//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Departure // Story: The Wild Man // by Luckless //------------------------------// "So, where would you recommend to go where I'll be alone, but can still reach town with this thing?" I asked the waitress, pointing at the box truck outside. It was 3 years since that day I'd taken my revenge, and I'd made it pretty damn far in that time. I started out in New York City, and managed to smuggle myself all the way to Alaska through Canada. And let me tell you, The Canadian border patrol were pretty crappy at their jobs. I'd found a large dirt path that my van could fit on, and off I went. Even the Alaskan border patrol sucked, and in much the same way. The goal of making it to Alaska, was to be as alone and as far away from society as possible. This was the solution. Unfortunately, I had to deal with a lot of other people on the way. Every time I had to talk to someone, my skin crawled, one of the few remaining sensations I could still feel from my damaged, burned skin. "About 10 miles down the road, there's an old road that goes down to an even older iron mine about 40 miles out. No one goes out there anymore, so you should be perfectly alone out there. Plenty of game roam about out there, so if you're into hunting, you won't have to worry about food or coming into town for it." She said reflectively, and very slowly. Likely trying to remember the place, which suggested that it didn't get used much. Perfect. "Thanks miss." I plowed through the rest of the cup of coffee and the plate of eggs, paid my bill and the tip, and left the roadside diner without so much as another word. But that crawling sensation persisted until I got myself into the truck. I shivered, and started the van. The engine hummed to life rhythmically, and I shifted it into gear. I looked down with pride towards the mpg gauge, which read the enormous number of 28.2 miles per gallon. That engine and modifications I bought really paid itself in dividends, especially seeing as how I didn't use my own money. Had I left the truck unmodified, it would be stuck going at 5 or 6 miles per gallon. I shifted another gear, and left the curb into the street without traffic. I started up the stereo, and let my music roar, more specifically, Meet the Monster by Five Finger Death Punch. Most of the people I met up here in Alaska seemed to be repelled by the rough guitar, and singer Ivan Moody's deep growling singing. To me though, it moved my heart in ways I couldn't begin to describe. I let the music play and switch songs as I drove, sometimes singing along if I knew the lyrics well enough. The turn came along after a while. I was grateful for the lack of traffic, because the opening to the road was so narrow, I needed to tackle the turn widely, which meant crossing over into the other lane. The waitress either lied to me, or hadn't been here in too long, cause the "road" was too bumpy and unkempt to be given such a generous title. No, this was more like a giant, overglorified animal path that I was lucky to enter and not get stuck in. I bounced with the few things in the back that weren't tied down, though I hardly made as much noise on the old but comfortable seat. When I came to a clearing, I decided, Fuck it, I'm done for the day. I stopped the truck, got out the wood planks, and positioned them in front of the tires. I'd learned long ago that it was an incredibly stupid idea to leave your VERY HEAVY vehicle in the dirt, which could easily be turned to mud if it rained, which your tires would sink into. At least with these boards, I'd have a much better fighting chance to get out again and not need someone else's help. I hated being helped. Help was pity, and I hated being pitied. Even thinking about it left a foul taste in my mouth and a steady headache that would last for an hour. After I mounted my truck on the planks, I surveyed my surroundings. Lots of spruce trees populated the area, and even more bushes. The spot I'd chosen was a couple of yards away from a small creek, flowing with crystalline water. And best of all, so far away from the road that I couldn't hear any vehicles in the distance. No people, no civilization. Just me and the wild. Perfect. A smile crept across my face. Finally, I could be alone, finally, my long three year journey had come to an end. Peace. All I had to do now was set up and let everything take it's natural course. My new place of residency quickly morphed into a more permanent setting. I pulled out the awning over the back entrance of the truck, two poles holding it in place, set up blinds in the windows, and dug out a fire-pit. It was about a foot deep, a metal mesh over it to cook meat on, and I had a single log to sit on. Hell, I even managed to finagle my way with the temperamental solar panels so they charged up the batteries inside the truck. I looked over my home warmly. This is it. This is home. Now that I'd finally gotten it thrown together, all that daydreaming of how great it would be to live like this finally came together, and it felt better than I'd imagine it would feel. All this time, I figured that I'd be caught or something for what I'd done. But no. I'd gotten away with it. I wrestled my freedom from the physical manifestation of demons, and found my own slice of Heaven. I looked to the sky, and there was the sun, shining away at about the angle for it to be only about 11:00 AM. Too early for drinking. So what now? Well, I could always go hunt. My food stores mostly consisted of rice, and salt for preserving any meat from future hunts. A lot of it too. Eh, screw it. Let's go. I dug out a .308 bolt action rifle out of my collection from the truck. I didn't know much about it, just that it was old, reliable, and never misfired, jammed, or broke when I used it. I just had to keep cleaning it, and it worked as perfect as perfect can get. Which now that I was thinking about it, sounded pretty stupid. Whatever, it made sense to me. To make sure I would remember how to get home again, I brought my knife to carve grooves into tree bark as a sort of impromptu path. So off I went. Carving into the trees as quietly as I could, and trying to remain low enough to the dirt to stay in the cover of the bushes. I stalked for hours, listening to the forest around me. It just felt so right, so natural. Then, I heard the rustle of something heavy going through the bushes. I eased my way around some, and looked towards the offending noise. And damn, was I lucky. Standing in front of me, was a big ass moose. It was so close, that I could take easy aim at the head, where I knew the .308 round would make short work of the brain. Up the rifle went, and I clicked the safety off. The moose saw me now, and stared at me, refusing to move. I eased down my breathing, and fingered the trigger. The moose still didn't move, just staring at me. I squeezed. *BANG* Ok, I've made smarter decisions. I thought to myself. I'd shot that moose bull right in the head, killing it instantly. All I'd thought about was how much food it would provide me with. But I failed to make the connection with the quantity of food, with the weight of it. Seriously, this thing had to weigh half a ton! at least I'll be set on food for a while, maybe even have good enough bones to carve and sell off. Hell, at least I have the pelt. Maybe I could make a nice coat? Or hell, even a new blanket. It wasn't keeping me very warm anymore, full of holes, and older than the Priest in the orphanage. I finally reached camp, and dropped the moose legs, which I'd been pulling on for the whole time I was making my way back. I lean over backwards, and my back cracks noisily. Once I straighten, my blood rushes to my head, and I feel all woozy and shit. The way I imagined people feel when they get high. But it doesn't last long. My head is clear in a moment, and I go over to the truck to pull out my knife and hunting kit. I proceed to remove some... ahem, problematic organs, and dispose of them. I proceeded to skin the moose, and hastily began treating it so it wouldn't rot. It involved me scraping off all the fat on it, and rubbing a good deal of salt on it. I left it in a plastic garbage can full of water, and made a note to myself to change the water later. I made use of the next hour butchering the carcass of the moose, cutting the meat into small bits that I put into clean, sealable buckets. I had to seperate about 30 pounds worth of meat that wouldn't be suitable for steak-like meals, and instead reserved them to be made into soup. I didn't leave out the heart or liver either. What little remained, I turned into bait for fishing. I looked to the sky, and saw the sun beginning to take it's dip below the horizon. Well, today's been a productive day. Time to turn in. I washed my hands in the stream, letting the current take away the blood, and what refused to leave naturally I rubbed off. I headed back to my truck, and climbed in, closing the door with a satisfied sigh. This is what I'd suffered for. Peace and solitude. I pulled my bed down from the wall, set up the legs, and fell onto the thin, but comfortable mattress. The second I closed my eyes, sleep came to whisk me off. Celestia I've lived for a very long time, and in that time, I had made it my purpose to forge the perfect society with, and for, my little ponies. One can only see hatred and suffering for so long before one finds themselves determined to change it. At one point, they had been a racist, violent culture that only tolerated each other for the sole fact that they needed to live. That wasn't to mention how they treated other races that were more different. Ostracized, outright abused, and even in rare cases murdered. And in a little over 1,200 years, I'd finally managed to do it. I made what I found to be as perfection. Through love, kindness and prosperity, I'd achieved the respect, love and obedience in return from my subjects. I passed laws and structured the legislature to be fair and as unbiased as possible. I'd even managed to structure a primitive form of democracy among the various cities and towns that covered Equestria. Now, Equestria was the most friendly and welcoming country known to ponykind, and hopefully the world. But that was simply from my perspective. I'd never seen any of this tolerance and love towards other races first-hoof, and my advisors never really gave me examples when they made these claims. When I dug a little deeper with my guards from every town and city, I found that the only truly accepted races were pony kind. Anything that wasn't a pony was generally regarded with some amount of fear or hesitance. The minotaurs were feared for their large bulk and aggressive tendencies, but that was simply their culture in Labyrinthia, as were the Yaks from Yakyakistan. The dragons were truly ones to be feared with their plainly sociopathic or psychotic behaviors and mindsets, but there were some good ones out there, including Spike. The griffons were a sad story, what with their recent fall from glory and their civilization going to ruin as it seemed every griffon was for themself. The sad tale of Gilda was one such a story. Finally being able to visit her friend Rainbow Dash, her abrasive personality came to clash with the rest of the ponies, especially Pinkie Pie. Combine this with Ponyville's overreaction to a Zebra made me seriously wonder if I had truly made Equestria that paradise for all beings I had intended to make, or rather put a wine bottle cork into a fiery volcano and declared it safe. The only way to be sure, was to test my little ponies. So for months, with my sister Luna, I scoured the universe, searching for an intelligent being that would suit the task I sought to be filled. We found worlds filled with nothing and devoid of life most of the time, and the few times we found life at all was primitive and unintelligent. Even rarer were the times we found intelligent life. Three such worlds out of millions that we had searched had intelligent life. One was too full of war, and on the brink of self destruction, another was far too afraid of anything and everything different or new to even be worth trying to find a suitable subject to help with my test. The third one was a strange mix of both, and none of these at the same time. The inhabitants, humans, were incredibly diverse. They relied and valued their individuality like no other, and that individualism is what brought them through, and caused some of their worst moments in history. There were terrible people, yes, but there were unbelievably good ones too. As much as I would love to request one of these good humans to come to Equestria, too many of them had good lives that I couldn't bare the thought of taking it away from them, or even to ask. Besides, I needed somepony, or rather someone, who wouldn't be wholly consumed by anger or love. No, I needed someone who would be cautious and act with careful thought as to what to do, yet be capable of reciprocating the love given. A reactionary reasoning type of person. And I found exactly the one that was perfect for this. Now all I needed to do, was ask him, and try to get him to say yes to coming. However, Luna wasn't so enthusiastic about my choice. "HE MURDERED HIS ENTIRE SCHOOL! HOW CAN THOU POSSIBLY DESIRE TO BRING HIM HERE!!!!" Luna screamed. I was very glad for the fact that these walls were soundproof, or else all of Equestria would have bleeding eardrums. "Luna, calm down. You aren't looking at the context or all the facts." "Oh? Tell us, what could possibly change in this monster in a measly three years?!" Luna countered. Could she really not see what was so plain to see? "Sister, did you not look into his past? He suffered terrible wounds, and lost his parents in a fire. He wasn't even allowed to mourn in peace, as we were when ours died. He was mercilessly tortured every moment of his life from that day on. For a good while, he was quite insane and delusional. It isn't his fault he snapped. If any of our ponies were subjected to what he suffered through, I doubt they'd be as lucky as he is to have regained his mind so soundly and quickly, or do as comparatively little damage. I've seen many ponies over the years go on violent rampages for less." Luna stiffened a little, hardly noticeable to an unpractised eye, but over a millennium of experience provided me all I needed to know. Her resolve of not using Brian, the human in question, for the test was beginning to weaken. "Tell me, did you ever peer into his dreams, Luna?" Luna looked away in thought, "Once or twice. We were a little more predisposed trying to keep the nightmares at bay from our subjects. He only ever seemed to dream of living alone." "Yes, but those were only a few of his early dreams. When you provided me access in your domain, do you know what I saw in his sleeping mind? Nightmares unlike any we have ever dealt with. Before and after he committed the act. He was so racked with terror that it disturbed what little sleep he did manage to get. Humans may be more strong willed and go without sleep longer than our ponies, but once they reach a certain threshold, they lose grips with reality. Once Brian finally managed to get some decent sleep for once, he realized what he'd done. And do you know what he felt?" "No, but do enlighten us." "Guilt, horror, and regret. I do not mean to make you feel bad over your own situation Luna, but his depression and guilt in comparison to you is like comparing a beach to a granualit of sand. You may have created the Tantabus to torture yourself with, but his nightmares were, by far, much worse. His nightmares still send a chill up my spine to this day simply from the memory." One such chill went up my spine as the memory of his emotions briefly touched my thoughts, "However, he has now come to terms with what he'd done. This test of mine could be the best thing to have ever have happened to him." Luna sighed in exasperation, "So be it. We shall commune with him in his dream, and thou shalt summon him if he agrees." Turning, Luna beckoned me over to her bed so we could proceed with comfort. Her bed, as did her room, seemed to match in perfect accordance with Luna's personality. The poster bed was simple in it's design of stained black wood frame, and dark blue blankets and black and blue frilled pillows with designs of distant constellations sewn into the fabric. The bed made no sound as we mounted it, and held firm against underneath our weight, though still gave way dispelling any misnomer of it being wood covered in some velvet sheets. It was much different than my bed, which anypony would sink into like a massive, overstuffed feather pillow. "Sister, are you sure?" Always the cautious one Lulu, but at least you dropped Old Equestrian for at least a bit. "Yes, I am sure. Whatever happens, should he accept, will be a direct comparison and perfect measure for how our kingdom treats other races and the new. Shall we begin?" With a nod, she lights her horn, and I follow suit. The spell is simple in principle. It allowed me to follow Luna into the dream of the human and let me interact with them while there. Even with access to her domain, it is still not my place nor within my power to influence anyone. The situation would be best compared to a fish. In its home in the water it can do as it pleased and go wherever it found itself. However, once on dry land, it must be in a water tank, allowed to do very little. Such is my situation. Without Luna to latch onto, I can do nothing but observe if she grants me access. We gently touch our horns together, and we are emerged into the dreamscape. It was structured around the universe that everything resides. Planets are outlined and marked by the dreams of its' inhabitants here. Thus, outside of Equestria lay an enormous baby blue void that seemingly went on forever. However, even with as little contact she had, Luna quickly found Brian in his faraway world. Asleep and in one of his many nightmares. I stood transfixed, halted in place within the emptiness. This nightmare was new, one I hadn't seen before. One thing, amongst many, that humans differed in ponies were there dreams. Whereas ponies' dreams often dealt with emotions and desires, humans usually consisted of memories, random fits of unadulterated randomness and chaos, or none at all. Perhaps this was look into see the difference in mentalities and psychology, or maybe the experiences between our two species was enough to make the differences. The case being did not matter. It was the nightmare he was suffering that did. He was caught in a small, burning room. For some reason yet known to us, he was fighting against a flaming door, instead of the open window that cast holy light in, promising safety. His body was much smaller than that of his current body, but he still threw himself with unnatural vigor. Finally, the door collapsed, and we saw what he had been fighting for. His parents, faces blurred out of the ravages of time whittling away at young memory. They lay unmoving together in a tight embrace, burning. He cried out in anguish, for the ceiling to collapse upon him, setting his body on fire, and grazing his face. By this time, Luna managed to recover from her horror, halted the dreams' progress, and changed the scene to something much more relaxing, a campsite in the middle of a forest with a dying fire pit, and a massive box on wheels which faces away from us. Sitting on a log in front of the fire roasting marshmallows, was Brian. He looked about, confused, as if he knew something wasn't right. He jumped to his feet, turning all about, fear immediately dominating his mind again. "Let us hurry, before his terror takes hold again, and reverts." Luna spoke with ernest, genuinely concerned about the psyche of the poor boy while also plowing into his dream orb. I followed her in, and hoped that he would be amiable. Inside the dream, I found that I was still in my pony form. Which was odd. I'd figured Luna would have changed our appearance to match that of Brian's familiar species. I voiced my confusion through our mental link which, hopefully, still remained exclusive to us. Different minds react to outside stimuli differently Sister. Some ponies choose to see one thing, while others choose to see same thing, only slightly different. While any sentient being sleeps, they won't see the same thing as another. Your student Twilight will not see us as Prince Shining Armor would see us in her dream, nor would Applejack see the same as her brother Big Macintosh unless the dream was shared and our true form would be forcibly seen by the natural law of the dreamscape. Brian's dream mentality matches how he thinks in the real world. He tries to see everything as it is, and thinks things from as simple a point of logic he can muster. He judges nothing until he has seen enough to form an opinion based on what he knows is factual as it appears to him. Right now, his mind knows that two aliens have entered his dream, and he doesn't know why, other than that we want something. Since our appearance in the dreamscape is a direct manifestation of our selves, it also projects itself into the dream, where the dreams' owner would manipulate the image to their understanding, biases, and imagination. I think I get it, So would it be accurate to say he is actively trying to control his bias and imagination in favor to try to better understand what and who we are, and what we want? Luna nodded in affirmation, It appears We were wrong about him. He very much seems to be a very rational being, now that he isn't tormented by insanity and abuse. I beamed as Luna finally came to the conclusion I had made myself. Come, let us introduce ourselves Lulu. We had been standing in the overly exaggerated blackness of a shadow during our conversation, out of sight of the still nervous human. We stepped slowly into the light, letting Brian first see a small piece of ourselves before showing our entirety. We saw one of his... hands, I believe they were called, grip the handle of a knife that had been sheathed on his belt. He's nervous and hasn't the slightest idea of what's happening. He's simply taking a precaution Tia. That long, unused nickname brought me out the nervous thoughts I wasn't aware I was sharing with her. I was too busy second guessing myself already with this small act of fear, doubting that I had chosen the right person for the test I was about to conduct. "It's alright, Brian, we aren't here to hurt you." I said softly, "We just want to ask you something." He looked at us with a critical eye, studying us, and Luna shared with me knowledge that Brians' mind was practically in disarray as his mind tried to understand what was going on. Yet the dream remained absolutely stock still, as though nothing was happening at all. Even the fire froze. Finally, a little flash of understanding flew across his eyes, and he relaxed, "You aren't mine." He stated dismissively. "Yours? Do you perhaps mean to say, you know we aren't a product of your imagination?" I asked. Honestly, I knew the answer. I just wanted the confirmation from him. "Yes. I understand that. However, before you ask me something, please indulge me this one request," and before we could answer, "How have you managed to invade the sanctity of my mind?" His question came out with a snarl of indignant anger. His word choice justified his anger, and I shared my hypothesis with my sister. I do believe that humans, especially Brian, value their minds as something that cannot be shared. The most likely reason, is that their mind is the only true sanctuary of privacy for them. For all terms and purposes, we are rudely trespassing. Luna surmised. Then let us be quick about this. "My sister is a very powerful alicorn, and one of her magical abilities is to view, and enter dreams to help dismantle nightmares. This includes yours for the time being, as the spell required to stretch across the universe to your mind takes a lot of mana to accomplish. We apologize if us intruding offends you." He looked at us with an unwavering look of suspicion, "And you're here why?" This was actually going remarkably well, better than I had enitially thought would be his reaction would be. I'd fully expected him to panic. "Well, we rule over a significant kingdom, and we've been conditioning our subjects to be loving, kind, and welcoming to all. And it has come to the time that I believe that they should be tested, if for nothing else to see what we can improve on. We have searched the galaxy for potential candidates, and you are the best we can find. We would like you to come to our world, and integrate if possible." His face scrunched up in confusion, "Let me get this straight. You want me to go to your world, and try to integrate with your people because you want to see how nice they are?" I nod in affirmation, which only gets him to grin, "And how, exactly, would I be getting to your world? It's not as if I have a space ship that can transport me all the way to wherever you are." "We will take care of that. We would magically transport you to our world, along with your belongings, if you agreed to come." Luna added with no humor in her voice. Brian's face switched back to being serious, "Magic, bloody hell. Ok, let's say I'm interested. You seem to know plenty about me, so you probably know what I need to eat to live. Will I be able to survive on your planet? Would I be able to find clean water, a source of protein, and fruit?" His concerns are quite practical. Luna thinks to me. And very understandable. If I were to have a choice to go to some unknown planet, I'd like to know I could survive there. "Our planet has several rivers and streams. The location we plan to summon you to has a stream right next to it. As for your diet, we need to discuss some of the things that live here." Subtly, Brian seemed to become slightly nervous, "Many of the creatures on our planet bear a striking resemblance to many of the creatures on your planet, however many of them have some semblance of intelligence that's very close to ours." "Ok, what can't I eat?" Brian interrupts, sounding very leery of what's to come. Wow, that wasn't something I thought he'd say. "Cows, camels, sheep, buffalo, ponies, horses, minotaurs, zebras, griffons, dragons, yaks, hypogriffs, seaponies, some lizard, cat, and mole people and our one and only draconequus Discord. These are all creatures that are as intelligent as you or I." Looking at him, I found that Brian was literally counting the animals he might still be able to eat on his fingers, and then his toes when he ran out. "So, do you have deer?" "Yes." "Elk, moose, pigs?" "Yes." "Squirrels, turkey, boars, ducks, caribou?" "Yes." Luna answered, trying very hard not to sound annoyed. "Rabbits, fish, geese, beaver, otters?" "Yeees." "Bears, chickens, wolves, cougars?" "Yes, but why bears, cougars and wolves?" "Well, bear fat makes a grease that's very good at keeping bugs away, and they make good steaks when cooked right and with the right spices." Brian continued on listing a large amount of wild life, all of which, we had. It was rather surprising how many animals he could list, and what he was willing to eat. He even asked if our culture had ponies that smoked tobacco. Which, sadly, we did. I'd been trying for a very long time to get my ponies to stop the nasty habit, but I wasn't going to enact a law preventing it, so they kept smoking it. Brian seemed rather pleased about this, something about being able to restock his supply when he ran out. Finally, he asked what I hoped he wouldn't ask, "So how would you describe your kingdom as? I'd like to 'feel out your society' if you will." I sighed, "Well, we are a bit like your species, but we have some different shortcomings when compared to humanity. Your race are hunters, and very individualistic, which helps you when learning about new things. Rarely do you fear something without trying to learn about it first to know if or why something should be feared. Ponies, however, are a prey type race. We have a sort of herd mentality, which helps when there's a threat since we all come together to fight it. However, when a threat is only perceived, and they come together, one misstep can lead to absolute disaster. As I've said, my goal has been to condition them into being a better race, one that's a beacon of all that is good. With you being so different from us, I'm hoping to put all my work to the test, and finally know that my kingdom is what I set out to create it to be." We stare into each others' eyes, like some sort of contest. He is thinking, sister, and quite intensely so. He is debating whether the development of our people is worth more than his comfort, and it appears as though he is settling on coming to Equestria. I couldn't muster a response to that. In fact, I was so surprised to his reasoning to come, I nearly missed his next question, "So what will you be doing should I come to Equestria?" ...I hadn't thought of that. "I'm not entirely sure." He grunted, "You said you had magic right? Any spells that could erase small bits and pieces from your memory?" "Yes, where art thou going with this?" Asked Luna. "Well, you could bring me to Equestria, but block out our encounter here until some point in my progress. That way, we can go about this whole thing without having any bias or predetermined agenda to be carried out and I will have a more honest reaction when dealing with your people for the first time. It would be as much of a test for you and me as for your people. However, you'd need to leave enough memory or a mental block for me to not kill anything that thinks like us so I don't murder anyone for food. Only question is, when will we set the memory spell to end?" I chuckled, "You are far more intelligent than we gave you credit for Brian." He snorted, "I already have a few ideas. One could be when we come into physical contact or are within a certain distance of one another." "Because if we are that close to one another, the situation would have gotten to point where we'd need to remember in order to resolve the situation." He nodded, "Right, or if I die, or kill someone." Our faces must've been quite alarmed for him to fire out an explanation so quickly, "Before you go there, let me tell you why! You said that your people have a herd like mentality of sorts, so what if that leads them to attack, or try to kill me? You must understand, I'm going to fight back. And in a fight, there are no guarantees besides someone getting the crap beaten outta them. If I die or kill someone, it has gotten bad enough to warrant your involvement, and end this thing." I cringed. I may have been a warrior at one point, but a thousand years tends to soften people, so the notion of killing was revolting, "Let us hope it doesn't come to that." "Indeed, it would be quite unfortunate for one of our subjects or thyself to pass before their time. However, We believe there is still one last way in which the memory spell shall be cancelled. That being we receive word that thou have made friends with one of our subjects. That way, we will know that our test hath been passed." Brian gave a toothy grin, "Well, I think we've come to a decision, eh? Let's get this party started!" My sister and I returned his smile. Together, we began structuring our spell as we focused our magic through our horns. I have a good feeling about this, sister.