//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: First Contact // Story: A Kinder World // by PandoraFox //------------------------------// This year's annual Big Sister Little Sister Camping Trip to Winsome Falls was turning out to be a complete disaster. First, Rarity took far too long deciding what to bring and made the entire group late to leave. Later, the cart carrying their supplies lost a wheel, and by the time Applejack was finished fixing it, it was nearly sunset. Then, to top it all off, an injured and disheveled filly stumbled into their campsite just after sunrise and passed out on the ground. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and their sisters had all awoken to the sound of a scream coming from the woods nearby. By the time a few of them had collected themselves enough to peek out from their tents, the filly was collapsing to the ground in a broken heap just inside the confines of the campsite. She appeared to be mumbling something, but was too quiet to be heard. To make matters worse, they could all hear loud thumping coming from the forest, emanating from the same direction the filly had just crawled out of. Whatever it was, it slightly shook the forest floor, scattering birds and generally disturbing the peace. The group emerged from their tents: Rarity and Sweetie Belle from the massive, purple one, and the rest from the two normal ones. Rarity still insisted on bringing that unwieldy thing, even after the silliness of the year prior. They gathered around the mystery filly, worry and fear evident on their faces.  “Oh no! W-what do you think happened to her?” Sweetie Belle stammered. “She’s bleedin’! Who would do that to her?!” Apple Bloom demanded. “Ah’ll bet it’s whatever is makin’ its way through the forest right now,” Applejack proposed, a determined look on her face. “We need to get movin’. Rainbow Dash, watch the forest and make sure nopony else gets hurt. Rarity, Ah need you to grab the first aid kit from mah tent. Girls, get inside Rarity’s tent and stay put, we don’t need any of y’all gettin’ as hurt as her,” she said, motioning to the filly below them with a hoof. After a brief nod from Rarity and Rainbow and a hesitant nod from the rest of them, the group disbanded to fulfill their assigned tasks. Applejack took a moment to assess the condition of the filly before her. She looked to be around the same age as Apple Bloom and her friends, and had an orangish-tan coat, a light blue mane and tail with a single green stripe running through them both, and a small unicorn horn peeking through the mane on her forehead. Had the situation not been dire, Applejack could’ve called her cute as a critter. Speaking of the situation, this filly was not doing well. Her appearance was highly disheveled, with sticks and leaves speckling her mane and tail, along with a coating of dirt covering her fur in uneven patches. Various minor scrapes and bruises were apparent all along her body, as if she had taken a serious tumble. Although she appeared to be asleep, her face held a pained expression and her breathing was ragged and shaky. The worst of it was a sizable gash along the side of her right foreleg, still dripping blood down onto the grass below.  Rarity returned with the first aid kit and Applejack began dressing the wound.  “Oh, do you think the poor dear will be alright?” Rarity questioned, a worried expression on her face. “Ah believe so, but Ah think we should get her to a hospital,” Applejack replied, cleaning the wound of dirt and debris. Although she was confident in her first aid abilities, there could be something happening internally that she wouldn’t be able to see. “A hospital?! But how? We’re all the way out here!” Rarity exclaimed. “If Ah hurry, Ah can be back in Ponyville in less than an hour,” Applejack retorted. “She’s lucky we got so delayed gettin’ out here. We would’ve been long gone had things gone as planned.”  She was nearly finished dressing the wound, wrapping a thick layer of gauze around the leg. “There, done. Take the filly in with the girls, Ah’ll go see if Dash needs any help.”  Picking the filly up in her magic, Rarity galloped off towards her tent as Applejack made her way towards a fierce looking Rainbow Dash glaring off into the forest. Rainbow Dash was tense. That filly was in pretty rough shape, and Dash was determined to make sure that whatever had caused her injuries wouldn’t be able to hurt another pony. The stomping slowly grew louder as the creature approached. Then, suddenly, she heard hoofsteps directly next to her. She jumped a little bit, before realizing that it was just Applejack approaching from the campsite. Rainbow Dash could see Rarity galloping off towards her tent, the slumbering filly in her magical grasp.  “How’s the filly, AJ?” she questioned, worry apparent in her tone. “She’s alright, for now. Ah’ll be bringin’ her to a hospital once we’re done here.” “A hospital?! But we’re way out here in the woods!” “That’s exactly what Rarity said,” Applejack sighed. “You and Ah both know we didn’t make it as far out as we were hopin’ yesterday. Ah can run her back in a jiffy, assuming this doesn’t take long. Speaking of, any updates here?” Rainbow Dash growled. “Whatever it is, it sure is taking its time. If that thing was chasing her, wouldn’t it have gotten here already?” As they spoke, Rarity trotted over from the camp, taking a readied stance next to the two of them. At that same moment, a brown bear came lumbering through the forest edge, its face holding an expression of— worry? Rainbow Dash shook off a brief bit of confusion before shouting, “Hey! What did you do to that filly, you monster?!” She launched into the air, hovering directly in front of the bear’s face. The bear was startled and backed away a little bit, motioning with its claws like it was trying to convey something. Rainbow Dash was having none of it. “Did you see how hurt she was?! You should be ashamed of yourself!” She fumed, flying at the bear as it continuously backed away. Soon, its back hit a tree and was pinned, fear joining worry in the expression upon its face. While this was happening, Applejack began to realize something. This bear looked oddly familiar… “Hold on! Rainbow, stand down a moment,” Applejack loudly interrupted. Rainbow Dash backed off and returned to the ground, still giving the bear a glare of anger. The bear gave a sigh of relief, then just stood there, staring at the mares in front of it. Suddenly, Applejack realized something. “Wait a minute… you’re that bear Fluttershy always keeps ‘round, right? What was your name again? Harry?” The bear’s face brightened and he gave an enthusiastic nod. Rainbow Dash lost her glare in a look of surprise, then one of sheepishness, her face blushing slightly. “Well Ah’ll be! What’re you doin’ all the way out here? What happened with that filly?” Applejack questioned. “Ah sure hope you weren’t involved in that injury of hers,” Applejack warned, gaining a glare of her own. Harry looked pensive, then roared out something that none of the mares present could understand. They all shared looks of confusion and disappointment. “Oh, I do wish that Fluttershy was here, she’d be able to understand him…” Rarity mused. The Cutie Mark Crusaders shared fearful glances as they looked between each other and the filly sleeping below them. None had spoken a word, neither before nor after Rarity had galloped in to drop off the comatose unicorn. This continued for several minutes, the only sounds filling the tent being the ragged breathing of the filly and a distant conversation from outside. That was until Apple Bloom broke the silence with a fearful, “Oh, Ah sure hope the filly’s alright…” “Does she look alright to you?” Scootaloo quipped. “Well— Applejack didn’t rush her to the hospital straight away!” Apple Bloom sputtered. “T-that’s gotta mean somethin’, right?” “Suuure,” Scootaloo sneered, “but to me, the filly—” “Would you two stop that?!” Sweetie Belle interrupted, annoyed. Scootaloo looked surprised. “Huh? Stop what?”  “Calling her ‘the filly.’ She’s literally laying here directly in front of us!” “Well what do you propose we call her then?!” Apple Bloom challenged. The tent returned to silence as Sweetie Belle took on a thoughtful look, the other fillies soon joining her.  The silence was shorter this time, and soon Sweetie Belle shouted out, “Terra!” The other fillies were startled by her volume, before taking on questioning looks. “Terra? Wouldn’t that be an earth pony name?” Apple Bloom inquired. “Well, sure, but just look at her! She’s like a mini Equus!” Looking at her appearance, it was hard to disagree. The blue and green of her hair mimicked the oceans and land masses of the planet, and her tan-ish fur looked a bit like sandy dirt. The idea was helped along by the fact that she was covered in actual dirt. Scootaloo conceded. “Alright fine, but what now? She’s probably got an actual name that she’ll tell us once she’s awake.” Sweetie Belle nodded, while replying, “Yeah! But until then, we can just call her Terra. Much better than ‘the filly,’” she said while making air quotes with her hooves. “Bleh.” The group gave nods in agreement, before they all heard a sudden shift in the tone of the conversation outside as Applejack shouted something. They hadn’t even noticed that things had heated up in the first place. Soon after that, Applejack peeked her head inside the tent and said it was safe for them all to come outside. The Cutie Mark Crusaders filed out of the tent, leaving Terra to her slumber. Their sisters were all waiting for them, along with what appeared to be Harry, the bear that Fluttershy took care of. “Oh, hey Harry,” Scootaloo said nonchalantly. Rainbow Dash looked shocked. “Wha— you KNEW?! I thought he was just some random bear!” “Well…” Sweetie Belle admitted, “We tried to get animal caretaking cutie marks at one point, with Fluttershy’s help of course! She told us about all the animals she was taking care of, and tried to guide us through their care routines! But um… it didn’t go well. We’re still very sorry about what happened, Harry,” she said while giving an embarrassed look. Harry motioned with his paws, as if to say, ‘don’t worry about it.’ Applejack shook her head at the silliness, then took control of the conversation, saying, “Alright, back to the situation at hand. Girls, how’s the filly doin’? Still alright?”  “Call her Terra!” Apple Bloom announced, before looking sheepish and rubbing a foreleg with a hoof. “But uh… yea, she’s still sleepin’.” “Uh, sure, Terra,” Applejack replied, a little confused, “but Ah should still get her to a hospital. Y’all better pack up the camp and head back too, Ah feel it best we postpone the trip for now.” As a chorus of disappointment was heard from the fillies, Applejack trotted off towards Rarity’s tent, picked up Terra, and placed her on her back. She then galloped off in the direction of Ponyville, being careful not to shake around the sleeping filly. The rest of the group watched her leave, worry marking their features. “Oh, I do hope she turns out to be alright,” Rarity pondered, breaking her unusually long silence. “But there’s another thing that worries me…”  “What was she doing out here all alone?” It took around an hour, but Applejack finally made her way through the front doors of Ponyville General Hospital, sweat glistening on her coat. The receptionist looked on with concern, saying, “Oh, Applejack! What happened to the poor dear?” Applejack approached the desk, panting, then replied, “Ah found her in the woods, after she stumbled into our campsite and collapsed. We were on our way to Winsome Falls but had to set up camp early due to some… minor hiccups. She looked mighty roughed up, with all sorts of scrapes and bruises. Ah did mah best to take care of the worst of it, this gash along her foreleg, but Ah figured takin’ her to the hospital was still the best move.” As she talked, the receptionist’s eyes widened as her concern grew. “Oh my! We’ll get her looked at right away!” She replied, paging for a nurse. “Do you have her name?” Applejack looked nervous. “Well uh, she passed out before she could say anything to us, but mah sis’ was callin’ her Terra. No clue where she came up with that.” “Terra, alright, I’ll make a note of that.” Not long after, a nurse came out with a gurney and carted the filly off through some swinging double doors. Applejack sat down in a chair in the waiting room, unsure of what to do now. “Oh, Terra,” Applejack mused quietly. “Where did you come from, little filly? And what happened to you?”