Chapter 2 (Going for a ride)
Chapter 2
It was well into the early afternoon before Allen had managed to gather his scouting supplies. An old canvas rucksack from his father’s Boy Scout days, a water canteen, a days’ worth of food, which mostly consisted of granola bars and sandwiches, a change of clothes, a compass, binoculars and a Swiss army knife rounded out the collection.
After getting everything packed, Allen swung the rucksack onto his back and trotted towards the front door. As he passed by the basement door, he paused for a moment as an idle thought snuck its way into his mind.
Maybe I should bring something a little bigger than a pocket knife before I go gallivanting off into the unknown.
Chewing on his bottom lip for a moment, Allen changed direction, grabbing a flashlight from an old ice-cream bucket on top of the fridge as he passed, and carefully made his way downstairs into the basement.
Shining the light around the underground room, Allen made his way over to his father’s gun safe in a nearby corner. It wasn’t much, just a large, heavy metal box that contained his father’s weapons collection, and as Allen quickly discovered, a locked, heavy metal box that contained his father’s weapons collection.
Groaning to himself, Allen rested his forehead against the cool metal door of the safe as he mentally counted backwards from ten.
Of course it’s fucking locked, and I don’t know where the damn key is, thanks Dad.
After mentally grumbling about overprotective parents, and the sheer irony of locking up something meant to help you protect yourself, Allen took another deep breath, and shaking his head, trudged back upstairs.
Guess I’m going to be MacGyvering it until further notice.
Deciding to keep the flashlight for the time being, Allen slipped it into his rucksack and resumed his journey towards the front door. Stepping out onto the porch, he shut the door behind him, after making sure that it was both locked, and that he had his house key with him.
Adjusting his pack slightly, he quickly made his way towards the barn to saddle up his horse. Well it was technically his sister’s horse, seeing as how his father had originally gotten the horse for her, but because he was the one who cared for him the most, Allen considered Reuben as his.
Stepping through the service door, Allen paused for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim light of the barn’s interior. Most of the animals were still quietly eating their late morning meal, though Allen was pleased to see that Reuben appeared to be finished with his.
Walking up to Reuben’s stall, Allen gave the horse an affectionate nose rub, Reuben whiffling a happy greeting.
“A good afternoon to you too Reuben, I see you’ve finished your meal,” said Allen as he continued to stroke Reuben’s muzzle. Giving a final parting pat, Allen said, “Alright boy, I don’t know why or how, but I don’t think we’re in Indiana anymore so I’m going to need your help to have a look around and see what we can see, alright?”
Reuben gave a happy snort in reply.
Allen smiled. “Yeah, I thought you’d be happy to get out for a nice trot. Come on, let’s get you saddled up.”
Taking his pack off and setting it down by the stall door, Allen went to go get a lead line from the nearby tack room. Stepping through the doorway, he grabbed a line and halter before then returning to Reuben’s stall.
Quickly slipping inside, he secured both the bridle and line to the horse, before then leading him out into the aisle way and threading the line through a nearby eyebolt and tying it off.
Once finished, Allen took a step back to admire Reuben for a moment, with his clean, chestnut colored coat, arched neck, and strong and compact looking physique, Reuben looked like your typical Morgan. This is to say that he looked very strong and fast, a perfect mount for a scouting mission.
Turning away, Allen returned to the tack room to grab Reuben’s saddle blanket, saddle and bridle before then proceeding to saddle him up. After a few minutes of fiddling with the saddle straps, Allen wiped the sweat from his brow, giving a satisfied nod at a job well done. Grabbing his rucksack and settling it comfortably on his back, he turned back to Reuben and quickly switched out his halter for the bridle and bit.
Giving Reuben an affectionate pat on the side of his neck for his good behavior, Allen carefully lead him outside though the open double barn doors. Once outside he set his left foot in the stirrup and swung his right over Reuben’s back, easily settling himself in the saddle with practiced ease.
Glancing around from his new vantage point, Allen felt Reuben shift beneath him as he adjusted to the new weight on his back. After giving him a moment to grow accustomed to his weight, Allen clicked his tongue and gave Reuben a tap with his heels to get him moving, Reuben obediently doing so.
As they trotted down the driveway towards the road, Allen found himself becoming more and more nervous at the thought of exploring a new and exotic location, after all, as far as Allen knew there weren’t any mountains or fairytale castles in Northeast Indiana the last time he had checked.
Speaking of said fairytale castle, a quick glance upwards, and to the north, confirmed that the castle and accompanying mountain were still there.
Yep, still there, letting go a sigh, Allen brought Reuben to a halt at the end of the driveway, just before it merged with the wagon trail. Looking around again, Allen sat there pondering which way they should go, Reuben meanwhile had contented himself with grabbing a roadside snack of grass while he waited.
To the left there’s nothing but grassland and some copses of trees here and there. So there’s little chance of running into anyone quickly if I went that way. But to my right, he swung his head around till he was staring at the distant castle.
Chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully, Allen continued to weigh his options. Finally, after several moments, he came to a decision. Giving the reins a slight upwards jerk, he said confidently, “Alright Reuben, enough grazing, I’ve made up my mind on which way we’re going to go, so let’s get going. I just hope it was the right choice,” He finished quietly to himself, before clucking his tongue, and lightly digging his boot heels into his mounts sides starting him forwards once more.
As rider and steed crossed the threshold from the comfortable familiarity of the farm and into the unknown lands beyond, Allen firmly turned Reuben to the right, his eyes steadfastly fixed upon the far distant castle.
However, unbeknownst to Allen, high above him on a fluffy white cloud, a pair of golden armored pegasi watched him ride away.
“What do you think it is Sergeant?” the younger looking pegasi asked.
His partner turned to him, and quietly said, “I don’t know, but chances are it’s probably something Discord cooked up that the Elements somehow missed when they defeated him.”
The junior guard bit his lower lip nervously. “B-but I thought that the Elements had set everything back to normal? I mean that’s what the lieutenant said before he sent us out on patrol!”
The sergeant rolled his eyes. “Son, I’ve been in the guard for going on twenty years now, and I have yet to meet a second lieutenant that can find their tail with both hooves and a map. So forget what the lieutenant said because it looks like he was wrong.”
“But how do we really know that, that...thing down there belongs to Discord?”
Glancing back down at Allen’s retreating form, the sergeant replied, “None of the maps that we have of this area list a farm being out this way, nor have I ever seen anything quite like that...being down below. On top of that we can’t be sure the Elements got everything when they hit Discord, so it stands to reason that this,” he waved a hoof in the direction Allen had gone, “could be something that Discord left behind when he lost.”
“You mean like a trap?”
The sergeant nodded. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Discord is the Lord of Chaos and Mischief after all; he could have easily set a spell that would trigger only in the event he was defeated.”
By this point, both Allen as his mount had disappeared from sight under the tree cover. Quickly glancing back to his younger partner, the grizzled old veteran barked, “Look, at this point it doesn’t matter what that thing is or what it can do, it’s heading for Ponyville and we’re the only two ponies around here who know that it’s coming.”
“But what if it isn’t heading for Ponyville? What if it heads for the Everfree instead and gets away?”
The sergeant chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek for a moment before finally saying, “Alright then, since one of us needs to stay close and keep an eye on it while the other one goes and reports, I’ll stay behind and keep over watch, and you,” he pointed a golden clad hoof at his junior, “can fly back to Ponyville with our report.”
The younger pegasi gave a single nod of acknowledgment.
“Good, now enough yapping, get flapping!” and with that he pushed his subordinate off the cloud, the young guard giving a yelp of surprise before he began frantically pumping his wings, the sergeant watching him go for a moment as he swiftly winged his way towards Ponyville.
~oOo~
The town of Ponyville swarmed like a disturbed anthill. The townsfolk rushing to and fro as they saw to their various tasks in the wake of Discord’s attack, while the Royal Guard swiftly carried out its own business.
In the middle of it all, a lavender unicorn and white colored pegasus guard were just finishing a rather long and involved conversation at the local cafe.
“And that’s it?” asked the guard.
The unicorn nodded her head in reply. “Correct, after that everything, more or less, went back to normal save for some minor clean up,” she said, waving a hoof at the current activity of the townsfolk in the background, for while the Elements had put the major stuff back to normal. They had been unable to fix those things that had been completely broken and or knocked over, which happened to be quite a few things. Moreover, most ponies were rather inclined to make sure with their own eyes that things had been set right before going back to their daily lives.
Satisfied with the mare’s reply, the guard nodded. “Very well then, Ms. Sparkle, if you have nothing further to say on the matter. Then I suppose I should go and begin filing my report on the matter,” he said, returning his helmet to its customary place on his head and packing his papers away in his saddlebags.
Standing up to leave, he gave the mare a polite bow, to which she replied, “Oh it’s no problem Lieutenant Palisade, I was happy to give my account, and please, call me Twilight.”
The lieutenant gave a grin, a final bow, and turned to leave, however, an out of breath pegasus suddenly landing in front of him brought him up short.
“S-sir, begging to report sir,” the exhausted stallion said, giving a quick and shaky salute as he did so.
Casually returning the salute, Lieutenant Palisade asked, “What seems to be the problem trooper?”
Taking several deep lungful’s of air, the Royal Guard replied, “Sir, Sergeant Wind and I were patrolling to the southwest of town, along Apple Road, and we encountered an anomaly sir.”
Her interest piped by the sudden turn of events, Twilight trotted up next to the lieutenant and politely asked, “What kind of an anomaly?”
The young guard looked to her then back to the lieutenant in confusion for a moment, as if unsure if he should respond or not to the mare’s question.
“It’s alright trooper, Ms. Sparkle here is a representative of Her Highness in this matter, whatever you have to tell me you can tell her also,” said Palisade.
Nodding in understanding, the trooper replied, “Very well sir. As I was saying, Sergeant Wind and I found an anomaly outside of town, and the sergeant thinks that whatever it is, that Discord had something to do with it being there.”
“Go on,” came the reply.
Nodding, the trooper continued, “While the sergeant and I were not fully sure of whether or not this anomaly is in fact something Discord cooked up, we do know that whatever it is, it is not Equestrian in origin, and the timing is too close to be a coincidence.”
“Can you describe what you saw sir?” asked Twilight, a quill and parchment now floating beside her in a magenta colored aura of magic.
Blinking slightly at the sudden appearance of quill and paper from thin air, the trooper quickly regained his footing by chalking the incident up to unicorns just being unicorns.
Giving another nod, he said, “We found a farm a little ways to the south of Sweet Apple Acres,” when Twilight opened her mouth to inquire as to why this would be unusual, the guard, perceiving her question, quickly hurried on, “normally this wouldn’t be a cause for alarm, but in this case the farm isn’t on any local map. In addition, it doesn’t fit any of the local styles of construction either. Moreover, it appears to have been around for a while, suggesting that its construction isn’t recent.”
While he was speaking, Twilight was furiously writing while the lieutenant calmly watched the exchange from the sidelines. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Ms. Sparkle, do you think that I could have a copy of your notes for my report later?”
Twilight gave a distracted nod as she continued to write, before pausing a moment and saying, “Did you happen to see who owned this farm?”
Licking his lips, the pegasus replied, “We think so ma’am, though I must say it was the strangest creature that I have ever seen in my life.”
“Describe it for me if you would please,” she asked politely.
“Sure thing,” he said, before taking a moment to close his eyes as he tried to recall the mental image of the farms denizen.
“It was quite tall, probably taller than even Princess Celestia herself, horn included,” both Twilight and Lieutenant Palisade shared a worried look. The trooper continued, “It looked like somepony had taken a Saddle Arabian and fused it with a hairless and deformed Minotaur, both the sergeant and I were too far away to really get a good look at its features, but I can say for certain that it wasn’t anything natural.”
Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof as she re-read the last few lines of her notes. Humming thoughtfully to herself she absently replied, “It could be a centaur, but nopony has actually seen a centaur outside of a mythology book.”
The trooper shook his head in reply. “No ma’am, I doubt a centaur has two heads.”
Giving the trooper a mildly disturbed look, she asked, “Did you say two heads?”
He nodded. “Yes ma’am, one at the very top of the creature and the other jutting out from the barrel. Though like I mentioned before, both the sergeant and I were fairly far away from it and therefore didn’t get a good chance to inspect it before it ducked under the tree cover of the apple orchard. So really, it could have been something else entirely.”
Twilight hummed thoughtfully to herself as she continued to review her notes, the lieutenant meanwhile had turned to the trooper and, giving a salute, said, “Very good trooper, you did well, am I to assume that your sergeant stayed behind to follow the creature?”
“Yes sir, last I knew of it, the thing was heading for Ponyville via the south road.”
“Very good, if you have nothing further to report, you are dismissed to go get some chow and rest.”
“Thank you sir!” and with a quick salute, the young pegasus was gone in a flurry of feathers.
The lieutenant watched him go for a moment before turning to a nearby guard and saying, “Corporal, gather a platoon together, I want an even mix of pegasi and unicorns, along with a pair of Rangers. The rally point will be the local schoolhouse near the southern mill pond.”
The guard gave a quick salute and quickly took off to carry out his superior's orders. Lieutenant Palisade meanwhile had donned his helmet and made ready to leave when a lavender colored hoof on his withers stopped him.
“Yes Ms. Sparkle?” he asked a questioning look on his face.
“I would like to accompany you and your stallions, if that is alright,” she said, a determined look on her face. “If this is something that Discord is responsible for, then you might need help in subduing it.”
The lieutenant stood there for a moment, as he thought over Twilight’s offer. Finally, after a few tense moments he nodded and said, “Alright, while it might not be Discord himself, I won’t turn down the help of a Beta level unicorn should things get out of hoof, though I expect you to do as I tell you and to not argue, is that understood?”
She nodded.
“Good, gather what you need, we leave in ten minutes,” and with that he turned and left.
Ten minutes later saw Twilight rushing up to the local schoolhouse, sweat running down her face as she rushed towards the meeting point.
Noticing her arrival, Lieutenant Palisade gave an amused smile at the sight of the out of breath librarian.
“I’d recommend that you set up an exercise regimen for yourself Ms. Sparkle, having a healthy body is just as important as a healthy mind.”
Panting, she retorted, “I...*puff*...thought...*puff*...that I...*puff* told you...*puff*...to call me Twilight.”
“You did, but I feel that now is not really the place for informality Ms. Sparkle, I need everypony to be at their best, and informality breeds sloppiness. You understand I hope?”
Having finally managed to gain some measure of her breath back, Twilight replied, “I guess, so what happens now?”
“Now we wait for one of the scouts to report back on the creature’s locatio-”
“Sir, we found it!” shouted a pegasus as he came in for a quick landing. Giving a quick salute he continued, “Trooper Fairweather and I spotted the creature less than a mile south of Sweet Apple Acres sir!”
“Is it still using the road?”
The guard gave a nod in reply.
Giving a satisfied smile, Palisade said, “Excellent, then we can go ahead with plan Alpha,” Turning to address the rest of his troopers and shouted, “Alright you lot, time to earn your pay! Let’s move out!”
With the well-honed precision that only comes from practice, the platoon, plus one lavender unicorn, got moving south, intent on finding out whether the unknown creature making its way towards Ponyville was a threat or not, and that if it was, to stop it, no matter what.
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Don't be too stupid, don't be too stupid, don't be too stupid, don't be too stupid, don't be too stupid, don't be too stupid.......
I'm just hoping he doesn't confuse the idiot ball with his buttocks like last time.
Ditto for the ponies as well.
Great to see you post more of this.^^ Took a while, but very good to see more.:D
Oh, by the way, since this is just after Discord's defeat, I'm guessing you'll involve Changelings MUCH later on in the story?^_^
Interesting, interesting. Still needs some revisions, but I'll keep an eye on this one.
I can already smell the stupid from here.
Accusations of slavery from the ponies in regard to the human riding the horse. "Sir, that ape thing mind wiped that poor pony!"
Glad the plane is gone, since I like stories where the human is eased into the insanity. In version one of this story, you had Allen screwed from the get-go. I do have high hopes for version two.
Let us hope that the Royal Guard actually recognizes Allen and Reuben as two separate creatures from a good distance, and that they don't try to think that Reuben is a fellow sapient equine the way a fuckwit would say an orangutan is on a human's level.
And that Allen doesn't go along as the doormat that accepts every dirt.
Everyone seems to be a bit more saner this time around. So far so good.
Just this. other than that, the chapter was good
5656626 Forgot the italics on locked, other than that it was supposed to read like that.
5656626 This? This is my LASER GUN!
5656787 i forgot about this... i will be reading again.
So it begins. Please don't bring any extra monkeys in...
I like this version without a plane. Looking forward to more.
I do confess to being one who blasted the original version of this story for the sheer mindless stupidity of the human character. (The things he did with the airplane were incredibly brainless and that behaviour cannot be blamed on Discord.)
This rewrite however, shows promise of being much much better. At least the human is showing a little bit of reasoned thought. That's all I can ask.
So far so good. I'm looking forward to seeing where this rewrite takes us.
I just noticed this is back up, but it says i have read the first chapter.. did you rewrite the first chapter or is it the same?
5704171 There were revisions done for the first chapter, so to avoid confusion, I'd suggest re-reading it.
5704206 okie doki loki!
Alright, I read the original when it was up and didn't think it was too bad, but now I've finally been bothered to read the re-write and I definitely prefer it. It's a shame it's been so long since an update though but I'll hold out hope that you're just working on an absolutely smashing chapter.
6185650 I wouldn't call it "smashing" per say, I've just been very busy, having to write a small books worth of papers for college, plus landing a temporary factory job that would leave me sore and tired each day, on top of working on my family's farm has left little time or energy/motivation, for me to write anything as of late. But never fear, chapter 3 is currently done and undergoing final editing, while chapter 4 is currently in the works right now. Expect an update soon.
Cheers.
6185873 You're quite welcome, and I was only kidding about the smashing chapter. And I understand the strain, I've just finished another year of my university degree and after a lot of work I'm averaging a first, so like I said I understand and empathise. But now that I have bothered to read the re-write it's encouraging to hear that more is on the way, I look forward to seeing it.
I just started rereading after the rewrite, and I'm enjoying it so far, though I did find a grammar error:
"only two pony’s around here" - should be ponies, since it's plural.
6202567 Thanks for the catch, the issue is now fixed.
Why would Twilight believe that he could be a centaur, if the description told her he was a biped? Centaurs have the upper body of a human, and the rest of the body is that of a horse.
6304257 because 'fused it' is ambiguous.
You can fuse a horse and minotaur so as to get a classical centaur.
Ah, so that's where we are in the timeline. Right then, carry on.
Dialogue is a little clunky, but it has my attention.
He arrives in Equestria, and first contact is while he's riding a horse
OH GOD NO!
That’s the only clue that this was the same story I started reading all those years ago. I came across this, two chapters read and I’d apparently downvoted it. Well I reread those chapters and don’t see anything wrong.
Downvote removed.
I love it when human fics have actual horses in their stories, it's gonna get awkward lol
I like the way the guard were portrayed, they're very competent here.
MADE IN HEAVEN