Shell Casings CH.1
Guns ‘n Trees
I slowly woke up on what I thought was a patch of dirt, realizing I wasn’t in my bed. I shot up onto my feet and looked around scared out of my mind. I see that I am in a forest clearing of some sort and all i saw around me were trees. My mind began to race, “where the fuck am I? Oh god, what happened? Why can’t I remember what happened!?!”. I began to panic. “Oh shit, shit, shit, shit!” ,my inner monologue screamed, “I’m so fucked! I’ll be stuck here forever and probably starve to death!” Suddenly another more stern voice barged in, “Shut the fuck up! You’ll be fine! Just calm down and take a chance to look around, you might be able to find a path of some sort.” I did as my subconscious told me and looked around in a calmer manner. I didn’t find any paths but i found something equally as good. On the ground were three weapons, A KABAR knife, A Savage Mark II FSS rifle and a USP. Immediately, I pounced upon them. Holding up the rifle i checked the magazine and it was full of .22 Long Rifle rounds. Feeling a bit more confident than before I checked the USP. The magazine for the handgun was also full. Sighing with relief, I looked up at the sky to see how much daylight I had left. The sun was still low in the eastern sky, just barely showing itself above the treetops. “Early morning”, i thought, “so i have a good amount of time for travel”. Slinging the rifle over my shoulder, I walked to the east, making my way through the thick woods.
After some time I managed to emerge from the woods onto a dirt path, with dead leaves and twigs crunching beneath my feet. I stopped to take a look at myself. I was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and dark colored jeans as well as a belt with a holster and sheath attached and black sneakers, I sheathed my knife and holstered my pistol before continuing on. “Hmm... i like it." I took a few steps forward onto the path and looked around and here the trees seemed to block out the sun, making the path dark, and the surrounding woods made the area more menacing and because of the shade from the trees everything seemed to have a blue tinge to it. The trees gave the illusion of weeping as their branches sagged down to the ground, making me feel even more uneasy then I already was. Some trees had vines that hung down almost all the way to the ground. I slowly began to walk down the path heading south. As I walked, the tree coverage slowly thinned out which calmed me a bit because I knew I was making my way out the forest. Suddenly I heard a deep growling noise come from a bush behind me and this kicked me into “RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!” mode and I ran as fast I could.
I kept running and running. My lungs were screaming for me to stop, they burned like hell but i kept running and running. Eventually I stopped and turned around panting heavily, looking to see if i was still in any danger. But all i saw were trees and that’s all I saw at that moment. Trees and guns. Shakily I took my USP out of its holster and looked at it with more scrutiny. The handgun was a standard variant made by Heckler and Koch there seemed to be no modifications at all. I unloaded the magazine and looked at the rounds, they were .40 Smith and Wesson jacketed hollow points. I reloaded the magazine and made the weapon safe. I holstered the pistol, still shaking, hoping I wouldn’t need to use it. I took a moment to calm myself before beginning to walk down the path again. After walking for some time, I saw a house. It was a small house with two floors and white vinyl siding. I almost jumped for joy when I saw that house. I ran towards the building feeling like I had been saved by God Himself. On my way over I saw a small brown rat crawling along a branch and it made its way down the tree. Thinking nothing of it, I ran up to the door and opened it up. Upon walking inside I took a blunt object to the gut. As it turns out, walking into a house with a gun on your back doesn’t leave a good first impression. Falling to the ground keeled over, I had my guns almost immediately stripped, leaving me with nothing but the concealed knife to fight off my attackers. But I couldn’t reach for my knife fast enough, before I had a rope tied around my arms. Now tied up and defenceless, I started squirming around in a vain attempt to escape. After a minute I had given up and laid there while my attackers conversed in whispers. After another five minutes, I heard one of them approach me and they rolled me over. Staring back down at me was an orange earth pony with a Stetson and a blonde mane that was tied back in a ponytail. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to speak but was too shocked to say anything. The pony began to speak, “Alright, let’s get yah outta here, maybe Twilight knows what hay you are.” and she lifted me up onto her back. From that position I was able to look around a bit more and saw a pegasus with a pale yellow coat and long pink mane that was shying away from me and hiding behind a chair. The earth pony carrying me turned to her and said, “Come on Fluttershy grab this thing’s uh... things... and let’s get out of here.” The pegasus timidly grabbed my weapons and trotted over to the door. The two of them walked out the house and onto the path.
Shell Casings PT.2
Happiness is a Warm Gun
It had been five minutes since i was attacked and tied up, and things only began to deteriorate, I really should stop trying to squirm out of these ropes. I looked up at the pony carrying me and put on a friendly face and said with a rather sophisticated voice “May i please get out of these dreadful ropes and walk the rest of the way to my imprisonment?” the pony kept looking ahead and simply said “nnope.” I frowned ‘that went smoothly...’ I looked over at the pegasus who was carrying my guns, she was inspecting them carefully, completely unsure of what the alien objects were or what to think of them. I looked back at the pony carrying me, her blonde ponytails bounced as she walked and she had a brown cowboy hat on that covered most of her hair, her orange coat felt a bit greasy and dirty but smelled strongly of apples. my brain took a moment to register all these things, but the moment it did i nearly let out a squeal of delight. I fought back my urge to squeal like a fangirl ‘kidnapped by Applejack and Fluttershy? Best day ever! Then again... they did kidnap me... I hope they don’t throw me in some government research facility or something like that...’ While that was a worrying thought, it didn’t affect my mood much at all, I was still ready to start skipping gaily through the forest all the way to ponyville. Of course the whole being hogtied thing might stop me from doing just that. I squirmed for a while in my bindings the best i could, this seemed to only irritate the pony, who looked back at me with a rather angry look on her face. I just grinned sheepishly and stopped moving almost all together.
after a while i got bored so i began to sing Beatles songs... poorly. I started with “Come Together” then moved on too “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” I looked over at Fluttershy who seemed to have a bit of a bounce in her step now and then I looked over at Applejack who was clearly very irritated. I had only just started “Help!” when a strange looking rat bounded onto the path in front of us. Applejack was shaking trying to contain her anger when the rat jumped in the way, immediately she stopped and stared at the rat quizzically. I looked at the rat as well and almost gagged at the sight of the creature. The rat was completely hairless and it had dead, brown, decaying skin and its eyes had a glazed over look to them. The rat stood on its hind legs and stared at us for a moment. it was probably the most terrifying thing i saw in my life. Applejack looked over at Fluttershy and said “hey, uhh... Fluttershy maybe yah should go and uhh... help that little critter out.” I looked over at Fluttershy who was staring at the rat with a look of pure disgust and terror, she was shaking like a leaf. she was ready to bolt, but was frozen in place by terror, tears formed in her eyes. I looked back at the rat, and it tilted its head causing its right eye to fall out of the socket and hang by its nerve. this caused Fluttershy to immediately run away at full speed leaving my weapons behind. The rat slowly made its way towards Applejack and I. Applejack backed up slowly as the rat advanced. the rat’s head suddenly split down the middle and the two parts separated revealing jagged razor sharp teeth and a long spindly tongue. the two parts of the creature’s head seemed to be drooling as a black liquid slowly dripped on the ground. Immediately Applejack began to ran away. as she ran, the rat gave chase. I looked back at Applejack “run faster! that damn thing is right behind us!” the creature chasing us then leaped into the air and hissed. it then bit into my bindings and tore away at the ropes. once i was free i immediately rolled off of Applejack’s back, the rat followed.
Immediately i got and began to ran for my weapons that were lying in the path a good 20 yards away. the rat lunged for my feet this time but i managed to get my foot out of the way and kicked it away from me. I sprinted as fast as I could to the guns.The rat got right back up and chased after me with a horrible panting noise. I made it to the guns and scooped up my rifle and handgun. Using one hand i aimed the handgun and fired at the rat who began to serpentine at an incredibly fast speed. i just kept firing in the monster’s general direction and it kept advancing. then my gun went click i just kept pulling the trigger, each time the gun went click. the rat then took a sharp turn to the left and went into the trees. I stood there shaking terrified of what just happened. I decocked my handgun and holstered it and took a few deep breaths, when i realized that thing is going after the girls. I picked up my knife and slung my rifle over my shoulder and ran in the direction the two mares went in. I made it to the two ponies who were currently catching their breath against some trees, i walked over and got some hostile looks from Applejack and Fluttershy was just a shivering wreck. I looked at Applejack “look we can’t stay here, that thing is coming after us.” Applejack snorted with irritation “why should ah listen to you?” “Because im the one with the guns.” “Is that a threat?” “No! goddammit you're as stubborn as a mule!” Applejack just turned away from me. I sighed and turned around and saw the leaves of the trees moving. immediately i bolted my rifle and aimed at the tree tops, Fluttershy whimpered in fear and Applejack took an aggressive posture, ready to defend herself. we then heard hissing coming from behind us, so i spun around and kept my rifle trained on the tree tops. suddenly i heard a horrible screech come from behind me, so i spun around and saw the rat flying at me. suddenly everything seemed to slow down, i shouldered my rifle, took aim, and fired.