It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Sunshine rained down upon Canterlot, basking the entire capital of Equestria in a golden glow as the light reflected off of the marble streets. Every single soul in the place was hearty, upbeat, and anticipating change.
Especially a certain human in the Mental Health ward in the royal hospital wing.
Yes, Toby was in fairly high spirits - as high as they could be, anyway - for this day would be a day of change. A day of freedom. The day he could finally get away from these ponies, no matter how much they wanted him to stay. He would keep to his resolve; he had enough trouble with the species to last him a lifetime.
Today was the day Twilight was crowned as Princess of Equestria. She had promised him freedom, and she dead set on granting him it after the talk the two of them had together.
So where would he go when he left these ponies behind? Far away was sort of a vague term. Whenever he pictured his freedom, he would picture a quaint little cottage in a small forest clearing, where he could live in solitude. He had read an article during his school days that solitary moments in the midst of nature could soothe the soul. If this was true, Toby was willing to make it a pattern of life.
Then the explosion happened.
Fortunately, Toby was being a naughty patient when it happened. Performing his daily disregard of the nurse's instructions, he paced the length of his room, anxiously mulling everything that had happened to him in the past few weeks in his head. It had been such a drastic change to be unceremoniously thrown from one world into the next. But how had it happened? Some sort of portal?
Nah, too childish. Too simple. Almost all inter-dimensional-travel-related phenomena were blown off by the use of portals. It was still a possibility, however - no matter how much Toby detested the cliche idea used in countless Sci-Fi movies back in his world.
Then he was immediately thrown into a prison cell. However, ever since that talk with Twilight, he had experienced a strange change in the way he thought about the whole situation. Instead of feeling extremely bitter every time he thought about it, he considered the probable fact that the princesses were only upholding their priorities of keeping their nation safe - of course, there still could have been more consideration on his behalf, which inevitably made him bitter.
But did the ponies here really care about him? After that deep conversation, he was convinced Twilight was telling the truth about herself as well as several others that came to mind - but Princess Luna? There was no way that a living being could have such a drastic emotional turnaround that quick - right?
He sighed in the midst of these speculations and walked over to the cabinet to pour himself a glass of water. He smacked his lips after taking a deep sip. Man, hospital water was disgusting.
This world of ponies he had been thrown into - from the very little he saw of it, he guessed that it had many similarities to his own world. That should make it easier to adapt to it - it wasn't like he had any intention of returning to his home world - unless things were drastically different outside the castle walls.
He casually leaned up against the counter and took another swig of water, feeling it wash away the dry spot in the back of his throat. As he did this, he observed the room around him casually for the umpteenth time, taking in all the familiar details.
He froze. Something wasn't right - there was a faint noise, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. It sounded like the echoes of a din that was happening a good distance away. He listened closer.
Shouting. Crumbling noises. Screaming. Laughing...?
Oohh, whatever's happening in this pony-castle, it's gonna be good, he thought to himself. It sounds like it might add a bit of flavor to the everyday life he-
BOOM!!!
The opposite side of the room exploded, showering the room in dust and splinters. Toby instinctively crouched and covered his head with his cast, feeling the impacts of the debris. When he looked up, the dust was still settling. Furniture had been tossed around like playthings. A massive, gaping hole was all that was left of the opposite wall and the hallway outside. The wall next to his bed had been crumbled as well, and sunlight streamed in through the hole the explosion had left, leaving an excellent view of...
Wow. Was that the castle the princesses live in?
He was literally standing in a marble city that appeared to be on the side of a mountain.
The sounds of shouting were now louder. Looking up towards the source of the noise - the castle's throne room, he was guessing - Toby witnessed something that made him question his own sanity.
An extremely large, buff centaur-thing with massive horns crawled out of the rubble, snarling. He growled and leapt back towards the throne room. There he could see a couple other figures dashing about through the large hole made in the wall of the throne room.
Now was his chance. Not missing a beat, Toby gathered all of his bedsheets except one together and tied them into a long rope. He tied one end firmly to the end of the bed, and tossed the other end through the blast crater in the wall. With the last sheet, he fashioned himself a makeshift toga - you know, so he wouldn't be running around in a hospital gown that would allow him to moon everyone he encountered.
He climbed out of the hole and gingerly let himself down on the charred remains of the hospital wing. He hoped everyone had been evacuated - if not...
He shook the thought out of his head and began to pick his way through the wreckage towards the wrecked outer walls. Peeking over the charred remains, he saw a very long drop down the mountainside - so that way was not an option... unless...
He saw an artificial waterfall flowing out of the side of the city's foundation, a good fifty feet away. Hardly daring to believe his luck, he hurried through the remains. If he moved along the edge of the wreckage, he could position himself directly above the waterfall.
Was this a safe idea? Probably not. But if he wanted to get away, this was the only way without being caught.
As if fate had read his thoughts, he felt a sharp tug on his blanket-toga, pulling him backward. He looked around quickly to see who was responsible, and groaned.
Clarity, in full-armor, stood there glaring extreme daggers at him. Her teeth were bared, and she looked beside herself with anger. Among the rubble behind her, soldiers emerged, pointing long spears in his direction.
"You're kidding me, right!?" Toby snarled. "What gives??"
"I have orders to not let you esca - er, leave!" Clarity snapped. "And I'm definitely not going to watch you throw yourself off the mountain!!"
"I'm not even trying to kill myself!!" Toby retorted indignantly. "I'm just sick of you ponies - how many times do I have to say it??"
Every pony who had heard him flinched at the mention of killing himself.
"Princess Twilight was going to give you a chance!" Clarity protested. "A new life!"
"I don't want a new life," Toby replied, inching towards the edge. "I want to live my own life."
"Toby, DON'T YOU DARE!!" Clarity shrieked as Toby had backed up as far as he could go. She made to hurry forward with a horrified look on her face, but halted abruptly as Toby froze.
"So... what's going on in the throne room...?" asked Toby, half of him genuinely curious, the other half hoping that the overbearing guard would take the piss and look.
"Three of Equestria's most dangerous villains are in a fight against Twilight and her friends," Clarity replied, not taking her eyes off of him. "I was given orders to make sure that you were kept safe! And now you're about to jump off a cliff!!"
Toby grinned. "Alright, yeah - something like that."
Clarity recoiled. "Wait, you're not actually gonna - oh sweet Celestia," she said, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "Toby, NO!!"
"Sayonara, retards!" Toby cackled, and hopped backwards. He felt the thrill of cold air rushing by him, whistling sharply. Any second, now -
He hit the waterfall with force. He did it - surrounded by guards, too! He escaped!
But now the water was pulling him down, down - Canterlot was shrinking, quickly shrinking to the size of a soccer ball. Then a golf ball...
When he hit the water below, everything went black.
There is a forest that holds many magical myths and legends south of Canterlot - one that is rumored to hold some of the most wonderful, magnificent animals ever - the kind of magical nature with which humans would see unicorns on Earth.
It was now Hearth's Warming season, and a feverish attitude gripped the atmosphere in the only nearby village - small as it was, it was one known all over Equestria. It was famous for many things - the current residence of Princess Twilight Sparkle, champions of the most recent Equestria games, the monster attacks... but most importantly, the wonderful, magical feel of the place.
The name? Quite simple - Ponyville. When the name of Ponyville was heard in Equestria, smiles followed.
North of this village was the Whitetail Wood - the mentioned forest where mythical creatures were said to live. One of these widely acknowledged creatures was the jackalope - a creature that resembled a very large rabbit with antelope horns. Legends had told ponies for years that if one could capture a jackalope, they would become very lucky. If they could manage to befriend the jackalope - their descendants would prosper and thrive for generations.
Now, it wasn't uncommon among ponies to not believe in this sort of thing - after all, nopony had ever seen a jackalope. Those who had claimed to were always disproved and exposed as liars looking to gain attention. Therefore, jackalopes became a mythical creature, since all evidence pointed towards their nonexistence.
However, in the third week before Hearth's Warming Eve - the day after Canterlot had been attacked by Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow - something magical happened.
In the thick of Whitetail Wood, along the banks of the Canterlot River, a squirrel sniffed along the ground, scavenging for any last minute scraps for hibernation. The river sat to its right - and to its left, a bush rustled, causing it to freeze in place. It stared at the bush motionlessly, waiting for the intruder to make its first move.
Behind the squirrel, a blur moved up a tree. It moved so quickly and silently that the squirrel gave no notice - whatever it was, it could have gone anywhere imaginable merely by its stealth. It hopped down from the branches, noiselessly landing on the ground. It approached the squirrel slowly from behind, regarding it with interest.
The squirrel seemed to realize what was happening, for it instantly relaxed. It turned and saw the creature standing there, in all of its subtle glory - a slim, muscular rabbit, roughly the size of a bobcat, with a magnificent pair of horns on its head.
The squirrel chattered briefly before scampering off. The jackalope understood, but it came as nothing new to it. It was forewarned of the coming winter storm by its own instinct, but was appreciative nonetheless of the critter's concern - the gloomy gray clouds above had already given it away. The reason it had come out of its hibernation shelter was that it had felt an unusual disturbance along the shore.
It lowered its head to the shore and sniffed slightly, then swiveled its ears. Drawing back up to full height, it sauntered over to the river banks, and leapt out onto a large boulder in the middle of the river. It quivered slightly, perching itself upon the rock, staring at the icy water intently. It flinched, then made an attempt to grab something in the water with its mouth.
The jackalope returned to the shore and dragged the motionless form of some sort of hairless ape up onto the river bank. It had never seen anything like him before... it shook the water off of itself, staring at the new discovery curiously.
It pressed an ear to the ape's soaked chest. No breathing. No heartbeat. The thing was just still. The jackalope closed its eyes and placed the tip of its antlers to the ape's chest.
Instantly, the thing gasped for air and sat straight up. It patted itself all over with an expression of disbelief. It then slowly looked up and made eye contact with the jackalope.
"AAUGH!" the ape cried, falling onto its behind. "What in the -??"
A pang of fear coursed down the jackalope's spine. The thing was sapient! It had to leave. Without hesitation, it turned and bounded back into the forest.
"No - wait!" cried the ape, but it was already gone.
Toby sat there on the riverbank puzzling over what he had just seen. Some sort of rabbit with horns - did it save him? If so, why did it run?
He got to his feet unsteadily, shivering. He would follow it, of course - spending all those nights in those miserable jungles did teach him a thing or two about how to find animals. However, that was so he could avoid him - today, he was chasing.
He stumbled off in the direction he saw the creature go. Sapient or not, he had a strange urge to get some closure - or at least thank it for saving his life.
As he walked, a startling revelation came to mind. He kind of wanted to be alive - could it be the fact that he was now a free man now made him feel less - well - contained in his mind? He was no longer contained physically, of course, but now that he was actually free, the lack of dark thoughts was quite noticeable.
Of course, he still knew he was worthless - why those ponies wasted their energies on him, he would never know... he would never forget the way he was treated at the castle as well as back on Earth.
As he proceeded through the woods, he wondered how Twilight was faring in her fight - or at least, Clarity told him that she was in a fight. Despite the fact he had finally escaped from the ponies whom he disliked so much, he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty at the thought of how Twilight would feel about his disappearance. Well - if she won that fight with her friends, anyway.
He paused. He had walked at least five hundred yards in the general direction in which the creature went, and still hadn't seen a single sign that it had come this way.
What was that trick that he had learned during his days in 'Nam? The differences between predator and prey in terms of hiding - if he were a predator, he would make sure to always stay just beyond the victim's line of vision. If he were the animal being chased, like that weird creature... he would make sure to stay out of sight, keep low, making sure to know where the hunter was at all times - and have a good hiding place.
He started off again, although this time with care, treading over sticks, loose stones, and low-lying bushes. He proceeded slowly, but silently. He kept his breath controlled - if he had any sort of camouflage, this would have been much easier. Nonetheless, he proceeded, using extreme caution and planning with every ginger step.
Soon Toby came up on a very small stream, which trickled by noisily despite its size. This would provide slightly more cover for the tiny sounds he made with every bit of progress.
Before long, the stream was far behind him. How far had he come into these woods? Was the creature really that important? It wasn't like he had much to do...
An icy wind sharply blew through the trees, creating a rushing sound as it moved through their branches. Toby shuddered. Scratch that - he needed to find a place to build a shelter, before the weather got bad. He would have to forget about that creature if he wanted to survive out here. It wasn't like he was going to find it - not at the rate things were going, anyway...
As soon as he thought that, a sharp howl cut through the chilled air. Not from the wind - it was the unmistakable howl of a wolf. He frowned. So they had wolves here in this world, too - how would they react to a human?
He was about to set off back towards the river until another sharp noise cut across the cold forest - it was some sort of a shriek - it sounded scared. Seconds later, a myriad of howls hollered in reply. It was close, too - probably closer than a quarter-mile to his location.
Without thinking, he began running in the direction of the din, forgetting his plan of stealth completely. His bare feet pounded over the mossy forest floor, aching with cold, but Toby didn't care. Could that shriek have been what he really thought it was?
A large boulder loomed into view, and he paused shortly to catch his breath, listening intently for any other noise. The howls were much louder now - and they sounded hungry... there was another noise too, but it was drastically different than the howls in tone - much deeper, guttural...
A growl, without a doubt - but how could he here growling from this far away?
Suddenly, Toby found himself falling face-first into the dirt as a heavy force knocked him down from behind with a howl. It was definitely one of the wolves, but he couldn't see it. It seemed to have fallen over in the attack, but by the sound of it it was reeling and preparing to pounce again, growling. As Toby was getting to his feet, he only had a glimpse of something that looked wooden before feeling a horrible, sharp pain on his back - the wolf had raked its claws across his back and held steady to its prey, refusing to yield its painful grip.
Toby kicked out behind him and felt his foot connect. The claws left his back, tearing a bit of skin as they did so. Toby howled and whirled around, to face his predator. His jaw dropped slightly when he saw the offender.
It was a wolf indeed - but something was much different about this one than the ones back on Earth. It was made completely of timber, twigs, and leaves. Its eyes had a nasty green glow about them, something that just screamed evil vibes.
Toby wasn't afraid, however. He reached over to the nearest tree branch in the area - a thick, sturdy birch - and used his damp cast to break it off. Picking it up, he faced the timber wolf, which seemed slightly more hesitant to attack. Toby grit his teeth, enraged.
"So," he growled in a deadly voice. "That's how you want to play it, eh? You're fucking with the wrong guy, pal."
The wolf lunged at him, but Toby was faster. He sidestepped and brought the branch down on the wolf's head as it went passed. It flattened on the forest floor, whimpering. Toby placed his foot on the wolf's head and stomped down, pouring out his anger towards the wolf through the scarred pads on the bottom of his feet.
Taking a second to enjoy his opponent's satisfying defeat, he picked himself up and continued towards the howls. He hadn't traveled a hundred yards before coming to a large dip-clearing in the woods.
A massive pack of those wooden wolves were all slowly advancing upon a single point on the far side of the clearing. When Toby recognized the prey, his heart gave a miniature jump.
It was the creature he had been tracking. It had save his life, hadn't it? Now, he was going to repay the favor.
The wolves were all advancing at a very slow rate, which gave Toby a chance to look around the clearing for a way to deal with such a large pack. Some dead trees, pebbles, loose twigs, as well as a fallen tree and a couple boulders that lined the very edges of the clearing.
Wait - dead tree. Boulders.
The cogs in Toby's mind began to turn as he snuck glances at the clearing. They were getting uncomfortably close to the creature - he needed to act, and soon.
Inching to the nearest boulder, he couldn't of asked for a better set-up - the boulder was practically halfway towards falling into the clearing. All it would need was a little push.
Bracing his feet, Toby threw all he had into pushing it. To his slight surprise, it gave instantly. The boulder tumbled into the clearing, crushing dozens of wolves before they knew what had happened.
The wolves temporarily forgot their prey and turned confusedly, snarling, whimpering, and gnashing their teeth alike. As they tried to focus their canine minds, Toby had moved on to the next stone. Once again, he threw his back into it, and sent it into the clearing, this time taking more effort.
It was complete chaos in the clearing. Two boulders had mysteriously fallen on many of the wolves' comrades, causing their pack to shrink to half the size of what it originally was.
Toby kept going, a feeling bit beside himself with how well his plan was working. He crept up to the dead tree and tried to lift it. This proved impossible, so he tried to push.
No beans.
He huffed, and looked up anxiously. The pack was beginning to slowly return its attention back towards their prey.
Toby looked around, starting to shiver. The fact that he was cold didn't matter right now - he needed to find a way to move that tree.
His eye caught a large, sturdy-looking stick on the ground a few feet away. Without hesitating, he bolted over to it and collected it, then returned to the fallen tree. He wedged the stick under the trunk and put all of his weight on one end. Slowly, the tree budged, moving closer to the edge.
"C'mon... c'mon...!" Toby urged as the tree was perched on the very tip of the clearing. Giving one final push, it gave and tumbled into the clearing, wiping out a large portion the distracted wolves. They reared and howled, turning to peer at the spot from the tree had fallen. Several of the wolves made sure their prey stayed in place while the others broke off to investigate.
Toby, finally realizing that the stupid canines were catching on, pelted off towards the last boulder. Unfortunately, this wasn't exactly the quietest of decisions, and wolves seemed to finally locate their common enemy. There was a great howl, and the chase was on.
Toby, feeling a surge of terror surge through his veins, willed himself to move even faster towards his destination. He slipped slightly while trying to stop once he had reached the boulder, causing him to fall on his bottom. Knowing he had no time to lose, he scrambled to his feet and began pushing with all of his might.
Of course, of all the boulders at the edge of the clearing, this one was the hardest to move. He grunted and groaned as he hoped against hope to give the boulder at least one productive push. Alas, he only managed to move it a couple inches.
A loud growl resonated from close by. Toby looked up just in time to see one of the wolves who had tried to flank him lunge at him. He kicked out at its jaw, and his aim was true - he kicked it clean off of the animal, who stumbled and collapsed into a pile of sticks. Three other wolves followed; however, they seemed to learn that straight attacks wouldn't work, and they slowly surrounded him.
Feeling a super-surge of adrenaline, Toby pushed harder than he had ever pushed before. Slowly, the boulder budged. It seemed to be making progress until it seemed to be stopped by a contradicting force.
"No!" he growled, gritting his teeth from the effort.
The three wolves pawed the ground, recognizing their advantage, and lunged. Just as they did so, the boulder rolled up and over a rock embedded firmly in the ground at the edge of the clearing. Toby toppled over backwards into the clearing, along with the three wolves.
Toby landed hard on his back, knocking all the air out of him. He staggered to his feet and looked up to see that the rabbit creature had been liberated from the wolves cornering it. Strangely enough, it wasn't moving - it stared at him curiously.
More growling brought Toby back to his senses. He turned to see the three wolves bearing down on him. Conveniently, they seemed to be the only remainder of the pack.
He growled back. "That thing saved my life," he snarled, pointing at the rabbit-thing. "And I'm not just going to let you kill it after it did such a thing."
The wolves pawed the ground and licked their lips in anticipation, slowly surrounding him. They seemed to be adapting to his fighting style - this was really the only time Toby had been given a real-life test of his hand-to-hand combat training - in 'Nam, he only ever needed to fire a gun.
Another freezing wind swept across the clearing, causing his shredded back to throb excruciatingly in protest. He stood his ground.
As the first wolf was about to lunge, a branch landed in front of Toby. He looked up, and the rabbit creature was sitting in his line of sight, just outside of the wolf-circle. Toby looked at it, and it stared back, looking like it was trying to tell him something. Toby's eyes flickered back and forth from the stick back to the creature, and he understood.
The creature winked, making Toby jump.
Another growl brought him back to the dangerous situation he was in. Picking up the branch, he brandished it before the wolves, who were considerably closer now. No escape - he had to fight. He grinned grimly.
"I'll see you in hell," he muttered darkly, clutching his branch tightly, and the nearest wolf snarled. It immediately lunged at him, and he sidestepped it, exposing his backside. Aware of this, he whirled around, just in time to block the next attack. He caught the wolf mid pounce with his branch, and kicked out. The wolf collapsed into pieces.
He turned and swung wildly, batting the next wolf out of the air while it was mid-pounce. It too was reduced to timbers, leaving just one more left. It seemed to realize that it was all alone, and attempted to flee.
As it turned tail and ran, Toby threw his branch low, knocking out the wolf's feet from under it. It flopped to the ground depressingly. Before it could regain its feet, Toby was there, standing on top of it.
"You and your pals should have attacked me all at once, stupid," Toby growled, stomping down on its face. With a satisfying crunch, it was reduced to splinters.
He collapsed to his knees, feeling shaky. When was the last time he had eaten?
The sound of soft footsteps approached, and he looked up. The rabbit creature stood over him confidently.
Toby managed a faint smile. "Thanks for saving my life," he panted. "If you can even understand me..."
He slowly staggered to his feet. He gave the thing an acknowledging nod, then turned and left the clearing through a small slope that was clearly the only way in or out. No wonder the rabbit creature was trapped.
He struggled on through the forest. His blanket was in near tatters, but it offered slight protection from the cold. He shivered as he progressed.
He continued in the same direction for some time, then sat down, trying to ignore the bitter chills of wind that were slowly picking up. He shuddered, looking at the ground. He hoped there weren't any more wolves out in the woods - they seemed like they didn't belong.
A slight rustling behind him made him jump to his feet, but his state caused him to stumble trying to do so. He turned to try and catch the intruder, but didn't have to look far.
The rabbit-creature was sitting there calmly behind him, staring at him with curiosity. The cold winter light reflected slightly off of its beetle black eyes.
"Wha - shoo," Toby said gently, waving his hands at the animal. It didn't budge; it simply stayed in place, staring at him intently.
Toby sighed and took a seat, regarding the rabbit creature with confusion. "Why were you following me?"
The creature blinked calmly.
"Please... you don't want to be around me," Toby grunted, standing up. "I don't have anything for you to eat - is that what you want?"
The creature gave him a look as if it were saying, Are you stupid?
Toby sighed and stood up. "I can't do anything for you - I'm sorry." With that said, he stood up from his seat and walked a couple paces. Behind him, the creature followed.
Noticing this, he came to a stop again and closed his eyes. He turned. "What?"
The creature cocked its head to one side, seemingly in reply. It was just so frickin' cute - those adorable black orbs for eyes - it was unfair.
Toby sighed and smiled slightly in spite of himself. "Alright... what's going on?"
It cocked its head again.
"Who am I kidding?" Toby asked himself, feeling stupid. "It can't understand me."
To his immense surprise, the creature shook its head.
"You - you can understand me, then?" he asked, bewildered.
The rabbit creature nodded, not breaking its gaze from the weary human.
"Is there a reason you're following me?"
It nodded its head.
"Is it because I saved your life?"
It nodded its head.
"Listen... it was nothing," Toby explained, exhausted. "You saved mine. We're fair now. You have no obligation to stay..."
The creature nodded its head.
"Are - Are you saying that you want to follow me??" asked Toby, amazed.
The thing nodded its head.
"But - but you have your own life," Toby protested. "You have obligations of your own - you don't need to... what are you doing?"
While he was speaking, the creature slowly walked up to Toby and around to his backside. It touched the tips of its antlers to Toby's ripped up back. The cold touch of the antler tips made him gasp, but immediately made him feel warm. A tingly sensation began to form on his wounds.
"Hey - h-hey, that feels weird," Toby chuckled. "Wh-What are you do-?"
The creature left, and the tingly sensation disappeared. Feeling the injured areas of his back, a shock of excitement coursed through his spine as his fingers felt only smooth skin.
The creature had healed him. Not only his skin - but his blanket-toga had been restored as well!
"Did you - why?" Toby asked in an awed tone, feeling himself all over. He turned to the creature. "I - thanks... but why did you do it?"
The rabbit creature walked up and rose up on its hind legs, placing its large, powerful legs on Toby's chest. It nuzzled his face in the same way a dog would nuzzle its beloved owner.
"I - oh," Toby stammered. "I - I take it you're not leaving me?"
The creature shook its head.
"Do you have a name?" Toby asked.
The rabbit creature shook its head.
"Well, if you're not leaving, I've gotta call you something..." Toby murmured. "Are you a male?"
The creature shook its head. So it was a 'she'.
"How about - Tacet?"
The creature cocked her head.
"It means 'silent' in an old language from my world," Toby replied. "Or Pacificae; peace."
The creature nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay," Toby said with a smile. "Pacificae it is - I'll call you 'peace' for short."
Peace leaned into his leg affectionately. Smiling, Toby rubbed her head and set off. Now, thanks to Peace, he could continue his journey with not only a healthy body, but a companion.
He smiled. He could now truly say that this was the happiest he's been in years.