Chapter 3(Wha...)

Twilight was not sure what to make of this. That storm could not have come from Fluttershy, so the source of all of this had to be the colt. Just looking at him, he did not seem all that special. His color was interesting though, like chromed steel. His mane and tail were the color of obsidian, polished smooth. The eyes, what little she could see past the tears, were a mirror-like silver that reflected the colors around them.

“I was trying to kill a foal…” She turned to see her teacher, crying. Bringing a hoof to her mouth, it was clear she was trying to come to grips with what she had been ready to do.

Luna looked more suspicious of what she was seeing.

Discord seemed to be unsure of what to do. He seemed to decide that it was better to leave it to Fluttershy.

Looking to her other friends, they looked lost, like this was so far out of anything they had expected that they just did not have a real reaction. The area of dead and stripped land around Fluttershy and the Colt was as large as Canterlot castle was wide. She could not even begin to imagine what would have happened if things had kept going. With the Elements gone, nothing could have stopped that storm. In the end, it was Fluttershy, and Fluttershy alone, that had saved the day.

My senses were all wrong.

The only thing I knew for sure is that the Void energy was still ripping me apart. I had gathered what was left into a ball to slow the damage, but I needed matter to heal.

My ears were ringing with the sound of light, I could smell something yellow and I was seeing the swirling colors of various sound.

In short, I had no idea what was going on.

My body was even weirder than the pile of flesh I had been moments before, and my sense of internal function was basically shot. I could not even tell if my hearts were currently beating. For a product of evolution, that would mean death, but Espers did not evolve. We can live three minutes without a heartbeat.

I could not tell if it had actually stopped or not though. To summarize, what little I could sense makes no sense. I do know that, for some reason, I was breaking Rule Five. I was crying. Which is total bullshit. That’s when I finally realized that the Yellow was talking.

So, time to panic.

It was almost a minute before the colt stiffened and pushed against Fluttershy, throwing himself back and pushing her away. “Hey!” Rainbow shouted at him.

It was clear almost immediately that the colt was not aware of what was happening. His eyes couldn’t focus on anything. A snarl on his face, he roared out something that sounded like a song. He then collapsed, as if he couldn’t support his own weight.

Fluttershy tried to rush in to help only to be pulled back just in time by Rainbow as sword blades the size of Celestia sprung from the ground and would have sliced her to ribbons.

“How in Tartus did he do that THAT?! He could have killed you!”, Rainbow shouted.

Fluttershy looked at the confused and aggressive look on his face. “Rainbow, I don’t think he knows what’s going on. He’s clearly really confused. I don’t think he’s aware of anything other than that we’re trying to get close.”

Twilight came up behind Fluttershy. “The sword could be formed from metal in the soil one of Shining soldiers does something similar, yet nothing on this scale. But I have to agree with Fluttershy, look at his eyes. See how unfocused they are? His ears don’t even twitch when we talk, so I don’t think he can hear us either. I’m not even sure how he knew that Fluttershy was getting closer. If he can’t see, then he might think anything that gets close is a threat. So, everyone, stay back.”

Twilight took a bit of the blade in her magic and levitated it over to her. The colt showed no reaction to Twilights actions. “Well, that answers one question. However he’s sensing us, it’s not magic. Since he didn’t react to me grabbing this.”

Bringing the metal over to her eyes, she noticed that it had dissolved into nothing, not even dust. Her magical scan made it clear that there had been no matter in the metal at all. Yet, it was not a magic construct either, she had made a great many of those and this had none of the hallmarks. She had no idea what it was.

The colt was on the move now, despite walking like his legs were made of wet noodles. Fluttershy seemed to have understood that she should not get close, but followed the snail paced child at a distance. The rest of the group followed as well. Anytime anyone got too close, a blade would spring up from the soil.

This sucks.

The only one of my senses that worked in a way that I could understand was my ability to detect life force. I was not even able to tell the strength of them either, so it was like being blind, deaf, and dumb.

So far, only one of the lights had tried to get close. I put my swords between us, but it could be on the other side of the planet for all I knew. I pointed myself away from the life forces and tried to crawl forward. All I could smell was green, the color of grass, and I could hear the light filtering in the “tree” leaves in front of me. My limbs were so weak that it felt like they were made of gelatin.

Time seemed strange with my senses all over the place, so I had no idea if this world even has a regular chronomatry. I was moving towards the “trees” that I could hear. The sun seemed to be higher in the sky when I finally got to it. I stuck my tongue out and tasted the concept of an apple tree.

I could not not believe it.

Apple trees.

In this dimension.

I’d hate my luck if I believed in it.

It took the colt five hours to make it to Sweet Apple Acres. The colt seemed to be helpless to move, yet far too stubborn to stop doing so. Twilight kept hoping that he would just PASS OUT so they could help him already.

All the while, Pinkie was handing out snacks that Rainbow had grabbed while returning from a trip to alleviate boredom, and she fetched, cupcakes and other desserts from Sugar Cube Corner for them all; Celestia was drinking green tea and eating a slice of cake; Fluttershy sharing Earl Grey with Discord. It was like they had all forgotten how serious this was. The only one still following the colt with Twilight properly was Luna. Thank the moon…

"It really is a beautiful day now that that icky storm is over! We should go on a picnic! Oh, wait, we need to watch that poor colt..." She paused and tilted her head as she looked to him, "He really is persistent, huh?"

When he finally reached a tree, he stuck his tongue out and tasted it. And after a few minutes of that, he began to slam into the tree. After a couple sad attempts, he searched for apples. Many bruised ones had been lying there for a few days and despite this state were consumed with great gusto.

Applejack turned a very odd color of green at this sight. Discord noted that little Ms. Apple no longer appeared quite ripe.

A squirrel was crawling by, and as it walked in front of the colt he snapped out like a striking cobra. The squirrel vanished leaving only a tail hanging out of his mouth.

Fluttershy was upon him faster than a blink, leaving Rainbow Dash speechless. She was already holding the squirrel as the swords sprang up from the dirt. She barely managed to get out of their way.

“Are you alright little one? Why was he trying to eat you…? Can you do me a favor little one?” The squirrel nodded.

“I need you to warn all the other animals to go back into hiding. I don’t think the danger from the storm is over yet.”

The squirrel ran up a nearby tree. Presumably, to tell the other animals.

After the squirrel was taken from him, the colt stumbled away as if nothing that had happened mattered.

Only to trip.

Over a shovel.

I not sure who took my squirrel… all I know is that it smelled yellow.

When I sensed that small life force get close, I had thought I had finally hit the jackpot. Some food that would solve most of my needs. Then someone pulls it right out of my mouth and gets out of my reach with it.

I’m beginning to wonder what sort of universe I’m in. Was that squirrel sentient or something? Don’t tell I am in some Disney world and its ruled by talking squirrels. The idea of yellow squirrel passed through my mind.

No.

No way.

There is no way I can be in a world of talking animals, I would go insane.

Ok, back on to more important topics. I’d eaten something that was supposedly apples. I needed to find something with iron and protein that the giant squirrels are not going to take from me. Wandering into what I could only assume is the shade of the apple tree because the headache induced sunlight had gotten quieter, I could pay attention to the sounds that I’m seeing and… Realize…. that some of those look like conversations.

Guess the squirrels can talk after all. Hope they don’t sound like they’re on helium. Hard to tell the pitch of the voices when you are seeing the sounds.

That is when I tasted the concept of ground. Best guess? I tripped again. One thing that was different this time was that when I tripped there was the sense of a metal clanging. Wait. Metal? that could work…

Trying to grab it with none functioning hands was not working. So, I wrapped my arms around it and brought it to my mouth, tasting the concepts of digging and metal on my tongue. So, I guess I was going to be eating a shovel. That was going be a new experience, even for me.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

“What in tarnation is he doing!? Why is he eating my brand new shovel? I payed good bits for that!” Applejack exclaimed,

Pinkie chimed in, “I don’t think that could taste very good... I Should go get him a pie! And biting on metal cant be good for his teeth. I mean, Colgate is always warning me about my teeth. Wonder what she would say about this?”

Celestia stared at them, deadpan. In this moment she couldn’t help but wonder about two things. First Is this colt really responsible for the nightmare this morning that she had to deal with? Second, Please tell me Twilight’s friends have better priorities then a new shovel and whether the colt was going damage his teeth. This is the middle of national emergency, is it too much to ask that someone besides her takes this seriously? Wait, please tell me that we’re not getting desensitized to national emergencies! Because this the third time this year the world has almost ended. Then, Celestia remember not a minute ago she was drinking tea and eating cake. Mental note; Get back in the groove of things and stop being so reliant on Twilight…

A very loud “Clang” followed by a long rending noise sounded out as small piece of the shovel tore off.

Well, I suppose I owe Applejack a new shovel then, add that to the repair budget for Ponyville this month...And… he MUST have good teeth, maybe Pinkie was right after all.

At the sound of ripping metal, Twilight was left staring at him, her mouth agape. He was rolling it around in his mouth and chewing like he was going to actually eat it! At this, her mind went into overdrive. What do the apples, squirrel, and shovel all mean? The only thing he had eaten that makes sense is the apples… after all, sugar is the base of any metabolism. The squirrel and the shovel, what do those mean? What did they have in common? Squirrel, shovel, squirrel, shovel. “Wait, IRON!” Twilight exclaimed. “He must need iron!” But, what could we give him that has both iron and probably protein? “Applejack, does your family grow any beans?” Twilight called out,

“Uhhhhh… No, but Mr. Lima Bean does his small farm not too far from ours.” Applejack replied.

“Well, I need you to go there and buy a bag of kidney beans, as fresh as possible. That should solve his trying to eat any small animals that get close, and maybe if we offer him something he wants, he will let us get close enough to help him. Please hurry too, before he succeeds at eating that metal and ruins his stomach.”

Rainbow popped up, “If you want it quick then I should be the one to go.” She dashed off towards what Twilight hoped was Mr. Lima Bean’s farm.

“Rainbow, you don’t even know him! Ahm more likely to be able to get what we need!” yelled Applejack, chasing after her.

Twilight turned back to the colt to see him still chewing on the metal, finally trying to swallow. In that moment, Twilight used her magic to teleport it right out of his mouth. The colt looked around, growled, and went go back to ripping off another piece of the shovel.

I was pissed.

Someone stole the piece of shovel I was eating, right out of my mouth. So, either these squirrels don’t want to share the shovel, or they have higher level empathy and are messing with my business. Well, they hadn’t taken my shovel from me, so I was still going to eat it. I started chewing on the shovel in order to rip off another piece. That was when one of them began to cautiously approach me.

Should I kill the stupid thing? I thought, No that would be rude. I allowed the dumb squirrel to get close. That was when, somehow the piece of the shovel I was eating was ripped out of my mouth without being touched, AGAIN! That’s it, I’m going to kill …!

A kidney bean. I love kidney beans. They remind me of his Abuela. Somehow, they had shoved a Kidney bean in my mouth without getting close. The squirrel seemed to bend down and leave something behind several feet away. This left me with a few decisions to make.

One, Is it worth getting up? Two, Should I let go of the shovel? Three, Did she leave me more kidney beans? Four, Is it worth risking getting poisoned to eat said kidney beans?

Yes. No. Maybe…. Yes.

I dragged myself over while keeping the shovel in one arm to discover there was in fact a large pile of said beans. I scarfed them down as fast as possible, not knowing if there was poison or a trap.

I felt at least a little better now that the little terror was eating actual food instead of anything he could get his hooves on. AJ and RD had brought an entire sack of beans, and he was scarfing them down like he believed we were going to steal them.

Though, maybe he did. The way he still held the shovel did indicate a lack of trust. If we hadn’t taken the shovel yet, I think it should be obvious that we were not planning on taking it.

Now, we just needed to figure out how get him somewhere where we could give him a proper medical scan. I looked back over at the ragamuffin colt only to see that he had already finished the beans. He was standing straight, stiff as a board. I hoped we did not get those beans just for him to puke them all up from eating too fast.

That was when he passed out. Just… Flopped over with no fanfare. I slowly walked up to find that he was indeed unconscious. So much for all that defensive behavior I thought, as I floated him onto my back.

“Girls he’s actually unconscious now, let’s get him back to my castle so we can have a doctor look at him.”

Author's Note

well here it is. Me and editor final have a system down that works for both of us. So hopefully the next one won't take as long.