Chapters "How big is this damn forest?" Jack's thoughts echoed in his head like his footsteps through the forest. Every little stick he snapped bounced off every tree in the area and came back for him. Golden slivers of sunlight could be seen through the dense canopy of leaves overhead. Soft green moss covered the ground, except for a few patches of dirt here and there. All the trees where immensely tall, but their trunks weren't quite as thick. Aside from the steady chirping of crickets in the background, and the occasional rustling of a small animal scampering across the forest floor, there was little sound to be heard. A thick fog covered most of the forest, and it seemed as the farther Jack went one way, the fog thickened. If he walked the other way a while, it got thinner and thinner. Jake had been wandering aimlessly for almost five hours it seemed. It was almost pitch black when he woke up, but it was lighter now.
Jack just kept walking, determined to reach the edge of this damned forest, no matter how thick the fog got. "Aren't most of these damn things supposed to be cut down? How the hell's this one so big?" he asked himself, not for the first time.
Jack was equipped with things needed for survival, but he didn't understand what was happening at all. He had fallen asleep the night earlier next to his campfire. It wasn't there when he got up, not even any smoldering twigs. Nothing. He had a compass, but it screwed up and pointed in all directions so he just went where he was pretty sure the highway and his car should be. Nothing was there either. It was like it had all just vanished. It seemed as if he had been sleepwalking, but Jack had never sleepwalked in his life, he was sure of it.
Four hours went by after that. Just walking, no idea where he was going.
He felt a chill crawl down his spine. Something was watching him, he could feel it. Its eyes penetrating him, ripping him apart from the inside. He knew it was a hideous creature, he just couldn't see it.
He started running. His legs kicking up dust and pebbles as he went by. He could have sworn he passed some little people staring at him as he sprinted through the forest. His legs were aching, his throat burning. He heard a Scotsman calling him to dinner. He was starving after all. But he couldn't stop now, the man with eight arms was coming!
He was gaining on him. Jack turned back for a quick look. The man with eight arms was right behind him! Two arms reached out and almost grabbed him while the other six kept him running. One arm grabbed hold of Jack's leg, but it moved with it as he ran.
Jack saw the man's face. Bald, completely black eyes and his teeth, they were razor sharp, teeth like a cheetah uses to rip it prey to shreds. His face was scrunched up, full of anger and hatred as a third arm made its way around Jack's other leg.
BAM! Everything went black, pitch black.
Jack was falling, falling through nothing. Going slow as a feather, stuck falling in a black vacuum, never ending. Like he was in deep space, only he was breathing. He couldn't move, he could only see darkness as he fell to a non-existing death. He started to see stars pass him by. Small, yellow stars, light years away. He saw little white stars, turning into a fiery little orb and expanding, engulfing the stars around it until vanishing completely.
He looked directly in front of him and saw it. Earth. Growing smaller and smaller as he moved away from it. Space shuttles passed him by, going to far off planets and leaving him behind. He saw the sun, the great fire ball that heated the whole solar system. He felt himself burning and freezing at the same time.
Then, quick as it all started, it disappeared. He was laying on something soft. He dared to open his eyes. The same forest from before met him. Only this time it was much darker, it seemed to be approaching dusk. The soft sound of a breeze and the gentle song of a bird reminded him he wasn't being hunted, watched or chased. He was all alone. Completely alone, in this hell-hole of a forest. His head felt so hot. He put a hand to it. It was wet. He brought his hand down to his face to see it covered in blood, his blood.
He tried to lift his head, but he couldn't. His head throbbed like someone used it as a punching bag. A migraine started to develop. It was immensely painful, but he managed to raise his head for a second. A large dark brown spot was on the tree directly in front of him. Drowsiness started to take over. He tried to fight it, but when you're tired you just can't do too much about it. He drifted back to sleep almost instantly.
He awoke as it seemed, several hours later. No birds singing. No animals rustling. Complete silence. It was a good time to sleep, the sky showed it to be night time, the moon high in the sky, but Jack wasn't tired. He'd been asleep probably half the day, and that wasn't good for his well being. The more time he spent on the ground sleeping, the more time who knows what could come out and kill him on the spot. He wasn't about to let that happen. Scanning the area, he saw a few branches on the ground that looked big enough to sharpen to a spear. He had brought a pocket knife with him to go camping, they were just too useful to not bring. He also brought a flare gun and three flares for situations, well, like this.
"I'm such a dumbass ", he said loud enough it echoed through the forest. He heard some whistling sounds that sounded like animal calls. His hand went through his backpack he had pulled off. As he was about to pull out the flare gun, he heard a sound that really sent a chill down his spine. A wolf's howl. He tried to pull the flare gun out. His hand wouldn't let him. After a minute or two he tried again and got the thing out. Bushes rustled in the distance and he knew now it was fight or die. No one can outrun a wolf, the damn things just go too fast. Footsteps and heavy breathing neared him as he hastily cut a point on the straightest branch within reach. He also loaded the flare gun. Growling seemed to come from about three or four feet in front of him, and he clumsily lit a road flare and held it up. The creature in front of him was demented. It looked like a wolf, but it was wooden. He only now heard it creaked with every step it took. Even its teeth were wooden, but its eyes stared back at him with a yellow glow. It's wooden lips curled back, showing almost an abnormal looking set of teeth, and they weren't aligned right. They were jagged, smooth and kind of looked like wooden pegs sharpened at the tip.
It kept and walking slowly towards him, and as it did two other similar devil spawn exited the bushes and came beside the first one. Jack couldn't move, he was frozen in fear in front of these demonic beings. One stopped right in front of him, about two feet between Jack and a painful, slow death. The wolf crouched down and prepared to pounce on him. Out of instinct Jack slammed his eyes shut and raised the flare gun and pulled the trigger. A blinding light came and faded in an instant. A ear piercing whistle only lasted as long as well. Jack smelled burning wood and heard the wolf whimpering in pain. He opened his eye. To his surprise, the wolf was on fire. A wolf, on fire. The flare should have gone into the wolf like a bullet, not set it on fire. He didn't have much time to think though, because one of the other two leaped at him. He only had time to hold up his spear in front of him before he was knocked to the ground. He wasn't being clawed in to or eaten, and as soon as he got up he could see why. The wolf was impaled on the spear, it went through one end and was sticking out the other end. He only had time to glance up and see the last wolf disappear into the forest before he felt a burning sensation in his leg. He looked down and saw his left pant leg torn and covered in blood. Pulling it back, he saw a large claw mark, though it was hard to tell with all the blood. To add to that, he looked and saw blood on the paw on the left hind leg of the wolf that got impaled.
"One of those goddamn things scratched me. SOMEBODY HELP ME!" He shouted into the forest. The only thing that greeted him back was his own voice. Alone .
His face warmed up for the first time in hours as the early morning sun danced around on the ground through the openings in the leaves in the forest canopy. He was starving now, not hallucinating like he did yesterday. All he had in the way of food was a half empty bag of beef jerky, two matchbox sized packs of raisins and four oatmeal bars. In five minutes he ate all but two pieces of jerky, which he put in his pocket for later. He also drank half his canteen, which he had to save, he was an idiot and only brought six water purifying tablets, and it took two to make a pot of water drinkable. "It could be worse", Jack thought, "I could be lying dead, half eaten by a bunch of-" . He stopped mid-thought when some odd looking footprints met his sight. They definitely weren't human. They were round, a perfect circle, and they were in two rows, but it looked like something with four legs made them. "It'll all go to hell if I run into this thing and it's as hungry as I am" . He followed them. The fog wasn't so thick now, so it was easy to see where he was going and where the tracks headed.
The fog got thinner and thinner as he followed the footprints. He wasn't too good with nature, but by how deep the prints were and by how clear they were he assumed they must be fresh, which meant that thing might be near. Eventually the fog was just completely gone, and Jack could see everything. The forest was now covered in flowers of all colors. Jack couldn't identify any of them though. Animals also started scampering around, mostly small ones like rabbits and squirrels.
More and more animals kept going about as he followed the prints, after a while they led to a clearing. A few deer where walking about and Jack was starting to get hungry, and he didn't have much food left. He got down low and held his spear in one hand, his pocket knife in the other. The deer really didn't seem to care about him being there, even when he got close enough to touch one. It just looked at him when he patted its head, and just went back to looking around. Jack seized the moment, took advantage of its ignorance. Screams of pain and cries for help came from its mouth when Jack stabbed it in the back with his spear. He slowly brought it down to the ground while it still struggled, bleeding to death. He thrust the knife into its neck, and the shouting and screaming stopped. Its breathing stopped. Its heart stopped. He killed it. He had never killed something that big before, let alone so close up.
The stars were bright in the night sky. Jack couldn't tell, but it had to be somewhere between midnight and three in the morning, maybe. The moon provided a little bit of light, but almost everything except in the clearing was impossible to see. A circle of light surrounded Jack, emanating from a burning pile of sticks and broken branches. Fires weren't so easy to start, so thankfully a box of matches was in Jack's backpack. He had spent all day since morning skinning the deer and trying to do something with the hide. He ended up just tossing it on the fire, it burned nicely; all the blood had dried out. Even though he skinned and gutted a whole deer, he only ate the legs, everything else kind of got covered in dirt because he didn't have a place to put the corpse. There was a stump not too far away from where he was, but he didn't feel like dragging the deer over there.
The meat was juicy, but kind of bland. He hadn't become hungry enough for it to taste good, but since he did have a lot left, he had to make it last. He cooked it all and stuffed whatever he didn't eat carelessly into his pack.
Embers occasionally flew up as the crackling fire died down. By now the sky was a nice soft indigo and the moon was lower on the horizon. The stars were starting to disappear too. Feeling tired after his semi big meal, Jack decided it was a good time to go to bed. The ground wasn't very inviting or comforting, but using his backpack as a pillow made it a little better. Unfortunately, he left his sleeping bag in the forest, so all he had on was a t-shirt and his jeans. His sneakers were in good condition, but he was starting to wish he had worn boots instead.
A cool breeze swept throughout the clearing, making Jack shiver. He didn't pack any spare blankets. He would just have to tough it until he found someone to help him. Oddly enough, even though it was freezing Jack fell asleep pretty quickly. All kinds of whistling and calling could be heard as Jack slept, his breathing becoming heavy, a tell-tale sign of something sleeping, beside the fact he wasn't moving.
He could hear the voices in front of him, and he was running as fast as he could just to keep up. It seemed that as soon as he got close to the voices, they moved farther away. "Didn't I pass this damn tree already?" , it seemed he was almost going in circles, the same trees kept popping into view. His breathing became heavy panting as he ran full speed. He had to jump over a log or duck beneath a branch once in a while, but he was getting closer, he just knew it. The voices seemed close, just feet away, when Jack crouched down behind a bush. Catching his breath, he looked between the leaves of the bush. People. People were standing around talking in a little clearing. They all had guns, rifles and shotguns like they were hunting. He jumped out behind the bushes and ran into the clearing. Exhaustion swept over him and he collapsed in the middle of the clearing. One of the men ran over to him. "Hey buddy, are you alright?", the man asked. Jack just looked at him, a look of both joy and exhaustion on his face.
Jack shot open his eyes, and the light was blinding. Something tickled his nose, and he looked at it. Some demonic creature was sitting on his nose! He reached for his nose, and a beautiful little butterfly flew off into the sky. The light wasn't so blinding now, Jack slowly sat up and looked around him, now it seemed about noon. The fire from last night sat charred next to him and deer walked around almost as if the bones of their friend weren't sitting on the grass near Jake. Birds chirped in the forest while dew covered the grass, making it slippery. The sun was high in the sky, it must have been noon. Jake smelled something, something rancid, so he looked down. His grey shirt was covered in sweat, he hates when he wakes up sweaty like that. The deer corpse near the burnt out fire also started to smell so Jack decided to keep moving.
After not too long he made it to the opposite edge of the clearing. The footprints he found earlier went straight through the clearing, leading to the other edge and out. Jack decided it was probably in his best interest to follow the, so he did just that. After a while he came to the edge of the forest. "Thank god I finally made it out of that damn thing" , he thought to himself. He walked straight a little bit. He was in a meadow, with rolling hills going on seemingly almost forever, save some mountains and other forests way off on the horizon. The grass was green, the most brilliant hue of green grass could be. It was somewhat tall grass, and even flowed in the slight breeze passing by. A pond was a short distance away. Jack ran fast as he could to it. It was beautiful. The water was the clearest he's ever seen. It was clearer than bottled water, it that was even possible. He wouldn't need the purifying tablets for this water. Water splashed all over him as he dipped first his canteen in the water, then his whole face. It felt completely refreshing. He hadn't had a shower in days. He usually takes one every day.
Once his canteen was full and he was soaking wet he got up and continued walking through the meadow. The grass got thinner as he headed for the horizon. The mountains and hills in the distance seemed blurry at this distance. The heat from the sun made Jack thankful for at least being alive, but It was not to last.
After a few minutes he felt something wet hit his shoulder, followed by a "Oh shit, raining now? Come on it was nice out!". He looked up to the sky. A giant group of grey storm clouds blotted out the sun. Jack looked at the puzzled. They weren't there a few minutes ago. The pile also seemed to be growing slowly larger. He really couldn't tell, but he thought he saw a little green blob almost pushing the clouds into the pile, though he dismissed it as hallucinogenic bullshit. Did that deer he ate eat some kind of mushroom or something? The thought was abruptly stopped when thunder came so loud it almost knocked him down. He looked around disparately for some shelter. The only place he could go was the forest, and god knows he's not going back in there. He just trudged on, holding his backpack over his head to try to keep at least a little dry.
Tall grass led to short grass, short grass led to fields of mud, fields of mud led to tall grass. The cycle went like that for miles. The rain constantly pounded down as he made his crusade to find someone to help him. Hours passed before the rain finally let down, although it stayed a soft drizzle afterwards. His throat burned, his legs ached, his shoes felt like lead weights. He started seeing splotches of colors all over, he had pushed himself too hard. A dirt road with a wooden fence on one side came into view. Jack used his last ounce of energy to make it to that road. The rain picked up again and it became almost impossible to hear anything. The rain came down so hard it felt like a thousand pins were constantly pricking his legs as he crawled down the road. He listened. Something could be heard just barely over the rain. Voices, barely audible, though they sounded like they were shouting, straining to be heard over the storm. His ears weren't playing tricks on him, he was hearing actual voices! Maybe he would finally be saved! The voices sounded far away. Every muscle in his body burned, every bone ached, but he managed to get up to his feet and follow the voices. He stood still and leaned on the fence post. Two figures could be seen, they looked almost nothing more than blobs through the rain. The rain came down so fast and consistently it made everything blurry. One figure seemed almost like it was orange, maybe red? The other one seemed violet or purple. Or was it black? He couldn't really tell though, they were a good distance away.
"I think we best go. There ain't no reason to stay in this downpour.", the reddish orange one said. The other one didn't say anything, they just suddenly took off at a speed not humanly possible. Jack tried reaching out to them, to let them know he was there. His throat burned so much he could barely breathe, and only a strained cough came out when he tried to speak. Of course his efforts were of no use, they didn't stop, didn't come back, they just kept going. Jack's hopes of being found were shattered as the only things that could help him ran off down the road away from him, quickly becoming nothing more than a couple dots in the distance, before fading away entirely.
Having no hope left, Jack just let himself collapse carelessly on the dirt road. He couldn't remember the last time he cried, or the last time something actually mattered enough to cry over, but lying on the ground, he began to cry, almost as much as when his parent had died. He was soon to follow them. Pushing those thoughts away, he lied on his back in the middle of the road, staring into the bright blue sky above. Somehow, the whole pile of clouds disappeared, as if they were never there. Jack decided he would rest. He'd follow the road again in the morning. Being too tired to really focus on anything, he just looked around at the road, the fence, the sky.
"Just who the hell puts a fence on only one side of a road anyway?"
"Fuck this, I'm a mechanical engineer, not a caveman. I fix cars, not kill deer. Well, that thing tasted okay, but I'm dead if I run into some vegetarian or something.
As he walked along, the song Raindrops keep falling on my head kept playing in Jack's mind. It had been for hours. It was hot outside, but it was summer, he was pretty sure. Damn was it hot. They told him Richmond would be hot, but he had no idea it would be this hot. But then again, it didn't seem like he was near Richmond at all, he really had no idea where he was.
He spent five whole minutes staring at a sign he came across, and still had no idea what it meant. The road ahead branched in two directions, one branching off left slightly and the other going straight, but that wasn't what confused him. The two arrows that seemed to be pointing towards towns didn't really make any sense. The one that pointed to path leading left said Cloudsdale, and the one pointing straight said Ponyville. There was nothing to say how far away they were, but Jack could see something in the distance that looked like a church steeple. It was down the road going straight, so it must have been Ponyville. Jack wondered who the hell would name a town that, but a town meant civilization. He wasn't going to argue with him self on whether or not he should go.
"Oh look, a native. Great" Jack was getting pretty pissed off by standing in the hot sun with a twelve pound backpack on. But indeed, someone was coming. Or maybe something? From what he could see, a little orange horse was walking somewhat quickly down the road. "Orange? The fuck kind of horse is orange?" To add to that, it even had purple hair. It was now running pretty fast, right towards him. "Oh shit! He turned around an ran like hell. He wasn't any athlete though he could run pretty fast, but not as fast as this thing. Realizing he couldn't outrun it he suddenly stopped and turned around. The horse thing stopped as well, and for a few seconds they stared into each others eyes. Seeing this as a opportunity Jack kicked the thing as hard as he could in the face, then turned and ran like hell again. He thought he heard the thing cursing at him, but at this point he really didn't give a damn.
He was actually pretty sure he ran towards the town, but made a left and ran into an apple orchard. Seeing his starvation as an excuse to take whatever the hell he pleased, he took as many apples as he could from low hanging branches. Only after eating six or so did he realize that he still had the deer meat in his backpack. Survival really changes how a man acts and he really didn't care about persecution any more. He stopped after twelve apples because by now he had had enough to make his stomach hurt like a bitch and didn't want to become a fat bastard (he was an offensive man at some times). He actually fell asleep with an apple in his mouth, because he was both tired from running and he was sitting with his back to a tree. He took one last bite as all consciousness left his body.
It seemed midnight when he finally woke up. It was pitch black, he couldn't even see his hands in front of his face. It was cold, abnormally cold and didn't feel like he was in an orchard at all anymore. The ground itself was cold, and felt like stone to him. He could also feel a little stream running under his legs. It took him a few seconds to realize he was in some sort of building. "Maybe some guy got mad I kicked his horse" He thought. While thinking about some psycho horse lover locking him in a cellar to come beat him with a hammer he noticed a sliver of light coming from the ceiling. Particles of dust were flying around in the light. He went to the hole it came from and for some reason the ceiling was only around three feet high. He walked away light a little and found the ceiling was higher there, he could barely touch it. This led him to an ingenious idea that the light came through a hole in a door. He fumbled around for his backpack to get his matches but only then did he notice his backpack wasn't on his back, it was nowhere to be found. So he just went over to the hole and pushed up on it. To his surprise it opened easily. Apparently the person that locked him in there either didn't care if he got out or just forgot to lock it. There was also the chance they were sitting behind the door with a loaded shotgun but Jack eliminated that choice out of being an idiot.
He poked his head out the door. He was in a house, with no one holding a shotgun around him. The light was coming from a lantern on a nearby table. The walls were painted faintly yellow and the floor was hardwood. There were also a few paintings on the wall, but just of landscapes. He climbed out of the door and was greeted with silence. He closed the trap door behind him quietly just like he opened it. It didn't even creak, amazing. The room he was in seemed to be a dining room. There was a large, simple table with four chairs and behind him was a rather small sofa. In the front of the room there was a more decorative looking table and a large painting of a mountain above it. There was a doorway on either side of the table, and he decided to go through he doorway on the left. It was dark in the room, a clock on the wall read midnight. He was looking at the clock when out of nowhere something struck him on the back of his head. He fell down and hit his head again on a stool he hadn't seen before. He tasted blood and started to black out again. He really had no good luck.
Chapter 3
"He's probably worth a lot of money, might be some experiment gone loose or a zoo animal."
"I'd like to see that zoo."
A few voices argued back and forth as Jack slowly regained his consciousness. He was sick to his stomach and his head hurt but he was still alive. Looking around he found he was in a small green room, dimly lit by a single candle on a table in the corner. He was laying on a bed, his feet hanging off the edge slightly. He could hear the two voices in the other room but couldn't really make out what they were saying. The floor creaked a little as he made his way to the door. It was unlocked.
Not caring to find out who took him here he made his way down the dark hallway. Every little sound made him freeze and look around. There was a light at the end of this tunnel, a window. It was slightly ajar with just about enough space for him to fit his fingers through.
Cold air blew from the night into the building. The moonlight coming through the window lit the little room Jack found himself in. He didn't have a jacket, but he opened the window and climbed into the cold anyway. Snow was on the ground though last he checked it was summer. Snow floated down as he stumbled around. There was so much snow he couldn't see anything after a few feet.
Eventually he felt cobblestone under his feet and stopped at the first house he found. He knocked on the front door and waited a minute but no one came. Breaking and entering wasn't good, but neither was death so he looked for a way in. All the windows were locked but when he actually tried the door it opened. He felt like an idiot. Inside it was surprisingly dark and it smelled of pumpkin pie. It was warm and he was cold and tired so he went under the first table he found. It wasn't a very good hiding spot but whoever lived there might not notice him. After a while he started to fall asleep so he got in a comfortable position and used his backpack as a pillow. Soon he was waiting there with his eyes closed, waiting.
Jack shoot upright, banging his head against the table. He had a nightmare, about peaches and cream. Murderous peaches and cream. He slowed his breathing, he had a bad taste in his mouth. A bit of throbbing pain was in his forehead, sending little shock waves through him.
Realizing he was under a table he got up. The light blinded him but he went up to get a cup of coffee. He wandered around half blinded until he found the kitchen. There was a coffee machine with a can standing next to it. It read: Coffee, Equestria's finest, Made in Canterlot.
What the hell is that?
Taking a look around with his vision finally back, he noticed he wasn't in his own kitchen. The whole situation of not knowing where he was came back to him, he had a bad short term memory. The sound of footsteps coming put him back in gear. He crawled under the kitchen table, which had no table cloth. When he listened carefully the footsteps didn't sound like footsteps. It sounded like hooves, like maybe a mule.
In addition he could hear a woman humming something that sounded like classical music. He hoped they didn't look in his direction, because he was pretty big under the table. Looking to the doorway the clopping of hooves and humming got louder and louder. Jack could hear his heart beating, like a watch enveloped in cotton.
Finally something came through the door, but it wasn't human. It looked like a dog, or a wolf, maybe a horse. Purple, with hair and tale also colored in light and dark shades or purple. It actually looked kind of like that thing he saw yesterday, the one he kicked in the face. This one though, was bigger. Its eyes were huge, almost bigger than Jack's fist. It had no real hooves, it's legs ended in a flat stump, but somehow it sounded like a horse walking on cobblestone. It also had a tattoo on its back leg that looked like a purple compass rose. It walked over to the coffee machine and faced away from Jack. It had no clothes on. Not wanting to be anywhere near this thing Jack crawled slowly toward the doorway to get out.
"Dear Celestia!"
Shit, it saw him.
"I'm out of sugar, I'll need to run down the the market later and get some more."
Jack Shook his head and walked out the door.
Stupid bitch.
Outside it was warm, he could feel the sun's heat coming down on his. A good feeling compared to the cold of last night. A small layer of snow covered most of the ground while there were puddles of water in some places. His watch read 6 o'clock, early and the streets were empty. It was weird how light it was out on a winter's day. Usually the sun doesn't come out till' later. He turned around. That thing was looking at him through the window. His heart sped up, he didn't really like seeing peoples' faces in windows. It just stared at him with a blank expression, its eyes burning a hole in him. Jack just stood there not knowing what to do. Maybe these things were unfriendly and carnivorous, it might come eat him. Eventually it left the window and he calmed down. Then the front door opened and that thing was staring at him again.
"Hello?". It sounded like a woman but looked like something from a coloring book. A very odd coloring book.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, who are you? Can you talk?". Jack kind of got lost then. Animals don't talk beside humans. Animals aren't purple either. He really couldn't understand it. That other horse talked, and so did this one. He obviously wasn't dreaming since he's fallen asleep and woken up twice since he got here. Something in him kind of broke, he just didn't care anymore. Snow crunched a bit under his feet as he walked towards the horse. This one was probably adult because with the horn it was slightly taller than him. Its hair was a bit higher than his chin.
"Are you okay?", she asked looking concerned. He really wasn't okay. Rage rose up in him for no real reason and he punched her right in the temple. Was that crack his fist or her head?
"Hey, get away from my friend!", a raspy voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a blue horse flying in front of him. Its eyes were blue and its hair had the colors of the rainbow, and it was mad. It smashed its hoof thing right into Jacks' nose.
The last this he saw was blood flying into the clear blue sky, then everything faded to black as the two horses looked over him. He probably blacks out more than some boxers.
Jack laughed, "Blow my head off? You don't even have a gun dumb bitch." It took none less than a cold barrel pressing into his cheek to silence his laughing. Indeed this thing had a gun, but not a normal gun. Floating in the air in front of him, surrounded in a transparent teal bubble, was what appeared to be a miniature naval cannon. No company he knew of made something like this. This bitch was 17th century.
"You're really running my patience here. I don't appreciate dangerous animals in my town, nor do I have an answer to my question. So I'm going to give you ten seconds okay? And if I don't get an answer I'm going to kill you and donate your body to science."
"I wanted to do that," was his reaction. He had no idea where he was, what time it was, what this thing is or why it wanted to kill him. He just went with what his mind thought was the best answer. Faster than she could react he grabbed the cannon and pointed it at her. The damn thing had no trigger, not that he could see. The horse girl sat with her hands up, screaming out all random shit. Jack couldn't think with this distraction, so he threw the heavy little thing at her. She went down instantly. Apparently what she was screaming wasn't all random, because immediately following her temporary demise another horse ran in carrying a shotgun. Jack stared her down. Another her, because of a mix of yellow, purple and pink on her body. Before he could plea for mercy or become Rambo she shot him right in the stomach. As he went down he couldn't stop thinking of how the gunshot felt more like being burned than impaled or how he was thinking at all after being shot. The yellow horse stood over him as he lay there on the ground, all the life slowly draining from him. The last thing he saw was her eyes. Light blue and big as hell, staring down angrily at him. The last thing he heard was a door being broken down and multiple footsteps. Before he could see the source he lost all his senses, probably for the last time.
-
"Oh look, he's getting up. He's getting up!"
That voice sounded way too excited. No female cared about Jack this much, to visit him at the hospital. Looking back, it seemed no one at all cared about him here. Two people already tried to kill him from racial profiling. At this point he couldn't see but he could hear a few women and smell fresh linen.
"Your clothes were bloody and you have no need for them, so we put them aside. We'll wash them later."
"Who knew they were criminals."
"Not criminals, hired deputies remember? You hired them yourself."
-
Insomnia, Delirium, Paranoia; and I would stay away from three-wheeled vehicles if I were you.
-
Just don't think too much or the Russians will come for you.
-
Jack sat up, his head throbbing. How long had he been asleep? The moon was already out. And why was he suddenly thinking about the Soviet Union? They wouldn't have really launched nukes would they? And why was his bed covered in dirt? Jack ran his hand along his bed, it was actually a road.
-
A man used to processed meat and television certainly wasn't meant to survive in the woods, but even with his near gone instincts, he still felt the need to go on until he could'nt go any farther.
-
The sky was light blue when Jack finally stopped, or fell over, either one.
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Spear in hand and full of spirit, he made his way down the road determined to get help or die trying. He didn't need any protection, God and his determination could stop any threat, nukes to tigers. He continued in this state of euphoria for a good few minutes, he probably did a little too much activity and it made him light headed.
He woke up in a hospital smelling of roses and alcohol, nothing new. What was new, however, was the white and pink polka-dotted hospital gown he was wearing. Such an ugly garment should be a crime against humanity.
Misanthropic thoughts aside, he took a moment to recollect himself and realized; no, he wasn't on earth, and no, Clinton's still gone. It took him a while, but somehow he remembered where he was. He also remembered the talking dog-horses, including the militant rainbow that punched him. Yeah, he did punch her friend, but that doesn't give her permission to punch him . If he had more of a backbone, he'd go have some stern words with her.
It looked like he'd have the opportunity, because just a minute after he awoke, she flew through the door.
The rainbow hovered in the doorway, eyes narrowed and staring intensely at him. Jack did the only thing he could think of. He ducked under the covers, because he was a child.
"You're lucky Twilight wants to do her weird studying on you. If not, a hospital would be too late for you." A girl's voice called out trying to sound masculine. Also rather condescending, Jack might add. "Hey, where'd you go?"
Is she that stupid? , he thought.
Apparently not.
It was like getting hit with a sledgehammer - shit happens - when Rainbow flew into Jack's rib-cage. She fell off the bed onto the floor laughing as Jack curled into the fetal position, the pain starting to fade away. It would seem most ponies were built tougher than him.
"You - You take hits like a filly!", she cried through her laughter.
I wonder how often you get assaulted in the hospital , Jack started to get off the bed, collapsing as soon as his feet hit the floor.
Rainbow didn't notice.
"But really, Twilight sent me to get you, seeing as you're some kind of new undiscovered creature that may or may not eat ponies. She'd come get you herself, but she's busy with preparing and all that.", she was talking mostly to the wall, as Jack was still on the floor. "I'm always willing to help out. I mean, how hard could it be? Any trouble and I could just knock you out again." Rather egotistical, though it was true. Rainbow did knock him out in one punch before. She could probably do it again.
The trip to Twilight's castle was pretty boring. Jack spent most of the ride in a bag, while it seemed Rainbow - who told him her real name was Rainbow Dash - was purposefully swinging him side to side. Every few minutes it seemed he collided with something hard that wouldn't budge or something soft that yelled angrily. It was pretty uncomfortable. Rainbow had tied Jack's legs to his chest to keep him from moving, and he was really starting to feel his muscles burn.
Finally though, she let him out, and he could see Twilight's castle. And wow, did she have some castle.
It's appearance was completely superficial. It looked like a strong gust of wind would be all it took to knock it over. The whole thing was supported by what looked to be fragile crystal tree, much to thin to support all the weight above it. At the very top was a large crystal star, no doubt useless and with no rooms in it. The left side had a large balcony hanging off it, while the right side had a block of rooms hanging off that side. The whole thing was unbalanced, and completely undefendable. All an enemy would have do to topple it would be to damage the fake-tree supporting it, then it would topple down.
Not to mention how ugly it was compared to the surrounding country. It completely stuck out, all purple and crystal-y.
Standing in front of the castle was the purple pony Jack punched however long ago. He didn't even know how long he was in the hospital.
He would've asked Rainbow on the way, but she stuffed him in a bag. It seemed though, that their last meeting wasn't too long ago. Twilight still had a bruise on her face, and a bandage wrapped around her horn. Looked like the punch Jack made ended up hitting her horn, too. But then again, last time he saw her she didn't have wings, or this castle. Her house was a tree when he hit her, so these new additions must've come along while he was out.
"You've been out for quite a while," Twilight started. Damn, that meant Jack would have to shave his beard, as he hadn't thought to check his face 'till now. "I've done some studying on you while you where out," creepy, "But I was hoping to study you while you were... responsive." Would Jack have to punch her again?
"Please, Twi-," his voice squeaked and died out. His throat was dry as a desert.
"Rainbow Dash, you did moisten his throat every 3 days like I asked you, right?"
"I, might've forgot?", Dash offered with a weak smile.
What the hell?
"You bastard," he barely choked out.
"Language please," Twilight started talking. "There's a lot I'd like to discuss with you, but seeing as you can't ,well, discuss, I'll just have to wait until you get your voice back. You can stay in my castle, but please, don't take or break anything." What, was he some kind of thug or something?
"Now as for you, Rainbow Dash," Twilight started talking. Again. "Princess Celestia has called us all to Canterlot for an important merting."
"What for?" Rainbow asked, as if an invitation from a monarch wasn't significant enough for her.
"She didn't say," Twilight said. "All she wrote was it's important and we need to head there now!" She stamped her hoof impatiently on the ground, a hint of frustration in her voice. He pointed at Jack, "I just wanted to make sure he was here at the castle where the guards could watch him before we left."
"Alright fine. Let's go!" Rainbow basically shouted. Then took off together, heading north.
They literally just Jack standing there in front of the castle, not even making sure he was inside. The guards standing on either side of the door were sleeping, leaning on their spears. Jack could just leave. So he did, taking off down the road towards the town he assumed was Ponyville, if his memory served him right. Now , he thought, Let's get down to business .
Jack's 'business' was getting lunch.
A rather difficult task, it was.
First off, he had no money. Secondly, he was an alien to the local population.
Most ponies he saw ran away or ducked into buildings. Ponies closed up shop as he walked by. Ponies screamed and feinted as he came within a few yards of them.
How did he know they were called ponies?
He didn't. He had no idea what these thing were actually called, but the town was called Ponyville, and seeing how Germantown exists...
He did manage to snag a sandwich off one poor lady, who stereotypically put her hoof to her forehead and fainted as Jack walked up to her. Having no idea what to do, he left her there. Someone would help her, eventually.
Taking one bite of the sandwich, he dry heaved, nearly throwing up. On the outside, the sandwich looked fine. On the inside, however, were dandelions. What wicked creature would put such diabolical weeds in their food? Jack did the obvious thing and took the flowers out, eating just the bread. It was mostly filling, though hunger gnawed at him a bit.
Getting his clothes back was next on his list. The hideous hospital gown he was wearing just wouldn't do.
The hospital was relatively easy to find, especially since all the townsfolk were avoiding him. It was a rather plain hospital, and rather large for such a small town. It had the same medieval wattle and daub construction as the rest of the village.
He was chased out by nurses as soon as he walked in. They were screaming things along the lines of, "What is he doing outside his room?", and, "You can't just walk out of here, get him!." Apparently Rainbow hadn't checked him out and just stuck him in the bag and left.
She sucked. He needed to tell her that sometime.
It wasn't hard losing the nurses. Just turn a few corners and hide behind a barrel. They past right by him.
After a while he came back onto the street to find it still empty. He just decided to walk around until some thing happened.
It did.
After about five minutes of aimless wandering, Jack passed an alley and noticed something wasn't right. Backing up to take a closer look, a pair of yellow eyes stared back at him.
"Come Mister Peterson, ve have much to discuss."
Shit.
His world turned to darkness once more.
