Anon's Batty Expeditionby ShobieChaptersPrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreePrologueYou’re awoken by the combined feelings of the uncomfortable surface you’re sleeping on, as well as the repetitive motion of what feels like a furry soda can prodding your face. The first sensation, quickly determined as the unmistakable texture of grass, could be felt under your hands and head. The prodding persists. Your ears decide to start sending signals to your brain and you quickly recognize the sound of birds chirping, cicadas and crickets among other insects sounding off their various calls, along with the light breeze rustling through leaves emanating from every direction. More prodding. Your nose catches up and the scent of nature envelops you. Flora of all types combine, creating a pleasant aroma akin to that of a local garden near your home you once visited, confirming your suspicions that you are indeed in some sort of forest at the very least. The prodding ceased as you took a large breath through your mouth, the humid air warming your throat and blessing it with the moisture you weren’t aware it needed. Your tongue now informing you of the matching tastes of your surroundings. Your eyes slowly open, revealing the many shades of green and brown around you. A quick look around presents you with the fact that you’re lying in a small field. The trees around you, diverse in species, cover most of the area in shade, sparing you and your aching eyes from the sun’s rays. As you finish your look around, your gaze falls on something your still waking mind can’t quite process. A quick analysis tells you it’s some kind of animal, it’s fur a medium grey in color, mane a muted purple, and large fluffy ears stood tall on top of it’s head. It’s eyes were opened wide, catching your attention, bigger than you’ve ever seen on any living creature, iris’s a vivid yellowish gold that seemed to glow in the relative darkness under the trees. It’s mouth hung slightly agape, revealing two small, yet sharp fangs. This would’ve worried you more, had the creature’s expression not been easily readable as a mixture of fear, shock, and a hint of curiosity. You bring up a hand to wipe your eyes in an attempt to rid yourself of your grogginess, slightly spooking the creature in the process, causing it to shuffle backwards slightly. You sit up and take a better look at it, noticing it’s fur is matted and has an unhealthy amount of mud, dirt, and dried grass scattered about it’s form. It’s mane looked like it has seen better days, with tangles and strands sticking up out of place. You take notice of it’s chest rapidly expanding and retracting, along with its raised front appendage. A hoofed quadruped. A small horse? A radioactive dog? Your confused staring seemed to give the creature more unease as it reveals it’s small, leathery, bat-like wings in what you can only assume is some sort of defensive position. A bat radioactive dog? This makes you wonder what kind of drugs you’re on, and who spiked your drink with them. But the more you think about it and look around, the more real everything seems. You’re pretty sure you’d be feeling a lot different if you were on some form of hallucinogen. Throwing caution to the wind, you look back to the creature and slowly raise your hands, facing your palms towards it. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” you say, hoping your calm voice combined with the gesture would get the intended message across. The animal visibly calms as it’s breathing slows. It’s expression morphs, replacing it’s fearful look with more curiosity. “You can talk?” Your eyes widen and you mentally put more credibility into drugs being the cause of your predicament. It’s voice sounded feminine, and carried a tone not unlike that of a child. “You can talk?” you mimic. Your short staring contest was interrupted by a scoff. “Of course I can talk, I’m a pony! What are you?” Okay, so, pony then. Sure, you'll go with that. You should probably be more freaked out at the occurring scene before you, but the more logical side of your brain overwhelms you with the thought that freaking out wouldn't do you any good whatsoever. You were always more of a go-with-the-flow kinda guy, anyways. 'If you ain't got control over it, ain't no sense in worrying about it.' your grandfather always said. Sound advice you always kept in mind. “I’m a human.” you answer, lowering your hands. The filly cocked her head. “Never heard of them.” “Well, I’ve never heard of talking bat ponies before. Or really anything talking that isn’t a human.” you retort. Something you said makes her hears twitch backwards slightly her and she looks down for a split second. You ignore this in favor of gathering more information. “Hey, you got a name?” The filly quickly glances to either side of her, then looks back up at you. “What’s your name Mr. Human?” You smirk at her terrible question deflection before answering, “Anon.” Her nose scrunches. “You’ve got a weird name Mr. Anon.” she says, pointing a hoof at you with a smile, trotting closer til she’s only a few feet away. You let out a chuckle. “Blame my parents for that one. What’d yours name you?” you say in a second attempt to learn the little filly’s name. Her smile falls and she looks at the ground around you, avoiding your eyes. “Uh, I don’t know… But Mrs. Hope named me Mischievous Moon.” There’s a slight ache in your chest caused by the filly’s drop in mood, though you brush it aside. “That’s a very pretty name.” you respond. “I think she chose it well.” This elicits a small smile from the filly, although her eyes remain glued to the ground in front of her. She giggles weakly, and you swear you can spot a tiny amount of pink in her cheeks. “Thank you...” she responds in just above a whisper. Another question begs at your mind. “Who’s Mrs. Hope?” Her hoof digs at the ground softly. “She’s a really nice mare. She takes care of a bunch of other fillies and colts and makes sure we’re all fed and have a soft place to sleep until a nice family comes for us.” she explains before lowering her voice a bit, “She’s probably super worried about me right now...” You let out a soft sigh. “I would be surprised if she wasn't. I know I am.” Her gaze lifts up to meet my eyes with a look of confusion. “Huh? Why are you worried about me?” “A child in the middle of who knows where, for I don’t even know how long, surrounded by who knows what, talking to some random creature you’ve never seen before, let alone met.” you say, gesturing to the scenery around you. “Not to mention you don’t look like you’ve bathed in a week, and I can hear your stomach growling from here.” Her stomach lets out a loud and low grumble, affirming your word, and causing her face to flush. “Hey! I’m not just a child! I’m super brave! Most foals wouldn’t even think about coming into the Everfree Forest!” she argues. “It’s not about bravery,” you say, causing her demeanor to settle. “Do you feel at home here? Do you feel safe here?” She pauses. “Cause I know I don’t. And I’m an adult.” You chuckle before sighing and continue. “I don’t even know if I’m on the same planet I was on yesterday. To be honest with you, I’m terrified.” Mischievous sits down, again avoiding your eyes as you take another look around. The now obviously alien plants standing out to you stirring a small amount of panic within you as you fully realize the truth behind your words. Movement in front of you catches your attention and you turn to look at the bat filly now slowly stepping forward even closer to you. Her eyes, once appearing to glow with life, look defeated with small tears now threatening to stain the fur under them. Before the sight could break your heart, she lunges forward and embraces you in as much of a hug as her little limbs can muster, burying her face in your chest and crying softly, her muffled sniffles effectively snapping your heart in half. Okay, small, sad, fluffy bat alien pony attached to your midsection aside, you don't know where you are, you have next to nothing for supplies, and you're probably tripping on some crazy drugs in all honesty. Not a whole lot to go off of. You hesitate before slowly returning the embrace, laying one hand on top of her disheveled mane and using your other to slowly rub her back and wings while calmly shushing her in an attempt to calm her. Whatever this is, you decide to just roll with it. Find town, get help. You can work with that. Once you can no longer hear, nor feel her cries, and all that remains is the occasional sniffle, you break the hug and look into her now bloodshot eyes. “How far are we from town?” She shakily points a hoof behind her and answers between sniffles. “I think it’s a few miles that way, I’ve only been gone for a few days...” She looks down, but you tilt her head up to keep her eyes on your own as you smile. “Alright, Missy, you’ve got yourself a hiking buddy.” You stand with her still in your arms, and begin your journey as she nuzzles your chest with a hum. Author's Note Edited 9-15-20 Chapter OneIf someone had told you yesterday that you’d wake up in the middle of an alien forest, on an alien planet, carrying an admittedly adorable bat filly through said forest in an attempt to reach an alien pony civilization, you would have called them a lunatic. Then you would’ve asked where you could get whatever they were on. Hell, you might've already done that considering your current predicament. Your idle thoughts are interrupted by yet another growl from the filly in your arms. She had fallen asleep only ten minutes into your walk and you couldn’t bring it upon yourself to wake her. Unfortunately for her, yet fortunately for your arms, the rumble from her stomach makes her stir in your grasp and her eyes flutter open with a slight frown on her face. “Good afternoon.” you say, stopping to place the filly down on the ground beside you. She brings up a hoof to rub at her eyes, then mumbles something incoherent before her stomach voices its disapproval at being empty, making her whine and clutch her stomach. She looks to you with her big eyes that silently scream ‘Feed me please’. "Jeez, do I have to do everything?" you ask in mock exasperation. Missy's gaze falls and her eyes turn away from you. "Oh, uh, sorry, um..." You smile, "Relax, I'm just teasing." before you think a seemingly obvious thought that makes your expression turn neutral and your eyebrow raise slightly. “Um, what exactly do you eat?” Her cheeks flush and her pupils dilate. She looks down bashfully. “Uh…” she starts then looks back up at you with a forced look of accusation. “What do you eat?” You cross your arms and shake your head. “Tsk tsk, nuh uh, you’re not flipping questions on me this time, Missy.” Her wings flutter as she looks around nervously, then hangs her head with a dejected sigh. “I...” she begins before mumbling the rest, so quietly you couldn’t hear it, looking to the side with a mixture of anxiety and irritation. You crouch down and use a hand to bring her face forward to look at you. “Missy, I can’t help you if I don’t know how. Whatever it is, I’m sure I can help you get it.” Her gaze softens and she takes a deep breath to prepare herself. “I… I think the word is omniverse.” she finally admits, averting her eyes away for a moment before looking back at you. Pondering for a second you speak up, "Omnivorous?" She nods. “B-but I eat plant stuff too! I-I can eat fruits and vegetables! I just need meat every once in a while to keep from feeling tired...” Her eyes close and she shakes your hand away. “Please don’t hate me...” "Why would I hate you?" You can’t help but chuckle slightly as you reach over and pat her mane. “Looks like we’re in the same boat.” Your answer takes her by surprise as her eyes open to gawk at you. “W-what do you mean?” She hadn't answered your first question. Electing to ask about that later, you straighten up, sitting on your heels and smile down at her. “I mean I eat meat too.” You lift your top lip with a finger to present your canines for a moment. “Not exactly fangs, but my species eats both meat and vegetables. We need a combination of both to stay healthy, just like you.” Her gawking increases to include a look of awe. Her staring persists as you stand up and begin to think of a way to catch some wildlife. You’d rig up a trap of some kind... if only you knew how. Curse you for not looking more into survival classes or videos. You’re interrupted by a mass clinging to your leg. Missy had latched herself to it, nuzzling your leg with a smile on her face. The sight forces a grin out of you as well. Forcing yourself to ignore her for the time being, you notice a decent sized rabbit hopping about in the distance in front of you. You decide the best way you can catch the two of you some dinner is by fashioning a makeshift spear. You ease the filly off your leg and set out, filly in tow, to find a stick worthy of crafting into a spear. You slowly ease forward, crouching at low as you can, with your new spear at the ready. After painstakingly carving the spear using the sharpest rock you could find, you spend the next fifteen minutes searching for the rabbit you had seen previously. Finally finding it, you stalk it and follow it for another couple minutes, waiting for a good opportunity to throw your spear. A sharp snapping noise from behind you causes your body to twitch involuntarily, and the rabbit stands up, alert, and looking in your general direction. You glance behind you to see a sheepish looking Missy crouching as low as she possibly can, eyes meeting yours in a silent apology. Not waiting for another chance, you take aim and throw your spear and pray to whatever gods are out there listening that you hit your target. Your prayers, luck, or a mix of both work in your favor as your spear impales the animal, ending its life in an instant. You pump your arm in a silent celebration and look back at the filly to see her jump up with a beaming grin on her face and her wings buzzing. Approaching the animal, you lift it by its legs and pull the spear out, silently wishing you had some sort of knife to skin it. You turn and present the rabbit to the filly with a smug smirk, causing the filly to bounce up and down in joy. You look over the fresh kill with a slight frown. “Unfortunately, I don’t know how I’m gonna skin it without a knife, and I don’t really want to use some rock off the ground.” Missy thinks for a moment, then adopts her own smirk. “Luckily, you’ve got me.” she states with confidence. Your eyebrow raises as you look down at the filly. “Oh? Do you have a hidden knife I don’t know about?” She scoffs. “No, but I do have these.” She copies your earlier motion and lifts her top lip with the thumb of her wing, showing you her fangs. “I may still have my foal fangs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t sharp.” she explains. Then, raising her wings, she flexes her aforementioned wing thumbs. “And unlike pegasi, I’ve got these too! My talons are just as sharp!” She beamed. "Ms. Fluttershy stops by every once in a while with animals for me, but nopony will touch them, so I had to get used to doing it myself." You return her joyful grin. “Well alright then! Bat ponies for the win!” You reach down and ruffle her mane, the combination of your words and actions causing her jovial expression to remain. The two of you continue your journey until you notice the sky starting to darken and change color, transitioning from a bright blue to a yellowish orange. You come across a small clearing the perfect size to fit a shelter and fire, then turn to your companion. “Alright, you wanna get started on the rabbit while I get a fire going? Then we’ll build a quick shelter for the night.” She nods and you hand her your future dinner. She takes it in her mouth and trots over to a nearby rock just big enough to use as a makeshift preparation table, quickly cleaning it off with her hooves and a wing before starting the skinning process. You then start to gather some decent sized rocks and various sizes of twigs and logs for the fire, along with still living branches and vines for the shelter. Missy’s timing couldn’t be better. She managed to finish her job as you got the fire started, which took a bit more effort than you thought, considering you didn’t have a lighter on you, nor did you have any amount of practice with the spin-the-stick-really-fast method. You managed to get it going though, thanks to you remembering one of your recommended YouTube video rabbit hole adventures that lead to a tutorial for the method. For the most part at least. You managed to find two Y-shaped sticks during your stick gathering session and stuck them in the ground on opposite sides of the fire. Then you placed another straight stick on top to use as a spit. Sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, you take the skinned rabbit from the filly and hang it on the spit, then sigh and stand up, stretching before looking to the filly next to you. “Ready to make this shelter?” “Mhm!” she answers. It takes the two of you some time to construct a shelter you both were happy with, the semi-frequent breaks to rotate the cooking rabbit not helping your speed. You end up with what you can only describe as a ‘nature tent’. It has a triangular shape to the front of it with the top sloping down to the ground towards the back, the angled sides thick with layers of leaves and branches, with the front currently open with a thick support stick standing vertically in the middle of the opening. You’ve made a thick door out of extra fresh tree limbs and are currently tying to the peak of the tent with vines. After you finish with the door, you take a step back to admire your work. A bit ugly, but sturdy nonetheless. The rabbit had finished cooking about five minutes ago, but the sky was almost dark, so you wanted to make sure the shelter was made before the night took over entirely. You take a seat in front of the fire with the tent behind you. Before you tied the tent door on, Missy had taken the cooked rabbit off the spit when you had called it done and used her talons to cut it in half along its back. She brings it over to you balanced on her wing and sits down beside you, leaning into you as you take your share. You both eat, content in the heat of the fire as the night cools the air. After you both finish, Missy opts to sit in your lap and use your body as her back rest. You respond by wrapping your arms around her in a light hug, which brings a smile to the filly’s face. You never thought of yourself as 'good with kids', but you seemed to be doing decently so far with this one. Even if it's not human. You think about today’s experiences and a couple questions pop in your mind. Taking a moment to ponder your wording, you ask your first question. “Hey,” you begin, gaining her attention. “Why did you think I would hate you for eating meat?” You feel her form stiffen at your question, and you silently curse yourself for it, despite knowing that would probably happen no matter how you asked. She shifts slightly before answering. “Well… Other ponies don’t eat meat. Only thestrals, er, that’s the actual name for us bat ponies, do.” She pauses for a moment as you nod for her to continue. “I mean, griffons eat meat, and hippogriffs eat fish, and dragons obviously eat all kinds of things, but they all live in their own lands. Thestrals live here in Equestria, we’re another type of pony. Ponies see us eating meat and get grossed out by a pony eating meat.” She sighs and her voice softens. “All the other kids make fun of me for it, saying I’m not a real pony and that no… No family will ever want a foal that eats meat...” You hear a soft sniffle and you simply hug the filly tighter. "Aren’t there other thestral foals where you live?” She shakes her head. “No… I was just dropped off in Ponyville one night. Ponyville doesn’t have any other thestrals living in it… I’m the only one.” You give a silent nod before she continues. “They’re right. No family will want a meat-eating foal. I’ll just gross them out all the time.” You begin to guess the answer to your other question. “Is that why you came to the forrest?” you ask, just to confirm your suspicion. She takes a moment before nodding, lowering her gaze in the process. You slowly stroke her mane in an attempt to calm the filly. “You don’t gross me out.” you start. “I don’t know a whole lot about your culture, but I’m sure there’s a family out there for you, you just haven’t met them yet.” She looks upward to meet your gaze. “You really think so?” You scoff. “I know so.” You affirm with a smile. She responds by pushing her back further into your body, a gesture you find adorable as you wrap the filly in a tighter hug. The two of you spend the next twenty minutes relaxing by the fire until you hear her light snores begin. You carefully, as to not wake her, pick her up and take the filly with you into the shelter, sealing the door one handed with spare vines on either side. You slowly lower the filly and yourself onto the thin pile of leaves on the floor you call a mattress. Missy shifts until she’s facing you, and you fear you’ve woken her up, but her eyes remain closed as she reaches out, grabbing your form, and pulling herself as close to you as she can, burying her face into your chest, then continues her snoring. You smile at the sight and slowly brush the back of her mane with your fingers, causing her to hum and her ear to flick. “Goodnight, Missy.” you whisper before closing your own eyes, letting today’s exhaustion take over, sending you to sleep as well. Author's Note Edited 9-15-20 Chapter TwoYou are sitting on the couch at your home, laughing at what you think was a joke your dad just made. He’s sitting across the living room in the chair he gave you when you moved in. It’s the same chair he always sat in since you were a kid and has that kind of sentimental value to you. Your mother is sitting next to you glaring at you for laughing at the, in her opinion, tasteless joke her husband had made. She lightly slaps your arm and turns to glare at your father, who tries and fails to force back his own chuckling while he raises his hands in surrender. This makes your chuckling increase, which in turn, causes your mother to give in and laugh along. It takes some time for the laughter to die down, which was fine by you, you love these times with your parents. Just the three of you, hanging out like old friends. Your dad’s face falls to one of confusion, which you mimic in reaction. “Who are you?” he asks. Your confusion doubles at this absurd question, especially since your mother is acting like he hadn’t said anything. “What do you mean, dad? I’m Anon, your son.” “Hmm...” he hums, leaning back in his chair. The next thing you know, you’re alone in your bedroom, folded clothes in your hands, packing a suitcase. You’re preparing to go on a trip. Your parents should’ve been here two hours ago, they wanted to hang out before saying bye. They aren’t normally late, but maybe they got caught up with something else. You shrug it off and finish packing. You load up your car and begin your drive to the airport. Your parents didn’t show up at all, and they haven’t called. You start to worry about them, but you’re sure they’re alright. They probably slept in, it’s rather early after all, about nine in the morning. Yeah, you're sure that's it. You’re standing behind the line at your terminal, waiting for your group number to be called. You idley sway, thinking about your trip to… Where were you going again? You’re interrupted by your group being called. Being in economy class, you are in the last group among probably half the plane, who swarmed to grab their place in line. You manage to secure a spot halfway through. A few passengers board before you hear your name called from behind you. You turn to spot your parents quickly making their way towards you. Your eyes widen and you make to meet them, but the people behind you block your path, shoving you forward in line with blank stares past you as it picks up pace. You fight to make it past them but they feel like they’re made of stone. You look past them to see your parents having a similar problem, the crowds increased in density, slowing them down to a crawl. Faster than you realize, you’re at the front of the line and the attendant looks at you impatiently before snatching your boarding pass and scanning it. The people behind you give you no time to think about what just happened as they push you past and down the hallway. You manage to be the last person to board the plane in a vain attempt to see your parents before you take off. “Anon!” You hear your mother’s voice echo. Turning towards your name, you see your parents through the crack of the closing door of the plane, and bang on the door, practically begging the flight attendant to open it just for a moment. The attendant looks to you with a blank stare. “I’m sorry, once the doors close, we can’t open them until we reach our destination.” she states robotically. With a defeated sigh, you make your walk of shame to your designated window seat. Head lowering to stare blankly at the back of the seat in front of you, your mind goes numb as you wait for your inevitable takeoff. “What is this contraption?” A female voice asks next to you, breaking you away from your thoughts. You sigh, not looking away from the seat. “What kind of question is that?” you ask, slightly irritated at how dumb that sounded. The plane starts backing up and making its way to the runway. As you feel the lady next to you shift uncomfortably, you look out the window, resting your head on your hand, staring at the terminal you just pulled out of, unrealistically hoping to see your parents from the distance you’re at. The plane speeds up on the runway and lifts off and you feel the lady next to you shift again, but you’re too numb to care. That is, until she speaks up again. “What are you?” she asks. From the sound of it, you can tell she’s directing the question at you. “Seriously?” you ask, then turn to look at her. “Are you some kind of idio-” you start to ask before noticing not only was she translucent, she isn’t even human. She looks like some kind of horse, with a dark blue coat and a mane that appeared to blow in a nonexistent breeze, it was also twinkling like the night sky. The sight stopped more words from coming from your mouth as you looked on in awe and confusion. Your chest begins thumping harder than you thought possible and your breathing increased as you start hyperventilating. Your eyes don’t leave the horse-lady as you grab a hold of your arm rests, trying and failing to calm yourself down as the thumping increases in strength. You see her face contort into a concerned expression and she lifts a hoof forward. “Are you okay?” she asks, her voice filled with genuine emotion. You fail to respond as the thumping escalates to pounding and your breathing increases. You begin to scream as the plane and its occupants disappear and everything quickly goes black. “Anon!” You wake with a short yell, feeling a weight on your chest tumble to your lap as you quickly sit up. Looking down, you see Missy righting herself to sit on your lap, giving you a worried look. “Are you okay, Anon? It looked like you were having a bad dream, you were moving around a lot and you looked like you were in pain. I tried yelling your name and stepping on your chest, but you still wouldn’t wake up.” she says, putting her hooves on your chest for emphasis. You take a moment to take a deep breath and rub your face to help wake yourself up. “Yeah, just a weird dream. I’m fine.” She hugs your midsection with a nuzzle. “Good.” You smile and hug her back with a hand before moving to get up and out of your shelter. It’s about an hour past dawn judging by the amount of light and the sun’s location. The fire had become naught but a pile of ash surrounded by rocks. Missy follows you outside, shielding her eyes from the light with her foreleg. Grabbing your spear from its place leaning on a nearby tree, you and your companion begin the next leg of your journey. Unfortunately, as there is no trail this deep into the forest, your speed is significantly decreased by the many natural obstacles in your path. Missy can easily navigate under and in between the mess of plants, but slows herself to stick close to your side or just ahead of you as you either tear your way through or find your own path around the things you can’t force through. The next several hours pass by rather quickly, filled with the sound of the forest and the ground crunching under your footsteps. The hike does wonders to distract you from your weird dream. Along the way Missy decides it would be funny to tap your leg and shout “Tag!” before running ahead of you and staying just out of your reach despite your best attempts. You both have a good laugh at the circumstance, keeping your moods lifted. Missy takes it upon herself to scout ahead a bit, but does well to stay in your sight. At first. She starts to scout a bit too far for your liking, but keeps returning so you don’t worry too much. Until she scouts outside your vision and you hear a high pitched scream from where she disappeared, stopping you in your tracks as the color drains from your face. You don’t stand for long as you break into a determined sprint, ripping through the forest, not caring about the cuts and scrapes you get as you rush to where you heard the scream. You stop as you come across a black vine with teal thorns sticking out of it in various places. It has Missy in its grasp and holds her in the air as she uses her hooves to beat it as hard as she can, occasionally biting it in an effort to get it to release her. “Take that you big ugly plant thing!” she angrily yells. But when she notices her efforts doing nothing, her face adorns the look of one frightened for their life. She sees you and pleads for help with her eyes. “ANON!” she screams, absolutely terrified. The grip on your spear tightens in rage and you run up to the vine and start stabbing and screaming. It starts retreating into the forest, still holding onto the filly, but you keep up. The more holes you put in it in an attempt to cut off the end of the vine, the slower it moves. Unfortunately, a particularly thick patch of plants gets in your way as the vine pulls through it. You attempt to grab onto Missy’s hoof, but the vine’s strength pulls her out of your grip. You curse in anger and quickly make your way around the wall of flora and after the vine. Luckily, you seem to have wounded it more than you thought and quickly catch up to it. The adrenaline rush doing wonders for your stamina, you continue your assault with the spear. With one especially strong stab, the spear goes all the way through the vine and into the ground, holding the almost cut off limb in place. It’s strength betrays it as with one final pull, it tears and severs the end, right where you created the many holes, and the stump retreats at a rapid pace. The now amputated end falls limp, releasing Missy from its grasp. The filly falls to the ground and you rush to her aid. You kneel in front of her as she stands up, much to her credit, but favoring her left hind leg. “Are you okay?” you ask, unable to keep the mass amount of worry out of your voice. She whines a bit, trying to put weight on the hoof she was favoring. “I’m fine. Well, except for my leg...” You give it a thorough look, pressing lightly in multiple spots, hoping her anatomy is similar enough to yours that you can determine if it’s broken or not. She winces a bit as a few of your touches, but isn’t in too much pain as far as you can tell. “Well, good news, it’s not broken. But it’s pretty bruised.” you tell her. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go that far ahead of me.” She looks down, regretting her own decision. Debating for all of two seconds, you make a decision. “Alright, here we go.” You scoop her up in your arms and stand up, opting to leave your spear and make a new one later in favor of being able to carry her with both arms. Unhappy with not being able to walk on her own, she pouts in your arms, but eventually coming to terms with the situation and begins snuggling closer to your chest, relishing your presence. You continue your walk for about an hour before she speaks up. “I’m sorry...” she says in a soft voice. “Hm?” You look down at her. “I’m sorry for running ahead. I just wanted to help find a good path.” she says with a frown. You smile at her. “I know you did, I’m not mad at you for wanting to help. I was just worried about your safety.” You reach your hand over and boop her snout, eliciting a giggle out of the filly. Then a stern look overcomes your face. “But never do that to me again. If giant moving plants are here, I don’t want to know what else is.” you scold. Her face becomes bashful. “Okay, I won’t. I promise.” “Good.” You smile at her then look ahead, continuing your agonizingly slow pace. Another several hours go by, and luckily there have been no other surprise dangers today, much to your relief. You idley keep an eye on the suns position and notice it will be setting within the next hour or so. You start to look for suitable shelter locations as you pass by a small mountain. “Hey look!” Missy says, pointing to what looks like a small cave a short ways up the mountain. Seeing this as the best option you’d get for shelter for a while, you make your way up the easiest route you can find to the cave. “Good eye.” you compliment the filly, who grins in kind. As you step up the path, you look around and notice a small pond not too far away where you can probably get some fish for dinner. Then a thought comes to your mind that there might be something already in the cave. Looking around, you notice a bush large enough to hide inside, giving you an idea of a way to check. You slowly creep your way towards the entrance, looking back and forth from the cave to the bush. “Alright,” you whisper to the filly. “I’m gonna yell inside, then I’m gonna run us both into that bush over there.” You gesture with your head to the bush. She nods in confirmation. You step next to the cave opening and prepare yourself. With a deep breath, you shout. “Hey!” Then you book it to the bush as quickly as you can while making minimal noise, forcing you and Missy inside it, then peaking through the leaves at the cave. You wait for a few minutes, hearing and seeing nothing from the cave. You both take simultaneous sighs of relief and you make your way out of the bush and into the cave. The opening is short so you had to duck your head to get in, but the inside is just barely tall enough for you to stand up in. It’s fairly deep, measuring probably about thirty to thirty-five feet if you had to guess. It’s filled with twigs that have been dead and dry for a while, and the dusty ground is undisturbed, telling you nothing has used this cave as a home for a while. You smile at this and set Missy down. “Alright, you stay here, I saw a nearby pond and I’m gonna go try to spear some fish for dinner. Sound good?” She nods happily. “Sounds great! Please hurry though.” You smile at her concern. “I will, don’t worry.” After making your way to the edge of the pond, you proceed to find another worthy stick and spend the next fifteen minutes crafting your second spear. Finally deciding the weapon was pointy enough, you stand above a relatively shallow area, spear at the ready. The fish you see look just big enough for each of you to have a decent meal if you caught two. Your first twenty or so attempts come up fishless and you begin to get irritated at your lack of skill. A few more tries later, however, you finally get a catch. Pulling up your catch, you watch it begin to flail with a smile, then brush it off onto the ground behind you with a hand. Several more failed attempts occur before you finally snag yourself a second fish and repeat the process you did with the first. Finding a nearby plant with large enough leaves, you rip one off and place the now still pair of fish on top, folding up the leaf to make them easier to carry. You put the package under your arm and grip the spear with the other hand, making your way back to the cave. Along the way, you grab several sized pieces of wood. You carry two medium sized logs in your arms, placing smaller sticks, your spear, kindling, then your fish package on top of them. You duck into the cave entrance with your load barely remaining in your grasp. Missy is still there, in the same spot you left her, likely due to her injured leg. She’s drawing in the dirt with her hoof, clearly bored out of her mind. She notices you enter and smiles at your return. You place the supplies in your arms on the ground beside her, then start to build a fire in the same way you had the previous night. Last night’s experience made constructing the fire much easier this time around, and you manage to get it going in half the time, spit and all. You set it up close to the entrance as to not smoke the two of you out of your new shelter. Placing the fish on the spit, you smile at your efficiency and walk back inside to sit by Missy and wait. She leans against your side and you wrap an arm around her, causing her to sigh contently. About a minute goes by before she speaks up. “Thank you,” You look down to meet her gaze. “Thank you for saving me. I was so scared you wouldn’t be able to get me out. I-I...” You shush her with a finger and squeeze her tighter with the arm you have around her. “Of course I saved you. I don’t think I could live with myself if I let anything happen to you, especially a big plant of all things.” You scoff. “How embarrassing would it be to be bested by a plant?” She smiles. “Still, thank you so much.” You return her smile. “Anytime, Missy, anytime.” You think about your journey ahead. “How far would you say we are from Ponyville?” She thinks about it for a few moments, her tongue sticking out slightly from the side of her muzzle. “Uh… We should be about halfway there now, maybe a little bit less.” “Good enough for me.” you say. “I’d say that’s pretty good progress considering I have basically no experience with this kind of thing, then you add in the mythical plant and animal life and I’d consider it a win if we only made it half this distance. I’m surprised you made it as far as you did by yourself.” She smiles smugly. “What can I say? I’m awesome!” You chuckle. “That you are.” “You’re pretty awesome too.” she continues. “I don’t want to know where I'd be if it wasn't for you.” Your grin widens and you pull her into another tight hug, which she returns happily. “Thanks, Missy.” The fish finishes cooking and you both have your daily meal in pleasant silence as the sun sets outside. You don’t have a leaf pile mattress tonight, but you figure the fine dirt on the save floor will do well enough. You lay down towards the back of the cave and Missy climbs onto your chest, spins in place once before curling up like a dog on top of you. You smile at the sight then close your own eyes, welcoming sleep in hopes of a cure to your exhaustion, as well as hoping for no nightmares this time around. Chapter ThreeYou stand in the middle of a barren road, surrounded by nothing but sand and the occasional shrub. The road is worn and faded, cracks and holes scattered all over it, and it appears to extend in either direction past the horizon. The sun beats down on you from overhead, bringing it’s harsh heat along with its bright light. Looking down both paths, confused as to your location and reason for being here. You don’t recall any sort of trip to the desert. You ponder your options. After a few minutes of deliberation, you decide to begin walking in one of the directions. After several minutes of walking,you’re still just as confused as you were when you began. The heat beats down on you, and the vast and barren wasteland begins to grate on your patience. You hear a faint sound ring out from behind you, contrasting the pure silence you now notice. Turning around, you spot a small speck on the horizon in the middle of the road. Curiosity getting the better of you, you begin your journey back the way you came. As the speck grows larger, you begin to notice that it’s making a sound as well. It’s barely audible tone splitting into multiple syllables you still can’t understand. Some more time passes and you finally recognize the sound as your name being called. Curiosity piqued, you quicken your pace at the newfound information. You stop as you recognize the figure as your mother, running in your direction as she frantically waves her arms and shouts your names at the top of her lungs. You quickly shake yourself out of your shock and break into a sprint to get to her. You slowly begin to pick up speed, but something slows you down. As you run, gusts of wind rise to blow harder and harder against you. Despite pushing against the wind with all your strength, the ground appears to stretch, increasing the distance as fast as you can close it. You scream out in anger and push yourself harder in a vain attempt to gain traction and distance. “Anon!” your mother yells, having not moved an inch from her original position. Your eyes close and you strain yourself, the air around you forming the most powerful wind tunnel imaginable, and the ground slips out from under you like the most advanced smart-treadmill to exist. Tears well up in your eyes as you fall to the ground, curl into a ball and begin to sob. You lay like that for the next minute, more and more tears flowing until a light flashes bright enough to catch your attention behind your eyelids. A vaguely familiar voice rings out. “Cease!” The wind stops almost immediately as the sun dims, taking away the blistering heat and giving the air a cool and comfortable temperature. You hear what sounds like hoofsteps approach you at a slow pace, your eyes still closed and your body twitching slightly with your receding sobs. The hoofsteps stop before you. You hear the voice speak calmly. “Are you alright?” You slowly open your eyes,uncurl your face, and look up at the voice. It’s the mare you saw in your dream last night. She has the same deep blue coat, and the same glistening mane, blowing in a breeze that no longer exists.. This time, however,, she’s completely opaque, and her cyan eyes look down upon you with genuine concern and curiosity. Your memories flood back to your mind, suddenly reminding you that this is all a dream. “Y-Yeah… I’m fine.” you say, picking yourself up from the ground and standing straight. The mare is much taller than Mischievous. While the filly comes up to your upper thighs when standing on all fours, this mare is tall enough to come up to the bottom of your ribs. Not counting her horn, of course. Your staring is interrupted by her clearing her throat. “You must forgive me if I don’t believe you.” she states, unamused. “Also, I thank you for not screaming in my face this time.” You gather your thoughts and cross your arms. “Yeah, about that. I have several questions.” Her gaze shifts to a deadpan expression. “You’re not the only one.” You raise a finger to retort, but after considering her words, you lower your arms. “Fair point,” you say, “But me first.” You raise an eyebrow. “Who, and what are you? You’re some kind of pony, I can guess that much, but I’m not very well versed in the species of this world.” The question piques the mare’s curiosity, and she sighs. “Very well,” She begins. ”My name is Princess Luna, ruler of the night and guardian of the dreamscape. I am an alicorn, bearing both the wings of a pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn.” She gestures to her wings and horn respectively. “Your turn.” “My name is Anon, and I’m a human,” you state, rubbing your face with your hands and letting out a sigh of your own. Her response left as many questions as it answered. “What do you mean you’re the ‘guardian of the dreamscape’? Am I really dreaming right now?” “Indeed, I possess the ability to delve into the dreamscape, and by proxy, ponies dreams. I scour to find nightmares and give relief and advise to those in need.” She looks you up and down. “You appear to be one of them.” “So I am dreaming.” you conclude. “That makes a lot more sense. You were in my dream last night, and I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like you before. Since dreams pull from your memories and subconscious, I find it hard to disprove you.” She cocks her brow. “You appear to be quite knowledgeable about dreams.” You shrug. “I read a lot.” She smirks. “Clearly.” she says, before returning to a more concerned expression. “I wish to ask you about your nightmares.” You stiffen as you hear her words, and your face drains at the thought of either dream. Your arms fall to your sides and you shove them in your pockets. “Uh, what about them? They seem rather nonsensical to me.” “Do they now? And here I thought you read a lot.” she comments. “Dreams are rarely, if ever, nonsensical or random.” You sigh, and begin to visibly relax. “You’re right, sorry. Well, both seem to revolve around my parents, this one my mother.” You ponder. A pair of small throw pillows appears behind her and yourself respectively and she sits, motioning for you to do the same. “Go on, what about them?” she asks, as you sit down, legs crossed, on top of an identical pillow. You think for a few moments before speaking, “I guess during both times I tried getting to them, but couldn’t.” You sigh, looking down. “Now that I actually think about that, it’s a similar situation in the real world.” Luna adorns a curious gaze. “How so?” Your eyes, sullen, meet hers. “Well, as you could probably guess, I don’t believe I’m part of this world. I don’t even know if this is a different planet or even another dimension entirely.” “Considering that, to my recollection, there is nothing in any of our books or folklore that describe a creature like yourself, I share your confusion.” she responds. “So I really am that far away from home? Where no other humans exist?” You pause. “Wow…” She nods sympathetically, pausing to think for a moment. “If it’s any consolation, I believe I understand how you feel. I only recently returned from a thousand year exile. I was alone, away from any living being, unable to contact any friends, family, or anypony really.” You look at her, bewildered.“A thousand years? Are you serious?” She sighs. “Unfortunately, yes. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.” “I could imagine. But at least you came back.” You look down. “I have a feeling I don’t have that option.” She takes a moment to look you over before a determined look overcomes her face. “Perhaps my sister and I may be able to help. How exactly did you end up here?” “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t even remember falling asleep or anything. I was just hanging out in my house on my day off, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in some forest.” “Where are you now?” “Still in the forest. Apparently, I was really deep in. When I woke up, there was a filly with bat wings poking my face.” You chuckle at the memory. “She said something about an evergreen forest, but I don’t recall very many evergreens.” She ponders for a second before her eyes widen slightly. “The Everfree! You met a filly all the way out there? Why in Equestria would a filly be so deep in the Everfree Forest? I assume it’s the Everfree. Be careful, there are numerous dangers that lurk out there.” “That’s it!” you affirm. Then, cringing slightly, you nod. “And yeah, we figured that out yesterday. Missy scouted a little too far ahead of me and ended up getting snatched by a big moving vine. I managed to cut off the end of it, though.” “Is the poor thing okay?” she asks, leaning forward slightly. “She’s fine. She ended up bruising her leg and I had to carry her for the rest of the day. Despite only knowing her for a few days, I have a feeling her spirits will come back full force when we wake up.” you respond with a reminiscent smile, easing her worries a bit. “Honestly, she’s been my moral support and motivation so far.” Luna smiles before you notice her ears start twitching. Her expression drops to one of mild surprise. “Oh dear, it appears you are about to wake. Don’t worry, Anon, I shall speak with my sister and research a way to send you back where you belong.” You give her a smile of your own. “Your help is appreciated, Luna. Thank you.” Then everything rapidly fades to black. You wake up feeling a now familiar weight on your chest. The weight shifts slowly and you recognize the movement as breathing. You open your eyes and see Missy snoozing away on your chest with a content smile on her face. You don’t move out of fear of waking her. Instead, you opt to reflect on your dream. Could this Luna character actually be a real pony capable of going into people’s dreams? You don’t think you have seen anything like her before, and the concept of her is still as difficult to disprove as in your dream. You decide not to think about it for now and instead focus on getting out of this god forsaken forest. It should only be another day and a half trip if all goes well. You let out a small sigh of relief at that. You know it won’t be home, but anything’s better than this forest of nightmares. You tilt your head and notice the light from outside is a light orange in color, telling you that it’s just past dawn. Normally, you wouldn’t dream of waking up this early, but this happens to be a particularly special occasion. You are in an incredibly dangerous alien forest after all. You shift slightly to make yourself a bit more comfortable. But this causes Missy to stir on top of you. Eyes still closed, she lifts her head and lets out a large yawn, silent until the short squeak at the end. This almost rouses an audible ‘Aww’ out of you, but you hold it in, favoring a soft smile instead. Her eyes open and blink rapidly as she looks around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes fall on you and she gives you a grin that nearly gives you diabetes. “Good morning.” you greet. “Mornin’.” she responds, lifting a hoof to rub at her eyes. You gently grab her and place her to your side and stand up. She looks slightly disappointed at this, but shakes it off. “Ready to head out? We still got a ways to go and I think it’s best to head out early.” She nods. You start turning to head out of the cave when you hear a quiet yet sharp inhale come from her. You glance back at her and notice she’s putting on a very unconvincing smile. You give her a questioning look. “You okay?” “Mhm!” she answers a little too insistently. You notice even though she’s only standing, she’s favoring her injured hoof. With a sigh, you kneel down and look her in the eye. She backpedals a few steps and inadvertently puts weight on the hoof, eliciting another sharp inhale. “Mischievous, please don’t lie to me. I only want to help, and I can’t if I don’t know what’s wrong.” Her hoof paws at the ground. “It’s… it’s my hoof. It still hurts a bit. But I didn’t want to bug you or ask you to carry me. Especially after yesterday with the plant thing and you carrying me here.” You give a small smile. “Wanna know something my mother taught me?” She looks up. “Uh, sure.” “‘It never hurts to ask.’ While obviously there are some social circumstances which it would be rude to ask something specific, you’d be surprised how often that phrase can be applied in life. The worst that can happen is they can say ‘no’.” “But what if they think I’m rude or stupid or something?” “I’ve grown to not worry about that. If my question is rude, I simply say I’m sorry and say that that wasn’t my intention. If they think the question is dumb, you’re not dumb, you’re learning by asking. Questions in general are how we learn a lot of things. Make sense?” She returns your smile. “I think I get it, yeah.” “Awesome.” you reply. “Your mom sounds like a nice pony.” You look away slightly, your smile dropping a small amount. “Yeah, she’s pretty nice.” You shake your head to snap yourself back to the current moment. “Now, did you have a question for me?” “Oh, uh...” She looks away bashfully. “Can you carry me for a bit? I know I can walk on my own most of the time, but it still hurts.” Your smile widens. “No.” you state. She gives you a shocked expression. “Wh-what? B-but I thought...” You begin to chuckle and snatch her into your arms, standing up and turning to the cave entrance. “I’m just kidding, Of course I’ll carry you a bit. I just wanted to show you that the worst thing anyone can say is ‘no’.” You ruffle her still filthy mane, ridding it of a bit of dust in the process. “You ready?” “No.” She pouts at you and crosses her hooves, but you can tell it’s all a front. “Well too bad, here we go.” You snatch up your spear with the hand not holding a filly, and set off. Several hours go by and the two of you are unable to keep the smiles off your faces as you joke and play around. Time goes by quickly due to this, and you couldn’t be happier for it. You’d be out of the Everfree in what would feel like no time if you kept this up. You hear a slight snap from behind you. Glancing back revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but still, you decided to be more alert. The two of you continued on your path, resuming your verbal antics. You stayed wary of anything abnormal. You hear a sudden absence of hoofsteps next to you and you turn around to see Mischievous standing with her eyes wide and ears swiveling around as if they had Parkinson's. “Missy?” You slowly step over to her. “Everything alright?” She looks at you, pupils like pin pricks. “I hear something.” Another snap directs both of your attention back where you came. Out of the bushes creeps some bizarre freak of nature that instills fear in you from the sheer sight of it. First you notice it’s tiger front paws and head, snarling as it slowly steps out. The next is a goat neck and head jutting out the left side of the tigers neck. It’s back legs are revealed to be that from a goat as well. And the final bit is it doesn’t have a tail. Well, it does but it isn’t a regular tail, it’s some kind of snake. It hisses as it slithers through the air to face you, positioning itself on the opposite side of the tigers head as the goat. You and Missy are paralyzed in shock at the mismatched behemoth before you. Your mouth hangs open as you try to comprehend its existence. After meeting Missy and seeing that giant moving vine, you thought you’d seen it all. Boy were you wrong. The creature creeps forward towards you both. As it does, the tiger head speaks. “Finally, a properly sized meal.” The snake head nods before replying itself. “I know, my mouth is already watering.” You shake your head to regain your senses and your bodily control. “Missy,” you call out as confidently as you could muster. “Get behind me. Now.” Missy doesn’t take her eyes off the creature, but does as she’s told, quickly scurrying behind your legs and peeking from behind. The goat head chuckles. “We’re not interested in the filly. She wouldn’t keep us filled for even an hour.” You stiffen, but keep up an attempt at looking confident. You raise your spear. “Leave us and there won’t be any trouble.” you command, hoping your voice isn’t as shaky as you felt. All three heads laugh in unison. In a split second decision, you end up throwing your spear at the creature as hard as you could. Unfortunately, the tiger head noticed this and swatted the spear out of the air, snapping it in half. They all look at you with rage in their eyes and start creeping toward you. Stupid Anon! Stupid! Throwing your weapon? “Missy,” you start, taking a step back. “Run.” You hear her soft steps slowly back away from the situation. “B-But...” “Run. Please. Run home.” The creature snarls as it continues its approach. “I-I’m not leaving you!” Missy shouts, audibly on the verge of tearing up. “Mischievous Moon!” You turn your head to look at her with one eye. “Run! Now!” You watch as she turns and starts galloping away, still limping as she does so. But as you turn back, you see the creature uncomfortably close. It lunges at you, swiping it’s claws. You make an attempt at jumping backwards, but were too slow. It’s claws dug into your thigh, cutting deep and causing your pants to be almost instantly soaked in blood. You yell out in pain and fall backwards against a nearby tree, clutching your leg in a vain effort to stop the pain. “ANON!” you hear from behind you. You glance back and see Missy standing a good distance away, her hoof lifted, looking like she was going to come back. You couldn’t let that happen. “MISCHIEVOUS!” you yell. “I SAID RUN!” Even from this distance, you notice her eyes well up. She turns around with her head down and gallops out of sight. You turn back to be face to face with the beast. The blood loss is now starting to affect your strength. Your vision starts darkening and your eyelids feel heavy. The goat head chuckles and she snake slithers up next to your face. “Oh, we’re eating good tonight.” says the snake. "Exotic! Keep it fresh!" says the goat. You continue feeling weaker and weaker until you can’t keep yourself awake any longer. You feel your head dip as your vision turns completely black and you pass out.
PrologueYou’re awoken by the combined feelings of the uncomfortable surface you’re sleeping on, as well as the repetitive motion of what feels like a furry soda can prodding your face. The first sensation, quickly determined as the unmistakable texture of grass, could be felt under your hands and head. The prodding persists. Your ears decide to start sending signals to your brain and you quickly recognize the sound of birds chirping, cicadas and crickets among other insects sounding off their various calls, along with the light breeze rustling through leaves emanating from every direction. More prodding. Your nose catches up and the scent of nature envelops you. Flora of all types combine, creating a pleasant aroma akin to that of a local garden near your home you once visited, confirming your suspicions that you are indeed in some sort of forest at the very least. The prodding ceased as you took a large breath through your mouth, the humid air warming your throat and blessing it with the moisture you weren’t aware it needed. Your tongue now informing you of the matching tastes of your surroundings. Your eyes slowly open, revealing the many shades of green and brown around you. A quick look around presents you with the fact that you’re lying in a small field. The trees around you, diverse in species, cover most of the area in shade, sparing you and your aching eyes from the sun’s rays. As you finish your look around, your gaze falls on something your still waking mind can’t quite process. A quick analysis tells you it’s some kind of animal, it’s fur a medium grey in color, mane a muted purple, and large fluffy ears stood tall on top of it’s head. It’s eyes were opened wide, catching your attention, bigger than you’ve ever seen on any living creature, iris’s a vivid yellowish gold that seemed to glow in the relative darkness under the trees. It’s mouth hung slightly agape, revealing two small, yet sharp fangs. This would’ve worried you more, had the creature’s expression not been easily readable as a mixture of fear, shock, and a hint of curiosity. You bring up a hand to wipe your eyes in an attempt to rid yourself of your grogginess, slightly spooking the creature in the process, causing it to shuffle backwards slightly. You sit up and take a better look at it, noticing it’s fur is matted and has an unhealthy amount of mud, dirt, and dried grass scattered about it’s form. It’s mane looked like it has seen better days, with tangles and strands sticking up out of place. You take notice of it’s chest rapidly expanding and retracting, along with its raised front appendage. A hoofed quadruped. A small horse? A radioactive dog? Your confused staring seemed to give the creature more unease as it reveals it’s small, leathery, bat-like wings in what you can only assume is some sort of defensive position. A bat radioactive dog? This makes you wonder what kind of drugs you’re on, and who spiked your drink with them. But the more you think about it and look around, the more real everything seems. You’re pretty sure you’d be feeling a lot different if you were on some form of hallucinogen. Throwing caution to the wind, you look back to the creature and slowly raise your hands, facing your palms towards it. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” you say, hoping your calm voice combined with the gesture would get the intended message across. The animal visibly calms as it’s breathing slows. It’s expression morphs, replacing it’s fearful look with more curiosity. “You can talk?” Your eyes widen and you mentally put more credibility into drugs being the cause of your predicament. It’s voice sounded feminine, and carried a tone not unlike that of a child. “You can talk?” you mimic. Your short staring contest was interrupted by a scoff. “Of course I can talk, I’m a pony! What are you?” Okay, so, pony then. Sure, you'll go with that. You should probably be more freaked out at the occurring scene before you, but the more logical side of your brain overwhelms you with the thought that freaking out wouldn't do you any good whatsoever. You were always more of a go-with-the-flow kinda guy, anyways. 'If you ain't got control over it, ain't no sense in worrying about it.' your grandfather always said. Sound advice you always kept in mind. “I’m a human.” you answer, lowering your hands. The filly cocked her head. “Never heard of them.” “Well, I’ve never heard of talking bat ponies before. Or really anything talking that isn’t a human.” you retort. Something you said makes her hears twitch backwards slightly her and she looks down for a split second. You ignore this in favor of gathering more information. “Hey, you got a name?” The filly quickly glances to either side of her, then looks back up at you. “What’s your name Mr. Human?” You smirk at her terrible question deflection before answering, “Anon.” Her nose scrunches. “You’ve got a weird name Mr. Anon.” she says, pointing a hoof at you with a smile, trotting closer til she’s only a few feet away. You let out a chuckle. “Blame my parents for that one. What’d yours name you?” you say in a second attempt to learn the little filly’s name. Her smile falls and she looks at the ground around you, avoiding your eyes. “Uh, I don’t know… But Mrs. Hope named me Mischievous Moon.” There’s a slight ache in your chest caused by the filly’s drop in mood, though you brush it aside. “That’s a very pretty name.” you respond. “I think she chose it well.” This elicits a small smile from the filly, although her eyes remain glued to the ground in front of her. She giggles weakly, and you swear you can spot a tiny amount of pink in her cheeks. “Thank you...” she responds in just above a whisper. Another question begs at your mind. “Who’s Mrs. Hope?” Her hoof digs at the ground softly. “She’s a really nice mare. She takes care of a bunch of other fillies and colts and makes sure we’re all fed and have a soft place to sleep until a nice family comes for us.” she explains before lowering her voice a bit, “She’s probably super worried about me right now...” You let out a soft sigh. “I would be surprised if she wasn't. I know I am.” Her gaze lifts up to meet my eyes with a look of confusion. “Huh? Why are you worried about me?” “A child in the middle of who knows where, for I don’t even know how long, surrounded by who knows what, talking to some random creature you’ve never seen before, let alone met.” you say, gesturing to the scenery around you. “Not to mention you don’t look like you’ve bathed in a week, and I can hear your stomach growling from here.” Her stomach lets out a loud and low grumble, affirming your word, and causing her face to flush. “Hey! I’m not just a child! I’m super brave! Most foals wouldn’t even think about coming into the Everfree Forest!” she argues. “It’s not about bravery,” you say, causing her demeanor to settle. “Do you feel at home here? Do you feel safe here?” She pauses. “Cause I know I don’t. And I’m an adult.” You chuckle before sighing and continue. “I don’t even know if I’m on the same planet I was on yesterday. To be honest with you, I’m terrified.” Mischievous sits down, again avoiding your eyes as you take another look around. The now obviously alien plants standing out to you stirring a small amount of panic within you as you fully realize the truth behind your words. Movement in front of you catches your attention and you turn to look at the bat filly now slowly stepping forward even closer to you. Her eyes, once appearing to glow with life, look defeated with small tears now threatening to stain the fur under them. Before the sight could break your heart, she lunges forward and embraces you in as much of a hug as her little limbs can muster, burying her face in your chest and crying softly, her muffled sniffles effectively snapping your heart in half. Okay, small, sad, fluffy bat alien pony attached to your midsection aside, you don't know where you are, you have next to nothing for supplies, and you're probably tripping on some crazy drugs in all honesty. Not a whole lot to go off of. You hesitate before slowly returning the embrace, laying one hand on top of her disheveled mane and using your other to slowly rub her back and wings while calmly shushing her in an attempt to calm her. Whatever this is, you decide to just roll with it. Find town, get help. You can work with that. Once you can no longer hear, nor feel her cries, and all that remains is the occasional sniffle, you break the hug and look into her now bloodshot eyes. “How far are we from town?” She shakily points a hoof behind her and answers between sniffles. “I think it’s a few miles that way, I’ve only been gone for a few days...” She looks down, but you tilt her head up to keep her eyes on your own as you smile. “Alright, Missy, you’ve got yourself a hiking buddy.” You stand with her still in your arms, and begin your journey as she nuzzles your chest with a hum. Author's Note Edited 9-15-20
Chapter OneIf someone had told you yesterday that you’d wake up in the middle of an alien forest, on an alien planet, carrying an admittedly adorable bat filly through said forest in an attempt to reach an alien pony civilization, you would have called them a lunatic. Then you would’ve asked where you could get whatever they were on. Hell, you might've already done that considering your current predicament. Your idle thoughts are interrupted by yet another growl from the filly in your arms. She had fallen asleep only ten minutes into your walk and you couldn’t bring it upon yourself to wake her. Unfortunately for her, yet fortunately for your arms, the rumble from her stomach makes her stir in your grasp and her eyes flutter open with a slight frown on her face. “Good afternoon.” you say, stopping to place the filly down on the ground beside you. She brings up a hoof to rub at her eyes, then mumbles something incoherent before her stomach voices its disapproval at being empty, making her whine and clutch her stomach. She looks to you with her big eyes that silently scream ‘Feed me please’. "Jeez, do I have to do everything?" you ask in mock exasperation. Missy's gaze falls and her eyes turn away from you. "Oh, uh, sorry, um..." You smile, "Relax, I'm just teasing." before you think a seemingly obvious thought that makes your expression turn neutral and your eyebrow raise slightly. “Um, what exactly do you eat?” Her cheeks flush and her pupils dilate. She looks down bashfully. “Uh…” she starts then looks back up at you with a forced look of accusation. “What do you eat?” You cross your arms and shake your head. “Tsk tsk, nuh uh, you’re not flipping questions on me this time, Missy.” Her wings flutter as she looks around nervously, then hangs her head with a dejected sigh. “I...” she begins before mumbling the rest, so quietly you couldn’t hear it, looking to the side with a mixture of anxiety and irritation. You crouch down and use a hand to bring her face forward to look at you. “Missy, I can’t help you if I don’t know how. Whatever it is, I’m sure I can help you get it.” Her gaze softens and she takes a deep breath to prepare herself. “I… I think the word is omniverse.” she finally admits, averting her eyes away for a moment before looking back at you. Pondering for a second you speak up, "Omnivorous?" She nods. “B-but I eat plant stuff too! I-I can eat fruits and vegetables! I just need meat every once in a while to keep from feeling tired...” Her eyes close and she shakes your hand away. “Please don’t hate me...” "Why would I hate you?" You can’t help but chuckle slightly as you reach over and pat her mane. “Looks like we’re in the same boat.” Your answer takes her by surprise as her eyes open to gawk at you. “W-what do you mean?” She hadn't answered your first question. Electing to ask about that later, you straighten up, sitting on your heels and smile down at her. “I mean I eat meat too.” You lift your top lip with a finger to present your canines for a moment. “Not exactly fangs, but my species eats both meat and vegetables. We need a combination of both to stay healthy, just like you.” Her gawking increases to include a look of awe. Her staring persists as you stand up and begin to think of a way to catch some wildlife. You’d rig up a trap of some kind... if only you knew how. Curse you for not looking more into survival classes or videos. You’re interrupted by a mass clinging to your leg. Missy had latched herself to it, nuzzling your leg with a smile on her face. The sight forces a grin out of you as well. Forcing yourself to ignore her for the time being, you notice a decent sized rabbit hopping about in the distance in front of you. You decide the best way you can catch the two of you some dinner is by fashioning a makeshift spear. You ease the filly off your leg and set out, filly in tow, to find a stick worthy of crafting into a spear. You slowly ease forward, crouching at low as you can, with your new spear at the ready. After painstakingly carving the spear using the sharpest rock you could find, you spend the next fifteen minutes searching for the rabbit you had seen previously. Finally finding it, you stalk it and follow it for another couple minutes, waiting for a good opportunity to throw your spear. A sharp snapping noise from behind you causes your body to twitch involuntarily, and the rabbit stands up, alert, and looking in your general direction. You glance behind you to see a sheepish looking Missy crouching as low as she possibly can, eyes meeting yours in a silent apology. Not waiting for another chance, you take aim and throw your spear and pray to whatever gods are out there listening that you hit your target. Your prayers, luck, or a mix of both work in your favor as your spear impales the animal, ending its life in an instant. You pump your arm in a silent celebration and look back at the filly to see her jump up with a beaming grin on her face and her wings buzzing. Approaching the animal, you lift it by its legs and pull the spear out, silently wishing you had some sort of knife to skin it. You turn and present the rabbit to the filly with a smug smirk, causing the filly to bounce up and down in joy. You look over the fresh kill with a slight frown. “Unfortunately, I don’t know how I’m gonna skin it without a knife, and I don’t really want to use some rock off the ground.” Missy thinks for a moment, then adopts her own smirk. “Luckily, you’ve got me.” she states with confidence. Your eyebrow raises as you look down at the filly. “Oh? Do you have a hidden knife I don’t know about?” She scoffs. “No, but I do have these.” She copies your earlier motion and lifts her top lip with the thumb of her wing, showing you her fangs. “I may still have my foal fangs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t sharp.” she explains. Then, raising her wings, she flexes her aforementioned wing thumbs. “And unlike pegasi, I’ve got these too! My talons are just as sharp!” She beamed. "Ms. Fluttershy stops by every once in a while with animals for me, but nopony will touch them, so I had to get used to doing it myself." You return her joyful grin. “Well alright then! Bat ponies for the win!” You reach down and ruffle her mane, the combination of your words and actions causing her jovial expression to remain. The two of you continue your journey until you notice the sky starting to darken and change color, transitioning from a bright blue to a yellowish orange. You come across a small clearing the perfect size to fit a shelter and fire, then turn to your companion. “Alright, you wanna get started on the rabbit while I get a fire going? Then we’ll build a quick shelter for the night.” She nods and you hand her your future dinner. She takes it in her mouth and trots over to a nearby rock just big enough to use as a makeshift preparation table, quickly cleaning it off with her hooves and a wing before starting the skinning process. You then start to gather some decent sized rocks and various sizes of twigs and logs for the fire, along with still living branches and vines for the shelter. Missy’s timing couldn’t be better. She managed to finish her job as you got the fire started, which took a bit more effort than you thought, considering you didn’t have a lighter on you, nor did you have any amount of practice with the spin-the-stick-really-fast method. You managed to get it going though, thanks to you remembering one of your recommended YouTube video rabbit hole adventures that lead to a tutorial for the method. For the most part at least. You managed to find two Y-shaped sticks during your stick gathering session and stuck them in the ground on opposite sides of the fire. Then you placed another straight stick on top to use as a spit. Sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, you take the skinned rabbit from the filly and hang it on the spit, then sigh and stand up, stretching before looking to the filly next to you. “Ready to make this shelter?” “Mhm!” she answers. It takes the two of you some time to construct a shelter you both were happy with, the semi-frequent breaks to rotate the cooking rabbit not helping your speed. You end up with what you can only describe as a ‘nature tent’. It has a triangular shape to the front of it with the top sloping down to the ground towards the back, the angled sides thick with layers of leaves and branches, with the front currently open with a thick support stick standing vertically in the middle of the opening. You’ve made a thick door out of extra fresh tree limbs and are currently tying to the peak of the tent with vines. After you finish with the door, you take a step back to admire your work. A bit ugly, but sturdy nonetheless. The rabbit had finished cooking about five minutes ago, but the sky was almost dark, so you wanted to make sure the shelter was made before the night took over entirely. You take a seat in front of the fire with the tent behind you. Before you tied the tent door on, Missy had taken the cooked rabbit off the spit when you had called it done and used her talons to cut it in half along its back. She brings it over to you balanced on her wing and sits down beside you, leaning into you as you take your share. You both eat, content in the heat of the fire as the night cools the air. After you both finish, Missy opts to sit in your lap and use your body as her back rest. You respond by wrapping your arms around her in a light hug, which brings a smile to the filly’s face. You never thought of yourself as 'good with kids', but you seemed to be doing decently so far with this one. Even if it's not human. You think about today’s experiences and a couple questions pop in your mind. Taking a moment to ponder your wording, you ask your first question. “Hey,” you begin, gaining her attention. “Why did you think I would hate you for eating meat?” You feel her form stiffen at your question, and you silently curse yourself for it, despite knowing that would probably happen no matter how you asked. She shifts slightly before answering. “Well… Other ponies don’t eat meat. Only thestrals, er, that’s the actual name for us bat ponies, do.” She pauses for a moment as you nod for her to continue. “I mean, griffons eat meat, and hippogriffs eat fish, and dragons obviously eat all kinds of things, but they all live in their own lands. Thestrals live here in Equestria, we’re another type of pony. Ponies see us eating meat and get grossed out by a pony eating meat.” She sighs and her voice softens. “All the other kids make fun of me for it, saying I’m not a real pony and that no… No family will ever want a foal that eats meat...” You hear a soft sniffle and you simply hug the filly tighter. "Aren’t there other thestral foals where you live?” She shakes her head. “No… I was just dropped off in Ponyville one night. Ponyville doesn’t have any other thestrals living in it… I’m the only one.” You give a silent nod before she continues. “They’re right. No family will want a meat-eating foal. I’ll just gross them out all the time.” You begin to guess the answer to your other question. “Is that why you came to the forrest?” you ask, just to confirm your suspicion. She takes a moment before nodding, lowering her gaze in the process. You slowly stroke her mane in an attempt to calm the filly. “You don’t gross me out.” you start. “I don’t know a whole lot about your culture, but I’m sure there’s a family out there for you, you just haven’t met them yet.” She looks upward to meet your gaze. “You really think so?” You scoff. “I know so.” You affirm with a smile. She responds by pushing her back further into your body, a gesture you find adorable as you wrap the filly in a tighter hug. The two of you spend the next twenty minutes relaxing by the fire until you hear her light snores begin. You carefully, as to not wake her, pick her up and take the filly with you into the shelter, sealing the door one handed with spare vines on either side. You slowly lower the filly and yourself onto the thin pile of leaves on the floor you call a mattress. Missy shifts until she’s facing you, and you fear you’ve woken her up, but her eyes remain closed as she reaches out, grabbing your form, and pulling herself as close to you as she can, burying her face into your chest, then continues her snoring. You smile at the sight and slowly brush the back of her mane with your fingers, causing her to hum and her ear to flick. “Goodnight, Missy.” you whisper before closing your own eyes, letting today’s exhaustion take over, sending you to sleep as well. Author's Note Edited 9-15-20
Chapter TwoYou are sitting on the couch at your home, laughing at what you think was a joke your dad just made. He’s sitting across the living room in the chair he gave you when you moved in. It’s the same chair he always sat in since you were a kid and has that kind of sentimental value to you. Your mother is sitting next to you glaring at you for laughing at the, in her opinion, tasteless joke her husband had made. She lightly slaps your arm and turns to glare at your father, who tries and fails to force back his own chuckling while he raises his hands in surrender. This makes your chuckling increase, which in turn, causes your mother to give in and laugh along. It takes some time for the laughter to die down, which was fine by you, you love these times with your parents. Just the three of you, hanging out like old friends. Your dad’s face falls to one of confusion, which you mimic in reaction. “Who are you?” he asks. Your confusion doubles at this absurd question, especially since your mother is acting like he hadn’t said anything. “What do you mean, dad? I’m Anon, your son.” “Hmm...” he hums, leaning back in his chair. The next thing you know, you’re alone in your bedroom, folded clothes in your hands, packing a suitcase. You’re preparing to go on a trip. Your parents should’ve been here two hours ago, they wanted to hang out before saying bye. They aren’t normally late, but maybe they got caught up with something else. You shrug it off and finish packing. You load up your car and begin your drive to the airport. Your parents didn’t show up at all, and they haven’t called. You start to worry about them, but you’re sure they’re alright. They probably slept in, it’s rather early after all, about nine in the morning. Yeah, you're sure that's it. You’re standing behind the line at your terminal, waiting for your group number to be called. You idley sway, thinking about your trip to… Where were you going again? You’re interrupted by your group being called. Being in economy class, you are in the last group among probably half the plane, who swarmed to grab their place in line. You manage to secure a spot halfway through. A few passengers board before you hear your name called from behind you. You turn to spot your parents quickly making their way towards you. Your eyes widen and you make to meet them, but the people behind you block your path, shoving you forward in line with blank stares past you as it picks up pace. You fight to make it past them but they feel like they’re made of stone. You look past them to see your parents having a similar problem, the crowds increased in density, slowing them down to a crawl. Faster than you realize, you’re at the front of the line and the attendant looks at you impatiently before snatching your boarding pass and scanning it. The people behind you give you no time to think about what just happened as they push you past and down the hallway. You manage to be the last person to board the plane in a vain attempt to see your parents before you take off. “Anon!” You hear your mother’s voice echo. Turning towards your name, you see your parents through the crack of the closing door of the plane, and bang on the door, practically begging the flight attendant to open it just for a moment. The attendant looks to you with a blank stare. “I’m sorry, once the doors close, we can’t open them until we reach our destination.” she states robotically. With a defeated sigh, you make your walk of shame to your designated window seat. Head lowering to stare blankly at the back of the seat in front of you, your mind goes numb as you wait for your inevitable takeoff. “What is this contraption?” A female voice asks next to you, breaking you away from your thoughts. You sigh, not looking away from the seat. “What kind of question is that?” you ask, slightly irritated at how dumb that sounded. The plane starts backing up and making its way to the runway. As you feel the lady next to you shift uncomfortably, you look out the window, resting your head on your hand, staring at the terminal you just pulled out of, unrealistically hoping to see your parents from the distance you’re at. The plane speeds up on the runway and lifts off and you feel the lady next to you shift again, but you’re too numb to care. That is, until she speaks up again. “What are you?” she asks. From the sound of it, you can tell she’s directing the question at you. “Seriously?” you ask, then turn to look at her. “Are you some kind of idio-” you start to ask before noticing not only was she translucent, she isn’t even human. She looks like some kind of horse, with a dark blue coat and a mane that appeared to blow in a nonexistent breeze, it was also twinkling like the night sky. The sight stopped more words from coming from your mouth as you looked on in awe and confusion. Your chest begins thumping harder than you thought possible and your breathing increased as you start hyperventilating. Your eyes don’t leave the horse-lady as you grab a hold of your arm rests, trying and failing to calm yourself down as the thumping increases in strength. You see her face contort into a concerned expression and she lifts a hoof forward. “Are you okay?” she asks, her voice filled with genuine emotion. You fail to respond as the thumping escalates to pounding and your breathing increases. You begin to scream as the plane and its occupants disappear and everything quickly goes black. “Anon!” You wake with a short yell, feeling a weight on your chest tumble to your lap as you quickly sit up. Looking down, you see Missy righting herself to sit on your lap, giving you a worried look. “Are you okay, Anon? It looked like you were having a bad dream, you were moving around a lot and you looked like you were in pain. I tried yelling your name and stepping on your chest, but you still wouldn’t wake up.” she says, putting her hooves on your chest for emphasis. You take a moment to take a deep breath and rub your face to help wake yourself up. “Yeah, just a weird dream. I’m fine.” She hugs your midsection with a nuzzle. “Good.” You smile and hug her back with a hand before moving to get up and out of your shelter. It’s about an hour past dawn judging by the amount of light and the sun’s location. The fire had become naught but a pile of ash surrounded by rocks. Missy follows you outside, shielding her eyes from the light with her foreleg. Grabbing your spear from its place leaning on a nearby tree, you and your companion begin the next leg of your journey. Unfortunately, as there is no trail this deep into the forest, your speed is significantly decreased by the many natural obstacles in your path. Missy can easily navigate under and in between the mess of plants, but slows herself to stick close to your side or just ahead of you as you either tear your way through or find your own path around the things you can’t force through. The next several hours pass by rather quickly, filled with the sound of the forest and the ground crunching under your footsteps. The hike does wonders to distract you from your weird dream. Along the way Missy decides it would be funny to tap your leg and shout “Tag!” before running ahead of you and staying just out of your reach despite your best attempts. You both have a good laugh at the circumstance, keeping your moods lifted. Missy takes it upon herself to scout ahead a bit, but does well to stay in your sight. At first. She starts to scout a bit too far for your liking, but keeps returning so you don’t worry too much. Until she scouts outside your vision and you hear a high pitched scream from where she disappeared, stopping you in your tracks as the color drains from your face. You don’t stand for long as you break into a determined sprint, ripping through the forest, not caring about the cuts and scrapes you get as you rush to where you heard the scream. You stop as you come across a black vine with teal thorns sticking out of it in various places. It has Missy in its grasp and holds her in the air as she uses her hooves to beat it as hard as she can, occasionally biting it in an effort to get it to release her. “Take that you big ugly plant thing!” she angrily yells. But when she notices her efforts doing nothing, her face adorns the look of one frightened for their life. She sees you and pleads for help with her eyes. “ANON!” she screams, absolutely terrified. The grip on your spear tightens in rage and you run up to the vine and start stabbing and screaming. It starts retreating into the forest, still holding onto the filly, but you keep up. The more holes you put in it in an attempt to cut off the end of the vine, the slower it moves. Unfortunately, a particularly thick patch of plants gets in your way as the vine pulls through it. You attempt to grab onto Missy’s hoof, but the vine’s strength pulls her out of your grip. You curse in anger and quickly make your way around the wall of flora and after the vine. Luckily, you seem to have wounded it more than you thought and quickly catch up to it. The adrenaline rush doing wonders for your stamina, you continue your assault with the spear. With one especially strong stab, the spear goes all the way through the vine and into the ground, holding the almost cut off limb in place. It’s strength betrays it as with one final pull, it tears and severs the end, right where you created the many holes, and the stump retreats at a rapid pace. The now amputated end falls limp, releasing Missy from its grasp. The filly falls to the ground and you rush to her aid. You kneel in front of her as she stands up, much to her credit, but favoring her left hind leg. “Are you okay?” you ask, unable to keep the mass amount of worry out of your voice. She whines a bit, trying to put weight on the hoof she was favoring. “I’m fine. Well, except for my leg...” You give it a thorough look, pressing lightly in multiple spots, hoping her anatomy is similar enough to yours that you can determine if it’s broken or not. She winces a bit as a few of your touches, but isn’t in too much pain as far as you can tell. “Well, good news, it’s not broken. But it’s pretty bruised.” you tell her. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go that far ahead of me.” She looks down, regretting her own decision. Debating for all of two seconds, you make a decision. “Alright, here we go.” You scoop her up in your arms and stand up, opting to leave your spear and make a new one later in favor of being able to carry her with both arms. Unhappy with not being able to walk on her own, she pouts in your arms, but eventually coming to terms with the situation and begins snuggling closer to your chest, relishing your presence. You continue your walk for about an hour before she speaks up. “I’m sorry...” she says in a soft voice. “Hm?” You look down at her. “I’m sorry for running ahead. I just wanted to help find a good path.” she says with a frown. You smile at her. “I know you did, I’m not mad at you for wanting to help. I was just worried about your safety.” You reach your hand over and boop her snout, eliciting a giggle out of the filly. Then a stern look overcomes your face. “But never do that to me again. If giant moving plants are here, I don’t want to know what else is.” you scold. Her face becomes bashful. “Okay, I won’t. I promise.” “Good.” You smile at her then look ahead, continuing your agonizingly slow pace. Another several hours go by, and luckily there have been no other surprise dangers today, much to your relief. You idley keep an eye on the suns position and notice it will be setting within the next hour or so. You start to look for suitable shelter locations as you pass by a small mountain. “Hey look!” Missy says, pointing to what looks like a small cave a short ways up the mountain. Seeing this as the best option you’d get for shelter for a while, you make your way up the easiest route you can find to the cave. “Good eye.” you compliment the filly, who grins in kind. As you step up the path, you look around and notice a small pond not too far away where you can probably get some fish for dinner. Then a thought comes to your mind that there might be something already in the cave. Looking around, you notice a bush large enough to hide inside, giving you an idea of a way to check. You slowly creep your way towards the entrance, looking back and forth from the cave to the bush. “Alright,” you whisper to the filly. “I’m gonna yell inside, then I’m gonna run us both into that bush over there.” You gesture with your head to the bush. She nods in confirmation. You step next to the cave opening and prepare yourself. With a deep breath, you shout. “Hey!” Then you book it to the bush as quickly as you can while making minimal noise, forcing you and Missy inside it, then peaking through the leaves at the cave. You wait for a few minutes, hearing and seeing nothing from the cave. You both take simultaneous sighs of relief and you make your way out of the bush and into the cave. The opening is short so you had to duck your head to get in, but the inside is just barely tall enough for you to stand up in. It’s fairly deep, measuring probably about thirty to thirty-five feet if you had to guess. It’s filled with twigs that have been dead and dry for a while, and the dusty ground is undisturbed, telling you nothing has used this cave as a home for a while. You smile at this and set Missy down. “Alright, you stay here, I saw a nearby pond and I’m gonna go try to spear some fish for dinner. Sound good?” She nods happily. “Sounds great! Please hurry though.” You smile at her concern. “I will, don’t worry.” After making your way to the edge of the pond, you proceed to find another worthy stick and spend the next fifteen minutes crafting your second spear. Finally deciding the weapon was pointy enough, you stand above a relatively shallow area, spear at the ready. The fish you see look just big enough for each of you to have a decent meal if you caught two. Your first twenty or so attempts come up fishless and you begin to get irritated at your lack of skill. A few more tries later, however, you finally get a catch. Pulling up your catch, you watch it begin to flail with a smile, then brush it off onto the ground behind you with a hand. Several more failed attempts occur before you finally snag yourself a second fish and repeat the process you did with the first. Finding a nearby plant with large enough leaves, you rip one off and place the now still pair of fish on top, folding up the leaf to make them easier to carry. You put the package under your arm and grip the spear with the other hand, making your way back to the cave. Along the way, you grab several sized pieces of wood. You carry two medium sized logs in your arms, placing smaller sticks, your spear, kindling, then your fish package on top of them. You duck into the cave entrance with your load barely remaining in your grasp. Missy is still there, in the same spot you left her, likely due to her injured leg. She’s drawing in the dirt with her hoof, clearly bored out of her mind. She notices you enter and smiles at your return. You place the supplies in your arms on the ground beside her, then start to build a fire in the same way you had the previous night. Last night’s experience made constructing the fire much easier this time around, and you manage to get it going in half the time, spit and all. You set it up close to the entrance as to not smoke the two of you out of your new shelter. Placing the fish on the spit, you smile at your efficiency and walk back inside to sit by Missy and wait. She leans against your side and you wrap an arm around her, causing her to sigh contently. About a minute goes by before she speaks up. “Thank you,” You look down to meet her gaze. “Thank you for saving me. I was so scared you wouldn’t be able to get me out. I-I...” You shush her with a finger and squeeze her tighter with the arm you have around her. “Of course I saved you. I don’t think I could live with myself if I let anything happen to you, especially a big plant of all things.” You scoff. “How embarrassing would it be to be bested by a plant?” She smiles. “Still, thank you so much.” You return her smile. “Anytime, Missy, anytime.” You think about your journey ahead. “How far would you say we are from Ponyville?” She thinks about it for a few moments, her tongue sticking out slightly from the side of her muzzle. “Uh… We should be about halfway there now, maybe a little bit less.” “Good enough for me.” you say. “I’d say that’s pretty good progress considering I have basically no experience with this kind of thing, then you add in the mythical plant and animal life and I’d consider it a win if we only made it half this distance. I’m surprised you made it as far as you did by yourself.” She smiles smugly. “What can I say? I’m awesome!” You chuckle. “That you are.” “You’re pretty awesome too.” she continues. “I don’t want to know where I'd be if it wasn't for you.” Your grin widens and you pull her into another tight hug, which she returns happily. “Thanks, Missy.” The fish finishes cooking and you both have your daily meal in pleasant silence as the sun sets outside. You don’t have a leaf pile mattress tonight, but you figure the fine dirt on the save floor will do well enough. You lay down towards the back of the cave and Missy climbs onto your chest, spins in place once before curling up like a dog on top of you. You smile at the sight then close your own eyes, welcoming sleep in hopes of a cure to your exhaustion, as well as hoping for no nightmares this time around.
Chapter ThreeYou stand in the middle of a barren road, surrounded by nothing but sand and the occasional shrub. The road is worn and faded, cracks and holes scattered all over it, and it appears to extend in either direction past the horizon. The sun beats down on you from overhead, bringing it’s harsh heat along with its bright light. Looking down both paths, confused as to your location and reason for being here. You don’t recall any sort of trip to the desert. You ponder your options. After a few minutes of deliberation, you decide to begin walking in one of the directions. After several minutes of walking,you’re still just as confused as you were when you began. The heat beats down on you, and the vast and barren wasteland begins to grate on your patience. You hear a faint sound ring out from behind you, contrasting the pure silence you now notice. Turning around, you spot a small speck on the horizon in the middle of the road. Curiosity getting the better of you, you begin your journey back the way you came. As the speck grows larger, you begin to notice that it’s making a sound as well. It’s barely audible tone splitting into multiple syllables you still can’t understand. Some more time passes and you finally recognize the sound as your name being called. Curiosity piqued, you quicken your pace at the newfound information. You stop as you recognize the figure as your mother, running in your direction as she frantically waves her arms and shouts your names at the top of her lungs. You quickly shake yourself out of your shock and break into a sprint to get to her. You slowly begin to pick up speed, but something slows you down. As you run, gusts of wind rise to blow harder and harder against you. Despite pushing against the wind with all your strength, the ground appears to stretch, increasing the distance as fast as you can close it. You scream out in anger and push yourself harder in a vain attempt to gain traction and distance. “Anon!” your mother yells, having not moved an inch from her original position. Your eyes close and you strain yourself, the air around you forming the most powerful wind tunnel imaginable, and the ground slips out from under you like the most advanced smart-treadmill to exist. Tears well up in your eyes as you fall to the ground, curl into a ball and begin to sob. You lay like that for the next minute, more and more tears flowing until a light flashes bright enough to catch your attention behind your eyelids. A vaguely familiar voice rings out. “Cease!” The wind stops almost immediately as the sun dims, taking away the blistering heat and giving the air a cool and comfortable temperature. You hear what sounds like hoofsteps approach you at a slow pace, your eyes still closed and your body twitching slightly with your receding sobs. The hoofsteps stop before you. You hear the voice speak calmly. “Are you alright?” You slowly open your eyes,uncurl your face, and look up at the voice. It’s the mare you saw in your dream last night. She has the same deep blue coat, and the same glistening mane, blowing in a breeze that no longer exists.. This time, however,, she’s completely opaque, and her cyan eyes look down upon you with genuine concern and curiosity. Your memories flood back to your mind, suddenly reminding you that this is all a dream. “Y-Yeah… I’m fine.” you say, picking yourself up from the ground and standing straight. The mare is much taller than Mischievous. While the filly comes up to your upper thighs when standing on all fours, this mare is tall enough to come up to the bottom of your ribs. Not counting her horn, of course. Your staring is interrupted by her clearing her throat. “You must forgive me if I don’t believe you.” she states, unamused. “Also, I thank you for not screaming in my face this time.” You gather your thoughts and cross your arms. “Yeah, about that. I have several questions.” Her gaze shifts to a deadpan expression. “You’re not the only one.” You raise a finger to retort, but after considering her words, you lower your arms. “Fair point,” you say, “But me first.” You raise an eyebrow. “Who, and what are you? You’re some kind of pony, I can guess that much, but I’m not very well versed in the species of this world.” The question piques the mare’s curiosity, and she sighs. “Very well,” She begins. ”My name is Princess Luna, ruler of the night and guardian of the dreamscape. I am an alicorn, bearing both the wings of a pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn.” She gestures to her wings and horn respectively. “Your turn.” “My name is Anon, and I’m a human,” you state, rubbing your face with your hands and letting out a sigh of your own. Her response left as many questions as it answered. “What do you mean you’re the ‘guardian of the dreamscape’? Am I really dreaming right now?” “Indeed, I possess the ability to delve into the dreamscape, and by proxy, ponies dreams. I scour to find nightmares and give relief and advise to those in need.” She looks you up and down. “You appear to be one of them.” “So I am dreaming.” you conclude. “That makes a lot more sense. You were in my dream last night, and I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like you before. Since dreams pull from your memories and subconscious, I find it hard to disprove you.” She cocks her brow. “You appear to be quite knowledgeable about dreams.” You shrug. “I read a lot.” She smirks. “Clearly.” she says, before returning to a more concerned expression. “I wish to ask you about your nightmares.” You stiffen as you hear her words, and your face drains at the thought of either dream. Your arms fall to your sides and you shove them in your pockets. “Uh, what about them? They seem rather nonsensical to me.” “Do they now? And here I thought you read a lot.” she comments. “Dreams are rarely, if ever, nonsensical or random.” You sigh, and begin to visibly relax. “You’re right, sorry. Well, both seem to revolve around my parents, this one my mother.” You ponder. A pair of small throw pillows appears behind her and yourself respectively and she sits, motioning for you to do the same. “Go on, what about them?” she asks, as you sit down, legs crossed, on top of an identical pillow. You think for a few moments before speaking, “I guess during both times I tried getting to them, but couldn’t.” You sigh, looking down. “Now that I actually think about that, it’s a similar situation in the real world.” Luna adorns a curious gaze. “How so?” Your eyes, sullen, meet hers. “Well, as you could probably guess, I don’t believe I’m part of this world. I don’t even know if this is a different planet or even another dimension entirely.” “Considering that, to my recollection, there is nothing in any of our books or folklore that describe a creature like yourself, I share your confusion.” she responds. “So I really am that far away from home? Where no other humans exist?” You pause. “Wow…” She nods sympathetically, pausing to think for a moment. “If it’s any consolation, I believe I understand how you feel. I only recently returned from a thousand year exile. I was alone, away from any living being, unable to contact any friends, family, or anypony really.” You look at her, bewildered.“A thousand years? Are you serious?” She sighs. “Unfortunately, yes. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.” “I could imagine. But at least you came back.” You look down. “I have a feeling I don’t have that option.” She takes a moment to look you over before a determined look overcomes her face. “Perhaps my sister and I may be able to help. How exactly did you end up here?” “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t even remember falling asleep or anything. I was just hanging out in my house on my day off, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in some forest.” “Where are you now?” “Still in the forest. Apparently, I was really deep in. When I woke up, there was a filly with bat wings poking my face.” You chuckle at the memory. “She said something about an evergreen forest, but I don’t recall very many evergreens.” She ponders for a second before her eyes widen slightly. “The Everfree! You met a filly all the way out there? Why in Equestria would a filly be so deep in the Everfree Forest? I assume it’s the Everfree. Be careful, there are numerous dangers that lurk out there.” “That’s it!” you affirm. Then, cringing slightly, you nod. “And yeah, we figured that out yesterday. Missy scouted a little too far ahead of me and ended up getting snatched by a big moving vine. I managed to cut off the end of it, though.” “Is the poor thing okay?” she asks, leaning forward slightly. “She’s fine. She ended up bruising her leg and I had to carry her for the rest of the day. Despite only knowing her for a few days, I have a feeling her spirits will come back full force when we wake up.” you respond with a reminiscent smile, easing her worries a bit. “Honestly, she’s been my moral support and motivation so far.” Luna smiles before you notice her ears start twitching. Her expression drops to one of mild surprise. “Oh dear, it appears you are about to wake. Don’t worry, Anon, I shall speak with my sister and research a way to send you back where you belong.” You give her a smile of your own. “Your help is appreciated, Luna. Thank you.” Then everything rapidly fades to black. You wake up feeling a now familiar weight on your chest. The weight shifts slowly and you recognize the movement as breathing. You open your eyes and see Missy snoozing away on your chest with a content smile on her face. You don’t move out of fear of waking her. Instead, you opt to reflect on your dream. Could this Luna character actually be a real pony capable of going into people’s dreams? You don’t think you have seen anything like her before, and the concept of her is still as difficult to disprove as in your dream. You decide not to think about it for now and instead focus on getting out of this god forsaken forest. It should only be another day and a half trip if all goes well. You let out a small sigh of relief at that. You know it won’t be home, but anything’s better than this forest of nightmares. You tilt your head and notice the light from outside is a light orange in color, telling you that it’s just past dawn. Normally, you wouldn’t dream of waking up this early, but this happens to be a particularly special occasion. You are in an incredibly dangerous alien forest after all. You shift slightly to make yourself a bit more comfortable. But this causes Missy to stir on top of you. Eyes still closed, she lifts her head and lets out a large yawn, silent until the short squeak at the end. This almost rouses an audible ‘Aww’ out of you, but you hold it in, favoring a soft smile instead. Her eyes open and blink rapidly as she looks around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes fall on you and she gives you a grin that nearly gives you diabetes. “Good morning.” you greet. “Mornin’.” she responds, lifting a hoof to rub at her eyes. You gently grab her and place her to your side and stand up. She looks slightly disappointed at this, but shakes it off. “Ready to head out? We still got a ways to go and I think it’s best to head out early.” She nods. You start turning to head out of the cave when you hear a quiet yet sharp inhale come from her. You glance back at her and notice she’s putting on a very unconvincing smile. You give her a questioning look. “You okay?” “Mhm!” she answers a little too insistently. You notice even though she’s only standing, she’s favoring her injured hoof. With a sigh, you kneel down and look her in the eye. She backpedals a few steps and inadvertently puts weight on the hoof, eliciting another sharp inhale. “Mischievous, please don’t lie to me. I only want to help, and I can’t if I don’t know what’s wrong.” Her hoof paws at the ground. “It’s… it’s my hoof. It still hurts a bit. But I didn’t want to bug you or ask you to carry me. Especially after yesterday with the plant thing and you carrying me here.” You give a small smile. “Wanna know something my mother taught me?” She looks up. “Uh, sure.” “‘It never hurts to ask.’ While obviously there are some social circumstances which it would be rude to ask something specific, you’d be surprised how often that phrase can be applied in life. The worst that can happen is they can say ‘no’.” “But what if they think I’m rude or stupid or something?” “I’ve grown to not worry about that. If my question is rude, I simply say I’m sorry and say that that wasn’t my intention. If they think the question is dumb, you’re not dumb, you’re learning by asking. Questions in general are how we learn a lot of things. Make sense?” She returns your smile. “I think I get it, yeah.” “Awesome.” you reply. “Your mom sounds like a nice pony.” You look away slightly, your smile dropping a small amount. “Yeah, she’s pretty nice.” You shake your head to snap yourself back to the current moment. “Now, did you have a question for me?” “Oh, uh...” She looks away bashfully. “Can you carry me for a bit? I know I can walk on my own most of the time, but it still hurts.” Your smile widens. “No.” you state. She gives you a shocked expression. “Wh-what? B-but I thought...” You begin to chuckle and snatch her into your arms, standing up and turning to the cave entrance. “I’m just kidding, Of course I’ll carry you a bit. I just wanted to show you that the worst thing anyone can say is ‘no’.” You ruffle her still filthy mane, ridding it of a bit of dust in the process. “You ready?” “No.” She pouts at you and crosses her hooves, but you can tell it’s all a front. “Well too bad, here we go.” You snatch up your spear with the hand not holding a filly, and set off. Several hours go by and the two of you are unable to keep the smiles off your faces as you joke and play around. Time goes by quickly due to this, and you couldn’t be happier for it. You’d be out of the Everfree in what would feel like no time if you kept this up. You hear a slight snap from behind you. Glancing back revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but still, you decided to be more alert. The two of you continued on your path, resuming your verbal antics. You stayed wary of anything abnormal. You hear a sudden absence of hoofsteps next to you and you turn around to see Mischievous standing with her eyes wide and ears swiveling around as if they had Parkinson's. “Missy?” You slowly step over to her. “Everything alright?” She looks at you, pupils like pin pricks. “I hear something.” Another snap directs both of your attention back where you came. Out of the bushes creeps some bizarre freak of nature that instills fear in you from the sheer sight of it. First you notice it’s tiger front paws and head, snarling as it slowly steps out. The next is a goat neck and head jutting out the left side of the tigers neck. It’s back legs are revealed to be that from a goat as well. And the final bit is it doesn’t have a tail. Well, it does but it isn’t a regular tail, it’s some kind of snake. It hisses as it slithers through the air to face you, positioning itself on the opposite side of the tigers head as the goat. You and Missy are paralyzed in shock at the mismatched behemoth before you. Your mouth hangs open as you try to comprehend its existence. After meeting Missy and seeing that giant moving vine, you thought you’d seen it all. Boy were you wrong. The creature creeps forward towards you both. As it does, the tiger head speaks. “Finally, a properly sized meal.” The snake head nods before replying itself. “I know, my mouth is already watering.” You shake your head to regain your senses and your bodily control. “Missy,” you call out as confidently as you could muster. “Get behind me. Now.” Missy doesn’t take her eyes off the creature, but does as she’s told, quickly scurrying behind your legs and peeking from behind. The goat head chuckles. “We’re not interested in the filly. She wouldn’t keep us filled for even an hour.” You stiffen, but keep up an attempt at looking confident. You raise your spear. “Leave us and there won’t be any trouble.” you command, hoping your voice isn’t as shaky as you felt. All three heads laugh in unison. In a split second decision, you end up throwing your spear at the creature as hard as you could. Unfortunately, the tiger head noticed this and swatted the spear out of the air, snapping it in half. They all look at you with rage in their eyes and start creeping toward you. Stupid Anon! Stupid! Throwing your weapon? “Missy,” you start, taking a step back. “Run.” You hear her soft steps slowly back away from the situation. “B-But...” “Run. Please. Run home.” The creature snarls as it continues its approach. “I-I’m not leaving you!” Missy shouts, audibly on the verge of tearing up. “Mischievous Moon!” You turn your head to look at her with one eye. “Run! Now!” You watch as she turns and starts galloping away, still limping as she does so. But as you turn back, you see the creature uncomfortably close. It lunges at you, swiping it’s claws. You make an attempt at jumping backwards, but were too slow. It’s claws dug into your thigh, cutting deep and causing your pants to be almost instantly soaked in blood. You yell out in pain and fall backwards against a nearby tree, clutching your leg in a vain effort to stop the pain. “ANON!” you hear from behind you. You glance back and see Missy standing a good distance away, her hoof lifted, looking like she was going to come back. You couldn’t let that happen. “MISCHIEVOUS!” you yell. “I SAID RUN!” Even from this distance, you notice her eyes well up. She turns around with her head down and gallops out of sight. You turn back to be face to face with the beast. The blood loss is now starting to affect your strength. Your vision starts darkening and your eyelids feel heavy. The goat head chuckles and she snake slithers up next to your face. “Oh, we’re eating good tonight.” says the snake. "Exotic! Keep it fresh!" says the goat. You continue feeling weaker and weaker until you can’t keep yourself awake any longer. You feel your head dip as your vision turns completely black and you pass out.
