Chapter 4: The Greeting
It's dark out and I smell the faint presence of smoke in the air. I just got home from leave and I'm on my way back home as I walk in the cool fall air. My parents died about seven years ago when a tractor-trailer ran a red light and T-boned their car. My girlfriend left me about a year ago because she said that she couldn't accept the fact that I might never come back home from deployment. It was just me now all alone with my duffel bag slung over my back, wearing my camouflage uniform. The only one that I have left that I still love is my Black Labrador Retriever, Buddy.
The smoke smell is stronger now and there is an orange glow in the sky coming from somewhere down the street. I can hear a girl scream for help. I pick up my pace and begin to run to the end of the block. I follow the scream and turn around the corner of the street. I see a woman standing outside of an apartment building with flames roaring from some of the windows of the five floor building. I run over to her and try to calm her down.
"Is every one out?" I ask her.
"No! My little brother is still inside!" she said as she was shaking in fright of the sight in front of her.
"Did you call the fire department?" I asked her.
"Yes! They are on their way, but my brother needs help now! Our apartment is on the third floor!" said the woman as she started crying. I dropped my duffel bag and ran over to the door. I got to the door and tried to turn the nob but it was too hot. I kicked in the door and ran inside the burning building. I crouched down and strafed along the walls until I got to the stairs. As I climbed the stairs to the third floor, the heat grew more intense. I found the door to their apartment and kicked it in.
"IS ANYONE IN HERE?" I yell out. I hear a faint cough come from a room down a small hall. I stay crouched down and quickly make my way to the room from where the cough came from. The door is slightly ajar. I open the door and yell in. "ARE YOU IN HERE?"
"Help!" says a weak voice coming from a closet. I go over to the closet and open the closet door. Inside is a young boy about nine years old.
"I'm here! I'll get you out!" I said to the boy as I take off my uniform jacket and put it on him. I pick him up and tell him to hang on to my neck and waist. I push his head into my neck to keep his face out of the heat. I start to make my way to the stairs when I realize that the fire below has spread. As I descend the stairs, it feels like I'm descending through Hell's fires. The combination of the heat and smoke is making it harder to breath as I carry the boy out of this blaze. I get to the first floor and I can hear some sirens out front of the house. There is an explosion from the third floor and the building shakes causing some debris to fall and block the exit. I can feel the exhaustion in my body rise from the amount of heat and smoke around me. I find the door to the first floor apartment and kick it in. I hear some voices outside shouting to get back. I follow the sound of the voices and find a window that has smoke pouring out of it.
I make a break for the window and jump out of the window. The feel very faint as I stagger over to one of the firemen. I tap on his shoulder to get his attention. He turns around and sees me standing there covered in soot and partially burned with the boy hanging around my neck, covered in my uniform jacket. I hand the boy over to the fireman as he yells for some EMTs. Two EMTs come over to us and takes the boy to the ambulance. Another EMT comes over to escort me to the ambulance.
"Are you okay?" asks the EMT. I shake my head as I feel the effects of exhaustion. I feel something poke my arm but when I look, nothing is there. "Are you okay?"asks the EMT again except with a different voice.
I feel something hard touch the side of my muzzle. My eyes shoot open as I sit up right. I hear a gasp coming from beside me. When I look at where the gasp came from, I see six technicolor ponies. Two of them are regular ponies, two others are unicorns and the other two are Pegasi.
"Where am I, and what happened?" I ask them as I rub the back of my head where it is throbbing. The closest one, which was a purple unicorn, seems very intrigued.
"You're... in Equestria." said the purple unicorn with a slight pause. She began to try to observe me more.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask a little confused.
"You can talk!" replied the unicorn.
"Yeah and...?" I ask back.
"Well, it's just we've never saw something like you before, and we didn't think you could talk." replied the unicorn. In my mind I was still trying to figure out how this is happening.
"Of course I can talk. Where did you say I was again?" I reply back to her comment.
"You're in Equestria. The Everfree Forest to be precise." answered the unicorn.
"Everfree Forest? Equestria? Remind me to never portal jump again." I say to myself a little louder than I wanted.
"Portal jump?" asked the unicorn.
"Never mind. Do y'all have names or something I can call you by?" I ask them.
"My name is Twilight sparkle!" said the purple unicorn.
"My name is Rarity!" said a white unicorn with an upper class tone.
"Mah name is Applejack!" said an orange pony with a southern accent.
"My name is Rainbow Dash!" said a cyan Pegasus with a tomboyish tone.
"My... um... name is Fluttershy." said the yellow Pegasus, in a hushed whisper. Even though she did whisper her name, it was enough that I could still hear her.
"She said her name is Fluttershy." said Twilight.
"I could hear her." I reply back to her.
"How could you hear that?" asked Twilight.
"Well, my DNA is mostly canine DNA." I answer back. Twilight gave me an awkward look. "It's a long story." I say to answer the question in her mind.
"I"M PINKIE PIE!" shouted a pink pony as it somehow materialized right in front of me.
"HOLY SHIT!" I yell startled as I jump back away from her and draw my knife as a reaction.
"OOOOHHHHH! What's that?" asked the pink pony as it started to bounce in place.
"Um... it's nothing, don't worry about it." I answer back to her. Pinkie suddenly stopped bouncing and levitated in mid-air for a second before she made a gasping sound and took off like a rocket out of sight. I give Twilight a questioning look.
"Don't worry, that's normal for Pinkie." replied Twilight.
"Okay. Where is my stuff at?" I ask them.
"It's right over there." answered Twilight, pointing a hoof in the direction behind me.
"Thanks!" I say as I walk over to my stuff and put every thing together and throw it on my back.
"We didn't get your name." said Twilight.
"Oh, right. My name is Kijika Otaktay." I answer back to her.
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Otakatay." said Twilight.
"You can just call me Kijika." I reply back.
"It's getting dark out, and the Everfree Forest isn't the best place to be when it's dark." said Applejack.
"Why is that?" I ask.
"Well, lets just say some creatures aren't too friendly." answered Applejack.
"Okay." I reply back to her. "Do any of you know where I could sleep tonight?" I asked.
"Well you could sleep in the barn at mah farm." answered Applejack.
"Sounds good! Lets go then." I say to her.
"Alright then. I guess we will see y'all later." said Applejack. They all say goodbye to each other as we make our way out of the forest.
Alright! Chapter 4. Hope you all enjoyed the little flashback and the greeting there. The next chapter might come later than this one did because I have to do the actual writing for a research paper I have for my Literature class. Let me know what you thought. Please leave a comment on what you thought about it or what I could do to make it better.