Chapter 1: The Cage on the Road
Author's Note: Be sure to check out my friend's deviantart: http://cris-25.deviantart.com/gallery/
This is my first story I have ever written. Please give me constructive criticism.
Human Meets Pony - Chapter 1: The Cage on the Road
By: Light_Arrow
It was a cool fall’s day as I drove down an old forest road. On both sides of me there were forests surrounding the area. My window was down and I could smell lush green scents of the forest tree’s aroma. It was quite a pleasant smell mixed together with tree sap. Since it was in the middle of fall, the trees around me looked beautiful. The mixture of orange and red was a sight to see. Some of the leaves were already falling and I could hear them crunch under my truck’s tires. The sun in the sky was covered partially by light grey clouds, signaling a future rain sometime soon. There were quite a few animals running around the area: squirrels were gathering up their pecans, nuts, and other such delicacies getting ready for the winter to come. Birds were chirping about frantically, probably setting up their plans to start to fly south for the winter. I even saw a deer out in the woods, nibbling on some grass out on a nearby pasture.
I kept on driving until I came to a fork in the road and took a right.
“Goddammit!” I mumbled under my breath.
Why did I take a right? I always take the left when I come to this fork in the road. Luckily, I knew my way around this place and remembered that this path meets up with my old path eventually, though it will take just a lot longer. Feeling a tad bit annoyed with myself, I slouched a bit in my leather seat. However, I came back up when I noticed something strange on the side of the road a bit further down. It looked like…a cage of some sort.
I drove up to the cage, pulled over, and got out of my truck. I walked over to where the cage was and to my dismay there was a small pony inside of it. The cage had rusted iron bars and a flat metal top. It also had a handle on the top and a slat on the side. I walked up to the cage and crouched down to see a small purple pony. On closer examination, I noticed it was a female. She also seemed to be a bit smaller than most regular ponies I’ve seen, only being about as big as a medium sized dog. As my eyes scanned the pony, I became quite confused and intrigued. I had never seen an animal such as this. Her body proportions were much different than that of regular ponies. Her head was also much different. It looked as if it had some human characteristics to it. Her mane was a deep violet and had an indigo and pink streak down the middle. What was really strange was that she seemed to have what looked like a horn protruding out of her head. I scratched at my chin in awe. Her flank was covered with a weird star symbol. She seemed to have a big pink star in the middle and a couple of white stars around it. It seemed as if someone had dyed her coat and mane purple and branded her flanks with that symbol. My mouth then gaped in horror as I noticed the condition in which she was in.
Her mane was all lopsided and was stained with dirt and mud. Her entire body was covered in several bloody scratches and bruises. Her tail was all deformed and looked as if a child just came by and cut out random parts of the hair out with a pair of scissors. The area above her hooves were swollen beyond belief. It seemed as if someone tortured her to the full extent, stuffed her in a cage, and threw her off the side of a random forest road to die. It also seemed like she had been in here for at least a couple of days. There was a pool of blood in the cage and she was so skinny that her ribs were showing. She hadn’t even been moving and I was beginning to suspect whether or not she was dead. I just sat there aghast. I didn’t know what to do and my mind was racing with many thoughts at once. I couldn’t comprehend how this could actually happen. My mind was filling with so many questions. Why would someone do all these things to an animal? Why did they stuff her in a cage and throw her off the side of a forest road? What am I going to do? Why is she so much more different than normal ponies? I snapped back to reality and gathered my senses.
“Holy shit…” I whispered to myself. “Who could’ve possibly have done this?”
Just as I said that, the little pony started moving. She shuffled about a bit and turned her face towards me. Her face amazed me. She actually had lips and could show off emotions with it just as humans can. Her muzzle was also not like a normal pony. I was just speechless at seeing this kind of animal here. Everything about her was much different than what I am normally used to seeing. However, her face was not in the best shape. It had a long scratch going all along the side of her face as well as plenty of bruises to go with it. It disgusted me to think how someone could’ve done this to a gentle pony. Then I noticed the horn again. It couldn’t be what I think it is…could it? I laughed at the idea and reassured myself that unicorns are fictional. There has to be a logical explanation for her appearance. Her big eyes were looking at me cautiously and they started to well up with tears. I knew what I had to do.
I carefully picked up the cage and softly set it down in the back of my truck. I got some hooks out of the trunk in the bed of my truck and tied them to the cage. I wrapped them around and hooked them onto the ends of my truck. I made sure it was secure so it wouldn’t roll around while I took her home.
“Don’t worry little pony.” I said with a gentle and kind tone. “I will take you home and care for you.”
The pony just stared at me with her cute, big eyes and I could see her try to crack a small smile. She sniffed and wiped at her tears with her foreleg. This is incredible. My theory was actually correct. This pony has a mouth resembling a human and can even smile or frown with it. Not only that, but she seems to act like a human as well. I just couldn’t grasp at how this is even possible.
I drove home as fast as I could. Luckily for me, there was no traffic, almost as if the world knew I was headed home on an emergency mission to care for an abandoned and tortured pony.
I got home in no time and prepared to take the caged pony inside.
I took the frightened pony into my house immediately and let her out of the cage as gently as I could. She struggled to stand up on all fours, but her weak and frail body wouldn’t allow it. I attempted to pick her up and was amazed at how lightweight she was. She was so soft too. I felt as if I could just cuddle up with her all day based on how cute and soft she was. I carried her as gently as I could to the shower and cleaned her up with soap and water. There was so much dirt and grime on her, that there were literally chunks of it clumped together that wouldn’t even go down the drain. I even had to clean myself up because some of the dirt rubbed off on me as I was carrying her. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn’t get any of the dyes out of her, but I figured it would probably take awhile for it to come out. I tried to examine her weird horn-thing, but she pulled away whenever I touched it. I keep getting more evidence to suggest that it is a real horn, but I just can’t accept it yet. I decided it best to not mess with her horn at the moment. Whenever I got near a cut, I tried to go along softly, but she still cringed a bit.
“Sorry.” I said as kindly as I could. “I’m being as gentle as possible.”
The exhausted pony was so frail and tired that even if she wanted to resist me, she just wouldn’t have any energy to do so. It was pitiful really and I felt so sorry for it. By the time I was done she was breathing so heavily and still seemed quite scared. I tried to reassure her thoughts about me by rubbing her gently and trying to calm her down.
“It’s going to be alright.” I said in a caring tone.
Her breathing started to normalize and her ears perked up as I tried to soothe her. It really warmed my heart to know that she started to trust me now.
After I cleaned her up, I could only imagine how good it must feel to be so clean after being that dirty for so long. I grabbed the softest towel I had from my cabinet and dried her off. I carried her out of the bathroom and set her on my couch in the living room. Next up was to examine those wounds. Most of the cuts were small ones, but there were many of them scattered about. Luckily, none of them were infected. There was a much bigger cut near her hoof so I decided to make sure it would heal and not get infected. I got a bandage out from the bathroom cabinet, dabbed a little medicine on it, and wrapped it around the cut. I felt there wasn’t a need to do this for the other cuts as they weren’t as deep. I took this moment to sit next to her and put my arm around her and softly rub her head and mane. Her mane was as soft as a pillow and just the act of rubbing it seemed to calm me down. Her eyes were a deep shade of violet just as her coat was. If you looked past all the scrapes and bruises, she was actually really beautiful. That horn though…I still can’t take my eyes off of it. I just couldn’t accept the idea of a unicorn and continued trying to convince myself that it was something that happened to her during the process of getting all mangled up. I ignored the horn for now and continued to slide my hand through her mane. She seemed to enjoy this act quite a bit and was looking happier than usual now. It made me feel good to know that she was smiling now.
“I’m going to take good care of you.” I whispered. “I’m going to make sure you stay alive.”
As I was stroking her soft and beautiful mane I looked down and noticed her ribs. This reminded me of something very important. Food! I quickly went to the kitchen and cut up some fresh apples and carrots and put it on a plate. Then, I poured some fresh water into a bowl and set both of them on the floor in the living room. I picked up the pony as carefully as possible to set her down to eat. She ate pretty fast, gobbling most of up in one gulp and I don’t even blame her for it as she probably hadn’t eaten in days. Once she was finished eating, she leaned over to the bowl and drank some water. I picked up the plate that had the food and set it in my dishwasher. I kept the bowl of water there just in case she wanted to drink some more soon. I came back into the living room and stood there scratching my chin.
“What should I do now?” I thought to myself. I couldn’t help but think. "I can’t believe this has actually happened. I really don’t know what to do here. I’ve never experienced something like this before." Many other thoughts raced through my head. I wanted to keep her until she was nursed back to health. I didn’t want to take any chances and give her to anyone else. She trusted me, and I had to keep the promise I made to her.
While I was thinking to myself, the purple pony struggled with herself to stand up. She got up slowly and was standing on all fours. I stood in anticipation as she limped over towards me. Then, I experienced something that would forever change my life. She jumped up onto her hind legs and wrapped her forelegs around me. A flood of emotions poured into my body and I entered a state of complete shock. As I was trying to overcome my shock at what just happened, I heard a soft, faint voice.
“Thank you.”
Author's Note
Be sure to check out my friend's deviantart: http://cris-25.deviantart.com/gallery/
This is my first story I have ever written. Please give me constructive criticism.
Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted
Human Meets Pony – Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted
By: Light_Arrow
My mind is swimming viciously with multiple thoughts. A talking pony… I just couldn’t believe it. My head was swarming with questions.
“How could any of this be happening?”
As I gathered my senses, the purple pony stopped hugging and went back on all fours. She looked at me with those cute little eyes and her face started to blush a bit.
I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but my body wouldn’t allow it yet. I wanted to ask how an animal could speak English, just like a human. Yet, I just stood there like a buffoon, rummaging through my brain trying to get my mouth to talk. I was just so shocked at these turn of events.
“Um…ah…uh.”
Was this really all I could mutter out? I felt so embarrassed. I’ve met with a once in a lifetime opportunity and this was all I could pull off? Stupid brain! Just calmly and collectively ask her the questions!
“So, um… I really want to know… how is it that you can speak?” I finally managed to get the words out.
The pony just stood there dumbfounded. Her face was expressing confusion, as if something like this happens on a daily basis.
“What do you mean?” she asked back.
She just talked again, I can't believe this. I had to collect myself and think of what to say.
“Well…” I had to sit there for a moment and think of how to word this. “It is just that… I’ve never seen a talking pony before.”
“Really?” she seemed quite shocked at this idea.
“Yeah.” I explained. “There are lots of ponies, but I’ve never seen one that could talk before.”
She looked completely baffled and speechless by this. That’s when it hit me. This pony can’t possibly be from here. Could it be that this creature is from another world? After all I had seen so far, I actually kind of believed this. I looked back at her and asked:
“Where are you from?”
The pony seemed unsettled by this question. She gave it some it some thought.
“I… I can’t remember…” she said.
That’s when she put her head down and started to let some tears run down her face. I knelt down beside her and put her arm around her, bringing her close to me.
“Don’t worry.” I said, trying to comfort her. “It is gonna be alright. Do you have a name?”
She nodded and said, “Yes. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight Sparkle… what an odd name. I’ve never heard of such a name. Then again, what else should I expect from a talking pony that could possibly be from another world? The name itself was quite beautiful though.
“My name is Felipe.” I replied.
My attention was once again brought to her horn-thing that was sticking out of her forehead. I needed to know what that was.
“Would you mind explaining what that thing is sticking out of your head?” I asked cautiously.
“Oh, this?” she asked, looking up at her forehead. “This is my horn. I am a unicorn pony after all. It allows me to perform various types of magic.”
A unicorn… and to think that those were supposed to be mythical beasts. They were supposed to be fiction and yet here I am in the presence of one. And magic? Could she really perform magic? I was so excited. How exciting it was to be in the presence of a mythical creature. I felt as if I could just burst with excitement!
“Wow! This is just so amazing!” I giggled to myself. “Unicorns were supposed to be fictional.”
Our conversation was ended abruptly with a loud knocking on the front door. When I opened it, there were three large men standing outside, armed to the teeth. They had ragged clothes on and looked as if they were thugs. They pointed their pistols at my direction, causing me to throw my hands up.
“Woah, now. What’s going on?” I asked nervously as I took a few steps back.
They barged into my house and zoomed their attention in on Twilight.
“Give us back that animal, or we will make sure you pay with your dear life!”
I was breathing very heavily now and I didn’t know what to do. These guys meant business, but I couldn’t just give up Twilight now! I glanced at her. My brain started to rewind my memories. I thought about my promise I made with her and how I was going to take care of her. I remembered saving her from the small cage on the side of the road. I remembered how I cleaned her up and saved her from certain death. All these memories came together and made her feel like she was part of my family. I’ve only known her for about half a day, but I already felt so close to her. And now, these loathsome people are going to take all of that away from me. I closed my eyes and tilted my head down as I felt a small tear trickle down my face. I was prepared for the worst.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Twilight’s horn started to glow and bursts of light shone throughout the room. A weird aura appeared around my table and it was lifted into the air. I’ve seen it all now. Not only can she talk, but apparently her magic involved telekinesis abilities as well.
As the goons were preparing to fire their weapons, Twilight centered the table in front of her. The guns spewed out bullets, but the thick wood reflected the bullets off of her. The horn glowed a bit more furiously now and her face strained as she concentrated more. She then sent the makeshift shield hurling towards the group of goons and toppled them over like a group of bowling pins. One was crushed completely under the weight and the other two flew onto the ground and were knocked loose of their guns. One of them managed to get up, but the other was screaming and holding his dislocated leg in agony.
Twilight magically picked up a cheap, plastic umbrella I had in a corner near the door. The guy who was up took out a knife he had in his pocket and started running towards Twilight with it.
“Sliiiice!”
Twilight used the pointy end of the umbrella as a makeshift spear and sent it soaring towards him. It went through his chest and out the other end. The man unbelievably lived through that and slowly put his hands on the bloody umbrella that was sticking out of his chest. He was desperately trying to breathe, choking and gagging on his own blood. He eventually fell onto his knees and died a slow painful death.
The last guy left had a horrific look on his face as he witnessed this hideous scene. He tried to claw his way towards his gun, but was not very successful. He sat lying there on his back, wondering how he was going to die. Twilight used telekinesis on him and brought him up to her face.
“Go tell your little friends to never mess with me again!”
She threw him out the door and he was seen crawling away as fast as he could out into the forest.
Her attitude was quite scary, even to me. She seemed to know these guys and hated them with a passion.
I looked around the room and found myself just standing there with my mouth open aghast with my hands still up in the air. I slowly put them down and turned towards Twilight, who was now panting very heavily. I didn’t know she could cause such destruction. If I hadn’t of seen it with my eyes, I would never of believed such an innocent looking creature was capable of such power.
“Wow.” I breathed out. I really couldn’t think of what to say. “Do you know who those guys were?”
Twilight just stood there with her head down and she started to cry. I knelt down beside her and put my arm around her, trying to comfort her. I wanted to ask her about the telekinesis, but I figured now was not the best time.
“Hey, now. It’s alright.” I was hoping my words would soothe her.
She sniffed a bit and looked up at me with her watery eyes.
“Those people… Those are the people who tortured me and caged me up!” she choked up. I stared at her with a concerned look. She then explained the whole story to me.
“I was walking along the forest’s edge one day when those guys popped out of the woods and tied me up. I was so scared and I couldn’t do anything! They brought me back to their camp where I stayed for at least two months or so. Every day I woke up to the sound of a whip cracking at me. I was treated horribly. They barely fed me anything. Only a couple of bread crumbs every couple of days. They laughed and laughed as they brutally cut me up and experimented on me. They always used sharp objects to jab me and then they would wipe my blood in my mane. They always threw dirt at me and kicked sand in my eyes. I was sure that I would die. Then one day, they put me in a small cage and set me in the back of a big machine or something. It was a machine that could move and seemed to be used for transportation. It was just like the one you brought me here in. I could overhear them talking about cashing me in for something. As the machine was moving, I fell out the back end and ended up on the side of the forest. I was stuck there for a day until you came by.” She paused to catch her breath and I wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Everything just seems so weird for me. I can’t even remember my own past for some reason, but I can feel it being there. It makes me so frustrated!” As she said that last bit, she bit her lower lip and tears came down like waterfalls. She then looked at me with wet eyes. “I’m just so glad that you found me!”
She wrapped her forelegs around me and hugged me tightly while sobbing softly.
This was a very sad moment for Twilight. I could only imagine how traumatized she is right now. No wonder she was so angry when the group of people showed up. She wanted revenge. These people sickened me to death and I wanted to kill them so badly. I was so mad for Twilight and I promised myself again that I would do anything in my power to help her. I ran my hands through her mane and tried to make her feel better. Suddenly, she fell flat on the floor and her face cringed.
“Oof…” she moaned. “The wound near my hoof… it is really hurting now.”
Well now that those guys know where we were, I figured the best thing for us to do was to get out this area as fast as we could. I didn’t want to leave the house, but I didn’t want to risk getting us killed.
“I think it would be a good idea if we left this house and moved out of the area. I’m going to gather a few things and then we are going to hit the road.”
Twilight nodded her head in approval. I had planned on driving a few miles down the road and sleeping near the forest’s edge. I would make sure we weren’t in plain sight just in case we were being followed. I went to my closet and gathered a sleeping bag that I had stored away.. Since I only had one, I gathered my blanket off of my bed and threw it all into the backseat of my truck. I had some money put away for emergency situations, so I gathered that up and stuffed it into my wallet. I had to make sure to use this wisely so that it lasted more than a week. If all else fails, I could just resort to my credit card. Finally, I gathered some canned foods, all the bottled water I had, a frying pan, and some matches. I had just eaten before Twilight, so we wouldn’t be needing any food for tonight. I also took a flashlight with spare batteries and loaded it into my truck as well. This should last well over a month.
Now I proceeded to check over the dead bodies. Luckily for me, they had lots of spare ammo on them. One of them had a full ammo belt tied around his waist. I loaded their guns and ammo into the truck because I would definitely need that. I threw the corpses into the forest and decided to the clean the mess later.
“Ready to leave Twilight?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready. By the way, how are we going to leave?”
“We will leave in my truck. We should be able to drive some miles without having to worry about being followed.”
Twilight was a little nervous when entering the truck, but I assured her it would be ok and hoisted her into the passenger seat and strapped her seat belt in.
“What is this thing for?” she wondered.
“It is for safety.” I explained. “If I accidently bash into another car or something, then you have a higher chance of not being injured.”
I hopped into the driver’s seat and started up the truck.
“Eep!” Twilight yelped. “What’s that noise?!”
“Don’t worry.” I said. “It is only the truck.”
I drove out of my dirt driveway and off we went.
“This is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything like it! I would love to learn more about these machines!”
“Alright then.” I figured I might as well. It would be better than just sitting here all quiet. So, I told her all I knew about the history of cars and how they came to be. I didn’t know too much about it, just the bare basics. She really seemed interested in this subject.
As I was talking, I kept looking for a good place to stop and rest for the night. It was starting to get dark and I wanted to call it a day. I eventually came to a nice, flat area near the forest. I parked the truck behind some shrubs and trees so if anyone drove by, they wouldn’t know we were here.
I got out and set my sleeping bag down. I helped twilight into it and made sure she was all comfy.
“Where are you going to sleep?” she wondered.
“I’m going to sleep on the grass with my blanket over me. I don’t mind and besides, the grass here is pretty soft.”
She looked over at me with her eyes and they started to water up.
“Thank you… Thank you for everything you have done for me.” She croaked out.
I gave her a warm smile and wrapped my hand around her head.
“No…” I said. “…thank you for adding a little something to my life.”
Twilight let her tears run down and couldn’t help but smile as well. She wrapped her forelegs around me and kissed me gently on the cheek. I was a little surprised by this action, but I allowed it to happen anyways and I hugged her back.
“If you need anything, I will be right over here.” I said. “Now try and get some sleep.”
I sat right next to her and pulled my blanket over me. As I lay on the ground, I stared up into the stars. I wondered about my life. I wondered what I have gotten myself into. I tried to reassure myself that it was worth it, but what is going to happen to me? To Twilight? I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I felt so attached to this pony and felt as if I could give up my life for her. I needed to find out how to keep her safe from those fiends. I thought ahead to tomorrow. I wondered if I would see any of those people again. Surely, the message has reached the leader, if they had one. I decided to worry about all of this tomorrow.
I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.