//------------------------------// // Prolouge // Story: Animals // by Blaze Fury //------------------------------// "Freeze! Come with use willingly or else we'll use force!" an armored man said while standing atop a tank. Now before you say anything, it's not what it looks like. I'm anything but a criminal, the reason the military are after me and my cousin is because of our powers. We aren't like other humans because Nate and I can change forms, use telekinesis, and fire beams of condensed magic. The only reason we are being chased is because we were walking past a construction site and somehow the cables holding what looked like several tons of concrete snapped and the the cable's payload was falling to the ground where there were people running and I did the stupidest this ever. I used my powers. After that we were constantly being chased by various powers, namely the government. They wouldn't stop following us no matter where we went, and now we were backed into a corner with no way out, all thanks to me. So here we are now, surrounded by armored vehicles and armed soldiers with my little cousin huddling behind me in fear. 'God Dammit! There's no way out and it's all my fault!' I thought as I stared at them and watched as they slowly got closer. I was about to give up when a bright flash appeared behind us and I watched as all of our pursuers were covering their eyes, trying to shield their eyes from the light. I took this as an opportunity and used my telekinesis to increase the gravity around them and I watched as they all fell to the ground. With this little break, I looked behind me and what I saw confused me. About a few feet behind us was a swirling black hole with white specks in it, and all my mind could come up with was that it was a wormhole. "Hey cuz, what's that?" my little cousin asked as she pointed at the tear in space. "I have no idea Nate, but it might lead us somewhere to start over." I stated as I walked over to the nearest soldier and started looting him. While doing this I got grunts of anger as I search the man. "Cole don't you think that this is a little dangerous? Why can't we just run somewhere else?" she asked. For her age she was extremely smart, but she was also innocent and naive. "Nate I'm sorry but I'd rather take the risk of dieing on the other side of that hole than become a test subject for scientists. Plus I promised your mother I'd keep you safe." I said as I grabbed his gun and side arm. I also grabbed all of his ammo, but I couldn't fit it all in my bag I had on my back so I turned to Nate. "Hey do you think you could put this in your bag?" I asked as she walked over to me and started to put all six of the rifle magazines and three pistol magazines in her bag, but those won't be enough if we are going somewhere hostile. So I looted the rest of the soldiers but only got an extra forty-three mags, thirty-six for the rifle and seven for the pistol. I had given Nate them and told her to place them in her bag. With a nod I looked around and saw that the others were still on the ground so I turned to my Cousin. "Do we have to really steal from them?" she asked me. "What would you have me do? If we let them keep their weapons they will come after us once my spell wears off, and if we do take their ammo they will have a harder time getting us. Now come on and get into the car." I said as I heard something scraping on the ground. I turned around just in time to see the soldier that ordered us to come with him pointing his glock at me. In the matter of seconds all I heard was the discharge of his gun and felt my ears start ringing as a searing pain that ripped through my left leg causing me to cry out in pain and drop to the ground while clutching my leg. After a few seconds I heard foot steps and when I opened my eyes I saw him through my tears, standing above me as he pointed his gun at my head. "You know we could have just extracted whatever is in you even if you were dead, but I gave you a chance to surrender. Now that choice is out the window, any last words?" he said as he sported a wicked grin that sent chills down my spine. I was about to say something but heard another discharge and I watched as the soldier's hand was blown to pieces and I looked to my cousin in shock as I saw her holding a pistol, although it was shaking. I got to my feet and stumbled over to her and hugged her as she dropped the gun and returned my hug, while she sobbed into my chest. When I let her go I turned around and looked at the man as he gripped his wrist while breathing heavily. I did my best to walk over to him and when I was close to him he looked at me with so much anger in his eyes. "You fucking freak! When I get the chance I will kill you and you sister!" he said as I grabbed the pistol I got earlier and pointed it at his legs. "I don't think you will." I said as I shot his knees, rendering him handie-caped. He screamed in absolute pain and I dropped the gun and covered my ears as the pain came back. After the ringing faded I picked the gun up and motioned for Nate to follow me as I walked to one of the cars that our pursuers came up to us with, which was a Hummer H1. I saw several bodies around the Hummer and thankfully they were still alive, but I couldn't be worried about that because I needed to get me and my cousin out of here. "Cole you need to do something or else your gonna bleed out!" Nate said as I was sweating horrendously from the adrenaline leaving and the shock in my body. "No I-i'm fine.We just n-need to get out of here." I said as I opened the driver door and got in before shutting the door. Nate followed behind me but got in the passenger side, and when she got in she started to try and fix my leg. "Nate leave it alone, I'm fine." I said as I started the truck. "No your not! Stop trying to be strong for me and let me attend to it!" she yelled causing the pain in my ears to flare again. "Oww." I said as I covered my sensitive ears. "We're in a small space Nate no need to yell." I said as lowered my arms and gripped the steering wheel. "And I'll let you treat me when we're on the other side because my spell is about to end." I said as I saw several of the soldiers start to stand up and grab their guns. I decided not to stay and I slammed my foot down on the gas peddle and I was pushed into the seat as the tires spun before gripping the ground beneath us. With them now gripping the concrete I turned the truck towards the portal and we drove straight to it as the others fired at us. When we entered to tear all I saw was a black void and specks of white, and it seemed to mimic outer space in a way. I was so caught up in our surroundings that I didn't notice the tear that was ahead of us until the very last second. When we entered the second tear all I could see was green, though it was a bit of a dark green so I assumed we were entering a forest of some kind. I didn't have time to ponder as we jumped out the tear and soared in the sky before falling onto the ground. Luckily we were only a few feet above ground, though I do expect some kind of damage to the suspension. When we landed I noticed that we were on a trail of some kind as the dirt was worn down and had no grass anywhere in it, and I also noticed that the were a large amount of trees surrounded by trees and they were thick; and when I mean thick, they were thick. I couldn't see any light through them and when I looked above I saw the same thing, a very thick canopy. "Cole watch out!" Nate yelled causing me to come out of my wandering and look forward. Ahead of us was a few rocks and they seemed to be close together, too close to dodge. I slammed on the brakes and looked at the speedometer to see how fast we were going and it read '72 mph'. 'Shit!' I thought to myself because we didn't have time to slow down so I ducked to the side and held onto Nate as the truck hit the rock causing us to ramp off the side and flip. During that time in the air felt like an eternity as I held onto my little cousin while my life flashed before my eyes. I watched as my mom and dad looked at me with a loving gaze as I was just born, and then to the time I said my first words to my dad which were 'vroom vroom' and after that was my first day at school. I had to wear a beanie to school as my parents were trying to cover up my ears so I wouldn't get picked on. Next was the time I found out that I was a freak because no one else had natural a tail and animal ears on their head, I was five at the time. When I turned seven I started to have the ability to use magic as I had punched the schools bully across the cafeteria with an added telekinetic blast added to my punch. After that I practiced for the next year in secret and then came the day I that my cousins parents, namely his father, had decided to give her to the government for testing to try and get ride of her ears and tail. I had caught word of it and I grabbed my parents keys and hopped into my dads car and rushed to save her. I remember getting there and they had almost put my three year old cousin in their truck when I shot a blast of magic at them knocking them away and causing Nate to fall to the ground. After that I ran and grabbed Nate's unconscious form and headed to my dad's car, but before I was stopped as a hand was placed on my shoulder. When I looked back Nate's mom told me to tack care of her as she cried. I guess she knew that the government was just going to test on her, but I will never know the real reason though. After that the next two years flew by as we laid low and tried to avoid large areas. Then there was the day when I used my powers in public to save someone from the load falling on them but then it was a rough three years after that as we had to run from the military while they were on our tails, no pun intended. I watched as they went by and saw all the close calls and then my trip down memory lane was cut short as my head hit the middle console on the dash in the hummer. Next I was jolted upward as Nate's grip tighten on me, and the next thing I knew I felt my head spinning as the truck hit the ground and started to tumble. After about a few spins we came to a stop and landed on our wheels. I then let go of Nate and I saw that she had blacked out so I guess that was good. When I sat up I noticed that the Hummer seemed to be wrecked in the front and that the cab was ruined. I wasn't able to look around much longer as I felt dizzy and felt something wet travel down my forehead. I brought my shaky hand up and felt it and when I pulled it back my hand was dripping blood. I also noticed that Nate hadn't gotten to bandaging my leg so I was still bleeding there and add that to the fact I was now bleeding tremendously from my head I wan't able to keep consciousness much longer, so I had to get us out of the truck before somebody finds us. I pushed the door open with all my might and fell out the truck. It took me a second to gather my senses before I got back up and went to grab Nate from the passenger side of the hummer. When I got to her I pulled her out and started to drag her away from the truck, but not before coughing up some blood. "God dammit." I said as a thought came to me, 'I really hope to god I didn't puncture a lung.' I thought as I laid Nate's body about fifteen feet away, and with that done I turned around and gathered what magic I had left. To my shock it seemed I had gained more magic after leaving the tear, but it didn't matter to me as I had to place a shield spell, invisibility spell, as well as a spell to hide our ears and tails, and a spell that would hide the magic signature of the spells. I then went and erased the tracks made by the Hummer with a little spell from my favorite show, Charmed. With that done I went back over to Nate before coughing up some more blood as I fell to the ground and felt the inky world of black consumed me. Perspective Change: General POV 5 minutes ago Half a mile from the crash "How far out are we?" asked an armored pegasus mare. "About half a mile, sir." said an armored earth pony stallion. Being part of the Celestia's royal guard you weren't allowed to talk out of conduct while on duty, but there were exceptions. But for this mare she always played by the rules, and her name is Captain Strict Service. Her coat is white and she has a bright orange main and tail, though her armor enchantments conceal her real colors, and her cutie mark was a piece of parchment that was behind a sword Never has she missed a day of work and never has she disobeyed her superiors, however, her partner on this mission is a lazy stallion by the name of Pvt. Iron Shield. He has a grey coat and a dark blue main and tail, however it's covered by the enchantments, and his cutie mark is a dark grey shield and a hammer. They walked for a few more minutes until Iron decided to break the quietness. "So what do you think caused the magical disturbance, sir?" he asked. "I don't private, but what ever it was caused the princess to worry so that warrants a search for it." she said as she kept her stoic demeanor. "I understand that sir, but what do you think caused it?" he asked putting extra emphasis on the word 'you' and pointing his hoof at her for a brief second, causing Strict to look towards him with a glare. "Fine. I think some idiot was messing with something they shouldn't be touching." she said as she looked forward again. "Now if you don't mind me asking private, what do you think caused the disturbance?" she asked. "Well I think a space alien came and crashed their ship and are likely here to take us over." he said as shifted his head side to side, making Strict to shake her head. "Iron you read too many comics in your spare time; when was the last time you were with a mare?" she asked with a slight smirk. "Hey I can get a mare anytime I want! I'm just choosing to save myself for the right one that's all." Iron said in denial. "Uh huh ssuuuurrre you are." Strict said while she rolled her eyes. They then continued their trip in quiet trot yet again and it wasn't long before they came to the site of the magic disturbance. "Well here we are." Strict said as she looked around and the two searched the place on the path where the disturbance originated from and it didn't take long for Iron to give up and say defeat. "Nothings here. Come on sir let's go." Iron said as he started to walk the way they came only to be stopped by Strict. "Private I didn't say you were authorized to leave, now did I?" Strict demanded. "No sir you did not." he said in defeat as he turned back around and trotted to her side. "What else is there to find? We searched this spot and there isn't anything here." "Well did you ever think that whatever caused this left the area?" she asked as she pointed her hoof to a set of tracks made by a certain vehicle, causing Iron to splay his ears. "No sir, I didn't think of that." he said. "Well let's follow them." "That's what I wanted you to say from the beginning." Strict said as she trotted along side Iron. They followed the tracks for at least five minutes until they came to a rock that was in the way. The rock in question had black scrape marks on it's left side, but other than that there wasn't anything wrong with it. Strict continued to inspect the rock while Iron went ahead and searched. "What could have caused this?" Strict mumbled to herself as she rubbed her hoof on her chin. "Captain you may want to see this." came Iron's voice from a distance. Strict sighed and started to trot over to where she heard Iron call from. "What is it private?" she asked as she stopped next to him and looked at him. "Why are there a humans here?" he asked as he pointed a hoof forwards, and Strict turned her head and looked forward too. What she saw didn't really shock her, but it did indeed surprise her. 'Why in the name of Celestia are there humans out here? And better yet why do they have clothes on?' she thought to herself. "What should we do Cap?" Iron asked as he put his hoof down. Strict stood there for a few seconds debating on what to do, but she eventually came to a conclusion. "We bring these injured creatures back to Ponyville and take them to the vet so they can get medical attention. Then we'll file a report. There isn't that much to concern if its humans." Strict paused as she started to trot over to the two humans and looked at them at a closer distance than before. She noted that one seemed to be male and the other female, and that they were too young to be alone without their parents, or tribe. "Come over here and help me will ya." she said as she grabbed the large one with her teeth and tried to get him on her back. Iron went over and helped her and they were able to get him laying on her back, and after that Iron heaved the female onto his back. "We better get going. Princess Celestia should be setting the sun soon, and I don't want to be here in the Everfree at night." Strict said as she started heading back to Ponyville with Iron following close behind. Little did they know that by taking these two seemingly 'harmless' humans back with them would they set a chain of events to take place in the future that would change Equestria and the world of Equis.