Six Degrees of Suffering

"--at is that thing?"

"I...I don't know. They said that they found it lying in the Everfree, infected with worms."

"Nasty creatures, am I right?"

"Shh! I think it's waking up!"

I groaned, and went upright, still sitting on the comfy cushion I was lying on. I yawned, stretching my arms. My vision was blurry, and I wasn't fully awake yet. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision, and cracked my knuckles. 'Wait...cushion?' I thought, before opening my eyes.

I found myself in some sort of green tent, with a small amount of light penetrating through the thin fabric. I was sitting on a white bed with a metal frame, and two horses wearing labcoats were standing right in front of me, slowly covering their eyes with their clipboards.

"H-hello?" The left one spoke, trying to communicate with me. From the voice, I could tell it was female. She had a light blue coat, and a turquoise mane. She was a pegasus, you know, horses with wings. I stared at the horse for a short amount of time, before turning to the other one beside her. It was a regular horse, no wings or horns. It had a brown coat, and a black mane.

It stayed silent.

"Can you understand me, uh...sir?" The pegasus asked, still looking at me with fear.

"I..." I spoke, causing both of them to jump back in surprise. "I can."

Both horses looked at each other in surprise. The pegasus whispered to the other, before leaving the tent.

The tent became eerily silent all of a sudden.

It was hellishly awkward.

We kept looking all around the tent, but never at each other.

"Uh...so." The horse spoke first, nervously running his hoof on the soil. "What are you?"

"I'm a human. What are you?"

"A human...never saw one in the Everfree before," he said, before answering my question back. "I'm what you call an earth pony."

"Gallant, come out here!" We heard an intimidating female voice call from outside the tent.

He groaned, before exiting the tent.

I was alone once again.

I then pulled out my cover, and saw my naked self, and immediately covered my shame back. I then focused my attention on my legs...well, leg. I found my left leg amputated, a bandage covering the stump at the end of my limb. Slowly pulling away the blanket that covered me, I saw my entire lower body, covered in bandages.

"Aaaaagh!" I screamed on the top of my lungs, staring at my cut off leg.

Soon, four guards – Gallant, the earth pony earlier included – charged in the tent, weapons held in their hooves. My screaming immediately diminished, my attention turning to the guardsmen in front of me.

I chuckled awkwardly, looking at the guards as they glared at me. They noticed my exposed leg, and decided to pull back their spears. "What the hell is this?!" I shouted, gesturing at the bandaged stump that was once my leg.

The guards looked at each other, before one stepped forward. "Your leg was seriously damaged beyond repair. We could not save it, and to minimize risk of infection, we amputated it."

"How the hell am I supposed to walk with this?!"

The guards ignored me, and started to whisper with each other. They slowly walked away, never breaking sight of me. They all left the tent, causing me to release an annoyed sigh.

Well, it looks like I'm stuck here, whether I like it or not.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Psst!"

"Agh! What the?!" I quickly jolted upwards, instantly awoken from my sleep. I looked around me, the one side of my face was covered in sticky saliva.

I must've drooled when I was asleep.

I looked at my right, and saw an earth pony – if I heard Gallant correctly – holding a tray of food beside me. It had a white coat of fur, and it had a nurse's cap. ,I don't actually know what gender he or she is, it's actually very hard to distinguish.

"Heresh your food." Judging from the voice, I could tell she was a female. She placed the tray on my lap, and smiled nervously.

I looked at the food she gave me. Oats, grass and hay...and that weird cube thing. I don't know what that is, actually. I took the spoon, and poked it. It wiggled in place, before stopping after a few seconds. "What is this?"

"That's jelly."

I looked at the cube again, then turned to the mishmash of various plants. "I can't eat this." I said, pushing the tray slightly farther away from me.

"You need to eat, otherwise you won't heal." She said, in a caring voice.

"No, I didn't mean it by that. I can't ea--" I was interrupted by a petite, feminine yelp, and a clamor of falling metal. Both I and the white horse looked at the direction of the noise.

"Sorry!" A voice shouted apologetically from outside.

"As I was saying, I couldn't eat grass and hay. My stomach isn't fit for this." I said, much to the her confusion.

"Then...what do you eat?"

"I eat meat, vegetables, fruit and grain."

She is taking this so calmly. I would've thought that the mention of meat would've made her scram.

Another horse came in the tent. It was a pegasus, one with cyan fur and a gray mane. "Hey, Goldie. What's taking so long?" He was a male, judging by his voice.

"It doesn't eat grass." The nurse stated.

"Well, force it. The sooner it gets better, the sooner it leaves the camp. It looks like Discord for some reason." He then glared at me for a short time, before turning back to the nurse. "I don't trust him."

"Actually, I prefer to eat meat." I said, causing him to look at me. He scrunched his face in disgust, before slowly stepping back to the tent's exit.

"A meat-eater?" He said, before hovering. "You brought a carnivore here?!" He said, before hastily flying out.

I then turned to the nurse. "Don't worry," the nurse said, "At first, Grand Lance is always skeptical at others, but when you hang out with him, you'll know that he's a nice guy inside--"

The pegasus, Grand Lance, suddenly came in, spear at hoof. Diving towards me, the nurse quickly gave me the metal tray.

Thinking fast, I took the bowl filled with the grass and hay mixture at the tree it at the pegasus, before using the tray to shield myself from the attack. I looked away, and closed my eyes. Seconds later, I felt a strong push on the tray, and I resisted the push as best as I could. A loud clang was then heard beside me. I could hear the nurse gasp, and quickly run out of the tent.

Opening my eyes, I saw the spearhead just mere centimeters away from my face. Grand, however, plunged face first into the bed's metal frame.

Throwing the tray and the spear on the ground, I turned to Grand Lance. "Are...are you alright?"

He replied with a groan, before comically pulling his head out of the dented metal frame. He got a broken nose...or muzzle, if that's what it's called, and a black eye. I could even tell that he lost some teeth in the process.

After he pulled himself out of that problem, the nurse came back with another horse...a unicorn, decorated with medals and ribbons. It also had a light green coat, and an orange mane. It was wearing a green uniform, and gazed at Grand angrily. "Corporal Lance!" Oh, so it's a she. "What the hell are you doing, charging towards this creature with a spear?"

"B-but, ma'am! It's a carnivore!" He said, pointing his right front hoof at me.

"I don't see him eating you, do I?" The officer said, raising a brow.

"N-no--"

"No!" The officer said, repeating the Corporal's answer. "This is the second time, Lance! If I see you attack strangers again, I will have you demoted to Private, again!"

"Y-yes...sir."

"I can't hear you!" The officer said, glaring at the poor Corporal.

"YES SIR!"

"Good! Now, get the hell out of this tent, or else I'll have you demoted, right here, right now!"

Lance quickly fled, not even bothering to take his spear with him.

The female horse walked towards me, and slightly bowed. "Greetings, I'm Green Apple. I have to apologize for Gallant, he doesn't fare well with strangers."

That's weird, every letter of their first name starts with G. Must be a horsey thing, like gallop. I don't know, I never knew much about horses.

"Hey, you already traumatized or something?" Green asked, making me snap back into reality.

"Oh, I..sorry," I said, sheepishly. "I was just thinking about something."

"Well, y--"

A loud siren suddenly sounded, nearly deafening my ears. The two horses left the tent, probably to check what was going on. I, however, was bedbound. I looked around, and saw the spear of Grand Lance lying down on the floor.

Slowly forming a smile on my face, my mind quickly formulated an idea on how to finally get me out of this confine.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I limped out of the tent, using the spear as a cane to support me.

I saw before me a group of large tents, with some sort of dome covering the entire area. Horses ran around me, much more than I had anticipated.

Slowly inching farther and farther, I tried to reach Green Apple, which was ordering horses around her. It took me minutes to go a few feet, before finally reaching her.

She quickly noticed me, and went near me. "What the hell are you doing?!" She said, her voice quaking with fear.

"I just thought I'd see what's happening..." I replied in a whiny, playful voice.

She immediately planted her face on her hoof. "You naïve son of a bitch, we're in war here!"

I paused, the small grin slowly disappearing from my face. "Wait...what?"

Green quickly turned around, and shouted, "Gears, try to save as many valuables as you can!"

"Grass, tell your platoon to start arming themselves!"

"And Grease, tell everyone to prepare themselves, 'cause here they come!" She said, pointing at the sky.

Quickly turning around, I saw three large balloon airships, slowly heading toward us. They looked like hot air balloons, but with elongated balloons, propellers at the back, and a large basket-like thing at the bottom. "What the hell are those?"

Green moved beside me, and said, "Those are zeppelin, created by the Earth Pony faction, Earth's Leviathan."

"Heavily armored and self-sufficient, not to mention heavily armed, they can cause great destruction and chaos if not dealt with immediately." She said, before turning around. "Grasp, tell the pegasi to arm themselves, see if they can disable the crews on board!" The pegasi, Grasp, nodded before heading towards the far side of the camp.

Green Apple tugged at my shirt, making me turn to her. "Get to cover! We don't know when they'll start dropping bom--"

We both grunted as an explosion erupted just above us, thankfully stopped by the dome.

I looked up once again, and saw one of the zeppelins drop another bomb. It shook the ground once more, as it impacted the dome.

Now focusing on getting to cover, like Green Apple said, I quickly limped as fast as I could, away from the center of the camp. Pegasi, armed with blades on the side of their hooves, flew past me, and through the dome, heading towards the airships. Horse after horse after horse, it seemed like there was no stopping. It seems that the camp is desperate to rid of these airships, after all.

Slowly nearing the edge of the camp I saw a lone tent with a sign on top of it saying, "Storage". Quickly heading towards the tent, I was suddenly stopped, due to another explosion, which almost made me stumble and fall.

"Dome is down!"

"Dome is down!"

I heard the horses yell to eachother, before witnessing the dome slowly dissipate. The camp now unprotected, the airships started to commence their focused attacks. The pegasi sent by the camp were of no use, and fell down back on the ground. One landed in front of me, gasping for air. She had a wound on her neck, one of a gunshot. I raised a brow at the sight.

"These horses have already created guns?!"

I began to limp again towards the storage, and went inside the tent. I found my belongings, the two flasks of potion, the small container, and the ore. Looking around, I saw a saddlebag, some food, and water. Spears, too.

Using one spear, I cut the spearhead off from one spear, and took it. Now, using the spearhead as a makeshift knife, I cut the saddlebags, and turned it into a crude fanny pack. Placing the knife inside one of the pockets, I began to fill the fanny pack with all the food and water I could bring, as well as a piece of flint and a piece of iron. I also took a few small gold coins, about fifty of them.

Now, using the spear with the cut out spearhead as my new staff, I began to walk away from the tent, and started to leave the camp, which was surrounded by trees. I guess that I never felt the forest, after all.

Horses back at the camp yell their war cry, "For the Solar Dominion! Nam dea Solis!", as they try to prolong their demises.

Ignoring their cries, I began to enter the forest once again, this time, with an amputated leg.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Fuck, walking around this forest is harder with only one leg.

After traversing a few kilometres away from the camp, I quickly sat down and leant on a tree, and took a rest. Opening one pouch and taking a small bottle of water, I drank about half of the water's container, before placing it back in my makeshift fanny.

Suddenly, I heard a loud rustling in the bushes just behind the tree I rested on. Hugging my staff closer, I tried to stay still, trying not to alert whoever was there behind me.

"Go! Find that human!" I heard a male voice shout from behind me. "And take no prisone--" I immediately felt a headache, and dizziness.

Shaking my head to relieve some of the pain, I quickly corrected myself, and hugged my staff once again. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear any voices anymore, just neighing. 'What the hell?' I mouthed, confused. I peeked at the horses, and saw three of them. None of them had horns, nor wings. They wore camouflage uniforms, and had crude rifles, not unlike those wooden muskets we use before our technological boom, strapped at their backs. Two of them were brown, and one was gray. The gray one neighed and shouted at the other two, before slowly moving his head towards my direction.

I quickly pulled back, and hid. They made one last whinny, before moving out, creating a soft symphony of clip clops as they left.

How was I able to understand them earlier?

Noticing that I was alone once again, I quickly limped away, hoping that no more interruptions might surface during my escape.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

A half hour passed, and so did a bunch of airships.

Seriously, a group of ten or twenty heavily armored airships came from the west, heading towards north.

God, after seeing their capabilities earlier, I don't see any reason on why one would deploy more than five. Keeping low under the cover, I kept silent. These horses are a force to me reckoned with, I must say.

After crouching slightly to go under a branch blocking my path, I heard my stomach rumble loudly. 'Fuck, I forgot to eat.'

I mean, who the hell does that anyway? Who the hell "forgets to eat?

Sitting down for a second time, I opened my fanny pack, and took out an unmarked metal can. Fishing out my makeshift knife next, I began to slowly cut the top of the can, and using the spearhead as a lever, pushed it outward.

Looking inside the can, I found a mush of yellow goop, with a few corn kernels floating on top. Smelling it instantly made me want to throw up. I was about to pour it on the ground, but my rumbling stomach made me think otherwise.

"Maybe the taste won't be so bad..." I assured myself.

Pouring some of the creamed corn on my hand, I stared at the thick, cold goop before taking it all in my mouth.

My gag reflex quickly activated, the second the corn came in contact with my mouth. Fighting the urge to vomit, I forcibly swallowed the corn down my throat. I then looked at the remaining corn in the can. "Why the hell do I even..." I said, before pouring a bit more on my hand.

After repeating the same process five or seven times, I emptied the can, but without getting lightheaded in the process. Placing the can back in the fanny pack, I took a few deep breaths, before getting a slight shiver in my spine.

I straightened myself, before continuing my way.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Another two and a half hours later, I came across a clearing in the middle of the forest...and a ruin of what seems to be a wooden hut. I slowly approached the debris, but my focus suddenly switched to the large explosion that happened not far away from me. I turned around, and saw a large tower of black smoke rising up into the air.

I hope that Gallant Shield, Golden Heart, and Green Apple were okay.

Turning back to the debris in front of me, I began to search for any items or weapons that can aid me. Putting my only knee on the ground, and using my staff to balance me, I rummaged through rubble and wood.

Nothing.

Standing up, I suddenly heard a light flapping of wings. Quickly limping to the cover of the trees, I began to search the skies for any sign of pegasi.

And there they were.

Five...seven...ten...thirty...nay, fifty pegasi flew above me, unwary of my presence at all. All of which are headed to the direction I was going to. However, the pegasi I met at the camp wore silver and gold armor, and wielded spears. These wore blue armor, and were armed with knives and crossbows attached to their hooves.

After waiting for the last pegasi to pass, as well as waiting for a few more minutes to make sure that no one else followed shortly, I limped as fast as I could toward their direction of travel.

Pushing away leaves, and ducking under branches, I traversed my way through the forest...until seeing a pathway. I stared at the path, thinking I might be able to use that. I soon disagreed with that idea, I could be easily seen passing there. Plus, I might encounter patrols if I go through that pathway.

Sticking by the trees, but following the pathway, I began to see a bright light in front of me. 'Could it be?' I asked myself. Did I finally find the edge of the forsaken forest?

Ignoring my exhaustion, I began to limp faster and faster, until I finally emerged on the other side. I saw a small town, not occupied by any one, or any horse. It was a ghost town.

The building nearest to me was...a small hut, built just fifty meters away from the forest. It looked untouched for months, or even years.

I limped towards the lone hut, hoping that it was empty so I could rest, even for a little bit. If not...well, I hope that it's inhabitants won't be so hostile.

I got a pretty bad feeling about this.