Lost in Equestria

The past month has been the most interesting days of my life. It started off pretty well with the beginning of my vacation from my job at Costco.

I spent my first day at my parents’ house to visit them as well as to borrow their tent. On my second day I left to go on a camping trip to Yellowstone, which was where things took a turn for the worst.

A few hours after setting up my tent, grill, and equipment, I decided to go on a hike. I wanted to see Old Faithful, visit the Grand Prismatic springs, and explore Fort Yellowstone while admiring the forest in between.

It was a breathtaking experience. The peaceful surroundings alone made me wish I could live my life away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I’m sure I could’ve made that a reality if I put my mind to it, but I didn’t have the drive to fully commit to that idea.

On my way to Fort Yellowstone, the tornado siren sounded. I didn’t really know what to do, so I ran as fast as I could to my campsite. I figured if I could make it to my car, I would be able to get out of the area. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t make it to my vehicle.

The sound of the wind ripping through the leaves was the last thing I heard before being picked off the ground and getting knocked out by a broken branch.

When I woke up, I was lying on my back in a crater. I had survived a tornado! I was ecstatic about surviving a natural disaster that should’ve sent me to the afterlife. I laid in that crater for some time just staring at the sky.

Eventually, I climbed out to an unfamiliar sight. I was in the middle of a large open plain. Nothing was familiar to me. A small tree line was barely visible in front of me, a large mountain to my right and a rather large cloud formation in between. It looked like it was raining hard under it and it didn’t look like it was moving fast. I couldn’t see anything else since the rising sun was currently in that direction.

There were no buildings, no cities, no roads or any sound other than the breeze. With few options at my disposial, and fewer good ideas, I decided to head for the tree line since trees usually meant food in the form of berries and fruits.

Before I could make it to the forest, I came across something that brought a smile to my face, railroad tracks. A sign of civilization!

I looked in both directions to decide which way to go. To my left, the tracks headed toward a small mountain chain. To my right was the single large mountain. The deciding factor in my choice was that the same giant cloud formation from this morning hadn’t moved an inch and was continuing to rain.

Three days of walking, three days! That forest with fruits had a distinct lack of fruits in it. I was walking on an empty stomach and possible dehydration so I was a bit skeptical when I saw a city in the distance. My energy was running low, fading in and out of consciousness and having difficulty staying upright on my legs. When I finally reached my destination, the city was abandoned. I knocked on a few doors of the smaller houses but nobody came to answer the door.

I wandered around the city for a couple of hours. It was strange, there wasn’t a person in sight but the streets were clean. The buildings didn’t show any sign of wear, even if they looked a little... outdated. A few lights were on in the windows. When I knocked, I was met with nothing.

I eventually collapsed onto my stomach in the middle of a 4-way road, exhausted and filthy. It didn’t take long for me to lose consciousness and fade into darkness.

That’s how I ended up in this cold, dark room. It was just a square room with a bright white crystal on the ceiling that illuminated the area, and a small hole in the corner which I assumed was my toilet.

This place didn’t even have a door; all four walls were solid rock. I wanted to believe there was some Scooby-Doo secret button that opened a door somewhere, but after a few hours of molesting the walls with my hands, I gave up.

I’ve been in here for about three weeks. I’m not sure since the room didn’t have a window, or any other way to tell what time it was. Every so often, the crystal would die down to a soft glow. That’s when I would go to sleep.

Throughout my involuntary stay, I haven’t seen anybody since waking up here, but I had the feeling of being watched. I first thought it was paranoia, but the feeling persisted. I try my best to ignore it, but it’s always there in the back of my mind.

Despite the lack of an enterance, food and water came often. Most of it was inedible for the first couple of weeks. Meals consisted of a green mush that tasted like dirt, a delicious red apple, a large glass of water, and a few flowers... yes, I said fucking flowers. You would think that since meals have been showing up in my room, that I’d see some sort of delivery man.

That brings up the creepiest thing about this place. The food is never delivered, it just shows up.

Some meals will be there when I wake up, othcers will just “appear” there when I’m not looking. After sitting in a corner to look at the whole room, the meal appeared in the blink on an eye from a puff of colored smoke. No sound, nobody leaving it there, and no trap doors, it just appears on the ground.

The first time I witnessed this happen, I was in disbelief. I sat there staring at it for a minute, wondering if I was going insane from my diet of apples and water.

Then the food started changing. My first couple weeks was the crummy green mush and flowers. Then those changed to cooked fish and a baked potato. To any other person, this would be wonderful, but I didn’t like seafood. I ate sushi, but the kind I like is filled with vegetables instead of fish.

Considering the situation I was in, I did try the fish. I did not like it. Still, the baked potato was a bonus to my daily meal, if you could call an apple, water, and a baked potato a meal.

That food lasted for a few days before my fish was changed into a glorious steak. When I first laid eyes on that piece of meat, I had to slap myself to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. It was real. I took my first bite and... it was dry. Someone over cooked it. It was chewy and dry but I forced it down anyway. The second steak meal was charred black, and the third was pretty raw, so I avoided eating both of them.

Eventually, the steak changed into a burger. I did not expect much when I took my first cautionary bite, but it was DELICIOUS! I inhaled the burger that reminded me of home. Each burger was as tasty as the last, not a single overcooked or undercooked patty.

And now we are in the here and now.

When I woke up today, I was treated to a big surprise. In the corner of the room was a green pony. I’m not sure how it got there or why but it looked awful. The most obvious was that it was spray painted green. The second was it had spots where fur wasn’t growing and multiple scars on its body and legs. There was also junk tangled in its mane and I could see its ribs showing. It looked sickly.

The second I moved to sit up, it’s entire body started to shake. I won’t pretend to be a genius of horses, but I knew they were considered prey animals, so the fact that it was in a confined space with me wasn’t good. A sudden movement and I could have a broken rib, nose, or worse.

So I did the only safe thing I could think of, I sat back down and observed. For thirty minutes it continued to shake in the corner until it slowly started to calm down. It’s eyes never strayed away from me. A shiver went down my spine as I was reminded of the feeling of being watched.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours before my stomach growled from neglect. That’s when I noticed that my meal hadn’t appeared in my cell. It was just me and the pony in the corner.

We stayed like this for three days. Nothing to eat or drink and the pony had passed out, I think. I would be lying that the though of eating it didn’t cross my mind but so many things kept me from acting on it.

The first was it could wake up and start thrashing around. I don’t think I could kill it if it struggled. The second, assuming the pony didn’t struggle, was I would have to use my bare hands to kill it. The third, as long as the pony was dead by this time, is that I don’t have anything to cut it up, or cook it. Finally, if everything went absurdly perfect, is that it looked diseased. Even if I had a way to cook it, it would most likely kill me shortly after my meal.

My eyes felt heavy as they began to close. There were worse ways to go. The food, while starting out bad, turned into the best meals I’ve eaten in a long time. I could’ve used a shower though, that would’ve been nice. Sleeping in over a months’ worth of filth and grime just feels awful.