I lived among the forestby bones_of_a_bronyChapters1 never camp in a storm%2% hospital gowns and Pegasus down%3% an unlikely ally%4% a letter, a home, and a pethappy times and a new friendclose encounters of the dragon kind1 never camp in a stormAuthor's Note hello, and welcome, so this is my first time writing like this so I hope it is enjoyable for you and I would appreciate it if you would help me get better by giving me ideas and helpful criticism for me. I don't have a proofreader yet so I'm sorry if i missed any mistakes. also if you would like to pitch ideas for the next chapter such as what happens to Sam and things of the like feel free to leave a comment. I'm open minded well I've rambled for long enough so I'll stop now enjoy the story. 1 never camp in a storm "Youll never take me alive you overgrown thorn bushes!" I yelled as I ran for my life from what appeared to be large dogs composed of nothing but wood and twigs, now admittedly insulting them may not have been the smartest thing to do as it seemed to just make them mad and that much more determined to catch me. I did not know this forest so I had no idea where I was going and unfortunately because of that I ran right into a rock wall that I had no idea was there, once this happened I slid down it until I was on the ground and clutched my face in pain. "ow, fuck I think I just broke my nose" this was, of course, the least of my worries as I turned around to find the dogs that where chasing my had caught up to me and had me surrounded in a semi-circular shape. My back was against the wall literally and I knew that I was doomed as I watched the one closest to me tense and lunge at me, I covered my face with my arms bracing for the end, but it never came. Cautiously I lowered my arms to see that the dog was suspended in a strange purple light, it was then flung at the others as I heard a female voice say "why don't you pick on somepony your own size!" I turned my head to see what to me looked like a miniature horse with a horn on its head. Oh, wait you probably have absolutely no idea what's going on do you? Allow me to explain from the beginning, and you may want to take a seat this may take a while to get through. Four days eirlyer First off let me introduce myself, my name is Sam just Sam no last name as my parents wanted it simple, anyway my crazy story started when I decided to go camping in the woods being an outdoorsy type, so that's what I did I gathered all my camping equipment, got in my car and drove to the outskirts of the town I lived in. Once I reached the woods I got my gear and hiked in several miles to find a nice secluded spot and set up my camp. It was simple nothing fancy just a small tent, sleeping bag, cooler, and a firepit I made from a few rocks placed in a circle. Having finished setting up camp I went and soaked my feet in a nearby stream and just relaxed for most of the day. My problems started when the sun started to go down. You see once the sun had set, large clouds started to roll in and it got darker, at first it was fine I lit a fire and put on a jacket,but then it started to rain and I mean really rain, like the kind of rain that puts out your fire for you and makes you seek shelter in your tent kind of rain, so that's what I did. Sleep didn't come easy that night, the rain never stopped and the wind picked up as well, so much so that I was afraid that my tent would blow away and I'd be left in the rain. But that never happened so eventually I fell asleep even as the storm raged around me, it was not my brightest idea. The storm eventually passed and I awoke the next morning. Stepping out of my tent I noticed a few things once I was awake enough to do so. The first thing I noticed was that the storm had stolen my cooler, the second thing I noticed was that part of my tent had collapsed in the night, no big deal I could get a new cooler and the tent could be fixed, it was the final thing I noticed that gave cause for concern. You see the third thing I had noticed was that the woods around me were completely different from when I went to sleep that night and well that worried me. had the storm somehow blown me into another part of the forest without me waking up, no that was unlikely. well, in any case, I was lost somewhere I didn't know with no food and only a tent for shelter, I was in a word screwed. (ok don't panic just remember the rules for being lost in a forest, ok I can do that uh step one was keep calm, ok I'm calm the next was to uh crap what was the next step? oh right stay put ill be easier to find) once I had gone over all that in my head I decided to fix the tent if I was to stay put and hope that people came to look for me, so that is what I did. "ok I ate a big meal last night so I can go a while without food but I have a few granola bars in my backpack just in case,I can drink from the stream if need be and I can just pee on a tree if I need to so now all I have to do is sit here and wait I told my friends I'd only be gone for two days and its already been one so it shouldn't take long for them to come looking. Ya I'm sure they'll be here soon" Three days later "Ok now I'm starting to worry, I ate all my granola bars, I've peed on all the trees, the stream tastes funny and I thought I heard a wild animal in my cap last night." Ya I was starting to not be ok anymore my friends should have come looking for me days ago yet I'm still here, wherever the hell here is, but I would just have to keep waiting...and I would have if it wasn't for the fact that heir was something growling at me from the bushes to my left. I turned and saw something that almost made me think I was hallucinating, it appeared to be some kind of large dog or small wolf made of wood and twigs. I just stood there for a moment there was no way it was real right? I mean wooden wolves it was ridiculous and yet here I was staring one down, it wasn't moving just staring. I would of just slowly backed away when a thought occurred to me(wait, don't wolves hunt in packs?)no sooner has I thought this did I hear several more growls next to me "clever girl." It was at this point that I had another thought(run you idiot!) so that is what I did, I ran like my life depended on it because it kind of did and as I ran I yelled: "Youll never take me alive you overgrown thorn bushes!" Which of course led me t not looking where I was running and slam into a rock wall possibly breaking my nose and getting surrounded, then saved by this little horse thing, which of course leads us to the present. I looked on as the wolves ran away then turned to look at my rescuer and after being chased by wood wolves and smashing my face on a stone wall mixed with adrenalin my mind was not thinking as clearly as it might have and so I said what might have been the single greatest thing that had ever been thought up by my brain. "tiny purple horned horse...yep don't know what I expected" It looked at me, tilted its head and then did something that freaked me out even more than when I didn't know where the voice came from, it spoke to me. "Hello? sir are you alright?" It was at this point that my brain having had about enough for one day decided that it was nap time and promptly caused me to pass out. This of course made the purple horses concerned as the last thing I heard as I passed out was her saying "oh dear I should get help" my mind then faded out of conciseness,and that should just about bring you up to speed on what is happening so far, tell you the rest later its late, so what happened next will have to wait. oh but before you go one thing you should know never ever camp during a storm. %2% hospital gowns and Pegasus downAuthor's Note in this chapter, any speech that is in ( ) is that characters thoughts and any speech in [ ] is their brain responding to him. I would also like to give credit to karnazom for proofreading this chapter, and viper pit for providing several ideas for this chapter as well as proofreading and coauthoring it as well thank you very much to the both of you. %2% hospital gowns and Pegasus down "the unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent" (Carl Jung) Darkness, all I can see is darkness. But not the kind of darkness that makes you afraid of what might be hiding in it, no this is the kind of darkness that deprives you of all your senses and leaves you with nothing but your thoughts and this was where I found myself now, in the dark with only my thoughts (well that was, something, what the hell even happened, I remember camping and the storm, then I don't know what happened, wait, the wolves now I remember I was running form those crazy wood wolves then I hit a wall. How the hell am I still alive? Oh ya, that lady rescued me by scaring them off, huh I must have passed out from the shock of almost getting eaten, I'll have to thank her for saving me. Now that I think about it wasn't there something weird about her, ya, something about her that I found odd before passing out oh ya she had purple hair, weird but hey who am I to judge. [hey I hate to cut our thought session short but I think we are waking up] (Oh god that's gonna suck) [At least you are alive] (True) beep. beep. beep. All I could hear was beeping, beeping accompanied by the smell of antiseptic. I feel like I am lying on a bed, and let me tell you it is the most comfortable bed ever, wait, bed, beeping and antiseptic oh I must be in a hospital just like that lady said she would bring me, man I really have to thank her when I get the chance. Huh, what's that other noise? /faint\ "Miss Sparkle the patient you brought in seems stable but I must ask, what is it?" /faint\ "Well I'm not sure but it's sentient at least I heard it talking earlier" As the voices become clearer and I start to fully wake up a certain thought occurs to me. (what do they mean what am I?) I open my eyes and the first thing I see is the purple horse from the wood staring at me, not exactly the thing you want to see the first thing after waking up. The purple one spoke right at me. Naturally seeing that what I thought where people speaking to me turned out to be tiny horses I did the only natural thing that I'm sure anyone would, I freaked the fuck out. *Twilight sparkles point of view* *I spoke to the doctor after getting the stallion, (I assumed it was a male by its voice and appearance,) to the hospital, turns out I was not alone in not knowing what this creature was so as we where discussing it I notice that it is waking up so I prepare to greet a potentially new species for the first time* "Um hi my name is Twilight Sparkle and I found you in the forest getting attacked by timber wolves, and then you passed out when I drove them away so I brought you to a hospital" now what happens next was both confusing and kind of funny, or it would have been if he hadn't been insulting me but he was panicking at an unfamiliar situation so I could look past that. As soon as the words of my greeting left my mouth he starts freaking out and thrashing around, I believe from what I could make out from his shouting was along the lines of this. "Ahhhh! evil purple she-demon from hell! you won't steal my soul vile horned beast!* it is important to note that he is completely hysterical and thrashing and then tries to jump out of bed only to fall flat on his face on the floor* I walk up to him with an unamused look "you about done?" "almost," he says as he then gets up and proceeds to slap himself a few times as if to affirm he's not dreaming or something "ok now I'm done" He sat back on the bed and looked at me" so uh sorry about you know calling you a she-demon and all that, brains first response to talking animals" he rubbed the back of his head with a hand. I smiled my best non-threatening smile. "oh its fine id think anypony would do the same in your position, waking up in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by beings you've never seen before it would freak anypony out." He appeared to be taking this rather well given the circumstances and I voiced as such. his response was concerning "Oh I'm far from calm, in fact, I'm very close to having a mental breakdown, the only thing keeping me stable right now is the fact that this is all one big drug-induced hallucination, I injured myself camping my friends found me and brought me to a hospital and I'm so drugged up I'm seeing things,that and there are only two of you,I'm just trying to figure you what part of my subconscious you represent." The doctor and I look at each other worriedly then back o him. "uh I don't know how to tell you this but your not hallucinating" He looked at me incredulously "that is exactly what a hallucination would say" I had no comeback for that, it was obvious that I could not convince him that im real so id just have to prove it. "Come here for a moment would you mister?" I inquire to get a name just in case things go south. Knowing my things will go south. "Sam, just Sam ." Ahh, good progress is being made. "Sam?" It is a bit of a weird name but different races different customs I suppose. "Yes Sam, I was named after my grandfather thank you very much," Sam informs me and now I feel a bit bad for him. Urg to write rising. "Well Sam can you come here I want you to see something." I ask politely and all tho Sam does seem hesitant he does indeed come over to me. "Hold out your claw." "Hand." He says suddenly. "It's called a hand." Urge to write still rising. "RIght my bad can I see your hand then?" "Okaaaay??" He then holds out his hand to me and I cast a quick transmutation spell on it turning it into a hoof. When I say quick I meant it by the time he gets done shaking his hand around like there is a bird trying to attack him and screaming like one to its back to normal. As this is happening the doctor looks at me with an unamused expression. "Miss sparkle in his state of mind he was already fragile, what could have possibly possessed you to think that was a good idea?" he asks "uh well I had to prove that we were really real right it was just the first thing that came to mind" I say as I use a hoof to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. Now while we where talking Mister Sampson or Sam as he introduced himself as was still quite freaked out and had in the period of time the doctor and I had spoken had gotten out of bed, broken the heart monitor, smashed the decorative vase on the nightstand, shoved the mattress off the bed frame, and was in the process of trying to chew off his own hand in a fit of panic,so I changed his hand back but that seemed to only freak him out more, so much so that in an attempt to get farther away from me he actually threw himself out the window and ran away screaming from both me and the glass he stepped on. I then of course panic "wait stop you don't know the area!" Of course, we also knew nothing about him so the doctors were worried that he might be carrying some unknown disease, I was worried because in his state of mind he might hurt somepony or himself. *point of view Sam* I ran as fast as I was able to, as the head injury from smacking into a stone wall was still making me woozy. It also occurs to me that I jumped through a window, but that's neither here nor there. I run from the hospital and to the edge of town trying to figure out where the hell I am, unfortunately for me, the town seemed to be of just ponies,I dropped to the ground and snuck into an alleyway to hide. (damn this is freaking me out like really bad, I mean a hospital full of them is bad but an entire town?) you think you have it bad how do you think I feel, I have to process this shit and let me tell you it ain't easy its fine just focus on getting the fuck out of here,maybe back to the forest except for the wooden wolves that place seemed safe [your welcome, oh shit don't look now but I think one of those pony things is looking right at us in our hidey hole] I slowly look up from my prone position in the alleyway to see that to my horror a pony creature is indeed staring right at me and with a rather creepy grin on their face, I think its a she but I'm not an expert on equine anatomy. she? looked at me and just smiled, kind of unsettling. she was a mint color and seemed to be of the ones with horns on their heads, I slowly began to scoot away but she just got closer so I moved again and she followed yet again, so at this point I'm weighing my options when suddenly she crouches like she is going to pounce (oh shit) she jumps while talking excitedly rather fast,I didn't understand her but I think it was something about humans and finally being proven right and hands,a lot about hands, now while I'm processing all this my brain kicks in and I roll to the side, jump to my feet and runs screaming away like a mad man. *point of view Lyra* I am walking along in the market when I see something weird, by ponyville standards anyway. I turn my head just in time to see something large dash into an ally, so being curious I walk over to see and my jaw drops to the ground, there in front of me mumbling to itself was a living breathing human. Now in hindsight what I did next may not have been the best idea of first contact but I could finally prove I was right all those years. I just stood and stared with a smile on my face, unfortunately, it looked up and saw me staring at it and was naturally freaked out and my next actions didn't help much. I pounced at him rambling about first contact and being proven right and his hands and well, in my excitement I may have sort of caused it to run away from me screaming, ya not one of my better moments. I vowed that I would find him and befriend him so I could finally prove that I was right. *point of view twilight* "Oh, where could he have run off to?" I ask myself this as I search, I had the chance for first contact with an unknown species and I ruined it, I had little hope of finding him any time soon until that is I heard a very loud scream come from one of the alleyways in ponyville, followed by Sam as he called himself, running screaming away from ponyville and into the everfree forest, this, of course, sent me panicking, what could have provoked that reaction, and he just ran into the everfree forest he could die,I had to find him as it was not safe in their so I would have to write to Princess Celestia about this, looking to ponyville I then found the source of his screaming as a mint green unicorn ran after him,so I grabbed her in my magic and glared at her. "Lyra would you mind explaining why you were chasing the first known member of an undocumented species screaming out of town into one of the most dangerous forests known to ponies?" she looked sheepish at my wording of exactly what she did and then simply said "but but hands,a-and human, I was right" at this I drop her and face-hoof as I just realized that half of ponyville know owes Lyra money. "this is going to be a long day" %3% an unlikely allyI ran as fast as I could hoping and praying that that crazy green one would not fallow me into the forest. As I ran I had a lot of time to think and so think I did (hey brain you still there?) {yes Sam, I am always here for you} (aw thanks man, ok so I'm not going back there any time soon) {that is what I gathered from your reaction and running from them, yes, so I'm guessing that you want me to help you figure out what to do next?} (that would be great ya) {alright so what I think you should do first is find you camping gear, then once you have that you need a home base to live in while you gather supplies to live until such time as you can locate a means of getting home, I suggest someplace hard to get to or out of sight as it is clear to me that you wish to be left alone} (ya that sounds about right brain, so I've got to find my stuff establish a base then survive I can do that thanks brain) {your welcome Sam now get out of your own head and watch where you are going} Unfortunetly I had neglected to do just that and ran right into a tree whith a loud thwack "fucking ow who the hell puts a tree in the middle of a forest?!" Of course, I knew the question was dumb I just wanted to complain. I then became very aware of the feeling of being watched, now I don't know if you know that feeling but it's hard to explain its, primal is the best to describe it something that you can't explain but you know to trust and right now it was telling me that I had eyes on me and quite frankly I didn't much care for it. I stood there feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and listened waiting to see if I could tell where my observer was. Sure enough, I could feel that my observer was next to me close so I turn and stare at the bushes,I froze as all I could see was two eyes staring back at me,then slowly the owner of the eyes emerged from the bushes and my muscles tensed as it appeared to be another one of those poney things but different,then I recognized it from Zoology textbooks I read in school, it was a freaking zebra. It must have sensed I was ready to run as it spoke. " there is no need to fear for I am as gentle as a dear." "Right, why would I believe you, your one of them and I've been attacked by them before." " while I do not know your plight you have no need to fear my bite." (skeptical) "right well I don’t know you so I'm not convinced, but you do seem different and I guess you haven't made a move against me yet so I suppose I will believe you for now." "thank you zecora is my name and rhyming is my game. While you are on edge it won't help why not relax with a cheese wedge." (he chuckles slightly at this) "cheese? Oh I get it you had to rhyme something with edge, well you told me your name, I'm Sam and uh sorry if its rude to ask but are you a zebra?" "yes, I am not many know of us the fact that you are well read is a nice plus." "thanks but even if I wasn't the stripes kind of give it away." "my stripes may give me away but you have brightened up my day. (she pauses) you know what I am it's only fair that you do the same Sam" "I am what is known as a human or homo-sapien meaning wise man in the old tongue." "I never heard of your kind but if you could tell me more I wouldn't mind. Are you out of town perhaps then you would look like less of a clown" "uh, ya your right I'm not from around here, to say the least. Is it that obvious?" " yes your plight is obvious but it matters not were you're from but I do hope you have a knapsack with some spatters" "well not as such,I have what I came in here with, you see I ran in here to hide from the natives because for reasons id rather not divulge to one I just met I have a fear of them and this is where I woke up originally and they seem to avoid it so as such I came here." "fear is a common thing to hear and I can see why a lost man would be near. I judge by the look on your face you lack knowledge of this place?" I was a little freaked out by this but I guess it was in my facial features "well I know some basic survival skills like how to make fire and foredge for food if that's what you mean." (she nods her head at this) "this is good but still you roam, if you stay here you will need a home, this I have the answer to but only if I get something from you" I mull this over in my head weighing my options " alright what do you want?" she smiles and says " nothing much my friend, you see I have some needs nay devotions I need help making my potions, ingredients I seek but an obstacle lingers I need the help of some fingers, hooves you see are not the best in the Everfree" * I mulled this over in my head for a while, weighing the pros and cons* "hmm well I guess that sounds fair, so I help you pick some herbs and berries and things and in exchange you'll help me find a place to call home, alright that's more than reasonable you have a deal Zecora." (she smiles at this) "wonderful, if you come with me to roam I have time now to find a home. And if your help I need for a brew I will simply come to you." And so that was how I befriended the only equestrian resident of the Everfree forest. After we made our deal she lead me through the forest showing me many places that could be made safe and into a home, among them where a seemingly abandoned dragon's cave, an enormous dead tree that had been hallowed out by lightning, and the ruins of an old castle in the forest. I ended up going for the tree because one I didn't know if the cave really was abandoned or if the dragon was simply gone for now, and two the castle belonged to the ponies once, whos to say they won't come back for one reason or another, so I am now living in a tree, Zecora tells me that she too lives in one so she showed me how to fashion a door into a hole in the side and how to punch a hole in the top to vent the smoke from my fire,as it turned out Zecora had found my original campsite and taken it apart and put it in her bags so she could take it into town to find the owner, which worked out for me because when I mentioned that I had to go out and find my stuff she handed it to me with a smile, I thanked her and she left for her own home for the night, which left me alone in my new home with all my gear and as I sit on my camping chair stairing into the fire before me I think to myself what a godsend meeting Zecora was, if it wasn't for her I'd be sleeping on the ground outside excposed and vulneruble, but now im warm sheltered and have my camping stuff,maybe just maybe life here won't be as bad now I have an ally now,an unlikely ally sure but one nonetheless and who knows maybe we might even become close friends, only the future can tell but those are thoughts for another time for now it is time for sleep. I let the fire burn down to coals and drift off to sleep in my sleeping bag dreaming of what lies in the future. Author's Note this chapter was interesting to make in that I had to learn how to rhyme when talking as zecora, but it was made a hell of a lot easier with the help of my awesome editor Viper Pit thank you a ton this would not have been possible without her, go check her out if you want she does amazing work. %4% a letter, a home, and a petTwilight sits in her home in deep thought, the human as it was confirmed by Lyra to be had run into the Everfree forest and this could be very bad they have no idea how long it could survive in there for, so it is with a mind weighed by fear for this being that she sits here trying to compose a letter. Now normally this would be easy after all she has composed hundreds of letter before, but this one is tricky it is not often that one writes to the princess of the nation telling her that a new sentient species has been discovered, made contact with then scared off into the most dangerous forest known to ponykind. "ugh, why is this so hard, I've written to the princess before with ease why is this time so different?" Twilight slumps against her desk. "uh, maybe its because you are trying to figure out how to say that you lost an entire species in the Everfree forest after discovering said species" Spike offered in the brutally honest way that children do. "Gee thanks spike that helps so much," she says sarcastically not that Spike notices "your welcome" he goes back to shelving books and tomes which are somehow different than books. Twilight thinks over the events that lead to this moment in her head and finally puts quill to parchment and pens the letter. It read as such "Dear Princess Celestia, a rather significant event has happened recently that I feel the need to ask you guidance on, you see recently while I was on my way to see my good friend Zecora in the Everfree forest I heard screaming and cries of fear so I rushed to go see if they needed my help. When I got to the place the yelling was coming from I saw timberwolves about to kill someone, I stopped them and drove them off and then went to help them. They must have been under stress because they looked at me once then muttered something about ponies then passed out, now this is not the important bit though it is significant, I conversed with doctors and found out that he may very well be a new sentient species! However, complications arose from the moment he awoke in the hospital, at first he was hysterical most likely at having never seen our kind before, then things got worse, he became dangerously calm as it turns out he believed us to be hallucinations or apparitions of some kind. Dew to some eh complications that were beyond our control he ran away screaming after causing damages to the hospital room and into town, this raised further concerns as we are unsure how he would react to the populace and if he was carrying any unknown diseases, as such I attempted to find him and was unsuccessful until I saw one Lyra Heartstrings chasing him out of town and into the everfree. Miss Heartstrings was unable to coherently form a sentence due to her elation, she then identified the creature as a Human, on a side note I along with most of Ponyville as we as half of Camterlot now owe miss Heartstrings money. I desperately need your help as I am unsure how to proceed with finding him and reestablishing relations. Your faithful student, Twilight sparkle "Spike, could you please send this letter to Celestia please?" the little purple dragon ran over to her "Sure I can" with that the little dragon breathed green fire on the scroll and it burst into magical smoke and flew out the window to be delivered to Celestia. "Thank you, Spike" "Hey its no problem that's what I'm here for" with that, he scampers off to go complete some other task that needed to be done. Back in the forest Sam had been working on his new tree home, at the suggestion of zecora, at first he didn't really know what to do to make it homier but as he sat on his sleeping bag one night it hit him. " that old castle of course, its got loads of old stuff I could salvage and since its abandoned it doesn't feel like stealing, hmm ill have to have Zecora take me back their soon" and with that thought in his mind he fell asleep and awaited tomorrow when the work would begin. The next day Sam asked Zecora to take him to the old castle and she agreed to help her new friend, they went and Sam made a note of all the things he could use. " wow rugs and curtains and furniture, this is amazing that any of it is still intact" He looks around and fills his bags and Zecoras with anything they could find that could be of use, pots pans, stools, rugs the list goes on, after they loaded up they head back and Sam sets the things up in his house. he thanks zecora and went about his day improving his home, this repeated for days, in fact, the day that Twilight sent her letter Sam was building a little wall and garden boxes from loose stone bricks that he found from a collapsed wall. " Finally this old tree is starting to feel like home" he wipes the sweat from his brow, and admires his work, the tree was now a home, it was decorated just the way he wanted it and was hidden well off the beaten path so only those that knew it was there would know how to find it, and this all brought a smile to his face. " its finally done I think, up until now this tree was just a house, but now its truly a home" Not far away Sam herd a noise like crying of a baby animal, now Sam knew the creatures of this forest could be dangerous but being the guy he was and how he was brought up he could not stand by without checking to see if it needed help,so against his better judgment he walks over and parts the bushes and sees what appears to be a baby version of the wood wolves that chased him on his first day here, for a moment he felt fear and a little anger but that melted away when it looked at him with those big green eye, it looked at HIM with fear and also a bit of hope, as Sam looked closer he could see one of its legs was badly cut and it was leaking sap which he assumed eas blood for it, not hering any parents around he sighed and took off his jacket and wrapped it around the pup "come on little guy I will patch you up" it seemed to understand that he wanted to help as is nuzzled into him and licked his hand which made him smile. Back in his tree home he cleaned and disinfected the pups wound and bandaged them, and he got many licks and happy yips for his work, he grinned and he brought it outside. "ok little one you're all fixed up runoff home your mommy and daddy are probably worried about you" but the pup did not move, it nuzzled his leg and whimpered, he looks at it and infers something. " you don't have parents do you?" the pup whimpers and shakes its head, this melts his heart and gets to him as his parents had passed away not long ago as well so he made up his mind as well. " alright what if i adopted you, little guy, we could look out for one another?" the pup jumps into his arms and licks his face all over and his tail wags. " alright its settled then you'll stay with me, little guy ,hmm you need a name, I know how about twiggy?" it barks in agreement. " alright twiggy it is". And thus ended a perfect week Sam had renovated his new home just the way he wanted it,made it a true home, and finaly made a new friend and pet in this little timber wolf pup twiggy, life was looking up for Sam and he couldnt wait to see what life had in store for him , soon hed wish that he had just left well enough alone. happy times and a new friendtoday was a fun day, today master did nothing but walk around and play with me all day long I love him he is kind and loving to me. he- oh wait you don't know me. Hi, I'm Twiggy weird name but I like it I am a timberwolf puppy and master found me and fixed me he is nice I like him. He heal me when I was hurt he nice, oh yes their this thing that comes and talks to master it black and white, master says it zebra I like, they nice to me. ooh its food time* twiggy eats his food as I smile at him, he really has made things here a lot better, I needed another friend, I often look at him and wonder what goes through his mind when he just stares at something, "hey little guy I need to go talk to my zebra friend ok ill be back in an hour can you guard the place while I'm gone?" * my eyes widen as master says this, mater trusts me to guard his possessions and our home I will make him proud, I yip happily to him and lt tail wags, he smiles at this and pets my head then heads out. Now then it is my duty to protect master and all that he owns, now most creatures that don't live in the forest don't know this but timberwolves like me are actually really smart as such it didn't take me long to realize something was off as after about an hour after master left noises came from outside and I didn't much like them, they accompanied a certain scent in the air that set me on edge, as such I did the only logical thing I could do, I hid and waited to ambush the sound as predators do. It would seem my patience was to be regarded as not a minute later the door was forced open and something invaded masters home, it looked strange as it walked upright like master but was dog-like like me,. I lept int action an growled and lunged at it and firmly clamped down on its leg and bit as hard as possible growling and snarling as I could tell this thing was not supposed to be here. I had managed to make the thing cry out and tasted blood , now I may only be a pup but I knew well enough to know that I could not win in an all-out fight with this thing as it was bigger and most likely stronger, so I relied on my small size to quicky draw blood and dodge then strike again and I could te it was working as the dog thing was slowing down. "gah! stupid wood dog you stop it now!" I, of course, had plans to do no such thing as I kept attacking and barking, I howled loudly and kept it busy as unknown to it I could hear master coming back and he sounded mad. I gave one final strike just as the door flew open and master slammed a huge rock into the dog things head, it made a big noise an the dog thing fell to the ground, I growled at it and master pet and praised me. " good boy twiggy defending your home such a good boy!" My tail wagged happily, I had done it I had defended masters home I was a good boy, while all this happened master had taken some vines he had that he had meant to use to hang his herbs and thing and instead used it to bind the dog thing so it would not escape when it woke up. And wake up it did, I had watched it for a while as it started to wake up so I growled so as to show it that it was being watched. At first, it struggles and yelled but master thumped a rock in his hands a few times and it got quiet, I layed nearby as master questioned it " who the hell are you an why are you invading my home!" the dog thing- " I is spike. I am a Dimond dog or was. I was kicked out of my home, I wonder, I saw this place thought good for food but then attacked" "ya well that's what you get for breaking into people's homes, I don't know how it works where you're from but here you get attacked for breaking in, your lucky I came home twiggy wouldn't have stope had i not told him to. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't throw you out into the forest " Spike-" please! I can get oo an stuff please no throwout, I-i * a light went off in his head* I can get gems!" this got masters attention. " gems? as in crystals and precious stones? Why would you do that and second why would I * he pauses and thinks, this could be a good way to pay back Zecora and maybe a way to get crafted goods from town without revealing his spot by getting her to buy it* hmm ok Ill make a deal with you here, ill give you food and water as well as forgive you for breaking in, hell ill even let you live here but in exchange you get me a steady supply of gems, do we have a deal?" Spike- "yes yes deal this is a good deal!" master unties him and immediately the dog jumps up and hugs him " we gonna be bestist friends you not regret this ooh I go get gems now!" and with that, he ran off and master puts his hand on his face "why do I get the feeling I'm gonna regret that?" I simply shrug and curl up to sleep as master thinks to himself, I did my job and master has a potential new friend, either way, I'm happy I master is happy, and with that thought, I curled up an took a well-deservved nap. close encounters of the dragon kindDo you ever have one of those days where you think that you have personally pissed off the gods and they have made you their personal plaything, I mean like a day where absolutely nothing goes right, ya I'm having one of THOSE days right now. I Sam am having what could arguably be called the worst day in recorded history, why you ask? Well let me sum it up for you, firstly my tree home almost burned to the ground this morning because the diamond dog that I made a deal with knocked over my firepit, then after that twiggy got stuck in a hole and I spent 3 hours in scolding heat digging him out, then more still there was this sea serpent in the river I bathe in that wouldn't shut up, I'm all for friendly chit chat but not while I'm bathing, oh and did I mention the heatwave? Ya a global heatwave that I am told by zecora is not the work of the ponies, so they can't fix it, ya not great, But that is not even the worst of it oh no the world seems to have a hate boner for me today, the worst of it was that while I was gathering fish I got attacked by timberwolves again and because of that I happened to cross paths with what could generously be described as a dragon though to me its a lizard. This dragon was up to my belly button and the moment it saw me it freaked out about the thing that purple horse found, and how he needed to tell someone, this lead to arguably the worst thing to happen to me today, I may or may not have decked a kid, though in my defense I panicked and didn't know it was a kid at the time so don't look at me like that, Aaaaanyway so i decked this kid which hurt me more, he kind of just looked shocked but not hurt, what surprised me was what he said which made me feel like a duchebag. "Um ow but ya I guess I deserved that, twi said that you startled easily and here I am screaming about you and telling everyone." Of course, he didn't know this but the more he talked the worse I felt, he wasn't even mad and was literally blaming himself so I put a stop to that* "No no no no none of that I'm at fault I panicked but that did not give me the right to hit you and I'm sorry" That seemed to satisfy him for the time being. " Now listen here you are not gonna tell anyone where you saw me, go report to your ponies if you must but do NOT tell them where for personal reason id rather remain unfound for the time being" Before he could even object I continued* " now then I expect you don't want to lie so let me incentivize you, I'm lead to believe by the mythology that you like these" * I proceeded to hand him the gem bag I was gonna give to zecora to trade, it was bursting with gemstones* if you won't take it as a bribe consider it gifts for your silence Spike looked at the admittedly large bag of gyms in his hand, it was rather full now on one hand it would involve omitting the truth from twilight which he was raised to know that lying even by omition was wrong, on the other hand he was still a kid and the bag he held did represent about a weeks worth of snacks and allowance that hed normally be paid for chores and things so while he was conflicted it didn't take him long to rationalize it in hit head that he could not tell twilight where or when he saw him but still mention that he did, thus in his childlike mind fulfilling both things so he nods at him "Uh ya ok sure i guess i keep mostly quiet, and sorry again for you know um freaking you out" Of course this makes Sam flinch "no no as I've said startled or no I had no right to hit you so once again i apologize so um we cool?" He held his fist out in the universal sign of peace and after a moment spike knocks his knuckles against his "Ya were cool dude and don't worry I wont tell any pony where i saw you"*he smiles and tucks the bag under his arm and then checks the sun through the trees* "Oh man i need to go ,uh nice meeting you dude I don't get why everyone is so freaked out you seem fine to me" *and with that he runs off the way he came making Sam sigh in relief. he felt somewhat like he could sort of trust spike as he was or at least seemed to be a kid and in his experience you could generally bribe them to not say something as money is hard to come by as a kid. Sam turns and heads back home to go lay down and cuddle with twiggy and try to relax as while he wasn't antisocial dealing with anything related to those ponies or his spot being found out drained him as it stressed him out so with one last look in the direction that hed come from he headed back deeper into the forest that had become his home. "hmm dragons ill have to add that to the list of crazy creatures I've seen here. What's next chimeras? *he chuckled at himself as he entered his home and as he did his pup greeted him* yip yip yip* he smiles at this and pats his head* "Hey buddy did you guard the place while i was gone? heh ya you did whos a good boy whos a good boy?" *twiggy barks at this happily knowing that he was indeed a good boy* Sam looked around his home taking in all he had made for himself. he had an awesome tree home, at least one friend in zecora and maybe that diamond dog ,plenty of food, and finally his beloved companion twiggy. As he pets them and thinks on this he smiles and chuckles some* "heh today maybe have started rough but thinking on it maybe I don't have it so bad afterall" * he smiles as he pets and plays with his pet, no he thinks today was bad but this little life I've made for myself , its good. He thinks and smiles as he lets his days troubles fade away* Author's Note hey guys I'm back after entirely too long away, sorry for that but i hope that this chapter was worth it for you all.
1 never camp in a stormAuthor's Note hello, and welcome, so this is my first time writing like this so I hope it is enjoyable for you and I would appreciate it if you would help me get better by giving me ideas and helpful criticism for me. I don't have a proofreader yet so I'm sorry if i missed any mistakes. also if you would like to pitch ideas for the next chapter such as what happens to Sam and things of the like feel free to leave a comment. I'm open minded well I've rambled for long enough so I'll stop now enjoy the story. 1 never camp in a storm "Youll never take me alive you overgrown thorn bushes!" I yelled as I ran for my life from what appeared to be large dogs composed of nothing but wood and twigs, now admittedly insulting them may not have been the smartest thing to do as it seemed to just make them mad and that much more determined to catch me. I did not know this forest so I had no idea where I was going and unfortunately because of that I ran right into a rock wall that I had no idea was there, once this happened I slid down it until I was on the ground and clutched my face in pain. "ow, fuck I think I just broke my nose" this was, of course, the least of my worries as I turned around to find the dogs that where chasing my had caught up to me and had me surrounded in a semi-circular shape. My back was against the wall literally and I knew that I was doomed as I watched the one closest to me tense and lunge at me, I covered my face with my arms bracing for the end, but it never came. Cautiously I lowered my arms to see that the dog was suspended in a strange purple light, it was then flung at the others as I heard a female voice say "why don't you pick on somepony your own size!" I turned my head to see what to me looked like a miniature horse with a horn on its head. Oh, wait you probably have absolutely no idea what's going on do you? Allow me to explain from the beginning, and you may want to take a seat this may take a while to get through. Four days eirlyer First off let me introduce myself, my name is Sam just Sam no last name as my parents wanted it simple, anyway my crazy story started when I decided to go camping in the woods being an outdoorsy type, so that's what I did I gathered all my camping equipment, got in my car and drove to the outskirts of the town I lived in. Once I reached the woods I got my gear and hiked in several miles to find a nice secluded spot and set up my camp. It was simple nothing fancy just a small tent, sleeping bag, cooler, and a firepit I made from a few rocks placed in a circle. Having finished setting up camp I went and soaked my feet in a nearby stream and just relaxed for most of the day. My problems started when the sun started to go down. You see once the sun had set, large clouds started to roll in and it got darker, at first it was fine I lit a fire and put on a jacket,but then it started to rain and I mean really rain, like the kind of rain that puts out your fire for you and makes you seek shelter in your tent kind of rain, so that's what I did. Sleep didn't come easy that night, the rain never stopped and the wind picked up as well, so much so that I was afraid that my tent would blow away and I'd be left in the rain. But that never happened so eventually I fell asleep even as the storm raged around me, it was not my brightest idea. The storm eventually passed and I awoke the next morning. Stepping out of my tent I noticed a few things once I was awake enough to do so. The first thing I noticed was that the storm had stolen my cooler, the second thing I noticed was that part of my tent had collapsed in the night, no big deal I could get a new cooler and the tent could be fixed, it was the final thing I noticed that gave cause for concern. You see the third thing I had noticed was that the woods around me were completely different from when I went to sleep that night and well that worried me. had the storm somehow blown me into another part of the forest without me waking up, no that was unlikely. well, in any case, I was lost somewhere I didn't know with no food and only a tent for shelter, I was in a word screwed. (ok don't panic just remember the rules for being lost in a forest, ok I can do that uh step one was keep calm, ok I'm calm the next was to uh crap what was the next step? oh right stay put ill be easier to find) once I had gone over all that in my head I decided to fix the tent if I was to stay put and hope that people came to look for me, so that is what I did. "ok I ate a big meal last night so I can go a while without food but I have a few granola bars in my backpack just in case,I can drink from the stream if need be and I can just pee on a tree if I need to so now all I have to do is sit here and wait I told my friends I'd only be gone for two days and its already been one so it shouldn't take long for them to come looking. Ya I'm sure they'll be here soon" Three days later "Ok now I'm starting to worry, I ate all my granola bars, I've peed on all the trees, the stream tastes funny and I thought I heard a wild animal in my cap last night." Ya I was starting to not be ok anymore my friends should have come looking for me days ago yet I'm still here, wherever the hell here is, but I would just have to keep waiting...and I would have if it wasn't for the fact that heir was something growling at me from the bushes to my left. I turned and saw something that almost made me think I was hallucinating, it appeared to be some kind of large dog or small wolf made of wood and twigs. I just stood there for a moment there was no way it was real right? I mean wooden wolves it was ridiculous and yet here I was staring one down, it wasn't moving just staring. I would of just slowly backed away when a thought occurred to me(wait, don't wolves hunt in packs?)no sooner has I thought this did I hear several more growls next to me "clever girl." It was at this point that I had another thought(run you idiot!) so that is what I did, I ran like my life depended on it because it kind of did and as I ran I yelled: "Youll never take me alive you overgrown thorn bushes!" Which of course led me t not looking where I was running and slam into a rock wall possibly breaking my nose and getting surrounded, then saved by this little horse thing, which of course leads us to the present. I looked on as the wolves ran away then turned to look at my rescuer and after being chased by wood wolves and smashing my face on a stone wall mixed with adrenalin my mind was not thinking as clearly as it might have and so I said what might have been the single greatest thing that had ever been thought up by my brain. "tiny purple horned horse...yep don't know what I expected" It looked at me, tilted its head and then did something that freaked me out even more than when I didn't know where the voice came from, it spoke to me. "Hello? sir are you alright?" It was at this point that my brain having had about enough for one day decided that it was nap time and promptly caused me to pass out. This of course made the purple horses concerned as the last thing I heard as I passed out was her saying "oh dear I should get help" my mind then faded out of conciseness,and that should just about bring you up to speed on what is happening so far, tell you the rest later its late, so what happened next will have to wait. oh but before you go one thing you should know never ever camp during a storm.
%2% hospital gowns and Pegasus downAuthor's Note in this chapter, any speech that is in ( ) is that characters thoughts and any speech in [ ] is their brain responding to him. I would also like to give credit to karnazom for proofreading this chapter, and viper pit for providing several ideas for this chapter as well as proofreading and coauthoring it as well thank you very much to the both of you. %2% hospital gowns and Pegasus down "the unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent" (Carl Jung) Darkness, all I can see is darkness. But not the kind of darkness that makes you afraid of what might be hiding in it, no this is the kind of darkness that deprives you of all your senses and leaves you with nothing but your thoughts and this was where I found myself now, in the dark with only my thoughts (well that was, something, what the hell even happened, I remember camping and the storm, then I don't know what happened, wait, the wolves now I remember I was running form those crazy wood wolves then I hit a wall. How the hell am I still alive? Oh ya, that lady rescued me by scaring them off, huh I must have passed out from the shock of almost getting eaten, I'll have to thank her for saving me. Now that I think about it wasn't there something weird about her, ya, something about her that I found odd before passing out oh ya she had purple hair, weird but hey who am I to judge. [hey I hate to cut our thought session short but I think we are waking up] (Oh god that's gonna suck) [At least you are alive] (True) beep. beep. beep. All I could hear was beeping, beeping accompanied by the smell of antiseptic. I feel like I am lying on a bed, and let me tell you it is the most comfortable bed ever, wait, bed, beeping and antiseptic oh I must be in a hospital just like that lady said she would bring me, man I really have to thank her when I get the chance. Huh, what's that other noise? /faint\ "Miss Sparkle the patient you brought in seems stable but I must ask, what is it?" /faint\ "Well I'm not sure but it's sentient at least I heard it talking earlier" As the voices become clearer and I start to fully wake up a certain thought occurs to me. (what do they mean what am I?) I open my eyes and the first thing I see is the purple horse from the wood staring at me, not exactly the thing you want to see the first thing after waking up. The purple one spoke right at me. Naturally seeing that what I thought where people speaking to me turned out to be tiny horses I did the only natural thing that I'm sure anyone would, I freaked the fuck out. *Twilight sparkles point of view* *I spoke to the doctor after getting the stallion, (I assumed it was a male by its voice and appearance,) to the hospital, turns out I was not alone in not knowing what this creature was so as we where discussing it I notice that it is waking up so I prepare to greet a potentially new species for the first time* "Um hi my name is Twilight Sparkle and I found you in the forest getting attacked by timber wolves, and then you passed out when I drove them away so I brought you to a hospital" now what happens next was both confusing and kind of funny, or it would have been if he hadn't been insulting me but he was panicking at an unfamiliar situation so I could look past that. As soon as the words of my greeting left my mouth he starts freaking out and thrashing around, I believe from what I could make out from his shouting was along the lines of this. "Ahhhh! evil purple she-demon from hell! you won't steal my soul vile horned beast!* it is important to note that he is completely hysterical and thrashing and then tries to jump out of bed only to fall flat on his face on the floor* I walk up to him with an unamused look "you about done?" "almost," he says as he then gets up and proceeds to slap himself a few times as if to affirm he's not dreaming or something "ok now I'm done" He sat back on the bed and looked at me" so uh sorry about you know calling you a she-demon and all that, brains first response to talking animals" he rubbed the back of his head with a hand. I smiled my best non-threatening smile. "oh its fine id think anypony would do the same in your position, waking up in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by beings you've never seen before it would freak anypony out." He appeared to be taking this rather well given the circumstances and I voiced as such. his response was concerning "Oh I'm far from calm, in fact, I'm very close to having a mental breakdown, the only thing keeping me stable right now is the fact that this is all one big drug-induced hallucination, I injured myself camping my friends found me and brought me to a hospital and I'm so drugged up I'm seeing things,that and there are only two of you,I'm just trying to figure you what part of my subconscious you represent." The doctor and I look at each other worriedly then back o him. "uh I don't know how to tell you this but your not hallucinating" He looked at me incredulously "that is exactly what a hallucination would say" I had no comeback for that, it was obvious that I could not convince him that im real so id just have to prove it. "Come here for a moment would you mister?" I inquire to get a name just in case things go south. Knowing my things will go south. "Sam, just Sam ." Ahh, good progress is being made. "Sam?" It is a bit of a weird name but different races different customs I suppose. "Yes Sam, I was named after my grandfather thank you very much," Sam informs me and now I feel a bit bad for him. Urg to write rising. "Well Sam can you come here I want you to see something." I ask politely and all tho Sam does seem hesitant he does indeed come over to me. "Hold out your claw." "Hand." He says suddenly. "It's called a hand." Urge to write still rising. "RIght my bad can I see your hand then?" "Okaaaay??" He then holds out his hand to me and I cast a quick transmutation spell on it turning it into a hoof. When I say quick I meant it by the time he gets done shaking his hand around like there is a bird trying to attack him and screaming like one to its back to normal. As this is happening the doctor looks at me with an unamused expression. "Miss sparkle in his state of mind he was already fragile, what could have possibly possessed you to think that was a good idea?" he asks "uh well I had to prove that we were really real right it was just the first thing that came to mind" I say as I use a hoof to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. Now while we where talking Mister Sampson or Sam as he introduced himself as was still quite freaked out and had in the period of time the doctor and I had spoken had gotten out of bed, broken the heart monitor, smashed the decorative vase on the nightstand, shoved the mattress off the bed frame, and was in the process of trying to chew off his own hand in a fit of panic,so I changed his hand back but that seemed to only freak him out more, so much so that in an attempt to get farther away from me he actually threw himself out the window and ran away screaming from both me and the glass he stepped on. I then of course panic "wait stop you don't know the area!" Of course, we also knew nothing about him so the doctors were worried that he might be carrying some unknown disease, I was worried because in his state of mind he might hurt somepony or himself. *point of view Sam* I ran as fast as I was able to, as the head injury from smacking into a stone wall was still making me woozy. It also occurs to me that I jumped through a window, but that's neither here nor there. I run from the hospital and to the edge of town trying to figure out where the hell I am, unfortunately for me, the town seemed to be of just ponies,I dropped to the ground and snuck into an alleyway to hide. (damn this is freaking me out like really bad, I mean a hospital full of them is bad but an entire town?) you think you have it bad how do you think I feel, I have to process this shit and let me tell you it ain't easy its fine just focus on getting the fuck out of here,maybe back to the forest except for the wooden wolves that place seemed safe [your welcome, oh shit don't look now but I think one of those pony things is looking right at us in our hidey hole] I slowly look up from my prone position in the alleyway to see that to my horror a pony creature is indeed staring right at me and with a rather creepy grin on their face, I think its a she but I'm not an expert on equine anatomy. she? looked at me and just smiled, kind of unsettling. she was a mint color and seemed to be of the ones with horns on their heads, I slowly began to scoot away but she just got closer so I moved again and she followed yet again, so at this point I'm weighing my options when suddenly she crouches like she is going to pounce (oh shit) she jumps while talking excitedly rather fast,I didn't understand her but I think it was something about humans and finally being proven right and hands,a lot about hands, now while I'm processing all this my brain kicks in and I roll to the side, jump to my feet and runs screaming away like a mad man. *point of view Lyra* I am walking along in the market when I see something weird, by ponyville standards anyway. I turn my head just in time to see something large dash into an ally, so being curious I walk over to see and my jaw drops to the ground, there in front of me mumbling to itself was a living breathing human. Now in hindsight what I did next may not have been the best idea of first contact but I could finally prove I was right all those years. I just stood and stared with a smile on my face, unfortunately, it looked up and saw me staring at it and was naturally freaked out and my next actions didn't help much. I pounced at him rambling about first contact and being proven right and his hands and well, in my excitement I may have sort of caused it to run away from me screaming, ya not one of my better moments. I vowed that I would find him and befriend him so I could finally prove that I was right. *point of view twilight* "Oh, where could he have run off to?" I ask myself this as I search, I had the chance for first contact with an unknown species and I ruined it, I had little hope of finding him any time soon until that is I heard a very loud scream come from one of the alleyways in ponyville, followed by Sam as he called himself, running screaming away from ponyville and into the everfree forest, this, of course, sent me panicking, what could have provoked that reaction, and he just ran into the everfree forest he could die,I had to find him as it was not safe in their so I would have to write to Princess Celestia about this, looking to ponyville I then found the source of his screaming as a mint green unicorn ran after him,so I grabbed her in my magic and glared at her. "Lyra would you mind explaining why you were chasing the first known member of an undocumented species screaming out of town into one of the most dangerous forests known to ponies?" she looked sheepish at my wording of exactly what she did and then simply said "but but hands,a-and human, I was right" at this I drop her and face-hoof as I just realized that half of ponyville know owes Lyra money. "this is going to be a long day"
%3% an unlikely allyI ran as fast as I could hoping and praying that that crazy green one would not fallow me into the forest. As I ran I had a lot of time to think and so think I did (hey brain you still there?) {yes Sam, I am always here for you} (aw thanks man, ok so I'm not going back there any time soon) {that is what I gathered from your reaction and running from them, yes, so I'm guessing that you want me to help you figure out what to do next?} (that would be great ya) {alright so what I think you should do first is find you camping gear, then once you have that you need a home base to live in while you gather supplies to live until such time as you can locate a means of getting home, I suggest someplace hard to get to or out of sight as it is clear to me that you wish to be left alone} (ya that sounds about right brain, so I've got to find my stuff establish a base then survive I can do that thanks brain) {your welcome Sam now get out of your own head and watch where you are going} Unfortunetly I had neglected to do just that and ran right into a tree whith a loud thwack "fucking ow who the hell puts a tree in the middle of a forest?!" Of course, I knew the question was dumb I just wanted to complain. I then became very aware of the feeling of being watched, now I don't know if you know that feeling but it's hard to explain its, primal is the best to describe it something that you can't explain but you know to trust and right now it was telling me that I had eyes on me and quite frankly I didn't much care for it. I stood there feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and listened waiting to see if I could tell where my observer was. Sure enough, I could feel that my observer was next to me close so I turn and stare at the bushes,I froze as all I could see was two eyes staring back at me,then slowly the owner of the eyes emerged from the bushes and my muscles tensed as it appeared to be another one of those poney things but different,then I recognized it from Zoology textbooks I read in school, it was a freaking zebra. It must have sensed I was ready to run as it spoke. " there is no need to fear for I am as gentle as a dear." "Right, why would I believe you, your one of them and I've been attacked by them before." " while I do not know your plight you have no need to fear my bite." (skeptical) "right well I don’t know you so I'm not convinced, but you do seem different and I guess you haven't made a move against me yet so I suppose I will believe you for now." "thank you zecora is my name and rhyming is my game. While you are on edge it won't help why not relax with a cheese wedge." (he chuckles slightly at this) "cheese? Oh I get it you had to rhyme something with edge, well you told me your name, I'm Sam and uh sorry if its rude to ask but are you a zebra?" "yes, I am not many know of us the fact that you are well read is a nice plus." "thanks but even if I wasn't the stripes kind of give it away." "my stripes may give me away but you have brightened up my day. (she pauses) you know what I am it's only fair that you do the same Sam" "I am what is known as a human or homo-sapien meaning wise man in the old tongue." "I never heard of your kind but if you could tell me more I wouldn't mind. Are you out of town perhaps then you would look like less of a clown" "uh, ya your right I'm not from around here, to say the least. Is it that obvious?" " yes your plight is obvious but it matters not were you're from but I do hope you have a knapsack with some spatters" "well not as such,I have what I came in here with, you see I ran in here to hide from the natives because for reasons id rather not divulge to one I just met I have a fear of them and this is where I woke up originally and they seem to avoid it so as such I came here." "fear is a common thing to hear and I can see why a lost man would be near. I judge by the look on your face you lack knowledge of this place?" I was a little freaked out by this but I guess it was in my facial features "well I know some basic survival skills like how to make fire and foredge for food if that's what you mean." (she nods her head at this) "this is good but still you roam, if you stay here you will need a home, this I have the answer to but only if I get something from you" I mull this over in my head weighing my options " alright what do you want?" she smiles and says " nothing much my friend, you see I have some needs nay devotions I need help making my potions, ingredients I seek but an obstacle lingers I need the help of some fingers, hooves you see are not the best in the Everfree" * I mulled this over in my head for a while, weighing the pros and cons* "hmm well I guess that sounds fair, so I help you pick some herbs and berries and things and in exchange you'll help me find a place to call home, alright that's more than reasonable you have a deal Zecora." (she smiles at this) "wonderful, if you come with me to roam I have time now to find a home. And if your help I need for a brew I will simply come to you." And so that was how I befriended the only equestrian resident of the Everfree forest. After we made our deal she lead me through the forest showing me many places that could be made safe and into a home, among them where a seemingly abandoned dragon's cave, an enormous dead tree that had been hallowed out by lightning, and the ruins of an old castle in the forest. I ended up going for the tree because one I didn't know if the cave really was abandoned or if the dragon was simply gone for now, and two the castle belonged to the ponies once, whos to say they won't come back for one reason or another, so I am now living in a tree, Zecora tells me that she too lives in one so she showed me how to fashion a door into a hole in the side and how to punch a hole in the top to vent the smoke from my fire,as it turned out Zecora had found my original campsite and taken it apart and put it in her bags so she could take it into town to find the owner, which worked out for me because when I mentioned that I had to go out and find my stuff she handed it to me with a smile, I thanked her and she left for her own home for the night, which left me alone in my new home with all my gear and as I sit on my camping chair stairing into the fire before me I think to myself what a godsend meeting Zecora was, if it wasn't for her I'd be sleeping on the ground outside excposed and vulneruble, but now im warm sheltered and have my camping stuff,maybe just maybe life here won't be as bad now I have an ally now,an unlikely ally sure but one nonetheless and who knows maybe we might even become close friends, only the future can tell but those are thoughts for another time for now it is time for sleep. I let the fire burn down to coals and drift off to sleep in my sleeping bag dreaming of what lies in the future. Author's Note this chapter was interesting to make in that I had to learn how to rhyme when talking as zecora, but it was made a hell of a lot easier with the help of my awesome editor Viper Pit thank you a ton this would not have been possible without her, go check her out if you want she does amazing work.
%4% a letter, a home, and a petTwilight sits in her home in deep thought, the human as it was confirmed by Lyra to be had run into the Everfree forest and this could be very bad they have no idea how long it could survive in there for, so it is with a mind weighed by fear for this being that she sits here trying to compose a letter. Now normally this would be easy after all she has composed hundreds of letter before, but this one is tricky it is not often that one writes to the princess of the nation telling her that a new sentient species has been discovered, made contact with then scared off into the most dangerous forest known to ponykind. "ugh, why is this so hard, I've written to the princess before with ease why is this time so different?" Twilight slumps against her desk. "uh, maybe its because you are trying to figure out how to say that you lost an entire species in the Everfree forest after discovering said species" Spike offered in the brutally honest way that children do. "Gee thanks spike that helps so much," she says sarcastically not that Spike notices "your welcome" he goes back to shelving books and tomes which are somehow different than books. Twilight thinks over the events that lead to this moment in her head and finally puts quill to parchment and pens the letter. It read as such "Dear Princess Celestia, a rather significant event has happened recently that I feel the need to ask you guidance on, you see recently while I was on my way to see my good friend Zecora in the Everfree forest I heard screaming and cries of fear so I rushed to go see if they needed my help. When I got to the place the yelling was coming from I saw timberwolves about to kill someone, I stopped them and drove them off and then went to help them. They must have been under stress because they looked at me once then muttered something about ponies then passed out, now this is not the important bit though it is significant, I conversed with doctors and found out that he may very well be a new sentient species! However, complications arose from the moment he awoke in the hospital, at first he was hysterical most likely at having never seen our kind before, then things got worse, he became dangerously calm as it turns out he believed us to be hallucinations or apparitions of some kind. Dew to some eh complications that were beyond our control he ran away screaming after causing damages to the hospital room and into town, this raised further concerns as we are unsure how he would react to the populace and if he was carrying any unknown diseases, as such I attempted to find him and was unsuccessful until I saw one Lyra Heartstrings chasing him out of town and into the everfree. Miss Heartstrings was unable to coherently form a sentence due to her elation, she then identified the creature as a Human, on a side note I along with most of Ponyville as we as half of Camterlot now owe miss Heartstrings money. I desperately need your help as I am unsure how to proceed with finding him and reestablishing relations. Your faithful student, Twilight sparkle "Spike, could you please send this letter to Celestia please?" the little purple dragon ran over to her "Sure I can" with that the little dragon breathed green fire on the scroll and it burst into magical smoke and flew out the window to be delivered to Celestia. "Thank you, Spike" "Hey its no problem that's what I'm here for" with that, he scampers off to go complete some other task that needed to be done. Back in the forest Sam had been working on his new tree home, at the suggestion of zecora, at first he didn't really know what to do to make it homier but as he sat on his sleeping bag one night it hit him. " that old castle of course, its got loads of old stuff I could salvage and since its abandoned it doesn't feel like stealing, hmm ill have to have Zecora take me back their soon" and with that thought in his mind he fell asleep and awaited tomorrow when the work would begin. The next day Sam asked Zecora to take him to the old castle and she agreed to help her new friend, they went and Sam made a note of all the things he could use. " wow rugs and curtains and furniture, this is amazing that any of it is still intact" He looks around and fills his bags and Zecoras with anything they could find that could be of use, pots pans, stools, rugs the list goes on, after they loaded up they head back and Sam sets the things up in his house. he thanks zecora and went about his day improving his home, this repeated for days, in fact, the day that Twilight sent her letter Sam was building a little wall and garden boxes from loose stone bricks that he found from a collapsed wall. " Finally this old tree is starting to feel like home" he wipes the sweat from his brow, and admires his work, the tree was now a home, it was decorated just the way he wanted it and was hidden well off the beaten path so only those that knew it was there would know how to find it, and this all brought a smile to his face. " its finally done I think, up until now this tree was just a house, but now its truly a home" Not far away Sam herd a noise like crying of a baby animal, now Sam knew the creatures of this forest could be dangerous but being the guy he was and how he was brought up he could not stand by without checking to see if it needed help,so against his better judgment he walks over and parts the bushes and sees what appears to be a baby version of the wood wolves that chased him on his first day here, for a moment he felt fear and a little anger but that melted away when it looked at him with those big green eye, it looked at HIM with fear and also a bit of hope, as Sam looked closer he could see one of its legs was badly cut and it was leaking sap which he assumed eas blood for it, not hering any parents around he sighed and took off his jacket and wrapped it around the pup "come on little guy I will patch you up" it seemed to understand that he wanted to help as is nuzzled into him and licked his hand which made him smile. Back in his tree home he cleaned and disinfected the pups wound and bandaged them, and he got many licks and happy yips for his work, he grinned and he brought it outside. "ok little one you're all fixed up runoff home your mommy and daddy are probably worried about you" but the pup did not move, it nuzzled his leg and whimpered, he looks at it and infers something. " you don't have parents do you?" the pup whimpers and shakes its head, this melts his heart and gets to him as his parents had passed away not long ago as well so he made up his mind as well. " alright what if i adopted you, little guy, we could look out for one another?" the pup jumps into his arms and licks his face all over and his tail wags. " alright its settled then you'll stay with me, little guy ,hmm you need a name, I know how about twiggy?" it barks in agreement. " alright twiggy it is". And thus ended a perfect week Sam had renovated his new home just the way he wanted it,made it a true home, and finaly made a new friend and pet in this little timber wolf pup twiggy, life was looking up for Sam and he couldnt wait to see what life had in store for him , soon hed wish that he had just left well enough alone.
happy times and a new friendtoday was a fun day, today master did nothing but walk around and play with me all day long I love him he is kind and loving to me. he- oh wait you don't know me. Hi, I'm Twiggy weird name but I like it I am a timberwolf puppy and master found me and fixed me he is nice I like him. He heal me when I was hurt he nice, oh yes their this thing that comes and talks to master it black and white, master says it zebra I like, they nice to me. ooh its food time* twiggy eats his food as I smile at him, he really has made things here a lot better, I needed another friend, I often look at him and wonder what goes through his mind when he just stares at something, "hey little guy I need to go talk to my zebra friend ok ill be back in an hour can you guard the place while I'm gone?" * my eyes widen as master says this, mater trusts me to guard his possessions and our home I will make him proud, I yip happily to him and lt tail wags, he smiles at this and pets my head then heads out. Now then it is my duty to protect master and all that he owns, now most creatures that don't live in the forest don't know this but timberwolves like me are actually really smart as such it didn't take me long to realize something was off as after about an hour after master left noises came from outside and I didn't much like them, they accompanied a certain scent in the air that set me on edge, as such I did the only logical thing I could do, I hid and waited to ambush the sound as predators do. It would seem my patience was to be regarded as not a minute later the door was forced open and something invaded masters home, it looked strange as it walked upright like master but was dog-like like me,. I lept int action an growled and lunged at it and firmly clamped down on its leg and bit as hard as possible growling and snarling as I could tell this thing was not supposed to be here. I had managed to make the thing cry out and tasted blood , now I may only be a pup but I knew well enough to know that I could not win in an all-out fight with this thing as it was bigger and most likely stronger, so I relied on my small size to quicky draw blood and dodge then strike again and I could te it was working as the dog thing was slowing down. "gah! stupid wood dog you stop it now!" I, of course, had plans to do no such thing as I kept attacking and barking, I howled loudly and kept it busy as unknown to it I could hear master coming back and he sounded mad. I gave one final strike just as the door flew open and master slammed a huge rock into the dog things head, it made a big noise an the dog thing fell to the ground, I growled at it and master pet and praised me. " good boy twiggy defending your home such a good boy!" My tail wagged happily, I had done it I had defended masters home I was a good boy, while all this happened master had taken some vines he had that he had meant to use to hang his herbs and thing and instead used it to bind the dog thing so it would not escape when it woke up. And wake up it did, I had watched it for a while as it started to wake up so I growled so as to show it that it was being watched. At first, it struggles and yelled but master thumped a rock in his hands a few times and it got quiet, I layed nearby as master questioned it " who the hell are you an why are you invading my home!" the dog thing- " I is spike. I am a Dimond dog or was. I was kicked out of my home, I wonder, I saw this place thought good for food but then attacked" "ya well that's what you get for breaking into people's homes, I don't know how it works where you're from but here you get attacked for breaking in, your lucky I came home twiggy wouldn't have stope had i not told him to. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't throw you out into the forest " Spike-" please! I can get oo an stuff please no throwout, I-i * a light went off in his head* I can get gems!" this got masters attention. " gems? as in crystals and precious stones? Why would you do that and second why would I * he pauses and thinks, this could be a good way to pay back Zecora and maybe a way to get crafted goods from town without revealing his spot by getting her to buy it* hmm ok Ill make a deal with you here, ill give you food and water as well as forgive you for breaking in, hell ill even let you live here but in exchange you get me a steady supply of gems, do we have a deal?" Spike- "yes yes deal this is a good deal!" master unties him and immediately the dog jumps up and hugs him " we gonna be bestist friends you not regret this ooh I go get gems now!" and with that, he ran off and master puts his hand on his face "why do I get the feeling I'm gonna regret that?" I simply shrug and curl up to sleep as master thinks to himself, I did my job and master has a potential new friend, either way, I'm happy I master is happy, and with that thought, I curled up an took a well-deservved nap.
close encounters of the dragon kindDo you ever have one of those days where you think that you have personally pissed off the gods and they have made you their personal plaything, I mean like a day where absolutely nothing goes right, ya I'm having one of THOSE days right now. I Sam am having what could arguably be called the worst day in recorded history, why you ask? Well let me sum it up for you, firstly my tree home almost burned to the ground this morning because the diamond dog that I made a deal with knocked over my firepit, then after that twiggy got stuck in a hole and I spent 3 hours in scolding heat digging him out, then more still there was this sea serpent in the river I bathe in that wouldn't shut up, I'm all for friendly chit chat but not while I'm bathing, oh and did I mention the heatwave? Ya a global heatwave that I am told by zecora is not the work of the ponies, so they can't fix it, ya not great, But that is not even the worst of it oh no the world seems to have a hate boner for me today, the worst of it was that while I was gathering fish I got attacked by timberwolves again and because of that I happened to cross paths with what could generously be described as a dragon though to me its a lizard. This dragon was up to my belly button and the moment it saw me it freaked out about the thing that purple horse found, and how he needed to tell someone, this lead to arguably the worst thing to happen to me today, I may or may not have decked a kid, though in my defense I panicked and didn't know it was a kid at the time so don't look at me like that, Aaaaanyway so i decked this kid which hurt me more, he kind of just looked shocked but not hurt, what surprised me was what he said which made me feel like a duchebag. "Um ow but ya I guess I deserved that, twi said that you startled easily and here I am screaming about you and telling everyone." Of course, he didn't know this but the more he talked the worse I felt, he wasn't even mad and was literally blaming himself so I put a stop to that* "No no no no none of that I'm at fault I panicked but that did not give me the right to hit you and I'm sorry" That seemed to satisfy him for the time being. " Now listen here you are not gonna tell anyone where you saw me, go report to your ponies if you must but do NOT tell them where for personal reason id rather remain unfound for the time being" Before he could even object I continued* " now then I expect you don't want to lie so let me incentivize you, I'm lead to believe by the mythology that you like these" * I proceeded to hand him the gem bag I was gonna give to zecora to trade, it was bursting with gemstones* if you won't take it as a bribe consider it gifts for your silence Spike looked at the admittedly large bag of gyms in his hand, it was rather full now on one hand it would involve omitting the truth from twilight which he was raised to know that lying even by omition was wrong, on the other hand he was still a kid and the bag he held did represent about a weeks worth of snacks and allowance that hed normally be paid for chores and things so while he was conflicted it didn't take him long to rationalize it in hit head that he could not tell twilight where or when he saw him but still mention that he did, thus in his childlike mind fulfilling both things so he nods at him "Uh ya ok sure i guess i keep mostly quiet, and sorry again for you know um freaking you out" Of course this makes Sam flinch "no no as I've said startled or no I had no right to hit you so once again i apologize so um we cool?" He held his fist out in the universal sign of peace and after a moment spike knocks his knuckles against his "Ya were cool dude and don't worry I wont tell any pony where i saw you"*he smiles and tucks the bag under his arm and then checks the sun through the trees* "Oh man i need to go ,uh nice meeting you dude I don't get why everyone is so freaked out you seem fine to me" *and with that he runs off the way he came making Sam sigh in relief. he felt somewhat like he could sort of trust spike as he was or at least seemed to be a kid and in his experience you could generally bribe them to not say something as money is hard to come by as a kid. Sam turns and heads back home to go lay down and cuddle with twiggy and try to relax as while he wasn't antisocial dealing with anything related to those ponies or his spot being found out drained him as it stressed him out so with one last look in the direction that hed come from he headed back deeper into the forest that had become his home. "hmm dragons ill have to add that to the list of crazy creatures I've seen here. What's next chimeras? *he chuckled at himself as he entered his home and as he did his pup greeted him* yip yip yip* he smiles at this and pats his head* "Hey buddy did you guard the place while i was gone? heh ya you did whos a good boy whos a good boy?" *twiggy barks at this happily knowing that he was indeed a good boy* Sam looked around his home taking in all he had made for himself. he had an awesome tree home, at least one friend in zecora and maybe that diamond dog ,plenty of food, and finally his beloved companion twiggy. As he pets them and thinks on this he smiles and chuckles some* "heh today maybe have started rough but thinking on it maybe I don't have it so bad afterall" * he smiles as he pets and plays with his pet, no he thinks today was bad but this little life I've made for myself , its good. He thinks and smiles as he lets his days troubles fade away* Author's Note hey guys I'm back after entirely too long away, sorry for that but i hope that this chapter was worth it for you all.
