Flame in the Darkness

A ringing sound was buzzing around inside my head, a bright flash of light obscuring my vision. I can still feel around me, but it is numbed to the point that I can't identify anything as of yet. Last I remember, I was laying down in bed, getting some rest to wake up early for my birthday... and now this. There's no describing just how much my head hurts either... the sharp pain of almost having a smoldered, two hundred degree rock affixed into your forehead is the best that I can to, but even then that doesn't describe it very well. In my disabled state, I work my way around several objects, not knowing what they were, until I fell over a small shift downwards on the path I was supposedly moving on, hitting the ground face-first. My hooves were frail, and I couldn't seem to stand up regardless of how much I tried.

Then, something was touching me... I wasn't touching it, it was touching me. I had no idea what it was, but it helped me up onto my hooves. Through the unbearable ringing, I heard a heavily muffled voice, and couldn't make any sense of it. I looked in the direction of where it came from, a very blurry outline of something being there; my vision was starting to come back. Just as dark is the night, light was the day, as it seemed to be, rays from the sun now shining directly onto my eyes. The feeling of not being able to feel anything was beginning to lift from my hooves, a strange stone object being underneath them, the light wind hitting my coat. The ringing in my ears began to dissipate, and I could hear strange sounds I'd never heard before, almost sounding of that like an engine on the other side of the portal kept in the castle, but... different. As my eyesight drew back in, an unfamiliar creature stood before me. It looked like one of the humans from the portal, but... it didn't too. Its eyes were much smaller in comparison, and definitely not as round... its nose was almost monstrous compared to those of the humans I know... its hair was very short... and its skin looked like a peach... but other than these details, they were very close to the same. Just to the side of it was a metallic object with strange, black wheels.

That didn't matter... I was paralyzed. My senses came back, especially my strength, but I just couldn't move. How I had gotten here was a mystery, what these things were was just as puzzling, and what this place even was remained a total enigma. I could feel my eyes at their smallest, trembling where I remained at the threat that was probably more than just possible at this point. I couldn't understand the thing at all with what it said, it sounding like total gibberish. I tried to catch my breath, hyperventilating to the point it hurt my chest almost, sprawling onto the floor and curling up, terrified beyond doubt. I had no idea where I was, I had no idea what was going on, and I was surrounded by things that were more than unfamiliar.

In a split second, I was able to move, and I immediately darted off, my wings still not budging. Everywhere I looked, there were things that I knew nothing of, but wanted to get far, far away from. I could barely think, barely breathe as I figuratively flew down what I could only assume was a road... until I was brought to a screeching halt by a horde of these human things. Some of them were different colors than others, but not by much... I didn't know what to do, since they were all yelling, bright flashes from cameras coming from all directions, and I didn't know what to do...

...until another group of them, all in similar attire, came in and moved the others away. Their attire consisted of the same uniform, it being a strange camouflage, along with odd-looking headgear and black visors of some sort. I was moved from the center of the mob to an area that had more of those strange metal things, only they were more square and were somewhat taller. A few of them were around me, making me go in the direction that they were until I was put in one of what was now resembling a carriage... but with a hood and a strange wheel at the front, along with cushioned flooring. It then began shaking a few moments later, two of the human things being in two half-seats in a more forward area than the one I was in, and two being beside me, as I was in the middle. In just what seemed like a couple minutes, I had woken up, discovered I wasn't in Equestria, ran from something that I'd never seen before, and now I was here... oh, how my life has changed.

One of the two beside me looked over with one of their hands - or what I could only assume was their hand - around my shoulder area. There was strange padding over it, and the humans from beyond the portal in the castle didn't wear socks on their hands. It strangely resembled what it wore, too. Then, it told me something...

"Est-ce que tu vas bien?"

I didn't understand what it was saying by any means. If it was an accent, I couldn't understand how it would be a thing... if it was a language, I probably would've known it, being as smart as I am... what was it saying?

"Are you alright?" it then said. That I could understand... but I didn't know how to respond. All I could do was nod. As I looked forward, inside the strange machinery we were moving, the direction being influenced by the strange wheel in the front. I could stop the contraption altogether... if I could use my magic, which I couldn't, as I couldn't even sit still where I was. Where I was being taken was not clear, and probably would never be clear.

"Just get some rest," it told me. As much as I wanted to refuse, I was completely deprived of my energy after what I went through, so I curled where I was, putting my head on my hooves, hesitating to close my eyes at first, then complying, closing them... the soft rumbling coming from outside of the wagon-like conception aiding my drifting into sleep, me having forgotten all about what had happened for that moment, since I wanted out of it so unbearably bad... and where I would awake was out of my mind both when falling asleep... and would still not be clear to me until I was brought there at whatever point in time.

Flame in the Darkness

by... L o n e