//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Geoverse Part One: To Friend Is Human // by GeodesicDragon //------------------------------// As I walked along the darkened and quiet streets, I had time to reflect. Here I was, just finishing a late shift at the warehouse, while other people my age were getting shit-faced in bars and clubs across the city. I dismissed my thoughts of loneliness with a sigh. I still had another shift to do tomorrow, so sleep was a priority right now. While everyone else would be packing mighty hangovers, I would be busy packing customer's orders — and I was going to make damn sure that I didn't do it while I was tired. I approached the traffic lights, and saw that they were red. Since there was hardly any traffic I started to cross the road when suddenly, I heard a noise. I turned around to see a car barrelling towards me at high speed. "Holy fuck!" I screamed, running the rest of the way across the road as fast as my legs would carry me. The car sped past, and I managed to get a closer look at it. It was mostly full of drunken teenagers; the driver looked to be the one of them who was sober. "You fucking idiot!" I shouted after him. "Just because the roads are deserted doesn't mean you can skip a red light!". I then flipped him off, just to get my point across. As I started walking down the road, I heard the squealing of brakes. I stopped walking, and looked around to see that the car was turning around and heading back towards me. "Well, shit," I said to myself. "It would appear that this guy doesn't like being told off." I could have ran, but my legs didn't want to move, and my brain was telling me you can handle the driver, because his friends are too drunk to do anything. The car screeched to a halt next to me, and the driver slowly wound down the window. A strong smell of cannabis escaped the vehicle. His friends were rolling around in the back seat, roaring with laughter. The driver glanced back at his friends, and then looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Have you got something to say to me, you cunt?" he growled, his voice dripping with venom. "You nearly killed me, you fucking idiot," I replied, staring him down in an attempt to show that he couldn't intimidate me. "So what if I did?" he hissed. "You shouldn't have been in the road." "It was a red light!" I protested. The driver sighed briefly before he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He placed his hands on the roof and stretched while I looked on in confusion. "What the fuck are you doing?" I enquired. The answer came in the form of a fist connecting with the side of my head. I went down instantly, having been caught off-guard. "Ow, fuck!" I looked up at the driver and saw that his eyes were full of fury and his face was completely red. Then, without warning, he let out a scream of pure, unbridled, fury. "I've had just enough bullshit for today!" he shouted, entering into a rant. "First of all: I draw designated driver for these morons so I can't drink, I can't take a joint because there are cops are all over the place, and now I have some dick telling me off about my driving!" I began to realise that yelling at him wasn't exactly the best idea. Come to think of it, neither was flipping him off. I could see that the driver was breathing rapidly, his left eye had developed a rather worrisome tic, his teeth were gritted — and he seemed ready to be tipped over the edge. So rather than let him I tried scrambling to my feet, ready to run. "I'm not finished with you yet!" the driver roared, delivering a kick to my stomach. I went down on my back, with my legs in the air like a helpless animal. The kick had winded me, and I struggled to catch my breath. "I'm going to teach you a lesson in respect!" He jumped on me, pinning me to the ground and started delivering a volley of punches to my face and chest. I groaned and spluttered in agony as the blows rained down and I soon came to realise that I was powerless to defend myself. This guy was much stronger than me, so I couldn't push him off, and the way he was on top of me prevented me from using my legs to kick him. So, with this in mind, I did the only thing I could — I stopped struggling and played dead. It took a moment for him to realise that I had stopped moving. Panting, he looked down at me, sweat dripping from his brow. Every drop that landed on my face made me want to wipe it off, but I resisted my instincts. As far I was concerned, this was my only chance of getting out of this alive. Me and my big mouth... The driver slowly stood up. His friends had been watching the whole thing, and now started at him in awe. "Jesus Christ, Derek," one of them said. "That was awesome!" "Yeah, you sure showed him," said another. "But, dude... I think he's dead." He tried to stifle a laugh. "Only one way to be sure," Derek replied. I slowly opened one eye and watched as he reached into the car and took something out. A gun. Upon seeing it, I was unable to restrain myself any longer. I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could and ran. "He was faking it!" shouted the third of Derek's friends. "He's getting away! Get him, man!" Derek turned round and saw me running down the street. He cocked the gun. "Gotcha." he took aim, then pulled the trigger. I went down instantly, pain searing through my back from where the bullet had struck me. Behind me, I heard Derek and his friends getting back into the car and leaving. I was relieved; at least he didn't shoot me again, just to make sure I was actually dead. I stared blankly at the night sky, trying in vain to apply some pressure to the hole in my back. Despair filled me as I realised that there was nobody around. I was alone, bleeding, scared... and dying. I started to think that maybe he should have finished me off. My life flashed before my eyes, and I felt darkness overtake me. *** I opened my eyes to see the blue sky above. I could hear birds singing, and I felt a gentle breeze caressing my face. I tried to sit up, hoping to enjoy this new-found tranquillity. I suddenly felt a sharp pain, which forced a scream from my lips. Feeling around my body, I discovered that the bullet wound was still there, and that it was still bleeding. For one brief glorious moment, I had forgotten what had happened to me. I looked around. "Why has nobody helped me yet?" I asked. "You'd think that a guy lying bleeding in the middle of a busy street would be the focus of at—" I cut myself off as I finally saw that I wasn't in the street at all, and that I was surrounded on all sides by a thick wall of trees. The colour drained from my face as I began shouting, hoping to get someone's attention. But at the same time, I also tried to accept that maybe – just maybe – I was done for. *** Twilight Sparkle sighed. She had spent all day re-shelving the library, and she was famished. Her stomach grumbled. "Come on, Spike," she said. "I think that'll do for today. Let's go to Sugarcube Corner and get some lunch." The little dragon groaned. "If it's all right with you, Twilight, I'd rather take a nap," he moaned. "I'm really tired after all that work." He yawned and stretched his arms, looking at Twilight pleadingly. "Okay, Spike," Twilight giggled. "Go right ahead; you've worked hard today, so it's the least you deserve." Spike grinned and climbed the stairs of the library. There was a creak as he got into bed, followed by silence. Twilight left the library, closing the door gently behind her. It was a glorious spring day, the market was in full swing, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. She started walking to the bakery, greeting ponies as she passed them by. As she approached Sugarcube Corner, she stopped in her tracks. A strange sound, which to her ears sounded like screaming, filled the air. She craned her head to try and hear it better. "HEY, TWILIGHT! WHATCHA DOIN'?" the voice suddenly exploded in her ears like a firework. "Gaaaahhhh!" Twilight winced as she turned to the owner of the voice — a pink pony with an equally pink mane. "Pinkie Pie, what have I told you about doing that?" She glared at the cheery Earth mare, who simply gave her a cheeky smile in return. "Sorry, Twilight. I just saw you standing like that and wondered what you were doing," Pinkie replied. "Are you playing a game? Ooh, I love games!" she bounced on the spot eagerly. "No, Pinkie." Twilight rolled her eyes, although a smile did grace her face. "I wasn't playing a game, it's just that... I heard screaming." Pinkie looked at her before craning her head in the same way Twilight had been doing. After a moment, she shook her head. "Hmm... nope," she chirped, "I can't hear anything." Twilight's stomach rumbled again and Pinkie grinned. "It was probably your stomach! You just need something to eat!" Twilight sighed. "Maybe I was just hearing things," she said. Pinkie nodded and rushed into Sugarcube Corner, leaving a bemused Twilight standing outside. "I'm sure I heard something." She said quietly to herself. "And whatever it was, it didn't sound good." *** I had been screaming for what seemed like hours, and my voice was hoarse. Crestfallen, I finally decided to stop. "It doesn't look like anyone is coming," I said quietly to myself. "If I want to get out of this alive, I need to get my act together!" Using every ounce of my strength, I stood up, ignoring the horrific pain. I glanced down at the ground, and saw a lot of blood staining the grass which I was lying on. My blood. "How in the hell am I still alive?" I muttered. "By all rights I should be a corpse by now!" I looked around at my surroundings. I was still in the forest clearing, but I could see what looked like a small town to my west. "Oh, thank fuck." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Civilisation! Hopefully somebody can tell me where the hell I am." I staggered to a nearby tree and leaned against it. The wound on my back was still bleeding, and moving made more blood ooze out. I grimaced from the pain. "I need to find some way of closing this," I said to myself. "I know how to apply a plaster to a cut, treat burns, and do the Heimlich Manoeuvre — but my First Aid course didn't exactly cover how to treat bullet wounds." As I spoke, the loss of blood suddenly caught up with me and caused me to lose my balance. I instinctively grabbed out at a branch, tearing off some leaves in the process. Looking at my hand I could see that there was a small cut in it, so I used one of the leaves to dab at it. But then I stopped and mentally slapped myself. "Nice one, you idiot!" I muttered, covering my face with my other palm. "It's probably Poison Oak or something." I sighed and waited for any kind of reaction. When nothing happened, I shrugged and used the leaves to plug the hole. "Well, it's not the best, but it'll do until I can get someone with a degree to look at it." I took a few deep breaths, enjoying the feeling of the crisp and clean air washing over my nostrils. "I'd better get a move on." With those words I started walking towards the town in the distance, hoping and praying that I would find help. And soon.