//------------------------------// // Chapter 1- It's a Tiny World // Story: To be a Breezie // by Obsi //------------------------------// As brief as it had been, I distinctly remembered my last visit to the other side of the portal. There was a town made of mushrooms, surrounding a castle seemingly built around a waterfall glowing in bright orange from the rays of the setting sun This was not it. Instead, I stood within a knothole in a tree gaping into the middle of a forest, looking up at mighty trees akin to the towers of Canterlot, which shut out the cloudy sky with a dense carpet of leaves. The ground was covered in ferns and mossy rocks, only occasionally disrupted by a patch of dry leaves. Where am I? The question trampled through my stunned brain as I looked around the teeming plantlife. I shot a nervous look behind me at the glimmering portal. Why did it lead me here? “Alright,” I whispered to myself, trying to get a hold of my breath. I could simply go back.  Maybe the portal didn’t always lead to the same place, but that didn’t have to mean it was the wrong place. Seabreeze could very well be aware of this… quirk. Maybe he’d planned to pick me up here. “Seabreeze?!” I shouted, noting with pride that my voice barely shivered. No answer. Okay, worrying again. “SEABREEZE?” Biting my lip, I weighed my options. I could go back right now, but my explorer’s spirit protested at even the suggestion. Maybe Seabreeze was just a little late, it wasn’t like the breezies had the machinations of the portal down to an exact science! And as long as it remained open, I could just wait for him. The worst that could happen was me wasting a few hours. And what explorer would I be if I just left because of simple impatience and a hint of danger?  I’d be like Weary Steps, who’d famously decreed Yakyakistan unreachable after getting minor frostbite. I would not become the laughing stock of the Equestrian science community! That just left me with a lot of time to kill. And so much exploration to do! Grabbing the edge of the knothole for safety, I let my eyes sweep over my surroundings. There were none of the large mushrooms I’d seen the breezies use as houses (which seemed weird at first, but then again, my house is a magic tree made from crystal). The amount of ferns surprised me, but I didn’t know enough about plants to spot the tiny difference between species. If only I had taken a book with me, I could have just thrown it back through the portal. Groaning, I felt a weird pull on my forehead. Oh, right, I had feelers! Grinning, I reached out to poke one- “By Celestia!” I gasped as I felt my own hoof, every tiny ridge. I could tell apart the individual hairs of my coat. These things were sensitive! Even now, without my hoof, there was a constant feeling of hot and cold, consistently changing intensity and direction. It was… strange. Testing, I made a quick nod, watching how my feelers bobbed up and down lazily. Something about the movement brought a silly grin to my face. Next up, wings! They felt somewhat stiff when I tried to open them. Maybe it was just my lack of practise, but then again, breezie wings weren’t really designed for flapping. They were made to glide on the wind. I wasn’t sure if breezies even could fly on just their own strength. The fact remained: some practise would be necessary. I threw a look down the edge of the knothole. Oh, I was far off the ground, far enough to make me swallow. I may have been an alicorn for a while, but if you spent most of your life without wings you’d never completely lose that little scared voice in your head. I blinked as suddenly, my right feeler felt like it had been lit on fire. I threw up my hoof, wondering what that was about as my wings flared out of reflex. Alicorn reflexes do not work for breezies. The second my wings opened, a tremendous force yanked on them. The next moment, I tumbled through the air, too surprised to even scream as a gust of wind blew me away. My feeble attempts to move my wings were in vain as I spun around wildly. Suddenly, I felt my momentum shift, the breeze left, but I was falling. With a panicked scream, I kicked out my hooves, flapping my wings as I plummeted to the ground- I couldn’t remember the impact as my head slowly rose. Everything spun around me, and my stomach seemed to be doing loop-de-loops in my body… okay, Twilight, deep breaths! The world suddenly jumped back into clarity, and with it came my extremely sore chest. “Ouch…” The smooth, but firm thing I was lying on seemed to be a flower petal. It must have stopped my fall-- seemed like I’d gotten lucky. In a way. Chuckling, I looked up the stem to the colorful head. I’d have to find a way to get back. And recognise the right tree. Hopefully, knotholes weren’t too common here... I could have easily missed it. A miniscule movement from the corner of my eye. It seemed to be coming from the next flower, but there was nothing over there. Except… for a second stem? Weird. It was oddly shaped too, making a sharp turn, connecting to other thin stems doing the same thing. I narrowed my eyes, following the shape until I saw two orbs of just a slightly lusher color. And it slowly, almost unnoticeably, swayed from side to side as my brain made the connection and my insides froze. It was a praying mantis. And it was looking right at me. I almost screamed, which would have certainly alerted the predator. A praying mantis! An insect that could strike in half the time it took a pony to blink! Vivid, unwelcome memories overwhelmed my brain. How I observed a mating ritual with Fluttershy, and without any warning, the female bit the male’s head off. And then the headless body just kept mating! How they often ate their prey while it was alive and twitching in agony! I may have been afraid of snakes, but mantisses gave me nightmares. AND NOW A GIANT MANTIS WAS STARING DOWN AT ME! Its head slowly swayed to the left, and through the barrage of panic, I remembered something. Praying mantises had really poor depth perception. It swayed it’s head to judge how close it was to its prey. And there was something else I knew. I swallowed, the sheer insanity of my plan enough to make my head spin, but it was my only option! All of a sudden, I kicked out all my legs, beat my wings, all to jump-- right towards the mantis’s face. The insect reacted almost instantly, its claws lashed out, but they weren’t made to grab something that close. It hit just over my head, missing me by a hair’s breadth. And then came the fall as I dropped down the flower stem and smacked head-first into the muddy ground. Forcing my legs to respond, I stood, fighting down the feeling of dizziness in my aching head. It could have been so much worse. Thank Celestia for cushioning muck. A noise of rushing leaves tore me out of my dazed thoughts. The mantis, not content to let its prey escape, was rushing down the flower, menacingly clicking its sharp mandibles. Terrified, it was only the adrenaline that made me roll to my hooves, taking off just as the predator reached the ground. I was running on pure instinct, dodging ferns, vaulting over roots and pebbles. I had no idea where I was going, just away. Away was a good idea! A horrid shriek nearly stopped me in my tracks. Gasping, I threw a look back. The mantis screeched as it ducked under an obstructing leaf. It was an ambusher, its legs weren’t made for running, the larger body unable to pass obstacles like I could. However, my small moment of elation died as I saw just how much ground those long legs could cover with each step. Tearing my eyes off the predator, I climbed over a fallen leaf, feeling my heartbeat in my throat. Running may have been an instinct, but I was not an athlete. My experiments in the Running of the Leaves had proven I could only keep up a quick pace for so long. Soon, I’d fall back! Gasping for air, I looked up, seeing a gigantic brown tower loom over me. Doubling my efforts, I ran up the mountain created by the enormous roots, wheezing, hoping for a spot to hide in. Behind me, I heard the mantis’s steps take on the same wooden tone as mine, it was so close! Then I saw it, a root parting into two, creating a tiny hollow space! Using my last bit of strength, I squeezed into it, hoping dearly the mantis wouldn’t find a way to reach me. Gasping for breath, I waited. And waited. Yet, instead of a hungry predator stomping over my hiding spot, I heard its mandibles clicking from several feet away, sounding… anxious. I held my head down, all my sensible brain cells shouting down on that small, curious part that wanted to investigate. So I strained my ears, listening as the mantis clicked a few more times before, and I hoped my senses didn’t deceive me, it wandered off, and quickly from the sound of it. With that, I let go of my breath. Never even noticed I’d held it. My heart was still beating like a drum, not having gotten the memo it was safe now. Leaning back, I glanced into the green ceiling of leaves that hid away the sky and I swiped over my drenched forehead. That. Was way too close, I decided, a shiver going down my back as I imagined those claws grabbing me fast as lightning, the much more powerful insect holding my small body down-- “WHY DIDNT I TURN BACK INTO A PONY!?” I shouted, beating on my own head. Sweet Celestia, it was the most obvious thing, and yet I had apparently decided to make anypony who’d ever called me smart choke on their words instead! Letting out an exasperated sigh, I leaned my head against the encasing wood, wishing I could simply stay hidden forever. Eventually however, my mind refocused on the situation. I had to go back to the portal, that much was clear. I knew next to nothing about this place, which had just proven to be very dangerous. It might have been a different continent,  Heck, the portal might not have taken me to the right world! Danger for the sake of science was one thing, jumping blindly into the unknown was a different matter entirely! Besides, if the portal was even open still… I swallowed, forcing myself not to finish that thought. But one thing was clear, I had to move quick. And that left only one issue… one that made my stomach twist to even think about. I had to go back the same way to even have a chance of finding the portal. Teleporting wasn't an option without knowing my position relative to the portal. And if I was to recognise the path I’d taken, it would have to be from these eyes, in this small form. I swallowed, knowing full well I was possibly walking right back into the mantis’s arms. But it was the only way I could get home. I took a shaky step back onto the grassy carpet. My head held low, twitching at the slightest noise. Behind every fern I expected those clicking, hungry mandibles. I checked every leaf above my head, remembering full well how they liked to hang upside down, waiting for prey. My rate of progress was, as you might guess, abysmal. I was so preoccupied with the above and the behind, that I didn’t even notice the end of the meadow until it was almost too late. Suddenly, there was no more green. Instead, my hoof found no ground as I nearly fell off  the hillside, a loud gasp escaping my throat as I took a step back, staring down the fall I’d almost unwittingly walked into. I let out a long sigh, rubbing my face and telling my heart to calm down once again: I’d just have to pay more attention from now on. Then I blinked, nervously peeking downwards. Had there been a hillside on my way here?