//------------------------------// // The Stalker Games // Story: The Equestrian Honor Guard // by Honored Service //------------------------------// The Equestrian Honor Guard Chapter 9 By Honored Service "Ughhh." My entire body was sore from the run through the jungle while being chased by the now dead manticore. I woke up from my nap to see the sun at the highest point in the sky. The beeping from my watch confirmed the time; 1:00. The previous night's activities were still fresh in my head as I sat up from the bedroll; rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Alright let's finish making some bullets. I had one bullet made for the 9mm and that one was copper and purple, while the metal to craft my bullets from had now harden into a silver and red combination. I started the fire up again and waited for the metal to liquefy again. "Well, well, well, look who is up. You were out like a light. And still just as sparkly. Is this some type of human mating ritual to attract a mate?" Reggie was lying on the bank of the river with a reflector sheet and sunglasses and was apparently sunning himself. "No Reggie, I fell into a patch of poison joke and this is the result. I sparkle like a diamond in the sunlight." I kept my hands ticked at my side to avoid the blinding light show that would result from bringing them out into the daylight. "You know Johnson, for an alien from a different world, you sure do know a lot about the landscape and this world in general." He lifted his sunglasses and narrowed his eyes at me. "Umm well about that." Oh god. I had thought about explaining this multiple times, but now that I actually had to do it I was drawing a blank. "Well human? How do you?" Reggie was slowly starting to rise. His usual happy demeanor was gone. He was scary serious and at his full height, he was pretty intimidating. I know my rifle with Wonder rounds would give him a run for his money, but I know if I could kill a friend like Reggie. "Ok Reggie, I'll tell you but you have to hear me out all the way." He crossed his arms and nodded, but didn't let up his death stare. "The world I came from knew about this world. But not many details. In my world, this world is fiction. Made up. A fantasy world. This land of Equestria is the setting for a TV show called 'My Little Pony'. That's how I know about certain things, broad general things, but really I know little about the culture beside friendship and peace." Whew. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I waited for Reggie's answer. Hopefully I wouldn't have to run from a huge purple river monster. "My Little Pony? That sounds girly, like something for a little filly." Just like that, Reggie was back to normal. "Wait, out of everything I said, that's what draws your attention? Everything else is just whatever?" Reggie just nodded and said, "Yup, and I think that's just fabulous. And your sparkles compliment it quite well." "Oh shut up!" I yelled throwing a rock at him. But in doing so, I was blinded by my shiny hands and caused me to fall forward onto my face. "Hahaha!" Reggie fell into the water laughing so hard and slipped under the water where bubbles rose to surface and popped carrying out the laughter above the surface of the water. Pop "Ha" Pop "Ha" Pop "Ha" I ignored the giggling river creature and went back to the bubbling liquid metal. I began to press the new 9mm rounds. After a couple bullets I was in crafting mode, functioning on auto pilot. I was a bullet making machine. I dropped some more wood onto the fire. (I now had a stack of wood near the camp. Learned that lesson the hard way) I was preparing to mold another 9mm, but realized I was out of shells to pack the bullet into. I had crafted all 74 pistol rounds in an afternoon. This calls for a celebration; a loud one. I knew what the copper and purple bullets did, but what about these new silver and red pistol rounds. I picked up the Berretta with Spike scratched into the slide and slid one of the new bullets into the chamber. "Ok here we go... show me mini nuke bullets!" I gripped the pistol in one hand and steadied it with the other. Aiming at another tree across the camp I clicked off the safety. "Please don't explode in my hands." I squeezed the trigger and felt the pistol jump on my hands. Then I heard the gunshot. BOOM A glowing, red hot casing fell to the ground with a soft thump. The Berretta was smoking in my hands as I looked at the tree I had fired at. No massive gaping hole in this one. I moved to the tree to inspect the damage this Wonder Round© would deliver. Ok this was new. Well I mean everything was new but this was cool. These new silver and red rounds broke apart in flight to the target. I think. I was staring at 5 holes scattered throughout the trunk of the tree. This pistol had now just became a hand shotgun. Sweet. So I now had exploding rounds for my rifle and 5 shot pistol rounds. Now what to do to BB... There was just a small amount of liquid metal in the bowl left. Just enough for one more bullet; or enough to coat the sharp end of my knife. Using a flat rock, I smoothed on some of the liquefied magic onto the blade. Then I let it harden for a minute and while it was still somewhat malleable, I sharpened it using my grinding stone. Once this baby was sharp I left it alone to finish drying undisturbed. I began cleaning up the mess I had created while making all these new bullets. I clean camp is a happy camp. The only problem was that now it was late in the day and the sun was nice and high in sky, causing me to light up like a Christmas tree. I kept blinding myself with my hands. "Ok this shit has to end. Look out Reggie, I'm coming in!" I one swift motion I ran towards the river while stripping off my jacket, pants, boots, and under clothes. I jumped high and cannonballed into the river. Under the water I scrubbed at my arms and chest just trying to remove the poison joke. All the ponies did was take a bath, right? So in theory I was taking a simple bath that would wash it off. Coming up for air I swam back the bank of the river and climbed up onto the shore; and was immediately blinded by light coming off my hands and arms. And feet. And legs. And chest. And fucking everything. "What the hell?" I spoon around causing the camp to look like a disco ball was spinning. "That should have worked. All they did was take a bath that Zecora had made for them... Aw shit." Pulling out my slightly tattered ops manual from my training exercise , I started a new mission. Stop fucking sparkling. Ok seemed simple enough. Find Zecora's hut. Convince her that I'm not an evil space alien. Obtain ingredients for her herbal bath to cure the poison joke side effects. See simple. I was so fucked. I had decided not to venture out into the forest that late in the afternoon. So I had a dinner of my last MRE and slept for a wonderful 9 whole hours. Something that was unheard of at the military college. This morning after waking up, I packed up most of my things from the camp and suited up like I was going to war. Which I kind of was. Which brings us to now. I was staring at the depths of the Everfree forest. Now I had been in there before, but only because I was running for my life; not because I willingly wanted to wander through that hell hole. I checked my rifle again, 27 rounds in the clip (same one from the manticore encounter). Spike was full of new shotgun bullets (which would back a massive punch at close range). Bad Bertha was as sharp as ever with the new blade. The edge of the blade was now red and silver from the added metal. I hadn't used it yet; but a knife is a knife, right? I took my first step into the forest and shuddered as the shadow of canopy came over me. I moved into the foliage in search of a certain hut that was home to a certain zebra. "So I'm an alien from another planet. But don't worry I'm alone, and I'm totally not dangerous to ponies. Or zebras. I just need a poison joke cure. Oh I know that because your world is a fake story on my planet." Hmmmm something about that just didn't seem quite right. Maybe I should just take one step at a time. It worked out with Reggie easily enough. I maneuvered around another fallen tree. I had no clue where I was going. I should have fallowed the river towards Ponyville and the crept around the edge of the town till I hit the path that lead through the Everfree, but I just didn't want risk being seen before I was ready. Like have a story made up as to why I was here and such. I was about to step out of a bush when I heard something move close by. Shit! I ducked down to the ground. Hugging the earth, I slowly crawled forward to observe what was making the noise. "Carefully there Applebloom, don't go taking off with a zoom." No fucking way. Was my luck changing? Did I happen to just wander in to Zecora and apparently Applebloom too? My favorite character's sister? In the most adorable southern accent I have ever heard, and growing up in South Carolina I have heard a lot, Applebloom responded, "Come on Zecora, ah want to see the Heart's Desire flower field. Why ah bet it's the most prettiest thing ever!" "You are quite right little one," the rhyming zebra spoke back; "It is especially gorgeous under the sun." I wonder how hard it is to always rhyme. I could try doing it for a day... Nah I was bad at poetry. Roses are red, violets are blue. This poem doesn't rhyme, fuck you. Wait, damn it. The pony and zebra moved off to the right moving down a skinny worn path through the forest. Slowly, I crept along behind them; making sure to stay out of sight but not lose the pair from my field of vision. This continued for what felt like hours, my watch told me it was 1 in the afternoon. Yup, hours of playing stalker. I hope they didn't find me, this would be rather awkward to explain. They stopped on the edge of clearing. From this far away it was hard to make out what they were saying. Applebloom was bouncing up and down pointing at the field of flowers. It was a very pretty sight indeed. The wind rolled over the clearing causing the flowers to bend and move like waves on the ocean. An ocean of pink and white flowers. Even from this distance, I could smell the wonderful fragrance that the flowers created. Strawberries with a hint of... Mangos? No peaches? Some type of sweet fruit. I watched safely hidden from view as Zecora picked a few flowers and Applebloom walked around through the flowers. I figured they would return to Zecora's hut to drop off the flowers she just picked. I would fallow them back to the hut and wait to make myself known to Zecora. But with how everything has gone for me so far, I doubt it will go that smoothly. I pulled out my canteen and took a long pull of cool water from it. Half full, I would have to find more water soon. I hope that wouldn't be too hard. Shit just jinxed myself. I looked back to the field to see Zecora and Applebloom heading my direction on the path. I scooted back under some heavy brush and waited for them to pass my position, so I could follow them. "What kinda potion are ya gonna whip up today Ms. Zecora?" I could see the little filly's hooves skip along the path as they passed by my hiding spot. "Today we are creating a magical brew, to help the Cake foals chew. They are beginning to teeth, causing the parents much greave." "Well let's get mixing," Shouted Applebloom. The rest of the conversation was lost as the moved down the trial. I carefully began my slow and steady pursuit until, sure enough, I came her hut. The creepy masks were hung all around her home. They all were multicolored and had distorted expressions on them. "Ugh, got to agree with Rarity on this one. Simply horrid." I found a suitable hiding spot and hungered down, to wait for Applebloom to leave. I know a young foal wouldn't stay quiet about an alien living in the forest. My watched told me that it was now 6 in the evening. The sun was setting and the forest was starting to get even more dark and gloomy. I heard a door open and close. “See ya Zecora! I’ll be back tomarrow to help finish that potion!” Applebloom raced past my bush and down the path that must lead to Ponyville. I made a mental note of this path. Somewhat important. I waited a few minutes to insure that she would come strolling back and interrupt the alien greeting that was about to occur. I moved from the foliage and walked up to the door of the hut. I stood in front of the door for a few seconds, but it felt like hours. I slowly extended my arm and balled my fist. Alright, here it goes. First contact with a pony…zebra- close enough I let out a deep breath. God please let this workout. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK