I wandered through the desert for what felt like days, but the sun never set. Behind me was a disappearing line of footsteps. I no longer had my toy sword; it vanished some time ago. My mind turned to the tree at the oasis.
'Damn that tree! It didn’t take much for it to restore itself! It could have given me some water or shade for the trip to…wherever.'
At that moment, my prayers were answered. I felt and saw the shade of a cloud pass over me, and I smiled at its kindness. Soon, it began to grow, which made me smile bigger, but then it turned grey, then almost black, and finally consumed the sky.
A strong wind kicked up the sand around me. While this didn’t hurt and actually felt soothing, I couldn’t risk exposing myself, so I curled into a ball on the ground, hoping to wait out the storm.
Instead, the storm waited for me.
With a mighty clap of thunder, a heavy torrent began to pour over me. Fish swam their way out of the muddy sand and flopped all around until the water was high enough for them to move around.
The water was up to my knees and still rose; I had to find higher ground, and fast. Before I could do so, a tidal wave crashed over the dunes and directly on top of me. I felt crushed against the mud, but was suddenly blown away like a feather along the current. The forces were too much, and I blacked out.
I awoke to being poked by something sharp. I looked up to find some sort of Hawaiian-looking tribe baring their spears at me on a beach. Behind them were huts housing frightened women clutching children and a jungle. Before I have any time to assess, one of the natives goes to skewer me, but is stopped by a grunt.
The grunt came from one of the fatter natives, wearing a tall, simple headpiece. He walked over to me, lifted me on my feet by my shoulders, and gave me a spear. All that he said to me was, “Hunt.”
The sun shone through my windshield and the heat woke me up. I weakly opened my eyes, then shut them again and slept until the heat was too much for me. I looked over to the mellow pony curled up in the reclined passenger seat. She had the faintest breathing and every now and then she’d give a spasm. 'I hope she isn’t having a nightmare.' She looked so peaceful, and I didn’t want to disturb her, but I really had to pee. I had no choice but to gently wake up the sleeping pony.
“Hey, Fluttershy, time to wake up.”
A gentle nudge was all it took. She slowly opened her large eyes halfway and looked at me. “I have to start the car and we’re gonna get breakfast, alright?”
She merely gave me a small nod and laid her head back down on the seat and under her forehooves. She hadn’t said a word since last night, and I couldn’t blame her. 'How could this have happened to her again? Dammit Luke…' I turned the key slow as I could, as if that could hush the roar of the V-6 engine. I pulled out of the mall parking lot and made for the nearest fast food place; a McDonald’s just down the street.
The lot was empty, save for a white van and a blue sedan. I found a spot as far away from both of them as I could get and turned off the car. Fluttershy lazily lifted her head and looked out the window, expressionless.
“I’ll…would you like some pancakes? I think they still sell those.” She didn’t even move. “Just please stay hidden.”
I felt terrible. 'I should never have found her. Well…maybe that wouldn’t be the best thing, but at least she wouldn’t have been exposed to Luke like that.' I opened the door and wandered to the bathroom. After I did my business, I got in line and scanned the menu, but I couldn’t take my mind off the unguarded pony in my car. I looked out the large window just to be sure everything was alright, but all I could see were two guys walking back to the van. They were carrying a large sack that was squirming.
'Wait. Squirming??' I bolted from the line and ran outside just as one of the guys got in the driver’s seat and the other jumped in the back with the sack. I looked at the driver’s mirror and saw his eyes, which he darted away from me and started up the van.
I sprinted to my car and found the door unlocked, Fluttershy not present. My first instinct told me to unlock the trunk and pull out the lug wrench. I felt like an invincible warrior, running fearlessly into battle as I charged at the slow-moving van. The windows were pretty shaded, but I could see the panic in the driver’s eyes as I beat at the windshield. After two strong swings at the windshield, the van took off. The glass was severely cracked, and it clearly impaired the driver’s vision. He drove recklessly close to the dead end of the lot and swerved around toward me. 'I’ve got one shot at this!' Taking aim, I threw the cross-shaped wrench at the windshield, smashing open a small hole over by the passenger side. I ran up to the vehicle before it could accelerate to too great of a speed, jumped, and slammed my right foot into the hole. I was wearing jeans, so my legs were mostly protected, except for my ankles, but I got a couple cuts on my arms and torso from the glass shards. I landed awkwardly in the empty seat and slammed my head against the dash as the driver put the van in park. To this day, I’m not sure if it was courageous adrenaline or insanity that compelled me to do that. He tried to reach over me to open the passenger door and kick me out, but I grabbed his arm before he could reach the handle. I squeezed, scratched, twisted, pulled, and bent as hard as I could on the limb while being beaten with the fist of the other. I reached for his head, but grabbed his shirt instead, and tried to pull him down and use him to get back upright.
'I can’t just struggle with this guy. I need to get Fluttershy and get out fast!
Pulling his shirt, I ended up pulling myself up rather than him to the floor, and tried to beat him into submission. My fist would fly to his face, and his into my gut, but neither one of us gave an inch. I made a dive for the back, kicking all the way, and grabbed a shivering, whimpering ball of yellow, but we weren’t alone back there. The second kidnapper was guarding the back door of the van. I curled Fluttershy into my arms and shoulder tackled the man. He slammed against the door and tried to throw me aside, but not before I just reached the door handle. I instinctively dropped Fluttershy to the floor of the van as the two of us tumbled out onto the asphalt of the parking lot.
I fell on top of the kidnapper, who seemed dazed and stunned. There was a short scream that was cut short. I look up to see the driver struggling to pull Fluttershy back into the van. I scrambled halfway to my feet to wrench her free of the assailant, but my ankle was snagged by the accomplice on the ground. There was no time to react. Time slowed down as I fell, face forward, and a million thoughts flooded my brain. 'What’s going to happen to her? What’s going to happen to me? Have the people inside been watching this? Is this gonna hurt?' And then, black.
I woke up with my hands bound behind a chair and a black bag over my face. I was so groggy and exhausted that all I could register were the noises around me. They were voices, but they were muffled to me in my current state. One voice grew louder as I heard footsteps coming toward me. The bag was lifted and a bright light shined in my face, forcing me to snap my eyes shut.
“Glad to see you’re awake Mr. Cornell,” said a familiar voice.
I was still too disoriented to recall whose voice it was, but it didn’t sound mocking, sarcastic, or even mean. Rather, it sounded sincere. “You’re lucky to be awake,” Said a harsher, but also familiar voice.
The first voice turned away and went back to an incomprehensible mumble, but as my senses recovered, I understood the conversation.
“I didn’t want him here either, but Fluttershy wasn’t going to calm down until we brought him. Could you live with making her sad like that, after all she’s been through?” There was a long silence, followed by footsteps returning to me. ‘That voice…I heard it the other day, didn’t I?’
The calmer voice spoke up. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why we took that pegasus pony away from you. I’m sorry, but you’re an unfit companion for her. She’d be better off in our hands.”
Anger snapped my eyes open for a brief second before they squinted to block the light. “Sorry about the light, but we can’t trust you with seeing us. You see, we are in a secret coalition, bent on liberating the ponies here on earth and restoring peace between man and ponykind. We have no name, and that’s all you get to know about us.” The voice paused.
“You won’t see much beyond this light except for an empty, windowless room. I apologize for the inhospitality, but it is for the good of our operation, and we can’t trust letting you free. We are at war, and you are our prisoner.”
Someone behind me started putting the bag back over my head, but I exclaimed, “WAIT! I want to help!”
The bag paused and was slowly lifted again. “Oh come on! You actually think he wants to help us?”
The calm voice ignored the harsh one. “I’m listening.”
I licked my lips and spoke, “I’ve seen how much the ponies are hurting. I’ve seen, first-hand, some of the horrors they undergo. It was sickening. Please, they don’t belong here. They’re not safe in our world. I can’t just sit by and watch these creatures get abused before my eyes.”
A figure stormed toward me and shined a light in my face. He got up close to me and grumbled. “Why should we believe that? Why should someone like you, a non-brony, be trusted with the care of these precious, pure creatures?”
I gave a small smile. “Since I’m a non-brony, then at the very least, you should know that I never wanted them here to begin with.”
I punctuated with a small chuckle as the light moved away from me, leaving only the one from before. There was the sound of a door quickly opening, followed by a new voice; this one was unfamiliar. “They’re liquidating one of Vincent’s assets! We’ve found one!”
There was a brief pause, and then I heard a knife unsheathe and cut the zip-tie that bound my hands. “If you really want to help, come with us now.”
I was lifted to my feet, and stood there dazed from the glare. Finally, I could see who was talking. It was Alec Neumann and a bandaged and bruised Robbie.