Alex buttoned her pants and refastened her belt, relieved that she had forgotten to throw away the napkins she had shoved into her pocket during lunch. In her haste to relieve herself, she had forgotten to take any toiletries, only having realized her mistake after she had done her business. As she was reattaching her holster to her leg, she glanced up and saw something yellow standing out amongst the greens and browns of the forest. Her interest piqued, she slowly made her way over to try and get a better look at what the object could be.
As she neared the yellow object, she took cover behind the trunk of a rather large tree. Peeking around the side of the tree, her jaw dropped as she took in the sight before her.
About twenty yards in front of her was a yellow horse. She immediately corrected herself and changed her assumption to pony, given its diminutive size. The most outstanding feature, however, was the long mane that hung from the creature’s head. The long flowing mane was absurdly enough, pink. The first thoughts that ran through her mind were that this pony belonged to a child, and the parents had dyed the coat and mane. It didn't really explain the length of the mane and tail, but it was the best she could come up with.
It’s head was held low to the ground, and it was making weird noises towards what looked to be a squirrel. Before she could take in anymore of the strange scene playing out before her, a subtle movement in the darkness of the tree line on the opposite side of the pony caught her attention. Her eyes flicked to where she had seen the movement. Squinting, she tried to make out the details in the darkness of the forest.
She saw movement again, and what appeared to be the head of a lion. She immediately put two and two together and her hand moved to her pistol, quietly undoing the snaps on the holster that held it in place. If this pony did belong to some little girl, then saving it would go a long way towards gaining the trust of the locals. Especially since they had no idea where on Earth they were.
She quietly crept closer to where the pony was standing, trying her best to not make any noise that would startle the animal. About halfway there, her boot caught on a piece of undergrowth, causing it to rustle. Cursing under her breath, she looked back towards the pony, just in time to see the pony’s head snap up, facing her general direction.
Her unwitting distraction of the pony gave the big cat the opportunity it needed and it lunged out of its hiding spot towards the helpless pony, letting loose a frightening roar as it charged. The pony’s head snapped back towards the charging predator, but instead of fleeing, it simply lay down on the ground.
“NO!!” Alex screamed, raising her pistol and firing two shots at the big carnivore.
To her surprise the creature hit the ground and rolled, stopping about ten feet from the cowering pony, which promptly bolted off into the forest. For a split second, she could have sworn that she had seen wings attached to the sides of the pony, but immediately dismissed the thought as just an optical illusion. She started to turn back towards the creature she had just shot, when she heard the sound of something rushing through the undergrowth behind her. She quickly spun around, her pistol raised to face the new threat.
“Alex!!” She heard Alan yelling.
“Alan! Over here!” She yelled back, letting out a sigh of relief and returning her pistol to her holster. Alan emerged from the trees a few moments later, and she waved to let him know where she was.
“Are you alright?” He asked her with a frantic look in his eyes as he approached, putting his own pistol back in its holster.
“Yeah I’m fine, but you aren't going to believe what just happened,“ She said, motioning towards the downed creature with the thumb of her left hand. “Literally.”
She turned around and slowly started making her way over towards it. When she got close enough to make out details, she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she stared at the still un-moving body.
While for the most part, the creature did in fact look like a lion, there were clearly some differences that ended there. The first was the large pair of wings that were sticking out of its back, looking something like giant bat wings. The second being the giant scorpion tail that replaced the normal cat tail that one would expect to see in its place.
“What the fuck is going on around here?” Alan breathed, almost a whisper, as he took in the sight of the strange creature. Ignoring his question, Alex’s view moved to the creature’s head, where she noticed why she had been able to down the creature so easily. Her first shot had simply ricocheted off of it’s thick skull, but the second shot had hit it’s left eye, presumably going straight through to its brain; she had scored a kill shot.
Alan knelt down next to the creature, taking hold of one of its wings and extending it out to get a better look at it. He was just about to move down to the tail, when he heard something that sounded like a low growl.
“Did you hear that?” He asked.
“Hear what?”
Before he could answer her, another of the creatures appeared behind her. It’s mouth clamped down on her right shoulder and it took off, running deeper into the woods.
“Alex!!” He screamed as he took off in the same direction the creature had run, it’s large size making it easy to follow as it tore through the undergrowth. While he was nowhere near as fast as the creature, he still pushed on, hoping he could catch up to the creature before anything else happened to Alex. Sweat was already dripping from his chin and her screams were fueling his adrenaline as he chased the creature down.
The thick trees quickly dissipated into a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing, were three of the creatures surrounding Alex, who had her pistol out in her left hand. She was pointing it at the creatures as they circled around her, attempting to dissuade them from their goal of making her their next meal.
Alan took the opportunity while the creatures were focused on her, and opened fire on the nearest one. He shot seven rounds in quick succession, all of them hitting it in the side before it could react, dropping it instantly. The other two immediately turned to face the new threat, their meal temporarily forgotten as they charged Alan. He raised his pistol and fired the five remaining rounds in his magazine at the two charging creatures. Two of the rounds caught one of them in the wing and a third catching the other in the leg, causing it to stumble.
He pressed the magazine release and let the spent magazine fall to the ground. At the same time he reached down and pulled his spare magazine out of his holster. He looked up just in time to see the first creature leap into the air at him. He dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the beast. The act causing him to accidentally drop his magazine, where it promptly disappeared into the undergrowth of the forest.
He cursed his luck under his breath, and heard several more shots ring out from Alex’s direction. He looked back and saw the creature he had hit in the leg slump to the ground just a few short feet behind him. He looked over at Alex, only to see her fall over sideways, her pistol falling from her hand.
“Alex!!” He shouted, receiving no response.
He looked behind him and saw that the creature that he had dodged was already getting back up on it’s feet. Pushing himself up off the ground, he sprinted over to where Alex lay and picked up her pistol. He turned around just in time to see the creature flying through the air at him. It tackled him as he fired off the rest of the magazine into it’s massive chest. It’s claws dug into him as they hit the ground, the creature dead on top of him.
After a couple of minutes, he managed to slide out from under the creature, and went over to check on Alex. She was still breathing, but her breaths were shallow and ragged. She had lost a lot of blood and needed medical attention soon. He put her pistol back into her holster, and picked her up before taking a look around.
Noticing a slightly brighter patch of forest, he started making his way off in that direction. The forest gradually continued to brighten as he pushed on, and he finally came out of the forest. The sight that greeted him was a veritable forest of apple trees, stretching on as far as he could see.
There was a low, white, wooden fence that ran off in either direction, and he could just see the top of a red building sticking up over the tree tops. His arms were burning from the exertion he had been through, along with carrying the unconscious Alex, and he decided to put her down here and go for help. He gently set her down and leaned her against one of the wooden fence posts, making sure she wouldn't fall over, the action causing her to stir back to consciousness.
“Don’t try to move. There’s a house over this way, I’m going to go get help.” He told her, motioning off in the direction he had seen the building.
She simply nodded and drifted back into unconsciousness. He was about to turn and head towards the unknown building when he heard the sound of something approaching, and what faintly sounded like some sort of conversation. He turned around expecting to see local workers or perhaps the farmer who owned this orchard, but nothing prepared him for what he saw as he turned around.
Standing near the next tree, were three small ponies. Fillies or colts they were called if he remembered right from the time he had spent on his grandpa’s farm. The thing that really threw him for a loop, was their colors. One was yellow with a red mane and tail, it even had a huge pink bow tied in its mane! To it’s left was an orange one with purple hair, and he could swear it looked like it had wings. To the right was a white one with a blend of purple and pink in its mane, and it definitely had a horn sticking straight out from it’s head.
He watched in silence as the orange one looked at the yellow one and made some strange noises. To his surprise the yellow one looked back and seemed to answer, making more of the weird noises. Were they… communicating? He watched as the two continued their ‘conversation’, their volume increasing almost as if they were having an argument. He stood up and started walking towards them.
They had apparently not noticed him until he moved, as all three of them turned and looked directly at him. What could only be described as looks of fear were painted on all three of their faces. The orange and white ones turned and ran off in the direction of the building he had seen earlier. The yellow one hesitated for a few seconds, before turning and running head first into the tree it had been standing beside, knocking itself out cold.
He winced at the sound of the impact and went over to make sure it was OK. He picked it up, finding it surprisingly light and examined its head. A nasty bump was already forming, and a little bit of blood was showing where the skin had been broken. Figuring it to be a pet given the weird coloring and the huge bow, he started off in the direction of what he assumed would be a farmhouse.
About a few minutes later, he came out of the trees about fifty yards away from a large, red barn. He stopped in his tracks at what he saw. Next to the barn were the other two fillies who had run off earlier, and next to them was a larger pony with an orange mane and what looked to be a cowboy had on it’s head. ‘Man, whoever owns these ponies is weird.’ he thought to himself.
The two fillies were standing in front of the older one, making all kinds of noise, the white one turned to look in his direction and immediately got louder. It’s gaze was soon shared by the other filly and the older pony. The older one suddenly adopted an aggressive stance and started pawing the ground. Looking down at the unconscious filly in his hands, realization kicked in, and he immediately realized how bad this situation must look from the pony’s perspective. As he looked back up to the now charging pony, the larger one he figured must be the mother, and he was now holding one of its young, which wasn't moving.
“Aww… crap.” He said.
Hurriedly setting down the unconscious filly, he turned and bolted back in the direction he had come from, hoping that the enraged mother would stop to check on her offspring instead of chasing him. Turning his head back briefly, he saw that his plan had actually worked as she was now standing protectively over the filly, nuzzling it gently.
His celebration was short lived, however, as he heard the telltale sound of a horse at full gallop. He turned his head to see a wall of red coming at him, the warning had come all too late as the horse slammed into his side. He was sent flying about twenty feet, before slamming into one of the apple trees, knocking him out cold.