Cryptic Visage

Introductions are in order

Hamus

"Shit! Shit! SHIT!" I yelled as I charged down the trail with 3 more of the monsters right behind me. I had to give these things credit, they're crafty bastards. I guessed they figured I'd try and hunt them down and, in turn, they laid a trap. I was walking down the trail when I heard something from behind me. I spun around only to find nothing, I brushed it off and turned around to have two of the large bastards sitting on the trail in front of me. I raised my rifle only to get speared from the side by a third one.

It tried to bite my neck so I rammed my rifle into its mouth sideways to block it. In the blink of an eye my rifle snapped and was thrown to the side. I used the distraction to wriggle myself out from under the monster and run. I looked back and saw the thing gaining on me. It lunged and got a lucky hit, one of it's claws left a deep tear down my left arm, effectively incapacitating it. I cried out in pain and threw a right hook back at the thing and watched it connect with its face, The things jaw snapped of and dazed it. Taking the opportunity, I charged away as fast as I possibly could. I ran until my lungs burned, my legs threatened to give way, until I got woozy from lack of oxygen. I never slowed down.

"Why won't you leave!?" I shouted absentmindedly at the things chasing me. I could hear their footfalls getting closer and closer. I realized this would be the end of me, hunted and outrun by a group of wooden wolves. As fitting a death as any. In my haste I didn't have time to bandage my arm, and thus, it was flopping uselessly at my side, until I felt it brush against something cylindrical. Looking down I saw my only hope dangling tightly on my vest webbing...Flash Bangs. I gave a small smile and grabbed one of the little metal grenades, it's dark metal and perforations fitting the design perfectly. I held the spoon tightly and hooked the pin over the index finger of my left arm. I ripped the grenade back hard and fast so the pin would come out before my dead arm moved too much. The satisfying click of the pin sliding out was all I needed to hear before dropping the object at my feet. I poured on all the speed I could muster and counted. 1...2...

BANG

I heard the report of the explosion behind me and nearly tripped as my balance was thrown off. I saw the brilliant flash reflect off of the nearby trees and gave a small smirk. I kept running until I got to the end of the trail and the beginning of the clearing. I looked around the clearing and saw a small cottage made out of trees and stone to my left. I remembered the yellow horse saying about a cottage or shack or something and figure it's my best bet.

I Adjusted my direction and barreled off toward the cottage. I glanced behind me and saw the monsters staring at me from the treeline, their baleful green eyes were watching me carefully. I noticed that I was leaving a blood trail as well, that would explain how they found me again. Looking forward I saw myself about to reach the cottage, its simplistic design was...cute. The little bridge crossing the stream, the small hill, the thrown together housing. I lined myself up with the front door and took a gasping breath, I was about to pass out, but I refused to do so until I'm inside.

I charged full speed at the door and gave a little jump, lining up my right shoulder...I hit the door...hard. I heard a crack and felt a small bit of weightlessness as I fell through the now doorless portal. I felt myself hit the ground before I passed out.

XxX

Umbra

I walked down the stairs with Fluttershy and
looked upon the living room. The simplistic nature was astounding, just a couch and a mirror were the only furniture items in the room. However, there were quite a lot of animal related items here. There were multiple holes all throughout the walls to let small critters in and the back door was wide open. This mare really had a thing for animals...

I kept looking around the room and my eyes came to rest on a group of five mares. The five mares from earlier, to be exact. I noticed they're all giving me varying looks ranging from bad to worse. The pink one had flat hair but was trying to put on a smile; The blue one looked like she was ready to pounce on me; The purple one was giving me a terrified look; The orange one was giving a look much like the blue mare; The white one fainted...

I gave a small frown at the welcome but shrugged it off and went back to my straight face. I continued to stare at them until Fluttershy cleared her throat. I glanced down at her and saw her give me a small smile and wave me on.

Sighing, I started. "Hello." I spoke out in an annoyed voice. I watched the mares jump back in shock and I grew very, very annoyed. I sighed and went to walk back upstairs but remembered why I came down in the first place. I looked down to Fluttershy and gave a small smile. Dropping the vest on the floor, I walk upstairs.

Better to get out of there anyway, too much contact makes me nervous...

I only made it a few steps up when I heard Fluttershy take on an entirely new tone.

"Why did you all treat him like that?" She asked in a stern voice. I turned my head around and watched what was about to happen.

"Fluttershy, that thing isn't natural. I've never seen anything like it before today, it's understandable that I would be a bit...shocked." The purple mare said in a defensive tone. I watched as she recoiled at her own words.

"Yes we've never seen anything like him before, but that doesn't mean we should cast him out! Twilight, how would you feel if we cast Spike away for being an unknown breed of dragon?" Fluttershy said in a condescending tone, watching as Twilight squirmed under her gaze. I never took the timid Pegasus to be a bitch when needed...

"...sorry..." Twilight said dejectedly. I watched as Fluttershy glanced up to me with a small smile.

"Don't apologize to me." She said while waving me down. I sighed and walked down the stairs, standing with my arms crossed. I looked down at Twilight, my gaze bored into her. She squirmed under my stare but eventually croaked out..

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." I thought on it for a minute before easing my gaze and looking away from her at the rest of the horses. Each of them has some form of apologetic look on their faces and some were shuffling their hooves on the floor. I glanced back to Fluttershy and saw her give the smallest of nods.

"Fine, apology accepted." I sighed out. Looking down to Twilight, I saw her adopt a more friendly stance, Her ears picked up, her eyes got a little wider, her body stopped shaking and she stood to her full height. I noticed she wasn't all that short. I expected her to be around three feet tall, but she was easily four foot eight to five feet tall. I never noticed but Fluttershy is around five feet as well. I brought my glance up and saw all the other horses relax a little and take a seat.

Fluttershy and Twilight went over and join their friends on the couch before waving me over. I grabbed the vest off the floor and walked over. I took the empty seat beside a blue Pegasus with an impressive prismatic mane and a white Unicorn with a curly purple mane. I threw the vest to my feet and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. It's around this time that I noticed they're all staring at me, watching how I sit.

It's going to be one of those meetings huh?

I mused to myself. Rubbing a hand down my face, I looked at Twilight. She looked really antsy for something...I had an idea of what that was.

"So...What do you want to know?" I asked with a drawn out sigh. I really should be getting around to finding Hamus.

"What are you? I heard the Pegasus next to me ask. The question struck me as odd but then I remembered the present company. I sat back and folded my arms.

"Human."

"What's a human?" I heard Twilight ask. I shot her an annoyed glance and waved a hand over myself. She blushed at the obvious answer before asking her next one.

"What's your name?" I heard the white unicorn ask from beside me, causing Twilight to stop mid word.

"Name's classified. You can call me Umbra though." I said in a monotone voice. I looked around at their confused faces and sighed.

"You do know what classified means...Don't you?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course we do. I just can't understand why a name would have to be hidden. And what of your other name? Oombra was it?" Twilight asked whilst rubbing her chin and giving me a questioning stare.

"Because some people can do some terrible things with just a name." I said cryptically. I looked around at the ponies and saw that they were ready to burst with questions.

"Tell you what. You all have many questions and I'm pressed for time, how about one question a piece and then I can go." I said as I look to each of them. They thought it over a second before nodding in agreement.

I looked at the unicorn beside me and waited. She seemed to get the hint and scrambled for a good question.

"Oh! My name is Rarity. What exactly is that thing at your feet? It looks very heavy and not exactly fashionable." She asked me...Really? Whatever, I pick up the tattered remains of my vest and drop it in my lap.

"This was a vest but right now it's little more than a giant blob of loosely stitched fabric. I was originally hoping you could help me with that." I said as I spread the vest out showing the damages. She laughed a bit before enveloping the vest is a blue glow and the vest lifted into the air. I stared at the anomaly worriedly. More so when I saw it stitch itself back together. It fell heavily into my lap, causing me to let out a gasp of air from the weight.

"That...that...What WAS that!?" I shouted in confusion.

"Magic darling. Don't you have magic?" Rarity asked with confusion.

"What? NO! Magic is nothing but smoke and mirrors! It shouldn't be physically possible!" I continue to shout in confusion. The events from the past few days finally proved to be too much. My brain turned off any and all decent thoughts and left me a babbling mess. After a few minutes my brain calmed enough to concentrate again. I took a deep breath and looked to the next horse, this one was an orange mare with a stetson.

"Mah name's Applejack. I was wondering just what you did back in your home." She said through a thick southern accent. She just HAD to ask the tough question. Sucking in a deep breath I looked to each of the ponies and gave a small smile. I wasn't going to give them anything too involved.

"Well Applejack, I lived." I said simply causing some of the mares to show confusion. I looked at Applejack and saw a look of annoyance on her face.

"Ah meant, What type of job did you do?" She said with annoyance.

"I thought I said one question? That was two." I said smartly causing Applejack to groan and put her hat over her eyes. Looking over to Twilight, I waited.

"What are those things upstairs? I know one of them is a bag but what of the other things?" Twilight said after a moment. Her friends all nodded at the question, eager to hear the answer.

I rose to my feet and walked up the stairs. Returning not a minute later I had my DSR on my back and my RFB in my hands. "These Things are weapons from my world. The long black one is called a DSR-1. It shoots a projectile out of the barrel that can easily reach out and slap someone at 1000 yards. The other one; The small, compact one, That's a Kel-Tec RFB. It's the same thing except smaller." I said happily. If there's one thing I love talking about, it was guns.

"And those are what you used against the Timberwolves earlier?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sure is." I answered with a bit of joviality. Looking around I saw only two ponies left. I looked to the blue Pegasus with an admittedly impressive mane.

"I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in Equestria! What exactly was your world like?" She asked with a mix between pride and curiosity. Someone needs to knock this nag down a notch or three.

"Well...My world was complete shit. It was a struggle to live through a single day. Between the Military, Raiders, Mercenaries, and the Crazed you were hard pressed to live for longer than a week. I thankfully fell in with a group of survivors, a group of people just trying to get by. I lived as security and an operator in our makeshift bases. All in all, it was hell on earth...And I kinda liked it." I said in a despaired voice. I realized then and there that I would most likely never get home again. I'd never get to see Echo up on the promise I made to him. That hurt more than anything.

Why would you like such a bad place? It sounds like it's full of meany faces!" The pink, energetic horse said from across the room. I shot a glare at her before returning my gaze to the floor.

"Because for all it's hardships...It wasn't all bad. There were new ways of life emerging everywhere, social problems were non existent; People didn't care what race, nationality, sex, or religion you were. You were nothing more than a man or woman to them. The government collapsed and took it's overbearing "Laws" with it. People were finally starting to change." I continued as I started feeling a pressure behind my eyes. Stuffing the feeling down, I stood. Dawning my vest I looked over the ponies.

"That's all I have time for. I need to go find Hamus." I said as I ran up the stairs and grabbed my pack, rifles, and knife. I geared up and returned to the first floor. I saw the ponies looking over me curiously before a loud snap and a meaty thud rang out through the house. I snapped my rifle up to the source of the sound and saw the front door lying splintered across the floor. I saw something else that made me spring into action. I sprinted across the room and grabbed Hamus by the drag handle on his vest and pulled him from the door. Looking through the portal I saw a group of yellow eyes on the outskirts of the forest. I raised my rifle and fired a shot before they could move. I heard a yelp of pain and a set of eyes disappeared. The rest slowly dimmed before vanishing completely.

I turned back to Hamus and saw that his arm was torn up bad. I dropped my DSR and my backpack and crouched down next to him. I opened my pack and pulled out some first aid supplies. I poured water over the wound and saw that it was a deep cut. I switched to some anti bacterial spray and antiseptic gel. I applied pressure to it to clot the blood and after a few moments the bleeding stopped. I pulled out a lighter, a needle, and some fine fishing wire. It wasn't ideal but it's what I had. Threading the needle with the fishing line I looked up to the horses and saw they were watching with morbid curiosity.

"Get me some water, tweezers, a rag, and some bandage wraps!" I barked out to them. They all came out of their stupor and ran about the house grabbing the items. Once they returned I placed all the items in their needed areas. The bandages with the medical supplies, towel under his arm and rag on the side to wipe any fluids off. I started heating the needle and bending it slightly with the flooring. Fluttershy finally returned with the tweezers and I got to work.

Grabbing the red hot needle with the tweezers I inched closer to the wound.

"Sorry brother..." I said as I pushed the needle through his skin. his muscles tensed and he let out grunts and groans of pain. Once I got the first stitch done I noticed something problematic. Every time I moved the needle his body would spasm and make it impossible to fix him properly. I looked up to the horses and saw them standing by with various looks of shock on their faces.

"I need some help here! Someone hold him and this arm down! Now!" I barked out and almost immediately Fluttershy and Applejack jumped onto his chest. Twilight and Rarity held him arm still with magic but left it open where I needed to work. I continued on and got all 6 stitched done in under 10 minutes. Once I was done with them I applied more anti bacterial spray and antiseptic gel before wrapping the bandage roll around his arm.

I picked Hamus up and placed him on the couch before packing everything into my bag excluding the horses items. I donned my gear once more and sat beside Hamus. I looked around at the horses and gave a small smirk. I never expected technicolor talking horses to help me, let alone my friend.

"So just what are you? I have horses back on my world but they can't talk and aren't sentient in any way." I asked with a relieved sigh. The adrenaline from the surgery was wearing off fast.

"We're ponies, not horses." Rainbow Dash said from beside me. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Sorry." I apologized mockingly. "I can't really see much of a difference either way. You're all tall enough to either be a large pony or a small horse." I explained. Seeing the confused look on their faces.

"We look nothing like horses though." Twilight said defensively.

"Aye, but you don't look like ponies either." I said with a smirk.

"Maybe not the kind from your world but we ARE ponies."

"Right. Right. So Twilight, tell me a bit about this place. I have the feeling I'll be here for a while, I might as well get some information."

"Well, we're just outside Ponyville which is the only town around here. It's a nice place and everypony is really friendly. To the north is Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. It's also where the princesses live." She pointed out helpfully.

"Just princesses? You don't have a queen or king? It seems weird to have a country ruled by two princesses without having a king or queen. And if a country was run like that wouldn't they both be labeled queens? Or at least one of them?"

"Well...Yes, I suppose they would. Hmm, I'll have to talk to the princesses about this." Twilight said as a quill, ink, and paper appeared out of thin air. I stared dumbly at the objects as if expecting them to break into song and dance. Twilight scratched down something on the paper and lit it on fire. I watched the smoke roll out the window and follow some unknown draft away to the mountainside.

After a few moments of silence, the steady, heavy breathing of Hamus being the only background noise. A scroll appeared in the room with a pop and a small fire. Twilight snatched it out of the air and read it several times before looking at me.

"Good news! The princesses want to meet you two today!" She said in an overly happy voice. I stared blankly at her, my heart racing in my chest. I feel a shuffle next to me and notice Hamus giving her the same look. I place a hand on his shoulder and force him down.

"What do you mean "See us"? I asked with barely contained rage. The last thing we needed right now was another war with the government. Even if it is a pony government, they have to have a military. Where there's a military, there's not happy times for me and Hamus.

"The princess said that she would meet you two later. She never said how or where but I guess you'll know when it's time." Twilight said offhandedly before stopping dead in her tracks. Her face slowly turned to one of panic and her hair turned frizzy.

"Oh no..." I heard someone whisper from beside me.

"The princesses are coming...today. I have to get this place cleaned up! SPIKE! I need you!" She shouted as she ran out the door to get whoever this "Spike" was.

"What's her deal?" Hamus asked from beside me. I looked over to him with a confused glance.

"I haven't the slightest." I said honestly. I looked over to Rainbow Dash and saw her give me a smile before answering.

"She always gets a little...Crazy when the princesses say they're coming. You should have saw the last time." She said with a shiver. I just gave her a knowing look and turned back to Hamus.

"Hamus, get settled in. I think you should learn some things."