Lost in Equestria
Without a Map
By M11-Megas
Ch. 17 Jack
As I lie bleeding on the ground I felt a whole array of pains.There were the familiar pains, the headache and rigging of a concussion. There was the stabbing pain while breathing of several broken ribs. I felt the pull on my skin from a sunburn. Their was the new pain of having a three tears in my chest. To my relief nothing important was exposed. There was the mental pain scaring my mind with every thought, with the disgust of the blood that now covered the ground paired with the knowledge of where it came from, and the anticipation of the return of Rarity and Twilight to aid me. But the worst pain that I felt at the time was the sting that I felt because I bit my cheek when I hit the wall. "I won't be able to eat anything salty for a month." I didn't even notice how thirsty I was until I spoke. Wish I would have brought some water, I reviewed over my current situation. I wish I would have brought my bag, then I would have bandages and splint, with that I might have a way to get off this mountain,my eyes widened a bit. "And get coffee!" Somehow I had managed to sit up, in a very poor posture manner, I was leaning on the rock wall sitting on my lower back with my legs splayed out in front of me. In sitting up I found only more issues, the scratch I got on my left arm was far deeper then I could have imagined, the bicep was completely severed, rendering it useless and another pour for blood to seep out of. I had to make a tourniquet out of my belt and knife to slow the blood lose from my arm, but my chest I just had to let go. The sun beat down with a cruel and relentless force. Where I was was the west side of the mountain so the sun was on me the whole time I waited. I looked at the motionless dead body of the assailant, I thought of how his death was quick with a minimal amount of suffering. I thought of how my life so far has been filled with hardship, the amount of injuries I had suffered in Equestria up until this point were just as common in my universe. After a while I just got use to being hurt all the time, But nothing that I had suffered through back their was like this, this was the first time that I was rendered helpless, relying solely on others for assistance. After a while the pain and heat prevented most any logical thought. I would commonly attempt to look at my watch to find only that my left arm didn't work, not that it would of mattered because the watch battery was still run out. "What the hell are they going to do when they get back anywho. Is Twilight going to come here and say 'yep, your messed up'. That's if they'll make it back in time." I looked down at the pool below me.
A raven landed on my knee. *squawk*
Well aren't you cool. "Oh, messenger of death, can I leave now?"
"Your far to pessimistic, my boy." A familiar voice called out.
I looked up at Jack, my old mentor. "Well, look who it is." He looked just like I last saw him, a full brown beard with strands of grey littered about, he had on his blue captain's cap with a silver jolly roger insignia on the front and a matching jacket, he was smoking his favorite pipe the one in the shape of a monkey's head. A shiver ran down my spin at how he looked.
He spoke with a Irish accent, I'm still sure he had no idea what Ireland was despite his accent. "Surprised to see me?" He asked undoubtedly knowing the answer.
"I'm surprised to see any man return from the grave." I looked him over and looked at my hand which was covered in blood. I asked plainly. "Am I dead?"
Jack chuckled loudly. "Your not that lucky."
"Nice to know."
"You should know by now guy like us don't go easily." He sat on a rock and refiled his pipe. I tried to get my lighter, only to get a few twitches from my hand. "Don't worry about, I got a match." He light his pipe and took a deep breath from it. "Most men would have went down where you were born. Me and the guys feared the idea of spending a day in that frozen hell, then we find you who had been their for a year."
He was referring to the time when he and I first met.
***eleven years ago***
It was the 400th day of living in The Rat-Hole, and to celebrate mother nature had given me a blizzard to contend with. I had woken up an hour ago and was watching the white out weather, having a conversation with my friends. There was Ed, a pillow I had drawn a smiley face on, Foxy the fire, and Crisila my stuffed toy. There was also the mice that scurried about every now and then, I oftentimes called them rations. I was about fourteen, and was very lonely. I had secured the building that I called home from the storms, but there was still a cold about the place most of the time.
"Well, gang it looks like this storm isn't going to let up." It had been going on for three days since I had gotten fresh food or wood dew to the storm. "I need to check the traps, and pull more of the walls out of 42." I put my stuff together the red torn parka and two pairs of torn blue jeans were the common items I wore but I had new things for my survival. I had gotten A pair of black army boots that fit perfectly, a old knife, and a worm wool winter cap, all of which were branded with a red star with a sickle and hammer on it. At the time that meant nothing to me, I later figured out that people get offended by that particular symbol. I got my crowbar and ratty gloves. I decided to get the wood first. I put on my goggles and left the house, I felt around the porch until I found the rope that connected the two buildings. The storm made it impossible to see and if I didn't have the rope I won't be able to keep myself up. It would have been a short walk but it took me ten minuets to go three doors down. I called it 42 because it was the last house with an address tag. As I got in the desire to make a fire was too great to resist. Once that was done I started to take what ever wood I could, and put it into my makeshift backpack. Around a hour and a half into it I saw something from the second story window. At the dock I saw a light of some sort. It was impossible to see anything but the light, as I watched three more lights appeared. These ones were smaller then the first, but they were moving toward me. I scrambled to get everything together and raced down the stairs to watch as three men dressed in orange. While it was impossible to determine the difference between the snow plastered buildings and the white out weather, there jackets made them stick out like a trio of swore thumbs. They made there way up the street toward my house, I followed by using the rope. They moved at a strong pace, that meant that they kept themselves well fed, if nothing else. I followed them to my house where they stopped, I only noticed then that the snow was melted off the walls due to the fire, that made my house stand out dramatically. They said some things that I could not hear, and went inside. I rushed around to the back door and sunk inside. Peaking around the corner I watched them study everything, my food, my bed , Foxy. But when one of them got to Crisila I jumped out , and yelled "PUT HER DOWN NOW!" I snatched her from his hand, backed up to the door, and pointed my knife at them. I had no idea who they were or what they wanted, but I assumed that they were up to no good.
One of them stepped forward, he had a frost covered beard and a blue knit hat. "Calm down lad, we don't mean you any harm." He took another step, I hit the door as I took a step back. "Is this your place? Is there anyone else here?"
I looked him over, and held Crisila closer. "This is my town, I'm the only one left." I shot him a glare. "What do you people want?"
"Oh, where are my manners, we are treasure hunters, we had come here to find the lost town, and this it." I was confused by this, this town wasn't lost it was abandoned for good reason. "You said there were others?"
"Yes, but the last one left 47 days ago, I've been by myself since then." I looked at one of the other two, who looked like he was going to fall over from chill. "Go sit by the fire if that cold." He looked around for a second before quickly finding a spot on the floor in front of the fireplace, the last followed suit.
The first one didn't move, "Why didn't you leave with them?"
"And leave all this?" I motioned around. "When I said that they left, I meant that they are in the graveyard." That pulled a silence from him. "If your going to stay, Then I'm going to need your help with the traps."
"Of-of course!" He stumbled over his words for a moment. "My name is Jack by the way."
"That's nice."
"Whats your name?"
I just shrugged.
***
"You know what?" I asked the dead man walking.
"What?"
"I lost that furry hat in the river!"
At first their was a science, but then we coughed up a chuckle that grow into a full out laugh. The pain I felt in my chest was gone, I concluded that that was a vary bad sign, but I didn't care, I didn't care about much of anything at that time.
*SQUAWK*
"I had forgotten about you were their." I looked back to the raven on my knee.
"I have to get back now."
"Back where?"
He said nothing but gave a smile and nodded his head as the bird took off toward the sky and Jack vanished into thin air.
I hear a voice in the distance. "Megas! where are you?"
Reality hit me like a ton of bricks, the pain returned in full force, the heat and thirst returned to the unbearable levels as before, and I had almost no energy left to answer the call. "I'm here hanging with my peps." I coughed.