Simon is trapped in a crummy fanfiction : The original Last

In this chapter, we see Simon arrive at his destination planet, Simon’s first encounter with the planet’s inhabitants, and the first of many near-fatal injuries. This chapter marks the beginning of Simon’s entrapment in a crummy fanfiction

Simon had apparently blacked out. He was now hanging from a parachute. His nose was bleeding from the sudden change in air pressure. His lungs and skin were shocked by sudden contact with cool, fresh air, and his parachute’s deployment had caused the area around his harness to suffer much pain.

He saw the colour green beneath him. Good, he thought, he could stop worrying about needing to swim. He got his breathing under control, and tried to survey the land beneath him. He guessed it would be another two minutes before he hit the ground.

It looked like he’d be landing in a deciduous forest, though with many places that looked cleared of trees. Looking up he saw some unusual geography: It appeared there was a mountain range, largely devoid of trees, fairly close by. He twisted his head to the right, and was startled to see an enormous mountain, peaked with a pristine white snow cap, so tall in fact that he was already beneath it’s peak…

“Hey”

Simon’s thoughts fell silent. He’d just heard a voice. It sounded close to him. He quickly twisted himself, looking in every direction as quickly as he could, but he did not see the source of the voice.

Until he saw the source of the voice.

It was blue. This was why it had been so hard to see it against the sky. It was a blue…something, flying alongside him on the power of two flapping wings.  It had two enormous purple eyes. And it was six feet away from him.

Don’t Panic, Simon thought.

Simon and the thing locked eyes, studying each other.

One minute until landing

The thing began to drift toward him.

“Don’t panic”, Simon said softly to himself. He was shaking.

It looks harmless. But what if it isn’t? Forty seconds

Closer it came. Simon noticed that, along with it’s sky-blue body, it had hair on its head and a tail that were done up in the full spectrum of colours.

Why risk letting it touch me? Thirty seconds

The thing was close enough to touch and getting closer.

“DON’T PANIC!” Simon shrieked, and swung his legs up right into the thing’s underbelly.

The thing cried in pain and flew straight up, above Simon’s parachute, and out of sight.

Things were tense. Twenty Seconds.

A nasty thought occurred:

What if there’s more of them, and I made them angry? Ten Seconds.

Crap.

Simon landed gracelessly on the forest floor. The parachute enveloped him as he lay prone on the knobby tree roots. He scrambled out from under it and rolled onto his back to look into the sky.

It was hard to see, but Simon was able to make out the thing’s rainbow markings against the sky. It was hovering high above, looking down at him. In an instant it was gone, leaving a trail of colour in its wake.

Simon made several short-term life decisions in one second.

I’m gonna go the other way, and I’m not going to stop until I’m out of that thing’s habitat.

Simon suspected he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Simon unhooked his chute and stood up. He bolted off as fast as he could. He was almost instantly overcome by pain in his leg. He stumbled, and slammed his head into a tree.

Once again, Simon found himself on his back. Now his head was pounding and spinning at the same time. When the stun had worn off from the blow, he propped himself into a sitting position against the tree.

He examined his leg, and sure enough, there was something horribly wrong with it.

His jumpsuit’s pant leg was torn at the cuff, and the exposed skin was deeply cut almost halfway up the calf. It had been open for quite a while, and Simon’s right leg was caked in blood.

Simon had to think about this.

***

Under the thick canopy, the muted din of the Everfree forest was hardly disturbed by the sound of hooves on the soft, wet ground. However, the usual palette of greens, browns and greys was challenged with the passage of five little ponies whose colours clashed with everything around them.

In the lead was a purple unicorn pony, followed by a palomino with a Stetson hat, a bright pink pony without a care in the world, a true white who walked with class even if nopony was looking, and a Pegasus for whom every step forward seemed a terrible ordeal.

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rarity had been celebrating a successful slumber party when the fireball passed overhead. Fluttershy had been helping Rainbow Dash clear away the remnants of last night’s storm when it happened (and sent her scurrying into the safety of a nearby bush), and Pinkie Pie had been nowhere near, hadn’t heard a thing, but felt the strongest twitch in her tail she’d ever felt. That meant that something was falling…and that something might just change somepony’s life forever. She kept this premonition from the others; in fact, she kept it from herself, too: If it was her life that was going to change forever, she wanted it to be a surprise.

Applejack broke the silence, “How’re you doin’ back there, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s response could scarce be heard, “I want to go home”

Rarity slowed down and walked alongside Fluttershy. They all knew that they couldn’t go home until they knew that the fireball that had torn through the sky was not going to put Ponyville in danger.

Though she did not show it, Twilight Sparkle may have been more scared than Fluttershy. Her thoughts were on where the thing had come from.  It’s speed, it’s height, and the dark, sky-spanning streak it left behind made inspired the idea in her that this thing had come from outer space. She’d seen meteor showers before, what if one reached the ground? She even considered the possibility of it carrying life. But in all her reading, there was almost nothing written about life from outer space. She did not consider it the most likely possibility. There were other explanations: Maybe a dragon flying overhead had crashed. She was glad Fluttershy was with them. There were many other possibilities, and some of them made her very scared.

Pinkie Pie’s sudden explosion of laughter made everypony jump, except Fluttershy, who fainted dead away.

Twilight Sparkle was a little annoyed at her friend’s lack of seriousness, “Pinkie, what could possibly be so funny?”

“I’m sorry…” Pinkie gasped for air, laughed some more, and continued, “It’s just that Rainbow Dash has been looking for us for five minutes!”

Pinkie pointed into the foliage. Just visible was Rainbow Dash, weaving in and out from behind the trees, and keenly listening for the sounds of her friends.

“YOO HOO, Dashie! We’re over here!”

Rainbow Dash paused, searched out Pinkie’s voice, saw her friends all lined up and looking right at her, and dropped her head to the ground in embarrassment.