Ripples

YET ANOTHER AUTHOR’S NOTE

Okay, actually, I’m kidding. Just wanted to say: yes, I know I have an overabundance of author’s notes. Just remember this: I’m bored, I’m crazy, and I’m slightly insane. This should be the last for a while, as long as I can control mysPINKIE PIE WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOU-ahem, uh, sorry.- WinCamXP, 1/87/94, 54:82QM

CHAPTER 5

The outside world

Outside was...different. I wasn't used to the open space...then again, I wasn't really used to anything. The grass was a dull beige, the sky had many clouds. Rocks dotted the landscape, and the only things I could see was a really creepy looking forest in one direction, mountains in another, and...I won't think about it. It's quite literally behind me now. I just have to walk. There was a group of four or five ponies walking towards the mountains. Two were only children, and were bouncing in joy. I was happy for them. But myself? I don't know.I suppose walking towards the open field between the mountains and forest wasn't too bad an idea. I began walking. It was a very long walk, quite uneventful. The only thing that I found of any importance was the amazing creatures I saw. Majestic flying things flew in large groups overhead, small animals scurried around in the grass. Every time I tried to approach them, however, they would run away. Could they talk? Were they scared? I didn't know.I began getting hungry along my walk. What did I like to eat? I really don't know. I was about to head into the nearby forest (this one not nearly as ominous as that last one) when I spotted something in the distance. It was to my left, against the mountains. I couldn't have seen this before, it was too far around the mountain. The strange sight was much too far to make any sense of, but it didn't look like it was part of the landscape. For a lack of anywhere else to go, I started walking towards it. You know, this walking shit is really boring. I had no idea what I did before...it...happened, but it sounded a lot worse than this. I didn't remember it, though, so I couldn't make an accurate comparison. Fuck amnesia.Well, I walked. And walked. The strange form started taking shape, forming...buildings? No...I thought...what? But how? Granted, they didn’t look very fancy, but...how? I walked ever closer. Why must walking be so monotonous and boring? My legs got more and more sore with each step. I try not to think about it. Nope. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch OH JUST FUCKING GET THERE ALREAD-I slammed face-first into the side of one of the buildings, falling over onto the ground and adding to my collection of painful body parts. A big crash sounded from the other side of this strange flimsy metal wall, sending shattering pain into my eardrums. Will this ever end?“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE?!” a very strong, masculine-sounding voice boomed from inside, further torturing my eardrums. Something slammed near the side of the building, amplifying my searing headache. I could barely see as my vision was very blurry, but an enormous black pony stepped from the side of the house. He almost looked angry, but how am I supposed to tell when I have a throbbing headache while laying in the dirt on my side?“Another one of you fucking retards? How many of you are there?” he asked very harshly. All I could manage was “Unnnngh”.“Wake up, dammit. Who are you?” he yelled, clearly not happy with my lack of response."Loste," I finally managed."I said who are you, I know you're fucking LOST!""My name is Loste," I told him."Hmph. Fitting," he commented. "So what brings you to my town? Because we barely have enough food to feed ourselves, hardly any ammo for the few weapons we have, and nopony gives two shits about us."I finally got to my hooves. "Well, I suppose you can say I really am lost...""Wonderful. Well, you and all your annoying friends better high-tail it outta here before anypony else gets mad, because we don't take nicely to visitors," he told me."They're not my friends," I told him."Well then who the fuck are they?" He asked, clearly rather mad."I don't fucking know!" I yelled."Well where did you come from?!" He yelled back."Over that way!" I screeched, pointing a hoof towards the side of the mountain I came from."You're fucking with me. Nopony lives in that abandoned city, especially not after what happened, oh, a hundred years ago? I thought I heard a while back it has some kind of magic barrier and shit that kills on contact. We're the closest settlement to it because there's nowhere else we can live for miles." he explained.I remembered what happened very clearly...it was all I remembered."Well, let's just say it isn't exactly abandoned," I said. "And I think I may have something to do with our sudden arrival..."He looked at me doubtfully for a moment, and continued, "So tell me. Why the hell would anypony live exactly where the Great Fucking-Up originated?"I put off the 'Great Fucking-Up' in my bin of things to think about later, and retorted. "Because maybe we had no choice?""Did your grandparents get stuck in there or something?" he continued questioning."I think Parasprite Technologies got stuck in there, along with countless slaves!" I yelled, furious at his doubt. Wait, were they actually stuck? Another thing in the bin.“Are you fucking with me?” he asked, still not convinced.“Why would I? What do I have to gain by making up stories?” I retaliated.He pondered for a moment. “To make others pity you and give you free shit?”“I never asked for anything.”He stared at me for a moment. “Hmph. Well, what are we gonna do about you retards? There’s nothing to feed you and nowhere close by to go.”I looked at the nearby forest. Could you get food in forests? More crap in the bin. “Any food in that forest?”“I...n...well, uh, I don’t know...” he stammered.“So you live right next to a pretty big forest, and you’ve never gone inside it?” I questioned."Well, uh, you see, nopony though it was safe-""Safe? What's scaring you, uh, birds?" I interrupted. What would live in a forest? Hell if I know. Bin item number 4.He paused, clearly stunted by my reasoning (could you call that reasoning?)."Well, if it's so safe, then why don't you go get us some goddamn food?" he asked. I didn't ask for this..."I...uh, okay..." I hesitantly accepted. What, how was I supposed to disagree?"Well, then get the fuck out there!" he said, stomping his hoof."N- now?" I asked, confused by the sudden-ness of the situation."Yes, now!""You could ask a little more nicel-""I. Said. NOW!" he screamed, turned around and delivered a blow to my face with his hind legs that hurt more than anything I could remember. I flew fifty feet minimum, and landed outside the town thing, skidding to a stop. I scraped my sides, and my leg was bleeding. I got the first good look at the town thing. Five rusty shacks made from metal sheets, bricks and other assorted crap stood haphazardly in a circle against the mountain. In the center was a rusty old bench missing two legs, and an orange earth pony was sitting on it, looking around with a confused expression. I heard a bang from one of the buildings, and a yellow unicorn bolted out of the door, hiding behind the next building. Seemed like a nice town. At least they were free...The thought sent a shudder down my spine. I didn't even remember it, but somehow I still felt some pain from it. Like I remembered a single feeling from before...pain. Torture. This was the first sign of anything from the old me being left over. It hurt.I shook myself, and then turned around to enter the forest. It wasn't too big, I could see either end in the distance. It almost looked inviting, like it wanted me. I walked in.Nature stretched around me like nothing I had ever seen before. Insects crawled the trees, animals made strange noises, small creatures scurried around my hooves. This seemed somehow eerily peaceful, in a strange, unknown kind of way. I walked further inward. A river flowed through the forest, cutting off my travels. A fallen tree bridged the gap, which was oddly convenient. I trotted over and put a hoof on it. It creaked and groaned. Maybe that isn't such a great idea...I followed the river away from the log. A bird flew right by me, blowing wind in my face. My stomach growled, fiercely this time. I needed to find that food. After following the strange river, I found a patch of bushes. On the bushes were strange pink balls, some fallen on the ground and decaying. Was this food? I caught a glance at a woodland creature running away with one, just before it ran behind a tree. Was it really this easy? Surely there would be some kind of danger, right? Evil beasts defending the food? Rabid forest animals? Sentient, evil, thorny plants? Nothing seemed to want to kill me, so I bent down and grabbed one of the pink things in my mouth.Yum. All I can say is yum. The sweetness flooded my mouth, sending feelings of pure joy down my throat. I chewed and swallowed, unable to wait for more. I had already ate four more when I heard a shout."DIE, FUCKER!!" it shouted. A large bang sounded, pounding my eardrums. Another voice responded."THEN GIVE BACK OUR FUCKING LEADER!" it yelled.Another bang, this one closer. I heard rustling nearby, and I dived into the bush of heaven and looked out. It was itchy in here. I also began feeling a sneeze. Suddenly, a blue unicorn flew out of the bushes nearby. Blood stained his face, his body dotted with bloody holes. His hair was brown with orange streaks. The sneeze was inching ever closer...not good...He noticed the strange food, and reached quickly to grab some. Just as he was preparing to run off, the sneeze unleashed and made him jump. He looked into the bushes, into my eyes.“And who the fuck might you be?” he asked. “You don’t have no scars like them Goddess-damned rebels, and I can’t tell while you’re in a bush but I don’t see their branding on you anywhere.”“WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO?!” a very angry voice yelled from nearby. Rebels...? Bin item five.The buck hurriedly continued, “Look, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got some really persistent rebels after my tail, so I should get goi-”“THERE YOU ARE!” the voice interrupted, even closer this time. Another sharp boom sounded, and red sprayed from somewhere on Anti-Rebel’s flank, causing him to whimper in pain. I stayed hidden, holding my breath.“So, thought you’d stop and get somethin’ to eat? Retard!” said the same voice, and a red earth pony buck walked up to the blue one. “Wait ‘till Captain hears about you and yer little hunting mission!” he said with a grin. He bent over to his side, and withdrew some strange L-shaped metal thing in his mouth.“Please,” the anti-rebel buck whimpered. “I have a family!”“Well, they probably won’t see ya again, doesn’t stop them from bein’ yer family.” the red buck said, muffled by the metal thing. He pointed it somewhere near Anti-Rebel’s legs, and did something with his mouth that made it go ‘boom’ again, making Anti-Rebel scream and my ears ring. He repeated this three more times, followed by more screaming and ear-ringing.“I’ll just leave ya here, nopony comes in this forest, them Ashrus ponies are too stupid to even look for food...no wonder they’re starvin’,” the rebel commented, delivered a kick to Anti-Rebel’s flank, and promptly trotted away.What did he do to him? I waited a few minutes, in case they came back. They didn’t, so I slowly crawled out of the bush. I am so itchy right now.Anti-Rebel coughed. “Why are you...still here?” he said, his voice raspy and feeble.“What was I supposed to do? Run out here and...” I looked at the holes all over his legs. “...get hurt really bad?”He coughed again. “Fair enough.” He let out yet another long, wet cough. “Please, bandage these wounds.” Another cough. “Th...those leaves should...be...fine” He wheezed, looking at the bushes.“Well, I’m not exactly trained in medical care, but I’ll do the best I can,” I said. I tore a mouthful of leaves from the food bush thing, and gently put the pile on one of the holes, and began walking to get more.“No, you...idiot,” he rasped. “Tie them...” With what, exactly? I returned to the bush, looking for something to tie it down with. How do you tie something? I’ll find out. I found a long, thin branch, and yanked it. As it pulled free, it tore a gash across my cheek, spurting blood. I let out a whimper. I dragged it over to his body, and set the branch on the pile of leaves on his leg. I tucked its sides under his leg, but he coughed again and it fell off.“You’re...h- hopeless...” he stated.“Not disagreeing with you there,” I stated flatly.“Just get... the fuck out of here, let me die,” he wheezed, and let out a long raspy sigh.“Well, uh, if that’s what you want,” I said, quizzical as to his eagerness to give up and die. I had just turned around to leave. Yet another very loud voice sounded nearby.“The hell? Who are you?!” it yelled, followed by another one of those sharp bangs and pain exploding in my right flank. Fuck, that hurt! I turned my head towards the voice, and I saw three ponies. Two were covered in silver metal armor, obscuring almost all of their features. The one in between them was gray with green eyes, and his hair was short, a rusty orange with green tips. He looked mad...but not at me.“You idiot, don’t shoot until we know who they are!” he yelled at the guard to his left. The guard flinched back, whispered something too quiet to hear, and then ran off. The other guard sighed. The gray pony walked over towards me.“Looks like you have an injured Resistor. Did you do this?” he said, motioning towards the anti-rebel buck.I shook my head. My flank was burning right now.“Didn’t think so, you don’t look like a rebel...actually, you look awfully clean, aside from that gash on your face,” he observed, studying me. I finally noticed what he was. He had wings. A pegasus?! How? ...actually, were pegasi normal? I haven’t seen one, but that doesn’t say much...bin thingy six.“Are you lost?” He asked. I nodded. The...Resistor coughed. I’m going to need some explanation. Like, a lot. Resistors? Rebels? Does this have anything to do with PT? Bin items number 7, 8, and 9, I suppose. It’s a complex of confusing topics!He stared for a moment, and grunted. “Come with me.” He turned around and began walking back the way he came. He kicked the Resistor as he passed by him, unleashing a groan of pain. I began following him and his guard through the forest. As we were walking, he said, “Call me Captain.”