These alien horses really creep me out.
They seemed to be happy; if their facial expressions were anything to go by. Each and every one of the crazy things were bouncing on their hooves, smiling widely; joy unhidden. A few of the horses went into cupboards using their mouths to pull out what looked to be bottles that were suspiciously similar in appearance to wine bottles. These things drink? My musings were cut short by a loud bang that sounded off to my right. Looking that way, I could see confetti and streamers start to rain down ever so slowly towards the floor. Even though a portion of my sight was blocked, I was able to faintly notice that some had stopped their celebrations early and were quickly trotting to the other side of the room.
Intrigued, I began following their movements. I could see them making their way through the partygoers to an area lined with tables. These tables had clip boards, pencils, papers and other commonly found office items scattered upon them.
'What on Earth were they going to do? Write me an apology for abducting me?' I thought amused. 'Or maybe they'll throw me a party and we'll eat cake.' Heh. As if these creatures would do something as ridiculous as that. Instead of making jokes, I should be finding a way to escape but curiosity got the better of me. Hmm. Perhaps a brief moment of observation is in order; nothing more than a simple gathering of information. Besides, this should prove somewhat entertaining to watch; seeing as these creatures don't seem to have a way of grasping objects.
The next moment had me wanting to get myself evaluated at the nearest psyche facility. The horses' horns, something I can't believe I missed, began to glow in a transparent light that seemed to ripple with energy. The clipboards and pencils also became illuminated with the same energy and were lifted into the air. Each horse had its own particular color of energy that surrounded their corresponding clipboards. To make matters worse, they were actually writing on the paper in some unknown script. How on Earth was this possible, I didn't know. Maybe they were using telekinesis or some manner of physical manipulation. All I know is that I didn't have time for this! I have got to get out of here now!
Slowly and carefully, I eased my way off the table; making sure not to make any sudden movements. The unicorns that never left had their large eyes following my every moment; watching as my feet hit the cold floor. I was still attached to their machines, so I gently removed the cords from my body. It stung a little bit, but it was better than risk ripping them out. I then began to survey my options.
Option A: The difficult path; which requires that I try to establish peaceful relations with the life forms.
Option B: A much simpler plan would be to, put it plainly, run away from them; screaming like a mad man.
Apparently, while I was contemplating my next move, the horses decided to gather around; bringing with them a series of devices that I'm sure was meant for testing. So like any other student in school that knows testing would occur, I chose Option B. I was confident that this was the best solution to the current predicament.
So....
I bolted.
I could hear the shouts of alarm as I hopped over the table and sprinted to the door. 'Wait!' 'Stop!' were among the words heard being shouted as I made my way to the door. I nearly hit my head on the low door frame as I ran out. Outside the room were massive, intersecting halls that extended to what looked like eternity. I didn't know which direction to go; I just randomly chose a path and took it. Reaching the end of the hall, I turned a corner sharply, my feet sliding across the pristine floors as I ran for my life. I could hear the thundering of hooves from behind as the horses started to chase after me. I tried to lose them; but it seemed no matter where I turned, more would show up. After a brief chase, I eventually got surrounded. Knowing that I was cornered, they started to close in.
With my escape routes closed, I dropped into a defensive stance; remembering bits of the basic training I received from the military as they rushed me. I grabbed one by the hooves and slung him towards another oncoming attacker. Both collided against each other and fell to the floor; out of the fight. A new challenger went for my legs and successfully dropped me on them. Sadly for him, I was in prime position to grab and pile-drive him into the floor.
My initial thoughts had me simply trying to grab the heavy creatures and hope to knock them down. But the mini-horses were surprising light in comparison to actual horses. Now that I think about it, I suppose calling them ponies would be a better choice than describing them as mini-horses. Furthermore, the ponies with horns should obviously be called unicorns. Adrenaline must have been pumping through me because there was no way I was capable of doing anything like this.
Cutting my eyes right, I saw some slightly bigger and tougher looking stallions preparing to charge at me. Heads dropped low, horns angled precisely to poke, prod, or puncture. It was at this point, however, that I noticed that these ponies were quite small in comparison to my size. The tallest ones I've seen thus far only came up to my stomach in height. Interestingly enough, due to the fact their heads were lowered, their current height was at my pelvis. And since I had my back to them, they would soon be charging into my backside. This wouldn't be that big of an issue except for the point of them having long, sharp, hard horns..... and the fact I was still naked..... which meant their point of impact would be......
Oh...
The disturbing conclusion came to me and it was not good. Something like this wasn't going to happen; not on my watch.
They soon charged; the sound of their hooves echoing throughout the hall. Just as they got near, I jumped back and out of the way, causing them to stumble; missing me entirely. Thinking I was out of immediate danger, I turned to run only to feel myself being held together by some unknown force. I was then raised slightly into the air as my arms and legs were bound.
Looking around I could see that a group of unicorns were concentrating their telekinetic powers to hold me stationary. It was then I realized the two charging stallions from before were just decoys meant to move me into position. They actually set me up for a trap! I was in full panic mode at this point. They had me right where they wanted; subdued. I started struggling frantically trying anything and everything to get out. I could faintly see that they were struggling as well to hold me. Fear and utter desperation were the driving force behind my bid for freedom.
The coalesced energy was weakening. I could move my arms and legs just a bit; inch by inch I was gaining ground.
I was breaking free of their hold. I was almost there. Just a bit more and freedom. I yelled a primal roar as I thrust my arms and legs out breaking free of their powers sending ponies flying from the backlash of energy.
My victory was short lived when I heard two objects whistling softly through the air. Before I could even move, they impacted my neck, releasing their contents into my body. I must have been hit with tranquilizers or darts of some kind. My vision was already starting fail, but I was still able to move; I wasn't done yet!
If only I had clear vision, I would have seen one of the ponies get close to me. Had I been more observant, I wouldn't of got kicked clean in the face and knocked down. Now my muscles weren't responding either; they got me.
'I'm captured.'
I had failed. I lost my hold on reality and slipped into a deep sleep.
Everypony was stunned. The creature gave them a run for their money. If it hadn't of been for those tranquilizer darts and a timely buck to the face; the creature would have escaped. It was strong enough to toss ponies aside like pebbles. It didn't seem to understand their commands nor the concept of magic either. The surprised look on his face was evidence of that. It was decided that the creature was too unstable to be left unsupervised.
"Professor!" Heatwave yelled as he arrived on the seen. "What the hay happened?!"
"As you can see here, the creature panicked and attempted to escape. It nearly took down most of the staff before we were able to take him down," he stated, thinking of the next course of action.
"Well what now? If he is as violent as you say shouldn't you restrain him or something?"
"We've decided to place him in cage and keep him heavily sedated for the time being," Professor Oat replied. Not only that but they would also be able to collect more information safely that way. A calm creature, was a good creature after all.
"Do you think this is just a misunderstanding? Maybe he's just confused about what's going on. He might actually be intelligent enough to reason with," Heatwave suggested, wanting to provide some helpful insight.
"Perhaps, he has some intelligence, but after that display I'm left wondering. But, enough of that. You there," he pointed to a pony assistant. "Send word to the community about what we have discovered. Also, schedule a date for an exhibition so that we can show the world our findings."
"Professor I don't think that is a good idea," Heatwave said unsuredly looking at the creature's face.
"Nonsense, its all for the sake of knowledge. Surely you do understand its significance," Professor Oat explained before leaving the room.
"This is not going to go well is it?" Heatwave asked nopony in particular.
In a quiet town, in the midst of an early morning, the restful sounds of sleep could be heard. All of the town's citizens were enjoying the night's ability to induce slumber. It was a peaceful place with not nary a sound to be heard. Or at least that would have been the case if not for the repetitive noise coming from a tree. Further inspection reveals that the tree had a library built into its center. It was inside this library, that hoof-steps could be heard. Their owner was pacing back and forth with anticipation. A few seconds later, the pony bounded up her steps and entered her room. She walked over to the foot of her bed where a small bed lay. Inside the bed was a creature wrapped up snugly in its blanket sleeping contently.
"Spike, Spike! Wake up! You have got to hear this!" the purple pony yelled excitedly. The bundle in the small bed moaned before simply turning over; ignoring the calls.
"Oooh, this is so amazing! I can't believe they discovered something so incredible!" she said using her magic to lift the sleeping dragon out of his bed. Now without his protection from the evils' of consciousness, Spike had no choice but to wake up.
"Who is 'they'? And what did they find that was so incredible, Twilight?" he asked sleepily, trying to clear his eyes.
"They are only the Institute of Science and Magic, Arvaud, one of the most prestigous schools in all of Equestria!" she said. "Get this, they actually found a prehistoric creature and brought it back to life! Can you imagine the implications? The Endless Possibilities? Oh I'm so excited!" she explained, bouncing around the room like a little filly.
"I can tell," Spike deadpanned. "So... is there anything else you want to tell me?" he asked curious to what else Twilight had on her mind.
"Nope; nothing at all honestly," she replied smiling cheerfully, destroying Spikes curiosity in one fell swoop.
Spike's demeanor took a nosedive at the turn of events. "You woke me up at 4 a.m. to tell me this?" he started slowly.
"Yes."
"When you could have waited until later; when everypony is awake?" he continued, staring at her heatedly.
"Well, yeah actually," Twilight responded sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head. She had just realized what she did to her assistant , due to her apparent lack of control over her emotions.
An uneasy silence saturated the air.
...
...
"I'm going back to bed, Twilight." Not waiting for a reply, Spike stood up and calmly grabbed his blanket before walking over to his bed. He fluffed his pillow and simply fell over in the bed wrapping his blanket around himself. He was soon fast asleep within moments.
Twilight slowly backed out of the room and went back downstairs. She would leave Spike alone and try to contain her excitement for his sake. But it would be challenging as thoughts of possibly learning more information about the creature was keeping her hyped.
Many weeks passed by as researchers came in to take notes and run tests on me. Seeing as how they didn't try to speak to me, they must have deemed me a wild animal or something. They took samples without my permission and kept me away from my clothing. It was humiliating sitting there naked whilst they stared and gathered information. They fed me salads that was for the most part normal except for the hay and flowers they seem to add in. I was also given baths and I swear those nurses were enjoying themselves a little too much. Their hooves always seemed to 'slip' somehow and reach places that should remain anonymous. The nurses would then giggle about it if I reacted in any negative way. The fiends!
The scientists and researchers would get together and casually converse as if I wasn't there. To them I was just a study, an animal not capable of understanding them. If only they knew. I was half tempted to prove them wrong but I wasn't going to start speaking. They may end up doing something worse than what's happening now. I'll just have to be patient and observe.
I started to get a slight handle on their language. I still couldn't properly understand it but I did pick up some clues. I would pick out certain phrases like 'tasty eating sandwich' or 'sleeping tonight good' and comprehend it as 'eating tasty sandwich' and sleeping good tonight'. It was going to be awhile before I could communicate but that's another issue to be solved later.
From what I've gathered they seemed to be preparing for a trip or something. The last few days were hectic to say the least. Boxes upon boxes of scientific equipment were packed leaving rooms nearly bare. I kept hearing the word 'creature' being brought up in most conversation involving this trip. They were probably going to parade me around or showcase me as some trophy or pet. Well sadly for them, they aren't going to get their achievements. While they prepared for their plan, I was figuring out their schedule for sedating me. A nurse normally comes in three times a day to inject me with the medication. The stuff was pretty strong, as it knocks me out cold, making it easy to deal with me. But luckily, I discovered that some of the injections given were weak.
It turns out the nurse that normally gives me the shot wasn't able to come in the last four days; so a new inexperienced one replaced her. This new nurse still didn't administer the correct dosage earlier today and now I'm awake. A simply mistake that was easily fixable. Too bad. If everything goes perfectly, I wasn't going to be here anymore, at least that was the idea. My plan was set. All I needed was a chance to escape, one more slip up. The researchers will probably be upset with the nurse after this is over. It wasn't even really all that big of a mistake, but it would prove to be a costly one.
The door to the room opened with an audible click. The nurse for the night walked into the room, timidly poking her head in.
And here she comes now......
The nurse quietly tip toed her way to the cage. She had a syringe filled with sedative floating in her magic. All she had to do was give the creature a shot in the neck and her job would be over. Simple and quick; just the way she preferred it. To her dismay, the creature was at the very back of the cage. The little light provided by the dim lamps wasn't enough for her to see the creature's neck. If she attempted to move the creature with her magic; it may awaken and she didn't want that. She couldn't chance sticking the creature blindly for fear of hurting or awakening him. Resigning herself and against her better judgement, she took a key out her bag and unlocked the door to the cage. She closed it behind her before walking closer to the sleeping creature ready to give him the special treatment.
Yes.
That's it.
Good girl.
Just.. like... that.....
She was getting closer. Only a few more steps before she was within range. Once she was close enough; I acted. My hand quickly shot forward and grabbed her muzzle as her eyes grew wide with shock. I then used my other hand to grab the floating syringe from the air. Before she could even resist, I tossed my legs around her to try and prevent her from escaping. I could see the fear evident in her eyes. I didn't like doing this but I had a mission to complete.
"Sorry," I whispered softly into her ear.
With her temporarily subdued, I took the syringe and injected her with it.
The nurse became frantic as she tried to knock me off. She ended up slamming me into the cage door in her desperate bid for freedom. Darn it! The noise was sure to attract attention. I can only hold on, hope no one would notice, and wait for the fast acting sedative to work its magic.
In the room next door, was a group of ponies playing a card game. Looking closely reaveals that it was a security room and the ponies were playing a game of 'Go Wish.' Their game was interrupted when thrashing could be heard from the Professors' study.
"What's with all that racket?" one of the guards asked.
"Don't worry about it; I know what to to do," another replied before standing up and leaving the room. He walked to the room next door and peered in. He couldn't see in the cage from outside and the door was locked. Thinking it was the creature again, he banged on the door with his hoof to quiet the rambunctious creature.
"Shut up in there, will ya?"
Someone did hear and it scared me half to death. But to my luck, they didn't come in; I guess they had assumed I was just being noisy and left. Marvelous. Even better, the sedative seems to be working. She finally quieted down and stopped thrashing about. Her eyelids closed as her breaths were light, meaning she was in a restful sleep. I checked her heartbeat to make sure I didn't overdose her. Don't want to kill unnecessarily if I can prevent it. Everything checked out fine, so I searched her bags to find the key and let myself out.
It felt great to be able to walk upright without the cage to constrict me or the threat of darts sticking me. Come on, focus Carl. I needed to make sure that I have the most amount of time for escaping. So I found rubber tubing in one of the cabinets and I bound the nurses legs together. I also took a cloth and bound her mouth close. Didn't want her to suddenly wake up and sound the alarm. I did make sure she would still be able to breathe this way before doing this. I then took the blanket they gave me to cover her up and locked the cage behind me.
With that loose end tied up, I needed to find my stuff. I heard earlier in my stay here, that they originally found me with my clothes on before stripping of them. Chances are they must be around here somewhere. Perhaps in the storage room down the hall.
I eased my way out the door and quietly made it there, dodging the miscellaneous clutter that filled the halls. To my surprise, the door wasn't locked. I entered as quietly as possible and carefully shut the door behind me.
The room wasn't much to look at. A simple supply closet with shelves of extra supplies and books. A couple of counters with sinks and tables with items haphazardly thrown about. Anything that may have been interesting was most likely taken down; in preparation for the festivities.
I began looking for my clothing in the stacks of boxes. Five minutes later, and I was nearly about to give up before I spotted them. There in a corner hanging up by clothes pins, laid my belongings. Eager to be clothed, I quickly grabbed them. I notice that none of my clothes had any dirt or grime on them. They must have washed them; judging by the fresh cherry scent emanating from them. I put my clothes on relishing the feel of being clothed again. My black shirt and dark green cargo pants looked rather nicely in my opinion. Thank goodness I chose dark colors for my winter apparel; it will make for excellent camouflage. I couldn't find my jacket, so I assume they had it else where; studying it or it was destroyed. It wasn't much of a loss; seeing as it's bright, red color was easily recognizable. My boots were also there and I put them on as well.
I was nearly ready to vacate the premises but decided to see what I could scavenge. I took a brief moment to go around the room grabbing a box of matches, some string, and canteen. It was all I could fit in my pockets in the alloted time. I had what I wanted and proceeded to leave, heading towards the door.
Just as I was began opening the door, a light shown from the down hall; getting brighter with every second. Someone was coming. Were they already on to me? I quickly shut the door before plopping my back against the wall next to the door frame. A guard made it to the door a moment later and shined his headlight(?) through; checking for intruders. When nothing was found suspicious, he left.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't just walk out there or I'd be spotted. I needed some type of cover but there wasn't much in the room to use. My eye did catch something in a corner though. There was a large box that had some strange fruit in it. It would just fit over me if I crouched. It even had a few holes to see out of. I didn't have a lot of time to come up with a better idea, so I emptied the box of its contents; crouched low and covered myself with it. No way was this going to work but I had to try something.
I opened the door and slowly tiptoed passed the guard station setting the box down if I thought they were listening or watching. They didn't seem to even notice my presence; they were too wrapped up in their game to keep a watchful eye out. I couldn't believe this was actually working. As ridiculous as it was, none of them were the wiser. With all the clutter littering the halls, it provided me a safe haven to sneak by unopposed. At least until I knocked a can over. It clanged to the floor painfully in the once quiet halls. To my dismay, there was a patrol nearby and one of the guards stopped. He was looking in my direction with a suspicious look on his face.
'Crud, he heard me!'
"Hey did you hear that?" one of the patrolling guards spoke.
"Hear what?" asked the other pony.
"I thought I heard a disturbance down the hall," the bronze colored guard replied. "I'll go check it out."
"Oh come on! You know nothing ever happens around here," his words were unheeded as the teal colored pony watched his co-worker walk to the end of the hall. Annoyed, he followed, just to see what this 'disturbance' was. The bronze guard arrived at the spot he heard the noise from, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The hallway had statues, crates, wagons, palettes and all sorts of random items. Probably in preparation to transport the creature to the new site.
He was getting ready to leave but his eyes caught something peculiar about the scene.
"Hmm? What's this?"
There was a lone box that wasn't with the rest of the junk. It was fleshed against the wall; just lying there. He went up to the box, intent on checking it out but his partner called out to him.
"Will you come on?!" the other guard said annoyed. "We are late on are rounds as it is; what could you have possibly found that needs your 'immediate attention?" he complained.
Hearing his partner's whining, the bronze guard turned and left to reunite with him at the other end of the hall.
"I thought I found something strange," he started to explain. "But it was nothing important."
"It's just a box."
My heart nearly stopped when he approached the box to investigate. He was close; so dangerously close to discovering me. Thankfully he left me alone and I took this moment to calm my pounding heart. I watched them meet up and walk down another hall. Once I was certain they were a fair distance away, I continued onwards to an open window just up ahead. Once there, I shed my disguise and leapt up to the window and climbed out; dropping to the ground.
So far, so good.
Outside wasn't all that impressive. There were shrubs and street lights lining paved pathways between buildings. A few trees dotted the landscape bringing forth a more natural feel. I scanned the area and didn't see anyone around. Patrols didn't seem to be out either which was a good thing. I could see in the distance a forest not to far from my current location. It shouldn't be to difficult to make it there. All that was between me and freedom was a few dozen yards to the forest. Easy. With that thought in mind, I ran towards the tree line thinking I was home free. Or at least, until I staggered and fell stopping near the edge of a sheer drop. I almost went over the edge!
Looking down, all I could see was a large lake of water hundreds of feet down, surrounding the place. This entire facility was perched high up on a rock formation in the middle of a caldera. There where other areas I need to check, surely there must be a safe way down. Looking around, I could see that the areas I neglected to look at had large connecting rivers, funneling towards the facility; falling off the edge. They ended up combining to form waterfalls that were pouring thousands upon thousands of gallons of water filling the massive lake. The water spray was amazingly thick enough to imitate the look of clouds near the cliff faces.
Looking down near the cliff, a channel could be seen between two waterfalls as an outlet to the overflowing amounts of water. I could see stone walls that guided the water through the cliff possibly to the other side. This meant that there might possibly be boat travel. I looked down the base of the facility to find my hunch was correct. There was a dock down below that held numerous boats that I could use to escape. But I had no way of getting there. I'm not jumping and getting myself killed. Nor was I going to go back in that place to try to find my way down. This was a difficult situation. I was literally trapped between a rock and a wet place.
Not good.
I needed some way off this place before I run out of time. As if to answer my plea, I heard the flapping of wings overhead as a trio of pegasi, carrying a large container, landed behind one of the buildings. Curious as to why they would be flying at this hour when no one else was out, I followed them. I watched as they landed, detaching themselves from the container and opening it up. They separated and entered the buildings before coming out with large bags of trash. I continued to watch them collecting bags of trash and tossing it in a large trailer. Were they going to take it away? If that's the case, then.......
Well, they say flying is the only way to travel, but I don't think they meant it like this.
I had snuck behind them and dove into their container covering myself with bags of trash. Thankfully, it was only paper within the bags instead of food stuffs. They never knew I was there and when they carried me away from the facility. Once we land somewhere I'll jump out and find a place to hide. Then I'll think on what to do next. Laying back, I simply tried to relax and listen to the sounds coming from outside enjoying the peaceful ride. It was great listening to the sounds of birds chirping, the wingbeats of the pegasi, and....... thunder?
I could hear a storm in the distance and the winds pick up in intensity. The two pegasi must of had some problems with turbulence as my ride was starting to whip around wildly. This continued for another minute, becoming increasing violent, before the hatch unexpectedly opened tossing me out. My shock didn't give me a chance to scream, as I fell out of the trailer. They must have been flying low as I approached the ground much to quickly. I ended up landing on the trees breaking branches and scattering leaves along the way. I finally hit the ground with a soft thud. The combination of tree branches and dense leafy shrubs were what possibly spared my life. The traumatic experience was too much for me and I lost consciousness soon after.
I awoke to golden sunlight streaming in my face, bringing warmth and hope into my being. My muscles were aching and tense but otherwise fine. I had a few scratches; that would heal up quickly so they weren't nothing to fret about. All in all, I was in good health. Getting my legs up under me, I attempted to stand only to fall back down. i couldn't remember what I was doing outside. The last thing I remember was.....
The events of last night suddenly played in my mind as I finally stood up.
I had done it.
I escaped and am now free to do whatever I wish. I wasn't going to be a pet, or some unicorn's experimental lab rat, or worse yet a slave. All this good news was putting me in high spirits; nothing could ruin my euphoria. Man, the only thing that would make this better is if had a nice, steaming hot, pepperoni pizza. A tall glass of Dr. Pepper wouldn't be bad either, I just.....Oh......
I seemed to have made a miscalculation in my successful escape attempt. In my haste, I forgot to take any useful items along with me. Granted, I couldn't take much with me to begin with; but it still was something I should have considered more. No food, water, or even basic tools to do anything with. Luckily, I had the foresight to at least grab one of the empty containers lying on one of the tables. The transportation and storing of water wasn't going to be an issue; should a source become readily available.
I was alone, in a forest of some sort, with no idea where to go. Furthermore, I didn't even know what to expect out here. This place could have untold horrors, hidden in its thick, encompassing foliage. Creatures of unknown origins might simply be waiting, watching, biding their time for some unsuspecting creature to foolishly enter its domain.
Perhaps, accessing my memory banks will prove fruitful. After all those years of studying geography and landforms in school, one would think that something useful could be obtained from that experience. Thinking back, I tried to sort through all the information ever garnered from the countless books and charts that I read through. Topography, meandering streams, localized deforestation, roiling hills, plate tectonics all topics that are interesting but not currently needed. Come on! There's got to be something I can remember that can help in this situation.
Several minutes went by with nothing helpful gained from this exercise. With it getting darker by the second, anything that could help would be useless anyway. Can't really gather much information when everything will soon be covered by a veil of darkness. What was that old saying? Nothing ventured; nothing gained. Ha! Well nothing was gained from this venture, so what now? With a defeated sigh, I gave up searching for answers.
'No data found.'
Glancing around my area, the silhouettes of trees were barely visible. The large shrubs and overhanging vines were casting shadows that quickly disappeared as darkness set in.
'Location unknown.'
All that could be heard were the rustling of trees in my current position. A loud screech suddenly could be heard echoing in the distance, signaling that the night life was now active.
'This presents a problem.'