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// Chapter 2: Boldly Gone Where Nopony Has Gone Before 
// Story: Accidental Heroism 
// by Zaffy 
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	‘Where… am I?’ he thought to himself. He felt weird, and couldn’t see a thing. This was not a good sign for him. He then realized his eyes were shut. Part of him wanted to open his eyes and look around, but another part wanted to relax and wait a while before doing so. He could smell odd things in the air. They didn’t smell bad, just different. Bellow him was something soft. And immediately below it was something hard. Grass and dirt, maybe? He could feel a soft breeze blowing over him, and the sun bathing him in its warm rays of light. He breathed in the new smells for a few more minutes before weakly opening his eyes. He saw what he was laying down on, something green, and all separate blades covering dirt. Without moving his head, ne noticed large trees surrounding him. He had seen trees before, but none so bright and vibrant. Back home, they were all old and withered, barely used anymore for construction of any kind. He rolled over onto his back, but something didn’t feel quite right. He looked away from the bright, blue sky and down at himself. He sat there for a few seconds, taking this new information in. His skin was now gray; he had a smaller body, four legs with hooves on the ends, and a short, brown, messy-looking tail. He also noticed his clothes and equipment were sprawled all over the place around him. Suddenly, his hands- or rather, hooves – quickly moved about his face, confirming his suspicions: Elongated snout? Longer ears? Larger, browner eyes? Hooves? A tail? His messy hair lengthened a bit into a messy, brown mane?  A damn horn? He had transformed into some kind of horse! He didn’t know of any horses with horns, but that wasn’t a big worry for him. However, he found the word ‘pony’ seemed to better fit his new form for some reason. He wanted to scream in horror, but all that came out was a silent groan of frustration. He began to try and talk, but no sound came out ‘Shit… I don’t know how to use these vocal chords…!’ he thought, panicking a little bit. He rolled over to his side again, and attempted to stand up. His legs wobbled and his balance faltered, but he was able to stay on his feet ‘That’s good… At least I can walk in this stupid form.’ he thought. ‘Crap, those damned Magi must have caught me when I blacked out in that doorway and changed me…’ he began, before looking around again ‘but why the hell would they leave my stuff here, let alone my cannon?’ he wondered, looking at his things, then the cannon on the ground next to him. He carefully made his way over to his things, gathering the clothing on his back with his mouth, slinging his satchel around him and his goggles on his head with surprising ease, considering he had hooves. 

Suddenly, he froze when he heard some noises from beyond the trees; a discerning grunt, a hellish squeal, whatever the sound something sharp makes when it hits wood. Jacob’s eyes shot open wide as this large creature stood at the other end of the clearing.
Its snout was sniffing hard at the ground, locking on to Jacob’s scent. It was about 5 feet tall, had small ears, a round, fat body, short legs with hard looking hooves, covered with razor-sharp blades, and no eyes, as far as Jacob could tell.
Jacob tensed up when it faced him. It couldn’t see, but Jacob was sure it had already sniffed him out. He slowly reached for his arm cannon, to which the beast responded with an angry snarl, and began to charge. Jacob fumbled with the cannon, trying to press a button on the side, but it was too late. The beast was faster than he was, and plunged its sharp tusk into his side. He let out a silent groan, blood dripping from the wound, as he pressed the open end of the cannon to the beast’s forehead ‘Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?’ Jacob thought, struggling to ‘pull’ the trigger in the arm cannon. A burning ball of energy shot out at point blank range, burrowing into the beast’s head, killing it. Jacob panted, pulling himself off of the tusk, and placing a hoof over the wound. It wasn’t too big, but it was fairly deep. He was thankful for the fact it seemed to miss any organs. He limped closer to some bushes, and sat on his flank. He began to search through the satchel, when he heard voices and painfully rolled into the bushes.

“Are ya sure you saw somethin’ out here, Shy?” a feminine voice asked. 
Jacob breathed slowly, still looking in his satchel as two ponies walked into the clearing. 
One was bright yellow with a pink mane and tail and yellow wings, while the other was an orange pony with a yellow mane and wearing a cowboy hat. A freaking hat. Jacob’s brow furrowed at the sight of it, wondering why it was wearing a hat, of all things. He shook his head; why was he wondering about a hat, when he clearly heard one speak English?
“U-Um, yes… I mean, I saw this bright light… And then a pony with a bunch of weird things around it…” she began to explain “A-And then a razorboar showed up, a-and charged at him! I-I came to find you for help…If you don’t mind?” she meekly asked.
Applejack made a big sigh “Aw, sheeyoot Fluttershy, you know darn well that I’m happy to help with whatever problems you’ve got! But Ah don’t think Ah can take a razorboar!” she told her, making a small smile. She then looked around the clearing from there, immediately taking notice of the razorboar’s corpse “Oh sweet, merciful Celestia…” she gasped, placing a foot to her mouth. 
Fluttershy was totally silent, mouth hanging open “D-Did he… kill that animal?” she asked.
Applejack slowly nodded her head “Ah think he did… Ah can’t say Ah blame him, but color me surprised!” she commented, slowly walking towards the beast. She noticed it had a hole in its head, with burn marks surrounding it “Ah think that pony might’ve been a unicorn… Looks like magic tah me.” She pointed out.
Fluttershy looked at the grass, seeing a trail of blood leading away from the body “Oh-Oh gosh, he’s hurt!” she gasped, following the trail with her eyes, until she spotted Jacob’s brown tail sticking out from the bushes “U-Um, excuse me…?” she called out to him.
Jacob froze, watching her carefully from the bushes.
“I-It alright, you can come out!” She mumbled a feeble attempt at coaxing him out.

Jacob quickly retreated his tail into the bushes before backing out and trying to run, only to trip and slam into a tree ‘Damn these legs!’ he cursed his rotten luck within the confines of his mind. A bit of blood wet the hastily fixed patch over his wound, which wasn’t much more than a white wrapping bandage around his torso to keep it steady and not bleeding.
Applejack couldn’t help but try to hold a few laughs back at the clumsy attempt at an escape, but Fluttershy was a little more sympathetic “I-I’m not going to hurt you…” she mumbled, approaching him.
Jacob backed up against the tree, trying to say something, but it only came out as a hiss.
Fluttershy made her own quiet noise, and hid behind Applejack.
Applejack put on a serious face, and said “Now look here, Shy’s just tryin’ tah help. Don’tcha DARE try to hurt her!“ and began to stomp towards him, but suddenly when she saw Jacob raise his foreleg, and the arm cannon began to quietly whir. Unsure of what it was, she asked “Ah don’t know what that there thing is, but Ah ain’t scared of it!” she huffed. 
Jacob pointed the cannon the ground in front of her, and fired a small, fast shot out, singeing the spot where it hit.
Applejack stepped back in surprise, nearly bowling over Fluttershy, and said “Hey there! Calm down, now! We’re just tryin’ to help!”
Jacob wasn’t fazed, trying to speak again, but no sound coming out.
Fluttershy poked her head out from behind Applejack, and looked into his eyes; there was something saddening about them, almost like a wounded and confused beast. Fluttershy stepped out from behind Applejack and walked towards him “I-It’s alright… I’m not going to hurt you…” she told him in a soothing voice.
Jacob wanted to calm down, but he couldn’t. His thoughts were screaming “Get out of there!”, but he wouldn’t move. He shakily pointed his cannon at her in warning, but Fluttershy kept moving forward.
Fluttershy gently moved the cannon downward, slowly pulled him into a hug, and said “Please… You’re hurt, let us help you…” in a soft voice. 
Jacob seemed to tense up in the hug for a moment, before relaxing a bit against his better judgment.
Applejack cocked a brow, and muttered “Fluttershy, I don’t know how you do that…” to herself, before starting to approach them. Jacob tensed up when she did, making her step back again “…Ah think you should take it back to your cabin solo… Ah’ll head back to Ponyville and bring Twilight over tah your place.” She muttered, sounding a little insulted.
Jacob relaxed again, and Fluttershy let him loose.
“Can you walk?” she asked.
Jacob nodded and shook each of his legs to show they were fine,
“T-That’s a relief…” Fluttershy sighed happily. She then took a few steps back “If you come to my cottage, we can get your wound treated…”
Jacob didn’t know what a ‘cottage’ was, but he figured it was some kind of home, guessing from how she asked the question. He nodded slowly, picking up his spilt clothes and placing them in his satchel.
Fluttershy smiled, and said “Follow me, please…” before beginning to slowly walk back the way she came, and Jacob followed suit.
Jacob watched the things around him like the small birds, some other small, furry creatures, and even the fluffy white clouds; all things he had never really seen before. He was taken aback by the surrounding beauty, and thought to himself ‘If this IS a dream or trick those Magi conjured up, they did a damn good job of it.’