Finding My Place

by Firestar463

Chapter 2

It seemed like a good idea when I first suggested it. But let me tell you, wandering through a dark underground cave with three aliens? Pretty unnerving, surprisingly enough. Who’d have thought it?

The silence was deafening as we wove our way through the tunnels. I couldn’t tell whether we were retracing my path or not. I was hopelessly lost, and Celestia and Luna didn’t seem any better. Celestia kept turning her head behind us, and I could tell she wanted to go back. But every time she did, either Luna or Serenity would grab her hand and tug her along down the path.

Serenity, on the other hand, seemed completely confident, if a bit tense. Not that I could blame her. Being kicked out of your own kingdom, watching your daughter being held hostage, and travelling with an unknown creature was sure to have that effect on anyone. But she continued to move through the tunnels with full confidence, as if she knew exactly where she was going. I knew it was just an illusion, an act put up to keep her daughters from panicking. But man, she was a good actor, to keep it going for so long.

We came to another circular room in the tunnels, though this one was considerably smaller than the first one and lacked the alcoves to hide in. Serenity held up a hand, and her horn glowed with a glowing aura, just as Celestia’s had done when she approached me. While Celestia’s had been a pale golden color, however, Serenity’s aura was a rich, dark violet. A moment later, the aura died down. “All clear,” she said quietly. Even her hushed voice was loud enough to be heard easily in the echo-y tunnels. “Let’s stop for a moment.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I fell backwards onto my rear, and shook the straps of my bag off of my back. I pulled out my bottle of water and took several long, deep gulps. I lowered the bottle and glanced around the area at the other three. They looked back at me. None of them seemed to have any kind of refreshment.

After a moment of awkward silence, I pulled out a second bottle of water and extended it out towards Luna, the closest one to me. “Need a drink?” I asked.

Before Luna could even react, Serenity was there. She took the bottle from my hand and glanced back and forth between it and me. “What is it?” she demanded.

I blinked. “Uh… water?”

The brilliant light given off by their glowing white ball thingy gave a clear view of Serenity raising her eyebrow. She reached for the top of the bottle and unscrewed it. She brought the open bottle to her nose and took a sniff. Slowly, she brought the bottle to her mouth and took a small sip.

I couldn’t help but sigh. “It’s not poison,” I huffed. “Honestly, why would I have saved you from that Minotaur if I was just going to poison you?”

Serenity swallowed and nodded. She didn’t meet my eyes as she passed the bottle to Luna, who began to drink her fill. “I apologize, Chris,” she murmured. “You must forgive me if I’m a bit on edge right now.”

“I get it,” I sighed as Luna passed the bottle to her sister. “Getting chased by those Minotaur guys would spook me too.”

I waited as Celestia drank deeply from the bottle. Serenity took the bottle when she was finished and drained the last of it. She handed the empty bottle back to me, and I shoved it into my bag in the same pocket as my wet clothes. “So, since we’re resting for a bit -” I began.

“ - You wish to know what exactly is going on,” Celestia finished. I nodded.

Serenity took a deep breath. “It is a long story, but I suppose I can give you a short version,” she began. “Firstly, you must understand a bit about us Ponies. There are three different types of Ponies that comprise our kingdom. Unicorns, who have horns; Pegasi, who have wings; and Earth Ponies, who have neither. Pegasi are capable of flight, Earth Ponies have greater physical strength and connections to the earth, and Unicorns are capable of magic.”

Serenity was cut off as I snorted. “Does something amuse you?” she asked.

“Oh please,” I scoffed. “Magic? Really? Don’t give me any of that nonsense.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Magic doesn’t exist.”

“But it does,” Luna retorted. She pointed to the large hovering orb of light. “How would you explain that without magic?”

“Some kind of fancy technology you all have?” I shrugged. “Trust me, we Humans have tried for the longest time to find some kind of magic. The best we’ve come up with are cheap parlor tricks and sleights-of-hand.”

“Then perhaps a demonstration of real magic is in order?” Celestia suggested. I could see the faintest hint of a smirk on her lips as her horn lit up with that same golden aura as before. There was a pause for an instant. Then, suddenly, I began to feel something. You know that pins-and-needles feeling you get when your foot falls asleep, and then you suddenly stand up? It was like that, though not quite as uncomfortable. The feeling started in my arms and legs, but quickly raced to my spine. Then, that same golden aura that surrounded Celestia’s horn enveloped me.

“What the -” Was all I managed to get out before I felt a sense of weightlessness come over me. I had no time to yell out as I was hoisted into the air. My arms and legs flailed uselessly in the air as I floated slowly around the room. “Hey, what the hell is going on?!” I shouted as panic began to grip me. All I got in response was a few giggles from Luna, and even a grin from Serenity.

Suddenly, the golden aura surrounding Celestia’s horn faded, as did the aura surrounding me. I promptly fell a short distance down to the ground, in the same spot I had started in. I took my time in sitting back up, mostly to try to calm my breathing and slow my heart rate. “Don’t you EVER do that again,” I growled, more out of the last traces of fear than anything.

Celestia didn’t appear fazed. “Do you still not believe in magic?” she asked calmly. Only a faint twinkle in her eyes betrayed her own amusement at my discomfort.

“If it means that I don’t float around the room again, I’ll say I do,” I grudgingly conceded. Truth be told, I was still skeptical. But honestly, there was no other explanation that I could think of. Unless I’d sat down in some kind of fine net. I surreptitiously checked the ground beneath me. No net. “So… magic,” I muttered. “Apparently you Unicorns can harness it.”

“Correct,” Serenity nodded. “Now, Equestria has never been friendly with the Minotaur Kingdom. We don’t see eye-to-eye on many subjects. Particularly on our borders. There have been skirmishes in the past, but nothing like this. The Minotaur Kingdom has never dared to engage in open war against us, largely due to this magic that we have. Minotaurs are an almost-entirely non-magical race, and Unicorn magic is potent enough to easily counter their favored tactic of brute strength. This kind of power serves as a deterrent against aggression.”

“That all changed recently. The Minotaurs have a new king. Adamant Will is his name. Young, brash, headstrong. And he’s grown up with a deep dislike for Equestria, no doubt spoon-fed to him by his late father. We were a bit surprised when he declared war on Equestria, but we were not concerned. Not until the first rumors began spreading, claiming that the magic that our Unicorns used had no effect on his armies.”

“Adamant Will and his army just sacked our capital, the Royal City of Everfree. And as they said, our Unicorn magic couldn’t touch him.” Serenity’s eyes were suddenly clouded over. “My husband… King Solaris. He stayed behind. He bought us some time to get away. But he can’t have held out for long. Not with our magic being nullified like that.”

“Shit…” I murmured. “Well… do you know what was stopping your magic?” I asked. All I received were three shaking heads. “Might be a good place to start when you get back to this… Equestria place.”

This earned me another strange look from Serenity. “You still believe we are in these… United States?” she asked, to which I nodded. This in turn merely earned me a sigh and a shake of her head. “We will see who is correct when we emerge from these caves.”

“Speaking of which,” Luna interjected, “we should probably get going. No telling when the rest of the Minotaurs will catch up with us.”

I glanced around the room towards the other two. Celestia was already on her feet - hooves? - and Serenity was rising. I let out a sigh. That rest hadn’t been nearly long enough. I could still feel where the weight of my pack had bit into my shoulders. Still, Luna was right. Those Minotaurs could be anywhere. Besides which, my newfound travelling companions were already ready to go. So I rose as well, shouldered my pack, and fell into step behind them.

I found myself at the back of the pack as we made our way through the twisting tunnels. Serenity was at the front, holding that ball of light over her right hand in front of her. She seemed as confident as ever in her lead, turning this way and that through the labyrinth. The light from her ball of energy might have been of use to her up front, but back where I was, all it did was cast dark shadows all around me. More than once, I drew my knife at what I believed to be an oncoming attack, but turned out to be nothing more than the shadows dancing through the caves.

Was I a little jumpy? Yes. But can you blame me? Not only was I travelling with aliens, but I was travelling with magical aliens. Magical aliens who were on the run from other, magic-immune aliens who looked strong enough to break my spine with a flick of their wrists. And I’d already taken down one of those Minotaurs, but only with the element of surprise on my side.

“Shouldn’t have done that.” A little voice whispered to me in the back of my head. “You got involved in their war. Those Minotaurs will be after you now.”

“What else could I do?” I muttered aloud, my voice only barely masked by the clack of my companions’ hooves on the hard stone floor. “They needed my help. I couldn’t just let them get taken...”

“You picked the wrong side.”

“... Shut up.”

“Hm?”

I jumped and stopped mid-stride, barely avoiding bumping directly into Luna’s snout. She and the others were now stopped at a dead-end, and they were all looking at me inquisitively.

“Uh… nothing,” I said quickly. I forced my eyes to remain on Luna as I took a half-step back. “Just thinking.”

“Well do your thinking more quietly,” Serenity muttered as she turned back to the stone wall in front of her. I watched, confused, as she leaned in towards the wall. Even in the poor lighting and deep shadows cast by the orb of energy, I could see that she was squinting. She hunched over and looked at another spot on the wall, around waist-height.

Finally, she stood back up and passed the orb to Celestia. While Celestia held the orb high above her head, Serenity turned once more to the wall. Her horn lit up with that same, rich violet energy from before. She reached out with one finger and began to trace a design upon the wall. Almost immediately, my eyes went wide. Where Serenity’s finger had traced on the rock wall, she left behind a trail of faint white light. She continued this tracing for a minute or more, drawing a series of symbols I couldn’t identify.

As she lifted her finger from the stone wall for the last time, the symbols pulsed brightly once, then faded. Once again, the only reprieve from the dark was the orb of light that Celestia now held. For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Suddenly, the floor beneath me began to vibrate ever so slightly. Bits of dirt and dust fell away from the wall and the ceiling. And then, before my eyes, the wall in front of us began to slowly sink into the floor, revealing a narrow passage on the other side.. Serenity quickly stepped through the hidden door, with Celestia, Luna, and myself quickly following behind. I glanced back behind me just in time to see the wall sliding back into place. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, still having trouble believing what I had just seen. It was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. With aliens.

The passage now began to rise upwards sharply, with the passage bending in on itself in a very tight, very steep upward spiral. I quickly found myself on all fours, using my hands to assist me in my ascent. Serenity and Celestia were completely hidden from my view behind the walls of the spiral, and I could only catch fleeting glimpses of Luna’s tail as I followed. With Celestia so far out of view, the light from the orb she held was very faint now, plunging me into near-absolute darkness. Only the orb’s very faint reflections off of the wall around the corner allowed me to see. I quickly found myself thankful that I wasn’t claustrophobic, or else this passage would have been a living nightmare. I considered reaching for my flashlight, but decided against it. My hands were busy enough helping me climb the steep spiral as it was. There was no way I’d be able to hold a flashlight and keep up with the Ponies in front of me.

We climbed for what must have been several minutes before we finally came to a stop. I could just barely make out the back of Luna’s head around the spiral as I found a small spot to sit right next to her tail. My reprieve didn’t last long, however. Almost as soon as I had sat down, I heard the sound of stone scraping against grass. I heard shuffling from somewhere above me, and a few seconds later Luna began to move once more. I groaned internally, but forced myself back onto all fours as I once again moved up the spiral.

It was only a couple of more rotations up the spiral before I found the source of the brief delay. We’d emerged from the caves into the open world, and as I pulled myself out of the hole, I noticed a large rock that had been slid to the side. As soon as I was out, Serenity shoved the rock back over the hole. The rock sank slightly into the ground, covering the entrance to the tunnel perfectly. Only the slightly flattened grass next to the stone betrayed the tunnel’s presence.

It was the dead of night. The moon was almost directly overhead - a full moon this evening, bright and full, shining through the leaves of the trees overhead. We were standing on the side of a mountain, not too far from the summit. I quickly checked my phone. Almost 3 in the morning. I’d spent over half the evening in those tunnels. It was nice to finally be out in the open, where the air was fresh and the only color surrounding me wasn’t dull grey and brown.

Still, something felt… off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but in the pit of my stomach I felt it. A feeling of oddness, as if something didn’t make sense. I shrugged the feeling off and pulled my phone out again. Still no signal. Not terribly surprising, considering how deep in the mountains I must have been by this point, but disappointing nonetheless. Without a signal of some kind, I couldn’t figure out where I was.

But I could still figure out where to go from here. I knew I was somewhere in Greenup county… or at least, somewhere near Greenup county. I was almost certain I hadn’t crossed the river into Ohio or West Virginia. Which meant if I just kept heading east, eventually I’d find my way to the river. I knew a highway ran alongside the river for the entire length of the county, so all I’d have to do is follow the road until I reached civilization. I unlocked my phone and pulled up the compass app. The needle spun wildly for a brief moment before the needle finally settled towards the north, indicating that east was on the other side of the mountain. I just needed to head that direction and I’d reach the river.

As for the Ponies…

I glanced back towards the trio, who were now huddled close to each other and speaking in hushed whispers. I knew they couldn’t come with me. If anyone else so much as spotted them, the government would be swooping in on them within minutes. And I wasn’t going to be caught up in the middle of that. For a brief moment, I considered turning and leaving them to their own devices. After all, we were out of the caves now. I could go on my own from here.

But no, I quickly realized how unwise that would be. It was the middle of the night in October. The deer mating season was nearly over, but the younger bucks would certainly still be out and about marking their territory and searching for mates. I certainly didn’t want to encounter one on my own with just a knife. Besides which, the coyotes would be on the prowl as well, and while I might be able to scare off a lone coyote, they were known to occasionally band together to hunt larger or stronger prey. If a group of coyotes decided to try and take me down… No, traveling in a group would be much safer.

My thoughts were interrupted as I registered movement to my left. I turned my head towards the movement to see the trio of Ponies moving in my direction. “We are heading east, Chris Powell,” Serenity declared. “There is a small outpost that I pray has not yet been discovered.” This nearly made me snort again. Honestly, she still thought we were in this Equestria place. She was in for a bad surprise soon enough. “You may join us if you wish, or you may leave. Whatever your choice, we beg that you do not betray our location to the Minotaurs. Should we be captured, our Kingdom would be doomed.”

“I’m headed east as well,” I replied. This earned me a raised eyebrow from Serenity, so I continued. “The Ohio River is that way,” I explained. “I can follow that to a town and figure out how to get back home there.”

“Ohio River…?” Serenity questioned as she cocked her head to one side. “Truly, you still believe we are in these United States?”

“Unless you can prove otherwise,” I retorted.

Celestia and Luna shared a concerned glance, but neither of them spoke. Instead, Serenity merely shook her head for what felt like the thousandth time. “I fear your bubble of self-deceit shall soon be shattered,” she muttered. “But no matter. It seems we are headed in the same direction, though for different reasons. We shall soon see whose reality is correct.”

“Just keep an eye open,” I replied as we began to ascend the gentle slope of the mountain. “The deer are almost done with their rut, but they’ll still be a few out and about, and there’s almost certainly going to be Coyotes stalking them.”

The Ponies did not respond, leaving me to follow behind them in silence. We soon reached the summit of the mountain and began to descend down the other side. I kept my right hand near my knife sheathed on my belt as often as I could when I wasn’t busy climbing or pushing my way through tree branches. Coyotes and aggressive young bucks weren’t the only threat I was wary of. Under the cover of darkness, a Minotaur would have a much easier time sneaking up on us.

But nothing attacked us. Nothing disturbed the stillness of the moonlit mountainside except us, the four wanderers traveling east. Not even the owls and the nocturnal insects that would normally swooping overhead or chirping in the thickets could be seen or heard. My attention began to drift as the time passed and no threat made itself known. And still, the gnawing feeling in the pit of my gut continued to eat at me. And not just the pangs of hunger. Something was off. I could feel it. And try as I might, I couldn’t shake it.

How? That one question kept running through my mind as I trekked after the Ponies. How had Serenity done that? How had she opened that secret passage? Or even better, how had she known that passage was there in the first place? I could chalk the opening of the passage up to that… magic… that those three could use. But if they were stranded here on Earth, surely Serenity shouldn’t have known those caves. Even if there was a hidden passage there, she shouldn’t have known about it. A small alarm bell rang in the back of my head as I looked down beneath my feet.

The dirt beneath my boots… the alarm bell became louder as I paused halfway up the next slope. I stooped down and reached between the grass beneath me and picked a small pinch of the dirt up between my fingers. It was dry, dust-like, and scattered easily into a fine cloud as I released it, as though it hadn’t seen rain in a week or more. And yet it had been raining for almost a week before I came here…

And the leaves… they were green. I could see them in the moonlight. The full, rich, vibrant green of summer. It was the middle of October. Surely they should at least be showing some signs of yellowing by now, some indication that autumn had well and truly arrived. Another alarm bell went off, much louder this time. Something was definitely wrong here…

“Chris?”

I blinked and looked up. Ahead in the distance, I could see Luna’s head poking over the ridge of the slope, staring back at me. I hesitated for a brief moment before raising my hand in acknowledgement. She brought her own arm backwards in a gesture that was clearly telling me to hurry up. A suggestion which I quickly took. I stood back up and quickly made my way up the slope to catch up with the rest of the group.

We must’ve traveled for hours. Over hills and mountains, through valleys, up winding trails and down steep slopes. There were no breaks, no pauses for rest and nourishment, much to my stomach’s vocal displeasure. Not that I didn’t agree with my travelling companions. Stopping to rest in the middle of these mountains would be a very poor decision indeed, what with the Minotaurs that were undoubtedly attempting to trail us.

Soon, I began to see a faint glow on the eastern horizon. The sun was coming up. I quickly checked the time on my phone. 6:55 AM. Twilight. The sun would be up soon.

Almost another hour passed before the edge of the sun finally poked over the horizon. By now, the eastern horizon was a brilliant mixture of yellows, oranges and reds. A few stray clouds appeared as dark grey blurs against the sunrise, but as I glanced behind me to the west, I could see only a few more stray clouds. Nothing that promised rain, at any rate.

As we reached the next hilltop, I took advantage of the new light to observe my surroundings. All around us was forest and hills, in every direction. The only break in the scenery was a large… something… off in the distance to the north-east. Something rising from behind the horizon and jutting into the sky, towering above the mountains in front of it. But other than that… whatever it was… there was only the same expanse of brilliant green and wood brown for miles around. I found myself frowning. Surely by now, even in the remote mountains of Eastern Kentucky, we should have come across some kind of civilization by now. If not the highway or the river, we should have passed a house, a cabin, hell, even a dirt road. But no. Nothing. Nor could I see any signs of Human activity from my vantage point atop the hill.

“We are almost there,” Serenity called out as we began to make our descent. “Chris Powell, you must remain close. The guards will not harm you if you accompany us, but should you be discovered without us, I cannot guarantee your safety.”

“Guards,” I scoffed, though not loudly enough for anyone other than myself to hear. Unless more of them had arrived on Earth than I thought, and they’d set up a secret camp in the remote hills of Appalachia, then Serenity was about to be in for a surprise when she only found more wilderness. Honestly, like there was actually going to be a secret camp ahead. What a crock of sh-

“Your majesty! Thank goodness you escaped!”

I froze. Uh-uh. No. Nope. No way. No fu-

“And the princesses too! And… and what is that thing?”

I shook my head and looked towards the voice for the first time. There, staring directly at me, was another. Another Pony, clearly male, with storm-grey fur. This one didn’t have a horn jutting from his head like Serenity and the princesses did, but instead sported a pair of feathery wings the same color as his fur from his back. In his hands was a long, sharp, dangerous-looking spear. And it was pointed right at me.

“Chris Powell. He calls himself a Human. We found him in the caves as we fled the city.”

“Are there more like him?”

“Not that we are aware of.”

“Friend or foe?”

“He is not our enemy. He killed a Minotaur that managed to sneak up on us in the caves. Were it not for him, we would be Adamant Will’s captives.”

There was a brief pause. “Alright, come on then,” he ordered, his eyes never leaving me. “And close that mouth. You look like a damned fool…”

I quickly shut my mouth, which I hadn’t realized had fallen open, and began to follow with shaky legs. The guard pushed his way through a thick bush, with Serenity, Celestia, and Luna following behind him. I hesitated for a brief second as I stood before the bush. I could hear voices on the other side. No way. No way was there on the other side what I thought there was.

I pushed my way through.

Tents. Lots of them. And more of these Pony creatures than I could count. Some with horns. Some with wings. Some with neither. Nearly all of them, I registered in the back of my mind, had a weapon of some kind. A spear, a dagger, a bow and quiver, a sword and shield…

“Chris Powell,” Serenity’s voice broke through the haze. My head jerked in the direction of her voice. She was standing at the entrance to a large tent, staring at me expectantly. Without conscious thought, I began to move towards her. I felt, more than saw, a flash from behind me, but When I looked over my shoulder I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

I finally stopped next to Serenity. My mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. It was a few moments before I finally found my voice again. I pointed with a shaky finger all around me. “W-what… what i-is this place?” I managed to stammer. "Where the hell am I?!"

“Welcome, Chris Powell, to Outpost Marshal. And to Equestria.”

Comments

[Moongaze14]

This chapter was interesting. Seems Chris figured out that he was in Equestria rather than the ponies were on Earth the hard way. It was interesting to know more about how the war with the Minotaur started along with more characterization of the princesses and the queen. Hope the next chapter comes soon.

[PuppetXMaster]

a have another intrigued reader, i hope this "chris" becomes more of a solder in the near future, using human tactics to shows the human superiority in combat and war, we are pretty good at it after all, been doing it our whole existence

[HF Fury]

Nice story so far but every time I read the main character's name I think of Darkhawk.

[Firestar463]

6761127 You know, I never even knew Christopher Powell was the name of a superhero.

i.ytimg.com/vi/GD6qtc2_AQA/sddefault.jpg

[Chri330v]

When is the next chapter coming out?

[Firestar463]

6878859 Next chapter is in the works. Real life recently reared its ugly head in numerous ways, to the point where i haven't even had time to visit fimfiction in almost a week, but things are beginning to calm back down a bit.

[hs0003]

My first thought if I were picked up by magic would be: "fuck, I'm going to die from cancer", at least as soon as my brain would start working from the shock of the experience.

[The Spirits Demise]

6760800 Agreed. Although if not I hope he does not become sappy and gentle, insecure (maybe a little bit but not to the point of breaking down every chapter) or insane (again, a little bit is fine just not overly so).

[Therisinghero]

6761242
pfft more like this