Fabrication

by Bomber

Chapter 2: Search

The library wasn’t at all difficult to find. But Blake couldn’t find the words how to describe it. It was a library that was literally a tree. Was it a library built inside a tree or was the architecture so stunning that it made the naked eye trick the brain into thinking it was just a plain, ordinary tree? Whatever it was, it brought an entire new meaning to the word “tree house”.

Blake had already checked all of the windows. None had been carelessly left open or unlocked, which would mean he would have to do this the hard way. But then Blake remembered that there was a door as well. He had to crouch slightly to reach the door handle, as he was almost as tall as the door itself. The door slid open with no resistance. “Oh you’ve gotta be shitting me,” Blake said, a bit annoyed that after he had tried multiple times to go the hard way in, it was much simpler just to walk right through the front door.

Blake crept inside and shut the door as quietly as he could. It was time to get to work. Wishing he had more holsters to hold items in, he set his already overstuffed backpack and the AK-47 on the ground and took out his flashlight. Flipping the switch on, he scanned the main room of the library for anything that might contain information of the geography of the area. A Foal’s Guide to Magic: Year 1, The History of Hearth’s Warming Eve, The Greatest of the Wonderbolts were just some of the plethora of titles stacked neatly across the library. Blake couldn’t help notice that all of these books were non-fiction, well, horse non-fiction for that matter. He didn’t recognize any titles that would have suggested Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance, or any other genre of fictional book.

Wait a second, could this be exactly what he was looking for? Tips, Tricks, and Many Other Knicks for an Outdoors Pony the font on the spine read. He culled the book from its resting place and before he could even look through it, he heard (hoof?)steps descending down from a staircase he hadn’t noticed before. Without wanting to harm another pony, he shut the book and tucked it under his arms. He rushed over to his backpack and assault rifle, plucked them both from the ground, and dashed to the door. Using all of his might, he kicked the door right open (as he had no free hands to turn the door handle) and sprinted outside.

“Why the hell would a horse be in a library so late at night?” Blake wondered aloud. “Well, so much for this being a stealth mission. Now I’ve got two of them who know I’m here.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

Lyra woke up, lying in her bed. “So it was all just a dream,” she said, disappointed.

But if it was a dream, why did her side still hurt so badly? Lyra massaged the area the Earthling had struck her with her hoof. The events of the previous night played back through her mind. Was her eyes playing tricks on her, or was the Earthling really there? There would be no way to tell now. Who knows where it could have possibly gone.

She rolled out of her bed. Using her magic, she laid the sheets nicely on top of the bed, making sure that there were no wrinkles visible. She then grabbed her feather-stuffed pillow with both of her hooves, and tossed it on the bed. Feeling satisfied, Lyra trotted to the kitchen where she saw Bon-Bon already making breakfast.

“I found you passed out on the floor in your office this morning,” Bon-Bon said, cracking two eggs and placing them in a white bowl. “I thought I would be a good roommate and I put you in your own bed. You should really think about getting a good night’s sleep for once. And do you know what happened to all of our food? It seems to have disappeared.”

So it wasn’t a dream! Lyra could hardly contain her excitement. She needed to track down the Earthling. She had so many questions to ask… but what if the Earthling decided to attack her again? Was it really violent, or was it just scared?

“I’m sorry I had to this, but I’ll do anything to survive.”

The Earthling did what it had to do, but why would it break into her house, steal their food, and attack her? It could have just asked somepony for help. There were a reasonable amount of ponies in Ponyville who would’ve been happy to help, even if it was an alien they had never seen before.

“Hello? Is anypony in there?” Bon-Bon asked, shaking her hoof in front of Lyra’s face.

“Yes, I’m here,” Lyra laughed.

“You looked to be in deep thought. Is everything alright?”

“Uh… yeah. Everything’s fine.” Lyra hated lying to her roommate, but she felt that Bon-Bon would never believe her. Bon-Bon would think that Lyra has gone crazy if she tried to describe what happened the night before. She might would even force her to visit a psychiatrist. Lyra decided that she would keep quiet for now, and go hunt later. Her stomach rumbled. She needed to eat anyways.

Before Lyra even knew it, Bon-Bon had already whipped up a pile of scrambled eggs and a stack of pancakes. Using utensils she had bought from Twilight, she tried to eat with a fork and a knife. She knew that Twilight’s assistant, Spike, was easily able to grasp the fork and eat with it. If Spike could do it, Lyra could do it. It took much concentration and balance, but in the end, Lyra found herself chomping on pancakes by the mouthful. It was delicious. It was very warm and succulent. Before she knew it, her plate was devoid of any food, not even a scrap was left.

“Hey, Bon-Bon,” Lyra said, placing her plate and utensils into their sink.

“Yes, Lyra?”

“I think I’m going to go out for a walk now.”

“Okay… I have things to do as well. I’ll see you later!”

“Bye! See you soon!” Lyra said, even though she knew that she most likely wasn’t going to be back for a while.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Twilight’s busted down door led Lyra to believe that the Earthling had been at the library after he had electrocuted her.

“Perfect! Maybe I can get some information here.”

Why would the Earthling need to steal books as well? Lyra knew that the Earthling needed to eat and drink, which was why it had taken Lyra and Bon-Bon’s rations. But, why books? Was it starved for entertainment? Was it possibly injured and had taken a book that displayed remedies that could mixed from simple ingredients? The possibilities were endless as of now.

Lyra saw Twilight examining the busted down door. From the way she yawned and the bags under her eyes, Lyra figured that Twilight didn’t get much sleep either. Lyra then had a bright idea! Twilight knew her library like the back of her hoof. She would easily be to tell which books were missing! If she could even get a brief description from any of the books the Earthling had taken, she might be able to narrow down the possibilities as to where the Earthling was now located at.

Lyra cantered over to Twilight.

“Hi Twilight!” Lyra smiled.

Twilight yawned loudly. “Oh, good morning Lyra.”

Even though she already knew the answer, Lyra decided to ask a question anyways. “So do you know who broke into your house?”

“I don’t know what it was. Last night I was aroused by the sound of books closing suddenly. When I went downstairs to check out what was going on, and then a creature with two legs, like Spike, kicked open the door and ran. I tried to go looking for it, but it seemed to have disappeared, like it was never even there.”

Even though her story was interesting for Lyra, it was now time to get the answers she actually wanted.

“Well, did you check to see if had stolen anything?” she asked.

“That’s what Spike is doing right now. From what I could tell, everything was still the way I had left it save a few books and my door.”

As if on cue, Spike walked up to Twilight and said, “There’s only one thing that seems to be missing.”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. She was glad that it had not stolen much more than that. “Well, what was it?” she asked.

“A book called Tips, Tricks, and Many Other Knicks for an Outdoors Pony,” the young dragon replied, sounding confused. Spike certainly didn’t understand why anypony would steal a book by that title, especially from a library. It did make sense, however, to Lyra. The Earthling was going to make camp somewhere in the area. There were many things in that book that would certainly benefit it.

“Thanks Spike,” Twilight yawned for a second time. “I think I’m going to go back to bed after writing another letter to the Princess about this situation. I’ve been up all night fretting about this. See you later, Lyra.” And with that, the purple unicorn lazily trotted back inside her house. Although the title of the book didn’t narrow down the locations the Earthling might have been headed towards, Lyra was grateful for the information. At this point, anything helped.

For the next little while, Lyra continued to investigate, interrogating almost anypony she could talk to. Even though she must’ve asked at least twenty different ponies if they had seen anything mysterious the previous night, they all shook their heads saying “no”, and trotted off to enjoy the rest of their morning. At this rate, she would never be able to find the Earthling, but then she thought: Why don’t I just use common sense? Remembering things that she was taught as a filly, she knew that all life required a source of water. If the Earthling was an herbivore, it would also need to settle in a place near a source of food, like the Sweet Apple Acres orchard. If it was a carnivore, it would need a place near plenty of animals. Maybe Fluttershy’s cottage perhaps? Although she couldn’t think of anypony would be heartless to trespass and poach on another pony’s property, she couldn’t rule out the possibility.

There were many small lakes and rivers located near Ponyville, but in light of this simple common sense, there was only few places the Earthling could be, unless it for some reason decided to get as far away from civilization as possible. Lyra figured she would first get back to her house and pack food for her hike she was about to endure. She would most likely be out until lunch and probably past dinner. There was so much distance to cover for just one little unicorn.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Blake’s back was cramped when he woke up. He had decided to rest near an apple orchard. He knew that there were more ponies in the area, as he had noticed an enormous, freshly painted barn out in the distance. Even though he knew that he couldn’t risk any more of the horses seeing him, he knew that with an orchard as large and wide as this one, there had to be at least several streams or rivers nearby. If there wasn’t, there would have to be at least some irrigation ditches he could follow that would lead him to a place where he could at least bathe, even if the water was to dirty to drink. When was the last time Blake had a shower? He probably stunk worse than a garbage dump.

Blake put on his sunglasses, then using his hand as a bit of cover, Blake looked at the position of the sun. Eleven-thirty. He still had plenty of time to find some H2O. But before trekking, he decided he should pack on some energy. Unzipping his backpack, Blake examined his golden treasure that he acquired the previous night. Taking out one can at a time; he said aloud the item that the can contained, based on the label.

“Sliced peaches… sliced apples… canned corn… more peaches… peanuts… and look at this! Sliced peaches. What a plot-twist.” He waved his hands in the air, chuckling a bit at his own cruddy joke. He then counted the water bottles. He had four, and each contained about a liter. Since he would try to keep his supplies going as long as possible, he decided he would pick several apples from the orchard and munch on those instead. He was sure the owners of the orchard wouldn’t notice a few apples missing. Blake hated stealing again, but if this is what it would take to stay alive, then so be it.

Wanting to stay as light as possible, he decided it would best if he could find a place to put his belongings. A tree would be perfect. Horses can’t climb trees as humans can, as they have no fingers to grasp things with. But if there were unicorns in this land, could there be a chance that there may be pegasi as well? Blake decided to hope that luck was on his side and his stuff wouldn’t be seen. Finding a tree with low branches and several foot holes, he climbed several feet up it, being as careful as he could as he was also balancing an assault rifle as well. There was still a chance that a branch may somehow get caught on the trigger, causing it to fire. The noise would attract some unwanted attention, which Blake couldn’t allow. Feeling that he was high up enough that none of the horses would even be able to get ahold of his things, he placed his backpack and the AK-47 on a large branch. He then steadied the objects to the point they wouldn’t fall on their own. Blake climbed down the tree, jumping off of it when he felt he was low enough that the shock wouldn’t be severe.

The apple orchard was only several hundred yards to where he had fallen asleep the previous night. Only jogging lightly to conserve energy, Blake made his way to the orchard. Scanning the surrounding area to double-check that there were no horses around, he climbed the tree that seemed to contain the most apples.

These apple trees were unlike Blake had ever encountered before. These trees grew multiple types of apples. Blake could tell that as the apples were either red, green, or yellow. How did the horses make it so they could do this? Crossbreeding? Artificial selection? Blake figured it didn’t really matter, as long as the apples weren’t poisonous or anything. He plucked the largest and reddest one he could find, and took a large bite into it.

The second the juice of the apple hit his taste buds, he knew that this was the best, damn apple in the whole universe. It burst with flavor, and it was very moist. Blake took another bite, then another. He ate as much as he could without swallowing, which was a bad idea as it took him forever to crush apple into small fragments that he could swallow down his throat. He didn’t care, he finished the apple to the core. After he had finished, he flicked it onto the ground. He was reaching for a second apple, this time a green one, but before it was in his grasp he heard a voice. It was female, with a huge stereotypical southern accent.

“Now jus’ who are ya, and whaddya think yer doin’? This ‘ere is Apple family property!”

Blake looked down towards the ground. What he saw was an orange horse wearing a cowboy hat on top of its head.

“How the hell can you horses sneak up on me like that without me noticing? Those goddamned rebels couldn’t do it… So, why can they?” Blake wondered aloud, his voice quiet enough that the small horse wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“Get yer varmint behind, down ‘ere, or Ah’ll buck ya outta that tree muhself!” the horse threatened. Blake still kept the pistol and the Taser with him, in case something like this happened. The horse was only about seven or eight feet down from where he was. It was an easy shot, and if he could line the sights up correctly he could… no. He wouldn’t harm this horse. She had a good reason to be angry with him, as he was trespassing on her property. Plus, he had only killed before because there were bullets flying in his direction. He had only done it to save his life. Blake now could tell the pony was now getting furious as to why he wasn’t responding.

“Alright! Ya asked for it!” Using her hind legs, she bucked the tree as hard as she could. The shockwave was immense, and Blake came tumbling to the ground.

Comments

[Plumbold]

damn cliffhanger!

[Primordial Deomontus]

More chapters and please make them quick updates

[Bomber]

111813 Me gusta cliffhangers. It keeps people wanting to read moar.
111898 I will try my best, but writing is a tough process (for me). Plus, I also have school to worry about. I hope one or two updates a week is good for you.

[Shpoople96]

111905
Yes.

[ArtyTheReader]

Great Story, I look forward to more

[Bomber]

116367 Muchos Gracias. Expect the next chapter by Tuesday or Wednesday.

[Axz]

111905

that's okay just don't make them any shorter then they are now

grate story btw 5 star and tracking

[Bomber]

117779 Thanks. Don't worry about the chapters being super short. It's not my style to have 1,000 word chapters coming out like everyday, because it can hinder the quality of the story. I think it's better to think it through first and proofreading multiple times instead of churning out short chapters constantly.

Quality over quantity, as some might say.

[Axz]

good to here

[Axz]

good to hear* dame my spelling