Far Cry: The Elements of Insanity

"What the hay was that?!" Lyra was shaken, as well as the rest of the room, by a very loud, very close explosion. Ever since she'd moved into this new house with her best-friend Bon-Bon they're had been nothing but odd noises and unexplainable events.

Along with an infestation of Timber-wolves, the house had also come with half-priced rent, that should have told her something was up. She had invited her friends for a weekend sleep-over as a house-warming event, it was Vinyl, Ditzy, and Bon-Bon that occupied the room with her. They were playing an intense game of 'Would-You-Rather' and had Ditzy in a fuss over the two choices she was given. The question was 'Would you rather win the lottery or have a life-time's supply of your favorite meal?'.

Lyra heard a rabid pounding at her door and trotted towards it, she opened it and saw Twilight Sparkle, the town's librarian, looking quite shaken.

"Lyra! I think someone is hurt, I may need some help getting them out of the forest, can you come help?" She asked. Lyra, being the kind and thoughtful mare she is, nodded without second thought. Outside of her social-circle, this was the most social time she'd had with someone in a couple months. She had the unfortunate luck of being branded 'Looney Lyra' because she enjoyed mythology about humans and things of that nature, the kind of things mothers would scare their foals into doing their homework or eating their food with.

They left the house galloping, Bon-Bon was at her rear with Vinyl at her side and Octavia trailing behind, she wasn't one for running long distances. Within minutes they neared where they thought the sounds had originated from and were starting to hear odd noises.

"It's coming from over here!" Twilight pointed out. Lyra could see some light movement coming from a scorched clearing ahead. When they neared, they spotted a rather unsettling sight; a twenty three and a half foot tall megaladon of a Timber Wolf!

"By Celestia's golden-plated personal massager!" Vinyl swore. Lyra could be sure Vinyl would be getting a firm tongue lashing from Octavia later for such language. Or at least whatever that crazy mare called a tongue lashing, yeah they're is screaming but it happens in another room and when they leave Lyra has to wash their sheets. Weirdest arguments ever.

Lyra conjured up her most powerful magic and sent it at the Colossus, being the small framed mare she is, all that happened was the beast recoiling slightly. Twilight did the very same, albeit her mana is of the purple hues, and sent the beast back several feet. Lyra couldn't help but notice Twilight's stance, it was one of concentration and well-placed footing. Wouldn't want the kick to knock you back instead, would you? As far as she knew, her own stance could be most likely described as lanky and tense.

The better your stance, the more powerful your output is what all unicorns are taught in school; Always stay on the ground, lean in, spread out a bit, and stay calm. Also known as A.L.S.A.

Twilight hit it again and managed to blow off one of it's legs, by now she was drenched in sweat. Her mane clung to her head and her breath left ragged. At this rate she wouldn't last another two minutes. Luckily, the Colossus seemed to show some sign of true thought and hobbled away pleadingly while Twilight was catching her breath.

"That was awesome!" Vinyl cheered, letting Twilight lean on her for support. The sun had largely began to set my now, sending a soft cascade of blues, greens, and a delicate auburn fleeting across the sky to linger.

"Twilight, you know the 'Who-done-it' spell, right? The one that creates a holographic scene of whatever time frame you think something happened in?" Lyra asked, feeling like a dictionary.

"...Yeah, I could use it, why?" Twilight asked, seemingly starting to catch her breath.

"Because I don't think the giant Timber-Wolf was caused naturally, don't they only do that if they're blown apart?" Lyra added to her continuous train of thoughts.

"I think you're right. Just give me a minute and I'll use it, I need to catch my breath." Twilight took a deep breath, she sat down near a tree while Vinyl went to check on Octavia. Lyra went to the center of the scorched area and began a small investigation. She found a small, wide hole (more of a dent really) and a tiny charred pin. She grasped the item in her green aura and set it near Twilight. She then moved to look at some chipped trees, finding tiny bits on metal which she also set near Twilight. After searching for ten more minutes all she came up with was a few more bits of metal.

"Okay, I'm ready." Twilight stood and lit her horn again. "I'm going to go back an hour." Her horn's glow grew in intensity and she clamped her jaw. A large, hazy purple bubble grew and spread rapidly what then happened was almost like rewinding a DVR, trees grew green again, a black puff of smoke appeared and condensed slowly before attaining red and deep-orange streaks, wood flew back into place and formed several holographic Timber-Wolves and something that looked like a large black egg being thrown into the mass. The bubble expanded a bit more before stopping completely, four little digits appeared unknowingly on the edge of the bubble before it stopped.

"C'mon, just a little further!" Lyra lit her horn and leaned into Twilight, letting her green mix with the light purple. Lyra was going to give her some of her own magic, like a reverse-leech. Another thing taught in school. The, now purple-green, bubble grew several more feet and what owned the four little digits, now five actually because of the thumb, nearly made Lyra give out right there on the spot.

A human.

A real human!

Brown hair, tiny nose, little eyes, hands, two legs! It was real! She knew it! She wasn't crazy!

"What is that?" Twilight looked puzzled.

"Is that some sort of funky monkey?" Vinyl asked as she approached the false image.

"It seems to be a biped, perhaps a rare ape? Sophisticated shaved diamond dog?" Octavia added, circling and examining the image. With a strained grunt, Twilight faltered and the bubble popped. Lyra was to giddy to notice, dancing in place and humming excitedly.

"I was right! I was right! Humans are real!" She finally burst and her sweet, warm voice left an awkward echo in the silent woods.

"Humans? I thought you gave up on those things, they aren't real!" Twilight nearly shouted, she had put up with Lyra's obsession for the longest time but had recently started to resent the notion of an undiscovered species, every species has been categorized and named already. She was much less willing to even accept that said species was one from the stories that mothers told their foals, it was absurd and she wouldn't have any of it.

"Well then, miss 'I know everything ever', tell me what that was then! HUH? You don't know? Exactly, I know what a human looks like." Lyra cut sarcastically, she was a bit...reactive...when it came to her humans.

"Well soooooorry if I'm a bit reluctant to suddenly accept a creature from fairytales is real! How about you tell me how you know what humans look like? Because if that was a human than the thing that attacked Canterlot was also a human, and I would have to mark them down as a hostile creature." Twilight explained.

"That's racist." Lyra scoffed

"How is that racist?" Twilight shot back

"You assume that just because one is bad, all of them are." Lyra turned away from the purple mare. Her eyes went slightly wide when she saw some slight indentions that could have been the human's tracks. "You all can leave if you want, I'm going to follow these tracks!" Lyra started on a small trail

"Wait! It's dangerous to alone!" Twilight quickly caught up with her.

"You guys can go ahead, me and Octavia are going back!" Vinyl shouted before leaving with Octavia. Twilight and Lyra trotted down a deep ditch that the tracks lead into. Lyra hoped to find a human, Twilight hoped it wasn't hostile.

~Ten minutes later~

Twilight reeled back slightly as a smell she was reluctant to be familiar with, the smell of cooked meat.

"Lyra, Lyra!" She prodded the absorbed sea-foam colored harpist with a hoof to get her attention.

"What is it?" Lyra turned and asked, taking her attention from a small brass piece momentarily.

"I smell something cooking meat, do you think it's your human?" Twilight asked, turning in place a couple time to try and find a source.

"My research has told me that they are omnivorous, so it's possible." Lyra quickly answered. She grasped the brass piece in her magic and brought it close to her nose. "This smells like some of the stuff you have in your library, what was it called?" Lyra released her magic and the green was quickly replaced with purple.

"Some variation on black powder, spent." Twilight recalled. She set the piece back down and looked forwards. It was quiet, really quiet. No grasshoppers or anything.

"Twilight, listen!" Lyra whispered. Twilight stuck an ear up and could hear some faint voices. The two of them followed the voices and ducked into a large cluster of bushes when they spotted a camp-fire. There, sitting around the fire, and one laying on a mat near the fire, were six creatures. "There they are!" Lyra whispered excitedly.

"Keep quiet, they might hear us." Twilight whispered in a barely audible tone. They couldn't make out what the group was talking about at this distance, which was a good thing, it kept them from learning about their roles in a cartoon. They would lay still for hours until the group smothered their fire and entered the broken wall of some large metal water-ship, it was like a very advanced version of a kayak or canoe. Two came back out and gently lifted the one on the mat and brought it into the broken wall.

"Two hours, Lyra, can we leave yet?" Twilight rubbed a sore leg to ease the tense muscles. "You have your proof, I was wrong, let's just go! Who knows what will happen if they see us." Twilight started to plead after noticing a human leave the little tent with a sword on it's side. It whispered something and walked away, probably to get some more meat for later.

"Where do you think it's going?" Lyra asked, moving a little. She cracked a twig by accident and the human shot it's head back. It shook it's head a little before turning back and walking into the woods. Minutes later Twilight's heart stopped momentarily when she heard a large amount of noise coming from behind her and Lyra. Nothing but a squirrel running through the trees. She sighed in relief.

"I thought it got behind us." Twilight laughed briefly.

"I think we would hear it." Lyra yawned, she was getting really tired.

"Who the fuck sent y- What the fuck ARE you?!" The two mares whipped around and spotted the human pointing his sword at Lyra and a piece of metal at Twilight.

"...shit." Twilight swore.

~~Ten Minutes Earlier~~

Jason, with a heavy sigh, left the make-shift tent for watch-duty. "Sleep easy, guys, I'll be here" He said to himself. He tighten the little sheath he had on his hip for the Tanto and slowly walked away from the boat to set up some bells Daisy had devised for a perimeter.

*Snap*

"Shh"

Jason squinted a little and saw a bit of purple movement. 'If they're watching me I can't bolt to them, they'd run. Just play it cool.' He thought quickly. He pretended to shrug it off and walked into the woods as normally as possible. As soon as he was sure no one could possibly see him, he crouched and crept into the large amount of shrubberies.

"NI!" Jason jumped at the sudden sound. When he turned, he found no source of the noise. Shrugging it off, he crept further to where he saw the movement. Within minutes he found the source. One of the...horses? shot it's head back and Jason hid behind a large Red-Wood tree

"I thought it got behind us." The horse laughed briefly.

"I think we would hear it." Another horse yawned. Jason tensed, pulling out his Tanto and Shadow. He got pointed the Tanto at the green horse and Shadow at the other.

"Who the fuck sent y-" Half way through his question, he thought of a better one "What the fuck ARE you?!" He shouted. He sheathed and holstered his weapons before grabbing the pair of horses by their...

MOTHERFUCKING HORNS.

He hefted the squirming creatures up and hopped down into the clearing on the beach where his camp was. He plopped them down and gave them a strict order to stay still while he got everyone up.

"EVERYONE GET UP!" He shouted, using his hands as amplifiers. Oliver, Riley, Keith, and Daisy quickly left the tent and spotted Jason's captives. "These two were spying on our camp for who knows how long." He explained.

"Jason, those are ponies." Daisy laughed.

"They can talk!" Jason shot back. "Talk!" He ordered. Silence.

"Are those unicorns?" Keith asked quietly.

"Um...hello...I'm...I'm Twilight." The purple pony quietly said, the look on Daisy and Keith's face resembled that of the Scream painting, but silent. Riley and Oliver's faces, however, were stoic.

"See!" Jason said loudly.

"Please, we can explain!" Twilight pleaded, it was obvious she was terrified.

"Explain." Jason ordered.

"Lyra here found your tracks after we investigated the area the timber wolf was in and insisted we try and find the human that made them. She has this fascination with humans. We, as in everyone else, were taught that humans were just a myth. But I guess they aren't..." Twilight explained.

"How do I know you weren't sent to see if we were weak or in a non-defensible position?" Jason asked skeptically.

"W...what?" Lyra recoiled.

"Don't mind him, he's a bit...odd as of late. I don't know if I should tell you why without asking him." Daisy told the two ponies quietly.

"Oliver?" Riley turned to his drug-using friend.

"Yeah?" Oliver turned.

"Best day ever?" Riley stuck his hand up

"Best day ever." Oliver slapped Riley's hand.

"Anyways...What are you going to do now? I mean, you've found us, you know we're real, so what now?" Daisy asked. Twilight considered this question briefly, bringing a hoof to her chin.

"Well, you are all an un-categorized species, so I will have to ask for all of you to come back to Ponyville with-" Twilight was interrupted by Jason

"Ponyville? Seriously? God I hate puns." He sighed

"Pun? Anyways, would that be too much trouble? If it is, Lyra and I will just say that this never happened." Twilight stood and shook the dirt out of her fur.

"Is there a hospital there? One of our friends is seriously injured and needs help." Daisy asked the purple unicorn.

"Yes, there is a large hospital on the edge of town, we can bring your friend there. So you'll come with us?" Twilight then asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Daisy stuck her hand out and shook Twilight's hoof.