Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

“Warning. Warning. Pressure locks released. You are not authorized access to this zone. Security personnel have been notified. Warning. Warning. Pressure locks released. You are not authorized access to this zone. Security personnel have been notified. Warn—”

   “I lost it over here!”

   The nearby voice brought Felix out of his slumber. He and Maxine were still concealed in the same ditch they had hidden in the night before, although they were now in an uncomfortable mismatch of tangled limbs. He shook his head and wiped away the sleep that had accumulated in his eyes. From the position of the sun, it had to be between the late morning and early afternoon.

   “What is it exactly that we’re lookin’ for?” a voice thick with a country accent spoke out.

   “I wish I knew! That’s why I brought you guys here in the first place! I was hoping Twilight could figure out what it was.”

   The sudden inclusion of another voice made Felix’s heart sink. He had heard two voices, but it had been implied that his pursuer had brought more friends. He was once again shocked yet captivated that they not only spoke, but spoke plain English. It was almost enough for him to pop out of his hiding place and ambush the group with a barrage of questions. Almost.

   “Well, if it came out of the Everfree Forest it surely can’t be anything good.” said yet another voice, this one possessing an air of regality.

   “Hey now you can’t go on and say that, can ya? What about Zecora?”

   Felix had counted 3 separate voices so far; he and Maxine were already outnumbered. His daughter still laid peacefully on his stomach, oblivious to the approaching equines. He gently shook her until she stirred. When she sat up and gazed wearily at him, he put his finger to his mouth, expressing the need for silence. She nodded and dropped her head back down.

   “I suppose. Still, Everfree is dangerous. We need to tread with caution.”

   “Ah here ya sister. This place gives me the heebie jeebies.”

   Felix knew that his welcome wagon would be arriving at his little hideaway at any given moment. His options were dropping by the second. He could try and reach the pistol in his bag, but he would have to sit up to get it, leaving him exposed for a lengthy amount of time. He could stay and hope to remain invisible in his ditch, but the voices seemed to be heading straight toward him with no intention of stopping. His final option was simple, run. He didn’t know how far he could get and he knew that at least one of them had the potential to catch up to him. He would just have to take his chances.

   In one calculated and swift motion, he clasped onto Maxine and hoisted himself out of the ditch. Multiple gasps sounded off behind him as he took off in the opposite direction. The shock of seeing him gave Felix a moment of reprieve.

   “Wait! Stop!” one of them called out.

   But his body was already in motion, acting on its own accord. Max held her arms around Felix’s neck while he placed one arm under her to support her and the other across her back to keep her from wiggling around too much.

   “Rainbow wait! It thinks your going after its baby!” shouted a faint, weak voice that had been nearly drowned out by the crunching of leaves on the forest floor.

   Whatever the creatures were, they were the dominant species and it was he who was the wild animal, running from a threat to protect his only little kit. It took a moment of conscious thought for Felix to realize that he was more in the light of things than they were. Despite this being their homeland, they didn’t know who or what he was or what he was capable of. He at the very least knew that some of them possessed the ability to fly. They still, however, possessed quite an advantage. They had speed, knowledge of the terrain, and numbers. Felix had his smarts.

   The variation in the speed of hoofsteps he heard behind him prompted him to look over his shoulder. The sight he took in was one he would expect to see in one of Maxine’s bedtime story books. A quick look behind him revealed five multicolored equines with ridiculously childish appearances. Their large eyes encompassed a good portion of their faces, all of which held looks of concern, save for the one flying after him whom he assumed to be Rainbow. Its face was one of sheer determination.

   This only prompted him to pick up the pace. He had always kept as fit as he could; regularly taking jogs throughout the Chicago suburb and being conscious of the food he was putting into his body. But his efforts were in vein as Rainbow quickly closed the gap between them. He quickly banked left, leaving the polychromatic pursuer to continue on a straight path. He needed to find a den or a hole in the ground, anywhere that would allow him a moment to rest. He looked over his shoulder to see that the cyan creature had corrected its flight path and was once again beaming straight for him, when suddenly; it slammed into a thin purple film. It slowly expanded until the film became a dome, isolating Felix and Maxine from the rest of the forest. He backed away from where Rainbow had stopped and made his way to the opposite side. His mind refused to believed what was happening; everything both nonsensical and mind boggling twisted new knots in an already warped form of his perception on this new reality. He shouldered the shield repeatedly hoping to make a quick escape, each time producing the same failed result.

   In a final act of desperation he set Max down and reached into his bag. He pulled out the sleek black pistol and gripped in his hand. His right thumb toggled the safety while his left hand pulled the slide and chambered the first round. He stood back, ushered Max behind him and took aim. The trigger inched its way back until the deafening crackle of the gun resonated within the dome.

16 out of 17 shots remaining.

   He flinched as the bullet ricocheted off of the purple wall and embedded itself in the ground nearby. The shield itself flickered and then hummed quietly as the ripple from the bullet’s impact was absorbed and distributed throughout the length of the film. Only then was it painfully true that he and Max were captured, bound to the mercy of the captors themselves like the caged rats they were. He held on to her tightly, unsure of what to expect.

   “Have you seen anything like it?”

   “Quite frankly, no. It’s bipedal, like Spike, but I never seen anything like this…”

   The bookworm of a pony slowly drew closer to the magical barrier she had constructed. Inside, the being was attacking the shield relentlessly when suddenly; it set down what Fluttershy had previously identified to be its offspring. From what Twilight could see, it was huddled around a section of the ground, almost as if was searching for something. Its kit sat quietly nearby.

   “Hey Twilight, can ya warn me before you just throw a shield in my fa—“

   “Shhh!” Twilight interrupted.  “I’m trying to see what it’s doing.”

   The bipedal being was holding something, a black “L” shaped object. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, it held the object out in front of itself. A bright flash followed by a loud pop that could be heard even through the walls of the magical barrier caused the girls to jumped slightly. After this failed attempt at escape it protectively placed itself between its offspring and the girls.

   “Twilight they’re scared,” said the timid pegasus, a hint of defensiveness snuck into her voice. “They’ve been chased twice now and now we’ve captured them.”

   “I know Fluttershy,” she said reassuringly. “I’m going to try to go talk with it.”

   “M-maybe you should let me handle that.” she countered.

   Twilight gave it some thought. Fluttershy was indeed their animal expert; if there was any hope of figuring out what these things were, she was undoubtedly the best suited candidate for the task.

   “You sure you’re up to this?”

   “Don’t worry Twi, I’ll be fine.” she smiled.

   “Alright. I’ll lower part of the shield and let you in.”

   Twilight took a step forward and raised her horn into the sky. In a brilliant display of lavender light, a pony sized portion of the barrier dissipated and dissolved away. Fluttershy took slow, apprehensive steps forward until she was entirely in the dome. The rift behind her sealed shut, leaving her alone with the creatures, whom had been admiring the extraordinary show of magic.

   “He-hello there. My name is Fluttershy.” she said sweetly.

   Felix stayed frozen in place.

   The one who had announced herself as Fluttershy stood awkwardly at the other end of the barrier. In all honesty, she was absolutely adorable. Felix could feel an overwhelming sense of calmness flood his body. His grip became less possessive and he began to slowly release Maxine, although he still stood between her and Fluttershy.

   “Daddy, I don’t think it wants to hurt us.” Maxine whispered to her father.

   Felix found himself slightly torn at this statement. While it was true that no physical harm had come to him or his daughter, he had been chased twice and was now trapped inside a bubble made of something that he couldn’t even begin to speculate on. He wasn’t about to throw caution to the wind, but he didn’t want to attack Fluttershy and give them a legitimate reason to be hostile toward them. Right now, they seemed just as curious as he was, if not, more so.

   “I won’t hurt you, I promise little one.”

   Felix found Fluttershy’s statement rather ironic. Standing at around 5’11, Felix was much larger than the equine in front of him. Maxine on the other hand was roughly the same height she was. He decided to give in a little; there wasn’t much else he could do at that point.

   “What are you?”

   Fluttershy seemed slightly taken back by his sudden speech, but regained her composure soon after.

   “W-we’re ponies,” she stumbled. “May I ask what you are? I’ve never seen anything like you.”

   Felix glanced behind Fluttershy to see the other ponies observing the scene intently, ready to come her their friend’s aid if necessary. He turned his attention back to Fluttershy.

   “We’re Homo-Sapiens. Humans.” he replied.

   “You aren’t- here to hurt us, are you?”

   Felix shook his head lightly. “Not unless you give me a reason to.” came his reply.

   “I won’t. I promise.” she nodded her head confidently. “Where do you come from?” she asked as she tilted her head innocently to the side; a rather adorable gesture.

   “Chicago, Illinois. What is this place? How did we get here?” It took a bit of self control to prevent himself from showering Fluttershy with a hailstorm of questions. He decided to get the most important ones out of the way first.

   “This is Equestria!” she replied giddily. “But,” her face suddenly became more somber, “We’re in the Everfree Forest. This really isn’t the safest of places. You should come with us, back to Ponyville. You and your little one will be much much safer there.”

Ponyville must be the nearby village. I don’t think my appearance is going to go over well with the locals. Especially after all of-

   “-me?”

  “What?”

   “Oh, I’m sorry…” she shuffled her hooves around loosely across the dirt. “I was just saying that I never did get your names…”

   “Felix. Felix Dufraisne. And this is Maxine,” he pointed to his daughter. “Max for short.”

   The butter colored pony looked down and smiled sweetly at the little girl. “Well hi there Max.”

   “She can’t hear you.”

   Fluttershy looked back up to the tall male figure, slightly confused. Noting this, Felix continued,

   “She’s partially deaf.”

   Fluttershy looked back down at the girl, this time with pity.

   “I’m going to talk to the other girls. You two just stay right here.”

   With that she turned around and headed back toward her end of the dome, which parted ways to let her through. From the inside of the dome he could see them discussing the matter at hand, but he was otherwise left in the dark.

   “Daddy, I’m getting really hungry.”

   He looked down and smiled tiredly at Maxine, scratching the top of her head lightly.

   “Me too, honey. Me too.”

   From behind them Felix could hear a faint thumping coming from outside the dome. He turned around to find nothing of interest, just the tranquility of the forest as it shed leaves in preparation for the fall season.

   That tranquility was shattered when a massive creature leapt from its concealed position in the trees and attacked the dome, causing Max and Felix to scream in fear. Even the otherworldly barrier cowered behind the monster’s strength, flickering madly before shattering all together under a maelstrom of blows. The screams of the ponies and the humans combined into one grand masterful symphony of terror. Felix and Max took off toward the ponies and tried to put as much distance between them and the beast as possible, but in one great leap, it was on their heels again.

   Felix had to slow the beast down. They would never outrun it, and unlike his encounter with the ponies, a failed escape from the beast spelled imminent death. He pushed his daughter along and pointed for her to run as fast as she could to the ponies. She nodded and sprinted across the field until she reached Fluttershy. The two, having only known each other for a few minutes, embraced each other like long lost siblings. The remaining human turned to the fearsome beast, and once again drew the pistol that had hung idly in his hand. He concentrated the best he possibly could under the threat of being eaten alive, took aim, and squeezed the trigger back until a thunderous boom left the barrel of the handgun.

15 out of 17 shots remaining.