The Encounter

by Winter_Solstice

Fear; Assistance

"Sweet Celestia, what was that?!” Applejack whispered urgently to herself. She took a few moments and calmed down, trying to think clearly. She had to do something! Whatever it was, it was still out there, somewhere on her farm or close by. If she hurried, she could get Twilight to send for the Royal Guards, and they could track it down before it hurt somepony. But would Twilight believe her?

Quickly she ran up the stairs to Big Mac’s room, and quietly knocked on his door. After a few moments he opened it and looked annoyed, but his expression changed to concern when he saw the look in her eyes.

“AJ? What’s wrong?”

“Big Mac, there’s something outside, something I’ve never seen before. I need you to watch Granny and Apple Bloom; I’m going to go wake Twilight and get some help.”

“What is it? What did you see?”

“I can’t explain, but it scared me more than I’ve ever been.”

“Then I’m coming with you!”

“No! Stay here, lock the door after me, and watch the family! I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

“But—”

“No 'buts'! Just lock the door after me!” She quickly turned and ran back down the stairs as Mac followed her. He put a hoof on her shoulder just as she started out.

“Be careful.”

She nodded. “I will, just keep everypony safe!” She paused a moment to look around, then bolted out and down the path, running as fast as she could.

Big Mac watched her go, then shut and locked the door. He then set himself to watch. Nothing was getting through to his family, not while he still breathed.

Applejack ran full out until she made it to the castle. Panting, she hammered on the front door, and called out, “Twilight! Spike! Open up!”

After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked open, and there stood Twilight yawning and rubbing her eyes.

“Applejack? What’s—she yawned—wrong?”

“Twilight, I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I just saw something at my door, something I’ve never seen before. We gotta go catch it!”

“Wait, slow down…what was it you saw? Some kind of animal?”

“It was standin’ on two legs and it had tiny eyes and sharp teeth! I don’t mind sayin’ I got pretty scared!”

“A…minotaur?”

“It weren't no minotaur! Can we please get Celestia or Luna to send some guards and get that thing? Who knows what it can do?”

Twilight considered. Applejack’s fear was genuine, so she definitely saw something. But there must be a logical explanation.

“Applejack, please: just take a moment and tell me exactly what happened. I need as many details as you can remember.”

Applejack sighed, but quickly recounted how she’d heard loud knocking, and a voice calling out. She’d gone down and opened the door, only to see that tall creature looming in her doorway.

“…and then I told my brother to watch over the family, then came an’ got you! It’s probably run halfway through the Everfree by now, so if’n we’re gonna catch it we have to hurry!”

“Wait, Applejack, back up: what did the creature do when it saw you? Did it try to get in?”

“No, it probably screamed louder than I did, and run off!”

“Then…it saw you as a danger as well. And you say it ‘knocked’ on your door? It must be intelligent.”

“Don’t that make it worse if it’s smart? That’ll make it harder to catch!”

“It may not be a threat, despite its appearance. Based on what you’ve told me, it chose flight rather than confrontation. But you’re right, we need to find it. Come in, I’ll have Spike send a letter to Princess Luna.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My God what is this place?

I didn’t stop running until I made it to the cover of some trees. What if there were more of those freaky aliens? Then that would mean I’m definitely not where I’m supposed to be.

Maybe I’m even not on…I quickly pushed that thought away. It was impossible; the nearest planet possible for habitation was hundreds of light years away, or so that science show had said. There was no way I’d traveled that distance in the few hours I’d been sleeping! So there had to be another, more plausible explanation.

Just then my stomach growled. On top of everything else, I was now hungry. I had to do something, but I’d never even fished, let alone brought down any game. My only choice was to find something on the ground, or maybe some fruit. Then I remembered the orchard, but that would mean going back to that farm. I wasn’t that hungry yet.

I suddenly noticed birdsong, and in the distance, the sky was getting lighter. That meant it was almost dawn. How long had I been out here? Then I saw something that rocked me to my core. The moon. That bright, oddly large moon, simply moved and went below the horizon! How could a celestial body move that fast?! And what kind of tidal forces would it create? Not for the last time, I wondered where I was, but if this is Earth there’s something very, very wrong.

As I get to my feet, I take a step and then scream. My luck had run out; I had stepped on something sharp. I quickly examined my foot. There was a large gash, and it was bleeding. I searched the grass for the culprit and found a sharp stone. I picked it up and threw it angrily away. Now I couldn’t run, and was becoming desperate. No shoes, no glasses, no food…and now lame. In a place with a moon that had a mind of its own, as well as mutant horse creatures, or at least one.

I struggled back to my feet and tried to put my weight down on my foot. I hissed and quickly drew it back up as I leaned on a tree. I couldn’t use the whole foot, but I could go tiptoe. I just needed something to lean on. I looked around for a stout branch. Finding one, I used it to slowly hobble away.

As I went along, I thought about my situation, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. This is all crazy! I didn’t ask to be brought here, wherever this is. That creature had been scary, but now that I thought about it, it was small and had been scared of me too. It had been speaking some kind of language, so it had to be sapient. If it was sapient, maybe I could somehow reason with it, or others of its kind.

There was so much I didn’t know, but I did know I didn’t want to die out here. If I could find one of those things alone, I would try to get it to help me. If it didn’t, I would make it!

As I hobbled along the path, I looked up and saw what appeared to be a small cottage. A stream flowed right in front of it, and there was a bridge that went over it. I got off the path and hid behind some bushes, and watched the place in the growing light. I could see a fenced-in enclosure and a small building that looked like it had chickens in it. Where there are chickens, there’s probably eggs. I’d never eaten a raw egg before, and any other time the thought would have made me queasy, but I was rapidly running out of options. Suddenly the door to the cottage opened, and another of those horse-things came out. This one was as small as the first one, with a yellow coat and a long pink mane. Pink? Yellow? Since when are horses that color? It only added to the weirdness.

While I watched it, it went into the chicken enclosure and threw some feed on the ground. The wind shifted, and I could hear what had to be singing. The thing was singing to the chickens. Other than the chickens and a few other small animals, it appeared to be alone. This was my chance. Quickly as I could, keeping ahold of my stick, I crawled over the bridge and tried to sneak up on it, just like I’d seen those army guys do in the movies. I made it as far as the fence before one of the chickens saw me, and squawked. I stood and brandished my makeshift weapon, then yelled. The horse-thing turned and saw me. Its eyes got even bigger as it screamed, then those eyes rolled up into its head and it fainted.

I stepped over the fence, stumbled up next to it, and poked it with my stick. It didn’t move. It was definitely out, so I took the opportunity to get my first good look at one of these things. Besides the odd color, I noticed markings on its butt that looked like butterflies. It must be some kind of tattoo, but I had no idea if it meant anything. More curiously, I finally saw a detail that had escaped my near-sighted eyes before... it had wings! What kind of creature is this? A...pegasus? It can't be! Those things only exist in myths! The unreality washed over me, and I had to pause for a moment while I stared down at it. Now that I could take my time and really see one, the creature looked sort of cute. When I realized that, I started to feel a little bad for scaring it. I tentatively reached out and touched it. Its fur was soft, and its mane wasn’t coarse like I’d seen on other horses, but it was like a girl’s. Then it struck me: whatever this is, it's a female! I felt even worse.

I couldn’t leave it out here in the dirt, so I tried to pick it up. It wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be, so I cradled it in my arms and slowly limped up to the house. I managed to turn the knob without dropping…her…ducked and went through the doorway.

I was amazed at the sight. Not only did this look like a regular house, albeit smaller, this place was a zoo! There were small cages everywhere, and I could see chipmunks, squirrels, ferrets, and one tiny white rabbit. I stared at it, it stared at me. Then it looked at the horse in my arms, and screamed in what had to be rage! It flew at me, and latched onto my pajama leg!

“Ow! Hey, quit it!” I yelled. If it had been bigger, I might have been in trouble. As it was I shook it off, and it fell with a piece of my pajamas in its teeth.

“I’m not going to hurt her!” Why was I talking to a rabbit? The rabbit growled, and hunched its back, preparing to spring again, but I slowly side stepped as best I could over to a couch, and set the horse down on it. I turned and raised both hands to the rabbit, trying to show I was harmless. Then it did something I’ve never seen an animal do before... it scowled, scowled, then sat back on its hind legs and pointed to the door! I did a double take as it pointed more forcefully once again. This was no ordinary rabbit.

Just then I heard a groan behind me, as the horse slowly sat up. The rabbit seemed to forget me as it ran to her and hugged one of her legs. I limped away and watched them. She saw me and stiffened, then shrank back into the couch. I raised my hands again, palms out, and hoped she’d understand my meaning. Then she quietly spoke.

What are you?

I blinked. Did…did I hear that, or was it in my mind? Her verbal words, her language, was unknown to me, but somehow the meaning had gotten through. Then she looked down at the foot I was favoring.

You’re hurt.

My stomach rumbled.

And you’re hungry.

All I could do was nod, as I didn’t trust myself to speak. She got up and motioned towards the couch. Not knowing what else to do, I limped over and sat down. The rabbit growled at me again, but she spoke quietly to it as she walked by, and it backed off, but still kept its eye on me. The other animals walked or hopped cautiously up to me, sniffing and staring. I sat still. If they all decided to turn on me, this could be bad. I’d at least be bitten a dozen times, and I didn’t want to hurt them. But they all seemed to take their cue from the horse girl and the rabbit, so I wasn’t attacked.

The horse returned with a box that had a red cross on it. I couldn’t read the words, but it looked like a standard first aid kit. She spoke to the animals again, and a few of them went and came back with a bowl of water and some towels. This was amazing. Once she had the water, she gently washed my wounded foot, and then opened the first aid kit and applied some ointment and a wrap bandage. I could only stare at her. This was the first act of kindness I’d experienced here, and it was a bit overwhelming. I felt tears beginning to start, but I quickly wiped them away. Even though she was kind, I didn’t want to show weakness. Once she was done, she spoke again.

My name is Fluttershy. Who are you?

This form of communication was still frightening to me, but I managed to stutter, “I’m Charles.”

Char-Elles?

Close enough. “Yes.”

She smiled, then left me again. A few moments later, she returned with a large plate of fruits and set them on my lap. I dug in. I could have really gone for a cheeseburger, but these would do in a pinch. The horse…I mean, Fluttershy, watched me eat without speaking. Once I was done, she took the plate away, then came back and sat down in front of me.

Now, tell me all about yourself.

Comments

[zeldawolffang]

this has my attention :P

[PegaSeraph]

this has my attention to

[paladinwolf]

Very questionable decision making by the protagonist, I mean out right threatening a talking being for no reason? While he was slightly injured? I could have seen the scene going more like, "He limped closer to the yellow pony-like creature, leaning heavily on the makeshift crutch. When he got nearer to the equinoid, he called out, "Hello? Can you help me?" The pony turned and looked up to the extremely tall creature before it, without a sound her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted dead away. The human rubbed his head, "That went better than I thought, little rough but at least it didn't scream." He then proceeded to carry her to the cottage.

Or something along those lines, the whole jump out with a stick screaming didn't strike me as intelligent nor something a real person would do in said situation. Still an interesting read, now onto the next chapter...

[Winter_Solstice]

6744406
At this point Charles was hurt, scared and desperate. He wasn't thinking clearly, and he soon regrets his actions.

Thank you for your interest in my Dark tale, I hope there are no further disappointments.

[Jack Kellar]

Good use of Omniglot Fluttershy, and even better of Reasonable Twilight. I'm enjoying it so far.

[Truthseeker]

If she hurried, she could get Twilight to send for the Royal Guards, and they could track it down before it hurt somepony. 

So... instead of being logical or even remotely rational, A.J. just automatically thinks that a strange creature is there to do grave injury.

Thank you purple book-horse for using your brain.