eat is produced from the wheat that is planted there.”

He then moved around to expose an orchard, “the fruits are grown on our trees and all the dairy products are replaced by soja based milk and nuts in our recipes.” I noded at that; I knew living in self-sufficiency was hard, and to maintain it for several generations… These ponies were good at what they did, that’s for sure.

Now that I got a good look at them, I remarked that all of them seemed to be Earth ponies, which might have explained their knack for surviving with what their agriculture produced. Even stranger, none of them seemed to have a cutie mark.

All of them seemed to be adults, yet none of them had a cutie mark? Or maybe they just didn’t have any special talents. Weird. I could not bring myself to ask them why. From what I saw in the show, having a cutie mark was one of the most important events in the life of a pony, and asking about their lack of it may be perceived as an insult.

“From what I can see, you and your friends form the ideal community,” I remarked, earning a chuckle from the Grayhoof.

“Indeed. It is a real pleasure to see all those ponies rejoice and party without having to worry about the taxes, other countries and all the possible complex political interactions a ‘normal town’ would usually have.” I nodded at his words.

I heard hoofsteps and looked back to see the same brown pony arrive from behind me.
“Hey Pete,” he started “You mentioned you traveled, is that right?” I nodded. “Why not stay with us tonight? We have spare beds, and I am sure the inside of a house would certainly be better than sleeping outside,” he added. I was surprised by the very generous offer the stallion made. I mean, try to find people who would willingly offer shelter to people they only met.

“The name’s Gladstone by the way,” he said with a shake of my hand. “I would love to hear more about your story. It’s not everyday that we see creatures like you around here.” I nodded and let him walk back to the festivities.

“Well, I think that-” I began, only for a nocturnal bird of prey to screech, effectively reminding me of the time.

“Oh, right, I need to go back. I completely forgot,” I said while turning towards the entrance.

“What? Why would you want to leave?” Grayhoof asked as he walked beside me, trying to block my path.

“I need to collect my bag. I left it back there, with my rations and … well, pretty much everything I have. I need to get them now!” I said, turning to my guide. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back, It will just take me a few minutes,” I said before patting him on the head.

That seemed to calm him down as he visibly relaxed while a smile formed on his lips and he nodded.

“Okay then, I’ll be waiting!” he added as I was leaving the limits of the village.

As suspected, it took me no more than fifteen minutes to go back to my camp. I spotted the bag, and in a swift motion, put the straps around my shoulders. After gathering the cans and the string used for the detection system-I was not going to begin the human pollution on a world that seemed devoid of it-I walked back the foggy road towards Sunny Town.

I quickly checked the remaining bolts in my pouch. Two left. ‘God dammit! I forgot to gather the one I used on the wendigo!’ I fumed as I made my way towards the hamlet once again.

The way back was much easier than the first time as part of the fog had already dissipated. Soon enough I was in sight of the town which had the same ponies waiting near the sign, of which were looking expectantly towards the entrance. ‘Were they waiting for me to come back?’

When they saw me, they all cheered and surrounded me before leading me back to the table which had numerous pastries on it. Looking at the cakes and other baked goods I realized, with a rumbling in my stomach, that I hadn’t eaten in the last eight hours.

After asking for one, which was met with an enthusiastic nod, I took the nearest cupcake-a blue and red striped one-and took a bite of it. The taste of cinnamon instantly assaulted my taste buds, soon followed by the soothing vanilla, and a bit of citrus, which altogether formed a delicate piece of heaven, only to be followed by more as I started to devour the sweet treat.

When I was done with the pastry, I looked up at the ponies who had offered me shelter for the time being.

“I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality,” I said, giving all of them an appreciative nod. I looked around. The gray pony from before walked up to me.

“I know you already had arrangements for sleeping tonight, considering you probably didn’t go on a trip unprepared, but you can have a bed if you want.”

“No thank you, I wanted to go camping tonight. By the way, you’ve done more than enough for me already. I’ll just finish my night under the stars.” I walked back but was interrupted by a blood-freezing scream in the distance. I slowly turned towards the still smiling Grayhoof.

“Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll just take you up on that offer,” he nodded to me.

“Very well. One of the spare beds is in Three Leaf’s house.” he added, starting to walk towards the mentioned house.

“Wait. You said one of the spare beds. Do you have others?” I asked him.

“Well…” he seemed reluctant to continue the discussion, “we have one other bed, but…”

“What is it? Is there something wrong?”

“Not exactly. You see, one of the locals, a mare named Mitta, lost her foal a few years ago.”

“Oh god, that’s horrible. How did it happen?”

“Well, you see, I was on my way to gather some berries from bushes around town. I know that there is a very good spot near that cliff, up there,” he motioned towards a rocky formation protruding from the ground like an iceberg.

“I walk to the base of the cliff and start picking some strawberries up when I hear a loud scream and a crushing sound coming from not twelve meters from me,” I winced as the picture formed in my mind.

“Why did the foal go all the way up there?” I asked my guide.

“Tartarus if I know. Thing is, from that day on, we barely see her at all. If you’ll ask me, I think the death of her daughter broke her. She’s never been the same since then.”

“I can only image how hard it must be for her. Has anyone tried to cheer her up?”

“Of course we tried!” the gray pony spat, surprising me a bit. “We weren’t gonna let her wither on her own!” his face fell, “she wouldn’t let us in. No matter how hard we tried, no matter how long we waited, she never let us try to help her.” I nodded sympathetically.

“You now know why I wanted to make you sleep in Three Leaf’s house,” he said bitterly. I turned to Grayhoof and put my hand on his back.

“I’m sorry, I … I didn’t know,” he stopped walking and looked at me, smiling a bit.

“I know, forgive me for yelling at you. It’s just … I would like for our community to live happily together.” We continued to walk until, suddenly, an idea struck me. I stopped, confusing the pony.

“I understand. Thanks again for letting me stay the night,” anything is better than sleeping in the forest; waiting for the first predator to come bite my buttocks.

“Think nothing of it. It’s always a pleasure to meet new faces, and everypony’s always glad to land a hoof to ponies, or any creature in need,” he smiled at me, before going back to the celebration, leaving me in front of what i assumed was Three Leaf’s porch.

I knocked on the door, and upon receiving no answer, I concluded that Three Leaf wasn’t home. I turned back and started walking to the party.

As I neared the corner, I was felt a tug on my shirt. I thought it was stuck somewhere on the wall, and was about to pull when I was violently pulled back, making me fall on my back. As I regained my bearings, I saw something was approaching my face.

I was startled and crawled away from the thing, desperately trying to distance myself from the … pony? It looked like one of the others, save for its red unkempt mane and its white coat, which had turned grey from the dirt and dust.

“Who are-” I didn’t have time to finish my sentence as the mare-I supposed it was female considering its slender body, if somewhat a bit malnourished-ran up to me and stuff her hoof in my mouth.

“What are you doing here?!” she said in a barely hushed voice. If I was not so surprised by this gesture, I probably would have died from thinking of all the dirty streets and floors her hoof walked on, which was now in my mouth. I pulled her hoof away so I could at least answer.

“What do you mean? I’m staying here for the night,” she looked at me with a look of pure horror plastered on her face.

“Oh no,” she looked at me and then towards the woods. “Go away, Leave!” she yelled at me before she started to walk away.

“Wait! Why should I-”

“Ask them about Ruby! Ask them about the filly!” her voice echoed before she disappeared behind a house.

I stood there, a bit unsure as to what to do after this outburst. That pony seemed completely nuts. I walked back towards the party, instantly noticing the green pony. As I walked towards her our eyes met and she immediately began bouncing towards me.

“Pete! Pete! Hey Pete! Petepetepetepetepete!” she vibrated in front of me as I laughed at her antics.

“Yes?” I asked, watching the green Pinkie Pie’s smile grow.

“Guess what?” she asked.

“I don’t know wh-” I was cut by the intrusive insertion of a sugary treat in my mouth. I coughed as some bits of the cake had lodged themselves down my windpipe.

“I baked you a cake! Are you happy? Huh? Huh?” she bounced up and down, obviously waiting for my answer as I tried to clear my throat of the delicious intruder.

“Yeah, It’s … It’s very good. I-” I couldn’t say anything else as she happily trotted away from me, completely ignoring my input. I shrugged, and looked at Grayhoof, pointing at the Green ponified ball of energy. He shook his head, chuckling at the antics of the local eccentric.

“She’s not bad once you get to know her, you know?” he said as he closed the gap between us.

“I know, it’s just… it’s the second time someone physically assaulted me today.” I cringed while thinking back at the hoof in my mouth; the grayish pony laughed at me before going back to the party.

“Oh, and by the way!” I yelled at him, “do you know a pony named Ruby?”

It was as if someone suddenly pressed an off switch. Most of the ponies stopped their conversations and looked at me, their faces unreadable as multiple expressions flashed through. Grayhoof froze and turned to face me with a haunted look on his features.

“Who told you about Ruby?” he asked while eyeing some ponies in the crowd, who in turn winced under his gaze.

“Well, I was walking to meet you guys when some mare pulled me away and started asking me questions, one of them about a pony named Ruby. Do you know who she is?” The ponies visibly relaxed, and Grayhoof approached me.

“Ruby is …-was-the name of the poor foal I talked to you about earlier. Did the pony who asked those question had a red mane?” I nodded. “It probably was Mitta then. As I told you, since the death of her child, she … well, you saw for yourself,” I stayed silent at that. It could explain her erratic behavior. But, the horror she was displaying when I talked to her … was it only a product of her delusional brain? I sighed. Grayhoof must have seen my hesitation, as he walked up to me and patted me on the side.

“Listen, I’m sorry you had to witness that. I know It’s hard for you to see her in that state, but, trust me, we tried everything we could to help her.” he said. I nodded, more to end my inner debate than to the pony beside me.

“How about I show you to room you’ll be staying in for the night?”

“Sleep does sound nice right now,” I said with a smile to Grayhoof.

I woke up to find myself in the middle of the night as only darkness greeted me from the window of my room. I yawned, then looked at the orange glowing numbers displayed on my watch. Eleven AM? The device must have stopped working; there was no way it could be the sun couldn’t have been up by now. Or maybe … Did something bad happen to Celestia? If she existed at all, that is.

I sat up and made my way back to the living room only to find it empty. I knocked on Three Leaf’s door, but no one answered. I opened the door and looked inside only to find the room vacant. She probably went for a walk, or noticed the anomaly with the sky.

I went outside. If everything inside seemed dark, outside was even worse. No stars were out, nor was either one of the two celestial bodies. I walked around town, trying to spot some ponies, or at least find the missing green Pinkie Pie. I looked around, but I couldn’t find any.

The town was very different once the party was over as no lights were on. Without any source of lighting, the village seemed awfully uninviting. The tables were bare, without any decoration on them.

The houses that were previously full of light and life were completely silent which plunged the whole settlement into a deathly silence. Had I not met all those ponies yesterday, I could swear this town was abandoned.

Everything seemed vastly different at night, too. The stones that looked fairly recent now sported marks of use and erosion. The wood was cracked and decayed on certain parts. Some houses even had their roofs caving in. ‘Did something happen while I was away?’ were my thoughts as I continued to walk around while I desperately tried to spot any sign of life in the ghost town.

I knocked on the nearest door, trying to warn the ponies about the absence of sun. I knocked once… twice… no one answered. Did they go somewhere? I was beginning to feel a bit antsy. I tried another house, only to find it empty. I tried another, but, once again, no one came to answer.

A mist was starting to grow which obscured the village even more as the lightless day began to darken somehow at an alarming rate.

“Grayhoof? Three Leaf? Gladstone?” I yelled, putting my hands around my mouth to amplify the sound. “Anyone?” I desperately asked, the only answer being my own question, brought back with the echo.

‘What happened here?’ I ran around the town, desperate to find a single soul in the hamlet. I was about to abandon the idea and go back to my camp when a flicker of light came from an isolated house outside of town. I ran up to it and knocked on the door, which opened as my fist connected with the wooden surface.

“Is anyone there? Hello?” Nobody answered. I walked in, trying to find a clue to explain the disappearance of the villagers.

Upon entering it, a smell a burning wood rushed into my nostrils. I looked up to find the chimney lit up, which was no doubt the light I spotted from afar. Seeing nopony was inside, I walked up to the hearth, trying to warm myself a bit and to wait for the ponies to come back. They would, wouldn’t they?

As I approached there came an odor within the usual smell of wood. It started off weak, but the more I smelled, the more the odor would intensify. I looked at the fire, wondering what kind of material could produce this smell. Using a nearby brand, I moved the logs of wood around, coughing a bit as some ashes were liberated in the process.

As I was going to put the brand back on its stand, one of the logs moved again due to the heat which revealed a small, white wooden stick. Curious, I moved the branch around, progressively uncovering more and more of the wooden object.

The stick seemed to be attached to yet another white one which was much bigger. Pulling strongly enough, I managed to break the object free. My blood turned to ice when my eyes locked on the thing I had in front of me.

The Femur bone was still attached to the pelvis bone, and the sinew linking the two was still melting from the heat, producing the horrid smell that had caught my attention. Both were small, probably from a foal, or …. or … Oh god no … The door behind me opened; I did not look up from the corpse.

“You … you killed her, didn’t you,” I said with venom to the intruder. My accusation was greeted with silence. That asshole doesn’t even bother to try to defend himself. “Why did you do that...Why would you do that to her?!” I screamed. “She … ! You killed a child, you asshole?!” I yelled as hot tears began to blur my vision.

“I had no choice…” the pony behind me answered. The voice was definitely Grayhoof, only slightly more gravely and baritone. I slowly sat up, with my knuckles going white on the brand in my main hand.

“Bullshit! You always have a choice!”

“You do not understand …” Grayhoof said. “She had the mark … she had to leave …” the mark? “She had it on her flank … she was doomed … and she was going to doom us all …”

They … killed this child … because of her cutie mark?

“You …” I turned myself towards the pony...If one could call what I saw a pony. The equine’s grayish coat had turned a deep black, smeared with dirt and caked with blood on numerous spots. Some parts of its skeleton were visible; the flesh covering its ribcage completely gone.
Some strands of fur and skin were hanging on the bones of its barrel and vertebra. Its Orbits were empty, save for a faint red glow coming from the optic nerve.

I took a step back. “G-Grayhoof?” I asked the mutilated pony.

“We had to make her leave… she could not stay here...” the pony continued its ranting, completely oblivious to me. He began to walk towards me with an agonizingly slow gait, his rawboned head swaying from left to right all the while.

“We could not let her spoil the party … ” Suddenly, the pony stopped, and raised its decomposed head at me, the glow in its eye sockets intensifying, bathing my whole body in blood red.

“And we won’t let you spoil it!” Grayhoof exclaimed with a malevolent smile as he walked again towards me with his jaw hanging slightly limp as he did so.

I was petrified, and took several steps back with the intention to put as much distance as I could between the undead pony and me. On the way back, my foot hit some object, which rolled around a bit and surprised me as it stopped on the side. It was a bleach white skull of an equine, barely bigger than my head.

The fear was instantly replaced by hatred as I remembered what happened in this house. The brand firmly held, I walked towards Grayhoof, and when at striking distance, swung at him with all my might, managing to unhinge the zombie’s head off of his body. Both went limp and fell on the floor, unmoving. Killing someone was one thing, but killing a defenseless child is outright horrible.

“You will not escape….” Grayhoof’s voice thundered, echoing several times through the woods. It was at this precise moment that I realized that I had abused my host’s hospitality and prepared to leave this town with utmost celerity.

I ran back to the house I slept in to gather my bag and crossbow, put both over my back, and started a mad dash towards the exit. I couldn’t have dawdled a moment more at the relatively few … ‘zombies’ chasing me soon became droves that kept appearing from behind the houses, or even from the ground itself, skeletal hooves breaking out of the ground around me. I may at some point let out a very manly scream when one missed me by inches.

In my hurry, I forgot that my phone was precariously placed in the external pocket of my vest, and when putting it on, was quickly rewarded with the sight of my device flying out of it, along with the poison joke I collected earlier.

“Shit!” I turned around only to see an entire mob of undead trampling over my device. ‘I can’t go through all these monsters and survive,’ I thought, and was about to abandon my phone when one of the zombies crushed the flower underfoot and continued to rush towards me, before suddenly stopping. It looked at the hoof which made contact with the plant, the concerned appendage had began reddening at an alarming rate, the color gaining on the pony as small vein-like signs began to spread to the rest of its body from the unfortunate limb.

The pony briefly roared in pain, before bursting in an impressive column of fire. The ravenous brazier soon spread to all of its mates, leaving them no chance to escape as the flames latched onto each zombie like a leech. The inferno quickly consumed the entire mob, leaving small calcined carcasses. I looked wordlessly at the spectacle, before remembering the phone.

I quickly grasped the device, which seemed to be still functioning despite a few dark spots and a slightly melted protective shell. I ran out of the nightmarish town, dodging the few ponies that escaped the fiery rapture.

Once I was out of the hamlet, the zombies stopped attacking me. I slowed down, all the while sucking and gasping for air as my lungs screamed for a respite, and looked back at the deathtrap of a village.

The entire town seemed different now. The house were back to what they originally looked like. The lamps had been litten back up, the tables were full of cakes once again, and the sun’s rays were illuminating the whole town once again. It was as if nothing happened to ‘Sunny town’.

The undead ponies had disappeared. In their stead, the same group of ponies I met before were waving at me, smiles plastered on their faces. One of them, a familiar gray-coated pony waved at me, mouthing ‘see you soon’ as he looked at me.

I ran faster towards my old camp’s location, not halting once before I saw the spot again. Once I was there, I walked to the stump that served me as a pillow, I sat on it while looking at the woods around me. From behind a tree, I saw the yellow-eyed pony that I saw prior last night. She timidly walked up to me; her slightly translucent body now obvious in the clear daylight.

Once she was one foot away from me, we looked into each other’s eyes. She looked away from me, and was about to utter an apology when I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her with all the strength and parental love I could muster. She was surprised at first, trying to break from the embrace, but soon reciprocated, putting her snout on my shoulder, her body shaking a bit as she cried.

We stayed like that for an indefinite amount of time, until she eventually let go of me, a smile on her face. I released my hug, letting her go. She nodded at me, before turning towards the village. I wanted to warn her about going back, but found myself unable to.

Ruby looked at me one last time with her sadness now gone, and a smile of true happiness adorning her face. She closed her eyes and disappeared in warm daylight.

I sat up, feeling a bit lighter than before, and began packing up my stuff before resuming my journey to the north with my backpack secured on my shoulders.

Note to self, find some more bomb-I mean, flowers.

Chapter 6 - Time for some more plot !

The Sun was starting to set over the horizon, its golden rays illuminating the trees, their shadows stretching and growing as the star continued its course. Already had the diurnal animals left the open to gather in their nests and homes. Soon, darkness would claim the lands of the living, and, with it, the nocturnal animals would come to take their turn prowling the forest.

The sounds had dimmed to the whispers of the wind, the crackling of the branches. It was a moment where time seemed to have stopped, as if nothing in the world could brake the precious silence that covered the canopy.

“Admit it!” the feminine voice echoed through the twilight.

“There’s nothing to admit. I’m not a Zoidberg, I’m a human!” I answered the pestering pony flying next to me.

“That’s exactly what a Zoidberg would say! We know who you are, though, you’re through!” the thestral began anew. I looked at her pegasus colleague in hopes of salvation, only to face a ‘you’re on your own there’ look as she continued to walk.

“How do I argue against that?! That’s the kind of thing you can’t answer to!”

“I knew it! You finally throw in the towel, Zoidberg!” the bat pony exclaimed triumphantly.

“You know what? You can call whatever you want, I don’t care,” I conceded. “If I try to argue any further, I might have an aneurysm.” Though, as I finished my sentence, I started to realise something.

“By the way, I don’t think we introduced us to each other,” I said, the two ponies stopping in their tracks as the idea sunk in.

“My name is Peter. Nice to meet you.” I extended my hand towards them. The thestral approached me first.

“I’m Nightshade! Nice to meet you, ‘human’,” she said, careful to emphasize the last word as she spoke. The blue pegasus mare was next and came up to me, nodding as she introduced herself.

“My name is Highwind,” she said as she shook my hand, “nice to meet you...I guess, considering you’re technically our prisoner.” Hmm... At least we seem to have the same customs concerning the greetings. ‘I should really start to take notes’ I thought, completely ignoring the uneasy looks of the equines beside me as I pondered the many Nobel prizes I would receive for my work on communication between human and ponies.

“Actually,” I snapped back to reality, looking at my escort. “Just by pure curiosity...do you lock your doors?” This seemed to puzzle the guards before the blue pegasus turned to look at me as if I just won the first place for the Darwin Award nomination.

“Of course we do!” she answered irritatedly. “How would we protect our homes against potential robbers?” I simply nodded in response. Once again they gave me an answer to more than one question that I had. First, they had crime and were not as naive as the ponies depicted in the show. Interesting…

“Mouhahahaha!!!” The midget horses jumped in surprise at my sudden outburst.

“Why would you scream like that? Do you want every monster in this forest to know our position?!” the blue one lashed out at me.

“Sorry, it’s just that sometimes I just have to remind myself that I’m not that good. Oh, and by the way, If there was any monster nearby I think they would have been onto us a long time ago.” I nodded towards Highwind, who glared at me in return.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing at all…I like your fur color you know? Real smooth…Purple mane and tail, blue coat…it’s definitely a color that wouldn’t be noticeable kilometers away…” The ponies looked at each other, realizing the painfully obvious truth.

“Who gave you the permission to go into the forest like that? I mean, have you ever received training in the stealth department?”

“Well, we’re not exactly scou-” Nightshade started before being loudly interrupted by a ‘coughing fit’ from her partner.

“What she meant to say,” cut Highwind, “is that we’re...We’re only beginners. Yeah, Beginners! We’ve only started the second year of our training.” She ended the sentence with a big ‘please believe me’ smile.

“You don’t have the authorization to be here, don’t you?” I deadpanned. The effect was immediate, as both ponies began to sweat profusely, the droplets clearly visible on their fur.

Again, how was that possible? Fur should be absorbing the sweat and other liquids. Or maybe did these creatures had special fibers that had the same ability as bird’s feathers? It may be normal for pegasus who had to work with clouds, hence humidity and/or rain all the time.

God, am I rambling again? I swear, one of these days my overthinking will be my undoing.

What’s that sound? I turned towards the noise, realising the sweaty equines were speaking to me.

“...and I never wanted the pie to end up on the ground! It wasn’t my fault!” babled the downtrodden pegasus. Okay, how much of the conversation had I missed?! The thestral beside her was patting the sniffling pony on her back, muttering apologies to her for some reason.

“Okay. So, basically, you’re not scouts, and you shouldn’t be here right now. Is that right?” I said while taking Highwind in my arms as would a child with a plushie, surprising the teary-eyed mare as I hugged her tightly to my chest.

“Yeah…” Nightshade answered shyly, her left hoof scraping against the ground. “As royal guards, our duty should be to guard the palace of her highness Princess Celestia.” I nodded, the blue pony in my arms trying to wiggle herself free of my grip, but to no avail.

“I might not know a lot about your system, but isn’t the fact of deserting one’s post considered a felony?” I said as I caressed the pegasus’ mane, who immediately stopped thrashing around, a soft moan escaping her lips before she slumped into my arms.

The thestral looked at me, horrified.

“No, of course not! Thankfully, crimes that grave rarely happen within the boundaries of Equestria.” Hmm...at least, there are some common points with the show. I couldn’t believe how easily I could get information out of these ponies. Maybe if I waited long enough, they would reveal me state secrets.

“Um...Peter? Is there something wrong?” Nightshade asked me, casting a worried glance my way.

“I am Hermaeus Mora, daedric god and knower of the unknown. I will soon gather all knowledge of your world and become an invincible being with unmatched power,” I said in an imperious voice, continuing to stroke the fur of my new plushie-pony.

“What?”

“Nothing, nevermind,” I sighed. “So, shall we go now? Or are we waiting for the nearest monster to spot our beautiful blue pegasus here and decide to have us as its next meal?” I said straightening my back slightly.

“Shut up and caress me, you criminal scum.” said the content ball of fur nestled in my arms, who was surprisingly light for her size.

“I wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise, ma’am,” I said, chuckling at the antics of the guard.

We resumed our walk towards the little town, the daylight guiding our path through the woods. Now that I paid more attention, I noticed that the amount of vegetation was beginning to slowly lessen. The space between each tree was growing, and the sunlight finally began to break through the canopies more openly, creating large patches of gold on the grass.

The entire atmosphere of the forest had changed from oppressing to actually welcoming. The scents of grass and pollen were merging with the usual smell of bark and the humid odor of moss, effectively reminding me of the woods my family and I used to got to on Sundays. A smile crept up on my face as I took in the sweet ambiance around.

I moved Highwind slightly to the left as my right hand went in my pocket to pick grab my phone. I completely forgot to call my parents the last two days. I wanted to slap myself so bad right now. Your son is in a hostile environment, promises to call you everyday to tell you he’s doing alright, and suddenly stops giving any sign for more than forty eight hours. Anyone would begin to worry! Knowing my mom, she’s probably already having a panic attack.

I quickly dialed the number of the family’s house, hoping to at least prevent further damage to the nerves of my parents and sister. The pegasus looked curiously at the device I was holding, wondering just what was standing in-between her and her beloved petting.

The ponies nearly jumped when they heard the ringing sound that my phone made while trying to contact its target.

“What happened?” asked a slightly disturbed Highwind, who was now trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the noisy contraption. It’s amazing how much power technology can give someone. I could now clearly see how the Spanish Conquistadors were able to defeat the Aztec.

I shook my head. If humans were to make contact with extraterrestrial beings one day, I dearly hoped for our race that they would be less technologically advanced than us, lest humanity face a brief and spontaneous extinction.

“Peter, what is that?” Highwind pressed, her anxiety increased with my lack of answer, with her eyes locked on the strange black object.

“This?” I said, holding the phone closer to Highwind’s face. She nodded weakly, paddling the air as if to get away from the device. I chuckled. So much for fearless guards.

“This is a device my race uses to contact each other over great distances.” ‘Sadly overused today when people could simply meet outside’ I mentally added. “The ringing sound indicates that the phone is trying to connect to another one.” The ponies ‘ooed’, their fear completely forgotten in the face of this discovery.

“This little box can contact anypony?” Nightshade asked, looking at me with wonder filled eyes.

“Provided that the person or pony you’re trying to call has one, then yes.” Another ‘ohh’ escaped the marvelled equine’s mouth. I silently laughed, nearly missing the ending of the ringing loop.

“Hello?” the familiar voice asked, causing another involuntary jump from the nearby ponies.

“It’s alive! Alive!” The thestral yelled as the pegasus was trying her best to make her head disappear in between her shoulders.

“Mom?” I answered, putting the phone against my right ear.

“Oh god, Peter!?” the anxious voice of my mother replied, before pressing on without giving me the chance to reply.

“Are you alright!? We you hurt by something venomous?!”

“No, don’t worry mom,” I said, trying to lower the blood pressure of my parent. “I’m being escorted to the nearest village to be taken in custody.”

A few seconds passed during which no one said anything, allowing me to reflect on the monumental mistake I just made. I heard the poorly restrained sniggers coming from the pegasus’ mouth as she was trying to hold her laughter in.

“WHAT?!” The phone fell from my hand as all three of us spasmed from the surprise of discovering the true power of my mother’s vocal chords. Letting the slightly upset pegasus go, I crouched to take the device off the ground.

“Mom, wait I can explain…” I started.

“What. Have you. Done.” The terrifyingly slow voice of my beloved mom echoed through my brain as I racked it for the least dangerous answer to give the silent fury on the other end of the phone.

“Well, you see, I had survived a zombie attack in phantom town when I heard two things talking to each other. No wanting to be ambushed, I decided to strike first. Turns out the two creatures I was pointing my crossbow at were guards, and threatening officers is also a crime here. Weird huh?” I explained, chuckling awkwardly at the end, knowing the end would come blazing.

I waited with bated breath as the only sounds coming from the device’s speaker were the shallow breaths of my mother.

“Is it true?” she simply said. I quickly looked at the assembled equines in front of me, and handing the device to the blue mare, I motioned her to talk in the mic incorporated.

“Uhm…Hello, madam?” Highwind said, listening for a few seconds, before nodding.

“Yes, he is with us…Yes…...Yes he is.” She nodded a few more times, her face changing from serious to surprised a few times, making my heart jump each time. After two minutes, she looked up from the phone and signaled for me to pick it up.

Upon crouching, Highwind approached from me, and lowering her head to align her mouth with my ear, whispered the words that caused my pupils to shrink.

“She said that whenever you’re coming home, you’re gonna get it,” She said, causing me to froze in place as blood went as cold as ice in my veins.

Our little group walked on through the forest, the agreeable temperature greeting our bodies as does a friendly embrace.

“I still can’t believe I was able to talk to someone that wasn’t even here with this small weird black rectangle!” the pegasus happily said as she trotted alongside me.

“And I still can’t believe you didn’t let me talk to his mom with it,” pouted the thestral, floating on my right. I sighed.

“Don’t worry. Next time my mother wants to scold me severely through the phone, I swear I will let you take my place anytime,” I said, grumpy from the scene of my mother yelling at me in front of the ponies.

“By the way, how long before we get there?”

“Hm? Oh, not more than ten minutes or so,” Nightshade said happily.

“That’s what you said ten minutes ago,” I pointed out, my eyebrows rising slightly.

“Yeah, but this time I’m really sure!” she said, puffing out her chest before patting a spot on her barrel.

“That’s exactly what you said twenty minutes ago,” her colleague added, snickering as the thestral huffed in frustration.

“All jokes aside, we’ve been walking for a while now. I wonder if we’re any close to civilisation. That, and we haven’t met any twisted animal from the forest in a while. I’m starting to worry a bit, to be frank,” I said before moving a branch that was blocking my field of vision.

“Well, it’s only normal we’d encounter less monsters the further away we get from the center of the forest. This is where…well, we suppose that’s where Nightmare’s influence is strongest,” Highwind said, shivering as she pronounced the name.

I stopped. This couldn’t be correct. Wasn’t the forest’s corruption something that had to do with Discord? I turned towards the pegasus mare.

“Wait, isn’t it Discord’s fault?”

“Who?” I looked at both ponies incredulously. Could it be these ponies had never heard of Discord? No, it couldn’t be right. When Discord arrived, everything got turned upside down. Everyone knew about him. Or was this a timeline where Discord never appeared?

Then how could the Nightmare be still implanted here? Does that mean that the entity had always been in Equestria? Or did the fight with Nightmare Moon already happened and those are the aftermath of the confrontation between the two alicorns?

“Quick, History quiz! Who are the current rulers of Equestria as of now?” I exclaimed, surprise evident on the faces of the two guards yet again. Nightshade recovered faster than her partner.

“Well, if you don’t count the noble houses and ministers, there’s Princess Celestia…” she started. I nodded, looking in the distance while waiting for the others to come. Probably the next one should be-

“That’s it!” she said with a satisfied smile plastered on her face. I swear I heard my neck crack as I slowly turned my head back to look at the unsuspecting ponies.

“That’s it? But what of Luna?” I asked, dreading what was going to come up. I could live in a world without Discord, who is my all time favorite character in this show, but come on! Luna is like the little sister we all had! You can’t just take that away from me, world! Have some damn respect!

“Who’s Luna?” …..Fuck you.

“Oh, no one, I just wanted to see if the name was spread in your country too.” I said, changing the topic. Highwind looked at me strangely.

“You’re asking an awful lot of questions there.” She flew a little too close to my face with a suspicious glint in her eye before all but shouting, “Are you a SPY?” Oh god, not another Rainbow Dash. The world is not ready for this! Also, congrats for noticing after my fourteenth question!

“Well, as you may have noticed, I’m not from around here and I’m at a complete loss about the lay of the land.The more I know, the better.” I saw the intensity from her glare lessen briefly before she went back to the ground.

“Alright, but know that I have my eyes on you.”

“Well, I’m your prisoner. You should have your eyes on me. That, and you and I know the real reason why you should have your eyes on me…” I seductively whispered the last part into her ears. I could see the furious blush forming over the fur. So the fur changes color just like the skin. Interesting function.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?” a red-faced Highwind asked while backing away from me. I smiled evily.

“Oh…you know what I’m talking about, don’tcha?” I said, wiggling my fingers in the air.

“D-don’t approach me! I-I can protect myself…” She said as her back pressed against one of the trees, cutting her only exit. I chuckled.

“No one escapes…” I paused dramatically, my hands stopping in mid-air above her head, “from this!” before suddenly unleashing a torrent of scratches upon her sensitives ears.

“NoooOOoooohoooo…oohhhh…yeah…right here…” the blue pegasus moaned, immediately melting in my hands as I worked my way around the base of her ears, eliciting more satisfied sounds from her. I stopped the scratching, allowing her to regain her footing—hoofing?—and stand back up. She looked at me, the blush still present on her cheeks.

“You’re a horrible creature, you know that?” she scowled at me, although I could sense no anger in the sentence at all. I chuckled good heartedly.

“I know I am. And I love it!” I said, scratching behind the ear of a now very happy thestral. We resumed our march towards the safety of Ponyville —or is it even named that way in this world?—the light noises of hooves and shoes crushing dried leaves and branches building an ambiance as the sun continued its course through the sky.

The afternoon had already begun when the first breeze came to cool the previously humid air. I couldn’t help but feel anxious at the idea of seeing the first alien settlement in the history of mankind. I wondered about their culture, technology and art, among countless other things, as we continued onwards.

Being deep in thought, I missed the sudden appearance of a feral root and inevitably tripped on it which caused my entire body weight to shift from perfect center to headless chicken. I quickly toppled over and fell face first into the dirt.

I rose up, my trimmed beard now more bush-like than ever thanks to the carpet of leaves I landed in.
Soon enough laughter erupted from my companions’ mouths, which only increased exponentially upon seeing the autumnal style of my facial hair.

Their obvious satisfaction at seeing my degraded self did not reach me, as another sight had gathered all my attention. I stood, unmoving, beholding every single aspect of the lands that were displayed in front of me.

Today, if anyone asks me what I think paradise looks like, I would probably have shown them this. Radiant green hills, the fields of some crops in the horizon reflected the light as would pure gold. The small flowers that managed their way through the thickness of the grass added with their pastel colors a small touch of heaven to this already perfect sight.

The only trees that seemed to grow there were either fruit bearing ones, most certainly apples, or beautiful century-old trees, casting large shadows beneath their majestic canopy. On the far west could be spotted a few mountains, their snow-covered top glistening in the early afternoon light.

On the far east stretched the immense Everfree Forest we just got out of, its twisted trees growing towards the meadow as if trying to swallow the whole world in its expansion. A warm feeling was spreading through my chest at the realization that we just gotten out of the accursed place.

In front of me stood the tall, lonely mountain I saw the day of my arrival, the twin golden spires of the alabaster castle towering the rest of the valley. Upon looking at it, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The castle always appeared like a beacon of hope and justice in the show. It was the very place where the princesses lived, a place of incredible influence, radiating its political imprint throughout the world.

This very same building was now in front of me. So why wasn’t I happy when looking at it?

My reverie was abruptly cut short by a small stinging sensation in my chest. Curious as to what was causing this uncomfortable feeling, I pried my shirt off, only to look at a pair a bandages. ‘Oh, of course. I had nearly forgotten about this one’ I thought, undoing the now sticky pieces of gauze, revealing several patches of half healed burn wounds.

“So, Peter? How do you find Equestri-eugh!” Highwind approached me, before stepping back in slight disgust. “What happened to you?!” she asked, morbid curiosity pushing her to look at the wound.

“That’s what I would like to know…” I added as I fumbled through my backpack, quickly unrolling a new gauze band, before applying it over my chest. “But I have to admit…” I rose back to my full height, “this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I said in awe, my hand patting the head of the mare.

“Welcome to Equestria, Peter!” Nightshade said while hovering above me. “Though our first meeting was...a bit awkward, to say the least…” She chuckled a bit, scratching her neck a bit. I couldn’t help but feel anxious at the idea of standing in trial for the first time, and in front of an unknown species I might add. Did they even have the same laws as we do?

“Well, no time like the present I suppose…” I said while walking through the meadow, the smooth tall grass brushing against my pants as I did. The ponies smiled and trotted alongside me.

“Lead the way then,” I said, letting Highwind and Nightshade go forth, soon joining behind, all the while taking in the sights of the alien world.

It took less than ten minutes to reach the entrance of the village. Sure enough, the global form of the little hamlet was quite identical to what the show had depicted us. The main entrance was indeed a small cobblestone bridge, no more than three meters wide. The small river going under it casted small moving waves on the sides of the stone surface, creating a beautiful underwater illusion.

The polished wooden sign at the entrance of the small town indeed read in big brown letters ‘PONYVILLE’, the words etched deep within the panel.

Behind it were what I could best describe as what a six year old thought what a european house was. High stone carved walls, sometimes with the addition of bricks here and there, a protruding balcony on most. Wood beams were crossing on some walls, and thatch roofs were a staple among them all.

Also, some deranged engineer must have decided to overthrow the architect in charge of the design, as all houses had most of their windows and doorways tinted pink. Who thought having pink tinted windows in your house was okay?! Seriously, most of the daylight in a house comes from the windows. Do ponies find living in a pink room fun? Though maybe prolonged exposure to a pink colored room might cause brain damage, which would explain some of the lack of forethought and general incoherences in ponies behavior.

As expected by this hour of the day, a lot of ponies were out, meeting with friends who were going to shops or simply lollygagging. ‘Where are the skyrim guards when you need them?’ I thought, observing the human-like behavior of those equines going about their daily lives.

Each of them had a different coat and mane color, going from the pale and almost normal brown grayish fur to the flashy retina-melting neon green or blue. Some even had small accessories, such as saddlebags, hats, sunglasses or small jewelry.

Again, as in the show, nopony seemed to be bothered by the fact no one wore clothing, and were going completely naked outside. Was it a social norm, that ponies had to be naked or something? And when ponies had to take an interview for a job, were they forced to wear clothing? Or was nudity an absolute necessity when talking to your future employer?

The sounds of hooves clicking on the paved way suddenly stopped, some ponies suddenly taking notice of the giant among them, their already big colorful eyes widening as they set on me. I felt my anxiousness level spiking as dozens of equines began to form a crowd all around me, nearly all of them whispering amongst themselves, some going as far as to try prodding me. Thankfully for me and my personal space, Highwind decided to act by stepping in front of me and walking towards the ponies assembled.

“Royal Guard Highwind escorting a dangerous criminal to the guard station. Please move aside citizens!” she announced with authority, surprising me by the strength in her voice.

The effect was immediate: ponies quickly scampered off, quickly returning to their previous activities, only casting apprehensive glances at me from time to time. Whether it was thanks to the respect ponies had to Royal Guards or the realization that they were close to a tall criminal monster, I didn’t know.

We resumed our walk, passing by even more weirdly shaped houses, more strangely colored ponies, and unexplainable shops. No, seriously, I think I saw a shop that was selling quills and sofas on the way. What kind of pony would think of buying those two articles simultaneously?!
We finally arrived in front of the guards post, which probably was the most ‘normal’ building of the whole town. It was a medieval styled structure, with small vertical windows, thick brick walls and a smooth tile roof. Two guards clad in golden armor were standing on either sides of the door, their eyes staring straight ahead, stone cold expressions plastered on their faces.

Above us hung what I assumed was an Equestrian flag, a monumental stylized sun standing in the center of a white background, slightly wavy rays coming out of it and reaching towards the extremities of the painting. ‘Mmm, wonder who’s the ruling princess…’ I rolled my eyes as we walked towards the entrance.

Even as we passed them, their eyes remained locked towards a distant point of the horizon, their posture upright. Nightshade entered first, soon followed by her friend. I took a small breath, calming my nerves a bit, before following suit and walking through the door.

The inside of the building was the stereotypical eighties’ police station: wooden varnished flooring, oak desks and large hardwood beams supporting the upper levels. Pale beige walls bordered the main hall. Even though the windows were extremely small for a building people—or ponies in that case—were supposed to live in, the lightning inside was quite decent despite the lack of candles or other source of artificial lights.

Directly in front of us stood a tall and bulky unicorn stallion clad in a silver and ebony armor save for his helmet, which laid on the table next to him. He sat at the front desk, which was positioned at the far side of the room. Highwind walked up to him, but failed to get his attention as the pony seemed to be lost in a pile of administrative sheets.

“Uhum!” this seemed to snap the stallion back into reality. He looked around, his eyes settling on me at first, slightly widening, before looking back at Highwind and rising from his chair. The pony walked up to us, his eyes never leaving me as he doing so.

Now that he was closer, I could really see the subtlety of the armor he was wearing: while Highwind and Nightshade’s armor was golden with a simple grey lining, revealing half of their bodies, this one covered the entire body. The only thing that made him identifiable at all was the fact that he didn’t put his helmet on. The chestplate on his chest had a sun carved on it, a decorative black border highlighting the form.

His face had a serious expression written on it, his blue eyes contrasting with the snow-white fur that formed a small tuft under his chin. His dark grey mane was cut short, a few strands slightly longer than the rest were falling on the side of his head.

Both guards seemed reluctant to talk to him. That and the difference in the armor color probably meant a significant gap of rank between them. A few seconds passed, none of us saying anything. Finally, the awkward silence was broken when the guard turned towards Highwind.

“I trust you have an explanation for this, sergeant?” he said in a low and calm voice, turning his attention back at me for a split second. I looked back at Highwind, who was now fidgeting, who was looking for something to focus on. Something other than her superior.
“Well, sir…We were patrolling over the Everfree-”

“Who gave you the permission to do so?” the white furred stallion cut her off suddenly. “Patrolling duty is reserved to experienced scouts with at least five years of intense recon training. No captain would have given his approval if you truly went to one before departing.” His words were precise and straightforward as a deadly silence followed his cutting words.

“I won’t ask the reasons why you two did that. That’s something you’ll have to solve with your division captain.” His blue eyes were once again directed at me, “I would, however, like to know what kind of creature this is and why it’s wearing clothing.”

I looked at him incredulously. Really? You’re living in a world where there are tons of sapient species that live together, and you’re not even assuming I could be one of them? Talk about love and tolerance…

“This creature has a name and would like to be addressed by it, if that’s not too much to ask,” I said, not bothering to hide the venom dripping from every word. The pony jumped back at the sound of my voice, yet quickly regained his composure before straightening his back.

“Pardon me if I sounded impertinent. I never saw or heard of a sapient species looking even remotely like you. I offer my deepest apologies,” he said, bowing his head slightly. Okay, he may not be a douche after all.

“It’s okay, I understand. My name’s Peter,” I said while extending my hand.

“A pleasure. I’m Captain Sharpsteel,” he said while shaking it. “Now, was there a reason why you accompanied those two…” he paused, looking pointedly at Highwind and Nightshade, who cringed as they saw his glare, “....guards here?”

“Well…yes there is,” I said, trying to think about the best to bring out the fact that I threatened a Royal Guard with a loaded crossbow and manage to not be imprisoned for ten years. I quickly proceed to explain the circumstances that brought forth the encounter between the ponies and me. The Captain listened politely, nodding at some points of my tale, Nightshade and Highwind adding some details when needed. When I stopped recalling the facts, Sharpsteel looked at me before sighing.

“Well from what you’ve told me, you were in an extremely stressful situation at the moment of the facts. That and the fact that Sergeants Nightshade and Highwind were apparently spying on you, and had not approbation of the local authorities…”

“Even though the use of a weapon is somewhat more than questionable, I don’t think it would justify any kind of penal sanction.” I could not help but let out a breath of relief hearing the news. He then looked at the guards on both sides of me. “Do not think I will let this matter slide though. A letter concerning you two is going to Canterlot tonight.” both nodded resignedly.

“Now, I know it might seem a bit cold of me, but I have lot of work to finish today, so…”

“Of course!” Nightshade answered, albeit a tad too fast to seem natural. “We wouldn’t want to impose.” We all said our thanks before heading out. As soon as we arrived outside, we were stopped by a mass of ponies, torches and pitchforks at hoof.

“What’s the matter?” Highwind asked the crowd.

“Why is this monster still able to be outside? How many has he eaten?!” A pony in the mass yelled, soon followed by several ‘yeah!’ erupting from the rest.

“Excuse-me...how many what?” I asked the pony who had just spoken. A magenta colored mare with yellow mane. The whole crowd jumped back. “Yes, I can talk.” I added before anyone could ask the obvious question.

“S-s-so...How many did you eat?”

“How many...ponies?” She nodded, her fearful eyes trying to avoid my sight.

“um...Well, I don’t really eat ponies.” I added. It was only half true. I ate horse once, and it wasn’t that bad to be frank. Nonetheless, I would never think of eating anything close to being sapient.

“Oh...erm...really?” I nodded. “Oh...Okay then. I suppose we should be going then…” I nodded again. The crowd quickly dispersed into the streets, some seemingly disappointed by the lack of witch hunt in the village.

“Well,” I said, looking at my pony friends. “What do we do now? I don’t think we can go back to my house right now. Do you have somewhere you can tonight?” I asked them.

“I suppose we can go and buy a room for the night, before taking the train for Canterlot tomorrow.” highwind said, before looking at me. “But you don’t seem to have money on you. Where will you sleep tonight?” I shrugged.

“I’ve already slept on the ground in the middle of the forest. I think I will survive a night under the stars.” they looked at each other, before turning back at me.

“You know, we could take a room with three beds.”

“Wouldn’t that cost a lot more than needed?” I asked, definitely not wanting to abuse of the mares’ hospitality.

“Are you kidding? In this backwater town, the price of the hotels are ridiculously low! With my pay as a guard I could buy a room for the entire year and still be able to afford the rest.” She said with a laugh. “Come on now big guy.” She said, pushing me with her wing. “We have several hours before the sunset. How about we visit a bit together?” I smiled and nodded, before joining them.

Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad after all.

The last rays of the sun were illuminating the great decorated room. Even though its owner never liked displaying her wealth, she still appreciated the small trinkets she had amassed over the years. Most of which were put on the massive fireplace mantel, where her arms were etched in gold.

Seated at her desk, she was contemplating the Sunset with melancholy. Soon would come the Night, and the Moon. A small shiver ran down her spine. She pried her eyes away from the scene and looked back at the monstrous pile of papers and letters still unread on her right. An involuntary sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes, letting her chin rest on the cool wooden surface.

She lifted her regalia off of her chest and head, looking as it floated across the room to finally settle on a pony mannequin. Extending her wings she groaned as the joints cracked a bit as the relaxed from their strain of the day. The soft glow of the rising moon was beginning to bathe the room and a soft white light.

As she looked at her bed, she let a small -some would go as far as calling it unlady-like- snort as a childish idea popped up in her mind. Taking a running start, she jumped on her queen-sized bed, falling down on it in a loud ‘thump!’, the poor iron structure of the bed creaking at the sudden weight being brutally added to it.

She moved around, revelling in the feeling of the covers and sheets caressing her furred body. The white alicorn was slowly dozing off when a sudden surge of magic snapped her awake. Looking around, she saw the fire in the fireplace turning blue, the only warning she received before the flames rushed out of the hearth, taking the form of a small sealed letter.

She caught in in her magic before the priority message could touch the ground and opened it up.

“Priority message sent by Cpt. Sharpsteel of the 12th division in Ponyville.

Greetings your majesty. I hope this message reaches you in good health.

As per your request, we were to report any strange event that would take place around the Everfree Forest. Since the uncommon happened around Ponyville, I was rather reluctant to report it to you. However, considering what the being told me, I decided it might be worth sending this to you.

This very day, a few hours earlier, two guards reported to the Ponyville guard station with a creture they had found wandering in the sector three of the Everfree.

The being was surprisingly intelligent, but its most interesting feature was his appearance: he - I took an educated guess considering his stature and voice - was bipedal, standing at approximately one hundred and eighty centimeters. His eyes were small and his snout shaped in a very thin manner.

In many way, he reminds me of a standing ape. He did not seem hostile, a,d can be seen accompanied by the two guards I mentionned earlier.

I hope this can help you in any way.”

The letter lazily fell onto the bed as the alicorn canceled her magical grasp on the object. She stood up before slowly walking towards the opened balcony. She looked over the stone railing, towards the valley where a small town was falling asleep, the last streetlights outside extinguishing one by one.

“So…” her voice came out tired and emotionless. “You came back...After all this time...” She said, her eyes closing as hot tears trickled down her cheeks. The peaceful smile changed into a snarl as reddened eyes focused onto the Moon.

“Nightmare”

Chapter 7 - Action! Explosions! Michael Bay! Oh, and a snake too I guess...

At the beginning existed only darkness and silence. Stillness was the norm, and void covered the entirety of the world. Everything was immobile, nothing disturbing the primeval peace that reigned across the vast stretches of emptiness. The universe was eternally asleep. Nether was happy. Time had not yet began its course, space had no meaning. No measurement was needed at that perfect moment of stasis.

Things, however, were not meant to stay that way forever. In the very core of the void there began to shine a bright light, its radiant glow illuminating the dark world for the first time. Nether awoke from the sudden commotion. Who would dare break the sacred silence of the realm which he had been the guardian for eons?

Nether turned towards the intruder, his immortal glare setting on the white spot, the one stain on his beloved canevas. Looking closely, he observed the source of the disturbance and suddenly recognised the light, even though he never once met it in his entire life. It was the one unpredictable force that could manage to pierce through the strongest obstacle . The one whose chaotic nature could endure every hardship yet would still remain, as if spitting in the face of fate. It was the spark that would start it all. It was the spark of Life.

Nether lunged at the enemy, knowing full well that he could not stop what was going to happen. Before he could even reach the traitorous light, the sparkle suddenly grew, its glow brightening, to the point where Nether was forced to shield his eyes, or else be blinded by the pure white rays emanating from it. The orb grew exponentially, forcing him to retreat as Life began to fill the void around it.

The sphere stopped its expansion, and, for a moment, Nether foolishly thought the danger had passed. He was proven wrong as the orb suddenly cracked, burning light coming from the newly formed slits.

Nether backed away from the entity as more and more light came pouring out of it. The event that was bound to happen had arrived, as an energy never before seen discharged brutally from the broken orb, completely shattering it. At the same moment, the lethal light contained within the core escaped, filling the empty realm with the ashes of the object.

The original sparkle ceased to exist, but was replaced by millions of others in the form of stars, nebulae and heated gases . Life had taken roots on the world.

Nether’s broken body floated unmoving, defeated, as light shone throughout the universe, dots now covering his ruined canvas. Nether wept at the loss of his kingdom. He screamed at the usurper who had stolen all that he held dear. Then, when no one could hear, he laughed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked towards the heavens, now illuminated by an infinite amount of multicolored dots, as the irony suddenly struck him.

He looked at his adversary as a predatory smile formed on his lips. “Rejoice, Life. You have invaded this realm and defeated me, thus claiming my domain as your own. Rejoice, Life, while you still can. The day will come when your creations will wither and perish. All creatures will face the same fate. The mountains will crumble, your oceans will dry out. Your stars will stutter and vanish, and even you, oh purifying light, even one day you shall fade, and vanish from memory. For only I am truly immortal. You all came from the void, and to void you shall return. So rejoice, Life. Rejoice, while you still can.”

Such were the words written in the ancient tome, black ink inscriptions covering the fragile pages yellowed by time. Claws moved across the paper’s surface, caressing the leather cover, their owner revelling in the alien feeling. With a content sigh, the being closed the grimoire before looking back at its title with melancholy.

“Of the creation of the world, or the usurpation of Life,” the creature stated in a deep voice before chuckling to himself. The white feathers upon his head moved ever so slightly as he did so, a tinge of mirth appearing in his light grey eyes. Looking down at the book again, he shook his head.

“They always embellished the truth didn’t they?” he asked to no one in particular, his eyebrows rising slightly as he briefly surveyed the wooden shelves surrounding him. He waited a few seconds, then went back to the object of his thoughts.

“Not that I’m complaining though,” he added, leaning back against his chair, exhaling as silence answered him. He let his eyes wonder, temporarily focusing on the star carvings on the granite ceiling, the white and blue spots contrasting with the black background. To his shame, he never knew the name of the artist responsible for this masterpiece, but even he had to admit: the precision behind the sculpting of the night stars, and the color palette were both of a genius’ work. So much talent. Wasted.

The creature sighed, before looking at the sculpture of the moon, its craters perfectly placed and recognisable. A knowing smile began to form on his slightly curved beak.

“What are you planning now, my Lord?” the being asked to the empty space above him.

“Whatever it is…” his rictus changed, morphing into a cruel grin as his predatory eyes set back on the book.

“I hope you will allow me to witness it.”

I watched as the battle went on. The sound of deafening detonations was omnipresent, blinding flashes of light would randomly appear on some parts of the field, always followed by screams, as more souls rejoined the departed in the afterlife. Holes of varying sizes covered the darkened earth, ashes and cinders being the only remains of the old meadow. The sky had long since lost its blue tint, hundreds of fumes and smoke trails forming a thick layer that obscured even the sunlight. There was no telling what hour of the day it was.

I marched through the damaged ground, trying to avert my eyes from the unavoidable vision of the corpses of the pony-candies. Countless bodies littered the ground, no distinction between the marshmallows and the chewing-gums. The stench of burnt sugar filled the air, some lifeless soldiers partially consumed by the inferno raging not far away. The armor did nothing to prevent their fragile bodies from melting under the intense heat.

Both sides fought hard, each soldier running into the battlefield without an ounce of hesitation, weapons and shields clashing together, denting armors and slashing sugary flesh, crushing sugar cane bone along the way.

At first, the Marshmallows seemed to have the upper hand; their flexibility in battle allowed their soldiers to attack and dodge in quick succession, forcing the Gums to either stay with their shields up, or to die under the repeated assaults of the enemies’ blades. We believed the war was won.

Unfortunately, we had underestimated the cunning of the enemy general. As expected, the Chewing-Gum Equines retreated from the fight. As the other army followed suit to finish them off while they could, we failed to notice two small openings in the nearby cliffs. This is where our doom was sealed.

As soon as we set foot in the enemy territory, dozens of sweet-and-sour thestrals flew out of those holes, storming down on the Marshmallows in a deadly rain of steel and claws. We were unprepared and outnumbered. In the end, the talent and capacities of our soldiers didn’t matter. All were savagely slaughtered, caramel gushing out of the wounds and flowing onto the Earth, pools of sugary syrup forming around the bodies.

I stood at the precipice of the massacre, droves of fallen brothers and sisters lying at my feet, motionless. I couldn’t move, the nightmarish vision paralysing me.

Before I could even blink, a large shadow loomed over me, and a sudden weight pressed me down, my jaw painfully hitting the ground. I shook the dizziness away, only to hear my attacker speak into my ear.

“Did you call your parents?”

“Noooooooooooooooooo!”

“Hey… Hey!” I jolted awake as I suddenly registered the voice coming from my right. My eyes opened and started to focus on the bleary surroundings. My eyes wandered about, discerning the outlines of some furniture. I recognised the bed I was in as the one I went to sleep in last night. Right next to me were two fuzzy plushies, one blue and another one being dark grey. Intrigued by the presence of kid toys in an adult room, I moved to grab one, which strangely squeaked as I touched it.

“Huh?”

“P-Peter?! W-what are you doing?!” The plushie said in alarm, withdrawing from my hand.

“Aaaaah! Plushie talks!” I screamed, instinctively backing away and proceeded to fall off the bed, some covers accompanying me in my extremely dignified descent. I immediately tried to scan the room in hopes to locate the one who caused my fright. Unfortunately, the very covers that fell with me were now on my head, obscuring my view.

‘Dammit! They planned it all!’ I squirmed in distress as I heard giggling. ‘Laugh it up, evil piece of fabric! Just you wait until I’m out of this mess. I will get out of this and probably will run off screaming like a little girl!’

My thoughts were interrupted by the layer above me being suddenly lifted, revealing the familiar faces of two ponies, one blue and...ohhh.

“There were no plushies of doom?” I asked the two, already knowing the answer. Both shook their head, a large smile etched on each face. I stood up, dusting myself up.

“I trust we can agree that nothing happened here?” I asked them, my fears slowly increasing as their smiles only widened. Highwind and Nightshade looked at each other, before staring back at me innocently.

“Well, I don’t know…” the pegasus said, scratching her jaw in an exaggerated manner. “It is pretty hard to forget such a terrified face.” She looked at her partner in crime, looking for confirmation.

“Indeed it is,” the thestral nodded. “I don’t know how I possibly could forget such a thing…” the mare looked at me pensively. I sighed internally as I knew what was coming.

Ten ear-scratching and three stomach rubs later—no way in hell am I calling it ‘tummy rubs’—, the three of us left the hotel and walked back towards what I think is the main street.

“Say,” I turned towards the two equines. “I don’t remember much of last night. Can you fill me in in what happened?” I asked as we walked past a vegetable stand.

A devilish smile formed on the lips of Highwind, as she let her eyes close halfway in what I think was supposed to be a seductive look.

“How can you not remember all the things we did together?” She paused dramatically, resting her hoof against her forehead, “As soon as you undressed, you jumped on us and—”

“What really happened?” I asked with a flat look, ignoring the blushes and looks from the crowd around us. Highwind turned back towards me.

“You’re not even slightly falling for it?” she asked, eyes brimming with hope. Oh god, was she really trying? I thought she was just teasing me with some unbelievable story. These ponies, I swear…

“Nope,” I answered, beginning to show concern for the mental health of this country’s inhabitants.

“Aaaaw…” her ears dropped slightly. “How am I supposed to tease you if you’re not even flustered when I tell you things like that?” she added with a frown, her muzzle scrunching up in a pout. I gently patted the pony on the head.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll succeed one day,” I said as I walked past her with Nightshade. We went through the marketplace, which, oddly enough, was completely void of stalls. I checked my watch: eleven forty. Hmm. Maybe it ended sooner today?

We proceeded down another residential area. I had to say: even if their architecture was a bit strange, they really had a knack for gardening and decoration. Creeping vines grew on walls, some of them even in bloom, allowing the honeyed scent to greet anyone who would happen to pass by the beautiful foliage. Perfectly square bushes formed the barrier in-between houses, and a small paved way would cross the neatly cut grass and create a direct road linking the entrance and the street.

We met some ponies along the way with even weirder fur and eye colors. Fortunately, they didn’t pay much attention to the giant creature walking past them. Which was fine by me, as it allowed me to observe the inhabitants going about their daily life without having to deal with a mob such as yesterday’s.

My eyes were suddenly attracted to by a small, shiny metal object on the ground. It looked like some kind of battle cap, some drawings etched on the surface. If what I thought was true, it would reveal yet another difference between the show and this world. I picked it up. Yep. Ponies had industries, even more, industries that were specialised in making refined goods.

“Minoean source water?” I read out loud as I turned the small object in my hands, marveling at the details of the small horned emblem in the center of the bottle cap. I walked towards a nearby bin to drop the item. Nightshade came up to me.

“I suppose if you used to live in the everfree before, you wouldn’t know about things like that. Minoean source water, or MSW for short, is a very well know brand of mineral water from Minos Industries,” she said looking at the shiny cap. Highwind walked up to me.

“It’s mainly due to the fact that the Minoean territories are located on a large cluster of hot springs, thanks to the large volcanic activity near the badlands,” the pegasus helpfully added before realising that both Night and I were staring at her, astonished looks on our faces. A small blush formed on her cheeks.

“Hey, stop with that you two! And you…” She pointed at the Thestral, “You should know it too. It was part of the classes of geography when we were still training for the Royal guards!” Nightshade just shrugged nonchalantly. Highwind sighed, shaking her head slowly. It’s a wonder how the mare managed to succeed in her exams. Or maybe the acceptance level for the Guards was extremely low…

Once again, I had gained precious information about another species. To be fair, I wanted to meet the minotaurs for a long time, but wasn’t sure whether or not they existed in this world or not. ‘I should really begin to write down those information somewhere.’

I snapped back to reality as I felt a brutal rise of temperature uncomfortably close to the back of my head, followed by a loud cracking sound coming from the wall on my right. Turning in alarm to look at what made that noise, I spotted a large black scorch mark at least ten centimeters wide, its center still fuming.

Turning the opposite way, I saw standing in the middle of a crossing street at least eight Royal Guards, all clad in their pimp golden armor. At the head of the small squad was a familiar unicorn sporting an also familiar silver and black armor. The detail that I focused on however was the horn on his forehead, which was glowing in a dark grey aura. Quickly connecting the dots, I decided to address the offending pony with all the necessary etiquette and courtesy needed when talking to a military officer.

“What the fuck?!” I yelled as both Highwind and Nightshade stood in front of me.

“Captain!” the blue mare asked her superior, distress and anger evident in her voice. “What’s the meaning of this?!” The Captain in question huffed in annoyance.

“Following the orders of her majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria, you,” he jabbed an accusing foreleg at me,” are under arrest! You are considered a threat to the lives of the citizens of this nation, and we will not hesitate to put you down should you try to escape!” He stated as the other guards stood at the ready, all eyes locked on me. Before I could even muster the will to talk back, Nightshade took a step forward.

“How can you attack somepony without even trying to reason with him?! And should you have reasons to arrest him, at least tell him what charges are held against him!” Had I been allowed to move without having another bolt of magic shot at me, I would have hugged the life out of her. The situation being what it was, I settled for a silent ‘thank you’. Captain Sharpsteel exhaled, before looking back at us with determination burning in his eyes.

“I am not at liberty to say what crimes he is guilty of… However!” he said as Nightshade drew breath to retort, “the crown itself has recognised him as an enemy of the nation, and he is to be brought back at all costs. If you try to protect this creature…” the guards around him lowered their heads, their horns beginning to glow. “We will have no other choice but to consider you two as accomplices and treat you the same way as criminals guilty of high treason.”

All three of us were left speechless as the guards began to move towards our little group. What could one do in such a predicament? In the case of a surrender, I would end up in jail without a doubt for who-knows how many years. If I tried to resist arrest, I would be killed. Great options.

The guards were still advancing towards us. I needed to think of something quickly. Anything! ‘Dishwasher!’ …. No, thinking of anything randomly won’t probably do any good. When only fifteen meters separated us, an idea struck me.

“Nightshade, Highwind,” I whispered to them while maintaining eye contact with the potential death squad. Both their heads turned to look at me. “Faint.”

“What?” they both whispered back with strained voice, eyes darting between me and the approaching Royal Guardsmen.

My eyes hardened as I had to focus not to let an eye twitch. “Pretend you faint. When the guards ‘wake you up’, you will tell them you were under my control, thus not consciously helping me.” Still under the shock of Sharpsteel’s declaration, they weakly nodded. I smiled.

“Good.”I prepared myself, reaching deep in my vest pockets, retrieving what I wanted, then looked behind me to make sure I was in front of an alleyway. The Captain must have seen it, as his eyes immediately widened as he began to charge a spell within his horn. ‘Too late!’ I smiled devilishly as I took a handful of the unfamous flowers and threw them in a ball at the advancing guards. I quickly turned around, not wanting to see the horrors of the poison joke on living ponies, and rushed down the alley.

“Stop!” I looked back to see Captain Sharpsteel, who was barely recognizable with his bright pink and fluffy fur coat now following me.

“Bwahahahaha!”

“And stop laughing!”

“Never!” I yelled back as I dodged yet another volley of harmful spells. Bricks and paint exploded around me as the magic missiles collided with the walls and pavement, showering me in dust and powdered cement. Sharpsteel was remarkably fit for something his size; even though I was much faster on my two legs than most ponies, he managed to keep up with me and even, much to my horror, to gain some ground on me.

Every turn I’d take, the Captain would follow, slowly getting closer. I swear, I had an easier time losing the cops in GTA V with five stars! More spells crashed against the ground, missing me by mere centimeters this time. I couldn’t hope to outrun him. The only way to escape was to either slow him down or to hide. The latter was not an option considering the distance between us.

The answer came, as we crossed another street, in the form of a steel ladder on the back of a tall round tower, which I believed to be the town hall from the show. I quickly latched onto it, climbing as fast as I could to escape the mortar shells from Sharpsteel. Some missiles reached the ladder, but, thankfully, none were powerful enough to burn through the metal.

I quickly climbed the last few meters, and immediately rolled over to get away from the captain’s sight. Fortunately for me, pony anatomy doesn’t mix well with ladders. After a few fruitless tries, the guards that had joined the pink fluffy unicorn moved away from the metallic object. ‘Take that ponies! Humans are superior! Or at least when it comes to ladder-climbing…’

While I was busy trying to breath in the sweet oxygen to fill my lungs once again, I heard Sharpsteel yell something to his colleagues, which was soon followed by a collective answer. ‘Not good.’ He probably ordered them to circle the tower. I had to find an exit. Judging from the distance that separated me from the ground, I supposed I was on the second floor of the building. I could still go back down the way i came, but I doubted the guards would leave the ladder out of their sight for a second.

Standing up, I walked on the balcony I was on, looking for an entrance back inside the tower. While the main structure was made out of bricks and wooden beams, the railing and balcony seemed to be made out of some white sedimentary stone. Perhaps some limestone? No, no, no. Focus, Peter.

I eventually found a small doorway leading inside the tower to an overly decorated room: dozens of masks and costumes were stacked in neat little piles. Covers made of hundreds of different fabrics and luxurious curtains were hung on high poles in a corner, their soft texture reflecting the weak lightning originating from the small crystals placed on the walls. Had I not been pressed by the time, I would certainly have marvelled at the mechanism behind these stones.

The only exits that I could see were that ladder I used to enter the building and the one leading to what were most likely a set of stairs going down. The former was out of the question, as all the guards probably saw me going through it. It would only be a question of time until they sent pegasi to hunt me down. My best chance yet was to escape by the second exit.

I grabbed a medium sized cloak and put it over my shoulders, letting the textile fall over my face. I ran to a dark corner of the room and stopped moving. Soon, I heard the sounds of hooves hitting wood quickly growing closer, the creaking of the stairs the only warning before the door to the staircase burst open, several Royal Guards running in the room, horns glowing. ‘Now let’s see if you know how to play prop hunt.’

They began to walk in different direction, methodically moving the drapes and boxes out of their way as they progressed further in. One of them arrived near my position. For a moment, the guard’s eyes set on me, and, for a second, I thought my cover had been blown. After some time, he turned his head away to look at a wardrobe and started to move towards it, alleviating my fears while he was at it.

I dared not move to look at the rest of the guards, as the slightest disturbance in the fabric may alert them of my position. I tried as I could to spot a potential escape route; two ponies were standing in front of the exit, and two other were searching the room for me. ‘Damn. They know how to play.’

As I thought I couldn’t be in a worse position, I heard yet another pair of hooves coming up the stairs, soon revealing to be Sharpsteel’s. I resisted the urge to groan. ‘Come on! I’m one guy against seven trained guards?! While you’re at it, why don’t you bring Celestia, Discord and the main six in here?’

I looked at the silver-armored equine as he walked in. However, instead of joining the search like his fellow pony guards, he went in the middle of the room and lowered his head, apparently preparing a spell, magic slowly circling the length of his horn. Oh, this I did not like at all. If he was casting an AOE attack, it could either mean he was casting an offensive spell—which was very unlikely considering all his friends were in the same room as him—or, most likely, he was preparing a scanning spell. I couldn’t really tell which one was worse as I watched him slowly charge his horn.

I looked around, quickly spotting several small object of varying sizes on the ground near me. Trying to minimize the movement of the fabric on me, I, very slowly and carefully, crouched to grab the nearest one. I brought it back to me and immediately aimed at the stairs.

I waited to make sure no pony was looking in my direction, and, in one swift movement of my wrist, threw the small piece of wood over the two Royal Guards’ head. The object then bounced in the staircase noisily, the sound gathering the attention of the equines.

“What was that?!” the captain shouted, interrupting his spell casting.

“I don’t know, sir!” one of the guards posted near the entrance said. “ I think I saw something move towards the first floor, but I’m not completely sure!” I had to bite my lips to prevent myself from laughing. I looked at the conflicted Captain. Now all that was left was to see whether Sharpsteel would take the bait or not.

The pony in question wore an unreadable mask, his eyes looking down, as if deep in thought. Eventually, he looked back up and charged his horn once again. ‘Shit!’ My eyes widened as a cold droplet of sweat ran down my brow. I clenched my teeth, my muscles tensing up in anticipation. If it came down to that, I would have to sprint straight towards the staircase, and hope that the highly trained Royal Guards had the aim of Stormtroopers.

A few tense seconds passed before Sharpsteel unleashed the spell. There came a deafening bang as a grey shockwave shot from his horn and immediately covered the entirety of the room, leaving me no time to react as the magic washed over me.

You know, if someone had asked before how magic could feel, I would have answered something akin to being electrocuted, or some very specific sensation, which would be too complex to convey into words. You know, the usual description. Now that I discovered what being washed in a flow of magic truly felt like, I realised how wrong I’ve been. I could now describe with absolute certainty that this wave of energy felt like pure Jack shit. No, seriously though? I didn’t feel anything as the magic touched me. Disappointed wasn’t even beginning to approach my profound dejection right now.

I was cut off of my musings by an angry yell from the captain, which had turned towards his troops during my depressed thoughts.

“There’s nothing there!” he said, disbelief showing in his voice. Huh? So humans were detection spell-proof…? I don’t get it.

After one last look, Sharpsteel ran towards the staircase, his underlings in tow.

“To the first floor! Quickly! We must stop it before it escapes!”

Soon, all the guards had emptied the room, leaving me the sole living soul in there. Standing up, I threw my precious cover aside. I walked back outside and onto the balcony. As expected, the ponies guarding the ladder had gone to help the soldiers inside the building, leaving the area completely unoccupied. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, I proceeded to climb down the ladder, careful not to cause too much noise. If I was lucky, they would spend a few minutes before going back outside, which would leave me enough time to prepare my escape.

I quickly ran towards the other end of the street and turned at the first corner. I kept to the shadows as I stalked back into the marketplace. It was like being in assassin’s creed, but way more lame. I looked like a drunkard in a back alley trying to look for a bottle of booze.

I needed to get out of this town. That much was certain. But to go where? If Princess Sunbutt—don’t ever expect me to treat her respectfully after that—wanted to get me, I don’t think any place in Equestria would be safe enough to stay in. I could try to move to another country and wait for the witch hunt to cool off before trying another approach. However, there was no telling which nations were allied to Equestria. Even if I ended up in a rogue nation, would they hesitate to sell me to Sunburnt if it meant getting back in her good graces?

I stopped, a sudden tremor running through me. There was no place in this world where I could truly be safe from Sunscreen. I let myself fall onto a cardboard box with a sigh. Yes, I had escaped, but for how long? As Saruman once said, ‘the eye sees everything from her fucking alabaster tower!’ My eyes widened as the realisation hit me, and a plan formed in my mind. It was dumb, dangerous, and had more chances of failing than being anything close to successful, but for now, it was the best plan I had.

“To the station then!” I said out loud, before remembering the situation I was in and facepalming. ‘Remember Peter, you’re infiltrating right now.’ I thought while I walked. ‘You’re infilt--’ I cut my train of thoughts as I turned back in the alley I came in, a smile slowing creeping on my face.

It was a normal day for the ponies of Ponyville. Birds were singing, trees were blooming and the sun was shining. Today was a market day, and as such, everypony knew what it meant: the Apple family stand and it’s delicious fruits. Already a small crowd had gathered around it.

Behind the wooden counter were two cowponies; the first one, the youngest, had an orange coat, its color only broken by the few freckles on its owner’s muzzle, and trio of red apples on her flanks. Her mane and tail were a hay yellow, and both were tied in a sort of ponytail, small red ribbons keeping the form in place. A weathered cowboy hat sat on the earth pony head, leaving just enough room for her ears to come out. The mare’s lime green eyes looked at the assembled ponies with calm and patience, trying not to let her giddiness seep into her behavior too much. A bright and sincere smile adorned her features as she moved to serve the next client in line.

Next to her was another pony, whose only similarity with her was the freckles on his cheeks and the big green apple on his flank. His tall and muscled body was the one thing that made the hard working pony stand out: when most rarely reached beyond ninety centimeters, the stallion easily went over one hundred and twenty, making him one of the tallest ponies alive. His deep red coat contrasted with the orange of his mane and tail. On the contrary to his counterpart, he wore a massive yoke around his neck. His eyes were half closed as always, a satisfied smile omnipresent on his face as he proceeded to unload the cart of apples.

As they went about their business, they failed to notice a large box of diapers slowly crawling towards them, slightly stopping when a pony would come too close. The box knew its fight was already over. The equine would not notice its presence until it would be too late. When the box arrived a few centimeters away from the largest pony, the front part of the bow rose slightly, a foreboding finger slowly appearing from underneath it, and moving towards the unsuspecting creature’s leg.

Finally, it closed the gap between the two and in a dramatic false slow-motion, tapped onto the appendage mercilessly.

“Hmm?” The red pony turned towards the box.

“Why hello, Mr. Apple!” the cardboard object said.

“Morning,” the pony answered in a deep, laid-back voice, looking at the diaper picture on the box. The stallion’s accent had a thick rural twang that only a hard working farmpony like him could speak. There was a moment of silence, before the box spoke again.

“I wouldn’t want to impose, but, as you can see, I am in a bit of a pickle. You see, I am a traveling box, and, as such, I need to take the train to my next destination. However, I do not know where the train station is. Could you point me in the direction of the nearest one, my good sir?”

Without a word, the large pony rose his foreleg and held it towards a crossing road. The cardboard box lifted itself slightly, as if to better look at what the pony was showing, before settling back .

“Thank you, sir. I am forever in your debt,” the box said, before crawling quietly in the direction the farm pony indicated. The equine nodded.

“Think nothing of it,” he said, looking at the object slowly inching away. He watched as the box turned around the corner before going back to unload his cart. As he returned, his sister turned towards him.

“Oh, there you are, Mac! I was beginning to wonder where you’d gone?”

“I was just by the corner talking to a diaper box,” he said nonchalantly while continuing to put the crates of apple on the counter.

“Ah, ah see. You were just…Wha?”

Near the market, two guards were rescuing the ‘fallen’ Highwind and Nightshade. As they ‘awoke’, the guards bombarded them with questions. After assuring them—several times— that they felt alright, the intense questioning subsided. Soon after, the rest of Sharpsteel’s squad returned, a furious pink captain at the spearhead, stomping his armored hooves loudly on the pavement. When he noticed their presence, Sharpsteel slowed his pace and did his best to put on a comforting smile, obviously trying to put them at ease.

He undid the straps holding his helmet together and hooked it on to a small patch hanging from the flank on his armor. He then gathered his men and dispatched them all over the district. ‘If it wants to leave, it’ll either have to go to the station or to try the other town entrances. And we’ll be there to welcome him!’ Sharpsteel thought as he faced the two renegade Royal Guards.

“I know it might seem cruel to ask that of you, considering you thought him as you friend before. However, it is thinking of the best interest of Equestria that I ask that you tell everything that this creature—”

“Human,” Nightshade answered with a snarl.

“...Human might have told you. We do not know what is this being planning on doing right now. Anything he said might be of help to locate him before something irreparable happens.” Both ponies looked at each other uncomfortably. Of course, they had received order from a superior under the authority of the princess, and answering truthfully was expected. Even though they had known Peter for barely more than thirty six hours, they still didn’t learn much about him other than his name and species.

“Night,” the thestral heard on her right, snapping her back to reality. She looked at her partner, who smiled confidently back at her. “Peter’s gonna be alright, he knows what he’s doing. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”

“I have no idea where I’m going…” the voice from the moving box said as the cardboard continued his slow journey towards the unknown.

It was around noon, one of the busiest hours in Ponyville. Ponies went in every direction, either going to their workplaces, to take a moment of rest, or to just relax inside the sunlit parks. This was also true for another part of the town. Ponyville was, despite its rather humble looks, one of the important relays for the trains in destination of Canterlot. The question you might be asking is: how could such an important town not be crushed under the important and constant flow of travelers going through it everyday?

Then answer was easy: year after year, the population of Ponyville has steadily decreased. Due to its proximity to the unfamous Everfree forest, home of monstrosities beyond imagination, the town rarely had the opportunity to welcome any guest for any longer than a day or two. Most of the passengers of the trains would never leave the wagons they were in, and when forced to change trains, would always stay within the boundaries of the station.

While some merchants despaired at the lack of new customers, there was one pony who, on the contrary, wished he could have had much less. The dirty ebony mane that fell in front of his tired eyes contrasted with the grey-white of his fur, overlapped by his worn out black and red coat. A greasy cap hastily dropped on his head was threatening to fall on the side at any moment. A small plastic card on his vest read in silver letters the name ‘Clear Whistle’, the words barely visible through the thick layer of dust and grime the years had added to the oeuvre. Perched atop of a thin oak stall, the brooding pony looked over several sheets of paper, displaying reports of schedule and train references.

His eyes stopped, however, when he reached a specific line. The crayon held in his mouth moved slightly as the equine realised the absence of another worker.

“Dammit! Another one’s calling in sick today!” the pony grumbled. “That’s the fifth one this week!” he quickly gathered three other sheets, frantically comparing hours, dates and names. “With this one, and the Canterlot express coming at twelve thirty, we’ll be…” He trailed off, the cap falling off of his head.

“Late…” the word painfully escaped his lips as the troubled pony tried in vain to recalculate the amount of time lost. The Whistle family had managed the train schedules for decades, and had always succeeded at keeping them on time. Clear Whistle took his head in his hooves, not noticing the large diaper box at the door of his office. What would his grandfather, Loud Whistle, think of him?

“Oohh… If only I had a spare coal shoveler, then everything would be perfect…” he lamented. The box behind him was suddenly launched in the air, as a tall creature with a diaper falling over his right eye emerged from within, his hand on his hips and a smug smile written over his face.

“Kept you waiting huh?”

“...What are you?” the pony before me finally said, his eyes wandering over every inch of my body. The large teal eyes had large bags under them, showing the great fatigue of the equine. ‘Just how many hours does this guys sleeps per night?!’

“Well...” I started as the diaper fell from my head. “I am what you may call a freelance worker and, from what I heard, I might just be what you need,” I stated. The pony walked towards me, squinting his eyes as he observed my arms and legs.

“Mmm…yes…yes! Yes!” the equine smiled, all his worries vanishing like snow under the sun. “You might just save me! Come on, follow me outside!” he exclaimed, trotting past me out of the office. I followed suit and stepped out, and was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the station.

To simplify it: try to imagine platform nine and three quarters, and add more precious materials in it. A large glass roof covered the entire area, golden beams supporting the incredible weight of it all, which formed large arches which were dozen of meters across. Sculpted black and white floor tiles represented starry nights and blazing suns, the blue-greenish hue of the roof giving an underwater impression for anyone walking under it.

Large statues of unicorns were standing at attention on either sides of the entrance, welcoming the visitors in a cold stare, the stone poneys immortalized in their heroic actions. Wine red banners hung from the ceiling, the stylised emblem of Princess Celery’s cutie mark on each. The yellow rays were slightly more orange than the core, and the motto of the country was etched in the fabric: Harmony, Peace, and Tolerance. My left eye twitched. ‘Didn’t see much of that recently…’

Marble walls circled the station, their white and rose veins contrasting with the gold of the beams. Large brass lanterns protruded from the beams, the crystals within the lamps not yet activated. Panels and signs of all sizes and color indicated various directions—though most of them pointed towards Canterlot—and travel times.

Though the most impressive feature of the station were the trains it hosted. Immense steam-powered locomotives, proudly displaying their red and brown chimney atop of the machine. Large sets of shimmering steel wheels adorned each side, series numbers glistening in the daylight.

The wagons behind it were mainly comprised of large wooden panels, the color and size perfectly fitting the form of the chariots. Small golden leaves and vines were adorning the sides of the train while the top was mainly made out of small silver metal plates aligned in an aerodynamic position. The slightly tinted greenish glass panes and the red cushioned seats that I could see inside gave a kind of ‘boudoir’ vibe off of the wagons.

“These trains are beautiful,” I said as I looked at the machinerie in wonderment. Next to me, the pony nodded while a proud grin made its way onto his face.

“These are the best of the best. Since a lot of the travelers going to the capital of Equestria are dignitaries or politicians from foreign nations, we cannot afford to make a bad impression on the way there. These engines can go up to one two hundred kilohooves per hour without breaking a sweat.”

I nodded along. For a steam engine, going as fast as two hundred kilo…huh?

“Kilo…hoovers?” I asked him, dumbfounded.

“Hm? Yes, why do...oh, that’s right. Kilohooves might be a tad difficult to understand for an outsider like yourself. To simplify it, a hoof is, well, just that.” He then sat on his rump, rising his forelegs in the air and showed me the space in between them. From briefly looking at it, the space looked like it was barely more than thirty centimeters.

“And a kilohoof is a thousand time that of a hoof,” he then ended the explanation. Oh. So the train goes barely faster than sixty kph. That’s not fast at all! I involuntarily shuddered while thinking about the speed of earlier models.

“But that’s irrelevant for you. Your job…” he said as we neared the locomotive, “is to put a constant supply of coal inside the burner. The steam will do the rest.” I nodded at that. It sounded easy enough, and… Erm…

“Where’s the driver?” I said as I looked inside the small cabin to find it empty.

“Hm? Oh, don’t worry about that. There are spells that control the direction and movements of the train.” He said, waving his foreleg placatingly.

I looked back at the train. So basically, there was no risk of accident? ‘That’s awesome!’ I moved inside the locomotive, observing the different buttons and lever. Some had weird labels, like ‘cycle engram’, and ‘force magical conduct’.

“Oh, and before I forget, never touch these levers. They control the glyphs around the train. The last one who messed with them...let’s just say that being late was the last of his concerns.” He then tipped his cap slightly, before going back to his post, leaving me to my potential death. I shook my head. ‘Focus on your escape first, Peter’.

While observing my surroundings, my eyes locked onto a small, half-open chest. Curiosity getting the better of me, I moved and took a peek inside. I shoved my hand to get what seemed like a pile of dusty towels, before realising that these were actually clothing.

There was a vest, much too small for me and a train worker cap. I grabbed both and moved them out of the chest.I put the cap on my head, and hastily opened that burner metal door, and began shoveling some coal inside. That way, I’d get a good head start with the steam.

Soon, I heard a whistle which, I guess, signaled for my train to depart, and without the need to do anything, the locomotive began to slowly churn its wheels, bringing the wagons with it. Just in time, though, as I saw a whole squad of pegasi beginning their sweep over the airspace above the train station. I lowered the cap onto my head as a smug grin made its way onto my face, ‘Too slow, friends. Better luck next time.’

The train left the station and began its course towards my last destination.

“Oh god…It’s finally over!” I would have cheered out the words if my body wasn’t completely exhausted after the day’s extremely taxing work. I wobbled in place, a goofy smile plastered on my face as I had actually passed the seemingly endless work hour. The train took six, heavily taxing—my sweat drenched clothes could attest to that fact—, hours to reach Canterlot Train Station. I had discovered a newfound respect for coal shovelers; these guys had it rough! I had never worked so hard in my all my life as I did those six grueling hours!

While I was busy regaining my breath, I heard some steadily approaching hoofsteps from just behind the door leading to the burner room, also known as hell.

“Hoy mate! You okay in there?” said whoever was just behind the door, his voice practically dripping with a thick, and obviously forced, Irish accent. I glanced from the hot coals to the door to see a horned head peek its way through a crack in the now open door.

A broad and muscled chest followed suit, which was followed by a set of toned goat legs… My mouth involuntarily opened as the titan stepped inside the locomotive.

“You okay?”

“Huh?” I mumbled as I went back to my thoughts. This beast must have had at least a good thirty centimeters over me, if that. The color of his skin was a deep brown, spotted with some white chest hair contrasting a bit with it, and reminded me—strangely enough—of a vanilla-chocolate cake I ate recently. His limbs were more akin to logs of pure muscle rather than actual appendages, and an ornate bracelet depicting two snakes biting each other’s tail clung loosely onto his right wrist.

His beard was put into two large braids, the same going on with his long, jet black hair. The horns seemed extremely sharp and long compared to the lone minotaur of the show.

Seeing my lack of response, the behemoth of a minotaur grabbed me by my shoulders and began shaking me slowly.

“Hey… Hey!”

“Uh?” I snapped back into reality, only to see myself hauled up ten centimeters in the air, the gigantic creature still towering over me. I looked at him for a second, before realising he was talking to me.

“Oh, sorry. I tend to do that. I didn’t want to worry you... Could you put me down now please? I’m beginning to form and inferiority complex.” the minotaur dropped me back on my feet.

“I’m sorry, hope I didn’t shake you too hard?” he apologized before extending a hand, which was at least two times as big as my own, towards me. “The name’s Golden axe,” he said, smiling gently at me.

“My name’s Peter, but you can call me Pete,” I said with as much amicability as I could muster. My smile faltered as I grumbled to myself, “My friends always end up calling me that anyway…” I shook his hand, quickly discovering the strength of this monster as My appendage was completely swallowed in the vice grip of his/

“Well, it’s certainly good to meet you, Peter. I trust you are new here?” he asked as I looked at my now pulsing red hand, pretty sure some of my bones were now powdered. I stepped out of the locomotive locomotive, Axe in tow. “I mean, I’ve been shovelin’ coal in these trains for years, and I’ve never seen you before,” he said with a wide, sweeping gesture towards the trains around us.

“Yes. to be honest, that’s my first time doing this job,” I said, looking around Canterlot Train Station, amazed at the difference with Ponyville’s. If the one I left seemed luxurious, then this one was a palace. Dozens of statues of different species and pony tribes were posted every thirty meters, the glistening golden figures standing proud and their perfectly cut gems for eyes nearly blinding those not accustomed to their magnificent radiance. Immense marble columns held the roof together, each of them sculpted in a different manner, ranging from the vines to the more simple templates and geometric

Contrarily to the one in Ponyville, the roof here wasn’t made entirely of glass and only had one large opening in the center. The rest of the large ceiling was either painted or sculpted. Images of peace and heroic fighters adorned the walls, their poses frozen in time. Enormous chandeliers hung from the ceiling, bathing the entire station in a warm and clear light.

There one thing that bothered me, however, was the number of guards that were stationed on each exit. Each of them wore a silver and black armor. ‘Officers huh? La crème de la crème for me? Oh, you shouldn’t have, Celery.’

“Well,” the minotaur said, “if you need anything, I’ll be around here.” Golden Axe gave me one last friendly look before nodding and turning to leave into the passenger cars.

“Wait!” I blurted out to Golden Axe as soon as my brain comprehended what he’d just said. The minotaur in question merely stopped mid-stride and looked at me from over one of his broad his shoulders, “Do you know why there are so many guards here? Is it normal for this train station to be so heavily guarded?”

The minotaur then looked around, stroking his beard as his thought. “Uh… I never really paid attention to that before, but I must say that the number of the guards is rather unusual.” He then shrugged, “Probably another group of foreign aristocrats coming in today and princess wants to impress them, I suppose?”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, trying to feign ignorance. An idea then sparked in my mind.

I stomped my foot on the vestibule floor with a pained grimace, “Dammit! With all these guards everywhere, there’s no way I’ll make it in time!”

“Be in time for what?”the minotaur asked. I sighed, trying not to let a smile form on my lying lips.

“Well, I was going to visit the castle and I needed to be there in exactly ten minutes. With the military checkpoints at the exit, there’s no way I’ll make it in time! These douches really chose their moments!” I grumbled half-heartedly, waiting to hear the reaction of my bipedal friend. A large hand dropped on my shoulder. I looked up to see the minotaur smiling good-naturedly at me.

“Come with me,” he said, motioning for me to follow. We went through a door in a corner of the station, which led a some kind of locker room. I could not help but feel bad at the thought of lying to such a nice person. I mean, I lied in my life, like everyone. Tons of times, in fact, but only for trivial matters, like pretentding you don’t know who forgot to put on the new roll of paper—oh come on, you’ve all done it at least once—.

We progressed through the room full of sweaty bags and towels, filling the air with a gag-inducing smell, and arrived in front what I thought was a backdoor. Axe then turned to look at me, “This way leads outside.” Before I could even voice my thanks, however, he stopped me by rising his hands placatingly.

“Listen. I don’t know what you want to do at the castle, but going there would be suicide. Or at least, if you absolutely need to, try and enter through the gardens. There always are fewer guards around that area.” I opened and closed my mouth a few times, a hundred questions rising in my mind at the same time.

“H-how?”

“They don’t allow visitors to come inside the castle unless they have business with the court. If you had been planning on visiting Canterlot Castle, they would have known. That, and the fact that guards have shown everyone your portrait.”

“I…I uh…Thanks,” I said, still a bit dazed by the goodwill of Axe. “I can’t say how much this means—” once again, the silencing hand rose.

“Don’t mention it. You seem to be an alright guy, and, not to be immodest, I’ve always had a knack for judging people. Now go, they might come barging in at any moment. Quickly now,” he said, pushing me gently towards the exit. Nodding and giving my thanks once again, I quickly stepped out and walked on, careful to stay away from the main roads.

The minotaur watched as the human went away, his small smile wavering for a second. As soon as the creature was out of sight, Axe burst out laughing, tears streaming down his cheeks, his body spasming from the fit. After a minute or so, he managed to regain his composure, and dried away a small salt deposit on the corner of his eye.

“I can’t believe he fell for something so obvious…” he shook his head. Well, no matter, a contract’s a contract, as dumb as it may be. He opened the locker with his name on it and took out a small dark blue crystal. He tapped three times on the translucent surface and then waited patiently. After exactly three seconds, the gem emitted a soft glow, to which the minotaur then put the object against his ear.

“So?” a voice as cold as ice coming from the crystal asked imperiously.

“It’s done,” Golden Axe answered evenly, “he’s all yours.”

Let me tell you something. Canterlot is huge! What I saw on the show was nothing compared to the impression you had when in Canterlot. First: All the houses had columns, sculptures or precious metal on it, no exceptions. The material used for their construction was either marble or large granite blocks. Man, these ponies had money. It was as if there was no poor or middle-class ponies in the capital!

Half of the houses had monstrously large gardens, most of which had statues—again, though these ones were obviously smaller in stature and quality—in it, or fountains, or both. There wasn’t a marketplace, but instead, large shops and boutiques selling various high-end goods. The roads literally glistened from how polished the pavement was.

The ponies in the streets fared not much better: Most of them had their muzzles so high in the air that some nearly bumped into each other. The clothing they wore was either ridiculously simple, or unnecessarily complex; I saw a mare walking down the road with three hats on her head, for pete’s sake!

This whole town was nauseating to be in, nearly to the point where I was relieved when I saw the large white gates of the unmistakable castle with its white alabaster towers… White! I think I went blind for a second due to how white everything was. When my retina stopped melting, I looked back at the large white and gold castle gates, guarded of course. then , a bit on the right, I could see the edge of the bushes forming the maze I saw in the season two of the show. My heart stopped beating for a second. Wait a minute… If nobody heard of the King of Chaos, then there may be a chance that he still is in the garden! Just you wait, best character of the show, I’m coming!

I quickly made a detour around the castle’s walls, until I found a small vine of one of the bushes that the gardeners had probably forgot about, and had grown over the metal poles, creating a natural ladder. Thanks, Deus ex Machina!

I climbed and jumped over the pointy ends of the metallic bars, careful not leave a piece of myself on those. The grass made a soft ‘pomf’ as I landed on it. I glanced about with starry eyes at my surroundings. If the ambiance in the center of the town was giving me a rash, the atmosphere in this place was its very opposite.

Large trees loomed over me, projecting their shadows on the ground. Exotic birds would sing and chirp in-between and among them, their colors ranging from the blood red to neon blue. Lilies, roses and tulips would grow and meet the visitors’ vision at every turn. The expertly cut bushes and plants would form and intuitive way for anyone to follow, leading into a small pond of serenity and beauty, several benches arranged in a circle in the shadows of the lush trees to shield its users from the potentially harsh sun.

Anyone would already have stopped to enjoy—at least for a second—this beautiful scenery, letting the worries of their mind slip away. But I wasn’t anybody. I was a dumbass. But more importantly, I was a man on a mission. I went through the maze, using the special technique of always-stay-on-the-right-and-you’ll-end-up finding-an-exit. Not so surprisingly enough, I ended up getting out of it quickly enough and arrived at the small tea garden where all the statues sat.

“Unicorn statue, pegasus statue, another unicorn statue…” I walked on, scanning every square centimeter to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. “ I don’t care about those! Just give me…” I trailed off as I turned a corner, the object of my thoughts appearing to my right, rigid as a boner.

“Discoooord!” I said, fangirling at the statue in a dramatic laughing position. Take that alternate universe! Discord will always be there, always! I fist-pumped, because Discord. Some noise arose from a few bushes behind me, reminding me that I was in enemy territory. It tore my heart that I couldn’t spend more time with my favourite character of the show, but I needed to focus on my primary objective. Before I went away, though, I turned briefly towards the draconequus.

“Alright, I don’t know if you can hear me, but whatever anyone tells you, you’re the best. Okay? Never forget that. You’re the best!” I said in a whisper, barely containing my overwhelming joy for being in the presence of best pony that wasn’t a pony, before scattering in the opposite direction of the sounds with the hope nobody had seen me.

I then stalked around the castle, before finding what I had been looking for: A small cellar window, which, from what I could spy from my position, lead to a small junk room. Exactly what I needed. Carefully approaching the opening, I looked inside. ‘Good, not a soul in sight.’

Verifying one last time nopony saw me, I went through the open window, legs first. This was indeed a junk room. Boxes, broken tools and various dusty antiques mixed with random bits of furniture were randomly scattered about the room. Navigating through this mess was painful, but I managed to get to the other end without making too much noise.

I slowly opened the door, which creaked every single centimeter it took to move! Yes, please make even more noise! Even better, yet, let us bash every door in our sight so that everyone knows we’re being stealthy!

I grumbled as I walked on, hiding against one of the large stone columns when a guard would pass by. ‘This will never work. I’ll be spotted if I keep on like this,’ I thought as I progressed through the main halls. As expected, the interiors were richly decorate, white walls flanking me wherever I went with a profusion of paintings, busts of ponies, gryphons and minotaurs. Pillars were pressed against the sides of the lavishly decorated halls, helping in maintaining the ceiling, heavy with the large lanterns hanging from it.

I should have gone to the library back in Ponyville. I should have gone there. Oh, right. The library’s under Celly’s student control, so probably no. I shook my head. I should face my problems for once and be an adult. I’m going to surrender to the guards and ask to talk to the princess. I will explain to her that everything’s a big misunderstanding, and all will be alright.

“Hey, you heard?” one of the guards said to the other while passing near me. “The orders have changed. We must locate the creature and shoot at sight. It’s the first time I saw the princess this angry about something.” They walked past me and disappeared at the corner.

…Off to the library I’ll go then.

I went to several rooms, discovering several other unused rooms, some bedrooms, but not what I was looking for. ‘Come on, if I was the room where thousands of books would be in, where would I be?’ Another pair of hooves interrupted my search. I stopped and observed as the newcomer. She didn’t seem to be anything remotely close to a guard. The mare wore thick rectangular glasses, had a scarf around her neck and seemed to be completely oblivious to the presence of the guards.

If I followed the codes of caricature instaured by the show, she should be the librarian of the Castle! Unbeknownst to the pony, I followed her in the shadows, in the corridors strangely devoid of Royal guards. Eventually, she stopped in front of a massive wooden door and stepped in. Before the door closed, however, I slipped in just before the giant wooden doors shut. After taking one step and cringing at the slight creak the seemingly ancient, wooden floorboards made, I undid my shoes and held them by my side to reduce the amount of noise I made as I moved.

I let the mare go away first, and then went on my own way, wandering deep through the maze of bookshelves. ‘Transformation? No…piano enchanting and the three thousands uses for snails? No…Penis growth potion?! Who on earth put that thing here? What kind of weirdo would—I’ll take it.’

The search continued for a time, yet nothing interesting came up. Most books were rather mundane, and even fewer were talking about magic. I eventually came at a closed corner of the library, a big sign reading ‘Forbidden’ in bold red letters. ‘Hum...If it’s forbidden, it means there’s something bad inside. But I am also considered bad. Thus, It’s okay for me to go in!’

As soon as I stepped in, I felt as if a powerful and dark aura hover over me like a thick, wet blanket. Or maybe it was because of the fact that there was no lightning source in the area. As I walked further in, I noticed an immediate change in the environment around me. Weirdly shaped black crystals and artifacts. Some thick books were put on pedestals. ‘Wonder if I’ll find my Oghma Infinium here.’ After a fair bit of casually browsing the darker magics and a few relics that whispered to me as I walked by, I eventually arrived at some sort of stone platform.

Upon looking closer, I noticed several white, large objects of varying sizes sitting in the middle of it. Remains? Oh, don’t make it a redux version of Sunny Town, please! I cautiously moved the bones, before one of them in particular gathered my attention. It looked like a human skull, both in form and size. Could it be a human skeleton? But why would there be a dead human here…?

Before I could move to grab one of the bones, a loud detonation reached my ears, soon followed by a cold sensation in my back, liquid soon drenching my vest. Numbness quickly spread to my whole body as I fell on my side, unable to move. A white pair of legs with golden hoof shoes stepped into my field of view as I found much more trouble breathing each passing second.

“I do not know how you managed to fool my detection spells, but I can assure you that this time, you will not escape,” the motherly voice was filled to the brim with hatred, making a chill run down my paralyzed spine. Before I could do anything, another detonation happened, and I knew no more.

Chapter 8 - Tribulations in Canterlot

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1 - The name's Peter ! Not Pete ! [Re-written]

Author's Note

Hello everybody! The first chapter is finally re-written! Hurrah!
Don't worry though. No key elements were harmed in the process. I just corrected the grammar and modified some sentences.

Thank you all for supporting the story so far! You're awesome guys! :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 1 - The name's Peter ! Not Pete ! [Re-written]

The Sun: an everlasting ball of fire where hydrogen atoms constantly fuse together into helium under the incredible pressure and heat. The very aster that allowed Life to blossom on Earth, attracting asteroids and keeping them in orbit, while they agglomerated themselves into a larger entity until a new planet was born. Generating warmth to help the cells survive, grow and evolve into more complex organisms; by producing heat and light to keep the whole fauna and flora alive.

This sun, which had witnessed the beginning of our time, this magnificent globe of blazing light… was currently piercing through my thick curtains and waking me from my slumber.

A small ray from the aster found its way to my left eye, forcing me to groan at the sudden aggression. Putting a hand to cover the side of my face, I moved the covers protectively over my nose in the foolish hope to get away from the terrible light. Unfortunately, the star had no intention of sparing me today, and soon three other rays lit my whole head up.

“Argh….well, fuck you too world!”I sleepily groaned, pushing the covers aside as I rolled on my side to temporarily hide from the light as I cursed again the celestial body in the sky.

My name is Peter. Not Pete, not Pet, not anything, P-E-T-E-R. I don’t know why, one day one of my friends started calling me Pete, and soon everyone I knew only spoke to me using that nickname.

Many people around me, hell even most of my friends could brag about being able to wake up early, and be ready to work in the next thirty minutes. I was not one of those. Since I had to wake up nearly every morning at 6:00 to go to college during week, the only days I could sleep in were the Sundays – I would work on Saturdays to earn a little money.

I sat up on the edges of my bed, rubbing the sleep off of my face with a hand, letting out a mighty yawn as I stretched my arms, a popping noise accompanied by a small spike of pain rising in my right shoulder as I did so. I hate mornings! I groaned as I tried to move the sore arm a bit to help lessen the cramp that was starting to make itself known. Looking longingly at my warm bed one last time, I sighed and got up.

I walked clumsily to my closet to grab my clothes for today, managing to hit my pinkie toe against one of the legs of my bed in the process – did I say that I hate mornings? I dropped said clothes on my bed before going to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

As I gathered the dishes and the ingredients for my tea, another ray of light found its way toward my right eye, causing me to grunt in annoyance. Looking at the source of the offending ray, I spied a photograph on the counter. On the picture were three persons, two adults and a child. All were laughing, the young boy proudly handling a small fish at the end of his fishing rod despite the fact that he was completely soaked.

I found myself smiling remembering the day when, trying to catch it, I fell into the lake. My dad managed to grab me, with the fish this time. We all ended up laughing after a few remarks and jokes from him. We were still in France the day this picture was taken. I think we left for the United States when I was around 10.

My smile faded a bit. Already two months had passed since the last time I saw any of them. It was the main problem of studying in specialized universities: there were only a few colleges in a 250 km radius, and the nearest was 200 km from home. It was only during vacation that I could pay a visit to my parents, and my little sister. I chuckled to myself as I thought about Kate: a very – if not overly– dynamic 15 year-old teenager with long chestnut hair, brown eyes, a gentle smile always adorning her face. The mere memory of taking her in my arms was enough to bring the smile back full force. Fortunately, the summer holidays were only a couple of weeks away. Then, I –

The whistling of the kettle stopped my train of thoughts. I ate my breakfast: sugar-filled crepes, an apple and my mug of green tea – which I nearly fell into, dozing off a bit. My stomach filled, I cleaned the dishes and walked towards the bathroom to take a nice, hot shower and hopefully not fall asleep under the warm temperature.

An hour later, I was clean, my beard nicely trimmed, and dressed. Time to start a slow and nice Sunday morning! Pick an apple from the fridge, a can of Coke from the fridge…*Grmbl!!*…..Go the nearest shop, buy a pack of cans, and then drink one. Reluctantly, I picked up my keys, my phone and my coat, carefully locking the door behind me before heading out.

As I stepped outside, I found myself assaulted by the pleasant smell of nearby trees, enhanced by the summer atmosphere, along with the much less pleasant smells of fuels and dog urine. I wrinkled my nose while crossing the road: I can’t wait to spend my vacation far, far away from this place. If it wasn’t for the fact that this town was housing one of the rare universities where I could study aerospace, I would never have chosen to live even remotely near this city. Only two weeks left, including one during which I had to go the university. At least, during the last one, I could celebrate the end of my year and my graduation with my friends, before being able to see my family. Makes me think, I should buy some drinks for dad since he loves the beer they make here. Oh, and by the way I should probably try to buy—

“Pete!” a voice shouted behind me, as a hand slammed against my shoulder blade.

“Aaaah!!!!”A girl screamed near me as I turned to see who assaulted me. Instead of finding some terrible fiend ready to jump at my throat knife first, I found one of best friends laughing his ass off.

“Wow Pete! I didn't know you could go that high in octaves!” He laughed, clutching his sides. I paid him no mind, trying to find the quickest way to disappear from the surface of the Earth.

“H-hey John. How are you?” I asked, trying to hide my shame as hard as I could. His smirk never left his face as he stood up.

“Quite well, thank you. I was going to head to your flat, but since I saw you out here I just changed my mind.”'And decided to scare the shit out of me, you bastard'. I glared at him. He must have noticed it, considering his now ear-to-ear smile.

“As much as I like it when you try to reduce my life expectancy on a nice Sunday morning, might I know the reason why you came so early from your place to talk to me?” Immediately the grin plastered on my friend’s face disappeared, replaced by an embarrassed grin. I suddenly grew very worried of what John had to say.

“Well,” he started, trying to look at everything that was not me, deciding to finally set his eyes on a shop on my right. “You know when you said that each of us would offer a present to Grace for her 24th birthday tonight?”

“Yeeah…?”The shop to my right must have been really captivating. I would have looked in the same direction had I not been dreading the answer he was about to say so much.

“Weeelll, you see...I had very busy month, trying to finish my final exams..." 'getting drunk with friends' I mentally added, "so I might have…forgotten to buy hers... hehe…”If it wasn’t only for the fact that he forgot the present, it might have been the lame chuckle he gave at the end of his sentence that set me off.

“What?! You haven't gotten a present for her yet?! It was your job, to think about presents while I would do the rest! Why didn’t you ask us sooner?! Now we won’t have the time to correct you mistake!” I hissed, careful to express my thoughts while not alarming the people around us.

While it might have been a little unfair from me to be yelling at him like that, I was still a little tiny bit pissed about the earlier scare he gave me, for one does not simply walk into Mordor and shatter my pride without dire consequences. At least, he had the decency to look – slightly – ashamed. Knowing I would never be able to have a properly formulated excuse coming from his mouth, I sighed.

“Well, I guess we’ll think of something on the way.” I motioned for him to follow me, as we idly walked in the streets. John stayed silent for some time. As we crossed another street, he turned to look at me.

“Sooo…I have no clues as to what she likes”. John started. I stared at him in disbelief. Really?! I mean, we have decided to do the present offering months ago! How could he not have asked one of us at least once about that?!

“Well, I know that she likes my little pony a lot, if the couple nights we spent with her friends talking about it are anything to go by.” I smiled, remembering one time when we were arguing about pinkie pie’s capacity to break the fourth wall.

“My little pony… Like the show?” I nodded. “Really? I didn’t know she was still into this”.His thoughtful expression quickly turned into a teasing one as he smirked at me.

“So, you’re fond of it too huh?” I really did not like at all where this was going. His smile widened as I nodded again. I was about to voice my opinion when he raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“Oh, come on! I'm joking! You know I don’t question what my friends like”. He patted me on the shoulder. “Even if it's a show for little girls” he added slyly. I groaned.

“I'll have you know, the fanbase around it is mostly constituted by people between 10 and 35 years old!”

“Oh yeah! Those guys and their ridiculous pony cosplays.”As much as I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, I couldn’t disagree with him on that point: some of their costumes were monstrous.

I grumbled as my shoulders sagged. I knew I couldn’t reason him once he started on a subject, so I just sighed in defeat. I felt a hand on my right shoulder. Looking up at John, I saw his smirk melt into a more sincere smile.

“Ugh, come on Pete!” – I definitely hate him when he calls me with that nickname – “You’re so easy to tease! Relax!” I looked away with a small pout so he would think he vexed me, but more importantly so he wouldn’t see the smile that has crept its way onto my face. After all, I couldn’t expect less from John. He is what he is, and even if some of the jokes he tells – most of them – weren’t that funny, he still is my friend and—

“So, wanna talk about your homosexuality?”

“……..Fuck you John.”

“I love you too Pete.”

We resumed our walk down the street heading towards a specialized store. I knew them for some time, as they were the only one in town who were selling vinyl mlp figures. I was overjoyed when I first found it two day after I moved in, and immediately bought Discord and Derpy’s figures.

I talked John into coming with me into that store so we could chose something for Grace. As we arrived in front of the store, I saw a fimliar shape sitting on a chair in front of the shop. I instantly recognized the old man who was in charge of the boutique. He was a very kind and caring middle aged man, even if, due to his numerous years in the military, he looked more like a cross between ol’ Santa Claus and Sylvester Stallone. Every time I would come, he would be sitting on his plastic chair outside, relishing the sweet and warm summer air. Once again, the man was slumped in his recliner, his short grey hair partially hidden by his hat.

“Hey Mr. Brown!” I waved to him. Hearing someone calling his name, he took off his hat which was covering his eyes, and looked at the source of the call. When he saw us, he smiled and stood up.

“Peter! How are you doing?” he asked with his deep voice as he walked the rest of the way toward us. “And who’s your friend? I don’t think I ever saw you around here boy.” By instinct I looked back at John, and saw him unable to say something coherent. I couldn’t suppress a chuckle, remembering having been in a similar state when I first met him. Saving him a long awkward moment, I stepped in.

“Mr. Brown, please meet John, my best friend.” I said turning to him. “John, meet Mr. Brown.” This seemed to snap him out of his trance as he blinked.

“Well, a pleasure to meet ya!” He said extending his hand and shaking John's. He then looked at me. “So, what brings you here?”

“We were looking for a gift for a friend. Maybe a limited edition figurine?”.

The tall man scratched his chin, seeming to be deep in though. He made a silent motion with his fingers as if reviewing a list. Then, his eyes lit up with realization, and he snapped his fingers.

“Aha!” He exclaimed. “I might have something for your friend! Follow me !” He said excitedly as he walked back in the shop with us behind. As we walked inside, I couldn’t help but smile at all the mlp-related products from books to complete costumes, comic books and so on.

John snorted bemusedly looking at my expression. The shopkeeper told us to wait for him while he was gone in another room for a few minutes, which I spent looking around by curiosity. John stood at the same place, clearly not happy to be surrounded by so much pink and ponies. He never outright hated my little pony, nor disapproved the bronies. He simply never understood the appeal that this show represents for its fans, and therefore was uncomfortable being in the middle of all this pony stuff.

I was interrupted in my musings by the footsteps of Mr. Brown, who was proudly carrying a one feet long box in front of him. He then cautiously set the thing on the desk, and began unpacking it. Before revealing it to us, he stopped and beckoned.

“I just got the thing yesterday.” He whispered. “They said it's a limited edition. I was lucky enough to have it before the others could take it away. Behold…” He whispered, a little bit too theatrical for Johnson's tastes as he rolled his eyes. I couldn't help but wonder what could require such care. The answer came as he finished unrolling the thing.

“Replicas of Princess Celestia’s tiara and necklace?” I said, looking at the pack. I didn’t see what was so important about it: tons of these were produced ever since the show started to gain popularity. The disbelieving tone of my question didn’t falter the smugness of the man, since he puffed his chest.

“I know what you’re thinking. But look closely on the side of the crown”. He pointed. Upon closer inspection, a hallmark could be seen on the side of the coronet, with the letter MLP-O. My breath was caught in my throat. John seemed unfazed by the revelation. It couldn’t be…

“It is indeed THE mark of the show, the letter O standing for ‘original.’ The smile Mr. Brown was wearing was threatening to cut his head in half. “There were few of them, fifty if I remember correctly. ”Finally able to manage some words, but not looking elsewhere, I asked what any sapient being would ask when seeing a crown made of plastic with a trademark on its side.

“How much?” John facepalmed. I looked at the man to see an amused expression on his face. “Well, you’ve been quite the customer for at least five years now. I don’t get many visitors you know? And since you want to offer it to a friend and not for yourself, let’s say about… twenty bucks? What do you think?” He looked at me with a knowing smile, surely expecting an outburst; which happened.

“What?! You wanna sell me this for only twenty dollars?! I don’t know how much you paid for it, but it MUST be much more than that!” He chuckled at my antics.

“Kid… I already have a lot of income from my thirty years of loyal duty in the military.” He patted my shoulder –which seemed more like a hammer blow to me – laughing all the while. “I don’t do cards or some discount crap for my best customers, so take it in compensation for all the sales I could have done.” He said with finality. Sighing, I smiled and thanked him, before paying and leaving the boutique.

We walked back to my apartment, making a stop at the nearest grocery first to buy what I needed.

While John took the liberty to start watching TV on the sofa, I got back to my room where I packed the gift and placed it in one of the drawers of my end table. Yep, I was definitely looking forward to give the present, which could only be awesome considering her tastes. I hoped my other gift would not be too bad compared to the one I just bought. But after all, I was sure both would be to her liking since both of them were related to –

“My little pony, I used to wonder what friendship could be…” The song started in the other room.

“Hey man! Your gay show’s about to start!” John chuckled from the sofa. I slowly got up from my bed, and stood in the opening, so my friend would see me looking at him with the best faux-hardened glare I could manage. After a few seconds of intense looking without blinking, we both erupted in an echoing laughter.

Time passed and eventually, John had to get back to prepare for tonight, leaving me to my thoughts.

“So…” I read out loud. “Beer…checked! Food…John is bringing the snacks and the bacon—No parties should exist without bacon! Bacon is life!—…checked! Get a present for Grace...Well, John should have, but…*sigh*… anyway, checked!”

I looked at the rest of the checklist. Most of it was about decoration and preparing the room we booked for the occasion but it was Greg’s role to do that. And just like that, my brain thought it would be an excellent idea to add to my stress by showing me images of my friend failing miserably at his task; ending up with a room looking like it has been used for a film of Michael Bay.

“No!” I mentally scowled. “I will not check up on him brain! I know him, and I know he is more than able to do his part!” I would not fall so low and doubt of one of my best friends! I know He will succeed and I know that—

Faster than the eye can see, I grabbed the phone and dialed my friend’s number.

After a few seconds, I heard the tonality stop and soon being replaced by a very familiar voice.

“Hello?” Now, I thought, I have to subtly ask him about the progress of his work, but I must be careful to not raise any suspicions from my friend.

“Umm…oh hi Greg! It’s Peter!” I said, still trying to find a proper way to inquire about the Party.

“Hi Pete!”Oh come on?! He uses that nickname too now?! “So, why did you call me man?”

“Oh, well you know, checking up on you and all that stuff…hehe….” What?! That is all I could come up with?! That is lame! I am lame! Well, now let’s try at least to salvage the already fucked up situation.

“On a totally unrelated note, how’s the preparation going?” I blurted out. Realizing what I just said, my left eye twitched. I stared blankly at the wall in front of me, before slamming my head down on the wooden furniture housing the phone in a resonating *bonk!*.

“Hey! I heard something heavy fall! You alright?!”Ignoring the fact he unintentionally called me fat and the throbbing pain in my forehead, I blearily looked around for the voice before remembering that Greg was still talking to me via my phone.

“Don’t worry, nothing important…” I said, rubbing my head—I doubted there was anything worthy in it anyway, considering the poor excuses I made not so long before. However, the reason of my call suddenly came back to me. “So… about the party? Everything‘s ready?”I asked. What? Might as well asking him directly now.

“The party?” My eyes widened in horror. Oh God, don’t tell me he forgot about that! “Oh, you mean the decoration and all?” I tensed a little more, if it was even possible considering my current state of mind. “Well, I just have finished putting on the streamers, I will have to hang the banner and we’ll be good to go.” I couldn’t help the relieved sigh that escaped my mouth and slumped on my chair after hearing the wonderful news.

“Thank you, that was all I needed to know… So, see you at the party right?”

“Yep man, see you!” I hurriedly hung the phone—smooth move, Peter. It won't appear suspicious at all—and went to the bathroom to prepare myself for the night.

Two hours later, I was ready to go: I was clean, put some deodorant on me, and my beard was trimmed.

Verifying one last time everything was okay, I sighed and was on my way to open the door when my phone rang. I grunted in annoyance.
“Oh come on it’s not the time for…” I trailed off looking at the number on the screen. I immediately took the device at put it against my ear before asking in the most casual voice I could muster.

“Hello Grace?”

“Hello Pete?” God dammit! Not you too Grace! “I just wanted to know, could you pick me up at the university? My car won’t work…”My temporary anger immediately vanished as I heard the last part of her sentence. It took all my willpower to not repeatedly scream ‘YES’ and run towards my car , so I just settled for a fist-pump.

“Yes, of course Grace.” I answered calmly— for the first time of the day—despite my inner happiness. “I will pick you up around…” I looked at my watch, and then did a quick calculation. “Does 9 pm sound good for you?” I heard an affirmative hum from her, certainly followed by a nod. Unfortunately I could not see, so I waited for her to vocally reply to my question.

“Yep! See you tonight then!” She said.

“See you!” I replied. I waited for her to hang the phone. As soon as she did, I dropped my phone on a nearby chest drawer and screamed—no, wait, there are neighbors! Well, I suppose a big ‘YAY’ could do the trick.

“Yay.” Well…not as fulfilling as a real scream, but it will suffice for now. I knew it was not a date, or anything like that; I was just happy to help a friend in need. Anyone would do the same thing. Nobody would go and think that I was only doing this because I loved her...“A-As a friend!” I mentally added. I was definitely not in love, and I could prove it any time. Maybe I should kiss her. A deep passionate kiss on the lips. That way, I would show that I had absolutely no feelings for her. Maybe I should kiss several times, just to make sure.

My train of thoughts was interrupted by a ringing sound coming from the phone. Again?! It must be the first time in my life I had two calls in less than a minute! The only times I received calls were due to: 1/ one of my friends needing help, or much more dreadful, 2/ my bank calling. You can imagine my surprise when I saw who was calling.

“Kate?!” I said, recognizing the number from the very few times I saw it. I was surprised she even remembered my own number considering our less than frequent use of this way of communication.

“Peter?” My sister's voice asked. I answered positively. “What’s the matter Kate; you never call me on my personal phone.” Or even my landline phone. I would certainly have been a lot more anxious if my sister wasn’t giggling all the while.

“You know what bro’?” She tried to maintain the suspense, but apparently was too much excited to be able to last more than a moment, as she quickly added. “Mum and dad are going with some friends for the night and will only come back around one or two in the morning!” I could sense her giddiness radiating from here. If getting sick from exposure to massive emotional radiation was possible, I would have been long ago with my sister’s energy.

“So, what’s the point? They’ll be gone for the night…and?” I asked, definitely not getting the point Kate was trying to bring up. She facepalmed.
“Really? Our parents will be gone all evening! You know what that means…” She said, letting her voice trail off, obviously wanting me to fill the gap with the answer…No, she couldn't mean...

“Um…”I started, unsure on how I should say it. “I think…I…I mean…I don’t want to know what you and your boyfriend are going to do…Just…use condoms ok?” This seemed to surprise her greatly, as she stuttered for the following minute. After taking a shaky deep breath, she managed to snap out of it and replied.

“wha...I-I! N-no! I…I didn’t mean that! I didn’t mean that at all!!” I could not see her face, but I could easily guess from the tone that she was blushing furiously. Well, it was not intentional in anyway, however, being the incredibly considerate big brother that I was, hearing her trip over her words inevitably brought an ear-to-ear smile to my face. As I did my best not to let the barely suppressed laugh escape my lips, I heard her continuing to try to explain what the real meaning of her sentence was.

“When I said mom and dad wouldn’t be here all night, I wasn’t referring to...T-THAT!” She sighed. “If I mentioned that to you, it was maybe because you could surprise them?” Surprising them? How? I mean, yes, I could, but it is quite hard to do anything when you’re 150 miles away. I mean, it’s not like I…could…be there…OH. Oooooh!

“Kate, did I tell you I loved you?”

“Not enough, but I'll survive” She answered. “So, you’ll be able to go? It would be a blast to see you there, but if you have anything planned, I don’t want you to cancel, alright?”

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll come. But since I must attend to a party, I’ll probably leave around…midnight something if I hurry, so don’t expect me before at least two in the morn. Hopefully, I’ll arrive before mom and dad. Was that all you wanted to tell me?”

“Yep! Oh, that’s gonna be so fun once you’re there! I can’t wait! See ya there!” I hung the phone. I didn't have anything planned for the oncoming week, and I could directly go to my house and prepare after the party. The more I thought about this, the more I had to refrain from smiling dumbly at the idea of surprising my parents and spending more time with my family. Not to mention that this would give me more time to pester my sister about her new boyfriend.

I still had a few hours before I had to go and pick up Grace. What could I do until then? My gaze shifted between different objects, but none of them seemed to catch my attention. Ultimately, my eyes fell onto my desk; more precisely on my computer. As I locked my eyes on the metallic box, I found myself unable to look anywhere else. My feet started to walk on their own accord towards the wooden furniture. I could not stop myself, my mind filled with all the possibilities this hardware had to offer. Finally coming to a stop, I turned my computer on.

After approximately two hours of an intense and epic session of Battlefield—by intense, I meant me getting repeatedly non-scoped by some XxX-Awesomedude79864-LoL-XxX and by epic, I meant me rage quitting after the 15th time—I decided that I could use a break, and started browsing You Tube for new videos. After some time, I closed the internet browser and looked at the clock hanging from the adjacent wall, and instantly regretted it. My eyes widened as I read the greenish numbers on the device. The clock read 8.49.pm. I stood still as my shocked mind tried to come to terms with what I was seeing. When it did, I jumped out of the chair I was on and dashed for the exit.

“Shit!” I quickly grabbed my coat, my bag and the present I stored in. I had only ten minutes to grab my car and pick up Grace at the campus. I could only hope that no police officers were out today; if I wanted to be on time, I'd have to break speed limitations.

I ran down the stairs and looked for my car in the street. Of course, Murphy’s Law seemed awfully active today, as I was not able to sight my machine. Finally, I managed to find my car, just behind a truck. I threw my bag on the passenger seat, started the engine, and rode full speed towards the university.

“So…Right turn, then left…” I thought out loud—Yes, I talk to myself. Don’t judge me. I’m not weird! You're weird! “Dodge the cyclists…Dodge the old woman…where did this bucket come from?!...WHY IS THERE A PIANO ON THE ROAD?!!........”

I finally made it to the meeting point. After dusting some wood splinters off of the car bumpers, I looked around to spot my friend. My nervousness spiked when I couldn’t find her. I looked at my watch: 8.59. I was on time, yet no trace of Grace on the campus. Having the most rational mind of the world, I calmly stated the possibilities of the absence of Grace in my head. 'Alright. she’s not here. What could have slowed her? Maybe a last minute problem. Maybe her parents needed her and it would have taken more time than planned. Of course, it had to be that! ...Or aliens.'

Before my mind had more time to suggest more scenarios, the sound of approaching footsteps snapped me out of my train of thought. I turned around to face the newcomer, to find myself looking at the familiar silhouette of my friend. She was wearing a simple dark dress, which was stopping just under her knees, completed by a thin brown coat hastily dropped on her shoulders. Her usually long kept hair was tied in a pony tail, her dark brown hair glistening in the moonlight. She was not wearing any kind of makeup—not that she needed it to be beautiful. She was one of the only girls I knew that managed to look elegant without having to put for hundreds of dollars worth of makeup on her. A kind smile adorned her face, well complementing her features.

“Peter…Are…are you alright?”She asked. Huh? I suddenly realized that I had been staring at her the whole time. I quickly—though much too late—averted my eyes as a light blush appeared on my cheeks. I heard a chuckle emanating from Grace.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”I heard her laugh. I looked at her to see her smile once again, triggering one of my own as I gave in a chuckle too. “You look beautiful tonight.” I said, trying to speak my mind rather than have my body do it for me. No, I did not mean it that way! You miscreants!

Once our mutual greetings were exchanged, I beckoned her to follow me and let her in the car. We both took our seat and buckled our seat belts before I started the engine and drove away from the wretched place known as university.

The lights of the lamp posts were flashing as the car was passing them. There were not many people out there since this was a little town. Only a few cars were following us, as the same lamp post lights were reflected by my rearview mirror. I adjusted it a bit as a habit just in time to catch a glimpse of Grace giving me the once over. For a second, the reflection of her eyes met mine, before widening slightly and looking away.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”I said in a snicker. There was a moment of silence before we erupted into a full blown laughter. I looked at my friend who was currently holding her sides, a small tear slowly rolling down her cheek as her laughter refused to die down. She really was beautiful, even more now that her features were softened by the joke. I looked away just in time to see the place where we needed to go appear 50 meters away.

“Here we are!”I said as I stepped outside, opening the passenger door.

“My my, what a gentleman” Grace joked as she stepped out of the car. I looked at the building where the gathering was being held; not very special, save for its darker color than the rest. I held the door for my friend to enter, and followed her inside.

The place was some sort of inn, which was, from lack of use, generally booked for parties or get-together. The interior was essentially made of wood and stone, which gave the whole place a feeling of heat and of familiarity. There was a brick fireplace in the right corner of the room, however I could tell from the dust—which had begun fossilizing in the stone—that it hasn’t been used in eons. Some tables had been arranged to form one enormous stage in the middle of the room, which strangely reminded me of what the round table of Camelot could have looked like. Lots of different plates and drinks had already been placed on it, while all the presents were gathered on the side in a gigantic pile of various shapes, sizes and colors.

Looking at Grace, I saw she was talking with John. He briefly looked at me and motioned to the pile. Nodding to him, in a swift motion, I quickly walked to the table, opened my bag and dropped my own presents in the pile. I retreated from the glorious stack to my friends. I joined John as he was sipping on his drink.

“How you doing man?” I sat near him at the table. He looked up from the glass and grinned at me.

“I’m good, thanks, but I know a little someone who's doing even better…” He let his voice trail off a bit as he wiggled his eyebrows. Huh? Seeing his jab was lost on me, he sighed and pointed at Grace, who was now laughing with some of her friends. “Come on man, you drove Grace here, and you're the one who thought about the party! You can’t tell me you don’t have the hots for this girl.”

I couldn’t help but look in the direction of my friend, blushing a bit as I did so. John took this as a confirmation. “So, are you planning to… you know, take her home? hint hint” He said wiggling his eyebrows even more vigorously. I felt my jaw drop at the obvious implications in his sentence.

“Wha-bu-but…No! I’m not this type of guy! I did not do all this just to…you know!” I wonder if one can die due to having all of his blood stuck in his cheeks. At the moment though, I just wanted to disappear from the surface of the Earth. As soon as the though came to my mind, I felt something deep within me change. It felt as if my insides were transforming. As if the world was shaping me into something new. What was happeni—?!

My stomach emitted a loud rumble. Oh. On my right, John was trying stifle his laughter as my already red cheeks reddened even more—if this continues I will need transfusions. Huffing, I walked towards the snacks on the table, only to be stopped by a hand on my shoulder. My eyes narrowed. No one dares to put themselves between my food and me! I turned around to look at the offender, only to freeze as I recognized the figure I was facing.

“Oh h-hi Grace! D-do you like the party so far?” I asked as naturally as I could, all the while fighting my brain yelling at me that she was much too close to my face. She had a smile I had never seen while talking to me. It was smaller, but it seemed to have more emotions in it.

“So…I heard it was your idea to organize this whole meeting?” She asked quietly, her eyes locked in mine, bringing a feeling of warmth yet a bit of confusion from me. How could she know about me being the one organizing the whole thing? I told nobody save for two friends and……John… I looked where I last saw my friend, to see him looking at me with a knowing grin and with both his thumbs up. One of these days John… Anyway, not wanting to leave Grace hanging, I softly nodded, which brought an even brighter smile. She thanked me before going back talking to her friends, but not without letting her hand linger on my own and looking at me one more time, her soft smile still adorning her radiant visage.

I stood there a full minute, my mind trying to process what I had just seen, and finally concluded with a gigantic 'whu?'. I snapped back into reality as a thunderous laugh echoed by my right shoulder. I turned around to see John crouching and holding his side, eyes scrunched shut, as he was desperately trying to breathe between is fits. I let him finish and waited for him to calm down as he stood up. He then looked at me with one of his smug smiles I hated so much.

“So?” He asked.

“So what?”

“You know exactly what I talking about.” His face contorted to take a vacant expression, his mouth slightly opened. “Oh my god, she held my hand with hers! Ohhhh” He caricatured, holding his cheeks with his hands. Seeing me roll my eyes, he stopped and took a more serious air—something quite rare knowing him. “Oh come, admit it Pete! You’re in love! It's obvious! Say it once, and you’ll feel much better afterwards.”

I took him to a less frequented part of the inn. When we were out of possible eavesdropping, I sighed. “Is it that—

“Yes.” He cut me nodding dramatically. “It is so obvious that it hurts! Come on man, what are you waiting for?! Tell her you love her and be done with it!”

“It’s not that simple!”

“Yes it is! You go, tell her how you feel, and she either tells you she loves you or to go fuck yourself!” Of course, when you say it like that…I looked at the ceiling.

“I Know, it’s just...”

“You’re scared that she could dump you.” john concluded.

“No! Of course not!……*sigh*…yes…yes, I'm afraid she could. It’s just… I’ve known her for the last five years, we shared so much, and yet…I'm not sure she likes me as much as I love her. I am afraid that by declaring myself I would not only risk to be dumped, but also to lose one of my best friends.” I looked at John. “I…I don’t want to lose her!”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. “I know it can be difficult, but if you don’t ask her, you will never be in peace with yourself. It'll eat you Pete… But whatever the ending is, I'm here for you.” I looked up at him and weakly chuckled.

“Who are you and what have you done to my friend?” I said, causing a false-indignant Hey! from John. I smiled at him as I bro-fisted with him.

“Thank you man.”

“That’s what friends are for.” He said. I started to walk away as he added “You know, you don’t have to do that to prove your heterosexuality. We both know which way your door swings” He smirked.

“Fuck you John.”He laughed.

“That’s the Pete I know! Good luck!” He said before going back to the bar. I laughed. Under his slight jerkiness hides a caring and kind friend, something John would never admit. I walked back to my own spot at the table, just in time to see that a crowd has formed around Grace. I approached to see she was starting to unwrap her presents. Some were quite interesting, some a bit weird, and some of them really had no reason to be here. I mean, really, someone seriously offered her gardening tools! Her home doesn’t even have a garden for goodness ‘sake! It’s just as if someone had taken all the lamest present ideas and decided to draw lots to see which would be chosen. Fortunately for Grace, most of the present were quite decent, some were even quite cool.

In the end, she came upon my present. Her brows furrowed at the weird shape of the package, but she quickly recovered and began unwrapping it too. When the paper was gone, she started to tear the bubble wrap and gasped when she peaked inside. Oh god she doesn’t like it. Before my mind could start to shout in despair, I heard a chair being pulled, followed by hurried footsteps.

I turned to look at the source of the noise just to be assaulted by a pair of arms that quickly ensnared my chest and back. I looked at the aggressor to see Grace, a gigantic smile on her face, holding in one hand Celestia’s necklace, the tiara already placed on the top of her head. After a few seconds—way too short in my opinion—she ‘freed’ me and placed my present with the others. I stood frozen for a full minute, before a goofy smile spread on my face as I stared at nothing in particular, my brain having stopped recording after the hug.

The party went on for several hours, yet ultimately, we had to call it a night. People started to leave the building to the point where only Grace and I were left. John had stayed with us to help clean up the place and stuff all the presents in my car’s trunk. Finally Grace and I left the building too, only to be greeted by the cold early morning air. We entered the car and drove away to her place.

If there was nearly nobody on the streets before, right now, our little city could have easily looked like a phantom town. A deep silence covered the roads, only broken by the lonely sound of my own car. A yawn escaped my mouth, to which Grace giggled, only to let out a yawn of her own. We looked at each other before sleepily chuckling.

The moon was already starting to lower towards the horizon when we arrived at her place. The house she was living in was a two-stories building her parents owned. Grace never liked to brag about that. She always chose to do everything herself rather than rely on her parents’ fortune to go forward in life—something I find admirable. We both got out of the car and went to the entrance of her home.

An awkward silence was beginning to settle in as we waited for the other to say something. I finally gathered the strength to break the ice.

“Well...T-the party was much better than I expected. I'm glad everyone could be there tonight.” Looking at my friend, I saw her frowning, seemingly lost in thoughts.

“Did you enjoy yourself as well?” I asked. She snapped out of whatever she was thinking about and locked her eyes into mine. She looked away, biting her lip.

“What...What's wrong?” I asked, concern rising in my mind. She looked at me, her frown replaced by a sly smile; she threw her arms around me and forcefully pushed her lips against my own, nearly causing me to fall in the process. My eyes widened as her tongue pushed against the entrance of my mouth. Still in a daze, I opened it to let the very welcome presence in. All seemed to fade around us as we kissed. No more did the cold make me shiver, nor did the time matter to me.

After what seemed an eternity of bliss to me, we broke the kiss and separated from each other. I slowly opened my eyes, afraid that doing so would wake me up from what could only be a dream. As soon as the sight came back to me, I found myself staring into two blue pools. Grace was smiling at me, a large blush on her face.

“We…”I started. “We definitely need to do that more often.” I added, causing her to giggle. She nodded enthusiastically.
“Indeed we do. I…I… Peter, would…Do you want to be my…”She started, her blush intensifying. She looked away. “I'd understand if it was too sudden to decide." She stopped, looking back at me for confirmation.

All this information at the same time overwhelmed my peanut-sized brain, which had to reboot at some point, living me speechless. My lack of answer was definitely misinterpreted as I heard a choked sob coming from Grace. I tried to speak, but the damage was done. She looked away, wiping her eyes.

“I…I understand.”She said, turning on her heels.“ I…I—“ I did not let her finish. I grabbed her before she could walk away, eliciting a small surprised gasp from her. “W-Wha—“ I turned her around so she could face me and kissed her with all the passion I could muster. After a few seconds, we stopped and looked at each other. Even with her tear stricken face, I could see a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes.

“Does this answer your question?” I asked softly. She bit on her bottom lip which had started quivering, before jumping into my arms, crying softly. I hugged her even harder. “I love you Grace. I love you with all my heart. I just wish I had the guts to tell you sooner.” She did not answer, instead just tightened the hug. Moments later, I let her go, smiling fondly at her. She finished wiping her eyes and then looked up at me, shooting me a smile on her own.

“Well, Thanks for the party, and the presents! They're awesome!” She exclaimed while taking the re-wrapped replicas from her bag and holding them against her chest. I chuckled at the sight. She walked to the door, before turning towards me. “I'd leave you my phone number, but since you have already it ” She giggled as she turned the keys into the lock, and opened the door. “Oh. I nearly forgot. Peter?” She said , and just as I was about to question why, she kissed me again. “A bit for your thoughts” she laughed before quietly closing the door.

I stood in the open for a certain amount of time speechless. Suddenly, the events of today came back rushing to me: The party, John, Grace… “Grace” I thought. I couldn’t believe it! For almost two years I tried to tell her how I feel! ...I should have organized a party much sooner!

I walked back to my car, my mind still dizzy from the entire evening. The whole travelling back to my home passed in a daze, the lights of the street lamps blazing past my windows as I drove the way I came. Upon reaching my apartment, I couldn’t help but hum a song of my composition—A symphony of Hell that only deaf people could possibly appreciate.

I opened the door, hastily dropped my bag on the table in the living room before plopping into the sofa. I let a sigh and closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of calm my flat was engulfed in. I was about to fall asleep when I remembered with a start that I had to get ready for the travel. My eyes shot open as I bolted upright. I ran towards my bedroom, rushing to get the stuff I needed together. before going back to the kitchen with a full suitcase.

I was about to close the plastic container when an abrupt discomfort in my ribcage forced me to stop and grab my chest as my breathing became ragged. What did I do to provoke this? I never had any cardiac problem in the past, so why in hell was my heartbeat going crazy?! My eyes widened as my pulse increased along with a sudden spike of pain, forcing me to sit down as black dots appeared in my vision. A numbing cold was beginning to envelop my body, all sensations slowly fading away.

My mind was slowly slipping away. In my foggy mind, the idea of calling for help still managed to pop up. I inhaled for a few seconds, and then tried to release a scream loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Unfortunately for me, this was also the moment pain wanted some more attention and increased tenfold, cutting my breath off as I fell on the floor, writhing in agony. My vision was tunneling, the last sight I caught being the picture atop of the counter.

The world was consumed in darkness as I lost consciousness.

The Everfree Forest was known to ponykind as a one of the only parts of Equus where untamed magic ran free, causing the plants to grow and proliferate and animals to behave erratically, chasing and preying on the weak. Such a place was not ruled by any law or justice, and nature could be revealed in its cruelest aspect, exposing to everypony’s eyes what could become of Equestria if Harmony was not protecting their lands.

Which is why, when an imposing cloud mass gathered above the darkened canopy, rumbling sounds of thunder echoing throughout the plains, nopony was surprised to see the first signs of a storm, as more and more clouds came from all direction to fuel the future deluge.

The storm, however, did not stop at the limit of the Everfree as it usually did. Instead, it progressed towards the neighboring towns, gaining in strength by the second.

Ponies were running in all directions to escape the incoming rain, finding shelter in the nearest shops, the thunder becoming louder as it closed in on the modest settlement. The weather team, finding themselves unable to fight the advance of the unrelenting clouds, had decided to instead help the distraught equines regain their homes.

The library was closed, although some light could be seen on the first floor. Inside, a lavender pony was looking at the titanic cloud through a telescope.

The storm had now reached its pinnacle: lightning struck in large blinding flashes, burning down whatever was unfortunate enough to be on their path. The wind had picked up, blowing roof tiles away, turning the covering material into deadly projectiles. The clouds, now looming over the small town, completely obstructed the daylight, casting a night-like shadow over the terrified inhabitants.

What was happening in the hamlet was nothing compared to the weather inside the forest. The wind was now powerful enough to tear away trees from the earth. Incessant lighting strike caused fires to emerge in multiple places in the forest, the deafening detonations disorienting the animals within. In a clearing situated right under the heart of the storm, static electricity was accumulating to such levels that electric arcs were going from the ground to meet the clouds far above, creating a lightning cage encasing the whole place.

Far away from there, on the side of a high mountain, atop of a castle was a pony, much bigger than its peers. Its magenta eyes were scanning the horizon, observing the wall of clouds that had formed around where her student lived.

A sudden flash announced the arrival of a purple unicorn, who immediately ran to her mentor.

“Princess! There is—“

“I know, Twilight,” the older one gently interrupted, putting a wing over the young pony in a calming motion.

“What…what do you think it is? That storm is way too big! Even compared to those seen in the Everfree!” The alicorn nodded gravely.

“It is indeed a worrying fact." Due to the chaotic magic weaved inside the forest, the storms that formed here were random and more powerful than those created by the weather ponies, but this… Even by Everfree standards, this tempest was unusually strong. She walked to her balcony, something catching her attention.

“Something is happening inside the forest!” She exclaimed rushing to the railing, putting her forelegs on the marble surface. Twilight ran beside her, and looked at the growing mass of clouds.

Far in the horizon, over the Everfree forest, a purple light had appeared briefly. Before either one of them could wonder whether what they saw was just a fluke, a colossal pillar of light shot from the clouds and stroke the canopy, lighting up a good portion of the forest. The pillar soon vanished just as abruptly as it came. Both stood breathless with shock, waiting a full minute in complete silence. The alicorn's eyes narrowed with determination, still locked on the place where the lightning previously struck.

“I will send a scouting party as soon as the storm calms down” the princess said, and walked back to her room, her friend following her. She looked at the fire burning in the hearth.

“What was it, princess?” She asked worriedly. The white pony turned back towards the now dissipating line of clouds. She sighed.

“I will be leading the investigation team.” This caused the purple one to gasp in surprise. “I have no idea of what is happening and that is what worries me.”

Both of them looked at the storm, which despite the fact that it had stopped, looked somehow even more ominous than before.

Chapter 5 - Encounter of the third kind

They knew what their mission was: survey and report, which they have been doing for the past five hours. Definitely one of the most boring task a member of the royal guard could ever think about.

Highwind looked at her colleague, groaning audibly. ‘I can’t believe she did that to me!’ she thought, glaring daggers at her counterpart. ‘To think she had volunteered for that!’

The other pony had a very singular appearance: unlike herself, Nightshade was a thestral, the wings on her sides were membranous. Several elongated digits maintained the tension of the appendage, the look of which bore significant resemblance to the shape of a bat’s, though she hated it when other ponies told her that.

Her coat was a dark grey hue whereas her mane and tail were a light mauve; the contrast accentuated by the dark blue color of her wings. The most surprising detail would be her slit eyes, which were a bright pink.

Those eyes were actually the main reason why she had been assigned on day shifts, as her eyes looked like two enormous pink orbs in pure darkness. At first her parents were crestfallen: a thestral that was assigned to day shift was humiliating, the tradition anchored in the family since several generations.

Fortunately, thanks to her brilliant reflexes and quick thinking, Highwind soon proved to be the most proficient recruit in the day guard.

“Can you remind me again why you decided to take this mission, and to include me in it? And, for Celestia’s sake, why did you choose a surveillance mission out of all of them!?” Highwind asked her traitorous partner, feeling her light blue feathers rustle from the anger.

Her friend merely ‘tsked’ at her outburst.

“Come on, Wind!” she said, flailing her legs in exasperation. “We are guards. We stay at the castle all the time! This time, we have an opportunity to leave the golden prison for five hours, and you just complain?” she pouted, her nose scrunching up in the process.

“But that’s what we are, Nightshade. We are guards! It’s our job to stay and keep everypony safe. Exploring and surveilling are recon teams’ jobs!”

“And what better way to ensure their safety than to go and explore what could have caused the magical disturbance in this bucking forest!” Nightshade replied, putting her left leg around Higwind’s neck, while slowly gesticulating with her right to the vast landscape in front of them.

“Look at this.”

“The forest?” Wind asked, unamused by Shade’s shenanigans.

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?!” Highwind pressed.

“Adventure….” Shade said mystically. Her friend sighed; she didn’t know how she managed to go that far with that erratic behavior of hers.

On the bright side they might end up killed by some monster and be spared the humiliation of explaining to their superiors why they suddenly traded guard duty for exploration missions.

“Okay, five more minutes and after that we’re done! Understood?” Her colleague happily nodded, satisfied with her partial victory. “I want to be back for dine-”

A bright flash of light interrupted her. Looking for the offending ray, she spotted a small clearing in which sat a small building. She turned to the ‘luckiest’ pony in the world who ‘eeeed’ in glee before diving straight for the newly acquired target. They arrived a few meters away from the cubic habitation, under the cover of the canopy. Eying the place anxiously, Highwind almost failed to notice her partner galloping towards the clearing.

Before her thestral counterpart could put both of them in danger, Highwind pulled Nightshade back by grasping her armor, making both of them fall back in the bushes circling the strange concrete house.

“What are you doing?!” Highwind whispered angrily to her companion, who just shrugged indifferently at her.

“It’s a house. Whatever inhabits it must at least have some common sense and be at least civilized.”

“What if he’s hostile?” Highwind added, her stress and annoyance subsiding to caution. Nightshade seemed to think for half a second, before smiling sheepishly.

“A...risk to take?” She said tentatively. Highwind facehoofed.

“How about seeing if whatever’s inside is threatening or not by approaching stealthily,” The pegasus emphasized the last part. Her friend nodded, and both of them begun to walk towards the cubic house.

They clung on the shadows, avoiding the small enlightened patches of grass, every movement carefully executed, silent hooves hitting the ground as the ponies progressed through the clearing.

‘That’s not good’, Wind thought, ‘there’s no hiding spot past this point. As soon as we enter the clearing, our cover will be blown.’ She turned to her still smiling colleague. The two shared a glance, and knew what they had to do. As soon as they stepped out of the forest, they ran as fast as they could towards the building, avoiding the windows.

In a fraction of seconds, they arrived at the massive door. The wooden surface was at least two times their size. Whatever lived inside must have been freakishly tall! Highwind looked pensively at the oddity. Why would an intelligent creature live in the middle of the Everfree forest, the most dangerous part of it all?

Turning to her friend, she saw her looking around fearfully, her eyes darting from point to point, a shadow falling over her features.

“Night?” she asked, “something wrong?” Nightshade turned her head towards a nearby bush, her pointed ears twitching at sounds only her’s could hear.

In addition to their incredible eyesight and night vision, the ears of the nightly ponies had a tuft of fur on the top, composed of extremely sensitive hair cells, similar to the stereocilia contained in a normal pony’s inner ear. Thanks to this extra fur, thestral had a hearing sense nearly three times better than a common equine.

While this ability was world widely recognised as the ‘thestralian stereo-amplification’, Highwind preferred to call it ‘the floof’. A term which Nightshade hated profusely.

This fluff was currently vibrating on Nightshade’s ears, causing her ears to perk up high, its owner’s muzzle scrunching up in concentration. Highwind couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight in front of her, the bat-pony looking more like a lost puppy at the moment. The glare her partner shot her was enough to sober the pony up.

“Something is coming,”Nightshade said, tensing up as her ears vibrated intensely. She briefly looked at the rooftop, Highwind following her gaze. “Quick!” Both of them flew over the roof, using the small protrusion of cement as an improvised cover. They did it just in time as the rustling of bushes and other foliage could soon be clearly heard from the southern edge of the clearing.

The guards cautiously raised their heads to gauge the potential threat, frantically scanning the field below. At first, nothing seemed to stand out. The only things in the clearing beside themselves were the trees surrounding it.

Casting a look at her friend, Highwind noticed the thestral’s eyes were entirely focused on one point of the landscape below them. Following her gaze to a cluster of small trees, she saw the vegetation shift a bit as if moved by the wind.

They didn’t have to wait long. The movements of the plants around the area intensified, soon accompanied by guttural sounds. The growling was joined by others noises as more bushes were set in motion, glowing spots appearing underneath them.

Blood drained from their faces as the creatures emerged from their temporary hideouts, twisted horns and claws joining together to create the perfect abomination, the elk-like monsters gnarling at each other, foam dripping from their bloody jaws.

Both equines dropped behind the cement protrusion, holding their breaths as the wendigos slowly progressed towards their location, sniffing and snarling.

After a few terrifying minutes, the creatures retreated back into the forest, their howls fading in the distance. The ponies stayed unmoving even after the last growl subsided in the depth of the woods.

“What...the hay...was that?!” Nightshade panted, her breath still short. “They were....”

“Wendigo…” Highwind whispered, her widened eyes staring into space, her jaw quivering slightly.

“What? Windigos? They didn’t look like angry wind spirits to me,” her partner observed. To which the other pegasus shook her head.

“No. Wendigos. Horrible creatures twisted by the influence of the nightmare, turned into hungry wraiths.” Upon seeing the incredulous look on her friend’s face, she sighed.

“Second year of guard training, creatures of the second era?” she pressed. Nightshade looked pensive for a second before shrugging sheepishly at her. Highwind sighed.

“That’s why I didn’t want to go there. Do you at least remember how the Everfree is segmented?” she asked. Not waiting for Nightshade to try -and fail- to recollect knowledge she should know as a royal guard, she continued.

“There are three types of areas, recognised by their threat level. This level can be established through the danger of the environment, the flora-”

“Please!” the thestral implored, clutching her pointy ears with her hooves, “Cut to the chase! I haven’t skipped through these classes only to hear you now!” Highwind huffed in annoyance.

“Basically, we are near the most dangerous part of the everfree forest, near the old castle. Where the nightmare’s influence is the strongest.” She looked angrily at her oblivious colleague.

“Do you get now why I didn’t want to come here? This place is a giant deathtrap! No sane creature would come and live here with those things around!” Highwind said, then looked expectantly at Nightshade.

“.......Sorry?” she asked. Highwind sighed, knowing this would probably be the best she could hope to get from her partner.

“Hugh...No matter. We inspect the house, look for something, and go away as quickly as possible. Roger that?” Nightshade straightened her posture and gave a mock salute.

“Yes ma’am!”

The ponies flew down from their perch, and came back in front of the door they had previously been looking at. They stared at the wooden barrier that separated them from whoever lived inside.

Highwind thought about the kind of creature that would inhabit such a place. It would certainly be quite tall, considering the size of the door. The house itself indicated that the being living inside had at least basic knowledge about comfort. Hopefully, it would be intelligent enough to welcome them. Then again, what kind of intelligent creature could tolerate living around monsters in such a dangerous area? Even if it was intelligent, nothing proved it wouldn’t attack them on sight, or try to eat them.

Highwind shook her head. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that they were at a lethal disadvantage. None of them knew the internal layout of the house, or even how many the creatures were. For all they knew, there was a whole nest of them that could have seen them earlier and were waiting inside to ambush them.

A ray of light reflected on one of the house’s windows attracted her attention on the steadily lowering sun. Night would soon come, and with it, the predators. If the forest was dangerous to venture into during daytime, staying there by night was downright suicidal. The best they could do right now was to report their findings back to Canterlot and maybe go with a much bigger squad.

Highwind was about to convey those thoughts to her friend when the sound of detonations broke the silence of the forest. She looked at her partner, who nodded, and both of them flew above the thick canopy, scanning the treetops for anything out of the ordinary.

Soon enough, smoke rose roughly two kilometers from their location. Highwind grunted in frustration. It came from deeper in the forest. It couldn't have come from a less dangerous zone, no! It had to be from the most dangerous part of the forest, total uncharted territory.

She looked at her now giddy thestral friend, who was now positively vibrating in the air. She looked at Highwind, her puppy eyes pleading for the possibly deadly treat.

Highwind shrugged. They were already going to lose their job, so why not put even more oil on the fire? She nodded to her partner.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!” Nightshade screamed, before rocketing towards her goal. Highwind looked at the flying dot disappearing in the horizon at incredible speeds.

“That thestral’s gonna be the death of me.”

Upon arriving where the smoke originated from earlier, the ponies found an abandoned settlement where only small embers remained of the previous, and most likely big fire, considering the size of the burns on the ground.

The stench of burnt flesh and hair was filling the air, making both guards jump back from the sudden change in the air. Nightshade looked closer to the ashes, noticing several alien objects lying inside.

To their horror, small bones and decrepit carcasses could be found in it, their origins unknown due to the advanced state of calcination of the remains.

“Wha...What could have done that?” Highwind whispered to her partner. Upon receiving no proper answer, she turned towards her unresponsive friend, which was in the process of releasing the contents of her morning meal on the ground next to her.

“Sight too gruesome for you to handle?” Highwind teased her still greenish comrade.

“No... it’s...urgh...the smell...can we please get out of here? I’m positively dying right now.” she said with yet another dry heave. Highwind nodded. She was about to take off when a hoof raise from her partner stopped her.

“Look” Nightshade pointed at the ground. “Imprints.” Indeed, large markings on the ground indicated a creature, bipedal from the distance between the steps, was standing around the area.

“They seem to be going away from here, and heading towards the north,” Highwind remarked. The imprints were strange. They had grid-like markings inside them, as if the beast walked with special hoof shoes. Could this creature be the same one that inhabits the house they saw earlier? If it was, then the question of the creature’s diet was answered.

She didn’t like that. If this creature was the same that lived in the house they saw, it meant it was sapient, and carnivorous. Even more, if the beast headed further north, it would at some point come upon one of the limitrophe villages.

“We need to follow the prints.” Highwind decided, her partner grimly nodding. They galloped into the forest, dearly hoping that whatever monstrosity the nightmare had created this time wasn't going on rampage on some unsuspecting pony.

“Aaaaaaand….done!” I said as I put the last poison joke in my chest pocket, having now a total of six flowers of doom at my disposal. I was lucky enough to have found another bush of them a few minutes after leaving the ‘village’ and was now ready to resume my journey to the next pony settlement.

The forest seemed to become less dense as I walked. Hopefully, the trees would continue on being sparser, which would mean I was getting close to exiting the damn forest.

I drank a bit of water from my now half empty bottle. I Still had another full one, so I had no worries on that peculiar ressource at least. Food, however, would become a problem if I wasn’t able to clear the remaining distance today.

Weirdly, I hadn’t encountered any monsters since escaping from the zombies earlier. Maybe they didn’t venture past a certain point, and I unknowingly walked past it. I certainly hoped so.

As he walked on, he failed to see two pony-shaped shadows following him, going from bushes to bushes to stay out of sight.

“Have you seen that!” Nightshade asked her feathered partner excitedly, pointing at the bipedal oddity which was currently trying to uproot a feral carrot from the ground, only to fall on his rear when only the leaves came off.

“Yes,” Highwind whispered back, “what should we do about it? Do you have any idea concerning the approach we should adopt towards this creature?” She looked expectantly at her colleague, only to find her staring intensely at the monster.

“No. But it’s cute,” Nightshade said, chuckling as the thing tried to peel the leaves off of its face, only managing to messing them up in its hair, grumbling loudly as it did so. Highwind exhaled irritatedly.

“We are facing an unknown creature that might represent a major threat to ponykind, and the only thing you’re capable of is to make a remark on its general appearance?”

“Um...Yes?”

“You were not supposed to answer that question!” the pegasus screamed, her forelegs raised in exasperation, to which her partner only stuck her tongue. Highwind sighed. Why did her superior assign this thestral to her? No matter, they had a mission, and she was going to make sure they would accomplish it. Talking about that…

“Don’t you find it weird that we can’t hear the monster anymore?” Nightshade asked, looking around, anxiety building as the creature appeared nowhere in their line of sight.

“Where did he g-” Highwind started, only to be interrupted by the cold contact of sharp metal against her neck. Slowly looking up the triangular shape, she saw the bolt was in fact part of a much bigger contraption, the device itself being held by the gigantic bipedal ape they had caught sight of earlier.

“If I were you” the being said,-much to the ponies’ surprise- “I would be extremely wary of my next move.”

I had the strange feeling someone, or something was watching me. The fact that I wasn't that far from the undead village wasn’t reassuring. Every once in awhile, I would hear some shuffling behind me. Then, alarmed, I would look back, only to find stillness and utter silence.

I didn’t like that. I already had a close encounter with one of the local predators, and certainly wasn’t eager to tempt fate once again. This time, I would not have a house to save me from the American Indian abomination.

I walked a bit faster, and suddenly stopped, ears ready to pick up any extra ordinary sounds coming from behind. Upon hearing nothing, I decided this was probably nothing, and began walking again further north.

After five more minutes of walking, I discovered a small patch of what seemed to be carrot plants, judging from the leaves. I crouched near them and tried to uproot them. Emphasis on ‘tried’. The first one came loose quite easily, revealing a small pale carrot, much too small to make a decent vitamin source. I put it in my bag anyway. Better that than nothing. The second one however, snapped around the base of the plant, causing me to tumble backwards, some of the leaves and a mouthful of dirt ending up on my face in the process.

Grumbling as I removed the offending vegetal scraps off of me, I heard a strange sound coming from behind. It wasn’t the shuffling noise I heard earlier. This one sounded like...hushed voices? I stood still, trying to locate the origin of the sounds, moving slowly as to not alert whatever followed me from my intentions.

As I progressed, the voices and their location became clearer. I could now distinctly hear to persons talking in the bush not three meters away from me. I squinted my eyes at the suspicious plant, to see two equines crouching under it. These one seemed at least to wear some kind of armor, reminding me of the one the royal guards wore in the show.

I shook my head. This forest already proved to be tricky. This time, I would be the one making the first move! I loaded my crossbow, the sound alerting the ponies. Too late though: The bolt was already pointed at the nearest equine’s throat, ready to be fired.

“If I were you” I began threateningly, “I would be extremely wary of my next move.” I addressed the ponies, as I made a small motion with my weapon towards the open. The midget horses caught on the hint, slowly stepping out of the bush. The first one - the one my bolt was currently aiming at - seemed to be a blue pegasus. Male, if the muscular frame was anything to go by. The second one was a color tweaked thestral, a female this time.

“Okay, first things first. Who are you?” I asked the ponies, alternatively pointing the crossbow at each of them. For an instant, no one dared to answer. The silence was interrupted by the low growl the blue stallion emitted.

“We are royal guard, the elite of Equestria’s force, and servant of the crown!” The pony announced proudly, in a very disturbing girly tone. “We are the ones who deal with the creatures that threatens the safety of Equestria,” he announced, looking pointedly at me while he did so.

I was about to give them a piece of my mind concerning the poorly disguised threat when I saw the bat pony looking at me strangely. Seeing my attention directed at her comrade, the blue pegasus turned too.

What are you do- She asked, only to have her friend stuff a hoof in her muzzle, effectively stopping her.

“Shhh. Stay perfectly still,” upon seeing her colleague incredulous and slightly angry gaze, she continued, “It’s a zoidberg! His vision is based on movement. If we don’t move, it can’t see us.”

“A what?” both me and the blue pegasus asked.

“A zoidberg! I read it in a book. They are bipedal creatures that hunt ponies and live in cubical white houses!” she explained while gesticulating towards me despite her previous indications.

“You know I can-”

“Where did you read that? One of those sci-fi magazines?” her partner asked her knowingly, to which her friend didn’t answer. Instead, she looked around and, seeing a suitable branch, picked it up with her muzzle before waving it in front of me.

“Umh...I’m not...It’s not…” I was at a complete loss of word when in front of that level of naïvety, and/or stupidity. Was she really a guard? If that was true, then no wonder the main six always fend for themselves. These ponies were clueless!

“It doesn't work,” I told the determined bat pony, whose ears suddenly perked when she saw me addressing directly at her.

“R-really?”

“Yep.”

“Not even a tiny little bit?” she asked hopeful, a cute pout on her face. I shook my head, causing the pointy ears to drop as she faced the ground. Aww, it was sad to see her that way-wait a minute!

“Hey, i’m the one asking questions here!” I exclaimed, brandishing my crossbow once more towards the group.

“Okay, okay!” The blue stallion said, definitely not wanting to have a bolt going through his skull. “What do you want to know?” he asked, ears low.

I thought about several question, however, one seemed to stand out more than the others.

“Where are we right now?” I asked the group.

“W-well, right here and now, you are in the middle of the Everfree forest. It is one of the most dangerous places of Equestria, if you have not already seen by yourself.” the bat pony said, unknowingly answering another question of mine.

“So, you’re royal guards huh?” I asked, looking at them curiously, eying the less than convincing armor. If the unprofessional behavior was anything to go by, this was the definite proof that guards were not formed for battle: the main part of the armor covered the back and half of the belly region of the ponies. The other part was a helmet, which again was only covering the back of the head, leaving the whole facial region open for any blow that would no doubt prove deadly if aimed correctly. The whole armor didn’t seem very thick either way, maybe less than half a centimeter.

“Yep, that right!” the same greyish pony answered proudly, showing off her less than impressive armor.

“What are two guards doing outside of Canterlot then?” I asked, feeling my eyebrows rise as I realised the situation. “Shouldn’t you be guarding, like guards are supposed to?” I heard the blue pegasus sigh. When I turned and looked at him quizzically, he just shook her head.

“That’s what I’ve been saying to her from the very beginning!” he looked angrily at her partner, who just giggled at his expense. “This thestral here,” he started-giving me more information on the nature of the ‘bat ponies’-“Wanted to live an adventure,” he said, every word heavily dripping with sarcasm.

I couldn’t believe how easily these ponies were giving information. In a few minutes, I had learned about the guards, how they worked, the different types of barracks at canterlot and the varying settlements around the Everfree. I couldn’t even fathom how these ponies had not been taken advantage of yet.

Trust is not something I could give so easily, even more after the events of Sunny Town, but these two guards had a very different comportement than the ones who inhabited the place. They were also representing my only chance at finding a way out of this forest.
I sighed. This was something I was doing a lot lately. I looked at the two quadrupeds in front of me. It’s not like I had many options. I lowered the weapon, and crouched to be at their level.

“Listen. I’m sorry I doubted you,” I paused “...and that I aimed my crossbow at you too. It’s just... I made a few very unpleasant encounters in the forest, and this just seemed too good to be true.” I extended a hand a bowed my hand slightly.

“I know you don’t trust me one bit. I am the one to blame for that.” I looked around. “If you came here, you probably know a way out of here, right?” Both nodded. “ I want to get out of this bloody forest. If I do it on my own, it’ll probably take days for me to figure it out, and probably get eaten by some monsters on the way.”

“Could you please help me out of here?” I asked the group of equines. I let the question hang as the guards looked at each other, casting unsure gazes my way from time to time. They finally settled on a common ground as they nodded again, coming on my sides, effectively flaking me. The blue pony spoke first.

“As guards, it is our duty to help creatures in need when our knowledge and capacity allow it,”

“However, you pointed a weapon at two members of the royal guard and out loud threatened to harm us willingingly,” they started trotting, albeit slowly so I could match their pace. “We will lead you to the nearest village, Ponyville.” I was about to voice my thanks when the same blue pony stopped me.

“However! You will be judged for the facts we just told you. Of course, due to the attenuating circumstances you talked about earlier, it will probably result in one or two days in custody, so don’t fret too much over it,” he said sympathetically.

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” I said to the blue stallion, who, for some reason, seemed flustered by my comment.

“H-hey! I’m a mare, you jerk!” he—I guess she—suddenly screamed at me. Surprised, I looked closely. Indeed, even though the pony was quite muscular and stallion-like in appearance, small details like the slender frame her thestral companion shared seemed to indicate that the being in front of me was not a ‘he’ but a ‘she’.

The other guard appeared to find the mistake hilarious, as she soon fell over with her body shaking from laughter. Seeing her companion turning a deeper shade of pink and the anger quite noticeable now on her features, I quickly proceeded to apologise to the offended ‘mare.’

After a few huffs from the blue mare, and a good couple of chuckles from her partner, we started heading north west.

…..I forgot to call my parents.