A Promise Not Forgotten

I awoke to the peaceful melody of birds singing their wonderful songs. It’s not every day that something like this happens. As I sat up on the hill I was laying on I tried to remember what had happened, then I felt the cold feeling the voice gave me when it first talked. Being the voice of reason, usually, I tried to rationalize what had happened the night before. As I was in this state of deep thought I missed one aspect, where the fuck was I?

The last thing I remembered was sitting at the computer, the voice, and then nothing. Now I’m outside on a hill and alone, or so I thought.

“What the fuck happened!” I turned to the source of the easily recognizable sound of my friend. “Where are we man?” Colin questioned with a look of panic on his face.

“I have no clue, and I take it that you don’t remember anything either?” I asked knowing the answer.

“No, do you have your phone?” Colin asked with a hint of hope in his voice.

Why didn’t I think of that?

I reached into my pocket and grabbed the phone. It was nothing to fancy, but no brick either. I unlocked the phone and saw it.

“Shit, no service,” I complained.

“Fuck, man. This couldn’t have happened, we can’t just wake up here,” Colin said protesting our fate.

“I know man, but I don’t think WE came here. I think someone brought us here,” I said trying to bring reason to our problem. “Do you remember the voice?”

“Yeah, what was it?” Colin asked. “It felt so cold. I thought that was it man, the end.”

I quickly realized that reminiscing wasn’t going to solve anything, we had to move. The sun was on the horizon and falling fast. I didn’t want to be out in the cold when that happened. Besides, who knows what kinds of animals live around here? It doesn’t exactly look like the most inviting forest.

“Ok man, I know were both a little out of it right now, but I don’t fancy sleeping in the cold. Those clouds don’t look too nice either,” I pointed out with a commanding voice. “Let’s get moving, I’ll look for firewood and a good spot to camp. Can you solve the food matter?”

“I’ll look around, maybe there are some berries or something edible in here,” Colin said knowing he was fit for the job. I’d probably pick something poisonous.

“Good, meet back here in a bit. If something happens use this,” I handed him a knife that I kept with me. It wasn’t much to look at, but I didn’t quite trust him not to cut himself with a balisong, and that’s the last thing we needed.

We headed our separate ways and I found a nice looking rock formation. There were three large boulders and one was formed like a bean. There were three entrances to the little den and they were quite a tight fit, so that was reassuring. Nothing big could follow us in. The fire wouldn’t spread so that gave me peace of mind, the heat would bounce off the solid rock in the back and warm the whole room.

Next was to find some good firewood and nice tinder. That wasn’t hard in the forest where there were fallen and shattered trees everywhere. However, the trees seemed to be knocked down by something else, not a natural force. Some fallen trees had scratch and bite marks in them. This worried me; now I knew for sure that there were big and possibly dangerous animals in here with us.

Just as I stepped closer for a good look I heard a snap of a twig behind me. Tricks aside, I flung the balisong open as fast as I could and aimed the point at the source.

“Woah, watch it!” Colin said, nearly falling down.

I reached over and grabbed his hand to keep him from tripping. “Please don’t sneak up on me, we aren’t alone,” I said as I gestured to the marks in the log. “I found a nice place to sleep, we shouldn’t have to worry about whatever made those, it’s a tight fit.”

“Let’s get goin, you’ll like my surprise,” Colin said hiding his arm behind his body.

We made our way to the rock hut and climbed inside. I have to say though, it was a nice find. But I didn’t really consider what might have lived in there, or what might be small enough to get in. I walked around outside and got some of the larger bits of wood and blocked two of the entrances of the cave, but left the middle one half open.

“So what was the surprise?” I asked Colin, happy with my work on the doors.

“This,” He held up my backpack “there isn’t much in it, unless you want to learn algebra, but we can carry some stuff in it.”

“Nice,” I replied “This means that some other things may have come with us, maybe something more useful” My mind trailed off to think of what my parents must be thinking. Did they hear us? Would they try to find us? These questions I decided to push away for now, they didn’t do us any good in our situation right now.

“Also, I got this little bastard,” Colin held up a rabbit by the feet. “I figured we have to eat something, right?”

“Fuck yeah!” I said, clearly excited that we had more to eat than leaves and berries.

Colin, being the resourceful man he is, managed to cook the rabbit on some flat rocks. We used our knives as utensils and then quickly secured the doors and went to sleep.

The Next morning

I awoke to the wonderful sound of birds chirping, the sun shining, and some distant voices. One sounded like a really smart girl. I know I had heard that voice before, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, and I didn’t want to trust the faint sounds I was hearing. The other was an African sounding voice, also female.

Colin awoke moments later, “Do you hear that Aidan?”

“Yes, and it sounds familiar, but I don’t know who,” I responded.

The voices easily traveled far through the quiet morning air. It was cold out, and the forest hadn't quite sprung to life.

“But I saw smoke coming from the Everfree last night! Zecora, are you sure that you didn’t burn any fires, or at least see any?” The oddly familiar voice said. The African voice replied with something that rhymed, I couldn’t make it out.

I couldn’t see from where I was, so I moved out in front of our rock home and saw the source of the voices.

Not fucking possible…

Of course I didn’t want to believe it at the time, but all the evidence was right there. Twilight Sparkle was talking to Zecora on her doorstep.

“Fuck me. Colin, you won’t believe this shit,” I said with a hint of surprise on my voice.

“What? Who is it?” he asked as he tried to look.

“Twilight fucking Sparkle, that’s who,” I looked at the puzzled expression on his face. I shot back a straight and completely serious glare so he knew I wasn’t fucking around. “Looks like we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” I said with a sigh.

“No, I can’t believe this, let me look,” he insisted.

“Fine, but don’t let her see you. We don’t know what they will do. Remember our conversation before we came?” I asked as I slipped by to let him look.

“Yeah, hostile ponies and conditional questions. I got all that, OH FUCK!” He said as he looked at me in panic.

“What?”

“She saw me!”

“Oh Christ, look just…” and I was cut off.

Before I could say anything more Colin was out the makeshift door and running in the opposite direction of Twilight. I ran out, still avoiding her gaze so I could get the drop on her. Luckily Colin managed to lose her because she stopped to investigate our house-to-be and I pulled him into a bush.

“Stay QUIET,” I commanded. He replied with a quick nod.

“Don’t be afraid of her, SHE isn’t the one we need to talk to anyway…” What is up with me in hearing voices? Only, it sounded different than the last one. Sounded like Morgan Freeman actually, this was badass on so many levels.

Colin looked around frantically, so I knew he had heard our little watcher as well.

“Who the fuck are you,” I demanded with a threatening tone I didn’t know I had. Colin even gave me a look when I said it.

“I am merely someone with a lot of power, that wants to help Equestria thrive like never before,” The voice said in that oddly inviting and equally awesome voice.

“And how does that involve us?” I asked in a still pissed off tone.

“These ponies aren’t an adequate tool, humans are simply more evolved,” I took that one as a complement. “However, they can’t know that I am aiding you.”

“Why the fuck not?” Colin asked in a whisper to keep hidden as Twilight prowled around.

“I help you get back to earth if you do, but first we need to get you to Princess Celestia,” Somehow I knew I could trust the voice.

“Fuck me, fine, but how?” I asked the voice.

“Any way you see fit, actually let’s make this a friendly race. The first of you two to the Princess wins.” The voice seemed to get some enjoyment out of us working.

“And what does the winner get?” Colin asked, obviously wanting in on the race.

“Something that will help you in this world, use your imaginations for now. I might take requests. You have to do this alone, no helping each other. Oh, and Aidan, because you know these ponies you have an advantage; to level the playground I won’t allow you to speak more than twice.” Colin and the voice both laughed at my annoyed grumbles.

“Fuck you creepy. Colin, good luck, I’ll be waiting with the princess.”

I knew it was a bad idea, and I knew we were in the Everfree. We didn’t have much of a choice, it was either help this voice and go home, or stay here with ponies until we die. As much as this was a bronies fantasy I couldn’t leave my family and friends behind.

I know exactly how to get the attention of Celestia. I just have to find the town. You’re on Colin…