Sails

"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!" - Admiral David Glasgow Farragut

“Fuuuuuck that hurt!” Horatio shouted as he regained his consciousness.

He flailed around a little bit trying to regain control of his body. A few seconds of flailing like a drunkard and he was up on his feet once more. Horatio smiled triumphantly feeling very proud in his ability to stand like a normal person. His triumph though was short lived as he heard a menacing growl behind him.

‘Please tell me that's just a lost puppy,  please be a puppy, please be a puppy.’ Horatio thought as he turned around to face the creature.

When Horatio fully faced his adversary he was shocked to say the least. What stood before him was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was in the shape of a wolf but completely made of would  and its eyes glowed as if it was animated by a primal magic. Though the most disturbing thing probably was the fact that the creature had sap coming out of its mouth as if it was drooling hungrily.

Horatio raised his hands, dropping the book and the sextant in the process but retaining his hold upon the cutlass.

“Now hold on there, we can be friends.” Horatio asked the strange wolf thing.

The timber wolf surprised by Horatio’s response pause in its attack but only for a moment before it sprang at Horatio aiming for his throat.

“I guess this means that we can’t be friend huh?”  Horatio asked as he sprung out of the way of the timber wolf. Knocking it out of the air using the flat of his blade. Not wanting to really hurt it since it was just doing what was instinctual.

The Timber wolf landed on it feet and turned to face Horatio again. This time it let out a bark which signaled the timber wolf hiding behind Horatio to attack.

Horatio was bowled over by the wolf but was able to lash out with his sword sinking it a few inches into the skull of the second timber wolf before it could finish its attack. At the same time the first wolf and now a third wolf charged him. The first wolf got a hold of his left arm while the third wolf grabbed his leg.

Horatio screamed in pain as the wolves tore into his arm and leg. He wildly swung the cutlass around desperately trying to take out one of his assailants. One of his swings caught the third wolf in its eye causing the wolf to cry out in pain. It released Horatio’s leg, when it did Horatio promptly kicked it in the face.

With the third wolf dazed Horatio was able to pry his arm from the grasp of the first wolf.  Knocking the first wolf away from him. He shakily regain his footing to find that the first wolf and third wolf stood in front of him while the second wolf seemed to have healed itself and was standing to his side.

“Well is that all you’ve got?” Horatio asked between heaving breaths.

The first wolf growled and leapt at him. Horatio barely had time to raise his sword before it tackled him. Instead of clawing and biting him clawing him like it should the wolf just lay on him limply. It was then that Horatio noticed either by luck or by fate that the cutlass had pierced through the wolf's chest and seemed to impale a gem like ball surrounded by roots.

Horatio watched as the magical light left the first wolf’s eyes and its body fell into pieces. Brushing of the pieces of the dead wolf Horatio once more tried to stand but could only manage to kneel. He faced the other wolves and readied himself for combat. If he was to die it wouldn't be to these creatures.

The two timber wolves eyed Horatio wearily. They had originally thought that he would be an easy kill. Now they were worried, he had already injured one of them and killed their alpha. After a moment of indecision they both scampered off into the forest deciding that they could find an easier meal somewhere else.

Once the wolves ran off Horatio collapsed in exhaustion. The pain from the teleport portation he went through combined with that of his injured arm and leg almost caused him to lose conscious.

Using the cutlass as a makeshift crutch Horatio made his way over to where he dropped the book and sextant. He plopped down next to them finding a bag near them he rifles through it. Finding a second uniform, a compass, a canteen, and a map with a compass.

The first thing Horatio did was to take of the clothes he was wearing since they were ruined by the claws and teeth of the timber wolves.  He used the water in the canteen to wash of his wounds then proceeded to rip the torn shirt into pieces washing them and using them to bind his wounds.

Once he had tended his wounds he pulled out the map and began to pour over the map. Finding an x with you are here written over it Horatio found that he  was in a place called the Everfree Forest. Not to far away from princess castle it seemed. If he headed north he would be there in two days at the least.

‘That is if I last for another two days.’ Horatio thought ruefully as he cut the limb of a nearby tree to make a crutch.

Once he had packed up all of  his supplies he set off into the forest hobbling slowly through the shadows of the tree. Taking in his surroundings he noticed that faces seemed to appear in the trees and eerie sound’s came from the forest.

‘Well if this isn’t creeper than hell.’ Horatio thought as he continued to struggle through the forest.

As he continued his journey he saw many creatures and things that convinced him he was no longer on earth. The wooden wolves were convincing but he saw small round insects that ate a field in seconds, the prints of something with the had the forelegs of a feline but the hind legs of a goat. At one point he could swear he say a basilisk fleeing into the forest.

He he stopped traveling when he noticed the approaching darkness of night creeping up on him. Deciding to make camp in a cave he saw near by he took out the rags and made new bandages replacing the ones he had put on earlier. It seemed that the blood had stopped for the most part, but Horatio was worried about them becoming infected.

When Horatio was filling his canteen in the nearby stream he finally got a good look at his new face. His hair was no longer silvery grey but was now dirty blonde once again. His face looked as if he was twenty again, though it was till weathered from years of wind and sun. The biggest difference was his eyes. His right eye was the same color it had always been a sea blue, but his left eye was now a stormy grey.

He than inspected his new uniform in more detail. It seemed to be based of the officers uniforms used during the war of 1812. When Horatio looked at the rank insignia he laughed when he saw that it said he was a captain.

‘Not much of a captain without a ship lost in the middle of the forest now am I’ Horatio thought chuckling at the strangeness of his situation.

He went back into the cave and lit a fire to block the entrance of the cave to dissuade unwelcome visitors from entering. He sat down next to the fire and finally opened the book for the first time to find that there was a note left in it.

“Dear Horatio,

If you're reading these that means you’ve lived long enough to become curious about this book. Now this book is special you might have noticed that it's just a giant index. That is because its enchanted. If I had tried to fit all the information from everyone of your ancestor into this book it would be thousand of pages long. Instead just think of the information you need and it will appear on the pages. Good luck.”

-Poseidon

Horatio opened the book up again and thought of sword fighting techniques. Looking them over his arm started to hurt again reminding him that he probably wouldn’t be able to practice any of these any time soon. After studying the techniques and choosing the one he would practice he decided that he should get some sleep before he headed towards the castle again.

Luna stood in the observatory that overlooked the castle watching as her stars and moon began to cover the sky once more heralding in the night. Luna was still worried about the events that had occurred in the morning. For a whole day they had sent guards out to search for any signs of trouble but had come back with nothing.

Now Luna was searching through the dreams of her subjects trying to find anything strange. As she floated through the dreamscape she saw something odd. It was a dream but it wasn’t like any she had ever seen. Every species dream had its own shape, but these dream looked like nothing Luna had ever seen it wasn’t a ponies, a diamond dogs, griffon, or minotaur. The dream seemed to change constantly some points having the shape of a ball made out of colorful lights other times a ball covered in spikes made out of dark energy.

Lina was worried when the dream didn’t change back into the colorful ball. She decided to go into the dream and see what was happening. She touched the spiked ball and was sucked into the dream.

When Luna jumped into the dream she entered into a place unlike any other she’d seen. Creature that looked like hairless minotaurs wearing blue uniforms sat in a dim room lit by the lights of glowing glass.

Then a one of the creature shouted. “Captain new surface contact bearing 050.”

A man wearing a khaki uniform walked over to the station. Looking at the glowing glass the first person had said was looking at.

“Adjust course to 050 to intercept,  and call men to battle stations.” The man wearing the khaki uniform said as he walked back to where he was originally standing.

“Turning right to course 050, aye Captain.” one of the other creatures said as the captain passed him.

Then out of nowhere a loud noise filled the room it sounded like a two tone followed by a stallions voice “General Quarters, General Quarters All hand man your your battle stations!”

The room began to bustle with activity as more men streamed into the room seating down at more of the glowing glass. They put things over their ears and put on strange vests.

Then one of them suddenly jumped up from their station. “Caption there's torpedos in the water!”

Another man jumped up almost at the same time. “Sir new air contacts coming from Sierra 1’s location confirmed to be tomahawk missiles!”

The creature in the khaki uniform seemed to be nervous but hid it from its subordinates very well. “Evasive maneuvers everyone hold on this is going to be rocky.”

Then explosions could be heard from the outside. “Sir the CIWs have taken out one of the tomahawks.”

Then another explosion tore through the room knocking men over and causing screens to crack. Another explosion caused the room to turn on to its sides.

The creature in khakis stood up and helped others to their feet. “Abandon ship.” Was all it said as it helped the other’s out of the room. When it was sure everyone had gotten out it looked at Luna.

“Leave.”

With that Luna felt herself being forcefully ejected from the dream. She tried to fight it to no avail as she awoken standing back in the observatory.

‘That creature whatever it is could could spell disaster for our country.’ Luna thought as she left the observatory. It was not the fact that the creature itself seemed dangerous it was the fact that even in a situation like that it had remained calm and collected. A feat only soldiers were capable of.

When Luna walked out of the Observatory she meet with the captain of the Night Guard.

“Captain Dark Wing I want you to send every available guardspony into the Everfree an search for a creature like this,” She produced a drawing she did of the creature wearing the khaki uniform, “When you find it bring it back to the throne room immediately be warned that it is considered extremely dangerous.”

Horatio awoke from his sleep sweating. Once more he had to dream of the worst day he had ever been through. Though this time there was a strange horse like creature except it had wings, a horn, and its mane was made of the night sky. He wasn't sure what  it was but he new damn well it wasn't suppose to be there.

He pushed of those thoughts for later and got up. He carefully put the book into the pack and pulled out the map and compass to check his heading before kicking out the fire and continuing his journey.