//------------------------------// // Something is Wrong // Story: Guardian of the Everfree // by KaBar42 //------------------------------// Guardian of the Everfree. Chapter Two I woke up with a crick in my back. I guess thats what I get for sleeping on a tree limb. I leaned over to the limb that had my pack attached to it and released the clips holding it in. It dropped to the ground, making a small thump. I looked down, the ground about twenty feet below me. Meh, an easy drop for a human. I proceeded to unhook my harness from the limb and swung my body so my legs were dangling over the edge. Lets do this. I pushed myself off the limb and fell. Now in reality the fall only took a couple of seconds, but by the time I had managed to get my balls big enough to push myself off the limb, the adrenaline was pumping. So what I saw was more like me taking a minute to hit the ground going at an extremely low speed. When my legs made contact with the ground they were already bent and I sprung myself forward, doing a roll to disperse the shock of the fall to my back. After I had regained my sense, I searched for my pack. Ah, there it is. I walked over to the pack and knelt down. Pulling it up so it was erect, I decided to take stock again. Pack and food, check. Knife, check. Sidearm, check. Rifle, check. I went to pull the mag that I had spent yesterday to toss it into my pack. No sense in keeping an empty mag on my chest. After my encounter with the Unicorn, and falling asleep, I had woke up in the night quite a few times to fire at wildlife that were getting too close. I had emptied the mag and replaced it. I pulled it out of my vest and immediately hit a roadblock. "What in the fuckin' Hell?" Probably the best way to sum it up. My once completely empty mag… was now full. I was flabbergasted. How the hell could my ammo supply just replenish itself? And then a creepy thought hit me. What if it was the equines? What if they were already more advanced than me? What if they had developed something more powerful than a firearm? What if they were giving me more ammo to amuse themselves? I quickly burned these thoughts out of my mind. That Unicorn didn't appear to know what my rifle was. And no living being, alien or not, would approach an armed Marine, and then attack him. There was also the fact that they were quadrupeds. I couldn't conceive a way to make a rifle hoof friendly. And even if they did, the rifle would not only be ungainly and bulky, but they would also not be able to fire it. There is a possibility they could go onto their hind hooves for short time. Not long enough to sight, and fire a rifle. Ok, I was safe. God, I always knew being a biped and having hands made me better! But enough of my narcissism. I needed to prioritize. Learn location: freaky Earth like planet where I can assume I am the only Human and Equines are the dominant species. Know your factors: the Equines. It appears as though they only have two species. Unicorn and Earth familiar. They are quite colorful, possibly poisonous. If they aren't poisonous though, why hasn't natural selection killed them all yet? They're certainly not apex predators. So why are they still alive? Shelter: haven't got one. Food and water: will get this after I have everything else. After I had sorted everything out in my head, I shouldered my pack and started walking. (-) I had walked for quite a while. The sun had just completely risen, and I was still walking. My rifle poised, ready to be fired. I kept walking until something made me stop. I had come to a chasm. There was an old rope bridge suspended over the chasm. And on the other side of the chasm was a castle. A damned castle. Granted it looked to be in ruins and decrepit, but it was still shelter. I looked at the rope bridge, I should be able to cross it if I'm slow and cautious. But it could break. I don't know the average weight of one of these ponies, but it should hold me. Deciding the prize was worth the risk, as I needed shelter. As I have no clue how to make a shelter out of raw materials. What? Don't look at me like that. I'm not Bear Grylls, I don't know how to find a hotel in the middle of the wilderness. Putting my right foot forward, I slowly put all my weight on the bridge. The neglected wood creaked, and the rope went taught, but otherwise, it was fine. I began testing each piece of wood before stepping on it. After about five minutes of careful shuffling, I finally reached the other side. Ah man, the adrenalines pumping again. I'm going to end up giving myself a heart attack at this rate. I took a couple of deep breaths, allowing my heart to slow down. Right, so I was on the other side. Going to have to fix that bridge. The castle itself was in a state of ruin. The top of the damn thing not existing anymore. How ever, I should be able to take shelter in the inner halls. And it is a rule of thumb that big dangerous animals tend to stay away from man made structures. If I came across any of the smaller dangerous animals, they should be easy to clear out. I walked up to the main entrance of the castle and pushed the large door. It wasn't budging. I leaned all of my body weight against the door and pushed. It still refused to budge. Alright, time to breach this damn door. I walked about fifty feet back, and then ran. I rammed my right shoulder into the partition where both doors meet. The doors swung open, but there wasn't enough resistance to stop me, so I ended tripping and rolling a bit. I pushed myself to my feet and was amazed at what I found. The main hall of the castle had tapestries hung all over, and the windows… or at least their archways, were as tall as four, six foot men standing on top of each other. At the end of the main hall sat two thrones. One had a sun above it, and the other had a moon. But thats not what grabbed my attention. What grabbed my attention was the weapons crate halfway down the main hall. And not a pony weapon crate. It was definitely U.S. in origin. How do I know this? Maybe it has something to do with the big, white, stenciled letters that said U.S. on the side of it. I rushed to it, nearly jumping with excitement when I got to it. I quickly unlatched the lid, and what was in there was amazing. A plethora of M4s, AKs, SAWs, SCARs, HK16s, there was an ACR, parts of a MK19 grenade launcher were visible, and so were parts of an M2! I began digging around, to see if I could find a rifle to replace my old M4. I was initially going to go with the ACR, until a question popped into my mind. Why does a U.S. Supply drop have Russian weapons, and even some weapons that aren't commisioned? I also grabbed an HK USP .45. I always wanted one of these. But all this was forgotten after I saw her. A G36C. How had I missed her when I was examining the crate at first? The rifle that I have always wanted,and here it is. The rifle had a light attached to the barrel, with an AG36 mounted under barrel. She was beautiful, replacing my M4 mags for her mags, I realized something. I needed to secure the castle. But it was massive. If I secured the main hall I should be fine. I turned the light on the barrel on my rifle and swept right. Clear. I then swept left. Clear. I really wish I had a sleeping bag, or a tent. Oh! Wait a minute. What do you know? There is both a tent and sleeping bag in the supply drop. How big is this fucking box? And then my mind went to something a bit more disturbing. What if one of these supply drops landed near ponies? They have unicorns that can shoot light out of their horns. It didn't affect me but who knows what it would do to 40mm grenade! And this one was chockful of them. Oh well, nothing I can do. If they blow themselves up, they'll learn not to mess with Government property. However as soon as I said this, I heard a howl. I rushed to one of the windows in front of the main castle. I was also greeted by one of the oddest sights, besides the ponies of course. Giant bipedal dogs armed with bladed weapons. Oh god. Not more attacking crap.