The Ambassador

Savanna could feel blades of grass tickling her back as she rolled over and stared up at the sky. The sun wasn’t visible while hidden behind some clouds.

She rose to her hooves, wobbling slightly. She reached, retrieving her hat and satchel. The stiff pleather material of her western hat stretched as she put it on.

Blades of grass tickled the frogs of her hooves as she took a step forward. She was dead center in a healthy, green grassland. It was an alien sight. She was accustomed to seeing the stiff, yellowed turf back home.

Savanna didn't feel frightened, exactly. She didn't feel the urge to scream or cry out. She felt only a soul-crushing sense of dread. She was the one at fault here. She had been negligent and hadn't heeded her father's warning to stay out of trouble. He didn't have the ability to predict the future, but it sure seemed that way in hindsight.

Nearby, the sound of flowing water came in waves, building to a crescendo and crashing before petering out into a gentle roar.

The ground before her rose in a gentle slope before dropping away unexpectedly. It looked like the edge of a pit mine or a sinkhole. There was nothing after. It was as if the world had been sliced in two by a gigantic knife. Savanna approached cautiously, fearing the edge would crumble from her weight. She hadn’t been around many sinkholes in her life, but she understood they were dangerous.

A hundred or so meters below, waves crashed against a sandy shore littered with shattered seashells and sharp, eroded rocks. She was standing on a cliff, and a massive one at that.

Fearing she would fall, Savanna made sure not to lean too far out. Below, the water was murky, swirling with dark greens and blues and spotted with contrasting whitecaps.

Savanna sat back on her haunches, staring out into the horizon. The vastness of the ocean was astounding. A great, navy-blue line that extended across her entire vision.

She sighed gently, her ears laying back. She feared the worst possible outcome: that the magical artifact had teleported her somewhere far away from her home. She had acted like the stupid foal she was and had gotten herself into a predicament that only Celestia knew the outcome of.

Maybe she was dreaming? Maybe there was hope. If she was dreaming, then at this instant she was safe at home. Her mother was making breakfast. The smell of food being fried would fill the entire cottage. Hot coffee, eggs, sautéed onions, fried tomatoes and buttered bread.

This wasn’t a dream, was it?

"Celestia help me... ah bucked up, ah know ah did. Just have mercy. Please." She lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes as emotion flooded her.

“Ah didn't know any better...”

Savanna looked around, remaining seated. Her voice felt weak, dispersing into the surrounding air with little effect. She could almost visualize the sound echoing across the empty plains, getting caught up in the blades of the mysterious, white windmills.

Her eyes were blotchy and red with irritation from crying, but she managed to compose herself eventually. She needed to form a plan. She couldn't just sit here waiting for rescue. The first idea that came to her mind was to look for civilization nearby. So, she stood up and began to move.

There were no landmarks nearby, aside from the windmill-like structures. If she walked toward them, she would happen upon civilization eventually, right?

The world seemed dead, entirely too quiet. She was used to hearing the sounds of crickets chirping, the collective din of insects fluttering their papery wings and ponies chattering distantly. Savanna’s ears strained, swiveling in an attempt to recognize any sound beside the distant roar of the ocean behind her—but there was nothing but the wind.

She shivered, uncomfortable.

Ahead was a wide rise of the earth. It was a half-moon-shaped miniature cliff that exposed rock beneath—distinct from the otherwise flat plains. Beyond was a line of trees telling of a forest, about a kilometer or less away.

Before passing by, Savanna took some time to investigate the rise. At the base of the rocky overhang, she tapped a hoof against the exposed rock. It was an absolutely rigid surface, and her hoof made a solid clop when it landed. The rock was the color of charcoal, with flecks of white, the color of salt.

Savanna jumped initially when she heard what sounded like hoofsteps behind her, but the source of the sound was actually an unidentified object that had fallen from the crest of the rise above. It looked like a black ball of slicked feathers or fur, like an oversized, fresh owl pellet. It was large, up to her shoulder in height. Savanna poked it cautiously with a hoof. It was solid.

The object expanded outwards, forming a head first, then two tiny, undeveloped wings and four legs. It was obviously not a pony, but the similarities were striking. Its muzzle was elongated and pointed. Its ears were sharpened to points. It was a quadruped with hooves, and it had feathered wings. Its eyes were tiny, black and intelligent. Pointed directly forward, they were the eyes of a hunter. This was undoubtedly a fledgling, but it was a bird of prey. Savanna backed away, unnerved. What an odd creature...

Wait, her camera! Savanna always carried her camera with her. It was in her satchel, wasn't it? She wanted a snapshot of this specimen to document it, and then she would leave. That would prove to her future self that she had seen this and that she wasn't dreaming.

Reaching into her satchel with a hoof, Savanna dug around briefly. She found her journal, some of her beloved blue-ink ballpoint pens, and a magnetic compass... and a revolver? She frowned curiously, recognizing the model. It didn't belong to her, though. It was a friend's. A week ago, she been invited to go paper target shooting. Those were fun times, even if she hadn't been a very good shot. It had probably been left in her bag accidentally, forgotten about until now. Unloaded or not, that was dangerous, leaving a weapon unattended in her bag. Unfortunately, due to her lack of knowledge about firearms, she didn't think anything of it.

She retrieved her camera. It was an instant model, made of polished stainless steel that reflected the sunlight.

"Sweet Luna, you're weird..." Seemingly in response, the youngling opened its mouth and released a soft hiss. It had a row of small, white nubs for teeth. They weren't yet completely developed. Savanna looked through the viewfinder and snapped a quick shot. The mechanisms within the camera whirred and out of the slot at the bottom, a photograph was released.

Savanna examined the snapshot. It was slightly warm to the touch from being printed just moments ago. The creature was hissing in the photo, its eyes focused intently on the photographer. She nodded appreciably, storing the photo and camera in her satchel.

Savanna's ears perked up as she detected a sound coming from the very top of the rock face. The utterance sounded like the quiet hisses occasionally produced by the fledgling, but it was much lower in pitch. Before she had the opportunity to shift her weight to look, a powerful shiver of terror ran down her spine. Instincts commanded her to run.

The much-larger animal hissed intensely, the tone slow, intelligent and conspiring. It was examining Savanna, discerning if she would serve as a satisfactory meal for its younglings.

Savanna tore across the plains, galloping toward the safety of the forest. Hyperventilating, she risked a glance over her shoulder. The black beast spread its massive wings and leapt off the rock face, diving toward her. It was impossible for her to outpace that thing! It was triple her size and could fly! It had nearly caught up with her, and she had only made it halfway to the forest.

Savanna released a desperate cry and dove to the ground, covering her head with her forelegs protectively. The creature had been so close behind that when Savanna ducked to the ground, it lunged and accidentally flew directly over her, the gust of wind that followed sending her hat soaring away. The ground shook as it landed. It assumed a wide, tactical stance. Spreading its long jaws, its pearly-white teeth glistened with saliva. They were the serrated teeth of a carnivore.

Savanna raised her head in time to witness this unfold. Her pupils dilated, and in that moment of rushing adrenaline, she caught every detail of the creature, creating a still snapshot in her brain. She saw its prominent jaws, tiny, sharp and intelligent eyes and huge, feathered wings that allowed it superior maneuverability while in flight. Its black fur was patchy and mottled with grey.

Instinct took control of her body, and when the beast lunged, she darted to the right. Her tiny size and slim shape meant that while the heavy, bulky creature was recovering from the momentum, Savanna was tearing across the plains and dashing into the first row of trees of the forest. Branches whipped at her exposed face as Savanna got herself well and truly lost in the woods, still hearing the crashing of brush behind as the beast attempted to follow her. It was too large, however, and the trees grown too closely together, with only enough space between for Savanna to navigate.

Not hearing the creature trailing her anymore, Savanna sank onto the ground. The adrenaline from barely escaping her pursuer was dwindling, and Savanna was weary. She saw stars, multicolored spots that danced across her vision. She hadn't ran that intensely for years. Huddled in the dirt at the base of a hardy tree, her body fell limp and she passed out.

When Savanna awoke, it was the dead of night. Crickets droned. Off in the distance, an owl hooted.

She grimaced in discomfort as she rolled onto her back, kicking away her satchel with a rear leg. Her entire body ached from her desperate gallop earlier, but the dull, throbbing pain was mostly concentrated in her legs. She couldn't walk even if she wanted to.

The trees had thin trunks, growing closely together and blocking most moonlight from casting to the forest floor with their intertwined leaves. Small dots of light trickling through the thick, blanket-like canopy were barely enough to see by. Savanna brushed a lock of mane out of her eyes and held up a foreleg, inspecting herself. Her peach-colored fur was dirty and matted. She had a variety of cuts from the sharp branches that she had collided with while running to escape the creature. They were scattered all across her forelegs and her chest, and she was certain there was a scrape between her eyes.

Savanna looked up at the canopy of leaves above and tried to relax, taking deep breaths.

Occasionally, a firefly blinked in the darkness. A mosquito buzzed in her ear, and she swatted it absentmindedly.

The forest floor was teeming with life and noises. Eventually, Savanna began to feel at ease. She had a new-found respect for nature and life now after having barely escaped from that vicious beast. She breathed a quiet, relaxed sigh, reminiscing. She thought of Equestria. She thought of her home town. Her parents, her friends, and everypony else—did they know where she was? Would somepony come and save her?

A dozen or so meters away, some dry leaves crunched.

Savanna jolted upright. "Hello?"

She looked around, searching for the source of the disturbance.

"A - Ah'm lost. Ah need help."

She hesitated, listening for more sounds, and then tried again.

"Please..."

Savanna doubted that, in the middle of this secluded forest, anypony would come to her aid. Another crunch of dried foliage confirmed that something was out there, and it wasn't a pony. It was so dark—Savanna couldn't see anything. Her body tensed. If it was a dangerous animal, she wouldn't be able to outrun it, not in her weakened state. She needed to improvise.

She reached for her satchel and drew the revolver, swinging the cylinder open and checking inside. Unloaded. Of course it was unloaded. If it wasn't, the constant jostling of the gun and other items in her satchel during her escape from the monster probably would have caused an accidental discharge—but she didn't know about this.

Was there ammunition in her bag too? Savanna dug through quickly, throwing miscellaneous items out of the way as she searched. The pages of her journal fluttered as she tossed it aside. It hit the dirt with a muted thump.

At the bottom of her satchel, alongside a few of her ballpoint pens, was a brightly-labeled paper box of .38-caliber revolver cartridges.

She didn't hesitate, sliding the lid off and withdrawing a cartridge from its foam nest. She slid it into one of the cylinder's chambers, closed it, rotated it until it clicked into position and pulled the hammer back, cocking it.

At the mere thought of firing the gun, Savanna winced preemptively. She had no ear protection.

Her ears were perked up and at attention, swiveling as she tried to pinpoint where the animal was.

Directly ahead, the brush shifted. Savanna saw beige fur and a pointed muzzle as the creature began to exit the undergrowth. It snorted, grunting softly. Light glinted off its beady, chocolate eyes.

Savanna raised the revolver, her forelegs shaking unsteadily, and...

BANG!

She cried out in pain, dropping the gun and covering her ears with her hooves. Her sensitive ears were ringing in an intense bout of tinnitus. She saw the animal hesitate for a second before turning tail and darting off into the woods, unharmed. The bullet had struck the trunk of a tree. It was illegal and immoral to shoot any animal or, really, any living entity, in Equestria. But you could scare them off—which is what she had done.

Savanna laid back against the dirt, panting softly.

"Sweet Celestia..." Her legs wobbled unsteadily as she stood. She leaned against the tree she had been napping under, collecting herself. Having almost been violently slaughtered and eaten twice in less than a full day, Savanna was feeling ill with anxiety.

She needed to find civilization, or at least a safe place where she could breathe and think on what to do next. Her goal of reaching the ivory windmills couldn't be achieved at night, especially not in the middle of the woods. She was lost, without any sense of direction.

She couldn't go back to sleep, knowing the creatures that roamed the forest. She had to move.

Savanna grabbed her bag and began repacking her things. She brushed soil off of the cover of her journal and tucked it into her bag. Reaching down, she picked up another of her discarded items. It was her compass. She flipped open the silver lid, consulting the needle, tilting it back and forth to catch the light so she could read it. She was facing southeast. Judging by her position on the cliff when she was teleported here, with the sun rising to her right, that meant the windmills were approximately northeast.

Before Savanna started walking, she unloaded the revolver and inserted six new rounds. She carried the gun with her as she walked, the darkness making her paranoid and fearful.

Now knowledgeable about what was lurking in the forest, Savanna felt a new air of unease. The woods were nearly pitch-black, and without a way of casting light, she was forced to carefully walk with her head tilted downwards to avoid stepping directly into branches head-first.

Occasionally, an animal would crunch on dried leaves as it passed by, but nothing drew too close. Savanna kept her guard up constantly, her ears swiveling toward every noise. The fear of the unknown was more terrifying than understanding what was actually out there.

Savanna had been walking for what felt like hours, but it had been impossible to tell time without the moon. When she stumbled upon a clearing, she could finally see clearly. Above her was a tiny, purple-tinted moon and a few stars, offering more light than what was available in the forest, but still not an impressive amount. The position of the moon told her that the time had to be between midnight and three o'clock in the morning.

The clearing felt artificial, somehow. Several trees had been ripped from the ground, their roots exposed to the air. A shallow pit had been dug in the ground by an unexplained force. It reminded Savanna of the scene caused by an accidental magical detonation—a violent explosion or implosion that varied in severity. Particularly common for young mages or other unicorn laymen, magical detonations occured for a variety of reasons. Unicorn magic was unspeakably complex, and, while performing advanced spells, there was always the risk of a mistake being made. In the absolute worst case scenario, a magical detonation could occur, as the magical energy destabilized suddenly in an uncontrolled fashion. Some could result in craters only a few meters wide, like in the case before Savanna right now. And others could be catastrophic. Unicorns hone their skills for years before trying advanced magic for a reason.

Savanna hoped a unicorn had not met their untimely demise here. Her ears laid back sympathetically. She bowed her head respectfully for a few moments, gave the pit a generous berth, and continued southwestward.

For the next half hour or so, her walk was uneventful. She felt slightly less on edge, but her ears still swiveled, seeking out noises that could potentially give away the location of a dangerous animal priming to attack.

When Savanna finally left the confines of the forest, she breathed a sigh of relief. Weaving between the closely-knit trees had been claustrophobic. Despite knowing birds of prey lived in the area, she was less anxious while on flat, open ground. Seeing and anticipating the threat coming felt safer, somehow. Hopefully they would be scared of gunshots...

The moonlight wasn't as majestic as back home. Above her wasn't Luna's sky—of that, Savanna was certain. The moon and stars were all the same, but in completely different positions. Enough light was provided to see, though.

After climbing a hill, Savanna had finally reached her goal. The ivory, windmill-like structures were much larger than she had thought now that she was close. There were three of them, and they were comparable in height to sequoia trees from back home—maybe even taller! She approached the base of one, tapping it with a hoof. The clang that ensued suggested they were made of a thin yet sturdy metal. There was no obvious entrance.

This was it. She was at the summit of the hill she had seen in the distance from the cliff, all the way on the opposite side of the forest. It had been her goal to reach there and survey from that vantage point to search for civilization. It had taken her the better part of a night to make it there, traveling on hoof.

Savanna turned her head, surveying the landscape on the other side of the hill...

The unanticipated sight made her gasp aloud.

It was a massive, flat valley with rows of dozens or maybe hundreds of the white, windmill-like structures. The vast majority of them had been destroyed, tilted over and lying on their sides. Some were scorched black by fire. A building in the very center, probably large and upholding some importance in the past, had only three walls now. One wall and part of the roof had caved in.

What in Celestia's name had happened? Who had done that? What had done that?

Savanna slumped back onto her haunches, feeling defeated. The three white structures she sat beside were a few of the only survivors.

She felt guilty thinking it, but at least the ruins of the building would provide adequate shelter from the elements and wildlife.

Savanna bowed her head respectfully, praying nopony had been harmed, and then began her descent.

Debris had been violently thrown far from the ruins of the building. Some pieces looked rather sharp, and Savanna look long, exaggerated steps to avoid cutting herself as she approached. The ruins were settled, but had not been overgrown by grasses or vines yet.

The building had been made of mostly metal and concrete. Steel, possibly. It had been constructed on a thick slab of concrete foundation. The vibe the place emanated was unpleasant, but some sections had the semblance of a roof, and they would be dry if it rained. Most importantly, she wouldn't be easy pickings for the birds of prey that patrolled the lands outside.

Savanna chose to rest in the first room she found that was mostly intact. The small space was exclusively reserved for a complicated machine that Savanna did not even attempt to make sense of. She saw pipes, bright, red valves and deduced the machine had been powered by steam in some unexplained manner. The bulkhead's door sealing the chamber away had been blown off its hinges.

Savanna allowed the strap of her satchel to slip off of her back. She opened its brass clasp and withdrew her journal. The cover was still smudged with dirt. She brushed it off to the best of her ability and reached into her satchel once again, withdrawing one of her beloved, blue-ink ballpoint pens. She opened her journal to a blank page and tapped the tip of the pen against the paper, thinking of what to write. She recalled all that had happened in the last 24 hours: the teleportation of her here, almost being eaten by the flying creature and barely escaping with her life, encountering a mysterious animal in the woods at night—she still didn't know what that thing had been. Now, she was here, taking shelter in the ruins of a destroyed building.

Savanna lifted her pen, and, with the little amount of moonlight provided, began to write.

I've only been here for a day, but already two things have tried to eat me: a flying monster with the wings of a pegasus pony and the jaws of a crocodile—many teeth, too—and a wild animal that I saw in the woods late at night. I used Lone Star's revolver to scare it off. I guess it's mine, now. Thank Celestia there was a mix up and that gun was left in my bag, somehow. If it hadn't been in there, I don't think I would be alive to write this.

I'm taking shelter in some kind of ruined factory. The roof has collapsed in some spots, but it'll keep me safe and dry from the rain. I have no idea what this place was originally or why it was destroyed. Unfortunately, I probably will never know.

On the opposite page, Savanna began sketching the flying creature by memory. It was rough and two-dimensional. She gave up halfway, frustrated by her inability to recall the finer details. "Pegasus creature?" she titled it questioningly, underlining.

She turned to the next page, her pen lifted in preparation to write, but then the butt of a rifle struck her solidly in the rear of the skull.

Her back was turned to the entrance. She never saw it coming.

Savanna's body sunk to the floor, rendered unconscious instantly.