- Day 15, Equestria, Changling hive.
- >With the mint colored p0ny in tail, you proceed towards the exit.
- >You check your pip-boy, making sure of the time.
- >2:00 AM. Most of the hive should be sleeping, making it easier for you to es...
- >Something's not right.
- >As you get near the exit, you see sunlight.
- >Not artificial light. And certainly not moonlight.
- "Hurry, go, now."
- >You motion to her, and speed up yourself. As you approach the exit, you get a glipse of the outside. Deserts. Nothing like the forest you originally were.
- >Rocks were scattered across the barren landscape, and hardly anything was growing.
- >And the creatures were buzzing everywhere, flying above the entrence.
- >You edge closer to the exit, hiding behind one of the faces, trying to formulate a plan out of this.
- >It was only a matter of time before the rest of the hive realized you escaped.
- >They would likely do so before dark, so waiting and sneaking out at night was not an option.
- >No, your only solution was to run. And soon.
- >"Where are we going?"
- "You.. home. Where?"
- >She takes a moment to figure out what you said.
- >The p0nies used a different syntax than you, and it was challenging to adapt.
- >You also mispronounced many of the sounds, not used to moving your mouth in such a manner.
- >"North of here, I think. Are you tak..."
- "Yes."
- >"Then... I don't know. We could try to go straight north. Most of their terratory is to the south of here."
- >You wondered why she would even come here to explore.
- >You'd ask once you got to safety.
- >Sticking your head outside, you look towards what should be north.
- >There looked to be many hills, and what looked like a mine shaft.
- >Past the mine, the cliff faces nearby blocked further vision.
- >However, there was a crack in the cliff face, one characteristic of water erosion.
- >That is your goal, then. Past that, you could not see any changlings.
- >But just as you're moving back to where you were, you had the misfortune of being spotted.
- >The creature, flying above you, let out a horrifying screech that echoed through the valley.
- "RUN!"
- >You sprint out of the cave, and ready your rifle.
- >Horrified, you look back at the cliff face the wall was dug into.
- >There were hundreds, possibly thousands, of holes in the wall, all dug out of the rock.
- >And though their numbers were fewer than they should be, there were still far more than you could hope to match in combat.
- >Eyes set on the east cliff face, you contenue to run.
- >Your p0ny companion seems to be able to move swiftly, nearly matching your speed.
- >The first of the changelings is upon you.
- >Not having time to turn around and shoot, you fire the rifle behind you, hoping to hit something.
- >It was a waste of energy, one you would probably come to resent yourself for doing.
- >But you couldn't resent it if you're dead anyway.
- >One of the shots lands, and you hear the creature scream as its body is burnt by the beam.
- >You allow your mint colored companion to go ahead of you, slowing slightly.
- >But the changlings were fast.
- >Disreguard for your personal safety brings with it the ability to push the body far beyond it's normal capabilities, it seems.
- >You lunge towards one of the changlings already closest to your companion, and quickly smash it's skull in.
- >The momentum you gathered is used to your advantage, using it to do a quick front roll, before contenuing to sprint.
- >You looked behind you, and assessed their numbers.
- >48 on close persuit, 260 others in persuit, 7,856 not in persuit.
- >By now you've made it almost a third of the way, dodging and shooting.
- >The drain on your internal battery was becoming noticable.
- >You and your companion top a small hill, now having full view of your target.
- >The crevice itself had a small river flowing through it.
- >It was narrow enough to funnel them into a more manageable number.
- >The next few are upon you, swatting at your head, and attempting to grab you.
- >You're glad they're mostly, save one or two, targetting you.
- >You doubt your companion would be able to dodge them.
- >After running for a straight 4 minutes, you've reached 3/4 the distance.
- >But the mint pony was getting tired, you could see it.
- >By now, more have closed on you, and constant evasion and eviceration of the creatures was wearing down on you as well.
- >Reaching the small crevice, you can tell that your friend is exausted.
- >Still, you motion for her to keep moving.
- >The water was not more than half a foot high, no challenge to you.
- >Behind you, the crevice was blocked by a single file line of the creatures. When one would get too close, you'd take a quick shot at it.
- >Some of the other changlings were smart, though.
- >They had already flown over the crevice, and were now blocking your way.
- >You unload on them, turning them to dust and ash.
- >This gets in the mint p0ny's eyes, however, and she trips on one of the stones.
- >Coming to a halt, the changlings are now surrounding you from all sides.
- >Behind you, you could no longer see where you entered the crevice.
- >Above you, the swarm circled, blocking out the sun.
- >And in front of you, the few that had flown around now blocked your path.
- >There were too many, on all sides, to outright kill to get out.
- >They closed in at a uniform pace.
- >You could not escape.
- >Your mint colored companion gets up from the fall, her face and chest bloodied.
- >As the changlings have a yard left to reaching you, a shriek is heard, even through the mass of their hissing.
- >Every one of the changlings stopped in their tracks... And then began to retreat.
- >They pulled back, flying and running through the crevice back to their hive.
- >It seems that their Queen thought you were too much trouble.
- >You see your mint companion fall over, likely in shock from her injuries.
- >You quickly inspect her injuries.
- >Some of the rock had buried itself into her sternum.
- >Several fractured ribs.
- >And her face skin was torn off in one place, leaving a red mark several inches in size.
- >You quickly inject her with two of your stimpacks to make sure she would at least survive the rest of your trip.
- >You could not operate in these close quarters.
- >Picking her up on your arms, careful not to put weight on her chest, you make your way out of the crevice.
- >You can see on the other side a sight you were familar with. The forest you were at when you were incapacitated.
- >Exiting the crevice, you assess the immediate area.
- >The river you came through seemed to be part of a delta. It was fed from a much larger river.
- >You set your friend down on a nearby flat rock, and begin your work.
- >About an hour later, you are satesfied with your work.
- >Her cracked ribs were the biggest problem.
- >Removing the rock fragments without doing further damage proved difficult.
- >Still, you were far too close to the changlings to risk setting up camp.
- >You close her up, stiching her chest and face with a protean thread you found schematics for a while back.
- >The thread, as the injury healed, would be absorbed by the body, making it unnessesary to take the stiching out at a later date.
- >However, doing this used up about 1/3 of what you had with you.
- >You administer a small sedative to keep her under for the time being.
- >If she were to wake, she would be in extreme pain. At least another day was needed before the pain could be bearable.
- >You pick her up in your arms, and start heading north, following the river delta.
- >The foliage that surrounds you amazes you.
- >The sheer amount of animal and plant life was astounding.
- >Once you had made significant amount of distance away from the hive, the trees began to impove in appearance.
- >It is as if the Changlings corrupted the very earth they lived on.
- >The sun is getting low in the sky, hues of orange and red begin to appear on the horizon.
- >You walk a distance away from the river, and set your p0ny friend under a tree.
- >She was still unconscious.
- >You were worried what would happen when she woke up.
- >She had been oddly trusting of you before.
- >But when she awoke to stiching on her chest, and her body in pain, would she still trust you?
- >So many unanswered questions.
- >Your pip-boy now registered the time as 11:00 AM.
- >The sun was setting.
- >Was it malfunctioning?
- >Not only that, but you felt... Lighter.
- >You were able to lunge, jump, sprint far easier, expending far less energy.
- >And the wingspan of the creatures, in proportion to their body, was abnormally small.
- >Parhaps you had to confront the possibility... That you were not on Earth any longer.
- >No part of the world went unspared by the nuclear warheads that you heard of.
- >Not only that, but there was very little radiation.
- >The natural level of background radiation, according to your pip-boy, was far lower than it should be.
- >The only possible conclusion... Is that you were not on Earth.
- >For the first time since you got here, you considered the anomaly you created to get here.
- >The data you glanced over said that the anomaly will target another location roughly similar to it's orgin.
- >It could be that the anomaly targetted another planet entirely.
- >A planet similar to yours.
- >If so, you'd need to create another one, and figure out how to connect it back to your world.
- >But you bearly comprehended how the anomaly works in the first place. How could you build the machinery to create a new one?
- >And even if you could do that, how would you link it back to your world?
- >Irrelivant for now. You needed food and water.
- >You walk back down to the river, staying within eyesight of her, just in case.
- >The trees had thinned out enough that you could still view her from the river.
- >You dump the bottles of soda you had, as well as the cheap beer, and fill them with water.
- >The vodka and whiskey, however, you were holding on to.
- >Both to drink, and to sterilize wounds.
- >You dunk your face in the river, washing it, and taking a drink of water.
- >It's been so long since you drank something NOT made of disgusting bio-sludge, that it tasted like heaven.
- >Refreshed, and with a clean face, you turn your attention to your injuries.
- >You still had pieces of the creatures stuck in your hands.
- >And while your jacket covered it, you had a large wound on your back.
- >You decide to pick out the pieces from your hand first.
- >It would be best to let your body heal your back over time, rather than to attempt to stitch it together with your hands behind your back.
- >Your shoulder damage was negligable.
- >Unless you developed an infection to the tissue, which was unlikely, you could sow the muscle and skin back together easily.
- >The burns should heal on their own as well.
- >You glance at your reflection in the water, contemplating.
- >As you look at yourself, you notice movement directly above your head.
- >Looks like a squirrel.
- >You pull your rifle out and look towards where the creature should be.
- >Toning down the rifle's output to stun the creature (As opposed to vaporizing it), you track it.
- >It's jumping from tree to tree, not really caring about your presence.
- >It's larger than most squirrels in your world, as well. So it might be a satesfying meal...
- >You take the shot as it makes the mistake of standing still.
- >The shot lands in it's chest, causing it to fall out of the tree.
- >It lands in the mud by the river.
- >You grab the creature, and quickly break it's neck.
- >Where there was one, there was bound to be others.
- >Over the next hour, in the waning light of day, you hunt and gather what scarce food you can, and return to your hill, with your companion.
- >She still sleeps.
- >You quickly check over her, making sure all of her injuries were holding up fine.
- >They were.
- >You gather enough wood for a small fire, clear enough ground, and set up a cooking fire.
- >You detest using your medical instruments to clean animals, but you could sterilize them.
- >Cleaning the animals, you set the meat up on sticks next to the fire.
- >You set your back against the tree, finally allowing yourself a moment of rest.
- >Good progress was made today.
- >You make several notes in your pip-boy about today's events.
- >After you finish, you take the meat off the sticks, and dig in.
- >No herbs, spices, or salt was available, but still.
- >Best meal of the fortnight, right here.
- >The berries, mushrooms, and other assorted things you gathered were beside you.
- >You didn't want to test them for being poison until you ate enough to not be hungry.
- >As you finish your meaty feast, you bury the remains in the ground, away from your camp, and return.
- >By this time, the fire had died down, and the moon was out, shining in all of it's glory.
- >It looked different than your moon.
- >It looked a bit brighter, a bit larger.
- >And the empty lava seas looked different as well.
- >More evidence to the fact that this world was not Earth.
- >Staring at it, you admire it's beauty.
- >You observe the stars around, as well.
- >You didn't recognize any constellations in the night sky.
- >Still, they were just as beautiful.
- >The galaxy itself crossed what you assumed to be the ecliptic of the planet.
- >It looked similar, at least.
- >No telling if it was the one your planet was in...
- >You scatter the ashes, and set your head down to rest.