Lost and Afraid

by Mr Anomalous

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I awoke the next day where I remembered: not home. Only...this time I could see.

The howling wind was no longer attacking my conscious, nor was the cold. Yes, it was still cold, but not anywhere near as much as yesterday.

I crawled out from the machine and my eyes were assaulted with a pain. It was bright. Far too bright. The amount of snow that had fallen in last night's blizzard had created quite an expansive surface for the sun to reflect its light off of.

My hoof darted towards my face, shielding my eyes from the bright attack. When I could finally see correctly, I gasped.

Off in the distance, beyond the trees, there was a city. Or at least what was left of one. I had never seen anything like it! It was massive, stretching out further than I could see. It was majestic, but....meloncholy at the same time...

The entire city was destroyed, not just by the snow. There were old holes and craters, and old husks of machines similar to the one that I had slept in. Speaking of that machine...

I decided to examine it even further. Maybe even get that hatch open...

I crawled back inside the small space and began to dig away the snow. It took hours but I did it. Again, the hatch was un-openable, not because of the snow, but because of the frost; it was frozen shut.

Another attempt at magic was met with the same result as last time: none, so I got an idea. I covered the hatch with my body and lay there. It was cold, but I had grown used to such freezing temperatures over the last day. I lay there until my underbelly was wet, and gave it another go.

It budged. Yes! I pulled harder and harder, my front hooves straining until suddenly, slam!

The hatch flew open and I was buried in...something. A skeleton.

"Ahh!"

I shrieked and climbed out from under the white bones. After my initial shock, I became curious, naturally. It appeared to be bipedal, with four limbs, a lot like a monkey. Its face was what unnerved me. It had four slanted eye sockets, and sharp teeth. Whatever it was wasn't a pony.

"What is that?"

I examined it further but found nothing else interesting. I heaved the corpse aside and climbed back inside of the hatch. Sadly, it was blocked with ice; I could not make it through, not without my magic.

As I turned to leave again, the intention of exploring that desolate city in my mind, something knocked me over. The ground. Something shuttered and I was knocked unconscious on the metal wall.

I came around to voices. Familiar voices. In my excitement, I lurched forward, but bashed my skull on the metal ceiling again.

"Ouch!"

How could I have heard those voices, but still be inside the machine? Then I noticed something else: it wasn't cold anymore. Not one tiny bit. I opened my eyes, but found that my sight was still blurry.

` "Girls? Girls, is that you?"

There was a momentary silence and then I heard the plodding of hooves on grass and a slightly accented voice, "Twilight. You're home darling."

---

[/hr]

Three hours later, I sat in a hospital cot, with a bandage on my head and a mug of coffee in my hooves. Princess Celestia was in the room with me.

"So...Princess? What...happened?"

Celestia gave me a little smile and answered, "Your curiosity got the better of you, Twilight. Here, read this."

She levitated a scroll over me and, with a pang of guilt, I realized what it was. The reply that I did not wait for. With a sigh, I said, "I'm sorry, Princess, I was just so excited..."

"I do not blame you, Twilight Sparkle."

"But...where was that place?"

"I do not know, nopony does. It is a dark and unknown place, where magic does not work and the aftermath of great war and destruction lives."

"Shouldn't we study it?"

Celestia smiled again and said, "I have been trying too, Twilight, but you are the only pony to ever go to that place and return."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise and I hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of coffee.

"What? Really?"

"Yes. But guess what? That device that you were in when I managed to call you back: it came with you."

I smiled.

"That's good. I'd like to study it later, but, right now, I just need some rest."

Again, I received a smile and Princess Celestia nodded.

"So be it. I will speak with you again. Good Night."

"'Night, Princess."

The majestic Alicorn left the room and I was left to ponder. I had quite a lot of that to do.

Author's Note:

I had always planned for this to be a short fic, don't get irate with me...

Comments

[TheAssumingMage]

Interesting concept. It is hard to find a fic about a pony being lost for extended bouts of time and I liked it. If you know any other good fics about lost and alone ponies please let me know It is why I like Quantum Castaways so much.

[JDPrime22]

I wished this would've been a lot longer of a fic. Like if Twilight met some human survivors or something. But still good none the less. Also that skeleton, the way you described it reminded me a lot of Resistance: Fall of Man and the aliens they fought. Could it possibly be the aliens or...something else?

[Mr Anomalous]

2400563
Well, I drew inspiration from the Resistance aliens, but that's not what they were. Also, notice that there is no "human" tag. She was not on a human planet...
Also keep in mind that I will more than likely be writing a sequel.

[Professor Donger]

Conclusion seems a bit rushed but it was cool none the less