To the Dogs

Chapter 1: Intrusion
Back when I was a naive, young lad, I lived with my mother and my sister in Ponyville. I'd never gotten to meet my father, who was killed in a dreadful flying accident when I was just a little foal. Once I graduated from school, I began to wonder why I hadn't obtained my cutie mark yet. For two whole years I walked around town with a blank flank. The bullies in town were relentless, and I began to enter a wave of deep depression.

One day, I had finally taken all I could stand. I decided to leave Ponyville behind me, and live the life of a frontier pony. After several difficult goodbyes, I took my luggage and hopped onto a westbound freight train. I went for miles, past many forests and lakes. I stayed on board until the train had to make an emergency stop in the Whitetail Woods. It was then that my moment had come. I knew in my heart that this was going to be my destiny.

For once in my life, I was free. I had escaped the bonds of modernity. No more cities, no more roads, and certainly no more bullies. It was just me and the forest. There was nopony in sight for miles around. It was then that realization kicked in. My life was now in my own hooves. I had nopony to look out for me, nopony to care for me. The only companions I had were what Celestia had given to ponykind, the trees and the animals.

After the first few months, I had built my own slice of heaven. I had a toasty, wooden cabin, a flourishing garden, and all of the trees I would ever need. It was just what I had been looking for, a place to call my own. At that moment, it seemed as if nothing could ever go wrong. The best part was that I had finally gotten my cutie mark, a small hatchet. Life was perfect.

After the first year went by, however, things began to change. I began to miss my mother, my sister, and Ponyville. I knew that I couldn't go back, but after the homesickness began to set in my heart started to ache. Winter was coming.

I had an ample supply of firewood ready for the big freeze. I'd been stocking up all throughout the fall in preparation for it. However, no matter how much wood I burned, it never seemed to thaw the bitterness I felt within my heart. I felt so alone that December. I remember wondering about what my family was doing on Hearth's Warming Eve. I felt so guilty for leaving them behind. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the empty feeling I had inside.

I recall of one night in particular that was especially bad. It was in the middle of January, and there was a massive blizzard that covered the land. Thick blankets of snow painted the landscape, and the naked trees stood lifeless under uncaring sheets of ice. I remember sitting down in this very chair, staring into the the red, glowing embers of the dancing blaze. That night, I cried myself to sleep right by the fireplace. It seems, however, that my despair was determined to follow me into my slumber. I was haunted by many nightmares that night, dreams of loss and suffering. I can think of one specifically that stood out above the rest. It was in this dream that I saw my mother and sister sobbing frantically, as our old house was engulfed by monstrous flames. I will never forget the sorrow and terror I saw in their eyes that night.

It was dark the following morning. There was no sun, and there were no birds singing. There was nothing but a deathly silence consuming the mountainside. As I walked through the skeletal forest, I noticed a trail of rather large paw prints. My initial thoughts were of ravenous timberwolves rummaging for whatever scraps of meat they could find. With fears of carnivorous beasts prowling for fresh prey, I soon began to panic and gallop back towards the cabin.

Once I was inside, I began to relax a little bit. The fears of timberwolves quickly evaded me, but were soon replaced by a disturbing realization. There was a very large trail of water leading over to the lit fireplace. As I slowly tilted my head towards the flames, my mouth widened in terror. Laying on the floor was the biggest canine I had ever laid my eyes on. My first thought was to run, but I soon realized that there was no place for me to run to. The beast was inside of my house, and I had to defend it.

Using my magic, I picked up the closest axe I could find. I silently made my way over to the sleeping creature. His thick grey fur was soaking wet. It was as if he'd managed to fall into a pond or something. As innocent as he seemed resting on my floor, I knew in my heart that letting him awaken was a great risk to my own safety. I then fired myself up, as I slowly drew back the sharp, steel blade. At that moment, the dog's eyes opened in a flash. I froze in terror, as the large, orange eyes looked up at me. Before I could make any movement, he made a desperate sprint out the door, into the cold wasteland. I then felt terribly guilty, seeing as the dog obviously had no intentions of malice. He just wanted to shield himself from the outside. Without thinking, I made mad dash after the poor mutt, dropping my axe on the floor.

"Hey!", I screamed. "Please come back! I don't mean you any harm!" There was no response. I then realized that I had scared him more than he'd scared me. This made me feel even more guilty. "Hey!", I shouted again. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

After several attempts at trying to call the dog back, I eventually gave up and started to return home. Karma, it would seem, had it out for me at that moment. The last thing I can remember, was sliding on a large patch of ice into a tree.

When I finally woke up, I found that I was laying in my own bed. Had it all been a dream? Was the dog just another one of my hideous nightmares? It was then that I heard four words I would never forget.

"Is little pony okay?"