Progenitor

by primepersephony

Chapter 4: Of apples and Pitfalls

Ever wake up? I mean, have you ever woken up all at once? You know, without being in any danger, or woken up by someone else? Just that sense that you’re now awake, and instead of doing nothing or spending more time in bed, you pretty much get up straight away with a fully aware mind and your body feeling ready as it would half way through the day.

It’s something that just makes you want to move and get up. Something that makes you want to do something of worth instead of lazing around like we normally do. It’s good, I mean great to be in such a state. Makes ya feel as if today is your day. You’re out and about, and going to do whatever it is you said you would do yesterday.

It was something that has so rarely ever happened to me.

Although with my mental clarity and my physical preparedness, I felt something weigh down on my head. Like something decided that, despite my ‘feel-good’ morning, I should stay in bed. Simply because my head didn’t want to budge, or at least very far.

Perhaps it was some kind of psychological crap that came onto me from that really weird dream. Maybe it was that I simply just didn't want to move no matter how much my body told me it was ready to go. Or maybe I should have noticed the pink tail was likely coming from a pony laying on my head, and I wasn’t some kind of emotional wreck that I thought I was.

Good job body, saying that you're all well, ready, and aware, when you missed that little bit of kinda really important information before going off on the deep depressive end or what have you!

My movements stirred the little fuzz ball on my head. I heard a cute yawn as she moved around a little, stretching her little limbs out, which brushed against my hair in a delightful way, putting me into a haze of lightheadedness.

But all great things must end. I felt Celestia stir in a waking manner, her cute adorable little yawn had gotten me once again. My heart near imploded upon hearing the little high pitched exhale that she made. This moment swiftly came to an end when the growl of a vicious dinosaur was heard; Celestia’s stomach, echoed through the cave. The growl was loud enough to wake the kid as she stumbled of my head like a scared little lamb.

I reacted quickly enough to catch the little pony before her body slammed against the rock of the cave. She blinked a few times in confusion, those large pearly purple eyes eyeing me closely for a second before she recognized me fully. Once she did, I saw her face light up with a big child like smile, and jumped out of my hands to get her own footing.

When she did, Celestia started jumping- no prancing, around me all excited like, almost as if she wanted to play. Erratic jumping in random directions made me worry for her safety on the rocky floor, so I decided to get up and hopefully bring her outside somewhere on the grass for her to play in a safe manner.

Celestia beamed with excitement. I watched as her little wings started to flutter, and her tongue shot out and eyes slammed shut as she focused more power into those feathery appendages as they flapped all the power she could muster. She was trying to fly. Duh, what else would she be doing?

The little furball gained a little lift, and a little shock in the back of my head sent me into a cautious state where I planned to catch her if wings give out on her. Worryingly, I placed my hands directly under her, but she still gained much height.

Soon, she even flew over my head. It was at this point I noticed her eyes were open and her wings finally gave up and arched into a wingspan kinda like a plane. She went into a very slow glide, circling just above my head until finally, she landed on my head without a single hitch. Then afterward she sat on top of me as if she were riding me, as if I was a horse and she was the rider. Talk about a shift in the norm.

Celestia apparently liked to sit on my head. I had a strange feeling subtly telling she liked to be on top of the world or as high as possible. Almost scarily confirming of my sentiment, Celestia managed to grasp my hair to hold herself in place, and she wasn’t just using it for that purpose alone.

“Ouch!” I grumbled as my hand instinctively went to swat her away before I stopped myself. Celestia giggled in delight. I can’t believe what just happend.

She actually pulled it, and hard. Wait, she couldn’t have. She was just a child after all. Wow. Honestly, it was so uncanny how she did it though. She didn’t even seem the least bit surprised I nearly smacked her. How did she even pull on my hair with hooves?

There seemed to be something telling me in the back of my head. that there was more to this than it seemed. I honestly have no reason to believe this, but I’m sure her pulling of my hair was deliberate.

I guess dictators start young.

A flare of light blinded me on exiting the cave, and my arm instinctively covered my eyes from the powerful rays as they had been used to the reasonably dark cavern that I’d spent the last little while in. Truth be told, time had blended quite well during our stay. I had no idea how long we’d actually been there.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the excessive flare the sun provided, and I soon started to make out the shapes of figures of the forest I’d spent so long frolicking through to find safety. The silhouettes regained their color and the forest was now brimming with bright colored hues.

From my vantage point up the little bit of mountain I had to climb to get to this cave, I spotted the lake I was at the other day, shining brightly like a mirror with the help of the sun. I even spotted the tree I slept at as well. The distance between my current location and the lake weirded me out. It was far too short. I was running through the forest for seemingly half a day, how could I only make the distance that looked to be only a kilometer away?

I was so distracted by that simple question I missed an all too familiar haunting site to behold.

Apples...

Apples everywhere.

Okay, not everywhere. But the forest was filled with apples, apples in every shape and form that could be considered to be an apple. Ripe, unripe, small, large, yellow, red, green, and so on in varying degrees. All of them just sitting in those trees.

I pinched myself to make sure I was still awake.

It perturbed me to great extents of my psyche that all the trees had been apple trees. I mean all of them. Like a grand insult to major injury, this struck me in the face so hard, I couldn’t even rise up to challenge, only be shocked throughout my body and mind. I was so sure that they had no such fruit during my search, and to see them all now, the answer to an old question like this was incomprehensible.

Worse yet, the memory of the dream creeped back into my mind, drawing my attention away from this crime. I still hadn’t made heads or tails of the dream, and I don’t think I was about to, but then many questions flooded my brain.

Where did the apples come from? Why was my dream so odd? What did it mean with all that imagery of eating and being eaten? Did my dream have anything to do with this reality?And if so, why? God I hate symbolism, just straight up tell me I just taste good if thats what it is. Like really.

I felt a shift in weight coming from my head. Celestia, being young and I guess curious, popped her little head into view, her fuzzy little ears sifting around as if to look for something. She viewed me from upside down and gave me a confused look, before her little tummy growled, breaking me out of my little trance.

As if to mirror her, my stomach too growled. Oh right, we hadn’t eaten for days. How could I even forget.

But honestly I hadn’t noticed the need till now. As if I hadn’t been hungry at all until this very moment. It wasn’t even a deadly painful hunger for someone who hadn’t eaten in days either, just the sort of hunger you wake up with.

Great, now I was much more willing to eat those apples, even if the thought of them did bring up some disturbing images.

I strolled down to the trees, Celestia perched nice and happily on my head. It made the slight hike from the cave a little more difficult. Sometimes even causing me to lose my balance just enough for me to curse more loudly than I’d have liked in the presence of a child.

Celestia jumped off my head as soon as we came to the threshold of the forest. She cautiously approached an apple tree with many already fallen apples underneath, I guess the sight intrigued her, and she put her head down to sniff one of the apples.

She looked at the apple with intrigue, pacing around it like a cat stalking its prey. She sometimes feinted in to take a whiff of the apple, and pulled back immediately as if the apple might jump off the ground to attack her. I had to hold back a chuckle at the sight.

Eventually she chanced a lick, but if her face was anything to believe, she was not impressed, as it contorted with disgust. I took a closer look to this particular apple to find out she’d licked an apple rotten to its very core.

I chuckled at her silliness. Who in their right mind would lick a rotten apple? Then it occurred to me; Celestia probably didn’t even know what an apple was; nor how to eat it. My chuckling drew her attention as she gave me a face that was dissatisfied with my laughter.

I grabbed an apple from a low hanging branch in the tree, a bright red one as they were my favorite, and Celestia eyed me with close attention, approaching me to get a closer look. I took a bite into the apple and was greeted with a nicely sweet taste these I had become accustomed with.

It was a heavenly experience. Never have I ever eaten an apple so delicious in my life. I smiled in delight, and felt my the food hit my stomach satisfyingly. I looked down at Celestia who put her hooves on my legs and looked up to me with whimpering little puppy eyes that caused my heart to explode, twice.

I chuckled a bit, clearly after seeing me eating it with such approval she must have wanted to have another try.

With half the apple left, I brought it down to her mouth with an open hand, careful she might accidently bite me. She cautioned another lick onto the exposed inside of the apple. I watched her eyes grow in utter delight and that sole lick urged her on taking up the entire apple in her mouth .

I didn’t think it was possible for such a small pony to take half an apple into her mouth and chew it and as a result, Celestia looked really ridiculous with her cheeks as large a a chipmunk inside a box of almonds.

When she swallowed the apple, I couldn’t avoid her grandiose smile plastered across her face. She whinnied in an approving tone before starting to jump around me looking for another treat to eat.

Mostly all the apples on the ground were either dirty or rotten, so I did my best from keeping Celestia trying to eat one, should she get sick later. She fought me to get another undesirable apple, but I eventually grabbed her and held her against my chest. However she got even more rowdy. Her struggling was so strong she knocked me in the head with hers.

“Hey stop it! I don’t want you to get sick, alright?” She looked at me after hearing my upset tone, her lip hung out with sadness only to be further accentuated by those large puppy eyes of hers, and a single shiny tear of desperation. Not going to lie, she kinda made me feel bad for making her sad. But really I’m not or will not be in the mood of taking care of a sick little horse.

I sighed. “Oh come on now, I’m just trying to get you a good apple!” I said in my defence. “Just wait a second, okay?” Her eyes unrelented. I rolled my eyes, thinking that if she’d been patient, she could be eating another apple by now.

Celestia seemed to understand where I was coming from and calmed down a bit. It was enough for me to realistically free one of my arms holding her to reach up into a nearby apple tree.

I eyed a green apple, my favorite kind of apple, and I felt an evil grin appeared on my face. I wonder if Celestia likes sour tastes? I couldn’t help but to think: it was time for a little payback. Without pondering the possible consequences, I snapped it off the branch it was holding on to, and took a small bite.

It was sweet and sour enough to be noticeable, just as I expected. I kinda wanted desperately to play a harmless little prank on her for all the rediculum she’d given me today. Sure the sour taste wasn’t potent, but to a newborn yet to experience it, it might be enough.

However, Celestia seemed to know something was up but was still eager to have a bite. Maybe it was the evil grin on my face, maybe it was some kind of hidden power of hers or maybe it was the unmistakably evil laugh I let loose without knowing, who’s to know?

Thankfully, if she did notice something was off, she did nothing about it, and still desperately wanted this apple. I lowered the apple to her, and it seemed her already huge eyes grew larger with utter admiration and glee. But on my side I almost started to burst out in a maniacal laugh. ‘Yes....YES... Bite into the apple my pretty! Muahahahahahahahahaha!’

And she did! I held my breath, this is it!

Nothing...

Celestia bit into this apple and paused for no moment to acknowledge the green apple’s sour taste. In fact, as an extreme opposite to what I was hoping for, she loved this apple even more than the first. From looking at her I got the feeling she enjoyed the sour taste of it all.

Touche my little pony, touche.

Oh well... I mean what was I expecting? They were only green apples after all, hardly sour at all, really. I just got my hopes up because she was young and adorable....and innocent. Un-touched by the horrors of sour candy that your friend insisted was a normal gumdrop.

Celestia started on another apple. Once again deterred by the apple’s skin, I had to take a bite before she would actually eat it. Which was fine for me. We eventually got into a system where I would eat half an apple and pass it along to the googly eyed hungry pony. But this system could only last for so long as my stomach filled and slowed down the process for the black hole besides me.

Eventually I felt the need to sit down next to a tree trunk. My body more than content of being bloated from the amount of fruit I’d eaten, it made me feel rather sluggish and tired.

I sighed in satisfaction before tapping my belly ever so gently. It felt good, to just sit down after a good meal after the last few days of confusion and stress. Out of the corner of my eye, Celestia came into view. Barring a half eaten apple in her mouth she skipped over to me with an adorable smile on her face.

She placed the half apple onto my lap and looked up to me with those large gleaming eyes of hers. She expected me to take another bite and to continue eating with her. “No thanks, I’m full.”

But that didn’t stop her, she approached me and pushed the apple closer to me with her delicate nose. Then looked back up to me with puppy eyes that could likely be considered weaponized cuteness.

“Fine, I’ll have another bite.” And as soon as I said that, I saw her face pull a u-turn. I felt my stomach roll in a disapproving way as I considered eating the apple for this cuteness, I didn’t want to disappoint her.

As I reached for the apple, the little filly snatched it back with her mouth and jumped back. “Hey!” I said in a bit of shock, although deep down I didn’t want to eat the thing in the first place. I shifted my look to Celestia who had a wide tense stance, looking right at me.

Out of instinct or curiosity, I tried grabbing the apple from Celestia herself. When I made the slightest move with my arm though, Celestia jumped back a little further like a cat. I tried again, and Celestia, anticipating my move, jumped further back.

Celestia’s eyes were clearly focused on me, and oozed challenge but playfully if that makes sense. I got this feeling she wanted to play with me, which made sense from her actions. I chuckled, she kinda reminded me of my dog.

“Ugh...fine.” I reluctantly said, having a feeling that ignoring her would just cause her to escalate or do something to eventually get me to bite. Mind you, when these things happen, especially with my dog, I play full force, Celestia will get no different.

I jumped for the apple instantly, catching Celestia off guard with my sudden move. I managed to gently swat the apple from her mouth without her having a chance to react. The apple went rolling into the grass and Celestia regained her bearings only a few moments later.

I wasn’t able to get close to the apple, being still on the ground mostly, and so Celestia managed to get it into her mouth and start to run before I could get to my feet.

Celestia’s little wings began to flap at a desperate pace. I chased her still as she managed to make it a few feet off the ground with her tiny wings. But having started to fly she also slowed down enough for me to catch up. Now in my full stride I passed her easily, and managed to swipe the filthy apple from her mouth. “Gotcha!” I said triumphantly as I smashed the apple in my hand on accident. “Ewww...” I said, I wasn’t fond of mushy things in my hand.

I heard a whooshing sound and right after the apple was snatched from my hand just as easily as I had taken it.

In my stun like dazed stupor, I spun around to find out what in the world had just happened. The sound of giggling coming from above me clued me in. I looked up to see Celestia up above, looking down at me whilst giggling with the apple in her mouth.

“Hey!” I shouted at her. “Not fair!” I said playfully, but Celestia just swallowed the rest of the apple whole just to spite me. “That’s not fair either!” Well at least I wouldn't have to worry about getting it back.

Celestia flew lower towards me, looking me square on and making silly little teasing faces at me with the best of my ability. I wondered how she knew so well how to tease people, was she born with this skill? I do remember the fans almost constantly refer to her as a troll.

Regardless, I was going to catch this little filly, and then I cannot be held responsible for the tickling to death thing I had in mind.

I charged after the little flying feathery tease of a tiny pony, which elicited a tiny scream followed by giggling as the pony fluttered away at the best speed I hoped she could actually manage.

Chasing after a little filly in the woods is not without its fair share of problems, or so I’d come to learn.

This little bugger was exceptional when it came to running away. Why? I have no idea, but the way this kid weaved her way through branches, brush, and rocks made this entire ordeal so, so difficult.

And yet it was extremely exhilarating. When you are put in a somewhat dense forest and start to chase after a little bothersome filly who’s just been asking for it all day, you really do get zoned in on the entire experience, it was just one word the permeated my mind at that point.

“Chase”

And after that my body acted accordingly. I Dodged every tree, ducked under each branch, jumped over any small bushes, climbing up every small cliff, and diving for that little filly once I made the mistake that I was close enough.

Oh and did I ever make that mistake!

Celestia was a mere meter away from me doing her best to run, fly or hide from me closely following her from behind. She often looked back to see how close I had gotten making silly faces to bait me further or surprised scared faces whenever she looked back to see me not too far behind at all, her wings fluttering in desperate motion to keep ahead of me.

However each time I noticed how she would sway and lose her arial balance for just a moment after twisting her head to look back. Realising that all my efforts have only managed to get me within a meter of her at best this was the moment she slowed down briefly enough for me to try something. It was time to play dirty.

Okay so maybe I’m crazy stupid, but screw it! without even thinking about what I was going to do at all, I decided to go through with it anyway, and what I mean by going through, I mean going to dive for that little filly and catch her mid air.

I grunted rather loudly with the start of my jump, prompting Celestia to look back at me slowing her down for a mere moment just enough for me to close most of the remaining distance before she knew what was going on.

My fingers briefly touched Celestia’s wings and without hesitation grabbed hold of a few feathers.
my grip held firm, and I smirked knowing I was about to win this little chase (albeit dirtily). The brief look of playful terror on Celestia’s face really made my day. Then I realized I was going to hit the ground...hard...

It’ll be worth it.

The little filly started to flap her wings hard, trying to save herself from the fall I was inevitably taking her down in. “No you don’t! I got you, you little bugger!” I shouted in excitement.

‘SNAP’

I hit the ground and felt something snap beneath me. The force of which plucked the feathers from Celestia’s wing, causing the filly to fly off in some indiscernible direction as my vision whipped around and body crashing and breaking into several things way too quick to even respond with a cry pain, before finally hitting into on really hard surface at last, and rolling to a painful stop.

I felt gutted, beaten broken, shaking with pain all across my body. My head spun in all directions at once in the most perverse sense of vertigo. I couldn’t even cry in pain as several hits to my stomach left me without my wind.

I tried moving around, prompting the blackness of passing out threateningly approach. As if I needed any more freaking motivation to not move!

A soft whimpering came from high above. Celestia. daringly opening my eyes I wondered idly what was wrong....well besides me. (Okay so I wasn't in the best mental state. Give me a break.)

A white blur at the end of this dark tunnel was clearly looking down at me. A soft whimpering from high above came through the loud ringing in my ears. ‘Celestia’ any rational mind would have said, but as it turns out I’m not a very rational person, so I barely mustered to say “Bananas.” instead. (In a way I’m almost impressed at how I got to bananas from ‘Celestia’.)

“Pff” The sound of a large footstep pressing into the soft ground nearby caught my attention straight away. Celestia began quivering and quaking in place, as it seemed terror engulfed her.

Without even knowing or being in the positions or mindset of finding out, I began to mirror the feeling of terror my ward was feeling. I strained to move my head even in the slightest. As danger prone as I was at this very moment, my Incredibly sore body gave me absolutely no leeway into turning to meet this threat. Much less be able to react to it.

The heavy footsteps gradually approached closer to me, creeping closer. And the look and sounds of whimpering coming from the little pony up from where I fell made the feeling of dread start to build up quickly. I wanted to go, I wanted to leave, I wanted to flee, fly, or dig. But most of all I was starting to understand why the cat died from wanting to know what it didn’t. Curiosity.

I dont know why I chose that time to look, I really really don’t, I mean Curiosity be damned, I’ve not been all that curious while I’ve been here this entire time but now seems to be a ‘great’ time to start doesn't it? Oh right what I saw, was a hulking omnipresent beast, that sucked the light into it like some kind of black hole defining its shape.

It was terrifying seeing it up close, the way it moved screamed run, the way it made sounds screamed hide, the way smelled screamed escape, how it looked screamed close your eyes and turn away. But like a deer caught in headlights, It was impossible for me to do any of it.

My body felt like it was paralyzed. It took so much effort to simply not fall over, much less have control to run. I mean if I could run. For all I knew even if I could get up and run away right now, I might just fall over, I didn’t know if I had broken any bones or what damage my body sustained. Or anything.

All I knew is that I was a sitting duck if this thing wanted to eat me.

The creature continued to lumber forward, towards me, its terrifying posture taking its time to approach me as if to pace itself. Its jaw opening up to show me those sickly crimson teeth. Only several feet away from my face.

as I looked at them in my pain, I felt completely subdued, my body felt like it was melting away, my concentration and wakefulness disappearing from my body far easier than one would expect. And soon it was just like everything was fading out.

...

..

.

Ever wake up? I mean have you ever woken up all at once?

Have you ever woken up from a dream so vivid, so nightmarish, that you are utterly convinced it happened? So much so that you spend the first half an hour waking up to fret about how your life has changed, and yet there’s no actual evidence to convince you it actually has changed?

GASP!

Jumping to my feet right away, and looking around for the beast was the very first thing I did after a deep breath. My body was tense and able, my senses were focused and trying to make sense of everything trying to put the fight back into me.

But nothing. False alarm. Nothing was there. No beast, no pain, no possible broken legs, no evidence that I’d been hurt whatsoever. But what was more irking was the fact I was still in the pitfall from where I made my encounter.

I was puzzled, no I was baffled, mystified, unable to comprehend. I wasn’t hurt, I felt better than ever, implying it was all a dream, but here I was right here, in this pitfall, right where the monster was. Where I fell. The fall was too much for my legs to have not have substance anything at all, even a minor bruise made no appearance.

And just then I heard the blades of grass beneath my feet be moved. I quickly looked down.

All it was...A little tiny unicorn pony. Celestia. Just curled up on a patch of grass, looking all cute as she repositions herself mid sleep to be more comfortable.

Look, I don’t know how to explain this to myself, I don’t know where to begin. But hell this was a curveball to the face if there ever was one.

I took a deep breath, there was no use stressing myself over something I had no control over. I slowly turned to observe that little pony right there resting on the grass, watching her body rest and move in a probably well deserved nap. It was easy to get lost or zone out while watching her breathe, her stomach expanding and sinking in a consistent manner. If she did save me, she didn’t look any worse for wear.

I moved my hand to gently brush my fingers against her silky smooth mane. I had to admit, touching her hair this way was one of the most soothing things I’d ever experienced. So relaxing and stress relieving that I just continued to do it, watching her facial expression grow happier with a subtle smile as if she was enjoying the sensations herself.

I changed it up and went to rub her side instead, her shiny white coat had been surprisingly well kept despite a few fragments of leaves and tiny branches from our chase I suppose. I cleaned her up a little, hoping to make her look just as the day I’d found her.

The last leaf was so deeply buried between the layers of her fur that I hardly had seen it at all. With a simple pinch I pulled it away, but I managed to accidentally grab some of her fur, causing her to mumbled uncomfortably and roll towards her other side.

Thats when I saw it.

A piece, a fragment, a remnant of the monster that had been looking to feast on me earlier, hidden under a sleeping pony.

Author's Note:

Well the guys after a long arse hiatus, I have returned to write ^ ^, I almost had this chapter done a very long time ago but now, Its finally finished after the same period of time it takes an elephant baby to gestate too. I'm a wonderfully terrible person to bring this back up in your favorites after so long. Blasted bronycon for getting me to get back on the writing horse. Well enjoy! And thank my wonderful assistant Griffin Spivy for continuing to edit after so long! Awesome dude guys.

Comments

[Minerva]

I hate to be that guy, but......
IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!
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[La Barata]

Hey, it's our yearly chapter!

[Dr_D]

It finally returns.

[primepersephony]

4903085
4826210
4903033

Yep, though one and a half year chapter to be precise. I'm having quite the chuckle at how many of you guys are all getting a laugh from it ^ ^

[Zanec]

I don't remember when I last read this.
Please don't bring any 'monsters' into the story, seriously, this is enough as it is, illusions, facades, tricks of and from the mind, I hope that is all this will ever be, if not, I can't say...
I'm talking about the 'monster', not the general world you've built.

[Luna Secret Stallion]

Omfg it's Alive! YES!

[Derpy_DragonV1]

Omfg it's Dead! NO!

[Zanec]

Has not aged well.