//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 - In Hindsight... 
// Story: Amongst the Trees 
// by TopHatsAndTea 
//------------------------------//

	“-OWW! The hell’s in that disinfectant, iron nails?!?”
“Oh be quiet, ya big baby. Spike, could you find us some more bandages? I think we might need another roll or two...”
“Sure thing, Twilight.”
“... So... What in Equestria made you leave here, whatever or whoever you are?”
“I woke up in a house filled with talking ponies, I freaked out and legged it, see?”
“That’s rather lacking in details, ya know. How ‘bout you start from the beginning?”





In hindsight, I shouldn’t have left the trail.
My name’s Jack Masterson, and I’m a student. Or at least, I was, up until the point I ended up in... Equestria, didn’t you say this place is? Yeah, here.
Yes, that means I’m from another world. It’s kind of obvious by the reaction when I rolled into town that humans aren’t found in this world, surely you’d have made that connection?
So, like I said, a student, yes, between school and university, on a gap year with my mates Tom and Gary. What’s a gap year? Oh, it’s a break between the government-funded learning when you’re young, and further learning at university, which ultimately is funded by you, even if the government gives you a loan. Think of it as one big holiday, where you can pretty much do whatever you want, but you’ve got to pay for it, or, if you’re lucky, your parents will pay for it. Joy of joys, both Tom and Gary had parents who had given them a decent bit towards their “year off”. I on the other hand had only my savings, the miserly skinflints my parents were.
No, that’s not unjustified, Twilight, Dad’s a manager for a large corporate firm, and Mum’s a pretty good lawyer. They’re rolling in the dough, not a penny of which I’m due to get until they die. A morbid thought, I know, but...
I digress. Now, where was I? Ah yeah, gap year and miserly parents. So, me and my mates decided to go camping across the country. I say camping; they just wanted to hike around and see the sights but knew next to nothing about survival in the outdoors. Guess where I come into the picture. Yeah, I was to be their equivalent of a Sherpa up Mount Everest. Hmm? Oh, it means a guide, Twi. I can call you Twi, right? 
So, that’s how we ended up hiking through the foothills and forests of England.  We’d just made it into the Forest of Dean when...





One week earlier...
“Duh, the trail goes this way!”
“Then why the hell’s it darker than that way?”
Jack grimaced as his friends bickered. So far, his expectations of the camping trip to be a complete disaster had been achieved to a magnificent scale. Of course, this left the three of them in the middle of a wooded area with no clue how to get out. Perfect.
Adjusting the map, Jack spoke up. “Just shut up for a moment and think. It’s getting dark. We’re stuck in the forest. We’ve got all our camping gear. Now, let’s just camp here for the night and think again in the morning. God knows how you’d do this without me...”
With muttered agreement, the three guys pitched their tents, and within a short while had got a raging campfire going.
“Got to say this for camping in the forest, there’s no real chance of running low on firewood,” Gary chuckled. Jack and Tom rolled their eyes; Gary fancied himself as a comedian-in-the-making, and took any opportunity he could to make a joke or wisecrack, so much so that the other two had grown tired of the jokes by the end of the first day.
“Okay, I’m hitting the hay, you guys should too. Tomorrow we’ve got to figure out where we’re going.” Jack said gruffly, climbing into his rundown tent. While his parents weren’t funding the trip, he had been allowed to take the family camping equipment, consisting of a rough canvas rucksack, a moth-eaten sleeping bag and an equally patchy canvas tent, along with a few ancient pieces of cooking equipment. Fortunately, Gary and Tom had helped kit him out with proper camping essentials. Jack also had his violin with him, his reasoning being that he didn’t trust his parents with it. Much better that it be in his hands than theirs.
Through one of the gaps in the tent’s material, Jack gazed up at the stars and the forest canopy. Perhaps tomorrow they would clear the woodland, though he doubted it. It was a worry too, as supplies were dwindling, even with his attempts at foraging to stretch out the meals. Shifting onto his side, he started to doze.

“...bugger.”
Jack facepalmed as he re-read the note his friends had left outside his tent.
"Jack, we know you’ve been getting upset at us not pulling our weight, so we worked out where to go and we’re leaving early, to make sure we get to civilisation sooner. We would have woken you, but we figured you’d know how to find your way out, and anyway you probably wouldn’t be in the mood for travelling with us. Tom."
“Excellent, I’m stuck out in the wild, on my own,”Jack sighed, beginning to rummage around in his bag.
“Come on, I know the map’s in here somewhere...”
Ten minutes later, Jack was swearing. I left the map with them last night, now they’re gone, so is the map...can this day get any worse?
Not wanting to tempt fate further, Jack attempted to work out the cardinal directions using an old watch trick, attempt being the key word; the canopy seemed thicker than last night, with only a faint amount of light trickling through and no clue of exactly which direction the sun was in.
Cue further facepalming.
“If ever I get out of this, they’re going to find themselves in a world of pain.” Jack muttered, pulling his pack onto his back, striking out along the path of least resistance through the undergrowth. Unsettlingly, the further he got into the forest, the denser the canopy overhead became. The trees around him grew ever more dark and gnarled, and any which way he took, the undergrowth grew thicker and more bramble-filled.
“Correction, make that a galaxy of pain.” Jack grimaced as his legs got further torn up through the thin material of his trousers. This was ridiculous; the forest should have run out by now, and he was pretty sure that he’d not been going around in circles.
“How much farther’s the edge of the forest now?”





“Twilight, darling, it’s so good to see you out of that library! If I may say, the sunlight on your coat really does show off your colours beautifully.”
Twilight blushed.  She had intended to simply head to the market to pick up a few groceries, but Rarity had been at Applejack’s stall, causing a small queue as the two argued over “how messy you let your mane get, dear, it’s like a bird nested in it.” Of course, the fashionista had spotted Twilight as the queue started to dwindle.
“Thanks, Rarity. I suppose I do spend a bit too much time inside th-”
“A bit?! Twilight, Nightmare Moon was a bit evil, and Discord was a bit crazy. You really must come out more; you’ll never meet any cute stallions hidden away indoors.” Rarity giggled as Twilight turned a deeper shade of red. She was just about to reply, when:
“AAAHH! Monster from the Everfree!”
Heads whipped around at Rose’s screams, and soon a stampede of hooves heralded everyone dashing into the nearest buildings, hiding under the stalls and generally making themselves scarce. Twilight and Rarity ducked behind Applejack’s stall, the three of them peeking over the top to see what it was.
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted Pinkie waving, gesturing at Sugarcube Corner, where peering through the window were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Twilight giggled; though nothing had been said outright, the two pegasi were very close friends indeed. If it were not for Fluttershy’s confessed feelings for a certain big red earth pony (“O-oh, he’s, um... nice...”) you would swear the two were together.
What emerged from the trail from the forest was nothing like what they had expected. Twilight summoned her binoculars from the library and peered closely at it. It appeared to be a bipedal creature (an ape, perhaps?), loping along tiredly on its two back legs with no sign of a balancing tail to keep it upright. Oddly, it was garbed in some sort of very tatty clothing, and carrying a large saddlebag of some kind on its back.
“Twilight!” Twi snapped out of her analysis at Rarity’s frantic whisper. “What in Celestia’s name is that thing?! It’s... It’s.... It’s an abomination to fashion! ” 
Applejack facehoofed. “Uh, we’ve bigger things ta think about, Rare, like what in tarnation are we gonna do about it?”
“Civilisation...”
Twilight’s head whipped around. Did that thing just speak? Any further questions were cut off as the thing collapsed rather painfully on the cobbles underhoof. “Oww...”
The thing rolled onto its back with some difficulty, shrugging off the pack, and against all probability, seemed to be falling asleep. Twilight shifted slightly – now was the time to act.
Whispering to Applejack and Rarity “Girls! Let’s get a closer look.”, Twilight gestured to the three indoors to do the same. Together as a group, they closed in carefully...





Jack sighed happily, punch-drunk from exhaustion. Made it... when I get my hands on them two... 
“What is that thing, Twi? It looks like a pint-size minotaur.”
Jack blinked blearily. Six blobs entered into his vision.  The one speaking appeared to be... blue?
“I don’t know, none of my books have anything on a creature like this, and I’ve read through the library’s entire zoology section after that Hydra incident.”
That was the purple blob. Jack blinked a few times more to clear his eyes, and found himself giggling at the sight.
“Little technicolour horsies...” 
Okay, reasoned one part of his mind, clearly we’re massively tired; this is a hallucination or something. However, that part of his mind wasn’t in control of his mouth.
“Dude, we’re ponies, get it right.” That was the blue one with, Jack noted, crazy hair. He giggled again.
“That’s awesome hair there.... heehee... sky blue...”
The orange one... facepalmed?
“Twah, what in Luna’s name do we do about it?”
The blue one preened. “Hey, I say we let it stay, it clearly recognises awesomeness.”
Another bout of giggles and another lucid speech. “Hey thar, Pardner, thar’s a snake in mah boot...”
The ponies recoiled a little at the mention of snakes, and then the purple one spoke up. “Umm, would you mind very much telling us what you aAAH!”
Jack had reached up and started running his fingers through her mane, the odd hysterical giggle slipping past his lips. “You sound adorkable... I’m gonna go bye-bye-now...”
And with that classy rejoinder that left Purple blushing, Jack slipped into a long-awaited sleep.





The next morning... 
Jack slowly came to, his head aching, and for some reason, a thoroughly painful chest. Almost as if he’d run into a wall, or fallen onto a road... 
He sat bolt upright. 
Road.
Town.
PONIES.
...room? Bed. House. Human house? Doorknobs. Probably human. Probably. Small bed though.
Just as his mind started to piece this masterpiece of a mental jigsaw together, some familiar voices wafted through the door. Jack strained to hear, moving over to the door, opening it a tiny crack.
“-nd that’s how Equestria was founded!”
“Ugh, Pinkie, we don’t need any more of your random stories for the moment, we need to work out what we’re doing with this... sapient ape thing. Clearly it’s the scientific find of the century... imagine all the papers that could be written, the studies that could be done...”
“Uh, Equestria to Twilight, you’re drooling over that book.” A familiar voice snickered. Blue pony, thought Jack. And likewise, the science-y one must have been Purple. This is one whacked-out extended hallucination. Or...
He pinched himself. Ow. Yep, definitely awake. This is just too weird. No, it’s more than that, it’s damn freaky....
Back to the forest?
Hmm?
I said, back to the forest? A voice in his head suggested. Probably his conscience or subconscious, he figured.
Oh, yes, that sounds sensible. In as much as anything can in this technicolour world.
Jack stepped back from the door, looking for his pack. In doing so, he spotted a small tray with a few flowers, what appeared to be a hay sandwich, and an apple. Swiping the apple and his bag, which was resting by a wardrobe, Jack paused. Well, the thought’s there...Now, how best to get out of here...





“Ah just don’t understan’ it, how could something like that come outta the Everfree? If that thing’s, uh... consarn it Twi, what’s that word ya used? About it bein’ able to speak an’ such?”
Twilight turned to Applejack. The six ponies were sat around Twilight’s kitchen table, in various states of exhaustion; Twilight had been able to get the creature into the library without too much effort using magic, but its pack proved more difficult for the ever-proud Rainbow Dash to carry too far. Applejack soon took it from her, having less trouble with it, but it still was fairly weighty.
Twi thought for a moment. “You mean sapient?” Applejack nodded.
“Yeah, that’s the apple. If’n that thing’s sapient, then what if there’s more of ‘em?” Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “What if they’re violent? What if-”
Twilight interrupted. “You’re making too many assumptions, Applejack. We’ve got to view this from the point of any scientist; there is what we believe which may be rendered true or false at any time, so we must keep an open mind. I mean, a century before Nightmare Moon rose, most earth ponies and unicorns still believed the world to be flat until the mathematician Abacus Ablaze proved the pegasi’s claims that it was in fact round.” Twilight smirked as she recalled the fact, but her smile was wiped from her face as Rainbow Dash snorted.
“Hah, us pegasi knew more than the unicorns? I’ll bet that put a twist in the unicorn’s tails!” she laughed.
Twilight sighed. “Aaanyway, we’d better check up on that thing. The sooner we find out something about it, the sooner I can stop thinking of it as a creature or just a thing.” Twilight grinned at the thought. Interacting with a completely new species! Well, more than having her mane fondled and being called adorkable. Twilight blushed at the recollection.
Trotting up to her room, where the creature had been put to rest, Twilight nudged open the door quietly, so as not to disturb it. Needless to say she was surprised as she caught site of the creature dropping to the ground from her window, pack in hand. 





“Hey! Get back here! Girls, it’s climbed out the window, after it!”
Oh shit.
Jack started to run as fast as he could, ducking through a nearby alleyway as the sound of six sets of hooves galloping to the door echoed out to him.  Even with their greater numbers, soon the sound of hoof steps diminished as Jack took more corners, determined to lose them.
Eventually, the buildings started to thin out, and Jack could see the forest again. He breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe now I can get out of this weirdness.
Such a shame the fates were not on his side.
“Hey!”
Jack found himself screeching to a halt as the cyan pony with the cool hair landed in front of him. Holy crap, they can fly too?
The mare snorted. “Now you’re done running, you’re going to walk right back to the library before I make you. Since you obviously appreciate how cool I am,” she preened for a moment “I think you know it’d be best to just go back.”
Jeez, I hope they’re not all like this. Jack looked around for any signs of the others, but fortunately none of them had made it here, or at least not yet. Come on, how to get out of this...
After a few moments, Jack’s eyes shot open, grinning, which unnerved the pony a little. “Hey, no funny business. Turn around now.”
Lowering in the pack to the ground, Jack breathed in, forcing himself to relax. Here goes nothing...
Jack twisted around and charged his foe, earning another look of surprise from his would-be assailant as he launched himself over her head, and slammed his full weight into her back, elbow first between the shoulder blades and wing joints. 
Even an athlete like Rainbow Dash couldn’t support the weight of a larger being like Jack. Rainbow collapsed to the ground, stunning herself as her head impacted on the ground, and Jack rolled off quickly. Wincing at his now smarting elbow (pony spines are tough!), Jack scooped up his pack again and returned to his sprint to the forest.





Several minutes later, Dash was sitting in the middle of her friends, their concerned faces looking down at her as Twilight checked her over for any lasting damage.
“Jeez, what the hay did it do to me? It was like some of that Kung Fu stuff, only without any of the cool kicks, punches and guys exploding.” Dash exclaimed. Twilight looked at her confused.
“Exploding?”
Dash nodded eagerly. “Yeah, there’s this one movie, `The Diamond Hoof`, I forget the director, but the main stallion in it lifts a bad guy up over his head and throws him with just his hooves, and the dude explodes as he hits the ground! And there’s this other scene, where-“
Twilight facehoofed, and a few thwack sounds suggested her friends were of the same opinion. She sighed. If that thing made it back to the forest we may never find it again...





Several hundred meters into the forest, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. His pursuers appeared to have disappeared, and despite being stuck in the forest again, he remained quite optimistic about finding a way back to a proper town, with humans and everything...
Grrrrrrwl....
Jack grimaced as his stomach rumbled. Naught but the apple he had eaten had graced his stomach in the last 24 hours, and even that hadn’t filled much, only serving to convince him that, despite his misgivings, his situation was completely real.
Grrrrrrr...
Jack grimaced again, then stopped, confused. That didn’t come from his stomach... but then.... 
Slowly he turned.
Face to face with him was a wol- no, not a wolf, it was made of wood. Someone’s art project, maybe? He mused.
Grrrrrrrr...
The wooden wolf shifted a little, preparing to pounce, and the truth of the situation hit home.
It’s alive?!
...
Shiiiiiiiiiiit!