//------------------------------// // Royal Resolve // Story: Land of Giant Ponies // by Hereward //------------------------------// James Benson was sharply woken from his doze that the warm afternoon sunlight had brought over him when something soft and furry enveloped him, applying such pressure as to make him briefly believe that he'd been pushed between two mattresses. He barely had time to get over this when whatever he'd been engulfed by started jolting about in every which way. This went on long enough for it to feel like forever before it came to a stop long enough for James to find his bearings. He was suspended in a vertical position within a warm soft furry encasement that appeared to be white/cream or something like that. Suddenly he felt the sensation of a rapid ascent that took all of two seconds and then was shaken up and down for a bit; when this stopped he heard a sweet feminine voice that also had a bizarre tone that suggested a level of potential power that the speaker was not wont to wield. "What is it, Angel?" The voice asked someone else who must've been out there. "Are you okay? Have you found something?" James suddenly felt his world turn upside down and descend in one moment before he went back into a sense of horizontal, as he was before all the shenanigans started except that down was now in front of him, and then the portion of furry 'mattress' that was pressing on his back lifted away and brighter light reached him. Woozily James lifted his head, only seeing the vague suggestion of wood in the distance as he groaned from the rollercoaster ride he'd just been through. He hadn't had ten seconds when a shadow descended on him. He turned towards the source but still didn't feel like raising his head so could only see a wall of yellow beyond the 'mattress'. "Sweet Celestia!" The female voice, now uninhibited by the furry clasp he'd been in, almost boomed in the fashion of being too close to the subwoofer at a disco. "Where did you find such a thing?" James slowly turned over onto his back to get a better look at what he was lying before. He only had a second to stare in shock at the huge face of a bright yellow ungulate with absurdly oversized turquoise eyes, or at least completely out of proportion with the rest of her face, but aside from it clearly being the female who had spoke he couldn't yet determine what kind of ungulate she was. "The Everfree Forest?!?" She looked at him for a few seconds with some rather negative vibes that made him cringe. A sudden descent made James look the other way to see a giant beady-eyed rabbit gesticulating with one paw, making him realise that the 'mattress' was, in fact, that very rabbit's other forepaw. James lay in shock turning his head between the pink-haired ungulate and the beady-eyed rabbit as he now understood just how small he must be by the standards of this strange alien world. One thing was bugging him awful, though. If this was an alien world why did a native species speak English? "Oh," The ungulate thundered, "Not the Everfree Forest. *phew* Sweet Apple Acres? Almost? Nearer? Water? A pond? Aha!" James covered his ears in response to her outburst. "The pond that's half-a-furlong to the South-East." The rabbit, which James now deduced was who the ungulate had called Angel, nodded vigorously. --- Laura Pollard was happy to find a good portion of shade at last and looked up to see what provided it. A behemoth of a tree towered before her, so high that she struggled to see the fruit growing on it, which she finally recognised as apples. "Did wonder if they grew on trees." She remarked. Looking back she found that the pod was no longer in sight, making her wonder just how far she'd come. Feeling lethargic she figured it was time for a rest but managed to persuade herself to rest against the base of the mighty apple tree that stood before her. The reason for her lethargy was not just the distance she covered but also because of a slight remnant of her old addiction. She grabbed a quick bite from the emergency rations and focused on the final stretch to the tree. Once she was in arm's reach of the trunk Laura lay with her back to it and gazed up at the shiny apples in wonder and longing, musing over the potential they had as a food source when compared to Earth apples. The combination of natural tiredness and drug withdrawal eventually made her doze off. --- Harry and Angela were still unclear as to the biology of their captor, for all they could see were the purple eyes, the light purple coat, the indigo hair and the stout muzzle. Any time their pod was shifted they struggled to keep their feet. Twilight peeked inside the sphere once again in the hopes of finding some more behavioural aspects that she could catalogue but, to her disappointment, every time she looked inside the humans would just cringe and stare back. Until she received a reply from the Princess she couldn’t think what else to do. She reexamined her notes. “There must be something I can do to continue this study.” She thought out loud. “Have you tried interacting with them?” Came an all-too familiar voice from over her shoulder. Twilight turned round. “Princess!” She cried out, going into a respectful bow with an almost anxious touch. “May I ask why you came so swiftly?” “When I received your letter,” She answered, “I knew I had to come and see for myself. I know you wouldn’t just make it up.” She lifted the sphere up to her eyeline. For Harry and Angela the scene shifted in such a way that, while the bodies of their captors were still unknown, they could now see that this alien race of giants had protruding muzzles that moved in a most bizarre fashion, completely contradictory to their understanding of facial anatomy, although Angela didn’t give a penny what the term was. “Incredible.” Breathed Celestia. “Real live humans here in Equestria. Never have I heard of such a thing.” “Um, Princess?” Twilight guessed. “You don’t think the myth came from before Equestria, do you?” “As a matter of fact, Twilight, humans have never existed in this world before. The myth partly stems from my own study of other dimensions, which includes one where these are the dominant species. That’s why the myth’s so vague; it has no basis in pony history.” Harry and Angela meanwhile had been watching the whole conversation from inside the relative safety of the ship. “Well I’ll be...” Harry tried speaking, his voice breaking up. “What?” Angela sighed. “Where’d the big white one come from?” “Well...if this is supposed to be a primitive society...I think we’re looking at a...well...” “Jesus Harry! Slow down, in English - preferably with subtitles.” Angela snapped. The man was clearly exasperating her. “Well...for simplicity’s sake... I suppose it’s their version of a Pharaoh.” Harry told her simply. “So these oversized things worship their queen?” Angela assumed before giving a brief laugh. “What is it about such backward lands that makes them give so much *£@#<>\ power to one whatsit?” “Our ancestors weren’t too dissimilar.” Harry mentioned. “Don’t be so condescending, especially if we get to communicate with these fascinating creatures.” She huffed at these words. --- Laura woke in a state of confusion as shockwaves passed under her in a steady rhythm. *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* Once she got her bearings she remembered all that had happened. Recalling the fact that this was an alien planet the first thing that came to her mind was ‘dinosaurs’. Eventually the strength of the giant footfalls were such that she could barely stand until they abruptly stopped. Confused she glanced about until she saw a most surprising and alarming sight. Off to her right, at a distance of about 25 yards, was a huge beige column six or seven times higher than she was; on top of this a mighty column covered in red hair/fur rose up into the sky. Craning her neck she was shocked to discover that it was a brightly coloured horse, or something like it, over 50 times as tall as she was. Big Macintosh took a quick look at the trees in his vicinity before he gave a satisfactory nod and looked for a windfall to keep his hunger at bay. Suddenly he heard something; a sort of distant high-pitched squeal of fright but from a direction that most certainly couldn’t have been distant. Looking in the general direction he identified slight movement between the shadow of the tree and an area open to the sunshine.