Author's Note

Here we go, the beginning of the rewrite. You never know how hard it is to rewrite something until you actually have to do it.

I've been busy lately with doing absolutely nothing because now no one is hiring anyone with my degree. Who'd of thought it'd be hard to get a job with a BS in finance and a minor in insurance. Anyways, as it turns out, this virus has kind of ruined the market for people with my degree, making it worthless. Isn't that the worst? You get a good degree, then it almost instantly becomes useless because of something like this. Welp, now I'm taking an online IT certification course so I can, hopefully, get some form of job.

Anyways, please leave a comment on what you thought. The only way for me to get better is from some good old fashioned constructive criticism.

Bumpy Beginnings

“It’s freezing,” the young woman mutters to herself, her breath a hazy fog that clouded her eyes. She pulls her arms tight against her body and rubs her arms in a futile attempt to heat herself with the friction. “I wish I had a blanket or something.”

The woman highly regret taking that bath in the river she found. After days of walking in the forest, she decided to clean off a strange white powder that coated her body. When looking into the water, she had an uneasy feeling from its light blue hue clashing with the dark green moss at the bottom. The reflection of her by the water made her do a double take. Her strawberry blonde hair was matted and caked in dirt and white powder. Her blue eyes no longer shone with a bright brilliance exuding intelligence, life, and beauty, but instead were dull and tired.

As she finished clothing herself, after her bath, she slipped and fell back into the river, getting all her clothing wet.

In her wandering, she got cuts and scrapes along her body and tears on her clothing. Her clothing, now in tatters, were barely doing the job of keeping her warm. The vines and branches, that draped themselves between the trees, had really done a number on her clothing.

Her shoes and socks were gone. She lost them in a swampy puddle. Each step felt as if it was tearing a hole her soles or ripping the padding from the balls of her feet. She now limped her way through the forest.

“Do I have anything to numb this pain?” The woman questioned herself as she looked into her backpack.

The only thing on her person is the backpack itself that used to have snacks in it, but some animals must have taken them when she went to bathe. All that’s left inside is her laptop, some books, and first aid kit. This is truly a miserable experience for the young woman.

“I can’t just wallow in self-pity; I need to find a way out of this forest and contact my parents.” She soldiered on and thought to herself, ‘but how do I do that? This place is weird enough as it is.’

Looking up; the sunlight shines through the treetop canopy leaving flecks of light to illuminate parts of her form. ‘I probably shouldn’t try to climb again. Maybe I should put my clothes somewhere to dry.’

The time spent searching for the right place to dry her clothes was immeasurable. The sun was noticeably lower; but the woman found a rock baking in the sun. ‘The perfect place to dry my clothes.’

Seeing as the sun was still setting, she saw it best to start a fire. There were dry sticks surrounding her, making it easy to gather materials. The sticks were piled together and lit on fire using rubbing alcohol and a lighter she found inside her first-aid kit. The fire was warm and dried out the woman’s flesh and clothing. It was a bright beacon of light in the dimming forest, keeping whatever creatures that lurked about at bay … mostly.

‘Things are really looking up,’ the woman thought to herself. ‘Now all I need to do is find some food. But I can’t just go around naked.’ She looked around her and noticed how big the leaves on the trees were. ‘Perfect.’ She tried jumping up to a low branch on the one of the trees, only to be hit by her breasts on the way down.

“OW! I can’t believe I hit my face with my tits.” She rubbed her face. “I really hope I don’t get a black eye from that. And I really hope this won’t leave me with a sore back in the future.”

She continued her jumping in a, seemingly, fruitless attempt to get on the tree, but this time she used one arm to hold her breasts down. It took her a few minutes of jumping, and her legs tiring out, to figure out she couldn’t gain the height she needed. But then she thought of a brilliant idea.

“I can climb the tree … by hugging it really hard … Wait, I said I shouldn’t try to climb again.” She briefly thought about this, “screw it.” The woman wrapped her arms and legs around the tree and squeezed as hard as she could. She slowly inched her way up the trunk; her body gaining small scratches from the bark.

Upon reaching a low branch, she ceased her infantile climbing technique and latched onto the branch. The leaves she coveted were within reach. Slowly, she grew ever closer to the leaves, but it was not meant to be. Her weight was misplaced, and the branch snapped like a twig, the woman plummeted to the ground. It wasn’t a long plummet, only a few seconds, but enough to hurt her, nonetheless.

She sat and sulked by the fire, too preoccupied with the throbbing pain in her right shoulder, what she landed on, to notice what was happening around her. Without her noticing, she had been surrounded by creatures that kept themselves hidden.

The air was still and the forest quiet, the woman had spaced out and blankly stared at the fire before her. All she could hear was the fire crackling, until she heard some rustling from a bush beside her. She paid it almost no mind and was, mentally, drifting off the planet once again into an empty space that knew no time or matter. Where there were no rules.

There was a loud roar, and five wolves of wood sprung from their hiding spots, surrounding the woman. The sight, sound, and smell of the creatures almost causing no reaction. It took several seconds before her mind placed itself back into her body and she was conscious of the real world. As luck would have it, these wolves were not experienced with the creature she was, nor with prey that didn’t try to run. They remained cautious. If this strange creature barely reacted to their presence, then it must not fear them. If it does not fear the pack, then it might be capable of fighting or luring them into a trap.

This was not the case, however. Her mouth was open in awe and confusion at how such creatures could exist. Once she had realized how these beasts had surrounded her, she briefly froze. The woman, ever so slowly, pulled herself to the fire. The wolves’ curiosity and caution were waning, replacing itself with hunger. They were becoming bolder and closing in on the terrified woman.

‘Maybe I can scare them away with the fire,’ she thought to herself. Her foot touched a twig in the fire, she grabbed it with her toes and brought it to her hands.

She stood, took a deep breath, and shouted. “EAT FIRE BITCH!” She swung the fire at the wolves, some catching fire and screeching in pain as heir wooden bodies are burned to charcoal. The wolves scattered and gave the woman a wider birth.

Taking this opportunity, she ran; leaving her clothes and, almost, leaving her backpack behind. Her breasts jostled to such a degree, she had to hold them down with both her arms to keep herself safe.

She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, ignoring the cuts on her body and soles and the pain they caused. She could make out the sounds of the wolves regrouping and giving chase behind her. The sound bringing forth feelings of dread that pushed her further than she thought possible.

Her heart beat so loud it was audible to everything within her close proximity; the very action of blood rushing through her veins was deafening to her. Her eyes couldn’t properly process where she was going, nor could she react in time to stop herself from catching her foot on a protruding root and slamming to the ground. Her ankle had popped and been sprained, leaving her, practically, immobile. Her attempts to crawl were fruitless and in vain as she couldn’t muster the strength to do so.

She thought all was lost, that she had met her end, but nothing came. She waited long enough for her heart to calm, granting her the sense of hearing once more. The sound of the wolves were gone. There were words spoken in some unknown language, and the sounds of hooves on the ground. She looked up and saw yet another creature that made her drop her jaw in awe and confusion. It was a green unicorn with a green mane with white streaks.

The mysterious unicorn seemed to be in disbelief at what it was looking at. The woman waved and tried to make contact with the creature. Given her current level of exhaustion, most of what she said came as a wheeze between whatever breaths she could muster.

“Hi. I’m Janette.” The woman received a strange look from the unicorn. Given her current location on the ground, she could conclude it was male. His face wore a look of shock and excitement. He opened his mouth, but then the world went dark as she succumbed to her exhaustion and injuries.

“Well that’s unfortunate.” Harpo, the unicorn, pouted. He thought hard about what he should do. “Who knows what would happen if the rest of Ponyville knew a real living human had been found. There could be riots. Maybe I should take her home.” He briefly grew a smile on his face.

His horn glowed and the woman was lifted into the air.

“Wait. What if Praline finds her? He’s not too keen on houseguests.” He stood in place and thought hard of what he could do. “I know, the attic,” he excitedly chirped. “Nopony ever goes into the attic. I can keep her there until she’s healed, and maybe learn more about her. Maybe, given time, I can even begin to introduce her to the rest of town.”

Harpo made his way out of the forest, the woman floating behind him. He hummed a tune to himself, a large toothy grin plastered on his face. There was a skip in his step. The thought of what he could learn from her was all that occupied his mind.

“I’m so glad I decided to go for a walk in the Everfree. It’s like it was meant to be.”

In almost no time, the unicorn had, stealthily, made his way home and stuffed Janette into his attic. He lay food, water, and bedding close to where she rested, and began the work of repairing her body.