> Project Eden: Evolution is Magic > by Feral Pony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Handpicked and later Found (revised) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 The world was in anarchy, Every human being was in panic or depression as they knew what was coming. It had been long coming, but the time had come, the date everyone feared the most. April 2036 was when Apophis was estimated to hit earth. The explosion that would come from the hit would be devastating, leaving nothing behind except a dust cloud, making life impossible. Humans are a stubborn species and refused to die by some huge rock. Scientist`s across the whole world had come together to make The Ark Program. Handpicked individuals, all from survival experts to scientist`s and soldiers were picked as candidates for the program, whether they liked it or not. The program was made a secret to not give false hopes for the rest of humanity as it would be impossible to save every human. The Ark Program was by no means a solid program, it was merely an experiment. There was no telling when the humans would wake up if at all from their cryo-stasis, as it was still experimental technology. What the scientists did was that they put some arks to be activated hundred years after earth`s destruction some had the number thousand put on it, and some others would have to be activated manually. This would ensure that there would always be some humans at all times no matter how long earth had been destroyed. Two days before Apophis hit earth, Lieutenant Nicholas Raine got picked up by a shady individual who told Nicholas he was from the government and that his country needed Nicholas. Nicholas naturally found this weird as stuff like this only happened in movies, but out of sense of duty and thinking this had something to do with Apophis he followed. Scientists informed Raine of what was going to happen and of the Ark program. Raine was to undergo a serious amount of surgery and was going to be filled with experimental technology to be ready for literally anything the future may hold for him. After countless surgeries Nicholas found himself to be much stronger and more precise from all the small computers inside his body working its magic. Apophis was going to hit earth in a few hours so Raine and a lot of scientist`s by the looks of it got ready to undergo the final steps in the Ark program. He was given an Ark suite and was stripped of all belongings. This saddened Raine as he realized what he was leaving behind. The round room Nicholas and some scientists were placed in had pods around it and a computer in the middle, which Nicholas assumed would be the thing waking him up at some point in the future. Raine stepped to his pod and was ordered by what he assumed was a pre-recorded message telling him to stretch his right arm out so the automated machine could inject yet more experimental technology into his body. This technology were called Nanotrites and they apparently had countless purposes to them, too many for him to begin counting. The last thoughts Raine had as he went into deep cryo-sleep was of his lost brother who was killed in action. Day court went on like usual. The Canterlot snobs would as usual come in with their petty cases and small arguments to court. It has been and always will be a painful curse that follows of being a ruler like Princess Celestia. But it was slightly more bearable with Twilight on her side to accompany her. “Celestia, why is it that you have not made a court for petty cases like this?” Twilight whispered to her mentor. Celestia made a small smile and whispered back “I have Twilight, but some of these ponies are honestly not the sharpest tools in the shed.” Twilight giggles in response but quickly put on her serious face that she used under serious times such as this very serious court on this very serious day. The snobs, when finally done explaining their disagreement on who should pay the 300 bits for the repairs on some house in Canterlot got a verdict from Celestia. She told them to pay half each and solve the case between themselves like the adults they are. Twilight scribbled down this furiously so that she could hopefully learn from this herself as she recently ascended. “Twilight, maybe you should take the rest of the day off and spend some time with your friends. You don`t need to spend so much time with an old mare like myself” Celestia said with a small grin as she knew what she said would make Twilight begin her small speech where the topic would be that being old is not a bad thing. As predicted Twilight began “ C-Celestia y-your not old, or you are, but not in a bad way. A-And you being old means you are wise and smart and…” Celestia let poor Twilight continue with her little speech, but she never got to finish as a guard took both princesses by surprise when he slammed the doors open with a hint of fear in his eyes. ”Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I do not mean to interrupt anything important but there has been a discovery made by your sister Princess.” He said his eyes directed at Celestia. “What is it she has discovered?” Twilight asked with curiosity in her voice. “She has found some big metal chunk, but it is hollow on the inside” The guards pony answered. “Why would this be worth interruption day court for, you are clearly able to investigate this yourselves, especially with my sister`s help.” Celestia said with calm. “Well your majesty there was also life detected inside of it, not the small worms and insect`s but one giant life form.” This sparked interest for Celestia. “Very well. Where would I find my sister at this moment?” “underneath Canterlot your highness by the base of the mountain.” “Thank you, tell everypony that daycourt is cancelled for the rest of the day, after that you may dismiss yourself.” “Yes your highness.” The guard exited the hall and left Twilight and Celestia all by themselves. Celestia Raised from her cushion and looked at Twilight and said with a friendly smile “Let`s just teleport down there together” Twilight nodded in approval to this suggestion and stood up from her own cushion. Celestia took one last sip from her glass of water and then lighted up her horn and teleported the two to the base of the mountain directly underneath Canterlot. Luna examined the huge piece of metal in front of her with great interest. She noticed small outlines that only was to be found at one spot, the rest was completely clean of any details whatsoever besides from the dirt covering it. It had taken a great deal of unicorn magic to pull this piece of metal out of the ground, but they eventually got it. Luna was about the grab the area with the outlines with her magic to investigate further, but was stopped as her sister`s appearance surprised her. “Dearest sister” Luna exclaimed with a smile. “Luna” Celestia answered with a smile aswell. “What does thou think this might be sister?” Luna said with her head tilting slightly to the right. “Your guess is as good as mine” Celestia said. “Have you tried opening it to see what that could possibly be living inside such a thing?” Twilight asked. “We… I was just about to try and investigate these outline, but tho… your appearance stopped me” Luna said, with a little annoyance mostly from her own habit of talking old equestrian in front of others. “Well, we are not stopping you” Celestia said with a sly smile. Luna returned the smile and began working her spell once again on the outline of the hollow piece of metal. After much pulling and abrasion Luna got the outlined piece off the rest of the. What was inside was not surprisingly… more metal. What that did surprise the ponies however, was that there were some sort of glass cocoons that surrounded the room. Celestia was the first to enter the room. Once she put her first hoof inside the room brightened up with lights. She got a clear view of the room, in the middle was some sort of alien looking digits and a black mirror with hoses attached to it. Whatever this contraption was it was not something she could use. Once the focus was off the wired looking device in the middle she took a closer look at the glass cocoons. What she mostly saw disgusted her. She saw dead creatures trapped in these cocoons. The corpses were rotten, to say the least it did not help on her stomach. There were 12 of these glassy cocoons however, what caught her eye was the last cocoon in the room. The creature inside had color to it and looked like it could still be alive, but in some deep sleep. Luna and Twilight had entered, as well as some scientist ponies. They all examined the room and the cocoons, but as time went on everypony had their focus on this one last cocoon with the creature looking very much alive. One could hear a needle hit the floor had one been dropped. The only thing breaking the silence was Celestia saying to the scientists. “see if you can break this cocoon out of its place without damaging the pod itself, I want it in the castle for further study, and possibly release” > Chapter 2: Plans for the future > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2. The unknown creature was transported to Canterlot where it was placed in quarantine until the princesses gave any further orders on how to deal with the situation. The scientists had extracted the other cocoons in another sector of Canterlot where the dead beings could be experimented on safely in case the corpses carried some diseases. When the metal room had been cleaned of any creatures dead or alive the princesses began investigating further into the room. Twilight was especially intrigued by the weird looking mirror in the middle of the room. “What purpose did this serve, if we consider the theory that everything that is inside this room had some use to it.” Twilight asked to no one in particular. “We won`t know until we have had a talk with the creature, assuming waking it won`t kill it” Luna answered. “I wonder what these tubes do. They are too small to have any purpose and still be efficient.” Celestia added. “Oh… I can`t wait to ask what everything is for. Think of how it could progress our technology or how it could tell us about the rest of it`s species, assuming it can talk or even understand us. Oh-oh and if it has different mathematical…” Twilight began rambling. Celestia listened contently to everything Twilight brought up while investigating on the black mirror closely in the middle of the room. Luna stood by Celestia`s side staring into the mirror like it would suddenly change into something horrific. But like suspected nothing happened. Luna`s curiosity grew stronger by each passing second spent looking at it and decided now was as good time as any to touch the mirror. Her hoof was in the air and on its way to the mirror screen. It came closer to make contact. Closer… closer…. CLOSER..! Contact! Nothing happened. Disappointed Luna put her hoof down and decided it was enough investigating and let it become the scientist`s job to examine the room closer. Celestia and Twilight followed pursuit and walked out of the metal room. Twilight looked back with a regretful look on her face as she really wanted to keep on investigating, but Twilight did not want to miss the chance of seeing the creature awake from Celestia knows how long. (Not literally) Luna, Twilight and Celestia were back in the throne room discussing what to do next with the situation they now were in. On one hoof they could learn an incredible amount of new things from this creature they had discovered, but on the other hoof they did not know how it would react to being awakened then later to be questioned. What would the citizens of Canterlot think, or all of Equestria for that matter? The conclusion became that they would release the creature in one of the guestrooms in the castle so it would feel comfortable and welcomed, but they would have guards outside of the door and backup close by in case it would try to do something rash. The princesses went to the infirmary where the Cocoon had been stored for the time being. “Princess’s, the cocoon appears to be made of glass and titanium we have yet to find any safe way to open the cocoon. And also since none of the materials used to create this cylinder formed cocoon we have instead decided to call the cocoon, a pod from now on.” The head leader of the scientist team, Smarty Head reported. Celestia gave and approving smile to Smarty and asked “What of the dead creatures? There are plenty of pods to experiment on there” Smarty answered “Already working on it, but where do you suggest we release the creature once we have figured out a safe way to remove it from the pod?” Celestia had a small grin on her face and said “You are to release the creature in one of the best guestrooms we have in the castle.” Every scientist had a shocked look on their face from what they were hearing. “A-are you suggesting we release the creature in one of the guestrooms… without any sort of security or any equipment ready in case of body failure or other scenarios?!” Smarty asked out loud as he could stand for such insecurities over something that could revolutionize pony society. Celestia snickered a little from their reaction and said “Of course not, you will be stationed nearby where in any case something should happen you will be there to save the day. Guards will be stationed outside it`s door at all times until we can trust it and backup will always be available.” Everypony sighed out in relief as they heard what was planned. Underneath Canterlot where the metal room was still located scientist`s were working on their best to find something worth studying, but the room was surprisingly empty, it was only the Black mirror in the middle of the room with that table with alien letters on it. After literally hours of just gazing upon the letters and the mirror they decided to begin fiddling with the strange contraption. Some began looking at the tubes, they took note that they were flexible and could possibly contain something inside of them. Some looked at the ceiling to see if the tubes led somewhere. Stubby, one of the scientists put a hoof on the alien letters to see if anything happened. A Quick burst of mechanical sounds filled the room as a huge orange button presented itself underneath the table. The button glowed and filled the dark areas of the room with a comfortable orange tint. “Should we press it?” one of the scientists suggested. “I have read to many books on how one should not press the big red glowing button. I am not going to press that thing!” another one exclaimed. “Is this button red?” The pony named Smart Tass said all knowingly. “Well… no” The second scientist said. “Exactly!” Smart Tass practically yelled and threw his hoof on the big glowing button. What used to be the Black mirror was now glowing in a very similar Orange like the button. The mirror was filled with moving objects and alien letters like the one on the table. However the scientists could not focus on the screen as they were startled by some male voice talking in a language the ponies could not understand. It took 2 minutes and 14 seconds before the voice stopped talking (not that anypony was counting) This got noted as a very important event and was to be told to the princesses Immediately as what this message said could be very important. > Chapter 3: Re-awakening > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 Scientist`s worked through Celestia`s day and Luna`s night in attempt to safely extract the creature sleeping in the pod. They had used the other pods as test`s and they had finally figured out a safe way to open the pod. They would pry open the front half with magic and some tools such as crowbars. Herdem Freestallion was the one to figure out how to open pods with a crowbar. He always seemed to carry a crowbar for no apparent reason. Anyway everything was ready to release the creature, all the scientists needed now was the all clear to open the pod from the princesses. Celestia was curious about the message the Metal room had given, but figured it irrelevant until they could translate it. The pod with the creature in it was extracted to the best guestroom in the castle to where it would be released. Celestia ushered all the ponies out except Luna and Twilight. She grabbed a crowbar and began prying at the points the scientists had deemed safe. After some effort the pod opened and revealed the creature. Raine felt a cold breeze hit him and some unintelligible sounds. He could not think properly and felt nauseated. His body was numb and he had a small urge to puke, but held it back. Nicholas tried to open his eyes with very little success, but after a few attempts he managed. His vision was a bit blurred but when his eyes came into focus his eye caught a slightly smaller than average white horse in front of him. He shifted his eyes onto a dark blue horse that was even smaller than the white one. The last horse was lavender and was so small he had to hold back the urge to laugh. There was something wrong though, their eyes were huge, and then I mean HUGE! They also had this intelligent look in them that said that they were far from stupide. These three horses looked at Raine with great curiosity. Only they weren’t horses they had horns and wings, all three of them. Raine would call them Horse for now. The silence was as thick as can be, eventually the white horse spoke. Raine widened his eyes and felt his heart begin to race. The sounds the horse made sounded like complete gibberish but Raine would have to assume it was another language since after a few awkward seconds the small lavender horse said something to the white horse. Raine had, had enough and decided to try and speak. “Hello… urgh… Can you understand me?” The horses looked at Raine with slightly surprised looks. The white one began speaking again with her gaze fallen upon the dark blue and the lavender horses. When she had stopped talking she lifted her hoof and made a motion that told Raine could come out of the pod. She gave off a friendly smile while doing so. Raine took a step outside of the pod but quickly trembled and fell on his knees, his arms barely able to hold him up as he stood there on all his four limbs. He heard some small gasps from the horses but shrugged it off. The sounds they had made so far sounded very Feminine like so he would assume they were female. He noticed the floor was made of marble, So he was no longer in the Ark. He felt weak but made a second attempt to stand on his two legs. When he stood up he noticed he was slightly smaller than the white horse but almost at eyelevel. He took his gaze away from her face and noticed he was in a room built for wealthy people. The walls had a deep blue color to them while the doors leading to other rooms where white. Windows allowed Raine to know it was either really early in the morning or about to become nighttime. He scanned the rest of the room and noticed that some cushions had been placed around a table. The roof had chandelier`s lighting up the room. There was also a bed which looked really fluffy, too fluffy for Raines taste. Raine felt the curious look of the lavender horse upon him as he scanned his environment and the slightly surprised look from the dark blue horse. Maybe he surprised the blue one by being so tall, the tough almost made him want to chuckle. The white one just looked with a friendly smile and let Raine take his time. Raine took a few careful steps towards the bed trying not to lose his balance. His legs were stiff so he had some trouble moving but quickly got used to the feeling. He reached out and touched the silky cloth on the bed. It felt good to finally touch something again after being in stasis. He looked over his shoulder to find the three horses still standing by the pod he had been in earlier with curious eyes on him. Raine was about to speak again when he began to puzzle a few thing together in his mind. They had let him go, they had not attacked him so Raine would have to assume they were friendly. But where was the rest of the Survivors from the Ark. Had they released them too? Given them the same warm welcome to later be backstabbed for experiments? No…no, nothing is so inhumane. Or are they? Either way, he was not going to partake in anything they had planned. He had a job to do. Find the others and initiate Project Eden. He kept his cool, but all trust that was built up earlier had shattered and was replaced by mistrust. "They would only delay him" raine though. Raine however did not let the horses know this and continued to act friendly until he was all alone and could begin to think of how he could escape and save the others, or find out what fate had bestowed upon them. The white one took a few careful steps towards Raine and stopped about an one and a half arm length away from Raine. She then stretched out her hoof and gave a small smile. Rain felt a small lump being made in his throat, but reached out and took the hoof and began shaking. She looked at him a bit confused at first but shrugged it off. When he let go the White horse had a big friendly smile and called for the other horses to what Raine assumed greet him. When Raine had shaken all the Horses they made their leave and said something to Raine that he could not understand. Before the white horse left the room she gave a last smile to Rain and pointed towards the bed. Then she left. Raine began further examining the room he was in. He went to one of the doors located on the other side of the room and found what clearly was a bathroom. He examined the room quickly but when his eyes reached the toilet he began to think of how long ago it was since he last time sat down and took a shit. A small grumble from his stomach and some pressure building up in his backside was all the confermation he needed. He was getting down to bussiness. Celestia, Luna and Twilight were now in the library discussing what to do next. “He has yet to show any sign of aggression towards us, but that might be because he was alone.” Twilight said. “I will try to speak to it later. But for now I suggest Luna begins her night court and you Twilight go get some sleep.” Celestia said. “Before we leave to do our duties, do you think we have secured the creature enough?” Luna asks her sister. “I do, besides I will go speak to it some more before I call it a day.” Celestia finishes. “Phew, holy shit that felt good.” Raine muttered to himself. Okay time to find a way out. Let’s start with the most obvious one, the front door. Raine found no keyhole to peek through so he grabbed the handle and opened it. What met him was a tall and huge hallway. The roof must have been at least 25 feet tall. The hallways went on for quite a distance. Raine was about to step out when two spears blocked his path. He saw two golden armored horses whom only glared daggers at Raine. Rain pulled back into his room. He did not want to start anything against the white horse who he assumed owned this place. Okay, next option Windows. He stepped over to the windows which revealed a beautiful night sky and a glowing city right in front of him. The buildings stood tall and looked like early human architecture. He opened the windows and looked down. From what he could see the drop was not too far and he would be able to land safely if he just rolled at the end of the jump. Before he would take his leave tough he would need to look for something to eat as well as drink. He found a plate full of fruite and began nibbeling on a piece of apple. While he ate he gathered the supplies he needed to survive for at least two weeks and packed it up in the bed sheet. He secured the sheet with some rope that was holding some curtains open. He helped himself with some the little metal that was available in the room in case he could make something out of it later. He also stripped his pod of most of the titanium metal he could afford to carry without losing walking and running speed. What he would use the titanium for yet he did not know but he would have to break it down to craft something worthy of anything. He would figure out how to do so later. Everything was set and ready to go. Raine stepped over to the window again dropped his bag of supplies. It landed with a thud, but not loud enough for it to raise any alarm. Raine was next, he had to be careful with how he was going to land. He had not done anything remotely athletic in the past few hours that have passed, starting with a three meters jump would not be the smartest move, so he was going to warm up with some very basic exercise. Celestia walked down the hallway leading to the alien creature`s room. She wanted to try and establish a better relationship with the creature and see if she could try and communicate with it, even if it would just be hoof motions and such. It had made sounds that could probably be a language, also considering it was sleeping in a metal pod would have to mean it was intelligent enough to know the underground would be safe from any harm whatever the threat may be. As she was thinking all this trough she almost passed the creature`s door, but managed to stop herself. The guards stood in position and saluted to the princess. “I wish to speak with the Creature. I do not wish to be interrupted, and should any noise come from the door, do not enter unless I tell you to.” The guards nodded and opened the door for their princess. She entered the room and looked over to the bed to see if the creature was sleeping. However she noticed the sheet was missing and no creature was sleeping there. She scanned the room to see the creature laying on its stomach but pushing its chest off the floor with its forearms. He repeated this over and over and over again, not noticing Celestia approach. Forty eight. Forty nine. Fifty! Raine was ready to go, he did not want to strain himself too much as he did not know how long the journey would be before he found any of the Arks, and he needed all the energy he could save. As he stood up he took in the environment of the room one last time before he would leave to on his quest to find the other Arks. As his eyes driftet from the bed over to the doors leading to the hallway he halted as his eyes met the white Horse`s Magenta ones. Raine felt his legs being glued to the floor and a few sweat drops began running down his face. They just stared at each other for what felt like hours. Suddenly a wind breeze coming through the open window broke the silence. The white horse noticed this. Her eyes shot towards the open window, then back to Raine. Raine collected what courage he could and began running towards the window as fast as his body allowed him to. He jumped and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Pain shot through his right leg as he had completely forgot to roll so his body could take the fall, instead all that burden went to his legs. He quickly took the bed sheet filled with supplies and began running, ignoring the pain in his leg. He continued to run for a short duration, before slowing down to a jog so he could catch his breath again. Raine had not taken into consideration where he was running and found himself surrounded by some tall dark green hedges. There were paths leading both left and right and all directions. Raine was in a maze from what he could tell. He was currently leaning onto a statue that looked really freaky. It had a snake`s tail, a goat leg, batwings and a lion paw. Raines hair began rising as he examined the statue closer but decided now was not a time for long breaks as he was probably being chased. The silhouette of a flying horse in the sky just confirmed his theory. He began jogging again in an attempt to find a way out. After a short jog he saw the exit, but it was covered by some guard horses. “Shit.” He whispered to himself. He did not want to go back into the maze again but had no choice. He had no weapons other than his fists to defend himself with, he also did not want to hurt anyone unnecessarily. Raine did a quiet sigh and began jogging into the maze again in an attempt to find another way out. Hopefully with no one to witness his escape. He had stopped jogging and was now walking. He had several times seen flying horses above including the big white one scouting for him. He had managed to hide every time thus far, however he did not know how long he could keep it up. The sun was on its way back up over the horizon again which told Raine he had been in that damned maze for quite some time now. But he was not going to give up. He needed to get away and find the other survivors and Arks. He kept on walking and taking quick breaks every now and then to catch his breath and to think about his actions thus far. Raine thought over how quick he was to judge the horses as evil and only wanted to experiment with him. Maybe escape was a bit of a rushed decision. Raine silently cursed to himself for acting so rash, but figured what`s done is done and he had to keep on moving to not only get out of the maze, but also to escape the Horses further. After some infuriating hours of walking, Raine found another exit. It was covered by horses aswell as the previous one. Raine was done with this maze, he was getting out, even if he would have to fight his way out. He picked up a small rock and tossed it to the turn closest to the exit. Hopefully the guards would noticed the bushes moving. Surprisingly they did but only sent one guard to check it out while the other stood still at his post. “Son of a bitch. *sigh* Shitface you asked for it” Raine muttured under his breath. Raine did not want to hurt any of the horses but it was now or never. He made full running speed towards the guard that stood alone by the exit and had a quick mental argument in his mind. If he left him conscious he could alert the other guards and Raine would have a harder time escaping, or he could knock him out, but risk a bigger punishment if he got caught at some point. He chose the latter option and grabbed the horse’s throat and began chocking. While he did this he dragged him along to a place where he could hide the soon to be unconscious horse. When the horse had choked Raine checked for a pulse and luckily found one. He dropped the body into the hedge wall and began running along the maze outside wall before the other guard would notice anything. Raine had left no trail to follow so all that mattered now was to get over the huge walls surrounding the city. There were stairs leading up to the top of the wall, so getting up was not the hard part. It was sneaking around while the sun stood high in the sky and guards were patrolling the walls. Raine would have to figure something out, but now was not the time. Hiding in the city for a day or two could not hurt too much if he were just careful. He would be able to plan his escape from the walls better as well as get some rest and wait for nighttime where the cover would be thicker. He found a gardening shed where he could only hope no one would go into while he stayed there. Celestia`s wings were tired from all the flying she had done around the maze, scouting for that creature. Ugh, what did she do to scare it off like that? She tough as her laid flat on her bed relaxing. Celestia though through the whole encounter. She entered the room, and saw it do what she assumed was exercise. Then it stood up and made eye contact. What followed after made not sense to her. It just ran and jumped out the window to begin to run into the maze where she had lost it. Ugh, she did not have time to search for the creature any more than she already had, maybe this would be a task for Twilight and her friends. The creature had posed no threat thus far, so sending the girls after it could not hurt. Beside she needed her guards here, for she had received several letters concerning the border between Griffynia and Equestria. "Yes sending Twilight and her friends after this creature may be my best option". Celestia tought. They probably also have the best chance to befriend it, considering they are not armed guards with intention of making their job as easy as possible by drugging it down into sleep. Celestia got out of her bed and made her way towards breakfast where Twilight and Luna would be. This would be as appropriate time as any to say the news of the creature`s escape. > Chapter 4 Escape (part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 I awoke by the sound of metal being moved around. I quickly got up to my feet and found the darkest corner in the shed. The door opened and allowed moonlight to brighten up the room slightly. A silhouette of a horse… Actually calling this new species horses is giving the too much credit, Ponies sounds more appropriate given their size. Anyway back on track, a silhouette of a pony entered the small shed I had decided to hide in for the night. The pony had something that resembled a tool belt equipped. I could not figure out what kind of equipment was on the belt but I knew it was what was making the metal noises. The Pony just stopped in the middle of the shed just about 3 feet away from where I was hiding. I was holding my breath praying to whatever deity was around that this small ass pony would not be able to see me, I had come too far to be detected by some gardener. Standing there for what felt like hours just watching the pony standing there in the middle of the room was rather nerve-wracking if I have to say so myself, but all nervousness slipped away when I heard some snoring coming from the pony. “Holy shit, that was tense” I managed to whisper while exhaling. As I headed for the door that leads outside into the cold night, the tool belt around the pony caught my eye one more time. A belt like that could come in real handy. I tip-toed over to the pony preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. The darkness of the night made it hard to find any release mechanism on the belt so I figured I would just have to feel my way around until I find something. It was rather awkward for me standing there, feeling up a pony like that, I swear I could hear a moan here and there, and then I mean the bedroom moans. I resisted the urge to stop touching but I wanted that belt so bad! After some finger examining going and a lot of uncomfortable noises I found the release mechanism and released the belt. The pony surprisingly did not wake up from all the touching, but I suppose it was more of a pleasant experience for the pony than a bad one. The belt fit around my waist very nicely, and I could finally figure out what kind of tools was on the belt. A hammer… with a handle made for hands. The face palm that came afterwards was so loud made a few birds flying away into the beautiful night sky. Unfortunately that drew a bit of unwanted attention to me as I heard a few clippity clop`s heading my way. So gathered up my sack of supplies and moved as fast as I could on the moist grass over to the huge wall and got over to the conveniently placed staircases leading up to the top of the wall. “It`s not so easy being human… and alone” I muttered as I walked up the stairs. I had no idea why I felt the need to talk to myself, but it felt good. When I reached the top I almost got numb by the sight that hit me. The view was beautiful, even though it was nighttime I could see the mountains stretching as far as the eye could see, green lush forests and beautiful fields of grass. A small town made an orange circle that stood out of the fields, but not in a bad way. The moon emitted enough light for me to see snow on the top of the mountains in the distance. Did I forget to mention the sight was beautiful? I gawked at the sight some more, taking in as much as I could. I woke up from my trance by some metal like sounds making their way towards me. I had wasted precious time by staring at the landscape so I needed to think quickly, how to get off this wall, and out of the city. Unfortunately all time I had was used up and I was looking at a pony guard looking at me with a flying torch by his side. The flying torch made it`s way over to and… FLYING TORCH!? How the hell was a torch flying. The torch had a handle and everything but nothing was holding it. I swear if my head could have exploded from how mindblown I was it would have been a fucking nuclear explosion. The guard was approaching me with wary movements in an attempt not to aggravate me I suppose, but I was too focused on that flying fucking torch to notice! However I snapped out of my second trance for the night by the guard being only a few feet away from me. I had not noticed but this pony`s horn seemed to glow with a light blue aura. The guard had a white coat and golden armor and light blue eyes. The pony narrowed its eyes at me and suddenly began yelling out something I obviously could not understand. Whatever he shouted out made me go into full panic. I probably broke the world record on fastest sprinter when I began running away from this dumbass pony. God, why could life not be easy on me for once. It did not take long before I saw blots of light shoot past by me. It was maybe fifty or so of the bolts firing away. I felt like I was in one of the bad movies where the hero never gets shot by anyone but the ultimate bad guy and the hero never runs out of ammo when he goes on a killing spree. Anyway I was running along the wall with these shout ponies behind me shooting bolts of light (which I had no Idea what it was) and was just praying again to whatever deity that I would get out of this in one piece. Whatever Deity that had listened was kind today and gave me some stairs that lead downward and into cover from the bolts whizzing by me. The stair led down, and down, and some more down, and suddenly rock bottom. No, literally rock bottom or crystal bottom would be more precise. I was in a cave surrounded by black crystal`s. I had never seen s mineral like this crystal before. But that could just be me and my complete uninterest in minerals and rocks and such. But the screaming guard`s ponies reminded me that I was being chased, so I ventured deeper into the dark crystal caves. > Chapter 4 Escape (part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 Hiding in this cave was rather easy but the cave had made me anxious as it reminded me too much of the maze I had been in the previous day. There had been patrolling ponies walking back and forth with glowing horns and floating torches. Luckily for my sanity sake, it seemed that a few ponies were walking without a floating torch but rather strapped to their armor which made perfect sense, however some of them had wings which did no help on my already horrible headache. Seriously when did the rules of evolution decide that horses should get smaller? What advantage could that possibly have? Not to mention have access to wings, and horns that let them move things around with their mind. Like seriously what the fuck. These caves was rather disorienting and dangerous, not to mention dark. I had several times been running at high speed only to nearly fall into a dark hole to never be seen again, but because of my awesome experience as a recon solider I have saved myself from such a fate many times. Anyways I was traveling through caves I knew nothing of with talking horses trying to locate me and probably three fuming mad queen ponies. Urgh, when did life go so wrong… oh right it was the year of 2036 when a gigantic fucking rock was going to hit earth. “Fuck my life” I sighed. But much to my dismay some ponies had heard me, and before I knew it was being chased by some stupide ponies… again. Celestia`s POV Twilight had had a hard time dealing with becoming a princess, living in the castle again to take up responsibilities to rule a country had been hard on her, especially without her friends to back her up and give her moral support and such. But the elements of harmony all had lives they had to attend to. But I think breaking this little mission out to Twilight will hopefully make her a little more content as it will give her some time with her friends. I was in one of the many hundreds of hallways around the castle on my way to meet Twilight to break the news I had prepared. When the door was only a few tail lengths away from reach I heard somepony run towards my location. I turned my head and caught sight of one of my guards sprinting towards me. He stopped in front of me and did a quick bow as well as panting, he then then raised a hoof in sign for me to give him a second to catch his breath. I stood there patiently and gave him all the time he needed. The silence was broken when the guard spoke. “Princess Celestia, We have spotted the creature in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot.” I recalled the crystal caves where Cadance had been trapped during the changeling invasion. As far as I knew there were few exits and little chance the creature could escape especially if I ordered the guards to guard all exits. “How did the creature manage to get into the caves in the first place?” I asked genuinely curios. “We saw him sneaking on the walls surrounding Canterlot and we gave chase. He however found the entrance to the crystal caves on the wall and entered from there. We have lost him again though unfortunately.” “Very well, I want guards on all exits around the cave, and I want all of the guards to use non-lethal spells and sedative darts. I do not wish to make an enemy of whatever it is we have found.” The guard nodded in understanding and took his leave to carry out his orders. I suspected my little ponies would not be able to stop this creature but it would be worth a try. None the less I would still inform Twilight of my mission to her should my guards fail. Raine`s POV LIGHT! I could see sunlight. Although these thoughts was all happy and stuff, my body was screaming at my telling my how stupide I am and how it really needed to rest. I mean running for pretty much two days straight or was it three? Whatever, all the running away from the ponies was getting really old really fast, and I had my aching body as proof. Luckily for me the LIGHT was pulling me towards it where it promised safety and shelter from these strange creatures chasing me day and night. When I reached the opening I was rewarded with some very welcomed fresh air. I really wanted to just stop and take in what was around me but the chasing and screaming ponies behind me had me fleeing some more. I guess God was mad at me or something. The trees seemed to fly past me as I kept on running for my life. I took a quick glance over my right shoulder to see that the ponies were struggling to keep up with me through the forest. A chuckle escaped me and very soon became a full-fledged laugh. Man I had never been this happy for something but finally getting rid of those ponies annoying has got to be one of the most satisfying things to happen to me. It did not take more than a few minutes of more running before I had lost all trace of the ponies. I let myself stop so I could catch my breath. While panting heavily and feeling the familiar taste of blood enter my mouth I actually just collapsed by one of the closest trees. Sitting there I closed my eyes and let my guard down so I could get some proper rest. “Whatever I meet now can`t be any worse than what I have just experienced” I tough to myself, a small smile made its way to my mouth then my mind went blank. > Chapter 5 Plans... again > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 Water was running on my face and I felt really cold. I grunted at being awakened but opened my eyes and noticed water was falling from the sky. While making an exhausted sigh I raised myself to my full length and grabbed my bag lying next to me. I opened it and took an apple and attacked it with my mouth. I was rewarded by getting a sweet, juicy apple taste. Sighing again after finishing it I grabbed a banana and ate that too. After finishing my breakfast I packed up my bag and began taking in my surroundings. I was in a forest so I had something I could work with. I grabbed some of the biggest leafs I could find and found some sticks I could use to keep it up. I needed shelter from this rain and a place I could come back to if needed. Making my small camp went considerably fast, I had been lucky enough to find some flint so I could make a fire to keep me warm. The nanotrite tech in my body was supposed to keep me warm when I was cold, but I guess it was malfunctioning so I would have to look into it later when I was back in one of the Arks. Opening my bag and taking out some of the titanium plates I had taken with me I began thinking through what I should do with them. It was a very small amount and had been heavy to take with me but I figured I could at least be able to make a shield should I put the time and effort into it. Making armor would have to wait, the rain had stopped and I was dry so I could get to work on other things, such as finding one of the Arks, or more specifically my Ark. There was information there I needed that would give me the location of the other Arks and most importantly the Super Ark. Glancing up to the sky I could see a mountain, and on the edge there was a… CITY?! The way it was hanging off the hillside defied all laws of physics and should be crumbling under its own weight, but no I had to end up in some weird future where flying horses was the future of evolution and Cities were from something of a fantasy show. What next a city made of clouds like the old Greek’s gods lived in? Yeah right. Looking away from the mountain and ignoring the city I found the sun high in the sky, and was still rising. I hoped the planets location was still the same because the sun would be east at this moment so now I had some idea of orientation. So the City is to the north and more forest to the south, at least from my location. Making my way towards the mountain I figure I would go around it in search for my Ark, and hope it is the same mountain I entered way back when I entered stasis. Not after a seven steps began my right leg hurting like crazy. It was probably damaged from my fall when I made my graceful exit out of the castle, not to mention all the running. I was probably high on adrenalin at the time to notice any damage. I need to rest and heal up, but I wanted to find my Ark and start my journey before some Ponies decide to begin a search. I Figured I was far from done with those ponies. My body won the battle it was having with my enthusiastic brain, so I collapsed in my safe spot underneath the leaf roof. Twilight`s POV “WHAT!” “I understand the burden of this task, but I would not ask of you to do it if I did not think you and your friends would succeed” “Bu… But Celestia, wouldn`t this be a task better suited for one of your guards? I mean I got to learn how to be a Princess and my friends have their own life and family they have to look after and… and” “Like I said earlier Twilight I know what it is I ask of you, but I trust you and your friends will have the best chance of befriending this creature and bring it back safely, you have every right to decline the mission as I won`t force this upon you but please, as a favor to me do this task. “ Silence embraced the room as I was deep in thought on how to proceed. I wanted to accept, to make Celestia proud and think I could take responsibility, on the other hoof though, what would the people of Equestria think of a princess taking on a mission like this personally. What if my friends did not want to come along and I would have to take on this journey all by myself? Or what if I failed to track the creature and then fail my mission Celestia had given me and deemed me unworthy of a princess? Or what if… “Twilight relax, like I said you can decline” Celestia must have noticed I was stressed, it felt like I had been on full sprint through Running of the leaves competition. I exhaled and tried my best to relax. Through a bit of hard decision making and some happy thoughts of my friends I without regret said to Celestia. “I accept, but do you have any leads or somewhere where I can start?” “The creature was last seen exiting the Crystal caves and went missing in the Northern parts of the Everfree forest. I have deployed search parties but have had very little luck in finding any more than that. However if I were you twilight I would first break this to my friends before starting anything.” Biting my lower lip of the thought of breaking this task to my friends, but they would not let me down, they never did. “Thank you Celestia, I will be leaving to Ponyville in a few hours.” “I should be the one thanking you Twilight for taking on this task. Especially considering we are dealing with something we have no knowledge about.” The encouraging smile Celestia have me filled my heart with joy, also with fear of the thought of failing the mission. I returned the smile and left my room to get some food, after that I would be leaving to see my friends. Raine`s POV Opening my eyes I was presented with a very faint glow in front of me. My fire had been running out while I had been sleeping. Standing up and being rewarded with some satisfying pops in my back I took the time to scan the area around me. It was dark, no doubt night so not really much I could get an eye on. Taking a careful step forward with my right leg I felt it was stiff but much better than earlier. The nanotrites had no doubt helped speed up the healing process, so I began moving around trying to find some sticks and wood I could use to keep the faint fire I had going. After some searching the fire was going again, and I could see somewhat better around me. My throat felt really dry though. Then it hit me I had not been drinking in the past couple of days, probably the little amount of water in the apples that had kept me going. Having a hard time swallowing was uncomfortable but I would not risk getting lost in the woods at night. Who knew what Evolution could have done with the animals. On the topic of Evolution I heard a faint “Rawr” not long ways from my camp. I wanted to swallow my nervousness, but it was hard while being thirsty, interestingly enough. Sitting patiently by my fire waiting for it to become day, I heard the “Rawr” again, only closer. I stood up preparing for whatever was coming my way. But nothing could have prepared me for what jumped out of the bushes behind me…