Ponyllateral

by It Never Ends

Chapter 2: The Horizon Awaits

You know there are times when you hate being right well this was one of them. I was right when I said I wouldn't know what to do 10 minutes from now. In fact it took me two and a half hours just to figure out what my next step would be, at least I think it had been that long I had checked my watch every now and again and that's what it said but I still don't know if the time on this world was the same as the time on Earth. Regardless I was annoyed that it took me so long to think of my next step but in all fairness to myself when you've done the violent things I've done and then somehow manage to end up in what looks like a group of little girls fantasies come to life it hinders certain abilities you have. Thinking clearly being one of those abilities but I knew it was pointless to ponder on it any longer. It was time I made my next step which was getting to a secure location.

"Seems like I can move from house to house without any of these things seeing me." Vincent thought as he look at his surroundings. "Yeah I can do it, all these horses seem to be busy going on with their day to even take a glance in my direction."

Vincent patiently watched waiting for the right moment to move. As he looked around he saw that he was right, no one was looking in his direction or the direction of the house he was going to run for, Vincent picked up his briefcases and made a run for the house which was more than a few steps away, hell he could have walked to it if he wanted to but knowing that would increase the chances of being spotted he brushed it off as some stupid random thought. Not long after the run he had reached the house, Vincent repeated this process three more times while doing this he still managed to go unnoticed although the last two houses he thought were close calls but turned out to be nothing but some horses walking in the same direction he was moving to, they were too busy talking with one another to even look forward for a second.

"This is working out better than I had anticipated" Vincent said.

As I looked around to see where I would be moving to next I saw two paths that leaded to what seemed to be two different forests. One was for whatever strange reason filled with an endless amount of apples while the other seemed like a regular looking forest. It wasn't much of a hard decision to make considering I preferred to stay in a normal looking forest a lot more than a strange apple filled one, my mind was made up but no matter where you are Earth or this place nothing will ever go your way and that was the case right now, the forest I had chosen to go to was over a bridge that led straight to it, problem was I would have to run right into the center of town where every one of those horses would see me and the last thing I needed was to be categorized as some kind of Bigfoot type monster myth. Leaving that thought in the back of my head I looked back at the apple forest and notice that if I went into it and then headed to the east direction it would lead me towards the normal looking forest. Seems like the best option and after checking the town again, still not able to find a way to get by unnoticed I decide that going through the apple forest was my best choice, since there where already some trees behind the house I was hiding behind I could use them to provide me with some cover till I reach the forest.

"Hopefully it won't be as far of a distance as it looks." Vincent said as he picked up his briefcases. "If the world is on my side, I can just walk the rest of the way once I'm inside the forest." He joked.

Before Vincent could scope out the area he heard something heading his way deciding not to take the chance at looking back to see what it was. He ran straight to the trees and took cover behind one, he looks back and is surprised at what his eyes are witnessing. A tortoise flying. For the moment Vincent was speechless, he even stuck his head out a little more to get a better look at how the tortoise was in the air and that's when he saw what seemed to be miniature helicopter wings attached to the shell of the reptile he also noticed that on the metal part that was giving space between the shell and wings was a sparkling substance he guessed that this piece must have kept the whole thing from falling apart. While confused Vincent was impressed with how these horses had managed to create something advanced, almost on the same level of human technology, almost. Vincent noticed that the tortoise was looking in his direction. No he was looking right at him.

"Shit." Vincent cursed.

Vincent didn't know whether to be worried or not, could this mere animal have intelligence like the horses? Should he pull out his Suppressed Ruger Mk II Pistol and shoot the thing or wait and see what it does? Would it warn the horses of his presence? Would it be able to do that? Could it even talk like the horses? All these questions went through Vincent's head so fast it made him feel like time was slowing down but that feeling went away when he heard the sound of a female voice shouting he figured it must have been the tortoise's owner, he went back into hiding and pulled out his Suppressed Ruger Mk II Pistol and ready it. He waited for whatever was going to happen to happen.

"Tank! Come on stop flying off." Rainbow Dash yelled out as she looked for Tank." Where the hay did he go?"

Just then she saw her flying tortoise hovering next to a house looking off into the distance. She flew to him fast to be sure that if he went wondered off again she would be able to catch up to him in an instance, when she reach Tank she stood behind him giving him a somewhat angry stare waiting for him to turn around and face her but after two minutes of staring she walked right next to him and tapped his shell with no respond. This annoyed Rainbow Dash.

"Tank! What the hay are you looking at?" Rainbow Dash yelled as Tank spun around before regaining his balanced. "Well?"

Tanked looked at his owner before turning towards the tree he had been staring at for the good part of four minutes, hoping Rainbow Dash would see what he had been looking at. When his gaze was on the tree he saw that the strange creature he had seen running from a house to back here was gone.

Rainbow Dash turned to see what Tank was looking at and saw only a couple of trees but notice the one Tank was specifically looking at, she put her hoof over her face as she sighed.

"Tank I honestly wonder what goes on in that head of yours, if simple things like a tree grab your attention so easily." Rainbow Dash said as she turn around and started to walk back to the center of town. "Come on Tank we need to stop by Twilight's place so I can borrow a Daring Do book she recently found. It's one even I haven't read yet, which is why we need to go now!"

As Rainbow Dash started to walk away Tank began to follow but looked back one last time to see if the strange creature would show it's face again and coincidently enough he saw half of the creature's face sticking out to see if he and Rainbow Dash had left yet. They both stared at each other for about half a minute before the creature nodded it's head with a face that screamed "Don't attract attention!" and pulled out something black that glimmered a little when the sun shined on it. For some reason Tank could feel that this thing was meant to intimate and decide to turn around and follow Rainbow Dash without looking back once he caught up to Rainbow Dash they both began to fly away.
I could hear that female horse yelling at the tortoise about what he was looking at I readied my gun knowing that this could only end in two ways, either I kill both of them before they can alarm any of those other horses or the horse doesn't bother to look over here, walks away with her pet, and neither of them will need to die a pointless death... Sounds like the horse is leaving I decide to stick half my face out to see if they both had left. To my relief it was just the tortoise still staring at me, after half a minute of that I nodded my head at it threateningly and showed off my gun enough for it to get a good look at it. This thing better get the message that "If you attract attention, you're going to get you and your owner killed." The animal went back to its owner, at this moment I moved to another tree and looked back to see that they had left.

"Great now I can leave." He said as he started walking towards the apple forest. “Everything should be calm and simple from this point on."

And I was right I'd been walking for a couple of minutes without something unexpected happening, which I took advantage of by taking sometime to give myself a breather from all this nonsense. Since I had gotten here I've been moving around so much that I haven't had a second to get my thoughts in order, I mean things I've done in my life had never once hinder my thoughts at all but "here!" everything felt like it was a lot to take, unlike Earth where everything felt simple to me. Which further irritated me because back on Earth finding out who I am was one of the easiest things I had ever done in my life, which turned out very well for me despite getting killed and ending up here and that's where the frustration lies, I'm in a world where the word complicated seemed to be a part of these horses everyday lives. How did I know if this was right? I don't know it just felt like a normal quiet day wasn't a common occurrence in this world.

"I know how life can be full of surprises but something just kept eating away at me that this place had surprise everywhere, every day and I was going to one way or another become involved with those surprises." Vincent said annoyed at the inevitability of that becoming a reality. "For now everything should continue to be calm and simple, like a walk in the park."

And for the most part I was right it felt like it was just a simple walk in the park, I did look over my shoulder a couple of time to get rid of the annoying feeling that something might be following me. After about seven minutes of walking through this never ending apple filled forest I decided to stop, sit on the grass and let my mind have a moment to collect itself. Everything that had transpired in the last couple of hours, if my watch was correct, was a lot to take in which was a first for me considering my profession, you see killings basically second nature once you find out how good you are at it, it doesn't get to you but "this!" This world that was inhabited by midget horses who can talk and have the same habits if not some traits that humans displayed was getting to me like an irritating itch that wouldn't leave me, so yeah this world wasn't doing wonders for my head especially when thoughts are going in and out of my head. Thoughts like I might be the only human in the wannabe wonderland... Actually that might not be such a bad thing I wasn't too attached to my own species thanks to my profession but even before I found my calling I had always felt indifferent to everyone around me, maybe it was my whole outlook on life that made others feel that I was indifferent to them although an outcast would be a more appropriate term. No matter the label I was given it never bothered me, if anything it helped me motivate myself into becoming the man I am today. I think I've rested long enough it's time to keep moving. As I got back up and looked on at the horizon hoping that from this point on things would go my way.

But Vincent was a realist and knew that like every other day it was a fifty-fifty chance of it actually going his way or turning into a complete cluster fuck. Regardless of which one would happen Vincent already had his answer to the outcomes.

"I'll deal with it." He said coldly.