//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: When Worlds Collide Part 1 // Story: Uncharted: Secrets of the ancestors // by Cloud Thunderhoof //------------------------------// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Victor Sullivan- Sully pulled himself up off of the ground and leaned against a tree. His ears rang from the explosion and his back felt like it was on fire. Sully had been farther form the blast than Nate, and had probably suffered less of the effects. Wait, where’s Nate, the ageing adventurer thought as he looked around for his friend. The blast had thrown each of them forward, but the younger treasure hunter was nowhere to be seen. Sully looked around and noticed a body on the ground, its back was charred and bloody but it was alive. Sully limped towards the body, hoping it was Drake, but the trees began to shake again and he hid. The same helicopter from before flew back from the beach. After it had opened fire on Nate and him, the Hind had perused the fleeing pirates and slaughtered them on the beach head. The helicopter now hovered above the clearing, shining down a searchlight. The fallen man attempted to crawl to the safety of the trees but the search light fell upon him. Sully heard the minigun on the chopper begin to spin up and he watched as bullets rained onto the injured man, ripping him to pieces. The helicopter hovered in midair for a few minutes before flying off again. Sully’s heart raced and he limped over the man who had just been mowed down by the chopper. It was impossible to tell, but the body could be Drake’s. Sully’s heart pounded and dread wrapped its icy claws around his heart. Reluctantly, Victor rolled the body over and revealed his face. Dread turned to relief as the ageing adventurer saw the body belonged to a pirate. The dead man stared into the distance and a gas mask hung loosely from his face. Sully looted the body; stashing the usable grenades and bullets on his belt. Unfortunately, the pirate’s AK-47 was damaged beyond repair so he left it behind. The old fortune hunter spent a few minutes looting the bodies before he found it. At first he didn’t notice the book, but when he did his heart sank. The book was half buried and its binding was tattered, but it was unmistakable. Sully picked up the tome and flipped it open, hoping he wouldn’t find what he knew would. The inside cover of the book had a name scrawled on it in black pen: Nathan Drake. Nate never anywhere without the notebook Sully had given him after their first adventure. Drake’s body was nowhere to found, but his journal was still there. “Where the hell are you kid?”, Sully said as he limped back into the forest . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Nathan Drake- Drake’s eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright. However unbearable pain greeted him so he lay back down. It took him a moment to realize, but he was inside a building and lying on a bed made of straw with a blanket thrown over it. The building was spacious and appeared to have stalls for animals, probably an old barn. Daylight filtered in through a hole in the wall and illuminated the interior. Drake stood up, except this time he was careful not to hurt himself. Nate noticed that his holster had been hung on a peg on one of the support beams. He shuffled over and started to put it back on before realizing it was a bad idea. “Whoever rescued me probably wouldn't be too happy if I showed up at their front door with a gun”, he half chuckled as he placed the leather holster back on the peg. Then he realized his pistol was still in its spot and the grenades had not been taken. Drake removed the silver magnum from the slot and ejected the clip, noting it still had a bullet in it. Something about the fact that whoever had saved him hadn't taken his gun troubled him, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why. Drake limped to the large barn door and forced it open in spite of his protesting wound. The blinding sun forced drake to cover his eyes. After the world became easily visible again Drake realized he was not on the same island anymore. He stood in a grassy field littered with trees. All of them appeared to be in neat rows and well-tended to, indicating some sort of farm. The island Drake had been on was tropical so the chances that there was an apple farm on it were slim to none. Also, there was no way this farm would not have showed up on the satellite scans of the island drake had looked at beforehand. However, after being to a nearly tropical city in the middle of Tibet, not much could surprise him. A house was visible in the distance, Drake made his way to the building in hopes of getting answers and maybe a meal too. What would have been a short walk became long and slow, with every step sending a new wave of pain through the injured adventurer. Drake clutched at his bandaged abdomen and attempted to ignore the pain. As he approached, the smell of baking pastries and the sound of voices greeted him. “Looks like I’m going to get both of the things I wanted”, Nate said to himself as he knocked on the door. The treasure hunter knocked on the sturdy wooden door, hoping whoever answered it would have some answers. “Be there ‘n a second”, a female voice with a distinct southern accent replied from inside. The door swung open and when Drake saw who came to greet he couldn’t believe his eyes. What appeared to be a tiny orange horse was standing in the doorway, looking at him with wide and confused eyes. Both of them stood there for an awkward moment before the door closed again. Did I take some of the water from the Atlantis of the Sands with me by accident?, Drake thought as he just stood there, stunned. Drake stepped off the porch and back into the clearing in front of the house. He looked around and yelled “Alright sully, ya got me. Now can you please tell me what the hell is going on!”, Drake yelled, thinking this was all some joke his friend was behind. No answer came and Drake began to worry about what was going on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Twilight Sparkle- “Twilight, Twilight, Twi…”, Spike called out as he ran to the purple alicorn’s side. Twilight turned around to see her scaly assistant out of breath and leaning on her flank for support. “What is it spike?”, she asked. The dragon attempted to relay his message in between breaths, “Applejack…told…me…to…tell…you…creature…awake…talking”, after which he collapsed onto the ground. Twilight levitated her assistant onto her back and trotted down the stairs from her room into the library. She put on her saddlebags, careful not to disturb her exhausted friend. She levitated a few thick tomes into her bags before rushing off towards Sweet Apple Acres. The mare’s heart was racing and she felt more excited than ever. When Fluttershy had come to the library last night to ask for help moving an injured creature Twilight had dismissed it as an ordinary creature. However when the yellow pegasus had mentioned the creature spoke she became extremely curious. At first the injured creature had appeared to be a deformed young dragon, but upon closer inspection it had no scales and wore a layer of light clothes. The creature most resembled the gorilla Twilight had seen when her father had taken her to the zoo as a filly. However this creature was of a much slighter build and appeared to be designed for life on the ground. It was noon on Saturday, so naturally the townsponies were out enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, that meant that the streets were packed and hard to navigate at high speed. Twilight considered taking to the sky in order avoid the crowds, however she shot the idea down because the extra weight would probably set her off balance, not that she had much to begin with. The trip to Sweet Apple Acres lasted twice as long as it normally did, but the anticipation made it feel even longer. The alicorn’s heart ponded and her thoughts raced as she reached the farm house. The creature was nowhere in sight so Twilight walked up to the door and knocked. It swing open and Applejack beckoned her inside. The house inside of the house was darker than normal on account of the shades in the windows being drawn. The low lighting contributed to the fearful atmosphere Twilight had felt as she stepped in. Granny Smith sat nervously in her rocker, Big Mac paced around the living room, and Applejack seemed a little shaken; only Apple Bloom seemed unaffected as she looked out through the blinds at the creature with curiosity. “What happened?”, Twilight asked, attempting to understand why almost all of the Apples were on edge. “It’s Jus’ that thing out there is scaring my family. They aint never seen anything like it before”, the orange mare replied, trying to sound indifferent. Twilight bite back the urge to facehoof right then and there. The mare rolled he eyes before saying, “You said the same thing when Zecora came into town, and we all know that turned out” “Least I knew what Zecora was!”, Applejack yelled, dropping the ruse of bravery. “Listen, AJ, im going to go out and talk to, it”, Twilight said as she walked back out of the door. Despite what she had said in the house twilight was nervous. The prospect of making contact with a new form of sentient creature was invigorating, but by the same token she didn’t know what to expect. Twilight didn’t think it was xenophobia, but something about the creature screamed danger to her. Twilight found the creature leaning against an apple tree. She noted that it rested its back against the tree and sat in a very similar way to a certain green unicorn mare. Twilight could hear it mumbling something about “hallucinogenic water” and “Talbot’s drugs”, whatever that meant. Its back was turned so Twilight decided to call out first, not wanting to startle the creature. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I would like to be the first to welcome you to Ponyvill”, she called out, trying not to stumble over the words. The creature chuckled but didn’t turn around. Twilight thought it might be a mistake, that the creature might just be a strange animal, but a few moments later it spoke,“I guess this is real, isn’t it?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Nathan Drake- Drake stood up and turned around, revealing source of the voice; what appeared to be a short purple unicorn with wings stood in front of him. Great, talking horses, then again it’s not any stranger than the abominable snowman protecting the tree of life, He thought to himself, using every ounce of self-control he had left not to burst out into confused laughter. Drake leaned against the tree so that he would collapse again before speaking, “My name’s Drake Uhh Nathan Drake”. The unicorn looked like she was also trying to suppress laughter, however she spoke in a calm voice, “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I must say, Drake uhh Nathan Drake is an unusual name, no offence”. A slight smile crept to the weary adventurer’s face, the pony in front of him brought back memories of his first encounter with Elena. “It’s just Nathan Drake”, he replied. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what are you?”, Twilight Sparkle asked. “Human”, Drake replied as if it was a rhetorical question. However the creature before him gave him a puzzled look. “You know, Human, Homo Sapien, Masters of the Earth, etcetera”, Drake continued, making gestures with his arms which sent new waves of pain coursing through his body. However the small horse before him only appeared to grow more confused. Great, not only are there talking horses, but I’m probably the only human around, Drake thought. “Is that some form of monkey or ape?”, Twilight asked. “Listen, I’d love to go over the detail but I am in a lot of pain right now and its getting hard to stand”, Drake said, trying avoid being called a monkey again. “I can use my magic to heal you, I know a great spell for that”, Twilight Sparkle said. Drake scoffed a little before speaking in a sarcastic and dismissive voice, “Sure, knock yourself out”. “It’s a simple spell, there’s no reason I would lose consciousness because of it”, Twilight replied. “It’s a figure of speech that means go ahead”, Drake deadpanned. Drake had assumed the ‘magic’ in question would be of the typical ‘voodoo and great spirit variety’ but the reality of it shocked him. Twilight Sparkle’s horn began to glow and his body began to feel strange. Golden light radiated from his body and he could feel a subtle warmth creep into his skin. It felt as if every cell in his body was being remade into something strange and new. Drake tried to call out, to make her stop the spell, but his throat felt like it was on fire. Nathan winced at the feeling of bones cracking and reforming under his flesh and unimaginable pain shot through his body. Then in a blinding flash of gold, it all stopped and the weary adventurer collapsed to the ground, unable to support himself. Vision returned to Nate, slowly, but it returned none the less. His body felt strange, like his skin had been taken off and put back on the wrong way. He looked down at his body and a startling realization struck him, all of his injuries were gone and he was still human. Drake got back up to his feet and checked where the gaping hole in his flesh used to be. However, there was only smooth skin. Drake looked at the creature in equine in front of him and gave her a confused look. “If you knew I was here, then why didn’t you do that before when I was more injured”, Drake asked her. “You were unconscious and I didn’t want to cause any more damage to you without your permission”, she responded. “Well, I feel great now”, Nate said. Then the treasure hunter became aware of the holes the explosion before had left in his cloths. Drake’s face turned an embarrassed shade of red before he spoke, “Hey, Twilight you wouldn’t happen to know a spell that fixes clothes, would you?”. Twilight giggled a little before responding, “No, but I know somepony who could help”. Did she just say somepony, Drake thought before following Twilight back to the farm house.