Dream of Mirrors

John stood looking down at the passing earth below him. Standing mere feet from falling to the ground at rapid speeds. The V-22 Osprey shook and almost threw him out, yet at the last second a hand shot out and grabbed him. As he was pulled back in he looked at the man who did so. "Thanks Roger. But isn't it time to jump anyway?" He said through the headset.

The older soldier nodded and handed him one of the chutes. He clipped it on and checked himself. All his gear was stowed in his bag and his rifle was carefully secured as to keep him from loosing it during the jump.

Giving the other Marine a thumbs up he prepped himself. Shaking his head he ran for the exit. Leaping off the open door him and the rest of the platoon began to free fall.

Pulling there bodies flat and slowing the decent they all joined into a circle and waited for the right altitude. When it finally came they released their grips and pushed away. Each pulled their chutes at different times as to keep from colliding or anything else.

Pulling his cord John realized nothing was happening. The parachute wasn't working. In one last effort before he was consumed by fear and panic he pulled the emergency cord. It worked but by now he was to far down; even with as much as he was slowing he would still hit the canvas to hard. "JOHN!" Was the last thing he heard over the radio before colliding with the tree tops.

John awoke suddenly. Looking around he saw he was in the forest, but not the jungle where he had jumped. Confused he released the straps of the parachute and held on tight so not to fall too quick. Using the parachute as a swing he threw himself to a nearby tree and let go in time to grab hold of the trunk.

Shimming down he sat at the base of the tree and looked around. This was not the jungle they had jumped over. He pressed the button on his throat mic. "Foxtrot Romeo command. This is Juliett Lima 002513962057. I am down in unknown territory without support, do you copy?"

Nothing but static came from the earpiece linked to the mic. He repeated the phrase; still nothing. Sighing he looked up at the parachute. What had happened last night?

Perhaps they were given bad intel and weren't jumping over Africa but somewhere else. No that would be stupid, FORECON with bad info during an op would be like fish without water. Maybe he hadn't been paying attention during briefing and misheard some details. Again, that didn't make sense because he had given the briefing himself.

After about an hour of resting and regaining his strength he decided to go looking for answers. Standing and hefting his rucksack he began to move. While in the trees he had seen smoke in the distant and decided that he would look there for any answers as to where he was.

As he walked he made a mental note to return for his parachute. Not only was all his gear still attached, but you never know when you'd need a parachute.

After pacing through the trees for about ten minutes he heard a loud roar. Turning he saw a large lion looking beast with wings like a bat and a scorpion tail.

He pulled his combat knife and took a battle stance. Charging him he lept toward a tree and pushed off as it passed him. Turning in the air he grabbed a wing and stabbed vigorously at the base. The beast reared up and flapped its wings causing him to fly off.

He rolled out of the toss and got back up quickly. Releasing the clip that secured the rucksack to him and sliding it off his back he prepared for another attack. Looking up he saw it jump at him again. Dropping he flattened himself and while it passed over him he brought the knife up and stabbed it in the under belly.

Passing over with its entrails hanging out it fell to the ground and died. Jumping up he ran over and stabbed it through the skull. Grabbing his rucksack he pulled out a small baggie and carved out a large hunk of meat. In the event he had to survive out here he could eat this before resorting to eating his M.R.E.

Quickly storing the meat and shouldering his bag he set off for the source of the smoke.

About halfway to the source he heard another noise. Jumping to the side he hid behind a tree. Slowly he peaked out the side. What he saw shocked him; small equines varying in color. What was even stranger was that some had wings and horns.

His jaw dropped from the strange sight ahead of him. Then a lavender one spoke. "Come on girls," it said. "From what AppleBloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said the creature should be just up ahead." From the tone and pitch of its voice it was a female.

From this another spoke, a light blue one with a rainbow mane. "I swear if that thing tries anything I'll teach him a thing or to about messing with the element of loyalty." It said hovering slightly off the ground and crossing its hooves.

Yet another responded, this one was blonde and had an orange coat. "Easy thar Rainbow. We don't even know if this thing is hostile, let-alone weather 'er not it'll attack us." Same as the last two this one had a very high feminine voice yet the accent seemed very southern.

Perhaps it was just a common trait shared by these horses for this time a light yellow one with a pink mane spoke up, yet barely above a whisper. "Oh I hope it's alright. The poor dear must be so scared right now." From the tone in her voice she seemed genuinely worried about whatever they were talking about.

Thinking about the direction they were heading and the way they were talking, he thought they may have been speaking of him. If he had been seen it is also possible whoever had seen him  had told someone, er something. How long had he been out? The jump had been scheduled for about 5 A.M local time, and if this place kept the same time patterns it was about noon now.

As they got closer he shuffled around to the other side of the tree out of sight. When they passed he began to follow behind and pick up some information. So far, this was still a green op, meaning he was still to continue to collect any information he could and that no shots had been fired. When the first round was fired it was instantly a black op and mission was deemed failed, this meant he was to kill any hostiles in way of exvile and keep any info currently detained out of harms way.

When they reached the site of his harness and chute he crawled under some bushes and watched them. The lavender one's horn lit up and began to pull the chute from the tree. Yet another impossible feat was shown to him that day. A horse flying and now, a horse with magic. "Hmm, I guess it got away. Maybe it's still in the area. Rainbow Dash, can you fly up and see if there's anything nearby?"

This earned a quick salute from the rainbow one and it flew up high. It circled twice before landing and shaking its head no. Sighing he lowered himself and waited for them to leave. That's when the purple one spoke again. "Well perhaps I can use this object as a base item to locate it."

Before he could even think about what she was doing her horn lit up and his chute was once again covered in the purple glow. "I'm picking up a trace from it close by, very close. In that direction." She said lifting a hoof and pointing in his direction.

Holding his breath he silently cursed the pony before prepping himself to run. That's when he realized his Flyers Kitbag and SARPELS was still attached to the chute. A Flyers Kitbag was a large bag used while using a parachute and harness that would contain the users Rucksack, weapon, munitions, and communications during a jump. The SARPELS was a larger bag that held much of the equipment the Flyers Kitbag couldn't hold, as well as other things. Generally it would be attached to the harness and at an altitude of around 30m it would be released and held by a 25ft rope as to keep injuries during landings to a minimum; since he had been in a struggle during the jump he never pulled the cord and it was still attached to the back end of his harness.

Without that bag all he had was his knife and any items stowed in his bag. The iPod he listened to during long flights before and after missions, the MEU(SOC) Pistol that was standard issue for any FORCON Operator as well as a compressor, three M.R.E's, a 3.0 liter hydration pack, and the meat from that weird lion thing, along with some water purification pills and such.

Silently he pulled his knife, a standard KA-BAR knife that has been used by the Marines since WWII. Pulling the blade he waited for whatever they were going to do. If the reacted violently he would have to fight, but first diplomacy would be his first action.

They slowly approached his position before a voice rang out not far from them."Twilight! A letter just came from Celestia, with a second letter saying that you needed to read the first letter immediately." said a small reptilian looking animal that sounded like a young boy.

With another sigh he slightly lowered his guard. "Spike? What did the letter say?" The purple one, seemingly known as 'Twilight' asked.

"I don't know. The second letter said it was for your eyes only and that under no circumstances should I read it." The lizard thing said.

Seemingly out of no where he pulled a scroll out. The purple one grabbed it with magic and began reading allowed. "Dear Twilight Sparkle. I have just witnessed a large release of magic in the Everfree forest. I would like to ask you to refrain from investigating this until my royal guards can arrive to help with the investigation. Whatever has caused this I feel may be dangerous and should be approached with caution. Be safe, Princess Celestia." She finished looking at the other horses.

Then the white one of the group spoke. "Princess Celestia is worried? This creature must be very dangerous. Perhaps it is best we head back home and allow the guards to speak."

The blue one closest to him sat down seemed to be thiking. Her tail wagged back and fourth in front of his face; it tickled his nose and almost made him sneeze before subconsciously smacking it away. She jumped into the air and struck a battle pose. "Hey! You under the bush! Get out here!" She yelled before diving at him.

Rolling to the side he allowed the horse to hit the ground before jumping up and running from them; it seemed diplomacy was out of the equation. The blue one known as Rainbow jumped back up and flew after him. Yet, by the time she was up he had dissipated again.

Stopping for a moment she looked around. John leaned down from the tree he was in with his knife in one hand and his other hand about to grab the horses muzzle. As a Force Recon Marine, and as a Marine alone he had been trained in Guerrilla Warfare since basic training. Hiding and slitting throats was a basic routine on most ops.

As he was about to grab the blue one the tree shook and he was knocked from the vantage point. Falling on the pony left him stunned for a moment before grabbing his knife from the ground and yanking the horse up. It seemed the orange one had seen what he was about to do and kicked the tree to distract him.

Putting the blade to its throat and eyeing the others questioningly.

"Where am I?!" He said pushing the blade hard against the horses throat.

Twilight spoke now. "Calm down please, you're in Equestria. Please put our friend down." She said trying to calm the soldier down.

"Fuck you! Where the hell is Equestria? Is it that small place in southern Africa?" He said lowering the knife slightly.

With that a the orange one yelled. "Pinkie Now!" Before he could react a loud boom came from behind him. Jumping back he left a shallow cut across the front of the throat of the hose and another across it's shoulder. The cut on the throat was to far away to hit the jugulars and to shallow to hit the vocal cords.

As he jumped back he saw a pink pony behind him with a cannon device and pounced on it. As he raised his knife to strike he was tackled by the orange one.

Rolling he threw it into a tree and jumped up again. Sheathing his knife in the sheath on his combat vest he began to run from the scene. Jumping over roots and jiving through the trees he ran into a small clearing with a small stream and a pond on one side. Sprinting over he jumped into the pond.

It was about ten feet deep and partially darkened. Swimming to the bottom he saw a partially exposed root and held on to keep himself below the surface. He released small bubbles to keep him below and expel some of the processed oxygen in his lungs.

Looking up he saw the blue one fly over as well as the shadow of the orange one running along the side. Faintly he could hear the purple one yelling after them.

Slowly he resurfaced and looked around. He didn't see anything. Swimming over he got out of the water and crawled over to a tree and sat beneath it. Breathing heavily he looked to where the ponies ran to. They were probably well away from him with the speed they had been going, now he could take a moment to process this and rest.

After a few minutes of resting he stood up and began to walk toward where he earlier saw the smoke. He figured that if there was any chance of getting his stuff back and talking over this it would be where the ponies came from and where the smoke came from.

Checking his watch he saw it was about 8:30 P.M. and the sun was now setting. Deciding that it would be best to wait till night to see about getting his stuff and talking to someone sane about where he was, and possibly find answers.

John sat and pulled out an M.R.E. While he was being hunted he decided that a fire would be very risky, so cooking that meat was out. Settling in with the combat meal he waited, it was going to be a long night.