Six Story Freefall

Chapter 4 :45 ft

After the crossing of the bridge, it had been a smooth ride (relatively speaking, of course) all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash hovered lazily above the group flying upside down; she took a quick survey of the group. Big Mac pulled the cart with relative ease, despite the fact that Spike had stopped walking along and had fallen asleep on his back, hugging Peewee. Twilight had gotten out of her sneaking outfit and was walking alongside Applejack. Rainbow did a small barrel roll while recalling that Applejack had said Granny Smith was asleep and Apple Bloom had gone off to play with her friends. So everything was perfect, except for one small problem.

“Where are we gonna keep the thing?” Rainbow Dash stated, still upside down “It’s not like we can just let it wander around.”

“We could construct a rudimentary holding cell.” Upon receiving three blank looks, Twilight rephrased. “We can build a cage”.

Applejack shifted her trusty hat a little, contemplating what to do; as a farmer and a citizen of Equestria, she knew it wasn't a good idea to just have an alien walking around and possibly getting into trouble, but as a friendly, well-mannered pony it just didn't seem like the right thing to do.

“Ah don't know Twi, it don’ quite sit right with me, caging it up like that.” Applejack shifted her hat searching for the right words. “It don't seem like it’s a danger to anypony, more of a danger to itself then anything.”

“Well, we still haven't determined its level of intellect yet, for all intents and purposes we have to treat it like a wild animal,” Twilight said, a hint of regret in her voice

“We could make the cage homely, like a living room, but without windows or doors," Rainbow stated. "We could even give it furniture."

“Ah reckon it would be fer the best.” Applejack turned to Big Mac “Think we should put it in a cage?”

The huge stallion slowed the cart to almost a standstill and looked to the sky, pondering her question. He shifted the stalk of straw in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

“Eeeyup”

I’m convinced that this is some sort of advanced pony-torture; no one should have to endure a long cart ride on a dirt road filled with potholes. I’d never thought that I would miss the smooth paved cement roads. Well, at least I got pie outta this; actually that might have made the trip worth it, that was the best apple pie I had ever tasted. Although I only got one bite before it was cruelly taken out of my reach.

Due to my previous efforts, I had been able to shift the sheet until I could look around. I couldn't really see anything but blue sky as my left and right had been lined with apples, and I was NOT taking any risks by sitting up. The sounds of crowds of ponies had dissipated so I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to be sacrificed, which is always a plus.

Without warning the cart stopped. We must have arrived, I suppose. My vision was suddenly obscured the orange pony’s head. It neighed a bit and then disappeared as fast as she came. I felt bindings being undone in a few swift movements; this pony knew her knots. I’m pretty sure it was a girl. I mean I don’t really have any evidence aside from the toiletries from the earlier bathroom. No self-respecting man of any culture would have a pink shower cap and bath salts. My mind flashed back to my bathroom. I did miss my bath salt- I mean my, erm, uuh, fire axe.

I entertained some thoughts of escape. I was clearly taller then all these ponies and I think I could probably out run a few of them; the winged one might be a problem though, but  I’d  just dart in to a forest or something. Seeing as the ropes were gone I sat up and tore the sheet off. Coming face to face with a massive red pony, (er, I guess it would be called a horse at some point). Now let me explain, I consider myself pretty fit and lean due to my ultra-metabolism, and I was about average height, but compared to this dude I was nothing. Also, if I had any doubts about gender before, they were gone, this equine was most definitely a man. He clearly worked out or something as its rippling muscles were showing clearly beneath its red coat. And the height of the thing, I thought I was tall in this world, but this guy was looking down at me and I was sitting on a cart. All thoughts of escape made a hasty get away from my brain, banished by the fear of being kicked by this dude. No sirree, I was going to sit right here in this cart. I’d lost enough brain cells.

Twilight sat down, letting herself rest for a bit while overlooking the construction site. The chosen location of the cage had been the old tool shed. It was more of a barn that had been converted into a shed, so there was a lot of empty unfilled space. Applejack also had a surplus of wood left over from the demolition of her older barn, courtesy of Rainbow Dash. The creature had initially been eager to sit up but had not moved since it saw Big Mac who was posted as the guard. With the combined efforts of the three mares the construction of the cage went by quickly. Applejack planned out the construction, and Rainbow Dash and herself provided the metaphorical muscle. The cage had vertical and horizontal pieces of wood serving as bars; they were quite thick as they used to be old support beams. Therefore it had square holes all throughout and had but one door to the cage. They furnished the cell with the basics: an outhouse, a straw bed and some extra sheets, and even a table and chair made from the left-over wood. For the final touch Twilight added a simple warmth spell to a makeshift fireplace. It would flicker like a fire but it didn't burn, while simultaneously keeping the cell warm. She couldn't have the first visitor to Equestria die of hypothermia. The creature was strangely all too willing to get into the cage; once the creature had entered the cage Big Mac retired back to the house.

“Rainbow, could you take this key and lock the padlock?” Twilight asked. Rainbow swiftly took the key and trotted over to the cage.

"After that we’re done!” Twilight chimed

It had indeed been a long day, and Twilight was ready to collapse. Rainbow and Applejack seemed tired as well; not that they would admit it.

“I’d love to go inside and get warmed up, that letter to the princess isn't going to write itself.” Twilight joked.

“Ah got some left over cider that will do just the trick.” Applejack said as she walked back to the house, motioning for Twilight to follow.

“DID SOMEONE SAY CIDER?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, overeager to feed her cider addiction. She zoomed back over to Twilight, the entire group laughing like old friends do.

OH thank god, sweet solid wood cage, any amount of material between me and that red leviathan is welcome news. The rainbow maned pony had initially trotted up to the cage but then neighed really loud and left the key in the padlock, zooming off with a strong snap of her wings. A sign of friendliness? Maybe, but I’m going to stay in the cage thanks. Also judging by how fast she moved I don't think I could get very far if I tried to run anyways.

I took a look around my new home. It was … surprisingly nice. I had watched the construction and instead of throwing together a shoddy cage like I assumed they would, they actually put time and effort in. It was built very quickly mind you, the unicorn levitating multiple beams of wood at once. Straw bed, dining set for one, outhouse, and a strange crackling purple flame. What’s not to like?

The purple flame was perplexing; it gave off heat but didn't burn, and crackled without giving off sparks. However, after what I'd seen today it was nothing out of the ordinary. I resolved not to touch it anyways. Okay, I may have touched it to figure out if it burned or not, but then I resolved not to touch it a second time, okay? Alright.

They used large beams of wood as the bars, crossing each other at 90 degree angles to form square holes, aside from the one actual wall of the barn, the rest of the sides were made up of these bars. They had also left me a shovel, whether by accident or on purpose I have not the faintest clue. Nothing to do now but wait I suppose.........

Nope! I’m bored. I took hold of the shovel and started drawing in the dirt. It was far from a masterpiece, but it’s not like anyone was going to look at them anyways. Who would have thought that landing in an alien world would be so boring?

“Cutie mark crusader......lumberjacks?” Applebloom suggested, rolling over lazily on the club house floor. The trio had been crusading all morning and were now all brainstorming what to do next.

“Err, no, I think I’ll pass. How about cutie mark crusader artists?” Sweetie Belle offered.

“Naw, we just tried that one last week.” Applebloom said. Moments later the light bulb in her head went off with a ding! She hopped to her hooves. “How about cutie mark crusader gardeners?!”

The other two rolled to their hooves, Sweetie Belle stumbling on her cape a little.

“That’s perfect! We’re already at the farm, it’ll be easy as pie!” Scootaloo said.

“Remember what happened last time we tried to make a pie?” Sweetie Belle said in a flat voice.

“We promised never to speak of that!” All three of the fillies shuddered.

After the awkward flash back moment had passed, Applebloom bolted for the door “Ah’m gonna grab my shovel. I’ll be right back!”

I rolled the shovel around in my hands, inspecting it. It was fine craftsmanship, err, craftsmanship?; not a hint of casting on it. Its head had been expertly hammered out on an anvil and the metal fused into the wood without a trace of wobbling, perhaps oak? On the handle a few pictographs (probably their written language) were inscribed onto it.

My drawings covered the floor and I sat lazily on the chair, my feet up on the table. This was my cage and I would put my feet where I like. My shirt had been riddled with scorch marks and holes, so I had just taken it off. My jeans, though, were surprisingly resilient; only a few frayed strings here and there. It was nice of the ponies to furnish the cell, but I would gladly trade all of the stuff in the cell for something to stop the boredom.

I sat there contemplating life in general when I heard a small neigh form the barn door. And there stood the cutest thing in the world

Applebloom had moved as fast as her small legs could carry her, eager to start gardening. She slowed down as she approached the old tool shed. The tool shed had always creeped Applebloom out, something about sharp tools and the scarce amount of sunlight that streamed through the one window just gave her the heeby jeebies. However, her favorite shovel was in there; it was custom made and had her name scrawled on to the handle. However, it was more than just a nice shovel; it was something that she and Applejack made together, back when she and her sister had enough time to make tools.

She shook her head, clearing it of sad thoughts and pushed open the tool shed door. She trotted in, swiveling her head back and forth, wanting to spend as little time as possible in the tool shed. A purple light caught her eye, and sitting there caged was a MONSTER! To make things worse it had her shovel!

She did what any rational pony did in that situation; she ran away, screaming. Shortly after she began her sprint for the door, her back hoof caught her front hoof and she tipped. Lying there in the dirt, Apple Bloom gave the situation a second thought. The beast had her shovel and losing it would be the worst thing ever! She got up, pure determination in her eyes; she trotted up to the cage doing her best to hide her fear.

“Gimmie mah shovel back!”

AWWW! That is the cutest thing ever; this tiny pony had a pink bow tie in its mane and had an adorable little cape. I just wanted to run up to it and hug it! Oh, sure, it was running in fear of me, but still the cutest thing ever, the adorableness only augmented when the pony tripped and fell. She? Yeah, definitely a girl. She got up, then trotted straight to me!

“Neigh!”

Alright, this is definitely a language, so if I take this slowly maybe I can decipher what this charmingly cute pony wanted. Come on, university language class, don't fail me now.

“Neigh!”

This time more forceful then the last. Okay, she’s angry. There are two reasons to be angry at anything. Either they did something or they have something that you want. I have never seen this pony before, so I doubt it’s something I did. So it’s gotta be the other one. I took another quick glance around the cell; nothing was in it that she couldn't get from outside of the cage. Except for the shovel. I held up the shovel to affirm my suspicions.

“Neigh!”

Well, softer and in a different tone, so I’m just going to take that as a yes. The glyphs in the handle were probably her name. I took the shovel and tried to put it through one of the holes in the bars but the head was too wide. Well, this isn't going to do. I stood up.

The creature wasn't scary at all, huge but not scary behind the bars. It was currently trying to give her back her shovel through the bars, but it was too wide. Then it stood up and walked to the cage door and pushed it open. OPEN! All previous thoughts of how nice the creature was evaporated, it was definitely scary and huge! It was as tall as Big Mac! Applebloom scrambled backwards, tripping on her feet trying to get any distance between her and the creature. She let out a loud shriek.

“HELP!”

Alright, she’s still scared of me, I guess. She seemed fine before I pushed the unlocked door open. Why leave the key if you didn't want me to open the door, jeez. Anyways, absolute terror was pretty easy to recognize in any language so I stopped in my tracks, and flipped the shovel around, grabbing it by the head of the shovel. I stretched my arm out as far as I could and pointed the handle towards her. Hesitantly, and ever so slowly, she stopped neighing/screaming and grabbed her shovel with her teeth. As soon as I felt a firm grip on the other side, I let go.

Good, I made a friendly first impression. Maybe the ponies will warm up to me and let me go or something. As nice as the cage was, it was boring. I smiled and put my hands on my hips, sticking a ‘job well done’ pose, while I thought of the possibilities. Hang on a second, what was that whistling noise? It was getting lou- THWACK

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack sat in the kitchen, enjoying a nice cup of cider and chatting idly while Twilight wrote her letter.

“Do you think we should give the beast a name? Ah’m getting’ a little tired of calling it ‘the beast’” Applejack said.

“Maybe we should call it hard head; it doesn't seem to mind slamming it into as many thing as possible.” Rainbow joked, laughing at her own joke.

Suddenly, they heard a loud shriek coming from the direction of tool shed, no doubt Applebloom.

“RAINBOW!” Applejack yelled.

“I’m on it!” She let go of any restraint and raced to the door. She immediately took to the air and shot across the farm towards the tool shed, silently hoping that she didn't forget to lock the cage. As she neared she could see through the barn door that Applebloom was fending off the beast with a shovel! The creature was bearing its teeth threateningly. Rainbow gave one final pump of her wings, giving herself as much speed as possible and then flipped mid-air, striking a flying kick pose. With a loud THWACK, her hoof connected with the creature's head, sending it spiraling back into its cage. She bucked the door closed and locked the padlock, making sure to take the key with her this time.

“Ow” was my last thought before I blacked out again.

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Author's Note: That is last time I'm going to knock the main character out I swear! Anyways thanks again for reading the chapter i hoped you enjoyed it. I'm trying to keep the lore as cannon as possible but I may mess up from time to time and accidentally change something