Chapter 1
The first thing that I remember is water.
I opened my eyes and saw water. All around me, in every direction, nothing but water. I had no idea how long I’d been submerged, but it had clearly been too long. My lungs were already burning. I needed air. I was drowning. And I was tumbling head over heels. I managed to stop my spinning, but couldn’t tell which way was up. I had no choice but to pick a direction and pray it was the right one. I flailed and started swimming straight in front of me.
My hand bumped a rough rock wall barely a few seconds later. I clutched at it and scrambled to drag myself upwards. I didn’t have long. My legs and arms were lead weights, dragging me down. My body felt like it weighed a ton. I opened my mouth…
And gasped as my head finally broke the surface.
I pulled myself over to the other side of the pool I had awoken in and simply lay there, half-in and half-out of the water, coughing and spluttering. Finally, I managed to get my breathing under control. I dragged myself completely out of the pool and collapsed face-down on the hard stone floor
I don’t remember how long I just lay there in the darkness. It could have been only a few seconds, or a few minutes, or an hour or more. I remember that my clothes were still wet when I finally pushed myself back to my feet. I nearly fell over again as I registered an unexpected weight on my back, and only barely stopped myself from toppling back into the pool by grabbing onto a small nook in the stone wall. Somehow, my bag had stayed attached to my back during that whole ordeal.
It was pitch black. I shrugged my bag off and unzipped it, rummaging through it for a moment before pulling out what I was looking for - A flashlight, which I quickly clicked on. Thank god I’d chosen to buy that waterproof bag. Everything inside was still perfectly dry, even after my near-drowning
Speaking of… how exactly had I ended up almost drowning?
---
“C’mon Chris!” A voice in front of me called out. “You’re not getting tired already, are you?”
“Me?” I laughed and wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead. “Not a chance, Carlos. Just pacing myself is all.”
“You call it pacing, I call it putzing,” another voice called out from even further ahead. Carlos and I turned our heads just as Evan poked his out from the treeline above us. He shot us both a mocking grin. “You’re just as bad as he is, Carlos.”
“Can it. I’m the one hauling the grill.”
“And I’m the one hauling the tents. You're running out of excuses, and we’re running out of daylight. At this rate it’s gonna be dark by the time we get to the campsite.”
Carlos and I both sighed and pushed onwards as Evan ducked back into the treeline. We knew he was right, but even though I wasn’t going to admit it, I was getting tired. Still, it was taking us longer to get to our campsite in the middle of the valley than we had expected. The weather certainly hadn't helped. It had rained all of last week, and half the ground on the mountainside had been turned to mud. I was just thankful that the campsite was in a rocky section of the mountains. Wouldn’t be much mud there.
I pulled myself up a rocky ledge and stopped to help Carlos up. He nodded his thanks, and we both set off after Evan. I slowed down and pulled the map of the area out of my pocket. It was crumpled and a bit damp from sweat, but still legible. We’d only just barely made it to the top of the trail that led down into the valley. That trail twisted and turned on itself all over the place. I groaned internally. We still had a good ways to go before we reached the campsite.
We’d agreed that weekend that we needed some time away from everything. Midterms had just finished, and fall break was in session, so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go for a bit of hike, like we used to do as teens with our parents. Carlos had picked out a nice spot to camp out for a few days in the mountains. So off we went, ready to enjoy a weekend away from school and studies and work and all that crap.
I could tell we had reached the other side of the mountain. The ground was starting to slope downwards, sometimes pretty steeply. The mud didn’t help us as we tried to keep our footing on the steep inclines, and more than once I saw Carlos or Evan take a tumble for a few yards before stopping themselves against a tree.
“A bit dangerous going down like this, don’t you think?” I called out as Evan pulled himself up from his latest fall.
“Ah, quit your whining,” he yelled back. “It ain’t really hiking till you’ve got some dirt on ya.”
“If you say sooOH SHIT!” I felt the ground beneath me giving out under my weight. Evan and Carlos were both shouting at me to grab hold of something. Trouble is, there wasn’t anything around.
I finally managed to grab onto a root of a small tree and stop my fall just as my legs went over the edge of a cliff. I risked a glance behind me. There was a large pool of crystal-clear water underneath me. Well, not crystal-clear anymore, considering all the dirt and mud I had shoved off the edge of the cliff during my fall.
“Hold on Chris, I’m coming!” I heard Carlos yell out. He slowly started making his way down the landslide path as I kicked and scrabbled at the cliff wall with my feet to try and find some hold. I remember hearing a loud cracking sound. I guess the root broke, or the tree was uprooted by my weight. The last thing I remember is screaming as I fell down the cliff. I hit the water…
---
“Damnit all to hell.” That’s all I could think to say as I rubbed my temples. Sure, I was lucky to be alive, and I was thankful for that fact. But looking around, I could tell that this was far from the same pool that I had fallen into. For starters, the pool I had fallen into had been… Well, outside. This one wasn’t. I seemed to be in a cave system of some kind. “Must've been some kind of current that sucked me in here…” I murmured.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the now-soaked map, tossing it aside. It wouldn’t be much use to me inside a cave. I instead reached in for my cell phone, but my fingers found only fabric. Fortunately a quick rummage through my bag found it. Probably a good thing it wasn’t in my pocket. I pressed a button, and thank god it turned on. It survived the fall. Seems luck wasn’t completely against me today.
Only one problem - no signal. Not surprising, considering I was in a cave. I growled and shoved my phone back in my pocket.
So, I was stuck in a cave system, with only one known way out. That way being back through the pool I had almost drowned in, against a current that could quite possibly be too strong for me to fight against. Brilliant. On the plus side, I had a bag loaded with survival gear. I aimed my flashlight at the bag and opened it again before pulling out a new set of dry clothes. Yeah, I was still half-soaked, but I managed to get most of the water off before donning my new set. I threw my wet clothes into a spare zipper pocket
I then aimed my flashlight at the bag again and drew the final item I was looking for - my knife. 4.5 inches long, straight-edge, 440A-grade stainless steel. Same stuff that surgeons use in their tools. Clip-point design, sharp enough to split a hair. Perfect for skinning a deer. Or potentially defending myself against anything else that might call this cave home. I clipped the sheathe onto my belt and gripped the knife in my right hand, with my flashlight in my left, shouldered my bag again, and set off.
I couldn’t tell you how long I wandered through those caves. The path sloped up and down, got narrower and wider. Sometimes I had to stoop down to fit under a narrow gap. I kept checking my phone, hoping I could get some kind of signal. But no, I wasn’t going to be that lucky.
I checked my phone again, this time to see what time it was. 10:30. Perfect. So assuming I ever found my way out of this god-forsaken labyrinth, I was going to be emerging in the wilderness, god knows where, in the middle of the night, when all the nocturnal predators like to hunt. Absolutely fan-fucking-tastic.
“Carlos and Evan are gonna kill me when I find them,” I muttered. Well, either that or they were going to hug me to death. I could never tell with those two. Hell, Carlos had suggested we wait until another time to do this trip, when the mud wasn’t so bad. But no, Evan had told him to not be such a whimp. Like usual. Always had to be the tough guy, Evan did. Even back in grade school he’d been the one doing the stupid shit to get attention. Seemed to work, if his long list of girlfriends was any indication. He went to college to become a mechanical engineer. Wanted to build the world’s best cannon and shoot himself out of it to impress the ladies, Carlos and I always joked. Never around him, of course, just in case he got any ideas...
Carlos wasn’t too different from me, if you overlooked the fact that his family was from Argentina. A bit more reserved, certainly not the daredevil that Evan was. Never really talked much with anyone besides us. He always seemed most at home around kids. So it came as no surprise to Evan and me that Carlos decided to go to college to become a Spanish teacher. He was already fluent in the language - a native speaker, in fact - so he already had half the work done.
As for me, I went to become an accountant. Yeah yeah, I know, sounds boring. And it can be. But a lot of it is putting pieces of information together. Like a puzzle. A lot less math than you’d think. And it helps that math and puzzles are two things that I’ve been good at ever since I was little. Accounting just seemed to click with me.
Of course, that would only help me if I managed to survive this mess.
It had to have been an hour, at the very least. My legs were burning again, my back was aching from lugging all this gear around. I’d considered several times just leaving it all behind. But no, I knew that would be a horrifically bad idea, to leave all my survival gear behind when I could potentially be lost in these caves for days.
At some point I stopped for a break. it was in a large, circular area. I quickly scanned the walls with my flashlight. There were only two entrances - the one I’d come in through, and the one that I’d be leaving through. There were a few large protrusions from the wall that formed a couple of small alcoves, and I chose one to settle myself into. I placed the flashlight so that it pointed straight upwards at the roof of the cave, illuminating all the stalactites - or were they stalagmites? I could never remember which was which - that dotted the ceiling.
I sighed and rummaged through my pack, eventually producing a granola bar and a bottle of water. I took my time with my tiny meal, taking the opportunity to relax and rest my body. I checked my phone again. Midnight. So it’d already been almost two hours since I woke up in the pool. Carlos and Evan would be losing their minds right about now.
Well, I wasn’t going to alleviate their worry just sitting around here. I stowed my water bottle back in my bag and turned back towards my flashlight to pick it up. Just as my hand touched it, I froze. Something flickered in the corner of my vision. I whipped my head towards the movement. My eyes went wide. There, down the tunnel I was preparing to go down, was another light source! And it was getting closer!
I opened my mouth, and for a brief instant I was ready to call out for help. But I quickly snapped it shut. Surely there hadn’t been enough time to get a search and rescue team out here to find me. There was no place to land a helicopter, and the paths were too treacherous to allow such quick response. Which meant that the person using that light source wasn’t looking for me.
Which meant I didn’t know whether I wanted them to find me or not.
I quickly shut off my flashlight and stowed it in my bag. I quietly moved my bag into the corner of the alcove I had eaten in, and pressed my back against the wall of the alcove. The light source was getting closer by the second - I could see it growing brighter on the wall opposite me. Soon, I could hear muffled voices. And then, distant footsteps. The voices began to become comprehensible.
“ -Tia, we don’t have time. We have to get out of here, now!” A voice commanded. It sounded older, definitely feminine, and carrying unshakable authority.
“But our home -” A second voice spoke up. Also feminine, though certainly younger. This one lacked the same authority as the first. It was smoother, almost silk-like.
“Is our home no longer, Tia.” A third voice, also feminine. This one was darker, rougher than the second, and seemed to indicate a similar age to the second. “Father stayed behind to protect us. We can’t let his sacrifice be in vain.”
“We can’t just let them get away with this!” The second voice was clearly angry now. I couldn’t help but peek my head around outside the alcove. Surely they were in the room by now, if the light was anything to judge by. But no, they must’ve had one of those super-powerful flashlights, because they were still in the tunnel. I ducked back around the corner as the second voice continued. “Those Minotaurs just sacked our home! We’ve got to take it back!”
“Wait…. Minotaurs?!” I found myself confused as the first voice spoke back up, and I didn’t pay attention to it. Minotaur… like, the half-bull half-man creatures from Greek myth? That’s what these people were running from? No, couldn’t be. Minotaurs only existed in myths and video games. Had to be a group of people called the Minotaurs. A gang or something. Not much better, but still… Just as good a reason to avoid these people, if a gang was after them
“Hush!” The first voice suddenly hissed. My heart leaped into my throat. “There could be an ambush ahead. Stay behind me, and keep quiet.” The footsteps now indicated that the first person had just entered the room, followed shortly by the other two. I didn’t dare to move, barely dared to blink or breathe. The footsteps stopped.
“Alright, I think we’re clear for now,”
My own sigh of relief was masked by two others. Judging by the sounds coming from the main cave, the trio had just sat down. I crouched down lower to the ground and eventually found myself on all fours. I quietly moved a fist-sized stone out of the way and carefully poked my head around the corner to get a look at the trio.
What I saw nearly caused me to yell.
The trio were all females. That much was absolutely certain, given their body shapes. Their bodies were also vaguely in the shape of a Human - head, torso, two arms, two legs… presumably five fingers. Everything else about them, however, was distinctly un-human. Rather than skin, they had different colors of fur covering their bodies - the larger one and one of the smaller ones appeared to have dark-purple fur, while the other one was a pure white. The white one had long, bubble-gum pink hair, the other small one had lighter blue hair, and the larger one had hair that looked to shimmer and ripple, and looked like the night sky, complete with twinkling stars. Despite my shock, I found myself grinning. “L’oreal. Because I’m worth it,” I thought to myself.
I also noticed that each of these… creatures… seemed to have a tail that matched their hair. Rather than feet, they appeared to have… hooves? Their faces weren’t entirely flat, and they instead had a small snout. Most noticeably, they each also had a large horn the same color as their fur jutting from their hair. I also noticed that their flashlight was not a flashlight at all, but instead a large ball of… energy? A pure white sphere of light that simply hovered in the air between them. I pulled myself back around the corner and pushed myself up to lean against the wall.
These weren’t humans. Of that, there was no doubt. They seemed to have the skills of language and, judging by their conversation earlier, architecture, indicating at the very least near-human levels of intelligence. Strangely enough, they also seemed to speak English, though I only noted that later. At the time, I was a little busy trying not to freak out.
Aliens. That’s the first thing that came through my mind. These were aliens, and they were running from another group of aliens chasing them across some intergalactic gang-attack. I gulped. Would they be friendly? Or would they attack me on sight? I had no idea. And I wasn’t about to go finding out. No, all I had to do was wait for them to move on, then slip past them into the tunnel, try not to run into these Minotaurs that they had mentioned, and make my way out. And never mention this to anyone. Because who the hell would believe me?
“Alright Tia, Lulu.” There was the first voice - presumably the taller one. “We’ve rested long enough. We have to keep moving before they find us.”
“Too late.”
I blinked. That wasn’t…
A shrill scream pierced the air like a shotgun. There was scrambling and the clack of something hard against stone. The scream was suddenly cut short, and devolved into timid whimpering. “You should have known you three would never get far,” the new voice spoke up. This one was deep and clearly masculine. If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn it was Liam Neeson. “But I didn’t think you’d make it this easy.”
“Let her go, Minotaur,” the older voice commanded. She still hadn’t lost her air of authority.
But the creature they called a Minotaur merely laughed. “You’re in no position to be giving me orders here. The way I see it, you’re the ones listening to me.”
I gulped and, for the second time, poked my head around the corner. Sure enough, my eyes were met with a massive mountain of a creature. It looked just like the pictures of the minotaurs from the myth books - humanoid in shape, but with fur covering it’s legs, hooves instead of feet, a bull-like snout complete with a nose ring, and a large pair of horns jutting from its head. A six-and-a-half foot mountain of muscle, half-man and half bull. He was stooped over slightly, and had the smaller, white-furred creature pinned against his chest with his left arm, while his right arm holding something against her throat - likely a knife of some kind.
By this time I was shaking as I pulled myself around the corner again. The Minotaur had caught up with those three. It had one hostage. And I was caught in the middle of it all. “Chris, you damned idiot, you’ve gone and gotten yourself in deep shit this time!” I screamed at myself mentally. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to stay hidden until the coast was clear.
But even so… I found myself growing angry. I had no idea what the deal was between these guys, but this Minotaur fellow struck me as the bad guy. The way he talked, the way he held himself and seemed so damn sure of himself… Despite my instincts to hide, I felt myself tensing up, as if preparing to fight. Maybe I could help these…. whatever you call them. After all, I still had my knife. And if they had fled into these caves… maybe they’d be able to find a way out.
My foot brushed against something hard, and I had to stop myself from jumping. I glanced down at what I had touched. It was the rock from earlier. I carefully leaned down and picked it up in my right hand. It was a good sized rock - solid and sturdy, yet light enough to pick up with one hand, with a sharp point on one surface. Maybe I wouldn’t need to bloody my knife after all…
Quietly - ever so quietly, I crept around the corner. The shadow of the minotaur concealed me from the light cast by the still-glowing sphere of white light. The Minotaur seemed to be in a battle of wills with the the larger mystery creature. I slowly crept my way up behind the Minotaur.
About halfway there, the smaller dark-furred creature glanced my direction. Her eyes went wide, as did mine. I quickly brought a finger to my mouth in a hushing gesture, and held the rock up for her to see. Her eyes remained wide, but she seemed to get the idea, for she broke eye contact with me.
“Alright ladies. Enough dawdling. You’ve caused us quite enough trouble today, so if you’d be so kind as to follow me…” the Minotaur sneered. I took a deep breath. It was now or never. I stood up to my full height and brought the rock directly at the Minotaur’s head
*BAM*
The minotaur’s head jerked to the left as the rock made contact. I could see a small trail of blood spurt out of his head as I quickly pulled the rock back and smashed it against his skull again. This time, the knife fell from his hands, and he collapsed sideways on the floor. I dropped to one knee and slammed the rock into his head one last time for good measure.
The instant the knife fell away, the white-furred creature rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the larger creature. As I stood back up, I hastily took a step backwards and let the bloodied rock fall away from my hands and held them up. I’d done my part. Hopefully they’d get the idea that I wasn’t going to hurt them.
The larger creature never broke eye contact with me as I stood there. The white-furred one was sobbing. Understandable, considering what had just happened. The third one simply stood there, glancing between myself and the other two.
Finally, the large one took a deep breath. “I thank you for your aid… stranger.” The emphasis on the final word wasn’t lost on me. “Now, state your name… and what you are.”
“I’m… I’m Chris. Chris Powell,” I managed to stammer. “I’m a Human.”
“Human…” The larger creature cocked her head. “I’ve never heard of such a creature before.”
I gulped. “And… and I’ve never seen a creature like you all before,” I replied. “Or this one,” I added with a gesture towards the Minotaur. A pool of blood had begun to form underneath his head. “Who are you… and what are you.”
There was a brief moment of silence. “We are Ponies,” the larger crea… Pony, declared. “I am Serenity, Queen of the Royal Kingdom of Equestria. And these are my daughters. Celestia -” she gestured towards the white-furred one. “- and Luna.” The dark-furred one.
Queen? So that would make these two princesses… For a brief moment, I felt the urge to bow down. But then again, why should I? True, they might have been royalty back wherever they came from, but here on Earth… I began to feel myself calm down as the threat of violence seemed to pass. “You’re certainly a long way from this… Equestria place,” I commented.
Serenity cocked her head again. “No… no, we’re in Equestria right now,” she replied.
Now it was my turn to be confused. “No… You’re on Earth. The United States of America. Kentucky.”
“I would know if I was not in my own Kingdom,” Serenity bristled.
I found myself holding up my hands defensively. “Woah woah, calm down!” I exclaimed. “Sheesh…” If she wanted to believe she was still in this Equestria place, so be it. She’d be in for a surprise when we found the surface. Assuming we made it that far. “So… you all are… Ponies?” “Nothing like the Ponies I’ve seen…” I thought to myself, though I could see vague similarities - the snout in particular. I gestured towards the creature whose skull I had just bashed in. “And… a Minotaur?”
Serenity raised an eyebrow. “If you did not know what we were, then how -”
“He looks the spitting image of the Minotaur of Greek Myth,” I interrupted. “Plus, I overheard you three talking. I’ve been hiding in that alcove over there ever since I first saw you approaching.” I gestured towards the nook where my stuff was still resting.
“Yes. Speaking of, we must continue.” Serenity stated. “That was surely not the only Minotaur to be tracking us.”
I paused for a moment. “Do, uh… would you mind if I tagged along?” I asked. She shot a suspicious glare at me. “I mean, I’ve been lost for hours in this place!” I quickly explained. “And I have no idea where I’m going, and I certainly don’t want to run into any of those Minotaurs on my own, and -”
“Mother, you’re scaring him.” Celestia spoke up for the first time since the Minotaur had arrived. She appeared to have calmed down. Though her cheeks were still damp, her eyes and lips betrayed no emotion as she looked me up and down She walked over to me and stared me dead in the eyes. I jumped slightly as her horn lit up with a brilliant golden energy. She held eye contact well past the point where I had begun to feel uncomfortable. But I dared not break eye contact.
Finally, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing, and she stepped back towards Serenity and Luna. “I can sense no dishonesty in his words,” She announced. “And he did just save us...”
Serenity glanced back and forth between Celestia and me. I could see the hesitation in her eyes, feel the uncertainty in her posture. But at last, she closed her eyes and sighed. “Very well, Chris Powell. You may travel with us.”
“For now.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
1,053 users online
1,628,000 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Good Start! Keep it up!
This seems like an entertaining story.
Nice start.
Promising this story looks. Follow it I shall. Disappoint me you must not.
A good start. Nice world building there. I am a bit bothered by the fact that he totally killed that Minotaur and thought nothing of it.
Let us see where this rabbit hole takes us!
Promising beginning... Lemme point out a few nitpicks... mostly personal opinions, so that should you agree and make minor changes, might make the story sound even better!
Ok, 1st thing. Campers don't call camping gear 'survival gear'. It's camping gear, and by it's very nature are things you would need outdoors. Survival gear makes me think of emergency crates and Datrex bars on navel ships or planes for crash survivors. Up to you to decide how you want it to sound.
2nd, over description of the blade... heck personally, I wanted to know that it was basically on par with K-bar so no complaints there. My problem is if they were hiking to a camp sight, why wasn't it already on his belt? When I go camping I have my utility <aren't all knives?> blade on my belt 1st thing in case i need it. It might be better stated that he checked it after getting dressed and moved it to a better spot on his hip... also it would not be a smart thing to go spelunking with a blade in hand like described, one slip and you end up with four and a half inches of cold 440 stainless punched through your own chest... just food for thought, I mean he could be scared and addled at his situation...
3rd, Granola bar for power and energy? heck ya, your pretty dumb to go hiking/camping without em. It's the water bottle... seriously? I mean a camper without a canteen, bota, or camelback is asking for trouble. Sure I can see carrying extra bottles of clean water on an extended hike, but you wouldn't use those till you needed them.
4th, I like the use of italics to indicate thought processes, but I noted you like to use quotation marks " with those, minor suggestion use ' with the italics. not sure if it's actually a grammar rule, but looks better in print.
That all said, I enjoyed this opener. Writing is quite good. No obvious spelling errors. Pacing is good, and there is little confusion. All in all, I have a good feeling about this. Onward to the next chapter!
[youtube=cmhkNvGIAqo]
Least its not the under zee
Accountants rule!!!!
I shall begin reading this, though I've never been a huge fan of anthro. The story is intriguing.
Didn't realize this was anthro when I started it. I'll still give it a chance, it's just weird to me because it doesn't really seem to need it.
Omg it's Darkhawk where is his amulet of power and messed up emotions?
“L’oreal. Because I’m worth it,”
t08.deviantart.net/XeJV-FTzqDJSzXYNp3T57MEJOxo=/fit-in/700x350/filters:fixed_height(100,100):origin()/pre08/ab6d/th/pre/f/2011/281/3/8/teeth_malloy_seal_of_assurance_by_jenjin_terra-d4c5ttw.jpg
this is starting out great I will continue on!
7855158
Same. Anthro fics, idk, just,
The humanoid ponies wierd me out.
I personally think Luna is hot