Falling Into the Unknown

by Merchent343

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Adventure, Human
Length: 52614

A human finds a portal in his bathroom and decides to investigate it. What he finds is beyond his belief.

Tyler was a normal collage student. Although his grades were good, he was a recluse, and never had many friends. Now, trapped in a world he has only heard about, what will he do next?

Story kept only for the record. Don't read it. Don't like it. It's a horrible abomination of early writing and cliches.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-09 13:27:07 UTC

Second Day

I was floating in my dreams. Pictures of past events, my entire life, were moving past me. I saw all of the ups and downs, the turns I had taken, and briefly wondered why I was, just now, remembering all of this. Up ahead, through the mist that obscured the outer edges of my dream, I spotted a distinctly equine shape.

The pony that I saw was a dark blue, with glowing blue hair. I suddenly remembered this one from mu roommate’s rambling, and that it was called Luna. Why the hell it was in MY dream, I don’t know.

Suddenly, ground materialized beneath him. Unusually for my dreams, I found that I had full control over himself, instead of just watching it like an actor. Having nothing else to do, I walked over to the waiting pony.

It was looking at me with undisguised curiosity. It murmured what I assume was a greeting or a question of sorts, but I just shook my head.

“I can’t understand a word that you’re saying.” I said in a firm tone of voice. It – I should stop calling the pony ‘it’, and settle on Luna – moved back a bit, before saying something else and vanishing. I saw a bright light suddenly consume my dreams as I quickly woke up. I rapidly checked around for any threats, but saw only the empty forest. My fears were renewed moments later, however, by a thundering roar, followed by screaming.

I practically jumped out of my sleeping bag, and quickly grabbed my Sa-58, groping for the bag of attachments. I dug out a PSO-1 sight, specifically modified to fit on my rifle. I fitted it on the rail, and checked the optics. Finding no flaws, I ran out of my cover and tracked through the forest towards the scream. It was probably the dumbest idea in the world, but that was definitely a scream, and I don’t ignore warnings like that. Whatever was attacking whoever would most likely come after me next, so it was going down.

I quickly found out that there was a clearing up ahead by the thinning trees. Before too long, I burst into the clearing, rifle leveled. Up ahead, I saw some sort of scorpion/lion thing. It was advancing towards something out of my field of view. Moving to the left, I immediately noticed a purple pony surrounded by a bunch of smaller ponies, which I guessed were children.

“No, you don’t,” I growled, switching the selector to single fire.

I quickly shot off two rounds to distract that thing. It turned towards me, issuing a loud roar and charging straight at me. Moving the selector to auto, I shot off rounds at the charging creature.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG

Eight shots later, it fell to the ground scant feet from me. Not wanting to spend any more time around the now gaping ponies than necessary, I quickly ran off into the woods, headed in a zigzag pattern back to my hiding place. Damn it! I had wanted to maintain a low visibility, but I guess that wasn’t an option now. I needed to move, and fast. The other side of the town should be fine.

Quickly packing up my stuff, I started a hike through the woods. Imagine the town – and the clearing around it – as a circle. The woods surround about 270 degrees of that circle, with only the edge facing that gigantic mountain thing clear and level. That’s also apparently where the farms are, as I heard my roommate talk about some sort of apple orchard right next to town. With it like that, I could easily walk about 180 degrees around this imaginary circle to the other side of town without leaving the woods.

I cursed as I stumbled over a fallen log. Looking up, I noticed that it was about midday. Honestly, how could the day get any worse? Within the span of 24 hours I had been teleported into a nonexistent world, chased by a gigantic mutant that would have looked good in Fallout, and had to run in order to not be found by a bunch of damn miniature horses.

Studying my situation, I knew that, eventually, I would suffer a breakdown. Normally, I react calmly to… Intense and unexpected situations. However, it always hit me like a tidal wave later on, causing me to lock up and shut everything out, and I did NOT want to be out in the open when that happened.

After fifteen more minutes of curses and walking, I found myself on the other side of town. After a few minutes of searching, I found a similar set of trees to the ones I had found in my original spot. Slinging my pack down, I figured now was the best time to eat my ham sandwich. I was hungry as hell, and I knew that the only way I would be spotted is if they looked directly down on me. Opening up my pack, I quickly grabbed the sandwich and wolfed half of it down, saving the other half for later. I took a large swig from one of my water bottles, and replaced all the items inside of my backpack. I took out my sleeping bag and laid it in the small alcove, along with the backpack.

I grabbed my Sa-58 and slung it across my back, figuring now was as good of a time as ever to do some scouting. I also grabbed my binoculars, and moved for the edge of the forest. Looking above me, I noticed several fast-moving specks looping in a search pattern above the forest, apparently looking for me. I chuckled, knowing they would never find me with my camouflage coat. Plus, my jeans would also blend well with the ground at high altitude.

I ran through the forest, quickly reaching the edge of the woods, slowing to a walk, I lay down on the ground and crawled to the very edge, right behind a bush. Grabbing my binoculars, I brought them up and zoomed in to the maximum level.

Ponyville zoomed up close in front of me. I could easily make out every detail of the ponies there. About 8 degrees to the left was a very light green one with a harp on its back, and at 24 degrees to the right a bright pink pony that seemed to be jittering a lot was walking out of… A gingerbread house? Yeah, this world in strange in more ways than one. Moving the binoculars to the left, I spotted what looked like a gigantic tree with a house built inside of it. Apparently, Equestria – damn you, brony roommate – was a melting pot of every fantasy tale ever.

Peeking out from the bush, I noticed the sun start to rapidly lower. How? Every law of physics I knew of said that the sun didn’t move very slowly all day, and then speed up right before nightfall. Then again, I suppose seeing a land of flying horses and unicorns is enough to make me toss out my version of the laws of physics anyway.

Rubbing my eyes, I decided that it was time to turn in for the day. Tomorrow, I would have to get a more sustainable food source than one ham sandwich and two water bottles, one of them 1/4th empty. I quickly made my way back to my hiding spot, and decided to open my small laptop.

Even though it was about the side of a short stack of paper, it was very powerful, the result of a long series of modifications I had done. The battery was a pain to charge, but could last me up to 60 hours. It had about 8 gigs of RAM, and a pretty powerful processer. It wasn’t cheap, but even I needed a portable gaming computer in the university. After all, I couldn’t get through the day without my daily fix of ArmA 2.

I quickly checked to see if there were any wireless connections available, even though the possibility was virtually nil. Surprisingly, there were some, but they seemed to be cycling at random, as if multiple wireless networks were being detected and then undetected. One of them was stable: What I recognized as the university’s wireless network. The portal must still be there, but dormant and inactive, still capable, however, of sending a powerful wireless signal through. I didn’t know for sure, though. Whatever the cause, I quickly entered the network. Connection was spotty, but I was on.

I accessed the web and quickly clicked my way to my dropbox folder. Due to my intense paranoia of everything, including the possibility of a government takeover, I had accumulated a large, 1.5 gigabyte file full of text documents, with detailed instructions on how to make everything from gunpowder to steel, and picture designs of various weapons and types of makeshift weapons. If I had that folder, full of information, I would be able to actually survive here.

The download was slow, occasionally interrupted by the wireless connection going down, but after a half hour it finally finished. Five seconds after the file downloaded, the wireless network shut down completely, all of the other ones slowing to a trickle and then finally stopping.

Damn, that had been close. Looking at the battery, I still had 56 hours of battery remaining. Shutting the laptop down, I put it back in its bag, and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow would be a new day, with new opportunities. Although it would be a pain to find a way to recharge the battery for the laptop, I knew I would find a way, as I have always done.

Leaning my head back, I fell into a long, deep sleep, uninterrupted by any distractions.

Establishing Camp

I woke up, for the first time in two days, slowly and peacefully. No gigantic mutants or portals to interrupt my sleep now, at least. I yawned and stretched my arms out, feeling the sun through the small hole in my little tree alcove. Pulling/dragging myself out of the sleeping bag, I set out to gather enough stuff to grab supplies with.

I decided to dump my backpack out, and leave all of my stuff here, except my G-17C and my binoculars. Putting the now empty backpack on, stuffing my G-17C into its holster, and putting the binoculars around my neck, I felt ready to tackle to task of getting supplies.

First, all humans needed food. I had heard my roommate - curse him - talk about an apple orchard, so I decided to head towards where I thought it was.

Five minutes later, the trees thinned out into what looked like an apple orchard. Luck was on my side, apparently. I heard some booms in the distance, at least half a mile, but I wasn’t concerned. Walking to the base of a tree, I quickly picked twenty apple off of the low branches, and put them inside of my pack. Water would be a problem later on, but I am sure I can find a stream at some point in the woods.

I spotted one of the orange ponies in the distance, walking towards my position. I knew if I stayed there much longer, I would definitely be discovered. So, taking a deep breath, I moved out from behind the tree and ran.

It probably wasn’t the best idea, because moments later I heard the sound of yelling and rapid footsteps - or whatever they call running here. I looked behind me and saw the orange one giving chase, although it couldn’t match my speed. I quickly broke out of the orchard and entered the forest again, watching as the orange pony stopped at the edge and gave a frustrated yell.

I made it back to the campsite within three minutes, panting from the effort. I lay down on the outside of my sleeping bag to catch my breath, and patted the backpack in appreciation of what I had just done. Although I didn’t want to steal, I knew it would eventually come to be that stealing would be the only way I could survive.

“Well, at least I have food.” I mused to myself, once again tapping on the now full backpack. Next, I felt the need to make a proper shelter. Although I couldn’t just go to town and ask to buy a house, especially after the last 24 hours, I felt I could easily build something small and concealable in the forest.

First, I found a clear area about six feet in diameter. Perfect. I formed a crude frame of seven large sticks, and then layered smaller sticks, one on top of the other, in the gaps between the large sticks, all except one side. Finding that it was still sturdy, I tied the large sticks together at the top with some vine that I found, still attached to its root. With luck, it would still grow while it was holding the building together, helping keep it stable. For the last step, I put plenty of fresh branches and leaves all over the outside, easily hiding it from any observers, casual or otherwise.

Moving inside, I had an area about five feet wide inside, plenty of room for me. I dug down inside the hole using a stick I found and my hands, and within twenty minutes I had a hole around one foot deep, covering the entirety of the inside of the little hut. I layered large pieces of bark around the edges of the hole, both to keep out water and to provide some comfort.

One hour after starting, I had a respectable temporary house that would help hide me from both the ponies and the weather. I quickly moved my stuff inside, finding enough room inside to store all of it. I took a swig from one of my water bottles and about half of the remaining sandwich, and then lay down on the sleeping bag, opting to rest for a short while. I closed my eyes, and descended into my dreams.

Once again, I found myself in the misty field. Ahead of me, the blue pony was apparently waiting for me. Why it - Luna, I reminded myself - kept appearing in my dreams, I do not know, and the mechanics of how it did so would probably give me a headache. Having nothing better to do, I walked over to her.

Coming within a few feet of her, I saw that the curiosity was gone, replaced by what looked by a stern stare. Not knowing what else to do, I returned the glare, staring into her eyes. It spoke several words that I still did not understand, so apparently it was pissed of at me.

“So, are you angry because I killed a gigantic mutant, or because I stole a bunch of apples so I could eat? In any case, I don’t care.” Having said that, I forcefully exited my dream, mentally telling it to stop. A few seconds later, I found myself inside of my hut, staring to the darkness outside. Apparently I had been asleep for more than a few hours, instead of the five minutes the dream lasted.

I sat up, rubbing the back of my head where it had laid against one of the bark panels that made up the sides of my hole. Suddenly, I heard a thump outside of the hut, followed by the sound of breaking leaves. Grabbing my G-17C, I loaded a clip and poked my head outside. Seeing nothing, I turned to my left and froze.

Staring at me, two feet away, were a pair of eyes. Attached to what looked like a Pegasus outfitted with armor. Panicking, I lashed out with my foot, striking the white pony right underneath its jaw, knocking it clean out and causing its helmet to bounce off. The moment the helmet fell off, a brief glow encompassed the Pegasus as it changed from a white coat to a dark blue one. Knowing what I knew about the show, it was probably some sort of disguise thing switching off, or something like that.

I cursed myself mentally. Although I wanted to let it go, it now knew where my house was, and I couldn’t have that. I didn’t want to kill it either, so I guess I needed to somehow keep it prisoner. Wouldn’t be too much of a drain on my resources, what with all of the apples I now had. I gathered a bunch of the super-strong vine that I had found earlier. Finding a sharp rock, I repeatedly slammed it into the vine until it slowly frayed and then snapped, leaving me with two pieces about two feet long each.

How did the vine get so tough, anyway? I shrugged. As long as it worked, that was good enough for me. I walked over to the still knocked-out pony, and tied both its front, and then its back feet - hooves, I slapped myself mentally - together. However, I wasn’t going to have it be in the same hut as me. It’d be both awkward, no matter its sex, and it might have a chance at kicking me, which I would love to avoid if I could.

I made an x-frame out two long branches, and tied it together with some of the v ne. I leaned the basic frame up against a tree, and covered the side with small, straight sticks, making it both a roof and a wall. I camouflaged it with more tree branches, so it could not be seen as well. Which lead me to a big question; How had I been found? It probably wasn’t a random patrol, so there must be something giving away my position. Looking around, I didn’t see anything obvious. Except for the dirt I had thrown outside when I dug the pit.

Cursing myself for my stupidity, I started to spread it around, making it more even and natural. Within two minutes, the small clearing just looked like it had several random streaks of dirt, perfectly explainable in a forest, and easily missed. Moving over to the guard, I picked it up and started to carry it to the small shelter I had built, grabbing several pre-cut vines along the way. I also made a secondary discovery when I set it down inside of the shelter – it let out a high-pitched groan, too high to be male. I tied the vines to the tree and then around it – her, I should really stop calling everything ‘it’ – to keep it from moving away, even with the tied legs.

My workload finished, I set out for the bed. Even though the dawn was beginning, the midnight surprise took a lot out of me, and I needed my sleep. Lying down in the sleeping bag, I came to the conclusion – I would have to go it alone. I couldn’t trust what I couldn’t understand, and I couldn’t understand a word those ponies said. Therefore, I can’t trust them. Shoving my thought patterns out of my head, I closed my eyes and fell into a restful sleep.

Supply Run

The sun glared at me through the holes between the sticks making up the side of the hut. I was certainly getting much more sleep than I used to, but that was probably me making up for lost time while I was at the university. Entering and being trapped in a new world certainly put things into perspective, especially if it’s a world you had only heard about from a half-crazy roommate.

I let out a loud groan, letting the entire world know that I didn’t want to get out of this comfy sleeping bag. Unfortunately, the stomach decided to remind me how little I had eaten over the past three days. Grudgingly, I slowly rose out of the confines of the sleeping bag, and I took a long breath of the crisp morning air. Groping for my pack, I quickly opened it and took out two big, red apples. Taking another deep breath, I crawled outside of my little hut into the dawn of my third day here.

The area around the clearing was the same as the day before: Trees, trees, and more trees. The flights overhead where gone now, although I had almost panicked, thinking that one of them disappearing might prompt a huge search. Apparently, from what I had seen, the ponies avoid the forest if at all possible, although for what reason I couldn’t tell.

The guards I had hit last night seemed to be stirring. From what I could hear, it was rolling over, apparently trying to get its bound legs unbound. Wouldn’t happen, though, unless it – she, I reminded himself – had a knife. That vine was insanely strong, and I still had around twelve feet of the stuff in case he should ever need it. Taking a bite out of one of the apples, I nearly choked at how sweet it was. Normally, apples had always been slightly sour to me whenever I had taken a bite out of one. However, while this wasn’t exactly like putting a bunch of sugar on my tongue, it really WAS sweet.

Taking another bite out of the apple, I walked the three feet it took me to reach the little x-frame where I had put the guard. The moment I stepped into view, however, she glared at me with what seemed to be the fury of the sun. I guess getting knocked out doesn’t do anything for your temper. Needless to say, I could imagine how I seemed to her. A giant that had knocked her out with a single kick, and then tied her up in there. To be honest, I felt like making a ‘wait until the second date’ jokes right there, even though she would, for one, not understand a word I said, and for two would likely attempt to slit my throat if she did. Shoving any jokes to the corner of my mind, I picked up my other apple and tossed it at her.

She eyed it warily, as if expecting a trick, and then slowly scooted up to it, taking a bite out of it, as if testing it. I didn’t stick around, though; I had better things to do than stare creepily at a pony while it ate. I grabbed my Sa-58 out of my hut, and was about to begin to go off forging when I heard a low growl. Turning to my left slowly, I saw a wolf.

Well, not a normal wolf. I don’t think normal wolves look like a sawmill came through, but I guess anything is possible in a land that used magic. Saying goodbye to logic, I raised my Sa-58, clicked off the safety and turning it to single, I shot a single round.

The 7.62 x39mm round slammed into the wooden wolf, turning it into splinters as the powerful bullet flew through it from one end to the other, completely running it through. What was left of it collapsed on the ground, immediately followed by fleeing stomps as I assumed the rest of those creatures ran. Kicking the fragments of wood out of the clearing and into the woods, I set out to clean my rifle.

Going into my hut and searching through my attachments bag, I eventually came upon my cleaning kit for the rifle. Setting the selector to safe, I took the clip out and ejected the bullet in the chamber, to prevent any misfires. I slid the bullet back down into the casing, and turned my attention back to the rifle. I swiftly disassembled it and cleaned out the barrel, removing what little powder remains had gathered up. I then gave it a check over and, finding no flaws, I just as quickly assembled the rifle.

My daily task done for the day, I slung it on my shoulder and grabbed my binoculars. Moving to my pack, I removed my camouflage BDU and put it on, blending in nicely with the forest. That being done, I started to head back towards the town, Ponyville. My plan would come at nightfall, so I had time to think about it. I needed supplies for a long stay, and to do that I had to take them. I doubt the residents would act nicely towards a being that had terrified their children, sparked a manhunt (a ponyhunt, I jokingly imagined them saying), and practically kidnapped a guard for all they knew.

My camp would be fine. I bet that, after making an example of their leader, the pack of weird wooden wolves wouldn’t bother me for a while. I reached a good position overlooking the town, and mentally checked the list of items I would need: A knife, some cloth for bandages (you never know), and whatever else I could find that I might need.

First off, I pulled out my binoculars, looking around the town for what I needed. The shop with the pony outside of it banging on an anvil was obviously a blacksmith. Whether the ponies knew how to make steel or not, I didn’t care. The helmet of the guard, which I had picked up after hitting her, was made of iron, so I assumed not. I didn’t care what the ponies found after I had left, as long as I had enough time to make a decent steel blade.

Moving the binoculars to the left, I saw shop after shot, none of them having what I needed. What use would furniture or gems make to me? I’m practically on the run, so stuff like that means nothing. It’s odd thing about how calm I was in this situation, but I had to assume I would never be going back, so staying calm was a priority. Seeing as I had around half of the day left, I decided to make a small stash, to store any stuff I could not carry.

Walking back around five meters from the edge of the woods, I shot a single bullet into a tree – at the range that the town was from the woods, it should only come through as a slight whisper of sound. The bullet hole marking the location, I set to making a small, crude hole, about a foot wide on each side, and half a foot deep. I leaned several large branches across the top, and then disguised that with plenty of fallen branches. Within half an hour, I had a respectable supply stash that I could store things in.

Moving back to my observation point, I noted that there was a place in town that seemed to have plenty of clothes on display. Why ponies that went naked the entire time needed clothes, I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to question my luck. With my streak of alternating good-bad fortune, I hoped that this would land on good, and that I would find some cloth in there.

Deciding to take a small rest before moving in to town, and seeing as I had about four hours left until nightfall, I fell into a much-needed sleep.

I woke up with a start. It was dark outside, nearly pitch black, and it would’ve been darker if the moon didn’t faintly glimmer in the sky. I moved towards the edge of the woods, seeing very few lights on in the town. Eventually, even those shut off, leaving the only light coming from several lit windows. I ran out of the woods, easily making it to the edge of town. Once I reached a street, I started walking through alleys, searching for the blacksmith’s shop I had seen earlier. I quickly found it, and found that it was completely unoccupied, and furthermore that the stone walls would muffle any sounds that came from the inside.

Perfect. My plan would go as it was designed.

I noticed a pile of iron scraps in the corner. Grabbing them, I quickly stoked up the still-warm furnace, and put the iron inside of a hardened iron bucket. I supposed it was enchanted to withstand the heat or something, because the iron inside of it certainly wasn’t. It melted quickly, forming a mostly molten mass that felt to be about three pounds in weight. Opening the door of the furnace, I let oxygen surge into the space, stepping back to avoid the heat. Luckily, nothing in the shop was wooden, or it might have ignited.

After about ten minutes of exposure, I pulled the bucket out with a long iron claw thing and closed the door, content to let the fire die out on its own. In front of me I had about two pounds of something very close to steel. You see, when molten iron is exposed to oxygen, it burns off the carbon impurities inside, making it much stronger and lighter. Therefore, steel. After waiting another ten minutes for it to cool down, the mass inside was partially solid. Using several tools, I extracted some of it, and quickly started to form my knife.

It was around five inches long, with a smooth steel blade. There were no nicks or cuts in the metal, the result of about fifty hours of experimenting with metalworking in high school. I formed a basic grip out of some of the remaining steel, and, taking the knife inside a grasper, I slid it slowly into a bucket of water, blade-first, to let it cool down. The water hissed slightly, but nothing major. Two minutes of soaking, and the knife was cool enough to easily use. It was very light and smooth, so I quickly formed a basic sheath out of some leather I found lying around (probably for the same reason). Sticking it inside of my belt, I felt ready to take on the world.

The entire thing of forming the knife had taken about an hour and a half. Although some scraps of steel were the only thing announcing my presence in that shop, I was pretty sure they would figure it out quickly. Slipping once more into the dark, I made my way to the clothing shop I had found earlier. Pushing the unlocked door open slowly, I stopped suddenly as I heard snoring upstairs. A pony was sleeping, and I was more than happy to have it remain that way. Slowly, I walked inside, moving over to a roll of material on the wall. Touching it, I found that it was some type of cotton. I quickly gathered two pieces of the material, about one square foot each. Moving out of the shop quickly, I headed around the outskirts of town, looking for anything of note.

Along the edge of town, I spotted the best sight all day – a hospital. Maybe they would have gauze, or something like that for me to use. Moving quickly, I walked alongside the wall, turning the corner and finding a door which I assumed they used to carry in supplies. I knew I could simply run if I was found, so, taking a deep breath, I pushed it open.

Sure enough, I found myself in a supply room. Nobody was inside, so I assumed that only minimum staff was here at night. Looking around the room, I found a dark grey case about one and a half feet wide by one foot tall, and about six inches thick. Opening it, I quickly stuffed in two rolls of gauze and a bottle of what I assumed was anesthetic, judging by the picture diagrams on the sheet next to it. Seriously, it was literally pictured on how to use it. I assumed from the pictures that it simply dulled pain, and didn’t induce anything else.

Having collected all of what I needed, I quickly ran out of the door and headed across the field, wanting to make it to my little hut before midnight. I quickly stopped to store both of the cloth segments inside of the supply stash, before turning to walk back to my campsite.

When I found there, I found the captured guard asleep and the apple gone, not that I suspected anything less. I quickly wolfed down what remained of my ham sandwich, finished off one of the water bottles, and fell back onto my sleeping bag, not even bothering to crawl inside. It had been a long day, and I needed my sleep. One thing was for sure, though: I would no longer be welcome in Ponyville, not that I was before.

Pushing everything out of my mind, I slowly drifted off into dreamland.

Under Guard

I felt myself floating through space, unaware of anything outside of my little unconscious dream. The mist I had come to know well surrounded me, cloaking everything around by body in darkness. Slowly, I felt solid ground materialize beneath me. I got up slowly, in no need to hurry, before I saw two shapes around twenty feet from me.

They were  rather large, and growing larger every second. Slowly, the mist dissipated around them, and I saw them for who they were. One was pure white, brighter than the sun, but the other was a deep blue, more majestic than any ocean.

Luna I recognized instantly, and the talks I had held with my roommate told me the other one was Celestia. They stopped around five feet from me, and stared.

I looked right back, unafraid of them, but silently wishing this was the real world, where I could actually fight back against them. Ejecting them from the dream might be funny, but it would serve no long-term interest. Slowly, I saw Celestia point her horn at me, already glowing.

I made no move to dodge as a golden orb shot out and hit me, and I collapsed the next instant onto the misty ground, in pain. I felt ice fill my head, while at the same time I felt it burning me. It lasted for ten seconds, but it might as well have been ten hours.

Slowly, head feeling like someone had split it open, I gotten up to my feet. I shot daggers with my eyes at Celestia, and I was just about ready to eject her from the dream. Suddenly, however, she spoke.

“Do you think it understands us now, Luna?” Celestia asked, turning towards Luna. I could understand them! They were speaking clear, understandable English, not whatever gibberish they spoke normally.

Luna spoke next, “We don’t know, Tia. Tis been too long since We had to use a translation spell, and We don’t know if it even understands language.”

“Hello!” I shouted, drawing two startled glances, “I’m right here, and you can stop speaking about me as if I wasn’t five feet away from you!”

“Well,” Celestia said, “It appears our visitor CAN speak. Tell me, what are you doing in my kingdom?” She said the last few words with venom, as if she couldn’t stand to be around me.

“Well, it wasn’t MY fault that a random portal in my bathroom stranded me here!” I said, “As for the rest, I really can’t expect you to be trusting and humble after you tried to hunt me down, can I?”

“You kidnapped a guard.” Luna said.

“You sent the damn thing.” I countered.

“ENOUGH!” Celestia shouted in a VERY loud voice, nearly breaking my eardrums in the process. She turned towards me, glowering. “You WILL be locked up until we can find out what to do with you. It’s obvious you don’t have any weapons, other than the strangely hard knife, so we will leave you your things. However, don’t try to escape. You won’t.”

“I’m tired of you two.” I said, bored to death of this conversation. I quickly conjured up a revolver, cocking back the hammer and aiming it at Celestia, ready to end the dream. “Goodbye.” I shot the gun, instantly ejecting her from the dream. Luna was quick, however, and ended the dream. I felt it dissolve around me, and I awoke suddenly to a cold sensation.

Looking around, I saw that I was in what looked like a small, stone room. The floor was cold, and the only thing in the room was an iron bed. A small, barred window sat around eight feet above the ground. The room/cell was about six by eight feet, and about ten feet tall.

I rolled over and checked for my weapons. Surprisingly, I still had both of my guns, although when I felt around I found that my knife had been taken away. They probably didn’t know what the guns were, and so they probably didn’t want to touch them for fear of a reaction. Made sense to me, anyway.

Loud thumps from my right announced something. Turning, I saw a thick, iron door being slowly opened, and a white guard marched inside. I gave a silent laugh at the thought of a horse marching, but mentally stopped myself as he took a guarding position by the door. It motioned with one leg to something outside the half-open door, and then spoke.

“Come in. It looks docile enough.”

Immediately, a light blue unicorn entered, wearing a lab coat. A clipboard floated in, surrounded in an aqua glow. The unicorn stared at me for a moment, before turning to the guard.

“I don’t suppose it understands us?” The unicorn asked the guard, who shook his head.

“Actually, I do.” I interrupted, earning a glare from the guard. “And I would appreciate it if you would leave me the fuck alone, and stop talking about me as if I was an inanimate object.”

“Actually, I need to ask you some questions.” The unicorn said. “Now if you’ll just sit still and answer these…”

“Nope!” I said, while grabbing my laptop out of my backpack. The unicorn and the guard glared at me as I sat down in a corner of the cell and opened it up. I pressed the power button, and it glowed blue, signaling that the computer was booting up. The unicorn watched in apparent fascination as the screen lit up my face and upper body, and I decided to give them a little show. Turning the laptop slightly so they could see it, I started up ArmA 2.

“What’s that glowing thing you have?!” The unicorn said at a fast rate, still writing down observations on the floating clipboard. “It lights up! What does it do?”

“It’s a computer.” I deadpanned, leaving the unicorn hilariously speechless as he tried to figure out what I had meant.

“What does it do?” The unicorn said insistently.

“It’s an electronic machine. It does all sorts of things. I’m playing a game.”

“What type of game is this that you are playing?”

“War.”

The unicorn blanched at my answer, turning away to confer with the guard. I caught the words ‘savage’ and ‘barbaric’, and decided to load up a small mission I had made in the editor.

Fifteen minutes later, with the unicorn still confused as to what was happening, and me nearly laughing out loud at the guard’s confused look, I finally shut it off. With my only entertainment being the ponies that would probably visit at all hours of the day, I needed to make the most out of their temporary confusion.

Shortly afterward, he left, mumbling about advanced technology and its connection to a savage. I grinned at the guard, who returned with a glare as they both stepped outside the door. I saw it close and lock, and decided to get some sleep. It seemed to be night outside, judging by the little light that came through the window, so it was time to catch some sleep. Being unconscious doesn’t count, in my book.

I quickly packed the laptop up and got out my sleeping bag, taking off both of my guns. I had no idea how I was going to get out of this, but I assumed that I would eventually find a way. As I knew the city was on a mountainside, however, it would be harder to escape that it might normally be.

I unrolled the sleeping bag, and laid it over the small mattress that lay on the iron frame of the bed. I practically crawled inside, and lay my head down; knowing tomorrow would be a whirlwind of activity.

The sun shone brightly through the small, barred window. I noticed this moments after waking up to the loud sound of the door being opened. Poking more of my head out of my sleeping bag, I saw an unamused guard standing in the doorway.

“Come on,” He said, “The Princesses request your presence.” Apparently, the ‘request’ part was a joke; they probably demanded it and then phrased it politely. I nodded to him, crawling out of my sleeping bag only to end up sprawled on the floor, sending someone behind the guard into laughter.

Pulling myself up, I packed my sleeping bag into my pack, and then slid my pistol into its holster, with my rifle slung over my back: As long as they didn’t know what my guns did, I felt the need to carry them around. I slung my backpack around my back and headed towards the guard, who promptly turned around and marched down the hall. Following him, I noticed two other guards, these ones grey unicorns, take positions to my left and right. I had to assume the every-guard-the-same-color thing was some sort of magic, or other weird shit like that.

Our group of four rapidly made our way through the castle, and we quickly passed from the dark halls of the dungeon to a long, winding staircase. The climb up took at least five minutes, and I think we might have climbed around ten stories in that time. We entered a white hall that lead past several stained-glass windows of various ponies, and about a minute later we reached a set of large doors. They slowly moved open, showing a vast room beyond them.

I assumed this room was a throne room, since at the end of a long, red carpet sat Celestia and Luna, apparently waiting for me. Silently praying for a way out, I walked slowly across the floor towards the raised area, and stopped at the base.

One of the guards motioned towards me. “Bow.”

“Eh, I’d rather not.” I replied.

“They are the Princesses!” A unicorn guard explained.

“So?” I replied, taking it in style and enjoying the mental headache I was giving them. “It’s not like they rule me, or anything.”

The lead guards was going to protest again, but was stopped when Luna raised her hoof. “Be dismissed. We no longer require thy presence, guards.” One by one, the guards filtered out, leaving me alone in the room. I looked around for any way out I could find, eventually settling my gaze on a stained-glass window. Noting it for later, I turned back to the two princesses in front of me.

“So,” Luna said, “Why doth thou not bow before us, creature?”

“First of all,” I said in growing annoyance, “My name isn’t creature; it’s Tyler. Recognize that fact, and maybe I’ll respect you. Second of all, you’re not the empresses of the goddamn universe or anything. I’m a citizen of the United States of America, and I will NOT bow before any other ruler.”

Celestia and Luna didn’t seem to comprehend half of what I said. “United States of America?” Luna asked.

“Yes, my country.” I replied. “We have a combined population of 300 million, and an Army of around 6 million.” Luna and Celestia seemed concerned at these numbers.

“But our kingdom hath only four million citizens!” Luna replied in shock.

“There is not a chance of what you said being true!” Celestia said. “I shall go into your memories to ascertain the truth! Luna, assist me.”

Suddenly, their horns lit up. I smiled, knowing they were about to get the shock of their lives. Slowly, I felt them enter my head, and I felt myself drawn along for the ride…

Unaswered Questions

Yet again, I found myself floating through a misty voice. Again.

“Is this going to become a regular thing for me?” I grumbled, “Getting knocked out just so people can interrogate me? This is getting un-fuckin-believable.”

“Well, well,” I heard a voice chuckle to my right. I looked over and, unsurprisingly, Celestia and Luna were standing there. “Now it is time that We get the answers that We need.”

I grimaced. Apparently, they were going to look through my memories. I did have a secret weapon, though. Whenever they looked through something I didn’t want them to see, I could simply remember any of a hundred things I had seen on the internet, things they would defiantly want to un-see afterwards.

I saw both of them make their horns glow, and saw images called up in my mind as they went through my memories. I saw them dig through my childhood, going through memories at a rapid pace. Luna saw many of the technological advancements that we had, and tried to go searching in my mind for information about them. I drew the line there.

I suddenly called up an image that would better be left unnamed. I felt Luna’s emotions as she saw it, and saw her figure in dreamscape gasp, and then turn a bright red. I felt that now was the time to speak up.

“If any of you two go near memories I don’t want you to, you get to see something like that again.” I threatened. Celestia looked over at her sister, an obvious question forming on her lips.

“What did you see, Luna?” She asked, concern on her voice.

Luna slowly shook her head. “We… Don’t want to talk about it, Tia. Let us continue, it cannot be worse than that.”

I grinned, and then shook my head. They had no idea. This time, Luna steered well clear of those memories, and joined Celestia in overlooking my time in collage. Satisfied that I was, at the least, normal, I clearly felt them moving to see how I knew who they were.

I decided to draw another mental line here. Summoning up another, even worse image, this time I showed it to both Luna and Celestia. I practically jumped with joy as I saw their expressions in the dreamscape, showing a combination of embarrassment and disgust at what I had showed them.

Celestia glared at me, her eyes like twin supernovas.

“WHY! Why are you resisting us, and with that… That… FILTHY image?” She yelled at me, apparently forgetting that I was the one here who was trapped, and that I had obviously told her that she wouldn’t like what she found. I had just failed to mention what would happen if she ‘found’ it by ‘accident’.

I fell on the imaginary ground, laughing like crazy. Suddenly, I felt a presence invade my mind, this time by force. I saw Luna in the dreamscape, horn glowing, obviously fed up with my resistance. I couldn’t do anything to stop her as she entered my mind, forcefully grabbing the memories and sharing them with her sister. Suddenly, their eyes opened wide as they were assaulted by images of the show, and at the truth: That, to us, they were just fiction.

I saw the look of pure horror on their faces, and decided that now was the time to end the dream before anything else happened. I woke up on the floor of the throne room, in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. I looked over at the throne dais, and saw Luna and Celestia, shaking slightly as they recovered from what had been revealed.

Looking through the stained-glass windows, I judged that about two hours had passed in real-time, even though it was around ten minutes in the dream. How time flies when you are discovering secrets. Celestia bit her lip, and then looked at me, keeping me in her gaze.

“What we saw… Is this true?” She demanded in a soft tone, still in shock from what she had seen.

“Yea, it’s all true.” I said, and then added, “That’s what happens when you ignore my blocks on my memories.”

Luna glared at me again, and turned to her sister. The two seemed to have a silent discussion before turning to me.

“We have decided on thy punishment.” Luna proclaimed, “Thou will stay here, locked up, until we release thee. We have spoken.” She declared with finality, as if it was the only option in the world. It would certainly delay an escape, but I knew I would find a way. “Come, Tia, we need to plan Our niece’s wedding.”

“Guard!” Celestia shouted. “Take the… Human back to his cell.”

A white pegasus in golden armor came in and motioned to the door. I followed him, content to bide my time. The guard turned back at me to scowl a couple of times, obviously angry at having to escort me through the halls.

We reached the cell, and he turned around and spoke as a grey unicorn standing guard outside of it unlocked the door.

“If I had my way,” He said, “You wouldn’t even get the comfort of a cell, beast.”

“Yea, yea.” I said dismissively. “Tell it to the judge. I don’t care.”

I walked inside, and the door slammed behind me, quickly locking. With nothing else to do, I decided to take a nap. It seemed to be on its way to becoming my primary activity here, other than being tossed around by ponies. God knows I enjoyed the latter much less than the former.

I set down my backpack, along with my gear, crawling into my sleeping bag. Closing my eyes, I found myself in that state between sleep and awareness. I found myself focusing on my time here. At this point, there was definitely no chance that this was all in my head. I had experienced too much up to this point to be asleep.

Drifting off, I fell into a deep and wonderful sleep.

I awoke the next day with a growling stomach and a dry throat. Apparently, Humans still need food. I dug around in my backpack, bringing out three apples and a half-full water bottle. I ate two of the apples, still marveling that they were delicious several days after picking them, and still showed no signs of bruising or decay, even after all they had been put through in my backpack. I guess that’s the advantage of a world with magic.

After chugging down the rest of the water bottle and replacing it inside of my backpack, I laid down on my sleeping bag, just sitting there. I realized I would have plenty of time to waste, so I grabbed my laptop. I turned it on, checking the battery, currently at 54 hours remaining. I turned the volume on because, A, I wanted the guards outside the door to wonder what I was doing, and B, just because I could, and it would annoy the guards.

I started up Battlefield 3, and in a moment of idiotic thought tried to connect to the online. Chuckling at my attempt, I started up the singleplayer. Fifteen minutes later, I was moving through the second mission.

A sound announced the door unlocking, followed by a white pegasus poking his head in, probably seeing what I was doing. What he would have seen is a strange creature sitting on a large bag, his back to a wall, staring at a flat surface giving light, and brightening his features.

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing?” The guard asked of me.

“Meh,” I answered, deciding to play this off calmly, “Playing a Video Game. You wouldn’t know, you haven’t even discovered electricity.”

“Of course we have!” The guard yelled, drawing several snickers from behind the door, which I assumed were the other guards. “But what does electricity have to do with a game?”

I looked up at him, pausing the game. “It’s a simulation of warfare where I come from.” I stated, “You likely wouldn’t understand half of the stuff happening on the screen.”

The guard huffed, and closed the door, locking it amid loud laughter from what I assumed, again, were other guards watching the scene play out.

I looked down at the screen and closed it, lying down on the sleeping bag again. I didn’t know how long I was going to be here, so I might as well enjoy my time sleeping. A loud unlocking round rang again. I groaned, raising myself into a seated position as the door opened. Another grey unicorn in armor came in, and stopped at the entrance to the door.

“Come.” He said simply, and waited slightly behind the door for me. I rose to my feet, gathering my backpack (leaving the sleeping bag), slinging my Sa-58 on my back, and putting my G-17C inside of my holster. The guard raised an eyebrow at what I was bringing, but he didn’t know what half of it was anyway, so screw his opinion.

I rose to my feet after donning my equipment, and he turned away, leaving me to follow him. I looked behind me and noticed two pegasus guards following at a discrete distance. Apparently, I was popular already, and I had only been in this world for a week. The unicorn in front of me turned a corner, and I followed, leading us into another hallway.

He stopped halfway down the hallway, turning towards a door with the number 26 on it. He opened it, and motioned for me to step inside. I did, and found a small stone room with two cushions about ten feet apart. I sat down on one, assuming that was what they were for.

About twenty seconds later, the door opened again, and a dark blue pegasus came into the room. I recognized it immediately as the one that I had captured for two days in the forest. I tensed up, wondering why it – a she, I reminded myself again – would be here.

She sat down on the other cushion and stared at me. We looked at one another for around ten seconds before she spoke up.

“All right, since you decided to tie me up and all that, Shining wanted to see if I could ask you some questions. Is that all right with you?”

I nodded my consent. Along with the fact that she was asking nicely, and NOT a princess about to threaten to toss me into the sun, she was also the one that I had practically kidnapped and hid in the forest for two days. Although it was clear that there was no way she had forgiven me for that, I still felt I owed at least this to her.

“First off,” She said, starting it nicely enough, “Why do you carry around your saddlebags all the time?”

“First off, it’s a backpack, not a saddlebag.” I responded, “And second, it’s so you can’t mess with any of my stuff.”

“Second, what is that long club-like thing you carry around, along with the small L-shaped one?” She asked.

“It’s a gun. More on that later.”

We got involved in a short Q and A session. Although I didn’t feel as though any of the questions invaded my privacy, I was still concerned about the gun thing. When I finally tell them it’s a weapon, they will try to take it away, and I will probably be forced to ‘demonstrate’ it on a few of the people who will try and take it. No matter, though. I would cross that bridge when I needed to.

After around fifteen minutes, she notified me she was done, and handed me over to the guards. Although my mind felt picked clean, and I knew it would all go straight to the princesses anyway, I felt confident in being out of the room when she told them I was an Omnivore. Although I would probably pay to see that, I would prefer to be alive, and so I happily entered my cell. Lying down on my bed, I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the next day.

Raising More

The sun shone through the small, barred window of the cell, slowing bringing me back into the real world. I opened my eyes, squinting at the sudden intrusion of daylight.

“Uhg… I hate mornings.” I mumbled. I had never functioned well in mornings, with the last few days as an exception to the rule. Then again, I had been getting much more sleep than usual lately, so maybe that was the reason behind it.

A mechanical sound from the door announced that it was opening. I looked out of the sleeping bag to see a pegasus guard standing there, apparently waiting for me.

“Wake up.” It said in a low voice, “Apparently, someone in the ranks thinks you need some time outside. So, we will lead you to the gardens, and you will NOT try to escape. Understood?”

“Yes, I get it… Dickhead.” I said, with several guards in the hallway snickering at the one in the doorway. I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag, grabbing my G-17C and putting it in my holster. It occurred to me I had been wearing the same clothes for around a week, yet I didn’t even see much dirt or wear on them. Another benefit, I suppose, of being in a place that defied physics.

I walked out of the room, leaving most of my stuff there. I assumed they wouldn’t touch it, since they didn’t know what half of it was, even if they were curious. And the guards were too professional to do so, anyway. I walked up to the guard, who promptly turned around and led me on another long journey through the halls.

I was sure that, if I ever tried to break out through my cell, I would get lost within five minutes. Seriously, who puts fifty fucking random turns and a large staircase between the outside and the dungeon? I instantly hated whoever designed this. Can’t they see that someone – or a pony, for that matter – might need to escape at some point?

Eventually we reached a large door guarded by two of those grey unicorn guards. Needless to say, they didn’t look happy to see me.

“Halt!” One of them shouted, point a spear at me – how, I do not know. “Why is this… Beast not back in its cell?”

I was at the end of my patience with them calling me ‘beast’ and ‘creature’. “First off, I have a name.” I snapped at the guard, leaving it stunned. “It’s Tyler Maddox. Learn to use it, or I’ll throw you around the goddamn castle all day. I’m sure your friends” I said, gesturing towards the other two guards. “would enjoy that. Second, someone apparently thinks I need some fresh air. So, if you’re quite through wasting my time, I would like to get a glimpse of the sky for once.”

All three guards stared at me, before the pegasus one finally broke the ice.

“Just let us through,” He said, “I got the orders from Shining, so I assume that he has a good reason for it.”

The two unicorns grudgingly moved aside and opened the door to reveal a large stretch of greenery. I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air around me, before the guard spoke up again.

“Come this way. I don’t know why I am leading you here, but this is where I was told to go.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I figured it must be important if the guard was supposed to lead me there. I had no idea why I was being suddenly compliant, but the promise of fresh air and a garden must have had something to do with it. Turning towards the guard, I followed him on a small path through the garden.

Maybe it was because I was paranoid, but I was sure I spotted at least three guards behind us, following at a distance. I was definitely popular with the local guards; either that or they all had a thing for men. I couldn’t decide which one to crack a joke about, so I settled on just following the guard.

We eventually reached a small pond, surrounded by trees and bushes. And standing beside it were Luna, Celestia, and a white unicorn with blue hair. The guard seemed to stiffen up when he saw the unicorn, so I assumed that he was probably a general or something equivalent.

Luna was the first one to notice my arrival. “Ah, our guest has arrived,” She said, “Would you kindly answer for what happened two days ago? We have had much time to think over it, and We demand an answer from thee.”

I sighed. They must be truly lost if they could figure out why I had hid it.

“If you I had told you,” I explained, “Would you have believed me?”

The white unicorn was apparently getting impatient. “Just what is going on, Princess Celestia?” He asked.

Celestia sighed, apparently she hadn’t told anyone what she had seen. “We know why this creature-”

“I have a name, for Christ’s sake! It’s Tyler Maddox. Stop calling me ‘creature’, or ‘beast’, or ‘savage’, or whatever you come up with to sooth your mind over the fact that I am clearly intelligent enough to hold a conversation with you, and the obvious evidence that our kind is clearly more advanced that yours!” I was shouting at the end, causing Celestia and Luna to flinch, and the unicorn to glare at me.

The unicorn scoffed. “How can your kind possibly be more advanced than ours! You obviously have no magic, so how would you advance at all?”

I was shaking in anger at this point. “You just don’t get it, do you?” I said in a low voice, “My kind has done things that you have never dreamed of. We have gone into space and landed on our moon, and we have technology beyond your comprehension. My country has an army of six million men, all of whom are armed with weapons beyond your capacity to understand! We have bombs that can vaporize entire cities and all their surroundings, and we have managed to established a global communications network that allows everyone with a cell phone to communicate instantly with anyone else, anywhere. Don’t you dare try to pass yourselves off as more advanced simply because you have something that SHOULDN’T EVEN EXSIST!”

Celestia and Luna were shocked at my outburst, and with all of the knowledge that I had just given them. They probably knew from my face that I wasn’t lying, and the implications that held were huge.

The unicorn, again, was furious. “Guards, take this creature and put it back in its cell. We will discuss this later when it does not suggest such things!”

I didn’t resist at all as I was led out of the garden, all my thoughts of enjoying the day gone. The pegasus who led me here looked kind of shell-shocked, as did the other guards who took me back. Given all that I had just spat out, I wasn’t surprised. When we got to the cell, there were no words exchanged, just a simple lock of the door. It wasn’t even noon yet, and I was already back here.

“Damn it…” I said in a low voice, “I shouldn’t lose my temper like that, but that ignorant asshole set me off. I really need to work on that…”

“Yeah,” I heard a voice to my right say, “You should work on that.”

Turning, I saw that the pegasus guard that had escorted me to the park was back. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, what with the disguise thing that made them all look alike, but each one had small, individual differences. His voice helped me identify him, that and the fact that his golden armor had a single iron mark on the side, in the shape of a wing.

“We have another questioning for you. I know it’s been around ten minutes since you blew up on Shining and the Princesses, but, as two days ago, we got somepony else to do it.” He explained, motioning to the door with his wing.

I quickly grabbed my stuff, slinging my Sa-58 over my back. My pistol was already in its holster, so that was marked off mentally. I quickly put my backpack on, putting it over the Sa-58. Finally, after a minute of packing, I was ready.

For the second time in an hour, I followed the same guard, through the same goddamn series of halls, and down a different path through the building. Once again, we turned down a hall, stopping halfway through in front of a door. Opening it, he gestured inside. I walked in, and the door quickly shut, leaving me trapped inside. With nothing else to do, I noticed the same two cushions on the ground. I sat down on one, waiting for the questioner to arrive.

After two minutes of waiting, the door finally opened. In walked the same, familiar dark blue pegasus. She sat down on the cushion across from me, staring across the distance that separated us.

Finally, I decided to break out the main question. “I assume you are here to ask me things, because whoever that white unicorn was failed horribly this morning?” I asked.

“Yes.” She responded. “Shining Armor usually doesn’t make a huge deal out of things like this, but today he seems a bit... Off. It’s probably nothing. His wedding is tomorrow, and the Captain’s probably just stressed out. Anyway, on to the questions that I have for you.”

“Ok.” I simply stated, ignoring most of the information except for the ‘wedding’ part. It might be a good opportunity to get out of here.

She pulled a checklist out using her hooves; how they do things like that I still haven’t figured out. “First, off, we are going to go through much of what you said today. For example, you said that your supposed ‘army of six million’ – an absolutely unbelievable figure. A professional guard should be under two thousand – was armed with ‘weapons beyond your understanding’. What did you mean?”

I sighed. This was the part where I would have to explain what my gun was. Pulling it off of my back, I held it out in front of us.

“This is what I meant.” She cocked her head, waiting for the follow-up. “This is a gun.”

“What does that club-thing do, anyway?” She asked, with obvious amusement on her voice.

I unclipped the magazine from the receiver, pulling a bullet out of it. “It fires this out of the barrel. It’s called a bullet – a metal object that can be differing diameters depending on the type of gun. When the trigger – I gestured towards it – is pulled, a pin inside of it strikes the back of the bullet, igniting an explosive powder that shoots the metal slug out of the barrel at velocities that can exceed the speed of sound. For this one, it’s around 2,000 feet per second.

“Once out of the barrel, it goes downrange until it strikes a target, dealing kinetic impact damage as it rips through the target. Does that answer your question?”

Her reaction was priceless. Her face froze up as I finished as she soaked in all of what I said. In a voice that trembled slightly, she finally spoke up.

“How!?!? That doesn’t even sound physically possible! There must be something else!”

I grinned. “Oh, it’s perfectly possible. Just simple physics.  The question is, are you going to try and take them away? Do you even want to attempt it?”

She shook her head slowly. I could see her turning it around in her head, considering the nonexistent ways she could avoid having anybody killed while trying to take my guns away. I suppose she threw the idea away, because she jumped on to the next question quicker than I expected.

“What did you mean by an ‘army of six million’, though? Anypony could see that what you said was a ridiculous number.”

I slowly shook my head. “My country, the United States of America, has a population of 300 million people. We have a small standing army of around six million to defend our country from any threats. You see, our planet has a population of around 7 billion people. There are several dozen large nations on our planet what contain a large percentage of the population. At any time, several of them might get the bad idea to attack us, even though we are the most powerful country on the planet. Therefore, our country has a fairly small army to deal with any threats.”

Her jaw hung open. “SMALL? You call that army SMALL? That’s more than the entire population of Equestria! And seven billion is an insanely large number! How do they all fit?”

“They just do.” I said, not wanting to elaborate. “Next question.”

“What’s that bomb you talked about? You said they being capable of vaporizing entire cities. It’s definitely magical in nature, no doubt about it, but what type?” She said.

I grimaced. They had to learn about it eventually. “It’s not magical at all. Magic, to us, is simply a myth. We don’t have any, nor do we have any examples of it.” She gaped at me, probably stunned for the fifth time today. “A nuclear bomb, nicknamed a nuke, is an incredibly powerful explosive device. When detonated, it splits an atom, the fundamental building block of nature, releasing an insane amount of energy. This causes more to split into neutrons, along with several other types of radioactive materials. You do know what an atom and radiation is, right?”

“Ye- Yes, we do.” She said, stuttering through the phrase.

I continued, “We measure the power of them via TNT. A ton of TNT is enough to level a good-sized area, say a block or two. Nuclear weapons range in explosive power from around a thousand tons of TNT, to well over ten million. The largest ever detonated was about 50 million tons of TNT equivalent. The fireball alone was two miles in diameter, and the effects, including the massive radiation, covered an area three hundred miles in diameter. Do you get all that? Now you know why I don’t talk much about my world, or what we have. Nuclear weapons have only been used twice in a war, but each time they caused around a hundred thousand deaths, and destroyed most of a major city. And that’s only for a bomb around sixteen thousand tons of TNT equivalent.”

She simply stared at me in sheer disbelief.

Two minutes later, I decided to ask the main question. “Do you have your questions answered?” She nodded. “In that case, should I leave?” Another nod. “Don’t forget, everything that I have said is the truth. I don’t expect you to believe me, or to understand, but try.”

I got up and opened the door. As I expected, the guards had been listening in. They simply stared at me. Finally, the white pegasus I had seen much too often today broke the thin ice that kept me standing here.

“Is what you said true?” He simply asked.

I nodded. “Every word of it. And don’t try to take away either of my guns, or whoever she is” I pointed back at the room, “Will have plenty of notes to take on how dangerous they are. Understood?”

The pegasus nodded. “Oh, and by the way, her name is Amber Star. Please refer to my friend as such, or I’ll have your flank, weapon or no weapon. As another note, my name is Azure Star, and yes, we are related.” He finished off with a grin, daring me to say something.

“Ok then,” I said, wanting to get back to my cell, where nobody was there to bombard me with awkward questions. “Let’s get back to my ‘room’.”

With that, I was led back to my cell. For the second time today. I seemed to be getting into a habit, it seemed: Piss off the locals, get led back into cell, repeat. I was sure, though, that today I would just be getting the rest of the day off. I’d given them too much to digest, and they needed to regroup. Probably two days from now, I thought, what with the wedding I had heard about happening tomorrow.

Lying down on my sleeping bag, I pulled out my laptop and started up Battlefield 3. If nothing else, I could simply lose myself in some mindless gaming.

Two hours later, I was in the middle of the second mission when I heard the sound of the cell door unlocking. Looking up, I saw the guard that I usually had – Azure, I corrected myself – standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing to make that sound?” He asked. I facepalmed, unaware that I had the volume turned up the entire time. Everyone for twenty feet around would have heard the sound of shooting and yelling.

“I’m playing a game.” I stated.

“A game? What type of game, and what is it called? And how are you doing a game on that glowing thing?” He asked. I prepared myself for a long explanation.

“The game is a shooting game. It has warfare in it, and it’s called Battlefield 3. As for how I am playing it, this is a computer. It’s an electronic device that allows me to do a variety of things, and I have quite a few games of it.” I finished off, waiting for his reaction.

“Can I watch?” He asked.

I blinked. That was one of the last responses I had expected. Although, I wasn’t about to deny him that. It might actually make me a friend, one of the first things that I needed here, and one of the main things I lacked.

“Sure, although I don’t know if you will understand half of what you see, so feel free to ask if you need to.”

He walked over to the cot I was on and sat down, still in armor. I turned my laptop slightly so he could see it, and unpaused the game.

“Is that a gun?” He asked upon seeing the object that the screen showed me holding.

I nodded. “It’s a gun. The name of it is the M16A2. It’s like the gun that I have, only a different type of bullet is fired – or shot, if you prefer that term – from it.”

I moved forward in the game, running into a parking lot with several insurgents. They all started firing, and bullets flew. Azure stared at the screen, fascinated.

“Is that how warfare on your world really is?” He asked.

I nodded again, feeling like a bobble-head from the many times I had done it today. “It’s pretty close. This is a game, and has inaccuracies that the real world wouldn’t have. For example, on here your character has a health meter that tells you how much life you have left. In the real world, you would simply die, or be severely hurt. However, in a game, some realism is sacrificed for a better experience.”

Apparently whatever Luna had done to translate my speech into theirs and visa versa, also applied to the computer. Azure could read what was on the screen, and also understand what was said, even the Arabic (although he admitted that was because had gone on a tour in Saddle Arabia, wherever that was).

After a half-hour, another guard stood in the doorway.

“Azure! Enough socializing, your break is up, and you’re needed on-duty for the wedding.”

Azure turned and looked at me. Taking a small breath, he got to his hooves and walked to the doorway. “It was… interesting being around you. Although I don’t understand half of what I have seen and heard today, I think I know better than to try and understand it all.”

The door locked again. It was around five here, and I needed something to eat. I went to my backpack, grabbing two apples and my remaining water bottle. Eating the two apples and gulping down the water, I figured I was done for the day, and needed some sleep if I wanted to keep up my strength. Lying down on the bed, I crawled into my sleeping bag and started to drift off. Somewhere, inside of my head, I felt I would need all the sleep I could get for tomorrow.

Black Rain

The mist I had come to know in my dreams formed around me. Yet again, I felt myself lower onto the invisible ground. Out of the mist in front of me, Luna came towards me, stopping around ten feet from me.

I walked to about five feet from her and stopped. “You know,” I said, “It seems to me like you enjoy tormenting both my days and my nights. Am I right, or is this all a coincidence?”

Luna sighed. “If you would stop telling untruths to Us, then We might consider stopping. Consider thy ‘weapons’. We do not see how they would possibly have that kind of power, or do what you say without magic. And We sense no magic on them. These ‘Nuclear Bombs’, as you called them, are likewise impossible. Only We or Celestia are that powerful, nothing else.”

I shook my head. She really needed to learn that I don’t lie. “Feel free to look through my memories. Actually, I’ll show you them, or at least what my imagination can work up. They won’t be actual memories, since I haven’t been in warfare. Here’s the first, about guns.”

Looking through my mind, I imagined up a gun range. It quickly came into being, complete with a table loaded with a dozen different types.

I walked over to the table and picked up a classic M16. I walked up to Luna, holding out the gun.

“This is an M16. It’s an older gun, outdated now, but still a good example. I don’t care if you believe what I’m about to show you, but I’ll do it anyway. This fires in either Semi-Auto mode or Full Auto, the difference being that Semi shoots one at a time, but Full shoots as long as you pull down the trigger. Do you follow?” She dumbly nodded, and I continued, pulling out the clip. “This is the clip. It holds twenty bullets, the projectiles that the gun fires.

“Now, I’m going to fire it at one of the targets on the range.” I raised the rifle and fired one round. It punched through the small wooden target, leaving a small hole. Luna gasped, and looked at me.

“This shouldn’t exist!” She exclaimed, earning an amused grin from me.

“It definitely does,” I said, “And remember; don’t try to take mine away from me. You have your guards for defense, I have my rifle. Therefore, we are equal.”

I took a small detour in my mind as she was thinking it all through. Why was I telling them all of this? Well, a part of my mind said, It had to come out eventually, and now was as good of a time as ever. But, overall, now that she’d seen it, I was finished for the night.

“Hey, Luna.” I said, catching her attention. “I’m going to end the dream, Kay? I’ll just give you memories of what I know about Nuclear Bombs and leave you for the night.”

“Yes, please do that,” She said, “We need time to think this over.”

I concentrated on the mental image of what I knew about nuclear weapons, intentionally leaving out how to make them or the specifics of how they worked, and simply mentally moved it over to her. Immediately after that, I broke the dream apart, wanting to get started on the new day.

Daylight entered my eyes, forcing me to quickly snap them shut. I groaned. A new day, and already I was pissed off at the sun. I opened my eyes, slowly this time, getting used to the high level of light inside of the room. It was probably around ten o’ clock in the morning, judging by the light.

I crawled out of the sleeping bag, quickly picking myself up off the cot. I fished around in my bag for a couple of apples, deciding that now was the time to eat. I quickly chomped down one of the apples, eating the other one much more slowly, savoring its sweet taste. It may get boring after a while, but at least it tasted good.

Searching through my bag, I pulled out my laptop and started it up. If nothing else, I could simply lose myself in some gaming. I checked the battery: currently at 50 hours remaining. With nothing else to do, I started up Minecraft, hoping to lose myself for a few hours.

Forty-five minutes later, the sounds of the door unlocking reached my ears. Sitting up, I looked at the door and saw the dark blue pegasus – Amber, I remembered being told yesterday – there, with her helmet off.

“Hi, what are ya here for?” I asked, some concern showing in my voice. They didn’t normally come into my cell, except when they had something important to say. And Amber was one of two ponies they had that were connected with me, although in her case by… unfortunate circumstances.

“The wedding is in an hour, and I was asked to come and check in on you. Luna is apparently concerned for some reason, so I need to ask; is there anything that you need?” She asked, her voice saying that she didn’t think so.

“Actually, yes.” I said, enjoying the surprise on her face. “If I could have a slice of cake from the wedding, that would be awesome.”

“Any particular reason why? I don’t even know if your kind has weddings – or cake.” She said, a joking tone in her voice telling me to not take her seriously.

I nodded my head. “We have both, and wedding cake is always better than regular cake, for some reason.” I had a feeling that this afternoon was going to be awesome. I had always loved cake, and as I had said, cake from weddings was always better than normal cake. No exceptions.

She gave a slight nod. “I’ll see what we can do. Anyway, I have off-duty during the wedding, and I’d rather not waste it.” She quickly trotted out, the door closing after her and locking. I sighed, left with several more hours with nothing to do.

I hopped onto my sleeping bag, opting to take a small nap. If nothing else, I could simply sleep the time away. Laying my head back, I closed my eyes and drifted off.

I was awoken suddenly, about an hour and a half later. I could judge the time by how much the light from the window had moved, so don’t judge me. I don’t know what had woken me up, but something felt… Wrong, like there was something in the air that shouldn’t be there. I had learned, over the past week and a half, to trust my instincts, so I sat up in the cot.

Outside of the door, I heard faint shouting and the sound of small explosions. The same sounds also came from the window, only louder. I boosted myself up on the cot for a look out of the window, and stared in silent shock at what I saw.

Outside, a few thousand black specks were moving around in the sky, small bits of green fire reaching out from them and hitting the ground. From the window, I could see them landing on the city below the castle, as well as some landing overhead in the castle itself. Several golden dots seemed to be diving in and out of the edges of the mass, obviously guards, but I could tell that it was a losing battle.

I quickly hopped on the ground, grabbing my G-17C and stuffing it in my holster. I grabbed my Sa-58 raising it to my shoulder. I didn’t know how I would get out of here, but assumed that now was as good of a time as ever. I slung my rifle, stuffing my sleeping bag and laptop inside of my backpack, and slinging it on my back. I grabbed my Sa-58 again, ready to move out.

The shouting in the halls stopped suddenly, and without warning the door blew down, revealing one of the black creatures standing there, twisted horn glowing. It looked like a cross between a pony, an insect, and some sort of monster. Its glowing blue eyes stared at me, at what it had found.

I raised my rifle to my shoulder and fired twice, sending the thing flying to the ground in a spray of green blood. I quickly moved to the hallway and looked left, towards the exit, spotting four of the bug-like things. Looking to my right, I saw two guards on the ground, apparently knocked out.

The things down the hall turned to look at me, blue eyes glowing brightly in the dim hallway. I smiled and raised my rifle, switching the selector to auto and unleashing a torrent of fire at the creatures. One of them shot a green ball of fire at me, which I easily dodged, stopping to fire three rounds at him. After the second round, the rifle clicked, empty. Looking down the hallway, I saw all four dead, giving me time to reload.

I grabbed the clip, pulling it off of the receiver and placing inside of a special area on the side of my backpack. I opened another pouch by feel, grabbing a full magazine and putting it into place, enjoying the small *click* that accompanied the magazine sliding home.

I looked back at the two guards, who were starting to wake up. One, a unicorn, got to his hooves, leaning slightly again the wall.

“What- What happened?” He asked, his voice announcing that we was quickly waking up.

I turned to look at him. “Whatever these things are crashed in here, knocked you out, blew down my door, and then I shot them all.” At that, he quickly woke up, seeing me standing near the bodies of five of the things. He stared in shock, before his pegasus friend hit him on the shoulder, looking at me.

“I don’t know how that works,” He said, motioning to my gun, “But we should use it as best as we can. We need to take back the castle. I don’t really care what you are, but you should know that there is no way you could possibly escape with all the Changelings out there. So, do try to help us, unless you intend to die in here.”

I nodded at him, gesturing towards the way out. So that’s what they were called, then. Changelings, although I don’t see how the name fit. I walked down the hallway, rifle at the ready, the two guards following right behind me. We turned a corner, quickly finding the staircase to the upper floors. Guarding it were two Changelings.

I raised my rifle quickly, firing a round at each one, making a perfect impact on each of their heads. The guards stared wide-eyes as they crumpled to the ground, dead instantly.

I looked back at the two guards. “Come on! I need you two to lead, I don’t know my way around here.” The pegasus nodded, quickly taking point as we rushed towards the stairs. Looking right, I could see a Changeling charging down the stairs much, bigger than the others. I shot six rounds at it, watching as the giant insectoid fell off of the stairs and down to the floor below, impacting with a loud *BOOM*. We continued up the stairs, running at full speed.

The guards seemed to have gotten over their temporary shock at what my weapons could do. We finally reached the top, two minutes later. Up ahead, the sound of explosions and that of magic being cast rang through the hallways. The guards and I came up behind a small ground of changelings, firing their green bolts own the hall at a small ground of guards that were taking cover behind small bits of a crumpled column. The cleanup for this was going to be a bitch, I thought. I motioned for the two guards to come over to me.

“Ok, we need to hit them from behind. Try to stay behind me, but for God’s sake do something if you get the chance.” They nodded, and so we began a small walk down the hall.

The first gunshot drilled through the head of one of the Changelings, causing the rest to turn around. I fired round after round, hitting them one after another. When it was down to two Changelings, a green light erupted at their location, blinding me for a moment, and when I blinked, they had vanished.

I shrugged my shoulders, moving with the two guards towards the other group at the end of the hallway. They looked at me warily, as if they expected me to attack them next.

“What is that THING doing here?” One of them shouted.

“HE was helping us clear a path to you. He also cleared the Changelings out, as in dead.” The pegasus with me answered back.

The other guard persisted. “How do we know you’re not one of them!”

I butted in. “Listen asshole, I just got finished with that little massacre of those things back there, so I’m definitely not one of them. I know they aren’t because I saw them get knocked out by those things, so will you cut the shit out so we can clear this castle of them?”

A light blue pegasus poked its head out from behind a column, followed by Amber a moment later.

The light blue one spoke up. “Hey! It’s Azure, by the way. I lost my helmet in the fight, so don’t be surprised.” I wasn’t. “Anyway, we need to fight our way to the throne room and take it back. Word has it that Chrysalis, the queen of this swarm, has captured Celestia and the Elements. We need to get them back, and we need you to do it. We don’t have the ponypower to take it by ourselves.”

“Yeah!” Amber shouted, causing me and several other ponies to wince. “Let’s beat their flanks back to the Badlands!” I didn’t get half of what they were saying, but I knew enough to simply nod my agreement. Killing an abomination of nature as ugly as those things would be worth it.

The rest of the guards began to move down one of the hallways, with me in the middle of the pack. I was taller than the ponies by about two feet, so I could easily see over them. We moved down the hall, not encountering anything except for damaged walls and small sections with bodies of ponies and a far greater number of changelings, as if there had been a recent battle.

The group stopped at the edge of a hallway, three minutes later. Azure, the self-appointed leader of our small group, spoke up.

“Around the next corner is the throne room. There were most likely be a lot of Changelings in front of it, so remember to cast your spells correctly. Pegasi, take to the air, we will need the support. Ok, let’s do this. For Equestria!” The guards gave out a small shout, charging around the corner and stopping suddenly.

In front of a set of two massive doors I remember from my trips here, sat a small army of around two hundred Changelings. As one, they turned to look at us. Immediately, half of them took to the air, followed by the pegasi. A third of the remaining ones charged their horned, followed by our unicorns doing the same. The guards let out another shout and charged forward.

I raised my rifle, aiming at a Changeling that looked like it was a commander. It had dark blue armor on, unlike those around it. I fired four rounds, immediately causing it to fall to the ground, along with a Changeling behind it.

Green and various other multicolored magical bolts flew everywhere. I dodged right to avoid one, aware that there was a battle raging around me. I slung my rifle, quickly pulling out my G-17C. This would be a close-range fight.

A black shape moved to my left. I spun, firing two rounds into it, watching green blood splatter onto the ground as it fell. Two others loomed behind it, apparently frozen by the death of their comrade. I quickly pumped a bullet into each, killing them. Two feet to my left, Azure was on the ground, kicking in the chest of a Changeling. I gave a quick nod to him, watching as he returned it, before focusing on the battle in front of me.

A green bolt flew past my head, gaining my attention. I looked at the Changeling who had done it, green horn glowing, before I emptied four rounds into its body. Slowly, more Changelings began to enter the hallway, forcing us to move back down the hallway. Slowly, we were being pushed back from the doorway, as more and more entered for each one taken down or killed.

One of the large Changelings entered, about twice as big as the normal ones. It charged up its massive horn, aiming at a pegasi in the air. It fired, scorching the pegasi – as well as the four Changelings he was fighting – and blowing a large hole in the wall, opening it up to the air. Looking out of the hole and across the cityscape, I could see fires raging, both red and green, and magical bolts of all colors streaking across the streets.

Forcing my attention back to the fight, I could see the large Changeling charging up for another blast. I put my pistol up, aiming for the head. I fired off nine rounds, the first five bouncing off of the thick skull before the last four entered, turning its insides into mush. My pistol clicked as I attempted to fire off a tenth round, empty.

“Damn it!” I yelled, quickly reloading the pistol and putting the empty clip back inside of a pouch. Aiming forward, I knew we were going to lose. Even though the massive thing was dead, more and more normal ones were entering every single second. We were fighting a losing battle, and we knew it.

Suddenly, a massive pink wall came flying from the doors of the throne room. Every live Changeling was picked up by it and either flung into a wall, dead, or thrown out of the massive hole in the wall. The pink wave passed over me and the other guards, leaving us unharmed.

I turned my head, watching as it passed over the city, until it stopped outside of the edge, sending the Changelings flying off and forming what looked like a large shield. Immediately, I collapsed onto my knees, taking a deep breath. The battle had left me exhausted, but I was nearly giddy with excitement. We had won! Inside, I was wondering when I had accepted the notion of ‘We’ when referring to ponies that probably hated me, but I was too excited to care much.

Azure and Amber walked up to me. Although their armor bore plenty of nicks, cuts, and scraped, both were unharmed, unlike many of the other guards.

“So,” Azure said, talking to me. “We did it. We beat them.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “We managed to fight them off. Can we go check on Celestia so I can go to sleep?”

Amber nodded, and together with some of the guards we walked up to the doors. They opened of their own accord, and behind it stood several ponies. Six of various colors and types, whom I recognized from my former roommate’s posters as the main characters of the series, stood in a small group, with the white unicorn, apparently Shining, standing with a pink one with both a horn and wings. Behind them stood Celestia, smiling gently. Their smiles disappeared the moment they saw me.

Celestia was the first to speak. “What are YOU doing here? Were you aiding them? Answer me!” She yelled out, causing me to grab my left ear for a second.

“Calm your tits, woman.” I said, causing her to glare at me. “I was the guy who got your guards as far as here. I nearly died several times so we could save your sorry ass, so don’t go around and act as if YOU’VE had a bad day.”

The orange one glared at me. “You’re the thing that stole mah apples from my orchard!”

“So?” I said, causing her to glare all the harder. “You try to survive when an entire town is hunting for you, and see if you need to eat. I’m not sorry for it, so don’t try to guilt-trip me.”

The pink one spoke up next. “Who are you? I heard Celestia and Luna talking about you, but I haven’t managed to see you yet, what with being foalnapped by Chrysalis.”

I momentarily paused at the ‘foalnapped’ part, before figuring out that was the equivalent of ‘kidnapped’ and shrugged it off. “I am Tyler Maddox.” I said simply enough.

“Why are you here?” She asked.

I sighed. Nobody was going to look good after th next explanation. “Well, on my world, I found a portal in my bathroom and decided to go into it. A day after entering and falling on my face, I saved a group of kids from some weird mutant-”

“It was a Manticore.” The purple one said, becoming 60% more annoying by the second in my book.

“Whatever,” I said shrugging it off. “Anyway, after saving a bunch of kids, I get nearly hunted down by the entire town. Some sense of justice, right? Then, after making a small house, I get attacked by a single guard, Amber Star over there, whom I accidentally knock out.”

“I still need to get you back for that…” Amber mumbled, much to our amusement.

“Anyway, I knocked her out and tied her up, before deciding to keep her there. I couldn’t let anyone know where I was. A day after that, I needed to take some things in town, so after dark I snuck in, made myself a knife-”

“Of something which is harder than Iron, which is impossible without enchantments.” The purple one interrupted again.

“It’s steel. Anyway, I made the knife and took some cloth.”

The white one with purple hair chose that moment to interrupt. “From MY store!”

I chose to ignore her this time. “Anyway, a day later and I was chased all over the mountains for a day before being knocked out.”

“By me.” The purple one said again.

I glared at her, causing her to shrink back. “Can you shut the fuck up for a moment?”

The white unicorn glared at me. “Don’t talk to my sister that way!” He said.

Celestia interrupted next. “Just… Continue. I am finding this interesting.”

I nodded to her for deescalating an argument, before continuing. “Then, I wake up here. Several days have passed since then, over which I have been questioned, slept, and then questioned more. Finally, today, I wake up from a nap to fight a fucking battle raging outside my window. After my cell door gets knocked down, I go through the halls, shooting those things, until I join up with more guards, along with Azure and Amber over there, for a battle royal outside of your doors. Then, a gigantic pink wave comes at me and knocks all the abominations of nature away, which leads us to right now. Happy?” I asked, no humor in my voice.

The pink one studied me for a moment. “Interesting…” She whispered for a moment before looking right at me. “Well, I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadance. Thank you for making your attempt at helping us, and I hope you have luck in returning to your home.”

Celestia walked forward. “Let us not forget why we came here. Shining and Cadance, direct the recovery efforts. All of you, we need to prepare.”

“For what?” I asked.

She smiled at me. “Why, for the real wedding, of course. For now, though, you can simply rest with the rest of the guards. The events of today have not forgiven you, but I do trust you now.”

I looked over at Azure and Amber, who both nodded. I walked away from the small group of ponies and with Azure and Amber, who had joined the rest of the guards. A few still gave me looks of distrust, but even more gave me ones of awe and disbelief. I had a feeling I would get those reactions more than ever now.

“Come on!” One of them said, motioning for the rest to follow.

The guard room was apparently two levels above the prisons, so they could easily catch someone trying to escape. I felt a bit foolish for thinking I could get out without much of a struggle, but hey, how was I supposed to know.

Upon reaching the room, me and the others simply started collapsing on the benches. It was a brief fight, about an hour long, but let’s see you run and jump all over a castle for an entire hour while fight an army of bug-like creatures.

Before drifting off into sleep, I could hear the cheers coming from the city. A battle had been won today, and they (and I) had been the victors.

It might not be so easy next time, if there was going to be a next time.

With that, the arms of sleep snatched me up, bringing me into a deep rest.

Next Sunrise

I felt myself drawn slowly from my dreamless sleep, the fog inside of my head evaporating quickly. I sat up with a start, surprising the dark blue pony one foot away from my head.

“Wha- what?” I asked, stuttering a bit, still in the process of waking up.

In front of me, Amber Star groaned. “Thank Celestia you finally woke up. I’ve been shaking you for the past two minutes. I had to yell into your ear to get any kind of reaction. How deep do you sleep, anyway?”

I grinned in reply, before answering. “Not very deep, actually. Mostly, I’m just tired after that battle. Is it the next day already?”

“Actually, it’s six o’ clock in the morning, and cleanup efforts are still going on. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza wants to talk to you, anyway, as do a few of the Elements.”

“Fuck…” I said in a low voice. Amber raised an eyebrow, almost comically, staring at me.

“What does that mean, anyway?”

I chuckled before looking at her. “Well, it’s a curse word. The literal meaning is ‘to have sex’, but it’s generally a curse word, for example, ‘He’s a fucking idiot’, or ‘fuck that’. Don’t go spreading it around, though. Unknown words are my secret weapon.” I finished off with a grin, which she didn’t return.

Azure walked up to us, outfitted in full armor, minus the enchanted helmet. “Amber, get your flank in armor. It’s a new order, sent out by Shining Armor. He wants to be prepared if the Changelings attack again. Tyler,” He said, pausing at the use of my name, “I’ll take you to Cadence. Follow me, and stay close.”

I nodded, and followed him out of the room, passing sleeping ponies along the way. I shifted the weight of my pack on my back, pausing to wipe imaginary dirt off of my BDUs. We walked up several flights of stairs, eventually reaching the main hallway, where we took off in a seemingly random direction. That seemed to happen a lot in this confusing mess of a castle, and the fresh repair jobs didn’t make it any easier. They looked nice, but powder and the occasional Changeling body dotted the ground.

Finally, we made our 6th left turn, and emerged in a slightly larger hallway. Azure stopped, pointing towards a door to the right with his hoof.

“She’s in there.” He simply said, before taking up a guarding position outside of the door. I shrugged, and pushed on the door, opening it.

Inside, the pink pony I identified as Cadence was sitting on a cushion. She noticed me, and motioned towards a chair across from her. I walked over, setting my bags and my rifle on the ground, before sitting on the chair and staring at Cadence.

“Hello, Tyler.” She said in a singsong voice. “I didn’t get much of a chance after the wedding, so I am here to ask you some things I really want to know. Do you follow?”

I really didn’t see how I could not. “I do, we can begin.”

She nodded, and looked across at me. “First off, I am curious as to your species. What are you called again?”

“We are called Humans, although the scientific term for our species is Homo Sapiens. We are bipedal, obviously, and omnivorous.” At that, Cadence flinched, though it was hardly noticeable. A small pile of pillows behind her moved, but I completely missed it.

“What do you mean by omnivorous? Do you eat meat?” Cadence said slowly.

I nodded. “Yes, I can, though it isn’t what I would call a necessity in our diet. We can do fine without it. The apples I have stored, in particular, seem to be full of a ridiculous number of nutrients. I can find other sources of protein. Also, no, I can’t eat flowers, hay, grass, or other plant matter like that, although I can eat most vegetables and fruits.”

She sighed in relief. A moment later, however, the pile of pillows behind her exploded, leaving behind an excited-looking purple unicorn. The same one that had, yesterday, told me that she knocked me out. Wonderful. Cadence slowly looked behind her, and then hit her face with her hoof, similar to a Facepalm.

“Twilight Sparkle!” She said, in a scolding tone. “Princess Celestia told you not to come here.”

“But I wanted to know more about it! The creature!” The purple unicorn said, obviously pleading.

“Hey!” I said loud enough for them to hear. “I do have a name, you know! Also, if someone tells you to stay away, they probably mean for you to stay AWAY.” I glared at her.

Dejected, the purple unicorn walked out the door, opening and closing it. By Azure’s laughs, I could tell he had heard the entire exchange. Cadence sighed, obviously both annoyed and saddened by the interruption.

“Sorry for Twilight. She can get a bit… Overenthusiastic sometimes.”

I nodded in agreement, and Cadence pulled out a small, half-page list, obviously of questions. Before she could ask any, however, the white unicorn that I knew others called ‘Shining Armor’ burst into the room, interrupting Cadence before she could speak.

“Cadence, I want to be here when you interview the monster.” He said, paying no attention to me.

“I HAVE A NAME!” I yelled, tired of being referred to as ‘monster’ and ‘creature’.

“I don’t care!” Shining replied, apparently ticked off at me.

Cadence surrounded Shining in a light blue, picking him up off the ground. She glared at both of us before turning to the white unicorn.

“Shining. Armor.” She said slowly. “Calm yourself, and stop insulting Tyler. Him and I are having a friendly discussion, or were, until you ignited a firestorm.” She turned to me. “Tyler, stop blowing up on everypony. I know you are… Unhappy with the way ponies are treating you, but do be careful with what you say.” She set Shining down and gave each of us a last glare, before clearing her throat.

“As I was about to saw before we were interrupted, I have a few more questions. For one, do you belong to a nation, if any?”

Shining sneered. “It says that it is, but that can’t be true.”

I gave him a small glare. “I already told him, Celestia, and Luna, but I’ll repeat it to you.”

“Remember,” She said, “As the Princess of Love, I can sense emotions like that, and I can tell if you are lying by the lack thereof of said emotions.”

I nodded. I never intended to lie. “I am a citizen of the United States of America, the most powerful country on our planet. While we are neither the most populous nor the largest, we do have the technological innovations that many others do not. Our country has a population of around 300 million – for reference, the world population is around 7 billion.”

She stared at me, jaw hanging slightly, all the while writing what I was saying down.

“We have a standing armed force of 6 million, with plenty of reservists. Next question?” I said, causing her to shift on the pillow for a moment.

She looked at the paper, apparently looking for another one to ask. “Ah, here we are. I was wondering about how…”

Two hours later, I felt like I had run a marathon. Surrounded by a small stack of written papers, Cadence excused me to go back to wherever I was staying. I felt Shining give me the eye, but I didn’t care. I walked outside the door to find Azure leaning again the wall, asleep from the wait.

Azure found out, first-hand, how annoying I could be. I got as close as I dared to his sleeping head. I opened my mouth, and prepared my line.

“STAND AT ATTENTION, PRIVATE AZURE.” I yelled into his ear.

He shot up, immediately at what I assumed was attention.

“Sir, yes, si-” He cut off as he looked at me. I was laughing my ass off, literally rolling on the ground.

“Oh my god! You should have seen your face.” I nearly cried as I laughed.

After a minute of me calming down, Azure and I walked through the halls, headed towards the guardroom again. He led me on a journey through the hallways, taking turn after turn before finally arriving at a familiar staircase. We started walking down the stairs.

Azure trotted alongside me as I contemplated the last few days. I had finally made two friends, and one possible enemy, though it didn’t take a genius to figure out that I had probably already made a couple in Ponyville.

I looked over at him. “Azure, was your sister really the one I knocked out?” I asked.

“Yea, she was. That was kind of a mean move, don’t you think?”

I shook my head. “Fuck mean, she would have told other ponies as soon as I let her go. Also, knocking her out was an accident. When I saw her, I kinda spooked out and fell backwards, doing a kick at the same time. It hit her, she konked out.”

Azure blinked. “I was worried about her, you know. First the message about troubles in Ponyville, and then my sister… Foalnapped! It was crazy for a bit, until we found you. Thanks for taking care of her, anyway. You could have seriously hurt her. I’ve seen what your weapons can do,” He said, gesturing towards the Sa-58 I had slung over my back. “And you could have used them on her, but you didn’t. Why’d you tie her up, though? She couldn’t get away anyway, from what I heard from fellow guards. Even though she might not have noticed it, she had a sprained wing; impossible to fly with it until they checked her out.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know, and I couldn’t take any chances, so I had to use to vine. I don’t like using ropes before the second date, though.”

Azure and me both cracked up, with him giving me a look that was a combination of ‘I’ll get you later’ and pure laughter. We finally reached the guardroom and looked around inside, noting that very few ponies were still here. Most that were here were seated at the tables, drinking water and resting. A few were even eating sandwiches – filled with hay? I shook my head and sat down on an empty bench, with Azure beside me.

“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding something, Azure?” I asked him. He shook his head.

“I’m assigned to guard YOU. How about that?” He said with some irony on his voice.

“How about that.” I said, deadpanning.

I sighed. With nothing better to do, I pulled off my backpack and got out an apple and my remaining water bottle, already half empty. I ate the apple, washing it down with a fourth of the water. It was a wonder I didn’t need more, but then again, everything seemed to be weird in this world, so why not less hunger? I wasn’t doing much to burn energy, either, apart from blasting away monster invasions and running all over the goddamn castle.

I fished my laptop case out of my backpack, quickly pulling it out and setting it on the table.

“Azure,” I said, “Is there somewhere I can play on this? Or would anyone mind if I did it on the table?”

Azure waved his hoof in the air. “Feel free to do it anywhere.”

“That’s what she said.” I replied, earning another amused grin. The score was at Tyler 3, Azure 0.

I pulled my laptop out of the case, opening it and turning it on. It booted up quickly, attracting little attention from the ponies around us. Azure still stared intently at it, but I digress.

The desktop popped up, and I looked over at Azure.

“You’re a pegasi, right? You can fly?” I asked rhetorically. He nodded his head.

I gave a small grin. “You should love this, then.”

I quickly started up Steam, which, I am very thankful of, has an offline mode where I can still play my games on it. I navigated over to the game called ‘Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition’, the version of the console game remade for the PC.

I started it up, and within five minutes I had started up the last mission.

I immediately paused it at the start and turned to Azure. “Since Humans can’t fly, we use machines called planes. They fight using extremely large a fast-firing versions of my gun, plus large, propelled explosive weapons. This game is a fictional conflict using them, however the weapons and planes are accurate to their real-life counterparts.”

I immediately unpaused it, and was met, as usual at the start of this mission, with a swarm of missiles. Azure watches as, in-game, I duel with several Russian fighters. Finally, I brought one of them down, and Azure gaped as the slow-motion takedown.

(For your information, AC:AH is a plane combat game. The events take place several years from now, facing an ultranationalist Russian force and a Russian civil war. The game using a built-in system called DFM [Dogfight Mode] to invoke VERY intense gameplay. Also, most of the time, when you kill one or multiple enemies, it will either switch to a camera following the missile or slow-mo on the plane itself. It’s pretty badass.]

As the Russian plane in-game fell out of the sky in pieces, another one came behind me, firing missiles. I quickly countered and slipped behind it, blowing to it pieces with a heat-seeker.

As the game went on, more and more ponies became interested in what I was doing. At the end of the mission, with Markov finally dead, the credits rolled as I turned around to see virtually half of the guard force in the barracks gathered behind me. I’m talking about ten or twenty ponies here, some actually bracing their front legs on each other’s backs to see over the crowd.

“Uh… Hi.” I said, mentally facepalming.  I had never been good with crowds, at least in social interaction.

One guard, a green unicorn I recognized as one of the ones who had chased me in the forest – no hard feelings – looked at me and asked a question.

“Is what happened on there really true? Is it real?” He said.

“It’s a fictional story, but the planes and such are perfectly real.” I answered.

“How fast do they go?” One of the pegasi asked.

I looked at him. “For the purposes of the game, the aircraft all fly below the speed of sound, but in reality some of them go up to two or three times the speed of sound.” There were gasps around the room at this.

“How?!” One of them asked. “That isn’t possible. How would their wings go that speed?”

“The plane is propelled by a jet engine. Since nobody here knows what that is, a jet engine is like a rocket.” There was a collection of ‘ohhh’s going around the room. “Basically, because of the aerodynamic shape of the fixed wings, it generates lift so long as it moves above a certain speed.”

This degenerated into a massive talk between the guards about the realism of powered flight, with some supporting and some opposing. I smiled, knowing they had to at least invent steel before they started trying to make jet engines, not to mention all the other things they would need to discover. Gunpowder, oil, refining, steam, coal, and so the list went on.

‘I could help them’, a voice said in my head. I ignored it, though, as I usually ignored that voice. Eventually, I hoped to get home, and I doubt they would let me leave if I become a source of technology for them. Speaking of which, I needed to redesign my escape plans. All my previous ones had been thrown out the window by a constant guard and a guardroom right in my escape path. I didn’t even know if I wanted to escape now, since I was having enough fun at the moment to last me a long time.

Eventually, the crowd calmed down. It was about midday by now, and the sun shone through several windows on the wall, casting yellow beams through the room. I powered down my laptop, planning on saving the battery. It was at 48 hours now, so I needed to make it last.

I turned to Azure, intent on asking a question.

“Hey, Azure.” I said, “Do you think I can ask Celestia for my knife back now?”

Azure quickly nodded, and together we climbed up the stairs for the third time in twenty-four hours. As we walked through the halls beyond it, I could see they had been painstakingly cleaned up, and all the fallen pillars replaced. Magic, indeed. All of the dead Changelings were gone, too, although I had to admit they made a nice decoration. Nothing like a few mutant corpses to spice a place up.

We reached the throne room from where Celestia and Luna were commanding. It was completely empty, except for the sisters, so we simply walked up. Azure gave a bow, and I simply nodded my head.

“Good afternoon, Tyler Maddox.” Celestia said.

“Good afternoon, Celestia.” I replied, earning a glance from Azure. “I was wondering if I could have my knife back now.”

“Certainly.” She replied, “We couldn’t find out what it was made of, anyway.”

A light quickly shone as she probably teleported the knife, and a golden glow handed it to me. I quickly slid it back into its sheaf, content.

“Oh, and by the way, the wedding is in four hours. You’re invited, by Cadence’s order.”

I quickly nodded and made my way out. Azure and I walked back to the guard room, both murmuring about the twisting hallways. At least Azure knew where he was going today, however. Which meant we both would have the cake. Literally. Or, at least, some of it. You know. For ‘testing purposes’.

Since it was apparently time for my midday nap, I went back to the guardroom and sat down against a wall. Taking my backpack off, I set it beside me, leaning slightly on it. I slowly closed my eyes, and drifted off.

The Choice Pt.2

The light of the next day shone in my eyes, quickly awakening me. I looked around, noticing the forms of Amber and Azure nearby. Luna was gone, apparently. We had all spent the night sleeping next to the lake, apparently.

I slowly rose to my feet, creeping over to Azure. I grabbed a nearby leaf, slowly running it across his ear. It twitched, so I did it again. Another twitch. Finally, I thought ‘to hell with it’, and cupped my hands.

“STAND TO ATTENTION, AZURE!” I yelled.

To his credit, he shot up seconds later, standing stiff before seeing me. I was rolling on the ground, laughing. The score was, Tyler 4, Azure 0.

He glared at me as hard as he could, trying to enter into a staring contest of sorts with me.

“Is this going to become a trend?” Amber asked, awake. “Continually waking each other up every day with yelling and/or kicking? Because, if so, I want a transfer.”

“Too late, sis.” Azure said.

“Yea.” I commended. “You’re stuck with me and this idiot over here,” I gave Azure a little push, “So you’d better get used to it.”

Amber sighed. “Alright, you two. Let’s go see Celestia. I recall Princess Luna whispering to me last night that Celestia wanted to see us.”

“Is that all she whispered to you, Amber?” I joked.

Amber’s face turned a shade of maroon, completely contrasting with her normal color. Azure’s eyes nearly bugged out at that crack.

“Tyler, are you trying to get yourself banished to the moon? Or wherever Celestia sends ponies that she doesn’t like?” Azure asked me, half joking. “You’ve got more nerve than you know what to do with, so you go out and say stuff like that. Just pray to Celestia that Luna doesn’t hear you say that.”

“On the contrary.” The voice of Luna rang out. “I did hear it.” We all turned to see Luna walk towards us. “Every. Word.”

I backed away an inch. “Hi Luna!” I said.

“Tyler,” She said, managing to appear to ignore me while at the same time addressing me. “My sister does want to see you. Therefore, please go now. I need to do some… Duties.” She unwrapped her wings, and flew off towards a tall tower near the wall.

Amber unfurled her wings, as did Azure. Neither of them were in armor, so it was apparent that they hadn’t gone back to the barracks after the party.

“Want to race, bro?” Amber asked Azure.

“Hey,” I said, interrupting them. “What about me?”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Azure said, shooting a knowing grin at Amber. “I think you’ll figure it out.”

While I was pondering what he had said, Amber suddenly flew up into the air. She circled and grabbed onto my shoulders, sending me skyward with her.

“AHHHHHHH!” I yelled as the familiar sensation of vertigo I remember from before my capture returned.

“Just stop moving and panicking, Tyler. Dear Celestia, it’s as if you’ve never flown before.” Amber said, obviously having been told of how I nearly escaped my first time.

“That time I had branches to break my fall!” I said as I stopped moving, just grabbing onto her foreleg for dear life.

Two minutes later, we met up with Azure at the throne room entrance. He was sporting a gigantic grin, as were the two, normally stoic unicorn guards at the throne room entrance, as Amber set me down, landing herself a second later.

“Sup, Tyler.” Azure said. “Enjoy your flight?”

I shot a glare at him. “Fuck… You…” I said, slowly, as his grin became even wider. Apparently, it was now Tyler 4, Azure 1.

“So,” I said. “Are we ready to go in and see Sunny Butt?”

Azure facehoofed at my terrible nickname, while the unicorns at the doorway simply stared.

“Yes, we are ready to go and see Princess Celestia.” Amber said, putting emphasis on the words ‘Princess’ and ‘Celestia’. As if I would pay more attention to her that way.

The two unicorn guards opened the doorway, allowing us to walk in, with me to the left of the two siblings. Celestia sat in her throne at the end of the room, waiting for us as we continued down the aisle. Once we reached the dais, both Azure and Amber bowed down, while I simply gave a nod.

Celestia smiled. “Welcome, Azure Star, Amber Star, Tyler Maddox.” She stepped down from the throne as Azure and Amber both stood up, slowly walking town it until she was level with them.

“I have decided on a location for Tyler Maddox.” Celestia said.

“Don’t I get a choice?” I interrupted.

Celestia blinked. “There are several suitable candidates. Would you like to see the list of towns?”

“Please.” I said.

I looked over the list, which had the following towns on it:

Trottingham

Las Pegasus

Foal Mountain

Enticorn City

Trotterville

Pullmare

Saddle Mountain

“Hmmm.”  I said, going through the list again.

A lot of them seemed like major cities. Las Pegasus was definitely out – sounded too much like Las Vegas, and I don’t like gambling. Looking through the list, I finally settled on Pullmare.

“How about Pullmare?”

Celestia tilted her head in thought for a moment before nodding.

“I can easily arrange for train tickets to there.” She said.

“Sure.” I replied.

Celestia smiled. “Excellent!” She said. “Leave whenever you are ready: The train departs in two hours.”

I nodded at her. “Thanks, Celestia. Tell Luna I said ‘Hi!’.”

We all left the throne room. Amber went to gather their things, while I waited outside the throne room with Azure.

“Azure?” I said, silently asking a question.

“Yes, Tyler?”

“Do you want to come on this trip? I’m pretty sure nothing much will happen, other than a few minor incidents that might pop up.”

“Of course I do!” He said, almost with glee. “I’ve been waiting for YEARS to get out of this town, and now I’ve got the chance!” He snorted, keeping his voice low. “Better than having to deal with Unicorn Supremists in Canterlot, at least.”

Amber came rushing down the hall, almost dragging two large bags. She set one down in front of her brother, and pretty soon, they both had small bags at their sides, connected by a strap across their backs. I already carried all of my stuff with me, so I didn’t have to worry about it.

“Are we ready?” Azure asked. When he received two nods, he started walking across the hall. “Then we’d better get moving. Train leaves in an hour now.”

He started down the halls, Amber and I closely following him. We wove through the hallways, almost like a maze, before emerging into what I thought was the main entrance. We walked up to the door, which two unicorn guards opened for us, and stepped outside.

The bright sunlight shone on us, blinding me for a moment before my eyes adjusted. Nearly the entire city stopped when we came into view. Slowly, Azure and Amber escorted me through the streets, past small crowds of staring ponies as we went towards the train station.

We crossed several tracks upon reaching there, eventually reaching ‘Building 3’, which housed the train that would take us and several other passengers to Pullmare. We got in the second to last cart, where our tickets directed us to, finding it completely empty.

Finally, half an hour later, the train started rolling. It moved along the tracks, the *click-clack* of the wheels on the rails making a comforting rhythm.

After two hours of doing nothing but sit around and talk, I pulled out my laptop. Azure and Amber both noticed, scooting closer, one blue pegasus on each site, left and right, dark and light.

“What are you going to do now?” Amber asked.

I smiled. “How much have you two seen of my laptop?”

“Not much.” Amber said.

“Quite a bit.” Azure admitted.

I nodded to them before opening Battlefield 3. I started up the last mission, going through the subway train, Amber rapid-firing questions the entire time. After two hours, I decided to see how good they will be.

“Hey, Azure?” I said. “Want to take a crack at playing this?”

The blue pegasus shot up. “How?” He asked.

I thought for a moment before asking something. “Are your wings flexible enough to easily hit several keys at once?”

Azure and Amber both nodded.

“Well,” I said. “These are the controls…”

After a fifteen-minute explanation, plus setting ground rules, Amber was playing through part of the first mission. With their hooves, they could use the touchpad, while they hit keys with their ‘primaries’, as they called the larger feathers on their wings.

Every time one died, the other would switch off.

Speaking of which, Amber outright failed one of the quicktime events, causing her to die and hand it off to Azure.

I did a tiny clap. “You two are getting better at this.”

“Yeah.” Azure let out a nod. “What time is it?”

Ignoring all the voices in my brain telling me to check the laptop, I simply looked outside. The sun was setting at the moment, so I was pretty sure that it qualified as ‘late enough’.

“Let’s get some sleep, Azure.” I said, turning off the laptop after saving the game, despite their protests that they were fine. I put it back inside the case and lay down on a cushioned seat, finding plenty of leg room. I closed my eyes, letting sleep take me.

I awoke several hours later, for what reason I could tell why. I rubbed my eyes, trying to draw the sleep from them. I looked around; same small space, same train, same pegasi sleeping on the seats across from me.

Without warning, however, a loud *BANG* rumbled through the cart. Azure and Amber were instantly up, on their feet. The car suddenly felt like it was slowly down, turning, and then tumbling on its side. I crashed into the wall, followed by Azure and Amber.

The train had crashed.

And I didn’t have a clue what had caused it.

The Wreck

I felt the fog lifting slowly from my head. In my dazed state, I looked around, taking in the wrecked state of the train around me. Dimly, I noticed the shapes of Azure and Amber in front of me, stirring slowly.

I shook my head, freeing myself of the cobwebs I felt clouding my mind. The train bad apparently been turned on its side, immediately after a loud boom had been heard from the front. My Sa-58 lay on the ground in front of me, apparently knocked off of my back when the ponies and I had fallen on what used to be the side of the train. I grabbed for it, gripping the stock and pulling it towards me. Grabbing with rifle with one hand, I used the other to help myself push off of the floor.

Azure slowly got up in front of me, followed by Amber. They turned to look at me.

“What happened!” Azure shouted.

“I don’t know.” I replied. “We all heard a loud boom, and then the train turned over. You alright?”

Azure looked himself over. “Yeah, I’m fine. You look ok as well, Tyler.”

I did a mental checklist and, finding everything in order, quickly turned back to the matter at hand.

Turning to Azure, I said, “We need to find out what the hell just happened, and why.”

Suddenly, a shout came from the other side of the door at the end of the car. “I think they’re in here!” The muffled voice said.

I turned towards the door, raising my rifle. Azure and Amber went to their small packs, and each used their hooves to grab onto a short sword. How they grasped objects with their hooves, I still don’t know, but it works.

The door suddenly blasted open, falling downwards. On the other side stood a unicorn and some creature I didn’t recognize.

“There it is!” The unicorn said, quickly charging up its horn. I fired one round into it, quickly blowing its head apart. The other creature jumped into the car, causing me to quickly turn my rifle and  fire another round. It caught the thing in the head, the creature sliding into view of one of the remaining lights.

“Griffon.” Amber spat.

Together, we moved past the corpse and out of the car. The unicorn was a magenta color, most of its body covered by black cloth. Azure examined it for a moment before turning back to me.

“It’s a raider, no doubt about it.” He said.

“Raider?” I questioned. “I though this place was all ‘peace’ and ‘love’ and shit like that?”

Azure grimaced. “Some beings don’t like Celestia or Luna too well, and the raiders make up most of them. They accept any species, plundering and raiding outlying villages. This, however, is a bold move for them. Why do you think they attacked?”

I thought about it for a moment, before dismissing it. “I don’t know, but let’s get out of here.”

Together, we moved out of the train and onto the ground. Various shouts filled the air as the raiders worked their way towards them. The train had derailed in a heavily forested section of the track, so there were plenty of tree to hide behind.

I quickly started running through the forest, followed closely by Azure and Amber. My pack slapped against my back as I ran, the annoyance of it fading quickly.

Suddenly, an arrow sprouted out of the tree next to me. Looking back as I ran, I noticed several ponies and griffons chasing us. I even think I saw some zebra-type thing as well, but I couldn’t tell in the dim moonlight.

We had a large force chasing after us in the dark, inside of a forest. Either god really hated me, or life was just normal for me at this point. Looking towards Azure, I saw him glancing at the treetops, waiting for an opening.

“Azure!” I shouted, causing him to momentarily turn towards me. “I need for you and Amber to fly out and get help. Anyone, anything, I don’t care. I can hold them off until then!”

Azure nodded to me, motioning towards a dark blur to his right. They both turned towards a tiny clearing and jumped into the air. With them off, it was time to set my plan n motion.

Actually, I had no plan. I just figured that I would shoot them, and keep shooting them until they were dead, and then shoot more. Don’t you love my half-baked, insane ideas? Yeah, this was stupid, on par with my crazy stunt when I was captured, but I didn’t care.

I quickly came upon a large field. I spotted a small grouping of trees and grass about two hundred feet away. I sprinted towards them, reaching them quickly and plopping down in the grass, turning so I could see the end of the forest.

I propped my Sa-58 on my shoulder, aiming for the tree line. I waited. And waited.

Two miniutes after I had ground to a halt, there was movement at the line of trees Several black-coated shapes began to form: I noticed about four griffons, six unicorns, and two other ponies (probably earth). They all moved out of the line of trees, slowly, the unicorn’s horns glowing with light: it appeared that even they needed a flashlight of some sort.

I held my breath for a moment, aiming down the iron sights of my rifle. I sighted on the head of one of the unicorns, and quickly fired.

*BANG*

The sound of the bullet casing hitting a tree next to me was miniscule compared to the thundering boom of the rifle. As the other ponies and griffons turned, almost comically slowly, towards their fallen comrade, I sighted on another one and pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

The other scattered, quickly realizing that they were under attack.

“Scatter!” One of the griffons yelled, taking to the air, along with the other three. My rifle spat six rounds, taking down all four of them. I had no idea how I did it, probably instinct, but what was done is done.

The remaining six ponies took cover behind trees, making it difficult for me to spot them. A pair of unicorns popped out from behind a tree, horns glowing. They quickly launched magical bolts at me, the green and blue projectiles missing wildly. I held my fire, so as not to give away my position.

Slowly, but then quicker, the ponies walked out of their cover and converged on the field, headed towards me. They were a hundred feet away by now, close enough so that I didn’t hardly need the sights.

Suddenly, the one in front shouted, pointing at something in the sky. They quickly started to run back towards the trees. Turning my head away from them, I looked up into the sky.

Two blue ponies, Azure and Amber, led a small group of eight other Pegasus guards, white coats gleaming, even in the barest light afforded my the light. I turned back around, quickly aiming my rifle. I fired two bullets, each one hitting a pony, both unicorns. The Pegasi swooped down on the field, half cutting the raider’s retreat while half caught them in a pinchers movement from the other side.

“Surrender, bandits!” The voice of a guard boomed across the field. Slowly, each raider bowed their heads, letting two guards quickly put something on the horns of the unicorns, as well as point their spears at the two earth ponies.

Azure sprinted across the field, looking around.

“Tyler!” He said. “You can come out now!”

I quickly safed my rifle and got up, slinging it across my back. Slowly, I walked across the field. Azure and Amber were a mess. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and Amber look uncomfortably at her wings.

“Are you two ok?” I asked, concerned.

Azure nodded. “Yeah, just tired.” He said. “We had to fly all the way to Baltimare to get the guard there, and we went as fast as we could. How did you hold out?”

I gestured towards the scattered bodies on the field. Amber slowly shook her head. “Why do you always seem to get into trouble wherever you go?” She asked.

I shrugged. “It’s the best way to do things.” I looked around, towards the guards, seeing they were herding the four raiders into a small chariot that had landed. Looking some more, I found at least ten more guards at the scene, with some flying over the forest towards the train.

Apparently, I was now at the center of some sort of attack. We needed to figure things out, and fast.

“Come on!” I said to Azure and Amber, still standing around. “We gotta get to the train, see if we can find anything.”

We ran through the forest, and within twenty minutes we arrived at the train. The dawn was finally arriving, the edge of e sun casting a few golden rays over the area. It was a disaster scene; smoking fires, metal and wood scattered over the area, even a few bodies. Royal guards in their golden armor were swarming the area. A few of them gave me tense looks, before a high-ranking guard explained what I was. After that, things went along much more smoothly.

I ducked into a doorway, entering a car further down the train from ours. A few bodies filled it; consisting of two raiders and two passengers. The passengers had apparently put up a small fight, because the two raiders each had burns over much of their body, from magical bolts.

Moving through the cart, I quickly recalled what I remembered of the event. Suddenly, a thought struck me.

I quickly ran out of the cart, towards my friends.

“Azure! Amber!” I shouted gaining their attention as I slowed to a halt.

“What is it, Tyler?” Amber asked.

I smiled. “I think I know why they attacked us.”

“Why did they, then?” A guard asked.

I pointed to myself. “They were either after me, or  weapons. Remember when one outside the door shouted something like ‘They are in here’?” Azure nodded, so I continued. “Well, given the fact that, after that, they chased after us and us alone, I think they were after me or my weapons.”

The guard nodded. “That makes some sense, creature.”

Ignoring him, I turned to Azure. “We need to find out who could be doing this. If they did this once, they can and would do it again.”

“How, though?” Azure asked. “I doubt the prisoners will say much, and I don’t have time, and neither do you, to search every cave.”

“Yeah, I’d hate to be stuck with that!” Another guard said. I ignored him. Although I did enjoy the company of my friends, I barely tolerated most other ponies, finding them to be either annoying, arrogant, or both. Half of them barely tolerated other ponies, much less another species. And the ones who were more accepting were, more often than not, annoying as hell.

Quickly, the guard force finished doing… Whatever they were doing. Most of them flew off, a few staying to clear the tracks and guard the wreck. I looked around, deep in though. Someone had tried to kill me, and it pissed me off.

They would not survive me.

New Location

I opened my eyes and gazed onto the white ceiling. Rolling over, I noticed Azure and Amber sleeping on cots across the room. It was temporary, of course, but it was still a place to call home.

It had been about three days since the midnight attack on the train. Since then, we had finally reached Pullmare. Since then, we had done nothing,. Nothing except read and wait around. Well, they read. Apparently, the ‘translation spell’ covered books and written words, but I still had no interest in the types of books there. Therefore, I had played on my laptop a lot. I still wondered what I was going to do about electricity, although that could be solved easily – if I knew how to make a charger. The ponies here had electricity, as they did in the larger cities, but the power outlets looked more like four little holes in a square, rather than the two long slits and a hole that I was used to.

Overall, though, things were going good. The Royal Guard still had nothing on whoever the hell had attacked us, but I still knew that, when they found some, I was going to march into whatever fucking hole they were hiding in and put a bullet through their boss. Although that goal may be unobtainable, since my survival so far had been a matter of pure luck. I had counted on surprise and good cover more often than not, things that would be completely missing in a urban battle, if it was even going to be in an urban area. My only experience thus far with large-scale fights had been when those fucking bugs attacked, and those things had all the fighting intelligence of a pack of wolves. Either that, or their race was really fucking weak. Most of them, when I got hit by them, hit with the force of a 6th grader. Then again, that was understandable when the average pony came up to about hip-level in comparison to me.

Even though the past few days had been boring, there were a few scattered gems. For one, the local residents mainly stayed away from me, believing me to be some sort of… Monster would be too harsh of a word. Maybe outsider? Yeah that fit. Anyway, they had avoided me like I was carrying the plague, and that was fine with me. It left me with more time to sit beneath a tree and listen to music with my earbuds on. Occasionally, Azure or Amber would come and sit by me. At the very least, I was fine around them. They had proven to be two of five ponies I knew who weren’t either assholes or too goddamn cheerful. Not that I gave a shit about what the ponies thought about me. I would be perfectly happy to refute those notions of theirs, if it wouldn’t lead to them bugging e all day. Until one of them manned up and spoke to me, though, I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

Something that bothered me, though, was their complete infatuation with their Princesses. I got the feeling that, if they disappeared for one day, all the ponies would probably self-destruct. Half of them acted as though the ground that the Princesses walked on was platinum, and the other half were too busy kneeling on the ground to notice. I mean, it wasn’t as if I was advocating joining the circle-jerk that I gathered the raiders were, but come on, there had to be some ponies out there that didn’t take the Princesses as if they were a pair of gods. The only ponies I had found who even came close to that were the Royal Guard, and that didn’t prevent them from acting as if they would get sent to the moon if they didn’t obey - which, I had gathered from several conversations, was the ultimate form of punishment in Equestria.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I noticed that Azure was slowly rising off of his cot. He groaned and stretched out his wings, moving his legs around to test out each one. Probably satisfied with his current state, he jumped to the ground.

“Good morning, Azure.” I said.

“Buck off.” Came the reply moments later. “I’m tired right now, and I don’t want to deal with your antics right now.”

“Azure? Using big words?” I said. “You should wait a couple years before trying to pronounce words like ‘Antics’, young pony.”

“Shut up.”

I grinned. Even after all these days, it was still fun to annoy Azure in the morning. Amber, on the other hand, was apparently a morning pony. She was practically ready from the moment she woke up, which I attributed to the fact that I still didn’t fully understand her. While I was close friends with both of them, I talked with Amber far less than I did with Azure.

Speaking of which, Amber slowly rose from the bed and immediately went to don her guard armor. She pulled it over her, slipping her wings into the slots, and then walked up to me and Azure, who was still struggling to put his on.

“Need any help, brother?” She asked.

“No.” The reply quickly came.

I waved my hand. “Don’t bother. Speaking of which, can you not bother me today?”

She blinked. “Why?”

“I’m going to be trying to find an electrician and make a cord to charge my laptop. Since I have about thirty-six hours of battery left, I need to find something to get it charged, and having some sort of expert make a custom cable for me would be pretty damn cool.”

“Whatever.” She said. “Remember, the bits you can spend are on the stand by your bed. You wouldn’t know that, of course, because you never touch them. Or interact with the town at all, for that matter. How are you going to find an electrical expert? This town probably has one out of a population of 8,000 ponies, so you’re going to be searching for a looooong time.”

I grinned at her. “It’s called terrifying the pony at the town hall into telling me. Haven’t you learned anything about me yet?”

“No, not really.”

I groped for the bag of ‘bits’ I had been given when I arrived here, to cover any ‘expenses’ that might happen. Since my arrival, I hadn’t even moved them from the top of the stand next to my cot, which expressed my interaction in the town up to this point in a nutshell.

I dropped my pistol into its holster, put the bag of bits into my pocket, and slipped my knife into its sheaf. Amber frowned at what I was taking, but I waved her off.

“What if a monster jumps out of an alley and starts abducting random ponies? Then who will save them?” I teased.

“The guards.” She flatly replied.

“Hey, don’t worry.” I said. “It’s only in case something bad happens.”

“Something bad always happens around you.” Azure mumbled as he finally finished putting the armor on.

I grabbed my laptop and put it in its satchel. The electrician, if any, would need a starting point, after all. I slung over my shoulder, the strap going right through the center of my chest.

With that, I walked out the door. Taking a moment to look at the sun, I saw that it had just risen, bathing the landscape in a golden glow filled with shadows. Some ponies were already up, walking the streets. A few turned to stare at me, and some even gave glares, but I ignored them. I was used to it by now, and it hadn’t bothered me in the first place, anyway.

I walked through town, ignoring the ponies who stared at me, headed for the center where I had seen what I assumed to be the town hall. After all, it’s in the center of town, it has a bell tower, and important-looking officials hanging around it. I was also introduced to the public there when I had arrived, but that’s beside the point.

I quickly found the tall building and entered, finding a small waiting hall devoid of anyone. At the end sat a pony at a desk, obviously completely bored. At least, I assume sleeping at your desk means that you’re either completely bored or worked the night shift. Probably both in this case.

I walked up to the desk and slapped my hand into the bell on this, startling the mare awake. It seemed they even had those annoying things in Equestria, one more point of comparison with Earth.

“What do you wa-” The mare began, but froze as soon as she saw me.

“I would like to know the location of a local electrician, if any.” I said in a polite tone.

The mare nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, uh, I’ll get that for you. Right away!” She zipped off, rusting though several filing cabinets before triumphantly holding up a sheet of paper. She rushed back to the desk and put the paper in front of me.

“The pony in question is named Bright Spark. He lives on the east side of town, 10th Street.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

I quickly walked out, breaking into a jog once I left the building. Several ponies gave glances to the running human, but most simply tried their best to ignore me. I could easily see the open malice and fear in some of the gazes thrust upon me.

I easily reach the street in question ten minutes later. The shop was easy to notice. First of all, most normal shops in the area weren’t fully lit up with electric lights. Even though ponies had electricity available, many simply stuck to candles and such, for what reason, I couldn’t tell.

I walked up to the door and knocked. Five seconds later, an orange unicorn opened the door. He was, needless to say, startled by my appearance.

“What- I- Who are you?” He said after a moment of stuttering.

“You can call me Tyler.” I said. “I came to you because I was told you had the most expertise in electrical stuff around here.”

He instantly lost his awkwardness and puffed up. “That’s right! I’m really the only electrician around here, too, so it’s not like there’s any competition.”

I gave a small smile. “Good! Tell me, how much experience do you have in making electrical wire? I need something to charge a device of mine.”

“Hmmm.” He said, apparently deep in thought. “Making the cable would be easy, but I’ll need to know what it’s supposed to connect to.”

“Certainly.” I said, keeping up my air of civility. I pulled my laptop out of its satchel and quickly pointed out the slot the charging cable went in. After he took half a dozen measurements (along with shining a light inside the small port and taking a few dozen drawings of it (how they write and grasp with their hooves, I will never know)), he started to heat a piece of metal up on the corner. In the course of a half-hour where I didn’t pay any attention, he started to make an endpiece.

“So,” I asked. “How do ponies make electricity?”

“It’s all magic-based.” He said. “We have yet to find a way to make it without either lots of lightning rods or magical converters. Although the pegasus up at Cloudsdale have found that Liquid Rainbows can store and generate electricity naturally, they have yet to find a way to easily harvest it. Most of it is dispelled naturally, giving Liquid Rainbows their special properties.”

“Uh huh.” I said, absorbing the information on whatever ‘Liquid Rainbows’ were, just in case.

After ten more minutes, he attached the copper head to length of wire surrounded in what looked like natural rubber. It figures they didn’t have the synthesized stuff that we used, so they used what they found. What most people don’t know is that almost all rubber that we use these days in things like tires is actually synthesized. Real rubber actually comes from a certain tree, and there’s not much of it that we can harvest. It also cracks at very cold temperatures, and melts in very hot weather.

The end of the wire (the wire itself (rubber included) was about a centimeter thick) had a small one-inch-by-one-inch box with the weird plugs that the ponies used on the end. The pony picked it up gently with magic, turned around, and walked over to the table in front of me.

“Want to test it out?” He asked.

“Sure.” I replied.

I picked my laptop up and opened the lid, pressing the power button to start it. Meanwhile, he plugged the cord into an outlet on the table, probably there for demonstrations. Come to think of it, I did notice wires running from the bottom of the table to the floor earlier. Once the computer was started up, I gripped the end of the cable and plugged it in.

Unsurprisingly, it was a perfect fit. When a pony had a special talent, apparently, it means they are VERY good at it. It appears all the measurements had paid off, as well as the diagrams. Immediately, the battery icon on the task bar switched from a regular battery to one with a cord on the side.

“It worked.” I said simply. The pony nodded, probably not even knowing what my computer was. “How much will it cost me?”

The pony gave out a small hum. “With the short time I spent making it, along with the few materials I used? Oh, I’d say around twenty bits.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a fair deal.” I reached down and grabbed the pouch, counting out twenty of them and handing the small coins to him. I packed my laptop as well as the new charger into my satchel. Surprisingly, it fit well, taking up the top 1/5th of the small bag, with the laptop occupying the rest, as well as the earbuds and my thumb drive. With a final wave, I left the store.

The eye of every pony in the street was instantly on me, but I didn’t care. I walked through the street towards the small building that we had claimed, quickly reaching it and walking inside. Both Azure and Amber looked up at me from their cots, books open in front of them.

“Hey guys!” I said. “I got the charger, and it works!”

“Yay.” Azure deadpanned. “Does that mean you’re going to-”

“Yep!” I said. I open the satchel, taking it off of me and grabbing the charger, my laptop, and the earbuds. I plugged the charger into the odd outlet on the wall, plugging that into my laptop, and then plugging my earbuds in as well. I scrolled through my power options before selecting ‘If Lid Is Closed’, scrolling through there and selecting ‘Do Nothing’. Now my laptop would remain powered and on even if closed, allowing me to enjoy my music in peace and quiet – well, almost.

“Tyler,” Azure said. “You’re going to break your eardrums if you keep listening to the music with the volume at maximum.”

“So?” I replied. “I like it like that! It drowns everything else out.”

The rest of his response was lost as I put the earbuds in, scrolled through my music folder, and selected a song.

I closed the lid as the song began to play through my earbuds, seeming to come from the center of my head. I closed my eyes and lay my head down on the pillow, thinking happy thoughts for once. Things were finally going my way, and I could only hope it didn’t end here.

Attracting Attention

I collapsed onto the bed, completely exhausted. Over the two weeks since we had arrived, Celestia had assigned Azure and Amber as my guards. Although their departure from Canterlot had been… Highly irregular, Celestia didn’t really seem to mind that much. A week after their arrival here, they had finally been assigned to an empty house near the center of town, with a door that opened up to a nice view of a park.

Azure and Amber seemed happy with it. All three of us got separate rooms on the second floor, which I was thankful for. Now, whenever I wanted to completely ignore them, I could lock myself in my room. It might not be mature, but I didn’t care much.

I got the feeling that Celestia sent me here for a reason, and a second one had popped up: The first being that she wanted me out of the way. She couldn’t really get rid of me, and killing people didn’t seem to be her style, so she decided to send me off to a random town in the middle of nowhere. The second reason had only recently popped up: From their questioning of the people who had attacked the train, I got the feeling that someone wanted me and my weapons. Getting my weapons alone would have been a prize, but me? I was a source of information at this point. I could tell plenty of things that would help someone, and it didn’t really matter who. In the middle of this city, I was pretty safe.

Pullmare itself was surrounded by a wooden wall. This wasn’t some silly palisade wall of wooden logs stuck in the ground: The wall was made of high-quality cut wood, with a center of gravel and sand, and the outside was covered in some type of chainmail-like covering. Whatever it was, it made the outside wall almost impossible to climb because of how smooth it was, and I had noticed dozens of guards on the wall when I walked by.

Why the worry, then? Well, even after the interaction that I had attained (by that I mean visiting a local bar with Azure or Amber occasionally), I was still known around the town as an Outsider. Heck, my habit of drinking only occasionally (but mostly letting Azure or Amber get drunk and then laughing hilarious at them in the morning) had probably gotten me in better standing. Except with the local mares, with whom I flirted shamelessly when I was drunk, or so Azure said (he also said that I’m an idiot, but I don’t believe him). If that was true, it was probably time to stop drinking.

I haven’t thought about Earth much recently. I suppose that, since there is little chance of me getting back (Azure confirmed that the little dot I saw of the portal was there because the spell was winding down, not because it was just closing for a moment), my mind was trying its best to ignore it. I didn’t really mind. As long as I felt a minimal drive to do something, I was fine. Right now, this night, it was sleep.

I closed my eyes, slowly drifting off into my sleep.

I woke up to the blackness of night. I groaned and looked at the clock, noting that it was midnight.

“Great,” I said. “Four hours of sleep and I’m up.”

Having nothing else to do, I simply turned the light off and stared at the ceiling. It must have been around ten minutes later when I heard the front door open. Curious as to why Azure or Amber would be up at this time of night, I turned on my light and got out of the bed. I heard hesitant hoofsteps coming up the stairs, slowly, when I realized something: Azure and Amber had gone to bed even before me.

The steps were coming slowly now, stopping suddenly in front of my door. I slowly reached down for my pack and grabbed my knife, pulling it out of its sheath. Suddenly, the door burst open, and I caught sight of a green pegasus launching towards me. I dove to the side and pulled up my knife, putting myself in an ideal position to strike as the pegasus struck the wall where I had just been.

I kicked out, catching the stunned pegasus as he fell. I quickly got up and came down on it, keeping a hand on its back and pressing the knife to the back of its throat. He stopped suddenly, feeling the knife most likely. Seconds later, a disheveled pair of pegasi burst through the door.

“Tyler!” Azure said, catching sight of the pegasus. “What happened?”

“I heard the door open, and him creeping up the stairs. Then he burst in and tried to tackle me. Isn’t that right?” I asked rhetorically, pressing the knife against him. He shook slightly in my grip.

“I’ll call the guard and get him interrogated.” Amber said.

I held up a hand. “Wait, I want to do this.”

I turned to the pegasus and pressed the blade of my knife to his throat. “Talk. Who told you to do this?”

“I don’t know: I only know that I was supposed to bring you to the warehouse on 5th and 10th!”

I looked up at Amber and Azure. “That’s one fuckin block away. Amber, call the guard. Azure, after they get here, we’re going to do a bit of housecleaning.”

Azure smiled a bit, and looked down at the pegasus as Amber rushed away. “Buddy, you’d best be glad you’re not going to be in that warehouse when we get there.”

Ten minutes later, with the attempted kidnapper taken away, I grabbed my G-17C and my knife, sliding the knife sheath into my belt, and putting the holster on it. I was ready.

Azure and I quickly exited the house, the guards trailing us. We went north a block, before turning west. One block further, 10th street met 5th street. There were two warehouses in this intersection, but only one of them had light going out of the window. Azure and I quickly walked to the door, with me motioning to get on either side of it. The guards trailing us finally caught up, standing against the wall.

I turned my head towards the captain and asked my question. “Can we go in alone?”

The captain shrugged his shoulders, how I do not know. “Sure. We’ll be waiting outside.”

“Don’t come in if you hear bangs. That’ll be us thinning out their numbers. I hope you don’t mind.” I said.

“I don’t care. It’s less paperwork I need to do, and less ponies I have to put in the jail.”

Well, at least someone here has the right attitude. I looked over at Azure, noting he was ready. “Azure, on three. One.”

“Two.” He said.

“Three!” We both said together, with Azure turning around and giving the door a solid buck. I rushed in, the pistol extended in front of me, both of my hands gripped around it, finger ready to move and pull the trigger. The entire warehouse must have been filled with boxes, because a single path led through the tall crates to our right.

“This is the guard! Surrender immediately!” Azure shouted out.

Far from surrendering, two unicorns came from behind the turn in front of us. They each had a crossbow in a magical grip. One of them fired it, the bolt zooming past us and imbedding in a box near the entrance. I raised my pistol, aiming down the sight and lining up on the unicorn who fired. I pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

The shot echoed through the building as the unicorn collapsed, its face a complete mess. I lined up with the second unicorn as it aimed its crossbow.

*BANG*

The shot caught it at the front of its chest, passing through most of its body, and the associated organs, before stopping. The unicorn instantly collapsed, dead. Azure and I rushed past, turning the corner.

Azure instantly took flight to meet a pegasus that was charging at us. They collided, with Azure on top, and both tumbled to the ground. The other pegasus tried to stab Azure with a knife it awkwardly held in its hoof, while Azure simply brushed the foreleg aside and delivered a solid buck to its chest, knocking it back and towards me. I kicked out, catching it in the head and knocking it out. We left it behind us for the guards to take in, when they did.

We turned a 180 degree corner, finding ourselves in a massive room in the center of the warehouse. Seven ponies, three obviously armed and four not, stood around it. The armed ones, unicorns, instantly started to raise crossbows. I went down on one knee, still partially behind the corner, aiming with my G-17C.

*BANG* *BANG*

Two of the unicorns standing by one another went down, both of them shot through the chest. I didn’t have the time to made head shots, not anymore. The last one fired off a bolt, the metal projectile imbedding itself in the wood behind us, missing Azure and I by around two feet.

I aimed down the sight, and fired two shots at the unicorn. One impacted behind it and another in its chest, the unicorn dropping its crossbow and falling to the ground. The other four unicorns simply stood there, paralyzed with fear.

“Don’t move!” I said, walking forward while Azure went off to call in the guards. “Who’s the leader here?”

Three of the unicorns pointed to a fourth.

“Alright, why are you here?”

The unicorn mare fumbled for a moment before answering. “Uh… W- We were h- here to teleport y- you to our bosses’ headquarters.”

I cocked my head. “Oh, and where would that be?”

“We don’t know!” The unicorn franticly said. “We were just given a set of Thaumic coordinates to teleport you to! We don’t know where!”

I smiled. “I guess the guard will have to find out.”

Ten seconds later, half a dozen guards rushed in. Ignoring the dead bodies, they apprehended the four unicorns and led them out. The captain of the guard walked over to one of the corpses and poked at the crossbow.

“Something on your mind?” I asked. He, at least, had proved to be neither an asshole nor annoying.

He turned towards me, a frown on his face. “These are crossbows. We’ve heard of them, but they’re supposed to be just going into production at Baltimare. There aren’t supposed to be any at this point outside of Canterlot or one of the big cities.”

“Then how did it get here?” I said, asking the obvious question, to which he shook his head.

The Caves

I stood in a small room with Amber and Azure, waiting for the guards to show up. In the two days since the incident at the warehouse, the four ‘teleportation experts’ had been questioned repeatedly. The ‘Thaumic Coordinates’ that they had talked about were, in actuality, a sort of ‘mailing address’. Apparently, with some effort, someone could lay down a ‘Thaumic beacon’, and, with a complicated spell, transport something to it.

In this case, Celestia had been notified immediately. She was sending a team of ‘elite guards’ (her term), which would be arriving today. Her plan, as set forth in a letter, was to use several local experts in magic to teleport a large group of guards to the spot. They would immediately send a message to Celestia, which would reveal their location, prompting a larger force to go there and attack from the outside, while they moved from the inside. It was a complicated plan, and had a high chance of failure.

Which was why I was going with them.

Ever since I learned two separate attacks had been planned on me, I had been patiently waiting for the chance to kick some pony ass. This raid presented the perfect opportunity, so I would be going with the main force, and, by extension, so would Azure and Amber.

Finally, after a half hour, a guard opened the door and gestured outside. I got up off of the low chair, glad for a chance to get off of it. We quickly walked outside, and noticed a small group of eight guards in heavy iron armor milling around. Half were pegasi, and half were unicorns.

Another unicorn walked up to them and started yelling. The moment he did, the guards turned and stood at attention. He started talking, but I simply tuned what he said out. Suddenly, a tap on my left shoulder caught my attention. Looking to my left, I noticed a pegasus guard standing there.

“The unicorn specialist you requested is here.” He simply said, pointing behind him to a light purple unicorn standing twenty feet away. Nodding to the guard, I quickly walked over to the unicorn, who jumped slightly as I approached.

“You’re the specialist? The one who can duplicate items?” I asked.

“Yes.” She slowly replied, staring at me in slight awe.

I reached into a side pouch of my backpack and pulled out one of the magazines for my Sa-58. If I was going into a cave fight, I would need ammo, and plenty of it, so the guard captain, who turned out not to be an asshole, suggested I ask for a duplication expert.

“Can you duplicate this?” I asked.

She stared intently at the steel object before closing her eyes and lighting her horn. Five seconds later, with a bright flash, four exact copied of the magazine lay in front of me.

“Thanks.” I said, quickly scooping up all five and putting them inside the open pouches on the backpack. I walked back over to the group, where the long-winded guard was done talked. He was probably the leader of the group, but I really didn’t care.

As soon as I rejoined Azure and Amber, however, he waved me over to him. I cautiously went over, partially curious as to what he would want.

Once I got over there, however, he immediately went to a near-whisper and turned slightly hostile.

“Listen, you creature.” He said. “I don’t care what you are. Just keep you and your friends out of our way while we clear wherever they are out.”

“Not going to happen.” I answered immediately. “I am going to be at the head, whether you like it or not. And every single one of those bastards that faces me will die. I don’t care what you think. It’s a fact.”

With that, I walked over to my small group again, leaving him speechless.

“What was that about?” Azure asked as I got back.

“The ‘esteemed guard captain’ decided to be an asshole, and I took him down a notch.” I replied.

Amber winced. “Do you have to start a fight everywhere you go?”

“That’s practically a requirement at this point, sis.” Azure replied.

Several unicorns not dressed in guard uniforms began to arrive in the small area, probably part of the team that would teleport us there. My guess was confirmed when we were ordered into a circle. I pulled my Sa-58 off of my back and switched the safety off, putting it on semi-automatic.

“Ten seconds!” One of the unicorns standing around our group said.

I double-checked that my pistol was in its holster, and clicked off its safety.

“Five seconds!”

The guards around me looked nervous. In a way, I was, too.

“Three.”

The unicorns started to charge their horns.

“Two.”

I held my rifle at the ready.

“One. Now!” The lead unicorn shouted.

A mass of color suddenly swam in my vision, amazingly bright. I shut my eyes as I felt myself being… Moved, is the best word. I opened my eyes a second later to see me and the guards standing on a raised metal platform, with four ponies in front of our group, staring at this in shock.

The guards moved instantly, the unicorns shooting magical bolts at all four before I could raise my rifle. All four fell to the group, dead. The captain of our group aimed his horn at a scroll, sending it to Celestia. Our position would now be known.

We were standing on a metal circle in the middle of a small room, surrounded in rock. It appeared as though we were in a cave, in a small chamber. The only entrance out was right in front of us, so the me, the guards, and my two friends started to run towards it.

Two pegasi in black clothing came running down the tunnel towards us. I raised my rifle and, before the ponies could react, fired two rounds. Both of the ponies tumbled to the ground, dead. The tunnel split off into two directions ahead, and both were marked. The one to the left was marked ‘surface/barracks’, and the one to the right was marked ‘administration’. Azure, Amber, and I went to the one marked ‘administration’, while the others, with a look at us, went in the one marked ‘surface/barracks’. I shrugged, figuring that we could easily take the section with the higher officials. We were suddenly faced with a sharp, 90 degree turn in the tunnel. I inched towards it, peeking around the edge.

A fairly open room carved out of the rock stretched before us. At the end of it, four unicorns in black clothing stood in front of a metal door. Between them and us, around two dozen various ponies in what looked like civilian clothing stood in front of filing cabinets and desks, oblivious to what had gone down further along the tunnel.

“Several dozen ponies, most of them civilians, four guards at the end.” I whispered to Azure and Amber.

“How do we get past them?” Amber asked.

I put my rifle at the read in response, took a deep breath, and stepped around the corner into view.

The talking in the room instantly quieted as they saw me. I suddenly raised my rifle and started pouring shot after shot into the guards at the end of the room, twelve shots in all. The other ponies in the room ran around screaming as I fired, some starting to run past me and a smirking Azure and Amber, rushing to get past us to the exit as the bodies of the guards hit the ground.

I walked through the room, headed for the metal door. It didn’t appear to have a lock, so it was probably just for show. I stood beside it, Azure and Amber on the other side of the doorframe.

I held up three fingers, indicating three seconds, and slowly closed them into a fist. With that, I grabbed the lever to the door and yanked it down, moving to the front of the door a second later. I put my foot up against it and kicked. Hard. The door swung back, reviling a small room with three ponies standing in it, one at a desk, and the other two unicorns holding crossbows.

I pulled back around the corner as two bolts whizzed through the space where I had been. Leaning back around it, I put three bullets each into the unicorns, and watched as they dropped in the middle of reloading their crossbows. The pegasus behind the desk didn’t look happy to see me.

“So you’re the creature.” He said as Azure and Amber followed me into the room.

“Yes, I am. Now why the hell are you trying to kill me?” I demanded, pointing my gun at him.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He asked. “You are from another world, and my… Employers want something like you. What you know can not only chance the world, but benefit certain ponies, or non-ponies in some cases.”

“Who?” I demanded, moving my gun forward towards him.

“Wouldn’t you and Celestia love to know? Sadly, you won’t find out. All the documents I have here are encrypted, and you won’t get anything out of me for your tyrant. So, why don’t you just leave, beast, and go-”

He was suddenly halted as I fired two bullets into his head from a range of two feet.

“Asshole.” I muttered as I walked behind his desk and looking at the papers on it. Moments later, I started laughing, Azure and Amber giving me a concerned look.

“Tyler, are you ok?” Azure asked.

“These aren’t encrypted!” I said, in the middle of a bout of laugher. “He simply used  ROT13, and switched the letters of the alphabet thirteen places up! I used to do this all the fucking time with some of my family. Pissed my parents off to no end. Hold on while I grab as many as I can. We’ll bring them to the local headquarters, where I can translate them.”

Half an hour later, we reached the surface. The other ponies had already secured the rest of the tunnels, as evidenced by the dozens of bodies we passed along the way. It turns out the cave system was located only about twenty miles away from Pullmare, so we were easily able to get back by nightfall. By midnight I had the documents fully translated out of ROT13.

Azure and I looked them over, before doubling back and reading them again. Immediately, we booking ourselves and Amber for a train ride to Canterlot, immediately. We got on the train an hour later, our estimated arrival time around ten in the morning.

We had to present these personally.

Powerful Downfall

As soon as the train rolled to a stop in Canterlot, Azure and Amber were following me as I jogged off of the train and through the streets. Most of the ponies in the streets stopped to look at us as we went by, but we ignored them in favor of heading straight to the castle.

Two minutes later, we finally arrived at the gates, guarded by two guards.

“Halt!” One of them said. “What is your reason for being here?”

I walked up to him and stared him in the eye. “Tell Celestia that Tyler needs to see her right fucking now. It’s an emergency.”

One of the guards recognized my tone and ran off while the other kept an eye on me. A full minute later, the guard returned, out of breath.

“Throne room… Three minutes from now… Just go in…” He said slowly, out of breath.

I rushed past them, running through the hallways, Azure and Amber right behind me. I must have looked absolutely ridiculous: I held about twenty papers in my hands, with my rifle slung behind me, and my backpack, with all its contents, sitting tightly against my back.

Within a minute of running through the halls, with Azure shouting directions, we came to a halt outside of Celesta’s throne room. The two guards at the entrance slowly opened the doors for us, and we strode in.

All three of us walked in. Amber and Azure gave a bow, while I simply nodded.

“Greetings, Tyler Maddox.” She said. “What are you here for?”

“These.” I said, tossing the papers at her, as she caught them in a golden glow. Her facial features quickly registered a mix of shock, anger, and dismay, before she set them down on the ground and shook her head.

“Where did you get these?” She asked.

It was a quick answer. “Inside of the raider’s headquarters. We took it down, and got over here as fast as we could.”

“There are three ponies I know of that fit the description of the ‘Controlled’ pony, and only one of them has the initials ‘P.B.’” Celestia said. “It’s my nephew, Prince Blueblood. Weak willed and corrupt. The only reason he is around is because I had a pony seventy years ago who did many good things, and I rewarded him. Sadly, he had children, and Blueblood is one of them.

“As for who is the ‘Controller’, I can only make general guesses. There are five ponies that are close to Blueblood, and only three of them are mares. Two of them arrived in the past few years, so that narrows it down to two choices.” She finished.

“Who are they?” I asked.

Celestia was quick to answer. “One is a pegasus named Spring Song, who is a childhood friend of his, and moved here recently, and one of his only ones, for that matter. The second one is his personal assistant, a unicorn named Cold Front.”

“Which one is most likely to be the ‘Controller’?” I asked.

“Probably the unicorn.” Amber suggested. “You need a horn to control and channel magic, and she probably needs to have him under a spell, so a unicorn is a good cover for that, if it even is a Changeling.”

I was in full detective mode now. “The letters stated that they ‘had her under control’, and that she needed to obey them to ‘keep certain beings alive’. Therefore, it is probably a Changeling with either unusual ties, or we are dealing with something truly strange here.”

“I know where she and Blueblood are right now.” Celestia offered. “If you wanted to ‘take care of it’, I wouldn’t mind. He has been a problem for far too long, and he needs to be bucked down a notch.”

“I wouldn’t mind. Where is he?” I said, happy to take down the guy who had done all of this, including the pony controlling him.

Celestia smiled. “Eager, I see. He’s in the mansion two blocks to the south, and one to the east. Amber and Azure know it as ‘Blueblood’s Vanity’.”

Azure nodded. “We definitely do. The moron has it coming, all right.”

“Well, let’s get going.” I said, gesturing towards the door. “After you, Azure.”

We quickly journeyed out of the castle and into the city. As Celestia had said, the mansion was very visible: It was the only building within several blocks to have a massive spire rising off of the top of the two-story structure.

We formed up outside of it, many ponies glancing at us with curiosity. However, with Azure and Amber there in guard armor, if not the helmets, calmed them down at the site of me quite a bit.

“So, what now?” Amber asked.

“We enter.” I said.

I went up to the door and opened it, Azure and Amber following behind me. The hallway led twenty feet before opening up into a small room with a staircase. Doors lined the sides of the hallway, but we ignored them, and went for the staircase. The faint sound of talking could be heard from the second floor, and I pulled my Sa-58 off of my back, gripping it tightly.

The voices were easily audible as we walked slowly up the stairs, not making a sound.

“-But I don’t see why I have to give them more!” A male voice was saying. “The last shipment didn’t go through, and I don’t think I can keep up the ruse for much-” The voice was cut off suddenly as a cyan flash lit up part of the hallway.

“Now, will you do what I asked?” A female voice said.

“Yes, Cold Front.” The male voice replied monotonously.

“Christ, he’s definitely under some sort of spell.” I whispered.

Azure snorted softly. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” He said sarcastically.

We crossed the top of the stairs and continued down the hallway. Sounds of walking came from behind a door ten feet away, so Azure and Amber crossed to the other side fo it, while I stood beside the doorframe.

“Ready?” I said, eyeing the closed door.

“Ready.” Amber and Azure said simultaneously.

I gave the door a massive kick. Being that it was not designed for that kind of punishment, it immediately broke through the area where the knob was and flew to the side, barely on its hinges, a visible dent in it. Two unicorns stood in the center of the room. One, a mare, was white with a multishaded violet-purple mane. The second one, obviously Blueblood, was simply standing there with green-hued eyes.

“Get down on the ground!” I yelled. The mare immediately ran for the window. I attempted to fire a shot, but the two bullets I fired missed her, and she broke through it.

“Snap him out of it!” I said to Azure, pointing at Blueblood. He walked over to the prince and, almost happily, slapped his horn with his hoof. Blueblood’s horn immediately emitted green light as he screamed out in pain, putting a hoof to his head.

“What was that for, peasant!” He yelled.

“Snap out of it. You were in a Changeling spell.” Amber said. “Now shut up while Azure and I escort you to Princess Celestia for questioning.”

“What did I do?!” He gasped.

“Plenty of things. For now, follow us or we will force you to.” Azure curtly said.

“I’ll chase after the mare.” I said, moving to the broken window.

There was little glass in it after she went through. It in distance, a block away, I could easily see her distinctive mane in what little crowd there was, trotting away at a brisk pace. I stepped through the window and pushed off, landing ten feet below and absorbing the shock with my knees. I quickly began running towards her. Many of the locals seemed to recognize me from Princess Celestia’s announcements, so I was quickly able to move through the crowd.

Once she spotted me, she ran faster, pushing through the crowd, who stared first at her, and then at me, rushing along, twenty feet behind her.

She couldn’t match my speed, and she knew it, so, instead of doing the reasonable thing and teleporting away, she turned down a random alley. I turned it just in time to see her jump on top of a crate and on top of a roof. Clambering up, first onto the crate, and then onto the two-story house, I quickly spotted her and followed, awkwardly running along the slightly sloped rooftops.

At the end of the block, she slid down the surface off the roof and onto the street ten feet below, shocking the ponies down there. My fall seconds later didn’t help it. I ignored the ones giving me odd looks and settled for chasing her down another alley, which had a sharp turn further on.

I turned the corner and found her ten feet away, facing a blank wall.

“Don’t teleport.” I said, causing her to whirl around. “If you try, I shoot off your horn. Now, just what are you? And who?” I questioned, aiming my rifle menacingly.

“I- I am Cold F- Front.” She said, stuttering.

“What are you?”

“A pony.”

“Why are you working for the Changelings?”

Suddenly, it was as if a dam had burst. She started crying, and I had to strain to make out what she said.

“They have most of my family!” She said through sobs. “They taught me a spell that I had to use on him, and what to say. I tried to go back on it, but they said they would drain my foals!”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid I am going to have to take you in.”

She looked up at me, almost pitifully. “Promise you will do your best to help them?”

“I promise.”

She wiped off her face with her hoof and spoke up again. “In my house is a bit of information on where their hive is. Use it, please. I will follow you back to the castle, but please use it!”

“I will.”

Fifteen minutes later, after I had taken her to the castle and met up with Azure and Amber, I told them the entire story.

“That’s awful.” Amber said. “What are we going to do about it?”

“Go to their hive and kick some Changeling flank.” Azure said.

I held up a hand, causing them to pause.

“We still need to get the information. She told me where her house is, so we go in, take the documents, and tell Celestia.” I said.

“Sounds good.” Amber said, moving towards the door. “Let’s get moving.”

Five minutes later, after walking a short distance to her house that she had described to me and entering, I gazed upon a thin stack of papers on what looked like a desk.

“Found them.”

[Documents]

To: The Shadow

From: Queen Chrysalis

Subject: Location

The location of the mentioned Changeling hive is between Canterlot and Ponyville. Twenty kilometers from Ponyville and twenty kilometers from Canterlot, a small path leads into the Everfree. This will lead to an open clearing. Simply wait there for a short time, and the Hive will reveal itself to you.

If, however, you are short on time, simply open the hatch in the middle of the field. I trust you won’t lead the entire Royal Guard to the doorstep of my Sub-Hive, as it is a valuable location, abet far from the Main Hive. I also trust that you will use no more than twenty Changelings in your operations, as the hive has eighty members, and not all of them are trained in combat.

Most, in fact, are either infiltrators, or Changelings in training. Remember, do not reveal the location. If it were an actual Hive it could put up a fight, but I want skirmishes, not a bloodbath inside one of my important bases.

If you do lead them there, I take back all that I said about you being a valuable asset.

Flight Out

Meanwhile, in the real world (a real life situation)

Wesley Brown was doing his job, bagging groceries at Safeway. It was only two hours into his shift, and all was going well. Turning to the cashier, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Today seems to be going great so far. I really doubt anything bad will happen.”

His smile twisted into a frown a second later.

“I’ve probably screwed somebody over with that.”

-=-=-

“What the fuck are you on?” I yelled at the guard captain. “Just because you are busy this week in a ‘training exercise’ doesn’t mean you can’t get off your fat ass to come help us clear out the hive.”

“These training exercises are scheduled regularly. You should learn to read the schedule ahead of time.” The immovable unicorn said.

I slammed my palm into my face, sighing.

“Fine. I guess we’ll have to clear out the bug nest by ourselves. Just don’t expect anything from me after we do this.” I said, walking out of the office in the castle.

As I walked through the hallways towards the throne room, I sighed. In the week since we had caught Blueblood (and the unicorn who had him under a spell), Azure, Amber, and I had been preparing to tackle the location of the hive. There was only one complication: We could only scrape together four other guards who had volunteered to go with us.

The rest had clear out as soon as we said ‘hive’.

“There has got to be a better way to do this than bursting in the front door with half the Equestrian guard.” I mumbled to myself.

“I agree.” A voice said behind me.

Turning around, I noticed Princess Luna five feet away from me, followed by eight of the bat-like guards that she had.

“Hi, Luna. Any solutions you have come up with?” I asked.

To my surprise, she nodded. “We have been having troubles with getting the Night Guard accepted into many assignments. Our guard captain, Starshade, proposed that We send the Night Guard in with you.”

“Are they fit for combat?” I asked.

“We that they are.” She replied.

“Are they all Pegasi?” I asked.

“Some are. The mix is about 20% pegasi, 20% unicorns, and 60% actual Batponies.”

I sighed. “What do they have going for them?”

“Batponies have slightly less flying skill than Pegasi, but are faster on the ground, and can see in the dark much better than most ponies. They are also more silent walking.”

“So I’ve noticed.” I deadpanned. I hadn’t heard them sneaking up on me, after all. “Sounds good, Luna. Did you ask Celestia?”

She shook her head. “Tia may be older than I am, but we are Co-Rulers. I do not need to ask her for everything.”

I shrugged. “Ok, send them to the throne room at about four o’ clock tonight.”

Luna smiled. “Wipe those creatures off of Equestria, and We shall be thankful.”

“Can do. See you later, Luna.” I said, turning around and continuing on my way.

I smiled. It finally seemed as if things were looking up. As soon as we met with the assault team two hours from now, we would be boarding a small flight of chariots to go there by air. Although I would have rather taken the train, memories of what happened the last time came up into my head unbidden.

Shaking my head, I continued through the halls, until I reached the room. The guards didn’t even bother questioning me: They simply opened the door. After I literally had kicked one who had simply charged me as soon as he saw me across the hall earlier in the week, they showed me quite a bit more respect now. At least, I hoped it was respect.

I would hate to have a bad reputation.

Not.

I walked into the throne room. Celestia was at the end of it, simply sitting there. Personally, having her job would be hell: In between listening to retarded ‘nobles’, all she did was sit around, doing nothing.

“I assume that you did not obtain Captain Stormwind’s permission?” She said when I was halfway across the room.

“You assumed correctly.” I said. “However, I did get some other help, so I’m ready to kick some Changeling ass.”

“I assumed you would be going in alone, with your dislike of most ponies.” Celestia said.

I shrugged. “Even I’m not suicidal.”

She nodded. “I am thankful to hear it. You might be interested to know why a simple portal spell that brought you here went wrong, am I correct?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Go on.”

“Gladly. Have you heard of Discord from Azure or Amber?” When I nodded, she went on. “After he was turned to stone, his magic was reverted, but some ambient chaos magic still remains. Ponyville, being the center of his former control, still occasionally has spells go wrong because of these trace amounts. This corrupted the spell, and brought you here.”

“Well, I guess I’m stuck here.” I said, resigned to that fate.

A sad expression overcame her face. “You might well be. I am sorry, Tyler Maddox, but I cannot do much else. Discord himself may not be able to help you, and I am not releasing him to find out.”

“After what happened last time, I’m not surprised. He must have been a pain in the ass to get rid of.” I quipped.

“Oh, most certainly.” Celestia replied. “You may rest here until the others arrive, Tyler Maddox. You will find your things in the corner that you prefer.”

“Thanks.” I said, moving to the corner of the room to the left of her throne. I set up shop there the first time I had been forced the stay in the room (A.K.A., the night we caught Blueblood), and everyone nearby had quickly figured out that I had proclaimed it was mine.

As long as I was not bothered during my rest, I was fine with it. I didn’t really care what the ponies said about me: I hated half of them anyway. I found my backpack lying right where I expected it: Right in the corner. I took my Sa-58 off of my back (after several death threats, I had decided to keep it on my back permanently) and lay down on the backpack, drifting off into sleep.

-=-=-

“… Wake up, Tyler!”

I woke up to the sound of Amber yelling at me. I opened my eyes to see her face hovering one foot away from mine, staring at me.

“Yes, Amber?” I calmly asked.

“Thank Celestia you’re awake.” She said, sighing. “We’ve been trying to get you up for five minutes now.”

“Amber, can you please move away from me? I can’t get up.” I said.

Amber slowly backed away and headed towards a small group of ponies in the center of the room. I got to my feet, slung my backpack on, and grabbed my rifle, moving towards the group of ponies. I counted the four guards, eight Batponies, Azure, and Amber milling around.

“Ok, I’m ready. When do we leave?” I asked.

One of the Batponies stepped forward. “The chariots arrive in two minutes in the gardens.”

“Then let’s get going.” I said, turning towards the door of the throne room and walking out of it.

As we walked through the hallways, I decided to ask Amber about some things I have noticed.

“Hey Amber?” I said.

“Yes, Tyler?” She replied.

“Why are there an immense number of female ponies compared to males?”

“I don’t know. The ratio is somewhere around six-to-one.”

I gave a long, low whistle. “That’s pretty skewed.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hey Amber!” Azure said. “Don’t forget to tell him about the time that you-”

“Story’s over.” She interrupted, cutting her brother off.

I gave a small smile as we walked through the final door to the gardens. Trees stretched out before us, as well as plants, with a good-sized clearing twenty feet along the path. In the clearing sat four chariot, empty and waiting. All four royal guards quickly moved themselves to two chariots, two each. I got onto one, and the Batponies, along with Azure and Amber, readied themselves for flight.

With a jerk, the pegasus guards lifted into the air, the two chariots accompanied by plenty of flying guards. I held on for dear life as it climbed in altitude, but slowly settled down. Sitting on the floor of the chariot, I rested my back on the side, waiting for the arrival.

It was time to hit them, and hard.

The Hive

The chariots flew through the air, pegasi and Batponies flying alongside them. Azure and Amber, along with the rest of the guards, had forgone helmets to make identification easier. It was slightly amazing to me how many different colors ponies came in, but here was another example. Even though there were only four pegasi guards with them, and all four were pulling the two chariots, they still had colors all across the range.

The Batponies, by contrast, wore midnight blue armor and had wings just like bats, although I guess the name was self-explanatory. They also had small fangs, apparently still there after centuries of living in normal society (I also heard they were Omnivores. Yay for team Omni: members, two).

And I had a feeling they were going to kick some serious ass.

“Landing in two minutes!” The Batpony at the head of the formation said.

I slung my rifle off of my back and into my hands, checking it. Yep, still eight rounds in the magazine, as well as five extra magazines in the front pockets of my Marine MARPAT BDUs. I had given the empties to Celestia to study: No use carrying them around when I can just ask – or pay – a unicorn advanced enough in magic (my former brony friend would have a field day of jokes there) to duplicate them.

Sort of like leveling up in one of those retarded MMOs that I never bothered to play, but less gay.

Anyway, putting aside any jokes, I was sure our forces would have a field day themselves in the assault. The letter had mentioned that it was only a training site, probably a hundred Changelings in total. It may seem like a lot, but remember: Most, if not all of them are going to be either young ‘trainees’, old ‘instructors’, and infiltrators (whatever that meant) all around. They weren’t going to be soldiers, so we would easily be able to punch inside and kill/capture most of the hive.

I pulled back the bolt on the side of my Sa-58, loading the first of eight cartridges in the magazine. One round of death, guaranteed to blow away anything in front of it. It’s kind of funny, actually: I got the guns in the first place for recreation, and to ‘protect myself’ from my fellow students. I never expected to actually use them in combat, much less against things that were straight out of a kid’s show.

Now that I had come here, to the universe I would have least expected, I had killed more than I ever thought I would have to. My score included several dozen ponies, a few griffons, and uncounted numbers of Changelings. It almost would have been sad, if I regretted it.

I did not.

My arrival here had brought me out of Earth, a place where I knew I would never amount to much more than a footnote in history at best: And that only if I managed to shoot a bunch of people, which was NOT how I intended to live out my life.

I shook myself out of my thoughts as the chariots descended on the clearing, along with the Batponies and my two friends. Once they touched down, the guards immediately unbuckled themselves, and I jumped off the back of the still-rolling, now-useless chariot, landing and immediately rolling to dissipate my momentum.

I brushed off the blades of grass that clung to my shift and stood up, rifle at the ready. The ponies and Batponies immediately started fanning out, with Azure, Amber, and I heading towards the center of the field.

Literally directly in the middle, there was a patch of ground that looked a bit raised, in a perfect square. It would have been unnoticeable from a few hundred feet up: But we were six feet away. Looking around the edge of it, I found a metal handle.

“Everyone over here!” I yelled to the guards. “Opening on my mark. Five.”

“Four.” All twelve guards, plus Azure and Amber, stood at the ready along it.

“Three.” Several of them pulled out spears, holding them with their hooves. How they did that, I still do not know, and it still puts me through a loop.

“Two.” I grasped the metal rung and tested its weight. Surprisingly, the grass covering, along with whatever it was covering, would be easy to lift and open.

“One.” I pulled.

The grass square came up easily, apparently covering a thin metal plate, about a quarter of a centimeter thick. It flew open, the sunlight filling the hole and showing a rock staircase heading down in a spiral. It was perfectly cut into the rock, and almost looked like concrete. Setting aside my concerns, I pulled my backpack off of my back and started shifting through my attachments bag. Finally, I found it: A flashlight.

I attached it to the rail underneath the barrel of my Sa-58, the flashlight fitting perfectly. I kept it off, to save battery.

“Well, is everybody ready to gown down the staircase to Tartarus?” One of the Batponies asked.

“You’d better be. Stay behind me until we hit an open section of tunnel.” I said, slinging my backpack into black on my back and starting to go into the staircase. It was circular, with an open area four feet side in the center, leading down counter-clockwise. Small, green crystals dotted the walls, casting a dim glow onto the staircase.

Behind me, I could hear Amber and Azure, as well as all the other guards, following me. I kept my rifle at the ready, pointed to my left in case something came up the stairs. Around eighty feet down, the staircase ended, opening up on a small tunnel with a door at the end of it. We walked down the hallway, on the guard, until we reached the door.

With one quick motion, I grabbed the knob with my left hand and opened it, aiming my rifle with my rifle hand as I entered. What I saw next surprised me.

The door had opened up onto a small room, with smooth rock floors and walls, and several bright white crystals hanging from the ceiling. Several pieces of furniture stood in it, including several obvious chairs and a few desks beside them. The room was about twenty feet square, and at the other end of it, four Changelings stood, staring at us.

I brought my rifle up and started firing, hitting two Changelings with three rounds each while the other two dove behind the desks. One popped up and started to charge a spell, but was stopped when two rounds from my rifle hit it, both in the head, sending it flying backwards a few feet in a small mist of green blood.

The last one launched several spells, missing with each one, before a Batpony rushed and quickly killed it, stabbing right through its shell-like skin with a spear. I reloaded my rifle, slipping the empty magazine into a pocket, before replacing it with a fresh one, pulling the bolt back to load a round.

Our group continued to the door. One of the Batponies ran up to it, turned around, and kicked it square with his back hooves, causing the door to literally burst apart. He turned around and started walking into the hallway beyond, with us following. Yet again, the tunnel was square and smooth, like they had spent plenty of effort trying to spruce it up. White crystals were embedded in the ceiling, giving off a bright light.

As we turned a 90-degree corner to the right, we came upon another door. I opened this one, bursting into the room beyond it. We were beyond the nice portion: This was bare cave, with white crystals giving off a large glow, lighting up the tunnels. Ahead of us, eight Changelings were wandering towards us, probably curious at the noise. They stopped the moment they saw us, and turned around, running around a corner in the cave ahead before I could raise my rifle.

“Keep going.” I said as we jogged forward, quickly rounding the bend. Ahead of us, the Changelings were diving off of what looked like a platform at the edge of large room. Moving forward, I could see that it indeed was a huge room. It was about a hundred meters deep going down, and went ten meters up from their location. At the bottom lay a courtyard filled with several dozen Changelings, and dotting the sides of the bottom lay several obvious houses: Constructions of wood, stone, and such.

As we were peering over the edge, the Changelings we had chased landed, and the ones in the courtyard started scattering. Now that I thought of it, quite a few of them were a dark gray instead of black, and looked about half the size of the normal ones I saw. Probably the ones in training the letter mentioned. So, given the fact that I was still (very) squeamish about killing kids, even if they looked like something in Spore gone wrong, I promised myself that I would make sure of my targeting. One more thing remained, though.

“Everyone, get down there and engage them.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Try not to hit any of the young ones, though. Even I have a couple morals.”

With that, the guards, excluding Amber, took a running leap and flew down the large room.

I raised a eyebrow at her. “Are you going to go with me?”

“Yep.” She said in her usual cheerful tone. “I don’t really want to let you out of sight.”

I sighed. “Ok, it’s a long walk down.”

“Who says we have to walk?” She quipped. “I’ll carry you down.”

“Really?” I said, blinking.

“Yep! Here you go!” She said, flying over to me and grabbing onto my shoulders.

“Wait!” I said, panicking slightly. “I’m not to sure about thiiiiiiis!” I nearly screamed as she hurled us both out into the chamber. I froze up, completely afraid to do anything. While I might not be afraid of heights, I hate the possibility of falling to my death as much as anybody.

Thirty seconds of decent later, she dropped me onto the ground, where I quickly got to my feet.

“I. Hate. You. All.” I put out slowly.

“Lighten up, Tyler, and grow a pair.” Azure said, walking up beside Amber.

“How did the fight down here go? I don’t see any bodies.” I said, changing the topic.

Azure’s face twisted into a grin. “Ten Changelings killed in the side tunnels, four fled into a side room we still can’t open, and sixty-two captured.”

“Really? Sixty-two?” I said, surprised. “Where are they all?”

As if in answer to my question, dozens of Changelings began to come out of a tunnel, led by several of the Lunar Guards. Quite a few were the ones I was used to, but, again, a little over half were much smaller and a dark grey, indicating that they were younger than the others. Apparently, the letter had not lied.

“Did you tell Celestia via that magic scroll thing she gave us?” Amber asked her brother, who nodded and pointed up.

I looked at the top of the cavern and, not surprisingly, several dozen white guard pegasi carrying eight unicorns were flying down. Moments later, they dropped off their ‘cargo’ and began to fan out, looking through buildings at the bottom of the cavern. The unicorns surrounded the Changelings and, horns glowing, teleported them, most likely to a Canterlot jail.

“Can you lead me to the room they are having trouble with?” I asked.

“Sure.” Azure said. “Just follow me.”

We entered the entrance to a tunnel. Doors stood out on the left and right, open and obviously searched. Several guard ponies were already walking the halls, checking each room over again. Finally, at the end of it, we came upon a pair of massive doors. Several unicorns were standing in front of it, examining the outside.

“-I just don’t see how we are going to open this.” One of them was saying.

“What’s the holdup here?” I asked.

One of the unicorns nodded and walked up to me. “The door is strengthened against fire, brute force, and explosive force. We are trying to open it with magic, but we can’t seem to get the lock open. We were about to go and-”

“Have you tried looking for a key?” I interrupted.

“… No.” The unicorn said.

“Have you tried making one with magic that fits it?”

“… Right away.” He said again, turning to the door and lighting up his horn. A loud click resounded throughout the room as the lock apparently opened.

“Next time, try the most obvious thing first.” I said, going up to the door.

I pushed it open, rifle at the ready. I instantly saw that it was a large, circular room, sixty meters in diameter. With five Changelings in the center, one large one and four normal ones.

“It’s Chrysalis! Get in there before she teleports!” One of the guards yelled.

Several seconds too late.

With a flash and a loud bang, a powerful teleportation spell activated, sending them off to god knows where. I blinked the spots out of my vision, seeing that they were no longer there.

“Can you track the goddamn spell?” I demanded of the unicorn next to me.

“Yes, I can. Just hold on!” He said, his horn lighting up with magic. Seconds later, it stopped. “I got it! Destination is a field a few miles to the south, between Canterlot and Ponyville, about thirty kilometers from each.”

“Can you get us near the field, a kilometer away?” I asked, pointing to Amber, Azure, and I.

“Yeah, just hold on…” The unicorn said, taking a moment to recover from the previous spell. When he did, magic lit up from his horn, and I felt the sensation of moving rapidly for a split second as the teleportation spell worked its magic (literally).

I opened my eyes to see myself, Azure, and Amber sitting in an open field. It was about eight now, and the sun was setting. However, the only thing in view was the two sides of the Everfree, Canterlot fifteen miles away on the mountain, and a lone, large building about one and a halo kilometers away.

As I went over to help my two friends, I could feel, inside of me, that this was going to be it.

This was going to be the end.

The Building

I ran across the field in the fading light, Azure and Amber following right behind me. My objective was right in front of me: A large building, two stories tall, that the Changeling called ‘Chrysalis’ had teleported into.

“So, who the hell is Chrysalis?” I asked as I ran.

“She’s the Queen of the Changelings.” Azure explained as he followed me. “She launched the attack on Canterlot, and was probably behind everything else that has happened to you.”

“Why the hell is she so interested in me?” I demanded, looking behind me.

Amber shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. If she teleported to a place halfway to Canterlot from Ponyville, there’s got to be a reason. We won’t find that reason out, however, until we ask her.”

“Preferably with my gun aimed at her head.” I said.

We reached the structure within two minutes, stopping outside what looked like the front door. It was wooden, and had beams of light coming out from the edges. The structure was made out of white-painted wood and some stone, and seemed to have a portion of the middle as a warehouse: At least, that’s what I assumed it was, as it was three stories high and rectangular.

Without fanfare, I walked up to the door, lifted my foot up, and kicked. The door flew inward as whatever lock they would have had on it completely failed, revealing an empty hallway – with two Changelings at the other end of it.

I ducked behind the outside wall just as several green bolts flashed through the space I was in. I leaned around the corner and squeezed the trigger. Four bullets spat out in the general direction of the Changelings, and at least two hit, for both of them fell to the ground, dead.

I walked in cautiously, Azure and Amber following right behind me. The only door out of the hallway was on the right side, twenty feet in, at the end. It suddenly burst open, and four more Changelings ran out. I raised my gun and fired, catching all four in a hail of twelve bullets, felling them.

I stepped over the bodies and around the small pools of green blood, looking through the open doorway to find yet another hallway. I walked down it cautiously, towards the door at the other end. Dozens of other doors lined the sides, all of them opened. I trained my rifle inside, but nothing showed up: They were empty.

Once we reached the end of the hallway, I slid beside the door, leaning on the wall. Azure and Amber went to the other side, nodding at me. I grasped the knob of the door and shook it. Seeing that it turned, I quickly twisted it and threw it open.

It opened onto the floor of a large, dark room. Waning sunlight filtered in through windows set two stories up, casting a dim glow that at first glance seemed to reveal much, but hid much of the room in shadows. To this end, I flicked the flashlight attached to my Sa-58 on, the thin beam cutting through the darkness.

Crates and boxes stood here and there, scattered at the sides of the room. I scanned with my flashlight, searching. I didn’t see anything, but that did not mean we were alone.

“[I expected better than this.]” A female voice said in my head.

I tightened my grip on my rifle, remembering the clear voice inside of my head. Amber and Azure seemed to have heard it as well, for they too were looking around the room.

“[And yet, you were what I needed this entire time.]” The voice said again.

“Who are you!” I shouted, aiming my rifle as I turned in a circle.

“[You know who I am already, ‘Human’.]”

After a moment of though, I spat on the ground. “Chrysalis. You’re the one who derailed the train, and invaded Canterlot.”

“[Brilliant deductive skills there, you’re almost to Starswirl already.]” The voice said sarcastically, although I didn’t get the reference.

“Where are you so I can put a bullet in you? If you ask nicely, it will be in your head instead of your lungs.” I said, clenching my teeth.

“Right behind you.” A voice said from the indicated direction.

I spun around, aiming my rifle at the noise. At the other end of the warehouse, forty feet away, stood Chrysalis. She was surrounded in a simmering green barrier, so I assumed bullets were out of the question. Now that I could examine her, if it was a she, in more detail, I could make out the fact that she definitely seemed much more powerful than the standard Changelings I had faced.

“When do you think the rest of them will be here?” I quietly asked Azure.

“No more than eight minutes.” The pegasus who I considered my friend replied.

“Just perfect.” I muttered. Turning to Chrysalis, I asked the obvious question. “So, what’s your master plan this time?”

“Do I look like an idiot?” Chrysalis said.

“Yes, you do.” Amber said.

Ignoring her, Chrysalis continued. “I’m not going to reveal my master plan, as it involved your pet ‘Human’ being alive. For now.”

“Alright, what will happen now?” I said, trying to buy time. However much I hated many of the guards, they needed to be here. I wouldn’t be able to take the shield down myself, so I would need help.

Chrysalis laughed, a high, dry sound that send a small shiver through my body. It sounded… Wrong, as if it wasn’t meant to exist.

“Part of the reason for the invasion was so I could steal some scrolls from the Royal Archives.” Chrysalis said, her smile growing larger every second. “One of them, interestingly enough, had the same spell that brought you here. You would be surprised how much we know, ‘Tyler’. Even the walls themselves can listen.

“The portal that brought you here was temporary, meant to last only a short time.” Chrysalis continued. “Since you are here, I can direct the portal towards where you came from: Your planet. With the chaos magic left in the area from Discord’s return, the portal will be nigh-permanent. Tell me, how will the governments of ‘Earth’ react to a portal?”

“… Shit.” I said, thinking out loud. To say their reaction would be bad would be an understatement: Depending on where the portal appeared, the result would range from complete chaos to total catastrophe.

I raised my rifle at Chrysalis, ignoring the shield. “Stand down now, or I will shoot you!” I shouted.

If anything, her smile grew even wider. “Too late.”

Everything in the next few seconds seemed to melt into a blur. Shouting in the hallway rang out as the Royal Guard finally arrived. Simultaneously, I started firing, the rounds impacting the shield – and immediately being stopped by the shimmering barrier. Several guards in bright golden armor burst into the room, setting their sights on Chrysalis at the other end. A bright light enveloped the room, coming directly from her, followed by a loud bang as she apparently teleported away.

I felt something connect to me for a split second, right as what felt like a massive explosion surged outward from the other end of the Warehouse. The light grew even brighter as I was knocked on the ground, hitting with enough force to throw my rifle away from me, right before I felt a comforting blackness overtake me.

-=-=-

‘Wake up, Tyler.’ A voice said, echoing in the darkness.

I tried to move my body, but I couldn’t feel anything except a vague numbness, encompassing my entire body. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were made of stone.

‘Come on, Tyler. Wake up!’ The voice said, louder this time.

Slowly, my vision started to open, blurred at first, but coming into focus. A dark blue shape hung above my vision as my hearing started to descend from muffled sounds to a dull ringing.

The shape seemed to move as more sounds reached my dull ears. ‘Come on, wake up!’

With one final effort of willpower, the shape above me came into focus. A blue glow filled the entire room above me. I could feel myself lying on my back, one of my hands on my assault rifle.

The dark blue shape above me turned out to be Amber, who seemed relieved I had woken up.

“Thank Celestia you’re awake: You were the closest one to the portal.” She said with a thin smile. “Everypony else is already up.”

“I’m awake.” I groaned as I sat up, clutching my Sa-58. I quickly checked it, finding no damage, before rolling over, setting a hand on the ground, and pushing myself up. True to what she had said, everybody seemed to be milling around or putting themselves together, while some seemed to be staring at something behind me.

I turned around and was greeted by something I never expected. Silently, I walked towards it, whispering the only thing that came to my mind.

“A portal…”

-=-=-

Ten miles east of Little Rock, Arkansas, in an open field of wheat, something unexpected occurred.

Motorists on a nearby road were the first to spot it: A faint blue glow in the field. Curious, police officers were dispatched just as the glow erupted into something more.

Without warning, two miles south of the road, the blue glow turned into a massive blue disk, standing up straight in the air. The first police to arrive called their dispatchers in a panic, talking about “A portal twenty feet wide and bright as daylight!”

The dispatchers, in turn, called the police helicopters, who called in the National Guard. From there, it escalated. Two hours later, the President of the United States was summoned, just as he was about to turn in, to receive the news.

Something strange had happened.

The Portal

“What happened, Tyler?” Celestia said with obvious concern on her voice as she walked into the warehouse where the portal was.

“Some changeling named Chrysalis, apparently their ‘Queen’, decided to open a goddamn portal to Earth.” I stated. “She’s probably hoping for rampant chaos. How do we close it?”

“You… No longer want to go back?” Celestia asked hesitantly.

“I want to go back, but let’s see if we can close the portal first and prevent an all-out war between you and whatever country is on the other side.” I simply stated.

“Will they really attack?” Celestia asked with worry as guards moved around us.

“Depends on which country.” I said. “How do we end the portal?”

Celestia’s face turned grim. “We need time and effort for that. Can you go and… Defeat Chrysalis for us? We shall only be rid of her once she is gone.”

I lifted my rifle up, showing it to her before slinging it over my shoulder. “When do I leave?”

“When we find Chrysalis.” The large pony quickly stated, before her horn glowed a bright yellow for a few seconds, as well as her eyes. When that finished, she stood there, with what looked like a much bigger frown on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“She teleported to the main hive, in the Badlands.” Celestia said.

“And that is bad why?” I said. “You know where she is.”

“Because the main hive is located quite a bit into the Badlands.” One guard nearby said. “There are around ten thousand Changelings inside of it.”

“… Fuck, I don’t have enough ammo.” I said. To put it bluntly, that was a massive understatement.

“Which is why I will order an immediate assault on it.” Celestia said.

“How many guards do you have that can get there within a day?” I asked.

“Over four thousand.” She said confidently.

I nodded. “Is that enough?”

“More than enough. The majority will be unicorns, with pegasi to back them up.” Celestia said. “I am reluctant to order it, but this is more than a small matter for us: She has attacked us for far too long, and must be defeated.”

“Rodger that.” I said, snapping off a mock salute and turning around.

To find Amber and Azure staring at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You do know that you have a high chance of dying in the assault on the hive?” Amber asked.

“Does it look like I care?” I shot back. “At least I’ll be able to take Chrysalis with me. Also, I won’t die anyway. Fate has screwed me over enough, at least in my opinion.”

Azure sighed, and looked right at me. “You are incomparably stubborn.”

“Yep.” I said, sitting down on the ground.

“Well, you’re not going it alone.” Amber said. “Because we’re going with you.”

“We are?” Azure asked.

“We are.” Amber replied, shooting her brother a look that was visible even to me as a death stare.

“Ok, we are.” Azure said quickly.

I quietly laughed to myself, getting up off of the ground and walking out of the building, with Azure and Amber talking in hushed voices behind me. I got in one of the chariots that Celestia had arrived in and waited as said Princess ordered a guard to take us to an are by a town named ‘Hoofington’, before she took off in the direction of Canterlot.

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised when Azure and Amber hopped on right before the chariot took off.

We flew up into the air, headed south, towards my greatest challenge yet.

I could hardly wait.

-=-=-

On Earth

10 miles east of Little Rock, Arkansas

“Put the barriers up facing the direction of the emissions!” A National Guard sergeant shouted, point to an area they had assumed was the front of the portal.

“Sergeant!” He heard a voice call out. Turning around, he froze as he saw the President walking towards him.

“Mr. President, sir!” He finally said, snapping off a salute.

“Where are the scientists?” The President said.

“In that tent.” The sergeant said, point to a rather large one set up twenty feet away.

“Thank you, Sergeant.” The President said, several men in black suits trailing him. The sergeant stood there for a moment, stunned, before shaking it off and getting back to shouting orders.

The President of the United States, James Allen, ducked into the tent. Several men in both military uniforms and civilian clothes walked around, many of them typing down notes into iPads and normal notebooks.

“President on the deck!” One of the military men said, turning and saluting. Immediately, the gathered scientists and officers turned towards him.

“What’s the situation?” The President asked. “Spare me the minor details: Just tell me why the hell a portal to God knows where is here.”

One of the civilians walked forwards, stretching out his hand, which the President shook.

“Just call me Joe, sir.” The civilian said. “At about ten o’ clock PM, a light was spotted in a field by cars on a nearby highway. The police were called, and then the National Guard, and I assume you were notified.”

“I was.” The President simply stated.

“The portal is a disk around twenty feet wide, suspended in the air. It has two sides, and both look the same, except the current side, the ‘front’ as we call it, is a shade of cyan instead of a dark blue. The strangest thing, though, is what we’ve been detecting.”

The scientist held up his iPad, which showed several boxes, with all of them having a straight line though them.

“We have detected some type of radiation leaking through this side, and this side only. It does not correspond to anything on the electromagnetic scale. It simply shows up as a straight line: Either meaning it is in the extreme towards the Ultraviolet side, or the waves are so close together on the Infrared side that it blurs. We can’t tell anything about it, except that it’s completely harmless.”

“Are you sure?” The President asked warily.

The scientist nodded. “Completely.”

“Major, what is your team’s recommendation on the portal?” The President asked, turning towards one of the military men.

“Keep it simple, sir: Watch and wait.” The Major said. “We don’t know why it is here, but sending a human through is unthinkable: And sending a drone through is both a crapshoot and might be considered an act of war to whoever, or whatever, is on the other side.”

The President nodded. “I agree, Major. Keep watching and waiting, and notify me if anything comes up. Dismissed.” The President walked out of the tent, moving towards the back of the camp that had sprung up around the portal.

Various news channels were covering it constantly, with both conspiracy theorists and wackos getting equal time among scientists and ‘normal people reactions’.

The President sighed as he entered the tent that had been assigned to him, the Secret Service waiting outside of it. It was only three years into his first term, and he had a crisis on his hands.

He just hoped he made the right decisions.

Staging Area

I methodically cleaned my Sa-58, clearing out the gunk that had accumulated in the rifling of the barrel after the repeated use over the past few weeks. Essentially, there was almost none, but I didn’t want to take chances. Replacing the parts came easy: I had done this dozens of times over the two years since I had acquired the rifle. Cleaning my G18 took a bit longer: I never did it more than a few times a year, and I had to pause to recall just how to strip it a few times.

Finally, however, it was done. I sat down on the cot inside of the tent, glad to have the chance to be here.

The camp I had arrived at three nights ago had swelled from a group of half a dozen tents to over eight hundred. Thousands of guard ponies were inside of it, cleaning armor, repairing weapons, and generally making ready for combat. They tended to stay away from my tent, having heard that I was there, but I didn’t mind. So far, the only ponies to come and visit me had been Azure and Amber (they had two tents about ten feet from mine) and a few random guards who had walked into the wrong tent.

From what I had heard, the assault would take place at some point tomorrow. With around twenty-four hours to wait, all I tended to do was go to the eating area to mess around on my laptop. I still had all of my belongings with me, and, somehow, they had not managed to suffer irreplaceable damage over the past month. Had it been a month already? No, it had been a bit longer, say, about a month and a half.

The camp was excited, or at least from what I could tell. Quite a few of them hated the Changelings, although for what reasons I couldn’t possibly tell, seeing as how many of them had not been at Canterlot. Those who had tended to be a bit more respectful of them, even going so far as to proclaim to all the morons (IE, the ones who thought they would simply roll over when attacked) that what they were doing was extremely dangerous. As if they had me fooled.

I had a very high chance of being killed in the raid. I knew that, and could accept that. Actually, I would accept virtually anything at this point: Five dragons coming in and blowing the hive up wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. I was ready to accept death if I could simply kill the bitch that had put me through all of this:

Chrysalis.

She probably thought that we would be instantly invaded the moment the portal opened. Right now, Celestia had cast a spell on the portal that would alter them if anything came through, and had staffed the site with hundreds of guards. Not that the guards would be about to do much if the Russian Army came through the portal, but they might at least pause them long enough for me to get there and sort everything out.

Doing what had become my drill, I grabbed my laptop and headed down to the mess hall, the only place in the camp to get half-decent food. My laptop still had over twenty hours’ worth of battery on it, so I definitely wouldn’t run out any time soon. The reason I placed my games and did my stuff on the laptop in public was simple: Everyone paid attention. It allowed me to easily listen in on what everyone – or everypony in this case; even though I still thought that the change of phrase was ridiculous – was saying, and helped the rumors about me grow. Some days, I would laugh my ass off at the rumors that Amber and Azure had heard about me.

As I walked out of my tent, nearby ponies stared at me. Even though they were guards, and supposed to be ‘trained’, half of them didn’t even seem like they could subdue a criminal who WANTED to be caught. They seemed to freeze up the moment they encountered any difficulty, and half the time I found them simply sitting around, instead of doing something useful.

Like train for a gigantic battle they might die in.

It’s official: I hate most of them. They’re lazy, incompetent, and some of them are arrogant to the point of being obsessive about it. They take the slightest criticism as a sign that ‘that guy is an enemy, ignore him’. The only ones who seemed slightly capable were the ones from the larger cities and Canterlot: They, at least, had some experience in fighting.

I swear to god, most of them were worse than children.

As I walked to the mess, I could see some of them simply ignoring me. Those were, as I discovered when talking, the ones who had either seen me before, or were too experienced to let me know that they were eyeing me. Along with the regular guards, there were some Lunar guards as well, including some real Batponies. Surprisingly enough, they tended to score the highest when I watched the guards fight at the area of the camp designated for that.

The mess hall was massive, with room to seat over six hundred ponies. And by that, I meant it was literally gargantuan, nearly half the size of a football field. The kitchens alone extended into the back for quite a ways: Although, because only the Batponies (As I learned by asking) were able to eat meat (they were Omnivorous, something that made me laugh the first time I heard it), they didn’t need many heaters or freezers.

I simply grabbed a tray, got handed a roll and some stuff that MIGHT have once been some type of vegetable matter, and an apple, and sat down on a random bench. Ponies around me scooted away, keeping a five foot clearing around ‘the creature’, as many called me.

Predictably, however, some came and sat by me. Not surprisingly, the first to do so was a Batpony. I had found out the first time that many respected me for my fighting, and most of them seemed well-trained compared to many of the normal guards. This time, it was a recognizable face.

“Hello, Maddox.” It said in a deep male voice.

I sighed. “Light Shade, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tyler?”

“The moment you stop calling me Light Shade and just call me Shade, I’ll be sure to switch.” Shade said, smiling and revealing the small set of fangs that all Batponies seemed to have, before sitting down two feet across from me.

“Ok, Shade. What are they saying about me this time?” I asked. Over the past couple of days, he had become an amusing source of information about what the camp was saying. After all, nothing will ever beat a source on the inside.

“Oh, just that you eat ponies, and that you were Discord’s creation.” Shade replied with another grin.

“What? I only eat annoying ponies.” I mentioned, heaping my words with a heavy amount of sarcasm. “As for Discord: How could he create something as beautiful as me?”

“By being himself: You look like the unholy love-child between a Minotaur and a Diamond Dog. Where Celestia found you, I do not know.” Shade said, shaking his head.

I snorted. “I’ve told you: Another world.”

“And I’ve told you: You’re insane.”

“You and Azure seem to share the same opinion.” I deadpanned. “Doesn’t the portal that Celestia found convince you?”

“It could be a portal to Tartarus: Celestia only knows that something as ugly as you belongs there.”

“Your eyes are like a pair of gigantic lemons, and your head is a melon. Your argument is invalid.” I said, enjoying the trade of insults. Unlike many of the others guards, Shade had been one who never seemed to get offended at his jokes, and visa-versa. So, their ‘arguments’, if you could call them that, were a fun time for both of them.

“You’re the one who claims that he is from another world.” Shade retorted.

“You’re the one who is FROM another world.” I offered.

“Fair enough.” Shade said, turning serious. “If you’re from another world, as you likely are, that portal is your best chance of going home. Don’t you want to take it?”

“Only once I put a bullet in Chrysalis’s ugly head.” I said.

Shade shook his head slowly, taking a large sip of water from his cup. Finally, he spoke. “You really hate her, don’t you?”

“She fucked with the wrong Human.” I replied. “When you piss me off, you don’t ever come back from it.”

“So I’ve heard: Around fifty confirmed Changeling kills by your weapons, and that’s only the ones that were proven.” Shade carefully said. “Are all Humans as dangerous as you?”

“No, unless you give one of them a gun. Then they might be half of me.” I said. “If you’re in the army on our planet, then you’re ahead of me. That’s about it.”

“How does a ‘Collage student’, as you described yourself, become like that?”

“Too much time on my hands.” I said, taking a bite out of the apple.

“Do you still have that ‘laptop’ that you showed me yesterday?” Shade asked, obviously excited.

“Sure do. What do you want to see now?” I said, bringing it up and opening it as he went to my side of the table.

Shade paused in thought before replying. “How about that flying game?”

“Sure.” I said, opening up Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.

After two hours of having every single pony in the area stare at us, I finally closed the laptop, excused myself, and walked back to my tent. Plopping down on my bed, I lay there, content to rest during my time before the battle.

Because, I knew, tomorrow would be a long day.

Dawn Before

I walked through the camp, feeling my rifle and backpack slapping against me with every step. Ponies walked around me, most ignoring me. I didn’t really mind: The camp had served its purpose.

We were attacking today.

The early morning sun was rising quickly in the east, bathing the tents in bright rays of sunlight. Virtually everybody in the camp knew about the attack at this point, so it did not surprise me when I saw many of them repairing armor and weapons. Thanks to a series of suggestions by me (and every other Batpony and Solar guard with any sort of experience), training had been boosted. Quite a few of them grumbled, from what I had heard, but it seemed to have an effect.

I was now a whopping fifty percent certain we were going to live, instead of the mere ten percent that I had estimated. When I told this to Amber, she seemed to find it very amusing.

“Of course half of them don’t know anything about combat.” The dark blue mare had said. “None of them have seen anything worse than a forty-year-old thief who would have been easier to catch than a Parasprite in Las Pegasus.”

That, of course, only served to confuse me more.

“Why would it be easy to catch a Para-whatever in the obvious Las Vegas ripoff?” I asked.

“Because we have wings, you dunderhead.” She said in annoyance.

And that was the extent of the conversation we shared yesterday.

We (as in Azure, Amber, and I) had all agreed to meet at the southern edge of the camp today, before we had to engage in the assault. There was no telling if all of us would be together during the attack, so a meeting was almost mandatory.

I walked away from the edge of camp, towards the two ponies in golden armor standing on a small rise in the field. The two of them turned towards me as I moved, allowing me to see that it was Azure and Amber, the disguise enchantments in their helmets taken out.

“Hey guys.” I said, walking up to them and looking south, towards the distant tan of the ‘Badlands’ in the distance. It was almost featureless, although large shapes loomed in the distance, probably mesas and the like.

“Hi, Tyler.” Amber said, looking out again into the distance.

“So… Are we together in the assault?” I asked.

“I don’t know… The attack has almost no organization.” Azure said. “We don’t know enough about the hive to know, so we are simply going to surround it and go in. Everypony will be doing their best, and that’s what counts.”

“How many guards do we have assembled?” Amber asked her brother.

“Over six thousand.” The pegasus answered. “And there will be around ten thousand Changelings inside to face us. We won’t have surprise, nor will we have knowledge of the terrain, and we’ll be lucky if any of us survive.”

“Relax, Azure. We’ll make it.” I said.

“I have my doubts.” Azure replied.

“Come on: I’m supposed to be the one who is depressed half the time.” I said. “You’ll make it through this, Azure, because you’ve got a better head on your shoulders than half the other guards in this camp.”

“I guess…” Azure mumbled.

“Good!” I said, patting him on the back. “Are you ready to kick some ass?”

“Yeah.” Azure said, a bit more eagerly now.

“Attention!” An amplified voice shouted from the center of the camp. “All guards should gather at the landing field. The attack will commence within twenty minutes, so get your flanks armored up and down here.”

I turned towards the camp, and spotted ponies moving about, donning armor and picking up weapons. All of the ones who had already finished doing the above were headed for an area to the west of the camp: The landing field, where the chariots were parked for the non-pegasi.

Without a word, Azure, Amber, and I all ran towards that area of the camp, seeking to get there as quickly as possible. We soon joined a growing crowd that was looking towards several figures on a small stand, all dressed in bright golden armor.

I assumed the generals.

When the majority of the camp, thousands of ponies, had crowded on the field, the one in the front cleared his throat before speaking.

“We are about the begin the final effort to defeat the Changeling threat. For those of you expecting an easy run, I have one piece of advice: Don’t.” The pony scanned the crowd, looking out at the gathered guards. “For better or for worse, what we do here today will determine the fate of our land, our home. Let Celestia’s light guide you in this fight, and good luck.”

With that, ponies started to run to the chariots, many of the pegasi tying themselves to the fronts while unicorns hopped on the backs. I clambered onto one of them with half a dozen unicorns, who all looked at me with blank stares. Ignoring them, I could see that the force numbered well above six thousand, with hundreds of chariots and thousands of pegasi scattered all over the field.

I quickly lost track of Azure and Amber as they went to an entirely different area of the crowd, and simply settled down in the chariot, leaning on the edge. When the time finally came, shouts rang out from the front, and individual pegasi started to lift off, as well as many chariots. With a shake, ours lifted into the air, powered by the two pegasi in front, who strained to get it into the air.

The massive swarm of guards, for that was the only word I could find to describe it, banked to what I assumed was the south, towards the Badlands. Looking forwards, I could see the shapes of small mountains and mesas ahead as we journeyed south, towards the being that I most wanted dead.

We were going for Chrysalis.

Final Resolution

Scattered grains of sand blew into my face as the chariot flew above the barren landscape, stinging my skin when they hit. I held a hand in front of my face to block off the mini-storm of particles, thankful that we weren’t traveling any faster. If we had been, it would have become much more annoying.

The other unicorns inside of my chariot didn’t seem to mind that much. Then again, they could – and probably did – cast some spell to block the sand or something. And they also had military training, something that I lacked.

All around me, thousands of pegasi and hundreds of chariots full of unicorns flew above the flat landscape, the cracked ground occasionally giving way to sandy sections. I couldn’t help but notice how barren the landscape was. Well, at least I now knew why it had been given the name of ‘The Badlands’.

It made sense that only the Changelings would live out here.

Despite the sand and grit flying through the air, when I looked down at my rifle, it appeared clean and free of sand. A slow pull of the bolt showed that the interior was also free of any particles. Looking forward again, I could tell that there was something massive in the distance, but I couldn’t see what it was due to the small amount of sand in the air and the heat.

Did I mention the heat? It was at least one hundred degrees right now. The sun felt like somebody shining a laser on my back.

“Four minutes until we arrive!” One of the pegasi next to our chariot shouted at us, straining to be heard over the sound of the wind. We were moving at about eighty miles per hour through the air, faster than I really expected the chariot to be capable of.

Ahead, the shape in the distance grew ever larger. Slowly, the amount of sand in the air died down as we approached, even though the land under us was now composed completely of it. Through the heat distorting the air, it was clearly visible: A massive mountain, topped in a spire of a peak, with massive ridges running from it in random directions, creating small canyons that stretched all the way to the edges.

“Celestia, that’s massive.” One of the unicorns said.

“No kidding.” The one next to him replied.

The formation began to break, different parts moving to hit from separate sides of the mountain. His section headed for the part directly in front of them. Black dots started to rise from the canyons in the hundreds.

“Changelings!” One of the pegasi shouted.

The black dots quickly formed into the expected shapeshifters. They closed with us as the section cleared the edge of the massive rock mountain, finally meeting us right as the chariots were descending.

Black blurs shot past our formation, green bolts flying from several of them, many fo those finding pegasi and chariots. The unicorns in the formation began to fire back in their own way as many of the pegasi gave chase.

Our chariot suddenly descended into a canyon, touching down seconds later as it rapidly descended. As soon as it hit the groups, the unicorns hopped out, and the pegasi pulling it unlatched themselves. All around us, more pegasi and chariots were landing, dropping off their cargo.

The canyon itself was small and winding, about twenty to forty feet wide, with the edge a hundred feet up. When I looked around, I could see almost two hundred ponies in my area alone. When everyone was finally organized, they started to walk down the canyon, with me near the center of the group.

We didn’t encounter anything in the first two minutes of walking. Above us, Changelings and pegasi occasionally flew overhead, locked in aerial duels. It might have been fun to watch, if I hadn’t been at risk of being hit while up there.

After yet another twist in the canyon, a black hole showed in the wall of the cliff. It appeared we had found our entrance.

The group immediately broke out into a run, many pulling out spears and clutching them, as we turned and went into the passage. When I ran inside, I was struck by how gloomy it was. The only lighting came from green and white crystals imbedded in the ceiling, spaced at fairly regular intervals. The tunnel itself was about twenty feet in diameter, with a fairly smooth floor.

Some shouts came from ahead, and a moment later I found myself in a very large cavern, stretching off in both directions for as far as I could see. It was at least two hundred feet wide, and almost eighty feet high. What looked like houses were built into solid rock in the sides of the massive cavern. Stone pillars every hundred feet or so rose from the ground of the cavern into the room, providing support for the massive structure.

The ponies fanned out, the unicorns in front immediately springing into action as several Changelings came out of houses, rushing at us. Multicolored bolts of magic flew at them as I raised my rifle, firing at the first one of saw. With the group as spread out as we were, we could afford to move forward, so we all did.

The group of about twenty Changelings were quickly killed, with several knocked out. After some shouting, about forty ponies stayed behind to guard the entrance, as the rest of us moved forward, heading further into the cavern.

I was at the left side of the group as they walked forward. Yet again, several dozen Changelings came out to attack us. Yet again, after we suffered a few losses, they were beaten off. I estimated we had gone about a mile into the structure now, and would be nearing its center. We occasionally found small groups of Changelings simply staying in the houses and looking out, but other than leaving a few guards every once in a while to secure areas, the self-appointed leader of our group, apparently a captain, did nothing but urge us forward.

I could almost cry at the brilliance of his plan.

Then again, the guards seemed to be doing much better than I had expected. Maybe the training they had gotten at the last minute in the camp had helped after all.

The cavern began to widen, becoming bigger and bigger, until it cut off, and we were left staring at the largest cavern we had ever seen. At the center of the mountain, stretching around two thousand feet across, and two miles high, was the most massive chamber I had ever seen. Holes in the wall dotted the level we were on, with a full pathway stretching around it as well. On the other sides, from the gleaming of gold I saw, it was apparent that other groups of guards had arrived as well.

“Jesus Christ, that’s big.” I said, looking at the massive room.

“So that’s where they’ve been hiding all those Changelings.” Another guard said, looking down. Following his gaze, I could see what was almost a small city settled at the bottom, surrounding a large lake in the center. Even from this distance, I could tell that hundreds of Changelings were in the town, rushing around.

“Well, that’ll be a problem.” Another guard stated. Even now, I couldn’t help but agree.

“Where do you think Chrysalis is?” I asked.

“Probably somewhere near the top.” A unicorn said as several of the pegasi began to take off, heading both up and down as several Changeling began to fly from both the top and the bottom.

“I’ll be on that attack team.” I said.

“Ok, go to that unicorn over there. Good luck, Human.” The guard rushed off after pointing to another section of the still-large group.

I walked over to the mentioned group, noticing it was made mostly out of pegasi, with a few unicorns. The apparent leader, clad in bright gold armor, walked up to me.

“So, you’re with us, I suppose.” The guard said in a deep voice. “Good. We’ll be flying up a group of unicorn, and together with other sections of the assault force, we’ll head for the top of the tower.”

“Sounds about right.” I said, nodding.

“Ok, everypony!” The unicorn said, turning to the rest of the group. “We’ll be flying up now. Unicorns, go to your assigned pegasi. Glistening Spear, I was you to take the human up.” A pegasi nodded, apparently Glistening Spear. “Just remember to stay together. There’s somewhere around two hundred Changelings and pegasi in the center of the cavern, flying around one another. Alright, let’s go!”

The ponies rushed to the edge of the cavern, pegasi quickly picking up unicorns. I felt a pressing on my arm as the pegasi the guard had told to lift me picked me up, sending a pout of vertigo through me. As they all flew off the edge and climbed up, the one carrying me did the same, following the pegasi in front of him.

All around me, Changelings and pegasi rushed through the air, locked in combat. Magical bolts of all colors flew through the air, occasionally striking targets, both guards and Changelings.

As we flew higher and higher in the cavern, I noticed that, ahead of us, there was a in the wall of the cavern, right next to the top. The group of pegasi angled towards it, flying faster. I fought down my vertigo and the urge to struggle. I had always been afraid of huge heights, but this was just ridiculous.

Finally, we flew above the level of the cave, immediately diving down into it. I was dropped fairly softly on the ground as pegasi landed unicorns on the passage. I noticed we were a couple pairs short, probably from the flight up, but I didn’t mind.

Ahead of us stood about a hundred Changelings, many clad in midnight blue armor. They turned to look at us, shocked expressions still plainly obvious.

I raised my rifle, flicked the selector to full auto, and squeezed the trigger.

Bullets slammed home on many of the Changelings, the armor doing little to protect them. Many of the unicorns were opening up on the Changelings as the pegasi took to the air, flying at the bug-like creatures.

Many of the Changelings took to the air and fired back, charging at us. Green bolts flew through the air, and I also noticed several of them wielding crossbows. When the magazine finally ran out, thirty rounds later, I swiftly reloaded it, clicking the new magazine in placed and pulling the bolt back a mere four seconds later.

I slung my rifle and pulled out my G-17C, ready for more close-in combat. A Changeling in front of me started to rush forward, only to be put down as three 9x19mm rounds impacted it. Another one dueling with a Pegasi wielding a spear was killed as two more bullets passed through its chest, impacting most of its vital organs and piercing its heart.

I turned to my right and put one bullet each into two Changelings rushing a wounded unicorn, killing them. Turning to the front again, I scanned for more targets, only to find none.

Our group of forty had killed all of the Changelings but at a cost of half the group killed and some of the remainder wounded.

“Four of you, stay back with the wounded!” The leader of our group shouted. “The rest of you, up that passage!”

I noticed that, at the other end of the small caver, there was a single exit: A ramp heading in a spiral upwards. I ran for it, slowing down once I reached it, and heading upwards. The rest of the group was behind me as I walked upwards, pistol held outwards.

I must have walked the equivalent of four stories before the first Changeling came into view. It was unarmored, and I fired the moment I saw it, unloading two rounds into it. The body fell to the ground, twitching once before becoming still. I stepped around the corpse, continuing my climb upwards as the guards followed me, probably content to let me deal with the threats.

We climbed the equivalent of another two stories, and then another six, until I was wonder when our trek upwards would end. Finally, the spiraling passage leveled out into a straight section around twenty feet long. A single metal door stood on the right side, while the passage ahead of that ended in rock.

Four Changelings stood in the corridor. I quickly fired two rounds at one, killing before realizing that my pistol was empty. I thumbed the clip release, catching the old one and stowing it, before inserting a new one. By that time, the unicorns had sprang into action, killing the remaining three.

“She will be behind this door, in all likelihood.” The leader of our group said. “I’ll prepare the explosive spell. Everypony else, stand back.”

With that, we all went away from the door, standing to the side as the guard’s horn glowed brighter and brighter. Finally, it released in a large bolt, blowing the door out in a large explosion.

Immediately, all of us rushed to the door, running inside. The first thing I saw in front of me was a virtual wall of eight Changelings; all gathered around the large one I had seen earlier that week. Chrysalis.

I opened fire on the first one that came into my sights, putting three bullets into it and watching it fall. A unicorn felled another two with a barrage of magical bolts as I fired twice more, killing another. The pegasi rushing forward stabbed two more through with spears as I killed the last two with six more bullets.

All of the guards were dead, and Chrysalis stood in front of me, a scowl on her face.

“So, you think this is over?” The Changeling asked as the rest of the ponies stepped back.

“Yeah, it is.” I said, pointing my gun at her head.

“You will not kill me. You do not have the will. Besides, how will you get back to your earth without the spell I know?” Chrysalis said, taunting me.

“Oh, ways.” I replied in a cheery tone. “But you’re not going anywhere but hell.”

With that, I pulled the trigger.

The single bullet I fired did the rest.

“Well, that’s how you kill a Changeling queen.” I said as I stood over the body. I turned back to the guard, smiling. “Now, what happens next?”

“We’ll go to the evac zone.” The leader of our squad said, holding out a scroll. “I just got word from the rest of the sections: Resistance is collapsing as we speak.”

I went to the edge of the window that I just noticed. Looking out over the sea of glass, out from the mountain, I could see the groups of ponies at the edge of the mountain. Small groups of black dotted the area: Captured Changelings. I knew that cleaning up from this would be hard, and sorting out the results even harder, but I also knew that I would have no part in it.

After all, I had a portal to catch.

Going Through

I sat in the portal building, staring at the blue circle. Celestia had kept up the connection to ‘Discord’s magic’ for this entire time, keeping the portal going. The blue glow it cast on the darkened hall was beautiful, at least to me, like the reflection of a pool on the ceiling of a building.

Azure and Amber sat next to me, looking at the portal as well. It had been two days since the final battle for the Hive, two days since I killed Chrysalis, and one day since I arrived here again and met up with Amber and Azure. They had both survived the battle, as bad over eighty percent of the guards.

From what I had heard, the Changeling Hive was finished. Around half of the Changelings had been killed, and the rest captured. Currently, guards stood watch over them, while Celestia had worked to figure out how to handle it.

“So… Tonight you’ll be leaving us.” Amber said, her voice strained.

“About twenty minutes from now.” I replied.

After a short pause, Azure spoke up.

“It’s been an interesting two months.” My friend said.

“Has it been two months already?” I asked.

“Almost.” Amber said. “Two months since Cherilee came knocking on my door to warn me about a ‘strange monster’ in the forest.”

“And we all know how that ended up.” I said, chuckling.

“Yeah, with you knocking me out!” She said jokingly.

This time, the pause lasted several minutes before a new voice spoke up.

“Gathered around the portal already?”

I turned around and smiled. “Celestia. How nice of you to join us. Weren’t you busy figure out what the hell to do with the Changelings?”

The kind monarch returned my smile, sitting down next to our group as Luna entered as well.

“Nay. Tis I who convinced Tia to come here, else I would have been alone.” The princess of the night said as she sat down next to Celestia.

“Oh, I would have come myself.” Celestia said. “After all, Tyler did kill Chrysalis.”

“With over two thousand guards to back me up.” I deadpanned. “I keep telling everybody that.”

“You still killed her.” Amber said. “And that’s good enough for us.”

Another short pause passed before I spoke up again.

“You know, I’m going to miss you all.” I said. “When I go through, I’ll never be able to see you again.”

“We’re prepared to accept that.” Amber said solemnly. “You need to go back to your world, and we need to stay in ours.”

Song

“It’s time.” Celestia said after a moment, getting up off the ground. “Are you ready, Tyler Maddox?”

I nodded, getting up off the ground as I did. “I am ready.”

Azure and Amber both stood up, looking at me. I knelt down on the ground and hugged them, the only response I felt that was needed. After that was finished, I turned to Celestia.

“Now, was the entire time I was here so bad?” I said in jest.

“You foalnapped a guard, led my guards on a chase for hours, and annoyed us all with what you know… And shocked us with much of it. Yet you defended us during the wedding, took down the greatest threats Equestria had, and killed Chrysalis. No, it wasn’t so bad.” The solar princess said with a smile. “Go, Tyler, and live your life.”

I turned to Luna next, preparing to say my goodbyes, but she held out a hoof.

“Tyler, I have something I have prepared for thee.” Her magic levitated what looked like a glass ball to me. It was about four inches across, and was filled with a rainbow of colors, like an aurora had decided to take root inside. “This is a crystal, infused with the same spell that brought you here. If you ever wish to return, simply hold it in your hands, and wish to be here. You shall appear in the Canterlot Castle throne room.”

Luna paused as I watched the most precious gift I had ever received, holding it in my hands, before she continued. “It is all that I could give thee for what thou has done. Thank you, Tyler Maddox, for all that you have done.”

What she did next shocked me. Stepping forward, she hugged me. Celestia looked surprised as we broke away, before breaking out into a smile as I tucked the ball into my pocket.

“Thank you, Luna.” I said, shooting a glance towards the portal before walking towards it. When I stood mere feet from the edge, I looked back at the four ponies, my friends in this strange world.

“Until we meet again.” I said, stepping through the blue disk.

And everything went white.

-=-=-

“Mr. President, wake up!” One of the Secret Service agents said.

James Allen, President of the United States, quickly shook off his sleepiness. If the Secret Service woke him, it would be for a good reason.

“What is it?” The President said, quickly standing up off of the cot he had been lying on for the past week as the ‘Portal Crisis’ went on.

“Some of the Scientists have seen an increase in the amount of Radiation coming from the portal, Sir.” The man standing at the edge of his tent said. “They think something might be coming through.”

James quickly dressed faster, cursing his need of sleep. When he was done, he walked out of the tent, where several more men of the Secret Service were there to escort him, guns barely concealed. Together, the group walked to the clearing around the portal, where several men in coats stood.

“Mr. President!” One of them said.

“At ease, gentlemen. Now, what’s the problem?” James said.

“About five minutes ago, a new spike of radiation came from the portal. We think something might be coming through.” One of them said.

“How long until something does, if that is true?”

“Any second now.”

All of them looked beyond the barricades manned by National Guard soldiers, at the shining blue disk in the center of the field. It grew brighter and brighter, until it suddenly dimmed.

An arm went through, and then a leg, and then an entire body. President Allen went rigid, making out many of the features on the being that walked through. It looked completely human, clad in some type of camouflage clothing, with a backpack and a gun on its back.

“What am I looked at, Sergeant?” He asked the soldier next to him.

“Sir, entity appears to be clad in an old Woodland MARPAT BDU. It has an AK-type rifle on its back, along with what looks like a normal backpack and a laptop case. Sir.” The Sergeant next to him said.

-=-=-

I looked out at the groups of soldiers standing behind barricades, in the middle of a virtual tent city. Dozens of men stood in the background, as well as one in particular surrounded by about a dozen men in suits. Deciding to cut their thinking short, I said the first think I could think of.

“Hey, does anybody here know the date?” I said.

After a short pause, the man surrounded by the ‘guards’ spoke out.

“It is the 27th of August, 2014. Who and what are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”

I grinned. “I’m Tyler Maddox, and you’ll probably find me under the list of ‘missing people’ two months ago. Now who are you, and where the hell did I end up?”

After a short pause, where the man could be seen talking to a man next to him, who rushed off, he replied.

“You’re in the United States of America. Near the town of Little Rock, Arkansas. And I am President James Allen.”

“Mr. President.” I said, walking forward. “I am glad as hell to be back.”

“Mind telling the gentlemen here how you appeared out of a portal in the middle of nowhere?” The man, who I now knew was the President, asked.

“I’d be happy to.” I said with a smile.

Epilogue - And Life Goes On

After about four hours’ worth of questions, and a lot of disbelief (I told them everything), the President finally put me on a phone call with my parents. Even though I was never particularly close to them, those few tearful moments were some of the happiest in my life.

Minutes after I arrived, the portal closed. No fanfare, no noise, it simply disappeared.

From what I heard, there was an argument between the President and several of his advisors. After they confirmed my identity (I hate needles with a passion, but I suppose they needed a blood sample), several of his ‘advisors’, at least that was the word he used, wanted to keep me for ‘further studies’. Personally, he disapproved of that, and within eight hours after the end of the entire affair (about noon the next day), I was on a plane home.

My meeting with my family was quite tearful. Aside from the fact that I was involved in the ‘Portal Crisis’, they knew nothing. The only people I told when I got home were my parents, who reacted with disbelief up until I brought the crystal orb out of my pocket that Luna had given me.

Within two weeks, I had resumed my studies at College. When I first talked to my roommate again, he had asked the predictable question:

“Dude, where the hell were you?” My friend demanded.

“The land you love so much, you moron.” I replied.

I left him to sort out the rest.

My time in Equestria lasted, according to one of my uncles, fifty-six days. Not long for an entire life to change, but I suppose these things happen. I knew I would never forget Azure or Amber, nor Celestia, Luna, or the dozens of other ponies that I met there.

And the memories would last a lifetime.

-=-=-

I smiled at the screen as I finally finished his account of my journey. It had been eight years since I had come home, and since then, I had finished college and gotten a job. My life was fine, but there was one thing missing: My friends.

After I saved it, I sent a copy to my parents via E-Mail, knowing they would receive it at some point in the next few days. That accomplished, I put the Microsoft Word 2016 document on the desktop of my computer, alongside a picture I had taken eight years ago with my laptop.

The picture showed me, with a light blue pony on one side and a dark blue one on the other. They both smiled at the ‘camera’ as I gave a little wave. The wall of a tent was in the background, signifying that the picture was taken while we were camped on the plains.

With that being done, and in plain view, I shut my computer down before standing up and walking over to my dresser. Opening the top drawer, I shifted through some clothes before finding the object I was looking for.

I held up the crystal in my hands, the brightly shifting light inside still not dimmed after all these years. Setting it on a nearby table, I grabbed my brand-new laptop, as well as my Sa-58, old but still working after all these years. I packed a small amount of supplies, before putting the backpack on my back, putting the sling of the rifle across my chest, and slipping the laptop case on.

Grabbing the orb again, I looked at it, standing in the middle of the room, before uttering those thoughts that would bring me there.

‘I wish to go back.’

Having thought those thoughts, a bright light filled my vision, before I found myself standing on a cold floor. Looking around, I could see the throne room, a place I had gotten used to over the years, before my eyes set themselves on the three figures I recognized.

“Hello, Tyler.” A familiar voice said. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing I was where my true friend were.

I was back in Equestria.

On the Possibility of a Sequel

Sorry.

Unknown Territory

I opened my eyes and glanced to the clock to my left. The glowing, blocky numerals read 1:34. I sighed. Still around seven hours until I needed to get up.

I guess I’m getting ahead of myself, ain’t I? I’m Tyler Maddox. I guess I am kind of a recluse. I mean, who goes through three years of college without making more than five friends? I guess I have my reasons, but I doubt they’d be admissible in the College Court of High Popularity. I just was never attracted to anybody around me. The only close friend I had was a complete nerd, and also a Brony, so I guess I was sort of lacking in the friendship department.

Speaking of my friend, there he was, sleeping on his bed, with his demotivational posters hanging over his bed. I’d never found out why someone could ever be attracted to a show meant for kids, but I guess they’re just crazy, in their own sort of way.

I looked around the room a bit more, and noticed nothing else wrong. Except the hallway. When I glanced over at it, I noticed a blue glow coming from it. That’s odd, I thought, I don’t think my roommate put a nightlight or anything in the hallway, so I decided to check it out.

One minute of wiggling around the bed later, I finally stumbled down the hallway before noticing the glow was actually coming from the bathroom. The door to it was half open, so I slowly pushed it the rest of the way.

My sleepy eyes suddenly opened wide. Five feet in front of me was an oval, blue… thing. I didn’t know how to describe it, except that the outside was a nice cyan and the center darkened to a navy blue. It looked halfway like a portal to some place. Wide awake now, I debated what to do. Every movie and video game I have ever played told me that going into a portal was a really, really bad idea. Eventually, I just decided to see whatever the hell was on the other side, so I went to pack up.

When I went into the living room/bedroom again, my roommate groaned slowly and turned towards me.

“Tyler,” He groaned, “What are you doing up? It’s almost two in the morning.”

“There’s a portal in our bathroom, and I am going inside of it.” I calmly stated. I had always believed in telling the truth, especially when someone wouldn’t believe you. It just made it funnier when they found out.

Sure enough, my roommate shot me the finger and turned over, rapidly falling back asleep. I quickly gathered together what I needed, writing down a small list:

1x Sa-58 Assault Rifle

4x Clips, 30 7.62x39mm Rounds each

1x G-17C Pistol

4x Clips, 17 9x19mm Rounds each

1x Bag of various attachments for both weapons

2x Water Bottles

Woodland MARPAT (Camouflage BDU worn by Marines, a gift from my father)

A Ham Sandwich (Must not forget that)

My laptop inside of a small bag, along with earbuds and a thumb drive (Don’t ask me why)

A pair of Binoculars with up to 20x zoom

A sleeping bag

Finding myself ready, and ridiculously armed, I head down the hall. Some people might be asking, why do you have a gun, let alone two? Well, even though the university might not allow them, there is no way I’m going into a building full of hormonal ‘young adults’ without some form of protection. Also, I like shooting, and that’s all the excuse I need. People might also ask why I’m jumping into a portal to an unknown place, and with weapons at that. Well, it’s 2 o’ clock in the morning, I have a strange portal in my bathroom, and I think it’s good to assume that the best way to go through it would be with a gun at the ready.

I padded down the hall, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green shirt, and a camouflage-pattern coat. No matter what happens, I’m ready. The blue oval stood in front of me. In retrospect, I don’t know why I jumped into it screaming. Probably because I was still slightly off from the five hours of sleep I had gotten, or maybe I thought it was a dream. Which leads us to the present.

-=-=-

The moment I went through the surface of whatever it was, I instantly felt a momentary pressure on my body before I felt it all go away, and I found myself falling…

… Straight into the ground, five feet down. I picked myself up and dusted myself off. I looked around for any sign of the portal thing, before finding it floating off  the ground, ten feet above me. At least I knew I could get back, when I wanted to. Suddenly, it winked out. I couldn’t believe it. Apparently, there was no going back. Taking a deep breath, I took a look at my surroundings.

I was in a mixed forest. It didn’t seem too dense, so I had to assume I was still on the planet. Either that, or this place had conditions remarkably similar to Earth’s. I took a deep breath, and found that I didn’t fall to the ground instantly. That would’ve been something I could have thought about before I entered the portal, now that I thought about it.

I decided to head off in an arbitrary direction, defined as right in front of me. I slowly made my way through the forest, moving past tree after tree. There wasn’t much in the way of underbrush, so I had quickly made a mile within ten minutes. Lo and behold, two minutes after that I found a dirt trail. Thanking whatever luck that I apparently had, I followed along it, always staying at least twenty feet away from it, just in case something decided to come down it.

I mentally cursed whoever designed this forest. With the thin ranks of trees, if someone heard me, they would be able to see me by the time they got within twenty feet.

The trees ahead were thinning out, signaling that I was coming to some type of clearing. I peered around the brush and found myself staring at something I never expected to see. I was on a small rise of several hundred feet, looking down on a place I knew about because of my roommate.

I was apparently staring at Ponyville.

Calming down my rapid breathing, I found myself wondering how the hell this had happened. This place couldn’t exist, and for a moment I found myself wondering if I was hallucinating. No, I definitely wasn’t. I was too awake now for that. Going on one knee, I took out my binoculars and bumped them up to their maximum setting.

The town zoomed into view. Little hors-… Ponies, I corrected myself , were standing and moving around inside of the town. I esteemed the population at somewhere around 800. Even worse, from what I knew of the show, the supposed ‘Elements of Harmony’ or something like that lived in the town. From what I knew, they were some type of ‘magical’ super weapon. Just great. The best thing to do now would be to sit tight and wait for an answer for all of this to come to my head. Moving back twenty feet into the forest, I found a small place where three trees met, forming an alcove. I pulled out my sleeping bag, laid my pack on the ground, and nearly jumped inside of it.

From what I could see, the sun was just setting. I laid my head back, drawing comfort from the softness of the sleeping bag. I slowly closed my eyes, and drifted off.

Running Away

As I entered sleep, I felt myself coming to that misty field again. I didn’t know why this happened, but it had to have something to do with ‘Luna’, that blue pony that kept appearing. This time, I figured that, since this was technically MY dream, I could alter it however I wanted. I then made a decision; I would encounter Luna on my own terms. Using my imagination, I made up a scenario similar to the second mission in Battlefield 3. I figured that it would confuse Luna the most, and I had always liked that mission anyway. Quickly, sandstone buildings sprung up around me, and I found myself in a typical built-up Arabic city.

Since this was my imagination we were talking about here, I figured that I could make my dream do whatever I wanted it to. I thought myself up a M16A4 with an ACOG scope, along with an M1911 as a sidearm. Now it was time to begin my task: confusing the hell out of Luna. I figured that she would be trying to come to grips with whatever my dream would throw at her, so she would be too busy to try and look for me very hard. Since it was my dream, I could have simply ended it, but where was the fun in that?

I quickly made my way down an alley, M16A4 at the ready. I carefully peered around the next corner. Luna was right there, apparently trying to sneak up on a pair of Iranians. It surprised me that my mind was generating all of this, but I guess I’ve played enough video games in my life for my mind to fill in the blanks – like enemies.

I saw Luna’s horn glow, apparently trying to do something. A blue light shot from it, hitting one of the Iranians, making the creation of my dream go down. The other one turned around, but was quickly hit with another blue light. I realized that Luna was probably trying to find me, so I decided to oblige. Moving around the corner, I stepped into full view and whistled. She quickly turned around, stopping as she saw me, the apparent source of the dream.

“Hi there,” I said in a cheerful voice. “Remember me?”

Her horn glowed again, and I shot at it. To be fair, I was only trying to knock it off, not completely eject her from the dream. The moment it hit her, she vanished, and I felt the dream dissolve around me. Apparently, even though it was my dream, she was the one that had been holding it together.

I woke up slowly, the light filtering in through the holes between the sticks. My fourth day here was beginning, and already it seemed it was up to a glorious start. Stumbling out of the hut into the bright sunlight, I noticed that it was probably around ten in the morning.

I walked two feet over to my pack and dug out three apples, two for me and one for the guard that I had knocked out two nights ago. I still knew I couldn’t really let her go, she already knew where my camp was, and it would be suicide to alert the town to my position after last night.

Quickly eating most of one apple, I tossed the core into the bushes and continued on to the x-frame sheltering the tied-up guard. Once I stepped into view, she glared at me. Apparently, nothing was forgiven, not that I could blame her. Once again, I wondered what would happen eventually. I doubt I could keep the guard here forever, so eventually I will probably need to move locations. It would suck, too. I had already spent two days working on my little house, but to leave it would take a few minutes at most. It surprised me how attached I was to this location. After all, I would eventually need to leave it. With the recent string of events, I knew Ponyville would put out a huge search force, and I wanted to avoid any encounters if I could.

I threw the apple into the little enclosure, and she began to eat it. I decided to spend some time scouting around for a water source. If I didn’t get water, we – it surprised me that I was thinking of ‘we’, as me and the guard had nothing in common – would both die. I knew it had been two days since she had last had water, and I hadn’t had any since early yesterday morning.

I grabbed my empty water bottle and set out along the forest. I knew a river ran through the town, I had seen it several times in the past few days. If I could find one of the little streams that fed it, then I knew I would be set for water. I knew that the little streams that fed the river would most likely be clean, and that by stumbling around the river I would eventually find one.

Within five minutes, I had found the river. It was around twenty feet across, and calmly flowed through the forest, with fairly thick brush at each side. The water looked crystal clear, so I decided to risk using this. I dipped the empty water bottle into the river, coming up with around half a bottle full of clear water. I cautiously took a sip, and marveled at how it was absolutely tasteless. It was better than the tap water that I had inside the dorm, and THAT was filtered at least three times! Quickly filling up the bottle, I put the cap back on and started heading back to camp. Now that I had a clean water supply, I could finally begin being self-sufficient.

I looked up into the air, noting at least three flying ponies searching the area, going into small loops whenever they thought they saw something. I knew they wouldn’t find me, not with my camouflage BDUs on. I quickly made my way back to camp, noting that the number of pegasi patrolling over my section of forest had increased to five. Just in case, I planned to pack up my supplies so I could be ready to move quickly.

I arrived back at the camp to the sound of something moving around in the x-frame set up for the guard. Looking it, I saw her trying to slip the vine off. I gave a small smile, knowing she would not be able to do so, and she glared right back at me, stopping her attempts at my faint smile.

I held up the water bottle, and she cocked her head, trying to discern what it was before seeing the water inside. Holding up one finger, I suddenly had an idea. I sprinted out of the camp, headed for my supply stash at the edge of the forest. I reached it in three minutes, quickly uncovering a portion of it and pulling out one of the fabric strips. I quickly folded the corners in and ripped a piece two inches wide off of each. Unwinding the thread from each, I tied them together in a long string about a centimeter wide by two feet long. I stretched it, and it held. First, though, I had to test my hypothesis.

Normally, I know cotton doesn’t do well in water. But, since this is Equestria and fuck logic, I decided to test this theory. I open the water bottle, and poured some water onto the fabric. It didn’t get absorbed or fall through; it merely stayed on top, as if the fabric was waterproof. Regular cotton, my ass. I poked several holes in the fabric square, now a rough octagon, along the sides. I slid the string of the fabric through the holes, alternating inside and out, and pulled them one it was all through, making a small, waterproof pouch. I tied it together and, viola, I had an instant bag that could hold any liquid. Covering up the hole again, I headed back towards camp, walking this time.

Looking into the air, I saw a fast moving trail of rainbow. Judging it to be more of this universe’s weird physics, I just kept walking. The patrolling pegasi would not find me any time soon, not if I could help it.

Eight minutes later, I got back to camp, momentarily taking a deep breath. I had been walking or running the entire morning, and I was completely tired. I knew I had something else to do though. I walked over to the x-frame to check on the guard.

The moment I crouched down outside of it, she glared at me. Was this going to become a common theme? I guess so. I set the little waterproof pouch down on the ground, opening it slightly to make a crude bowl, and poured some water inside. My tasks done for the day, I stepped back inside the hut to gather together my supplies. I had fifteen apples left inside of the pack. I quickly stuffed my attachments bag inside of my backpack, along with my laptop. My knife and my G-17C went into my belt, with the G-17C inside of its holster. The Sa-58 went across my back, the strap going diagonally across the middle of my chest. I was now ready to move out on a moment’s notice.

Looking around, I saw that I had forgotten a few things. Packing my sleeping bag down into a small shape, I put it and my binoculars inside of my backpack. The 12 feet of vine I had left, and the two water bottles, went into the pouches on the side of my backpack. The whole assembly was around thirty pounds. I wondered at the low weight for a moment, before realizing I was in a world from a cartoon, and physics seemed to be its’ bitch.

The medical case I got from the hospital was another matter. Having nothing else to do, I attached it to the left side of my backpack with a strap, so I could easily reach it with my right hand If I needed to. Although all of my gear was bulky, I knew I would every bit of it if I was to survive in the woods. Having nothing else to do, I lay dwn on the ground for a short nap.

I was awoken suddenly when the sound of flapping reached my ears. Judging it to be wings, I pushed my backpack onto my back and sat up, preparing to use whoever made the noise. In the midafternoon sun, I looked out of the hut through the small cracks on the side, to see what was out there.

Lo and behold, a blue pegasus was flying towards the ground near my camp. It flapped its wings and landed around twenty feet away, where I lost sight of it. Judging it to be important to my survival, I quickly got out of the hut and lay down in a bush at the edge of my small clearing. The underbrush was thick in this area, so I would be well-hidden. Suddenly, a blue face poked through the gap between two trees ten feet away from me, looking around the small clearing and seeing the hut. It jumped back when it heard a small groan from the x-frame, and quickly scrambled around to look. It nearly gasped, probably because it had found the tied-up guard, and it quickly spoke something and lifted off into the air.

I knew I had little time left. As soon as it lifted off, I scrambled to my feet and ran through the forest, making sure to take the path that offered the most concealment from above. The brushed snapped at me as I ran through the forest, only able to see around forty feet in front of me. A light green bolt suddenly snapped past my head, impacting on a tree and leaving a tiny burn mark. I looked behind me to see three ponies giving chase, one a unicorn. They were slowly falling behind, but the unicorn continually launches small blasts on me, probably trying to incapacitate me. I noticed a mountain in front of me, about a mile away. I knew I could make it at least halfway up in the next ten minutes, so I headed right towards it, to give me the advantage of height.

The ponies had probably lost me by now, as I could no longer hear or see them. Looking up, I saw the pegasi clearly tracking me, unable to dive down because of the thick trees and undergrowth. I pulled my Sa-58 from behind my backpack, although the process took around twenty seconds. Stopping for around three seconds, I slowed my breathing down enough and took a shot, the round purposely missing the circling blue pegasus by around ten feet. It climbed higher, and I started off again, thankful for the brief breather.

I reached the base of the mountain and started the climb up, the thick trees and undergrowth aiding my climb. Although I knew I wouldn’t gain much time by this, I hoped to at least delay them. Strangely, as I reached the halfway point, they all started going away, apparently still very nervous about the forest.

I sat down for a moment to catch my breath, looking out at the surrounding landscape. I was about 2,000 feet up on the mountain, where the trees and undergrowth were much thinner. Looking up at the top, I could see that it was nearly bare of trees. I started to climb more, hoping to find a cave or something to take shelter in.

Ten minutes later, I was still climbing, around a hundred feet from the top. Strangely, near the top it leveled off, for what reason I couldn’t tell. I grabbed onto the final rock and lifted myself up, emerging onto a flat around fifty feet across, and around eighty feet from the top. Looking around, I saw that there was a small cave. I looked around the base of the edge, marveling at the view. On the side of the mountain you climbed up, it was a fairly gentle angle. Moving over to the other side, you noticed a sheer cliff, at least 3,600 feet up, and at the base of it a small lake stretched. The view would have been nicer if the cliff wasn’t at a sheer 90 degree angle.

I move back from the edge and started towards the cave, hoping to find some shelter inside. Although I knew that moving into a semi-dark space was a bad thing, some light was provided by small holes in the roof.

Thirty seconds later, I sprinted out of the edge of the cave, glancing behind me at the two misshapen things chasing me. They looked just like the strange scorpion-lion thing that I had shot four days ago, only there were two of them now, and they were chasing me. I shot two rounds back at them, hoping to deter them. It didn’t work. Knowing I probably had seconds left before they caught me, I took a deep breath and sprinted forward, aiming for the cliff with the lake. I could see several ponies in the distance, watching this, but that didn’t matter. Two seconds later, I jumped off the edge.

The sensation of falling hit me like a brick. To buy more time, and lengthen the in-air time to about 24-26 seconds, I spread out, making a vastly larger area and slowing myself down. I fell down, shooting right through a cloud and causing mist to bunch up on me. Suddenly, I felt a force on my back, and looked up to see that blue pegasus grabbing onto me, dragging me higher into the air and turning towards Ponyville. I knew that, if we reached there I would not longer be protected. So, gathering my strength, I twisted in the air, flipping it on its back, and kicked off.

I was around 5,000 feet up now, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. Suddenly, I got an idea. Twisting around, I saw another pegasus trying to catch up to me. I had no idea why they were trying to save me, only that I didn’t want it to happen until I reached the right altitude. Putting my hands to my sides, I shot forward, then spreading them out to slow down, causing the accelerating pegasus to shoot past me.

I was around 2,000 feet off of the ground now. I needed to wait for the right moment. At around 1,000 feet, six seconds later, I began to slow down, making it easier for one of the now three watching me to try and catch me. One of them made them attempt at 600 feet, and grabbed onto me at 400. Seeing the ground rush up, I saw that this was the perfect moment. At 200 feet, we had slowed down to about 20 feet per second, with the ground still moving up. Forest stretched in all directions, and I judged this to be the best time. At 100 feet, we had slowed down to almost nothing, so I suddenly turned around and kicked off, sending me into the trees below.

“Freedom! It actually worked!” I yelled, right before I hit the first branch at 5 feet per second. Then another one hit me. Then another. About ten branches later I slowly hit the floor of the forest, my entire body aching from the adrenalin and the small bruises I had sustained. All in all, I was probably the first human to live after freefalling from 5,000 feet onto the hard ground. I still don’t know if they count catching onto a pegasus and them jumping off a parachute, but I wasn’t in any shape to argue. I slowly got up, checking my surroundings and letting out a small groan. I looked up to see the pegasi circling, apparently very pissed off that I had nearly killed one of them just to reach the ground, safe and out of their hands. I slowly turned around and gave them the middle finger.

Moments later, however, I felt something hit me on the left side of my head, and saw purple sparks from the impact wash in front of me. I felt myself slowly falling down, unconsciousness claiming me.

The Choice Pt.1

I was in a dream.

Red team had just captured the precious bottle of hot sauce, and the purple/green alliance was trying to take it back. Both of them threw their water balloons at one another, each one somehow making a nuclear explosion. I raised my rubber band gun and hit one of the evil purples, protecting our precious hot sauce.

I was just nearly the end of the dream, the part where I would win, when a gigantic tap on my leg woke me up. Actually, it felt like at tap. It was more like a kick.

“Gah!” I shouted, rising up, still sitting on the ground. Azure stood above me with a gigantic grin on his face, and it was obvious as to who had woken me up.

“Azure! What the hell!” I said. “I was just about to capture the bottle of precious hot sauce.”

Azure cracked up at the mental image, as did virtually every other guard in the room. I rose to my feet and glared at the room, but even then it took about thirty seconds for it to calm down.

“Ok, Azure. What do you need?” I asked.

Amber trotted up to us, armor off.

“Hey bro! Hey Tyler!” She said. “The wedding is about to start, and we’ve been invited, as have some of the better-preforming guards.” She paused for a moment, before looking around and leaning in. “And possibly because we are the only friends that Tyler here has.”

I sighed and shook my head. It looks like I was stuck with both Azure and Amber for the time being, along with whatever other ponies Celestia might send to stalk me. Honestly, I preferred the siblings. At least they actually were friends, other than just pretending to be.

“Ok,” I said. “Let’s go watch this. Come on.” I grabbed my stuff, slinging it over my back.

Eventually we reached the hall where it was being held. This time, apparently, it went normally. I was bored out of my mind for the entire five minute ceremony. Eventually, what it boiled down to was: ‘We both love each other, ect.’ Nothing else needed to be said.

I stood with Amber outside of the castle, in the garden. A party was underway, and it looked like it was going to be going for a while yet.

Shining Armor, the lucky guy, walked up to our group. I tensed up a bit, prepared for another battle with him. I was surprised when he simply sighed, and looked up at me.

“Look, creat-… Tyler. I am sorry for my behavior the past few days. The first time I was under the influence of Chrysalis’s spell-”

“You mean that bug-like abomination of nature?” I interrupted.

Shining smiled. “Yep. The second time was just after the wedding. You have to understand; I was under a lot of stress, with the invasion and all, and the remains of the spell clouding my judgment.

“So, I have come to ask for your apology. Please.” He said, looking up at me, holding out his hoof.

I held out my hand and shook his hoof. “Apology is accepted. I know what you mean, and I know what you were under.” Truthfully, before this point, I hadn’t, but now I could see why he was acting like an asshole. I was glad that it was over with – I would prefer to have fewer enemies rather than more.

“Hey, Tyler!” The voice of Azure called out to me.

“Hey yourself!” I retorted.

He laughed, before trotting up to me.

“I have something to say to you.” He said, taking a deep breath.

“Thanks, Tyler. For everything.” He said.

I blinked. “Thanks for what, Azure?” I asked.

He sighed, looking at me. “Tyler, you’ve been the only other guy here willing to talk to me. I have a few friends, sure, but you’ve been willing to do what none of them have: Truly talk to me, instead of simply bantering. You get tired of seeing the same old cynical guards, and all the newbies who all think they are on top of the game, after a while.”

He took a breath, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Tyler, I know it may not seem like much to you, but it means to same thing to Amber. She’s been doing the same thing for three months. Even though you foalnapping her wasn’t the best thing to happen, now she had somepony to talk to. She doesn’t care anymore that you’re an alien, from a different world. Cadence still likes you for doing your best and risking your life to help them, as do Shining and the other Elements.”

I blinked again. “Wow.” I said. I had never known that I meant that much to the ponies around me. Actually, I had never meant that much to anybody around me. The only one who talked to me in school on a regular basis was my Brony roommate, and even then, all we did was argue.

“Thanks.” I said in an unsure voice. Suddenly, a thought came to me. “Azure, I need to go off for a bit to think. Ok?”

Azure just smiled. “Sure, bro. Have fun doing… Whatever you’re going to be doing.”

Now I needed to think about what would come next. Walking along one of the paths, I sat down at the edge of a pond in the garden. I was all alone, with not a soul in sight. I sighed, drawing a deep breath. I didn’t know what I would do. Should I escape? Leave everything and try to get away? And how would I? I was on a city that sat on a cliff, no real way in or out.

A few days ago, I would have given everything to escape. But, since then, I had met friends. Friends! Among ponies! There was no way that this could be happening, yet it was. Two weeks ago, half a month, I was a perfectly unhappy college student, doing the same thing day after day.

“What am I going to do?” I asked myself, burying my head inside my arms.

“It is your choice.” A voice called out to me. Turning my head, I gazed out to see Luna, standing ten feet away, on the edge of a grouping of trees hiding me from the party.

I sighed. “Hello, Luna.” I said, almost robotically.

She walked beside me, sitting down on the grass beside me.

“We know what thou are thinking.” She said. “You are deciding whether to abandon all that you have made here for what you hope will be a better future, or stay with what you have.”

I looked up to her, small tears streaking down my face. “I don’t know what to think!” I almost yelled. “I don’t belong here! I shouldn’t be here… Maybe things would be better on the outside, who knows. But, goddamnit, I don’t want to abandon the only friends I have!” I broke down, descending into tears.

“You don’t have to make your choice alone, Tyler.” Another voice said. I looked to my left to see Amber, walking out of the tress.

“I kidnapped you! How could you ever think of me as a friend?” I said, in tears.

She sighed. “Tyler, it wasn’t like that. At any moment, you could have taken me away from my entire family – permanently. But you didn’t. You showed compassion, even for somepony trying to catch and cage you.”

“She’s right, Tyler.” The voice of Azure spoke out from behind Amber. He walked out of some bushes, joining his sister. “You could have taken my sister away from me. You could have run during the invasion, escaping during the chaos. You had dozens of chances you could have taken to cause us harm, but you didn’t. You stuck by us, for whatever reason you did.”

I simply stared at the water in front of me. How I wished this was simply in my imagination, where I could simply exit it. But no, all of this was real. Azure and Amber were real, as was the land that my roommate had spoken of, and all the experiences that I had gone through when I arrived here. I don’t know why I came here, but, since coming here, I had killed one giant monster, several dozen abominations of nature, and nearly killed several ponies in the process. If my roommate had been here, he would have called me an amateur, but I didn’t care.

Shaking off my sadness, I turned and looked at the three ponies, all of whom cared about me more than I thought.

“I don’t deserve this.” I stated.

Luna sighed. “I believe that all beings have the capability to change. However, you don’t need to change. You were simply… Misunderstood. Even when you showed us those images with your mind, to warn us off, I could tell you were only trying to protect us from something that would harm us. And it did. Knowing what you knew, it was beyond out comprehension.”

Amber looked over at Luna. “What did you see, anyway, Princess?”

“I am sorry, Amber, but I cannot say.” She replied. “If you want, you will have to ask Tyler about it later. Along with some other things”

I noticed Amber glaring at Luna, her Catalina Blue fur turning a lighter shade for a moment. Dismissing it, I saw the ponies turn towards me.

“Tyler,” Luna said. “No matter what your decision, we shall respect it. We gain nothing by keeping thee kept captive here.”

I simply stared into the water. My brain felt like it had virtually shut down. I literally stopped thinking.

Finally, after two minutes, I answered.

“I’ll stay.”

Azure walked up to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder, with Amber doing the same on my other. Together, we stared out above the lake as fireworks began to go off in celebration of the wedding.

I was with my friends.

My true friends.

[Documents]

[Document 1]

To: Queen Chrysalis

From: The Shadow (Notation: The Shadow is the commonly used name for the leader of the bandits)

Subject: Your Problem

It has come to my attention that your requests for this ‘Human’ are beginning to come more and more frequently. I know I often promise to deliver, and never ask questions, but I am beginning to get concerned. Why do you need this creature? You have told me that he is from another world, and that what he knows can spell your victory, but you have told me little of your eventual plans for causing the ‘chaos’ that you intend to with him.

I will do my part, don’t you worry: The price that you paid for this was too high not to resist. I only wonder when he will stop killing my agents. Two days ago, another attempt to foalnap him failed, and I lost four of my prime experts in teleportation, as well as many lower-ranking guards. Please tell me what you would have me do. Maybe your controlled subject could create some sort of disturbance with his faction?

-=-=-

[Document 2]

To: The Shadow

From: P.B.

Subject: Delivery

Shadow, your weapons have been delivered, as promised. I don’t care how you get the Human, so long as I have him. She has told me that I must do it, so I shall. However, your failures are beginning to excite Auntie Lulu and Auntie Celly. Work faster.

His Royal Highness P.B.

-=-=-

[Document 3]

To: The Shadow

From: Queen Chrysalis

Subject: The Solution

Do not worry. I shall give you means of taking him. In the meantime, continue your efforts. I have had my controlled subject send you more equipment, and you should receive, at some point in the next few days, geographic coordinates to a small sub-Hive, where I shall give you several of my Changelings to work with. Use them wisely.

I have also given a second set to my controlled controller in Canterlot. Should you need another, the controlled controller will be ‘pressed’ by me to give you them. We have her under wraps, so you do not need to worry about that.

-=-=-

[Document 4]

To: The Shadow

From: Security

Subject: Encryption

Shadow, you really need to get better encryption. Some of your guards have been reading your letters, you know. It’s ready to figure out. I don’t care what you think. Change it now, before something bad happens.

-=-=-

[Document 5]

To: The Shadow

From: Queen Chrysalis

Subject: Controlled Controller

The controlled controller who controls the controlled subject is beginning to resist us, even if she knows that she must not to keep certain beings alive. Nevertheless, we shall gain her back.

On another note, you need to shut down the Thaumic nod. Somepony might find it out from your ‘teleportation experts’, and use it against you. We don’t want a massive magical bomb appearing on your doorstep, do we?

You’re much too useful to die.