//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Survival // Story: Fabrication // by Bomber //------------------------------// She glazed through Ponyville’s library, searching for books that would satisfy her needs on the topic of the two-legged, hairless creatures. But they were just a myth — a legend. No pony ever believed that a species like this could possibly have ever existed except for a certain, special unicorn: Lyra. Ever since she was a little filly, she would have dreams of these bipedal species. How they would create vast metropolises with looming towers that dwarf even large Equestrian cities such as Manehattan and Canterlot. How they would create probes to search the unknown reaches of space, far beyond their own blue planet. And how they would gather at enormous stadiums to watch sporting events that would seat thousands of these creatures. For the most part, Lyra kept her dreams to herself. She had only told her family and her roommate, Bon-Bon, about the two-legged species she would see almost every night in her dreams. She kept a journal though, constituting things like hips and joints. The uses they had with their… well Lyra didn’t know what exactly what to call them, but these parts of their bodies, attached to their arms, would make simple tasks like grabbing small items much, much easier. Lyra loved to write in her journal, creating small masterpieces of artwork of building based on the creature’s architecture. She would even write short stories on how their society might act or how they might get along. She even composed several short melodies on her lyre describing the greatness of this species. Today I’ll find something that will lead me to having proof that these creatures do in fact exist, Lyra thought, scanning through more books trying to find titles that easily grabbed her attention and might have something to do with them. She had told Bon-Bon that she was going out to purchase extra sets of strings for her lyre in the event that hers broke. That was always the excuse Lyra made when she was going to look for additional information. Bon-Bon for the most part disapproved Lyra’s obsession with this strange alien race. She did love her roommate, even with her constant rants on how these creatures have gotten so technologically far advanced without the use of magic or the ability to fly on their own. “This looks intriguing!” Lyra said, engulfing a massive, purple book in a sheet of magic. The book glided smoothly through the air and gently landed on a table in front of Lyra. An Equestrian Guide to all Myths, Monsters, and Legends the book title read. Lyra slightly grinned. This would be perfect. With a book this colossal, there would most likely be plenty of information of this species. Lyra would have liked to search the library for longer, but she had been there for the better part of at least a couple of hours. Twilight Sparkle looked as if she needed to get things done, most likely a letter to the Princess. Lyra decided she would take this one for now. “Hey Twi’, I think this book will be good with me for now,” Lyra said, placing the book in a saddlepack. Twilight smiled. “That’s great! Just be sure to bring it back by the end of next week!” she called out to Lyra. “Will do!” Lyra assured, trotting towards the door that lead to the outside world. Lyra felt her stomach begin to churn with excitement. It wouldn’t be too long before she could get to work. She kept a cantering pace throughout the streets of Ponyville, making sure to say “Hello!” to any other pony she passed by. She also stopped several times to chat with any of her other pony friends. She wanted to maintain as many of her friendships as possible, because if she spent too much time in her small office working, her only friend left in Ponyville would be Bon-Bon. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to converse with other ponies for a few minutes, even though it would be taking time out of Lyra’s research. After ten minutes of trotting through the streets of Ponyville, Lyra finally made it to her small cottage that she shared with her roommate. Lyra smiled as she trotted up to her front door. She attempted for the thirtieth time to turn the doorknob open with one hoof, only to find that the task was still impossible. She sighed as a glow entombed the doorknob, following the sound of a door slamming open. “Why would ponies invent an object that’s so hard to use with hooves?” Lyra pondered quietly to herself. She made it a habit of talking to herself when thinking of the creatures and ways they could use their claw-like joints to handle objects. The doorknob, for example, would be an easy use for them. And what about the little handles on the end of teacups? Most ponies thought it was simply for decoration, but Lyra knew that the creatures would be able to grip the handles with ease. “Bon-Bon! I’m back!” Lyra called out, slamming the door shut. “My gracious, how long does it take to purchase strings for your lyre?” Bon-Bon rhetorically asked, trotting around the corner of a hallway that led to their living room. “Um… I didn’t exactly buy any strings for my lyre… you see, I…” Lyra trailed off, trying to think of different reason for heading out of the house. “What do you mean? Oh wait, I see,” Bon-Bon said with an annoying tone when she noticed a large book protruding out of Lyra’s saddlepack. “I can totally explain! I—” “No, it’s perfectly fine. I can understand that you really believe that these aliens really exist. But Lyra… you really need to let this go. You look like a little school filly cantering around with this two-legged creature nonsense.” “But I—” “Don’t take this the wrong way! I think it’s good that you’re keeping something of your childhood with you. That’s something I wish I could do now.” Lyra remained silent for several moments, thinking carefully of Bon-Bon’s statement. “Thank you,” Lyra said. “You really are the best roomy a pony could have.” The two hugged tightly for several moments. “Now go on and have your fun,” Bon-Bon said. “I’ll be making potato soup for supper!” Lyra grinned as wide as she possibly could, showing her gratitude. She then burst down the hallway into her small office. Drawings and miscellaneous books littered the floor. A trash can sat in the corner under a mountain of crumpled up pieces of paper. Lyra removed all her excess items from on top of her desk, then placing the book onto it. She began to use her magic to rapidly flip the pages as if it were a race. “C’mon… c’mon… I need answers,” Lyra said, concentrating as deeply as she could. “No, I don’t need Manticores. No, I don’t need Phoenixes. Wait, what was that?” Her brain saw an image on a previous page that looked exactly like the creatures. Lyra flipped the pages backwards, more slowly this time so that she didn’t overshoot it. This is perfect! She had finally found something worthwhile! There was a whole two pages dedicated to the two-legged species. Lyra read the subtitle of the current page. Apparently these creatures were dubbed “Earthlings”. “Earthlings?” Lyra asked herself, completely confused. “That doesn’t sound… right. I’m sure that they must have a different name.” Lyra began to read the first paragraph. Earthlings are bipedal omnivores that tend to scavenge for food. They are considered to have low intelligence, but can fight with the strength of five earth ponies combined. They were clothing to conceal what many historians believed to be “private parts” of the Earthling’s body. There have been several suspected sightings of Earthlings in the Everfree Forest, near the town of Ponyville. While none of these reports have been confirmed, there are some ponies who believe that the Earthlings are real, however the common Equestrian pony will deny that these creatures even exist. Lyra continued reading for fifteen minutes when Bon-Bon called her for supper. Lyra sighed, placing a bookmark to remember where she had left off, and then closed the book. “Eat now, read later,” Lyra said. Her stomach began to rumble, and only food would satisfy it. <><><><><><><><><><> It was half past midnight, and Lyra was still awake. A small candle illuminated the cluttered office. Lyra yawned, trying to keep awake for as long as possible. She had drunk at least several cups of coffee, but the caffeine now seemed to wear off faster every time she drank a cup. “Must… find… more answers,” Lyra said, skimming through the two pages again for the thousandth time. She had read it enough now that she had almost completely memorized it word for word. She had yet to find where they came from, or how they reproduce. She wasn’t sure if they reproduced sexually or asexually, but based on some of the pictures they most likely produced sexually. Lyra’s eyelids began to feel like heavy weights. Sleep was going to soon overcome her, but she was fighting to stay awake for just a while longer. Lyra yawned again, this time much more loudly and much more sustained. “You know what? Maybe I should get some sleep. I can look through the book again tomorrow,” she figured. She trotted softly to her room, trying not to wake Bon-Bon. Her bedroom door made a loud screeching sound when she tried to open it. Lyra clenched her teeth. After waiting several seconds Lyra guessed that the door had not woken up her roommate. Lyra decided it would be best to leave the door open and not risk the chance of waking her roommate again. She jumped onto her soft, comfortable bed with a dull thud. Her eyes closed gently, and she almost drifted off to sleep when she heard the sound of hooves hitting the wooden floor. Lyra figured it was just Bon-Bon but something didn’t sound right. The sounds weren’t as constant as the sound of a pony walking. Either that or Bon-Bon was walking very slowly. Lyra got out of her bed and decided to investigate. She trotted ever so lightly, making sure her hooves made no sound on the wooden floor. It was a difficult task, but Lyra managed to do so. Lyra first searched the kitchen and the living room. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. It didn’t seem like there were any intruders inside her house. A cold Jetstream of air then entered the room, causing Lyra to shiver. Why was one of the windows open? Lyra thought not much of it and closed the window, forcing the cold wind to stop. While she was out in the kitchen, Lyra decided it would be good to munch on a midnight snack. She opened one of the cabinets with her magic to see that half of their food supply was gone. So there was somepony in her house! She would have to find out who it was. Lyra checked all the corners of her house. The hallway, the bathroom, both hers and Bon-Bon’s bedrooms (she had found Bon-Bon fast asleep in her bed). That only left her office, the last place she would think anypony would be. As she crept towards the office she heard the sounds of papers in book turning rapidly. Was somepony stealing all her hard earned work on Earthlings? Not if she had anything to say about it. She marched towards her office, putting her furious face on. When she stood outside her office, she heard a whisper of a voice, certainly male. “Perfect! Maybe I can get some information here.” She entered the room saying, “Who are you and why are you in my house?” She then stopped dead in her tracks. It was one of them… an Earthling. Standing erect, hovering over her planner that she used to keep track of all her things she needed to do during the week. “Oh shit!” the Earthling said, startled. His eyes turned to meet hers. In a split second, the Earthling jumped on her, with a black object in his right hand. The Earthling pressed the object on her side, near her stomach. The object felt icily cold. Lyra heard a click from the device. An excruciating pain came from it. It burned… so badly. She was paralyzed on the floor, unable to say anything. The Earthling put his mouth close to her ear and whispered, “I’m sorry I had to do this, but I’ll do anything to survive.” He then left the office, leaving Lyra paralyzed on the frigid wooden floor. <><><><><><><><><><> Fourteen Hours Earlier… The vibration of Blake’s iPhone woke him up quickly. He slid his thumb on the bottom of the screen, unlocking the iPhone, and then turned off the alarm. The short three hours he allowed himself to sleep went by so quickly. They were coming for him, and he was determined to keep himself alive, even if that mean traveling across Switzerland entirely just to get to France, the closest country where the crash site was. He only had about twenty miles left before he would get away from this hell hole, and possibly a chance to get back to the States. Blake groggily stood up, wishing he was back home on a nice, soft bed, instead of running for his life. He used the glow from his iPhone to locate his flashlight. It took him a second because he kept the iPhone’s brightness to a minimum to conserve as much of its battery as possible. He picked up the flashlight and it slipped out of his grip. The sound of the flashlight hitting the ground echoed throughout the cave. He was still very weak and very exhausted. He began to felt dizzy but he quickly subsided it by finishing off the rest of his water. He once again picked up his flashlight and used it to locate the boulder he had used to close off the small entrance to his (sort-of) safe haven. Before moving the boulder, he decided he should quickly update is video log he was started on his iPhone after… no don’t think about it. It’s best that you don’t think about it. Blake touched the camera app on his iPhone and hit the record button. He made sure that the flashlight was shining on his face so that the iPhone would be able to pick it up in this pitch-black environment. “This is the beginning of day four of my… marvelous vacation. I’m only twenty miles away to the borders of France and hopefully of my freedom. I hope at least some people there will be able to speak English because I don’t know a single word in French!” He chuckled to himself for a second before continuing. “I… did it again last night. The guy never knew I was behind him. I…” He began to pout softly. “I just want to go home, dammit!” he sniffled. He hit the record button again so that the recording was put to an end. He was about to shut the iPhone off when he realized that his it said that the battery was at one-hundred percent. That couldn’t be possible. The “20% Battery Remaining” message popped up the night before. The damn thing must be broken now. He shrugged and stuffed the iPhone into the right pocket of his tattered jeans. He walked up to the boulder, and with all of his strength he was able to move it. He entered the forest outside. The suns glare hit Blake directly in the eyes. He moved his hand up to cover it while he put his sunglasses on. “Wait a second… I fucking overslept didn’t I?” he exclaimed. He remembered that he went to sleep at 2:00 AM. Judging the angle of the sun it was about noon. Blake pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and checked the time. 5:06 AM it read. Yep, it was completely broken and now his pursuers had about an extra six or seven hours to catch up to him. That certainly wasn’t good. He told himself he would take it a little more easy today. His legs were already sore as is, but he had to get more distance in between him and the enemy. He pulled out his compass and checked to see which direction west was, then began to sprint in that direction. Several miles in he was already fatigued and he had to give himself a short break. He opened his backpack and pulled out some of his dwindling food supplies. For the past several days he limited himself on how much he would eat per meal. However, he decided that he was now so close to his goal, he might as well eat a little extra to give him an extra boost to get to France. He pulled out the rest of his beef jerky and shoved a whole pile of it into his mouth. Sure, it was very hard to chew, but he needed to eat as quickly as possible. Time was of the essence. After finishing the dried meat, he shoved the rest of the jerky into one of his backpack’s pockets and stood up. He was ready to go before he noticed the weirdest lion he had ever laid eyes on. It had the tail of a scorpion with bat-like wings stuck on both sides of it. Fear coursed through Blake’s body. Could it be possible that he was hallucinating? The mutant lion was a fair distance away, and it might be possible that it’s passive and won’t notice him. He decided he would keep it low-key, and wait for it to pass. He didn’t want to risk shooting the thing, for the fear that his pursuers will hear the shots. Plus, we wanted to conserve as much ammunition as possible for the AK-47 that he happened to “borrow” and the handgun which he didn’t know the name for. Blake was fairly accurate with guns, as his dad was the owner of a shooting range back home. However, if the mutant lion ever decided to attack him, he would attempt to subdue it with his Taser that he “acquired” earlier. The only sound that Blake was making was the steady sound of him breathing in and out. The mutant sniffed the air, as if hunting for prey. It turned in his direction. Now it was coming for him, with its scorpion tail poised to strike. The pupils in Blake’s eyes double in size when he realized that the mutant wanted to make lunch out of him. He slowly stood up… then ran. By now he didn’t care which direction he ran in. His only goal was to get away from the damn thing and survive. The ground seemed to shake every time the mutant’s paws hit the ground, which must’ve meant that the mutant was now in pursuit of Blake. The thing was as fast as lightning, and it struck Blake to the ground, holding his left arm down, and tossing the assault rifle out of his reach. The mutant licked its lips, knowing that it had caught its prey easily, and now would be relieved of hunger. There was only one thing that would ensure Blake’s survival. He took the pistol from the holster attached to his jeans, and pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through the lion’s right eye. It stumbled to the ground, covering its ears as if they were super sensitive to the large crack from the gun. The sound of its roar was like thunder, and just the sound of it seemed to trigger an earthquake. Blake sighed as he was left with again one option: He would have to kill it so it wouldn’t be able to hunt him down again. If the thing had half a brain, Blake was sure that it would want revenge. It was a risk he couldn’t take. Blake put the pistol right next to the thing’s head, and fired. The roars came to a stop and a pool of blood started gushing out of the mutant’s wound. Blake picked up his backpack and the AK-47. It was time to get on the road. If the enemy was in a few mile radius of Blake’s location, they would know where he was now. He might as well have built a fifty-foot tall billboard with lights and neon saying, “I’m here! Come and get me!” He was on the move again. <><><><><><><><><><> According to his phone, it was only ten o’ clock now, but the sun said it was about five o’ clock instead. He placed the phone back in his pocket and surveyed what was in front of him: a path. Yes, it was a trail that looked like it had been used repeatedly, which worried Blake. If he continued west down this trail, he could be very well walking into an ambush. It was very likely that they may have placed one somewhere along this road, assuming that they had somehow have gotten ahead of him. He decided it would be best to follow the path, but still stay in the trees where he would be harder to see. This dirt road will most likely be the quickest route to France, so it would be something that he would have to take advantage of. By now he couldn’t even maintain a jogging pace. His legs ached, his thighs burned, and fatigue was once again creeping up on him. There had been no signs of water since he began the trek this morning. He should have remember to stock up on water in that little stream near the cave, but the realization that he had overslept made him completely forget about it. He was hungry but he didn’t want to eat. Every time he ate, his thirst would get sharper. The hunger helped mask that thirst, and Blake wanted to keep it that way. After several more minutes of walking, Blake found himself at the edge of the forest. Rolling green plains stretched out ahead of him, with seemingly no end. He must be getting close to France by now. Yes, he would be much more compromised out in the open, but if he waited here much longer, he would have his ass executed. He had to keep trudging on. This time he stayed right on the dirt path instead of to the side. There was no point keeping to the side of it anymore. The sun would begin to set soon. He was determined to get to France by sunset. If not, he would have to travel through the night. He didn’t want to succumb to sleep again until he was on French soil. Out in the distance he could see a small town. It was hard to tell how large it was as he was still at least a few miles away from it. He decided to walk another mile or so and take out his binoculars to see if there were any threats in the village ahead. After he did so, he found the largest hill in the area and rested on his belly. He opened his backpack and took out the small pair of binoculars and looked through them. No tanks, no choppers, but… no humans either. At least that’s what it looked like. Instead of people milling around it looked like… multicolored horses? And were they… conversing with each other? Blake placed the binoculars on the ground and rubbed his eyes. He must be sleep deprived. However, he thought he was hallucinating when he saw the mutant lion, but that was very real. Is it possible that horses are intelligent and have their own society now? Blasphemy, what the hell kind of mad experiments are going on in Europe right now? Wait… was this Europe or could it be possible that this might be another planet, or even another dimension? Just the thought was ridiculous, but could he have somehow been transported somewhere else while he was sleeping in that cave? Was this a curse, or was it a gift? After him losing his… no! Do not think about it! Keep those memories locked in chains! He shook his head and then looked into the binoculars again. Yep, it’s still a village full of colorful horses. Nothing has changed in the past fifteen seconds. Well, if these… horses have built themselves their own little town, that must mean they grow their own food and get their own water. Blake didn’t want to have to steal again, but he’ll have to do it to survive. He wished he could waltz right in the town and beg for food, but there’s no way to tell if these horses are hostile or not. Yes, they may look girly, cute, and able to cuddle on the outside, but they could be vicious carnivores on the inside. The killer rabbit scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grailplayed back in his mind. He smiled at the thought and began to plan his next moves. It would be best to wait for nightfall before even attempting to get close to the village. From there he could get whatever food and water he needed and then could make a dash for it. But this method would get ineffective very quickly, as the horses would eventually realize that their food is being stolen, and would make sure that their houses are burglar-proof. This would mean Blake would have to live in the outdoors, and hunt and gather for himself. This would mean he would have to learn the way of the land. Learn what plants are edible and poisonous, what creatures will be provoked to attack, and most importantly, nearby rivers and lakes. He would have to steal some books as well. If the horses had a written language, it would most likely not be English, but if Blake could just get his hands on some maps… Maybe they had a library somewhere in the town as well. That would be a good place to start, but his top priority would to gather some more resources. It would still be a couple of hours before the sun even set over the horizon. Blake turned over so that his back was resting on the soft ocean of grass. He pulled out a pair of headphones from a pocket in his backpack and plugged them into his iPhone. He clicked the music app and began to relax. <><><><><><><><><><> It was probably a little past midnight by now. The moon provided a natural light over the surface of the planet, letting so Blake could easily see without any streetlights or such sources of light back on Earth. Blake still couldn’t decide whether he would like to be back on his home planet being chased by a bunch of psychopaths, or on an unknown planet with a bunch of aliens. He didn’t have much else to live for, it’s not like anybody would be missing him at home anymore, after the… dammit Blake! Get a hold of yourself! There was nothing you could’ve done for them! You can mourn for them later, but now, you have to survive. Blake stifled a yawn, and began operation: Get Whatever You Need and Run Like Hell, as he called it. He was now only about a hundred meters away from the edge of the town. He pulled his binoculars out one more time to check that there weren’t any horses taking a midnight stroll. Empty, everyone must be asleep by now. He heard a cricket in the distance, symbolizing the peacefulness of the cool night. Blake decided that he would first try to find any open windows, before attempting to break any. He wanted to leave little or no evidence that he had been in this town at all. He put the binoculars back into his back pack, and began to jog towards the town. His tennis shoes made little sound as they hit the ground, which was a good thing. He wanted to be like a specter moving quietly through the wind. He came up to the first house, and started searching for any windows that may have been forgotten to be closed shut. Blake would occasionally tug on any closed ones, for the chance that they may be unlocked, but so far, to no avail. First house down, no way to get inside without breaking anything. Time to move on to the next one. Blake continued to check one house after another. Locked, locked, locked, locked, oh wait… nope that’s locked as well. Blake guessed he had checked about twenty houses by now. It was now time for Plan B. He raised the butt of the AK, and prepared to strike at a window when caught something in the corner of his eye: an open window. It was across the center of the town, and he would be temporarily out in the open where anyone could see him. It was a risk he would have to take. His hunger and his thirst were slowly overtaking him. Blake scanned the area around him to double-check that there was still no one that could spot him. He heard the cricket for a second time. “On three,” he whispered. “One… two… three!” He sprinted as fast as his legs would let him. It only took several seconds for him to reach the house with the open window. Blake looked behind him. No one saw him, or followed him. Good… all has gone according to plan so far. Before entering the house, he took out his flashlight and flipped the switch so that it turned on. He let the light scan inside the house. No horses in sight… Blake climbed over the windowsill and let his shoes softly hit the wooden floor. Moving as stealthily as possible, he looked for anything that could resemble a kitchen or a pantry. Who knows, maybe they even have refrigeration. Ah, here we go. Blake found what looked like a modern kitchen. Cabinets, a fridge, an oven, a counter. It seems weird that these horses could have built all of this without the use of opposable thumbs. Maybe they used… magic! Blake quietly laughed at the thought of it. He opened one cabinet to find a bunch of plates and cups. Another one revealed towels, oven mitts (square-ish ones, without extra part of it for the thumb), and tablecloths. Blake groaned. Food… I need food, he thought. He decided he would open one last cabinet before searching for any books. He grabbed the handle and swung it open. “Halle-fuckin’- lujah,” he said, feeling as if he had died and gone straight to heaven. Without caring what the contents were inside the cans, he grabbed as many as he could, then stuffed them straight into his backpack. There were even several water bottles that were filled as well. He grabbed those and shoved them with his food. Feeling satisfied, he zipped his backpack and decided he should move on to phase two of the operation. He crept through the house, avoiding any closed doors for the possibility that there may be sleeping horses inside. Throughout his search he only found one open door that led into an office. Or at least a room that looked exactly like an office. For all he knew, this could be the entrance to some secret, evil lair. He facepalmed himself for even thinking of something as silly as that. Blake began to look through random papers for any information he could find about this land at all. What he saw was not what he was expecting. All of them were drawings of humans, or human cities and inventions. Blake noticed one landscape of Times Square in New York City, which seemed unbelievable. How could these horses possibly know about Earth and none of us know about here, where ever this is? Is it possible that they could be planning an invasion? Who cares? Blake bet that any of the world’s greatest militaries could take them on own their own. Russia, China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or any other country who knows how to fight could easily take them on. You just have to look at them and you can tell that they’re (99.9999% chance of being) completely harmless. Blake noticed a small book out of the corner of his eye. For some reason, this caught his attention. He picked it up, opening it to where it was marked by a bookmark. Blake read the words inside out loud. “Pick up books at Twilight’s library today. Remember, the library is inside a tree in the center of town…” Well, that was certainly easy. If any place had any information on this planet, it would be there. “Perfect!” he said. “Maybe I can get some more information here.” Blake then heard the sound of hooves trotting on the floor. A horse entered the room. “Who are you and why are you in my house?” she said, with a voice sounding like a female. “Oh shit!” Blake exclaimed. He made eye contact with the teal colored horse… wait… it’s actually a unicorn. It even has a little horn on the top of its head. The unicorn had its mouth gaped open, wide enough that a semi-truck could fit through it. If Blake waited any longer, she would call for help. Wishing he had a way to avoid it, he took out his Taser and pressed it against the unicorn’s side. He clicked the switch and the unicorn fell to the ground, immobilized. Blake felt sorrow drench him. He wanted her to know why he had to Taser her, so he whispered, “I’m sorry I had to do this, but I’ll do anything to survive.” He then left the office, leaving the unicorn paralyzed on the frigid wooden floor.