Two Worlds Collide: A Microscopic Tail

The group had decided it was Tuesday today. Not because they had any idea of what day it actually was, but because they wanted to have something--anything--that brought some semblance of normalcy to their otherwise chaotic lives. When they arrived in Equestria at twenty strong, they did so in the home of a certain Carrot Top, a goldenrod orange mare who, and this is no surprise to anyone, was a carrot farmer.

This particular group of humans, after weeks of surviving the unaware pony's home, had so far only lost five of their own. This is due to two things; the first being that they found themselves in the favorable position of appearing in Carrot Top's kitchen, and the second being that they actually had relatively good teamwork. All our lives we're told we need to work together, but its only when a few of us are stepped on by giant, golden hooves that it really hits us that it wasn't just the mad ramblings of someone who wanted something but was too lazy to just go out and get it himself.

"Alright, everybody know what they're doing?" asked Bob. I know I said I wasn't going to name them anymore, but much like how Animal Planet insists on naming the animals who are just going to die, sometimes it just makes it easier to distinguish the one from the many.

"Are we sure its gone?" That one was Claire. "Yesterday Jane almost got stepped on because the giant decided it was going to stay inside all day. We don't need that happening again, Bob."

"Its not like we have anything to go on besides what its down these last couple weeks. If the ground ends up shaking, than you hightail your ass back here as fast as those legs can carry you. Only thing we can do if we want to survive."

There was some muttering going on amongst the humans, but after a minute or two was sufficiently wasted they each went out to do their own job. Five of them would go find crumbs to break apart and bring back, ten would go out in search of any droplets of water, while the remaining five split up to watch for any bugs that might threaten their scavenging.

The few responsible for food usually found their bounty before the others, finding bits of stale bread, crackers, cookies, and occasionally lettuce and bits of fruit. The hard part wasn't finding the crumbs though, it was breaking them down into pieces that could be carried. Of the twenty people that made up the scavengers, not a one was bigger than an ant.

In fact, there weren't many ant-sized humans left in Equestria at all. Whether they were stepped on, eaten, or simply found themselves in a flower garden and couldn't find the way out, their number fell at a staggering rate that for some reason didn't affect their smaller counterparts.

A small bit of that will be touched upon later in the chapter, I promise. Now, where was I? Oh yes, foraging for food. Ahem...

The process it took to scour the kitchen and find the essentials was often a long, tedious affair, which was why it was so important that Carrot Top either be out of the house or sleeping when it happened. Claire was leading the food scavengers--herself, Lily, Robert, Dan, and George--along the bottom of the counters lip.

If you've ever actually been inside a kitchen, you'll notice that no matter how hard you try, food will always find a way to fall beneath the counter, and that was no different for the ponies.

"I think I see a crumb, up ahead!" exclaimed Lily.

"Where is it?" Hard as she squinted, Claire couldn't see the aforementioned crumb. The reason being that it wasn't beneath the counter, but was actually a good few miles--to them--away from it. "Oh, fuck that." Claire muttered. "It'll take hours to go there, get the food, and get back. I'm not going to risk being stepped on for a few night's worth of stale cracker."

"We're not having any luck looking around here, are we? The food stores are low--for gods sake Claire, we might not even find anything else! We need this."

"She's right." George, without waiting for any affirmative from Claire, began to venture out into the open. "We can't afford to be careful right now. What we have will only last use a night or two--I'm not gonna wait till we start to starve before deciding the risk is necessary."

The other people waited on Claire's word whether or not to stay or go, and after a few seconds of thinking it over sighed to herself and followed after George.

Carrot Top sighed as she trotted along the dirt path leading to her home. For the past few weeks, she's been getting ready for Winter Wrap up; solidifying spring contracts, buying and repairing equipment, and on the nice winter days she was outside tending to her fields in whatever small capacity that may be, usually involving removing any debris that may have wound up on her property. Just because it was winter didn't mean there wasn't still many important things that needed to be done around the farm.

It was that last task that had kept the mare outside for the last few hours, and after trotting around in the snow making repairs to the farm and ensuring everything was in order, she felt a well-deserved mug of cocoa was exactly what was needed. Did you know that the smell of chocolate helps with relaxation? I read that once in a book. I don't know if its true, but its a nice thought all the same.

So when Carrot top finally entered her house, she wasted no time in removing her winter attire. Her coat, scarf, hat and boots were all tossed to the side to be dealt with later--when a mare wants cocoa, everything else can wait after all. In quick order she trotted into the kitchen, set the stove, pulled out a packet or two of some cocoa mix, and waited patiently for the water to boil.

"How much do we have?" Dan rubbed the sweat from her forehead as he looked to the others for an answer. "We've been chipping away at this crumb for a while, and I'm kinda running out of courage here. Feels like we're tempting fate, ya know?"

Robert tossed another fragment of crumb into his little sack--which, to avoid any confusing on your part, was made from the shirts they wore when they arrived--and gave it lift. "A few pounds on my part, give or take."

The rest did the same, making sure they had enough food to last them at least a few days, before unanimously agreeing to return back to their little home. A few minutes later though, and the ground began to rumble. Each and every person's blood ran cold; they knew that that meant Carrot Top was back, and that if they didn't hurry there was a very real chance one of them might die.

They started running--sprinting as fast as their legs could go. They ran until their blood pumped battery acid and their lungs burned from exertion, but no matter how fast they moved, they could never go fast enough to outpace the giant pony. Twice the mare had passed over them, each step causing the quintuple to stagger and fall. It was the last one that caught Claire, however. As she was rising back to her feet, Carrot Top's island sized hoof came crashing down on her from above.

The only way you can understand how the rest of the group felt after seeing that, was if you were in a similar situation yourself. Not with a giant pony, obviously, but there are plenty dangerous things in this world. If you have, I'm sorry you went through that. If not, then you couldn't possibly understand the pain of watching it happen like the rest did.

Heh, but there is a silver lining here. Claire, as you know, was small. So small was the woman, that when Carrot Top's hoof fell on her, she survived on account that there was enough space in the hoof's frog that she remained alive. The impact from the mare's step ensured that Claire's eardrums had burst, and for several minutes each breath she took absolutely reeked of hoof sweat and dirt, and much to her disgust the she even felt the salty fluid seeping into her clothes, coating her skin.

But then, with just a single step from the giant mare, Claire was once again free. She tried to stand, to start running again, but it was as though someone put her in a swivel chair and spun her around for good long hour. Friendship, though, is a wondrous thing. Perhaps it was because of the shock, or perhaps they felt they needed to see Claire's remains for themselves, but regardless of their reasons the four people were still there, and with a little help they were once more on their way back to their home.

Carrot Top walked out to the living room, cocoa in hoof, and took a seat in front of the fire. She couldn't wait until winter was over; while there was still plenty to do, the work was more boring than planting and harvesting, and if one were to put any stock on the images lovingly branded upon their flanks, that was where Carrot Top's true passion lied.

In the kitchen, Bob and the rest of the scavengers saw that Claire was walked back into their home--a tiny crack set into the wall that lead to a space just big enough to live in some semblance of comfort. She would be out of commission for a few months, but the trip was a success on all fronts, and it was better to be bedridden than dead.

No matter how dismal things may seem, there is always a light shining in the darkness. With a little effort, luck, and a teaspoon of help, humans can survive just about anything. Kind of like cockroaches, only without the wave of disgust and intense desire to kill them before they get into your food and lay eggs everywhere. Ugh, I hate those little butt-breathing bastards...