//------------------------------// // Harsh & Fall // Story: Currently Unnamed Journal // by Zyggy //------------------------------// I snapped out of it about an hour later, and looked up to see the white equine from earlier looking down at me. "…" She started smiling. "Fable mentioned you." "…" It was a regal, sophisticate voice. "…" "Why am I here?" "You chose to be." "No. I'm not from here, not this body or this place." "Well, this is your home now." "Not very knife of you to rip me from my old life and glue me into a new body, especially without teaching me anything about this place, its culture, its people." "Knife?" "Nice, knife, whatever." "Make some friends, be happy." "For the first time in my life, that is the LEAST of my objectives on my to-do list." "Then what is your first?" "Survive and not go insane while doing it." "…" "I gotta add a bit of humor." "…" I smiled. She was still smiling. I now noticed her coat was very, very light pink, hard to tell when not up close. "So, Knifer…" "Let me guess, leader of all these ponies, mentor or guide to Fable, and you are not the typical kind of leader, for you are in fact a princess, not a queen." "…" "Accurate?" "Yes..." "Scary, aren't I?" "…" I stood up on two legs, turned, and began to walk out of the alley. My way was blocked by a large block of wood. "Not fair." "Not everything in life is fair." "This is not my life." "It is now." "Not by my choice." "But by mine it is." "And I am neither you nor one of your subjects, and I certainly was not under your influence while out of your domain." "But you are now." "I fail to see why you want me, a silverware maker, to be in a body that prevents that." "Because you won't be noticed as missing any more than usual." "But why ME? Why not some other person with actual SKILLS?" "You were the only one I could find that could go missing who had your skill sets." "Fork you." The smile faded from her face. "…" "Something tells me you are thinking 'TO THE MOON!'" "Yes." "You do realize there is no air on the moon, right?" "My sister controls the moon, so of course I know." "Good for you. Now would you kindly let me go?" "No." "Then I'll just sit here." I promptly sat down. "You really shouldn't make me mad." "I'm only making you mad because I can't leave here." The block of wood was lifted into the air by magic, and I walked out without a word. I left the Princess there, just watching. And I blacked out. I awoke on a giant leaf. On a giant branch. On a giant table. Next to a giant box of silverware. In a giant room. And my mane was loose and natural again. I stood up and looked about. Either the world grew, I was in a giant's house, or I shrunk. Something told me it was the latter… And it looked like the inside of Seka's apartment. "Maybe I shouldn't have tried to piss her of…" A familiar pony slowly came up the stairs. "Seka?" Her mane and tail weren't all curly and poofy, they were flattened out and fell down. She quickly bounced over to me and leaned closely. I backed up a bit so as to not get knocked over. "Why are you so tiny anyways?" "I made the Princess mad?" She frowned, and I might have heard a growl. "Bad boy, BAD!" I flinched back out of fear, but she just kept glaring at me. "Don't hurt me?" "Maybe I will…" I started twitching. I was snapping under the pressure. I closed my eyes and went limp. A warm tongue went over me. "Bleh…" I stayed limp. "What's wrong little guy?" If only I could have spoken. "D'aww… little sleepy head." She picked me up with her mouth and carried me over to a bed, then placed me down on it. I felt the bed shake as she jumped onto it. Her hoof landed dangerously close to me, and it was then that I regained control over my body. I quickly got up, pushed myself back a few inches, and wanted to scream. I looked at Seka smiling at me. I could only do one thing. Silently walk over to her and rub my head against her, then fall asleep. I woke up to find Seka clutching me in her arms, both of us facing the same way. I stayed still for a while, but I began to squirm after a few minutes. Being the size of an eyeball isn't exactly calming. Seka yawned as she woke up. Her tongue darted out and licked the back of my head. "Erm…" "Bleh… you need a bath." "In blood.' "Don't be silly… or gross." I smiled somewhat malevolently, trying to distract myself from reality. Seka bit down on my mane and tossed me up into her own, then climbed out of the bed. "I can't wait until the Princess decides to make me normal." "Expect a day or two like this." She walked up a flight of stairs and came to a stop in a bathroom. She walked over to a sink and tilted her head until I slid down and into it. "Oh great…" She turned on the water, and grabbed me between her hooves. She moved me under the faucet and soaked me, then rubbed me against a bar of soap. I spat a few times, then got drenched again, and turned about as she scrubbed me. This continued for a minute. She took me out of the sink and wrapped me in a towel, then got to bathing herself in the tub. I went deep into the towel, to hide from the outside. I rolled over until I was upside down again. I started to think about whether or not I would ever get back home. I doubted it, but anything could happen. I made a mental note to self: don't make the princess mad, ever again. Time passed as I thought about miscellaneous, random things. The towel was pulled out from underneath me, and Seka grabbed me in her mouth again. "Warn me next time." She tossed me onto her head. "Nah." I fell into her now poofy hair. "How do you keep it like this, shampoo?" "No, it just does that most of the time." "…" She bounced out of the bathroom and down the stairs, making me need to hug her hair to not fall off and hit the ground hard. She continued further down, then went into a back room of the shop floor. She came to a stop in front of a counter and tossed me off her head, and into a small cup. I sat up and shook my head. "Please don't do that…" I smacked the side of the cup and knocked it over, then walked out of it. "D'aww…" "Please don't treat me like I'm a baby." "You kinda are now that you're tiny." "…" She opened a drawer and pulled out a book. Sha placed it down next to me and opened it, and I went over and looked at it. A cake recipe. I looked up at Seka again, and she rushed over to the cabinets and got a bunch of marshmallows, strawberries, gelatin, cake mix, and eggs. I stopped paying attention at this point and just crawled underneath the tiny gap where the book didn't touch the counter. "You don't need to hide." "I'm hiding because it's the logical thing to do." "You don't need to hide from me!" "Yes I do." "Why should you?" "Survival purposes." "And?" "You might take advantage of my tininess and use me as an ingredient." "Why would I support cannibalism?" "I dunno." "Come out of there, silly." "No." "Then I'll move the book." "No." She pushed the book and exposed me. "Hah." Before I could run she grabbed me in her mouth and dropped me into a big bowl, then got to baking. "Bleh…" I tried to get out, but the bowl was too steep. "Don't bake me." "Why would I do that?" "I'm tiny." "Would you get over that?" "No." "Maybe I will bake you." "I'll be quiet now." "Good." I sat down and blasted my mane out of my eyes. I heard Seka baking, but I slowly lost attention again. I started thinking about the possibility of the Princess still being in town. It was unlikely, but possible. If she still was, I could get away from Seka some how and hunt her down, but that would be dangerous and difficult. But it might end this sooner… Or end me sooner… I decided to take that risk. I waited for a few more minutes, and Seka grabbed me in her mouth, then tossed me onto her head. I saw that she had everything ready for a cake to be made; the oven just had to be turned on. "Morning job for today, done." Seka walked out of the building, then began to bounce away. I took advantage of this and let myself bounce off. I landed in a puddle, and quickly ran in a random direction. Seka didn't notice. I came to a stop in some alley for a quick rest. I now had an entire town to search. I spent a few minutes there to plan my route. I ran to the town center and looked about. Not a single being. I looked up. Nothing. I did the same thing at the Boutique, and the library. I went into another alley, scared out of my wits. I noticed I had spent hours out here. I was terrified. What would Seka do to me? What if I got found by some wild animal? I shook my head to remove those bad thoughts, then looked out the alley. There was the Princess. Talking to Fable. Now that I could see Fable clearly, I saw her mane was cleaner and neater, going gently down her neck, and her dark purple tail went almost straight down as well. Her tattoo showed a small fire. I snarled, for she had to show up after I was about to give up. I looked about, and they were the only two there. I carefully walked out of the alley, and looked about again. Nothing but them. I quickly ran over to Fable, and hid in her shadow. Neither noticed. I didn't pay attention to what they were talking about, given how it involved magic and what she learned. Without warning Fable teleported away in a flash of light. They must have finished conversing. The Princess walked right over me, not noticing, or maybe not caring. I stayed in her shadow and followed her. This happened for a few minutes. The Princess stopped, and I stopped too. She moved one of her legs over me, and I rolled out of the way before it came crashing down. She went back to walking, and I continued to follow in her shadow. She eventually came to a stop next to a dark forest of some sort. "Come out from under me." I did as she asked. The Princess laid down and looked at me for a few moments. "Why did you seek me out?" "To apologize." "…" She telekinetically lifted me and put me in a small pouch. I began to struggle to get out, as useless as it was. I slowly had to just give up. I curled up and closed my eyes, to let time pass. I opened them, and the first thing I saw was everything being normal again. I sighed happily, then looked around more. I was back in Seka's apartment. "It worked." "Don't run away like that ever again." I turned my head around and saw Seka glaring angrily at me. "I'm normal now. You don't scare me anymore." She snarled. "Now, I am somewhat frightened." She leaned closer to me, and I slowly stood up. "I have a hacksaw." "And I have silverware, big deal." I forced myself into a smile. "Okay…" I turned to face her with my body as well, and backed up a bit too. She followed. "…" She put a hoof out and pushed my mane away from my eyes. I just stared at her. "Well?" "Well what?" "Aren't you gonna run?" "Why should I? There is no danger here." "There is me." "How dangerous could you be?" She reached over to the wall with her mouth and opened a small container. She then pulled a hacksaw out with her mouth and grinned at me. I stepped back a good ways, and she followed every step of the way. "Erm… Apparently you do have one… but how can you use it effectively?" She forced me into backing up into a wall, then set the hacksaw aside. "I just can." She put her front two hooves against the wall, on either side of me. "Erm…" "Yes?" "Erm…" "…" She smiled, then began to crack up laughing. "I can't believe I actually managed to scare you!" I frowned angrily. She quickly went back to frowning. "I'm still mad at you though." "Thought so." "So what now?" "You not cutting my throat for blood and use it to paint your wall?" "…" I smiled. She smiled back, grabbed the hacksaw, and bounced back to its case. "Dangerous?" She put it away and turned to look at me, then smiled very eerily. "Nope!" I walked forwards a little bit, keeping an eye on Seka. She seemed a little nuts. "…" She bounced back over to me. "Sugary sweets?" "…" "No?" "Basically." "Why not?" "I can't survive on a diet of pure sugar." "Aw…" "I'm feeling like I want grasses, for some reason." "You're a pony, that's why." "Oh yeah…" She smacked my head a few times. "Silly pony." "…" "How could you forget?" "Given how I'm on four legs instead of two, I don't know." She tilted her head quizzically. "If I were to say 'long story' I'd be lying, so I'll say this: You wouldn't be able to wrap your mind around it." "…" "Well, still not scared of you." "Magnum." "Which kind?" "Forty-four." "Scared." "Thought so." "Tired." "You just slept." "We went to speaking simply." "AND?" "Stop?" "Sure." I walked past her and over to my Silverware case, then spent the next minute putting it on. I smelled the air. "I smell happiness." "That's what happens when you take drugs!" "I've never taken drugs." "Oh. Well… it is what happens." "Heh." I turned to Seka. "That's why I don't make assumptions." "Oh sure you don't Knify." "Erm… I think I'll go for a walk…" "Be back before dark!" "Okay…" I walked down and out, somewhat disturbed by what she called me. She was beginning to treat me like a little kid, or a boyfriend. I looked up at the sky. I had an hour or two. I decided to find out more about the culture of these ponies, after all, I could be wrong about the social order. There were many pegasi flying over head, somehow managing to move rainclouds. "So that's how weather is controlled, not by hot/cold air currents, but by other ponies. What next?" I heard the flap of wings behind me. "You might want to get inside soon, as soon as it's dark we're gonna make it a downpour." It was hard to tell if this was a male voice or female. "So that's what Seka meant." "You know Seka?" I turned to face the pegasus behind me. She had a dark blue coat, with green irises. Her mane and tail looked like the rainbow, only the colors were inverted, not in order, but in their actual color. They were both messy and unkempt. Her tattoo was that of a beam of light. It looked like she was standing in mid-air. "Yeah, in fact, we now share the apartment, kind of against my will though." "Cool, so, who are you?" "Knifer." "Unusual name." "True. Say, Seka didn't mention you." She became proud looking all of a sudden. "I'm BLITZ, the fastest Pegasus ever since Rainbowdash!" "Who?" Her jaw dropped for a moment, then she put her left hoof on her face. "We need to educate you tomorrow…" "I was hoping to learn more about local culture and such." "Go back to Seka and tomorrow I'll get you and take you to Fable's." "Okay then." She flew straight up, and I slowly walked back to Seka. I got back in the apartment just as it began to rain, and was greeted by having a cupcake shoved in my mouth. "MHPM." Seka happily bounced into my field of vision, holding another cupcake in her mouth. Her hair was straight again. I wasn't in the mood for cupcakes, but I didn't want to make her sad. So I walked over to the balcony, and looked at her. She had bounced upstairs. I quickly spat out as much of the cupcake as I could over the railing, knowing the rain would clean it up. I walked back inside, only slightly rained upon, and sat down by the wall. I had to take time to think again. If there is a lack of natural weather, what would happen if all the pegasi somehow died? The unicorns could take care of that, but then again, it seems magic is limited in power. The normal ponies obviously could do nothing. That would lead to a dead world very quickly. No rain, no sun, just the day and night cycles that nothing could ever see. The way this world works can only sustain itself in a controlled environment where there would be no fear of any of the four groups of ponies dying off. But that's impossible; therefore, they are living on borrowed time. I blasted my mane away from my eyes again. This town seems to have aged a lot from it's time of creation, at least two or three generations. If so, then the princess, given by the title, couldn't be older than twenty to thirty. But she acts like she's known everything for ages, literally. So if she is really centuries old, there may be no limit to the lifespan of the ponies. But that would cause overpopulation. Therefore, she maybe the only one to be like that. But if she were like that, she must be very depressed and or lonely. She didn't act like it, but she may just be hiding it. If so, then that means my head hurts. Too much thought that revolves around how a bunch of ponies somehow wielding magic and having wings and their delicate social structure is too much for most to handle. "The more I think about this the less it makes sense…" "PHYSICS?" I jolted up and snapped out of m thoughts to be greeted by Seka standing right in front of me, inches away from my face, wearing a Cheshire grin again. "No…" Her grin faded somewhat. "Then what?" "HOW THIS WORLD EVEN MANAGES TO WORK CULTURALY AND SCIENTIFICALY!!!" "…" I sighed and slumped back down, closed my eyes, and ignored whatever babbling she made. I opened them to the sound of morning birds. "I must've fallen asleep…" I looked outside and saw that the sun was just rising, and there was a certain Princess shaped silhouette in front of it as it did so. "Dammit, she controls the sun, and she said her sister controls the moon. Therefore, if one dies, the world is so screwed. For once, I worry about these ponies." I stood up and walked out onto the balcony, then looked about. Most of the ponies were waking up, and I took attention to detail of one specific pony. She was a bright grey/blue pegasus, short blond hair and tail, and she had a scribble tattoo, and the most defining feature, were her eyes. The left eye wandered about, and she kept on rubbing the side of her head to make it go back to normal. She was wearing a simple brown saddle with side bags full of letters, and she was walking about from house to house delivering them. A mail pony. Who had poor depth perception. I flinched as she walked into a wall multiple times before sidestepping. At least she was doing her job quickly and efficiently. I looked about and saw that many ponies were staring at her. I looked towards the sun, then leaned in closer and narrowed my eyes. I realized that was a mistake too late, and toppled off the edge, my body impacting the ground at a bad angle. A very bad angle. The last thing I heard was a crowd murmuring of unintelligible gibberish. I awoke spread across the ground, and felt small amounts of blood coming out of my mouth. The sky was red. It had white streaks going across it. Ponies were trying to get aid. I couldn't understand them; all I heard was TV static. I stood up and squinted in pain, then started to limp forwards, blindly, all I could think was 'get out of town' I felt a hoof placed on my shoulder, which I shrugged off and ignored. My vision started to blur slowly, and a barely recognizable purple shape walked in front of me to stop me. I tried sidestepping. It didn't work. I turned around and they quickly got in my way again. I turned again and there they were. I couldn't think. They started to talk, but all I heard was static. I whipped around and bucked them in the head, then the gut. They fell over and cried static of pain. I ran over and past them. My vision was now terrible, and the world became a horrid red. I slipped and rolled a few yards before stopping, my last willing thoughts for a long while were 'I'm insane' and 'I'm screwed'