The First Five

by Epimetheus

Chapter 2: First Sighting

No one was sure who’d said it, but they all agreed in their minds as none of them could speak yet. They all just stood there, in the endless field of rolling grass, looking around, hoping to wake up at any moment. After what seemed to be an eternity, Rachael was the first to speak.

“We should get moving. There’s a hill ahead of us where we can get a better view of our surroundings.”

The group nodded in agreement and headed out, none of them moving out of place or breaking formation. The grass reached the waist of the tallest on them, Marcus, and wading through it put them all on high alert. The last uniform thought they had was of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park, stalking their human prey in the tall grass. It took them a few minutes to reach the hill, their movements slow and deliberate, making sure they weren’t being watched, followed, or hunted. The hill was larger than they had expected, its sides rising sharply from the plain, but once at the top, they could get a commanding view of the area. In front of them, no more than 200 yards, was a forest similar to the one they had just left, but the leaves were green, not turning, and the forest itself was younger, being less dense and the trees smaller, but it still stretched from horizon to horizon. Beyond it were hills that stretched up to the sky, but the trees remained, unlike the mountains that should have been in their place. There was a stream that ran out of the forest and flowed into the plain, only to be lost in the grass shortly there after. They noticed that there was a gap between the grass the marked where the stream flowed and realized they had unwittingly walked parallel to it.

“We should set up camp here. We have a source of water, fuel, and most importantly, a defensive position.” Rachael had gone into a military mindset, something her father had instilled in her at a young age.

“I agree. We don’t know what’s in that forest or the grass. This hill is our safest option.” Marcus echoed, trying to reboot his mind. He’d short circuited when he noticed the change in scenery. The group began to remove their packs and coats, as the heat was much hotter than it should be, but Thomas began to do something strange. He started trampling the grass at the center of the hill and went out in a spiral.

“What the hell are you doing?” Megan asked. Thomas looked up to see everyone looking at him.

“I’m trampling the grass so that it’s easier to set up camp, move around, and dig in should we need to.” His tone was slightly detached and he hadn’t stopped trampling as he explained. After a moment of silence for everyone to process what had just been said.

“Good idea. Megan, Taylor, you two help out Thomas. Rachael, grab your rifle, I’m going to go gather firewood and I need you to cover me.” Marcus had resumed his role as leader of the group and his voice was filled with authority.

The others followed their orders and Marcus grabbed a large knife from his pack and headed out to the forest with Rachael while the remaining three started to trample the grass. The work on both sides was preformed in utter silence. Marcus and Rachael noticed that the forest was unusually clean. Most forests have dead logs and branches littered about, but not this one. The ground was clear of debris, the trees were trimmed and it was unnerving. Marcus quickly climbed a nearby tree and began sawing at some of the upper branches with the knife. It was a tense silence, perforated only by the sawing of the knife.

“Look out below.” Marcus warned before dropping down a branch. “Hey, there’s a lot of sap coming from this tree. This is a maple tree!”
Rachael hardly noticed. She was constantly turning, looking, and listening for anything living. After a few more branches, Marcus jumped down and climbed to another tree. He repeated the process, sawing off branches and climbing trees, for about half an hour. Once he had gathered enough wood, he pulled a ball of twine from his pocket and tied the branches into bundles. He soon had four bundles of wood ready to be taken back to camp. Motioning for Rachael to come over, he handed her a bundle and took the remaining three himself so she could fire if necessary. Once back at the hill, they found the grass leveled and the tents set up, in the same square formation as the previous night.

“Looks great guys.” Marcus commented. The three mumbled their thanks and took the wood from the other two.

“Um, Marcus, this wood is all green. It’s going to be hard to start a fire with this…” Thomas looked up at Marcus with a concerned look. Marcus, knowing his friend didn’t mean to insult his intelligence, responded with a shrug.

“That’s all there was. I had to cut it all off the trees themselves. The floor of that forest is devoid of all ground fauna, logs, and branches. And they are all maple trees. It’s almost as if it’s maintained by someone.”

Taylor, starting to untie one of the bundles so they could burn it later, said “Well, if it is, hopefully they will be able to tell us where we are.” That was the most hope anyone of them could muster at the moment. Looking at his watch, and then holding up his hand to the sun, Thomas began to smile a little.

“Well, I think we’re in the Southern Hemisphere.”

The comment caused everyone to stop and stare at him. No one moved a muscle beyond blinking rapidly at what they’d just heard.

“WHAT?!” They seemed to shout in unison.

“Well, it’s hotter here, meaning it’s a different season, it’s 3:00 p.m. and the sun should be setting in 3 hours, but it’s got another 5 to go. We are not in Kansas anymore is what I’m trying to say.” Thomas remained calm and didn’t show any sign that he realized the implications of what he was saying. The rest of the group, however, was covered in terrified looks.

“Let me get this straight. You’re saying that walking through a New England forest some how transported us thousands of miles south?!” Taylor was beginning to turn as red as her hair, her Irish temper and accent beginning to surface. “That’s completely impossible!” She was beginning to shake with rage. Seeing that this could get out of hand quickly, Megan got between Taylor and Thomas and looked Taylor in the eye before saying
“Taylor, we don’t know what’s going on, but what Thomas said is the most logical thing so far about where we are. You need to calm down before you do something you regret.” Taylor began to hiccup as she breathed and closed her eyes, the former being a side effect of her rage. The closest thing to a human having nuclear meltdown and dissolving into radioactive slag had been averted. Megan knew Taylor needed to be cut off before she built up enough steam. Her temper had once caused Rachael’s father to leap behind a couch in terror.

“Then how do we get home?” Rachael’s voice was punctuated by fear, her eyes wide in terror at the implications of Thomas’ comment.

“I don’t know.” Thomas said quietly, looking at his friends. “I don’t know.”

The forest was quiet as the two ponies walked between the trees. One, who had pink mane and tail with a yellow coat, was looking up at the trees and the scenery, while the other, cyan with a multicolored mane and tail looked bored out of its skull. Both of them had wings.

“Why are we out here exactly?” huffed the cyan pegasus. Her voice carried the sense of boredom her face displayed.

“Well, Applejack thinks she saw an eagles nest in the maple orchard, and she wants me to ask him to leave so the smaller birds can keep the pests down.” The yellow pegasus had a timid and shy voice, and she drooped her head as she spoke, almost fearful of her companion.

“I get why YOU’RE here Fluttershy, but why did I have to come along? I should be out flying and practicing!” The cyan’s complaining and loud voice caused her friend to droop further.

“Well, she found you in one of her trees again Rainbow Dash and she thought making you do something was a fair trade.” Fluttershy was almost at a whisper now. Looking over at her friend, Rainbow Dash sighed and put a wing around her.

“I’m not mad at you Fluttershy. I just don’t see the point of me tagging along when you’re working.” Her voice had become sincere, causing the pegasus next to her to raise her head back up and smile timidly. The two talked about various things as they trekked through the trees, looking in the trees for the signs of a nest. They soon reached the edge of the forest, causing Rainbow to look at Fluttershy in confusion.

“Where did AJ say this nest was?”

“Well,” Fluttershy said, unconcerned “She said it was on the edge of the forest, by the stream that runs into the plains. And the stream is… that way I think.” Pointing to her left with her hoof, Fluttershy looked at Rainbow with slight concern.

“Well, lets go then!” Her voice full of confidence, Rainbow Dash trotted off in the direction Fluttershy had indicated, who followed her friend, with noticeably less confidence. The two walked for about an hour before something caught Fluttershy’s eye. Up in the some of the trees, there were branches missing, with patches of shiny sap in their place. Stopping to get a better look, Fluttershy examined the tree from the ground.

“What’s up? Do you see the nest?” Rainbow Dash, who had been ahead of Fluttershy, had looked back when she stopped hearing her friends hoof falls. Coming up next to her friend, she followed her eyes until she saw what had caught the other pegases’s attention.

“That’s not a nest.”

“Uh huh.” All Fluttershy could do was nod in agreement.

Flying up to check it out closer, Rainbow noticed that there were more in the surrounding trees, each one missing five or six of its upper branches. This certain patch of trees had had their branches cut, with what looked like a saw. The trees had already covered the cuts in sap, still sticky to the touch. She flew between the trees, trying to find something to give her a hint or clue as to what had happened to the branches. Flying to the trees along the edge of the forest, she noticed something in the plain more confusing than the missing branches.

“Fluttershy, can you come here for a second? You should see this.” Her voice was not as confident as it had been, causing Fluttershy to get concerned. She slowly flew up to Rainbow Dash’s height, looking at her friend with concern.

“What is it?”

Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof through the tree and towards a hill in the plain.

“Do you know what those are?” Her voice faltered with terror and confusion. On the top of the hill were what looked like four structures made of a material they had never seen before. Rainbow didn’t take her eyes off the structures as she answered her friend.

“They look like tents, but the material they’re made out of, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, the closest thing that I’ve seen comparable is a rain coat, but that’s a stretch.” The two kept watching the tents, one with suspicion, the other with terror. The tents were arranged in a square, preventing the two seeing what was in the middle. Two were larger than the others, each capable of holding four ponies, while the two smaller ones could hold about three. Rainbow Dash was about to go out and check them up closer, but a second before she did, something moved by the tents.

“Did… did you see that?” Fluttershy whispered in terror. Rainbow could only nod. What ever had moved had come from inside one of the smaller tents, which faced away from them. The tent moved a second time, but not as noticeably. And then something occurred that sent chills up the spines of both pegasi. Some… thing came into view. It was noticeably taller than the tent, which came up to the center of its torso, and it was colored funny. Its arms and torso were covered in a green and black pattern, while its head and what should have been hooves were a pale pink. Its head was covered in short brown fur, and its eyes were shiny, reflecting the suns light. What ever it was, it was too far for detail to be seen.

“Fluttershy, have you ever seen an animal like that?” Rainbow fought hard to control her voice, keeping the fear at bay.

“No, never.” She responded in fear. The creature was nothing like she’d ever seen. Its shape was all wrong; tall and thin like a dragon, but various colors like a chameleon going all at once. As they watched, the creature pulled something large and black in front of its face and began to turn from right to left. When it was facing them, it stopped. This unnerved Rainbow Dash, and she pulled Fluttershy back, out of the tree and into a different one in one fluid motion. The yellow pegasus was too shocked to notice.

“Fluttershy, what ever this thing is, I have a bad feeling about it. I’m going to go get Twilight; she should know what to do. Ok?” Rainbow said as she looked her friend in the eye. Fluttershy nodded slowly. Retreating a little deeper into the forest, Rainbow sped off towards Ponyville, leaving a rainbow in her wake. Whatever that thing was, she doubted it was alone.

“See anything Thomas?” Marcus walked up next to his friend, who seemed focused on something in the trees. Lowering the binoculars, Thomas said slowly “I thought I saw some birds, with some pretty odd plumage colors.”

Shrugging, Marcus said “Well, since we have no idea where we are, I wouldn’t be surprised at anything we saw.” The group had retreated to the tents for an afternoon nap in the hopes it would calm their nerves. The girls were still asleep, but Thomas had been unable to sleep, instead he’d decided to watch the camp while everyone slept. He’d had an odd feeling, so he’d decided to take a closer look at the forest with his binoculars. The birds he’d thought he’d seen were like nothing he’d ever seen. One was pink and yellow; the other seemed to be a veritable rainbow. Looking back at his watch, he noticed that it’s been two hours since they first made camp. It would still be a while before the sun set though, meaning they had time to kill. He reached back into the tent he’d pulled the binoculars from and retrieved a book.

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I'm liking the story so far... I think I'll keep my eye on it...