Steel Hearts

"Oof!"

Crystal looked back at the root that had tripped her. She growled. This was the third time she had tripped in the last half hour. She was getting sick of all this nature. Soon I'll be at the campsite, then I'll be able to finally get to work, she thought.

After a few more minutes of walking, she came across a small clearing with a few tents set up. If she didn't know better, she would think that somepony was still camping here. A pile of firewood rested by the still-smouldering fire pit. A glass half-full of water rested on a picnic table, a half eaten oat dog lying on a plate beside it.

Crystal took out her notepad and pencil and scribbled a few notes down. The entire campsite felt strange, a feeling of dread in the air. The campsite itself was a big contradiction. On the one hoof, the fact that nothing seemed disturbed made it seem like the ponies left on their own free will. On the other hoof, however, there was uneaten food left here. The fire was just now dying down and there was still a pile of unused firewood.

Crystal carefully trotted toward one of the tents, unzipped the flap, and poked her head in. A messy sleeping bag lay on the ground, with an open book lying on top, unread. "Well, nothing interesting in here..." she muttered as she pulled her head from out of the tent.

It seemed that nothing could be gained from staying at this campsite. Crystal decided to go and investigate another one of the abandoned sites. Just as she turned around, however, something in the smouldering ashes of the fire pit caught her eye. A shiny glint, just for a brief second as she turned.

Crystal trotted over to the fire pit, looking for the object that caused the glint. After a few moments of searching, she spotted it, hiding under the half burnt remains of a log, mostly buried in ash. She reached for it, but the ashed burned her hoof, and she withdrew it with a yelp.

After rubbing her burned hoof for a few minutes, she looked around for something to extinguish the glowing-red ash and spotted the glass of water. "That'll do nicely..." she said, getting up and grabbing the glass. The smoke that rose up from the ash once she doused it in water was enough to make her choke and cough. "Ugh, things are not going my way today," she muttered.

Crystal picked up the object from the now mostly cool ashes and held it up in front of her face. A shiny metal object rested on her hoof. "What are you?" she muttered. The object was as small as a coin, and looked a little like the objective lenses of a microscope. It looked like a normal metal, but felt much lighter than it should have.

Crystal dropped the object into her saddlebags. She would give it a good look over later on, but now she was going to go investigate the second abandoned campsite.

As she turned, Crystal saw a shadow move in the corner of her eye. Her breath caught in her throat as the feeling of dread intensified. She didn't know why, and she didn't know how, but she had the feeling she was being watched.

And whoever was watching didn't like her very much.

Crystal quickly turned towards the path and scampered out of the campsite.

The creature watched as the pony sifted through the remains of the fire pit, searching for... something. It wondered what she could possibly have found in there. Surely it was nothing of importance?

Just as the mare pulled something out of the ash, the creature was distracted by a movement on the other side of the campsite. A rustling in the bushes. Too large to be a rabbit or other small animal. The creature decided it was worth investigating. It would wait until the policemare left, then go and investigate.

The mare left the area a few minutes later, heading in the direction of the next campsite. The creature stealthily made its way out of the bushes and proceeded to creep towards the opposite end of the campsite. Just as it reached the other end, however, it heard a shrill scream coming from the direction the policemare had gone. In a split second, the creature was off and running.

Crystal quickly backed up until her flank was against a tree, her heart beating like a drum. In front of her was a... a thing. It had jumped out of one of the bushes and made a grab for her. Crystal didn't even know how to describe the thing in front of her. Its skin shone in the sun, and its glowing red eyes stared at her menacingly.

The creature's long tail flicked, and something round and sharp came out of the tip. The object started to spin and made a loud whirring noise. Crystal recognized it as a small buzzsaw.

"Wait..." she muttered, not comprehending what she saw. If the thing had a buzzsaw attached to it, then...

The machine took a few steps toward her, whipping its tail from side to side. Crystal reached for her gun and pulled it out, but was trembling too much to aim. The machine took a few more steps forward, until its face was just a few inches from Crystal's muzzle. She let out a scream as the machine grabbed her... and was quickly puled off her and thrown into the trunk of a large tree, snapping the ancient trunk like a toothpick.

Crystal didn't bother to see who or what had saved her. The mare quickly turned and ran in the direction she believe the administrator offices to be. It wasn't her job to deal with this type of stuff!

She stopped running and let out another scream when the machine landed right in front of her, sliding on the ground and creating a rut. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that this wasn't the same machine that had attacked her. Now there's two of them?!, she thought as the machine got up and shook the dirt off its body. The new machine looked nearly identical to the first, save for its glowing purple eyes and slightly darker colour.

She flinched as the machine ran at her. Before it hit her, it jumped over her head, landing gracefully behind her. Crystal didn't stay to watch what was going on. The sound of metal on metal emanated from behind her. After a few moments, all was silent again. After another ten minutes of running, she stopped to catch her breath and leaned against a tree.

Crystal reached for her gun, only to realize she had dropped it in all the commotion. "Great..." she muttered. "Now I'm going crazy and defenceless." She sighed.

This is why she hated forests.