Act I: Imminent Danger ~ The Arrival Upon a New Planet
Darkness. Devoid of color. Devoid of life. And here I stood, in the middle of it with no end in sight. Alone. Scanning through the darkness was a fruitless effort, considering the fact that I couldn’t see. I was surprised that this void even had a solid surface to stand on. I walked through this blackness by myself endlessly, searching for some light that would never come. Eventually I just gave up. What's the point? I thought to myself, It’s not like I’ll ever get out of this...
A loud, fairly low-pitched roar jolted my eyes open, causing me to sit up from the forest floor that lay beneath me. A dream, huh? Certainly an interesting one. My mind snapped back into the reality that I now perceived due to the creature’s roar not even a few minutes prior. I realized that I should probably stay away from any potential danger, considering I was defenseless. I had assumed that, since my body felt a bit lighter than I remembered, my sword probably wouldn’t be there. I quickly scanned the immediate surroundings for any possible hiding places. Fortunately, I found a bush large enough to hide my size (as long as I crouched, of course) and quickly utilized it as temporary shelter until I heard the roaring die down far off in the distance.
I got up from the bush, looking down at my cloak-covered body to see if anything attached itself to my attire, whether it be living or not. Noticing a bit of dust on my legs due to crouching in the bush, I proceeded to swipe it off with both hands until it had disappeared. A bit of a superficial mentality, but I figured if I at least tried to keep a good appearance people around here would be more likely to help me out. Speaking of the people around here, where am I? To this day I’m still not entirely sure why I talk to myself like that, or at all, actually. Probably comes from being alone for so long, I’d wager. Regardless, I’m not commenting on the right part here. I have absolutely no idea where I am right now. This forest doesn’t exactly look like other forests I’ve visited. For one, there aren’t monsters that make that kind of roar from what I’ve experienced, or even heard. Debating as to where I was for a while, I finally decided, Might as well just wander around until I find something. In the best interests of my safety, to travel in the opposite direction as the creature that was making those roaring noises was probably the best idea. From the direction that the sun was setting in, I could tell I was heading west.
I kept walking until it became dark; so dark, in fact, that I could barely see. Who the fuck am I, George Orr? Deciding it best that I stop for the night, I gathered some excess twigs and branches that fell from the trees, along with rocks to keep the soon-to-be fire contained. I found two thicker sticks and managed (after many tries) to get a spark produced from them. Seeing as I had a fire going, the night wouldn’t be as cold to sleep in. On top of that, if anything like the creature I heard earlier showed up, I’d at least have some sort of defense against it. Letting myself drift to sleep, I had the same dream as the previous night. Again. Remind me to change any recurring nightmare I have to something at least moderately positive next time, subconscious.
I awoke to the sun’s rise behind me, its light looming over my darkly cloaked body. Wiping the dirt off my cloak again, I put out the remnants of the fire from last night and spread out the materials. I even buried the charred wood. For some reason, probably out of paranoia, I didn’t want to let anyone get on my trail, lest I lead some criminal or another of those monsters to some unsuspecting victim.
After accomplishing the deed, I set out westward again, expecting another long walk with still no destination in sight. Surprisingly, however, after traveling for roughly two hours, (from what I could tell from the sun’s position, of course) I came across a trail that looked like it had been used before. There were hoof-prints (albeit not many) leading on the trail that pointed northwest, from how they looked. Seeing this as a good sign of civilization, I followed this trail in the hopes that I could find someone who could tell me where I was, and hopefully how to get back.
My journey this day only took about three hours total until I found some instance of anything civilized. It was a cottage near the edge of the forest with animals running about its borders. Unusual amount of animals, I thought, Either no one lives here anymore or there is someone and he or she is just some sort of farmer. Or a freak, I’m not sure which one yet. Then again, I have no right to judge someone else for being a freak.
In the end, I chose not to take any unnecessary risks of any kind and continued walking along the trail, figuring that since there were still hoof-prints leading in that direction, (more so than the ones leading to that animal-infested cottage) there would most likely be a more civilized area. I didn’t walk long at all until I found the first of the populace of this town.
Looking down, I find myself staring at a rather colorful looking member of the equine species. Barely being able to recognize it as a pony, I figured the citizens of this town performed genetic experiments on horses to get them the way the citizens wanted them to look. That is, of course, until it opened its mouth and now started speaking to me in English.
“What the hay are you?” the light blue-colored pony interrogated, rather boldly, I might add.
“Er…” I faltered, being taken aback by what I just heard. Actually, it wasn’t so much what I heard more than it was where I heard it coming from. That, and I had just noticed the wings protruding from the pony’s sides.
Managing to finally get some words out, I replied, (completely off topic from what this pony just asked) “You… can talk?”
“Duh! Of course I can talk! Why wouldn’t I? You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Well, it’s just a little surprising to see that a pony can talk,” I said, stammering slightly, “and as for your first question, I am a human. One that has been traveling in that forest,” I pointed behind me, “for two days now.”
“A… hu-man?” the pony asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a hu-man before.”
Noticing something particularly wrong with her reaction, I responded, “Wait. If you haven’t heard of my species before, then why were you so nonchalant upon first seeing me? Don’t I frighten you in the least?”
After thinking a bit, the pony replied, “Not really. Just because you’re different doesn’t mean that you’re terrifying. Besides, if I didn’t start this little chat with you then I never would have known that you could talk.”
Alright, that settles it, I thought, I’m definitely not on my planet. “Perhaps it’s best,” I said, finally, “if you take me to whoever’s in charge? If I’m the first of my kind to be here, then I’d doubt it’d be a good idea to just waltz into the nearest town and cause a panic.”
“If you say so,” she stated, walking in the same direction I had been walking in for the past three hours. “Just so you know, the pony in charge here is the Mayor, and she can get spooked pretty easily.”
“That’s your highest in command here; a Mayor?”
“Oh, no, not the highest. That would be Princess Celestia, but she’s not in Ponyville. Not yet, anyway.”
“A princess? So your government is that of a monarchy, I take it?”
She faltered, as I did earlier, apparently not knowing what to say, “A… what?”
Yikes, I thought, either she didn’t learn anything when she went to school, or this ‘Princess Celestia’s educational system is so poor you’d probably be better off learning things from the street. “Forget it,” I replied, not wanting to get into a long, overly drawn-out, lecture-like conversation about the do’s and don’ts of politics and government. I’ll just get that information out of this Princess herself.
Much to my surprise, she dropped the conversation without any questions. She’s either not interested enough to care about the subject, or just incredibly obedient. “So,” she said, “You were travelling in the Everfree Forest?” …Or just looking for an excuse to change the topic.
I gave a curt nod, one that could be noticed despite the fact that I had the hood of my cloak over my face. Clearly, I had my hood lowered just enough so that I could see, otherwise I never would have made it to where I am now, but I digress.
Apparently this topic was one that heavily intrigued her, seeing as she pressed me for more information, “Well, how was it? Not many ponies make a trip as long as you have and live to tell the tale.”
“Wasn’t too hard,” I responded, “Didn’t run in to too many dangers. Actually, I only really got into danger once, right after I woke up, as a matter of fact. Guess fate really likes me here, considering what you just told me.”
Curious, she asked, “What was this danger?”
“Not sure. I heard roaring as I was sleeping, which caused me to wake up. Figured it’d be a good idea to go the opposite way as the roaring considering I don’t have my-” I put my hand on my right hip only to find that my sword really had been there the whole time. “Eh, never mind.” I insulted myself in my head, You’re a real idiot, you know that?
Any curiosity she had, from what I could tell, turned into confusion as the little light blue-colored pony looked at me placing a hand near my hip and grip my sword’s sheath. Why I didn’t check for my sword the first day I was here is beyond me. Regardless, after I was finished mentally abusing myself, I let the matter go, seeing as we were nearing the entrance to the town. It dawned on me that I had not yet gotten the female pony’s name.
“I just realized something,” I said, “I don’t think I got your name.”
“Oh, right!” she said, not having noticed that point before, either, “Name’s Rainbow Dash; you?”
The urge to give a humorous name and laugh about it later is very high right now, I thought. I decided against it, however, considering how open she was to me right from the start. “To be truthful, I… don’t think I have one…”
“Don’t have a name?!” she exclaimed, disbelievingly, “Everyone has a name!”
“I suppose I’m the only one, then,” I replied with a solemn tone to my voice.
“I have to call you something! Hmm…” Rainbow thought a while before continuing, “How about ‘Hurricane’?”
“Heh,” I chuckled, remembering a nickname fairly similar that was given to a certain doctor, “It’s no 'Oncoming Storm,' but it'll do. Sure, why not?” Hurricane it is, then.
“Sweet!” she said, “Let’s go, then!”
Don’t see the harm in following her if everyone acts like this, I surmised. With any luck I’ll finally have a place to fit in for once in my life. Well, relatively speaking, of course.