Incident on a Forest Road in Equestria

by Maxmanta

Part 3

It was not a good situation, but when you’re as much of a lush as me, you learn to think on your hooves. And face it, as bad situations go, this one was not unmanageable.

Equestria isn’t huge. I figured if I kept an even trot, slowing now and then to rest, I could be in Ponyville by early afternoon. It was warm and clear out, and maybe the hike would do me some good. Clear my head or some nonsense. I watched the stars, trying to remember the names of the constellations I learned as a filly, but I had forgotten them all. They just looked like a random jumble of lights in the sky.

I started off at an easy trot. I knew Rarity could fix my dress for me. I wondered what kept Carrot’s mane so poofy. I studied the moon, wondering if Princess Luna was out there, watching over Equestria as ponies slept. I never placed much stock in things like that. Maybe other ponies have some mystical fascination with the royal sisters, but I doubt they do much more than sleep and stuff their faces with cake. I kept my thoughts occupied with anything I could—anything so I wouldn’t have to think about the look on Merry’s face. The punch from Sherry was a distant memory, but the scene where the diploma shattered kept replaying itself in my head over and over again.

I watched the sky. If I couldn’t remember the constellations, I thought I’d made up a few of my own. At first, they came easy. Myrta the Mule. Colliander the Changeling. Persephone the squid/octopus/thing. Sorry…I am not a clever pony. As my head cleared, it became harder and harder. Most of my creations centered around one star in particular. It was larger and brighter than any of the hundreds of others I could see. And unlike the other stars, which were stationary, this one seemed to move. Was it a comet or a falling star? I doubted it. It seemed to be pacing itself alongside me. Maybe some Pegasus was just messing around with me. It gave me hope, maybe she’d help me out and give me directions to the nearest pub, where I knew somepony would take pity and buy me a drink or two.

But the light kept pace with me and I started feeling uneasy. I kept thinking it was a Pegasus pony, but as the minutes went by I found it harder and harder to convince myself. I got the idea in my head that something was watching me. Studying me. I stopped at that thought.

Something…not somepony.

I didn’t know why, but a wave of panic swept over me. I trotted faster, then broke into a full gallop. The forest was dense on both sides of the railroad track. I wanted to run into the trees and hide. Anything to get away from the…whatever it was…but I would get lost and somehow the thing would find me. The light kept up with me and I had no idea how far it was from me. I glanced back and forth between the train tracks and the light. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that it wasn’t anything natural. I wanted to get away from it or for it to just leave me alone.

The forest opened up a bit, and I was in a clearing surrounded by trees. I didn’t know if I should follow the tracks through the clearing, or change direction and try to evade my pursuer. When I turned my head to it, it immediately changed direction and came straight towards me. I stopped and stared straight at it, convinced it was about to swallow me up. But I threw myself to the ground at the last second and it passed just a short distance over my head. It was round and huge and made of metal, reminding me of a castle turret. It passed over me with only a faint whooshing sound. As it pulled up and off I into the distance I could make out a row of windows around its edge. Inside, it was brightly lit, and I could make out…figures…of some kind standing at those windows, watching me.

I lay there for a bit, pressed to the ground and shivering in fear. I was exhausted. How long had I been walking? I didn’t know, but my hopes of reaching Ponyville by afternoon was diminishing. When I was finally able to lift myself from the ground I scanned the sky. It was clear. I was relieved but still very uneasy. I quickly crossed the rest of the clearing and, surrounded by the relative safety of the trees, slowed to a trot. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, I saw a light around the bend in the tracks. I didn’t know of any stops between Ponyville and Phillydelphia, but maybe I could get some rest. Maybe even some food if somepony took pity on me.

Boy, was I wrong.

An object was sitting there, blocking the tracks and making passage around it impossible. The object—I can’t think of any other word to describe it—looked like a smaller version of the one that had passed over me earlier. Figures—unpony-like things—stood on their back legs in front of it. There were three of them in all, and they were facing me. I got the feeling I was somehow expected. They were waiting for me.

Like I said before, whatever they were they weren’t ponies. But, then again, neither are a lot of the creatures of Equestria. These were far different from anything I’d ever seen. They stood and moved about on their back legs. Their balance was perfect and they didn’t stumble at all. They had no fur…or manes or tails for that matter. Their heads and bodies were a smooth pale gray and they stood on legs that looked way too thin to support them. Their faces were flat with no snout whatsoever and with only a tiny slit for a mouth. But the strangest, and most frightening thing about them were their eyes—pure black and almond shaped and without any sort of emotion whatsoever.

I was scared, frightened. I should have bolted away from there in an instant. Instead, I stood transfixed by those hollow, soulless eyes.

Berryshine…

They called to me, but not with words. Somehow, I was hearing them inside my head in perfect ponyspeak. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. It was soft, like a whisper inside my head. Maybe the concept of gender had no meaning for them.

You will come with us. Enter.

I looked at the object blocking the tracks and noticed a ramp leading into it. Entering that…thing…was the thing I least wanted to do. But I found my resolve weakening. Suddenly, entering the object seemed like the most harmless, most natural thing in all of Equestria to do. I took a step forward.

I came to the foot of the ramp and looked up into the craft. It had obviously come from very very far away. Inside, it was not brightly lit, but I caught glimpses of all kinds of machinery. And there was a smell—a smell like nothing I had ever encountered in my life. It was like a like a mixture of things that I did not know any of the names of. It was that smell that broke me out of my reverie. I stopped.

Berryshine…enter.

I had no idea of what their intentions towards me were, but it was nothing good. I faced the leader, or the one whom I thought was the leader and shook my head.

“No.” I said it as defiantly as I could, but I squeaked it out like a frightened school filly. Ponies can be pretty damn stubborn. It’s hard to get somepony to do something she does not want to do.

I hadn’t noticed before, but the three beings held small silver wands in their…not hooves but hands. Like the hands of a dragon. But unlike the thick, muscled hands of a dragon, theirs looked small and delicate—long gray things that reminded me uncomfortably of a spider. The wands made a buzzing sound and I found myself lifted off the ground. I struggled as best I could, but I could barely movie. Though nothing was actually lifting me, I was levitated up the ramp, through an open door, and into the craft.

The inside of the craft was filthy and in disarray. The floor and walls were dirty and bits of machinery were scattered along the circular wall. The only light in the room was from a lamp suspended over an antiseptic-looking metal table. It was towards that table that these…things…levitated me. I felt dazed, so I put up no resistance as they levitated me onto the table. They turned their wands off and I was plopped unceremoniously on the table. It was cold—like one you’d find at a doctor’s office.

Their next act really frightened me. Two of them put their hands on me and quickly stripped my dress off, leaving me naked. I don’t know why that would bother me so much. Ponies spend most of their time naked, right? Maybe an affectation or two—like a tie or hat or something. But removing and discarding my dress left me completely alone and vulnerable. I couldn’t stop it. I started to cry.

It took almost all of my energy to speak. “What do you want from me.” I was squeaking like a newborn foal.

Just some tests…tissue samples. Do not be afraid. You will be unharmed.

“Please…” But it was that obvious what I wanted didn’t matter to them. They put those horrible hands on me again. With my eyes closed it felt like bugs going through my fur and over my skin. It didn’t hurt, so I calmed down a little. Eventually I opened my eyes.

Their “tests” seemed benign enough—fur and mane samples, filings from my hooves, swabs from my mouth. I actually began to relax a little. They poked and prodded here and there. Honestly, it seemed no worse than a routine medical physical. Two of them performed their tests which the third—the “leader” I mentioned earlier—seemed to stand back and observe.

It didn’t become uncomfortable until they inserted a thin needle into my navel. I cried out in pain, but the leader waved his wand over my face and the pain disappeared. They said they wanted to see if I was pregnant. After a silent look between the three of them they turned to me.

“Am I?” I doubted I could be. I hadn’t been in a relationship for a long while. Something about relationships and me just doesn’t work.

For a moment, my head was filled with some strange static. No. You are not.

I looked around the room as best as I could. That wasn’t much there that looked interesting, or that I would understand. Everything was just a tangled mix of wires and bits of metal. Little pieces of junk was scattered across the floor and piled up in corners. Stuff that would’ve fascinated pony scientists for decades—maybe even hundreds of years—was just useless junk to them. When it broke or when they had no more use for something, they just chucked it into a corner. Like my dress. I finally spotted something I thought I could recognize.

“What is that?” I nodded toward a drawing or painting on the wall. It looked some kind of abstract art. It was a jumble of lines and dots and circles. I wondered of the dots and circles were the stars I had been watching earlier.

My hosts—I don’t know what else to call them—didn’t even raise their heads as they whispered. It is a map.

“Oh! Can you show me where you’re from?”

The two of them working on me shared a glance at me, then at each other, then back down to their work.

The leader whispered to me. Do you think you could find your own home on it?

“Well…no. Of course not.”

Then how would pointing out our home on it be any help?

My head was filled for a moment with that strange static again. I got it. It was a joke at my expense. Two scientists sharing a laugh over their helpless lab subject. I was hoping to have something, some kind of proof of this experience. Something to show it wasn’t just another one of Berryshine’s wild, drunken tales. I thought about asking for some bit of the junk that was just laying around but I was afraid that it would just give them more amusement at my expense.

“Will I at least have my dress back?” Despite its condition, it was still my most treasured item. They could do what they were doing to me all they wanted, as long as I left with my new dress.

Again, they wouldn’t even look up. No.

“What possible use could you have for my dress?” They didn’t answer. They just kept working. Pinching, prodding, poking. For some reason, I didn’t actually feel violated until that point.

Not my dress…I wondered. How could this get worse?

It was a question nopony should ever ask. I can always get worse.

With their wands, the three of them levitated me up again. For a brief, naïve, minute, I thought they were about to release me. I found myself wondering if I should even try telling anypony this story. But instead of floating me out the door and down the ramp, they turned me around and dropped me back on the table on my belly. Worse yet, they were using their wands to hold me down. I wasn’t just being held in place, I was being forced down onto the table!

My head was filled with the static I had heard earlier. I realized this was their language when not using Ponyspeak. Whatever they were saying, they did not want me to understand it. Some of the force pressing down on me let up and I was able to crane my head around. The leader had turned off his wand and turned to the wall. In it, some sort of iris opened, and the leader withdrew some kind of…I didn’t know what it was but I didn’t want it anywhere near me. It looked like a metal snake with a little nozzle on the end. It squirmed and twisted like it was alive, and like everything else in the place, it was dirty and vile to look at.

“You are not bringing that thing near me!”

I heard more static in my head. It was more intense now. The leader was bringing whatever it was closer to me. Close to my…down there.

I struggled against the force of their wands. “No! Let me go! This place is disgusting! I HATE YOU!” I couldn’t lift my hooves, so I fought back with the only thing I had left—my tail. I don’t know much about science, but though I was all but immobilized, I was still able to thrash and snap my tail around me. It was a pathetic, last defense against what I knew they were about to do.

But even that didn’t last long. A second one switched off his own wand and was then clutching my tail with both of those hands, and lifting it over my back. The leader brought the thing closer to me. Now, there was only one of those wands holding me down. I wasn’t exactly free, but I’m a strong pony and I was free enough to almost get my hooves under me.

Berryshine…stop

“It’s Berry PUNCH, you muleass!”

With every ounce of strength I had, I lifted my back hooves and thrusted them right back into the leader’s ugly, bug-eyed face. It sent him flying back across the room and he smashed into a pile of machinery. I may have killed him. I didn’t care.

The one holding my tail forgot about me and tried to go for his wand. I didn’t let him. I dropped him with one good shot to his chest. The last one still held his wand, but it may as well as been a roll of flypaper. In a second, I was on all fours and ready to kick some flank.

A LEFT! AND A RIGHT! And he went down like a sack of carrots.

I hurried to the exit, but before I reached it, I grabbed my dress in my teeth. I looked down at the leader as I passed him. My buck had left two deep hoofprints in his face that I doubted would ever heal completely. That…machine…whatever it was, hung limply, with no more life in it than any other piece of garbage around the place.

“What’s my name?”

He looked dazed, and that big gray head of his just rolled back and forth and his too-skinny neck.

Berryshine.

I shoved him to the ground, pressing a hoof deep into his chest.

“I SAID ‘WHAT’S MY NAME?!’”

Berry Punch.

“You’re damn right!” I gave him a last shove to the ground. Their bodies felt like clay.

I ran as fast as I could from the craft. After a while I slowed and resumed my course towards Ponyville. It was still the middle of night, so maybe I’d make it home for breakfast. As I walked, I heard a whooshing sound from behind. The smaller craft had lifted off. High up in the sky, it attached itself to the larger one—the one I had first spotted. Together, the zipped off into the night sky, out of sight.