//------------------------------// // Finding a Friend // Story: I Will not be Contained // by Eon333MS //------------------------------// *Jake first person POV* Would I be safe here? I can't help but wonder that to myself. But right now I need to focus on finding food and water. Listening hard I heard the sound of a stream or a river. Hah 'Objective complete water found'. I walked in the direction the noise was coming from, and found myself alongside a river. The river no doubt held fresh water, however it was dangerous to drink any water that wasn't boiled. Hopefully I can find a container of some sort to boil the water in. I made a mental note of where the river was located, and went off to gather some supplies and hopefully find a container to boil some water in. I gathered up some branches and twigs, to build myself a fire, and possibly a lean-to shelter. While away from the river I noticed that there were tracks that looked an awful lot like wolf tracks. Great like I need more animals to hunt me. There weren't any tracks near the river though. Maybe that means that the wolves don't come near the river for some reason. Or it could mean that something even more dangerous lives near the river which the wolves are smart enough to stay away from. I hadn't seen any evidence of the latter, so I'm going to hope its the former. I placed my branches and twigs in the pile I had gathered and turned around to go get some more. As I'm searching for more twigs, I find an odd shaped bit of tree that looks almost like a cup, I could use this for boiling water lucky me. Once I've gathered enough supplies I head out to see if maybe I can find a squirrel or something, or heck even an apple. I hunt for a while until it starts to get dark and I prepare to head back. I did manage to snag one squirrel fortunately. As I head back to my campsite I hear a low growl coming from my right. I look to see two pairs of glowing green eyes staring at me, and what was that smell? I watch as two wolves step out of the bushes and into the moonlight. But these weren't any ordinary wolves, these wolves appeared to be made of wood 'How the heck does that work!!?' The wolves lunge at me but I move out of the way and literally knock their heads off with my metal pole. "Well that was easy." Suddenly the broken piles of twigs are enveloped in a green aura and float back to their proper places and reform. "Oh come on! How is this even fair?" The two wolves charge at me again and I dive out of the way. Now I'm stuck in between them, they charge at me again 'how original.' and I dive away and watch them collide into each other. They crumble into twigs upon their collision, and I make a beeline for the river before they can reform. *Canterlot Castle with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna third person POV* Princess Celestia was marching with Princess Luna to her map room. Celestia was filling Luna in on the events of the creatures escape. "So you see Luna, we need to recapture this creature before he can cause any more harm." "We understand sister. I mean I understand. This creature should be brought to justice as soon as possible." "Easy Luna, this creature may not be in complete control of his actions. Tempest Reason informed me the creature had been having delusions, and has developed a mental disorder." "All the more reason to capture it as soon as possible." "It is a he Luna, we will recapture him, but we should also treat him the same way we would a pony, he is a thinking creature after all." "As you wish sister. But let us not forget his actions have made him a criminal, and therefore it-" Celestia looked hard at Luna "He should be treated as such." "We will see Luna we will see." The two princesses entered the map room where Tempest Reason was directing the royal guard on where the human was most likely located. "That'll do Tempest we'll take over." Princess Celestia announced. "As you wish your majesty. But I insist on staying, to offer assistance." Tempest requested "As you wish." Celestia replied. "Show Luna and I all that you know." "Well some members of one of my search teams I sent out to find the creature last encountered it here." Tempest pointed to a section of the map just outside of White Tail Woods. "Very good, however Tempest I respectfully request that you, as well as all those assembled here refer to the creature as a he." "What!? But why your majesty?" "Because he's a living creature that deserves better than to be given such a belittling title as it." "Ummm... As you wish your majesty. Anything else?" "Actually there is one thing." Celestia began. "Does the creature happen to have a name?" "...Ummm... well uh..." "Please answer the question Tempest surely he preferred to be called something other than creature while he was in your custody." "Well uh... the creature liked to be called uh...... Jake." "Hmmm. An unusual name, but very well, please continue Tempest." "Well as I said we last encountered the creature-" "Jake." Celestia interrupted. "...........Jake was last seen in this area." Tempest said through clenched teeth and pointed to the area just outside White Tail Woods. "So he could be anywhere in that general area?" Celestia asked. "Well yes. But I think the crea-... Jake is likely still near there." "What makes you think so Tempest?" Celestia asked. "Well the cr- Jake just managed to get out of White Tail Woods, the only place near there is the Everfree forest, and I doubt he'd want to go into another forest just after leaving one." "Why do you think this." "A creature in his mental state clearly wouldn't be thinking properly. So he would want to stay away from the forest." "I disagree Tempest, I believe it is highly likely that he is hiding in the Everfree forest." "Well if you insist your majesty we can divide our forces to search for it-him." "I think that would be the wisest course of action. That will be all for today Tempest, you are dismissed." Celestia announced. Everyone leaves the room except for the two princesses. "Sister why did thou insist so hard that the creature be called by his name?" Luna asked her sister. "I'm not entirely sure Luna. I just feel like there's something about this creature that we don't know." Celestia answered. "But there's plenty of things we don't know about the creature. We don't even know what it is." "This is different. It feels like there's something we should know about Jake, but we don't." "Are you saying Tempest might be hiding something from us?" "I'm not sure Luna. I'm not sure." "Well I for one agree with Tempest that once we capture him we should immediately hand him over to Tempest and have him secured." "No Luna I want him brought here so that we can learn more about it ourselves." "I will do as you say Sister, but do be careful. However Sister do you think I could locate the creature through its dreams? Assuming it actually has dreams." "I do not think that is wise Luna, we don't know how Jake could react to having his dreams invaded." "I understand Tia." "However if you could find mention of a strange creature in anypony's dreams, that might be useful." "Oh that is clever Sister. I will try that. Farewell Celestia." Luna said with a smile on her face. With that the two sisters left the map room, and each went their own way. Celestia wondered to herself "Hmmm. If the creature is near the Everfree forest, perhaps I should send a letter to Twilight." *Back to Jake in first person POV* Running a fast as I could I made it back to the riverside. I tried to come up with a plan in case the wooden wolves followed me. 'Come on what can stop wooden wolves?... uh... FIRE! Fire will stop them!' I needed to start a fire anyway. I gathered some stones and sticks to attempt to make fire and well to make a long story short I failed three times whether because it was the wrong combination of rocks or I failed to build the flames up enough. I finally got it right on the fourth try, guess I should be grateful for that. It turns out I didn't need to be stressed out the wolves never showed up again. I guess they really want to stay away from the river. With the fire built I made myself a spit to cook my food, and boil my water on. I attached some vines to the strange tree cup I found so it would stay on the spit. As for the squirrel, I had to gut it using some sharp rocks I found. Ugh it was disgusting, and I messed up most of it but I managed to get enough good meat to sustain me for now. Food and water were finally mine to enjoy. I took a drink, man boiled water is pretty bad, way too hot. But it'll keep me alive, beggars can't be choosers. I tried to construct a shelter but it was getting too dark out, and I couldn't finish. 'Oh well I'll just have to curl up by the fire for the night.' So I do just that. The next morning I woke up and decided to build a lean-to shelter. It took a while but I finally managed to get it right. Objective complete shelter. It was mostly made of branches an logs etc. that I found, with leaves aligned on the top so that rain would flow off of it. Not much of a home. But it's mine, at least until THEY find me. I need more supplies, time for another forest hunt. I venture out into the forest again. I'm not in there for long when I hear a growling noise behind me. 'What the heck is that?!' I turn to look in the direction, the noise is coming from. A gigantic creature that resembled a lion was staring right at me. It roared at me loud enough to cause my hair to shake 'This is not good.' I run away from it, but looking back it's clearly faster than me. I stop and it leaps at me to swipe its paw at me I leap over its paw and whack its face with my metal pole. All this accomplished was to make it angry. Greeeeeaaaatttttt. I try running again, and I'm a bit surprised to see it's gone. Until I look up and see a lion with BAT WINGS flying after me. 'That thing can fly!? That's not freaking fair.' It comes down trying to crush me with its singer tail 'It has one of those too?' but I dive out of the way. I can't beat this thing with brute force I need a new plan. My fire! I can lead it back there and scare it or burn it with the fire. I begin racing back to the river bobbing and weaving as I go. The monster is trying desperately to catch me. It finally leaps past me to try and stop my course and swings its paw at me. Which I jumped over again, and ran past the lion-thing heading for the river. At last I made it back, and my campfire was still burning. I grabbed a thick branch and put some flammable moss on it to make it into a torch. I lit the moss just in time for the lion-thing to charge through the area that separated the trees from my camp. 'So some predators will come down here. Good to know.' I wield my torch like a new weapon yelling and thrusting it at the lion-thing in an attempt to scare him off. He does seem a little scared of the fire however he's not scared enough to completely back off, wait why am I calling it a he, it could be a girl. Regardless it kept circling me trying to find an opening to attack. So instead I attacked. I dash forward avoiding its paws, and hold my torch up against its mane setting it ablaze. The creature roared with both pain and fright and began running around wildly trying to put out the fire. Eventually it got desperate enough to jump into the river and got swept away by the current. I wait for a while to see if it'll come back. Finally I decide to let my guard down. That thing is not coming back anytime soon. However the fight I had with the lion-thing made me realize how severely underequipped I am. I need new weapons, tools, and supplies. So that's my next priority, I'll build a hunting bow, and an axe, that is if I can. *Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia's chambers third person* Celestia sat at her desk looking for some paper, and a quill. "There you are." She said as she found what she was looking for. She quickly began writing a letter. Before she finished however a guard came in to speak with her. "Your majesty. The new ambassador is here to see you." "I will meet with him as soon as I finish this letter." "Your majesty he says it's urgent." "Alright, alright give me a moment." She said as she began writing faster. Once she finished she put the letter and quill down, and sealed the folded the scroll up ready to be sent. 'I'll send it tomorrow.' She thought. As she and the guard left the room Celestia thought to herself 'I hope I didn't leave out anything important.' *Back to Jake first person POV* OK this is frustrating. I keep trying to make a bow, but just when I think I've got the perfect shape it snaps in two. I already made an "axe" by just tying a sharp rock together with a stick using vines. I even made some arrows already, only a few of them had stone tips but, the wooden ones should do for hunting small game. However I can't test them out to see if I got them right until my bow was ready. Ugh. I try again, and again, and again, and again. Finally I decide to take a break. I sit down by a tree to catch my breath. 'Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe the wood isn't thick enough or something' After I catch my breath I go back to try again and after many attempts I finally get it. OH YEAH! I use some thin but strong vines I found as the bowstring, and go out to practice. I nock an arrow to the string aim at a nearby tree, pull back and release. OK either I need practice or I did something wrong with either the arrow or the bow cause I missed by more than a foot. Let's hope its the first one. I'm calling it a day. The next morning came and I wanted to practice some more. I practice for a few hours however there's only so much practice I can do. Right now I need to go hunting. I bring my bow with me, my metal pipe, a torch, and my arrows and head out into the forest looking for game. As I go deeper I smell something eerily familiar. 'Oh no.' Suddenly I'm surrounded by those wooden wolf creatures I've met before. There must be at least twenty of them snarling at me. I quickly draw my bow ignite one of my arrows with the torch and release it at one of the wolves. It hit him in the shoulder, I was aiming for the face, oh well I wait to see him burst into flames..... Any second now. The wood wolf rolls on the ground and the flame from my arrow goes out, and the wolves direct their attention back to me. 'Why did I think that would work? Let's see there's no way I can fight my way out of this, I need to get somewhere safe.' I look up, last I checked wolves can't climb trees, I run towards the nearest tree leaping over the wolves in my way and begin climbing quickly. The wooden wolves try to get to me but I'm way to high up for them to reach, and I'm only going higher. 'Alright I should be safe up here. I'll just wait until they leave.' Suddenly the wolves below me are surrounded in a green aura, and they begin breaking apart and merging into one giant wooden wolf. One that's tall enough to reach me. 'Oh come on! How is this freaking fair?!' The giant wolf snaps at me I leap to another branch, barely managing to grab it and pull myself up. 'What do I do. OK first don't panic, maybe I can-' Suddenly I see something fly through the air and collide with the giant wooden wolf. Whatever it was exploded in a cloud of green mist, and the wolf-thing was knocked away. A few more of those things flew at him I now saw they were some sort of bottle. They exploded on contact and the giant wooden-wolf ran off scared. I look down to try and find whoever, and whatever had just saved me, wondering if it had done so intentionally. I don't see anyone. Suddenly a voice calls out "Whoever you are please do come here. I can feel your presence very near." Whatever it was spoke in an accent that I think sounded African, but I'm not sure. I climbed down the tree since there was no point in staying up there, either this person would help me, or I'd have to run from it, and I can't do that in a tree. Looking around I saw a hooded figure come out from behind some trees. "I knew there was some new creature I would see. Now tell me what are you supposed to be?" 'Ok it seems friendly enough.' "I-" Suddenly my body jerks and I fall to my knees unable to control myself as my body begins speaking for me. I've felt this feeling before but never this strong. "I-I was created in a genetics lab located- Ddahhhh! NO!" I grab at my head screaming at whatever is trying to control me. "NO! I'm a human being! I was born in the United States of America! My name is Jake Darrison! I have a family! I have a home! I'm not just some creation from a laboratory! AAAAHHHHHH!" I struggle harder than before and now that I've said what I needed to say I can feel whatever that was fading away. My voice had sounded so monotone, and my eyes were just staring straight forward, like I was in a trance. I had felt like this back when the horses were trying to erase my memories and replace them. So this must somehow be related. Maybe this persons question of my origin had triggered something. Speaking of the creature it had recoiled from my outburst and was staring at me, with a look of what was probably confusion or fear or something. I couldn't tell through the hood. She finally spoke again. "Are you okay? That was quite a display." "I think I'm fine now I'm not quite sure what happened there." "I've never seen something like you before. Can you please tell me what you are and more." "Well like I said I'm a human." She looks at me then says "I think I see. Now come follow me." "Why do you speak in rhymes?" "It is simply the way my people speak. I assure you I am no freak." "I didn't think you were a freak I was just curious." "Now let us get to my home. In this forest it is not safe to roam." She led me through the forest apparently taking me to her home. I'm pretty sure it was a she by the voice but I can't be certain. She eventually led me to a hut that was literally built into a tree. Kinda cool, but it did have some creepy looking mask and decorations adorning the place. She noticed me staring at her decorations and said. "Please don't be scared by my decora. By the way my name is Zecora." "I'm Jake." We enter the house and Zecora takes off her hood, letting me see her face. She looks different from all the other horses I've seen, she's more like a zebra. She has some olden jewelry on too. But the grey and dark colors on her look pretty similar to the colors of the horses who held me captive. I'd better keep an eye on her just to be safe. "I'm sure you have many questions to ask. So I shall make answering them my task." She announced. "OK. What are you?" "A question I do not mind. Zebra is the name of my kind." "How did you get that wooden-wolf to run off?" "It's a very simple notion. I used a Scare-Away potion." "I see. Well thank you." She nodded at my thanks. "How did you know I needed help?" "I've known you were here for quite some time. I have become quite attuned to this forest since my prime. I sensed there was something strange here from how the animals acted. To go searching for you was how I reacted." "Interesting. Now why did you want to find me?" "Because you were something new and it gave me something to do. I wanted to find out if you were a threat and now I know you're not because we met." "OK, well I'm no threat I promise. I think that's all the questions I have for now. It's getting late is it alright if I spend the night here?" Zecora nodded her approval at me. She led me to a room where I could sleep for the night. I said "thank you" as she left, and I began thinking about whether or not I could trust her. She was different from all the other people I'd met here, and she didn't seem to know anything about me. But I've been fooled before. Well something deep down told me to trust her, and I think it's better to trust someone and be wrong, than to mistrust someone and be wrong. With that thought I lay my head down on the guest bed and went to sleep. My first comfortable sleep since I got here. *Princess Twilight's Castle in nearby Ponyville third person POV* Twilight Sparkle sat on her thrown around the new map she and her friends had uncovered. She was wondering where the map might send them next, or if it had anywhere else for them to go to. She honestly had no real plans for today other than her daily routine, which was pretty much finished already. "Maybe I'll just go see if my friends want to hang out for the rest of the day." She declared when Twilight's assistant Spike entered the room. "Hey Twilight what's going on?" Spike asked. "Nothing much Spike. I might try to hang out with the girls." Twilight answered. "That sounds good Twi-buuurp!" Spike was interrupted as a letter was sent through his magical fire. Twilight looked up and quickly grabbed the letter with her magic. Dear Princess Twilight It has recently come to my attention that a new creature is present in Equestria. Its current location is unknown however evidence suggests that it may be near the Everfree Forest. This is currently unconfirmed I will send another letter if there is more evidence suggesting its location. Until then keep a look out for unidentified creatures if they come near Ponyville. But do not search the forest until more evidence turns up. Sincerely: Princess Celestia Twilight set the letter down. "Spike call the girls."