> The Animal: Inside and Out. > by Mick0339 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: A Game Turns Into Survival on the Run. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mike!" my buddy yelled behind me as I ran as fast as I could to outrun my pursuers. They were my friends before this, but during the game, they were walls for me to knock down. Two stood in my path, and I bashed them down. The target was in the air as I turned around to look and see it spiralling to me. I looked to see my enemy: Kevin, running for the intercept, but I would show him I could be just as fast. He closed in as I eyed him and began my run back to the ball. Time slowed as the ball slowly went into my hands and Kevin overshot in front of me, with a shocked, but determined facial expression. He took competition very seriously, but when you're almost twice as heavy as someone in Football, you tend to roll right over them. As he was turning to run to me, I high tailed it to right and ran for the end zone. He was quick on my tail, but luckily I could keep pace. But when someone is on the Track and Field team, they tend to be much faster than you. However, when you're built like a football player, you tend to have enough muscle to tank your way through technique when it comes to running. Even more so, if you have a slim build. I used all of my muscles to punch my way forward, my abs twisting my legs faster and faster, while I contorted my body to run with the wind. I was almost at my limit, and he was gaining. I had run this fast before, my limit, but before I could surpass it, I would trip and fall over from my own legs. However, this was the winning touchdown, and I needed to make it. We ran and ran down the field, with Kevin gaining on me and about to pounce, but I was fed up with him always being able to catch me. With adrenaline pumping and irrational anger fueling me, I pushed my muscles further and in the home stretch began to outrun the Tracker. He May have speed and technique, but I have the muscle. I ran over the endzone and cheered, but before it hit me, I was no longer on that field, and no longer in my town. My friends were nowhere to be found, but at least there were humans, but it seemed odd as they walked their...ponies rather oddly. That was until one of them screamed at my arrival: a wild human... "Everypony run!" A charcoal pegasus yelled. I was pretty much speechless. That was until guards began to run to me. Pony guards in armor, using magic to levitate spears and nets. I did try to yell, "I--" And then my throat contorted in pain. I was so confused, but had to get out of there. I looked around quickly, the adrenaline pumping in me and my senses pushing me to my max. I spotted a road leading to a forest in the distance; best way to lose them as any. As I ran, I spotted the structures of the town. All colored in bright, rainbow mixtures, as to match the ponies that inhabited them. A shop that looked like a gingerbread house and made of candy. I would probably test that if I wasn't running. On top of that a house on a carousel; despite being cased and hunted at the moment, the town looked pretty nice. Much more diverse and unique than the suburbia of America to be sure. Although, it was sure to have its own problems; taxes were probably ridiculously high or something, if the ponies even had taxes. Also, they seemed to have more medieval tech, yet with a modern touch of color; it was odd, but I had no time to investigate. "Hey, stop!" One of the guards yelled, to which I simply inadvertently flipped him off as a spear landed to my left. although, it felt strange as I ran, like I was lighter; quicker on my feet. And it became apparent, as each stride put me at an almost equal pace with the ponies chasing after me. I looked back and was astounded, but simply passed it off as adrenaline kicking in. Although, everything did feel much lighter. "This bugger's fast," one of the guards yelled to his peers. Now I'm a bugger. Great. I passed by pony couples walking on the road, with their humans. Yep that sounds pretty wrong. What was odd was how short they were; probably five feet in my estimate. Still much taller and more intimidating than the ponies, but they were very small compared to my 6'1" height. I was getting distracted. I just needed to run, but just then as I turned my head back I saw a lasso going for my legs and a pony with a cowboy hat, with an apple picture on her thigh as the user. Applejack was walking towards Ponyville on a road near the everfree whistling in a carefree tone. She was indeed happy. The day was peaceful and the air blew by nicely. Her stock of Humans did very well on her orchard. She was able to get done so much with their labor. Her brother was taking care of everything while she thought about it. The humans she owned were fairly docile after she removed their pride and joy. Some, lucky for them didn't need to and she was able to use them for breeding. More bits to earn, she hummed in her head. Life was good; she was making plenty of money and hoped to make more and put her family on higher and higher pedestals. Although, Applejack was not on her way to make money, but to meet with friends and hang out. She was going to pick up her timid, yet caring friend just at that moment and then proceed to town. "Hey stop!" Applejack heard in the distance. She looekd to see guards chasing after a loose human. And she was shocked to see it running almost as fast as the guards. It looked to be as tall as Celestia. It held black hair, blue eyes, and rather groomed facial hair. It looekd to be a pampered human to say the least, especially compared to the most luxurious looking one in Ponyville. It also looekd to be a designer breed, and much more agile looking than any of the normal humans. She couldn't make out anything else under its baggy black shirt and black shorts. It wore white nikes and had white socks over them. It didn't notice her as she pulled out her lasso, ready to subdue it. And then it turned back to see Applejack pulling out her lasso and launching it at the human. "Crap!" I yelled in my head, as my words didn't seem to be working. "where the hell did...she...come from." I took a guess, that turned out to be right as she called out in a southern feminine voice. "Hey ya varmint! Stay put!" And just like that the lasso was almost around me. I had to make a move, or already be captured. So, I took a quick right turn and then resumed my course, but even just a slight difference in speed allowed the guard ponies to catch up and were practically clopping down on the back of my shoes. The apple pony, however didn't give up and despite what many would think, instead of running away from the vicious animal, she tried to catch it with the guards and cut off my escape route. "We got him now!" A guard yelled behind me as I continued moving. I didn't stop and the apple mare seemingly realized this as she sweated bullets, yelling for me to stop, but I kept going and went even faster. "Stop!" the mare yelled, to which I simply ignored her. And literally, I plowed into her, but instead of trampling her, as I hated to hurt people--err-ponies, I slung her over my shoulders and continued to run, but felt slightly heavier. She seemed pretty light for a pony who looekd pretty dense. The ponies did look very weird for ponies though as I looked at the distressed mare's face, who was yelling for me to put her down. Big bulging eyes and multicolored. It was rather odd, but the explanations would come later; I just needed to keep going. I wasn't paying attention enough though. Instead of avoiding the incoming tree, I seemingly had no choice but to collide with it. However, to avoid harming and of the ponies and being looekd at as a threat, I threw the mare off my shoulders before I slammed into the tree, groaning in pain. It pretty much felt like hit my arm into a rock, but just all over the front of my body. I had a bloody nose, and felt dizzy as I backed off of the tree, while the guards surrounded me, prodding spears at me and one threw a net over my dizzied body. Luckily the apple pony made it as she got up and seemingly dusted off the dirt and began to approach. She had an angered face, while I tried to get out of the net and get the spears away. I felt like I got just got off of the most intense twister ride. I fell down to catch my breath and try to stop the dizziness, but of course, while I was trying to recover, one of the guards had to whack me in the head, rendering me unconscious. No respect for animals. Although, I guess if it was the other way around, it would probably be just as bad; still though, it hurt! "That was somethin' else," Applejack said to herself, as the guards began to haul the human away. It looked odd though; it seemed rather peaceful while asleep, or unconscious she supposed. Her rather peaceful day was abruptly changed, but she wondered whose human it was. It was rather unique and looked much more agile. She had never seen one run that fast before too. She cringed at the thought of meeting one like that in the wilderness. It could probably tear a pony apart. Humans were thought of as aggressive and extremely dangerous, but could be taught to obey and love like a dog or any other pet. She wondered what the owner had done to the human to provoke him to run away like that. While she pondered on that, she began walking to Twilight's home, trying to forget the day's event. > Prologue 2: Arrival. Plans. Caged. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Have you ever found yourself feeling nauseous; well most likely, but also knowing that you were going to throw up. The little lump in your throat queuing up to release the bile and leftover food in your stomach. Well, that tree hit really did a number on me, as that was what I was experiencing. That and the fact that I had no idea where I was, alone, with animalistic humans in cages next to me, made my life really dull. Luckily though, there were a few cute dogs and cats to gaze at while I tried to formulate what the heck happened. Firstly, I could remember crossing the touchdown line and hearing my friend's voices fade at the time of arrival, indicating that I was in fact in the process of being removed, so it wasn't an all in one timed effect. There was most likely a one to two second delay before I fully appeared in this new world. Secondly, once I arrived, I figured out that in fact I was one of the only if not the only intelligent human on the planet, inhabited by, as far as I could ponies, whom looked more human than equish. I believe that's the name you would use; I never watched a documentary on horses so, I wouldn't fully know. Thirdly, it also appears that the pony-look alikes also use magic. So basically all relative explanation for the world can be summed up in one physically improbable and unlikely event: Magic. It seems pretty standard and not too flashy from what I learned. Only the unicorns can use it, while the winged ponies, can't remember the name, and regulars don't use it. You may be wondering how I figured that all out; well "customers" in the pound/pet store who had the horns used it quite frequently, while the winged ponies flew around. Finally, the anatomy and look of the humans. While appearing and acting animalistic, they looked much more underdeveloped compared to my build. Like a few thousand years into the past. Now that I think about it, they all looked relatively young, or at least for today's standard. They were probably more susceptible to disease and such. It would also explain the mysteries of the bermuda, and other such abduction phenomena. Not aliens, but transportation. Maybe instead of the pyramids being built by the egyptians, and slave labor, it was just an excuse to tell that unicorns built them using magic. Yeah, actually probably not true; cats look nothing like ponies, and on top of that, there's no evidence at all. Maybe Area 51 has teleportation to here, or perhaps there are ambassadors, or other such things. In my book, these ponies definitely qualified as civilization, and while not as advanced, definitely industrializing. Their societies, from what I could glimpse compose of pre-industrialized structures and economies. The market stands and such could indicate the relative period. A lot of middle eastern, and african nations are not as closely industrialized and economically focused as westernized nations, and as such have more local ways of distribution, and lacking the corporational distribution methods, instead having small businesses and such. So definitely not a highly industrialized society, if at all. Most likely due to the fact that they don't need it; everything could be done with magic I suppose. The only reason industrialization happened was due to need. The need for more materials in less time and in more efficient ways. But with the ability of magic, most things could be possible without the need of machines and such. Its an interesting concept to say the least. Also, I feel as though my strength has gotten a bit stronger. I'm guessing the adrenaline boost wasn't the only thing letting me go faster. I mean, before this I wasn't able to pull myself up with one hand. The bars to the top of the cage provide entertainment in working out basically. I mean doing one handed pull ups was never something I could do previously. I was just too heavy, but now I feel as though my whole body is much lighter and stronger. I'll definitely have to find out why; it feels pretty great. Anyway, there turned out to be a rather aggressive female in the cell next to me, who of course like me, was naked. She had long, unkempt blonde hair, and her face looked a little on the underwhelming side. I mean, she looked ok, but like she didn't come through lines and lines of nice looking blood. And well, with her attitude looks would be the only thing, and that's a no. It was funny to agitate her though. I would usually play with her like I would my dog, tapping or hitting them when they weren't looking, and then whistling. Plus, at least I got fed. Compared to our world, animals were treated relatively better here; well from what I could see, but the ponies just like humans had dominion, and thus some would rather not be nice. "Welcome to Ponyville's own Animal Care Center." An earth pony mare, with a dog biscuit as a cutie mark sounded off to the crowd in front of her, which was in front of a building. She had a hazelnut mane, with green fur. "Here we take care of runaways, or others who have lost their way." They began to walk through the facility, and once again it was happening. They were showing off their stock. To be honest, it was getting old, yet again though, the one called Ms. Vet, was to say the least annoyed. She had to do it for much longer than I had to deal with it. Gazing ponies wanted to see the animals they could "adopt," which was more like purchase for a slight fee and then have their very own whatever. Their most prominent stock, ironically, was humans. What a shock. You have to wonder for the animals that run away, why they did it. Of course for me, I wasn't a runaway, but after observing my clothes and such, the staff concluded I was as such and prohibited my sale until a week's notice and if no ponies came up and said I was theirs, which I wasn't, I was free to be taken. It also made it worse was the fact of how different looking I was compared to other humans. Like a designer breed as most ponies said while they passed by me, unaware I could hear them loud and clear. Some of the children would offer me some food, to which I would indulge, only because I was always hungry. I got fed, but my stomach still growled; especially for something more than apples and carrots or such. Luckily, no one could do anything for the last week until this day. It has been a week, and anyone was up to grab me, with consensus that they could properly take care of me of course. And well, there wasn't much I could do. I didn't feel like hurting cute little ponies just to escape; it would feel cruel to me. Of course what comes to me goes to them to say; I wouldn't just let them abuse me. Speaking of cute, the children, I think called foals and fillies, were so darn cute. I mean the adults looked cute too, but they all look nothing like regular ponies. The colors, eyes and shape just made them so much more cartoonistic and cute. "And over here," the veterinarian pony said, opening the door to our area, which housed mammals, a majority of which were humans, "we have our mammal stock. Dogs, Cats, Humans, all sorts," she said wandering down the aisle, with the ponies glaring and gazing at my fellow caged animals. For me, I just simply went to my next set of one handed push ups, which were much easier to do in this world for some reason. Being naked made it awkward until I just said 'screw it,' and didn't care. I had gotten used to it by that time. My cage's hard, steel, I belive, floor made it frustrating until I built a tolerance. My wrists killed me after the first day, as well as my back the next after having to sleep on the hay covered steel floor. I could stand sure, but for the most part I sat, did push ups, sit ups, or pull ups. I couldn't do much else, and it always interested the ponies. It only reinforced their theory of me being a designer breed to do battle or to protect or something along those lines. "Over here is Cassy, one of the only females we have here. Watch out though," Ms. vet said, while two fillies stuck their hooves through the bars, "she's not the friendliest." My next door neighbor jumped to the bars, startling all of the ponies, and saddening the two fillies. Dogs barked, and humans growled at the clamor, while Cassy simply went back to her corner. For me, I simply sighed as the tour group moved along to my cell. "Next, we have one of our most recent pick ups and an odd one at that. He doesn't seem to have a name and no collar. He does however have such a nice attitude. One of our more docile humans here." What she neglected to say was what they did to some humans before they came here. Let's just say a lot had the life sucked out from beneath them; their whole purpose removed essentially, and so they became almost broken horses to say. I really did feel bad for the poor bastards; it was really cruel to say the least, but well it happened in our world to helpless animals, so I wasn't much surprised. Still, poor bastards to say the least. The little fillies squealed as I started to continued to sit there in annoyance. "Isn't he cool?" the small white furred unicorn asked her orange colored pegasus friend. "He's pretty cool. Not as cool as Rainbow Dash, but still." I gave a large sigh, to which most of the ponies observed me with confusion, to which I bore my eyes at them menacingly. Humans could be pretty scary when they put their minds to it, and my dark blue eyes did the trick perfectly as some looked away in fear, but the fillies continued to observe, but then I notice something. The white unicorn had an older sibling behind her also watching me with curiosity, but then when I bore my eyes at her she shyed away. "I don't know Sweetie. He looks a little on the more unsettling side. He does look rather nice though." I could care less. Personally, I don't think I looked that great besides my muscle mass, but well, when working out for three years you tend to have loads of that. They were definitely siblings though; although by the tone and look, I could tell the sister was more of a higher class acting pony. Hopefully their attitude didn't reflect the high class they looked and acted like. Snobby rich-acting people pissed me off too much. "Awe, but Rarity..." the small filly pleaded as the tour group moved on, with Cassy beginning on other subjects. The three lingered behind, with the one called Sweetie giving puppy eyes to Rarity. "You asked me to help pick out a pet, and I think he looks so cool! He could help me get my cutie mark!" I even got coddled into the act. The fillies were very adorable to say the least. Like a puppy dog, but slightly larger, and with much bigger eyes. If I could, I would've 'dawwed,' but as I couldn't without having blood rush out of my mouth, I simply grunted. I wasn't sure why the other one was, until she revealed that she didn't really care as it didn't matter to her. She just wanted to hang with the unicorn filly. "Fine, but you have to help take care of him." Meanwhile, I was planning on my escape. Hopefully they thought humans stupid enough to not interact with doors and let me roam around. If that, then I would be home free. Hopefully the magic wouldn't get in my way, although counting on the fact that it was a doubt gave no help to my mind. The filly cheered and hugged her sister, while eyeing me with a twinkle in her eye and a eerie face return from me. Afterwards I was rudely handled by magic to clean me up, then fitted with a collar the unicorn brought. Oddly enough, the material didn't hurt at all and fit snuggly around my neck, sadly though it was also out of my reach to remove anytime soon. It aggravated me, but I moved on with a sigh in my mind. I had no official name, and no one collected me, so the filly got to name me apparently, to which I again sighed but had to roll with it as the magic made me uselessly suspended in the air. My new name was that of a 'Wolf.' Generic, but I supposed the filly thought of me as a large predator, and so were wolves to ponies, so I suppose it made sense. Although, I didn't mind it and was surprised I wasn't named something more feminine coming from a small female child pony. And then I figured out who owned the odd looking, yet strangely unique carousel building. I was going to have a LONG first day to say the least. > Prologue 3: Cruelty Becomes Rage and Rest. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked at the gray faces of the humans. The dull and misshapen smiles they produced when pet. The tricks they would play when offered a treat. They were truly animals; caged, tamed and sad animals. Although, what I saw some ponies do to them caused me to lash out. I saw them bringing in a small child along, with the mother practically begging for her child back, although not peacefully. I could see the anguish clear across her face. The child was confusedly sad as well, wishing for her mother back. I was being 'escorted' to the pony's residence while I watched this happen. For precautionary reasons, chains bound my arms, while unicorns were on the lookout above, although that was probably not because of me. "He's so tall!" The one known as Scootaloo said, while the one known as Sweetie simply beamed with pride. I gave a half interested glance, keeping my attention on the scene unfolding, slowly becoming something that would spark something in me. "I know. He didn't look so big in that cage, but when he can stand up all the way..." Sometimes one never truly feels angry until they feel it stab them in the chest. Like a sudden rush to the head and unlimited power follows. The child was slowly being forcefully pried from the mother's hands by that point. Ponies gawked at the sight, some even laughing as the human's were subjected to physical and mental harm. They were scared, lonely, and completely helpless. It utterly pissed me off. They may not be the humans I know, but to see any cruelty like what I was watching made me crack down on my teeth, tighten my fists and stop moving immediately. Rarity turned stunned, tugging along on the chains bound to my hands, while I simply ignored her. She then finally turned her attention to the scene I was watching, slightly disgusted, but more so interested in my awareness of it. Then she heard the scream as the mother was beaten, leaving the child also weeping for her. The 'caretakers' were fed up by this point and resorted to intense violence, and they even hit the kid once, gaining my full undivided anger. I looked at my chains as I could feel my body heat up. They were being tugged again and again as the pony wished to leave the area. "Please, come on!" She said, exhaustively. My eyes bled crimson rage, beaming with scorching hot lividity. I could feel my fingertips bend and grasp the bounded chains. I could feel the liquid anger boiling inside. My body was going to explode if I didn't do something. I was angry to say the least. I was furious. I was done, and I decided then and there to take action, and I would deal with the consequences after. In a decisive rage-induced move I slowly began to put pressure on the chains. Every time I felt like it was hopeless I would look up to see the two being beaten and cruelly taunted. It would fuel my being. I continued to push the chains, delving into strength I didn't even know I had, and it kept coming, as every second the chains continued to creak gaining the ponies surrounding attention. Heavy metal chains were being broken apart. I didn't care for their stares though, I just continued getting angrier and angrier. "Stop that!" Rarity yelled, moving closer, until she saw the look in my eyes. My eyebrows couldn't get more acute and my nose couldn't be more scrunched up. My teeth were all exposed, showing increased angry effort. With one more tear, one more thump, one more cry and one more taunt, the chains broke and I was free. I felt overwhelming strength and power. I felt invincible and at that moment I truly was. The two children visually feared me as I stared down the handlers, who looked at me with slight fear. Metal chains went flying and what was left was me, dwarfing any pony, to watch in pure anger. I wanted to crush their skulls and as I moved closer to them, I could see they knew it too, screaming. "Guards! This human, he's going to kill us!" One of them yelled as I continued to crush the ground in my wake. I saw the sticks they used to prod and attack the humans. Made of metal and glistened with gold; a fine ornament and that's all it was as I snatched it from one of them as they tried to hit me with it. His face drained as I slowly began to bend and crush the object in my grasp. My veins were visibly popping and my muscles flexed uncontrollably as I continued to walk and crush the pole. I couldn't think straight as ponies began to surround me and Rarity was yelling for me to stop, while having the two pony children huddled behind her. It broke my heart, but it didn't break my mind in its induced rage. It screamed for me to follow through until I could feel pressure eminating on my legs. I could see a lavender aura surrounding me and slowly the pressure increased. 10lbs 20lbs 60lbs 100lbs Every step was being amplified and I could feel my legs slightly shake, but yet the drive in my mind kept them going. 200lbs 400lbs I wouldn't stop, and as adrenaline pumped through me I only got stronger. Anger was and is the strongest emotion. No matter what anyone says, its what gives humans the ability to accomplish the most difficult tasks, anger, regret and jealousy. It fueled my essence and the pressure only increased while a new pony had appeared. "Twilight! He's out of control!" Rarity screamed. Twilight had sprung into action, with her aura similar to her unicorn body's color, pushing me down. Guards slowly began to assist and I could continue to feel the pressure increase and if I wasn't mad, angry, enraged in fact, I would have collapsed. I was at almost 500lbs as guards began surrounding me, but that purple pony was the majority of it. The guards added some, but mostly used their powers of magic and telepathy to haggle spears in front of my path. The humans were in total amazement as well as all of the ponies as I continued to walk towards the abused. The one known as Twilight, however was getting more annoyed by the second. Then came action. One spear struck my stomach, lodging itself deep and the pain can't even be named. Of course it was only momentary as adrenaline overtook it, but the best name and description would have to be unending liquid burns in the stomach area; and not just small ones too, but like someone was pouring hot oil on your stomach. Then the weight increased and I dropped to one knee. The spear was lodged in and all faces turned white except for the attackers. They thought of me as dead as my head went down, until I felt my heartbeat. I was so close to death as another spear struck my body in the shoulder. It was so weak, yet still enduring and I knew I wouldn't die there. I would prevail no matter the cost. I felt anger for everything in my life; every little bit of hate, abuse, embarrassment, blame, accusation and let downs. Every bit of action, loss and rage flowed into my body. Bullies in middle school; letdowns in high school; my heart being crushed over and over again. The yelling and name calling. The underestimations. The back talking, blaming and criticizing. The people I love disappearing and never being able to anything. Everyone looked on as I clenched my fist and tears broke down from my face with unwavering determination. I slowly began to scream at the top of my lungs, not only catching the guards off their balance, but also gaining me the energy and power I needed. I ripped the spears out of my stomach and right shoulder with the most haste possible. Blood ran out, but I didn't care. I was angry and nothing could stop me. The weight disappeared as it increased and I stood up to my full height, unhindered by the increasing magical pressure. The ponies were awed and even scared as I slowly began walking, the ground cracking under my pressured weight, to the two humans. I slowly brought my knee down to stare into their eyes and they could understand my purpose. I looked at their chains and bondage, and with my anger-fueled power I broke them like mine. I watched their eyes travel up and down until I pointed outside of the town. They understood and the mother and daughter began to run away as fast as they could to the distance. However, the ponies didn't give up as they tried to form a blockade and catch the humans; they tried at least, until I screamed again and began running to the ponies gaining their full undivided attention. I swung my arms in flurries, blood splattering everywhere. I didn't stop. I couldn't. A part of me hated to die, but I knew I had done something noble at least before my death. I had saved a family, and that was enough for me. I charged the ponies and punched like never before, breaking bones and shattering ribs. Blasts of magic pierced my skin and sent howls of pain, but I didn't stop and Rarity was even attacking me now. I didn't stop though, because the two were still within ponies reach. I gave occasional glances to see their progress and to know when I could finally rest. Blood splattered from my mouth, taking refuge on the cracked cobblestone ground. They were still within range. I sucked it up and charged the purple unicorn this time adding a squeal and scream from Rarity. "Twilight! Watch out!" She yelled as I met face to face with the pony who shrunk in fear. I brought back my pumped up fists and with blood soaking them they made their way to the unicorn. Her face was that of utter fear as the objects of doom made their way to her small body. I could see from the corner of my eyes they were at the forest's edge and the mother had turned back, and I can only assume she had given me a smile and thanks. That's when something similar to a car crashed into my sides and even I couldn't stop it. I was sent spiralling into a nearby building, embedding myself into the wall as a furious looking hybrid made her presence known. From my guess I stifled she was royalty from the bows, respect, and the authority in the air, I guessed she, held. I coughed up blood and my heart subsided and quiet thumps were what coursed through my beaten body. Holes were plastered from the spear strikes. Burns from the magical strikes made their marks known. Finally, the practical car crash of an attack I just suffered was what had occupied my entire left side with an unending burn mark. I slowly began to wheeze as my eyes blurred. The pony was inspecting Twilight, caressing her as a mother. In a situation where I could possibly live, I would care that I almost killed royalty, but my body simply wanted peace. Darkness began to fade in as the pony finally stifled another furious glance at me. I wondered what death would be like at that moment. Would it be a void or a true hell and heaven, and if the latter, where would I be going? > Chapter 1- Introduced to my own kind. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I couldn't tell you exaclty what a hangover felt like, only explain that it was not good. I honestly felt as though I had one. I was awake, but my eyes wouldn't open, and frankly I didn't think I was awake at all, just dead in the void. Death has always been such an influential thing in people's lives. It's what lets people with guns simply steal anything they want, and its what wars are paid in: deaths. There were always so many theories for what comes in the afterlife, or if it even existed at all. In all honesty, the idea of there being an afterlife, where a person can be judged for their actions and placed in categories of good and evil is still preposterous to me. The idea that when you die, you die is most likely the correct idea, but hey, I've been wrong before. It would explain why I was in such a haze. Although, I couldn't really understand the reason why I was hearing grunting noises. Not inappropriate ones, but the noise an animal drinking water, or eating a meal: a sigh breath of air, that kind of a grunt. My mind was just in a haze , and luckily after hearing that much of a noise, I knew I wasn't dead, but my location was a mystery. I could, however, hear talking nearby and from the sounds of clattering lips and sprayed spittle, it was definitely horses, or well ponies, because a normal horse would definitely be bigger than me. I made that judgement based on my previous encounter. I slowly opened my eyes to find a beautiful blue sky, full of luscious, puffy white clouds. This world definitely lacked the industrialization of mine. That, however meant that they also held much less knowledge about the world and the way it works. They didn't exploit the resources of the world and built mighty machines; why? Because as evolution dictates, they don't build what they don't need. Humanity only advances as far as we do because of our need and lust to do so. These ponies lacked all need to. That explains the logic of magic, because without it, the world would look very, very different. However, that lack of scientific exploration makes it a weakness for them. It decelerates their evolution and removes the chance of any higher-level scientific advancement, such as gene-modification, space-travel, and robotics. The humans however, were definitely a different strain from my own. A different evolutionary path, but not in the right direction, in any beneficial aspect. They chose an endurance style build and structure over a strength-style build for the most part. The males especially, you could see the muscle, but it lacked the full mentality of strength. They appeared similar to Neanderthals, without the strength they possessed. (If you're wondering why we are weaker than our ancestors, its because along the way, we switched from a strength-style build to an endurance-style build. Neanderthals are most likely stronger and faster than almost any modern human today. For a general comparison, Neanderthals pecks on our bodies would rip our rib cages apart when we flexed with them). I could see it in the male glaring down at me. He was defending his territory, or if you could even say it was his. For me, I couldn't care less. I grunted and slowly punched my fist onto the ground only to find the excruciating pain fizzling back into my side, shoulder, and every puncture point. I wheezed in my breaths as I found every bit of soreness meshed with toxic wounds slamming into my mind. His eyes held a tint of animalistic fury in them. They reflected a beast on the verge of an attack. He was defending his three, or maybe even four females; the last female seemed very unfeminine to my eyes. They all stared at me as a hostile enemy. A beast roaming into their territory. Either I wasn't human or they weren't. "What do you mean he's..." I could hear a scream of spittle sound with the cut-off sentence as I slowly glared back at the glass of the huge encampment. A better picture as I slowly got up revealed that I was in a pen for humans located in a secure facility. My soreness forced me to one knee. I gasped in pain as a surge of electrical signals smacked my brain into overcharge. Adrenaline was pumping from the pain alone. The monkey grunted and began to poke me as the females looked on and nearby others began to join in a circle examining me. I was different; I was larger, by quite a few inches, eight to be exact. I was also, surprisingly, bulkier; on top of this, I had more acute, intimidating eyes. That didn't deter the animal though. "Oh no..." another pony sounded from behind me as I could hear a door open to the environment. The human males all lined up and began a chorus of howls, grunts, growls and roars. I simply stood and took it. Then as one came closer than was necessary, I let him know that it was time to back off. Animals are intimidated by size, so I used every muscle in my body. I flexed every muscle I could, and slightly bended over. Everything burned from the ferocity I was flexing at. My size, however, looked to almost double to everything in the area. They kept coming though, although more cautiously as my muscles ripped open and my growth scars made their presence more known on my body. Three years ago, I would've been so outmatched and pathetic against these guys. But now I did something I always wanted to do. Secretly almost everyone has wanted to do it. I glared down at the humans, and with my low resonating chords, I let a bellowing roar of fury out at my own kind. The ponies behind me flopped their ears down as I continued to use up my lungs. I let everything out and my muscles climaxed in their size and slowly after my scream subsided, the humans all backed off. Then a slight tinge of crimson escaped my mouth and my vision slightly blurred. I always pushed myself so far in physical movements and bodily activities. I fell on one knee, where I gasped for air. I didn't stretch, that was for sure. But I had got the job done, I diffused the situation, or maybe heightened it, either way, fighting was off the table. "He's hurt," a feminine tongue sounded as hoof clacks sounded on the seemingly isolated, controlled and equated grass. "Doctor Care," a male voice sounded, or I suppose it would be stallion, "be careful. He's extremely dangerous." I felt a soft, yet still somehow hard, object touch my back. I tensed up as I directed one eye, shadowing the other, towards the pony who held concerned eyes. The ponies eyes burned cartoon, yet it wasn't. The clear size they held however made me wonder if they were clearly alright. It made no sense evolutionarily to have eyes so large. My mind couldn't wrap around the reason for it. Being huge didn't account for good eyesight, nor did it allow for keener perception, in fact it was usually the opposite that did, and it's one of the reasons why animals eyes are relatively small, but these eyes were huge. I labeled it off as a need in their society; for them to be cute on the outside at least. They reminded me of my fellow countrymen actually. Everyone was so oblivious in the good ol' states. When things got worse, things got "better," it was always so fun to watch everyone argue over simple agendas like the presidency when the president was in all actuality a useless position in the government. These ponies at least knew efficiency though; dictators were always so much more efficient. I would be labeled as a traitor, but someone like Putin running the country always sparked my interest. I'm rambling again. Her hoof came in and happened upon a puncture, to which I winced and slowly crawled away. I was in no mood to be prodded. In fact, I was in no mood to really be living. Exploration is not fun; this new world is just as bad as the other, but instead of being on equal footing as the rest of the "intelligent" species, I'm in the undergrowth of them. "Leave him be, the princess will be here shortly anyway." The stallion, to which I got a good look at, as he adorned a blue coat and purple mane, made more concerned gestures at the frightened, yet still vicious, counterparts of myself. I almost felt angry, almost. That is until I could feel a presence push my hairs up. They all tickled and prickled in sensation at an approaching object, no two; make that three. It was an early sixth sense telling me of impending danger. And let's just say, I had more hair than the average person. I could sense the three approaching into the area; it felt like the sixth sense was on overdrive though, and it frightened me. It didn't feel right, and it did make me feel inhuman. Clacks sounded as dozens of ponies clad in golden armor entered the room. I had to snicker at the idea of using gold as armor; it was weak, cumbersome, and better used as an economic subsidy than a sheet of armor. They didn't seem to understand it though; I figured they never really got into a major war. These ponies didn't have a characteristic that made Humanity so deadly: mind geared for war. It just wasn't part of their nature, and the golden armor proved my point perfectly. They truly were "innocent," in the closest sense, but no one is truly innocent. The ponies all bore their hatred filled eyes at me; I could see one of the unicorns with a chipped horn. "It appears I did do a number on it." I could hear the same regal voice from the pissed off pony from before. I won't lie, my body burned, and cursed with pain. The fact I was virtually naked didn't help either. "Your highness," the stallion, who gave the stink eye to me, bowed. There were three above everyone else; the purple unicorn from last time, and two horned pegasi. The white, ethereal one, and then a night-bidden, starry and astronomical covered one. They were opposites in appearance it appeared: light and dark. I wondered if they had opposite personalities as well, or perhaps different abilities. The nurse bowed as well, as the other humans simply stared, with little but animal glares. Me, well, I was scared for sure; even I had no idea what death entailed. But it would beg the question why I'm still alive. "Sister, why have you not killed the vile beast." The starry one apparently had quite an old accent. I wondered how old these ponies were; they appeared young, but looks can be deceiving. "He had purpose to his action Luna." The sun-encrusted one stated. "Although, he did harm some of my subjects, I heard of why he would do such a thing." I remembered back to those two humans. A mother and her daughter being beaten; it made me mad even now. I clenched my fist, but I knew they had made it away and were safe. Celestia He looked hurt to say the least. I despised the beast for attacking Twilight, but I couldn't help but feel something was different about him; his eyes were more acute and intimidating. Yet, I could also see his distress. He was scared. I hated to do this, but to test my theory, I had to see. I looked at the three distinct ponies, the purple one slightly cowering. That's when the tallest one nodded her head, which in turn instructed two of the many guards to wrap my hands in magical chains. I tried to protest, but for protective measures, flocks of ponies held each one down while I made the chains groan in pain. I didn't like where it was going. After a minute of continued struggling though, I just couldn't keep it up. My breathing was ragged. "We'll begin the test." I had to get out of there. As much as there was animal protection laws, tests usually never ended well for animals on Earth. The doctor-stallion, made a nod and gave a slight look of sympathy. What I saw killed me inside. Test or not, it was something I would loathe to look at forever. > Chapter 2: The Taste of Bitter Freedom. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wanted to throw up, but my mix of emotions couldn't let me do anything. My mind was on pause as the list of processes kept piling on, but that one program, that one little picture was stopping everything. Then the picture turned into a video as it played over and over again in my mind. These sick ponies. The red liquid poured to the ground and a resounding wail from a child entered my senses. It oozed off in globs and strings to the ground and the familiar liquid only made the cry get louder. The small child was lost and without anyone. I've read what happens to a person over the edge. Sometimes, they can literally just drop dead. Overcalculations and too much thought paired with an intelligent mind don't work well. But, to me my mind just sort of lost all feeling at that moment. I was lost in deep sympathetic thought. The girl, being held back by a mixture of auras from golden guards, continued to cry for her dead mother. The mother I had helped to save. I had seen them run to the forest. The ponies searched for her and decided to teach her a lesson. They killed an innocent creature, without a second thought. They even killed her in front of the child. No one should have to be subject to that; it's beyond cruel, it's sadistic. People had always wondered why I decided to work out, to push my body to its limits. I wasn't on any sports team. I didn't do it for chicks, and they never batted an eye anyway, and to top it off, I was able to do pretty much anything beforehand, besides protecting what I held dear. It never happened, but I felt it was worth doing to be able to fight back in any situation. As much as a smart tactic works, brute force is easier and is sometimes what's needed, even if people would say otherwise. This was one of the times; the second time in fact since I came here, I would push that limit. I needed to get that child out of here. This place, ti wasn't colorful and full of jolly ponies as some would suspect on first glance; it was a place for sadistic quadrupeds who found pleasure in torturing animals, and even simply killing them for no good reason besides a good laugh or smile. I felt a tear roll down my face at the image. That little girl's face just killed me inside, but it also made me angry. Furious that they would do something like that; I would make them pay, perhaps not that day, but I would one day, even if it killed me. I made a quick snapshot of a decision: grab the girl and run. I would ask and answer questions later. I gave my body every ounce of energy stored up. I could feel a stronger surge since last time. I felt stronger for sure, but again I would have to answer that question later. For now, I simply took the advantage and used it to my full ability. With unparalleled perfection, I brought my arms flapping in, and my veins popped with the deafening smack from the collision of my hands. I sent a dozen ponies flying over me with slacked jaws and priceless expressions. I only had a few seconds to act as magic charged up and the row of guards directed their horns at me. Even the three who abstained from armor, and took authoritative roles, were poising to get ready; the purple one was reprehension to be sure. "Don't let him escape!" The guards were in the middle of saying as I made my move. I dashed forward, not stopping for anything as I grabbed the startled girl and bashed through the door. It flew off the hinges, slamming to the ground with a thud. Shouts traveled behind me and a few super heated shots connected with my back. I wheezed, but I didn't stop. If I did, we would both be dead. My face was contorted in anger, but I didn't shout, I just ran. My legs chugged, and the train only increased in speed as I slammed through door after door. I made waste to any pony in my way, decking them into walls. The girl didn't cry, as she was too shocked for this. Ponies continued to scream in fear as they saw a charging bull in human form running towards them. The facility was massive, but I continued to follow the exit signs. They thought I was stupid, but I used that to my advantage. A unicorn mare screamed in front of me, with a pair of humans tracking behind her. They bore their teeth, but I bore my weight. They all violently smashed against the wall, the two humans' jaws being dislocated, and the mare knocked unconscious, most likely having a concussion. "Merry!" Another screamed, another unicorn, holding a Victorian accent. She also held multiple humans, but I wasn't going down that hallway, so I simply ignored them. By this time the guards were beginning to catch up. Their shouts got closer and closer, as well as shouts and pleads to stop by the larger white hybrid. It's funny, people always joke about a light at the end of a hallway, or cave, or tunnel, but there it was. It was my escape option. I just had to think on the go and hope for the best. This girl didn't deserve the road she's been put down. A kid without a mother; it's a hard life, and you don't have to experience it to know that. I could never think of growing up without my parents, and I won't let her either. My salvation got closer and closer, but so did my pursuers. Their screams ever so slowly increased in volume. Until I knew they were behind me; I could tell just by the hooves hitting the marble. Another beam hit me in the back, making my gasp in pain and slightly trip, but I hissed in pain and anger, regaining my footing and giving my legs a punch with a full dose of muscle exertion. Needless to say, my legs were most likely breaking apart by the exertion now, but I didn't care. The door was on a metal frame, a heavy metal frame by the looks of it, but I didn't have time to unlock it. I put the girl into a more defendable position and knowing the pain that would come, I began to distract myself with an enraged shout. Every second more veins popped out on my face and neck as my entire body became red with exhaustion, but I was at the home stretch. My body made contact and as my being slammed into the seemingly unbeatable door, it creaked, then popped and finally burst out into the sunny street. Ponies gasped, shrieking in fear and running in terror. I looked right and left in a quick flurry then chose right. The girl was slightly crying at the screams. I tried to calm her as I ran, but the ponies were literally at my back by this point. "Please!" The white hybrid yelled in exasperation, "just stop!" I wouldn't. Some ponies decided they were brave enough to try and stop my escape. Their result; they were slammed into the ground, wall, or even a magical pole or two. Then obstacles came from a market district. I hopped over carts, across makeshift fences, and through open shops. I never did parkour, my body was simply acting on pure instinct, ad I was inclined to let it considering it got me that far. My luck was off the chart, but it was about to run out. I saw one last metallic fence coming up, with no road in front of it. I was mentally flipping my shit. I screamed the magical f-word, but I had no choice. I quickly stopped to peer over the side. Needless to say, I was a little intimidated. There was water below, but about 1,000 feet below, probably 3 times that. Magical projectiles crashed into the cobblestone pavement beside me as I turned to see my pursuers lined up and surround me. "Be a good animal and kneel," one guard pony said. I was out of options it seemed, all but one. The celestial hybrid, as it was the best description to describe her, gave a sad look. She had sympathy towards me, but that only angered me more. The ponies slowly began to come closer and closer, and the girl was beginning to shake helplessly. Jump or die? Jump and die? There was only one clear answer. I had to jump. I hated the idea of dying from such a high height, but it was either that or execution as an animal. And as much as the girl would love to voice her opinion, she would choose to jump as well. That was it, and my mind was made up. The spears actually touched my skin as I perfectly, somehow, jumped up onto the secure fencing. The ponies at that point knew what I was going to do and rushed me, but it was too late. I was gone. I plummeted down into the abyss what was coming up at me was a lake in the forest. It was a better option than for sure death. It was funny, I could hear the hybrids gasp at my falling, but I don't know why. I faced my fate and looked at the incoming water head on as it came up at me with a punch. At the last second, to lower the impact on the girl, I threw her up, then it was a hard hit to the back and blue liquid everywhere. I escaped and I was free, but it tasted bitter for sure. > Chapter 3: The Animal of the Everfree. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I miraculously managed to swim ashore, with the girl in tow. By that time she was exhausted and had actually fallen asleep when we hit land. My neck had almost torn itself out with the impact, but a few pops, just as I performed them, did the trick. My body shivered in delight, but then I realized how warm out it was. I had no clothes on, same with the girl, and no, I'm not that kind of person, and yet I and she were completely fine. I would've at least expected her to be chilly due to no mass on her bones to keep out the cold, but the weather was moist and humid enough to actually make me sweat. "I think I saw them fall into this river!" A nearby, approaching, voice sounded in the distance, with that same sound of spittle. I popped a nerve, but I kept my cool. I wanted to rip one of them to shreds, and I easily could've at that moment, as I look back, but it was more advantageous to simply retreat into the forest. With a low squeal, I scooped up the girl and began my jog into the forest, seemingly forever on the run. My heavy weight left sneaking to be desired as the voices gave yells to signal the hunt. I cursed my luck, but I couldn't just alter my body weight at will, sadly. The water from the dive wasn't helping at all. "He went this way!" I had to continue to run. Needless to say, the dense foliage of the forest clouded their perception and progress as I was able to escape, luckily. I had a strong feeling, though, I was somehow not out of the clear yet. Either way, I had found shelter by night time and needed to make a fire to combat the cold weather. Rain began to pour in the area, but I had managed to gather enough dry sticks to form a pile and then the monotonous work of slamming rocks together began. I wanted to make it quick, though, so I opted to use all of my strength. Most likely a thousand pounds of force slid past each other as sparks sizzled off onto the wood and eureka! Fire! Within the next few minutes I had leaned up against a comfy rock formation, and sleep began to overtake me. Apparently, I was warm, though, as the small, motherless girl had curled up for warmth, right next to me. As much as it made me say how others would view that, I couldn't just let her freeze. My first plan the next day would be clothes, blankets and essentials of food and water. Too bad I never had actual survival training, but well, the human body will find ways to survive. It always will and if it doesn't evolution has said its final decision. The next day came and I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and a rather loud roar in the distance. I simply yawned, not caring at that point about what was out there. I slowly moved my arm expecting to find immense amounts of pain in doing so, but there was almost none. Then I figured maybe it was in my legs, but still, no pain crashed into my nerves. So, with the idea of a nice morning stretch coming to mind, I proceeded to stand up, only realizing how light I felt, even more than the last day. What the fuck? It was all I could say. I never felt as light as I did at that moment, even after taking off a 150lb weight vest after a mile run. I was curious as to how high I could jump, but just in case, I held my hands out on top of my head to protect my head in case of impact. I then let my legs crunch up in energy and propelled my being up into the air. I was able to touch the ceiling of the cave, which was thirteen feet from the ground. Apparently my return noise woke up the girl as she rolled over and began to yawn, clicking her lips as dry tears came from her eyes. She gazed at me, almost lost in thought. She was too tired to think, is what it appeared, but most likely she was trying to process where she was and what had occurred the day before. Then a tear came out of her right eye and hit the floor, and another, and finally the waterworks came in full blow. I bent down and gave the small girl a hug and shushed her as she cried. A loss is never an easy thing to process. She took my embrace and let her tears flow. I didn't even make a noise, movement or sound besides hushes and soothing shushes to lullaby her into a better state-of-mind. I was bent over when I finally realized something crucial. There were no burn marks on my body from the magic. I knew what burning felt like and I definitely felt it when I was being chased, so where was it. It couldn't have just disappeared. As much as the little one needed to vent out her emotions, I needed to get food as it became evident from her stomach growling. I chuckled, which was more of a pained howl to the trained ear, but I couldn't help it. I then stood at my full height and ended up almost scaring the girl from the intimidation factor, but I gave her a cheeky smile to keep her from being in such a state. I saw the light at the end of the cave and made my way towards it, basking in the sunlight when I finally reached the exit. It was a truly wonderful feeling as the damp and foggy innards of the cave were seemingly sent into my memory banks. I breathed in the fresh air, amazed at the quality of it. Yet again, the dominant species were most likely pre-industrialized and it was not surprising that the environment was cleaner than our own. I slowly observed my surroundings, picking out any viable spots to find a good branch for a suitable weapon. Most likely I would be using a spear. Brush and trees for as far as the eye could see from my height. Although I could see smoke in the distance, which was most likely a pony village. Although, for all I know it could be any type of settlement, even a moving caravan. I looked down to see a path leading to the ground floor. I traversed it while also spotting a suitable branch for carving. I picked it up and with a hefty throw I chucked it up to the entrance for later. For now, fruit and nut gathering would do. I prayed there weren't many poisonous plants in that world. I was so stupid. I hadn't realized that the girl could just easily wander out of the cave and most likely get hurt or even killed. That wasn't the worst part, though, that was how I was lost. I had managed to find a river, which also contained multiple rows of edible plants and bushes on its banks, but my sense of direction completely went. I was lost and that girl might've gotten herself killed by that point. Then I heard the roar again, but it was much closer and almost sounded like a distress beacon. The animal definitely wasn't proving its strength through the roar. I garnered some water and drowned my face as it was slightly warm for my liking and I had perspired slightly since my journey. Then the cry sounded out again and it was fairly close. I swiveled my head to the left and heard it more accurately from my right ear from that direction. I accented my hearing senses, focusing on enhancing them to almost pinpoint the location. I got one last wail and began a sprint to investigate. The cry for help was from that of an animal. It was a mighty bear. A colossal looking animal from the case, standing as large as some of the mother of all grizzlies. I would normally shit my pants at anything intimidating as most people would, but I felt inclined to simply address the situation. I gazed out at what appeared to be poachers in the form of cute ponies. It was awkward to say it considering what they were doing, but it was the best word. They looked like what a little girl would dream of from Santa. Although they were dominant of the unicorn denomination. I saw four holding horns and one with wings and another stock pony. They were all ganging up on the injured bear. Part of his fur had oozing red blood, while its eyes showed that of a scared child. I felt sorry for the animal, truly sorry. "Nowhere to go now, little buddy." A male voice, the leader it appeared, laughed, seemingly wagging his horn to his own evil tone. The other's faces contorted into devious, devilish smiles. I frowned at that as the bear continued to roar-whine in pain. It flicked its paws at the approaching ponies, only to have it heavily zapped by a golden beam from the speaking pony. "You want me to bag it up, boss?" A mare, with a navy-blue coat and a purple mane, and with that of green eyes asked the leader who was a blood-red figure with a white mane and blue eyes. "No, no wait for another second Arrow." The color show presented in front of me honestly hurt my eyes more than the helpless bear. "Let's see if it's docile yet." I didn't like the sound of that. He motioned for another one of his goons to follow his orders. The green-coated, yellow-maned pony smiled with his red eyes bulging out. He swiveled with his superior strength to the magic users. His smile slowly approached the bear, who continued to swipe back at the hunters. "Come here little guy," the stallion started, making me curdle in anger, but also scratch my head at the absurdity of the statement, I'm not gonna' hurt ya'." I twitched at the pony's lie, but I was happy to see the pony be swiped to the ground and the bear roar in a rageful defense. The pony was definitely injured as he groaned in pain and visibly shaken from his state of adrenaline induced fight-or-flight. "Uh-uh-uh," the leader shook his head, "that simply won't do." And with that, he motioned again for a barrage at the defenseless bear. At that moment I was ducked down in the bushes, but I couldn't bare to see them continue to harm that bear. It wasn't right, and I was fed up doing nothing. As their beams charged up and the bear roared in pain I rustled my bushes and immediately all heads, including the animal's, faced me. I slowly emerged from the bushes and gazed at the ponies, giving them the most pissed face I could muster. Needless to say, they were startled, to say the least. "Dead End, that might be the biggest one I've ever seen," the mare stated, looking at my form. I continued to glare at them while I took some occasions to make sure the bear wasn't somehow being attacked by invisible magic. "Two prizes to take," the arrogant pony said in response. My response was to take an intimidating step forward to the group. They all immediately all pointed their puny horns at me. I had learned of a time when the human body could literally get superhuman strength. First adrenaline would pump the blood, enhancing reflexes, reactions, and muscle endurance. That was the first level, that most people have experienced before. Now when you read about teenagers lifting cars up to save others, or perhaps a man pulling a firetruck on their backs, that's the second stage as I would call it. The human body would continue to pump the Adrenaline through the body and then shut down the digestive system. The secret is that in doing so the muscle-restrictors, as they could be called, would be removed. The human body can't use 100% of its muscle power regularly. It's a fact I picked up when I worked out and saw those amazing feats. 100% of muscle, even for a scrawny, weak man would have superhuman strength to most people. Teenage girls, as they usually have less muscle mass and power than males(It's a fact, not opinion), have literally been able to lift the front end of trucks to save family members using it. I have realized that I could feel it and I've felt it before. I've actually felt it twice before and it was coming again. I was getting the hang of it. My adrenaline pumped and pumped, pressurizing my body with tons of energy for the upcoming struggle. I stopped walking as I was a few feet from them. I continued to stare them down as they bore success-grins, yet still conservative faces at me. They didn't seem scared. I curled up my abs, summoning every bit of muscle as I bent down and exhaled a mighty scream at them to intimidate them; the bear flapped its ears down and was scared half to death. "Delta maneuver!" The leader yelled as everyone seemingly surrounded me and I watched them fidget from every pocket of my vision. I wouldn't hurt them, I would just get them to leave; to retreat. "Arrow, intercept!" They still thought of me as a stupid animal. I didn't care, though, it gave me the clear advantage in this fight. They underestimated me and I would make them regret it. I saw the obnoxious trapper approach me from behind, I could feel the thumps from my feet and I timed it. I paid attention to the leader for every second until the last one, where I swiveled on my heels and as I caught the mare in her mid jump with her horn packed and ready I slapped her to the ground, which equated to quite a slam. I actually saw my hands imprint from the five star as she twisted and turned on the ground in agony. No permanent harm, just a bruise for a week or two. Then the magical blasts came. They burned and the temperature sky-rocketed around me. If not for the adrenaline pumping, I might've passed out from the pure amount of steam that floated as the magic hit my skin. All water and sweat instantly became vapor, while my skin burned and smoke traveled off the cooking surface. I winced in pain and grunted in agony. "Keep it up!" The leader yelled again; the Dead End. His name, I would show him. But as much as I seemed to be resistant to burns, the heat just kept building up and my skin continued to get battered. Then I screamed in pain again. "He's shaking! Finish it Death Trap!" The pegasus, which had hellfire-red hair(coat) and a mane of deep blue and green. I coughed up blood as time slowed. Then I saw the bear's face; it was fear laced with its demise in the future. I saw every single pony in the slow mow, they're faces lit up with tales of money as far as they could see. Then my brain showed me every bit of pain and suffering I had seen. Humans as animals and treated as less than that when thrown out as trash. Then I saw the ponies simply smiling at the cruelty they employed. I was taught from a young age, almost indoctrinated to fight for freedom. The United States of America, while corrupt to its core, has some of the most powerful values and ideals to ever exist. Being an avid patriot, with my entire family teaching me to love it more and more I found those ideals of freedom closer to my heart every day. And I would let that bear down; no, I would let the girl down. I would leave her alone in the middle of the woods; it made me sad, but then I saw the damned faces of the ponies again and it made me angry. I bit down on my tongue, exhaled and in a millisecond reaffirmed my angered stance. All pain disappeared and my skin became as hard as rock; my eyes were lasers pinpointing every target and my brain, the central complex, was giving orders to every single body part. I visualized the pegasus coming in from behind me and I held out my left arm, slightly moving to my right and clotheslined her, breaking some bones, and most likely chipping her ribs at the least. She screamed in pain and the ponies froze as they saw me. I felt immense hate in my mind. Then within a second, like a speedster I was over at another pony and looked down at him. The stock pony coward as I bore my eyes into him. Then, while he was slowly backing away I lashed out my leg sending him flying into a tree, with cracks sounding out, not only from the bark breaking off. Then a blast hit my back; my response was to simply turn my head and stare. I saw the pain, but I didn't feel it at all. "He's--what the hell is this!" The leader yelled in frustration. I slowly turned my body as I could see the others recovering their fallen comrades. They were wailing in agony, but I didn't care. The leader screamed in frustration. "Fine! I'll finish you off then!" He lined up his horn at me. "The bear will be quite enough!" The beam charged up in a golden spectacle, but I simply began walking towards the leader. Every mouth, including the bear's was agape in complete shock at my 'stupidity.' "Say goodbye!" He yelled as the beam flew out towards me. It made contact and generated untold amounts of steam, lacing the area around me in an unbreakable fog. The ponies were tired and Dead End was almost ready to collapse. He wiped his brow of sweat and turned to everyone. "Take the bear, were leaving." Then they heard a footstep from the pony-ficial fog. Dead End continued to pant in complete exhaustion but was curious as to what everyone was staring at. "What are you all gocking at?" He asked, inhaling deeply. Then he felt something behind him. His sixth sense was flagging an object standing behind him and he slowly turned, almost crying in anger and pain. "HOW? That, that would've killed a hundred humans!" He looked up at the scarred body, which bore a deep x-gash in the beast's chest. The ponies were shaking, all completely shocked at how it survived, nonetheless was walking fine. Then it suddenly bent down grasping the pony horn and started to pull him up with it. "Aaaaaaah!" He screamed in complete agony. Then the human slowly extended his other arm, the left, and grasped the back of the pony's head. He slowly began to twist the pony's head making the horn bend. "NO, please! Somepony, anypony help!" The rest of his party were shaking in place from pure fear. Then it snapped and the pony's screams intensified, most likely reaching the village nearby. Everything within twenty feet would be deaf for minutes. Then with nothing left to do, the human threw the pony to his comrades. He was shaking, blood trickling down from his horn, and his eyes displayed fear for his life. The ponies stared at the human who stood, staring with the most violent looking face in existence; the most hate-filled expression a human has ever shown. He was done with the ponies. "Run..." the leader said slowly standing, while barely being able to keep his own weight up from the incident. "Run now!" He squeakily yelled, gaining the attention of all the ponies who began to flee, badly wounded and in horror of what they had seen. My vision was red, with the outlines of the ponies running away. I was in a state of pure bloodlust and my heart rate was most likely skyrocketing at over 200bpm. My body summoned a deathly roar as the ponies ran away as its instincts took over. My deep scream scared everything in the forest away, most likely for the next few days at least. After another minute the red-bloodlust slowly evaporated from my mind and my body was settled down. I heard whimpers then. It was the bear, who was completely scared of his life; he didn't see prey or a human at all, but a predator and monster to eat and devour the bear. I hacked up my life-source and it oozed to the ground in a light mound. I collapsed to one knee and rapidly breathed in the sweet serene air. I turned my head to the frightened and terrified creature. I slowly made my way over to the animal and viewed its wounds; all the while, it was shaking and whimpering in fear. It had a broken leg, its front-left paw was also slightly dislocated from the animal's broken leg. I had seen enough animal recovery videos and shows to know that the bear would die without immediate aid. I had to chance it or it would die without being given one. I found the straightest stick I could find nearby and got strips of bendable bark from the torn up tree from the pony who slammed into it. I made my way back to the animal and gazed into its eyes and shushed it. I gave it a pet on its snout and surprisingly the animal visibly calmed from the motion. I took its paw and made my most convincing face of the pain that would come and pointed to my own arm for demonstration purposes. Then, I twisted the bear's paw until it snapped back into the place. It screamed and shook uncontrollably in pain. Without letting go I then quickly took the bear's broken leg and with rapid movements I laced the straight stick of wood the to leg, locking it in a healing position. Then to make sure I reinforced the stick with rather knots from the wood-strings. Then finally, with a little sympathy and apology in my eyes, I tightened the stick as much as I could which caused greater mental harm to the creature. It was over in a matter of a few seconds luckily and the bear was slowly calming down at the pain seemingly subsided. The cuts and burns would heal on their own; and either way, I didn't know anything about medical herbs and such. The broken bone and dislocated paw were mroe important anyway. Then I slowly began to pet the animal, smiling at the beauty of such a ferocious creature. I let it know it was not going to be hurt and it genuinely understood as it actually gave me lick on my face. I chuckled and continued to pet the animal, exhausted from my ordeal. Sadly I needed to gather food as it was getting dark. I just hoped I could find my way back. I helped the bear up and waved him off as he gave a cheerful roar at me as he walked away, hobbling on his front-left paw. > Chapter 4- Peaceful days of Infiltration Galore. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I laid there, yawning with the mid-day shine bearing down on my exhausted face. I took care of everything for the whole week. I had managed to fasten a neat spear from friction on a local boulder, then found a nearby pond in the forest. It wasn't too large, and not too small; the perfect goldilocks size for two humans. Well, one full grown, or in the case of this world overgrown, and one child. The girl stood at 3'7", confirmed by some rudimentary and very estimated measuring. I wasn't a fisher, not at all. But, when the world is so vastly different, apparently the fish are as well. Either that or my reflexes have heightened as I was able to stab multiple fish on their first passing. Of course, with that, the job wasn't over, but I decided it was time to take a break. So, with full hope no parasites infected them, I handed the girl a decently sized trout for consumption. She dug in greedily, almost ripping out the bones and tendons. The fish probably wasn't the happiest to see his corpse being mutilated in such a manner, but the small girl was hungry. Then my mind snapped; she didn't have a name. Or at least, a name I knew or could address her by, which I still have to figure out how to do besides whistling. It was very complicated, as I treated the girl as if I would treat a little dog. It felt wrong, but under the circumstances that humans, or more accurately human-like neandrathals, didn't have enough brain power to be considered anything much different. I exhaled as I chucked my fish's bones into the lake where it crashed and sank like a stone. I then slowly rose to my feet, simply doing the correct call of a whistle to signal we were leaving. I needed to gather up wool supplies and such to somehow make clothes. Or maybe, well, might as well. I suppose it would be fine to steal clothes. It's not like I'm a part of society, so the normal laws don't apply. I would just have to wait till dawn, plus it was getting very annoying walking around nude, same with the fact the little girl was as well. I let out a scream of frustration however as I slowly bent down from a dissipation of strength in my right leg. I clenched it as the pain slowly spiked up to its height and then subsided back down. The girl gave me a concerned face surprisingly. She slightly twisted her head to the left. I chuckled at the dog-like movements and tapped her on the head as I slowly stood back up. I needed to get in more shape it seemed; that or the other day really did take it out of me. We slowly made our way back to the cave, with me still taking in the surroundings, trying to mentally map out the forest. It was a memorization game, but as many people have trouble with it, I can usually memorize fairly quickly, or at least everything but foreign languages. That, well, I'm glad that the intelligent species talk the same language as me, or I'd have gone insane back in that cage. I noticed a rather snuggly looking tree of trimmed spikes and claw marks from a creature I'd rather not come in an encounter with. It looked like the bear would have trouble even moving the creature who had claws like that. Who knows, though, I'm not the same human I was. I could feel it; just as I could feel my muscles almost growing over-night back in my glory days, I could feel them doing it again, but it felt slightly stronger and almost artificial. So I had a list to do: Explore more of the surrounding area; Map out and mark the area to the town; then "ask" for some supplies; I guess I would have to add thief to my hobby list. I really hoped that the tools they used were human-compatible. "Heya Twilight!" The pink menace yelled down from the road. Twilight held a crooked smile as her hair slowly twitched up. Pinkie had that look: she was bored. "Hey...Pinkie," Twilight lightly scratched her head. "You look a little weird! Are you using a new perfume to get the stallions?" Twilight stuffed her hoof in Pinkie's mouth. "Shut up!" Spike, who up till that point was eerie on what Pinkie wanted, burst out laughing, while some of the stallions walking by looked over Twilight. She huffed in defeat. "Why?!" She moaned. "Why what?" A stout victorian voice summoned courage behind the mare. "Oh, Rarity!" Spike yelled in infatuated enthusiasm. He lightly got red cheeks at her next words. "Spikey-wikey!" She put him on edge with a crushing hug. Then she laughed to see his cheeks turn a darker shade. "Hey, Rarity!" Pinkie yelled and began to jump up and down, "are you guys here for the screams?" "What screams?" Twilight asked, just as they came into audible range. "SOMEPONY HELP!" A scream in the distance sounded as every pony stopped in their tracks and looked at the edge of town. 6 ponies came into view; they were not walking normally, to say the least. Some limped while being supported by their comrades. A mare screamed again, "Please! They're hurt!" Ponies gasped as the ponies approached closer with leaking wounds, heavy bruises, and broken bones. All in all, they went through quite a scuffle. Rarity was about to hurl as she turned her head away. "What the hay happened?" A pony asked while whispering to his mare friend. Whispers continued to happen as the six walked closer and closer into the town and then into the center. They were panting, decrepit and about to pass out. Guards rushed to assist the practically dying ponies. Twilight rushed to the most stable pony. "What happened? Who did this to you?" The pony slowly turned her head to Twilight and gulped. "It was a human; but not any of those," she pointed to the practically docile and carefree humans wandering with their owners. "This human, it was something else. He..." Then she saw her friends, and leaders face and went pale again. Twilight looked at well to see the unicorn's horn completely torn off and held in a comrade's hands. The unicorn in question was almost lifeless and shaking up a storm. Even a whisper frightened the pony. The guards slowly began to escort the completely brain-dead pony to a hospital, all the way he looked as if he was in the arctic. Every pony understood when they saw the horn being held by a guard pony now, who was almost about to throw up as well. All in all, ponies were not only scared but sympathetic for the crippled and now mortally magically-wounded pony. Twilight thought of how that could happen. What could've done that to a pony; made it like that. A manticore would've just killed the pony and had it for lunch, but it was a human. Then she remembered that human, who had miraculously escaped a few days ago in Canterlot. The one who went berserk in town and almost killed ponies, and her. She shivered at the prospect. That human wasn't just strong, but also perhaps the scariest and most intimidating creature she had seen in a long time. The eyes, they held true intimidation; the way they glared and showed the beast's surperiority. "Twilight we shou--" Spike was forming out as Twilight formed up a quill and paper. The princess, no the princesses needed to know. She quickly jotted down the details. Names weren't important, but ponies were almost killed, and as much as Twilight hated to annoy the princess, this was important. Twilight knew Celestia, and Luna loved their subjects, so it was important for them to know this. She almost hit Spike getting him to teleport it to Canterlot. I slowly looked up at the rising moon. Tonight would be the night. I would go on a mission; Yeah, no I was just gonna break in and steal some stuff. As much as I made it sound cool, I really didn't care, plus it was getting slightly colder in the forest after every passing day; winter was coming. The girl yawned and I could tell she had dozed off and entered the realm of sandman. I lightly smiled at her cute little face; it was truly innocent; I don't remember the last face I had seen like that. People didn't kill, yeah, but no one was innocent. Some bullied, some terrorized, heck some even did unspeakable things, and the others, they let it happen. I was no different. No one had such a peaceful face, it was human nature not to; violence was always in the human gene, some could just repress it better than others. It's part of the reason why I always laughed when people said civilized; that word was so contradicting. I slowly stood up and ventured out of the barely lit cave from the robust fire which took too long to make. My hands were slightly bare from having to gather wood bare-handed. The crickets screamed in unstoppable banter and chatter. It was calming though as I took off to the lights in the distance. I trucked my way through the brush, taking care to place hand under my abs to protect that area from the thorns I might encounter. I heard the cracks of twigs under my feet, and the slight agitation it caused as I did, in fact, pass the thorns. Needless to say, if it wasn't for the momentum, I would've been cursing out loud in pain. I saw the lights from the outgoing brush. I stretched my head to make sure the head was clear as I noticed a bridge with a cottage from my right. I ignored it though as I didn't have time. I slowly picked out the more visible thorns as I slightly rested from the trek. I looked behind me to see the smoke rising in the distance. I just hoped it would stay that way for some time longer. Then, with adrenaline pumping, I sprinted across the open field, praying not to be spotted from the floating city above or any on-going ponies. Or to be hollered and barked at by humans. I let my air echo in the air as I took in the complete cleanliness of it. It still gave me goosebumps at the difference in quality, but I needed to continue on, so I put on more speed as I dashed to the nearest building, almost tripping over my own weight as I ran. I hoped that no tracks were left behind, but with the mud stuck on my soles, I knew that it was probably a false hope. "Come along, Max dear," a pony mare, which I could see having rosy red hair said as she tugged on the leash with her magic. I huffed and with the eyes diverted off moved my form into the shadows of a nearby alley. I needed to find a clothes shop. I couldn't sew, but at least I could find some cloth or something. Another pair of ponies walked by. "Oh, you're so naughty!" The mare, which was most likely with a male, said with a high-pitched chuckle. I could only face palm. But it was my chance as I maneuvered to the next dark spot. But, it was taking too long. I needed a better way of movement, especially due to the fact that there were tons of guards patrolling. It might've been due to what I did to those other ponies. I did kind of act like a complete monster. I looked behind me to spot a tight railing leading up to the top of the building. The colors were starting to slightly annoy me, but I climbed my way up to the top and stood up as the wind blew by. I was a good two stories up as I glanced down on the ponies returning to their homes below. I began to hop my way across buildings, just searching for any kind of clothes tailor shop, hoping to find my prize. Then I saw quite a large tree inhabiting a cozy spot in the town. It peaked my curiosity. Then I saw a carriage, surrounded by guards and regal signs encrusting it, outside of the structure. I decided it was probably better to pass on by and not investigate, but well, that wouldn't be fun. So as the guards looked in the other direction I jumped onto the balcony on the outside, slightly cursing my luck as the boards creaked with my sudden weight. The guards could only yawn in exhaustion, wishing to be rid of the job. I thanked the world's god for laziness. Then I slowly peeked into the second-story door, only to be introduced with an inhabited bedroom. A small snoring reptilian. It was purple, or well, had purple scales, had a tale, exhaled fire, oh well, dragons. The world had magic, so it shouldn;t have been a surprise, but I couldn't help but marvel and approach a little too close. "Twilight?" The little dragon asked as his eyes slowly opened, only to be greeted by my sight. He practically screamed or would of if I didn't have him in a hold, keeping him from calling for backup. I slowly shushed him as the dragon continued to struggle. He was slightly shaking, and I felt so bad, but it had to be done. I would at least make it quick as quickly put as much force as I could into the back of his neck. I could only hope he would be put out. I was surprised when he did and his eyes keeled over in sleep. I slowly placed him back in the bed he once in, mentally spelling out sorry to the little dragon. He was a heavy little thing though for sure, or well dense is the better word. He was practically as heavy as one of the ponies. I took a few seconds to observe the room till I moved on to the hallway and near the stairs. "--and are you sure it's him?" A regal voice sounded. I could identify it as the nightly-regal pony. "Yes, I'm sure. The pony said it was human. He is the only one it could be." "Twilight's right sister, that human is the only documented case of escape into the Everfree." So now I knew where I was. I wanted to get a look downstairs. I slowly, very slowly descended the stairs to see a warmly lit fire and three ponies. The same three from the mountain-side city. I screwed up. A creak made its presence known on the stairs and I visibly squeaked in frustration. I could see their eyes glance towards me, luckily the darkness prevented me from being seen immediately. "Spike, is that you?" Twilight asked. She slowly got up and began to approach. I quickly back-pedalled. She came to look up the stairs, where my form was no longer located and shrugged. "I should see if I could get new stairs," she whispered to herself as she returned to the regal sisters. I exhaled in complete relief. "It was nothing." Then the conversations continued on. Obviously, I couldn't hear more than murmurs as I returned to the bedroom. I didn't want to leave without truly apologizing to the dragon, though. Then I saw my key. A piece of paper, and a quill. It was a start at least. I quickly etched out my message, making it quick as I still had a job to do. I'm so sorry about knocking you out Mr. Dragon. Forgive me. Don't judge me, there was nothing much else to say. I got out to the balcony and sprinted. Then I began to continue my search. It took way too long. I managed to find a moving carousel building, which suited my needs of clothes cloth. Only problem way, I needed to get in. I hated intruding, but when a window is open, a window is open. I quickly hopped in only to find a familiar sight. The little pony who "adopted" me. I couldn't help but chuckle. She was so peaceful in her bed, though. And so cute; I couldn't decide if a puppy dog was cuter or not. That also meant that the victorian unicorn was here as well. She must be the owner then. Either way, I didn't have money, it was dark, and I was perceived as a wild animal, so stealing was the better option. I slowly creaked open the door and made my way out and down the stairs into the huge gallery of clothes. Everything was for ponies. Although I did find a blanket, which I quickly gobbled up into my hands. I continued to search in vain until I found a secluded section for humans. And there was my answer. Mission successful. I found the jackpot. I got appropriate clothing for me and the girl; me having a semi-rag style of clothing for my pants. Nothing fit my upper body. For the girl I got her a fitting, or as well as I could predict, fitting pink and purple clothing. To be honest, she wouldn't care either way. Then I saw the door and advised to see if I could get out from the door. I quickly unlocked the door, and with haste doubled my way out and down the street. Slowly moving into a sprint as I cheered in victory. Almost every pony was asleep and so I just continued to run with immunity. All the way up to the forest. Although, I wondered what that cottage was about. Perhaps I should investigate it if only to see if I could find tasty food there. Either way, I had clothing, and so did the little girl. No more awkwardness, and fewer chills in the night. It may not have been cool, but it was a win in my book. > Chapter 5- They come fast, but I come faster. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I slowly laid out the blanket on the shivering girl, who even in her clothing was quite cold. I couldn't blame her; some people were just more used to it. I let the carbon icecles float in the air as I exhaled. I should've felt cold, freezing really, but I felt completely fine. I wasn't cold, and my body wasn't acting strangely in any way I knew, so I had no idea why. I felt warm, calm, collected, and ready for anything. I simply adorned my baggy pants and gazed out at the moonlight, wondering how the next day will go. It annoyed me to all hell. Why was I here? Why me? Is it destiny, or just a twisted fate? I had managed to get some clothing at least, but I might've also compromised any trips back to the town. As quick of a learner, I could be, I need something to learn from, and essential supplies besides food and water were practically going to always be out of my grasp. Although, that cottage could probably provide me with some supplies; I'd have to be extra careful, though. I slowly approached back to the darkening interior of our current abode. It was odd, just a week ago and I was sleeping in my bed, wondering what the next day will bring. And yet, even in a completely different world, it was the same question. I never liked waking up bright and butt-early. But, well, the circumstances simply called for it now. The sooner I was up, the sooner I could scout, scavenge and map out the area without the girl waking up wondering where I had gone. It was quite logical actually, and as a math man myself, logic made a lot of sense, but so did magic, yes complete sense. As I had dreamed during the night I had figured out what was happening, the world I was on, it was affecting my body, changing it. I was never as strong as I had been, even when I was ready to kill people. They say the phenotype can seriously impact the body given enough stress, and I suppose the world was simply asserting itself on my body, some gene reacting to the environment, to the energies swirling around in the air and living in the magical creatures of the world. How? How did I figure this? I had held a stone in my grasp during the night and once morning had come it was dust, blowing in the morning wind. It was truly amazing, I really did need to test my strength though as it was changing quicker than I realized. It has been a little over a week and already I've at least tripled. Perhaps it is the pure amount of magical exposure I've had, it's had an evolving effect on my body, changing it to combat the outside force the best way it can, pure brute strength. I slowly began to climb down the side of the cliffside- but I figured what the hell and with a 30-foot drop I let myself go, half in fear, but also half in curiosity. My experiment was a success as I landed without a hitch. As I slammed into the ground a small crater was formed and my legs tightened up and released in a sprawl of raw power. It was a real rush as I stood back up unscathed. No bones were cracked or broken, in fact, they were probably stronger. I had a huge smile on my face. Now, what were my mission objectives? Oh yes, scout out the area. That local cottage is probably a good place to start actually. Can probably nab some local supplies there every so often. I slowly took one step towards my destination to feel a jerk in my leg and quickly I could see my face slam into a tree and then I groaned in frustration. It would certainly get some getting used to, it certainly would. "Oh, hello Twilight," the shy, timid and quite cute(like a puppy) pony said. The cottage was lively, with tons of animals squabbling and running around. It was quite a beautiful place indeed, but Twilight was there simply for information. "Fluttershy, do you remember the human in town a week ago?" Fluttershy slowly nodded. She kept a few humans on hand as pets and close companions. They were quite docile and compassionate when given a good owner. But that human that she had heard about, it was quite the opposite. It was scary as the reports had said. It had struck a pony so hard his horn popped off, and then the other day when the ponies came running to the town, injured and scared for their lives. The human had permanently crippled another pony that day. At least the first horn could be put back on and healed, the second was permanently gone, and even if it was put back on, the link of magic was gone. "Yes, it was quite awful if I say so. I never knew humans could be so aggressive and dangerous as that. It doesn't even seem like it's one." "Yes, well about that," Twilight slightly sighed and then reaffirmed herself with a slight 'ahem.' Apparently, he had come into town during the night and not only attacked Spike but also stole some clothes from Rarity's shop." Twilight purposefully left out the note part, opting to keep it under wraps until it could be deemed real or not. "Twilight did he really do that?" Fluttershy asked, needing to know, because what was possibly true from this note was a major discovery. "Trust me Fluttershy, I wouldn't be here if he didn't. Now, have you seen a human in the forest, or have any of your critters seen one? The princesses have actually asked all of the elements to look into this matter." "I can ask," the pegasus replied as she began looking around instructing all of her pets to come closer, even the humans, for she wanted to ask some questions. Bunnies, frogs, fish in ponds, birds chirping on by and even a bear and humans all swarmed their caretaker, looking concerned at the pink-maned pony. "Have any of you seen a human lately. He was rather strange and was more aggressive than most?" Then the familiar white-tailed bunny hopped on forward in his nonchalant, yet protective and obedient attitude towards Fluttershy. She began to nod as the bunny seemingly spoke to her, meanwhile Twilight was still amazed she could communicate with the animals so thoroughly. After slightly snapping out of it the purple pony asked the obvious question. And Fluttershy looked slightly angered by what was said. "Those ponies!" Fluttershy yelled. "They were gonna kill an innocent creature!" Twilight was well-aware that the ponies were poachers, but really didn't pay too much mind due to it being legal, but Fluttershy on the other hand, she was almost in a rage and her animals were begging for their scary master to calm down. "Fluttershy, please." Twilight tried to get to her friend and she needed answers, "Just tell me what he said." Fluttershy erupted in a mighty and slightly saddened huff as she turned to her friend. "He saved a bear." Twilight was slightly confused. "Saved a bear?" Fluttershy nodded. "Angel was there and saw it all apparently. He was scavenging when he saw the ponies encroached on the bear and while it whined in pain and fear the human apparently came clamoring through the brush and then it had a face of fury on it." Fluttershy began to look at the human as a hero. "But then they tried to kill it after it showed them he would fight back, but it, it--"Fluttershy slightly shivered. "It survived a direct blast of a powerful magic spell and then, like we saw, rendered the pony magicless by slowly ripping the horn off of the fellow." Twilight was taken back as well. "You mean the human literally ripped the horn straight off?" Fluttershy nodded. And then Twilight thought of regular humans. Humans have been able to crack horns, even break them, but never completely rip off the horn and the connection. They say a unicorn's connection to magic is like a drug, and once it's gone their will to live goes with it, but there have been cases where the pony in question can overcome those urges. Still, it's a painful process, either way, to have a part of the soul being ripped away from the whole. Meanwhile, as the two ponies chatted a pair of sharp blue eyes viewed from the brush, with neutral intent and the purpose of pure information gathering. "What are we going to do?" Fluttershy asked, scared of the human in question. "We're going to start a sweep of the forest in a few minutes actually. The Princesses have a whole platoon with us to help the search. Any humans found will be captured, if we find him we'll be able to tell on pure sight alone." Fluttershy nodded slowly as the blue eyes slowly widened at the news and as the bushes rustled the eyes disappeared back into the brush. I cursed my luck. That hour was more like half an hour due to her delayed information taking. The hybrid had probably gotten the information earlier than that and I estimate it at half-an-hour ago. I quickly slammed the accelerator and rammed my way through any brush, seemingly decimating a path in the process. I just made their tracking easier, but it was none the matter because I had a head start. Then I saw a pegasus high above doing reconnaissance and he had definitely spotted me. He then made a bee-line back to command to inform them of the escaping human. I only put more power and made a mad jump up the cliffside clinging onto the edge and quickly holstering myself up to see the still-sleeping form of the small girl. I suppose I'll call her Rose due to her complexion and ginger-like features. So Rose was sprawled out sleeping, looking quite warm in fact and I was a little jealous, but jealousy had to wait as I slowly approached her. I slowly shook her to see the cute yawn and confused face. I gave her a serious look and quickly gathered up our things slung them over our shoulders and then with one fell swoop had the girl sitting on my shoulders. She slumped over on my head from slight exhaustion and sleep recovery, but we needed to move and so with swiftness, I emerged from the cave and dived down the cliffside again. Then I heard the shouting. "There he is!" The same damned flyer had spotted me and so with the frustration I glided a rock at the pegasus and yet that was a slight mistake as it glided a little too fast. And let's just say that if it had hit the pony he wouldn't necessarily be in the world of the living and I'm not just talking about the fall. Then more came and continued to track me. I was wasting time, I needed to move and quick. "I'm gonna get you!" A cyan pegasus roared as brush fell and a thunder roared by my face. I got a quick glimpse of an arrogant pony who I could already tell had too much speed for my taste. I made a quick dash to the left and zoomed through the forest. I heard shouting from every direction but that one, and so I was on the run, AGAIN! > Chapter 6- Cornered Animals Bare Their Thoughts? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Humans, the creatures of legend in a world where their offspring are treated as animals, pets and common playthings by poachers. The divine beings able to create anything, and not with magic, but with the mind. Great skyscrapers, which truth be told, did scrape the sky and could be seen as far as tens of miles away. They created the beautiful scenery of boutique flowers and the powerful arts of every century. They created the ultimate soldiers, the ultimate weapons. They were able to truly do anything, perhaps because magic wasn't there to hold them back, or was it? Magic can come in many forms, and perhaps maybe the true magic the humans held wasn't physical, but mental and spiritual, maybe it was hidden deep down? Or maybe not. I ran, as quick as I could. It was really exhilarating despite the fact my own life, as well as the one I now protect is in danger. I can see how parents react when their kids are in trouble. It can drive them crazy and put them up to devices others would think more than twice of doing. Although she wasn't exactly human, either way, I've had a dog before and for her, I would kill to protect. She was family just the same as my sibling and parents. So right now I've grown an attachment to the little girl and my purpose has evolved more than just to protect her, I almost see her as family. It's also the least I can do, considering I have nothing else to do. The brush was ever-increasing, but I could sense a final showdown. They would get one big surprise, though, I could promise that. I continued to hear shouting and directions and then I erupted out from the foliage and protection of the forest to a sight that made me slightly crack my tooth. It was those two again, dammit! Not just that, though, they brought plenty of company with them too. A whole line of golden-armored guards as well. I looked up at the shaking form of Rose, and I couldn't blame her. The spears were all pointing this way. I tried to calm her with a warm smile, and surprisingly it did wonders as she nuzzled my neck; just like my dog. The two hybrids had stern looks, but so did I. It reminded me of a western showdown, but just who would draw the pistols first? "Princess!" Another, familiar, voice yelled from behind as I could hear crackles of popping twigs and crushed leaves. I was surrounded, nowhere to go. I kind of liked it, though. Maybe I could get them to back up if I showed them a little strength. "Twilight, please, stay back." The white hybrid seemed a little scared. It would make sense, she was protecting her daughter I suppose, but who's the father? Or is it the other one who is the mother? I'm just going to confuse myself if I pry further. "Creature, I know you can understand me." I slightly chuckled as I slowly lowered Rose onto the ground, letting her rest on our packed stuff. She was sound to fall back asleep. "Sister, be careful," the other said as the white hybrid approached me. Surprisingly she gave a warm smile to me. Her ethereal mane was quite the sight though, it actually made me want to touch it very badly. As she stood in front of me, eye-to-nose respectively, I had to know. Holding back every ounce of strength I could considering I wouldn't hurt a peaceful animal. It always made me sick to my stomach when people would enjoy hurting defenseless animals. Well, I guess we're all animals. Sapience isn't a definer of something that isn't an animal. The guards tensed and raised their spears, all shouting. "Get away from her you beast!" One of them yelled with confidence. But before the princess could silence them I tried a little trick that always seemed to work in the animal kingdom. I just glared at them all. I couldn't exactly say how scary I was, but they all seemed to have a bead of sweat travel down their heads, so I'd assume very. I actually chuckled as the other hybrid slightly tensed as well, but then only glared back. I smiled afterwards sending her off guard again; a genuine smile. Then trees cracked and broke as more ponies came rushing out. "I've got you this time!" The same cyan pony screamed as she rammed for my head. I simply stood a step to the right and directed hybrid to do the same as the pegasus avoided hitting us and yelled in anger as she landed and turned around. "Calm down there Rainbow, we've got 'im." I turned to see the first pony I saw when coming here and huffed in defeat. Damn cowpony. I actually forgot that I hadn't exactly touched the ethereal hair yet. I mean, come on it's flowing in non-existent wind. I'd expect and sane human would want to touch it, not the other way around. Risk is the only way for reward. It felt quite odd actually. It felt extremely soft, yet it did feel like some kind of energy was there; my sixth sense told me so, so I decided not to doubt it. "I think he likes your hair," an annoying pink pony commented. Why was she annoying, she was jumping up and down in place like she was begging for a toy. On top of that, her hair showed off a slight physcopathic personality. "I think I've figured that one out." It's odd, she talks like everyone's her kid when it's ponies. I slowly sat down and observed Rose as she slept. Completely peaceful and innocent. The hybrid slowly sat down as well and observed the girl with me. I was waiting for someone to say something, as well, I couldn't exactly speak at the moment. "It must be hard for her." I slightly tensed. "To have her mother killed like that." Like that? They killed her! I turned my head in anger towards the hybrid. I quickly got to my feet and bore my teeth at the hybrid. I was getting worked up and angry. Damned ponies killed a mother. I had almost forgotten about how murderous they are. That's when a spear was heading right for me. The hybrid gasped as she saw its vector. Actually, all of the non-combative ponies gasped. I merely bore one eye at the spear and quickly grasped the handle before it reached my face. Then, like a twig I broke it in two and let it drop to the ground. "Wait!" The hybrid was now standing, "please." I looked at her. She really didn't look like a murderer. None of them do, but they did it, right? My head slightly shut down as I thought it over. Did they kill Rose's mother? I've never been the one to think before words or actions. It's a problem, but it's what makes me, me I suppose. She slowly approached me and lit her horn. "I think you deserve to know." She then placed it on my forehead and my mind became clear and was full of gruesome, yet revealing images. Rose slowly walked with her mother. She was free from the ponies. Her other and she both were glistening with glee over their escape. That man was their savior for sure, but it didn't matter now. He sacrificed his own life for theirs. They would live it the best they could and the first plan was to run as far away from the ponies as possible. Newly built energy of happiness propelled them forward at high speeds, with even the thorns and heavy brush collapsing in their wake. Meanwhile, I was watching with Celestia from the sideline; we were there, but not in the realm of the living, it was a memory of course. I knew what was coming once I heard it, but I still felt myself go limp at the images. As some people would scream at their T.V. screen for their characters to run I did the same, but then remembered I couldn't speak anyway, that didn't stop the hybrid, god I really need to learn her name, from saying it to me. "It's no use. This has already been set in stone sadly." Then came another low piercing and terrifying growl from the predator of the accursed forest of the Everfree. The mother went limp at the image and it looked like she was practically giving up on life, but that didn't stop her from pushing her daughter out of the way before the mutated lion's jaws slowly ripped her to shreds. She screamed in agony as her daughter stared in horror, tears swelling up in her eyes at the hopeless situation. By this point, the princess couldn't continue to watch, but I could and every moment of it made me angry. Why is fate always so cruel? Why does she have to take every bit of joy out of people's lives? And yet, while some wouldn't blame the animal, I only looked at it with hate. I would remember the scar running down its right eye. The girl wept as the gnawing of bone and ripped muscle was heard. Rose had watched it all and was shaking worst than a leaf in autumn. She cried and cried, and then as the animal bore its eyes into her, she cried more. Then it simply saw the hopelessness the creature held and it left Rose, to wallow in suffering as she saw the lifeless, destroyed and blood stained body of her mother. As the animal left Rose slowly dragged her body to the dead corpse in front of her, looking into the lifeless orbs staring off into space, and yet a smile was held on the mother's face. She was laughing at death. Rose could only sit there and wallow in pain as every bit of emotion escaped her form. She was now alone in a world of suffering and agony; I made the right choice. As the picture faded to dark the hybrid turned to me. "Why did you attack young Spike?" her eyes were slightly aggressive as she demanded the answer. I simply stared, I couldn't answer if I wanted to. She knew of the letter as well as she continued to stare at me until a light bulb appeared on top of my head. I tried my best at imitating writing. Needless to say, she got the message and I could finally communicate. To everyone, it was a few seconds, but to me and Celestia it was a few hours of non-stop exchanges of events, names and such. Nothing of history, though. I was glad about that, I'd rather not talk about human history right now, or at least in front of practical dozens of ponies. I also learned her sister's name apparently and her student's name. That conversation went swimmingly. The blush she had when I asked about her "daughter" was priceless. I didn't know ponies or well horses, let's be honest, could blush. Apparently, I was probably not going to be granted rights to the general public, which wasn't exactly the best option, but I suppose putting a roof over Rose's head and being able to protect her more closely was ideal. At least I could communicate, although she never stated where I would be staying at all. It would all be explained at the library in town, the same place I spied on them at and knocked out the young dragonling known as 'Spike'. "Sister, art thou fine?" Luna asked, blushing as Celestia gave her the face of disappointment. "You need to focus Luna. Please, focus on adapting to modern language." Luna nodded faintly, then seemingly scowled at me. I simply sighed as Twilight walked over and observed me and Rose, almost melting at the sight of the young girl sleeping. It was weird, she looked very human, not Equestrian human, but Human human. "Princess what happened?" The third hybrid asked. "We shall discuss it at the library. It is rather confidential let's put it." I nodded at this, although none of the ponies seemed to notice. I simply shrugged. I slowly lifted up Rose and the equipment and waited for directions. The rest of the group, the "elements of harmony" as they were called, aside from Twilight, gave me on and off looks of concern. Although the yellow pegasus looked the most concerned, but not about other ponies or the princesses, but for me and Rose. I simply ignored it as we walked into the library, becoming irritated as I would have to explain humanity to them. That was not going to be fun at all. > Chapter 7- Humanity is a Dangerous Animal. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- And when the final lights of refuge were extinguished many lost hope. Many fell down, letting everything go to the wind until they themselves faltered the same way: running with the wind. But some, they stood back up, took it all in and then smiled at the hand fate had dealt them. No, they were determined. They were not going to die. It was the best part of human nature at work. It's a common misconception about humanity, because when times are at their worse, when people have lost all hope is when the flame of humanity is kindled in its cradle. Truly, when the darkest times are upon us is when we shine the most, not as one, but as all. I smiled as I thought about their reactions. I had planned everything out beforehand. I was prepared to say. Of course, I couldn't voice my opinion when the ponies looked at me, their human pets included, with apprehension, and with the glare, one would give to a servant. Is that all I've become? No, I was not a servant like that. "And here we are," the one known as Twilight spoke, only to see her friends seemingly glaring at me with curiosity and concern, Rarity and Fluttershy nervous and concerned the most. It's funny, I probably wouldn't have said much anyway. I wasn't much of a talking man. In situations like these, it's best to keep quiet anyway, lest people, well ponies, think you're hostile. "Princess, can you please tell us what this is about now?" Twilight asked Celestia and longing for answers, although when she looked at Luna she knew she was in the dark as well. That's when Celestia handed me a quill and some paper. Damn, it was near impossible to write with the thing, but well, when communication is on the line, sacrifices are made. "Hello." I wrote on the piece of paper only to see the one known as Rainbow Dash laugh at 'Celestia's' antics. "Sister, what is this about? It this another joke?" Twilight had to nod in agreement, seemingly confused. I simply shook my head and slowly got up. Luna seemed certain it was a prank. "No Luna, this is not. Believe it or not, this human is not exactly normal." I huffed. "You got that right." Eyes seemingly boggled out of their respective heads. "Wait, he can understand us?" I nodded to Twilight's question. "Wait, so when aah strung you up, you weren't just some dumb animal?" The apple-flanked mare asked again. Again I nodded. "I was not." I gazed over at Rose to see her soundly asleep. "I would've killed that pony." Seemingly more gasps. But Celestia silenced them. "I've seen some of his past, some of the reasons why he is here, which point to an anomaly. He's actually told me quite a few knowledgeable things that only I know sparsely. I believe him when he says he's not dumb." Twilight seemed googlely eyed at this, almost n a trance for more knowledge. There were things this society wasn't ready to know so I simply placed a keyword on my paper. "I will not be teaching ponies any knowledge. What I told Celestia was a very small amount of theories that I figured your society has thought of already." Swords and Shields were the extents they should be at right now. "Wait, you're not from around here?" The timid mare spoke her question. "Very perceptive." I leaned back as I expected more eyes to bulge. "You're an alien?!" The pink mare practically shouted in glee. "Are you? Are you!? OOOOh, do you like cake? Parties? Did you have a lot of friends?!" That last one struck me a little in the heart. My family, my friends, they were all gone. I slightly saddened at that, which only made the ponies glare at Pinkie Pie. I shook my head at them. Yet hope remained. There was a question I had to ask. "Can you send me back home?" Celestia seemed to widen and feel quite dumbfounded. "I never realized. if you're from another world, we should be able to send you back. Actually, Sister help me please." This was it, I could go home! As much as my mind was curious with the tales here, I wanted to see my friends and family again. I was pretty homesick by this point and I was getting tired of the strain my brain had from this world's dilemmas and rather sad society. I fell like this isn't where I belong. With talking colored ponies is not where I belong I feel. Instinct is one of the only things I had left and so it was one of my greatest tools. So when I typed in my question and it spits out the answer of renewed hope I was quick to jump on the bandwagon. "Of course," Luna said as she and Celestia approached me, horns lit. "Is there anything you'd like to do before you leave?" I shook my head. I'd like to go home. That's when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or well everything was white as they had their horns lit up to intense amounts. "We've traced your home and you should be home within a few seconds," Celestia stated as the light then began to fade. I was home. Or not. I suppose I was hoping for too much as I saw the ponies gasped faces at my arrival, or well, staying here. "That's strange, the spell should work. Perhaps we can fix it and try again, but as of right now you're stuck here." Well, I could've guessed, but well it still sucks. I suppose I truly owed them some questions and answers. "I suppose we should get information out of the way." Twilight visibly lightened and asked the one question that everyone, or well, pony was wondering. What were humans really like? "What are your humans like?" I knew they would ask this, it should be obvious actually. "Please sit back, this is going to be long." (Take a gander at this music. This is also one of my favorite games ever and this guy remastered the music perfectly). I had to avoid weaponry as much as possible. I talked about our history. Our progress, religion, achievements, technology, without any fundamental clues to replication, and even our highest pinnacle, our current final frontier. They all sat there fascinated as I spoke of the Egyptians and their tales of mighty gods in the sky and their achievements in empire building and the pyramids. I spoke of Roman's genius architecture and grand empire. I tried to keep out as much conflict as I could, although I could see they saw things weren't;t adding up. I continued on, however. I spoke of the dark middle ages, the birth of Christianity, the crusades and such. I spoke of feudalism, kingship, nations, and alliances. I spoke of the mighty revolutions, sprawling industry. I spoke of my home; Democracy, which struck them as almost preposterous when they asked about leadership. I revealed much about food and transportation. Jets able to soar across the sky in the blink of an eye, and go across the planet in less than a day. I spoke of mighty people, able to accomplish the impossible. People able to run for days without sleep. They were all fascinated until Luna asked the most pivotal question: Miltary, weapons, and wars. "I suppose it's time I show you the darker side of humanity." They all focused, Celestia and Luna becoming troubled as I showed them all the words. "We've always been an aggressive people. Mighty nations would rise and fall overnight. People would fight for what they believed in, and sometimes that didn't mean peace and prosperity. Ultimately we've killed hundreds of millions of our kind over time. We-We've built weapons to destroy entire nations in the blink of an eye. Guns and Armor to repel the mightiest weapons. We've altered people using drugs and mechanical enhancements, making them act almost inhumanely. Robots to kill in mass droves and lasers to annihilate any enemy in the blink of an eye. There have been wars for reasons as simple as insults and as complex as ideas of a new world order. In fact, evil has often triumphed in our world, in places closer to the top than most think. Humans are selfish, greed usually consumes them and power always seem to be in the grasp of the corrupted. However, humanity finds a way as Dictators and Kings are usually murdered, paraded around the street. I told them of genocide, of Hitler and Stalin, of Mao Zedong and Mussolini, of modern day tyrants and terrorists and radical Islamic movements. Don't get me wrong, though, humanity has had our greatest achievements during war, because ultimately when humanity is at its darkest hour and defeat seems inevitable is when the light shines in our darkness and we achieve new heights and change the world forever." "It's almost unsettling," Celestia spoke, with the rest of the group almost disgusted at what I said. "I mean, how can you kill so many of your own. With how it sounds, with those weapons of yours, I would expect you to have killed each other off." "Yes, those weapons I spoke of are perhaps our greatest call for peace. Because ultimately if one of those weapons falls our world would no longer exist." Most would say I exaggerate, yet it's the truth. There have already been instances when the call was almost made to destroy the world. "How? How strong is your magic to do all of this?" Twilight asked. "We don't have magic," and yet more gasps were heard. "Although having magic might be the reason we have such weapons. The true idea of technology is to satisfy the needs and wants of people, and with magic, many of those needs and wants are satisfied." "If humans are so strong, how are they not ruling us right now?" Rainbow asked, smirking in arrogance at pony dominance, "are you just lying?" "No, on my planet, ponies, horses and such are nothing more than common animals, much like humans here, but there are key differences, plainly stating that I am not an Equestrian human at all, and you are not Earthly ponies." "I honestly don't know what to say," Twilight commented. "I just, this seems so fake." "It does, yes, even sometimes I wonder how we have such technology, yet there is still so much more to discover and we're not even close to reaching our limit." And yet, there are many technologies just decades away that would completely destroy the fabric of reality. Artificial Intelligence; not the fake AI, but truly thinking beings. Terraformation, the ability to reform planets forcefully. Perhaps even Faster than light travel, the stuff of sci-fi could perhaps come to us. Looking at these ponies, though, I could see that evolution has both blessed them and cursed them. While they have the ability of magic, and the interaction of other sentient life, Humanity has an untapped brain of potential. I may sound speciesest, but if there was any war, any competition, besides magical and maybe running speed, there would be no competition. Jets could go way past Mach 4, and that's the unclassified aircraft, what about the aircraft flying above Area 51? And smarts, well not only considering that they have pre-industrialization standards, it's hard to question their complete knowledge, but they have nothing of the sort compared to human advancement. And for strength, let's just say a competent bodybuilder could most likely push back four ponies at once in a competition like tug of war. Yet, I suppose war is what has advanced Humanity so much. The many civilian items we have today have come from military experiments. Microwaves, Televisions, Computers, Jets, the list can go on. And looks can look deceiving, but I don't think it's doing so when I look at these ponies. And maybe I would test it. "I hope it's not offensive, but when exactly was your last war?" The two princesses seemed to look unsure as they eyed themselves over and then looked back to my imposing and standing form. "That, well, it's been a few centuries since our last bout'." Celestia looked almost embarrassed to say it. Although, I wouldn't call it a bad thing. Death is never easy to accept and having perpetual peace can also make progress; maybe not as much, but progress non-the-less. It also showed me that these two were competent and rather benevolent leaders. And I guess I would have to prove it. "Offensive or defensive?" "Well, we were invaded by our Griffon neighbors, but we adequately defended ourselves." That proves it, this was a rather peaceful country. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?" "Wait, actually we've missed a key part. If you can't go home for the foreseeable future, where will you stay--Mike?" Luna seemed like she had forgotten my name. Not surprising since humans were called animal names most likely. "I believe I can address that your highness," Rarity spoke up this time. Oh god. There was a bit or arguing between Rarity, Twilight and myself, but ultimately it was decided that Rose could stay here and I will go wit Rarity to her home. "One last thing Twilight." My face still held a serene look. "If I find out you harmed Rose in any way without cause, I won't care if you're royalty. I'll snap that little horn off of your head." Every one of the ponies gasped loudly at those words while Twilight gulped down her stuck bile. My face was cracked and boring into the young alicorn's face, but lightened up. "I don't expect you to." "You just threatened Twilight?" Applejack asked, still holding a widened face. "No, I made a promise."