A vacation of consequence

Morning arrived giving a soft chill to the three ponies. The dew from the morning air had caked onto the cover making it damp and causing the three to hang it up to dry. They shared a small breakfast from Dash's saddlebag. An apple each. Before slowly making their way down the side of the large hill they were on into the thicker brush below.

After about three hours of walking they stopped to have another apple to regain their strength. They picked up once again, traveling another three hours before finally stopping at a small stream. They all began to greedily drink the water up, sitting back for an hour to rest before picking up once again to make there trek through the forest.

*SNAP*

All three of them froze in place as the snap of a limb sounded off nearby. They all ducked behind some brush quickly to wait and see what the noise had come from. After about ten minutes of waiting they heard another snap and a small series of cursing. After another couple of minutes they watched, wide eyed, as a large bipedal creature was walking through the woods, a bright orange vest around his torso while the rest of him was camouflaged. A large thin object on his back. They waited for a moment until the creature was out of earshot before speaking.

"What was that?" As Dash as she looked to Twilight for the answer.

"No clue. But at least we know it can talk." She smirked giving a slight blush.

"Yea, if'n ya mean all them dirty words it jes said is talking that is." AJ smirked giving a soft chuckle.

"Well, we don't know if it's dangerous or not. But if it's walking through the woods, then it must live nearby. Maybe we should follow it just in case. But keep your distance." Twilight advised as they all nodded in confirmation.

They kept a good hundred yard distance from the strange creature as they continued following it. Ever so often they would see a small bright orange tag on a tree as they passed by it. The creature was marking its trailed so it wouldn't get lost. After a couple of hours the girls had tired out and it was starting to get later in the evening now. They all ducked into a large bush and pulled out what was left of the torn cover that had been used to make some bandages for AJ. They covered up and slowly began to fall asleep.

XXX

Morning arrived fairly quickly to them as they all awoke to the sounds of their stomachs growling for food. They sat quietly as they all three enjoyed an apple each until they could hear some footsteps crunching through the leaves. It wasn't like yesterday when they followed that strange creature. It was trying to make as little noise as possible as it traveled. Now it was just leisurely walking along like nothing was around to bother it. After waiting for it to get far enough away the girls placed the cover into the saddlebag and began to slowly make their way through the marked path that the creature was following. Four hours later they smelled some smoke from a fire and began to worry until they saw a small home in a clearing nearby. The creature they had followed before had led them directly to its home.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes taking in everything they could see before slowly walking around the treeline to see the rest of the area. They all stopped though when they noticed a greenhouse in the back of the house. It was around twice the size of the house in length along with a large fan that was slowly turning on the end of the building itself to circulate some air into it.

"Girls, this creature is civilized if it has a greenhouse to grow its own food. But why is it out here all alone?" Twilight asked as she could smell fresh vegetables inside the greenhouse from where she stood.

"Ah don't know, but them vegetables smell purty good, an fresh too." AJ smiled as she licked her lips.

"No, it would be wrong to steal from it. what if it is growing them for when it gets colder? You know, food stores for the winter." Twilight sighed.

"But we're hungry, and our food supply won't last more than another day." Dash groaned as she looked into her saddlebag. He stomach already growling from only having a few apples in a twenty-four hour period.

"Fine, but we will have to do it at nightfall when it's asleep. It may be civilized, but it may not take to kindly to seeing us begging for food, much less stealing it." Twilight sighed. "Let's at least eat something now so we can keep our strength up for tonight."

The three mares sat quietly on the edge of the woods next to this creatures home. slowly eating an apple each. Their food stores were now almost depleted and it looked to be in the middle of fall. So that would mean that most of the food, even wild food would be gone. But running across a creature that knew how to grow and harvest food, and have a greenhouse meant that their luck was looking a little better. As the day pressed on into night the girls sat and waited as the cold chill of the night air slowly began to set in causing them to shiver slightly.

"A-alright, AJ stay h-here while Dash and I go in and grab some food. Your still hurt so no complaining." Twilight spoke out in a shiver.

AJ gave a nod as she watched her two friends slowly make their way toward the greenhouse. Watching every step to avoid any sudden snapping branches or loud crushing of leaves they finally arrived at the door. Twilight slowly reach up with her mouth to grip the handle and slowly turned it. As she pulled it open though a loud alarm sounded of in an ear piercing squall, floodlights turned on all around the property to fully illuminate the area.

"RUN!" Twilight shouted as they both took off into the forest, AJ slowly making her way behind them. They stopped however as the alarm turned off and the creature came back out of the house in just a pair of boxer shorts and a thicker looking stick that it was holding in its hands and pressing part of it to its shoulder. It moved its hand once on part of the large black stick making a click click sound as it rounded the house to the greenhouse.

The girls watched as it looked at the door, gripping the handle before pulling its hand away and flicking it in disgust as Twilight's saliva remained on the handle.

"What the hell is this?" It shouted looking at the stringy liquid. It pulled its hand up to its face taking a sniff. "Apples? What the hell has apples for lunch out in the middle of the forest? I didn't even know there was an apple tree around here." It laughed as it pressed a button on the stick and placed it over its shoulder.

The creature suddenly turned around as one of the girls stepped on a twig letting a loud snap echo through the area. The creature turned around bringing the stick up to its shoulder pointing it directly into the darkness at the girls. He couldn't see them due to the blinding floodlights but shouted at them none the less.

"Whoever you are, if your hungry or hurt then you can come out. I'm not going to hurt you if your willing to show yourself. But if your just some little punk out in the woods to cause me problems." He pointed the stick into the air and pulled a small trigger.

*BLAM*

The girls fell to the ground holding their ears in pain as they rang from the sudden noise. After a few seconds they watched the creature pull its hand up to its ear and give a finger a little wiggle inside of it before speaking again.

"As I said, if your some punk that wants to cause me problems, then your dead." It spoke before going back into its home.

"Girls, I think we may have to forget about this and just go scavenging for food. It would be far less dangerous." Twilight sighed looking to the ground as her stomach growled.

"But it said if we're hurt or hungry to come out. It might feed us or help us if we do it." Dash sighed hearing her belly growl.

"Yea sugar cube, am not feeling to well either. This wounds a'festering something fierce. Ah feel a bit light headed to." AJ sighed giving her head a shake only to fall over from being so dizzy.

Twilight sat there looking at her friends, both cold, hungry, and one injured. She had to risk it, to help them. She gave a nervous swallow as she slowly walked out and into the light. She rounded the house and picked up a small rock in her hoof as she hid behind the front of the porch. After taking a few breaths she held one as she chucked the rock at the door letting it bang against it. She waited for a minute before doing it several more times until she heard the sound of footfalls within the house. The door slowly opened as the man stepped out with his weapon pointed toward the ground.

"Whose there?! Like I said before. If your hurt or hungry I don't mind helping. But if your some smart ass, your pushing your luck. Their ain't no cops around here and I will kill you unless you show yourself!" It shouted in a deep voice.

Twilight sat there giving a hard gulp as she spoke up. "Please, don't hurt us, I have an injured friend, and we're all hungry."

She peaked through the thickened banister surrounding the porch seeing the creatures vision fall to where she was.

"Young lady, If your friend is hurt then why are you hiding? And why is your friend not out in the open to prove this?" He asked as his expression softened a bit.

"We're, different from you. We're afraid that you'll harm us or worse if you see us." Twilight said feeling even more nervous.

"As long as you show me your hands while your coming out, I promise you that I will not harm you." He chuckled.

"Hands? Um...... That would be a problem, because I don't........ have hands." Twilight said, still looking through the hole at the creature. His face contorted to that on confusion.

"Ok, then what do you have then?" He laughed slightly.

"Hooves." She spoke out rather bluntly.

"Hooves............. BAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAAA. That's a good one. Alright then, show me your hooves and come on out." He continued to chuckle until he saw a pair of purple hooves slowly press out from the corner of the porch over the stairs.

"Am I still safe?" She asked feeling ready to almost pass out from being so nervous.

"Jesus, I've been out here to long." He laughed. "Yea, come on out." He said as he watched Twilight slowly place her fore hooves onto the stairs and make her way out, fully exposing herself.

"My friend is hurt, I think her wound is setting up a bad infection. Can you help her?" Twilight asked seeing him stare blankly at her before he sat down in a heap.

"Yep, I must have gone insane, because now there is a talking purple unicorn standing on my porch asking for help. Ah well, might as well enjoy my insanity." He laughed as he placed his shotgun onto his back. "Lead the way my dear."

Twilight smiled as she lead the way to the edge of the forest next to the mans home. "AJ, Dash, He said he would help us."

"You said your friend was hurt, you didn't say there was a third member to your group." The man snorted toward Twilight.

"Sorry, there are only the three of us. AJ is hurt." She shivered slightly as her breath flowed out in a soft white mist.

The headed toward the other two ponies, Dash standing defensively in front of AJ.

"Easy Dash, he's here to help." Twilight said as she pushed on Dash.

"I don't trust him, that loud stick he has hurt." She snorted.

"I have some idiots showing up sometimes that want to do stupid things while on my property. Your just lucky you showed yourself instead of me shooting you when I would have eventually caught you." He snapped back as he walked forward. "Now let me see your friend. This'n said she was hurt."

Dash stepped aside giving a loud snort as the man kneeled down to take a look at AJ.

"Howdy there, sorry fer tresspassing'n'all." AJ groaned as the man began to pull the bandage away to look at the wound.

"A southern gal huh, well don't choo worry none my dear, ah'll have ya right as rain in no time. Now brace yerself, these wounds are bad so ah'm gonna pick ya up an take ya inside to clean and redress this wound. I'm not sure if you can take any anti-biotics though since they were made for...........well............. humans." He said as he gently picked her up, she giving a pained groan as carried her like he would a human girl. He had to pull her farther up onto his chest though and lock his fingers together so that he would not brush against the wound. This brought her rather close to his face. He gave her a smile seeing her blush a little before looking away.

"Thank ya kindly fer this." She spoke out softly.

"Not a problem my dear. I'm not about to turn away an injured......" He trailed off as he looked down to her.

"Pony." Twilight spoke up from his side.

"I was thinking horse since ya'll look just like'm, but pony works too." He smirked as they arrive on the porch, he giving his door a quick boot as it opened from the impact.

As he entered, Twilight and Dash hesitated for a moment before coming in and closing the door. They watched, following close behind as the man took AJ into the bathroom and placed her onto a large table, using his arm to brush everything off of it and into the laundry bin that was next to it. He reached over flicking a switch, turning on all the lights in the room as he began to quickly examine the wound.

"Hmmmmm, looks like its set up with some slight infection. What got a hold of you girl?" He asked as he pulled away and began to gather a few items to treat and dress the wound.

"Well, one of our camping items was damaged and exploded the other day. She was caught in the blast." Twilight spoke up looking away. Saddened that she had caused her friend so much pain.

"So that explosion was from you three? How far from here was it?" He asked as he was setting up the items on the sink nearby.

"Around tens hours walking time." Dash spoke up as she watched him work.

"Dang, no wonder your worse for wear sugar." He spoke up giving her a cocked brow.

"Yea, ah'm a might sore. Think ya can help a'tall?" She sighed.

"Yes, but your not going to enjoy this." He sighed back as he pulled out a small piece of rope and held it out. "You might want to bite this. And you two might want to cover your ears."

"Why? What are you going to do to her?!" Dash shouted at him while scrapping a hoof on the floor.

"I am going to clean and dress her wound, but I also need to see if anything is embedded in it, which will require me to go into it. If I had a wait to knock her out without hurting her then I would do that so she wouldn't be in pain." He sighed while looking at her expression of horror.

"AJ right?" He asked while looking down at her with a smile, placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Yea." She replied looking worried.

"My names Jake. I need you do a favor for me and keep very still while I do this. And please for the love of God don't kick me. I know ponies can kick pretty hard, and I'm not built to take punishment." He smiled softly to her. "If you think you can't keep yourself from bucking me sideways, I do have some rope and can restrain you if you want."

"No, ah'm a big pony, ah can handle some pain." She groaned before picking up and biting into the rope.

"Girls, I'm going to have to ask you to step outside please, I know she's yer friend, but I have a feeling your instincts are going to make you want to save her when you hear her yelling."

Twilight nodded as she pushed a reluctant Dash out the door. Jake closing it behind them as he walked back over to AJ who took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Ah'm ready when you are." She gulped.

"I'll try to be as quick and as gentle as I can be. Just remember not to kick me." He smiled down to her as he removed her hat, placing it to the side. Then giving her a comforting pet. She gave a nod as she bit into the rope again bracing herself.