//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Finding My Place // by Firestar463 //------------------------------// So yeah. Apparently that crazy Pony was right. I wasn’t on Earth at all. Instead, I was in Equestria. Magical alien land. I took the news pretty well. “Is he alright? What did you do?!” “Nothing! All I did was welcome him to the camp and he fell over!” Okay… as well as one would expect. I slowly opened my eyes to a most peculiar sight indeed. Or perhaps not so peculiar, considering where I now found myself. Three Unicorn heads were staring down at me with varying degrees of concern on their faces. I groaned and rubbed my temples as I pushed myself into a sitting position. “Are you well, Chris Powell?” I heard Serenity ask. “Just… Just Chris is fine,” I half-mumbled, my mouth uncomfortably dry. “And I’ll be honest, I’ve been better.” “I understand this must be a shock for you.” “No shit,” I retorted as I looked up at Serenity. I saw her gesture with her hand, and suddenly felt two more sets of hands under my arms, helping me to my feet. I glanced over my shoulder and identified my helpers as Celestia and Luna. “It has been a long evening for us all. Get some rest, Chris Pow… Chris.” As I looked back up towards her, I saw something in her eyes. Pity, perhaps? At the very least, a trace of sadness and sympathy. But just as quickly, it was gone, replaced by a mask of neutrality. “Luna, please take Chris to one of the unoccupied tents and help him settle himself. Celestia, make sure the Ponies in charge are informed of our new guest. We will talk again later, when we have had some time to rest and recover.” With that, Serenity turned and pushed her way out of the large tent. Celestia brushed past me and followed a brief second later, leaving me alone with Luna. She said nothing, but instead simply watched as I stooped down to retrieve my pack, which had fallen off when I’d fallen down. As soon as I had the straps firmly over my shoulders, she nudged me and moved towards the tent’s exit as well. As I pushed the flap out of the way, I took the opportunity to look around the camp once again. There were tents stretching away as far as I could see, with Ponies of every shape, size, and color moving between them. All around the outer edge of the camp, stretching off into the distance, was what appeared to be a large hedge wall. A pair of heavily-armored Ponies stood guard next to the edge at regular intervals. I felt something tugging at my arm, and looked over to see Luna pulling at me. She said nothing, but instead walked away deeper into the camp. I took one backwards glance at the hedge wall, where I had entered the camp from. For a brief moment, I considered simply strolling past the guards and out of the camp, leaving this entire crazy situation behind me. But no, just as when I had just emerged from the caves, the rational part of my mind quickly informed me of how bad a decision that would be, especially considering my newfound circumstances. Namely, not knowing where the hell I was or how to get anywhere else. And so, almost reluctantly, I set off after Luna, deeper into the camp. A lot of heads turned my way as I followed the princess through the camp. I got some fleeting glances of the expressions upon their faces. Surprise, I saw quite often, as well as disbelief and even wonder. Several expressed suspicion, and one or two even outright hostility. But the overwhelming majority simply stared at me with shameless curiosity. It was a few uncomfortable minutes before Luna finally stopped. She gestured towards a small tent on her left, right next to the perimeter hedge wall. I had to stoop down in order to fit under the canvas and get inside. It was about as basic of a tent as you could find, barely a step up from a sheet draped over a set of sticks. Inside was a small pole holding the tent up, as well as a rolled up sleeping bag. I felt something pressing against my back, and so I clambered forward a couple of steps to the back wall of the tent. Turning around, I saw Luna poking her head into the tiny tent. “My apologies for the cramped quarters,” she began, “but there’s a lot of Ponies and not a lot of space here.” I let out a small grunt as I sat down, followed by a sigh of relief as I finally let my heavy pack fall from my shoulders and onto the ground. “That’s not on the top of my list of concerns right now,” I tried to joke. It didn’t seem to work, if Luna’s expression was anything to judge by. “Just… just try to get some rest,” she sighed, not meeting my eyes. “I’m sure mother will want to introduce you to the rest of the camp’s command staff soon enough.” With that, Luna pulled her head out of the tent, allowing the flap to fall down and cut me off from the rest of the camp. I kicked off my boots and unclipped my knife from my belt before unrolling the sleeping bag and laying it out across the tent. The bag was large enough for me to fit in comfortably, with room to spare - maybe it had been designed for one of those Pegasus Ponies - but I was barely able to lay down in it without my toes sticking out from under the tent flap. I wiggled a bit to try and adjust myself, and though the pole in the middle made it more difficult, I finally managed to get the bag so that I was lying diagonally across the tent, with the tips of my toes brushing the tent canvas through the bag. With my sleeping arrangements taken care of, I was tempted to just pass out then and there. But no, there were a couple of other things I needed to take care of first. I slipped back out of the sleeping bag, reached into my pack and pulled out another granola bar and a bottle of water. The water I drank quickly, but the bar I was more conservative with. After all, I didn’t know what these Ponies ate. For all I knew, I might have to live off of my own rations for a while. I saved half of the bar and tucked it into a side pocket for later. With that taken care of, I opened the zipper pocket containing the clothes I had fallen into the lake with. Sure enough, they were still soaking wet. I pulled them out, along with the empty water bottle from earlier in the caves. From the other pocket, I withdrew a small towel. Not large enough to hold all of my clothes, but with the sunlight beginning to shine through the thin canvas tent, it was worth at least starting. I decided to start with my shirt, and laid it out on top of the blanket, which I had placed in a spot where the sun was shining through the canvas. Hopefully it would at least begin to dry out. The rest of my clothes, I stored back in in pack. Finally, I slipped back into the sleeping bag and pulled my phone out to check the time. 9:25. My eyes glance to the upper right hand corner to check the battery remaining. 82%. I groaned internally. I had a portable battery to charge it from, but that would only delay the inevitable. Unless I found a way home soon, my phone was eventually going to die. True, it wasn’t like I could make a call or surf the internet, but still… it had a few useful features, like the compass, or even just music or photos to remind me of home. I’d have to be very careful to conserve my battery. I pulled up the options and made a few quick changes to reduce battery consumption - turning brightness down; turning off all of the wireless connection attempts like cellular connection, bluetooth, wifi, and GPS; disabling attempts at automatic app updates; and so on. Not like any of those features would be helpful here. Again, I knew I was only delaying the inevitable, but any small delay would be nice. Nothing else of immediate importance came to mind, and so I let my head hit the padded top of the sleeping bag. Almost instantly, the exhaustion of the evening came crashing down on me, and it was impossible to keep my eyes open. Within seconds, I was fast asleep. --- It was still day when I awoke, if the light outside was anything to judge by. For a few moments, I was content to just lay there. It was cool outside, while the sleeping bag was nice and warm. But no, despite my best attempts, my mind refused to drift back off to sleep. Reluctantly, I pulled my way out of the bag and stood up as much as I could, semi-hunched over in the tiny tent. My head turned towards the shirt i had left out to dry, and I knelt down next to it. It was still damp, but not quite as wet as when I had set it out. It would still be a few hours before it was dry enough for me to swap it out with something else. My hand reached for my knife, which I secured to my belt. The last thing I grabbed was my phone. On instinct, I clicked the button to pull up the lock screen. The clock read 2:37 PM. There were no new messages, phone calls, tweets, nothing like that. Not surprising. I wouldn’t be getting any of those for a while. That’s when it really hit me. I was stranded in an alien world, with no other Humans, and I had no idea how to get back home. Or even if I could get back home. I’d known this for a few hours, of course, but seeing my phone unusually barren just really drove it home. There were no tears, no crying, nothing like that. Just a few moments of stunned silence as I tried to comprehend how badly I was probably screwed. Finally, I jerked myself back to full consciousness. “Knew going hiking was a bad idea,” I muttered. No doubt Evan and Carlos had reported me missing, and teams would be searching those mountains for a few days. Maybe a week or two. I just prayed that no one else was like me and fell into that pool. The pool… My eyes went wide as a sudden thought crossed my mind. I’d fallen into the pool in the middle of the mountains on Earth, and woken up in a pool in the middle of cave systems here on this alien world. What if the process worked in reverse? All I’d need to do is make my way back through the caves, find the pool, and jump back through, and I’d pop back out on Earth! Which left me with only the small problem of navigating that labyrinthine cave system again. Alone. With Minotaurs skulking about. Yeah. Not a good idea right now. I was drawn from my musings by a rustling sound to my left. I turned my head to see a white head poke its way through the tent flap. “Good, you’re up,” Celestia remarked. She pulled her head back out, and I saw her shadow straight up through the canvas. “Mother wishes for you to come with me. Your arrival has, unsurprisingly, shaken things up around here. I rubbed the last traces of sleep from my eyes and let out a large yawn. Truth be told, it wasn’t as much sleep as I’d liked, especially considering the exhausting night before. But I knew it’d have to do. I tucked my phone back into my pocket and pushed my way out of the tent. Celestia was waiting outside, looking a lot less ragged than the last time I’d seen her. Her hair (mane?) had been brushed free of tangles, she had changed out of her torn dress into what I could only assume was camouflaged combat clothing, and the dirt and grime had been washed from her face As soon as I stood up, Celestia turned and strode away, deeper into the camp, with me following closely behind. Considering the time of day, it was surprisingly calm in the camp. There was not nearly as many of these Ponies running around as there had been that morning, and the chaos seemed to have died down. The expressions on the Ponies’ faces as they looked at me had changed somewhat too - word must have spread of my arrival, I figured. There was far less shock, and much more curiosity. Still, it was another uncomfortable few minutes of Ponies staring at me before we finally reached our destination. Celestia stopped outside of a large tent - far larger than any other that I had seen in the camp so far, looking to easily accommodate at least 25 people or more. She walked up to the tent and held open the flap, gesturing for me to go in. After a brief moment’s hesitation, I did so. If anything, the tent looked even bigger on the inside than the outside, and was clearly a command headquarters of some sort.. Small tables and chairs lined the outer walls of the tent, with a couple of Ponies hunched over them. The center of the tent was occupied by a large, ovular table with what appeared to be a map upon it. A group of a half-dozen Ponies were gathered around the far end of the table, including Luna and Serenity - both freshened up, as Celestia was, and dressed in the same attire.. Almost immediately, every head in the tent swivelled towards me. Almost all of them quickly turned back towards what they were doing before I entered - Almost all. Serenity met my eyes, and she waved me over to them. I sensed, more than saw, Celestia step into the tent behind me, and as I stepped around the table, I heard the soft rustle of the tent flap closing shut. She followed me around the table towards the group congregated at the far end. Luna and Serenity were both there, of course. They, however, were the only familiar faces. Three of the other four Ponies were male, if their stature was anything to judge by, while the last was female. All four were wearing what appeared to be military uniforms.The female was closest to me, a Pegasus with pink fur and an unkempt blue mane that fell to rest just above her shoulders. The next was a tan Earth Pony with a slightly-unkempt chocolate-brown mane, though he lacked any other distinguishing features. The last two were both unicorns - one navy-blue, the other a dark grey, both with dual-shade black-and-blue buzz-cuts. It was apparent that they were trying to wrap up their discussion - no doubt due to my arrival. They leaned in closer and spoke more quickly as I approached, and quickly silenced themselves as I finally reached them. “Chris,” Serenity greeted me with a nod. “I trust you are feeling more rested?” “I wouldn’t say no to more, but yeah, I’m better,” I replied. “Good.” She turned and stepped so that she no longer obstructed my view of the other four Ponies. “These are the officers that managed to make it out of Everfree, and commanders of this camp. Captain Firefly,” - she gestured to the pegasus -  “captains Thunderbolt and Wild Strike” - the grey and blue unicorns, respectively - “and Doctor Caligari” - the brown one. I extended my hand towards each one in turn as their names were listed. Colonel Firefly’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she gripped it tightly, and the two captains both hesitated. Doctor Caligari, however, gripped my hand tightly and shook it wildly. “Ah, Chris Powell,” he beamed. His voice was accented - had he been Human, I would have placed it as British. “Yes, Queen Serenity was just telling us of your little encounter down in the caverns beneath Everfree. Nasty spot of business, that.” “Right…” was all I could say as I glanced between the group gathered around the end of the table. “So… what exactly is going on?” “Queen Serenity told you of the Minotaur attack, correct?” Captain Thunderbolt asked. Another easily identifiable voice. He sounded spot on like a stereotypical drill sergeant from the movies - at least, what I assumed they would sound like when they weren’t screaming. I nodded in response. “Then you have, no doubt, guessed what our end objective is” His gaze shifted over towards Captain Firefly. “Take back what’s ours. And make them pay.” “I told you, Thunderbolt, it’s not going to be that easy,” Firefly retorted. Definitely a female voice, with a great deal of authority behind it. It was clear she was used to being in charge. “Swiftbreeze has managed to stay undercover in the city, but most of the rest of the Flight Wing is captured or dead. And they have King Solaris captive. If we try anything while they have him, they’ll kill him too.” “So a direct assault is out of the question.” I had to double take to make sure it wasn’t Thunderbolt that had spoken. No, that had been the other captain, Wild Strike. They sounded almost exactly the same. Maybe they were related or something? “Perhaps we should try something… a bit more subtle than what you’re used to.” “Your Pegasi teams are done for, Firefly. You said it yourself, all dead or captured.” Thunderbolt continued. “But at least half a dozen of our Unicorn agents remain in Everfree. With their magic, freeing King Solaris should be easy.” “It would be easy,” Doctor Caliagri interjected. “Except that the Minotaurs have somehow found a way to nullify Unicorn magic. Any magical attempt to rescue the king would result in failure.” “And even if they DID manage to free the king, what then?” Firefly demanded. “This camp is the only notable resistance left. We can hardly march on the city while they still nullify our only tactical advantage, certainly not when outnumbered as badly as we are. Your Unicorns may have evaded capture by cowering in the shadows, but they’ve no better chance than the Pegasi.” Thunderbolt and Wild Strike exchanged a quick glance before glaring at Firefly. Call it crazy, but I was starting to think that they and Firefly didn’t exactly get along. A thought that became even stronger as Firefly returned the glare. There was a brief moment of silence as the Unicorns and the Pegasus stared each other down from across the table. A silence that was only broken when Serenity, in a rather loud fashion, cleared her throat. “Gentlecolts, Firefly, this is hardly the time or place for your petty quarrels. Only by working together can we hope to undo what was done yesterday.” “Of course, your highness.” Wild Strike bowed his head slightly, though his eyes remained locked on Firefly. “You’re right, of course. There are a number of matters which we must deal with. Quickly.” “The first being,” Thunderbolt continued, “what to do with this… thing.” His gaze shifted towards me, with the rest of the room following suit a moment later. “Our limited resources are already dwindling,” Thunderbolt continued. “We can barely sustain this small camp. Adding another creature to this burden will only make things more difficult. Unless, of course, it is capable of providing back in some way.” “A fair point,” Firefly nodded. “So, Chris Powell. What say you? Can you fight?” Fight? Against those mountains of fur and muscle? Head on? I wasn’t exactly in bad shape, but I doubt any sane Human would willingly go one-on-one with those monsters. I quickly shook my head. “No.” Firefly’s eyes narrowed. “Can you repair armor or weapons, or forge them?” Again, I shook my head. “No.” “Tend to the sick and wounded?” “I… I’ve no experience in that field.” “What CAN you do that’s of any use, then?” I could feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of my neck. It was clear that if I didn’t help them in some way, I’d be gone. Kicked out of the camp, out into the forest where Minotaurs and  god-knows-what-else were waiting for me. Or else they’d simply kill me here and now, and not risk the camp’s location being revealed if I were to be captured by the Minotaurs. I couldn’t make weapons. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t heal. So what COULD I do? Well… I could do that. Worth a shot, anyway. “I… I can cook.” Silence. “Cook.” That was Wild Strike that had said that. I nodded. “Cook,” I repeated. Another brief silence. “What exactly can you cook?” Bingo. “A lot of things,” I replied. “You mentioned you had limited supplies. What would I have to work with?” “Very little,” Serenity interjected. “I don’t know what your kind eats, but we Ponies typically only eat plants. We are, however, able to survive off of meat for a time, with fish being the easiest for us to stomach. Fish is rarely eaten outside of our coastal regions by civilians, and so we use it as a fairly cheap and effective ration. We’ve managed to secure a decent amount of these rations during the escape, and more can be gathered from the nearby lakes, but anything else will be very scarce.” “Fish, huh?” I muttered. “How do you keep those for rations? Fish goes bad in like… 2 days tops, unless you keep it cold.” “We magically seal the fish in crates so the contents do not spoil,” Thunderbolt replied. “That way, they are fresh when opened for cooking. So, can you work with fish?” I instantly began to think of ways to prepare a fish with limited supplies. A fish fry wouldn’t work - if anything was to be in short supply, it would be cooking oil. Sauteing might work, but again, the lack of supplies would be a problem - some oil or butter would be necessary to avoid the fish sticking to the pan. Baking would require some form of convection oven, which was unlikely to have been carried away in an evacuation. Besides which, most of the baked fish recipes I knew called for aluminum foil - another resource problem, assuming that they had even developed foil. And poaching or boiling wouldn’t work - it would develop no flavor, leaving it unpalatable. If I was trying to earn my place in the camp, I’d have to make sure the food could at least be eaten. So the safest option would be grilling. All it would require was some kind of metal grill and a fire, the wood for which was almost certainly already being gathered. Given a big enough grill, a good amount of fish could be prepared at once. Perhaps enough to keep an entire camp sated. Grilling brings out some of the best flavors, and if done right also looks more visually appealing than many other forms of cooking. True, I’d need a bit of oil or butter to keep the fish from sticking to the grill, but not nearly as much as for a fish fry or sauteing. I looked back up and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I can cook fish,” I finally said. “Among other things.” Wild Strike and Thunderbolt exchanged a quick glance, but said nothing. There was a brief moment of silence before Serenity finally spoke up. “Very well, Chris. You shall earn your keep by cooking. I hope that you can produce what you have promised.” “Me too,” Was all I could think. I knew how to cook fish, of course. Growing up in Kentucky, with a family born and raised in the south, fish was a staple in our diets. But I’d never actually done it on my own before. The most I’d done was bring the fish out for someone else to fry, or pull the fish off the grill while my uncle took a beer break. I’d have to hope that I’d learned enough through simple observation to be able to produce something edible. On the outside, however, I forced myself to maintain a calm facade. “No problem,” I nodded. “Just point me towards the kitchen and I’ll get started.” “This is either one of my best ideas… or my worst. Time to fish or cut bait.”