//------------------------------// // First Exploration in the forest of Everfree // Story: Imperfect Replica // by Ocelot the Devil //------------------------------// First Exploration in the forest of Everfree The first rays of sunlight filled the cave where Xion was still resting – the hood was covering her face. As the first rays of sunshine touched her sleeping form, she began to stir. “Morning already?” Xion questioned as she got up and stretched her arms before pulling down the hood. She looked around and realized she was still in the cave where she took shelter last night – which meant that this was still the real world and not a dream. “No use in thinking about it… This is my home now. Until I get back or find a way to escape this place, I’m stuck as a girl with a giant key. At least it can’t get worse…” Xion told herself as she felt her stomach growling. First order of business for the day was to find some breakfast and she had to find a way to quench her thirst since she had no clue if the water was fresh or dirty. Another thing to watch out for was the unwanted guests that could either aid or hinder her – probably the latter. So she had three problems to take care of in order to continue surviving for a while. With that in mind, she peeked out from the cave entrance. She didn’t spot anyone and sighed in relief. So far, so good. Leaving the cave, Xion walked along the dirt path and wondered if she’d find anything interesting. Maybe even a hive of bees for honey or something else. Another option would be to hunt the local wildlife and then bury the leftovers when she had her fill to keep people from finding her. With some urgency, Xion continued her task. After a while, she didn’t have luck in finding any berries or honey bee hive. It sucked, but sometimes things just didn’t go your way. She’d just have to settle for some fish. Picking up a stick on the ground and sharpening it with a rock, she walked to the river and prepared for a little spearfishing which would hopefully not be too difficult. Once arriving she waited to see if there were any fish swimming around in the river. Luckily, they were - a lot in fact. “Alright, little fishes. Come and get stuck on my spear...” Xion couldn’t help but giggle at that statement – even if it was a little cruel for her tastes. Now to wait for her morning meal to arrive. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too long, unlike last night… “Come on, little fishes… come on… Ah-ha!” Xion declared and rammed her spear down in the water. She was hoping one of the fish got stuck… Pulling it out she sighed in frustration. She wasn’t giving up yet and prepared to ram her spear into the water once more. A few more tries were equally fruitless. Xion closed her eyes and concentrated. Deep breaths, deep breaths… “Concentrate and keep a calm head… just like Haruhi told you, Izzy… Deep breaths.” Xion told herself before waiting for a fish to swim towards her direction. Once it got closer, Xion rammed her spear into the water and managed to stab the fish with it which made her smile a bit. Finally, she had her meal! She decided to start a small campfire to cook the fish - no sense in eating it raw. Who knows what kind of alien diseases were in the water. This wasn’t Earth, after all. Xion walked a little bit away from the river and sat down before doing her best to clean it. Shame that there weren’t any tools she could use; it would have been much faster that way. After cleaning it as best she could, she started a fire and cooked it before eating it. Yummy and salty… just like with last night’s fishy dinner. Speaking of the latter, she needed some water to quench her thirst. Running water won’t be a problem since she was close to a stream after all… Once she had finished eating the fish, she discarded the head and bones before rushing back to the stream and dipping her gloved hand in the water… so far it looked clean and healthy yet looks could be deceiving. At least the water was moving fast enough that it was probably safe. Nevertheless, she stuck a hand into the water before she brought the small droplets of water to her mouth and allowed some drops to fall onto her tongue. There was no obviously strange taste to the water, so she hoped it was safe before indulging her thirst. She took a few mouthfuls of water and soon her thirst was quenched. With that out of the way, she needed to decide what to do next - return to the cave or explore. The morning was just beginning plus she wasn’t well oriented with this forest yet… some exploration couldn’t hurt. As Xion made her choice, she started wandering the woods, doing her best to get the lay of the land. As she did so, she contemplated her current situation. Alone as a young girl with nothing but her coat and a strange key shaped weapon. Upon thinking about it, the thing appeared in her hands. She looked at it and sighed. “What am I going to do with you?” She wondered. Obviously it could be used as some kind of blunt force weapon and for unlocking things, but did it have any use outside of that? Xion would have to think about that. Dismissing the key weapon, she flipped her short-black hair and continued her task. As she trekked through the green paradise all around her, Xion couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace… as if she was glad to be in this forest and away from the village. Despite the dangers that lay ahead, it wasn’t anything that she couldn’t handle. In this forest, she could be happy and free from anyone that would want to abuse or take advantage of her. Food, shelter and water wouldn't be a problem… if she was lucky, she could keep living like this for a while. At least until she found a way back home to Haruhi – her soon-to-be-mother. Besides exploration and keeping herself alive, what else could she do? Creating tools and weapons was an option, of course. Practicing and learning skills with the key-shaped weapon… and that was it, as far as she could think of at the moment. Well… that wasn’t entirely true. She could find a way to sneak into town and steal a book or two in order to learn more about this place… but that would be a risky move and probably attract the wrong kind of attention. Perhaps during the night she could sneak into the local library. Of course, Xion had no training as a thief, but how hard could it be? Her black cloak was sure to help at night and her boots weren’t particularly loud. She’d just have to tip-toe around a little and she’d be fine, right? At this point, she kind of wished for a way to teleport straight into a library to avoid attracting attention. She almost dismissed the thought as unrealistic, but she had just recently woken up in a girl’s body on another world with the ability to summon a giant key from thin air. So maybe a little suspension of disbelief was called for. Suddenly, a small gust of wind tickled her nose and triggered a sneeze which in turn conjured a darkish purple-like portal in front of her. “W-what? D-did I do that…?” Xion wondered to herself. A sneeze? This portal appeared thanks to her sneezing...? This new life keeps getting weirder and weirder by the minute. Hmmm… actually, hold on. She snapped her fingers and the portal disappeared like magic much to her surprise. “Whoa. This is really… weird.” She admitted. Snapping her fingers yet again, the portal reappeared… so, she did do this! “Hmmm… I wonder where it leads to or if I can see anything on the other side?” Xion wondered before slowly approaching the portal and peeking through. So far all she saw was a purple landscape… Nothing more, nothing less. Despite her better judgement telling her not to, Xion took the risk and entered the portal. It was quiet and somewhat peaceful albeit a little weird. She looked around warily, unsure if she was alone in this place, but nothing happened. It was only her in this landscape. “Hmmm… this place could be used as a temporary home in case my pursuers try to track me down. Or maybe an escape route.” Xion mused to herself. Suddenly, another portal opened in front of her and this one displayed an area that seemed to be a library of sorts in a room made of crystal - just like with the castle she had been imprisoned in. “So… it can create gateways to other places. Interesting… I might be able to sneak in undetected or use it to spy on the inhabitants- Wait, what?” Xion was cut off by the appearance of a pacing purple unicorn with a lavender indigo-colored mane, violet eyes and a purple tail. There was a tattoo on her flank that depicted a pink six-pointed star that was surrounded by five other small ones. Most interesting were the wings on her back. Next to her was a small dragon with Light mulberry with scales, light spring bluish-gray underbelly and light lime green ear fronds, green spikes and eyes. He was sending a look of worry towards the unicorn. “Twilight, quit pacing! You aren’t helping anyone with your worrying!” The dragon told her. “Spike, this is serious! Right now is the time to panic!” The unicorn, who Xion guessed was Twilight, said to the dragon who must be Spike. Spike groaned. “What good will that accomplish?” He asked. Twilight ignored him and just paced back and forth. They didn't have any clue they were being spied on “Is… Twilight worried because of me running off?” Xion wondered. It was a good thing they couldn’t hear her or her plans might have been sunk then and there. What an embarrassing way that would’ve been to end up recaptured. “Look, Twi – we’ll find that cloaked girl… we just need to keep our wits about us. She couldn’t have gotten far.” Spike assured her. Twilight shook her head. "Spike, she's already left Ponyville. I'm worried what the Everfree could do to a young girl like her! She might get killed or worse!” The unicorn with wings told the dragon who just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. Xion couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She survived much worse than this… she would be fine. But they were still hunting her. They still wanted to take away her freedom. She couldn’t let them find her! Xion had enough and dismissed the portal. She sighed and shook her head before realizing that this would be much harder than it first seemed. Stranded on a planet with horses and dragons in the body of a girl… it was just like something that came out of a fantasy tale. For now, it was time to return to her cave and then determine her next course of action. She concentrated the image of her home in her mind before snapping her fingers and conjuring a portal which displayed her temporary home. Before stepping through, Xion made a note to come back here and examine this purple landscape more thoroughly - who knows what she might find? “Right… now to get back and rest for a little bit.” Xion told herself and entered the portal.