> THE SPACECRAFT. > by Sunnysunny77 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... The sound of leafs rustling, and the strange mechanical chirping of what sounded like birds made its way into Twilights ears. Her ear twitched at the strange sound, it felt as if she had been woken from a deep sleep. Had she been sleeping? Had she gone unconscious? Thats what she wanted to know. ... After a few seconds, she decided to open her eyes. Artificial light peeked into her eyelids, as she shut them back up quickly, only presuming it to be the sun that she had accidentally stared at. She tried to sit up, but only struggled more and more. Her limbs fidgeted as exhaustion ached in her body. But from what? From what was she exhausted from? She couldn't remember anything that she could possibly be exhausted from. As far as she knew, she was just spending some time with her friends, when suddenly-- everything went black for no apparent reason. She groaned in pain, drawing her mouth back in a potrait of frustration. She just wanted to open her eyes and figure out where the hell she was. She knew from the feeling on the ground, she was sitting on a field of grass-- but she needed to see more. It wasn't possible for her to just randomly end up in some field of grass for no reason. She finally opened her eyes again, this time not having light pouring into her eyes. She felt relieved, now she could figure out where she was without being blinded to almost death. ... She was in a dark green field of grass. It was rather windy; so she looked up at the trees. But the leafs; they weren't moving. So where was the gust of winds blowing on her coming from? No matter how much she looked foward, nothing seemed to be the cause of it. She looked up. The sky... it was a pale shade of purple, and it was glowing down right on her. The sun-- or, at least it looked like the sun-- from the brief glimpse she got of it, she could tell it was a bright shade of red, almost like a crimson color. She looked at the sides of her, she was surrounded by surprisingly normal trees-- she seemed to be in the middle of some sort of pathway. It would be the only explanation as to why there were no trees in the spot she was in. As she looked down, she took notice of the objects surrounding her. There was a plate of what looked to be debris beside her, but from what had it come from? It looked to be a pale silver color, and along the right side were blue stripes, but it appeared to cut off on the part where it was broken. She raised it with her magic curiously, and took a better look at it. It was thick, hard, almost like stone. It was almost a bit hard for her to carry it. She took a better look at it from its bottom-side, there appeared to be all sorts of broken wires sticking out from it. "...What?.." She uttered in her confusion. What could this possibly be from? A plane? A robot? Endless possibilities filled her mind as she tried to think of what on earth it could be. She then turned to the only other object around her. It was a paper. A very crinkled paper at that-- pale, written on all fancily. It was a bit concerning how it was easy to read, yet so ripped apart. The paper read; "RU5UUlkgTlVNQkVSICMjIyMjCgpXZSdyZSBmaW5hbGx5IGhlcmUhIE91ciBuZXcgaG9tZSEgQWZ0ZXIgeWVhcnMgb2YgdHJ5aW5nIHRvIGNvZGUgYSB3b3JsZCBqdXN0IGxpa2Ugb3VycyBhbmQgZml0IGVub3VnaCBmb3IgdXMgdG8gbGl2ZSBpbiwgd2UgZmluYWxseSBoYXZlIGl0IHJlYWR5ISBXZSBqdXN0IGhhdmUgdG8gYmUgY2FyZWZ1bCBhcyBub3QgdG8gYWxlcnQgdGhlIG9uZXMgd2hvIHRvb2sgb3VyIGhvbWVzIGZyb20gdXMuIFdobyBrbm93cyB3aGF0IGVsc2UgdGhleSBjb3VsZCBkbz8=" ... ... What on earth was that supposed to mean? Was it supposed to be some type of code? Probably. No pony would randomly write several different letters and numbers for no reason. Maybe she could try finding something else as to why a clue on what the fuck it was saying? She didn't know what else to do now. She was alone, or at least it seemed so. There were no signs of villages or towns anywhere, no sounds of ponies anywhere. So what was she supposed to do? Surely there wasn't much she could do in the middle of nowhere. A sudden pulsing sound erupted from the trees all around, causing her to flinch back in surprise. She looked at one tree in particular, making sure not to take her gaze off of any other trees. The leafs glowed, pulled almost. Bright colors flashed every time it did pulse, making a weird whirring sound that sounded almost otherworldly. She widened her eyes, shocked at what she was witnessing. Trees couldn't do that! Unless.. some pony was making them? She didn't know. Was that even possible? Then, from under the leafs... grew fruits. Well.. more like the fruits suddenly manifested, like some sort of apparition. There were bright purple fruits; sparkling, appetizing, almost impossible to look away from with how delicious it looked. It was in the shape of a ball, and looked incredibly doughy. It didn't even look like a fruit, it almost looked like a mini cake of some kind. Then, there were the brown fruits; they were in the shape of a ball, but reaked of a foul odor. It looked like it was rotten, with the center being nearly torn out. It looked like it would crumble away with even the slightest touch. Truly, this fruit disgusted Twilight, even though she never had it before. Then, the pulsing faded, and the leafs were no longer glowing, nor making any type of sound. All Twilight could hear was the sound of the leafs brushing against eachother and what sounded like birds chirping. Were those really birds? She didn't know. She sighed, shakily. Her hooves trembled as she attempted to stand up once more, and barely managed to catch herself. It was like she hadn't walked in forever, like she didn't know how to. "Alright, Twilight.. you can do this, you can do this! This might just be another test that Princess Celestia is giving you! Who's to say you were just randomly put here by some unknown force?" She chuckled proudly, trying to soothe herself. Yet even though she was alone, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was off. A chill ran up her spine. For the first time in her life, she couldn't conclude what was going on. And she didn't like it. > 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight began to trot towards one of the trees, and stared at the sparkling purple fruit for a few moments. It was only just then that she realized that she had a horn and could use it. So, closing her eyes, she manifested her magical aura onto one of the fruits and brought it down. She didn't know why, but it almost hurt to do magic. The purple fruit was brought down, and it's almost rippling skin of sparkling violet made her mouth drool. She almost wanted to completely devour it— but she had to be patient. Quietly, she opened her mouth and dug her teeth into the skin. But was quickly met with the feeling of.. repulsion, disgust. She gagged, and gagged, and gagged. She could almost feel herself nearly about to barf from the disgusting taste. She looked at the small opening her teeth made; and saw the disgusting insides. Putrid, black insides of rotting fruit-flesh. She whined at the sight. And decided to run off to a different tree so she wouldn't have to smell it. ————— Hesitantly, Twilight stared at the brown fruit from on the leaves. She inhaled, hoping it wouldn't taste as bad as the other one did. Could these fruits belong to somepony? She wanted to know desperately, so she wouldn't have to eat these things. But, either way, she manifested her hot pink magic and brought down the brown fruit. She bit her lip in absolute disgust at the horrible looking fruit before her, and sighed. She opened her mouth, and bit off a piece. ..... It was good. The fruit— it was good! She had never tasted such good fruit in her life before. Not even apples tasted this good! Celestia, this fruit could even win against Zap Apples. She had to bring some with her, it was too good not to! ... ... But she had to eat some too. She surely couldn't just wait to eat some more of it. ———— Twilight began to wonder into the forest, sunlight dipping into the land and bathing it in an almost reddish tint. Yet the pastel purple sky glowed down upon it as well, mixing in with the red. The whole entire vibe of the area seemed almost.. horrific. Would mysterious be another word? No.. unsettling? Twilight wasn't sure how to describe the place, but she knew the place was almost hard to walk in due to the overwhelming feelings of emotions climbing on her back. Fear, irritation, anxiety. All of those only became worse as she continued to walk along the path that she had made for herself. She heard the sound of ripples of a liquid, though she could only assume the liquid to be water. What other possible thing could make such a sound? She looked in its direction, and saw from behind a pair of trees, a deep pool of dirty water. Well, she couldn't exactly tell if it was dirty. Maybe it was the shadows of the trees making it seem a lot darker than it actually was, or maybe she was just desperate to drink something already. Cautiously, she approached, though she didn't know why she was being cautious. It was just water. Right? There was no reason to be scared. For a moment, the rustling of the leaves around her seemed a lot louder than before. And she felt her vision almost darken as she kept walking foward to its deep brown pool. She bowed her head, and saw the reflections of the bushes surrounding it. Maybe this was good water, she couldn't judge a book by its cover after all. ... Oh, who am I kidding? She wasn't that stupid, she just needed a source of liquid to drink. To quench her dying thirst. Dipping her head, she held out her tongue to give the water a lick. But then.. she saw something. In her reflection of the water. Her violet eyes slightly widened as she looked at what she was seeing. Something was standing behind her. Not even thinking about how it looked, she looked behind her— No.. no creature was there. ... She looked back down at the water. Sharp, predator-like teeth loomed above her shoulder. And the bright, white oval-shaped eyes of a creature looming over her stood out amongst.. this.. whatever it was.. the creatures black shape. She shrieked for a moment, and then began to dart off elsewhere. But even so, there was nothing behind her. Even when she was running off into the distance, she could see nothing was there. So what was that? Was that a hallucination from possible thirst? An illusion in the water? ... She didn't want to believe anything else other than those two suggestions. ———— The pastel purple sky was turning into a deeply purple, the ends of it fading into a blank color. She had only noticed just now, but there was no sunset. It was like as soon as the sky became darker, the "sun" had vanished. She could see the faint white speckles of stars amongst the sky, yet she still felt unnerved from that little.. experience she had earlier. She had to find somewhere to rest. She wasn't resting outside, with the possibility of any dangerous creatures looming around. There was a possible bush she could hide in, or she could climb up a tree and rest upon one of the branches. But that would take forever. She wasn't much of a climber, after all. She could use her magic, but with the little pangs of pain she'd feel anytime she used it, she didn't want to know what would happen if the tree happened to be very tall. She was about to give up, and just jump into a bush, when out of the blue— amongst all the faint shadows, was a cave. A cave of shadow, a cave of black night. She could rest here— she had to! It was the only possible way of shelter in this weird.. place she was in. Softly, yet desperately, she approached the void-like entrance of the cave, and crawled inside. It was just a regular one, nothing was inside, only a few rocks— said rocks were formed in an almost circle-like shape. ... Somepony could be resting here. ... Something could be resting here. ... No matter. It wasn't here. Maybe it was somewhere else, or maybe it didn't live in the cave anymore. She'd be fine! And if something came, she could easily escape! Nothing bad would happen, nothing! Calmly, she curled up into a ball in the corner of the cave, and sighed. For what she guessed to be about 30 minutes, she had either slept or been trying to sleep. ... She then heard a deep snarl. > 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The unicorn mare flicked her head up, and looked around in the cave she had settled herself into. Whatever had made that snarling noise sounded close, and— and she was able to feel it.. when it had made that sound, her body rumbled and trembled with the sheer loudness. Her violet eyes scanned the dark cave, looking out onto the void-filled abyss. From where did that noise come from? She had heard it from all sides. Up, left, right. There was no telling where the source of that noise was. She looked out on what was outside the entrance of the cave. The sky was midnight black. Though it had only been a deep purple a few minutes ago. ... The white specks of stars had vanished. ... For a moment, the world felt stiff. Twilight looked around, feeling the urge to whimper and sob, to curl up into a ball and cry. But there was no reason to cry; maybe that rumbling sound was just a tree falling! As silly as it sounded, that's what she believed. Yeah, it had to be that! At least.. she wanted to believe it. The forest had stopped making noise. It was as if she had been deprived of her hearing, with how silent the forest seemed now. Every few seconds that passed, she would hear what she would think to be a noise in the distance, but would only find out a few seconds later it was just her moving around. ... If Twilight were going to have to adapt to this strange place, she'd have to go see for herself what made that noise. Of course it was probably a tree, she still believed that! The sky was a literal pastel shade of purple a few hours ago, but she was sure it was just a tree! The "sun" was a bright red, but she was sure it was just a tree! She— she saw something in the reflection of the water, but it was just a tree! She was being a scaredy pony, she knew it! She'd find the source of the noise and see that it was just a tree that had fell! She'd be relieved it didn't hit her, and then go back to sleep peacefully. She'd be fine. She'd be fine. She'd be fine. ... She wanted to be fine. ... She hated the feeling of not being fine. ... Twilight moved her hind-leg backwards, and raised her front-hooves in order to support herself. She pushed up her torso with her front-hooves, and quickly scrambled to be standing again. She could hear the slight noises her body had made as it scrambled across the cave, but it was no big deal! Nothing would hear. Maybe that lake-illusion was just her imagination! She began to slowly walk over towards the entrance, in an attempt to find whatever had made such an awful sound. She wished trees weren't able to fall, so she didn't have to be dealing with this right now. She knew it was just a tree falling, so why was she going anyway?! As she stepped closer to the entrance, she peeked her head out. ... ... The snarl sounded again. ... But it was coming from a clear direction this time. It had to be. ... It was coming from.. in front of her— Suddenly, a loud, dreadful scream sounded from in front of her! She wasn't sure of what it was, it didn't sound pony-like or anything remotely like any animal-noises she had heard before! She tumbled out of shock, she clearly saw something when she heard that noise a few moments ago. In fact, she could still see it. Sleek, long, white claws. Black, sharp, shiny arms from which the claws had emerged. It's head— it was the shape of what seemed to resemble a lizard, the familiar white glowing oval-shaped eyes from the lake-illusion had been carved onto it. Were they supposed to be eyes? They didn't look like eyes! Where in Celestia were the pupils?! Sharp, white teeth were bared from its muzzle. It's body was shaped like some weird variation of a lizard, but it didn't behave like a lizard at all. And compared to her, it was humongous, at least as big as a house. It was the creature from which she had seen inside the lake. Only this time, it was in front of her, lips drawn back into a deep snarl. She could see it clearly now, but why couldn't she see it behind her earlier? Was she hallucinating, or could it not be seen when it wished not to? It was clear though, now that she could see it, she had an advantage. The only disadvantage being that it was dark. She could choose fight, or flight. ... She chose the latter, and after letting out a loud shriek of fear, she began to trot off wildly into the distance. She had to go somewhere, anywhere away from that thing. She couldn't sleep with that thing on her tail, let alone live! If this creature were determined, it would do anything to have her. She could hear heavy, loud steps from behind her— each step letting out a huge vibration in the forest, a huge awful sound. The trees shook, each leaf rustling against eachother from the effect of the steps. They looked to be nearly about to collapse, just like Twilight had tried to excuse the snarl for. It let out a roar again, sounding like the scream of a thousand ponies. Had she been stupid, she would have gone back with how similar it sounded. Her tail swiftly waved back and forth as she continued to run, and run, and run. She could feel it's watchful gaze behind her. She knew damn well it was right behind her, but she couldn't stop. She couldn't die! In the distance, she spotted what looked to be long, tendrils of yellow grass. If the "sun" were still out, it would have a reddish-golden tint to it. But it looked dark, and depressing during this period of "night". Without a care in the world, she charged through the grass, in the hopes the creature would lose her. But she could still feel it's presence behind her, it knew damn well where she was going. So the creature was intelligent then? Shit. She dived towards the left, in an attempt to make the creature lose her. She could feel herself succumbing to tears, but quickly stopped herself when she heard the creatures steps rummaging loudly farther and farther away. Even though she didn't dare to look back, she knew it had lost her! She sounded as if she were insane, laughing out of relief, as droplets of tears formed out of her eyes. She was only relieved she was still alive, she couldn't think with logic in the moment. She wasn't able to stop herself from plunging straight into a tree. The tree was firm, harsher than regular trees. It felt almost like a boulder. Wetness, which she only presumed to be blood, dripped down her forehead and onto her muzzle. The world rang loudly for a moment, as if it were some broken flute. ... In all her years of studying, she hadn't remembered being so weak. So why was she weak now? She had fought bad creatures many times before.. That was funny. She didn't even remember fighting bad creatures. So where had that come from? ... ... ... By the time she had woken up, she found herself in what looked to be a shelter.