>You crouch there in the bushes, never more confused on what to do
>Why the hell did it just fall out of the sky?
>Gus is the first to make a move
>Slowly, the white hound leaves your side and approaches what, in his mind, could be an early lunch
“Gus!”
>You give a hushed shout
“Get back here now…!”
>The wolfdog is not listening, but pauses for a moment and looks back
>He’s inviting you to join him for the snack
>How honored you must have felt sarcasm
>He continues closing in
“GUS!”
>Your voice has some authority in it this time
>The hunger mutt somewhat obeys
>He plants his hindquarters on the ground but his eyes remain locked on that thing
>You sigh
>Might as well feed your own curiosity and check it out
>You begin to climb out of the bush but stop halfway
>You don’t know what this thing is... err was
>Probably died on impact
>Probably.
>…
>You turn back to the sled
>Reaching in between the basket and the base of the handlebar, you search for something tucked away in the construct of the sled
>You find and pull out an odd shape, covered with thick grey cloth
>Unwrapping it, you look at the revolver in your hands
>Your father had gotten it for a good deal a few years back, seeing how it was black powder and everyone wanted the new smokeless automatics
>From what the dealer said, it was an old Germanic sidearm
>Due to a designer’s deflect, the cylinder was too small to fit a big enough cartridge to fire the gun’s high caliber
>As a result, the thing was barely sub-sonic
 
>It was also a pain to reload
>But it wasn’t totally useless
>Despites its limited range, it was still able to push out a large enough clunk of lead that could easily kill a man
>You had almost done it once.
>You look away from the gun and back to Gus, who was still sitting and waiting
>Borg Gallarson, the Swedish musher in the race, had attacked Gus in order to slow you down
>Ned had given you the gun to take care of any dog that had gotten too sick or injured
>And after what Borg did, Gus was knocking on Death’s door
>You had been so close to putting a bullet in that dog
>Instead, you put him on sled and rode to the next checkpoint
>Then when you got there, you stormed into the mess hall (which was full of mushers and reporters) and punched Borg right in the fucking mouth
>When he got up, he whipped out a large knife with the most sinister grin on his face
>You?
>You just pulled out the gun and stuck it right in his face.
>His smug little grin quickly vanished and his face turned paper white
>You’ll never forget how powerful you felt; pulling the hammer back while starring into those fearful eyes
>When it had gotten quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop, you told him that if he ever came near you or your dogs again, you’d kill him outright
>Then you left.
>Walked right out of there
>For the last few days of the race, everyone did their best to avoid you
>It seemed that threatening a man with a gun wasn’t an everyday occurrence to them
>You open your eyes and bring yourself to face the revolver again
>Twisting the gun around, you fit it firmly into your right hand
>Putting it back to half-cock, you at last immerge from the brush
 
>You make your way slowly into the clearing
>Gus takes your advance as permission to go and scout the …thing out
>As you draw closer, he begins to encircle it
>When you are less than five feet away, he sniffs and then sinks his teeth into one of its front limbs
>You see it sub-consciously twitch in pain
>It was alive
“GUS”
>He backs away, thick crimson fluid seeping from the wound
>God, even its blood was bright and flamboyant
>You move in closer
“What… are you?”
>With its body prostrated out on the ground, you could see it features could be used to describe it as…
>… more mammal than bird
>Its wings were now folded against its back, giving you a figure that roughly outlined something that would normally walk on four legs
>You notice its head is positioned face first into the ground, covered by its ruffled hair
>…A mane?
>Four legs, long neck with a flowing mane and a hairy tail
>An equine...
>With wings
>Great.
>You bend over to flip the mane off its face but stop yourself
>Instead you give it a solid kick to the stomach, gun at the ready, to make sure it was out cold
>No response.
>You bend down again, pushing the mane away with the barrel of the gun
>You almost pull the trigger in surprise
>Its face… wasn’t really one of an equine
>Its two eyes were shut at the moment but there was no doubt they were huge
>Its snout wasn’t elongated like a horse’s face, but only protruding a few inches out
>You step back and look at Gus’s recent act of kindness toward the creature
>Damn Gus, you went in deep
>The cyan colored fur was helping clot the blood but it was a deep puncture wound
>How had he done that much damage from such a small nibble?
>What was this thing made of?
 
>You poke it
>Nope, its good old flesh and bone alright
>You strafe your hand down the creature’s leg until its changes texture
>It was hard like bone
>Your hand makes its way around the sole of its leg
>It’s had the same fur all around it, but the bottom most part of the leg was hard
>Like a hoof, underneath the fur
“Ok then… You’re definitely a… something”
>You didn’t really like calling it an equine when it had fucking wings
>What were you going to do with it?
>You hear Gus let out a yelp of annoyance
>He’s really hungry
>You were really hungry
>And there hadn’t been any sign of any other animals in this god forsaken forest
>You look back to the broken animal
>You couldn’t eat it, could you?
>It was, for all you knew, a whole new specie
>Never before seen by mankind
>You couldn’t just
>*grumble*
>You can’t…
>*grumble, grumble*
>You clutch your stomach
>It was food
>You and Gus needed food
>You take the gun off half-cock, putting it down next to you
>Getting comfortable on your knees, you draw your bowie
>You put the blade over it throat before you stop yourself
>What if it was the only one of its kind?
>Surely, something as abstract as this wasn’t a common occurrence
>You gaze over the creature again
>You fall back on your ass and think
>To eat or not to eat?
>Suddenly, you hear something rustle in a shrub adjacent from you, on the edge of the clearing
>Out pops what looks to be… a chicken?
 
 
>Nope, a chicken’s head alright
>But with a lizard’s body and tail
>Frankly, you couldn’t be caught by surprised anymore with this colorful winged equine laying in front of you
>Still you couldn’t shake that this… chicken lizard wasn’t friendly
>Or, more importantly, something that would be missed if it died
>Something in its eyes…
>Guess you didn’t have to worry about cutting up the horse bird anymore
>Gus is crouched and motionless, waiting for the command
>You give it
“Get ‘um Gus!”
>The mass of white fur and fangs makes a b-line for that thing
>At first, the chicken lizard jumps up and looks shocked
>You were sure it was going to retreat
>Instead, it decides to stand its ground
>…What is it doing?
>Its just staring intensely at Gus
>It didn’t even stop gawking until Gus’s teeth lock around its tiny head
>You hear it shriek, as if it hadn’t seen that coming
>The shriek dies out shortly to some loud crunching sounds and muffled growls
>Soon, Gus happily skips back to you, dragging along his kill
>Jesus, that thing had a long tail
>Ok, you both could definitely eat this for tonight
>You turn back to look at the equine on the ground
>It looked too majestic to be a threat
>But, you were going to have to survive in this place
>Least till someone came and found you
>Balancing the knife in your hand once again, you reach the crossroads that a hunter must face
>Kill or not to kill
>…
“Nevermind”
>You stealth the knife before retrieving your gun
>Gus continues to drag his kill back to the sled, you walking beside him
>When you make it to the sled, you put the gun away back in its secret compartment
>Then you begin to cut up the chicken lizard
 
>You didn’t trust consuming something so… foreign
>But you had to eat
>Doing your best to throw away any pieces that looked a little funny, you’re able to make out with three big chunks of meat from its tail.
>As much as Gus was eyeing his piece up, you couldn’t let him eat it raw
>Could be poisonous or something
>You would cook both your pieces for tonight’s meal
>You throw the carcass into the bushes, putting the raw meat in the preserved salt satchel
>It wasn’t a lot
>You could last about 2 days on it
>Your attention is again drawn to the equine thing in the clearing
>It probably wouldn’t survive the night in an open area like that
>Completely exposed to any other chicken lizards out there
>You could take it with you into the forest
>Find a cave or something
>Ultimately, you would just be saving it one day to eat it the next
>You sigh
>Maybe when it was able to walk again, you could use it as live bait
>That’s what had attracted the chicken lizard, right?
>Yeah, that’s what you’ll do
>Use it as live bait when it gets better
>And if it doesn’t, you could always eat it
>Confident in your new plan, you pull the sled out next to the downed creature
>You decide to cut the mending rope attached to the sled into two pieces
>This gave you about five feet still secured to the sled so you could pull it
>Leaving about fifteen feet left of rope to tie up the equine thingy
>You try at first doing a hog tie but it doesn’t really work with its weird shape
 
>So you eventually do a series of tight lopes around it legs, coming around across its back to bind its wings
>While securing its hind legs, you spot a weird looking colored birthmark on its hind quarters
>It... it looks like a cloud with a weird lightning bolt going through it
>Honestly, you don’t pay much attention to it because you’ve dealt with enough crazy shit already for one day
>When you get to tying its wings, you notice one of them doesn’t seem to be resting quite right
>You use your hand to try and flatten
>Its feathers were even softer than you had imagined them they would be
>But you also felt something else you hadn’t suspected
>Its wing was cold
>Like, ice cold
>Had this been the cause of the crash?
>You force the wing down, wrapping the rope around its barrel tightly
>When you’re finished, you had a bit of slack left over
>You decide to secure a little loop around the equine’s muzzle
>Didn’t need it snapping at you when it woke up
>If it ever did…
>You pick it up and heave it onto the sled
>It’s not very heavy but it wasn’t going to make the sled any lighter
>With your game/live bait secured, you look off into the woods
>Frankly, in between the crash and field-dressing the chicken lizard you had lost track of time
>But somehow you knew it was going to get dark soon
>You needed shelter
>For three occupants now
“Ok Gus, let’s get moving”
>Gus takes his role as lead dog and continually surveys a few yards ahead as you pull the sled
>Farther and farther, you march on
>You had no idea whether you were heading out or deeper into the jungle
 
>It only took a half hour for the Sun to come down
>This time you were able to watch its course
>It only took five minutes to fall behind the horizon
>Nothing natural about it…
>There was nothing natural about anything in this place
>You were starting to get hot, so you ripped off the most outer layer of your fur coat
>Leaving you with a thin jacket over your long johns
>It helps you to stay cool, but now you were getting tired again
>Best part?
>You couldn’t stop and rest
>The forest had gotten so dense with vegetation and trees that your only option was to keep pressing on
>If you stopped, you wouldn’t even find a comfortable place to sit down
>Each tug on sled’s cord felt heavier
>Damn this thing
>It was only becoming a burden now
>You should have just fielded-dressed it with the chicken lizard
>Who were you kidding?
>A tiny equine with wings wasn’t going to attract any game
>What the hell was it?
>A she?
>A he?
>Or just an it?
>Shit.
>That’s what it was
>A big pile of shit that was slowing you down, on some false hope it could serve a purpose
 
>http://youtu.be/uezqOnmJpnk
>The first thing you hear is the sound of a twig snapping
>So quietly that you initially think the wind had caused it
>But as it drew darker, the snapping of twigs and rustling of bushes became more numerous
>Seemed you weren’t alone anymore…
>Gus sensed their presence too
>He had since fallen back to being at your side, ears darting all over the place
>The noises were still far away enough for you to know they were only studying you
>They weren’t planning to attack just yet
>Well that what you HAD thought,
>Until you head the bone chilling snap of a stick, eight feet from your right side
>Before you could even process the sound, Gus leaps into action
>As Gus jumps and is lost in the thick green foliage, you hear something give a low, feeble growl
>Its quickly retorted by Gus with a booming bark
>The animal quickly changes its tone and begins to whimper
>It stops for moment when you hear it
>*CRUNCH*
>It was as if someone had broken a heavy branch over their knee
>Gus comes running back to you
>He seems to be unhurt but it looks like he’s trying to spit something out
>Shaking his head with his maw ajar
>Meanwhile, you hear little patters of feet running away in all directions
>Guess whatever Gus attacked and his friends didn’t want anything to do with you anymore
>You get down on your one knee and examine Gus’s mouth
>Nothing out of the ordinary
>Wait…
>You look at the roof of his mouth and see a thick splitter of wood
>Positioning yourself to pull it out quickly, you give it a yank
>You hand barely makes it out as his jaw snaps shut
>He continues to muzzle the ground and whimper softly
>He’ll live
 
>Examining the splinter, you try to place it with any of the surrounding trees
>It didn’t match anything, too dark in shade
>Just some random timber wood
>You flick it away
>For reasons unknown, the splinter flies off in a different direction from where you were originally shooting for
>That was… weird
>Fate and Destiny maybe?
>You pull the sled for about fifty yards in the splinter direction and find a small knoll
>With an opening just big enough to fit your sled through
>A cave
>Finally, a break!
>Gus goes ahead to take a look, you following close behind
>It had a five by four foot opening, height and width respectively
>Squatting your way through it, you find yourself in a large cavern
>It was almost perfectly spherical, a dome of stone and tiny stalagmites above your head
>You could make do with this
>You exit your new found shelter and retrieve the sled
>But you stop yourself when you reach the sled and its passenger
>You were going to spend the night here
>Did you really want to be sleeping next to some wild animal?
>Regardless of it being bound, it was still an unnecessary risk
>You needed to deal with this thing now
 
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbiJHVtfiA
>You pull the creature off the sled, tossing it onto the ground
>Its body with a solid thud, motionless, still unconscious
“Sorry, but regardless of how interesting you maybe…”
>You draw the bowie
“I can’t take any risks right now”
>You get on one knee, while holding the thing’s body steady with your free arm
>Its heart (considering basic psychology) should be right there
>Placing the tip of the knife on its chest, you feel its faint heart beat
>You pull your shoulder back, so you’d have the full force your whole body moving in with the knife
>It would be as quick and clean as possible
>…It wouldn’t feel a thing
>Just as you prepare to bring your knife down, you feel its heart beat getting faster
>It was pounding so loud you would have probably felt it without even touching it
>Someone was watching you, too
>You could feel it
>…
>You knew who it was, too
>Looking over your left forearm, you see its face
>Eyes wide open
>You had been right, they were big
>Enormous pink orbs staring back at you
>Staring into living thing’s eyes can tell you a lot about them
>Looking into its, you could tell it was a ‘she’ after all
>And ‘she’ was terrified
 
>For every second passing second, her eyes began to jitter more unnervingly
>At first, she was scared stiff
>Then panic set in and she tried squirm
>You bring your left hand down with enough force to make her still again
>What was this?
>Her expression of fear… wasn’t animalistic
>When you normally put down game, their eyes would show fear too
>But it was a different kind
>Theirs was always more empty
>An instinctive fear, leaving them with blank expressions
>Her eyes…
>It was as if she was trying to speak to you
>Plead with you
>You break the stare
>Pity was the last thing you needed to survive
>It had been cruel of you to drag her all this way
>She was just game
>You should have done the deed when she was unconscious
>You sigh
“Sorry, but it’s either you or me…”
>As calmly as you try to make those horrible words sound, she fidgets around again
>You swear she could understand you
>She tries to wiggle the bindings off, especially the one around her snout
>You weighed your options for the 100th time today on what to do with her
>Killing her right now would give you and Gus enough food to last a couple more days
>Even if you did keep her, you doubt she would make good bait anyway
>So… were you resolved?
>You were still knelt, knife at the ready
>It all felt so painfully nostalgic to when you had almost put down Gus
>But you couldn’t just let her go
>After hailing her miles in this god forsaken place?
>…
>You raise the knife…
>and bring it straight down
 
>The creature’s eyes shut tightly as you did so
>Only to open a few moments later to see it was still alive
>You had plunged the bowie into the soil next to you instead
“To hell with this”
>You’d find other food eventually
>Eventually…
>You begin to move to undo its bindings
>At first, she flinches but remains stiff as a rock when your intentions of releasing her become clear
>As soon as you get the first hind leg loop off, it happens
>A blue, furry hoof
>Right into your face
>Hard.
>You're thrown back onto your ass
“SHun of hA biSHch”
>The hate speech is muffled by your palm covering your bleeding nose
>How had that happened
>You had released enough animals on the farm to know hind legs only could deliver a kick backwards
>But she had been able to wipe her leg completely around
>Driving it right into your nose
>You try to regain your composure
>Looking up, you see she’s already out of her bindings
>Clever girl, alright
>Definitely smarter than the average  farm animal
>Just then, you hear the scuffling of paws coming behind you
>Gus was sprinting from the cave
>You could tell she heard it too
>She has trouble getting to all her hooves, especially with injured front limb
>Gus’s bite hadn’t been kind
>She somehow pushes through the pain and fueled by either utmost fear or determination, leaps into the air
>Gus was only a few meters away from you now
>Feathers outstretched, she begins to clap her wings with enough energy that would have clearly pushed her clear through the forest’s canopy
>But the one wing falters and fails
>She begins to fall again
 
>You see her wince, but she ignores the obvious pain and tries to flap again
>Its weaker, except she is now able to stabilize
>She gains about 6 feet of air when you see something white flash past you
>Jumping off a nearby stump, you see Gus is going to make a connection with her
>You don’t care anymore
>All sense of regret or compassion were temporary pushed from your mind by your throbbing nose
>Lose of blood was never good in these survival type scenarios
>You’d try to help her and she socked you right in the face
>Dammit.
>Gus could do whatever he wanted with that bitch
>You watch on as Gus manages to grip his fangs around her limp front hoof
>Talk about salt in the wound
>She clutches her teeth, giving a hushed gasp
>Falling back to earth, she begins to open her mouth
>You frown
>Despite your lack of concern for to it now, you never ‘enjoyed’ hearing an animal screech or cry
>However that’s not what you hear
>Nothing prepares you,
>For what you hear…
>???:“Somep0ny hel-!“
>Her speech is cutoff as both her and Gus slam into the ground
>Gus lands on top, effectively knocking her out again
>What.
>She could… talk
>English.
>You understood it
>As your brain begins to go on meltdown, Gus is rearing back
>Going in for the kill…
>No, wait!
>You had to act fast and words were too slow
>Without wasting time to take another breath, you push out any remaining air in your lungs into a hoarse, loud whistle
>Gus hesitates and looks to you, body still over his prey
>You quickly inhale and speak before he has a chance to move again
“No Gus…”
>You manage to say, woozily
“Stop..."
 
>Holding your nose, you make your way over to them
>Gus withdraws at your approach, taking to sitting a few feet back from you
>She’s out like a light, head smashed against an unearthed root in the landing
>Gus’s teeth had been pulled brutally across her leg by the fall as well
>Blood was pouring out of it
>She had talked
>This…thing had opened its mouth and formed words
>Words that you had understood
>An intelligent, talking animal
>You couldn’t kill it now
>You couldn’t let it go either
>This thing had been surviving in this forest before that crash
>It knew where clean water was
>Knew where food was
>And it could tell you all of it,
>Including how you could get back home…
>The growing pool of blood reaches your knees, shaking you from your train of thought
>Only if she lived
>Rushing over to sled, you desperately look for the first aid
>You no longer feel nor care for your nose, filled to the brim with raw excitement
>Quickly you find it, all of its goodies sealed in a tin box
>You pull out a roll of tightly woven cotton as well as a container of mushed herbs
>The herbal paste needed to be warmed before it could be used
>You remember back when you had to use this stuff on Gus, back when he was half dead on your sled
>Stop it.
>You need to focus
>There’s a talking mystical animal that needs to be saved
>Putting the bandage and paste aside, you search for your reel of flint
>It was only a few inches long, but it would do the trick
>Darkness had fully engulfed the forest by now
>You needed a fire for her and to keep any potential predators away
 
>First you get the sled into the cave, moving the blue creature and first aid to the mouth of it
>’Blue creature’… That didn’t really sound right
>She could fucking talk… was it correct to refer to her like another wild animal?
>Shut up and focus!
>You can worry about that later
>With the sled safely stowed away, you go scavenging around nearby trees for sticks and fallen branches
>After putting together a descent pile about 15 feet from the  front of the cave, you begin gathering some nearby rocks
>After making a protective circle around the wood, you retrieve you flint rod and knife
>Using the back unsharpened part of the blade, you begin to strike the flint rod over your collection of timber
>Eventually, one of the dry leaves catches a spark and lights up
>With controlled blowing and shielding the flame from the wind, you get a good fire going
>Using a stick, you hover the herb paste (in its metallic container over) the fire
>Within a few minutes, the stick begins to blacken and you pull back
>Careful as to not burn yourself, you remove the lid and dip your index and middle finger into the paste
>Its at a toasty tone of heat
>Good.
>You look over at her…
>What had she said? Or at least tried to say?
>’Someone help me’?
>No, that wasn’t it
>It was someP0NY
>P0ny.
>Her height would fit that label, as her head came up to your stomach
>Its was just… everything else that threw it off
>Then again, she HAD said p0ny
>Satisfied with a name for her, you take your fingers and rub the paste onto the surface of her wounds
>Her skin naturally retracts from the medicine, but the tremors soon subside
>You use up about a quarter of the paste
>Damn Gus, you meant business
 
>Content with the translucent film of cream over the wounds, you begin wrapping the leg in a thick bandage
>It crosses your mind to try and help her wing
>But not knowing anything about birds, you probably just make it worse
>As soon as you finish, you redo her bindings
>You had questions and she had answers
>She wasn’t going anywhere until you got them
>You look up when you are finished
>The moon’s lifeless light shined through the canopy
>You would cook the chicken lizard’s meat tomorrow
>Kicking out the fire, you haul yourself and your p0ny captive into the cave
>You desperately need some rest to prepare for tomorrow
>Things… things were going to get interesting
>Only seconds after slipping into your sleeping bag do you drift into sleep