War, it changes everything it touches. It ruins lives, but also creates them. It messes with the mind of those involved. It creates fear, and death. Extremists and terror. But what would happen were someone from war entered into a land of peace. Would paranoia still reign? Would the soldier bring harm with him? Would anything change at all? In a world of uncertainty, one can always fear.

My name is Sean. Private first class, U.S Army, 10th Mountain division. I am currently serving a 12 month tour in Iraq. I am a brony but no one knows. I fear what would happen if I were to tell any of my friends. All my life I have feared uncertainty. War was the only thing I knew for certain. My friends all went to serve, so I did too. After basic training we were deployed into the war zone. Within a week three of my friends died. After a month four more followed. % months till the rest of us go home. The only thing keeping me sane is habit. Wake up, drill, eat then go kill. That defines my life, interrupted only by the death of a friend or letters from home. Then it all changed. We set out on patrol, nothing in mind but to get back fast. The jeep in front of mine detonated. We spilled out onto the ground and opened fire on the hills. It was worthless, as much as we fired our soldiers died and theirs kept coming. I emptied another magazine to find a small boy standing next to me. Tears were streaking down his small tan face. His fists were balled around a hand grenade, pin pulled. I looked into his eyes and saw an intense hatred. The grenade detonated and everything went white.

I woke up in a forest. I sat up checking my self, but I seemed to be ok. I checked for enemies nearby, but found nothing. My confusion set in and I began to panic. A light humming blew on the wind from behind me. The leaves crackled under heavy footsteps. I did the only thing that seemed logical; I opened up into the bush. I yelled as I fired, it helped get a weight off my chest. A sharp yelp and a thud resounded from the other side. I crept through the bush to find a small yellow horse lying on its side. But that’s not right, I thought, horses don’t hum. I only just realized other things about this horse. The wings, the pink hair. A voice sounded through the trees. My fear took over and I ran. I ran and ran. I kept running until I puked then kept running. I ended up falling into a small stream. The water calmed me down. Swimming was familiar.

I collected my thoughts and began to take stock of what I had. My machine gun with two mags, my pistol with one, 3 rations, my combat knife and a grenade. My matches were ruined and my fourth ration was gone. I found my compass and followed it north. After about 5 hours the sun set and I made camp. I ate a cold ration and drew myself up a bed of leaves. I was awoken about an hour later. The brush near my camp rustled. I brought my gun up and looked through the night vision scope. A bright light about forty meters out flashed into the air. Knowing I had been found I set of at a run again. The only change being that I was followed this time. I made it to a clearing and set a small trap up using the grenade. After about a minute, after I left, it went off. I ran until I found myself at a solid rock cliff. It was time to make my stand. I placed my back to the wall and brought my guns up.

The shadows darted around in front of me. I took pot shots at as many as I could, but they always seemed to keep moving, never taking a hit. Once the pistol emptied except for a single shot I holstered it. If push came to shove I wasn’t being taken alive. The first machine gun magazine fell empty. I snapped another in and reopened into the forest. It clicked empty. I dropped the worthless weapon and took my knife out. Something dark shot from the forest and struck me dead in the chest. I was pushed against the rock behind me. The knife fell silently from my hand. Something pinned my arm so I couldn’t reach my pistol. I felt a small pain in my back and felt blood running down my shirt. If I didn’t die immediately I would bleed out in a few minuets. The whole clearing flashed into light. On all sides I saw the enemy I had feared to face for so long. In front of me, still keeping me pinned, was a very pissed Princess Celestia. 5 more shadows pulled from the forest. I watched as the main 6, er main 5 walk up near to where I was pinned. They didn’t look very angry, just concerned. I assumed for their friend. The friend I shot.

“Oh shit”
I spoke aloud. I now recall the voice from the woods earlier in the day. My fear had erased it until now. I had potentially killed their friend and now they want revenge. It made sense. That didn’t change the fact that Celestia was pissed and I was dead meat.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?”

A pressure cut off my air. I couldn’t see it, but I couldn’t exactly look down to check. I felt tears fall from my face. The fear had caught up again. My neck was pressed tighter. Again she asked,

“Do you know what you’ve done?”

Darkness peeked at the edge of my vision. Surprisingly I now felt calm. Death was familiar, only a matter of time. The pressure wavered slightly. I got a short breath, and looked to find the five colorful ponies trying to help me. Despite what I had done they wanted to save me. Celestia finally backed away and I slid off the bloodstained stone onto the ground. My ears popped but I managed to hear a small gasp. Darkness pulled closer to the center of my eyesight. I vaguely felt myself being rolled over. It took me this long to realize, they know what I am, that I’m human. I spurted out a small question.

“How.. How do you know what I, I am?”
Celestia’s eyes were a bit wider, now realizing what she had done. It was Twilight that answered.

“We have encountered your kind before. Usually their visits are peaceful, but..”

I nodded every so slightly. I had lost feeling in my legs. I asked another short question.

“Did I …. Kill anyone?”

The princess responded this time. I didn’t quite hear what she said but then I heard her call out to the woods.

“Fluttershy, you can come out.”

The yellow mare walked slowly out. The sight of her walking and alive brought a lone tear to my eye. Everything moved slower now. I barley remembered to pull out my death letter. A letter I had prepared for my family for weeks, in case of my dying in action. I lifted it in shaking fingers towards them. All of them stepped back slightly. I coughed out a small

“Please”

Twilight walked slowly forward and took the letter from my hand. She started to back away but I couldn’t be left alone. I didn’t want to die without a friend.

“Please don’t…. g.go”

Of all of them to stay the one I least expected to, did. Fluttershy walked up and held my outstretched hand. I whispered

“I’m scared”

She looked down at me, no anger in her eyes. Just a soft sadness with bowls of forgivness. Then she started to hum again. It was the same song she had been humming earlier. I wanted to say so much more but my mouth wouldn’t move. The darkness closed in and the last thing I managed to say before it all came in was a soft thank you. …………..

Author's Note

A sad story. Not what i usually write but it came to mind after a long day. I wrote this late at night because i couldn't sleep. The philosiphy involved is dark. Don't read if you can't stand sad endings.