I'm running through a forest by night. I don't know what I'm running towards, but I realize I'm running FROM something. Something close behind me that growls and snarls and seems to get closer every second. I turn my head to look at whatever it is behind me, but all I see is an an endless expanse of shadow. So I face forward again to keep running. Again, the snarls break out. I pour on the speed to keep my distance, but the animal growls continue to rise in intesity.
I look about to find an escape as I keep running. I notice a break in the woods to my left, and leap through. A rushing noice behind me tells me my pursuer just missed catching me. Not pausing, even to catch my breath, I plow on, military training telling me to put as much distance between me and my attacker as possible. Weaving through the forest, I continue until I'm certain I'm no longer being chased.
I come upon a cave. I enter quickly, seeking shelter. Not far in, I notice a light. Curious, I approach, to find a mirror, carved from crystal, and illuminated by moonlight reflecting off similar crystals in the cave. Approaching from the side, I halt and look about me as a voice from nowhere and everywhere whispers, "Come..."
Wary, I approach the mirror and face my reflection, only, it's not me in the mirror. An odd creature stands in the mirror opposite me. Four legged, blue furred, with a mane of black-streaked blue, and a tail to match. a chip in his ear and a scar on his cheek speak of many fights. The scar is placed exactly where my own would be.
My eyes widen, as do the creature's, and I notice the frightenly familiar shade of blue. My own eyes. I realize that I've been turned into a pony!
"Life lied to me," I thought.
"Indeed," said my reflection, whose look of horror mirroring my own now twists to a feral grin. A pair of skeletal wing burst in a spray of blood from each shoulder, and the creature rises from the floor. Its eyes shift from my own blue to a sickly, venomous purple, and its front teeth sharpen to points. The mirror shatters and the creature flys forth to the ceiling of the cavern.
"And now, you will die!" The beast roars and swoops down, jaws open wide and horrible talons reach from its hooves for the kill.
I jerk awake with a hoarse scream, yanking my combat knife from its sheath and looking wildly around. The first thing I notice is that its dark. I look up at the sky to notice a cloudless moonlit night. Only, there was something different about the moon. Instead of the proverbial "Man in the Moon," a series of craters formed the shape of a horses head. Or more accurately, a unicorn's head. I frown at this. That wasn't normal. I look around. I seem to be at the edge of a forest, on the foothills of a mountain range. There seems to be a pathway leading up and through the mountains. Opposite that pathway is a path leading into the forest.
I notice nothing else about me, no animals or people, or any sign of habitation, really, so I resheathe my knife.
What a nightmare. I hope I don't have many more of those.
Looking down at my hands, I notice that they are still very much hands, and are covered once again in the armored, military issue gloves I had been wearing during the convoy. Sure enough, almost everything except my M4 Carbine and MOPP gear seems to be in place, including my body armor, full ABU's, (for which I'm very thankful) M9 Beretta with 3 full clips, combat knife, basic SABC/First Aid kit, two MRE's, full canteen, and a few other items.
I look over my M9, checking it for damage and regarding it with distaste. I never did like pistols, and the M9 was not on my top 10 pistol list. Still, it would get the job done if push came to shove.
After taking inventory, I push myself to my feet and look about, and decide to enter the woods, which had a higher probability of finding some sort of civilization than the mountain range, plus more plentiful sources of food, water and shelter. I take all of four steps, then realize just how hungry and tired I am as my knees buckle under my own weight.
Oh right. Blast those priorities.
Seeing as I am in no fit shape for travel, I push myself up again and fight off another wave of weakness and exhaustion. Shelter. Gotta find some shelter. My stomach growls pitifully. And some food. I fall back on my old SERE training and begin the S portion, Survival.
Casting about, I notice a few places to begin with building a rudimentary shelter. Some dried out, low-lying branches on a tall pine of some kind catch my eye, perfect for a fire. Rich, leafy branches from another woven together would make a decent lean-to. A couple of large leaves from a fern draped over would finish my shelter as an insulating layer and rain fly. As I gather the needed materials, I happen upon a tree bearing nuts almost identical to walnuts, only larger, and far easier to open. I harvest as many as I can and drop them into a pouch, then return to my work.
Within the space of an hour, my lean-to is built, propped up against the now partially stripped pine, and I set to work on the fire. Luckily, I had brought along a field survival magnesium stick. With some carefully placed tinder and a few good strokes of my knife over the fire starter, I soon have a small fire burning, providing me with light and warmth. I notice the fire is somewhat more vibrant than normal, perhaps due to the wood I'm using, and also seems somewhat more fluid in it's movements. I don't pay too much attention to it, and I set about cracking open the walnuts.
Normally, I would have been cautious in eating wild-gathered nuts, going through a more thorough process of testing them for poison, but at this point, I'm too damn hungry to care, and the's seem to be normal, perfectly healthy walnuts.
After cracking open about 20 shells, all of which seem to open perfectly, leaving behind an imacculate nut, I pop one in. The flavor of the nut is richer and heartier than walnuts I was used to, and each one seemed more filling than normal. After I eat about 11, I stop, feeling rather contented. Sipping from my canteen, I throw another log on the fire and huddle inside my shelter.
I stare at the fire for a while, then clutch at myself as a shiver crawls up my spine, though not from cold. I realize that I am well and truly alone, and that loneliness seemed to crush me. I've always been somewhat of an outcast, needing the company of only a select few to be happy, and even then, just being content to be in their presence. But now, cut off from everyone I know, and, perhaps, humanity itself, I feel incredibly isolated.
I'm going to have to work hard and fast, if I want to get back before I start calling my canteen Wilson.
I chuckle slightly at this, and shiver again, beginning to drift off into an uneasy, but much needed, sleep.
--
1 hour earlier
Twilight Sparkle hummed to herself as she moved about her study, inkwell and quill in her magical grip, scribbling in various notebooks and scrolls. Numerous tomes and scrolls littered the floor about her, open to various chapters, but all pertaining to one thing: the movement of the stars.
Many theories existed as to what the stars were, where they came from, and why they form constellations as recognizable images to beings of all flocks of life, from ponies to griffons to dragons. Still more were devoted to methods of predicting their movements, beyond that of Princess Luna's own will, for some believed that the Princess of the night only held sway over the movements of the Moon.
Which, if any, were true was part of Twilight Sparkle's late-night foray into the papery realms of knowledge, handed down and altered through the centuries. The other part was her simple love of stargazing. It was one of her many pastimes, and had been so ever since her BBBFF Shining Armor had gotten her a kids telescope for her 3rd birthday. She still had it, on a shelf over her bed, a memento of her beloved sibling and her treasured hobby. Now however, she used a magically augmented, high powered telescope given to her by Princess Luna herself.
The telescope in question was currently calibrated and aimed towards a red light in the sky known as Maerz, which she had recently come to suspect was not in fact a star, but a planet, like plane upon which Equestria rested. To prove this, however, she needed months more research and a theory that would blow the ideas and beliefs of Equestria's greatest thinkers, philosophers, and scientists completely out of the water.
Her thoughts and hypothesis on the matter were cut short by a loud crash from the other side of her door, beyond which lay the stairs leading down to the Ponyville Library, and which, no doubt was now blocked by a pile of books resting upon a very young dragon. She sighed, a look of mild consternation clouding her features as she turns and trots to the door. Sure enough, several books slide off the pile through the threshold before her hooves.
The aforementioned dragon grinned sheepishly, head, arm, and tail poking out from the pile of collected knowledge.
"Uh, heh heh heh," Spike chuckled nervously, "sorry about that, Twilight. That might have been a few more books than I could handle."
"You think?" Twilight asked sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. Reaching through the fabric of magic, Twilight gently enfolds the baby dragon in a levitation spell an plucks him out of the book pile. Feeling the contours of each individual scale through the spell, she set him down gently next to her, and released the magic. Her awareness snaps back into her mind and body fully once again. She then looked concernedly over her Number 1 assistant. "Why didn't you ask Owlowiscious to help you? The two of you together would have been able to bring these up with much less trouble."
Spike frowns and grumbles.
Twilight just shakes her head and once again reaches through the fabric of magic to pick up the books and neatly stack them in Daliboz Decimal order. Despite Spike having accepted her pet Owl's presence and friendship, he still felt a slight rivalry towards Owlowiscious, and didn't really like asking for his aid.
That stubborn pride of his is cute, but it's going to get him into trouble one day.
Looking over her shoulder at the ornate grandfather clock in the corner of the room, she read the time.
8:30. It's almost time. I should make the final calibrations before-
Her thoughts on the matter were quickly wiped away by the sudden, brilliant flash that completely whited out her room and seemed to emanate from her window. Spike cried out and shielded his eyes as his unicorn sister teleports from his side back to the window.
Her magic makes a multitude of recalibrations and adjustments to the telescope as her eyes, large as saucers, lock upon the brilliant streak of white hurtling through the sky as the bright flash recedes from the room. The telescope began to move of its own accord, tasked to follow the anomaly across the sky as twilight plastered an eye over the eyepiece. The anomaly, whatever it is, made numerous concentric shock waves as it arced over the sky, and descended toward the Everfree Forest to the West. The telescope locked on to the nucleus in the front, and, for a tiny, immeasurable moment, Twilight thought she saw an irregularly shaped silhouette at the center, much like a monkey. The object then disappeared behind the wild wood. Half a second later, a second white flash flares in the night, then fades out.
Twilight braced herself against the window frame, squeezing her eyes tight as she imagined a giant shock wave or massive burst of explosive sound racing towards Ponyville. When neither arrived, she opened her eyes once more, in total shock at what just happened. For a moment, neither Faithful Student nor Number 1 Assistant seemed to even breath.
Then, Twilight appears to be in many places at once, so fast and fluid are her teleportations. She warps across the room, ink flying from her quill as she frantically makes notations and sketches of whatever it was that just roared across Luna's night.
Spike for his part looks at his sister with growing concern, noting the rather manic look in her eyes as she flips through pages of star charts and calculation. He gave a cry as she suddenly popped into existence right in his face.
"Spike!" She exclaimed, leaning over him. "Was Luna planning any meteor shower or comet's that I wasn't aware of tonight?"
Spike was about to answer when his face suddenly contorted and his stomach screwed up in an all to familiar feeling. A second later, he belched out a jet of green flame right into Twilight Sparkle's tri-colored mane. Of course, Twilight Sparkle, being the reasonable and stable pony she is when under duress, handled the situation, and her now smoldering mane, with appropriate mediation and grace.
...Said no one ever.
She immediately gave a cry of shock and, with an involuntary outburst of magic, flung Spike headlong into the freshly reorganized towers of books he had carried up, which unceremoniously buried him once more.
Twilight meanwhile did a frenzied sort of tap dance on the spot, shrieking in panic ignoring the scroll falling from the remnants of the original flame, and whipped her head back and forth as her horn continued to glow. A large bucket appeared in midair and, with all the grace befitting her station as Celestia's Faithful Student, dunked her whole head into the ice cold water.
Spike manages to wriggle his way out of the pile of books once again. Although penitent for having accidentally belched a letter right in Twilight Sparkle's face, he couldn't help but be irritated as he surveyed the damage. His irritation quickly disappeared as he spotted Twilight Sparkle. Or at least most of her. Her head was currently dunked under the water, her forehooves firmly planted on the wooden floor, her barrel at a 45 degree angle, and her flank and hindquarters elevated in the air. Spike, being known for his own level temperament and gentle responses... Oh, who am I kidding?
Spike laughed his scaly ass off. He literally rolled out of the pile of books, ended with his pace plastered on a star chart for the constellation known as "The Lovers Embrace," and proceeded to laugh until his face turned indigo from lack of air.
Twilight finally raised herself out of the bucket, lowering her hindquarters back down to the floor with a snap. She came out with a look on her face that spoke volumes of her current mood. She spotted Spike wheezing and gasping and still laughing uproariously at the situation, and the scowl that twisted her visage would have sent an Ursa Minor running in fear for its life.
Spike, on the other hand, merely looked up at his guardian with a toothy grin on his face, still chuckling.
"Hey Twilight," Spike said, barely suppressing his mirth, "did you manage to cool your head a bit?" And, once again, he devolved into hysterics.
Twilight grimaced, blowing a bedraggled lock of purple hair out of her face, then grin with a mischievous look in her eye. Spike was far too busy enjoying his best friend's recent example of her famous hotheadedness as it were to notice his tail being gently pulled into the air by magic. Once he reached the ceiling, Twilight levitated the bucket of water to the floor directly under him, and released her magic. Spike's laughter cut off with a startled yelp as he dropped from the ceiling and splashed down into the water.
He resurfaced with a panicked gasp and and leaped bodily out of the bucket, which vanished immediately afterwards. He shivered on the spot and glared at Twilight, who chuckled lightly.
"Serves you right. Now both our heads have been cooled." Spike just grumbled and looked away.
Trotting over to him, she places a hoof around him and pulls him into a hug.
"Oh Spike, you know I only meant it as a joke. Besides, you laughed first. And I can only imagine I look about as funny as you do right now."
Spike looked up at Twilight, and the grumpiness dissolves into a tired smile, and he embraced Twilight in return.
"Thanks, Twi. But you look at least twice as funny as I do."
Twilight chuckled and shook her head. She looked about the floor and spotted the letter, lying abandoned near the pile of books.
Levitating it before her, she broke the seal, unfurled it, and began to read. As she did so, her face went from a gentle smile, to a look of focus, to consternation, to shock, and then to a mild look of fear.
"Uh, Twilight?" Spike asked tentatively.
Jarred out of her reverie, she looked over at Spike, and in an unnatural calm, spoke.
"We need to gather the Elements. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't anything that originated from Princess Luna or Princess Celestia's powers, and neither seems to know what it is. We need to find it and isolate it in case it proves to be a threat."
--
About 12 hour later
I awaken groggily. The morning is cold, and the ground about me is covered in dew. My fire has gone out at some point in the night. I push myself to a sitting position and rub the sleep out of my eyes, then look about me. Then, I do a double take. What appears to be a normal forest during the night is anything but by day. The colors in the leaves, grass, and everything else seem richer and deeper than that of an Earth forest. Dense undergrowth occupies the majority of the forest about me. It must have been sheer happenstance that I walked into this clearing.
All about me, I hear cries and growls and rustlings of animals in the foliage. My awareness shoots into high alert, and I realize I should probably not tarry here too long. I get to my feet, stretching quickly, and adjust my armor. I proceed to break camp, disassembling my lean-to and scattering the branches and leaves as naturally as possible, then scatter the ashes of my fire pit.
All that complete, I reach into my pouch to grab a handful of walnuts. However, as I bring them out, I hesitate, noticing something about them I hadn't before. Each and every one is a deep blue, flecked with white splotches that look like stars. I hadn't noticed before, as there wasn't enough light to determine their full qualities last night. Now however, I fear I might have mad an error in judgement for eating these.
Still, I don't feel ill. Actually, I feel pretty good. That night of sleep really did me some good. I look down at my timepiece. It reads 0945, which seems fairly accurate, so I decide not to question it.
Nothing left for me to do, and still feeling sated from my late night meal of potentially toxic blue walnuts, I exit the clearing back towards the cliffs. Finding them, I make my way towards the forest trail, and set off down the road.
Several hours pass by uneventfully. The forest about me seems tranquil enough, despite the constant murmur of unseen creatures all about. It rather reminds me of the cloud forests of Costa Rica. Despite my loneliness, I feel at home here. Being in the wilds and woods always seemed to make me feel so alive, and the isolated, untainted feel of this forest feels... comforting in a way. Still, the trail seems too... Perfect. Planned. It's not like any game trail I'd ever seen. It's much too wide, and I can swear there are cobblestones every few feet. Perhaps I'm not as alone as I think here.
Around noon, I stop for lunch. Wanting to avoid possible encounters with any locals who might be about, I move off the trail. A few feet into the underbrush, I find a clearing next to a small but swift stream. I glance about to make sure it's secure, then walk tentatively in. Nothing pops out to attack, so I take a seat against a tree next to the stream, polish off the last of my water from my canteen, and refill it with the cold, refreshing water. I take a sip, noting the much earthier, clearer flavor than the canteen's last few drops of earth water.
I don't know what it is about this place, but everything here seems so... vibrant. Alive. Like everything was connected straight to Life's realm. Even the sensations are clearer and sharper, as though my senses back on Earth were dulled and muted.
I ponder this as I pull out an MRE. Most Airmen hate these things. I chuckle as I remember my recruiter's story. He once told me that when he joined the Air Force, the Army recruiter tried to dissuade him, saying the "Chair Force" was a bunch of wussies who deployed to hotels and ate pizza, to which he replies, "Hotel's and pizza, or tents and MREs... Hmm, I really like pizza..."
I, however, grew up used to minimal and sometimes tasteless fare, so MREs aren't that bad for me. A few are even pretty good.
I pop the chemical heater and wait for the main meal to cook. Once it is finished, I tear into it, grateful for some meat and carbs in my stomach. I count myself lucky as I chew my food for finding this clearing.
Huh, wouldn't it be funny if...
A loud growl and a rustle from a bush off to my left is my only warning. Thankfully, its all I need as I drop my meal, roll to the side, and draw my knife as a giant paw swipes through the air I had just resided, leaving four large gouges though the bark of my tree. I rise to a defensive crouch and turn to face my assailant. My jaw drops as I behold the oddest, yet most intimidating creature I've ever seen. It appears to be a rather large lion, but possesses two large bat-like wings, and, impossible as it sounds, a long SCORPIONS TAIL. Its body is abnormally proportioned, with its hindquarters resembling that of a proper lion, and it's front being more akin to a bears, heavyset and broad.
The beast glares at me with sharp, beady eyes, and roars its agitation at me.
Adrenaline kicks in and fight or flight engages. A cluster of trees to my left would possibly give me some cover for an escape, but would almost certainly leave me open to an attack from this monster. I decide it's probably wiser to kill it, then run. I reach down for my M9, wishing ineffectively that I had something with more power behind it.
The monster notices my movement, and lunges with a snarl, again slashing through the space I had occupied. A quick dodge roll under it's swinging paw put me well out of harms way. However, that roll dislodged my M9 from its unclipped holster, sending it flying out to the side of the clearing which the unnatural beast now occupied.
Glancing between it and the creature, I growled. Nothing else for it, then.
"Roll for initiative, motherfucker!" I roar at it, and charge.