//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Lost In A New Land // Story: Thrust Into A New Land // by GarrySepp113 //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Lost in A New Land It was a peaceful night in Canterlot. The moon was high in the sky, radiating its calm white light to the lands below. The air was filled with the sounds of strong cool breezes, causing many trees to rustle loudly as their branches and leaves collide against each other due to the sheer force of the wind. Nocturnal animals were beginning to crawl out of their burrows as they got ready to scurry around the landscapes for the duration of the night. Small swarms of fireflies flew around pastures of grass or flowers, their abdomens glowed brilliantly as they illuminated small portions of the grounds they flew over. Another peaceful night brought by Princess Luna, but that was about to change very soon. Suddenly, just on the other side of the watery moat that flowed in front of the Canterlot’s main entrance, a large explosion happened, accompanied by an immensely bright flash of light that could be seen by the entire Equestrian capital. The strong shockwaves from the blast caused the grounds to quake, resulting in any of the animals sleeping nearby to instantly wake up in sheer fright and began running away in frantic panic. They did not have any destination in mind, they just wanted to get away from the source of the explosion as fast as possible, resulting in many of them to storm the grounds in a stampede-like fashion. Back at the location of where the blast took place, was a crater that was surrounded by meters of burned grass, leaving that part of the area to look like a black, smoking circle. Inside of the crater laid a figure, bipedal in appearance with its arms and legs splayed outwards, next to a very large, heavy duty backpack that was bigger than it’s torso. It wore an orange-colored plastic suit that almost covered it’s entire body, and showed massive signs of damage as it was riddled with burns, smoking holes and tares. The only uncovered part of it’s body was it’s head, which was oblong in shaped and sloped down forward in an arch, fully composed of metal plates, and did not have a face or mouth of any kind. It possessed a large ‘eye’ like lens that took up a significant portion of the front (where a face would be), and appeared dark and lifeless. However, that all changed a moment later the dark lens instantly emitted a bright blue flash, and stayed that way. A small white dot appeared at the center of the lens and began moving towards different directions, the dot’s size slowly expanding and shrinking, acting like an actual pupil. After some time getting back to it’s senses, the being quickly stood up on it’s hind legs in a sense of urgency. It frantically turned it’s body from one side to the next in fast movements of worry and fear, clearly trying to find something that it may’ve lost. Some slight creaking and whirring noises came from it’s body after each frantic movement, but that didn’t seem to bother the being in the slightest. “Mother!” It called out towards the empty grass pastures in a soft, masculine voice. Fear and worry filling the tone. “MOTHER!?” The being finally turned away from the grassy pastures to notice the large city that stood behind him, a scene that definitely baffled it to point of making the poor thing motionless for a seconds. “What? Where. . . ?” he thought out loudly as he tried to comprehend where exactly he was at. His white iris slowly expanding and shrinking to further show his confusion as he continued to look more intently at city in front of him. He stopped gazing at the city’s large entrance as a thought struck his mind, turning around to see the large and heavy back pack that he laid beside, earlier. He went to it and opened several pockets, rummaging through its contents in a hurry, causing a few objects to fall out, but quickly put them back in the bag without issue. This went on for some time until he finally found what he wanted; a hand-held radio. After pulling out the device’s antenna and pressing a switch on its side, the being held the bulky gadget close to his head. “Mother, it’s Gabriel!” He said towards the radio’s receiver, revealing his name. “If you’re receiving this, please-“ ZZZzzzzttt! Before he could say more, small bolts of electricity began to spark madly from the radio. This made him throw the device into the moat, which promptly sank deep within the flowing water. “Over here! I found the source of the flash!” shouted a voice from the distance. Gabriel didn’t attempt to find where the voice came from, but focused on quickly closing all of the pockets on his bag that he opened earlier before placing his arms through its straps and got back up on his hind legs. However, right after he turned around the clear, grassy pastures to run, something directly in front of him blocked his way, and froze him in shock. No more than a couple feet away from him were two miniature horses, white fur coats, and wore elaborate armor of some kind. But what really surprised him, was the fact that they had wings and were literally using them to fly in a stationary position, not that far off the ground as they looked at him with their own confused and bewildered expressions. “By Celestia. . .” “What in the world is this thing?” Gabriel didn’t say a word or create any more movement, but became further surprised that the equine creatures in front of him could also speak English. “What are you two doing!? Back away from that thing!” shouted a different voice from the distance. This one sounded older and more authoritative. The two winged equines quickly followed the command without question, flying back a few more meters and elevating themselves higher into the air. Gabriel turned around to find the source of the command. Not wanting to agitate the equines in front of him, he moved slowly. Coming into view were more of the horse-like creatures, a group of four to be exact, which all appeared nearly identical to one-another, but possessed horns on top of their heads. They slowly walked towards him in a stance of both dignity and caution, but most of them had the same expressions on their faces as soon as they got a better view of Gabriel; and it was confusion. The only one who maintained a stern face would be the apparent leader of the group, who did appear older and more experienced than everyone else. “Maintain your distance, everypony,” the leader of the group commanded as they all stopped at a distance that was both not too far and not too close to Gabriel. “Ponies. . .” Gabriel said in a very quiet voice, barely audible enough for anyone to hear him. The group leader’s attention turned to the two winged ones that he shouted at earlier. “Report back to Lieutenant White Blaze and tell him that further assistance is required.” “Yes, Sergeant!” the two guards acknowledged simultaneously, and flew back to the inner confines of the city with speed and grace. “Alright, I want all of you to form a perimeter around that thing,” the Sergeant began instructing to the colts still with him. “Keep it cornered to the moat, and be sure to-“ “Excuse me,” Gabriel interrupted rather meekly, garnering all of their shock-filled eyes, including the leader. “Hello?” “Forget everything I said and just stay close to me,” the Sergeant whispered to the other guards around him as soon as he regained his composure, and went back to looking at the ‘stranger’ before them. “As a Sergeant of the Royal Guard, I demand you to identify yourself.” Gabriel blinked a few times, something that was easily recognizable with having a flashlight-like photoreceptor, and carefully contemplated an answer. “I am Gabriel. I’m just a lost traveller. I mean no harm, and have no malicious intent.” “Then what was the meaning of all this?” The Sergeant directed his left hoof around the charred landscape surrounding the crater. “And what are you?” asked one of the guards beside him, who was promptly shushed by the experienced veteran. “I’m a robot. A custom unit,” Gabriel quickly answered. “’Robot’?” repeated another guard from the far left, obviously not knowing what the term was. “They’re technologically advanced golems, but they only exist in fiction. Like comics!” exclaimed another guard in surprise. “Quiet!” commanded the leader of the group, showing signs of annoyance to the equines in his company, and returned his attention to Gabriel. “You haven’t answered my question.” Gabriel stayed quiet as he contemplated on how to answer. The seconds that went by in silence filled the atmosphere with even more tension, which discomforted him even more. Not wanting to stand for any more of it, he gave his response. “Me and. . . a close friend of mine were being attacked,” he started somberly. “We couldn’t outrun the danger, so we tried something desperate and it brought me here.” There was an awkward silence as the guards digested the details of the information given to them. It was indeed short, but hearing the genuine sadness from the golem-like creature made them feel a little sympathetic towards it. Their expressions began to soften a bit as they continued to look at the poor thing, except for the Sergeant. “You’re saying you’ve been attacked, used a ‘desperate’ way to escape, and ended up here; separated from your friend?” the Sergeant recounted Gabriel’s story, his commanding tone not changing. “Yes.” “And you’re not lying to me in the slightest?” “No!” Gabriel nearly shouted defensively, but realized what he did and calmed down. “No, I-I’m NOT lying about this.” “Sergeant, I think you’re being too hard on the poor thing, it’s obviously been through a lot,” whispered one of the guards closest to him. “I agree with him,” started another guard. “Look at all that damage on the suit it’s wearing, there’s no denying it’s been through something bad.” The Sergeant remained silent as he continued eyeing down the golem-like creature in front of them, contemplating on what the next course of action would be. “It’s getting too dark out here, it’ll be better if we bring him back in cell for a proper interrogation.” Hearing that instantly made all of the guards around the Sergeant look at him with dropped jaws and widen eyes that obviously said ‘are you serious!?’ “But I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t hurt anyone!” Gabriel panicked as he hurried out of the crater, bag strapped tightly on his back, and getting ready to run. “I just want to find my friend!” “Seriously, Sergeant?! Did you have to put it that way!?” one of the lower-ranking guards said angrily to the leader. “Corporal, I have no time for this! Circle around that thing and await for reinforcements!” All of the lower-ranking guards begrudgingly complied, they ran closer to Gabriel and began to surround him. Keeping safe distance away from their target and each other, and keeping it cornered to the mote. “If this is about the grass, I’m sorry! But I’m not here to hurt anyone!” Gabriel pleaded in panic and desperation. “Hey, uh, stranger,” the Corporal started calmly, really wanting to ease the situation in some way. “Don’t put too much mind into the Sergeant, alright? What he really meant was we’re going to get you somewhere safe, so you can tell us more about what happened to you.” “I can’t go with you,” Gabriel quickly dejected, fear obvious in his voice. “I have to find my moth-my friend! I have to find her!” Gabriel’s head was darting to all of the equines surrounding him, but immediately stopped on the sight of the Sergeant. He saw that the leader’s horn was surrounded by a bright golden aura, and could tell it was radiating with energy. This urged him to grab a hold of a cylinder-shaped object that was strapped on the sides of his bag. “Careful! There’s something in it’s hands!” shouted a guard. Before they could do anything else to react, the Sergeant shot a beam of light from his horn and headed straight towards Gabriel. However, he underestimated his target, as it was prepared for something like this to happen and quickly dodged it; an act that surprised all of the guards there. Next, Gabriel threw the cylinder into the ground, causing an explosion right after, and a thick cloud of smoke instantly engulfed the crater, which resumed to spread throughout the charred surface of burned dirt. “What the!?” “It’s some kind of smoke bomb!” One of the guards horn glowed as a ball of gold-colored energy began to form at the very tip. He launched it towards the thick smog, which made a bright explosion that caused rays of light pierce through the smoke and instantly it to burst into dust-like particles of twinkling light. But to their surprise, the crater was empty. “It’s gone!” Next, the sound of loud splashing caught their attention, the kind of splash that would be made when something heavy dove into the water. They turned their heads to location where it came from, only to see waves and ripples of disturbed water on an area in the moat that was close to the surface of the grassy pasture. “That thing can actually swim!?” “I’m going to check it out!” one of the guards said as he ran towards the mote. “Private, no! Get back here!” shouted the Sergeant. But his orders were ignored as the younger guard had already dived deep into the mote’s water, no longer in sight. “Hey!” shouted a voice from the distance. They all turned to find the one who called them out, seeing a large group guards running towards them. “We were sent to provide additional assistance, as you all requested. What happened to the creature you encountered?” said the apparent leader of the new group as they stopped in formation. Before the Corporal could give an answer, the loud sounds of water splashing came loudly to everyponies’ ears, making them look back to the edge of the moat. The Private that dove in, earlier, came into view as he climbed back onto dry land, his entire body was damp and heavy from the water. “I couldn’t find him! He’s probably close to the waterfall, right now!” said the Private, not putting the additional reinforcements too much to mind. “Alright,” started the leader of the group that just arrived. “We’ll split into two groups, one will-“ “I see something running over there! Close to the Cliffside!” directed one of the members of the new group, bringing a hoof to point out what he was talking about. Very far off into the distance was the figure of heavy box-like object that shook the further it moved farther away. Closer inspection revealed that it was the large backpack that was carried by the golem, and faint sights of running legs could be seen underneath it. “You said it went in the water!” “That thing is smarter than we thought.” “All pegasi dart ahead and give chase, everypony else will catch up! We need to catch that thing!” instructed the leader of the reinforcements. “Yes, sir!” With all that said, they all gave chase. However, some of them looked reluctant.