• Published 30th Jun 2012
  • 13,907 Views, 247 Comments

Welcome the Unknown - Equestria Buck Yeah



A human violently crashes into Ponyville, and for some strange reason, things seem to get crazier the longer he's there.

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Chapter 9

A burst of purple magic popped out of nowhere on the ground, revealing Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Her friends – and even the Royal Guard – were still staring in disbelief at what had just happened: Twilight had intentionally dropped Matt down the throat of an Ursa Major. When she appeared back on the ground, she had already started crying again. Matt didn't say exactly why he asked her to do it, just that she had to. They all had gotten to know him fairly well after over the months and she had faith in what he asked of her, even if she didn't understand it. But she also knew what it meant by honoring his request.

Her grief was interrupted by a cyan hoof connecting with her face. Twilight fell hard and looked up at Rainbow Dash. She already had more tears cascading down her face than Twilight. The unicorn was a little surprised. Rainbow was never one to display much emotion aside from a bit of arrogance. What she wasn't aware of was that Rainbow's respect and appreciation for Matt had increased tenfold after he chased off the dragon. The two hadn't hung out much because of their respective work schedules and the fact that he couldn't fly. She always wished they had.

"Why did you do it?! What's wrong with you?! Give me one good reason I shouldn't tear you apart!" Applejack tried to hold her back with everything she had, but it was proving extremely difficult.

"Rainbow, stop!"

"Get off me, A.J.!"

They screamed at each other for what felt like an hour. Rarity teared up and pulled Sweetie Belle close to her, who was already weeping openly. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo tried futilely to pull Applejack off Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy held her face in her hooves sobbing uncontrollably and Pinkie's poofy pink hair deflated as she tried and failed to keep waterfalls from flowing.

"Why, Twilight?!" Rainbow angrily repeated.

"Because he told me to!"

"What?!' they all said as one.

"H-he said that figured out a possible weakness a-and that... and I...what have I done?" Regret and sorrow poured from her eyes, and no matter how many times his words repeated through her mind, she couldn't figure out for the life of her why he had asked her to do it.

The Ursa had been struggling to swallow Matt as they fought and argued. He finally went down and the monster let out a triumphant roar that grabbed the attention of the ponies below. Rainbow's rage was temporarily sated, but the rest continued to pour their emotions out despite their fear.

However, the beast's moment of glory suddenly turned into shrieks of agony. The Ursa crashed onto its front legs, growling in pain, unsure of what was going on. The jolt of the impact threw some of the ponies a couple feet into the air and brought down a few more buildings in town. The monster fruitlessly clawed at its throat and chest.

-----

Matt rolled down the Ursa's tongue and was about to go sliding down its throat when he grabbed onto its tonsils as best he could, given that his hands were strapped halfway closed around the handles of his knives. He turned his head around and looked into the abyss. His eyes blurred for a moment and returned his vision to him with everything around him becoming shades of green. It was bizarre seeing only the one color, but his vision was as clear as it was going to get through the window of the mask nonetheless. He could see its throat muscles contracting as it tried to swallow him up, and he could feel his skin crawl. Even though he was suddenly questioning just how insane his idea was, he let go and slid his way down the Ursa's throat.

The beast roared in delight as it consumed Matt. He had heard it earlier while running through town, and it was indeed loud, but it was ten times worse right next to the source and he yelled in excruciating pain. Amazingly, his eardrums didn't burst. Perhaps the mask he had on muffled the noise just enough.

As Matt went down, he almost immediately began sweating under the rubbery mask. He hadn't accounted for the oppressive amount of moisture when he formed his plan, but he couldn't really ask for a mulligan at this point. The esophagus was only a few feet from one side to the other, but it wasn't cramped and if Matt had wanted to reach his arms out, he could have extended them entirely.

As soon as gravity began pulling him into oblivion, he swung out with his right arm and stabbed the wall, the knife sinking entirely. He wasn't aware right away, but the long blade had completely punctured through. The Ursa's esophagus was proportionately about the same width as probably most other creatures, humans included. His fall barely slowed as he swung his body around and caught the other blade into the wall. He dragged the knives with him for several seconds, and a waterfall of blood poured out of the wounds. It drenched him from head to toe, seeping through his clothes and making them stick to his skin.

The Ursa felt the agonizing slices and screamed in pain. The beast fell forward and crashed onto its front legs, suddenly stopping Matt's fall and flinging him back up the way he came. He bounced off the freshly lacerated wall and flopped onto his side, sliding several feet thanks to saliva coating everything before coming to a stop. Matt couldn't be sure which direction his final target was. All he knew was that he was laying on the 'bottom' of Ursa, whatever part of its body may be facing the ground at the moment.

He rolled onto his stomach and tried to prop himself on his knees, barely managing to stop himself from slipping. He started to feel himself gliding back down the tunnel. The Ursa must have been trying to lift itself up again. Matt quickly and viciously jabbed a knife sideways, making the behemoth cry out once more. Another cascade of blood leaked out and pooled around his knees. The Ursa fell back down, and Matt flopped onto his face. He pieced together that he had to have been looking at the Ursa's chest from where he was now.

Sweat dripped off his hair and cheeks and splashed onto the window of his mask, which had began fogging up. The outside of it was coated red and he scraped off what he could with the narrow edge of one of his knives. As long as he didn't accidentally pierce a hole, he would hopefully be alright until he finished what he started. Between his heavy breaths and the Ursa not screaming for a moment, he thought he heard a familiar, rhythmic sound coming from below him. He grinned almost evilly.

He let himself land on his stomach and reached forward with his right arm, knife still in tow. He was grateful the tape was holding on despite being caked in warm, flowing blood. He pierced the wall and dragged the knife towards him, stopping in front of his face. Another echo of pain burst forth from the beast's lungs. He slashed across from left to right, opening a flap in the wall of the Ursa's food tunnel. He gathered his strength and lifted it with the blade, swishing back and forth as the oversized bear struggled. It felt like he was stuck in the middle of the most disgusting water slide in existence.

Matt squinted as he struggled to see through the mask, but he was positive of something he did see. It was a muscle, contracting and beating – its heart. A second long slice across opened a rectangular hole in the esophagus' wall and the loose membrane fell towards his new ultimate goal. He took a deep breath and pulled himself through.

He had no idea how far he was going to fall. Fortunately, it was only a couple feet. His face hit mid-contraction and he bounced around briefly before driving the metal stakes in, bringing his ride to a sudden halt. A sharp scream of distress reverberated through the chest cavity. It wasn't quite as loud here since Matt was a distance from its throat at this point, but it was still incredibly bothersome.

Once Matt steadied himself and adapted to the panicked pace of the heart pumping beneath him, he began to think of some of the good times that had been ruined for him – memories of his youth, of his family, his arrival in Equestria, the bizarre pains. Right now, where others may have seen a giant bear destroying the countryside, he saw a target for his frustration.

His eye twitched and he bared his teeth. An arm rose up and drove its knife into the Ursa's heart again and again, raw hatred poured into every stab. Blood seeped out of each new wound but not as Matt had hoped. He expected a geyser to fire from the injuries but nothing of the sort came. The monster endlessly cried out as Matt attacked it, but he was oblivious to the noises at the moment; he saw red.

He stopped after less than a minute of violent shanking. He had quickly exhausted himself and saw through his clouded window that he hadn't broken through like he wanted.

'Fuck! The walls must be too thick. Gotta be something...there!'

He spotted ahead of him several large tubes anchored into the side of the heart – at least it appeared to be the side from his perspective. He reasoned that they had to be arteries and veins, and they had to be thinner than the heart itself.

The contractions had begun to slow a bit. The Ursa appeared to be losing the fight. Matt reached ahead and drove his left knife into the bloody floor and began slowly crawling his way to the blood vessels. The heart was already naturally coated, but the surface wasn't as smooth as the esophagus was. This gave him enough traction so he could easily push himself along with his shoes.

He dragged himself for what felt like a mile. Even though it was merely ten or so feet, it still took longer to travel than he would have liked. Air was beginning to be a precious resource and the heavy breathing he did when he stabbed at the Ursa in a blind rage was beginning to look stupid.

He arrived next to the closest artery and planted the left knife into the heart for leverage. He had felt himself slide forward a little when he started getting close. 'Down' probably meant he would have ended up sitting on the top of the heart and he probably would have been trapped.

He reached his other arm across his face and drove the knife into the vessel, carving away at its wall. The sharp blade sliced right through and he dragged it as far around the artery as his arm would go. Blood spurted out from the gaping wound and splattered all over him. He slowly turned the knife around and lunged as far forward as he could before he would have slipped. If this was going to be his swan song, he wasn't going to go without a giant 'fuck you' to everything that had ever brought him grief.

With one final swing, he completely severed the connection. More blood flowed freely but it still didn't feel like enough. He reached as high as he could and stabbed into the blood vessel again, cutting open a hole like the one he fell through a moment ago. A ocean of red burst forth like a river breaking through a dam. Matt pulled back and drove the knife back into his floor, holding on for dear life as the pumping slowed even more.

-----

Horror adorned the Ursa's face as it desperately tried to figure out what was going on. As the repeated sharp pains got worse, it turned around towards the Everfree Forest and started to retreat. Nopony on the ground knew what to think. The beast only managed a few steps before it collapsed onto the ground, its head slamming into the crater it made when it first appeared.

Its breathing slowed little by little. The girls could see the confusion and fear in its eyes as it stared into the distance, its grip on life fading fast. Finally, its last breath escaped from its lungs and its body went limp.

A moment of silence passed as everypony stared in amazement at what just transpired. The Royal Guard burst into celebration and cheers as the town had been saved from disaster. The girls, their eyes still watered from before, were still completely bewildered. Fluttershy was the first to speak up.

"What...what happened?"

"He did it," Twilight muttered. "He...really did it."

-----

Matt laid next to the destroyed artery, unmoving, painted red, and breathing slowly. He had closed his eyes before the heart stopped beating, waiting for the inevitable.

'Get up!'

What for?

'You just punched life in the dick with a fucking freight train! Get up!'

I can't make it out of THIS.

'And if you do, you punch it again! Move!'

I was never supposed to be here anyway.

'They'll remember this!'

That isn't important.

And if THEY weren't important to you, you never would have done this to begin with!

He opened his eyes with a renewed sense of purpose. 'Thanks, Granny,' he thought to himself. He scraped the layers of fresh blood from off his mask and pushed the plastic up to his nose to try and rub off some of the fog. It didn't help all that much, but it was better than nothing. He pulled himself up to his hands and knees and carefully crawled to the opening in the esophagus. He didn't need to risk slipping now.

Once the hole was over his head, he gradually stood up, doing his best to maintain his balance. He gently bumped his head against the top of the membrane even though he was still hunched over a bit. He sliced away the dangling piece he had carved up earlier and tossed it aside. He took a moment to look down the long tunnel and wondered how in the hell he was going to crawl out.

He took a half step back, hoping to get even a tiny bit of momentum. He leapt forward, extending his arms, and dove onto the tunnel's floor. He needed to at least get his thighs past the far end of the opening in order to have a chance of getting it right the first time, otherwise he could slide right back out and waste valuable time. His knees bounced as he was successful on the first try. He slid about ten feet farther than expected thanks to all the saliva and blood everywhere.

Matt sat up on his knees and lunged forward again only to promptly fall onto his belly. Without any way to get airborne, he wouldn't be able to repeat how he got back into the esophagus and use it as an efficient way of getting out of there. He swore under his breath.

Another idea came. He slowly hoisted himself onto his hands and knees this time, pushing his back against the roof. Maybe if he kept his body stiff against the top and bottom, he could make his way out. This idea failed as well and after only a few feet, he flopped onto his face again.

He felt his breath begin to labor. He hadn't expected to be roaming around as long as he had been much less still be alive after several minutes. Sweat was starting to collect at the base of his mask and his eyes were starting to get heavy.

Matt looked at the knives still strapped in his hands. He rolled them in his fingers until the blades faced sideways. Extending his arms as far as they could, he weakly jabbed both of them into the floor and towards himself and pulled with what strength he had left. Success! He actually moved about four or five feet thanks to the slickness. It took more out of him than he would have liked though. Trying to drag over two hundred pounds of seemingly dead weight over who knows how many feet wasn't going to work either, but so far it had been the only successful endeavor. He also had to pray the blades wouldn't snap off the handles thanks to that much force.

He repeated the motions a few more times and actually got some distance, but it was taking its toll on him. His thoughts were becoming less and less coherent as each long second passed.

'Gotta...gotta get some...l-leverage...push...ugh, God, s-so damn hot...cool drink of...of water...'

-----

Twilight took a few steps toward the deceased Ursa. She collapsed onto her rump, her grief having spent all of her strength and will. One by one, the others crept up beside her and tried to console each other.

Shining Armor saw his distraught sister and mourned her loss. He may not have known what that strange thing was, but Twilight was willing to put her life on the line for it, so it must have meant something to her and her friends. He quieted the troops down and had them formed rank.

"I want you six to collect the squad we sent out to gather up the civilians. Lieutenant, once they've returned, head back to Canterlot and deliver a full report to Princess Celestia. Make sure the wounded are tended to before you leave though. There are a couple nurses here helping, but don't fully rely on them. Also, don't bother to wait for me when you reach Canterlot." He looked back at Twilight. "I need to go console my sister." The guards saluted and the six pegasi flew off in the direction of Town Square.

Twilight was hanging her head low and sobbing quietly, remembering what their friend had done to save them. She didn't hear the hooves of her brother as he approached. She saw his legs in front of her and looked up in his sorrowful eyes. Her lips quivered and she dove into his chest, wrapping her legs around his neck. He hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear, "He was very brave."

-----

As his body began to shut itself down, Matt was becoming delirious, trying to push himself forward with his feet alone despite knowing that he was just sliding in place. Matt inadvertently brushed his knee over one of the stab wounds he recently put into the floor of the tunnel and actually felt the slice with his skin, despite being covered in blood. He cocked his head curiously, slowly lifted his foot to the tiny opening and reached ahead with the same hand. He thrust the blade into the floor, pulling with the knife while pushing cautiously with his toes. He hoped his foot wasn't going to just slice the wound open further and do little else. There was a slight tear, but he found that he was able to drag himself much easier than before.

Fighting exhaustion and dehydration, he managed to smile hopefully, his thoughts clearing again. He looked ahead but couldn't make out anything thanks to the fogged up mask. It was just as well he couldn't see. If he ultimately failed to escape, his last thoughts wouldn't be able to be along the lines of 'I only had so far to go'. Out of sight, out of mind. Now that he had a way to actually push himself along that could work, the only thing that raced through his mind was 'move, now'.

He reached below with his left and cut a slice for his foot. He stabbed further ahead and pulled himself once again. It was working and rather well. After repeating this a few more times, he had made himself almost a make-shift ladder and didn't need to reach down near his legs to give his feet something to grip onto anymore.

Slowly but carefully, Matt slid along and was making fair time, but each pull was met with less and less strength. His body had started shaking as his temperature began to drop. His breathing was becoming more desperate. He had no idea how far he had gone when he reached ahead to stab again and found the floor of the esophagus was a bit lower than what he had been moving on. He paid it no mind and continued to pull. Once his waist had crossed the threshold, he slipped down a gentle slope for several seconds before the it finally smoothed out. A shallow puddle of blood and saliva waited for him at the end, soaking him to the bone.

He glided for a few more feet before coming to a stop. The pool he just went through absorbed most of his momentum. He tried to lift himself up and grunted loudly with all his remaining strength before utterly collapsing. He was completely spent. His air was just about gone. He had nothing left in his body. He was barely hydrated and rapidly losing fluids as he laid there motionless. His vision started to blur and darken. With what little energy remained, he looked left and saw a faint glow through the disgusting mess on the mask. His eyes closed and his head fell.