"How the hell did I get here?"
“Damn deer, you moved out of the fuckin’ way, you asshole.” Leon said as his arrow flew right past the deer he had aimed so carefully at, startling it. It ran off in another direction, away from him.
“You needn’t be so explicit, dear one.” The voice in his head told him.
“I know, I know. But it is very aggravating when your shot was perfect.” He said aloud, knowing the goddess was still with him. When he was young, Leon had started to hear a voice in his head, so he would talk to himself a lot, which made his parents worry about him. When he was older, he had learned that it was a great goddess that always watched him and told him how to live by his and her own ways.
“Maybe you can catch another one somewhere else.” She told him.
“Maybe I can.” He gathered his arrows and clipped them to his belt, making his pants slide down only slightly. He decided to carry his bow and slung his flask over his shoulder. He continued through the dense forest until he came to a clearing. It was barren of trees and shrubs and had a small lake in the center of it. He stepped up to the water and put his things down, kneeling to look over the water. It was clear and reflected him like a mirror would. His messy black hair stood up in one spot near the back. His red eyes were clear of emotion.
He reached down into the water and grabbed a handful, bringing it carefully up to his face, splashing the tiredness out of him with the cool liquid. Grabbing his flask, he popped the top off and dipped it into the lake, filling it for the journey back. A loud crack sounded from somewhere in the woods, and he instinctively grabbed his bow and an arrow. He brought the arrow to the string, nocking it.
“Who’s there?” He asked into the woods. No response came but shuffling. Grabbing his things slowly and quietly, he stood and crept back into the woods, his arrow still ready. “Who’s there?” He asked again, louder this time. The only response was a faint whisper that came from somewhere deeper in the woods. He continued on, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“Come closer….” The whispers said. It drew him further and further into the woods. The further he went, the more frequent the whispers came. Leon came to a cave where the whispers were louder and they overlapped each other.
“I have a bad feeling about this, Leon.” The goddess said.
“I do to, but we’ll never know who is in here if we don’t take a look, right?” He said as he stepped into the cave. His body was instantly cold as his foot stepped into it, and he ignored the pain.
His eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and he could see faint outlines of drawings on the walls. From what he could tell they were drawings of some type of horse. As he continued on he saw them become more frequent. A light started to form at the end of the cave. It looked to be bioluminescence, for it glowed a vibrant green. He walked closer and closer to the light until he came to a large cavern full of green crystals. They glowed brightly and beautifully.
“Never have I seen anything like this before.” He said aloud, looking at the crystals that hung from the ceiling.
“Neither have I.” Said Okami, who could see through his eyes. Leon snapped to a tunnel that led to another part of the cave as a loud crack sounded from it. He pulled his bow back up to eye level and started to walk down it. His eyes narrowed like the path he walked.
At the end of the path there was nothing but darkness as he looked around. He could see no figures standing anywhere, nor any other paths. Leon sighed and took his arrow off of his string, placing it back into his quiver.
“There’s no one here, so where did that sound come from?” He asked out loud. He looked back to the path that led out of the small cavern, only to find that it wasn’t there. “What?!” He yelled out, looking around and checking twice. Leon started to panic, his breath becoming quicker and his movements more frantic.
Then everything went white. His mind was nearly blank and he felt like he was in a void. Everything he saw was black nothingness. Every way he looked was black. A distant voice called to him from somewhere he couldn’t distinguish. He looked around and tried to call out to the voice and found he couldn’t. The voice came again, faint and the words were jumbled.
“W...e...h...e….” The words came again, a little more clear this time. Leon looked around again, looking for a source.
“We...he...f...a...w..r...o….” The voice said, getting clearer. Still, Leon looked for the source of it. His eyes searched for an embodiment to place the voice.
“ We...a...e...he...e...fo...r...a...wa...r...io….” It came this time. He calmed himself and focused on the voice instead of looking for the source.
“We are here for a warrior!” It yelled into his ear, causing his eyes to fly open to find himself in a field of flowers. The flowers were vibrant yellows and purples. It reminded him of his home, where the garden that sat outside his house had flowers of many colors.
“Wait, Okami, are you still there?” He said, panicking slightly.
“Of course, dear. I could never not be with you.” She replied in a clear voice. Leon sighed deeply, relieved that she was still there with him.
“Good. Now if I could just find someone to tell me exactly where I am.” He looked around as he stood, the weight of his quiver still tugging at his belt. He could still feel his flask around his chest, and the bow in his palm.
At the same moment Rainbow Dash was flying straight down, a rock having hit her wing mid-flight.
“Look out below!” She yelled as she crashed into Leon, knocking him to the ground. They rolled for a few feet before stopping with Leon under the pegasus. “Sorry about that. Someone threw a rock at my wing….” She trailed off as she opened her eyes to find the human staring back at her with the same amount of confusion.
The two stared silently at each other for an agonizing minute until Rainbow Dash lifted herself off of him. She backed away slowly, putting distance between the two.
“What are you?” She asked. Her eyes held both fear and curiosity, an odd pairing.
“I’m a human. What are you supposed to be?” Leon asked the strange creature.
“What are you talking about? I’m a pegasus!” She yelled, getting defensive quickly. Her emotions switched quickly from fear and confusion to anger in a split second. She leaned back, ready to spring forward and spread her wings.
“I meant no offense to you. It never was my intention to do so.” He told her, clipping his bow to his waist. He raised his arms in surrender, and the pegasus relaxed only slightly.
“How did you get here?” She demanded. Leon sighed and opened his eyes.
“I haven’t a clue how I got here or where I am.” He said plainly, trying to get out of the conversation. He tried to walk past her, but she walked back in front of him.
“What do you mean, you don’t know how you got here?” Her eyes told him that she wouldn’t let him leave until he told her. He sighed again.
“I mean, I don’t know how I got here, and that’s that. I’m going to go find the nearest village.” He said, pushing past the pegasus. He walked down the hill, which was covered in a bright green grass that looked natural rather than tended to. It made him think.
When he got to the top of the next hill, he could see a fairly sized village. From what he could see, the houses were made out of wood. Near the center, a large castle-like tree stood. It had crystalline branches like the rest of the tree. He shook his head and walked down the hill. As he walked he saw a farm not too far away from the village.
He stepped into the town, automatically gaining attention from every...pony?...in the village. They gave him confused or scared looks, some backing away from him as he walked.
“Mommy, what’s that strange thing walking through town?” He heard a filly that had yellow fur and a blue mane and tail ask who he assumed was her mother. She gave her a worried glance and ushered her on to which the filly protested.
“Are you seeing this, Okami?” He whispered to himself.
“Yes, of course I am. And I am getting weird vibes from everywhere.” She told him. As Leon walked further into town, he found that the ponies seemed to become a little more sophisticated. When he neared the large crystal tree, he found that a group of ponies were standing around another pony that was slightly taller than the rest. She was purple, her mane and tail a deep purple with a violet and magenta streak in it. She looked over at him and her expression turned welcoming.
“You must be the ‘visitor’ everypony was telling me about, right?” She asked.
“Yes?” He told her confused as to why he was able to speak to a pony in the first place. Much less one that had wings and a horn.
“Then welcome to Ponyville.” She smiled nervously, obviously unsure of what to do.
Leon shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He thought of a flame, a single flare, and focused on it. He then looked around, taking in all the different colors that he was surrounded by.
“Okay, to be completely honest, I still have no clue where the hell I am. Even though you just told me.” He stared blankly at the unicorn, pegasus thing. Everyone around groaned and slapped a hoof to their foreheads.
Author's Note
Hey guys, this is my first story on here, and I figured I'd give an original story line a shot. You know, make something new and hope to the high heavens that it's successful. Anyway, if you like this, be sure to tell me by commenting. Have a suggestion? Give me a shout by P.M.ing me. I'm always open to new ideas so if you want to, just tell me and I'll consider it. Anywho, until the next chapter, Sayonara!
"I don't have time to get lost!"
“I’m sorry about how Rainbow Dash treated you. It’s been really peaceful lately and she doesn’t want anything to happen to that peace.” The alicorn told Leon, who had called herself Twilight Sparkle.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve dealt with people like that before.” He told the only other one around to hear him speak. They had entered the large crystal tree, which Leon had found out was Twilight’s castle. He had also learned that she was the Princess of Friendship, whatever that meant. She led him into a large chamber that had many books stacked on shelves.
“Alright. We can talk in here for now.” Twilight said to him. She looked tired when she turned around to him.
“I’m pretty sure I need to go. You look like you need some sleep.” He said, looking around.
“No, no. I’m fine. I want to know more about you.” She said with a sleepy smile. She layed down on a beanbag.
“I’ll be fine, your majesty. I really do need to get going.” He said without another word. He walked out of the building and ignored all of the ponies that gave him a look. “I swear this is a weird dream.” He said to himself.
“I don’t think this is a dream, dear one.” Okami told him.
“How could it not be?”
“You can feel everything around you, right? It’s real.” She said firmly. Leon shook his head. She was right, he could feel everything down to the last detail. As he walked, he noticed that a trio of fillies was getting into an argument with a silver colored filly, and a pink one that wore a tiara.
“Stop it, Diamond Tiara!” The orange one wings said.
“Oh hush, Scootaloo. You know you’ll never get your cutie mark.” The pink one said. She smiled in a bully-like way. The next moment, the orange one had leapt onto the pink one, tackling her to the ground. Leon stopped to watch the fighting, watching the orange one hit the pink one repeatedly. For a pegasus, she was strong, keeping the unicorn on the ground without having to use her wings. It seemed to go on for a while before the orange pegasus was pulled off of the unicorn by her friends.
“Hey! Let me go!” The orange on yelled at the unicorn and earth pony. They refused to let her go, telling her to calm down as they dragged her away. The silver one was frantically asked if the unicorn was okay.
“I’m fine Silver Spoon. Let’s just go. I need to have a bath after that.” She looked down at herself and groaned. Her pink fur was covered in dirt all over and she walked with her head up, the silver filly following behind.
“What an odd pair.” He said quietly as he continued to walk. He noticed that some of the signs were saying something about a fair. He walked up to one of them and read it.
Ponyville Fair
Come out and join in on the fun this Saturday.
We’ll have food, games, and competitions including archery!
His mind lingered on archery and he tightened the grip on his bow that was still in his hand. He tapped his quiver.
“About seven arrows, dearest.” Okami told him. He nodded and walked toward the area that was depicted on the map. When he found the sign up area for archery and found that he was getting more looks that he had in the main town.
“What does yer kind want around here?” An orange mare asked him. She wore a traditional cowboy hat, and her blonde hair was up in a braid. A trio of apples rested upon her flank.
“I just want to sign up for the archery contest.” He told her. He clipped his bow to his side.
“Alright, but don’t expect to win, we have some o’ the best archers in Ponyville coming out to shoot.” She told him.
“I don’t care. I want to shoot.” He said with determination in his voice.
“Fine, suit yerself. But don’t come crying back when you lose.” She pushed a clipboard toward him and a pen. He picked up the pen and wrote his name down in the correct column. He looked back up to see the pony shaking her head. His eyes narrowed and he grabbed an arrow, nocking it quickly and accurately firing it at another pony. It hit the apple that was between her jaws and sailed into a wall.
“What in the hay are you thinking! You could have hit her with that arrow!” The orange pony yelled at him.
“I know what I’m doing with a bow, so don’t underestimate me in any way.” He walked away knowing many were staring at him. He pulled the apple out of the wall and pulled the arrow out. “Here, my arrows stay clean.” He said, tossing the apple back to an enraged pink pony.
She gave a surprised look as her apple was tossed back at her. She then glared at him as he walked away. Leon couldn’t care less what the others thought of him. He had other priorities.
“So, what’s our next order of business, Okami?” He asked his companion. His eyes flashed a little as a wolf appeared next to him, walking with him. She had taken this form many times before.
“Well, how about we find somewhere to sleep tonight?” She asked, looking up at him. He nodded and started in no particular direction. He had been walking for a while when he came upon a set of abnormal trees, trees that did not seem to be normal. He ignored it for the most part, trekking through fallen limbs and other obstructions. As he listened to the sounds of the creepy forest, he heard a howl in the distance. This told him there were wolves in this forest.
“Seems there are other wolves in this forest.” He said to no one in particular. His head whipped around as he heard the growl of a dog. “What is it that you want?” He asked the wooden-like wolf.
“We want you out of our territory.” He barked.
“This is your territory? Well, I’m sorry about that, but I didn’t realize that.” He said. The wolf tilted his head as Leon responded. “I can understand you, with the help of my friend here.” He turned and started to walk back the way he had come. Okami followed next to him and looked up with a worried expression.
“Where will we sleep?” She asked.
“I saw a tree on top of a hill a little while ago. Maybe we could rest there.” He told her, yawning a little. He walked a little ways before stopping next to an apple tree that had several buckets next to it. A loud crack sounded from somewhere in the maze of apple trees. He could see the same orange mare from earlier bucking the trees to make the apples fall out. Leon looked back to the tree in front of him. He took a step back, got into form and struck it. The apples all fell perfectly into the placed baskets.
“Convenient, huh?” He said aimlessly. He started off again, only to be blocked by the orange mare.
“What’re you thinkin’, buckin’ mah apples?” She demanded. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and she looked angry.
“Just testing a theory.” He said simply.
“Well don’t test yer theories on my farm, or I’ll buck you out of here.” She said, straightening a little.
“Whatever.” He said and walked off, leaving her to glare into his back. He could feel her eyes still on him as he left the maze of trees and reentered readable land. He still had not grown used to the layout of the land, so he had to rely on instinct to tell him where to go. After a while, he found himself to be lost. He searched for a while but to no avail.
“Okay, I’ll admit it, now. We’re lost.” He said to his companion, who looked up with worry.
Author's Note
Okay, so here's chapter two, and I haven't the slightest clue what to do with the next one. That, and I don't have any time to create a picture for the cover art. If someone could either suggest some ideas, or create a cover for this story, it would be much appreciated. Anywho, until the next chapter, Sayonara!
