//------------------------------// // First Contact // Story: Tribes Ascend into Equestia // by Manticore328 //------------------------------// Tribes Ascend into Equestria Jenkins wheeled around to run but got hit from behind by whatever the creature was and was sent hurtling out of the cave and hit the side of the wall as he flew out. Pain shot through his arm but quickly disappeared as the suit injected him with stimulants to numb the pain. He decided to run not knowing what this thing was so he turned on the night vision mode of his visor and started to jetpack up the mountain. Running out of energy he landed and started sprinting upward and fired a disk from his Spinfusor behind him. He heard the thing roar in pain but keep coming. “Well whatever this thing is its hide is strong enough to resist super-heated plasma…which isn’t good.” He thought to himself. He could hear it getting closer and started to jetpack again until he got hit by something from behind and was sent rocketing up the slope. Pain racked his body but he used his upward momentum given to him by the blow and his jet pack to speed up the side of the mountain to the top. On the other side he saw his savior. On the top of the mountain under a rocky shelf there was a smooth gravel slope that descended into the forest on the other side, it only had a few obstructions. Jenkins flared his skies to life he hit the slope and begin to pick up speed. He could still hear that thing coming for him but then he heard the sound breaking of rocks behind him and something that was a cross between a yelp and growl. There was a roar as the rock shelf collapsed under the creature’s weight and an avalanche was started. Jenkins didn’t even give it a second thought though. Now going at two hundred miles per hour he had nothing to worry about. That was until he got back into the forest and hit a tree. “I really got to stop running into things.” Jenkins groaned as he got up. He then started in the direction away from the mountain hoping to distance himself from whatever had attacked him. After several hours of wandering he noticed the forest was getting less dense and dawns light was seeping its golden tendrils through the branches of the trees. “Well that’s a good sign.” He thought “Maybe now I can get out of this forest and get some food.” He hadn’t had dinner the night before or breakfast and the last time he had eaten had been before his deployment the day before. His mind wondered as he thought about a delicious breakfast until he was snapped back to reality by the sound of a branch snapping behind him. He pivoted on his heel while taking out his Eagle pistol and aimed it. However what he saw nearly caused him to drop the gun. Standing in front of him no taller than his waste was some type of horse thing with a bright pink mane and yellow fur and what appeared to be wings folded to its sides. It hid one of its eyes behind its mane when he reeled around and jumped and fluttered its wings a little as if startled by his sudden movement. He thought to himself he could kill this thing and roast it but something about those large cerulean eyes were oddly disarming. It pointed with its hoof at something to his left and said something inaudible. He looked to his left and saw nothing. “What is it?” He asked the horse thing though as he thought about it the thing was too small to be a horse, maybe a pony. The pony tilted its head to one side a little at what he said then pointed again to his left, then pointed to its fetlock with its other hoof. It took a few seconds for Jenkins to realize it was motioning to his arm. He looked down and saw that the armor and under armor had been stripped from his forearm and while some of it had scabbed over was still bleeding. “Just what type of pain meds does this thing give me?” He said out loud. He knew that the suit gave painkillers to make combat in intense situations easier and less painful but this was just ridicules. He remembered when that monster had swatted him out of the cave last night and his arm hit the rocks on the way out. The beast must have striped the armor off then the rocks cut into him. But thanks to the meds he didn’t feel a thing. He probably would have bled to death not even knowing that he was bleeding if it wasn’t for various other medical drugs. One of which was a stimulant which caused the body to produce more blood when the suits pilot was injured. Jenkins was pulled from his stupor as he felt a tugging at the under armor at his waist. Looking down the yellow pony had gently tugged a few times at the under armor then motioned to his arm and then started to trot away. It seemed it wanted him to follow it but this was an alien after all. It seemed worried about his wound though so he followed it cautiously with his Spinfusor at the ready. It gave an odd look at the Spinfusor but continued on. After walking for about ten minutes they came out of the forest near a little hill that had animals scampering everywhere around it. Only until the pony started walking toward the hill did he notice it had windows, a door, and bird houses all around it. “Is this the things home?” he wondered “And how does something with hooves make windows and doors?” He pondered this only for a second or two until the pony opened the door and motioned for him to go inside. He did cautiously and looked around. There was furniture like a couch, some tables, and even a fire place. But what was most surprising to Jenkins were the little critters everywhere. Some were eating food pellets out of bowls on the ground, some were playing, and other returning to their homes built into the walls and ceiling. The pony walked over and patted a couch as if wanting him to sit. The couch had small legs and would probably break under the weight of his armor so he just sat down on the floor and watched the Yellow pony hover away using her wings. She soon returned this time on hoof, and was caring things in her mouth and with her wings. She set them down then set about cleaning the wound and then bandaging it. It then said something in the inaudible gable that must be its language and then looked at him expectantly. “Um…th-thanks.” Jenkins stuttered. He was a bit over whelmed at how this pony had cleaned and bandaged the wound without hands. It wasn’t just that though he was overwhelmed with. It was pretty obvious now that where ever he was, it was not known to humans and they may all think he is dead.