//-------------------------------------------------------// Captain Rex in Equestria -by leo0074- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// THE BEGINNING //-------------------------------------------------------// THE BEGINNING "THE BEGINNING" 'What the hell happened?' Was the only thing Rex thought after he woke up. Rex could not hear anything, and when he tried to open his eyes, he felt a terrible headache. When the pain finally began to subside and he was once again was able to hear, to his surprise all he could hear were the murmurs of apparently many people but in a language that he didn't understand. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was some of the strangest creatures he had ever seen. They were small, colored and apparently some had horns or wings while others didn't, and they were watching him with curiosity. Rex only stare back to the creatures, but he noticed that the creatures had realized that he has awake, and then they started to run away from him, screaming in a strange dialect. The only thing he could say for a moment like this was, "Strange." After that Rex decided it was time to get up. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight and her friends were having a picnic in the fields outside Ponyville and having fun until Spike arrived with a letter from Princess Celestia. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rex start to look around and he could tell he was in some kind of square, probably in a city, but it looked very primitive. Before doing anything, Rex decided to check his equipment before doing anything else; he have his two DC-17 blasters, three thermal detonators, one smoke grenade and one flare. After see everything was ok he said, "Great, now I'll have to contact the General, I wish everything is ok." He then attempted to make contact with his communicator, "This is Captain Rex here. Is somebody there, I repeat can anyone hear me?". After about a minute of waiting with no response, then Rex spoke again, "Dammit this thing is not working, I wish I had..." Rex was interrupted by a huge scream. Rex turned to look, only to find more of these creatures yelling at him in the language again. Then they took a menacing pose, which made him notice they all of them had some kind of armor. Rex assumed they were in some kind of military force, he knew that he was in some kind of trouble for some reason, so as to not make more he decided to put his hands in the air, "Ok, ok I surrender just stop yelling!" He shouted, tring to calm down the creatures. They didn't see to understand his sign of surrender (maybe because they don't have hands), and they didn't stop yelling at him. One of them launched the spear it was holding at Rex. "Hell, I guess I'll have to do it the hard way," Rex muttered, then dodged the attack and bolted forward before launching a knock out blow to the creature. The others don't look very happy to see their friend on the ground. They all glared at Rex, who went back to his original position and looked around. 'Three in front, two on the right, one to the left, and four at my back. There are too many, but I better not use the blasters, killing is not gonna help me here.' Rex thought before smirking under his helmet. 'But nobody says that I cannot hurt them with the blasters.' Rex pulled out his two hand blasters and shot those on his sides in the legs, incapacitating them. Then he starting to run to the right where he could try to escape, but the other seven started to chase him down the street. Rex could easily shoot the others in the legs too, but Rex did not want to hurt many of the creatures, as they might try to actively kill him. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After Twilight discovered that the letter was about the wedding of her brother, she became very sad, and a little angry. Her brother never said anything about the wedding to her and she didn't even know who was going to be the bride. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rex was running around the city, thanks to his harsh training he could run very long distances, but then he see some sort of beam that almost hit him go streaking past his head. "Dammit! What was that?" Rex hissed, looking around only to see a large group of more armored creatures who's horns were letting off a light. They stood on rooftops of the houses while shooting at him. "Oh come on, they can shoot from their horns!?" All the civilian creatures were running around screaming and taking cover. Rex, with almost no other options, tried to take cover behind a wagon which was abandoned, to gain some time. "They already found me." Rex muttered to himself, until he saw that both sides of the road had more of these creatures, and they were all converging on him. "Where the hell did they come from?" Rex with no other options, tossed his smoke grenade in the middle of the road, creating a huge smoke cloud, the confused creatures did not know where Rex was, so Rex started to run to another point to get cover. When the smoke cleared, Rex had disappeared. A few hours later, already dark, Rex was on the roof of one of the buildings, making some recon in the city. To his surprise the city was on the ridge of a mountain and had some kind of force field around it, meaning he was trapped in the city. 'What is the matter with this place? It's really strange, and how did I get here in the first place? More important, how do I get back to the Republic?' He thought, rubbing the back of his helmet. Rex was too busy thinking about what to do, to notice the dark figure behind him until it spoke. "We have finally found thou." Rex turn around to face another one of the strange creatures, but this one was dark, with wings and a horn. Rex could only say one thing before a powerful beam knocked him out, "What the hell?!" ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight and Spike were packing their stuff to travel to Canterlot, to the wedding of her brother. She still did not feel better with the news of her brother's wedding and him not telling her. Spike tried to make her feel better. "Don't worry Twillight, I'm sure he didn't tell you about the wedding for a good reason." He said. Twilight gave him a sad look and said, "I don't know Spike, he is my brother, he should have told me from the beginning!". Before Spike could say something he burped up another letter, which was also from Princess Celestia, and grabbed the letter, ready to open it. "Another letter from the princess? What's it say?" Twilight asked Spike, tilting her head. 'Dear Twilight, Before you come to the wedding here in Canterlot, I want to tell you that we have captured a very strange alien. The alien was terrorizing Canterlot, buteverything it's ok, Princess Luna knocked out the alien. I wanted to ask your help to study this creature, because I know how much you would like to do it. So I'll see you during the preparations for the wedding. Your mentor Princess Celestia' Twilight after hearing Spike read it out loud, felt better. Who wouldn't feel exited? It's a alien! TO BE CONTINUED Author's Note Many thanks to jak3combat for the help, great editor. //-------------------------------------------------------// TIME IN PRISON //-------------------------------------------------------// TIME IN PRISON "TIME IN PRISON" Once again, Rex woke up lying on the ground, "ohh", Rex said. Rex still have his helmet in place, then he got up, only to see it was no longer in a beautiful place now was in a prison cell. 'How do I end here?', Rex thought, but then Rex remember, 'oh, now I remember, that strange dark creature shoot me with some kind of laser', Rex still don't know what it's happening . Rex check his equipment, he has to make sure that everything it's ok, he still had his blasters, grenades and flare, that he calm down a little, "seem that they have no idea what these things are," said Rex. He walk to the door of the cell and try to look outside, Rex could see that the corridor had no guards, but he notice that in the other cells there was many other creatures, and they were totally different from those that he had seen, 'ok, now I feel more strange this place then before'. Rex thought. Onne of the creatures looked at him with a face that wants to kill him, but Rex just returned her gaze, "criminal scum" said Rex. Rex was able to hear many noises out of the window of his cell, he decided to see what it was, Rex leaned out the window, he could see many of the creatures preparing and putting decorations all over the City, Rex not expert but judging by the looks of everything, the creatures were preparing for a wedding. 'A wedding?, this may be good', think Rex. He could perhaps take advantage of this, he might try to escape during the wedding, because for the looks of everything, the wedding must be important, and when the wedding begin, there will not be many guards in the city, the perfect time to try to escape, he could use a grenade to blow up the wall and get out, but he have take care of the force field, but for now he will have to wait. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluthershy, Aplejack and Spike were already in Canterlot, Twilight and discovered that his brother's future wife was his old childhood friend, Candace, but Twilight begins to suspect many strange things in it, it was not the same anymore, now it was bad and selfish, even after telling her friends, they don't take it seriously, desperate, Twilight try to go to Princess Celestia to talk about the other thing that is the only reason why she's still sane, the alien. Twilight was walking trow the castle looking for Princess Celestia, she was still loking until she find him in one of the millions rooms, "Princess, oh there you are", say Twilight. Celestia look back to Twilight, "hello Twilight, I suppose you come here to ask my about the alien, am I right?". Twilight answer, "yes Princess, I was having a not very good day, but maybe see the alien can change that, can I see it?" "I'm happy to see you sow exited", Celestia say, then she turning around to see one of his guards and say, "can you please escort Twilight to the prison to see the alien please", ask Princess Celestia, the guard nodded. "Yes my Princess", say the guard. "The prison?, Princess why it's the alien in a prison and not in a research lab", ask Twilight a little concern of the alien. "Because the alien result to be dangerous, when he was a terrorizing the city, he get 3 guards hospitalized, they have some stranges injures, the doctors don't know what to do, but they are better now", finish Celestia. Twilight get surprise for a moment, "really, we'll I think I will be ok", say Twilight a little nervous. "This way miss", say the guard to Twilight. "Thanks", say Twilight, then she turn to the princess, "I will see you later Princess", she say following the guard. "Be careful Twilight", say Celestia. Twilight was exited, she wanted to see the alien and maybe try to communicate to him, she could try to be friend of the alien. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It was olready dark, and in the Canterlot prison, Rex wasn't any longer whit his helmet, but he was careful that nobody see him, Rex don't like the idea of this stranges creatures who lock him in a cell to see his face. He was lying in the bed of his cell, resting a little, but he kept wondering what will be happening in the battlefront, would there be a difference without him there?, he needs to get back to the fight, how knows what atrocities the Separatist scum are doing?, he can't just rest can't be in a cell for the rest of his life when he's brothers are out there still fighting , he is Captain Rex, a clone trooper, and he's loyal to the Republic. Rex thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, for just instinct Rex go for his helmet and put it back in his head, then hi return to seat in his bed, after a few seconds, two creatures stud in his cell entrance, one was like the rest, white whit a golden armor and the other one was a purple little one. Rex had to admitted, the purple one looks cute. Rex nodded that the two creatures talk a little and then the armor one leave the purple alone, Rex assumed that the purple one want to talk whit him, obviously an interrogation, but Rex is not a easy person, not even a Sith can make him talk. The creature just look at him whit a face of surprise and curiosity, while Rex just stare at the creature, the purple creature look a little disturb, and then start to talk. Like the other, Rex could not understand the language, sow when the purple one finish, she just stare at him like waiting a respond. "Sorry kid, but I don't know what you are saying", say Rex to the creature. After a few moments of waiting a respond, the purple one start to look a little angry and then she start to yelling at Rex. Rex could support the first few seconds, but after some minutes, finally Rex couldn't help but get tired of the annoying creature. The purple one was still yelling at him , after a few second of starring each other, the purple one whit a desperate look, decide to leave alone the alien. "Finally, now I can get a som peace", say Rex before he get off his helmet and go to,the bed. "I need some sleep", he say before finally fall in sleep. But what Rex don't know was that certainly dark Alicorn was watching him while he sleep. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the streets of Canterlot, Twilight was walking trow the city, but Twilight was still curious of the alien. 'Why he didn't answer his questions?, was the alien a bad kind of person?, for what Princess Celestia say, the alien was dangerous, but wait!, I forget that he is an alien, maybe he doesn't know our lenguage!, oh I'm sow stupid', Twilight thought, she start to feel bad getting angry and talking to the alien like that. 'We'll, maybe I can try another day, but first things first, I had to know more about Candace, and his mysterious bad personality, I better go to my brother house', finish Twilight. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The next day, in the morning. Rex was already wake up, he could hear multiple noises outside the window, Rex know what that means, its time, the weddings day. "It's time", say Rex taking a grenade from his belt, "now let's get to work", Rex start preparing the grenade on the wall where the window was, everything was ready. "Ok, no let's get out of this hole", say Rex to himself before the wall explode and finally breaking free. Rex was already outside, "I need to get out of here before the guards come.......", Rex stop his track when he nodded a great army of black creatures whit holes in the legs. They where outside of the force field, the looked like bugs, they reminded Rex the Genosians, but this ones look a little less ugly, Rex know what this was, this was some kind of attack. "Sow that's why they put a force field", Rex said, the he relaxed, "we'll at last the are out side, right?" All of sudden the force field get down and the bugs enter to the city. "Why do I talk in the first place!?", Rex say before get out his hand blasters and took a battle position, "come on!, let's get this over!", yell Rex to the bugs before start the battle. TO BE CONTINUED Author's Note Again, thanks to jack3combat for the great work //-------------------------------------------------------// FROM A WAR TO ANOTHER //-------------------------------------------------------// FROM A WAR TO ANOTHER "FROM A WAR TO ANOTHER" Rex was finally outside of the prison, but his torment was not over, as strange bugs were attacking the city and it's habitants. Although they locked him up, Rex could not leave the creatures on their own, so Rex came up with a plan. The bugs were too distracted to notice Rex shooting, managing to kill a few before they realized his presence. They attempted to attack him, but with Rex shooting them, they weren't able to approach him. Rex was shooting at all the bugs he could, and he found out that they weren't too much of a challenge. But after a while, they started to shoot back at him with some kind of green laser that came from their horns, forcing Rex to take cover behind a wall. While Rex was shooting the bugs, he was able to see civilians running from invaders. "Take cover!" He shouted at the civilians. Unfortunately several civilians were hit by the green lasers coming from the bugs. 'Getting out of a war and ending up in other, that hilarious.' He bitterly thought while he was changing power packs to his blasters. The lasers were still coming, and they were about to destroy the wall. One streaked past, barely missing him. 'Damnit!' Rex thought, firing a couple of shots at them. After taking cover again, another shot almost hit Rex's head. 'That was close!' Thought Rex before throwing a grenade. A few seconds passed and before it exploded. Rex could hear screams of death, but the lasers don't stop coming. "They're still coming and coming! I can't stay here!" He said, before starting to run. He kept shooting while looking for another place to get some cover. While he was running, Rex could see one little creature from those that live in the city. A kid, Rex assumed, but it was running from the bugs. Rex had to do something, so Rex ran to the kid while dodging all the lasers. When he finally got to the kid, the little one was scared of Rex instead of moving. Rex grabbed the kid and continued running, avoiding the lasers that were impacting the street. "Where the hell are the guards?!" Rex yelled. Rex was carrying the child with one hand and firing his blaster with the other, shooting the bugs he was still running from. When he saw a house with the door open, he got an idea. The kids was screaming with fear. "Calm yourself kid! We are almost there!" Rex said, attempting to calm down the little creature. Rex start to run faster and faster, until he ran past the front door. Once inside, Rex drop his last grenade, and before all the were able to get inside, Rex ran out of the house through the back door. Once he got out with the kid, he turned around to see the house blow up with all the bugs chasing him inside. Rex smirk under his helmet; they were safe, for now. Rex was just looking at the burning house, thinking. "What's happening? An invasion typically focuses on key points, not tormenting the city." He muttered. After a few moments, he decipher what was happening. " Unless they have already taken over the city! If I want to avoid more civilian deaths I must go to the castle. I have to end this." Rex said with a long glance at the castle. Then he turned to look at the kid. 'First I have to make sure the kid is safe.' He thought. "Are you ok kid?" Rex asked the little creature, even if he knew that the kid can't understand him. The kid gave a look that plainly said how afraid he was. "I guess that's a yes." Rex muttered. 'If the general or the others could see me like this.' Rex thought. Then Rex stealthly started to look around for a safe place to leave the child. After a few moments Rex found the gates of the city. Outside was a station, where there were many of the creatures evacuating the city. Rex decided to put down the kid, but the kid just looked at Rex with a curious face. "You must go with the others." Rex said, pointing to the gates. He could leave the child there, but Rex didn't want to be seen by the creatures. After a few moments the kid finally understood what Rex was saying, and the little one ran to the station. "Great now, get back to business." Said Rex, and then he started to make his way though the hordes of bugs, heading towards the castle. Rex was running through the streets and firing at all the bugs in his way, until he finally got to the doors of the castle. But when he got inside, there were more bugs inside. "Here we goes again!" joked Rex before starting to fight again. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ While Captain Rex was fighting the bugs, the mane six and Candace where trapped in the Castle by Queen Chrysalis and her changelings, Celestia was knocked out, and Shining Armor was unconscious. Queen Chrysalis was laughing. "Ha ha! Finally, Canterlot is mine, and not even the Elements of Harmony will be able to stop me!" She said, gloating over her victory. "No! Canterlot is still fighting!" Cadence protested. Chrysalis just laughed more. "You are wrong with that, little princess! All the guards are already captured" She declared. Rainbow Dash interfered. "I'm still here you know!?" She shouted. "Ha ha! Like I said before, nopony can stop me no-" Chrysalis was interrupted by a boom and the scream of pain that followed. Everyone in the throne room turned to see a dead changeling on the ground and standing in the door was a tall, white, bipedal creature. Everypony was in shock, nopony knew who he was, except for Twilight. 'It's the alien! How did it escape from prison?' She thought. Rex analyzed the situation. 'I guess the tall and ugly one must be the leader of the bugs, better take down all the hostiles before getting to it.' He thought. Chrysalis stared at the alien with anger, but before she could say something, the alien shot another laser from a piece of metal, killing another of her changelings. After that, all the changelings charged the alien, but the alien, with another of his pieces of metal, started to shoot every changeling in the room, killing them all. Twilight was impacted, do she really pass time with an alien killer? Applejack fell fear and hate for the strange creature. Rarity felt disgusted. Fluttershy wanted to cry. Pinkie Pie felt strange about the alien. Rainbow Dash, even though she didn't want to show it, she felt scared of the alien. Candace feel terror about the alien. Chrysalis wanted to kill the creature, she doesn't care who he is, the only thing that matters is that he kill many of her children, and he's gonna pay. Before Chrysalis could shoot a magic beam, Rex, with his other blaster, shot another laser at Chrysalis' horn, causing an explosion where the laser connected to the horn. Chrysalis, eyes widened in shock, but she was too distracted by the pain in her horn to notice Rex approach. For that, she gt a punch to the face that knocked her out. "Disgusting creature." Rex spat. The ponies just stared at the alien that killed the changelings, knocked out Chrysalis, and saved them, but they were still afraid of him. The alien grabbed Chrysalis and put her besides Twilight and the others. The alien just stared back at the mane six after that. Rex was able to see that they were scared of him. 'Maybe they will feel better if I salute.' thought Rex before put his hand to his head and make a military salute, then left the room. The ponies just stared at him in shock. Twilight was the first to react. "Wait!" She yelled to the alien, but before they could try to stop him, he was already gone. TO BE CONTINUE //-------------------------------------------------------// THE LITTLE FILLIES //-------------------------------------------------------// THE LITTLE FILLIES "THE LITTLE FILLIES" It has been two weeks and nopony has heard anything about the alien. After the alien left, Twilight and Candance told Princess Celestia and Princess Luna all that the alien did. Celestia was in shock, as she could not believe what this alien did to all those Changelings, and it got worse after hearing reports on the city as an unknown creature killed half of the Changeling horde. She had to capture the creature and lock him up before it hurt somepony. Twilight was also surprised to learn everything the alien did, so she tried to find him. Even though her friends did not want to see this monster they helped her because they knew that the creature was dangerous and they had to stop him. In Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was bucking some apple trees, but she was still thinking about the alien, and she's not going to lie because she's the element of honesty, but she still fell scared about the creature. But Applejack was too distracted to notice three little fillies approaching. It was Scootaloo, Sweetie belle and Applebloom. "Hey sister!" Applebloom said to Applejack. Applejack turn around to see the Cute Mark Crusaders. "Oh, hey Applebloom, do you need something?" She asked. Before Applebloom could answer, Scootaloo spoke. "Yes! We are going to see Zecora to help us get our Cute Marks." Then Sweetie Belle spoke. "Can we go to see Zecora?!" Applejack just give them a sad look. "Sorry girls but it's too risky for ya to go to the Everfree Forest.". The three little fillies gave her a sad look and turned around. As they started to walk away Scootaloo spoke." We are going to see Zecora right?" She asked the others. "Yes!" Said Applebloom. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Not too far from Ponyville, in the Everfree, Rex has been walking through the forest for almost two days. 'How big is this place!?' Rex thought. Rex still did not know where he is, since he escaped from prison and fought against insects, he has been traveling. Rex, along his way, has been avoiding patrols of the little creatures, battling fearsome predators and eating their flesh, and from the ones made of wood, Rex used them as firewood, but he was still looking for a way back home. It was already dark and Rex was tired from too much walking, he needed to rest. Rex stopped when he found a cave. Rex just chuckled. "That should work." Rex muttered. Rex walk inside the cave, and found that was empty, after a few moments analyzing the cave, Rex decide to sleep in there for the rest of the night. He make a fire, then he took off his helmet, after that he just sat on a rock. 'Better spending the night here than outside.' Thought Rex. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile in the library of Ponyville, Twilight was trying to find in her books something about the creature or something that could give her a clue. Twilight was desperate. "Aargh! Why can't I find anything!?" Spike walked down the stairs with a big pile of books in hand, before speaking. "Here are the books you asked Twilight." He said to Twilight. "Thanks Spike, leave them there." Twilight said, pointing a hoof to a table. After Spike put the books, he decided to ask. "Did you discover something new Twilight?" Twilight responded. "No, what I know is that it has the similarities of the Diamond Dogs and Dragons, but no scales and hair, and has a rare complexion. And is able to use magic through his metal stuff, but what I found strange is that before he disappeared, he gave a military salute, so I think it could also be a guard of some kind." "Ok but I don't see why it's sow important to find that thing on the books, why not go out there looking for him?" Asked Spike. "Because we can't go outside and look around for the alien just like that! We must be prepared, what kind of fool go for a creature that she don't know nothing about! We do not know what is it's habitat, what it eats, what if he could eat ponies! After all, remember what he did to the Changelings." Twilight loudly explained. After hear that, Spike gulped. "Yes....I remember." Spike said in terror, "but if he wanted to hurt you all, why he didn't do it when he had the chance?" Before Twilight could say something, somepony knocked on the door. "I'm coming!" Twilight called before opening the door. When Twilight open the door she could see Applejack with a preoccupied expression. "Oh, hello Applejack, is something wrong?" Twilight asked Applejack. "Twilight, Ah need yer help! It's already dark and Ah don't know where Applebloom and the others are! I think they go to see Zecora but they haven't returned yet!" Applejack exclaimed. Twilight thought for a moment. "Ok, if we are going to start looking for them, we should get the others, I will go find Rarity and Pinkie. You go find the others" Said Twilight. Applejack nodded, and she and Twilight took off in their ways. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, Rex was already sleeping, but some noises woke him up. Rex doesn't have problems with waking up early, but he doesn't like to be disturbed. Rex was trying to get up. "Dammit, better not be another of those creatu...", Rex didn't finish his sentence when he finally was able to hear the noise; it was someone or something screaming for help. Even if it wasn't Galactic Basic, Rex knew what a scream of help was. "I better see what's happening." Rex said, grabbing his blasters and putting his helmet on. Then he ran out of the cave and start to follow the noise. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, went to go see Zecora to find out if she had something that can help them to get their cutie marks. Soon, however, they were chased by Timberwolves and got trapped in a big hole, they where screaming for help all day, but nopony could hear them. "Help! Please help us!!" Sweetie Belle was screaming in fear, she wanted to get out of the hole now. "Sweetie Belle please, stop yelling! Nopony it's gonna find us!" Scootaloo said to Sweetie Bell, but that just made her cry harder. Applebloom tried to calm down Sweetie Belle. "Please Sweetie Belle, don't cry, we'll be fine, Ah'm sure somepony is gonna find us." "Applebloom! we have been here all day, nopony is gonna find us!" But then a rope felt down from nowhere, the three fillies just stared at the rope for a moment. Scootaloo was the first one to speak, "Is somepony there?" But there wasn't any answer. "Well, what if we get out of here first?" Applebloom ask, the other two nodded. The three fillies began to climb the rope until they finally made it, Sweetie Belle was the first in speak. "Yeah! We finally made it!" Sweetie Belle cheered. "Yeah! Thanks mister..." Appleboom was silenced when she and the others saw a white, tall and scary creature. They just stared at him in horror for a while, until they start to scream and run away. Rex just stared at the scene, "I better make sure they will be ok." Rex muttered before following the fillies. The fillies were running from the monster, but they were forced to stop when they saw a furious Manticore. The fillies just scream more. The Manticore started roaring at the fillies. But before the Manticore could attack them, a blue light streaked past and hit him in the shoulder. The fillies turned around to face the other, white monster from before. The Manticore roar in pain, as the wound only made him more angry. When the Manticore launched himself at Rex, he only hit him in the head with another shot. Rex put his pistols into their holsters and then he looked back to the little creatures. They just stare at him in fear. 'It's dark, I cannot leave them alone in the forest.' Rex thought. Rex opted to grab the three, and they did not resist, probably by fear. Rex then took them to his cave, where they will be safe. After a few moments, they finally arrived. The fillies could see that the creature was going to the cave with the fire inside, and that gave them more fear. Once inside, Rex put them down, and then he sat on his rock. Rex and the creatures just stared at each other. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On the other side of the forest, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were looking for the little fillies. Rainbow Dash decide to speak. "It's too dark, I can't see anything!" "Ah know, but we have to find Applebloom and the others, they may be in danger or something!" Applejack responded. "Ooooh, my poor sister most be scared!" Rarity exclaimed. "Don't worry, they must be fine." Twilight said, trying to calm down the situation. Then Fluttershy quietly spoke up, whimpering a little. "If it's okay with you all, I want to get out of the forest, it's so scary out here." "It's ok sugarcube, but first lets find the others." Applejack assured her. Then Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Or maybe the alien get them, ha!" Rainbow Dash laughed, but the other start to have more thoughts, but Pinkie pie started to laugh too. "Ha, yeah, and then the alien ate them! Ha ha ha!" Said Pinkie Pie in a joking manner, but the others just stared at her. Pinkie Pie noticed. "What?" Pinkie asked. Twilight spoke up. "Pinkie, let's stop with the jokes okay? Remember what we're here to......", Twilight was interrupted by a great scream from Fluttershy. "Aaaaaaaahahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Fluttershy was screaming in terror. Then the others saw something horrible; it was a dead manticore. Twilight was in shock, Rainbow Dash just stared at the lifeless Manticore body, even Pinkie was horrified, but Applejack was more cautious than the others. "That's disgusting!" Exclaimed Rarity "Girls we need to find the others now!!!" Yelled Applejack to the others, and all of them started to look around harder for the fillies. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the cave with Captain Rex. Rex didn't know what to say. "So, do you want something to eat?" He asked, even if he knew that they can't understand him. Rex pulled out a apple and stretched out his arm, offering the apple to the fillies. The fillies start to understand what he mean, so Scootaloo slowly started to approach to the monster's hand and grab the apple with her mouth. Rex chuckled. "There you go kid." Scootaloo started to eat the apple. Finally the three little creatures have more confidence towards the monster. Then the white one approach Rex, while Rex didn't know what the little creature was gonna do. Rex just stare at the little creature, but to his surprise the creature hugged his legs. After a few moments, the others joined and hugged Rex. 'What the hell?' Rex didn't know what to think, but he was able to see the smiles in their faces. "Thank you! Thank you very much Mr. Monster!" Said Sweetie Belle. "What you did was very cool! Well, not the part with the Manticore... but still very cool!" Said Scootaloo. "Ah can't wait to tell mah sister about you, sir!" Applebloom exclaimed. The little fillies were waiting for a response, but Rex just stared at them. This was something strange for Rex; it was the first time that someone hugged him, so he wasn't familiar to the sentiment, but it fell nice. "Mr. Monster, are you ok?" Applebloom asked. Then a huge yell could be heard from outside the cave. "Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! Where are you?!" A voice called out. Applebloom was happy. "It's Applejack!" Rex didn't know what the voice was saying, but he know that it was someone looking for the little creatures. 'I better take the little ones to the ones that are looking for them.' Rex thought before gently grabbing the creatures and walked out of the cave. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The mane six were still looking for the fillies when suddenly... "Applejack!" Applebloom yelled to her big sister and hugged her. "Applebloom!" Said a relieved Applejack, returning the hug. "We are so happy to see you all are safe." Said Twilight. Rainbow Dash was the next to talk, "Yeah! What happened?" "We where chased by Timberwolves." Sweetie Belle explained. "Timberwolves?!" Exclaimed the six. "And a Manticore!" Scootaloo added. "Manticore!?" Exclaimed the six again before Scootaloo continued. "Yes, but a big monster saved us!". "A monster!!!?" The six exclaimed again. 'I don't like where this is going...' thought Twillight. Rex was observing the six creatures and the three little ones from the top of a tree. 'That was... uncomfortable', Rex thought. TO BE CONTINUE Author's Note Sorry for the delay, I had many problems. Many thanks to jak3combat, and keep whit the good work. //-------------------------------------------------------// VISITING THE TOWN //-------------------------------------------------------// VISITING THE TOWN "VISITING THE TOWN" "A monster!?" The six exclaimed again. Sweetie Belle said with childish emotion, "Yes! He shot beams of magic! Like the ones that you do Twillight!" Sweetie Belle explained. "Wait, what!?" Exclaimed Twillight. "Yes, but he don't have a horn! He shoot magic with some weird things that he had." Scootaloo added. Twillight, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash start to worry, Fluthershy didn't look like she cared, she just wanted to go back to her cottage, and Pinkie Pie still didn't understand what is going on. Twillight nervously tried to ask them, "And girls... Did this monster look tall, and stand with just two legs? And look white with blue prints?" Apple Bloom confusedly responded. "Yeah, how did ya know?" But Twillight didn't respond, she and the others just began to remember the horror that the alien did in Canterlot, what he did to the Changelings. Twillight and the others were scared, even if that creature saved the lives of the little fillies, the idea of an alien killer in the forest was horrifying. And they didn't even know that Rex was observing them from the top of a tree. Applejack fell nervous. "Ok, now that we are all safe, what if we return to Ponyville and go to sleep?" Applejack said to the fillies with a fake smile. The others nodded and started to walk to Ponyville. Rex recognized the other six. 'Those are the ones from the castle the other day, I didn't expect to see them again.' Rex thought. Rex was able to see them more carefully, he noticed that two of them have horns, while two have wings, and the last two have nothing. 'So they are leaving.' Rex nodded, 'Which means there is civilization around here.' Rex thought before deciding to follow the creatures. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rex followed the creatures trough the forest at a safe distance. It was a quiet night. After thirty minutes, he was finally able to see a little village. 'Very primitive.' Thought Rex. Rex stopped in his tracks when he noticed that the creatures started to go in different directions. "Well, this must be where they live, I need to get all the information that I can get about this world." Rex said to himself, before making his way to the town. With nobody noticing, Rex began to sneak around town. Luckily the streets were empty. 'All the citizens must be sleeping.' Rex thought. Rex was still sneaking through the streets, even if he could not understand what the signs said. But by the very obvious appearances of the buildings, he could easily recognize them. Some minutes passed and Rex couldn't find anything; there were only bakeries, restaurants, candy stores, but nothing that could give him information about this world. Until he saw something. It was a tree in the middle of the town, but what was more strange was that it have a door; it was a house. 'These creatures have a really strange architecture.' Thought Rex. The three house let Rex confused, until he notice a sign over the entrance, it was a image of a flimsy book. "Bingo." Rex said to himself before make his way to the tree. Even if Rex never saw a real book, because in Kamino they flash taught him through computers and other tech, he could easy recognize a book made of flimsi. Luckily, the window that was next to the door was half open. Rex smiled inside his helmet, he quietly opened the window and entered into the library. Once inside, Rex start to search for the books, but it wasn't any difficult because the interior was completely covered by books. Rex start to look around until he noticed that many of the books in the floor were open, all of them with images of bipedal creatures. 'Weird', Rex thought. Rex fell a little disturbed, not just because all of the images we're about strange creatures, but the fact that Rex know that someone was investigating him irked him. Rex begin to look at the images, but there wasn't anything about humans. Maybe this creature didn't even know what a human is. Rex put his thoughts aside and started to look on the shelves for any book that could help him, but when he grab the first book, Rex noticed something. "Fierfek, I can't read their language." Rex silently said to himself. He started to look in all the books for images. After look in almost all the books in the library, Rex find something that may help him. 'A book of maps?', say Rex before opening the book. There was, a map of the entire world, but unfortunately, the name of the places where still in another dialect. But before put the book back on the shelter, Rex recognize a part of the map, there was a image of the other city in the mountain. "So, this is where I was..." Rex said, poking the image, "that means that I can't be too far, so I must be right around here." Rex concluded, now pointing to the closest town to the city. Rex tore off the page and put it in one of the compartments of his utility belt, before he shut the book and returned it to the shelf. 'Great, I know where I am, now I must...' Rex thoughts were interrupted by a noise. Rex knew that it was a voice from the creatures, Rex turn to the window and notice that the sun was already there; he has just spent the entire night searching the books. "Damnit." Rex said to himself, then he start to run to the exit. With his speed, Rex was able to get out of the library. Once out, Rex looked for a place to hide before a creature saw him. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Some moments earlier, Twilight was sleeping well, even with her thoughts and worries about the alien, she was able to rest, but something woke her up. Twilight begin to stand up from her bed with her eyes halfway crusted shut, attempted to listen. Before doing anything, she checked if Spike was still in his bed, and yes he was, so Twilight knew that there was somepony inside. "Hello? Is somepony there?" Twilight called downstairs, but before she could go and check, the sound of somepony opening the door and closing it was heard. Twilight got up fully and ran to see downstairs, but nopony was there. Twillight fell confused, "hmm, strange", after some thinking, Twilight spoke again, "Spike!, I'm going to the market!". ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rex was hidden on a corner of the street. 'Dammit, there are too many of the creatures on the street. Getting out of town will be difficult, I have to be very careful.' Thought Rex before beginning to sneak around the town. Rex was barely able to hide from the creatures. Rex peeked from the corner of a wall to see that he was almost at the edge of the town. "Great, just a little more and..." Rex muttered, but when he turned around, he was surprised by a sudden appearance of one of the creatures. It was the pink one from before. "Aaaghh!" Rex yelled in surprise. How did his motion sensors not pick it up? "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, you're the alien! Good to see you again! And even more to know that you are here in Ponyville! That means you must be new here, which means I'll give you a great party! Well it's obvious you are new, because you're an alien, so this will be the first party I give to an alien, so it should be super duper special! Oh I'm so excited! " The pink abomination fired out at rapid speeds. Even if Rex could not understand the language, he knows that the little pink creature was annoying as hell. Putting his thoughts aside, Rex had been discovered, and with no plan for that, Rex just started running from the creature. Pinkie Pie just stared after the running Alien. "Was it was something I said?" Pinkie muttered. Rex was now just wanting to get out of town, it doesn't matter if the creatures saw him, because he had already been discovered. "Fierfek, I need to get out of the town!" Rex muttered to himself. Running down the street, Rex was able to hear screams of terror of the creatures from the town, he even was able to see some of their terrified faces, but Rex didn't care. Rex ran, pushing, jumping and dodging obstacles. "I'm surprised that these people do not have any kind of military force here, not even police." Rex said, still running. Rex suddenly felt relieved, already past the town limits, but stopped as he noticed a rainbow light, and was heading toward him at high speed. "What the hell is that!?" Rex yelled. Thanks to his good reaction, Rex was able to dodge the rainbow light when it was about to hit him. A rainbow trail whizzed past him and Rex was able to notice that the light stop a few feet behind him. Rex turned to see, noting that it was that blue creature with the rainbow mane from earlier. Rex was surprise that the creature was able to go at such a speed without harming itself. It went as fast as a Podracer, at least. 'Incredible.' Was the only thing that Rex thought before being forced to dodge another punch from the blue creature. Rex was not going to sit idly and let this creature kick his shebs. When the creature threw another punch at Rex, Rex grabbed her hoof and kicked her leg, but making sure to not seriously hurt it, he did it in the lightest way possible so he would only hurt her. Once the creature growled in pain, Rex took the opportunity to throw it away and start to run again. Once he was about to finally get out of the town, the same pink creature appear in front of him. Rex was again surprised. 'How did she do that?!' Rex asked himself. "Hi again, well , I was looking for you, because you were running for all over Ponyville and I..." Once again the pink one start to talk, but Rex begin to run in the opposite direction, which meant he was going to the town again. Rex knew that he was going to the wrong direction, but he have a bad feeling about the pink creature. While Rex was running through the streets, he was able to see the blue flying creature, charging at him again. "You again?" Rex asked it. Rex could see the face of the creature; Rex managed to really anger her. Before the the creature could hit him, once again Rex dodged the attack. But Rex stopped running when he noticed that the creature wasn't able to stop her flight and crashed in a building under construction that was in front of her, making the huge structure begin. "That's not good." Rex watched as many of the workers started running from the construction site. But Rex notice one of the workers was filled with fear, who was not even able to move. The structure was about to collapse, and everything would fall on top of it. "Move you idiot!" yelled Rex, but the creature was still standing there. Rex had to do something. But before Rex could move, a purple aura began to glow in his body, and began to levitate him in the air. "What the!?" Exclaimed Rex. Rex was in shook at first, but after he noticed that the one responsible was the purple creature. She was using her horn to make him levitate. Rex could see the anger in her face. "I don't have time for this." Rex grunted. Before something else happen, Rex pulled out his blaster and shot the ground, a few inches from the legs of the creature. The purple creature screamed in horror and accidentally let go of Rex. Rex chuckled, and took the chance. Rex holstered his blaster and begin to sprint to where the terrified worker was standing. Many of the present creatures watch in horror of what was happening. Before the structure could fall over the worker, Rex pushed him out of the structure's path, saving the life of the creature. But before Rex could get out of the reach, part of the structure was about to fall over him. 'This is gonna hurt. Thought Rex, before part of the building fell over him, making him disappear of view. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight was stunned; the alien almost hurt her, saved the life of one of the workers, and now a building has just fell over him. Twilight quickly went to look in the rest of the structure, and started to look for the alien. "Hey Twilight!" Twilight turned around to find that Rainbow Dash was ok. "Rainbow! Come on, the alien is under this rocks, he may be hurt!" Twilight called to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was surprised. "Why!? That thing hurt my leg, kill changelings and animals, and now you want to help him!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Yes but he save one of the workers' life and remember that he saved the fillies!" Twilight reminded her, before return to the rubble that used to be a half completed building. Rainbow Dash sighed, "Fine!" Some hours passed. Twilight and Rainbow Dash didn't find anything. Rainbow was tired, so she turned to Twilight. "I'm tired!" Twilight sighed. "Yeah I know but we need to find the..." Suddenly Pinkie Pie interrupted Twilight. "Hi Twi, hi Dashie!" Pinkie called to her friends. Twilight, still looking in the rubble, responded,"Not now Pinkie, we are looking for the alien!" Pinkie just laughed,"Twilight, the alien is not here anymore! He already left, silly!" "WHAT!!!" Exclaimed Twilight and Rainbow Dash in surprise. Twilight was frusterated. "Pinkie! How do you know?" She asked. "Because I saw him leave like two hours ago!" Responded Pinkie. "You mean that we have just been looking for a creature that's not even here!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "Yes!" Confirmed Pinkie. Twilight was in shock, "But Pinkie, WHY YOU DONT STOP HIM!!!" She yelled. "I don't know! Even if he did bad things, I still like him." Pinkie said with an innocent smile. Twilight and Rainbow Dash just stare at Pinkie in disbelief. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rex was walking on the road outside the town. He was able to survive the demolition of the building and escape the creatures pursuing him, but the building really hurt him, and he needed medical attention. 'I can't believe I survived that...I need to get to a secure place, my vision's starting to become blurry...' Thought Rex. Even when he could easily eliminate the creatures, he prefered to not kill unless he got provoked, but he was starting feel weak every second. He was almost in the forest, but Rex was beginning to fell more weaker, until he lost control of his legs, "A...little...more!" Rex panted before falling down to the ground and fell unconscious. TO BE CONTINUED Author's Note Many thanks to jak3combat, I appreciate his help. //-------------------------------------------------------// MAKING A FRIEND //-------------------------------------------------------// MAKING A FRIEND "MAKING A FRIEND” Hell, hell was a paradise when compared to the arid, rocky planet that Rex currently found himself on. He was in the middle of fighting for his life alongside his men against a seemingly limitless supply of battle droids. No matter how many droids they destroyed, they just kept coming. Rex and his men were taking cover in the remains of an AT-TE. Their chances of survival looked bleak. They had limited ammunition, their artillery had been destroyed, and no reinforcements could be expected. Rex was having a really bad time, the entire Republic convoy had been destroyed, half of his men where already dead, and there where almost no hope to get out of this alive. Rex sighed, 'I wish the general was here', thought Rex right before an explosion nearly got him. "Sir!” cried a trooper, "They are too many of them! We won’t be able to hold them for much longer. We need to ........." the clone was silenced by a gunshot to the head. "Dammit!” yelled Rex. He then proceeded to stand up and return fire, before quickly taking cover again. Another clone ran up to Rex, "Sir, there are too many droids, what should we do?” Rex knew they were out of options. "We hold this position for as long as we can! Now keep firing!" The clone nodded and continued firing at the droids. "Can this get any worse?” muttered Rex. They were still trying to resist the enemy when one of the clones shouted, "Captain, look in the sky!" Rex does what the clone asks, and activates his binocular antenna. On the horizon he spots a squadron of bombardier droids flying toward them. He had a bad feeling about this. After a few moments Rex had an idea, he made his way over to one of the clones to pass on his orders. "Bring all the remaining PLX-1 missile launchers to the front, and give them to the best shooters we have!” "Yes sir", said the clone as he moved away. Rex then turns to another of the remaining clones. "The rest of you form a line of fire and concentrate on the largest group of droids, You will provide cover for the launchers to get a clear shot!" "Yes sir", said the clone. However, another of the clones ran up to Rex, "Sir, are we going to try and take out the bombers with the launchers? The PLX-1’s are not meant to take out bombers." Rex turned to look at him, "No”. Turning back to look at the bombers, "Concentrate your fire on the bombs when they fall. It’s our only chance." Rex stated, leaving behind the surprised trooper. Rex made his way back to the front lines yelling at all the clones, "Move it, we don't have all day!" Once Rex joined the others, and began firing at the droids, one of the clones approached him, "Sir, the shooters are ready!" "Good, wait for my signal", replied Rex while taking cover behind the leg of the AT-TE. "Sir, the bombers are almost on top of our position!” yelled the tech specialist. While most of the clones were fighting the battle droids, the ones who were carrying the PLX-1’s were ready and waiting for the Captain orders. The bombers were seconds away from their position. "Shooters get your ground to air missiles ready!” Shouted Rex. The bombers were preparing to drop their bombs. "Ready!” The bombers started to drop their bombs. "Lock on to your targets!” The bombs started to fall towards the clones. “Fire!!!” bellowed Rex. All the clones fired their missiles, thanks to their G.A.M., each missile was able to hit its target. The resulting explosion covered the sky. However, there where to many bombs, and some made it through. While Rex scrambled to get to cover, one of the bombs fell directly in front of him. Rex could only cover himself with his arms, and expect the worst, but nothing happened. After a couple seconds he lifted his arms to see what happened. Sitting in front of him was the bomb that should have taken his life. Rex couldn’t believe his luck. What where the chances that the bomb would be defective. Even if it was defective he didn’t want to be anywhere near it. So Rex quickly distanced himself from the device. While most of the bombs had been destroyed a few had made it through. However they weren’t all duds. They landed all around the clones positions. After the smoke from the bombs cleared a hole had been exposed by one of the bombs. While the rest of his troops continued to fight the droids Rex took a quick look at the hole, only to find something incredible. "What the hell ....." muttered Rex, he was surprised at what he found at the bottom, it was a huge tunnel. ‘It must be some sort of underground tunnel network' thought Rex. He decided to take his chances. He turned to the rest of his men, "Everyone in the hole now!" The rest of his men did as they were ordered. They began to work their way to the hole maintaining suppressing fire the whole way. Rex was left up top to cover those who had yet to enter. Many of the remaining clones were unable to make it. Some were shot while trying, and others were simply too wounded to make it. As the droids continued to approach the hole they started to surround it. Finally all the clones that could make it were in the hole. The only one left on the surface was Rex. With one last look to make sure he was the last one he jumped in as well, that’s when everything went dark......... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sometime later Rex finally woke up. He opened his eyes and took note of his situation. He was still wearing his helmet witch was a good thing. However he appeared to be locked in some kind of wooden room, which was strange in and of itself. It didn't end there though, he quickly realized that he was lying in a very comfortable bed. After another few seconds of trying to figure out what this place was he gave up, at least for the time being. "Why do I always have to wake up in strange places?" he asked himself. When he finally tried to off the bed he almost collapsed again as pain raced through his body. “Aaaaaagghh!” without hesitation he fell back onto the bed. ”That hurt a lot. It almost feels like I got body slammed by a super battle droid, again.” After a couple more minutes he braced himself and tried to sit up again. Since he knew what to expect he was able to do it this time. Now that he was finally up he took the chance to examine the rest of his body. At what he saw he couldn’t help but chuckle, despite the pain. There were, what appeared to be bandages, wrapped all around his armor. "Looks like someone didn’t know how to get my armor off,” joked Rex until he thought of something. “Or maybe they don’t know that this is armor”. At that moment Rex suddenly remembered the strange dream he had while he was sleeping. ‘What was that about?, I think it was a dream, but did it really happen, that was before I came to this planet, it was before……..,’ suddenly, Rex heard something right behind him, "what was that?" Rex spun to face the origin of the noise. Only to see a tiny creature hiding in the doorway with a look of terror on her face. Rex recognized her, ‘It’s the yellow one from earlier, this must be her house. She is probably the one who brought me here, she saved my life,’ thought Rex. Regardless Rex was surprised to see the creature, he was expecting some kind of military to show up at least. After going through everything he knew Rex could see no reason to fight at the moment. He looked back at the creature again, only to see she was in same place, frozen in terror. Not wanting to scare her anymore Rex decided to try a more diplomatic approach then he was used to. So with no better ideas in mind he simply held out his hand, "Hello there miss." Sadly, the creature just continued to stare at Rex. Instead of answering she began scream, loudly. So loudly in fact it left Rex stunned for a few seconds. As soon as he recovered he had other issues on his mind. 'This is not good, I need to stop her before she alerts any others in the vicinity.' So ignoring the pain Rex jumped out of bed and ran over to her as fast as he could. Once he was in reach he clapped his hand over her mouth to silence her. This in turn caused her to panic even more. "Calm down please! I’m not going to hurt you!" Shouted Rex trying in an attempt calm her, but it didn't work. As he continued to try and calm the panicked creature he slowly became aware of something happening on his shoulder. Curious as to what it might be he tilted his head to get a better view of the cause. To his surprise there was a different creature standing on his shoulder. Unlike the other one this one was white, and had two long ears and some kind of fluffy tail. While Rex was making this observation the little white creature continued kicking his helmet, which had been the source of the odd feeling. It seemed like it was trying to protect the other creature. Rex would have laughed at the absolute ridiculousness of this situation, if he wasn’t in such a serious situation. Rex ignored the white creature, and continued trying to calm the yellow one down, but she just kept fighting and she was stronger than she looked. Rex could have just knocked her out, but he preferred to stick with his plan to not use lethal force, or anything else that may get him in even more trouble later on. He was starting to run out of patience however, and knew he was going to have to do something soon to resolve this situation one way or another. At that moment his hand slipped a little, and the creature accidentally bit him while she was trying to get away. "Arrrg!" Shouted Rex as he wrenched his hand away from the creature. "Dammit! That really hurt". Rex had to admit it was painful, painful enough to make him mad. "That’s it! No more Mr. nice guy!" Rex said as he grabbed the creature and placed it in front of him. "Now listen!" Rex said silencing the creature and getting her full attention, “You may not understand me, and I may not understand you! I just want you to know that I will not harm you, and you have nothing to fear from me!” After staring at each other for a few seconds he added. “Oh, and please tell your little friend here to stop kicking my helmet it’s getting annoying.” Rex was pointing at the little white creature. To Rex’s surprise the yellow creature had started to calm down. Noting this Rex decided to let her go. She was no longer staring at him with a look of terror just one of nervousness, and maybe a tiny shred of curiosity. Rex couldn’t believe it, somehow the creature had understood him. At a loss for what to do next he just stood there. Surprisingly she was the first one to make a move. She picked up her hoof and pointed at herself, and quietly said. “Fluttershy.” Realizing that must be her name Rex decided to play along. He would think about the odds of her understanding him later. Rex knelt down so he was eye level with Fluttershy, and with his hand pointed at himself. "Rex.” After a few moments Fluttershy smiled, and with one of her hooves she pointed at his shoulder. Specifically at the little white creature that was still kicking his helmet in a vain attempt to hurt him. "Angel," she said while grabbing the white creature. 'Angel? That must be his name', thought Rex, 'maybe we cannot understand each other, but I guess our names will continue sounding the same regardless of language. This may be the opportunity I was looking for.’ After Fluttershy introduced him to Angel she said something else and walked over to the bed, and with her hoof motioned towards the bed. “Ok, I know what you want me to do.” Rex understood what she wanted, she wanted Rex to get back in bed. So Rex did as she asked, ignoring the pain, and headed over to the bed where he sat down. Fluttershy then indicated she wanted him to remain in bed. Once she was sure he understood she made her way to the door, but just before leaving she turned and said a few words to Angel. He frowned at whatever she said but turned to leave with her regardless. Just as they were both about to leave the room angel turned around, and with one of his arms made a gesture showing he was watching him. With that he finally turned at hopped after Fluttershy. Rex remained sitting up in bed unable to believe what had just happened. 'This is going better than I expected. I’ve made contact with a local and she’s not trying to run away from me anymore. Perhaps if a play my cards right they may be able to help me return to the Republic.’ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (POV Fluttershy) Fluttershy couldn't believe how crazy the last day had been. The day had started out so normally so how had it ended up like this. She was now in the process of trying to cook for an alien that was currently sitting in her bed upstairs. She started to think back on just what had happened. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Some Hours Before "What’s the matter Angel? Is there something going on outside?" Angel didn’t’ answer. Instead he just started to hop even faster gesturing madly as he went. "I don’t understand Angel, did something happen?" once again no answer came. Fluttershy didn’t get the chance to ask any more questions. She didn’t need to, she could see the answer with her own eyes. "Aaaaaaagghhhhh" Fluttershy cried. Grabbing Angel along the way she dashed back to her home and slammed door behind her. She had done this all so quickly even Rainbow Dash would have been impressed. "Oh no Angel! The alien is out there, we have to hide!" screamed Fluttershy while Angel continued trying to calm her. After a few minutes, Fluttershy decided to take another look to see if the alien was gone. To her surprise, the alien had not moved. 'Is there something wrong with it? 'With a little more confidence she stepped a little closer. She could now see a slight rise and fall to its chest, so it was still breathing. Relieved that it wasn’t dead she tentatively reached at a hoof and nudged it a couple times, no response. "Oh no, it must be unconscious! I should do something!" Fluttershy stopped herself there. ”What if it's dangerous, it might hurt me, or eat me or….NO! Dangerous or not, it needs help!” After a slight pause she continued in a whisper. ”I just hope I’m doing the right thing.” After arriving at her decision she began dragging the alien back to her house. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Back to the present While cooking, Fluttershy continued to wonder about the Alien. 'Wow, I cannot believe that the alien is in my house ........ The same alien who hurt the Changelings ....... and that poor Manticore.......and the..... 'Fluttershy began to panic,' No, no no no, I must be calm, certainly he did it because he was afraid. Lots of animals hurt others when they are afraid. He does seem friendly though, and he even told me his name. What was it again? Oh yeah, Rex, what a strange name, and he also ..... '. Knock! .... Knock! .... Knock! "Oh, coming," said Fluttershy as she left the kitchen and headed to the front door. Fluttershy opened the door, only to find Twilight and Rainbow Dash waiting outside. "Oh, hello Twilight, hello Rainbow, what are you are doing .....?, Fluttershy was interrupted by Twilight. "No time for formalities Fluttershy by any chance have you seen the Alien around here? "Yeah! He owes me a rematch!" Rainbow Dash added, fuming with anger. Fluttershy began to feel nervous, but tried to hide it behind a false smile. "No. Sorry but I didn’t see anything, but….. if I see anything I’ll be sure to tell you girls. You know that r..right?", she said letting out a nervous laugh as she did so. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other in confusion. They could see just how nervous Fluttershy was, but they decided that it was probably just because the alien was still on the loose and she was scared. Fluttershy did not like lying to her friends, but she was not sure how they would react, especially Twilight. Surely she would tell Princess Celestia, and then the Princess would lock Rex in prison again for sure. Even if Fluttershy had just met Rex, she liked him, and somehow like the animals she was able to communicate with him. She could see that he wasn’t as bad as the others made him out to be. He just needed a chance to show it. A chance she could give him. “Ok, well, thanks for the help Fluttershy.” With that Twilight turned around and began to leave. Fluttershy felt relieved, but before she could close the door Rainbow spoke up. “Fluttershy, is there somepony home with you?” asked Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy’s nervousness came back full force. "I.....I....no....no there’s no pony here.....why do you ask Rainbow?" "Well, because I can smell something cooking, and you usually only cook if you have guests, or something.” Fluttershy didn’t know what to do so she did the first thing that came to mind, "I .... I ..... I'msorrybutIhavetogobye!" she shouted quickly, flinging the door closed as she finished, leaving her two friends baffled. Fluttershy collapsed against the door as relief washed over her. After taking a few moments to regain her composure she headed back to the kitchen. "Well, I better go finish cooking, Rex must be hungry after everything he’s been through." With that Fluttershy smiled and continued where she had left off. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight and Rainbow Dash were both confused as they made their way back to Ponyville. Rainbow finally broke the silence, "What happened to Fluttershy?" "I don’t know, but we better continue looking for that alien. Do you think you could continue on your own for a bit? I have to go write a letter to the Princess. We are going to need her help.” answered Twilight. Rainbow Dash nodded and they both went their separate ways. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (POV Rex) Rex was currently sitting on the small bed, his head filled with thoughts of how to get himself on better terms with these creatures. His thoughts were interrupted when the sound of the door opening caught his attention. Rex turned to see who it was, it was Fluttershy. She flew through the doorway carrying a tray with food on it, or at least that’s what Rex assumed it was. Fluttershy approached him and handed him the tray. Rex, knowing that she was offering him the food, took it gladly. Fluttershy was ecstatic that he had accepted the food she had made. Her excitement quickly changed to curiosity. How was it going to eat if it didn't have a mouth? Fluttershy was very curious, so she just stared until something happened. When it did she couldn’t believe it. Rex put his hands on either side of his head, and gave a small twist. He then proceeded to take his head off. Fluttershy was in a near panic, that is until she saw the face underneath. That’s when it hit her, what he had pulled off wasn’t his head, but a helmet. Fluttershy continued to examine his face. It was flesh colored, and just like a pony’s, he had two eyes, a nose, two ears, and a mouth. Unlike ponies however he had no hair to speak of, except for a very thin layer on top of his head. Rex began to eat, and was pleasantly surprised. It was strange for sure, there was no meat to speak of, but the taste wasn’t so bad. He even began to enjoy it, and it had been a long time since he had enjoyed a meal. The only way it could have been better is if Fluttershy would stop staring. Ever since he had taken his first bite she had been staring at him with an odd look in her eyes. He did his best to ignore her. A few minutes later, and Rex had finished eating. "Well that wasn’t so bad," he stated. Before he could relax again he had one important matter to attend to. His injuries from the construction accident had yet to be treated. So he decided to get it over with. Fluttershy was surprised by what happened next. Rex began to remove the white parts of his body, and everything else he was wearing, leaving only a thin black cloth. Before Fluttershy could do anything, Rex began to reply the bandages that Fluttershy had put on before. She was impressed by his knowledge of first aid. After Rex finished putting all the bandages back on a smirk spread across his face. “Much better.” While watching Rex Fluttershy had a sudden urge to know everything about his species. It wasn't just that however she wanted to know him as a person. Maybe they could be friends. With that in mind Fluttershy spent the rest of the day with Rex. TO BE CONTINUED Author's Note This is the longer chapter sow far, sorry for all the time it took me, but here is. Many thanks Cobalt Blur, I can tell you become to me a good friend. //-------------------------------------------------------// NEW ORDERS //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Sorry for the delay, I know it's been months, and I'm really, really sorry, so anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you like and I promise to update soon, thanks Cobalt Blur for the help, and grammar check! NEW ORDERS “NEW ORDERS” Rex slowly rose from the ground and shook his head, "Is everybody all right?". He looked up to find his men. Those that were left were picking themselves up off the ground and regrouping. Confident that his men were ok for the moment Rex decided to see where they had landed. So he flipped on his helmet light and looked around. Like he had already seen it was a long tunnel leading to who knows where. One side had been filled in by debris meaning there was only one way they could go. Once more he turned to face his men. "Everyone, form up! The droids will be down here any minute we need to move now", While he was talking he started to walk down the tunnel. "We will continue through this tunnel, if we're lucky, we'll find a way out." At this the rest of them turned on their helmet lights, and quickly made their way deeper into the pitch black tunnel. Not long after they had left droids started dropping down through the hole. They continued to drop until at least two full battalions worth of Battle Droids, and Super Battle Droids, had assembled. As soon as they had formed up they began their relentless pursuit of Rex and his men. At the same time Rex and his men were still barreling down the tunnel. They maintained this relentless pace until the walls seemed to disappear from around them. Unsure of what had happened Rex called for them all to stop. Upon closer inspection he could see the walls had opened up like they had entered a large cave. He couldn't be sure however, because the entire area was shrouded in darkness, and his light was unable to pierce it. Rex walked a little farther into the cavern and turned back to his men. "Stoker, give me a sticky flare." One of the clones, Stoker, give the flare gun to Rex. "Here you go sir." Rex took it without a word and pointed it towards the ceiling. Without a second of hesitation he fired the flare and watched as it soared through the air. As it went higher and higher it bathed the ground in a stark white light, giving the whole area a surreal appearance. As it continued traveling up Rex only had one thought. 'This really is a huge cave.' Finally the flare made contact with what Rex hoped was the ceiling. As soon as the flare made contact it burst apart into tiny pieces. Each piece flew through the air like a shooting star, all while casting there illumination around the massive space. After letting all the flares settle the clones were finally able to see where they were. "What the hell," muttered one of the clones. They were definitely in a giant cave, but strangely it had huge walls, Rex was curious to know what this place was supposed to be, but had other priorities to worry about at the moment. Once again turning back to his men he selected a small group and gave out there orders. "Look for another way out quickly. We don’t have much time." As those soldiers ran off searching for another exit, he turned back to one of the remaining clones. "I want men covering that entrance." He pointed at the tunnel they entered from and continued. "The droids are still coming, and we need to be ready." "Sir, yes sir," said the clone as he ran away to carry out the orders. While the other clones were carrying out there orders, Rex took advantage of his chance to observe the room in more detail. He slowly made his way to the center of the room, and directed his gaze around the room. For a moment Rex continued to stare into the vast room with only one thought. 'This is sure strange. I don't recall anything like this in any of the databases on Sullustians, or this planet for that matter.' As he continued to ponder the origins of the strange room another thought came to mind. 'What is this doing here anyways? Initials scans didn't show any underground formations in this area, tunnels included, and the Sullurians backed that up. Did they deceive us, or did they not know about them?' Suddenly a shout pulled him back to the present. “Sir! Here they come!" Almost immediately blaster fire began to fill the air. Droids of all sizes started to boil out of the tunnel, firing as they went. The remaining clones found whatever meager cover they could and returned fire. It was a losing fight however. For every droid they took down two more seem to take its place. In a matter of minutes the droids had left the tunnel and entered the cave proper. As more and more droids entered the sheer volume of fire forced every clone to take cover. Thinking quickly Rex primed one of his grenades and lobbed it towards the mass of droids. When it exploded it took out a good number of droids, but in the end it was pointless. There was simply too many droids for it to matter, and they were still coming. Despite there almost certain defeat the clones continued to fight. Making the droids pay dearly for every inch. Their voices never wavered as they continued to fight. “Super battle droids! Take them down!” “I need more ammo!” “Medic! We need assistance here!” One of the clones next to Rex finally pointed out the obvious. "Captain, they are too many! What should we do?" The whole time he never once stopped firing. While he took cover from another burst of fire Rex rushed to find a solution to the situation. How could he salvage a victory from this mess? Better yet how could they simply survive? No answers came. There was just no way out. By this point he realized the sound of blaster fire had been significantly reduced. Sweeping his gaze across his men he saw why. Most of his men lay motionless, dead or dying he didn't know. Once again Rex turned his attention back to the droids. Only one thought on his mind, ‘there may be no way out of this, but I'll take as many of the clankers with me as I can.' The handful of clones continued to fight valiantly, but it was like a fly trying to beat a hurricane, futile. There was simply too many droids. One by one the clone’s rifles fell silent until only Rex remained. Finally all the droids where focused on Rex. So much fire was pouring into his cover that the stone he was hiding behind was starting to glow. He was unable to do anything, he so much as moved he would be vaporized. Rex knew he couldn't get out of this situation alive. He was strangely calm for a man facing his imminent demise. In fact the only thing he was feeling was anger and regret. He regretted the loss of all his men. Had they died in vain? Was it worth it? Under all these thoughts his anger boiled. It stemmed from a more personal reason. He had been defeated, and worse it had been by these Separatist scum. Under his helmet he closed his eyes. He began to remember all the brothers he had lost to this war. He recalled all the sorrow and all the pain from there passing’s. No matter how many brothers he lost it never got easier. Each loss was a fresh wound that would never truly heal. Despite that he had soldiered on and done his duty. Rex hadn’t forgotten though. He had always been able to remember ever one of his lost brothers. He never forgot. The whole time the droids had continued there relentless advance firing as they went. By this time the rock rex was hiding behind was starting to melt from the shear amount of fire. Knowing his time was up Rex made one final decision. With one last farewell to his fallen brothers Rex readied his pistols. With one last breath he burst from cover yelling as he went. "Take this you pieces of... What?" There was nothing. Where there had once been droids there was now nothing. "What the hell is going on?" was all Rex could mutter. Taking another look at his surroundings caused even more confusion. Everything was white, he wasn't even in the cave anymore. Rex had no idea what was happening. Before long he started to feel a slight tingling sensation spreading across his body. At the same time the white light started tl get brighter and brighter. Clamping his eyes shut did not help as the light seemed to pierce right through his eyelids. Rex did the only thing he could do in this situation. He screamed in agony, "Aaaggghhh...." The light continued to get brighter until Rex simply lost consciousness. As suddenly as the light had appeared, it was gone. Along with any trace of Rex. __________________________________________________________________ Back in the cave the droids had stopped firing. One of the Battle Droids slowly made its way over to where Rex had just been. Looking back to the other droids it asked one question. "Uh ... what just happened? __________________________________________________________________ Rex suddenly woke up, he was still lying in a bed, it had all been a dream. He gingerly massaged his temples to ward off the coming headache. "Agh, it was that dream again," he mumbled to himself. Rex pulled the blanket off his body, and swung his legs over the side. As he sat there images from the dream flashed through his mind. 'Ugh... I been having this same dream for the last couple days. It's the last thing I remember before waking up in this crazy world. But how did I get here? Did that bright light have anything to do with it?' At this he shook his head a puzzled look on his face. 'I need answers, but who could help me?' With that final thought Rex decided to get up and do something. With a quick glance around the room he was able to locate his armor and weapons. They were all piled on top of a small dresser on the other side of the room. With a small smile he carefully stood up and inspected himself. He was still wearing his armors black bodysuit and nothing else seemed out of place. Satisfied that nothing had happened while he slept Rex made his way to the center of the room and began to stretch. As he started making his way through the first series of stretches he began to talk to himself. "I wonder if Fluttershy made breakfast yet." A second later he added with a stumped expression, "I still don't understand how she so well without hands." Once he was finished stretching he casually made his way over to the dresser to suit up. A few minutes later he was all geared up and ready for the day. With his helmet tucked under his arm he made his out the door. After descending the stairs he quickly made his way to the kitchen. As soon as he entered he started to look around for something to eat. That’s when he spotted a plate full of fruit salad on the counter. "Hmm, Fluttershy must have left this for me. I wonder where she could be?" With nothing else to say he scooped up the plate and walked back to the living room. Upon entering he settled down on the couch to enjoy the salad. It had been a few weeks since Rex first met Fluttershy, he had secretly been living with her while he recovered from his injuries. Over those few weeks Rex had come to realize he had grown quite fond of her. He didn’t know if it was because she was the only one who had not tried to kill him, or if it was something else. Besides that however he still couldn’t figure out why she had helped him in the first place. He had nothing to repay her with so why. During his stay Rex had tried to maintain a low profile, especially now that several of the one's called Royal Guards had appeared in the nearby town. He hadn’t spent all his time hiding though. He had also been learning about the creatures from Fluttershy. Things like how they were herbivores, and were generally only violent when defending themselves. At the same time however he still considered them a threat. So he quietly started looking for weakness in there species. Surprisingly they were quite easy to find. From what he had seen there where three main types of these creatures, the ones with horns, the ones with wings, and the ones that had neither. If he ran into a horned one he simply needed to break the horn, if it had wings pluck them. Finally if it had neither a good kick to the stomach or hind legs should be enough to incapacitate them. While Rex had been learning about ponies, Fluttershy had also been learning things about Rex. She had been excited when she first realized that he could eat plants, but almost fainted when she learned he also ate meat. To her dismay she had come to realize that Rex was a horrible patient. Despite her many attempts to convince him to rest he was always up and about, instead of recovering from his wounds. She had finally had to stare him into compliance witch is something even a Sith couldn't do. In recent days Rexs stay had not gone unnoticed. Ever since the Royal Guard had shown up they had been going door to door, and searching every house and place of business. It was only a matter of time until they paid Fluttershy a visit. Until that day came though Rex was content. He was enjoying some of the best food in his entire life, even if it didn't have any meat in it. In a way it could be said that Fluttershys cooking had become one Rex's few weaknesses. After polishing off the last of his meal Rex was left with little else to do, and it was boring. It had been the same thing for the last few days and he needed to find something to do. Even a soldier with as much discipline as him, needs to find a way to pass the time. There wasn't that many options available to him. So he picked one and went with it, besides the weather looked nice outside. Making up his mind he got off the couch and gave one final stretch. "Well, I guess I might as well go now. I have to do it eventually." With that he made his way to the back door and placed his hand on the handle. 'I just need to take care not to be seen, I don’t need more problems from these creatures. Simple.' With that he swung open the door and stepped outside, but not without one last comment slipping out, "I just hope that little white creature isn't close by, pesky little thing." __________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy had woken up early to go shopping at the market in Ponyville. She was walking through the market, looking for supplies, while her mind wondered. She kept thinking about the last few days she had spent with Rex. There had been a few rough spots, mostly convincing Angle not to turn Rex over to the guard. Otherwise it had been interesting. Even though Rex was unable to speak her language she had still learned a lot from him, and she liked him. He appeared to be a good person, but was also disciplined and strong. She still had questions for him like where was he from. What is he? Why does he wear armor? She hoped someday that they would finaly be able to speak the same language so she could ask. She even... “Psss, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy was frightened by the sudden voice behind her, "Who ... Who's there?" "It's my Fluttershy, Scootaloo." Scootaloo said, popping her head out from a bush. Fluttershy was surprised to see Scootaloo, "Scootaloo? What are you doing there?" "I think you mean, what are we doing here." Another face appeared from the bush, this one being Applebloom. "Apple Bloom, You too?" Fluttershy said, “Is Sweetie Belle there as well?" "Yup!" Said Sweetie Belle, also coming out of the bush. "What are you all doing in that bush... that is if you don’t mind telling me?" With an enormous breath the three cried in unison, “We’re the Cutie Mark Alien Pursuers." Fluttershy was confused, "Alien Pursuers?" "Ya, we want to find the Alien from the other day!" Scootaloo said. “And try and earn our Cutie Marks for finding aliens, "continued Sweetie Belle, as she placed a sign on a tree. Fluttershy walked up to examine the sign. It was a wanted poster with a very poor drawing of Rex on it. At the bottom bold letters proclaimed, 'Have you seen this Alien? Call the Crusaders.' "Oh my," was all that Fluttershy could say. Applebloom saw what Fluttershy was staring at and smiled. “Cool right? Anyway call us if you see the alien, ok Fluttershy." With that she and the rest of the crusaders jumped back into the bush to keep searching. Fluttershy was silent for a few moments before shaking her head. “I just hope they don’t hurt themselves.” With that she left to continue shopping. __________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile in Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia was on her balcony observing the landscape of the kingdom of Equestria. "Sister," hearing the voice Celestia looked back, and saw her sister Princess Luna. "We can see that thou are still thinking about the Alien," Luna said. Celestia smiled at her sister, "It's hard not to think about it when you know your subjects are in danger." "Maybe, but we should not let that stop us from doing our duty’s as well. It’s obvious that thou did not raise the sun to its ideal position." "Really is it that easy to see?" "Only to those with a keen eye." A small smile appeared on Celestias face before returning to a neutral expression. "So why are you so relaxed about this Alien?" Luna was silent for a few seconds, "We do not know how to explain this sister, but we do not feel evil in that individual. He has kindness and compassion, but he has something dark inside as well. Whatever that is, we do not know what it is." "You can feel it?" asked Celestia. "Yes, but that does not mean that we know its exact location, if that's what thou wanted to ask," Luna said. "So you're saying that this creature may be a cold-blooded murderer, but it has some goodness inside?" "Yes," confirmed Luna. Celestia stared at her for a moment before asking, “Are you completely sure?" Luna kept silent, but that silence was enough for Celestia to know the answer. With that she got up to leave and turned her back to Luna. 'Yes, we are completely sure,’ thought Luna. Before Celestia could say anything, a Royal Guard came running in to the room. “News from Northern Equestria,”shouted the Guard. Luna came near to hear what was going on. Celestia just had an expression of annoyance. The guard stopped when he realized he was yelling at a Princess. In a more polite manner he continued. "Uh ... Your Highness." Celestia smiled, "Yes?” Luna only roll her eyes at her sister’s actions. The guard calmed down enough to continue, "I am simply here to tell you that ‘it’ has returned." Princess Celestia gasped at the news, while Luna retained her calm composure. Celestia donned a more serious look, “Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, now!" Without out hesitation the guard saluted, "Yes, your highness." With that he turned and galloped out of the room leaving the Princesses alone. Luna just stared at her sister with an amused grin. 'Let us guess, she’s going to call the elements to assist us in this disaster.' Princess Celestia had immediately walked over to a nearby desk and grabbed a scroll and quill, and began to right. "My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once..." With a roll of her eyes Luna stepped in front of Celestia."Thou are so predictable sister, calling the elements every time there is trouble. Endangering thou dear student and her friends, making them do the dangerous job. They may hold the most powerful artifacts in Equestria, but they are not soldiers, they are normal Ponies." With a small blast of magic Celestia sent the letter on its way. Once it was away she turned all her attention to Luna, no traces of anger in her expression. "I already told you Lulu, that the elements are strong, and they know how to take care of themselves. Do not take that as ignorance, I also feel fear every time I ask them to help with these problems. If we had any other choice I would take it." With that she got up once again and left the room. Luna stared at where her sister had just left. "Thou do it your way, and we shall do it our way." __________________________________________________________________ After finally finishing her shopping Fluttershy was finally on her way back to the cottage. The trip back was nice and relaxing, but it didn’t stop her thoughts from drifting back to Rex. After a few moments Fluttershy could finally see her cottage. As soon as she opened the door she noticed something was off. All here little animal friends where running around here house. They had not been inside for a while, mostly because they were too afraid of Rex. The only one who was not afraid of him was angel. Fluttershy deduced that Rex was probably outside, so she first went to her kitchen to drop of her groceries. With that done she made her way to the back yard to try and find Rex. She spotted Rex as soon as she stepped outside. He was sitting under a nearby tree gazing at the beautiful scenery of Ponyville. Curious as to why he was outside she walked closer. Most of the day Rex had just been thinking while he gazed at the serene landscape. It was really disconcerting to go from a battlefield to a little slice of paradise. That is if you ignored the natives trying to kill him. These had been some strange days for sure. To top it all off he still couldn’t figure out how he got here. All he could remember was fighting droids, a white light, then darkness, and the next thing he knew he was in middle of a city full of technicolor creatures. The only answers he could think of is he either teleported here, or he’s dead and this is some kind of afterlife. It still sound crazy even to him, and he was living it. Forgetting all that for the moment he turned back to admiring the scene in front of him. The whole situation was new to him, in all his years he never had the time to simply admire the beauty of nature and life. All he had ever known was war, and death. He had to admit to himself he was enjoying this moment, so much so that he could lower his guard. Crack! At the sudden noise Rex spun around ready to fight. Only to see Fluttershy standing fifteen feet away with an apologetic smile. After seeing it was only her he sat back down and continued to enjoy the view. Fluttershy was surprised by Rex quick reaction, but seeing him calm down convinced here to get a little closer. As she got closer she took note that he had his armor on again, but had left his helmet at his side. Once she was next to him she found a comfortable spot she laid down and looked over to him. As she examined his face she could tell he had lived a hard life, and as she looked closer at his eyes he looked young. However hidden under it all was an internal conflict and plenty of aggression. She could only wonder at what had caused him to become this way. After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy decided to speak. "Hey Rex, do you fell alright?" Rex turned his head to see her, and nodded, then he return to looking at the landscape. Even if they could not communicate, they somehow could understand each other. Probably because Fluttershy’s ability to communicate with animals. Again the silence returned. Fluttershy was not sure why Rex was so enthralled by the sunset, had he never seen one before? He was still a mystery to her and she had so many questions. If only they could talk to each other all her questions could be answered. For now though she would have to be patient. With a quick glance at the setting sun she could tell that it was getting late, and judging by Rex’s actions he was going to be out a while longer. Seeing no reason to stay she decided to go back inside and leave him alone. While Rex was sitting there he could not stop wondering what was happening back on the battlefield. He knew that every man could make a difference, and at the moment he was doing nothing. Anger began to build as he thought about his inability to fight while his brothers died. He could only hope that everything was going ok. All at once the sun sank below the horizon jolting Rex out of his thoughts. It was strange it had not moved all day, and suddenly it set in a matter of minutes. With no idea what could cause it he decided to chock it up on his ever growing list of mysteries. Rex then realized that Fluttershy had left, and had probably gone back inside. Once again he returned to the tranquility of the landscape as night fell. He could feel the peace and quiet wash over him until he gradually fell asleep. __________________________________________________________________ Rex was in a dark forest filled with mist and darkness. Rex quickly checked himself, he still was wearing his armor and helmet. "Where am I?" Rex asked. "Fear not creature," said a voice. Rex was alarmed and began to look around for the source of the voice. "Who's there? Show yourself!" "Very well." Suddenly, the darkness begin to coalesce into one of the creatures that Rex had already seen. Its skin was dark blue while its hair appeared to be composed of the night sky, oddly it seemed to wave in a non-existent wind. Like the other creatures it had a tattoo of the moon on its side. "You!" cried Rex. Taking out his blaster from its holster, he pointed it at the creatures head. "You're the one who attacked me in town the other night!" Before he could pull the trigger his gun evaporated. "What!" The voice once again reached his ears. "Calm down creature, we're not here to harm thou." Rex tried to regain her composure, "Then why did you attack me the other night?" "Because we were not sure how to try and talk to thou at the time, so we thought we could detain you until after the wedding. It's a shame that the wedding did not go as planned." Rex was trying to recap everything that was going on, after a few moments Rex calmed down. "Ok, first of all I want to know who you are. Or even a better question, what are you all?" She took her time to answer, "We are Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, the land where you are now." 'Equestria? Then that's the name of this planet, and if she is a princess I'd better try to get on her good side … wait, did she said "we"?' "We?" asked Rex. Luna sighed at the question, "We are accustomed to speaking in a traditional fashion that has lasted for thousands of years, with the traditional 'we' and 'us'," clarified Luna, "And to your earlier question, our species is Ponies, but I'm an alicorn Pony." "Alicorn? What is the difference between all of you? I imagine it has something to do with the wings and horns." Luna nodded, "You're right, the Ponies with wings are called Pegasus, and Ponies that have horns are called Unicorn, they are the ones who can wield magic ..." Rex just stood frozen for a moment, 'Magic? This must be a joke, even if that explained how they could shoot lasers and how that purple unicorn could get me up in the air with that strange energy ... this just keeps getting weirder.' Luna continued speaking, "... the ponies that do not have wings or horn are called Earth Ponies. As you must have noticed we have both wings and a horn that defines us as an alicorn. Our kind are the most powerful, but there are only a few of us." 'Powerful? As much as a Jedi perhaps?' Rex wondered. "But how is that we now understand each other?" Rex asked. With a small smile of pride Luna answered. “While we cannot understand each other in the physical world, in here we are connected to your mind. So we can understand with this communication system based on thoughts, that's why." "Ok thanks for the little explanation. Next question where are we?" "This is The Dream Land, we are in your subconscious, and you’re sleeping right now. We are the Princess of the Night, we keep an eye on our little Ponies while they sleep, but you creature. Of all the dreams I have ever experienced, you have the most horrible and frightening of all. " Rex began to put the puzzle together in his head, but the facts were incredible. "It's hard to fight a war without having bad dreams about the atrocities that can be experienced." After a slight pause he continued. "But I'm sure you know about the war Miss, after all you been getting into my head for several days.” Luna was shocked, "How did you know?" Rex just smiled beneath his helmet, "It was not hard to find that out. To start off, these last few days I've been dreaming about past battles that I was a part of. I never dream of them, or more precisely I can't. Due to some genetic modifications I am unable to dream of such events. So I can assume that you were looking through my head when I saw them. So with that being said I would like to ask you to please stop." Luna was speechless for a moment, she couldn't believe how he had pieced it together. She knew he was smart, but this was more then she had expected. She would have to be careful. "We ... I apologize," Luna said bowing slightly. After sitting up she continued, "But we needed to make sure you would not be a danger to our subjects." Luna said. "So your here to lock me up then." "No," said Luna. "What?" Rex was surprised by what she said. "With all due respect ma'am, I am a soldier, I don’t know of anything more dangerous." "You're an endangered creature," said Luna. "But not for my Ponies. From your memories we have seen in your interactions with our subjects. We saw how you saved those little fillies in the forest, how you were kind to Fluttershy, and how you tried not harm Twilight Sparkle and her friends. I don't think you're really a threat to my subjects." As she finished a small smile had appeared. Rex understood now, but still had to voice a question. "Okay, but if you saw all that, how come I didn't see that in my dreams?" "Because, we only see the most important parts of your life. This caused some of your memories to accidentally project on your dreams. We tried to avoid many of the battles, but I must say there wasn't much else to see. We were confused until we saw how you age faster than normal. You’re an adult, but your only 13. I must say that it surprised me, Captain Rex." Rex sighed, "So you really saw it all. Well at least it saves me the explanation." Luna gave an apologetic smile, “Once more I apologize Captain, but as I said, we had to be sure." Rex removed his helmet and held it under his arm, allowing Luna to see his face. "Ok ma’am, I understand your concern, but I hope you didn’t delve into any of my more personal memories.” "We just saw what we thought was necessary. We saw how important your brothers were to you and how hard it was to lose so many of them. However we didn’t see any of your military secrets if that’s what worries you." At this Luna paused as if debating whether to ask her next question. “However, we are curious. How are you so advanced without magic?" Rex just laughed a little, "I could explain that to you Miss, but I still have questions of my own." "We also have many questions Captain, but we are afraid that we must get to the point of our visit." With that Luna adopted a serious expression. "We could have continued to observe your dreams without you knowledge Captain, but because of unforeseen circumstances, we don’t have much time left to keep studying thou. That is why we had to contact thou so soon, and in this fashion. " "What are you talking about ma'am?" Asked Rex. "I mean that we require your services Captain, there is a threat in our land, and we require your help to protect our subjects." At this she paused worry adorning here features. "We beg thou, please Captain. We can pay thou whatever you want, after all we are the rulers of a kingdom." For a moment Rex did not know what to say, he was speechless, he did not expect this. Rex took a few moments before answering, "I'm flattered that you need me ma'am, but I'm a soldier, not a Bounty Hunter. I cannot interfere with your political affairs, the things that happen in your kingdom are none of my business." "No Captain, it may not be thous business, but we have been watching thou many time’s and we know that thou are not like this. We know thou cannot bear to see an innocent in danger, thou protect the weak, and thou are someone who would give his own life for others. Believe us when we say that with this threat, there are many innocent ponies in danger. After all, that is why you came to this world. "Stated Luna. "Wait! Then you know how I got here?" Rex asked surprised. Luna confirms, "Yes, but as we said before, many of your questions will be answered later. But for now we need you Captain, our kingdom need you." She said in a low voice, "Please protect our little ponies, and then the truth about your arrival will be revealed, we beg thou please." Rex began to consider the offer. He knew that if he found out how he got here, maybe he could get back. Rex was pretty sure of his decision, but he still had to ask a question. "Why me? Surely there are others." Rex asked, "I'm nothing special, I'm just another clone." Luna could see the doubt in Rex’s eyes. "Perhaps you are just another clone, but if what we've seen is true, you're not like the others. You have something that others do not have, your aggression on the battlefield, your independent thought, your ability to improvise, your individuality with others, and your natural leadership. These are the things that make you who you are, what you are, and a true warrior.” With a small smile she added. "That's why we choose you instead of somepony else.” Rex just stared at her with a serious expression, seconds passed and she closed her eyes hoping for Rex to accept. Rex took another second and finally said, "…Ma’am, I’ll take the mission." Luna could not help but to smile with joy at hearing that. "Thank you Captain, I really appreciate it." Rex did not change his expression, followed with his serious look of determination and discipline. "It will be my honor Your Majesty." Taking the opportunity to snap to attention he continued. "If I may ask ma'am, but what will be the mission?” "Straight to the point then, fine. This mission is very risky, thou will need all your strength, intelligence, and cunning to pull through. We must remind thou Captain that many lives depend on it, “said Luna. "I am aware of that ma’am," Rex confirmed. Once again Luna smiled, then returned to her serious look. "In the frozen north of Equestria, a lost kingdom has returned. After a thousand years The Crystal Empire has appeared again, along with a dark evil, King Sombra…” Suddenly strange shadows begin to apear around them. “...the ex-ruler of the ancient Crystal Empire. While this horrible tyrant ruled over the Empire, he enslaved and tortured the ponies who lived there. He was corrupted by dark magic, and threatened to conquer Equestria. He was ultimately overthrown, turned into a shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north, but not before he was able to put a curse upon the Empire. A curse that caused it to vanish, but now it has returned. The Empire is filled with hope and love, these things will spread across all of Equestria, but Sombra wants to use the Empire to make hatred and fear take hold throughout Equestria. Which is why we need your help." "And you want me to stop him?" Asked Rex, he was not sure about the idea of fighting a being with supernatural powers, especially magic powers, he had no idea how to fight that. "No," said Luna, "My sister, unfortunately, sent somepony else to deal with Sombra. While I accept here decision I do not agree with it, we want to take our own precautions. We request that you protect Twilight Sparkle and her friends while they try to stop Sombra. Our sister does not agree with us on our decision so this needs to be done quietly, don’t let anypony see you." "Yes ma'am." "Use the map on the page of the book you took from the library the other night and travels to the north. If I'm not mistaken one train will leave the station in half an hour, get on that train and let nopony see you." Then all that was around them began to disappear, becoming a storm. "What's going on?" Rex asked, looking around in surprise. Luna also looked around before answering. "You're waking up, which means we must go now." With that Luna began to take off. Before Rex could do anything, everything went dark. __________________________________________________________________ Rex woke up suddenly, and a quick look around confirmed it was still night. Remembering his dream he couldn’t help but shake his head, it was absurd. If it wasn’t for everything else he had already seen in this world he would have sworn he had gone crazy. There was no denying it, besides he would never be crazy enough to think of a name like Twilight Sparkle, so it had to be real. With a deep sigh Rex stood up from the ground put on his helmet, and walked into the cottage. “Before I leave, I will need some provisions. I’m not sure how long it will take to make this trip but I better be prepared.” Once there, Rex went to the kitchen where he grabbed some food that he should be able to eat. Finding a black bag in a closet he packed it all up and prepared to leave. Rex felt guilty from the idea of taking food from Fluttershy. She had helped him and took care of him. He had to at least say good bye, but he knew there was no time. The quicker he finished the mission the closer he would be to finding a way home. So with the sack on his shoulder, Rex headed toward the door, when he was about to leave, a slight sound caused him to stop. Looking back he found Fluttershy with a surprised face. Rex just sighed, "Apparently things just got more complicated." __________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy had come down from her room to see what was causing all the noises down stairs, she was shocked to see it was Rex, but what surprised her most was that Rex was stuffing a bag full of food like he was about to leave. With fear and sadness Fluttershy slowly approached Rex. Once they were close, Rex knelt down to her level and removed his helmet, letting Fluttershy see his face. Once again, Fluttershy could see a look of determination on his face, but strangely sadness as well. Maybe it was because he was about to leave, and idea witch made her sad as well. Rex suddenly put his hand on her head, and began to stroke her mane. It felt good and she couldn’t help but giggle. A small smile spread across Rex’s face at the sound. After a few calming moments he stood back up and headed to the door. Before he could make it to the door a wing was draped over his shoulder and gently held him back. As he turned around to see why he caught sight of a pink tail disappearing up the stairs. Before he could voice a question Fluttershy returned, but now carrying a blue blanket. Even knowing that he wouldn’t really understand what she was saying she had to explain something to him. "This blanket was given to me by my mom when I was a small baby. She told me that this blanket would always protect me, and so far it hasn't failed. So now I want to give it to you, so you will always stay safe." To her surprise apparently he did seem to understand, so she continued. "In the short time that I've known you I can honestly say that you have become a very dear friend to my, and as with my other friends I care a lot for you, and I know you have to go, but hopefully we can meet again. " Fluttershy stared into his eyes, noting his expression of surprise, after a few moments he finally took the blanket out of Fluttershys legs. Rex didn't actually understood what Fluttershy say, but he know that the blanket was something important and sentimental for her, but maybe in the future he could know what she said, it will only be matter of time. Giving one last smile, Rex put on his helmet and walked out the door, moving away and finally out of sight. Fluttershy was filled with a sense of sadness but finally smiled, she did not care if Rex was taking some of her food. For her that was something that could easily be replaced, but to see Rex go, she could not help but feel sad. She had known that sooner or later he was going to have to leave, as with all animals once they are better. She still hoped that someday they could meet again. Smiling at that thought she quietly closed the door, and headed back upstairs to get some sleep. Knock …! Knock...! Knock...! Stopping midway up the stairs Fluttershy turned around and walked back to the door. “Oh who may that be?” Curious she opened the door, only to find Rainbow dash Fluttershy opened the door, only to find Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was confused, "Rainbow Dash? What are you do...” "Fluttershy! No time to talk, Twilight has to go to Canterlot for some kind of test, we have to go and support her!" Shouted Rainbow Dash. Before Fluttershy could say anything Dash had grabbed her and was flying off towards the library. TO BE CONTINUED