//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Into the Everfree, and My Past // Story: Life in Another Pony's Hooves // by HonorBound //------------------------------// By the time the sun broke over the horizon, we had all gathered what we would need for our journey in front of Zecora’s hut. The only thing left was for Twilight to finish checking her check list. “Enough food to last us the trip and back?” Twilight asked. “Check.” Applejack answered. “We got apple fritters, apple pies, apple turnovers, apple strudel, apple…” Twilight continued on with her list, while Applejack went on with all of the apple treats that she brought. “First Aid, in case somepony gets hurt?” “Uh… um, check? Um… I think I brought everything we may need. Um, I can’t think of anything else that I left behind that could be of use.” Fluttershy mumbled just over a whisper. “No kidding!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she analyzed Fluttershy’s over packed bags. “Did you bring the kitchen sink too?” she asked. “Oh! I… I didn’t think we needed it. I’ll go and get it then. I’ll be right back.” the meek pegasus responded. Beginning to turn away, she was quickly stopped by Twilight. “It’s alright Fluttershy. I’m sure what you brought will be enough.” she assured the flustered mare, and then continued on with her list. “Tents and sleeping bags?” “But of course darling. Though, I was only able to stitch together three tents before the sun rose. We’ll simply have to share with somepony.” Rarity stated, eyeing me up in a seductive manner. Yeah… that’s not happening. I’ll sleep under the stars before I share a tent with Rarity. Twilight, on the other hand, that’s a different story entirely. “That should be fine Rarity. We’ll decide who will bunk with who once it’s a little closer to that time.” Twilight stated. “Okay, what about…” Twilight was cut off by the energetic nature that is Pinkie Pie, or more accurately, her party cannon, as it gave off a blast of confetti. “I’m all set for this search party!” Pinkie exclaimed. She was inexplicably covered in splotches of candy and confetti in a manner that resembled pink camouflage. A deflated balloon was wrapped around her head like a bandana. “This’ll be great! The Party Cannon is fully loaded, so let’s get this party started!” she exclaimed with another firing of the party canon to punctuate her sentence. None of what Pinkie Pie was doing seemed to bother Twilight in the slightest. In the calmest tone she could, she said, “Pinkie being Pinkie: check.” Twilight made a check mark on her list. I couldn’t help but chuckle at Twilight’s disregard of Pinkie’s oddities. I guess she’s gotten used to Pinkie since moving to Ponyville. Or maybe it’s just the chaos that is always being thrust into her life. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to get used to an adventure like this every week. Well… I better. Considering, I’m planning on being here for a while. “Ample amount of supplies to take notes on Honor Bound’s world: check.” Twilight announced, giving me a sly smile from over her shoulder. I gulped. Damn that’s sexy. I doubt she meant for it to be anything more than coy, but… damn that’s sexy. A shiver ran down my body, and not the good kind that leaves you all worm and fuzzy, but the kind that just fills you with dread. “All right! That should be quite enough. I believe we are indeed ready, so let us not tarry any longer.” Rarity announced rather tersely. “Shall we be off?” “Yes! That was the last thing on my list so let’s head out.” Twilight stated, not noticing the look that Rarity had directed her way. “Wait… what about Zecora? Isn’t she coming?” I asked trying to ignore Rarity’s jealous outburst. “Do not worry about me. I shall remain in this part of the Everfree.” Zecora informed us, as she stepped out of her hut. “There are many herbs and spices that I must procure, if I am going to be able to make you your cure.” “But… isn’t the gem the cure?” I asked. “The gem you seek is only part of your salvation. It shall be used in a potion of my creation. Bring it back as soon as possible, for dawdling would be very irresponsible.” “You mean to tell me that the gem itself can’t get rid of Blueblood?” I inquired. “The item you seek will surely help, though it cannot purge the little whelp. In a brew it must be boiled, only then will Blueblood’s plans be foiled. Be sure to return before Thursday’s eve, or your friends will surely be left to grieve.” “Don’t worry,” I assured. “I have no intention to let Blueblood, of all ponies, kill me off. We’ll be back with this gem as soon as we can. Isn’t that right girls?” Each of the element bearers gave their agreement in various forms. “Darn tooten’!” “You know it!” “But of course.” “Um… yes.” “We won’t fail.” “Oh my gosh! I’m so excited! Are you excited? Cause I’m excited. I’ve never been so excited. Well, except maybe for that one time Twilight first came to Ponyville, but honestly, how can you top that?” exclaimed Pinkie Pie who was suspiciously devoid of all candy splotches, balloons, and her party cannon was nowhere to be found. “I’m glad you want to protect your friend, please keep him from an untimely end. I’ll meet you here by Wednesday morning, but before you go, one more warning. Beware the beasts that reside in the ruins of old. They’ve grown large and rather bold.” Zecora warned. “We’ll be sure to be cautious. Thanks Zecora.” Twilight assured the zebra. “Alright everypony, let’s go!” At our leader's order, we picked up our designated satchels and began our journey through the Everfree Forest while Zecora went for her own destination in the other direction. Hmm, getting a good look at it, I can understand why ponies are afraid of this place. Hell, I’m sure a lot of humans would be terrified of it. It’s not really a forest, well… not any kind of forest back home anyway. It’s more like one of the jungles in South America that I’ve heard about. “So…” Twilight started. “What’s your world like?” Everypony was looking at me now in anticipation. All of them were eager to hear what I had to tell them about the wonders of where I came from. “What do you want to know?” I asked in return, not quite knowing where to start. “How do you…” Twilight started but only to be interrupted by Rarity. “What I think we all would like, is to learn a little bit about this stallion from another dimension.” the white unicorn mare stated. “Could you tell us about yourself darling?” she asked, batting her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner. There was a murmur of agreement from the other ponies in the group, except for Twilight, who groaned with frustration at not learning about some unknown sciences. “Alright.” I hesitantly agreed. “I’m sure I’ll have to stop to explain things that you won’t understand, but I guess it’s only fair that I tell you who I really am since you’re all helping to save my life.” “Quite right darling. So tell us, why did you agree to come to this universe? I’m sure you left loved ones behind. Friends, family… a mare friend perhaps?” the fashionista asked with baited breath. She’s not being very subtle about her intensions. Still… the why part is a valid question. “To be honest, I wasn’t really that happy on my world. Not to say that I was unhappy, just… I wanted more out of life... Yeah, that sounds right.” “B..but what about your family and loved ones?” Fluttershy asked. “I loved my parents greatly; they were always supportive with whatever I chose to do.” I answered morosely, feeling a pang of sadness with the memories of them. “But after college, I tended to move around a lot. Most of the cities that had jobs related to my degree were on the other side of the country, and I guess… I got used to not having to see them all the time.” Twilight perked up from the mention of my education. “What did you get a degree in? Was it physics or maybe time dilation fields? You seem to be rather knowledgeable about that area of study.” she observed. I chuckled a little. “Hardly, I’m not a doctor or anything; I just enjoy things related to science fiction. As for my degree; it’s in game art and design.” “Games?” the purple mare asked in bewilderment. “Why would you need a degree to understand games?” “Twilight! Games are a serious matter.” Pinkie Pie scolded. “You need to be able to keep everypony happy at the same time, while allowing the game to be competitive for all involved. It’s a lot harder than it looks. Believe me, I know.” Pinkie was able to pull a few short laughs out of me before I could correct her. “My degree isn’t in board games or any type of party game… though; admittedly, I did have a class on them. But, my area of study was in how to make video games.” The pink mare’s eyes lit up in awe of what I just revealed to her. “Y… You mean to tell me that there are other types of games out there? Why didn’t anypony tell me this? I could have been entertaining ponies with these games of video for years now. I’m so far behind the times! Teach me everything you know!” she begged, throwing herself at my hooves. “Now hold on there, Pinkie.” Applejack tried to calm her friend down, but needed to ask the question that was on all of the mare’s minds. Turning to me, she asked, “What exactly is a vid-e-o game?” “And this is where the technical stuff comes up.” I announced. Twilight took the hint and got her notepad and quill ready. All right, how do I explain this in a way they’ll understand. “You have movies here, right?” I asked. There were a number of murmurs in the affirmative. “Alright, now, imagine you could control everything the protagonist did in a movie. All the while, moving closer to the movie’s end goal. That’s pretty much how a video game works.” Not how all video games work, but that’s enough to get my point across. “You mean to tell me that you could take an awesome movie like ‘Top Flight’ and make it so I could take control of Maverick and get him to do whatever I wanted?” Dash asked while she flew overhead. “Well… it’s more complicated than that, but yeah, pretty much.” “That… is so… awesome!” Dash exclaimed before turning sharply to face the purple librarian trotting on the other side of her. “Twilight, you need to pair up with him, and get that working, right now. I don’t care what it takes, but I need to be able to experience what it’s like to be Maverick in that movie.” I definitely saw Twilight just blush at the mention of her and I pairing up. There’s hope for me yet! “Calm down Rainbow. One thing at a time. We need to make sure Honor Bound isn’t killed by Blueblood before we can concentrate on anything like that.” Twilight stated in an effort to calm the flying pegasus down. Twilight turned her attention to me. “Now then, could you elaborate on how your species is more technologically advanced than we are?” I gave her a taste, and now she wants more. “Well, let’s see…” I stalled to think of what we had on Earth that ponies don’t have in Equestria. “We have self propelled carts that we call cars, we’ve been able to land a man on the Moon, and lately we’ve been building robots and working on developing an artificial intelligence.” I summed up. Our little group stopped walking for a moment in amazement. “Whoa.” all of them uttered in shock. “That’s amazing!” Twilight shouted in excitement. “You Humans must have some miraculous magic at your disposal to actually achieve so many monumental feats!” I chuckled softly to myself. “Actually no, we don’t have any magic at all.” Everypony gasped in shock. “Really?! I.. I mean, I knew you didn’t have any magic before, but your entire species can’t use it? How have you survived up to this point?” Twilight inquired. “Yeah, I mean, how can you control weather without pegasus magic?” Rainbow Dash asked as well. Giving a shrug I summed up my answer by saying, “Different dimension; different laws of physics.” Everyone listening gave me curious looks, silently asking for me to explain what I meant. I began to walk in the direction we were headed before and answered, “Alright, where I’m from magic doesn’t exist. At least… we haven’t found any evidence of it existing. So, we’ve survived mostly from our ingenuity and cleverness. As for the weather question you asked Dash, we don’t control it. Like here, in the Everfree forest, it just… happens.” “You… you mean that your entire w..world is like this p..place?” asked the adorable butter yellow pegasus. “It must be so… terrifying.” “Not really.” I stated. “At least, not where I used to live anyway.” “How so?” Twilight inquired. “I grew up on the outskirts of a small town, a lot like Ponyville to be honest, next to a potato farm. Then went to college in a city probably about the same size as Manehattan, if not a little smaller. After that, one of the cities I worked in was named Los Angeles, which I can only assume is the Human version of Los Pegasus.” “You mean there are parallels to our worlds?” the purple mare asked. “Does your ‘Los Angeles’ reside near Applewood?” “We call it Hollywood but… yeah.” “Amazing!” Twilight exclaimed. “Wait… how do you know so much about our geography?” I don’t think they’re ready to know that they exist in my world as a TV show. Shrugging in false indifference, I gave my response. “I’ve done my homework. I mean’ I’ve been here for weeks, what was I going to do? Stay in bed?” I’m just not mentioning that I was unconscious for most of that time... I really don’t like keeping things from them. “So… how far is this temple, anyway?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject. Twilight’s horn began to glow and a rolled up map levitated out of her satchel and unfurled itself in front of her. “Let’s see… if we continue in this direction we’ll arrive at the river in about an hour. From there, we should arrive at the temple by the end of the day.” “If it’s only goin’ ta take two days ta get the gem and get back, why are we haulin’ enough food ta last us a week?” Applejack asked. “Because, Pinkie.” Twilight stated like it explained everything, and to her credit, it did. As we continued to talk about various subjects, we made our way further into the forest. The trees grew more gnarled and misshapen with vines hanging low from many of their branches as if to warn that the deeper into the forest we went, the more twisted things would become. After a while Rarity decided to bring up the one topic of her interests in an attempt to calm her nerves. “I simply must ask you about Human fashion.” Rarity stated in the hopes to learn something inspiring for her own designs. I rolled my eyes. Of course she does. “Could you describe what a human dress would look like?” she inquired with hopeful eyes. I sighed in resignation. “I guess I could. Let’s see… Most dresses from what I've seen are form fitting, with little being left to the imagination. The more extravagant ones are covered in small… not necessarily gems, but something shiny to make the dress look glittery. The only other thing I can think to describe is that most dresses have an open back to them and are sleeveless.” “Thank you darling. Once we’re back in Ponyville I’ll begin making that dress right away. Perhaps you could take me out on the town while I wear it. Hmm?” Rarity asked. Not happening. “Alright!” Twilight interrupted. “As interesting as this is… If my calculations are correct, the river should be on the other side of those weeds.” she informs us. “We can take a short break here before we continue on.” “Ooooh, goody! I hope Steven is still here.” Pinkie proclaimed. “Who’s Steven?” I asked. “Oh you wouldn’t know him darling. He’s a lovely sea serpent with a wonderful mustache that we met a while back when we first came here.” Rarity explained. “I’m sure by now he’s…” We all stopped in our tracks as we found that we, apparently, weren’t the only ones to come this far into the forest. Before us stood what looked to be a small, poorly built, shanty next to a river. There was a fire burning in a pit in front of the abode, with some pine cones roasting on a stick over it. “Oooo, looks like Steve built a house!” Pinkie announced. “Pinkie, you know as well as I do that the sea serpent we met couldn’t possibly fit inside something as small as that.” Twilight explained. “Why not? He seems fine swimming in a foot of water. I’m sure he could curl up to fit snugly in there.” the pink mare defended herself. “Pinkie, he couldn’t possibly… wait…” the studious mare paused as she seemed to remember something that she hadn’t thought about before. “How does he swim in a river that’s only a foot deep!?” she yelled. “Does it really matter?” I asked in an attempt to calm Twilight down. “Why don’t we see if anypony’s home, and find out for ourselves?” “That’s… very reasonable.” Twilight answered in a much calmer tone of voice. She marched up to the little shack and called out, “Excuse me, is anypony home?” There was silence for only a moment before the underbrush behind us began to rustle around. A small mare emerged from the shadows that the overgrowth provided. She had a blue coat and a silver mane of varying hues, and she did not look happy to see us. Oh no. Why is she out here? The mare reared up on her hind legs and demanded, “Who dares invade the camp of The Great and Powerful Trixie!?”