Twilight winced as she felt the pressure of the bandage wrap being tightly pressed and wound against her injured foreleg. She sat on a bed that had been placed in the room that she had designated as the medical suite of her castle. In the room with her were Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike, the latter of whom was applying the bandage to Twilights hoof with a look of concern and confusion.

“Really Twilight, you should get a rabies shot! Who knows what kind of diseases that feral animal that bit you was carrying!” suggested a concerned Rarity. Twilight however knew that the creature that had bitten her was anything but a wild animal.
‘What is a human doing on this side of the portal?’ she questioned to herself. She recalled her time on the other side of the mirror. How when she had stepped through, her body had been warped and twisted into the form of a human. The people in that alternate reality were alien in form, and yet so very similar to the ponies of Equestria. THIS human though was…different. She had noted the differences when she first laid eyes on them.

Their eyes were much smaller than the humans at Canterlot High, more…predatory. They were dark, beady, and without facets. Twilight remembered when their eyes made contact. The humans expression was terror stricken as if they expected that they were about to be ripped to shreds by a pack of timber wolves. Twilight also noticed that the humans legs seemed to be much shorter than the humans she was familiar with. And its skin…there was something different about it. And not just the pigment, there was an odd texture about it, rough and course. And that wasn’t even bringing the scars into account. Every portion of exposed skin that Twilight could see was marred with scars that told a story. A story that made the princess shudder. All and all, if there was one word she would use to describe the human, it was…uncanny.

“We lost it!” All eyes were cast to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they entered the room. Rainbow was visibly frustrated while Fluttershy looked apprehensive and concerned. “That monster ran into the Everfree! I can’t believe it managed to out run me! ME! Rainbow Dash, fastest Pegasus in Equestria!”

“We should organize a search party to capture that dreadful beast! Who knows what it might do! It already took a bite out of poor Twilight! What if has a taste for pony flesh!” decried Rarity.

“Ah can set up some traps, we can try to snare the varmint!” suggested Applejack.

“That might not be a good idea. We don’t know that that…thing, is capable of!” interjected Starlight.

“That wasn’t a thing. It was a human,” explained Twilight.

“A what?” questioned Rainbow quizzically.

“A human? A human BIT you?” Asked Spike.

“A what?” Questioned Applejack.

“A human,” she continued with a nod to Spike. “You all remember those trips I took to the other side of the mirror portal, right?” Everyone except Starlight nodded in agreement.

“You did what now?” she asked.

“Shortly after I became an Alicorn, we visited the Crystal Empire. There was a magical mirror there that functioned as a portal to another world. Princess Celestia’s former student, Sunset Shimmer had been living in the other world and came through in order to steal my crown. I followed her through and ended up in some sort of parallel dimension. It was like Equestria, except there wasn’t any magic. And instead of a pony, I was this tall lanky creature called a human.”

“I was a dog, for some reason,” interjected Spike.

“So that thing was from that world?” questioned Rarity.

“Well…I’m not so sure,” responded Twilight. The other side of the mirror was really just an alternate version of Equestria. You all had human counterparts. Honestly our counterparts look a lot like us. Their skin is the same color as our fur, they have the same mane styles, they even match our voices and personalities. But this human was…different.”

“Different how?” asked Applejack.

“Little details,” remarked Twilight. “The eyes were different. They were smaller, and didn’t have facets. It’s skin was…rougher, it’s proportions were a little off too. I’m not sure exactly what makes them so different. I guess a little bit of research might be in order.”

“But Twilight, if a human went through the portal, wouldn’t they turn into a pony?” Asked Spike.

“That’s what makes me think this human might not be from the same place I went to. Something about this just doesn’t add up,” Twilight pondered.

“Wait, so that wasn’t just some wild animal, but a sentient being?” questioned Starlight. Twilight nodded.

“But it bit’cha!” pointed out Applejack.

“Indeed, if it is a sentient creature then it’s clearly crazed!” said Rarity.

“Yeah, it punched me in the head! I’m totally going to kick it’s ass next time I see it!”

“Wait, I don’t think-“ Twilight attempted to interrupt.

“We need to capture it!” declared Rarity.

“And throw it a party!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Now hold on a-“ Twilight again tried to cut in.

“Let’s hog tie it and send it to the dungeons!” asserted Applejack. Before Twilight could try to redirect, it was Fluttershy of ponies who spoke up.

“Now hold on just a minute!” Everyone in the room looked to her in surprise.

“Didn’t you all see the poor thing? It was TERRIFIED! Of us! When we were all crowded around it, it looked like it was about to have a panic attack! Then we chased it and backed it into a corner! Who knows what it was going through! It was so desperate to get away that it jumped through a window!” The ponies all seemed to consider this, a few heads dipping in shame.

“Fluttershy is right,” said Twilight. Humans are just like us, they have societies, family and friendship! This human though…” Twilight’s eyes drifted down to the ground as a look of a feeling of growing dread creeped upon her. “They were scarred. Didn’t you see? It’s skin…it looked like it had been cut and burned…I don’t know what happened to them, but I have a hard time imagining something like that could happen at Canterlot High. This human…this human has gone through something horrible. And we need to help them!” Twilight announced straightening up. The girls, and Spike, all straightened up to listed to their friend and leader.

“They ran into the Everfree. That forest is dangerous, the human could get seriously hurt or worse in there! We need to find them! We’re not trying to capture them, we need to let them know we’re friendly and just want to help! We need to extend the magic of friendship to them!” The girls, rallied by Twilights speech all nodded in determined agreement.

“Come on girls! Let’s show that human that they have nothing to fear from us!”

Cold metal presses against your back. Thick leather straps tie you down to the table. It’s dark. You look down at your body as tiny metal pincers pull at your skin. You try to shake free. It doesn’t work. The table begins to extend, pulling your limbs and stretching you out like a rubber band. You stretch out nearly twenty feet.

“Experiment.” You hear a robotic female voice say. In front of you is a winged horned creature. It stands on cracked hooves, it’s body cloaked in darkness. The only facial features you can make out are the glowing eyes and perfectly white teeth.

“Time to take some samples,” the monster utters without emotion. Metal pliers grip onto the tips of your fingers, and swiftly pull off one of your finger nails. The nail floats into a glass vial, which corks itself and disappears. Next the pliers maneuver into your mouth, sliding one of your teeth out of your gums. Your blood floats in the air as if gravity were non existent. Magical vials capture both the tooth and the blood.

You try to scream and cry out, but no sound is produced. Multiple sets of eyes form in the blackness that surrounds you and observe you like a piece of meat. The evil beings’ hoof morphs into an eagle like claw, reaches down to your arm and pinches off a piece of your skin, which in turn floats into a vial.

“Very good,” utters the demon. “You’re contribution to science is greatly appreciated. But we are only just beginning.” It reaches its claws towards your face, obscuring your vision.

You bolt upright and scream. Sweat pours down your face, and you quickly get to your feet. Your ankle buckles from under you and you collapse forward in pain. You let out another pained groan as hit the forest floor.

“Fuck,” you grunt through grit teeth. You turn over and sit on your rear and observe your surroundings. You see trees surrounding you in all directions. You take a deep breath and look down to your ankle. You pull your pant leg up to see it is bruised and swollen. You take a deep breath and try not to scream out again.

‘Of course. God damn it! What do I do now?' you question. You look upwards to see the bits of sky that are visible through the leaves of the trees. It’s still daylight out. You weren’t unconscious for long. The ponies haven’t found you yet, but they are surely in pursuit.

‘I gotta get out of here!’ You position yourself on all fours, and stand, lifting yourself with your uninjured leg while balancing to keep all the pressure off of your injured one. You hop towards a nearby tree and use it for balance.

“There’s no way I can out run them now.” You look around once again. “If a predator finds me, I’m dead. If the ponies find me, I’m worse than dead. I can find a place to hide, but if I want to survive….” Realization dawns on you. How ARE you going to survive? You’re stranded in the woods, with no weapons, you’re injured and you have a squad of magical ponies hunting you down. You can’t run, you can’t fight….

“I can’…I can’t do anything….” You slowly slink back down to the ground, leaning against the tree. “I’m fucked….” Maybe you’d be able to sneak into Ponyville at night to steal supplies. But had no idea which direction you’d come from, and even if you did, in your condition you couldn’t even walk, let alone sneak or run if you were caught.

Your eyes drifted down, and you looked at your arms. The cuts weren’t bleeding as much anymore but, but the red ichor stained your skin. Predators could smell that from a mile away. You were a sitting duck, just waiting for death to come and claim you.

“Maybe…maybe that’s for the best. Maybe that’s my only way out.” Tears started to fall as you began to cry. “J-just my luck. I get my second chance, and it’s already over! Ha…ha ha! Ironic!” in your crying you start to laugh as the absurd cruelty of your circumstances finally starts to break down your mind. You laugh and cry, thumping your head against the tree back that you’re resting against. “Come and get me Timberwolves! You’ve got a free meal Manticores!” Maybe you’d get lucky and be happened upon by a Cockatrice. From what you understood, being turned to stone was just like going to sleep. That might honestly be your best bet. You continue to laugh and cry. “I’m ready…I’m fucking ready!”

“So you’re just going to give up? Pathetic.”

Author's Note

Hello, here are more words
Buymeacoffee or KO-FI