The Walk

THE WALK

“Sorry, Nathan, but you know I can’t afford a stunt like last time.” said Tom. Thomas has been my best friend for years now. It’s unfair we’re becoming distant because of a woman. Ever since they got together, he hangs out with me less and less. At least he’s happy with her. She may be a bitch, but I know she loves him. I could only wish she wasn’t so possessive of him.

“Yeah, I know. It's okay though, I can walk home. Good luck on your date,” I replied sadly “don’t screw it up like last time, and tell her I said hi.”

“Thanks, man. And sorry again, see you tomorrow.” he shouted while driving off in his beaten-up sedan. The only ride home was getting away, instead of taking me home, it was taking my friend to get laid.

‘Goddamn it’

I stood there for a moment. Just watching him leave, thinking of the journey ahead of me.

Nothing too extreme, but if there was something I hated more than anything, it was walking through the suburbs. It was dangerous, it smelled bad, and thanks to my awful shape, very exhausting.

It didn’t help that school was quite distant from any kind of public transportation, and my budget didn’t allow me to call a taxi.

I faced towards the path ahead of me; it was going to be a long day. I was already expecting something to happen. Hey, what can I say, I’m a pessimist through and through.

I put on some earbuds connected to my cell phone and turned it on. I picked a random playlist and music boomed into my ears. Some of those pieces you have laying around and never really pay attention to when you’re listening it.

I adjusted my backpack, and thanked myself for doing work before leaving, I didn’t have the necessity to carry my books, and I simply left them in my locker. So I was only carrying essentials. Which included a pair of slim notebooks, a case of writing utensils, and a bottle of water. I was a simple student that barely took notes. And having no assignments for the weekend was a nice touch.

I took the bottle out and took a sip. The moon was shining above me, so at least I wouldn’t have to deal with heat while walking. I put the bottle back inside the backpack and zipped it closed.

I was wearing a thick jacket with warm covering on the inside, so a chilly night wasn’t going to be a problem. I passed a hand through my unkempt hair and sighed.

‘Boy, I hate that cursed woman.’

After wasting much time preparing for my journey, I started walking in the general route I take when I’m out of traveling alternatives. It was long, full of confusing turns. But it got me where I needed to go, and it’s not like I had much choice, really.

The city was quiet at this time of the day, which was not uncommon, most people in this part of it are elderly folk, and they tend to take naps, I suppose. It was nice having some quiet time after such a hectic week, full of exams and annoying classmates.

It was Friday, at least. So my goal was to get home and take a twenty-hour nap. An hibernation, that’s what I needed.

I walked at the beat of the music; I think I would’ve looked silly to anyone watching, as I was the only one that could hear the song playing. But I couldn’t care less; I tried to steel myself for the boredom ahead, and this was the most obvious response.

As much as I hated to acknowledge it, I actually enjoyed walking, I hated the consequences it brings; but walking helped me relax, and after such a long and tiring week, relaxation was one of the sought-after things I had in my mind at the moment.

Finals week was finally over, now the wait for grades starts, but I wasn’t worried about them, I had done pretty good overall. So all that was left to do was rest for the weekend and prepare for next week.

I had been walking for a couple hours now, almost at three fourths of my journey if my calculations were correct. I wasn’t that good with distances, but it wasn’t the first time I took this route to get back home, after all.

What was left was nothing but a straight street, no more turns or complicated mazes of suburbs, just straight walking for about twenty minutes, and I could finally lay down and rest. Maybe eat some of the left-over junk food in my pantry. Yeah, some chips sounded really nice.

The street was bare of life, only cars on the sides and the flickering of cheap mercurial lighting. I stepped onto the sidewalk and slowed down my pace, I was getting tired of walking, something I blame my poor physique for, and myself, for keeping such bad exercise habits.

I had walked this path dozens of times, and each time, when I got to this point, I just wanted to pass out and sleep where I stood. It was not as exhausting as I had anticipated, but the fact that I was so close to home only added to the effect, and I just wanted for it to end.

‘Almost there, just keep walking. Ignore the exhaustion, just walk.’ I repeated the mantra inside my head to see if motivation would increase my pace. Imagine my surprise when a motivation appeared out of nowhere, in the most annoying way possible at the moment.

I felt a wet drop in my head, and looked up, all I could see were dark clouds. All above my head was dark night and few flashes of light between the ebony clouds.

‘Fuck, I hate walking.’

I pulled up the hood of my jacket and put my hands my pockets. My slow shambling turned into a brisk pace to get home. I was tired, alright. But I wasn’t gonna get a flu and ruin my perfectly good weekend by being bed-ridden the rest of it.

“Goddamn it, goddamn it, goddamn it! I knew I should’ve insisted on going with Tom!” I shouted out loud. I took out my cell phone and turned off the music; I took off my earbuds and placed them inside my jean’s pocket. I didn’t want them to get ruined, and I certainly could not afford new ones.

The rain that had started as a light drizzle was now a full-fledged downpour in a couple minutes. To top it all off, fog seemed to flood the area. You could barely see ahead of you, and the sound of thunder could be heard far away. It was as confusing as infuriating, I had been most likely lost so much inside my own thoughts I didn’t bother to check the recent weather for something like this.

‘Where the hell did this come from!?’ was the only thing on my mind. I know weather forecast isn’t reliable sometimes, but going from a clear, beautiful night to a storm in such a short time doesn’t seem logical.

Puddles were already forming in the concrete, and I splashed everywhere I stepped on. I kept walking in the rain, just wishing for it to end or for me to get home quicker. I certainly didn’t want to stay in the rain.

I heard a truck coming up the road; it was going way too fast for the weather we were in. It looked like one of those vans that everyone instantly thinks belongs to some shady spy agency. It even was black in color. It passed right by my side and stopped abruptly. It ended up ahead of me by a few meters. Its tires screeched like a banshee and the side-door quickly opened.

A tall man in a suit came out, facing away from me. He was also wearing balaclava. If anything, he looked like some guy cosplaying as a character from a wacky video game. I snickered at the thought, and he directed his attention at me. I froze in fear. Not because of the man itself, but because of his eyes, or whether where his eyes would be. The sockets were barren; all I could see inside them was darkness.

I screamed in fear and ran the way I was coming from. I heard quick footsteps in the rain behind me, puddles being splashed by expensive shoes. I ran, but I was exhausted, my adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going.

I kept running and running, trying to get some help, but there wasn’t anyone in these desolate streets to hear my cries for help. The fog didn’t let me see very far, and the sound of the rain and thunder was only heard through the hard beating in my chest.

I could hear the man getting closer, and I risked glancing over my back.

There was nothing behind me. I stopped running, and sighed. I decided I should take a different route home, and avoid anyone from now on. It was a simple, but hopefully, good plan.
I turned around to look in front of me.

And there he was. Eyeless and grinning at me with the most disturbing smile I’ve ever seen. He had a syringe in his hand. Images flashed through my vision, like if I was watching a slideshow of a fight scene. Quick movements, and my failed dodges, it all ended as soon as it had started.

I could feel my body starting to numb down. Spreading from the point of insertion of the syringe, making my body feel like dead weight. Slowly, but surely, I was starting to lose my grip on reality, and the sound of the rain became erratic. The last thing I remember was him standing over me, talking over his cell phone.

A loud thump woke me up from my dreamless slumber. A beating, a loud continuous beating that originated around me, I could hear it coming from all around me.

‘Where am I?’ was my first thought. The thought was brief, as my mind became clouded with pain and exhaustion. The last thing I could remember was that strange man, and then darkness. And now the beating was getting to my nerves. It didn’t sound normal, more like a sound made for the sole purpose to cause incomfort to anyone unlucky enough to hear it.

I groaned as I tried fruitlessly to open my eyes. They felt like they were welded shut. I could not move. I noticed that my senses felt deadened and my body felt like I was wearing it, not being part of it. I could feel it there, but I could not control it.

I was scared, and helpless. I tried to move every muscle I could think of, but nothing reacted to my commands. I could only hear the beating in my ears, and darkness in my sight.

The beating increased, until it became unbearable in my ears, my body tensed up, and I heard the most revolting sound I’ve ever witnessed.

BLOOCH!

I felt emptiness inside me. I gasped for air, as much as I could take. I had just noticed I wasn’t breathing but moments ago. And then, the pain came.

Pain. I couldn’t feel anything but pain. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about anything else. It was truly the most terrifying experience in my life. Not knowing what was happening to me, I tried desperately to move anything, to escape from danger.

I do not know for how long this lasted, it could have lasted seconds or hours, it didn’t matter, I lost track of everything in the fog of suffering that my mind was. Then, in a flash, I felt nothing.

This was more worrying than the pain; the lack of it meant something had broken inside me, as if it wasn’t obvious enough. I tried to open my eyes again, and succeeded, before closing them up immediately because of the bright light above me.

I could feel again. I was lying down, on something hard, metallic. I could tell I was still wearing clothing, as I could feel fluffiness on around me and my back. I supposed it was my jacket, as it felt similar to the warm covering on the inside of it.

Then someone spoke.

“Is it ready?” asked a very feminine voice.

“No, it’s not. We’ve had some problems with the compatibility of this one.” replied a gruff voice that I could only picture as an old man way past his golden years.

I tried to open my eyes once again, slowly. I was blinded by the light, but I did notice something, I could not see anything with my left eye. Panicking, I tried to sit up and put my hands to my face. This proved to be impossible, as I quickly noticed I was strapped down to the metallic table.

I began to panic, and tried to get rid of my bindings, I was tearing up in fear, my tears stinging my left eye. I tried to shout, but I was gagged too. All I could see was blinding light in one side and on the other nothing but darkness.

“It will be ready for shipping in a few hours,” said grimly the old man “for now, keep him sedated, but awake. He may want to know a few things. Stay with him, send someone for me if necessary.” I heard him starting to walk away, probably out of the room I was being held at.

“Yes, sir. Will do, sir” replied the woman. I heard the soft tick-tack of someone walking over to me. I tried to move and talk, but I was both bound and gagged. I also had a terrible headache, akin to a hangover, but that was apparently the least of my problems.

“Mr. Nathan, was it? Let me get that for you.” she said as she removed my mouth gag. Her hands briefly caressed my cheek, as if I was a small child.

I opened my mouth and tried to talk, only to finally take notice of the dryness of my mouth, preventing me to make any noise but strange guttural ones and hurting my own throat. I opened my eyes and looked the way the voice spoke.

There stood the most stereotypical-looking scientist I had ever laid my eyes on. Wearing a white long coat and brown skirt, stood a small woman with wide-rimmed glasses with the most passive smile one could ever hope to muster.

“Oh my, I should’ve probably thought of that before, huh?” she said as she walked out of my vision with a calm pace and a warm, sad smile on her face.

My mind was slowly clearing and I was starting to feel my body again. I certainly noticed some differences quite quickly. Firstly, I could not see absolutely anything with my left eye. And my first feeling of wearing something was erroneous, probably just some side-effect from all the drugs these guys must’ve pumped into me to keep me sedated.

She was back quickly with a tall, slim glass full of water. I thought she would’ve had to unbind me just to let me drink, but she just looked at me and poured it into my mouth. I drank greedily, barely managing not to choke on the sudden overflow of liquid.

My throat no longer feeling strained by my breathing, I considered it enough for me to speak and ask her what the hell was going on.

“W-Where am I?” I weakly said. My voice sounding deep and torn, like if it hadn’t been used in a long time.

“I-I cannot answer that. I’m sorry. Know that you are safe, and that you are very valuable to us. We need people like you, Nathan. Young people, unattached, those that won’t be missed. I’m sorry.” she calmly said. I felt like I was being the target of pity, even if I didn’t want to accept it.

‘Those that won’t be missed’ were the words that struck me the most deeply. I surely didn’t socialize with many people, but surely my family and friends would notice me being missing. I felt compelled to ask about it, but I had more important things to think of at the present moment.

“Look, I didn’t ask for any of this, let me out of here!” I shouted as loud as I could, which wasn’t much to say, really. Still it had the effect I was looking for, the scientist was startled and almost dropped the glass she was still holding in her hands.

She sighed and put her hand on my forehead. Her hand felt soft against my skin, and very warm to my skin. I had noticed earlier that I was feeling rather chilly, but comparing my temperature to her hand I was freezing.

“Look, I just work here all right? I don’t like this any more than you do. I’m sorry, but someone has to go. If it’s any help, you won’t be alone.” Her calm facade was completely gone, and she had a tint of anger in her voice. Apparently my resistance was not anticipated.

“All you need to know is that you need to move, quick. Find others and stick with them. Don’t play hero. And lastly, don’t truly trust anyone.” she said as she jabbed another syringe into my forearm.

I tried to scream but she quickly covered my mouth with her palm, my muffled cries were so weak I bet no one but her would be able to hear them even if she wasn’t covering my mouth, my throat being in the state it currently was.

I began to lose consciousness, the process felt similar to the last time I was injected by that creepy man. I still didn’t understand anything she had said, It all seemed like random general tips about life, I supposed.

My last coherent thoughts were erratic, bordering on panic and confusion, until the darkness in my mind filled it completely, only one last thought hovered in my mind before I blacked out.

‘Fuck, I hate walking.’

Twilight Sparkle had been staring at the readings churned out by her machine for several minutes now. Trying to come up with an explanation for the repeated influx of energy so close to Ponyville.

Sudden spikes in the readings, separated by intervals of a few seconds, without any explanation. It had been a good idea to set up the machine to read anomalies after so many disasters occurring in the vicinity of her new hometown.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice. It was late at night, and she wouldn’t dare waking up her assistant at this hour, otherwise face his grumpy wrath.

‘It seems close by at least. Perhaps organize an expedition?’ she thought. After many of the events she had experienced, Twilight had learned that if you face a problem head-on as soon as possible, it won’t be as much of a problem in the long-run.

“We’ll just have to re-schedule that picnic with the girls. On second thought, might as well ask for their help! Yes! Brilliant idea, Twilight!” she shouted, suddenly forgetting of the time being.

“TWILIGHT! GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!” Spike had woken up from his slumber, cranky as usual. He was standing groggily-eyed on the arch of the door upstairs, holding a pillow in his claws. Wearing the most adorable frown she had ever seen.Apparently, Twilight had been making more noise than she thought of.

“Woops! Sorry, Spike. I’ll just finish up down here and head up to sleep.” she replied as she started to put away the papers containing the readings, where nobody would find them accidentally, in a heavy chest obscured between some bookcases. She stored her instruments and turned around to leave but not before casting a spell on the box that caused it to be locked to whoever tried to open it.

She sighed and headed upstairs, where Spike was already fast asleep in his little ‘lair’, he looked like a plushie wrapped in scales. Snoring loudly, one could see a small wisp of smoke escaping his nostrils every time he exhaled.

Twilight settled down inside the sheets of her bed and arranged her thoughts to get ready to sleep. The strange readings where the most important thing on her mind.

‘The picnic is soon, we’ll just have to change it to another day and use the time to investigate this matter. Hopefully It won’t take long, it might throw off my whole week!’

She spent the rest of her time before sleep making speculations about what could’ve caused the energy booms close to White Tail Forest. It was much stronger than a unicorn could possibly muster in a single burst, much less four of them, repeatedly.

‘This’ll be fun!’ she thought as she was slowly lulled into sleep.

Confusion

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CONFUSION

My head felt like I had just gotten hit by a bowling ball. I just laid there for god-knows how long until I tried to move again.

Slowly, I started to take the world around me. I heard chirping, many birds around me. I could feel grass below me, and the intoxicating smell of the countryside sent me coughing once I noticed it.

I sat up and felt something fall into my lap. I opened my eyes quickly and took in my surroundings. I was laying in a clearing in the middle of the most beautiful forest I’ve ever seen, something out of a mythical land. Intricate trees around me and birds chirping over my head. Everything around me seemed attractive to my sight.

I quickly noticed something about my vision, I could not see anything with my left eye, I quickly put a hand over it, and felt a sharp sting of pain. I pulled my hand back and stared at it.

Something shocked me beyond belief. The ‘thing’ in front of me was not a hand. It was a claw. It looked like a weird mix between a claw and a talon. I quickly took a glance at myself.

I was surprised to find myself clad in dark feathers until the bottom of my neck, from there onward I was covered by short dark gray fur. I also now possessed a tail that looked very much like a lion’s would. I felt heaviness in my back, and looking behind me confirmed the fact that I now had wings.

“Holy shit, what the hell am I?” I asked myself out loud. I started to explore my body for the next couple minutes, just silent in pure amazement. I confirmed I was still a male, I think. And I seemed healthy enough, no wounds. The headache was already fleeting my body.

I grimly confirmed I no longer had a left eyeball, only an empty socket remained in it’s place. The scar seemed to be completely shut, as I felt no pain to the air around it, my eyelid seemed to be missing, strangely. I tried to forget the fact I was now a bloody cyclops.

I tried flapping my wings, only to find I could barely lift them from their idle spot glued to my back. No matter how much I tried to make them move, they wouldn’t budge.

I laid there with what I could bet was the most stupid looking face one could muster for a couple minutes. Until I came to the conclusion that I was either very, very, high from one of those damn drugs they kept pumping into me or this was the most sick, disturbing and beautiful dream I’ve ever had.

Finally taking notice of the weight in my lap, I discovered it was a leather pouch, meant to hang on your waist, strapped across one’s chest. It seemed rather simple in design. It only had 3 different pockets, the main flap, and two small openings on its sides probably used to store small important objects.

I carefully opened the main pocket and rummaged through it taking out everything I found and putting it on top of the pouch. I found a book and a case filled with what I supposed were pens, pencils and such. A pouch with a big red cross on its side, checking inside it confirmed it was a first aid kit. A bundle of cloth. An old-looking clock and a compass. Various supplies that seemed suitable for a camping trip were also inside, like some heavy packets of dry meat and dried fruits, a water pouch meant to be attached to a belt.

I took out what I first thought was a bundle of common cloth. It turned out to be a hood, more like a cloak for your head. It ended in a scarf. It was similar in color to my fur. I carefully put it around my neck.

I also found a small envelope, sealed with something I had not seen before. A wax seal, it bore a crest of an open palm.

I carefully opened it with my newly-acquired talons. ‘Man, having knives for fingers is never gonna get old.’ It contained two papers, I took one and opened it.

Dear sir/madam,

You are probably very confused right now, do not worry. You have been merely selected at random by one of our operatives to take part in one of the most important scientific projects of the century!

You may have questions in your mind such as:

-Where am I?

-Why am I here against my will?

-Why am I missing certain body parts?

Your location is classified, as that would ruin the purpose of the experiment. But know that our organization has made sure that the area around you is completely safe and free of any contaminants.* Do not panic!

The very nature of the experiment requires the subject to be transported against their will, as a volunteer would probably be far more prepared. And wouldn’t serve our needs as well as a complete random citizen would!

You may or not be missing certain body parts. Do not panic! They were removed from your body for the sole purpose of making your journey as pleasant as possible, our technology indicates that if we would’ve left them on you during your transportation, they would’ve been destroyed under the stress!

Please read the other letter attached to this one to know of your current situation.

Thank you sir/madam.

*Does not apply on random experiments

‘What...the...fuck...is GOING ON!?’

I could only stare at the letter in front of me, telling me I was taken against my will to take part in an experiment. I remembered the small conversation I had with the scientists, but I hadn’t taken it seriously. I was hoping it was just a normal kidnapping, well as normal as it could be.

I put the paper away and took the other letter, this one was also printed, but it’s structure was more of a list than a letter, like it was written in a hurry... Clearly this was made moments before it was put inside the envelope containing both of them.

There also seemed to be a small handwritten note on the bottom.

You have been outfitted with travel pack 08.

This includes:

-Standard Journal kit

-Standard First Aid kit

-Nourishment and Survival kit 04

-Camping pack 02

Your new species is deemed gryphus, omnivore, it has been confirmed they can eat raw meat without consequences thanks to their strong immunological system. This also means you can eat almost any fruit you come across, but be sure to taste small quantities first.

You were outfitted with a ‘light’ style of attire. This is composed by a fur cloak meant to keep heat inside and cold outside. Braces for your forepaws. Your new feathers and tough skin should help prevent injury and protect against weather.

The removal of your eye was necessary for your survival, your loss of peripheral vision is an important one, you must learn to cope with the changes in your body. Do not worry about infection, your wound has been completely cauterized, the nerves have been deadened and the scar is probably stronger than your skin.

Your body now has new strength and size, you are a quadruped, trying to walk like a human will only end in bruises. You may have noticed you have close to no control of your wings at the moment. This is normal, you must give time for your brain to make the right connections to the muscles.

You may find other subjects in the field. It is likely they will not be of your same species, but they will be carrying similar supplies to yours. It is advised for you to team up. As you increase your chance of survival. The phrase for you to recognize your fellow companions is ‘The open palm waves at you’

As for your previous life, do not worry, it has been taken care of.

Find shelter

Find a water source

Look for civilization

Good luck.

You need more help than this. You are stranded in a different world. No help. I’m sorry, I had no control over this. Find others, survive, the beings in this world are friendly, they will help you. I’m sorry. I’m going to help others get out before they get sent where you are. Good luck.

“Ta-taken care of? What the hell does that mean?” I asked out loud.

I did feel a little better that I was possibly not the only one around here, if I could find someone else it would, as the letter stated, increase our chance of survival. The person that wrote the note at the bottom probably didn’t like the idea of sending innocent people away either. It seemed like a nice thought that he was willing to help others.

Trying not to think too much into my situation, I thought of making sure I knew exactly what my current situation was. I put my new belongings into the leather bag and attached the water pouch to the bag’s strap.

I stood up on four legs, surprisingly easy, I felt heavy, but nimble at the same time. I assumed this is what being in shape must feel. I took a look around me, looking for any possible leads to a water source or shelter.

I was standing in a clearing in the middle of a forest, none of the flora looked familiar. So I decided to keep away from colorful plants and head downhill to try and find a water source, and hopefully, some shelter.

The walk in the forest was strangely quiet, I became quickly accustomed to the feel of my new body, even the new strange senses I had. I could hear almost everything around me so clearly. I could pinpoint the location of every noise that came to my hearing. I was thankful, maybe it would somewhat compensate the lack of depth perception and peripheral vision.

I looked up. The sun was in the middle of the sky, so I supposed it was the middle of the day. I still had plenty of time to find a good shelter. If there’s something video-games have taught me, it’s that you don’t wanna wander around at night, at least underprepared as I was.

In a short amount of time I heard the tell-tale sound of whooshing water; I started to head in the general direction of the sound until I came across a river, it was about 10 meter across. It extended to either side as far as I could see. Which was pretty far away, having one eagle eye was really useful for things like these.

I laid down next to the bank of the river, took off my water pouch and filled it to the brim. I took a large sip, filled it again and put it back in its place.

I looked into the river, it was calm enough to give me a blurry reflection of myself.

There was absolutely nothing resembling a human staring back at me. I wasn’t certain of what I was certainly expecting. What stared back at me looked like a badass over-grown eagle missing its eye.

I stared at the socket where my eye used to be. It looked strangely similar to the barren eyes of the ‘operative’ that indirectly brought me here.

That’s when it hit me. I was gone. The letter stated that my life ‘had been taken care of’’. I did not know what that meant exactly. I only hoped that my friends and family weren’t worried about me.

I was stuck here, and if not, I most certainly couldn’t come back to my life with this body. I would be shunned by society, or worse, captured by a shady organization an---

Oh that’s right. That already happened.

Complete loss of identity. That’s what I was facing. A complete life restart, too. An opportunity to turn my life around and make something good of myself. If you looked at the situation in an optimistic way. Of course, my mind didn't even think of it that way.

‘Stranded, alone, in a foreign body. What am I going to do?’

Once again, I tried to ignore the situation and focus on what was important at the moment.

I took out a packet of meat and tried to ration it as best as I could. I did not know how long I would be stuck in the wilderness. I munched on it for a few minutes to satiate my hunger. I took another sip of my pouch and filled it again before starting to walk again.

Never straying too far from the river, I continued to travel downhill following the river’s path. I supposed it would lead me to civilization, or at least, some shelter.

Looking upwards again revealed that the day was being quickly consumed, I calculated about three hours before sunset, and I most certainly did not want to be out in the dark. I decided to take the first suitable shelter I could find and continue my search in the morning.

The only thing similar to a shelter was the most enormous tree I had ever laid my eyes, er, eye on. It proved to be easily climbable with my talons and new found strength. I got as high as I could possibly get without falling off because of my weight. I was much heavier as a 'gryphus' than as a human. I eventually found a straight, big branch that could hold my weight.

An idea popped into my head. I was above the average treeline in the forest, and I could see much farther than just my immediate surroundings; I carefully took out my journal and a pencil from the case.

I picked one of the pages by the end of the book and started to crudely map my surroundings. I never really was much of an artist, but I could sketch landmarks to make a crude, but effective map. Using the compass in my pack, I was sure to mark general directions on it.

I began to notice smoke in the sky, following its trail downwards and straining my eyes to see as far as I possibly could, revealed a village, a town even. It was too far away to see, but I could distinguish it looked rather, rustic.

Deciding that was my objective for tomorrow, I made sure to draw it on my map. It was very far away, and I wasn’t sure of making it in one day, but at least I had a direction to walk to, and somewhere to direct my attention.

Time passed much quicker than I anticipated, and soon, the moon was looming over me. I put the book and pencil back in my bag and took a sip of my water pouch.

I absent-mindedly munched on some dried fruit while gazing the stars. I just sat there with a stupefied look on my face.

“Oh by the gods, so this is what no pollution does to the sky, eh?” I asked myself, it was very impressive just how beautiful the night-sky looked like. A clear sky and a high altitude gave me the best view I could get.

The moon looked specially stunning, it was a full moon, and you could feel the ‘power’ of the moon. It was hard to explain the feeling of it. But it could be described as that sort of energy you get from having a good day ahead of you. Even though it was evening.

I pulled up the hood of my cloak and rested my head against the trunk, laid my forelegs behind my head and took the universally known position of taking a nap.

The night was magical. There were so many stars in the sky, it looked like someone took some glitter and spread it all over a beautiful shining dark blue blanket. You could clearly see groups of stars here and there, daring you to find constellations. I could only admire the being responsible for such beauty in the sky. The sky almost seemed like the pay for the hell I've been through. I almost forgave the universe.

So much things had happened today, and I was still in the process of taking it all in. The sudden change of body wasn’t as problematic as I first expected, and the forest around me had proven to be forgiving enough to not kill me in my first day here.

I was sure that it was just beginner’s luck, as some would say

I was standing outside my house. I recognized the scene immediately, this was the night I was taken from my life. That blasted storm was still hitting the region pretty badly.

There was a distant rumbling, a truck coming up the road. The black van. It was here.

It stopped in front of my house. And three men with masks got off it, they quickly approached my house. At this point, I tried to move, to warn anyone. I was stuck there just to watch.

They surrounded my house, and one of them picked the lock of the front entrance. They quickly went inside.

I could only see the flashes of bright light in the windows around the house. Muffled cries of pain which I recognized belonged to my family. My mother, my sisters. The silence was deafening.

Then they came out. Carrying them. Like fallen game they loaded them into the van. And drove off.

I cried, I yelled and I tried to catch up with it. But I couldn't move. I felt heat building in my body, not of temperature, but of anger, pure hatred. I tried to yell, but my lungs were empty. I tried to run after them, but my legs wouldn't budge. I tried to get them, and I failed. The van was now but a dot in the horizon of my view.

All I felt was anger, a clear cut between hatred for the ones that did this to me, and for myself, for my weakness. I would find them. I would find them and make them pay, my thoughts were becoming sinister, out of line, plain out wrong.

Images of gore splattered through my head. Images of them, suffering. Yes, suffering. They would pay, all of them woul-

I felt something warm embrace me by my side. Not something hot, but something comforting. I turned to the direction of the embrace only to discover I was covered in deep blue mist.

“Don’t be afraid” said the strange being before me, with the most soothing voice one could imagine. It looked like a blanket of stars, moving stars, like if it was window into deep space.

My mind was slowly cleansed by those words. My anger slowly simmering down into nothingness by a beautiful blanket of the sky. My thoughts were dumbed down into simple, calm ones. I was at peace.

I let go of my emotions and woke up.

I startled awake, almost falling off my makeshift bed. I quickly blinked the sleep out of my eye and was greeted by bright sunlight.

What had woken me up was not, surprisingly the rays of sunshine in my face, but the loud swearing of someone below my temporary camp in the middle of the air.

I would take time to analyze my strange dream after, for now, I had to take care of my loud visitor. And I did it the only way I’d know. Like a damn coward.

I took a peek over the side of the branch I was laying on and I quickly identified the culprit of my rude awakening.

“WHERE THE FUCK AM I ?!” yelled the colorful being in the ground. It was a she, as I quickly deduced by her voice, some sort of small horse stomping furiously and throwing the most ridiculous tantrum I’d ever seen.

“THIS FUCKING LETTER DOESN’T TELL ME SHIT!” she yelled again. I remembered the letters I read about yesterday.

She was loud, I could understand that. And I quickly assumed that she was another human, gathering from her rather 'colorful' description of the letter. Not that I frown upon swearing when it is called for.

She didn't seemed like a threat to me, though. Considering I was now a huge eagle that could do a lot of damage with its talons. I decided it would be a good idea to meet up. Of course, easier said than done.

The letters contained a 'passphrase' that could be used between subjects for quick identification, between humans, as I assumed most of us were of a different species now.

“Th-The open palm waves at you!” I hesitantly said holding onto the branch tightly.

It had the effect I desired, she quickly looked up and scanned the area for my voice.

“Another one? Where are you? I’m sorry if I scared you!” she said in a much more calm tone of voice. Quite the drama queen, I suppose. Then again, I’ve been under-reacting to my situation.

“I’m up here, in the big tree,” I said loud enough for her to hear "um, I'm going to assume you're another human, right?"

She apparently noticed me quite quickly after I told her about the tree. She was looking up at me with big, wide eyes that were almost the size of her head

“Oh wow, you’re a... what the hell are you?” she asked with awe on her face.

I could easily see her from this altitude, I may have one eye, but damn, it was a good one. She was a small, well, compared to myself, equine of some kind. She was a deep dark green color, and her mane was only a slightly more light tone of green. She looked like she could camouflage pretty well in this sort of environment. Her flanks had the mark of a vial with some strange flowers as a background. They seemed to be part of her fur, rather than being painted.

She was wearing a mantle similar to mine, but seemed to be carrying a much heavier pack than mine. I’m not gonna lie, she may have looked tiny, but you’d have to be strong to haul that much stuff without a sweat.

“He-hello, I suppose you got sent here too, eh? Give me a second, I'll head back down."

I gathered my stuff and I carefully retraced my steps back down. In a couple minutes, I was standing right next to her. She wasn't very tall, she only came up to my neck. I held out my talon for an awkward handshake.

"Hey," I said with a shaky voice. I guess it would be a strange sight to see such a creature being scared by something as tiny as her, at least compared to me.

“Hi. Yeah! Name’s Lily, what’s yours?” accepting my ‘handshake’, that is to say, a talon and a hoof. She seemed awfully trusting, I would definitely not get close to something as big and scary as me.

“You can call me Nathan. As for your previous question, I’m now a gryphus, apparently.” I said pulling my talon back and standing on my four limbs again. I was still feeling uncomfortable about talking to anyone after what happened to me, but if something similar had happened to her, I figured I could at least try to be friendly.

“My letter said I was an ‘earth’ pony, do you have any idea what the hell is going on?” she said while taking a look at herself. She certainly did look like a pony of some kind, but why the earth prefix I could only wonder.

“Probably not more than you do, got kidnapped, got pumped with drugs, blacked out then suddenly I’m here in the wilderness, in the body of a mythological being” I explained while making wild movements with my talons to make emphasis. My natural reaction to strangers is basically making an ass of myself. Smooth, I know.

“I just woke up a couple hours ago, I- I still don’t know what happened, I was walking home, then it started raining out of nowhere, then a blac-” she spoke quickly, without pauses, about to break into tears.

“Black van, tall man in a suit came out and injected you with some sort of weird shit?” I rudely interrupted.

“Oh dear. How are we going to get back?” she said. Her voice still shaky, full of uncertainty and fear.

“I don’t think we can. I still don’t know why the fuck they would send us here, they clearly state in the letter they don’t know anything about here!” I was raising my voice, my mind filling with anger for the idiots running the so-called ‘experiment’.

“Bu-but my family, and my life! What- Why me!?” she was pacing around, looking at the ground. Looking miserable.

“Look, calm down. I don’t know, alright? Let’s just, calm down, and think.” I tried to calm her down, taking her mind off the fact we’re stuck here seemed like the most logical thing to do. At least that's what I did every time I thought about that.

“O-Okay. Do you have a camp yet? A water source, anything?” she said while looking at me with those enormous eyes, looking like a puppy begging for scraps.

I furrowed my brows at the question. I could still clearly hear the whooshing water behind me.

“Can you not hear the water behin-” I cut myself short realizing maybe my hearing was much sharper than hers. I can’t let the awesomeness of my new body get to my head, it seems.

“Never mind, yes, a few hundred meter that way there’s a clean river,” I said as I craned my neck behind me.

“Oh thank god. I’m so thirsty!” she exclaimed as she grasped her throat with a dirt-stained hoof.

“Here, take a drink,” I said as I handed her my water pouch.

“Thanks!” She quickly took it off my talon, but I was impressed by her ability to grasp onto it, with no fingers, nothing but a hoof. She seemed to notice the look on my face, because she gave me a look that said ‘Yeah, I don’t know either’.

“But, how can you...” I started to ask.

“I’m not really sure myself, if I try to think about it it just fails to work. Put it in the back of my mind and I can hold things.” she stated as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

“What happened to your eye?” she asked with an innocent tone of voice.

“Oh, I- They removed it, before they sent me here,” I grimly replied while covering my eye with my talon.

“I’m so sorry, I knew I shouldn’t have asked. I was wondering what the letter meant by missing body parts,” she said with remorse.

“It’s ok, I can cope with it. It was a bit of a shock at first, but I’ve been getting used to the lack of it.” I said quickly. It was true, I was slowly getting over the fact of losing my eye, the shock of being taken from home, well, that was a different story. I tried to ignore thoughts that came up telling me I was doomed.

She handed (hoofed?) me my water pouch back and I attached it to the leather strap again.

“Oh by the way, are you an herbivore? Or an omnivore?” I asked, it would make sense being an herbivore. But I should stop assuming things.

“The letter said herbivore,” she replied “by the way, we should find somewhere to make a camp, preferably close to that river you told me about.”

“Alright, let’s get to the river. I was thinking of a cave or something of the sort.” I said while turning around and starting to walk towards the river.

“Sounds good!” she cheerily replied.

We headed to the river to start our search. I felt so much better after meeting someone else stuck in the same situation. I may be socially awkward, and take a long time to trust others, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have someone by of my own original species in a new world. I just had to swallow the situation and go with it.

‘At least I’m not stuck here with a psycho. What could go wrong?’

Shelter

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SHELTER

“You can’t be seriously be considering this, darling”

“Yeah, Twilight! I mean, I’m all up for adventures and all that but this is plain stupid! You can’t be serious!”

“Of course I am! We can’t ignore something like this. We all know what things like these mean, something is out there and if we investigate it now, we can save us a whole lot of trouble later on!” Twilight was starting to sound desperate even to herself, but she knew she had to convince them. She was sure there was something to discover out of this, hopefully, nothing that would endanger her home.

“Sugarcube, are you sure you’re not just exaggerating?” Applejack said. Twilight had to stop and think there. She didn’t have much to work with, but anything of this magnitude needs somepony to take care of it. Not that she knew what it actually was. She was almost completely in the dark, and that was the main reason. She wanted to know more!

“Um... Twilight? Have you tried to contact the princess?” Fluttershy asked, barely able to be heard among all the chatter around her.

“What? No! Of course not. How could I bother her just for something like this?” she replied rather harshly. “Uh, I mean, no, I haven’t,” Twilight tried to make herself sound a little more relaxed, she couldn’t tell if the others noticed it.

“Well... I say we help Twilight and go on an adventure! We’ll be like Daring Do, right Dashie?! It’ll be totally awesome!” Pinkie loudly exclaimed while jumping at the same height Rainbow Dash was flying. “I’ll even make us some yummy snacks for the trip! Come on, girls!”

“Fine! You got me at awesome...and snacks. Count me in!” Rainbow Dash replied quite smugly while landing next to Twilight.

“I’ll go too. Maybe I’ll meet some new friends in the forest!” Fluttershy had a big smile on her face. She was going to be the one most comfortable with the environment. That’s for sure.

“Alright, alright! I’ll go then, guess Big Mac’s gonna have to take care of the farm for a couple days.”

“Oh dear. I guess I’ll have to go too. Finally going to make use of those magnificent hiking boots!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Great! It’s set then, we leave tomorrow morning. Be sure to pack up, imagine this is just a camping trip! Oh, I almost forgot! SPIKE!”

“Ugh, yes, Twilight? I was trying to sleep, this better be good,” the baby dragon replied. Having finished his tasks for the day he assumed it would be a good time to take a nap.

“You’re gonna have to take care of the library for a couple days, starting tomorrow morning. We’ll be going to White Tail Woods to investigate something, if anypony asks, just tell them we went camping okay?”

“Uh, okay. Not even going to ask. It’s weekend anyway, it’s always slow. Unless Miss Cheerilee gave her students some homework. Anyway, I’m going back to my bed. Cya, girls,” Spike said while heading upstairs for sweet slumber.

They all gave a quick farewell and returned their attention to Twilight.

“Okay, it’s settled then! Go get ready and I’ll meet you all here tomorrow morning!”

“So you saw a village and you didn’t think it was important enough to tell me right away?!” Lily was yelling at me at this point. I honestly didn’t think it was too much of a deal. Apparently, I’m an asshole for not telling her in the first few minutes of knowing her.

“Yeah, um, sorry for that. It’s actually that way,” I said while pointing straight ahead. Across the river, and above a hill, one could see a faint column of smoke.

“Oh well, it’s okay. Guess we’ll be heading that way then, our supplies won’t last that long, and we still need to find out where the hell are we.”

“Yeah. Our best shot is heading that way, but I don’t think we’ll make it before nightfall, and I don’t want to be out here when that happens.” I said as I lifted a stray branch so we could over under it, revealing the river behind it in all of its glory.

“There it is!” Lily ran ahead of me heading for the river. Barely able to keep upright, dashing through the foliage as soon as her eyes laid on the whooshing river.

“Wait! What the hell are you... Dammit”

SPLASH!

“Come on in! The current is not strong at all, and it’s really nice!” Lily was splashing around the river as a five-year old would. I had to admit, she looked adorable with her mane all soaked up. She luckily had taken off her saddlebags, leaving them close to the bank of the river.

I sighed and passed a talon through my headfeathers. It was a strange feeling, I was beginning to miss my messy hair. In fact, despite having a very athletic and cool body now, I still didn’t feel like it was mine, more like, borrowed.

“Did you stop and think how you were going to dry yourself afterwards?” I put on my most disapproving glare. ‘What the hell was she thinking?’

“Uh, I think you’re right. Oh, what the hell, I’m already all wet.” She replied while splashing water at me. I was seriously starting to consider my luck. I didn’t think she was retarded or anything, but of all the moments to be childish...

“I...Why would you...” I stared at her antics “You know what? I’m not even going to say anything. Might as well check out where to settle down for tonight. Be back as soon as I find somewhere good. Don’t go too far.”

I left her to take a bath, if you could call it that.

I walked in broad circle around the area where she was, trying to look for anything we could use for the night. I found some trees similar to the one I slept in, leading me to believe it was not unique, but some huge species of trees pretty common in this region. Of course, those were out of question, I doubted Lily could climb a tree with hooves, and I sure as hell couldn’t carry her.

I noticed something for the first time in my short time here, I hadn’t met any sort of animal, as one would expect to find in a forest. Sure, I could hear them, but I hadn’t been a close encounter with anything. I wrote it off as luck, and continued my search.

I eventually found a small cave, hidden by the branches of several bushes growing around its entrance. I entered and found out it could barely be called a cave, it was more of an indent to the rock hill it was scraped off. Still, both of us could fit in comfortably, at least for a night.

I took notice of small landmarks around the place to remember where it was and cleared out some of the bushes around the entrance, making a small space where I could enter and exit easily, without scraping myself with any of the branches.

I looked up to the sky, and judging from the position of the sun over my head, not more than three hours had passed since I left looking for shelter. Of course, I was only vaguely estimating, but I was confident in my abilities.

I retraced my steps back to the river where I left Lily. In a short while, thanks to the really big trees, I found my way back. But I stopped once I heard something coming from right ahead, it didn’t sound threatening. It sounded vaguely similar to...

Sobbing.

I quietly sneaked towards the river, following the sound, and peeking over a bush, I saw Lily, standing beside the river, crying. Facing towards the river, her tears falling into the current. Trying to clean the tears off her face with her hooves. I felt really sad for a second, but a sense of guilt came to me. ‘What’s going on?’

Crying. Just sitting awkwardly in her two rear legs in her new form, while trying to wipe off the tears. Even in her already soaked coat, one could clearly see the tears crossing her face, her constant sobbing and sniffing. It was a miserable sight. I felt guilty of spying on her during such a moment.

I backed up a few steps, careful not to step on any fallen branch and make myself heard. Once I had made a few more meters distance between us, I approached the river once again, this time stepping on every branch I found on the forest floor and slapping every branch in my way, as to make myself as noticeable as possible.

“Hey, Lily! I’m back!” I yelled over the constant snapping of twigs at my paws.

I pushed over the bush I had been spying her in and saw her once again.

This time she was laying down hitting the surface of the water with her hoof. The only remnant of her sorrow was the redness in her eyes. She bore a calm smile, playing with the water, as if I had imagined everything that had just happened before.

“H-Hey. Did you find anything we could use?” The shakiness in her voice made it pretty obvious she had not calmed down, and was just putting up an act for me. I decided not to mention it. If it’s something she wanted to talk about, she would’ve talked about it.

“Yeah, a little cave we could use for the night. We just need to bring our supplies in and maybe make a small campfire to keep us warm,” I said while trying not to look her in the eyes. I started to pick up our supplies and I offered to carry her saddlebag, under the excuse of it not getting wet. “Just follow me, it’s close by.”

I started walking back to the cave, more like waddling, with all the extra weight I had with me. I did not wait to see if she had started following me or not, but I could clearly hear her hooves stepping on a twig every once in a while during the small trip.

The walk was uneventful, as it usually has been in this forest as long as I had been in it. I tried to keep some sort of chatter, but it died down quite quickly to an uncomfortable silence. We just ignored each other after that.

The cave was not as far as I had initially thought, I had been walking in circles when looking for shelter, once I went straight to the cave, it only took the better part of about fifteen minutes to get from the river to our hide-out for the night.

“Isn’t it a bit small?” Lily asked. Her voice was back to normal, it seemed. She came up to the entrance and stuck her head inside.

“Well, it’s better than nothing, and I’m pretty sure it’s big enough for both of us and a fire to warm us and dry yourself.” I stuck my head inside, beside hers and looked inside. It was about the same size of a small kid’s bedroom, if that sounds like a good comparison.

“Meh, I guess you’re right. Pass me over those bags.” I gave her our supplies and she set them down around the small cave. Hers was big enough to be used as a pillow, but mine was barely bigger than a small handbag.

We went inside the cave and arranged the bags in a campfire like-fashion. I picked up some rocks from around the cave and propped them up in the middle of the cave, as to serve as a guard to the flames.

I decided to make a quick inventory of our current supplies. We had food for about a week, if we starved ourselves a little, our food mainly consisted of nuts and dried fruit, with my couple packets of dry meat included as an extra, as I was the only one who could eat those. And, thankfully to the river close by, we didn’t need to worry about fresh water.

“Well, we just need some dry twigs and some leaves, and then we can start a fi-” Lily was interrupted by the most closest sounding thunder I had ever heard in my life. It was accompanied by the sound of heavy rain hitting the forest.

“Okay. You have to be fucking kidding me! There wasn’t even any signs of an oncoming storm!” I stuck my head outside for a second, only to quickly retreat inside the cave with my feathers completely drenched. “Have I mentioned how much I hate rain?”

The storm only grew in strength during my initial shock. Lily also took a peek outside to evaluate the situation. She whistled loudly when she took her head back inside.

“Well, there goes our warm campfire. Any ideas?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re stuck here. Goddammit.” I set down against the cold wall of the cave and closed my eye. It was getting dark anyway, and the storm only made the ambient darker. I suddenly remembered I did have something to measure time with. I opened my eye and grabbed my bag.

I took out the old-timey clock out of my pack only to find out it was useless, both of its tiny arms were bent out of its original shape. ‘Fucking cheapskates’ I guesstimated it was close to late-afternoon, considering the last position of the sun I had seen before this damned storm. I tossed the clock outside the cave, after cursing it one more time.

I sighed dramatically and pulled my pack closer to where Lily was and sat on it.

“Looks like we’ll be here for a while. I still don’t wanna sleep. Wanna... uh... chat? I guess?” Good god, this was awkward. Hopefully she brushes off my stammering as a symptom from the temperature.

It was getting rather chilly with the storm about, the wind was blowing and the water was freezing. It wouldn’t be too long until we start to feel the true power of the wilderness. The cold.

She looked at me with a quizzical look on her face. She scooted her pack closer to mine and sat on it.

“It’s not like we have anything better to do. What do you wanna talk about?”

“Uh... Why the hell did you dive into the river?”

She blushed at the question, and directed her gaze at the floor. She faked a small laugh and tried to look anywhere but me. I didn’t even know ponies could blush. I guess these have very human qualities.

“Heh, I don’t really... know. It was more of a sudden... need? It was kind of stupid in retrospective, especially when you told me I’d get this wet without any way of drying myself.” Her coat was still damp from the water, and she had taken off her cloak, which was still soaked as well.

I really, really, wanted to ask about what all the crying was about, but my common sense stopped me from making a mistake. ‘If I have chance of helping her, I will, but not blindly, without even knowing what the trouble is in the first place.’

“Well, tell you what. Let’s make this interesting. I asked you a question, so it’s your turn now.”

“Oh great! But only the truth, and no half-baked answers here.”

“Fair enough. Go ahead.”

“Who... umm... were you, before all this happened? Nothing too specific, give me the basics.”

“Well, first of all, I still consider myself that person, just a new body, that’s all.”

“Okay... So...?”

“Oh, right, sorry. Well, let’s see... Nathan Redfield. I’m seventeen years old, I was a high-school student, guess I won’t be finishing those studies, huh? I lived in Sacramento, California, USA. Son of a wonderful single mother and a son of a bitch... Brother to two little sisters, twelve and nine. What else... Well, I wanted to study medicine, of all things. You know, become a medic, maybe a doctor, help people? I guess that won’t happen either. Guy with few friends, did well at school, didn’t talk much. I spent most of my time home, or taking care of my sisters, when Mom was working... I guess that would be it, pretty much. Wow, it sounds really bland when I put it that way.”

“Heh. Wait, you said Sacramento?”

“Yeah, aren't you from there too? I mean we’re both here s-”

“I’m from Montreal... Canada”

“So these bastards are taking us from all over? What the hell...”

“It’s strange, why us though?”

“I don’t know... So, Canada, huh? I didn’t notice any accent. Tell me more, it’s only fair I ask the same thing.”

“Yeah, I suppose so. Lily DuBois, pleased to meet you, Nathan.”

She extended her hoof and offered me a warm smile. I reciprocated eagerly.

“Okay... I’m twenty-six years old, so I’m your elder, kiddo, even if you’re bigger than me in size, so remember that. I was an executive chef, working on a small restaurant in Montreal, Canada. Born and raised. My father was a french chef and my mother was a local writer. I have three siblings, two brothers, one sister, all older than me. Um... I’ve always had passion for cooking, especially soups and broths. Strangely, I always prefered my mom’s cooking, and she made a soup to die for... I... was supposed to be on my way to visit her when I was...”

I could see tears already building up on her eyes, and the breaking of her voice could only mean one thing. It was a traumatizing experience, I could tell that much. I had also been in the same situation, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget such a terrifying event in my life.

“...It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it. I sure as hell don’t want to.”

“It’s alright... Let’s leave it at that. Why did you want to become a medic?”

“Huh, well... it all branches off with the need to help other people, but it’s strange, I’ve always thought being a doctor was the only way to help the world, but well, I was young, er-younger... I did take some first-aid courses and whatnot. But other than that, it’s just the desire to learn.”

“Such a noble cause for such a little guy.”

“You’re gonna tease me about my age from now on, aren’t you?”

“Oh, and he’s a smart one, too! Lucky me!”

Time seemed to pass by slowly while we talked. The soothing sound of the rain, now that the storm was gone and only a light drizzle remained, served as a calming background noise to our conversation.

We didn’t talk about anything, really. We were both just rambling about our world, and pop-culture references. If I had known Lily before, I could safely say she would be one of my best, if not the best, of friends. Even though she was a bit older than me, she was still young in my book. I was glad I wasn’t stuck with a dimwit, but with a great person.

We ate some of our food, and were starting to get drowsy. The cold at this point had only increased throughout the night, but I wasn’t having a hard time dealing with it, having a heavy coat of fur and feathers apparently shielded against much of the cold.

“Hey, mind if we call it a night? I’m pretty tired.” My voice was starting to sound hoarse, probably from all the talking, or maybe I had caught a cold.

“Yeah, it’s probably for the best. We need to wake up early, and get to that village tomorrow!” She had raised a hoof in an epic hero-like stance. I didn’t have the heart to tell her we were still a few days days away, if we kept the same pace we had when we were out there.

“Well... Goodnight.” I slid down into a position I knew would let me rest easily. The one that I had used for sleeping in the tree. I grabbed my pack and put it behind my head as a poorly shaped pillow. I sighed and closed my eye for sweet, sweet sleep.

“G-goodnight.” She replied with a jittery voice. Some shuffling was heard as she probably moved her saddlebags to make something to rest her head on.

A few seconds later I heard her moving about. ‘Probably trying to get a better position where to sleep in.’ Not more than a couple minutes later, I heard the exact same noise again. This time it was longer, and louder. I tried to ignore it and fall asleep.

Then came the clattering. The clattering of her teeth echoed around the small cave. I opened my eye and turned my head to look at her. She was laying down on the other side of the cave, her head on her saddlebags and forelegs crossed around her body, failing to retain any body heat. She was freezing.

‘Why isn’t she using her cloak as a blanket? That should keep the heat in.’

I looked over to her side and saw the cloak sprawled out on the floor, drying. I had completely forgotten it was still wet. ‘That means her coat is still damp as well, no wonder she’s freezing to death.’

Suddenly, a stupid, but plausible idea popped into my head. I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to it, but I couldn’t let her fall ill.

“Hey, Lily.” I didn’t know why the hell I was whispering at the time, but it seemed like the correct thing to do in the current situation.

“Y-yes, N-nath-than?” She couldn’t even speak without stammering. I got up and walked over to where she was. She opened her eyes and looked up at me.

“I’m gonna do something, and it’s gonna be really weird, but if I don’t do it, you’ll freeze to death, alright?”

“W-what are y-you talk-king about?”

I didn’t say anything and laid down next to her like a dog would. I pulled her closer to me and carefully grabbed one of my wings and draped it over her, covering most of her body.

“I-I... What?”

“Don’t say anything. You’ll just make it more awkward... Just sleep.”

I crossed out my forelegs in front of me and laid my head on them. I closed my eye and was slowly falling into sleep when I felt Lily moving beneath my wing.

“Nathan?”

“Yes...?”

“Thank you.”

I felt something cold and soft against my cheek. I was left in shock while she snuggled beneath my wing, quickly falling asleep. I resorted to just lie down and fall into slumber.

“And... Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said as she checked the last name on the list on her clipboard. “Okay, are you all ready? We won’t be heading back for anything until we’re done.”

“Yeppers! I got tons of yummy snacks for the trip!”

“I’m ready, sugarcube. Hopefully we won’t take too long, Big Mac wasn’t too eager to work by himself.”

“Ready as I’ll ever be, Twilight. Finally using these boots, they look quite fabulous on me don’t you think?”

“I think I’m ready... I’ve even packed some food for the critters we meet!”

“Can you give one of those fruit bars, Pinkie? Oh, and I’m ready too.”

“Rainbow Dash... Well, alright! If we’re all ready, we should be leaving immediately, let’s not waste any more time, we should get there before nightfall, and we can decide where to start once we’re there.”

The five other mares followed Twilight as she walked out of Ponyville on the road heading to White Tail forest.

I awoke to something stirring beside me. I opened my eye and remembered where I was. I carefully lifted my wing with my talons and slowly got up. I took off my cloak and put it over Lily, who was still sound asleep.

I got out of the cave and decided to stretch out a bit to loosen my muscles, which were sore from sleeping in such an odd position for me.

I stretched all I could. I felt how all the bones cracked as I moved my limbs about. My forelegs responded with a satisfying pop, as did my hindlegs. I started to move every articulation I had, and stopped abruptly when I heard a sound behind me.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH.

Forced World

by Naden Gryphus

The Walk

Confusion

Shelter