Wanderings of a Nameless Man

by The Informant

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Nameless Wanderer
Chapter 2: New World
Chapter 3: Wounded
Chapter 4: Encounter of the Fifth Kind (Part 1)
Chapter 5: Encounter of the Fifth Kind (Part 2)
Chapter 6: Negotiations with an Alien
Chapter 7: Monsters on the Horizon
Chapter 8: From Ashes and Snow.
Chapter 9: Monsters of a Different Kind
Chapter 10: Dead Signal
Chapter 11: The Only Option

Chapter 1: The Nameless Wanderer

Chapter 1: The Nameless Wanderer (Human Protagonist Introduction)

Wanderings of a Nameless Man

Written By: DarkWolf541 (Myself)

Edited By: (insert editor here) (Has no editor :pinkiesad2: )

Proofreaders: (insert proof reader) (Has no proofreader :pinkiesad2: )

(DarkWolf541 is forever alone... :pinkiesad2: )

Chapter 1: The Nameless Wanderer

It's funny how your entire life can change faster than a blink of an eye, or, at least in my case, a flash. I remember little of what this world used to be, but, from what I heard, it must have been very nice compared to the world I live in now. The place was full of life and green, there were normal everyday people just trying to get by paying the bills, there were animals that weren't trying to kill you every waking hour. Hell, you could even see that sun during the day and the moon during the night.

However, that was before the invaders came.

When they attacked it was swift, ruthless, and completely unexpected. They managed to kill most of our leaders and destroy all our defenses before we even knew we were under attack. We tried to fight back as best as we could, but, by that point, it was already too late. Our chain of command was completely and utterly destroyed and we had little more peashooters to fight back the invasion with. To make things even worse, they began to destroy everything with their weapons of mass destruction. Entire cities were wiped completely off the face of the earth, within seconds as their mega weapons hit. However, they didn't stop after destroying a few cities, they kept going until there wasn't a single major city on earth.

At this point we knew what their intentions were, their objective was to destroy all life on earth, but for what reason we did not know. There was no warning, no diplomacy, no negotiations, just the unexpected annihilation of our entire species.

However, being the stubborn as we humans are, we simply refused roll over and die off; like the aliens wanted us to. We instead took refuge in underground fallout bunkers and tried our best to make the alien's job as difficult as we possibly could. Taking as many of the invading bastards with us as we possibly could before we bit the dust ourselves. We know it is only a matter of time before they hunt us all down, but we still continue to fight in hope for a future for the human race.

This is a the world that I live in now, hiding underground in a bunker harassing the aliens as they try to snuff us out. Living life on the border between life and death, constantly at risk of dying in painful and brutal ways at any given time. A life that most couldn't bare living, and most don't.

So one may ask, why do I continue to live? Why do I continue to fight and survive against greater odds? What do I fight for? Well, I can't exactly answer that question, because I do not know myself. I do not know why I fight while others give up, or why I continue to live while others give in to the cold and comforting embrace of death. I don't know because I cannot remember. The farthest into my past I remember was when the invasion ended. I woke up among the rubble of the ruins of a once great city. I could not remember who I was then nor before, all I knew was what had happened. All I remember was that Aliens invaded, shit got blown up, and I was a very upset and unhappy person.

Ever since I woke up, I have always had this extremely powerful will to survive, no matter what got in my way; I was always determined to live through it. It was a strange feeling, it felt like I would breaking a promise I made long ago by simply dying without a fight, a promise that I did not ever want to break. Who I made this promise to I do not know, nor do I know if it was even a promise at all, and instead a powerful survival instinct.

What ever it was, its influence is growing weaker and weaker as the days go by. I've noticed that more and more I am growing tired of this. More and more I just want it to end. More and more I just want to lay down and die. However, the more I want to die, the more I want to remember who I was before the invasion; not to mention what had made me become the man I am today. I want to know why I continue to fight, and what I fight for. I want to know what was so damn special for me to continue to live for.

This desire to know is what has brought me to take on this journey I take now. A journey to rediscover myself. A journey to remember who I was. A journey to discover what I fight for. I do this because I can no longer live with only a purpose I don't even know of; I cannot continue to live without knowing why. The day I know who I was and why I continue to live will be the day when this journey will be over. No earlier, no later.

My story begins with the last moments I spend in a fallout bunker I once called home. A home that I will leave behind to seek out my true home, in hope of remembering who I once was.

***

Today is the day. The day that I shall leave all I know behind to set off on a journey of self enlightenment. The day I shall set off into the wastelands once called earth to face the many horrors and dangers within. The day in which will be the first step towards remembering myself. It was an exciting day, but also, at the same time, a depressing day. The bunker is all I have known ever since waking up. This bunker was the only place I considered safe. This bunker was the only place where I had friends, and now I was leaving it all behind.

Well, not completely. I will not be traveling alone for this journey, my faithful dog, Spike, will be accompanying me on this trip. It took a lot of convincing from my friends and the bunker overseer to have me take him with me, but in the end Spike was going to whether I wanted him or not. I love that dog to death and it seems that he love me back just as much; that big bastard will follow me to hell and back and would not take no for an answer. I would never forgive myself if he got hurt or killed for my personal needs, but he was coming with me despite what I thought of it.

Still, Spike was going to be a very powerful asset to have during this journey. He is a timber wolf and quite possibly the last of his kind. He is very big dog, standing up on his hind legs, he was just as tall as me if not as big. He is also very strong, able to knock anybody down to the ground with one pounce and keep them there; I've been the victim of many of his attacks of affection. I pity anyone who ends up being Spike's prey. Besides his size and strength he was a very well trained dog, I trained him myself, he is good at sniffing out trouble before it arrives and a very capable hunter. With his skills, we will never go hungry and can stay out of harms way.

When I announced that I was leaving it was a pretty big shock to everyone, most didn't take it to well. All of them had lost a lot of friends; almost too many. The thought of losing another was likely unbearable to them. A lot of my friends told me that I crazy for even thinking about it and that I should change my decision while I still had a chance. The rest just tried to convince me that it wasn't worth it, but I had already made up my mind. I needed to do this for my sake and the sake of others. If I kept going like this, I was bounded to get myself and most likely one or more of my friends killed; I would never forgive myself for that.

So today was the day for me to leave, as exciting as it was, there was no way it could overcome the emotion of depression and dread I am feeling right now. I am scare out of my mind of the thought of having to face the friends that I will abandon within the next ten minutes. What will they think of me? Will they think poorly of me? Will they hate me for abandoning them like this? Especially during trying times like this? Or did they finally accept the fact that I had to do this? I did not know, but I was going to find out soon.

Spike had no such conflicts. He sat next to me, happily wagging his tail with excitement in his eyes as I continued to pack. I was envious of emotions he was emitting, for I wish I could feel the same about this journey, but I can't feel the same because I know what I have gotten myself into. My friends' feeling about me was going to soon be the least of my worries.

I finished packing and did a quick equipment check. I had my gas mask, because breathing in ash and toxins is not fun. I had my 44 magnum revolver, sure, it wasn't going kill aliens, but I was definitely better than nothing but a crowbar. Speaking of crowbar, that is here as well, a lot of my friends say I look like Gordon Freeman with this thing (whoever the hell that is). I had my 15 inch bowie knife, to skin anything edible that I or Spike happen to kill. I had my Backpack full food, water, and other survival supplies, it would last me about a week depending on how I rationed it. Spike and I both had our thermal suits, and heavy winter camouflage clothing, this will keep us from freezing to death while on the move or while we sleep. Finally, and most importantly, a map with my destination marked. New York City, the city I first woke up in, the only place that would have any chance of having the information I seek; if it still exists.

After checking all my equipment, I put on my bag and left the barracks. It was time, time to face my friends and say my last goodbyes, time to take my first step in this long journey, time to find my long lost self. I walk out of my room, into the hall, and start making my way toward the exit. As I walked down the hall, I noticed it was unusually empty and silent. This did not surprise me, as I knew where they were, the only place they could be, the only place that they would be. I round the next corner to face the exit, not surprised to see the entire bunker had gathered at the exit. I was sure they were probably trying one last time to change my mind.

"I've made up my mind already, I'm not going to change it." I stated with utmost certainty.

"We're not here to pester ya about it, we're just here to see ya both off. What kinda friends would we be if we let ya'll go without even saying a word?" A man with a southern accent said, a voice that can only be Fredrickson's voice, a fellow resistance fighter and the bunker Overseer.

I simply nod as I walk further down the hall towards the exit with Spike in tow. I was surprised to say the least, but I wasn't going to complain. As I passed my fellow comrades they gave me a silent nod or a short goodbye, I suppose that there was not much for them to say, although I was glad that they have finally accepted that I was leaving and didn't bother me about it. As I reached the exit Fredrick puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I know ya don't want any more fuss about convincing you to stay, but ya sure about this one?" He asked

"Yes, positive." I reply confidently.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then. But first..." He started a grabbed something off the ground next to where he was standing.

"...take this, consider it a parting gift." He finishes as he places an AK-47 with some spare clips in my hands. I stared at in in shock as realize what he had just given me.

"This... this is too much, this is your rifle I couldn't possibly..."

" Yer gonna to need it more than I will ever will my friend. Besides, you honestly think that you are going to fight off the horrible monstrosities of the wasteland with a pea shooter like that?" He joked pointing at my six shooter.

"Hey! Her name is Little Lisa and she has feelings, apologize this instant." I countered.

We all had a laugh at that, it was nice to be able to joke with my friends one last time. After Fredrick made up his painfully dramatic apology to my oversensitive and traumatized revolver, it was time to go.

"Good luck my friend, I hope you find what you are looking for." Fredrick said.

"May the same luck be with you all, kill a few of those illegal alien bastards while I'm gone, eh?" I joked.

"May that be a promise." He assured me as he turned to everyone else.

"ALIGHT, YA'LL CLEAR THE HALL NOW!!! WE'RE OPENIN' THE DOOR!"

Within seconds the entire hall was vacated, not a single soul in sight besides for me, Spike, and Fredrick. Fredrick made his way over to the door control and slipped his gas mask over his face. I slipped on my gas mask as well and threw my thermal suit hood over my head along with the heavy winter suit hood. I slung the AK-47 over my shoulder and placed the spare clips in my bag. After I was all set I gave Fredrick a nod, he nodded in response and pulled the lever.

The screeching sound of the door opening reached my ears followed by the sound of the howling wind of the dreaded wasteland. As the door was opening ash from the world that once was began to make it's way in. The cold hit me almost instantly sending shivers through me, it didn't matter how much winter gear I had on, it was FREAKING COLD. Spike was not faring much better as he shivered as the cold wind beat against us. It took a few moments for our thermal suits to adjust appropriately and reach a decent temperature.

As soon as the door that was finally open, nothing else could be heard, nothing but the ghastly howling of the winds. At this point Spike and I began to make out way out. This was it, as soon as I make my first step out there was no turning back, once I make that first step outside my journey of self rediscovery will begin. My heartbeat grows faster as I come closer and closer to the exit, brief feelings of reluctance and uncertainty of my decision flow through me, but are quickly dismissed as I know I must do this. I take a deep breath and hold it as I walk through the exit and into the dark gloomy world before me.

"By the way, If you ever figure out who you are and somehow get back after all of this, I suppose we can stop calling you John Doe!" Fredrick shouted after me.

I give in to a small smile under my mask before turning around and giving him a small wave, he returned one in kind. I turned back around and continued walked further into the white void before me. I kept walking until the bunker door, nor the mound it was embedded in, was no longer in sight. Over the sound of the winds I can hear the familiar screeching of the bunker door behind me, there is no turning back now.

My journey has begun.

Chapter 2: New World

Chapter 2: New World (Insert ponies here)

Nothing could be seen or heard but the whistling of the wind and the ice mixed with ash over the cold and barren wasteland for miles. The landscape was completely devoid of life, not a single creature in sight. Well, that was until there was a loud *BANG* that awoke a monster from its slumber underneath the ashy snow.

It sprung up from its resting place, sending snow and ash flying everywhere. It was a cat like creature that was about 6 feet tall and 8 feet long with an extremely muscular build. It had a mangy snowy white coat, and had razor sharp teeth and claws capable of giving severe wounds to those unlucky enough to be its prey. After shaking off the excess ash and snow out of its dense and shaggy fur, it turned toward the direction in which the sound originated and began sprinting towards it in hopes of finding prey. It ran with incredible speed, almost hitting 30 mph as it traveled.

It slowed down to stop as it reached the edge of a circular canyon. Looking down, the big cat found the source of the sound, however the source confused it. It expected to find humans firing at each other or other creatures, in which it would eventually claim the dead and whoever remained as a meal, but what it did find completely baffled the creature. The sound did not originate from gunfire as it had first expected, instead it originated from an strange glowing sphere in the center of the canyon. It knew for a fact it had never seen this kind of thing before, not even the creatures from the sky had anything that did this.

Curiosity got the best of the creature and it prepared to jump down to investigate the mysterious orb up close, but never go the chance to do so when several more *BANG*s originated from the sphere. The creature jumped back and peeked over the edge, that is when it saw something that baffled it even more. From its cover, it no longer saw the glowing sphere, it was now looking at several small quadrupedal creatures of all decked out in gear that was almost similar to the humans' gear.

The creatures appeared to have three different variants, one variant had some sort of horn on its head, another had a pair of wings, and the rest had neither. When it came to appearances, they were all unnaturally colored, and none of the creatures could possibly be bigger than a mouthful, and appeared to be a prey type of animal. Their clothing and strange weaponry indicated to the monster that these creatures were indeed intelligent.

The monster looked at them doubtfully, deciding whether or not it should attack. They looked like they would be easy pickings and a quick meal, but it has learned from its years of experience to not underestimate its prey. If their weapons were any indication, they were probably expecting threats and had taken measures to ensure their safety. So it was going to wait and watch, study their strengths and weaknesses, learn how they behave, and strike when the time was right.

The creature lays down in the snow, allowing its fur to camouflage itself as it stalked its new prey.

***

Twilight was instantly met with a wave of mixed feeling of cold, nausea, and pain as she exited the portal, the fact that she was sent through space to an unknown world, where it appeared to be winter, at a speed a little bit slower than light and landing directly on her face did not help. After a trip like that she could only say one thing.

"Ouch..." she muttered into the snow.

Removing her face from the snow she turned to look around the environment around her. It appears that she had landed in a cannon of some sort, semi-steep slopes surrounded her on all sides. It was going to be hard to scale these slopes with the equipment they had. Despite this, her face formed into a smile. This was it, an entire new world to study and explore. Her years of work had finally paid off and now she was the first pony ever to step on (and face plant on) this new world. She turned around to face the portal she emerged from and waited for the rest of the team to come through.

The first to emerge was her brother along with a few of the royal guard, they didn't have any better luck with the landing. Twilight giggled a little as her BBBFF and the rest of the guards struggled out of the snow and retrieve their crossbows that landed a few feet away.

"Looks like I arrived first, have a nice trip?" Twilight asked.

"Could have been better, Twily." Shining responded with a grunt.

"Dear Celestia!!! It's cold out here!" A unicorn mare guard named Sparks complained.

"Second this statement! It is a good thing we have these adaptive suits! Our ears would have frozen off by now!" The earth pony stallion guard named Iron Hoof agreed as he adjusted his hood around his head.

"Yeah, It appears we came through in the middle of a winter storm." A pegasus mare guard named Sky Chaser responded.

A second later another three ponies came through, the timid animal expert Fluttershy, the interspecies diplomat Lyra Heartstrings, and survivalist expert Daring Doo. Daring was the only one who had a little better luck with the landing, but not by much, she at least didn't face plant.

"That is something I do not want to experience again." Daring said holding back the urge to vomit as she got onto her hooves.

Fluttershy was not so lucky as she vomited into the snow. "Oh my..." she mutter after seeing her breakfast make an second appearance before her, already starting to freeze over.

"Yeah, that felt worse than the morning after a party..." Lyra agreed as she helped the poor yellow Pegasus up.

"Aright, is anypony hurt?" Twilight asked the group.

Everybody shook their head in response. Besides feeling extremely nauseous everyone in the group was okay.

"...and everypony remembers why they are here?" Twilight then asked, bringing up a holographic notepad and her "Mental evaluation" checklist. Ready to check off everypony and make sure that there was no mental side-effects from using the portal.

Daring Doo rolled her eyes but was the first to respond. "I am here to make sure we all survive until the end of the week so we can leave." Daring replied with an annoyed tone.

Twilight was slightly annoyed at the pegasus's half assed response, but checked her off the list.

Lyra Heart Strings was next. "I am here in case we find intelligent life here and initiated a first contact." Lyra stated professionally.

With a nod, Twilight then checked her off the list.

Shining was next after that. "We're here to protect the team until we return at the end of the week." Shining stated professionally.

Twilight checked him off the list.

Fluttershy was the last to respond. "I am here to assess the animal wildlife here and hopefully keep them from attacking us if they turn out to be mean. I am also here as a medic." She replied in a low voice just loud enough for them to hear.

Twilight smiled, and checked Fluttershy off the list, happy to find that no one had suffered any sort of brain damage from the portal. Not that she believed there would be, she was sure it would be just fine.

A few seconds later their supplies came though. The supplies included more weapons, a weeks worth of food and water, camping equipment, survival equipment, and most importantly (least for Twilight) research equipment. After being sure that everything was here Twilight grabbed her communication crystal.

"We are all set here, see you in a week." Twilight spoke into the crystal.

"We hear you, Twilight. Remember, you can use your communication crystal to come back early should you run into problems. Good luck." A voice on the other side responded.

At that exact moment the portal faltered and quickly diminished without a sound or sign that it ever existed. Twilight secured her communication crystal within her thermal saddlebags. All that remained now was the team, they were on their own. If any of them were having second thoughts, none of them showed it. Well... perhaps one was having a few second thoughts. Fluttershy was looking pleadingly at where the portal used to be in false hope that it may reappear and take her home. Twilight trotted over and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"It's okay Fluttershy, we'll be home in a week and you'll get to see your animals again then. Just try to stay brave, we may need you before the week ends." Twilight reassured, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder for comfort.

"O-oh yes... I know..." She replied with fake confidence.

"Alright, Fluttershy, I'm going to see about getting a few surface samples, why don't you see if anypony needs any help setting up camp. I doubt that we are bound to run into anything dangerous right now." Twilight said before trotting off away to settle her own business.

Fluttershy wasn't entirely reassured by Twilight's words as she look around the rim of the bowl canyon they were in, she couldn't stop getting the strange feeling that something was watching them. She continued looking around the rim but couldn't find anything that stood out. That was when she thought she saw two red eyes staring at her from the cliff above out of a snow mound. After doing a double take she noticed that they disappeared and all that remained was the plain snow mound that didn't really stand out. Shaking her head believing that she was just being paranoid, Fluttershy went to rejoin the team.

While everyone was working on setting up camp, Twilight got busy collecting samples of the surface. She was getting frustrated however as she notices she couldn't get an actual soil sample, it was nothing but snow everywhere and it was deep, obviously more than a few feet. It would probably take excavation to reach the actual surface of the planet. However, she was able to draw some hypotheses from this observation. This density in snow indicated that snowy weather was a constant occurrence on this world, or at least in this part of the world. However, she found something strange about the snow, it was snow, but then again it wasn't. It looked like snow but it doesn't entirely feel like snow or really act like snow. It was far to... dusty... She ignored that little thought for the moment as she made her way back to camp with her samples.

The camp was now entirely set up and ready to go by the time she got back. Everyone was now in the process of getting the equipment sorted out. Twilight made her way to the tent with all her research supplies inside. Setting up an sample analyzer she began to test the things she found. Placing a sample of snow into the analyzer, she turned it on and allowed it to perform its magic. The device hums before silencing and printing out it's data. Twilight takes a look at what the device had found and was surprised to find what this "snow" actually was. It was a combination of frozen water and ash, giving it a snow like appearance, and apparently it was slightly toxic. Not toxic enough to harm anyone, but it could over a period of time.

This brought some questions to mind. Where did the ash come from? Why is it toxic? Is it like this everywhere on this planet? And, if that is the case, what happened here?

Her focus was broken when Daring came the room. "Have you notice that something is wrong with this snow? It's like it is not snow at all, it far too powdery." She asked.

"It isn't, it is ash and it is slightly toxic. It is more than likely that our wool masks won't do the trick. Tell everyone to begin using our gas masks. It's most likely not extremely harmful, but I don't want to take any chances." Twilight responded.

Daring looked a little shocked at the sudden fact that they've been breathing something potentially toxic, but nodded and put on her mask and goggles before heading out to tell the others. Twilight continued to test other samples she had grabbed while she was out, all the results were pretty much the same. She was interrupted again as the guard, Sky Chaser, barged in.

"Uh, hey, I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but the storm seems to be getting worse, we need to secure all the equipment and wait for it to blow over... that means your analyzer too. Sorry, but it looks like we might lose a day over this." She informed before flying off.

Twilight let out an annoyed huff as she magically packed her analyzer and put it back into its case. She was irritated that they were not even on this world for an hour and they were already about to lose a day over a silly storm, but protocol was protocol. There was no sense in taking risks, especially when it came to unknown factors that could apply.

With the analyzer packed and ready to go she secured it along with the rest of the equipment in the supply tent before moving outside and to the into the living tent. Upon reaching the tent she realized that everyone was here getting their own bed preparations set up. Shining notices Twilight and trotted up to her.

"Hey, Twily, what is with this rumor I hear going around saying that the air here is toxic?" Shining asked.

Twilight face hoofed at Daring's this misinterpretation of her words. "I said that the 'snow' is toxic, not the air! Either way it is not that big of a deal, the toxicity of it is low enough for it to not be immediately deadly or even a threat to anypony's health unless exposed to it for a long period of time. However, I still recommend wearing a gas mask when moving around outside." Twilight explained.

"Well, that is good to know, I'll tell the others of the mistake." Shining responded as he gave Twilight a brief hug before walking off.

While Shining Armor went off to explain the snow situation to the rest of the team, Twilight took her time to settle her own bed situation. With some manipulation of her magic, she easily set up her cot in a free spot next to a window within the tent. After carefully stress testing it to make sure she had set it up correctly, she jumped up on her cot, grabbed her holographic notepad, and tried to get comfortable. It wasn't as if they were going to do anything until this storm had blown over, so she decided that she would take notes of the storm events and its effects on the environment. She figured she might as well stay productive while they waited out the coming storm.

A few minutes pass as she is taking notes on the worsening weather when she noticed a pony outside her window looking out towards the slope, as if looking for something. Looking around the entirety of the living tent, Twilight observed that everypony other than Fluttershy was currently present. This lead Twilight to conclude that Fluttershy was the pony outside her window. With a sigh, Twilight put her note pad down in front of her, proceeded to get off her cot, and walk towards the exit of the living tent.

Twilight knew that she needed to get Fluttershy inside before the storm got any worse, and she knew that Fluttershy wouldn't simply come in without some encouraging words. She knew, as far as Fluttershy was concerned, that she was going to be living in a single room full of complete strangers for an entire week; other than her and her brother that was. Strangers were not Fluttershy's profession and she is likely getting hesitant to come inside the tent for that same reason. As such, Twilight knew she needed to get Fluttershy before she decided to spend the night out there.

Shining Armor noticed his sister walking out of the living tent. "Hey, Twily! Where are you going? Sky Chaser tells me that this storm should be hitting any second now."

"I'm going to get Fluttershy, she is still outside. Probably in need of some encouraging words. I won't be long." Twilight explained to her brother before exiting the tent, not waiting for a response.

Her brother simply gave a nod in response before returning his attention to his previous task. Twilight grabbed her mask as well as an extra one for Fluttershy, slipping her's over her face and stepping outside. The cold immediately hit her like a train, it was now far colder than it originally was in their initial arrival; it actually took her Adaptive suit several seconds to adapt to a suitable temperature. Twilight assumed it must have been because of the storm and put down a mental note about it to record later. Moving around the corner, Twilight spotted Fluttershy and quickly trotted up to her.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing out here? Didn't you hear about-"

"Shhh." Fluttershy simply said as she continued to study the horizon of the canyon.

"Fluttershy! We need to-"

"SHHHH." Fluttershy stated with a bit more emphasis as she continued looking for something.

"Fluttershy... What are you doing?" Twilight asked in a softer tone.

"I think something is watching us..." Fluttershy whispered.

"Wait... What do you mean something is watching us?" Twilight questioned worriedly.

"I mean something is watching us... I saw it once before, but I thought it was me just being scared... but now I have seen it for the fifth time now... Not a coincidence..." Fluttershy stated.

Twilight took Fluttershy's words seriously as she began to look along the horizon as well. However, she obviously couldn't see whatever Fluttershy was looking for. After a minute of looking Twilight was beginning to become a bit impatient. "Fluttershy, I don't-"

"There it is..." Fluttershy said quietly as she pointed to a mound of snow on the far horizon.

Twilight blinked in confusion as all she saw was Fluttershy pointing at an inconspicuous mound of snow. "Fluttershy... that is just snow. Are you sure you are not just seeing things?"

"That is not snow, Twilight. I think it is some sort of animal using the snow as camouflage; I have a few animals myself that like to hide using the same method. I can't tell what it is exactly though... It might be a cat..."

"A cat? You mean like Opal?" Twilight questioned.

"No, I-I think it is bigger... m-much bigger." Fluttershy began to stutter, beginning to visibly shake. Twilight took notice.

"Uh... Fluttershy? Are you okay? Your shaking..." Twilight asked concerned, turning her full attention to her friend.

"Oh. I-I'm s-sorry. I-I think it is g-getting colder." Fluttershy stuttered out.

Twilight quickly realized what was wrong as she as well began to feel chilled to the bone as well; even through the adaptive suit she had on. "Oh, I think the storm is getting closer! We need to get inside Fluttershy! We don't want to be out here when it hits!" Twilight exclaimed as she grabbed Fluttershy and began to guide her to the living tent.

"B-but what a-about the cat?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked back over her shoulder to spy the mound that Fluttershy was referring to. However, when looking back, she found the mound was no longer present. Nothing could be seen besides for a now obvious approaching whiteout and a relatively flat, snowy landscape. Twilight knew she couldn't had of just imagined it, both she and Fluttershy spotted it. Now, it was gone. This lead Twilight to believe Fluttershy's suspicion just a bit more than that.

"W-We'll worry about it later. Right now, we just need to worry about not f-freezing to death." Twilight stuttered out, now starting to feel the effect of the storm as well.

With that, Twilight and Fluttershy made their way inside the tent to wait out the storm. Now both a little paranoid about what was stalking them and what its intention was.

***

Cold. It was getting colder. This was not good, I feel myself freezing to death with every step I take. An ash storm was coming, and it is going to be a bad one. If I don't find shelter soon, Spike and I are going to be frozen flesh popsicles by the end of it. Theses storms are deadly to anything living, thermal suit or not, nothing can withstand its sub zero conditions; not even the mutant animals that thrive in these frozen wastes. We need to find shelter of any kind soon, or we are both going to die.

It has been two weeks since we have left the bunker. Ever since then, we've been traveling, dealing with problems as we came across them, looting whatever building we could, scavenging what little precious supplies we could. However, that has only gotten us halfway to New York, we've completely ran out of food and water supplies, ammunition was on the low end, and now Spike and I were trapped in the middle of a ash storm.

I continued, slowly, pushing through the heavy wind and snow. Spike was not far behind me, not looking much better than I was as he slowly followed within the path I created. Both of us were shivering heavily as fatigue and tiredness crept over us, but we pushed on. Desperate to find something, ANYTHING, that could save our lives. A wrecked building about to fall down, a cave full of hungry gobbers, a fucking bandit camp for fuck sake! We were not about to be picky at this point.

However, we could find nothing; there was not a single fucking thing in site that I could consider a form of shelter. Just more frozen wasteland.

Was this it? Some sort of cruel joke of an end? Were we to die here before we could even make it to our final destination? Will I die not finding out who I was? Will Spike die a pointless death out of loyalty to me? Was this entire trip, this entire quest of enlightenment, going to be a pointless means to my end? Was all this effort and survival all for nothing?

I felt Like I was about to fall down dead there and then, but that was before I noticed that we were coming upon a canyon. Upon seeing the canyon, I felt a new found strength build up inside of me; fueled by simple hope. No, I wasn't about to give up now. There was a chance to get through this. This canyon has to have a cave of sorts somewhere, they usually do. This cave will hopefully protect us from most, if not all, harsh weather we are currently enduring.

I pushed forward at a faster pace. Spike, seemingly feeling my positive energy, picked up the pace as well. When I reached the slope of the canyon, even more of my newfound energy rejuvenated my body as I spied a small camp in the middle of the canyon.

This was far better than what I had first imagined! I would have settled for a cave, but I found a functional camp instead! Seems to be fully equipped as well, we will most definitely be able to wait out the storm here.

"FUCK YEAH!!! We're going to make it Spike!" I hooted, throwing a single fist in the air in victory.

"WOOF!!!" My companion barked loudly in reply upon seeing what I was so excited about.

Desperation and hope took over my actions temporarily as I quickly began to make my down the slope. Spike hesitated for a moment, being the first to realize my rash mistake, but followed moments later. It was only when I was at the bottom of the slop that I realized the mistake I had made. Looking around me, I realized that I had put myself in a rather compromising position. I was now in the canyon, with no easy way up, out in the open, right dead next to a camp of potential enemies. I swore under my breath as I got down in hope that no one had spotted me as of yet; Spike joined me moments later.

"Stupid... Stupid... Stupid..." I scolded myself as I grabbed the AK-47 attached to my backpack and unzipped its protective casing. That could have ended really badly if I had simply approached and entered the camp unannounced. If there are people in there, which there most likely are, they would have shot me regardless of whether or not they were friendlies or bandits. Despite the desperation of our situation, we needed to approach this one carefully; have the upper hand before the conflict starts.

I quickly checked my weapon's functionality, test firing it without ammo and checking for any frozen parts, before I loaded it with a clip of live ammunition in and cocked the weapon. I was now ready to approach.

"Alright, I am going to approach the door and make contact. Spike, you need to flank from another side and stay out of sight. If things go south, you know what to do. Got that?" I asked Spike.

Spike replied with a quiet grunt.

"Good. Lets get this under way." I said as I got up and began approaching, keeping my focus and my gun solely on the tent and all its potential exits. Spike took off in another direction to accomplish his own objectives.

If they are friendlies, hopefully they won't mind us staying until the storm blows over. If they are bandits, they will be evicted. In either case, we are going to get inside this camp and wait out this storm. One way or another.

Hope they are friendly...

Chapter 3: Wounded

Chapter 3: Wounded (Stuff happens)

I approached slowly and cautiously, keeping my weapon trained on the certain entrance I was approaching, all while I scanned side to side to make sure no one was patrolling around the camp. I spotted two windows earlier on two opposing sides of the tent, thankfully there were no windows at the two opposing entrances, allowing me to approach with relative ease. In any other situation, I would have checked the windows from afar in order to check for occupants. However, in this case, not only was I not far enough away to avoid the risk of being spotted, I also didn't have the luxury to wait and stake out the campsite. Spike and I would need to get inside soon and warm up if we ever hope to survive this storm.

It was only a few moments later I was at the zipped up entrance of the tent. Carefully, keeping myself from falling over, I leaned my head against the tent's wall and listened for any activity. It was quite quiet at first, but then I began to hear movement and voices within the tent. I listened carefully, hoping to hear something that will clue me in on what their intentions out here were.

"You mean to say that we have some sort of animal stalking us from around our camp!?" A masculine voice asked. I took note of the authoritative tone of the voice. If I have had to guess, this must have been their leader... However, that was a bit of a wild guess.

"Yes, that is what is seems like. Both me and Fluttershy saw it." A feminine voice replied. I took note of the voice, it had an educated ring to it... I also took note of the strange name, briefly wondering what kind of mother would give anyone that sort of name; especially in this day and age... I also took note of the fact that they had apparently spotted me.

Well, shit. So it turns out not only is the camp occupied, but it also turns out that they already know I am here. How did they... oh, right... I was screaming and running towards their camp like an idiot not even a minute ago. Well, at least they assumed I was an animal and not another human, the element of surprise is still on my side... I suppose I might as well listen a little more, see what else they know before I make myself known.

"Well, that is such brilliant, we are not even here for a couple of hours and we already have predators to deal with... What did you say it was again?" Another masculine voice replied. I think I will call this one a subordinate.

"Well... Fluttershy said that she thought it was a cat." The educated voice replied.

"Yes, a cat, a really big one." A softer, feminine voice added. I took note that this voice may belong to this 'Fluttershy'. I also took note that they were describing something very familiar... It wasn't me.

"What? Like tiger size?" A scratchy yet feminine voice asked. I'll call this one the tomboy.

"No more like manticore." 'Fluttershy' added. Though I didn't know what a 'Manticore' was, most people have different names for the mutants after all, but I assumed that meant 'something big' judging by the next response.

"That big!?" A different feminine voice exclaimed. I dubbed this one 'female subordinate'.

"Well, I didn't see it entirely myself, it just looked like a big snow mound. I only realized it wasn't when it disappeared the moment we looked away." the educated voice responded once again. I felt my eyes grow wide in fear upon hearing this. I knew exactly what this was.

Oh dear god... I felt dread fill my body to the brim upon hearing that description. There is only one type of mutant that matches that certain description! A Stalker! A cat like monster that is known for its surprising patience and intelligence. It stalks, as it name suggests, large groups and targets isolated prey with startling efficiency. They been known to pick off entire groups of scouts without them ever spotting it. Few ever survive such attacks, I remember scout teams that left our bunker in numbers of 5 to 10 people... After a stalker attack, there are usually 1 or 2 left if any at all. They were quite possibly the most dangerous predators in the frozen wastes.

I quickly assessed my situation. There is a stalker nearby... and I had just sent Spike to flank around the camp... We are both now isolated and exposed targets... Our situation went from bad to worse, If the Stalker didn't take this opportunity to strike I would be surprised. We need inside, NOW!

I try my best to quickly figure out a way to approach this as I scanned the horizon for any sign of the Stalker. I could just Introduce myself and ask for safe haven, but that could be very well a death sentence anyways. There are at least 5, if not more, in there. I haven't listened to them long enough to determine what sort of people they were. All I know so far is that they are people with funny sounding names, that wasn't enough to go on and risk a simple "hello." I can't call over Spike for that exact same reason. I simply don't know these people, I can't risk trusting them...

That leaves only one option... Something I am probably going to regret very soon...

I slowly begin to back off from the entrance, taking carefully taking approximately 10 steps back, dreading every step I took; for more reason than one. Once I reach an appropriate distance away from my target, I hesitated a for a bit. I kept picking my mind, trying to think of a way around this. However in the end, I knew there was no other way, no other way that didn't involve risk... I wasn't in the business of taking risk when it wasn't necessary.

I brought my AK-47 to bare, and prepared to fire... Prepared to light up that tent and kill whoever was unlucky enough to be inside at the time. It was going to ruin a perfectly good tent, but we will still have the other tent and these people will no longer be a problem. As for the stalker situation... I'll probably use the corpses to bait it out so we can kill it ourselves. In the end, we will be alive and with a decent amount of supplies... Probably will even last us up to New York...

I have no choice... It is a choice between our survival and their lives... I chose our survival... There is no other way...

"I'm sorry." I mumbled quietly.

Putting my finger on the trigger, I began to pull...

"Grrrrr.... BARK BARK BARK!!!" I Spike bark off in the distance, right behind the tent I was aiming at...

I felt my eyes grow wide with panic as I realized that something was wrong. Spike would never give away his position like that unless I gave the order... Not unless he was in trouble.

The stalker was after Spike...

Without thinking, I put my finger off the trigger as I began to quickly and noisily run around the tent. If the occupants inside didn't know I was there before, they most certainly did now. However, I didn't care. This effort was pointless without Spike, without him I was going to die anyways.

As behind the tent came into view, I spotted Spike... His ears were splayed back as he growled at a full grown stalker, the latter who had a paw up ready to strike the dog with all it had.

I made sure it never had the chance...

Once again bringing my rifle to bare, I took aim and placed my finger on the trigger.

"No you don't you sonnvabit-" I managed to get out before I fired off a volley of bullets.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

All three bullets hit its mark. One hits the shoulder of the raised paw, causing the stalker to wince and its attack to miss Spike by a couple of feet; said dog took the opportunity to back off a ways. Another ripped through the other front leg, causing to stumble a bit. The last went astray and straight through its right ear, ripping it clean off. The beast howled in pain before setting its eyes directly on me, a look of hatred splayed across its facial features.

Oh shit...

The monster let loose a loud, earsplitting, roar before beginning to run straight for me. In a panic I let loose another volley...

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

This volley wasn't particularly well aimed. One bullet missed completely, wissing past the stalker and implanting a hole into the snowy slope behind it. The other bullet grazed the stalker's left flank, not affecting its charge whatsoever. The last hit it directly in the head, however, it ricocheted off and whizzed into the stormy sky.

The last bullet managed to stagger it a tiny bit, just enough of a delay for me to roll away from the charging beast's path. I recovered from my roll and pointed to let off another volley into the monster's side, hopefully hitting the heart.

However, it turned out the monster was more agile than I originally thought... It had already stopped its charge the moment I rolled and had prepared a paw to strike me. This paw was about to strike me now. I felt jaw tighten tighten in surprise as everything seemed to slow down, the paw that was about to crush me seemingly coming at me in slow motion.

*BANG*-

I had only time to shoot off one round before I was swatted 10 feet across the snowy canyon. I landed face first with a wet *thumph* as I hit the soft snowy ground. In the distance, I heard a pained roar and the sound of a stalker hitting the ground running. I let out a sigh of relief as I heard the beast's footsteps getting farther away, rather than closer. I must have definitely hit him where it hurt and now it is running away to lick its wounds; not willing to take the chance that I was incapacitated at risk of further injury. Well, at least that problem was solved for now...

I rolled over to face the sky. It appears that the storm was straight overhead now... Me and Spike needed to get inside now... or we will freeze to death... God I am tired...

I tried to get up, but found that my muscles were very weak and refused to respond... on top of that... I was feeling very numb... very cold...

Lifting my head up, I looked down my body, I found that I my thermal suit was ripped open... and blood steadily flowing from two deep stab wounds across my chest. The stalker seems to have hit me just right for two of its claws to sink deep into my gut. At this point, I was probably lucky that the stalker didn't simply rip me in two with one strike... Well, perhaps not that lucky, because now I was likely going to die slowly.

"...F-fuck" I stuttered out as I began to realize the severity of my wounds.

My body was in shock, severe shock at that... I can't feel anything at the moment... I can't move anything... It is a surprise that I am even awake... This coldness and numbness I am feeling is due to this shock and the fact that I am being exposed to subzero temperatures... Oh god... I am going to die here... There... There is no denying it at this point... if my already weaken body doesn't succumb due to freezing temperatures, I am definitely going to die of shock! My nerves are probably completely fried at this point... it will probably be a matter of minutes now...

"I am going to die." I simply said to myself.

I lied my head back down, there was nothing more to see... Nothing more to do... Only just time to relax and let it happen... Perhaps reflect on life... Decisions I made... Decisions I didn't make... How I got here... Why I was here... Why it no longer matters...

Well, at least one good thing came out of this. The people in the tent are still alive... I was about to kill them after all...

I began to close my eyes and relax... to just let it happen.

However, as I was beginning to relax and accept my fate, I heard a soft wine. Opening my eyes weakly, I could see a familiar face within my line of sight. Spike was currently whining and nudging my mask with his nose, seemingly desperate to wake me up. If I couldn't hear his whines, I probably wouldn't have opened my eyes at all; I couldn't feel his physical means of getting my attention. With the little strength I had, I brought a hand up to pat Spike on the head.

"You did good Spike, but you now get into that tent. Bandits or not, I am sure they will take you in. You can't save me now. I am not going anywhere." I said softly.

Spike only seemed to whine louder at this, abandoning his attempts to get me moving and resorting to dragging my dying corpse towards what I assumed was the tent we were investigating instead.

"Spike, stop it... You are going to freeze to death out here. Just leave me... My time has come." I said as sternly as I possibly could.

Spike apparently refused to believe that, letting out a mix of a growl and whine at me as he continued to slowly pull me closer to the tent.

"Spike... Please... Just..."

I said no more after that as I simply blacked out...

***

Though the sudden confrontation outside was over within seconds, it had left everypony in the tent terrified and on edge. The moment the explosions sounded. All the civilian ponies were on the floor or otherwise breaking for some sort of cover, the guards immediately went for their weapons and joined the others as they waited for whatever was happening outside to make its way inside the tent. However, it never did as the confrontation ended a lingering 10 seconds later with one last explosion and a terrifying roar from an unknown beast.

It had been an entire minute since the confrontation, a minute that was spent in silence. No pony dared to make a sound in fear that, whatever was out there, would hear and come for them. Fluttershy was trembling under a cot with Twilight as she tried to calm her down and keep her quiet. Shining and the rest of the guard were staying attentive, searching and listening for any sort of movement or sound outside the tent. Daring was keeping her cool while lying under her own cot, but she was visibly shaken. Lyra was under her own cot, trying her best to not break down into screaming hysterics.

It was another half a minute before somepony spoke up, but in a mere whisper.

"W-what in Tartarus was that!" Lyra whispered fearfully.

"I don't know... but I think, whatever it was, it is over now." Shining responded, still not letting his guard down.

"Do you t-think we can move now?" Fluttershy whispered softly.

"I'm not sure... give it another minute." Shining responded back

"...Okay." Fluttershy responded.

Another minute passes in complete silence, nopony saying another word or making a single sound, before Shining finally decided it was safe to stand up.

"Alright everypony, I'm going to check it out. Stay down until I say-"

Shining didn't finish his sentence, he instead became silent as he heard something outside the tent... It was the sound of something being dragged. Moments later, there was a whimper. A whimper that sounded like it came from a dog.

Shining trotted over to the window nearest to the source of the sound and looked out. It was there that he spotted a very large dog, dragging a strange lifeless corpse towards the tent's entrance while whimpering helplessly. This confused Shining for a second, he was sure that the dog couldn't have been the monster that produced that loud roar that had had been heard by everypony earlier, and he assumed that the dog itself wouldn't have been able to defeat the owner of such a terrifying roar. However, then he looked more closely at the corpse that the dog was dragging with so much effort. The clothing... the gear... the mask... it was similar to theirs... This was an intelligent being! The one who gotten in a fight with that monster they heard earlier. Shining assumed it must have been killed in the fight, and that it must have been the owner of the dog considering the similar equipment it was wearing...

"Twilight, come here and look at this." Shining said simply.

Despite his direct address, his invitation to the window was accepted by nearly everypony in the room. All of them other than Fluttershy trotted over to see what Shining was seeing. They all looked with shock and awe as they watched the large whining pup dragged the strange, lifeless, corpse towards their tent.

"Okay, first off, why is there a huge Celestia Forsaken dog here? Secondly, WHAT THE HAY IS THAT!!!" Lyra exclaimed.

Nopony responded for an entire ten seconds, simply continuing to watch the dog continue the drag the corpse, before Twilight finally responded.

"Considering the equipment it is carrying, which looks similar to ours I may note, I can hypothesize that is likely what once was a intelligent lifeform... It was likely just killed in the confrontation we heard moments ago... Given the dog's equipment that it obviously couldn't have put on on its own as well its distress and obsession with this corpse, the dog must have been its pet..." Twilight concluded solemnly.

The ponies remained gravely quiet at that statement as they continued to watch the poor dog whimper as it dragged the corpse of its previous master. This continued on for a few more seconds before another pony spoke up.

"I think we should help, instead of just standing around and... you know... staring." Fluttershy said from behind the group

The group of ponies looked at Fluttershy as if she had just grown a second head, causing her to shrink back at the attention.

"You're kidding, right!? I mean you are kidding!? Look at the size of that thing! It could bite our heads off if it wanted to!"

"I agree, it doesn't look particularly save to approach. It could be hostile towards us." Shining added.

All the other ponies seemed to agree with this... well, all except Twilight and Daring, both who seemed to be conflicted by this line of thinking.

"What are we suppose to do then? Just leave it out there to freeze to death? I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy! Plus, just look at him, I've seen more dangerous and vicious animals than this big bucket of fluff, what are you scared of!" Daring argued.

"I agree, why not help it? If not for the sake of learning more about this world we are in, then just for the sake of morality. We can't just let it freeze to death out there!" Twilight added in.

The rest of the ponies winced at both Twilight's and daring's arguments, suddenly feeling a bit ashamed by their own statements. Assuming that she had won the argument, Daring approached the door and unzipped it and stepped outside. She shivered a bit as her adaptive suit struggled to adjust to a acceptable temperature. She only peeked back in for a short moment to beckon Fluttershy and Twilight.

"Well, come on you two, I am going to need your help with this. These other pansies certainly won't." She said simply as she stepped back outside to approach the dog. Twilight and Fluttershy share a glance for a short moment before they chased after her.

"You three be careful! There is no knowing what it might do!" Shining shouted after them as the final two rushed out the door.

Twilight and Fluttershy were met with the sight of Daring keeping a small distance from the dog as she was trying to test the hostility of it. Despite how close she got, the most the dog did was give off a small growl when she got a little too close. Fluttershy and Twilight slowly and carefully made their way to the pegasus's side.

"As I said, the dog is not hostile, he would have attacked by now if he was." Daring explained to the two approaching ponies.

"He?" Twilight asked.

"It is a he, trust me, Twilight." Daring simply said.

"Okay... So, what do we do?" Twilight then asked.

"Well, he seems to want to get this body inside the tent. I don't exactly know why, but who am I to argue with a dog nearly my size? He is going in there whether we like it or not. So I say we get the body inside the tent and go from there."

"Alright... I guess I'll just-"

"Wait, don't try anything yet. He is very defensive of the corpse. We need Fluttershy to calm it down before we can help." Daring warned.

"A-alright" Fluttershy stuttered as the chill of the storm was beginning to get to her.

Fluttershy approached the dog with great care as she composed herself enough to talk the animal down. If there was any nervousness, doubt, or hesitation that filled Fluttershy, she was certainly trying her best to suppress it.

"Um... H-hello, Mr. Doggy?" Fluttershy started off.

The dog ignored her, still continuously trying to drag the lifeless corpse despite how much weaker he was getting. Fluttershy was a bit confused by this, she had expected to receive some sort of response. However, she quickly realized her mistake as she spied the tag hanging from the dog's neck. She hadn't called him by his name! She quickly read the tag, as much as all the dog's struggling with the corpse would allow. She was a bit surprised to find his name as 'Spike', the name of the baby dragon that Twilight took care of, but decided to save the contemplation of the coincidence for a later time.

"Um, Spike? Hello?" She asked.

This got Spike's attention, he let go of the corpse for a second to stare Fluttershy in the eyes. From the Spike's eyes, she felt his pain, sorrow, sadness, distress, and fear. Fluttershy couldn't know exactly what the dog was thinking, but it was something along the lines of "Help me."

"Uh, don't worry Spike... We are here to help. Why don't you come with inside the tent where it is warm? My friends will help move your master and.... he'll join us in a moment." Fluttershy tried.

Spike looked between the tent and his master's corpse hesitantly, as if conflicted as to whether or not he should stay with his master, or go inside and get warm. However, apparently it wasn't that hard of a choice. After looking over his choices, the dog gave a defiant bark and settled with attempting to drag the corpse again. At this, Twilight and Daring let out a collective sigh.

"Well, he is definitely stubborn. I think we should just let him carry the corpse inside if that his what he wants so damn badly." Daring said irritably.

Fluttershy momentarily gave Daring a glare before turning her attention back the the poor dog. She wasn't about to give up yet. She wouldn't give up so easily on her own animals, so what would she give up on this dog now?

"Um, well Spike, will you at least let us hel- EEEEK!" Fluttershy tried to say before the dog let go again, quickly walked behind Fluttershy, began nudging her towards the corpse. Though Twilight and Daring stiffen momentarily at the dog's sudden action, they relaxed as they realized that he was just pushing Fluttershy into position to help drag. This even made Daring chuckle a bit at the distraught and surprised look on Fluttershy's face.

"Heh, I guess that is a yes. Alright, lets get them both inside." Daring replied.

With a nod, Twilight began to levitate the body with her magic. It was a bit heavier and far more straining than usual, but Twilight lifted it with relative ease. This action seemed to momentarily confuse the dog, however he didn't complain as he began to follow his master's floating corpse inside the tent. Daring, Twilight, and Fluttershy came in right after him. The group inside were startled by the floating corpse that was being followed closely by the huge dog they had seen outside. The guard threateningly pointing crossbows at the dog while the rest of the civilians hid behind the guards. The three mares followed close behind, zipping up the tent behind them.

Daring and Twilight noticed the sudden hostility of the guards towards the dog now inside the tent; the dog whose only interest was the corpse mysteriously floating above him. Both shot Shining and the rest of the guards a warning glare. This caused Shining and the rest of the guards to, reluctantly, lowered their weapons, but not their guard.

Twilight carefully placed the corpse on the floor of the tent, trying her best not to upset the dog further. The moment it touched the floor, the dog was immediately on top of it. Spike ignored everyone else in the room as he lied down next to it, breathing heavily and distressingly, keeping close as if to warm up the corpse through body heat alone. It was a pitiful sight to behold.

Another minute passed in silence as the entire team watched Spike rest right next to the alien corpse, all were thinking the same thing.

"So... What now?" Daring asked to nopony in particular.

"I don't know..." Fluttershy said quietly.

"Well, this is turning out to be one huge circus of a trip." Iron hoof commented.

"I second that statement." Sparks added.

The ponies continued to lie silent as they beheld the sight before them. None of them knew exactly what to do. Daring and Fluttershy were at a complete loss, neither of them knew how long the dog was going to say like that, nor what they would do with the dog when it decided to stop grieving over the loss of its master. Twilight was wondering the same, but a small part of her was also wondering what was to become of the corpse. She wanted to study both it and the dog, but didn't want to anger the distressed puppy. Shining and the guards were internally debating how they were going to handle the situation if the dog turned hostile. Lyra, on the other hoof, was starring at both the supposed corpse and the dog in very deep concentration and thought.

The dog's complete obsession with the corpse was troubling for Lyra. Normally, though she was no expert, any other animal would have given up the moment they were sure their master was dead and went on to ensure their own survival. This dog wasn't doing that, he continuously dragged the corpse through the freezing temperatures outside despite the fact that it was risking its own life and well being doing so. He was acting as if he was trying to save the creature's life. So either the dog is in denial, or that corpse wasn't really a corpse. The implications of this shook Lyra to the very core... Enough to speak up.

"Do you think we should-" Lyra began to ask

"Lyra, if you are about to suggest that we start screwing around with a corpse that a dog, that could probably break your neck in one bite, is grieving over, then I think you are bucking nuts." Daring answered, interrupting Lyra mid sentence.

"Actually, I was about to suggest that we check if it is still alive." Lyra deadpanned with an annoyed look.

Everypony gave Lyra a strange look for what she was suggesting. To say that this obviously dead corpse could still be alive was beyond ridiculous for everypony to imagine.

"You can't be serious..." Sky Chaser replied.

"What!? What's wrong with simply checking!? For all we know it could still be alive and we are currently standing idly by as it is dying! I don't know about you, but that is a horrible start to diplomatic relations with another world! I can see it now... 'Oh, by the way, we sort of let one of your citizens bleed to death on our tent floor as we internally debated what to do with the body! Please don't hate us!' I don't know about you, but I believe that is grounds for war! Especially if this was a soldier! Do any of you know what this looks like politically!?" Lyra exclaimed a little overly dramatically.

Everypony grew silent as they looked between themselves and the seemingly lifeless body, putting together the implications of what Lyra was suggesting if she turned out to be right. It would be war, and they were not here to be a cause of a likely devastating war.

"Alright Lyra, though I actually doubt it is alive, we'll check." Twilight said as she powered up her magic. She turned to face everyone, ready to inform them of what the plan was.

"Alright everypony, I am about to do a vital signs scan. If my aura turns green, it is alive. If it turns red, it is not. Plain and simple. Fluttershy, make sure the dog doesn't panic when I do this." Twilight stated as she began to focus the her magic into the appropriate spell.

Fluttershy nodded as she slowly walked over and lied down a few feet from the dog, careful not to accidentally make any aggressive movements and appear non threatening as possible; least as non threatening as you can get when you are already half the dog's size.

"Hey, Spike, we are going to need you to move for a second." Fluttershy said softly.

Spike merely whined in response, moving closer the the 'corpse' and refusing to move.

"I'm sorry, but we can't help your master if you are on top of him. You need to get off so that my friend can help. I promise that we won't cause any harm." Fluttershy tried to assure Spike.

Spike lingered on top of the 'corpse' for a few more moments before finally decided, reluctantly, to get off and let the ponies help. However, once he reached a lying position a few mere feet away, he kept a warning, predatory, glare upon Twilight. A glare that pretty much said: "Don't you dare try anything funny."

Twilight inwardly shivered at the Spike staring at her like she was going to be his next victim if she screwed up, but managed to cast the spell properly regardless. A white aura surrounded the 'corpse' and it began analyzing its vital signs for any signs of life. Tension grew in the room as the analyzing process went on and on. Spike kept his gaze upon Twilight. Fluttershy shuffled nervously next to Spike as she felt his aggression slowly and steadily growing higher as every second passed. Shining and the other guards kept their gaze upon the worrisome dog, fully prepared to put it down if necessary. Daring was glancing nervously around the room as it felt like it was about to explode. Lyra kept her focus on the 'corpse', a part of her hoping that this creature was still alive and another part of her terrified that it wasn't.

This tension went on for another 30 seconds for they finally received the results.

It flashed green before the spell dissipated.

The room remained in stunned silenced at what they just witnessed. They had a live intelligent life form from this alien world in the room with them, at this exact moment.

"...No Bucking Way." Daring whispered.

"Get it on a cot and somepony get a med kit! Now!" Somepony in the room said before the room fell into chaos.

Chapter 4: Encounter of the Fifth Kind (Part 1)

Some time now has passed when the ponies first made the discovery that the 'dead' alien that they had brought into their tent was in fact alive. Upon discovery, Twilight, Fluttershy, Lyra, and, surprisingly, even Shining worked frantically to attempt to prevent the alien from dying. The large dog, Spike, was a little more than displeased when the ponies suddenly intruded upon his master's body, throwing a more than a few threatening barks and growls at them. However, he calmed down a bit when Fluttershy convinced the uptight dog that they were not trying to hurt his master.

The ponies had gotten him onto a combination of four cots and treated him for his wounds. The alien's wounds were very severe, two deep puncture wounds resided in the alien's gut region, going through a few organs; whether or not they were vital organs the ponies did not know due to their unfamiliarity to the alien's biology. Fluttershy was sure that if it had not been so cold out and his blood didn't freeze, he would have bled out very quickly; it was probably the only reason he was alive at the current moment.

It was not an easy process for anyone, especially the main medic, Fluttershy, as the pressure of saving the very life of the alien rested upon her shaky, yet capable, hooves. The process would have been a lot faster, but Fluttershy had to be very careful about giving the alien drugs, antibiotics, or medicine of any kind. She feared that the creature may have an unexpected reaction to a foreign medicine. As such, it was very touch and go and experimental, going on for nearly three hours before Fluttershy became more comfortable and confident in her medicating. Many risks had to be taken and many close calls were had before they finally stabilized the alien. It was another hour after that they felt comfortable enough start him on stim-therapy, to ensure a faster recovery time.

Now, all, besides for the guards and Twilight, were surrounding the cot in which bared the resting alien creature. Spike, Lyra, Daring, and Fluttershy were all watching the alien very carefully as his (a gender they determined after they striped him of all his equipment for the medical purposes) chest slowly rose and fell. All were making sure he stayed stable and nothing else went wrong until he woke up. Twilight and the guards, on the other hoof, were observing the strange, yet familiar, equipment that they had stripped off the alien.

Lyra, while observing the alien, took some time to take as many mental notes of the creature's appearance and physical features as possible. Though Lyra was not showing it externally, she was actually quite psyched about this. Other than politics, Lyra took great interest in anatomy and biology as hobbies, and she was internally squeeing at the thought of being the first pony to study this new alien species first hoof.

She first observes the slender and muscular build of the alien's limbs and torso, taking note on how frail, yet study, his physical structure was. She then took note of the head and facial features. She almost made the mistake of comparing his looks to that of a equestrian monkey, but observed that his features were far more developed and more cute. She then noted the apparent lack of a fur or hair coat, apart from the top of his head, his face, and and far more intimate parts of his anatomy. Lyra found this lack of fur or hair curious, considering the environment it was surviving in.

However, what she found most interesting about this alien was the fact that it was bipedal, and more pointedly, that it had hands. Hands was a favorite when it came to parts of anatomy when it came to Lyra, she always found them fascinating and was personally very envious of the creatures who were gifted with them. There were so many applications for hands, so many uses, that ponies might have gotten so much farther so much faster if they all had hands; least in Lyra's opinion.

However, the hands of this alien creature was not interesting because of her obsession interest in hands. No, it was the fact that these were hands unlike anything she had seen before. The complexity of these hands were much greater than those she had seen from monkeys long hands or minotaurs stubby hands alike. They were almost perfect, not too long, not too stubby, simply a perfect median that could out perform the others by a long shot. These hands left Lyra was absolutely enthralled.

Twilight took interest in the alien's adaptive suit and gas mask, comparing it to the suits and gas masks of their own, surprisingly not finding much difference in their performance and function; they were basically the same if not in shape and size. She also took interest in a strange box like device that she couldn't figure out. It was just a plain box like device that didn't seem like it had any function at all. All it had was some sort of meter that didn't seem to move. She determined that it was obviously meant to detect something, but she wasn't sure what.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor and the guards took interest in some other round, tube like devices; particularly a large long one and a small short one. Shining couldn't quite figure out what they were at first, but figured it out quickly enough for him to prevent Sparks from blowing her own head off and putting a hole through the roof of their tent.

He recognized the weapon from a project back in Equestria. Though 'mini-cannons' didn't look anywhere nearly as advanced as these weapons, the way they were designed were very similar to the weapons before him; give or take the length and bulkiness. The idea of the 'Mini-Cannon' project was to create a weapon, using a similar concept behind cannon design, that shot a small projectile at hundreds of feet per second with ten times the force and lethality of their crossbows. Though it would have improved their weapon technology significantly, the project was scrapped due to 'safety concerns'. Apparently, many of the prototypes exploded upon firing and were deemed too dangerous to use in the field.

The weapons that Shining could see before him looked to be a perfected design of the lethal weapon they were trying to create themselves. A weapon that supposedly powerful enough to scare off or even kill something of the likes of a manticore within seconds. The idea that these aliens could create incredible weapons such as this both impressed and terrified Shining armor.

If there were ever a war between them and this alien race, he was not confident that they would be able match-up against this kind of weaponry. Though Shining was not one for going out without a fight, he was sure that they would most likely lose a war against these aliens. This, in itself, made Shining question the nature of these aliens. It made him wonder why these aliens would need such advanced weapons. Where they power hungry monsters? Or was there a even bigger threat than them that required better weaponry to fight off? Both probabilities were just as terrifying.

The next few minutes were spent in silence as Twilight continued to study the alien equipment and Shining continued to study the weapons. Nothing could be heard other than the wind whipping around outside the tent. That was until somepony spoke up.

"Well, now what?" Daring asked to nopony in particular.

"I guess we just wait until the alien wakes up." Twilight responded in a neutral tone, her focus solely on the alien equipment before her.

Daring rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, that much is obvious! What I am really asking is what we do when the damned thing wakes up!?"

"We'll just have to try to talk to it I suppose, perhaps even hope that it is in a good and talking mood." Lyra responded this time, though still keeping her focus on the alien; still trying to figure out the hands looking for any sign of it waking up.

Daring Facehooved. "You guys are all idiots... I don't know about you, but if I were to suddenly wake up to aliens from outer space surrounding my bed, I would be in anything but "good or talking mood," in fact, I might clock the nearest alien and go for my weapons." Daring responded, most pointedly at Shining and the other guards.

The moment Daring pointed it out, Shining did realize that they were keeping the weapons a bit too close to their owner; almost within arms reach. Though he really doubt the alien could in its condition, he could snatch the weapons at a moments notice. With that realization, Shining subtly moved the study of the alien weapons a few more feet away from the makeshift operating table.

"Well, what do you suppose we do, Ms. Daring? Restrain him? I am sure the dog will approve..." Shining replied, remembering the dog's first reaction when they tried to save his master.

"Well the dog is going to have to suck it up, because, at the current moment, this guy is a potential danger to us all. We sure as Tartarus don't know what the buck he is nor what he is capable of! He could have superpowers for all we know! We are going to have to restrain him somehow... just keep him from moving until we explain the situation to him." Daring suggested.

Shining, Twilight, and the guard seemed to like the idea, mumbling and nodding in agreement among themselves. Fluttershy and Lyra were not so sure; they believed that it might cause more harm than good.

"But Daring, are you sure restraining him is the best idea? I'm pretty sure that tying him up is probably going to cause more panic. It is going to look like we are taking him prisoner." Lyra countered.

"I agree, it would be like putting an animal in a cage. It will likely just cause more hostility." Fluttershy added.

"Well what do you suggest we do then? Ask it kindly to play nice?" Daring Replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the idea.

The room continued to debate on how to handle the alien situation, none of the ponies really gaining ground with their ideas. While Daring, Shining, Twilight and the guards wanted the alien to be restrained, Fluttershy and Lyra believed that may be a bad idea; for a huge variety of reasons. As the arguing continued, Fluttershy got an idea.

"Well... we could just blindfold it." Fluttershy suggested, just loud enough to be heard over the arguing ponies.

With that, the whole room went silent as their focus turned to Fluttershy, the latter instantly regretting the words that had left her mouth while the former awaited an explanation. Whether or not it was an explanation for how brilliant or stupid the idea was, Fluttershy did not know. Fluttershy was about to back away and go hide under a cot before somepony spoke up.

"We could what now?" Sparks asked confused, as if she had not heard what was said.

Fluttershy regained a little bit more confidence from this, making her believe that the group had simply not heard her idea and were simply asking for a reiteration. With this regained confidence, she repeated herself.

"Blindfold it, you know, put a cloth over its eyes?" Fluttershy explained.

"Yes, we know what you said Fluttershy, what I believe Sparks meant to ask is how in Tartarus do you think that will work?" Daring replied.

The confidence that Fluttershy regained almost made another hasty retreat as Fluttershy was informed that they had already heard her idea, and instead wanted her to explain herself; something that was not exactly her strong suit. Despite this, Fluttershy held strong. She knew that her idea would work, it had worked on some of her animals at home after all...

"Well, if he can't see us, he can't panic over us. Right?" Fluttershy explained further.

Daring seemed to put some thought into this, trying to decide whether or not it was an idea worth trying. As Daring thought about it, she realized that the idea did have some merit. If they did simply blindfold it and leave it as that, it would not be able to see them and immediately panic, much unlike what would happen if they restrained it. It could work.

However, however, as Daring thought about it more, she realized there were so many ways this could backfire on them. First off, there was no way they could keep him from taking the blind fold off. Secondly, there was no way to even convince it to keep it on as he likely didn't even speak the same language they do. Finally, unrestrained, it would still be a huge threat; as they still did not know what this being was capable of. As much as Daring would prefer this idea over pissing off an alien from another planet, there was just not enough merit to this idea to justify the risks they would be taking with this. If they were going to go with this idea, Daring had to know if they could prevent the current risks.

"Alright, you got me there, it could work, but how exactly do you plan to make it keep it on?" Daring asked.

Once again, Fluttershy's confidence was fleeing from her. She believed her solution was going down the drain at this point. Due to this, she was barely able to formulate her next response.

"We... um.... ask it nicely to?" Fluttershy near mutters. She then internally cringes when she realized what had left her mouth.

Daring mentally rolled her eyes, she near expected such a response. Especially from this timid Pegasus. "Right... and you do realize that it likely doesn't speak equish?"

"Well... um..." Fluttershy muttered.

Thankfully, as Fluttershy was about to abandon ship on the idea, Twilight came to the rescue.

"Actually, I believe Fluttershy's idea has some merit. We could just blindfold it, and I could use a translation spell to convince it that the blind fold is necessary for the time being. This way, we can avoid panic all together and give us the opportunity to explain the situation without conflict on either end. We could even possibly get some information out of it." Twilight added in support of Fluttershy's idea.

Though Daring was surprised by Twilight's apparent change of heart on the alien matter, her input was not unwelcome. Daring had never considered a translation spell, and almost felt stupid for it. Now this idea was starting to look quite a bit more appealing. If they could just convince it to keep the blindfold on, they might be able to just pull it off without any problems. Worse comes to worse, they'll just have to put it out with a stun spell. It could just work...

"Really? You can do that? Well, I would feel a whole lot better if we just tied it up, but, if you think this will work, I am willing to try it." Daring replied.

"Are we all in agreement?" Twilight asked everypony in the room.

Every pony except for Shining and the guards seemed to like the idea, as they still didn't really think that leaving the alien was a good idea.

"Are you sure that the translation spell will work Twilight? I mean, we are on a different world. Perhaps it won't work here." Shining added in.

"There is nothing to worry about, Shiny. I've been able to use magic just fine since we got here, haven't felt any sort of strain yet. I am sure we will be able to use magic just fine here." Twilight said.

"Yes what if we can't convince it to stay calm and keep the blindfold on? What if-"

"Then we put it out with a stun spell, seriously, you worry too much." Twilight gave as an amused replied.

Shinning looked as if he wanted to add more, but decided to just let his sister do her thing. If things go wrong, then they will have to do it the other way. With that Shinning finally gave a slight nod in permission.

"Fine, we will do it this way, but if anything goes wrong, we are restraining him. You got one chance.

"That is all we are asking for." Lyra replied off to the side.

With every pony in agreement, they proceeded with their plan. Fluttershy blindfolded the unconscious alien and the group patiently awaited him to awake. They didn't know how long it would be, but they didn't have anything else to do anyways until the storm cleared anyways.

Twilight, Lyra, Daring, and everypony else, wondered about the same things. What would he be would be like? Was he some monster or warlord of these frozen lands, seeking to conquer and destroy anything that was in his way; much like the monsters and villains of their own world? Was he a peace keeper, a soldier or warrior of this world whose only goal was to protect it from those who wish to destroy it? None of the ponies really knew, and it would remain a mystery to be uncovered until the alien woke up...

"GAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

...which was to be sooner than they originally thought.

***

"GAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A shrill and ear piercing scream erupted from my mouth as I quite suddenly woke up.

Agonizing pain was coursing though my body, my entirety withering and burning as I spasm uncontrollably on a rather uncomfortable surface. Fucking hell this hurts! What the fuck was happening to me? What the fuck even happened to me!? Didn't I die? Is this hell? I don't even fucking know anymore!! AH FUCK PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!! IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!

I continued to scream my head off, begging someone, anyone to end my misery; though it probably only sounded like more garbled screaming as I could even formulate a sentence. I felt as if I was going to pass out again, but that was when I felt a stab in my side and something being ejected into me. The relief was almost instant, but not entirely. My spasms continued for another few seconds before they finally seized all together.

I let out a sigh of relief as whatever I was injected with did its work. Soon, even the aching I was feeling after the spasms stopped was gone completely. At this point, nothing else mattered as all my pain was unbelievably removed from my body. I didn't think about where I was, who I was, how I ended up here, whether or not I died, or even if Spike was okay. I simply lied there, basking in my relief.

However, As I lied there, basking in my relief, I was suddenly brought back to reality as I heard voices all around me; either shouting or speaking in hushed voices.

"What the buck just happened!? Fluttershy!?" I heard a scratchy voice exclaimed.

I think I remember this one... This is Tomboy right? Wait, if I am hearing Tomboy, and she is this close...

"I-I don't know. Perhaps he had a bad reaction to one of our medicines?" A soft feminine voice replied nervously.

I remember this one too, Fluttershy right? Holy shit...

"I thought you said there shouldn't be a problem!?" Another familiar voice near shouted, the authoritative voice.

I am in the goddamned tent! This isn't good... I still don't know these people.

"Shinning! There no need to yell at her. There was no way to know this could have happened." The educated voice replied.

I need to find my weapons, it could be possible to just hold them up, get my gear, restock, and head out...

"Yeah, lets just try to keep our heads here." A feminine voice replied. This one I didn't recognize...

No. That won't work, whatever they injected me with likely will make me a bit dopey, and I won't be able to react as quickly or even be able to stand up straight... But then again, that would have effected me mentally, right? I think I am thinking relatively straight? What fuck did they inject me with!?

"Dear Celestia, that scared the crap out of me, that thing has a set of lungs!" A masculine voice replied. I think this was subordinate...

Forget about it, I can't gun my way out as I apparently can't see. Due to the fact that I can't even feel anything at the moment, I am not sure if they have my blindfolded or even restrained... Perhaps I can talk my way out?

"Yeah, tell me about it... Say, do you think he is awake now?" Another unfamiliar feminine voice replied.

Well, looks like I am going to have to anyways. They haven't killed me yet and wasted some of their medicine on me, they must want me alive for some reason. Let's find out why... What the fuck was that shit anyways? Must have been really hard to find... How the fuck did they even save me? I was practically torn in two! There is a lot of shit that is going on that make zero sense at the moment...

"I don't know, it is hard to tell... should I get the translation spell ready?" The educated voice said.

The translation what now?

"Yeah, probably a good idea, do your thing Twilight." The authoritative voice, now known as Shinning replied; revealing the once again strange name of one of the group members.

At this point, I couldn't take it anymore, all this confusion was becoming a little bit too much. "What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked myself.

It was only a few seconds later, when I noticed how silent the room became, that I realized I had said that out loud. Real smooth, me, real smooth. Now they knew I was awake, and likely listening to them the entire time.

"Wow, Twilight, I didn't think that spell would actually work! Good job. Did you cast it on all of us or something?" The authoritative voice replied in reaction to something I apparently missed.

"I didn't..." The educated voice, now known as Twilight, replied quietly, in a rather shocked tone.

"What?" Everyone in the room seemed to ask at once. Other than me that is, who was still confused a fuck as to what was even going on in the first place.

"I didn't cast the spell, he just talked to us in Equish." Twilight restated.

Equish? What the fuck is going on here? I decided that this was the right moment to reiterate my question, colorfully.

"Seriously, what the fuck are you people talking about? While you are at it, who the fuck are you, why the fuck can't I see? What the fuck did you inject me with? Where the fuck is my dog? And what the actual fuck do you want with me!?" I interrupted the conversation, with more than a few f-bombs

The whole room was completely silent once more, despite the fact that I couldn't feel anything at all, I could feel all their eyes upon me. It was at this point I realized that I made a potentially deadly mistake. Weirdos or not, these people had the upper hand, and I was in no position to be making any demands. What I said now could very well get me shot, that is if they really don't want me as badly as I originally thought.

As I was about to make an apology and try to speak with these... strange people... with a bit more reasonable tone, tomboy spoke up.

"No bucking way."

This is going to be a extremely confusing conversation...

Chapter 5: Encounter of the Fifth Kind (Part 2)

Shit was just plain weird at the moment, and all of this weird bullshit was coming in and piling all over me so fast I felt that I was suffocating in it.

I think I might have died. Though, I am not entirely sure given my current situation. The agonizing pain I felt earlier was something else, something that couldn't possibly be simulated in a dream of any kind. The pain was real, therefore what happened after that should be real as well. However, I am starting to have my doubts at this point. I am hearing some weird things coming from the mouths of my captors/saviors; things that nobody in their right mind would ever say. I am starting to have a feeling that whatever they injected me with for the pain was altering my perceptions somehow, least I could hope. I rather not be trapped in a tent with a bunch on nutcases.

However, at this point, I decided to just go with it. Sense altering drugs or not, these people are likely the ones who saved me; for whatever reason they might have. I need to figure out the reason they want me alive, now.

"Alright, alright... Can someone tell me what the hell going on? Did you people pull me out of the snow?" I asked calmly. There was no more need for yelling a shouting, as I didn't want to increase the potential tension in the room any further than I had already.

It took a moment to someone to speak up. It seemed they only just realized I asked them a question as one approached my current position to respond. I did notice an abnormality in his or her footsteps; there was a second pair that accompanied it. However, I assumed that it was just someone else following behind.

"Y-yes, yes we did. W-we found you outside after that monster attacked. Y-you were hurt bad a-and needed help!" The voice of Fluttershy responded. She sounded nervous...

Monster? They don't know was a stalker is? Well, that is pretty strange... Then again, what hasn't been today? I decided to ignore that little detail and continue my line of questioning.

"Alright, why did you pull me out? Why did you patch me up? What do you people want with me?" I questioned further, though I did notice that I was being a bit more blunt than I needed to.

"Wha- What do you mean? You were hurt! Why wouldn't we help you? Why would you expect us to let you die?" Fluttershy responded back, seemingly shocked and appalled by what I implied. Chatter and mumbling around the room indicated everyone else were wondering the same thing.

Now this I was deeply confused by. What the hell did she mean by that? Is she saying that she would have help anyone in my situation? Regardless over whether or not she knew them or not? No, she is lying, this is a trick to place me in a sense of false security. That sort of courtesy doesn't exist, not anymore. No one, and I repeat, no one does something for nothing out here. These people want something, and they are unwilling to tell me what. Usually that is a bad sign, I need to be careful.

I decided to play along, cautiously, pretending that I am ignorant of what they are try to do.

"Heh, I don't know. There are people nowadays who would take advantage of someone in a situation such as mine. I merely assumed that you folk might be one of those kinds of people, my apologies. Thank you for saving me." I answered, with as much fake sincerity as I could manage.

"Oh, well, you're welcome. It was the least we could do, really."

I felt anger swell within me as Fluttershy told me this. All I could think was. "Bullshit, all those medical supplies you used on me must have been a bitch to come by. If you want something, why don't you just fucking tell me and stop tiptoeing you way around it you motherfuckers!" However, I kept that to myself, saving that anger to be used later. Right now, I needed to figure out what kind of situation I was in.

Before I could ask another question, however, another individual entered the conversation. Shining, I believe if my memory serves me right. (Starting to doubt that it is considering how fucked up these names are.)

"These people you talk about, ones who would take advantage, there wouldn't happen to be any around here would there?" Shining asked.

At this point, I believed I figured out what they were trying to get out of me. It was a pretty strange question to ask in the first place, considering the answer should be obvious. There were plenty of people like that out here, I am included in those numbers; simply the way of life out here. However, I then figured it had a deeper meaning. He was asking if I was with another group, another group that would be coming for me.

There isn't of course, but I need to keep these cards close to my chest. If they knew I was alone, god knows what would happen. So I need to lead them on to think I was indeed with another group.

What better way to do that than to state it bluntly!

"If you are asking if I am with another group, you could have just asked you fucking asshole; seriously. Yes, I am with a group, least 20 people strong. Also, yes, they will be coming to look for me, and the dog. You better have not hurt that dog, that dog is our favorite dog."

This seemed to start some chatter in the room, hushed whispers and shouts shot across the room. They seemed worried about something, though I couldn't really hear what. That in turn made me worried. If they were this afraid of another group nearby, it must mean they have enemies. I could easily be that enemy to them, I might have just made a mistake...

...However, on the other hand, Spike was still alive, I can hear him barking in the background of all this; he sounds just fine. It is a good thing they did not hurt him. They would have paid dearly...

Suddenly one of the women spoke to me, it was one of the unidentified voices from before.

"Your group, how reasonable are they? On a scale of one to ten let's say." The woman asked.

I was a bit suspicious of the question, as it was another really strange question, but I replied anyways. "Speaking on the behalf of my entire group, I'd say it depends on what you are implying."

"Well, lets say that perhaps-

"LYRA!!! Shut up, we will get to that with him in a moment! Now is not a good time." I heard Shining yell at the now identified Lyra. What is with these names?

The fact that, when Lyra was about to explain what they were all skittish about, she was told to shut up did not bode well with me. If they were going to be this secretive about it, it probably didn't mean anything good about my future. It was at this point I figured it is time to get the hell out of here.

I suddenly began to notice that I was regaining feeling in my body. Whatever they gave me was wearing off. I wasn't entirely sure if this meant that horrible pain that I was feeling earlier was about to make a very sudden and unpleasant return, but I at least could make a bit more sense of my surroundings. As far as I could tell, I was still on the extremely uncomfortable bed, I was not restrained, and I was in fact not blind; they had simply blindfolded me.

I began to think about what to do next, as my captors kept arguing among themselves about what I assumed was what to do given the new false information provided by me. I couldn't hear anything they were saying, as they were being very quiet in their discussion, but I spotted an opportunity. Since the dumb motherfuckers had not restrained me, and they seemed quite busy at the moment, I was free to move about as I pleased. All I needed to do now is remove the blindfold, find my weapons, and take control of the situation. After that, we'll negotiate.

With my plan in mind, I started subtly. Reaching to my face, I began to remove the fold from my eyes, slowly in hope that I would not attract too much attention. A few seconds later, the blindfold was off, and I was looking up at the tent roof. No one was screaming at me yet. So far so good.

I became a bit more bold as I looked down at my body, to see what my captors had done to keep me alive. I was shocked to find that my entire torso was wrapped in heavy duty, pristine, and clean bandages. I had never seen anything like this in my life! No one had medical supplies of this quality, not even the underground bunkers! These things were brand new and no where close to being homemade. Where the fuck did they get this kind of equipment?

I set my mind off that as I simply hoped that I was patched up enough to be capable of doing what I was about to do.

With that, I directed my vision to my left, where my captors were argu- WHAT THE FUCK!!!

When I turned my head to the left, I almost jumped off the table in shock. Right there, to the left of me, were my captors, arguing about something I no longer cared for. They were not who I thought they were, they were not what I thought they were; not even close. It suddenly became very clear to me why they were acting sketchy this entire time. What I saw to my left were the very beings of which our entire world feared and hated, what I saw were beings of pure evil and genocidal beliefs, what I saw to my left were the devil's servants themselves.

They were the invaders. The were aliens, ones who saw to our world's end.

I didn't even think, not for any reasonable explanation, not even for a plan. I simply reacted. The moment I saw my weapons lying right beside them, I went for them. My full intent to was kill every single one of them.

Of course, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy...

***

"LET HER GO YOU MOTHERBUCKER!!! I SWEAR TO CELESTIA, I WILL PUT YOU DOWN."

"Everypony! Let's try to calm down and talk this thoug-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU INVADING FREAKS!!! I SWEAR THAT I WILL PUT A BULLET IN HER HEAD IF YOU DON'T DROP YOUR WEAPONS RIGHT NOW!!!"

"BARK BARK BARK!!!"

"Please! Everypony calm down, we don't have to do th-"

"BITCH, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FUCKING FOOL ME!!!"

Everything happened to fast, nopony even knew what was happening until the alien grabbed Fluttershy and placed one of his liberated weapons to her head. It was at that point the room descended into chaos once more; likely for the third time today. Shinning and the other guards were quick to grab their own weapons and aim at the offending alien. However, since the alien was using Fluttershy as a shield and hostage, it was difficult for them to get a shot off. Now, the situation has dissolved into a shouting match, one that the alien was clearly winning.

"For Celestia sake's, why wasn't anypony watching this guy!" Daring shouted. She was circling the offending creature, trying to see if she could get a good angle on the alien to disarm him. No such luck as soon the alien back himself into a corner, leaving no possible way for the ponies to counter attack.

"Why the buck didn't we just tie him up like we originally planned!?" Iron countered. He was attempting to get a head shot on the alien, but it turned out that the alien was far smarter than that. He left little of himself to be shot at as he hid behind Fluttershy. The little Iron could aim at was far to close to Fluttershy, he wouldn't risk the shot.

"P-please s-stop! L-let me go! We're j-just trying to help!" Fluttershy sobbed uselessly as she was used a shield against her friends.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD FUCKING TALK! SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I SWEAR I WILL END HER!" The alien shouted once again, pressing the barrel of his weapon harder against Fluttershy's head, causing the yellow pegasus to squeak in fear.

"If you hurt her, you are not getting out of here alive. Surrender damn you!" Shinning commanded the alien. He, like the other guards, were having a very hard time getting a shot off at the alien.

"LET HER GO YOU MONSTER!!!" Twilight shouted at the alien in rage as she attempted to disarm the alien with her magic. However, she came to find she was unable to. Every time he tried, her magic was stopped by some unknown force. This both infuriated and confused her, why was her magic not working against him now of all times; when her friends are in danger!

"FUCK YOU, NONE OF YOU ARE GETTING OUT OF HERE ALIVE!!! WE DON'T NEGOTIATE WITH YOU GENOCIDAL FUCKS!"

This left the ponies silent for a few moments as they briefly contemplated what they were just called, however, most shrugged it off right away as they assumed the aliens was shouting mere nonsense at them. However, Lyra caught onto what they were being called, what they were being accused of. They would never do, or have done, anything like that to her knowledge! Could it be that they were mistaken for something else?

With this knowledge, Lyra stepped in to try to get to the bottom of this; she activated her diplomacy mode.

"Genocidal? What are you talking about!? We come in peace! We have no hostile intentions!" Lyra tried to reason.

This seemed to anger the alien even further. It was as if he resented something about that statement, and looked like he was tempted to pull the gun away from Fluttershy and attempt to shoot Lyra instead. However, thankfully for her, he decided to simply yell some more.

"BULLSHIT!!! YOU SICK FUCKS CERTAINLY DIDN'T COME IN PEACE WHEN YOU DECIDED TO COME TO OUR WORLD, SLAUGHTER OUR PEOPLE, AND BURN OUR HOMES!!!"

This time, everypony knew what he was implying, it even gave the furious Twilight pause. Were they really just accused of being mass murderers?

"What!? Dear Celestia..." Fluttershy near yelled, she almost felt sick.

"We've never done such a thing! We just got here for Celestia's sake!" Shinning objected.

"Buck you sir! We never done anything like that in our lives! Put the bucking weapon down!" Sky Chaser yelled.

"NO, YOU DID THIS TO US!!! YOU KILLED US!!! AND NOW I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"

Now, everything was reaching its breaking point. Fluttershy was a panicking, sobbing mess, Twilight looked liked she was ready to tear this alien apart with her bare hooves, Daring was about ready to jump, Shining and the guards were ready to light the alien up if and when the alien made his move, and finally, the alien looked like he was about to pull the trigger. If somepony didn't stop this now, it was going to be a blood bath. So Lyra, at the risk of being shot, spoke up once again

"What do these aliens look like!?" Lyra practically screamed in panic as the room was about to explode.

This seemed to give the alien pause, as he briefly contemplated the question that was now ringing in his ears. His eyes seemed to widen as he seemed to make a startling discovery.

"What?" The alien near whispered.

Lyra almost let out a sigh of relief as she delayed a catastrophic, but quickly realized she need to still diffuse the bomb.

"I asked, what did these aliens look like!?" Lyra asked again.

The whole room was silent once more as the alien contemplated. He seemed to come up with another conclusion, however, this one was not one Lyra had hoped for.

"Fuck you, you are just a different variant. You are just trying to trick me..." The alien rationalized with himself.

Lyra realized that her argument was falling apart, and quickly acted to reinforce it.

"No, we are not! We are not them! If we were them, why would we try to help you? Why would we patch you up with our little medical supplies? Why would we save your life? If we were genocidal monsters, why would we help instead of leaving you to die out there!?" Lyra countered.

"You... Your... No, it can be. You are playing tricks on me! Your-" The alien tried to rationalize once again, but it was clear that his resolve was faltering. Lyra knew it was time to push again.

"No, no we are not. We are not what you think we are. Let Fluttershy go and we can talk about this."

The alien went silent as it seemed to try to rationalize something, anything, that told him is actions were correct. However, as time passed, it was clear that he could not come up with anything.

However, much to her surprise, the alien's resolve sprung back up almost instantly. It almost seemed like it was for no apparent reason, or cause. The alien was ready to pull the trigger once again. This shocked Lyra, as she thought that she talked him down. What was happening?

"It's to late. Even if what you are saying is the truth, there is no way you are letting me leave, not after this. I can see it, I can see it in all of you! You are going to kill me the moment I give up! That is not going to happen!" The alien stated, his resolve completely regained.

"NO! That won't happen! We are willing to talk it out! Isn't that right everypony?" Lyra asked, or more like stated, to the rest of the group.

"Yes, we promise we won't kill you if you give up now. However, if your hurt Fluttershy, I cannot promise anything." Shinning Armor stated reasonably.

Everypony else remained silent, none promising the same verbally, but giving a simple nod in agreement.

The alien shook his head, and looked like he was about to laugh. "No, I don't think so. You want a deal, here is how it will work. You will drop your weapons, and put them in that corner over in the back, and return to your current positions. Once you do that, I'll let Fluttershy go, I'll reclaim my other weapons and equipment, and then we can talk."

Daring scoffed at the Alien's deal. Did he really think that they were that stupid? "What makes this any different than what you wanted us to do before?"

"Before, I was going to kill you all, take back my stuff, loot your corpses and tents for valuables, and leave your bodies for the stalker. As of now, I am willing to be reasonable." The alien bluntly stated.

Everypony in the room was shocked by the boldness of this alien, however, they could also tell the he was being completely serious. For For Shinning, it was terrifying how confident this alien was in his demands and threats. It was as if he had done this before, many times. Most terrifyingly of all, he looked like he was one to live up to his threats.

"So, now that I have made myself perfectly clear, drop your fucking weapons."

***

It took a few moments of negotiation, however, eventually we all came to a relatively peaceful conclusion. The aliens dropped their weapons and put them in the corner like I asked them to and they returned my Equipment. In turn, I release Fluttershy. She was a huge mess by the time I finally released her, sobbing and crying in ways you cannot believe.

Upon release, she immediately fled to hide under one of the various cots in the room. One of the other aliens, the purple one I believed was named Twilight, immediately ran to her side to comfort her; all the while giving the biggest death glare I had ever been given in my life. By god did I deserve it... Never have I felt like such a monster in my life; such a bastard... She is fragile as a child, and I feel like I might have traumatized her for life. To think it could have been all avoided. If I had just... No, now is not the time to dwell on it, focus on the now. Have to keep up my appearances, otherwise they will see weakness and exploit it.

Regardless, after all that bullshit I put her through, I feel like I owe her an apology. I'll need to give her one before I leave.

Anyways, I got my equipment back. The thermal suit was torn open, it will be a bitch, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't fix. Everything else was in the condition I left it in, so I was pretty good to go once I got the thermal suit sown up.

While I got my shit organized and fixed, I sat next to the stockpiled weapons; keeping guard over them in case the aliens decided to try something funny. I observed the weapons whiled I worked on my suit repair, and came to notice how completely outdated their weaponry was. They were fucking crossbows and spears for fuck sakes! Not even the most desperate bandits would use this shit! Hell, it wouldn't even go through a thermal suit! These aliens, figuratively speaking, brought knifes to a gunfight.

If this is high tech weaponry where they came from, they must have had little to worry about...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tent, the aliens sat and chatted quietly among themselves. Wasn't quite sure what exactly they were they were talking about, much like when I was on the makeshift cot, but I am dead certain it was about me. What else would there be to talk about in this situation? The snow? How and why it is so fucking freezing outside? I doubt it.

It could be they are trying to figure out a plan to surprise me and get their weapons. At this point, I feel I may as well save them the trouble and give the damned useless things back. However, I'd rather not take any more stupid risks than I have today.

Huh, is it even still today? How long was I out anyways?

"I know you are all happy chatting among yourselves and secretly plotting to overthrow me, for whatever misconceived notion you got in your minds, but I am deadly curious at the moment. How long was I out?" I asked the group of aliens.

I almost laughed as they looked at me as if I caught them in the act. I could have sworn I even heard a "How the buck did he hear us?" in there somewhere. However, I managed to keep myself together as they formulated a response.

"A little more than three hours" The green alien, the one known as Lyra, answered.

"huh... I expected it to be longer." I mused to myself. Seriously, with the shit I went through, you would expect to be knocked out for a few days at most.

The aliens went back to their plotting discussion, and I went back to sewing. Spike came and joined me, lying down right next to me and attempting to snuggle under my arm. I, in turn, paused my repairs of my suit to give spike his desperately needed attention. I suppose almost losing its master can have a stressful effect on a dog, enough to nearly kill it apparently. Spike, as far as I heard, was risking life any limb to save my life. To me, that is worth more than a few ear scratches.

Another few minutes passed in silence as I finished loving up Spike and completed my suit repair. With that, I fitted the suit back on and zipped it up. That was one thing done any over with. Hopefully the patch should hold up until New York.

Speaking of which...

I looked out the window of the tent, you could now see at least ten feet out, the storm was clearing up. Soon I could get out of this mad house full of aliens and back on the trail to New York. Sooner the better. I am sure these aliens will try to retaliate soon.

Suddenly, I heard Spike growl behind me. I let out a slight sigh as I knew why.

I turned back to the group of aliens, and came to realize that one particular alien was closer than the rest. The purple one, Twilight, was trying to sneak up on me. However, I guess she didn't take into account that the dog, despite everything they have done for him, was still on my side. I shook my head.

"Twilight, isn't it?" I asked.

"Twily! Get back here!" The white alien, Shining, commanded in a hushed tone.

Twilight, despite being told to stand down, still stood firm. Glaring up at me in defiance. She looked like she wanted blood. By the way she was side glancing at those crossbows, I could tell she wanted a lot of it. It didn't concern me, even with that freaky energy she had been using. She wouldn't have time to load it before Spike was on her.

"You hurt my friends. Why? Why did you do this!? After everything we have done for you! To save you! Why did you come around and hurt us!?" Twilight practically shouted at me.

Spike looked about ready to jump and restrain the alien, but with a sharp whistle, I commanded Spike to stand down. I looked down at the alien, her eyes stared back up at me with a fury of a star. She demanded an answer, and she was going to receive one; whether I liked it or not. So I suppose I was going to give her one.

Getting down on one knee. I got down to her level, and looked her in the eye.

"To tell you the truth, I was scared. I was scared and I reacted in order to survive." I answered simply.

Twilight gave me a even bigger glare for that answer. Apparently she didn't like it.

"What kind of answer is that! That is no excuse for your actions! There was no need to react, as there was no reason to try to survive! We were not trying to hurt you! We were trying to help you!" Twilight countered.

With that, I knew I needed to explain myself further.

"I know that now, however, not before. I didn't know who you people were, why you took me in, why I was blind, or that you were even aliens. There was plenty of reason to react, Twilight." I answered calmly once again.

"That is still no excuse! Hasn't your mother taught you that you shouldn't judge people before you know them!? Shouldn't have you waited before you judged us?!" Twilight scolded me as if I were a child.

That last one hit hard, as I really didn't know the answer to that first question. I honestly didn't know if mother taught me that, I don't remember if I even had a mother, a mother figure at least. I don't know what she taught me, if anything. I am not sure if she taught me common courtesy, manners, or least of all when to judge. The fact this bitch brought that up made me want to kill her then and there.

However, I was better than that, I let it go. There would be plenty of time to discover who my mother was and what she taught me when I got to New York. In the mean time, I had an answer for the second question.

"Tell me Twilight, when you look outside the tent window, what do you see?" I asked, maintaining my serenity.

The purple alien seemed confused by the question, but answered anyways.

"Snow... but what does that have to do with anything?"

I smirked as she told me this. Of course she would see that, any innocent mind would. No innocent mind would look closer and see the awful truth about it. What the 'snow' really was. They need a hint, a hint that they will eventually clue in. I was more than happy to provide that hint.

"Are you sure Twilight? Is it really just snow? Are you sure there isn't anything else out there?" I asked methodically.

Twilight stared at the 'snow' outside once more, seeming to try to contemplate what I was getting at. However, by the look on her face, it was obvious she still didn't understand.

"I don't know what you are getting at." Twilight replied, turning her scrutinizing gaze back upon me.

"Well, when you do figure it out, maybe then you will understand my actions. Perhaps you won't forgive them, but you will understand." I replied simply, getting back on my feet and turning back to the window once more to observe the dying whiteout.

Honestly, I didn't care that she didn't get it yet. She will eventually, assuming that she her group doesn't listen to my next words of advice. If and when she finds out, given her innocence, it will probably break her. Likely just like it would any of the other aliens in here. However, I guess that is just another living condition of living in this world. In a way, we are all broken.

Yes, and I also know I gave her plenty of opportunity to grab a crossbow and shoot me in the back. However, between Spike, her, and our discussion, I don't think she will try it. It would be pointless at this point.

"I haven't heard you apologize." Twilight said behind me.

I let out a sigh as I remembered what exactly had happened not even an hour ago. An apology was the least I could do at this point.

"I am sorry I reacted..." I started

Turning my head, I looked at the alien I traumatized, still hiding pitifully under the cot. She turned up her head and looked back at me with sad eyes. If I hadn't long ago, I might have died inside from the mere sight.

"...and I am sorry Fluttershy had to be at the blunt end of my reaction." I finished.

With that I turned my gaze away and back the outside world. You could now almost see clearly out, only mere gusts of white remained. The storm was over. It was time to see what I could stock up on for supplies before head off again. I have outstayed my welcome. I turned back around to address the group of ponies.

"Now, I have a question for the rest of you. Do you still consider me a threat?" I asked the group of aliens, still facing the window.

The aliens didn't answer at first, almost confused by he question. However, eventually, they gave a silent shake of the head as a response.

"Then retrieve your weapons, I have no reason to keep them from you." I replied, looking out the window once more.

The ponies seemed a little shocked by this, if silence was something to go by. I turned my head to confirm that the aliens were indeed looking at me in shock. I suppose they didn't expect that. I actually let out a small laugh at their expense.

"Well, go on, get them. Seriously, you people are acting like a bunch of hostages." I replied.

The aliens retrieved their weapons, and much to my good fortune, they decided to not start shooting at me. It seems that we had finally started to come to an agreement that we were not each other's enemy, and that we could coexist in harmony and all that bullshit; least for the time being. Now was the time to negotiate for supplies, get my shit together, wish the aliens luck in getting the fuck out, and head out for New York.

However, it turns out nothing is ever that simple. Soon, I was to find out that I was probably going to have to stick around a little longer...

Chapter 6: Negotiations with an Alien