The Grey of Winter

Mason Grey trekked through the blizzard, his scarf trailing behind him, beaten back by the harsh and cold wind. It had been three years since 'The Breach' had left him to fend for himself in the snow. All he could do for three years, was survive.

He then noticed that the Giant he was tracking was travelling down and out of the mountains. Odd behavior for the mindless beasts, and Mason wondered where it was going.

He was a young man of 25 when 'The Breach' incident had started. The creatures that came out of it, Dragons. Manticores. Giants. Timberwolves. They had slaughtered everyone on the British Isles and the last time he checked, they were migrating south to France and Belgium. But that didn't matter anymore. All that mattered to mason was survival. Food, and shelter were especially hard to find in this godforsaken weather. The snow was always shifting and the animals were good at hiding. However, Giants were common, and to keep himself from going insane, Mason hunted them for sport. His railgun did the job right, with a shot to the chest and a shot to the head.

However, this particular giant was giving him trouble. They never wandered out of the mountains. Why would they start now? It felt to Mason like it was leading him somewhere. Those thoughts were quickly dispelled when he assured himself that a skyscraper tall giant of ice and metal did not care for him. He was an ant, compared to them.

Mason's trek continued. The winds had picked up and it was getting especially cold now. In the distance Mason could see a very faint pink glow. He tightened his scarf and kept walking forward. As he did, it got brighter, and clearer. Soon, he noticed that the pink light almost looked like...a wall?

No, mason thought to himself. But he had hoped it was someone, anyone in fact. The first sign of civilization in three years. Then, he had reached it, surprising him when he found out it was a pink wall after all. Almost glass-like. He looked up and immediately noticed the gaping hole in the pink dome. He then heard screams, and the sounds of stone colliding with stone. There were people in there. And they were in trouble. Mason ran a few feet back, knelt down, and readied his railgun. And then, he fired at the wall.

The pink wall never stood a chance. Mason got up and secured the railgun strap around his midsection once more. He was reminded of a certain phrase from Shakespear as he walked into the hole he made. "Once more unto the breach.", and it was fitting of the portal that brought him here. And brought those ungodly creatures to Earth.

As he walked in, Mason noticed there was no snow, except for what was drifting in through the two holes in the pink barrier. It was warm, but unnaturally so. And there were fires.

Mason spotted the giant in the distance, bashing it's arms against a tall spire seemingly made of crystal. The screaming was much louder, now that he was inside what appeared to be a city made of nothing but crystals. Mason started running towards the giant, not caring of the fact that the human like screaming was coming from creatures that resembled small horses. Ponies, maybe. But they were in trouble. And Mason was a soldier.

A soldier who protected the innocent. And these ponies did nothing to provoke the giant.

Mason had made it to the base of the spire when a body fell from the giant's grasp. A white pony, with a short dual shaded blue mane wearing important looking armor. That's when he heard it.

"NOO! SHINY!". It was a female pony, a pink one with wings and a horn that flew down to the body. With tears in her eyes and openly sobbing she dashed over to the body, not sparing Mason a second glance, and embraced it.

Mason had little time to think on the scene before him as the giant turned to face the three of them. The pink pony looked towards Mason as he readied his railgun once more.

"Who are you?" she asked. Mason got the giant's center of mass in his sights.

"Here to help." Mason simply replied.

[b*]BOOM*

A shot to the center of mass, causing the giant to be stunned for a moment. Mason reloaded and aimed at the head.

*BOOM*

And the head came clean off. The giant began to fall backwards. Mason's job was done. It felt good to finally kill a giant for a reason. To avenge the ponies it hurt today. To avenge the fallen pony that the pink one was embracing.

The giant impacted the ground, no doubt crushing a few dozen houses in the process. And so, Mason turned to leave, his job here done. But the pink pony spoke again.

"Wait!" she began, and Mason stopped, and turned to face her. "Don't go! You just stopped that giant from destroying the city any further!" she said as she wiped tears from her eyes. "I don't know who or what you are, but we-no, I owe you a debt for saving what's left of my city. You should stay here for a while, we could learn so much from each other."

She clearly knew Mason was not a species native to...whatever this place was. And so, he thought that maybe he could stay a while. Three years of doing nothing but trying to survive can do a number on a man.

"Okay, I'll stay. And maybe you're right. I'm not from around here after all. So maybe I could learn something." Mason said, relieved that three years of running and hunting with very little sleep was now behind him. But there was more to do than rest. Mason knew there were buildings that needed repairing, and dead to be buried.