[Legends]
“U-uh,” Lucas heavily stammered. “Y-yeah.”
Both him and Stanley had trouble processing everything that happened in the last few minutes. They simply could not come up with the proper words to describe the creature that spoke perfect English to them in a crystal clear voice.
For a moment, timed seemed to loop around on itself in a perpetual cycle as the three of them just stared at each other silently. Inside Lucas' mind was a myriad of thoughts spewed out over the top of his head, but never really manifested themselves into coherence. He blinked sporadically, hoping the creature would disappear every time he opened his eyes. However, what really set off the alarms in his head was the fact that it apologizing to him. It never crossed his mind in the lifetime of the universe when he would see the day that something other than a human would speak to him.
Stanley, on the other hand, was waiting for his mind to come back online so he could regain control of his muscles in order slap himself in the face.
Then the creature spoke again.
“Thank goodness,” she said. “I thought my friend hurt you badly.”
“S-she did.” Lucas clarified.
“Oh. Well I'm going to have a talk with her about that. I'm so sorry. Please forgive her behavior. She was only trying to protect me.”
When Stanley's mind finally came back online, he lifted an arm to give Lucas a small shove. Lucas responded by returning the favor, shoving him back with a little more force. It escalated to a point where Lucas punched Stanley on the shoulder hard enough to finally realize they were acting like immature kids. The pony creature watched in confusion.
“I told you I wasn't crazy.”
“Please tell me this is for real?”
The moment a purple light flickered above the wingless pony's forehead, both of them scurried backwards in the grass in surprise.
“Holy Jesus!” Lucas said as me hurried to stand up.
The surrounding environment lit up with a purple glow.
“Oh please don't be afraid,” the pony said with a gentle tone. “Let me help you with your wounds.”
When both of the injured men get to their feet, they look at the creature who had seemingly just created a light source from nothing, but when they squint to see how the mesmerizing glow came into existence, they see it originate from the tip of a spiral horn that stuck out of her forehead. Her physical features become slightly more defined, but not enough to make a conclusion about the creature. A large pair of purple eyes remained fixed on them as it stared in awe.
Stanley quickly realized just how small the creature was compared to his own size. Even from a couple meters away, he towered above the creature as if she is a 8-year-old kid. With that distinction in mind, he dropped most of his initial fears and lets his suspicions flow freely. He barely noticed his cousin lean into his ear.
“What should we say to it?” he whispered.
Stanley almost jumped from the sudden intrusion of space. He flinched and lightly shoved Lucas away from him. Without thinking too much about his next action, he took a small step forward and knelt down to eye level with the creature. She continued to stare at Stanley as if he is the most interesting thing she has ever seen.
“Hello pretty pony,” he said in a cheesy high-pitched voice and cracked a nervous smile. “What's a small thing like you doing all the way out here?”
As soon as Stanley finished speaking, Lucas walked up right beside him and slapped him upside the head.
“You're such an idiot, man,” he snickered. “You're gonna give the thing cancer with a stupid voice like that.” Stanley merely growled at the insult.
“Pardon?” the purple pony murmured, scrunching her face in confusion.
“Don't mind Stanley here,” Lucas said after clearing his throat. The break in his voice returned for a split second before forcing his mind to settle down its wild roller coaster ride. “Um, who are you?”
“Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself, my name is-”
“Twilight!”
The purple pony was interrupted by a distant scream. All three of them snapped their heads to the boat house where it had originated. Lucas and Stanley saw the dark form of the winged pony. They could only assume it was the same one who had attacked them earlier. As it trotted over to them, they backed away quickly, ready to fight back if it decides to attack again. Lucas used the distraction to go for his gun.
“What is is now, Rainbow?” the horned pony asked.
“Come quick!” other creature said. “Cadence is awake.”
Twilight's eyes widen and turns back to the humans.
“Excuse me for a minute.”
With that, she and her winged companion took off towards the boat house and disappeared around the wall. Lucas was about to defend himself with his rifle if a second retaliation came, but lowered his weapon when the creatures were no where in sight.
“What the hell is going on?” Stanley said. All his previous negative emotions have started to resurface and his skeptical nature refused to be evicted from his mind. “There's no way that things can talk. I mean, seriously! Are we dead?”
“Stop acting so immature.”
Lucas gripped the trigger of his rifle and held the barrel in front of his chest. He tried mimicking a soldier's stance from all the war movies he'd seen. For some reason, the method in which he held the rifle made him feel like a real soldier in the national guard. He often enjoyed imagining himself in the battlefield of some epic war or zombie apocalypse when having nothing better to do.
“Oh, I'M immature?” Stanley's anger never seemed to leave him, even after witnessing something something that put his mind to the test. He was ignored when Lucas started creeping towards the boat house. Stanley shook his head and followed after his crazy relative. He paused to pick up the flashlight that was knocked on the ground when he was hit.
“I'm supposed to believe those weird animal things talked to us.”
“Did you forget that one of them hit you? Or do you need to be reminded?” Lucas put his fist up to Stanley's face, but the threat only shut his cousin up for no more than five seconds.
“Still, any animal can hurt us. I'm just saying, we probably hit our heads and imagined the whole damn thing.”
“Well, does your head hurt?”
“No.”
“Then that answers your question. It's all real.”
“Ugh, why can't I just wake up from this damn nightmare already,” Stanley grunted only to receive no further comment from Lucas.
When they finally reach the wooden wall of the boat house, they slowed their pace significantly and Lucas raises his rifle higher, motioning for Stanley to stay close behind. With one long pause, Lucas slowly and quietly rounded the corner like some secret agent for the government infiltrating a secret base, but saw no signs of life in the immediate vicinity.
He stepped further inside. The scent of the dusty air almost made him cough, but he swallowed the saliva in his mouth to rid his throat of the irritation. The single blub above their heads provided enough light to see most of the boat house, which was just as they had left it earlier that day. A mess.
Only one part was not visible. The large wooden crates hugging the walls nearest to him obstructed his view of a portion of the interior, casting a dim shadow on the other side. He and Stanley cautiously walked closer to the crate, but winced when each step squeaked under the floorboards. Approaching the foot of the crates, they lowered their heads and put their back against the wall.
“Is this really necessary?”
Lucas' heart skipped a beat and glared at Stanley.
“SHH!”
All of a sudden, one of the creatures poked its head out from behind the crate. Lucas quickly reacted and pointed his firearm directly at its face. But before he could do anything else, the creature's head retreated.
Out of sight, both men could hear voices.
“Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“How long until Cadence wakes up again?”
“I'm not sure, but her condition is worse than I thought. I think she coming down with something.”
“Oh okay. What do we do about the giants?”
“You know, I'm still disappointed in you for doing doing that. You need to think before you act.”
“I know, but what if they decide to jump out on us with a surprise attack.”
“Don't be silly.”
“You sure? Because they're right behind the crate ready to strike.”
There was a pause.
“Oh, well don't give them another reason to. I'll talk to them and ask them for help.”
After overhearing the conversation, one of the creatures could be heard walking just a few meters around the corner. Lucas tensed up, but never let his guard down even when his brain begged him to lower his weapon and relax. He didn't trust Stanley to handle himself in another fight. He eventually gave in to the internal strain building up inside and quickly stepped around the crate to reveal himself.
Lucas' immediate presence startled a purple pony as she froze her body stiff. He pointed the barrel of the gun directly at her.
“Stay where you are,” he demanded.
The sight of the pony was an odd sight to behold. The yellow light on the ceiling was enough to illuminate the complete form of the creature. Although, she looked nothing like he had expected. The creature was most definitely a pony, but with proportions that resembled nothing like that of any normal pony found on Earth. She had the most perfectly cut hairstyle made up of multiple shades of violet. The most striking characteristic about the pony was the spiral horn protruding from its forehead.
He also saw a light-blue winged pony with the craziest hairstyle he had ever seen. Fortunately, his immediate reveal was not met with another attack. The blue creature simply stared at him, emotionless. The color of her hair was... strikingly colorful. Did someone dye its hair to support gay rights? He assumed it was the other creature that attacked him and Stanley.
Yet, even the blue creature was not the main focus of his findings, but rather the one thing that made nearly made his eyes pop out of his head. On the floor, laying on top of an old fishing tarp, was another pony creature. It was larger than the other two with colors and features that looked like they were ripped straight out of the most feminine fairytale fantasy world imaginable.
Shortly after stepping out into the light, Stanley followed suit and looked over his cousin's shoulder. The moment his gaze hit the purple pony, he glared at it angrily.
“Shoot them.”
Lucas frowned at the absurd demand and shoved the petrified wooden stock into Stanley's gut.
“Ow!”
The armed man leaned into his shoulder.
“Shut your face,” he growled in a low voice.
With that extreme display of disrespect and insensitivity, Lucas began to think of ways to diffuse the situation that seemed to get worse with every second. Although, the blame was share between them, he had the power to end their feud. The reason for ever coming out here alone in the first place was to investigate the boat house. It was a stupid decision to begin with. All the while, he let his frustration dictate his actions and all he wanted to do was take his anger out on something.
Dragging along the source of his anger only served to aggravate their conflict. He wished Stanley was knocked out in the fishing boat instead of Kate.
After readjusting his mind for more rational thought, Lucas sighed. He lowered his rifle and smiled.
“Sorry about that,” he said to the pony. “He's a bit unstable at the moment.”
“Unstable?” Stanley questioned with irritation in his voice. “It's your fault I'm angry.”
Lucas ignored him.
“I didn't quite catch your name.” His warm smile seemed to defrost her posture.
“Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, returning an equally warm smile. Stanley chuckled while Lucas' expression remained without emotion.
“So, uh, where did you come from?” Lucas felt like the question lacked something important, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. He wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy and hoped his sanity was still around.
“W-we come from the land called Equestria,” she responded.
“How did you get here?”
Twilight hesitated at the question. She broke eye contact to look at the ground and began pawing the floor with a hoof.
“We-”
“Twilight,” interrupted the winged pony from behind.
Twilight sighed.
“What?” She glared at Rainbow.
“Um, we still have a big problem.” Rainbow pointed at the pink alicorn.
“OH!” The purple pony turned to walk away.
“Um, do you need any help?” Lucas asked, faltering over his voice. He just couldn't get over the idea that he was talking to something that isn't supposed to exist. Unicorns were stuff of fiction for cheeky novelists like C.S. Lewis. He tried to be as formal as possible, but his continuing struggle between believing what is fiction and was is real reality ceased to settle.
Twilight stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around again.
“That would be most helpful,” she said with a little more glee than the man expected.
“You want their help?” Rainbow grunted, clearly not liking the idea at all.
As soon as Rainbow spoke, Stanley was about to charge at her if it weren't for Lucas to act as a roadblock. A roadblock that fought back. Lucas shoved the provoked navigator backwards before the situation could implode completely, but this time, it wasn't enough. Stanley shoved back, trying to get around the older man by force. He just wanted to teach the talking blue horse a lesson. Both men wrestled amongst each other, but Lucas had the advantage with the rifle in his hands. The struggle in seconds.
“Stop it!” Lucas shouted, startling Twilight with his voice. “We are NOT gonna do this right now! What the hell is your problem?”
“My problem?” Stanley hissed. “People like you who treat me like a child. What's your problem?”
“Get outta here.” Lucas pushed Stanley away and pointed to the direction of the station. “We'll talk about this later. Go inside the house and make yourself useful. Now.”
“Why can we talk about it now?”
“NOW!” Lucas yelled, point the gun at him again.
“Alright alright, fine!” With that Stanley quit arguing and took off towards the station, taking his boiling attitude and flashlight with him. “This isn't over.”
Lucas watched his troubled cousin vanish into the darkness and sighed. He felt relieved to have Stanley out of his sight for the time being, but also felt embarrassed with that display of hostility that may have hurt his image. He did not want to seem like a cruel person, but with Stanley throwing a fit and his attempts to deal with it, he was unsure whether the ponies see him as anything but.
He slowly turned around and cleared his throat.
“I'm really sorry you had to see that. He's not usually like this.”
“That's quite alright,” said Twilight, much to his relief. “It seems you two have issues with one another. Are you having trouble with your friend? Why are you fighting? Was it something I said?” she asked with deep concern.
Lucas held up a hand.
“It's not your fault. Don't worry about it. It's just that things happened recently that I don't want to talk about.” Lucas flung the rifle over his shoulder. He sighed once more. “So, what do you need help with?” he asked.
“Oh, uh,” Twilight cleared her throat. “We need a place to stay for the night. Do you suppose-”
“You wanna stay at the station?”
“Is that what you call it?” Twilight cocked her head. “Well, if it isn't too much to ask, can we stay with you for the night? Cadence here needs medical attention.”
“Her?” Lucas pointed at the pink pony.
“Yes, I don't know how long she will last in her condition. I thought she just had a cold, but it seems she's getting worse.” Twilight sat down next to Cadence and caressed her mane. She knew some medical spells to heals wounds and bruises, but was highly inexperienced in detecting certain biological infections or diseases, assuming Cadence contracted some sort of illness.
Within a second, Lucas immediately rushed over to them.
“Why didn't you say so?” Lucas said in a serious tone. However, Rainbow Dash quickly reacted by blocking his path, putting herself between him and Twilight.
“Don't come any closer,” she growled.
Lucas back away and put his hands up as if to surrender. Sure he had a gun, but he didn't think of using it anymore given the circumstances.
“I don't want any trouble. I was just trying to help. We have an extra couch in the station where she can rest. I can let you stay of the employee rooms if you let me help,” he reasoned.
Rainbow stood in her defensive stance for several more seconds. She glared at him threateningly, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements. Her overly cautious and protective nature was now in full swing, putting her laid back qualities to sleep.
“Rainbow,” Twilight cut in. “Relax. Let him help.”
“I can carry her to the station. You'll be safe there. You look like you could use a break.” Lucas tried his best at a sincere smile to ease off any hostile thoughts that were going through the rainbow pony's head.
Rainbow Dash finally let off some steam and stepped aside. However, her laid back attitude were still asleep.
“I still don't trust you,” she muttered.
Lucas remained silent as he walked over to Twilight and Cadence and knelt down. He loosened his arms by shaking them free of any stiffness and scanned the pink pony. He took note of the colorful coat and hair of the pony. Her coat was very glossy from the misty reflection of the individual hairs that shined back at him. Her chest slowly and irregularly inflated and deflated, indicating just how weak her breathing was.
Questions began to form in his mind on just he was looking at. This creature had everything: wings, a horn, and expensive looking jewelry. Just what do you call this pony? A pegasus? A unicorn? A pegacorn? What's with all the valuable jewelry?
That gave him an idea.
He held out both arms and hovered his hands inches from her body. For a brief moment, he hesitated to touch her. Taking a deep breath, he slid his arms under her. With a little bit of effort, he lifted her off the ground.
“Whoa, she's heavy,” he remarked, spitting out the breath that was held up in his lungs.
Lucas began to stumble outside the small boat house with the other two ponies in tow. He was careful to keep his balance and headed towards the station. Apparently karma hates him.
“How did I get into this mess?” Stanley asked himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.
He tried to calm down in the silence of the bathroom and control his breathing. One moment, he was afraid of talking to Lucas, and five minutes later, he yells at him like some child who broke a window. Well, he did break the ceramic lamp in the lounge. Not his best idea at trying to illustrate just how pissed off he was. Everything should have stopped after that, but it didn't.
Stanley shook his head and took a deep breath. There was still that issue with the talking creatures that attacked him. He was sure it wasn't prank. No one would go so far as to cause him physical pain for a laugh. It wasn't a dream, or else there would be space aliens and zombies. There's no way that he heard those tiny misshapen horses talk. It just didn't seem like something that was possible.
Taking one last look at himself, he laughed at the ridiculous notion that ponies could talk. The purple one seemed act as if she was curious about him and the blue rainbow one was ready to kill him in his sleep.
He exited the bathroom and turned off the light, heading back downstairs to check up on Kate. She still hadn't woken up from her coma, which had Stanley more worried that he already was.
As he reached the door to the lounge room, he heard the front door open that reverberated throughout the house. After a pause, he rushed inside the living room to find Lucas carrying one of the pony creatures in his arms, reminding him of what he did for Kate. Lucas walked over to the empty couch across from Kate and gently set the creature down.
“Why did you bring that thing here?” Stanley asked.
“I had to do something. They need a place to stay, so I agreed to let them crash here for tonight.”
“Is this a joke. Tell me you're joking.”
“Will you just shut up and help me,” Lucas barked. “Grab one of those heaters and aim it towards her. I'll go get another blanket.”
Lucas set his rifle on the table and quickly exited the room through the door Stanley just came from. Confused, Stanley stood in the shadows of the dim room for a few silent seconds to think whether or not he wanted to follow orders. He took a deep breath and walked around the sofa Kate slept on and grabbed one of the heaters. He placed it on the floor near the second sofa and positioned it so it warmth of the heat waves hit the pink creature's face.
It was then that he heard a set of footsteps come from the lobby. He turned his head towards the open door to discover the other two creatures cautiously entering the room. Stanley quickly snapped to his feet and suspiciously held his head high, staring at the ponies that have just entered the room. He slowly stepped closer to Kate and stopped once he was at a safe distance.
Studying the strange creatures, the first words that came to him were 'unicorn' and 'pegasus'. He knew enough about myth and fairytale to make that distinction. The what really bothered him was their facial expressions. They looked almost human. Their eyes were huge and their fur looked as if someone dunked them in a pool of paint. The very sight of them in the white light was unsettling.
The two small ponies noticed Stanley staring at them, but were more concerned with their pink friend on the couch. They inched their way further inside the room, taking in the exotic and spacial dimensions of the room like they've never seen anything like it. For some odd reason, the longer the seconds ticked on, the more calm he became. It seemed like they have been through hell and back, like he did. It would still take some convincing to accept that they weren't a threat.
Breaking Stanley's concentration from studying the ponies from a safe distance, Lucas returned with a large navy-blue blanket and draped it over the body of the pony.
“She should warm in a few minutes,” he said. “Why don't you two make yourselves comfortable. Was gonna make some coffee. Do you drink coffee?”
Both ponies nodded.
“Okay then, I'll be right back.”
As soon as Lucas turned to leave, Stanley took the opportunity to follow after him. Once Lucas opened the door, he shoved Lucas into the next room.
“Why did you bring them here?” Stanley questioned.
“It was the right thing to do.”
“Do you have any idea what those things are?”
“I don't care what they are, they needed our help.”
Stanley frowned.
“Are you freaking kidding me? You left ME behind on the boat. I needed your help, too. What that hell is wrong with you?”
Lucas sighed.
“I'll admit it, it wasn't my best decision, but this changes everything. Did you see the crown the pink one had on? It was gold. Real gold. She must be some kind of queen of something. Maybe they can help us out.”
“With what?”
“I don't know. That crown and necklace gotta be worth something.”
Stanley's eyes widened.
“Oh hell no,” he said, shaking his head. “I'm not gonna let you steal anything.”
“Think of what this means.” Lucas smiled, in a somewhat maniacal fashion. “We just found creatures of legend. We could tell the local press about this. We'll be world famous.”
Even though Stanley accepted the pony creatures in lounge to be real, he refused to deceive them. The only reason he wanted to cause them harm back at the boat house was out of self-defense. His provoked and angry attitude was too much to overcome then, but now that he had a moment to think himself of the consequences of his actions while alone in the bathroom, he was able to compose himself in a more civil and calm manner. It seems now that his empathy started to kick in while staring at the sad and exhausted look on their faces. For some strange reason, he felt something for these creatures.
“I said no.”
“You don't have the authority to tell me what to do.”
Stanley simply stared at Lucas for a moment. The silence allowed him to think. His expression was so devoid of emotion that it could qualify for the best poker face award. Internally, his fury was so close to bursting, the fuse was on its last inch. Moving ever closer to edge, only one course of action would enable the breaks and put out the fire.
Stanley raised a fist and punched Lucas square in the face.