Anon's POV:
You sit there in the moist, fresh, green grass looking over at a burning F-22 raptor that keeps your body warm. You watch as the black smoke bellows out of the chard wreckage and into the beautiful morning sky. Beside you is a cyan blue Pegasus pony call none other than Rainbow Dash, supposedly the 'FASTEST FLYER IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!'.
Time passes as you sit there contemplating the meaning of life amongst other things. The biggest one is that Rainbow Dash is somehow not awake yet. Nevertheless you feel that it's time to continue the journey to find civilization. If the military has taught you anything, it's to keep moving and never leave a man behind; or in this case pony.
Standing up you stretch your muscles in every direction known to mankind and ponykind alike. Looking back down you can't help but let out an audible 'awwwhh' at the cuteness of Rainbow Dash sleeping in your make shift sleeping bag. Who knew that one day a backpack would be used for this, certainly not the creator that's for sure.
Man did that backpack looks cozy, no wonder she's not up yet. You say to yourself. If that were you in there you wouldn't get up EVER! Anyways you digress from the task at hand. Getting to some form of civilization and finding out how the hell you got here.
Carefully lifting up the backpack that Dash is in you make sure to orientate the backpack so she is facing forwards as well. The other backpack on the other hand you had to modify with a knife so that it can fit nicely in front of you; like one of those babe pouches. Overall you did this because you didn't think Dash would of appreciated it if she was the one in the front.
Taking one last look at the crash site you can't help but think of what kind of trouble Lorin is in, if he is even still alive at this moment. Shaking off the negative thoughts you turn away to quickly refill of the canteen at the local puddle. With nothing left here to do at the crash site you head off into a random direction, hoping that it will lead you to salvation.
As you walked away from the crash site you come to realize that things out here in 'Equestria' seem very peaceful. Then again you were out in the middle of nowhere so you couldn't really compare it to your life back on earth. That was another thing that brushed across the vastness of your mind, where you really on a different planet? or was it the same?...
4hours later...
Time passes by slowly as you mulled over these thoughts, the only sounds that you could currently hear is the whistling wind though the sharp blades of grass, The calming rustling of the swaying trees behind you and most importantly the rather loud snoring of the cyan Pegasus behind you. Which seemed to drowned out every other noise.
Taking your mind off the many noises you turn to look out over the grassy planes. Squinting you can see in the distance a river cutting across the landscape, its gentle current relaxing your mind. With rivers being the prime source to lead you to any civilization, you instinctively head towards it.
Nearing the river you sigh when glance up and down stream. From what you can see there is no sign of town nor city. Pushing your goals aside for now you take a large swig from your canteen seeing as here would be the perfect place to refill.
The water is nice and cold, which is good because the long walk here has left you feeling very hot and grimy. The sun was relentless in pelting you with UV rays and shit that you could really do without at the moment. Knowing what to do you take off both of your backpacks, making sure that the one with the fast asleep Dash in it was put in the shade.
Glancing back towards the river a smile comes across your face. Might as well enjoy the water while I have it! You say to yourself as you dive headfirst into the chilling waters. You didn't care that you had your pilot coveralls still on, this was a matter of a getting the grime off you and your clothes. Take it like a bath and doing the laundry at the same time. Efficient and fun! Now you never did this back home for obvious reasons, but here you were in a survival atmosphere where time was of the essence.
As you dove underwater you realized that there are fish everywhere. Not only that, they're HUGE! It was a sight that took your breath away, never in all your life have you seen a display like this. It looked like one of those documentaries on T.V where they showed you beautiful videos of schools of fish swimming in crystal clear water.
That thought floated around your mind peacefully till another thought replaced it, I'm going to eat well tonight! With that in mind you swim just like you always where and when a fish came near you perceiving you as no threat, you grabbed it and carried it out of the water.
The fish was flopping about trying to escape your death like grip, but to no avail. Rushing over to sleeping Dash you open up the second backpack and take out your knife. You always prided yourself with your keen hunting skills, but this seemed way too easy. The fish just came up to you like it wanted to die.
Oh well you say as you place the fish on a nearby rock to gut it. Once you got the fish gutted and de-scaled you walk over to the river again to get another fish. If it's this easy then why not take advantage of it. You thought smiling. You and Dash were going to have a full fish all to yourselves, talk about eating like Kings and Queens.
Entering the cool waters once again for you pull off the same tactic, stand still and wait for them to come to you. To your amazement the fish once again flow past you like you're part of the river, but to their surprise you once again snatch one up with your bare hands. You would of thought that the fish would of learned by now that you were a predator, then again who are you to question an easy meal.
This was so easy it was fun! They should make a sport out of it, a sport where you just catch fish with your bear hands. You bet that you would come out first place if you participated in it.
Either this world had really stupid fish or you just never realized how easy it is to catch them barehanded. Nonetheless if you had to place a bet it would probably be on your first rebuttal.
Once again you gut and de-scale the fish taking out all the bones and organs leaving only the delicious peach colored meat. The sight of fresh meat was so intoxicating it started to make your mouth water. Since you have yet to eat all day this would surely be a welcoming sight for your stomach.
Looking around you take note of a forest in the distance. It's not the same one because if it were it would of been behind you. Picking up both backpacks and the fish meat you head across the river carefully. To say it is one thing, but to do is another. The simple task of crossing the river was complicated by the fact that you tried your hardest to keep Rainbow Dash dry. This hard work is all based off a assumption that she did spent the whole night looking for you.
Once across the river you head over to the forest in hopes to start a fire and cook your delicious meal. It wasn't a half-bad meal now that you think of it. If you cooked it appropriately it would mimic a normal meal for a modern family. Of course you would have to ignore the fact that you're completely and utterly lost not to mention dinning outside.
Looking up to check the time you come to see the sun approaching its zenith when you reach the tree line. The forest you stand on the brink of, is not as densely packed as the other one but is still pretty creepy.
Laying down both packs up against a nearby tree you look around for some fallen branches and rocks. Rocks were obviously the easiest thing to find as they just lay scattered around. Once you had a good number of them collected you arranged them in a circular fashion just in front of Rainbow Dash.
OK, next thing on our list! Sticks and dry grass for the kindling! You claim to yourself with a bit more happiness in your tone then you would expect a lost human to have. Nonetheless as you look around you don't spot too much dry grass, but if you had to take a gander that's because everything here got wet during the storm last night. Luckily instead of using dry grass you just opted out to use small twigs, seeing as there was a abundance of them laying around. It would take longer to light, but the result would still be the same if not more rewarding.
After snapping a bunch of branches off nearby trees you walked back over to the foundation of the campfire. In your mind you only knew how to make one type of campfire and that was the teepee campfire.
Laying down the kindling first in the middle, this was the most important part if the kindling didn't light then the rest would be useless. The next two steps are the easiest as long as there's no wind to blow your work away. The two steps in making this teepee is to first make a basic teepee with the smaller sticks and then surround that with larger teepee with larger sticks.
Following these steps precisely you step back to admire your handiwork. It wasn't a masterpiece per-say but it wasn't a complete failure as well. So in your books it was a pass. Then again this fire is only going to be used to cook your meat, after that you're just going to simply toss a huge ass log in it so it will continue to run throughout the night providing the necessary heat.
With a quick grab from your survival kit you pull out a flint block and steel rod. With a quick scrape a spark come out and ignites the small twigs instantly, man am I good with fires or what! You snicker to yourself as you watch the campfire start up.
Gathering what left over branches you have, you make what looks to be like a sawing horse for the meat to hang off of and cook. It's nothing special, but it should be enough to cook the fish all the way through. After the makeshift cooker is done you place the four pieces of fish on top of it.
Is there any other smell that smells better then cooking fish on a empty stomach?
Getting your steak from a five star restaurant?
Well we're out in the wilderness so we can't have that kind of luxury.
But we can dream...
Yes we can dream...
With the smell hitting your nose you can see Rainbow Dash wiggle around in her sleep. She struggles around some more in the make-shift sleeping bag for a couple of minutes before she slowly opens her eyes.
"Good morning Rainbow!" You say in a sing-song voice, truth be told you always hated when people did that to you. "Or would it be goodnight?... Afternoon?.." You trail off thinking on how you would word this at this time of day.
"Anon? Your alive?!" Rainbow Dashes eyes widen as she stands up only to fall over in the backpack, unaware that she was even in it. "What the hay is this?" The cyan Pegasus asks as she looks at the backpack around her.
"I made it for you when you crashed into me this morning." You say proud of your accomplishment.
"Why did you make it? It's not like I needed it or anything?" Dash tries to regain her composure as she steps outside of the bag.
"Well you kinda did need it. After you crashed into me you where shivering so I stuffed you in there with some fabric to keep you from entering hypothermia." You reply in a mater-of-fact tone.
"Hypo-whatnow?" She asks a bit frazzled from the long sleep.
"You like asking questions don't you?" You state with a smile upon your face. "Anyways hypothermia happens when you have a very low core body temperature. It can cause death if it's not looked after." You say sounding like a walking dictionary.
From this the mare stops and looks around with a confused face. You don't think you're going to like what going to happen next. Just call it a hunch, well let's just say she is now looking at the fish above the campfire with wide eyes.
"Uh Anon I got two question's." Rainbow Dash declares.
"I'm all ears, shoot." You say with a smile on your face as your about to get a complement from your excellent cooking and hunting skills.
"Where are we? And what is that you are cooking over the fire?" Her face goes a tinge of green as she says the last part. Well there goes your complement out the window, a 'thank-you' for saving my ass would of been nice.
"Well I carried you away from the crash site, because I didn't want use to die from the explosion that was eminent. Secondly I also had high hopes in finding civilization out here. Lastly I am cooking delicious looking fish I caught with my own two hands, quite literally." You finish by holding out your hands.
As you finish the statement the mares eyes grow wider then you thought could even be possible. The sun was now three quarters of the way down and the night's breeze was coming in and taking away the warmth. It's at a moment like this where you thank your preparedness, the fire from where you stand feels amazing.
"So we're lost?" She says as you flip the fish over to cook the other side.
"Well on my account yes, but I'm going to follow that river. If I learned anything from my survival course it's that rivers always lead to civilization, lakes or oceans." Well at least on earth that's true most of the time.
"Great, well I think I can fix that if I just fly up and see where we are." She claims with a smile.
"Go ahead I am quite eager to get out of the bush to. While I like camping, I also like to know where I am." You retort with a monotone voice.
The cyan mare fly's a couple feet up above the tree line and twirls around 360 degrees before coming back down. The expression she is displaying cannot be mistaken, it's the expression of worry, not to mention she looks out of breath as well. Looks like she's out of energy and need some food or water maybe both.
"You find anything?" You question sarcastically as you take a piece of cooked fish off the rack.
"No I don't recognize any of this area." She claims while furrowing her brow.
"Don't worry we'll get to civilization in no time." You say in a upbeat tone, "and of that I am sure. For now though I suggest you eat up so you can replenish the energy that you used searching for me." You say taking another piece of fish off the rack and tossing it over to her.
With a little *thump* you look over to see that she didn't even catch it and now it's laying on the ground no doubt all ruined from the dirt. This makes you a little ticked as you spent most of your day preparing that meal for her. Nonetheless you calm down and go back to questioning her.
"That was a perfectly cooked fish, why did you not catch it?" you say calmly, however you can't help but glare daggers into her.
"Uhh... I don't know about you, but we ponies don't eat meat. I mean there are some weird ponies that like the taste of it, but to everypony else its just gross." She claims apologetically.
Well fuck. Hear you are thinking that they would eat the same things you do. Shame on you man, shame on you. Anyways you're not the one to give up on this endeavor. You start to eat your fish with gusto as she watches from a distance, you can see her uneasiness as she shuffles in her spot.
"Well you have to eat something Dash, as you see you were out of breath when you flew a couple of feet. You need your energy and since you're a pony, can't you just eat grass?" You say generally concerned about her well being.
"Hay no! I'm not eating grass, who knows where it's been!" She states with a stern tone.
"Then what DO you eat?" You ask munching happily on your fish.
"Hay, flowers, fruits you know the NORMAL stuff that you should be eating." Rainbow suggests.
"You do realize that hay is basically dried up grass and there's tones of flowers around here that you can munch on." You state gesturing around the forest.
"Yeah, but I have standards. What I eat is usually grown where it won't be tampered with. For all I know some animal could of pissed all over this grass!" She retaliates.
"Sorry to say Rainbow Dash but out here you can't really be that picky." You reply.
"I guess." Rainbow Dash states her head slowly falling. "I'm still not eating the grass or flowers here."
"So that leaves one last option." You claim holding out another piece of meat. "You can be sure that all the nasty stuff that was on this is now gone seeing that I cooked it. Hell I will let you take a drink from my canteen to get rid of the taste." You say staring into her magenta colored eyes.
"No, I-I can't it's just to disgusting." She replies.
You give up on fighting her, it's like talking to a brick wall. You thought that the realization of being lost would ease up on her morals. Looks like this one is not only loyal to everyone she meets but also to her morals. This is going to be a long night.
"OK, I won't force you to eat it so let's make a deal, OK?" You say with a stern voice.
"OK, What's the deal Anon?" The Rainbow mares face puts on an attentive expression.
"You have to save your energy, so no long walking trips. When we head out again in the morning you stay in that backpack, OK?" You say strong and unwilling to let this Pegasus die from starvation or exhaustion.
"OK, OK, I get it, I'll save my energy." She pouts as she get back into her make shift sleeping bag.
Feeling victorious you head back over to the fire and toss in your scraps and waddle back over to the backpacks. Unzipping the bag you take a hold of your canteen and hand it to Rainbow Dash, one of which is still looking pretty beat up.
"Here, drink this. I highly doubt that you morals will say no to water." You say rolling your eyes.
Rainbow Dash swipes up the canteen from your hand and within second has at least drank half of it. She then stops abruptly and looks towards you with a worried expression. What's wrong now! Does her body reject basic H2O.
"This doesn't taste like water Anon, what did you put in it?" She asks like she going to die.
"Oh don't worry about that, I just put in some purification tablets that make sure the water is safe to drink." You say not wanting to explain how drinking river water straight is unhealthy.
She then continues to down the entire canteen in another fatal swig that can drain the great lakes of Canada. She hands you back the empty canteen with a smug little smile upon her face, you fucking bitch. I have you know you're wasting valuable water! You say to yourself. On the outside the only thing that shows is a quick eye twitch. With that you take back the canteen and place it back into your backpack.
Both of you sit there by the fire as night sets in. The warmth of the fire keeps any of you from shivering. Especially Rainbow Dash, who is snug in her backpack. With the night now upon you the reminder of your plans that you had set up comes back to your mind.
"Rainbow?" You say hoping that you did not interrupt her sleep.
"Yah? What is it Anon?" The Pegasus says surprisingly awake.
"How did you find me at the crash site? Was it my flare that I shot into the air?" You ask as you rest your head on the tree.
"What's a flare? Was it that red orb thing I saw floating in the air?" She asks as you mentally facepalm at using vocabulary that only a earthling would know.
"Yes that." You reply.
She then goes on and tells you how she was looking restlessly throughout the night for you, it was pretty heartwarming to hear that she really did worry. When she was just about to leave when day light broke she saw the "red orb" as she like to say. This raises your hopes, as you think if somepony saw it in the morning then they would defiantly see it in the night.
"That reminds me. How did you do that? You're not a unicorn that's for sure." Dash claims.
There's fucking unicorns on this planet as well! Can this planet get any more fucked up! You sigh and just take the information full on not wanting to sit there for an hour getting thought different animals that live here in 'Equestria'.
"I shot a light into the sky." You give her the dumb down version.
"That's so cool!" Dash says a bit energetically.
"That reminds me I have to shoot one tonight. You want to do the honors?" You ask.
The grin on the Pegasus is back up and redefining some law of physics somewhere. You turn over to your backpack and pull out your survival kit. Taking out the flare gun you load it with one flare and look back over to Rainbow Dash.
"Hay Yeah I do!" She pumps a hoof into the air.
With that you pass over the flair gun hoping that she doesn't set it off while it's still pointing at you. This was when a second thought hits you. How can she shoot it? She needs fingers. Nevertheless she takes it and holds it out sideways erecting a chuckle from your lips. Really? What goes through your head that you think that the device works this way?
"Hay what the buck are you laughing at!" She snaps at you.
"Sorry nothing, really it's nothing." You say wiping a tear away from your eye. "OK, so you ready to shoot this thing or what?" You ask knowing the obvious answer.
"Hay Yeah I am!" She shouts fumbling with the flair gun. The sight only makes you a more nervous.
"OK you see the end that has a hole in it" You say pointing your finger at the barrel of the flair gun.
"Yeah." She says looking down the barrel of the gun.
At this action you immediately pull the flair gun down and point it to the ground. The last thing you need is for a Pegasus kabob. This looks like it's going to be harder then you thought to teach her how to fire this thing.
"What did you do that for!" Dash says with a bit of anger present in her voice.
"Don't look down that hole, that's where the 'light' comes out of and I don't want to treat a roasted Pegasus!" You say yelling out. Your voice reminding you of your drill sergeant years ago.
"Oh.. my bad. Jeez you don't have to yell." She says as her ears fold down against her head.
"It's OK, I can't blame you. This is after all an unknown object to you." You say sympathetically.
Within 30 minutes you have done the impossible and taught Rainbow Dash how to hold the gun and how to fire it. Holding it was hard because she has to get up on her hind legs and hold the gun with her front hooves. It looked pretty silly and a bit cute as she tried to balance on two feet.
"OK Dash when you're ready point it up into the sky and shoot." You say bracing yourself for the worst.
"OK." She replies taking one last glance at you, a small smile present on her lips as she gets up on her hind legs.
You trust her enough to not fuck it up, so you feel that it's not necessary to hide behind a tree like you where thinking seconds ago. Wasting no time Rainbow Dash pulls the trigger with the tip of her hoof. The flair flies high up into the dark night sky and start's to glow red, illuminating a large area around you. What you failed to notice is that Rainbow Dash is sitting flat on her ass from the recoil. Now you know the recoil from a flair gun is not a lot but you did forget to mention it to her.
It seems that all is forgiven when she takes a look up into the sky that is now burning a bright red from the flair. She stares at the light until it fades into the void. Getting back up she heads towards you, with a none too happy look on her face.
"You didn't say that the flair gun would push me when I fired it!" She yells a bit angry and embarrassed.
"Yeah I might of left that part out by accident." This is true you're so used to stronger guns that a flair gun feels like nothing to you. She hooves you in the shoulder and passes you the flair gun. With a light grab you take the flair gun and put it back in the survival kit, which in turn goes into your backpack.
"Either way that was awesome." Rainbow Dash says as she get back into her backpack.
"That it was Rainbow. Now let's get some shut eye we have a long journey tomorrow if we're to be found." You claim yawning.
"But I just got up!" She whines. Apparently she's not to fond of falling asleep again.
"You need your energy Dash you promised me that." You say with a smirk as your eye lids get heavier.
Dash's only response is a well expected "FINE!". Chuckling you turn to your back looking up into the night sky to behold the breathtaking stars. None of them were familiar, which would of made you panic if you weren't already closing your eyelids. Your glance fades down back to the warm fire, with no time at all your sleep takes you away.
Rainbow Dashes POV:
Anon is now fast asleep and you can't really blame him for not staying up. He did carry you away from an 'Inevitable explosion'. It was also very kind of him to make you this make-shift sleeping bag out of what he calls a 'backpack'. The backpack has the same uses as a saddle bag, but it looks like it's made specifically for humans.
You gaze down towards the crackling fire that stands strong against the chilling wind of the night air. The warmth feels good against your fur and feathers, not only that but it's bright enough to light up a good portion of the forest around you.
Which reminds you, you've never gotten lost before. Well then again you always took the trains to go to different cities and you never really left Ponyville... well you never left on your own. The closest you have came to a experience like this was when you went to the Rainbow Falls to camp with Applejack and Rarity. But even then you had a lot of supply's and even some luxury items. Here on the edge of this dark forest you had nothing. The only thing you have is Anon here. Which you aren't complaining he's really useful when it comes to this survival stuff. It looks like when we find a way out Twilight is going to have another egghead to talk to.
However now that you take it all in it's pretty peaceful out here in the great outdoors. The only sounds you hear are the sounds of crickets and frogs, no doubt by the river that Anon was talking about earlier.
Thinking deeply you come to realize that you feel safe around this Anon dude. A feeling you rarely get. Normally your the pony that ponies feel safe around, but to have some else be the brave one is a quite comfortable feeling not to mention a welcoming change.
The one thing that you dislike about all this, is the fact that you promised Anon not to waste any energy. He says that if you waste any more you can risk blacking out and getting hurt. While this is true you can't help but feel useless, like you're nothing but a dead weight that he has to carry around.
It's this feeling of uselessness that really bugs you. It's this feeling that you strive to avoid, because if you're feeling it, it usually means that its true no matter what the other person may say. So with this train of thought you put on a determined look. I'm not going to be useless.
Getting out of your cozy stuffed backpack you can now feel the full force of the chilling night air. The breeze slowly creeps around your body chilling every inch of you, but being too cold never stopped you before so why the hay would it stop you now.
You have one goal in mind and that is to search the nearby forest for food that you can eat. When you get the food you will no longer be useless and you can show Anon he's not the only one that can survive on his own.
Having this goal in your mind you trot into the depths of the forest in search for food.
Soon the light from the campfire fades into the distance along with the feeling of security. The only light that sticks around is the moonlight that pokes through the forest canopy. Thankfully the moonlight is bright enough to keep you going.
The forest is dead silent, so silent you could hear a bit drop twenty meters away. The gloomy atmosphere does nothing to help calm your nerves, but you're on a mission that you cannot fail. Pushing you emotions aside you scavenge the area for any edible vegetation.
To your demise you search the area around you but find nothing. Hope starts to dwindle that you will ever find something to eat.
Guess I'll just have to *gulp* eat the fish.
No, push harder Dash you can find food.
What if I can't?
Then we'll die trying!
That little self-argument brought enough courage to venture further then you deemed safe and necessary. The further you go in, the less light is available. You have thoughts of going back each step you take, but your pride is too important to you and with it you disregard any feelings of worry and doubt.
Your action's are rewarded when you stumble upon a berry bush. You heard that some berries are poisonous, but you could really care less right now you're so hungry. With a hoof full of berries being devoured you catch the sound of a twig braking.
With lightning fast reflexes now powered by the berries you have just destroyed you turn towards the noise. You can't see anything, the darkness that surrounds you is so thick that if you had a knife you could cut it.
Soon the feeling of fear takes a hold of you and you quickly look around for the campfire. Turning in a complete circle twice you not only lose direction but you didn't see any source of light anywhere. Fear grows as you can hear the creature get closer and closer.
Shock starts to set in as you can see the faint outline of the creature that no doubt will be the end of you. Closer and closer it comes the more and more you back away from it. You then feel a tree behind you, you're trapped up against the tree's to scared to even walk around it.
The creature reviles it's self out of the darkness. HOLY HAYSEED ITS A BUCKING CHIMERA! With nowhere to run you turn to the one thing that could possibly get you out of this mess. Your primal instincts, flaring your wings you growl. Sadly it does nothing as the Chimera stays on target without even a flinch.
Well Rainbow was nice knowing yah, only one last thing left to do. You jump into the air and kick the Chimera in one of its faces. The Chimera stumbles back from the force but you only achieved to make it even madder.
The Chimera charges goat head first and slams right into you. A pained yelp comes out of your mouth before you hit the trees that you where backed up against moments ago. Oh you want to do this the hard way will do this the HARD WAY!
Taking a leap you attempted to fly but are only countered by the pain in your right wings causing you to fall back down. With a large THWAMP you hit the ground leaving you dazed. The Chimera takes the prime opportunity to attack.
The snake tail comes over the Chimeras body and bites your already hurt right wing. You can't help but make another pain filled yelp as the nerves on your wings are being punctured by the fangs of the snake. Blood starts to drip onto the ground from the gash in you flesh.
Hoofing the snake in the face it releases your wing, that you fold to your body to prevent further injury. You know the odds are against you three vs. one, but you are dammed if you are going down without a fight. The least you can do is send it back limping and a couple of broken bones.
Stomping your hoof on the ground you charge the Chimera with all your force. The ground trembles each step you take as the dirt is pushed away. The Chimera on the other hand is doing the exact same thing with its goat head first.
Just seconds away from impact you see three flickers of light from your left. You keep your focus on the Chimera but seconds after the flash's the goat head is pushed to the right. You can feel a warm liquid hit you in the face as the other two head's suffer the same impact.
The Chimera topples over to the right and starts to skid towards you. Jumping over the Chimera you halt on the other side. You turn to face the Chimera, but the Chimera doesn't get up. You head towards the laying Chimera only to see a fresh stream of crimson blood exit each of its heads.
A sigh of relief was about to come out until you heard more twigs braking and shuffling leaves from the darkness. OH COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK! You say to yourself as you survey the area around you, looking for the next fight that was sure to come.
Just like last time the shuffling get louder and louder till you can see the faint outline. Getting into a stance to pounce at your enemy you wait for the right time.
Anon's POV:
A couple seconds ago...
HEAD-SHOT,DOUBLE KILL,TRIPLE KILL, HEAD HUNTER!
AWHHHH YEAH I STILL GOT IT!
That you do Anon, that you do.
You flick the safety back on your M4 and sling it onto your back. Good thing you didn't get rusty since the last time you fired a rifle, or you could say that Rainbow Dash would have been prime meat for whatever the fuck that was.
Coming out of the bushes that you where hiding in, you spot Rainbow Dash beside the three headed monster that you took out with both gusto and grace. The rainbow mare has a look between confusion and shitting the bed from what you would say is fear.
Walking over to Rainbow Dash you notice her tense up and get into a leaping position. OH SHIT THIS IS NOT GOOD! BRACE FOR IMPA-! Is all your thoughts could get out before the cyan colored Pegasus hoofs you right in the stomach with a Oof coming from your mouth.
Landing on your ass you can now see the fear in her eyes, as well as the fresh blood splatter that went across her face. She did not look like a happy camper, pun not intended. Your guessing that she doesn't know that the thing that she is attacking is you.
She hoofs you again in the side causing a sheer amount of pain to go up your spine. Man can this mare punch and you really hate being the poor object that is being used as a punching bag.
Finally you focus again and block the next hoof coming at you.
As the next swipe comes in you grab her hoof and pull her off of you. She squirms for a bit as you hold her by her hoof causing her to be a foot of the ground. She starts to realize who you are shortly after she gives up on the squirming.
"ANON!?" She yells as you let her go.
"The one and only." You say smiling in return.
"OMG, I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS YOU!" She quickly apologizes.
"It's all okay. Been a while since I was last bet up." You chuckle jokingly.
Your smile turns into a frown the moment you look at her condition. Her wing is held firm against her body with a couple of bite marks on it, each one oozing out a steady stream of blood. Glancing over other parts you realize that she also has a couple of scratches on her back, however they don't look as bad as the bight marks on her wing.
"Rainbow what the hell where you doing out here?"You say as you drop her back down to the ground gently.
"Just taking a midnight stroll." She says casually, but as usual you aren't buying it.
"Well we need to fix you up now, come on." You say letting the lie pass.
With that you kneel down and pick up Rainbow Dash. She tries to fight it saying that she can walk and that she has been through worse, but when you reply that she's been through enough she crosses her front hooves and remains silent.
You reach the camp in no time, the adrenaline wares off and you yourself feel no different. Nonetheless you can only imagine what Dash is feeling. Pulling out her backpack you take out the fabric and lay it on the ground for her to sit on.
Once you put her down you take out one of your medical kits and search for the rubbing alcohol. It takes some time and with help from your night vision you find it. You really feel sorry for what you are about to do, but if the cut goes unclean then she's in risk of losing the wing.
"Ok Dash, let me see your cut on your wing." You say calmly.
The Pegasus unfolds her wing with a little wince from the pain that she's no doubt feeling. You walk over and support the wing with your right hand. The wing twitches a bit from the touch but your guessing that's normal when its at this state. You unscrew the cap on the rubbing alcohol and look into her eyes.
"I'm not going to lie to you Dash, this is going to hurt... a lot." You say hoping she agrees.
"What are you gonna do?" She asks with worry in her eyes.
"I'm going to sterilize the wound, Its going to hurt but it will take away the possibility of infection." You say coming up with a small idea.
"Here bight down on my arm." You say knowing that she would likely try and hold in the scream that is sure to come.
"Why?" She asks in pain.
"Just trust me, it's for the best." You reply holding your arm out in front of her.
She takes your arm in her mouth as you support the wing with your leg now. You're now ready to pour the alcohol on the wound. "OK, three, two" Each time you count down she gets tenser. "One." You quickly bring your hand holding the rubbing alcohol to your lips then to your stomach only to move it to your left shoulder then your right. May god have mercy on your soul.
You pour the liquid onto the cut making the cyan Pegasus bight down on your arm hard. You know that the pain you're experiencing is nothing compared to what she is. You watch as the cut bubbles a bit getting out all of the bacteria that could harm her.
The bubbling soon stops and you wipe it away whats left with some of the medical dressing. Looking back to Dash you can see that there are tears dripping down from her face. Wasting no time you wrap the medical dressing on her cut making sure that it's nice and tight so no dirt can enter.
Once you're done treating her wounds you put the items back into the medical kit and put it back into the backpack. Turning around you smile at Dash, a smile that says 'The worst is over'. She returns the smile and wipes the tears that were coming down her face.
"All done Dash. Now that wasn't that bad was it?" You say obviously joking around.
The only response you get is a swift hoof to the stomach. A loud "oof!" escapes your lungs as you fall to the ground clutching your stomach. Well I guess I deserved that one. You claim to yourself as you get back up.
"So now then, what was your real reason you went out into the forest?" You say gathering your breath back.
"Like I said before, I was out on a midnight stroll." She claims standing her ground.
"Come on Dash, you really think you can lie like that to me, I'm not stupid." You retort.
"The honest truth, I was hungry." She says putting her head down.
Now you know there's more to it than that, but you'll let it slide till something like this happens again. Which you hope wont be anytime soon. If your past is anything to go by, then you can say with certainty that this will happen again; It's just a matter of when.
"Right, and you thought you could take on a three headed monster by yourself." you say pointing at her wing.
"Well no, he caught me off guard that's all." She says snorting.
"Your lucky your yelps of pain can wake me up." You say nudging her in on the good side.
"Yeah, I guess I am lucky then huh." She says putting her head on her hooves after she lies down.
"I don't think so, I just helped you out a bit" You say giving her a wink.
Dash looks over to the fire that is now fading away, taking its warmth with it. The silence doesn't last long as she once again speaks up.
"How did you see it anyways, you were like 70 meters away? Do you have superpowers?" She asks which in turn makes you chuckle at the thought.
"It's hard to explain so let me just show you." You say.
You undo the straps to your helmet and flip the visor up. Man going from NVG's to almost pitch black is something. You wait a couple of seconds till your eyes adjust to the new light, or should you say darkness.
Taking of the helmet you realize how much of a relief it was. You have been wearing this thing for almost two days now and it feels nice to have the cold air run along your hair. Putting the helmet down you take a moment to enjoy the feeling.
The oxygen mask you took off during the swim and is now in your backpack so that makes the helmet compatible for pony's. Well at least you hope so. You face Dash and give her a small smile as you're just about to explode her mind.
"You want to see life the way I see it Dash?" You say picking up the helmet again.
"Isn't it the same as mine." She asks looking at the helmet.
"Not with this" you say pointing at the helmet.
"Ok, I'll give it a shot, why the hay not." She say moving a bit closer to you.
You place the helmet on to her and do up the straps. If she freaks out well at least the helmet will protect her from a concussion.
The helmet strangely fits her head quite well as you don't need to adjust the straps that much. Looking at her with the helmet on looks pretty badass, not to mention fucking adorable. It almost looks like it's made for her, how the black visor and the dark silver go well with the cyan and rainbow colors in the night.
"Ready?" You say bracing yourself for the outcome of this decision.
"You bet I am." She says as the fear in her voice leaves and is replaced with joy and excitement.
Flicking down the visor and engaging the night vision you await the reaction.
...
Well either she's not impressed and is looking for something cool or she's in shock from the sheer amazingness of being able to see in the night.
...
Sitting there for a couple more seconds you still don't get any clear reaction from Dash as she just lays there looking around in the silence of the night.
"So Dash it's pretty cool isn't it." You say a bit concerned but nevertheless excited to.
"THIS. IS. AMAZING!" She says as she looks around the forest. "Imagine the possibilities you could do with this, I mean you can fly at night like its morning!" She says still amazed by the sight.
"Yeah that kinda the point why I ware them." You say chuckling.
You leave her to her fun as you doze back off into slumber by your comfy tree. You wonder how long she's gonna stay up with those on. Hopefully she doesn't get any more crazy ideas on how to find food here.
With that you let sleep take you albeit less worried this time. The fastest flyer in all of equestrian with night vision, what could go wrong right?
“People are supposed to fear the unknown, but ignorance is bliss when knowledge is so damn frightening.”~ Laurell K. Hamilton, The Laughing Corpse