'Gods...why couldn't the people that make these things have them taste like actual honey roasted granola instead of cardboard.'

Taking another bite from the same one inch square piece of filling granola I let out a disdain full snort as the feeling of being full started to overtake me, another day of starvation staved off, for the time being. As the last of the granola is disappears from view I get up from the top of my Atlas, yawning in the pre-dawn light watching the sun rise slowly over the tree top.

Grabbing my Kraber from my back I rotated it around and placed it on my lap, I grabbed the bolt action and pulled it back before discarding the magazine, and pushed the spent round back into the box then shifting it back into the Kraber without properly chambering the round leaving it in a dry fire state.

"Atlas, stay here, I am going to check on the zebra and see if she is alright, its not everyday that a civilian getting caught in the crossfires between a pilot and his enemy survives or leave it unscathed. If I sense any danger I will contact you via silent chatter, stay here and see if anything shows up and if something does take a picture of it and send it to me so I can verify if it is friend, foe or neutral." with that I placed my Kraber back where it belongs and checked the setting on my Taser to its lowest setting, I rather not accidentally kill something unless it absolutely deserves it.

The Atlas gave a thumbs up with his left hand before retrieving his ARC Cannon and stood up before starting to rotate around, scanning everything in a circle, his optical scanners turning on to pick up anything that is out of place.

Turning on my active cloaking device I skirted through the trees and bushes of the forest, still unsure of what is safe and edible and what is lethal and dangerous to consume or be around like the giant fly trap. Walking through this forest I saw that a great deal of no wood wolves or even the legendary hydra, the monster from Greek mythology with the exception that this hydra wasn't grey and that it didn't have eight heads, it only had four.

During this walk to the zebra's hut I started to see less of the gnarled trees and more normal looking trees, their bark was brown and lively and the leaves were green instead of being dead or non-existent.

'Huh...seems like I was in the center of the forest everything there must be dead for some reason or another while everything far away from the central area is lively and safe looking...what could possibly be the cause of this. Couldn't be me...right?'

It was during this walk through the forest did I start to see familiar and if not similar creatures from Earth and any other planet that has been lightly terraformed and repopulated to better suit us. I saw squirrels running along the branches above me, I saw cardinals and finches fluttering from branch to branch, I saw what I think was a deer but when I saw the beautiful gentle creature munching on some grass but when I came close to it I saw the gentle doe raised its head to stare at me but seeing how it couldn't see me the girl went back to eating and with a quiet step I went around the eating deer and shook my head, last time I was here there was no life but now there is.

What felt like thirty minutes of jogging when it was actually six I eventually made it through the thick of the woods and arrived to the zebra's hut, everything about it looked more clean then normal for some reason or another. Peering through a crack in the front door I saw the zebra stirring her cauldron with a large wooden spoon and that she holding said spoon with her mouth, how one can effectively stir something with just the strength of ones jaws?

As I watched the zebra lass stir the cauldron my eyes began to wander across the room noticing the now obvious lack of dust or cobwebs and when I saw sitting in the corner a bucket and what must be a washing rag but as to why she would clean everything so vigorously but when my eyes went back to the zebra I may have....seen something I should not have seen, but for some reason I just couldn't look away from it but I reminded myself that there is still a slim chance that Ingrid is alive out there, that she is already back aboard the Two-For-Flinching waiting for me and mourning over her brother's demise.

'By all that is holy that ass is huge! I mean sure Ingrid's is nice, small, firm and taut but this...jumping Jesus Christ on a pogo stick they're huge!'

To my own failure I realized that I had pushed the door fully open, and once that door was gone from supporting me up I fell down and landed right behind the zebra who by the time heard the door push inward saw a blur of air fall down onto the floor.

Now normally when an invisible pilot lands in front of anyone the first response is to shout out to alert everyone around that you got a ghost in the vicinity before opening fire, this zebra on the other hand raised an eyebrow at my display before placing the large wooden spoon down on a makeshift table before coming over to me with somewhat a glance of concern.

Looking up at the zebra I saw that she has clearly noticed me and is now waiting for me to do something and seeing how I had nothing in my arsenal to turn back the clock so I do not embarrass myself and also something to understand what this zebra is saying cause I see her mouth region moving up and down as if in a manner that she is actually speaking a real language, and seeing that she still has an eyebrow raised at my hidden appearance even though she clearly knows I am still splayed out on her floor.

Picking myself up I turned off my cloaking field and as it deactivated my body steadily revealed itself to the lass who was busy looking me over, taking in every single detail that she can but when my head revealed itself she let out a gasp but stopped herself from letting said gasp linger on anymore then it needed to be.

We stood there for about fifteen minutes staring at each other, I was looking at the stripes that adorned her coat and the gold rings that cover parts of her body, the turquoise color of her large expressive eyes, the black and white Mohawk that rests firmly on her head between those soft looking ears of hers and finally the strange looking mark on her butt. The symbol to me looked like a one way spiral with triangles pointing away from the spiral, though to me this symbol looks more like a brand but from where I am standing and how she would occasionally move to the side a bit I can tell that there is no dents in that rear flesh of hers that indicates a hot iron pressing down, so this could be a tattoo done by an artist or that it was painted on, either or it was done in standard-issue black.

I can guess from the zebra's view from down there that she is eyeballing me, trying to figure out what exactly I am, and hopefully she doesn't scream if and when I take my helmet off, that bloody thing gets stuffy sometimes.

Zecora's POV

I woke up this morning to the sweet sounds of birds calling to each other, my eyes weakly cracking open to the sight of a half empty hammock and with a sigh I rolled on out of it, beginning my day with a daily routine of brushing my teeth, taking a hot bath in my cauldron and getting everything ready for my early morning collection of alchemical supplies before making my way to Ponyville to pick up on much needed goods.

Slowly shuffling to the kitchen sink I had skewered a mirror to help me brush my teeth properly as I do not want to return back to Miss Colgate because I failed to properly clean and floss my teeth. As soon as that was done I left the safety of my humble abode to the water pump out back and waiting for me there was the bucket that I use to fill my cauldron with and after a few trips back and fourth my tub was ready to be used, now I just have to get the fire going. One thing that ponies and zebras of ages and types besides unicorns and the royal sisters have as the same problem is trying to start a fire, and seeing how some ponies are still wary of me I have to use flint and steel to start my fires and this always took me many attempts to do so without accidentally setting myself on fire.

As soon as I managed to get the fire going for my cauldron I waited patiently for it to heat up to the right temperature and once it was there I quickly put the fire out with a few splashes of water from the bucket I had in case something I didn't want was set alight. Once everything was ready for my bath I hopped in started to scrub myself clean, the long handled scrub brush helped me reach places that my hooves just couldn't reach on their own and with a bit of tad annoyance I reached the hard to scrub spots and with a sigh of relief that everything was done I sunk a bit into the water to relax before going on with my day.

Climbing out of my cauldron has been on occasion a hard task since there was nothing much to grab onto and that the cauldron sometimes moved whenever I tried to climb over the lip of it and only a few times did it ever completely spill over when I was still in it but this time it was a success with only a few drops of water touching the ground that came off my still damp body.

Drying myself off with a pre-heated towel and brushing my hair into my trademark Mohawk I gently placed my gold rings on my right foreleg and then the two gold loops on my ears and with a quick look in the mirror I was ready for the day.

Emptying out the cauldron is an easy task to do as all I had to do was empty it by the bucket load since Ponyville has yet to install a pipeline all the way to my home here and seeing that the Everfree Forest isn't safe for these ponyfolk I was without their necessities but sometimes it is a good thing to not rely on others when it isn't needed.

As an hour has passed I had begun where I had left off with the new breed of poison joke, when it was still in its native form it had the same effect as its cousin the poison joke but then it didn't, it lasted longer, its effect on the pony body was more evil and also sometimes did something much more strange then changing your voice or making something like your horn or wings act differently.

It was during this stirring did I get the feeling that somepony was watching me but when I looked around I saw nothing out of place or out of the ordinary and just shrugged it off as the breeze moving on by but when I heard my door slowly push open I thought it was Applebloom but as the door was slightly pushed inward I saw nothing was behind it and took a second to realize that it was my mysterious savior and for some reason it was invisible again, probably shy to meet me face to face.

Just as I started to go back to stirring the front door was suddenly pushed open and it was followed by something large and heavy landing directly behind me, and I must admit that I did jump into the air a bit in fear but when I turned around and looked at the floor I saw the large bubble of displaced air and for a while I just looked at it in disbelief.

Though it didn't last long on the floor it eventually stood up and as it did so I saw its magical cloak dissolve away, revealing its brown and olive drab green clothes to me, and as I watched the rest of its body slowly become visible revealing its elongated arms and legs, it easily stood twice my height and could easily be as tall or taller then Princess Celestia. As I watched its body start to appear from behind its protective invisibility field I had forgotten about its head and stepped back quite a bit because of how...off-putting those seven eyes are, its almost like they could just see right through you and yet how they never blink is disturbing.

As we continued to stare at one another I saw that it had tilted its head to the left a bit, trying to get a good look at me and when I saw its head tilt a bit upwards that was when I noticed that it had started to stare at my flank or hopefully at my cutie mark. This impromptu staring contest of ours eventually came to an end when I saw it raised both hands to its head and in that moment I thought it was going to attack me even though it has saved my life and before I could rear back and try to kick him away I saw that his hands was going for his head and that made me question and wonder what exactly was it going to do with its head?

'Hopefully it doesn't try to break its own head in front of me...'

What I saw was something that will change Equestria forever.

Anthony's POV

Once my hands were on the sides of my helmet I gave it a sharp twist and as soon as I heard the quiet hiss that told me that air was now being leaked into the compressed space and that I was now given the green light to completely take off my helmet without having to worry about my head suddenly imploding under gravitational pressure. As I tasted the sudden shift of purified stale air to a more earthy and clean air I steadily lifted my helmet up and off my head, revealing to the zebra the balaclava underneath it showing her only the two eye holes as the face covering cloth was the same brown as most of my uniform.

Letting the zebra take in her fill of what was underneath the helmet I then moved on to moving my balaclava out of the way, the wool fabric now being exposed to the temperature of the room was starting to make it itchy and uncomfortable and as I wrapped a thumb underneath the facial covering at the base of my neck and steadily lifted it up I could have sworn that I heard a gasp followed by a few clopping noises of hooves hitting the floor, my guess was that the zebra was coming to take a closer look at me.

With my helmet resting between the pit of my left arm and my balaclava behind my head I saw the zebra get a good look at my face and head, her eyes taking in every detail but I left a portion of the wool covering on, specifically the right side of my face for a good reason.

"So...I take it that you live here by yourself?" I said in a quiet and gentle tone, trying my hardest not to spook the zebra lass and hopefully not incite some sort of panic if she does feel scared by my presence.

Soon after I stopped talking the zebra girl turned around and went off and I heard the sounds of objects being moved around like she is trying to find a certain something and when I heard a noise like the one someone makes when they are triumphant at what they have set off to do, she comes back with what looks to be a small chalkboard and in her mouth was the board and a large chunk of white chalk. Taking the silent hint from her I gently removed the chalk and the black board from her mouth before thinking of something to do with the two and that was when an idea struck me, seeing how that I can't understand zebra and no way in hell that she could understand English let alone any language that is human in origin, I decided that for us to communicate that we would have to talk by doing drawings, pictograms if what my instructor in Angel City taught me during my training as a Militia Pilot.

I started first by drawing out my name, first was a crudely drawn ant and a jar of honey, hopefully that she can put the two together and get 'Anthony' instead of 'Anthoneyjar' or lord forbid 'Antjar', cause that would be just plain ridiculous to me. When I showed the zebra the picture she gave it a good and long stare before slowly nodding and as soon as she got the jest of it she reclaimed her chalkboard and chalk before scribbling down whatever her name is on the board.

Watching her from behind I saw that she held the chalk in her mouth and not once did I see a single drop of drool come into contact with the piece of white chalk so maybe zebra's on this planet have some sort of ability to write with their mouths without getting slobber all over it and after a few seconds she placed the chalk down and turned the board around so I can see it and saw what she drew in an attempt for me to know her name. Getting a good look at what she drew I started to pick out what exactly it was she placed down, so far I depict what must be a horse asleep with what must be their equivalent of a 'Z' floating up and what is an arrow pointing at the 'Z' instead of the horse, next was half an apple and I think an arrow pointing at the inner core part, and the last thing on the board was a letter but since I couldn't tell I was just gonna leave it out until I could figure it out so now I have to play the game of Mad Libs.

'Okay...that has to be a Z, next is an apple and an arrow leading to the core....and a letter....hmmm Zcore...I know there must be a letter between the 'Z' and the 'core' but what? And as for the last letter....that gives me twenty-seven possibilities and lord knows how many in the zebra language...fuck I wish I had a translator that works on zebra's.'

Once we mostly got our names out of the way she gave me back the board and chalk and my guess was what I wanted to ask her and after a while I was thinking of where in the world I am located and with an idea on how to draw that out I made a crude looking scroll that filled pretty much the whole board and within it I made a poorly drawn landmass with a flag in the middle of it.

Showing the board to the female zebra she looked at it and after giving it a long once over she plucked the board from my hands with her hooves before erasing it and drawing a slightly less but still crude map of what I think is the country or nation that I am, and she went into details by drawing a large patch of trees with a tiny flag where we must be located, a large square in the forest as well but without any details because there was a tree over it, a small house outside of the forest, a single mountain over the forest but there was another house what looks like it is attached to said mountain, a ravine starting in the forest and ends outside of it, a swamp of sorts, a flat expanse of land on the other side of the mountains which could be snowy land or a desert or just a lovely grassy plains, way up north was just as bland and flat and all other the place was clouds with a building on it, three clouds with buildings on it, a short wall with a house.

In all this looks well done for having it been for a chalkboard the size of a sixteen-by-twelve piece of wooden and slate, and after I looked it over I waved my hand over the chalkboard slowly and as I did so the small scanner in the center of the underside of my hand opened up and started to copy the drawing, and very slowly it made an exact copy of the map and the small earpiece in my ear soon chirped twice telling me that the download is complete, before I quickly wiped it clean.

I replaced the map of this country I then drew the planet of Aurora, the planet I was born on and well drawing the planet from an orbital view is a bit hard but I did point out a few of the major cities on the surface before handing it back to her. I could have sworn that she gasped and giving me a look before pointing at the board with a hoof in what must be stark confusion but here is hoping that this is universal and as soon as I nodded at her she just stared at me studiously before steadily walking off to a part of her home and as soon as she left I got up and followed after her but I saw that it was because of a pot was over a small fire and within said pot was steam rising and when she went to a cupboard she pulled out two cups, both obviously made of some sort of non-absorbent wood but either way she poured herself a glass of tea followed by one for me when she turned her head back and I nodded.

Now I am more of a coffee drinker then a tea sipper but seeing how my gracious host has offered me a cup and hasn't already screamed and/or ran off to call for help so I took the cup with a smile and gave it a sniff test first to see if I could know what kind of tea it was and failing badly because I have no real idea on tea scents and flavors so I did what most sensible people did when presented with a drink they have no idea on what could possibly be in it.

I took a sip and hoped for the best.

After what felt like a few seconds I was expecting a lethal burning sensation or to be foaming at the mouth and when neither happened I went against my better judgment and took another sip and when this one too resulted in me not dying a horrible death I let out a hum of delight and started to drink it slowly since it was still hot enough to burn my tongue.

As I stood there in the kitchen archway taking small, careful and precise sips of tea from the wooden cup my zebra companion poured herself a small cup as well and soon enough we were drinking nearly at the same time, a few small sips here and there, her eyes were closed and I thought that was how zebras 'round here drink their tea so I decided to do the same thing but my helmet was resting underneath my arm, the seven light still watching the zebra and recording everything that is going on between us.

'You know...this would be funny as hell if we both had top hats and a monocle on, and I had a hold rich person's moustache to go with it all. I dear say old chap this tea is splendid!'

By the time we were both drinking what must be the best tea ever made in the history of tea, I placed my cup in what must be her sink and as she did so she made a hoof motion and seeing how it was in a rotating fashion I could guess that it was meant for me to follow her and I did so with a bit of hesitation.

We went back to the main room and went back to using the chalkboard as a means of communication but as I was in the middle of drawing the symbol for the Frontier Militia there was a knock on the door that lasted about a minute and I quickly placed my helmet back on and turned on my invisibility cloak before hiding in the corner of the ceiling, staying in place with the help of my data knife anchoring me into the tree hut.

Once I was in the safety of the ceiling corner I turned down the glowing lights of my helmet and my hand kept a firm grip on the knife so I don't accidentally fall like I did a while ago and it was during this moment that I saw the front door steadily open up to reveal what must have been the whitest horse I have ever seen.

Zecora's POV

When I saw my new diamond dog friend put on his helmet and climbed onto my shelf of books and vanished from sight I quickly turned back to the door and as soon as it opened up I saw to reveal Princess Celestia and waiting outside was two of her royal guards, both were pegasi and had the same stoic stone face as any other guard I have ever seen. As soon as the princess stepped through my front door and said hello before giving everything a quick once over and once she was done examining she turned her attention to me.

"Greetings Zecora, I have come to check up on you since it has been a three days since the Everfree Forest became restless with the strange phenomenon that has occurred here and that my sister has found something strange in your dreams that has us both wondering if you had found something strange out there." Princess Celestia said with a calm and yet concern filled tone, her eyes not once leaving mine as she sits down and starts to look around again but this time slowly scanning everything her eyes lay upon.

"And greetings to you as well princess but sadly I can not go because of an instance." I said as I slowly went back to my cauldron, the greenish and silvery sludge swirling slowly as it begins to bubble, the smell coming off it is pleasant enough to cover the strange smell that my strange guest has brought with him.

'He looks so much like a diamond dog and yet he might not be one....little to no fur on his face with the exception on the top of his head and under and around his mouth...his fur looked dark as charcoal and his face...how does one get so burnt like that and not heal properly?'

"Please do tell me Zecora, what could possibly out there that has forced you to postpone your search for the disturbance?" the white alicorn asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as I started to push the mixing spoon into the goop the sweet scent only being refreshed as the bubbles popped and released its fresh goodness again.

"I am sorry my princess but my search last night was halted by a hydra and I had to run away as my search could have led to me being in an early grave." I said while giving the princess a half truth, I am not sure if I should tell her about my savior and the suit of armor he used to save my life but seeing how he fast and how effectively he hid himself from her view I can guess he is rather nervous or shy about meeting new ponies.

Looking back at the princess I saw that she has gotten up and is now moving around, looking at the various masks, glass jars and books that I have on the shelves, seemingly interested in them but I can tell she is actually looking for something that has peeked her curiosity. Trotting over to a shelf containing the glass jar that was holding the same green/silvery goop that I had poured into the other and when I opened the lid I made a smell comparison between the two and once I found out that smell hasn't faded at all during its time within the confined space but as I inspected it I found that it has solidified and is now effectively a candle without the burnable string in the center.

Humming to myself in delight at the result I place the jar back where it belongs before returning to the other side of the bookshelf and with a quick look-through the contents on said shelf I found the book I was looking for and pulled it out gently as to not disturb the other books resting along side the old dusty tome.

"I see, well it seems that the disturbance must have upset the hydra's down at Froggy Bottom Bog to make them come out far into the Everfree Forest, which is odd...the manticores, Ursa Minor and Major's and the Scorpio's would have kept them out so something else must have upset this only semblance of balance here." the solar princess said as she trotted over to a small shelf and unknowingly she was practically standing underneath the diamond dog, she may not know that he is there but I do not know how long his invisibility spell can last.

Staring at Celestia I can tell that she hasn't yet noticed the displacement of air and is more interested in the small collection of vials and flasks holding different antidotes for varying poisons and toxins that grows in and around the Everfree Forest and Whitetail Woods, and just as I started to write in the old tome about the liquefied and cooled down states of the Cruel Joke flower but as soon as I started to write about it I heard a loud clink! noise coming from where Princess Celestia is located and I saw that she is staring almost directly at my new acquaintance.

Anthony's POV

You know that feeling you get when you know that you are being watched but you can't do anything about it? Well I got that feeling and I swear to god that I got it something fierce, like really bloody fierce because there is a very large white horse with the horn that looks like it is at least two or three feet long, it might as well be a bloody spear!

I have been watching this white horse for a while now and so far I can tell that for a horse, she is radiant, I am not sure if that is just how clean her coat is, the polish that is on those gold objects on her hooves, neck or head or maybe its just her 'beauty' showing through...I don't know where that last one came from but...nah it's probably nothing.

'New Theory on how to tell genders apart for this horse world, females appear to have more gentle features like rounded muzzles, softer-looking faces, long eye-lashes, slimmer build and thinner body. If my guess on the females here are correct then it should be the opposite for the males here, broad body, square muzzle, thicker limbs and not so gentle features, and of course the bits between the back legs. Note to self: Do NOT look between their back legs, that is inappropriate and I am not going into unmarked territory.'

As I stare at the white horse I saw that besides the large and long horn that is plastered on her forehead I saw a dainty pair of white wings tucked to her sides, just like a bird's wings when they are not in use. Staring at the folded appendages in wonder, trying to guess how large they are I slightly slipped from my position and my foot accidentally touched a glass flask and made it collide with another and the two made a clinking noise which gathered the attention of both beings and I had to quickly push myself back up and gripped harder so I don't make the same mistake twice.

Now, when I heard the two talking I had thought it was words but to my ears, it was more along the lines of actual horse noises, yea go figure when I first heard the zebra talk and thought that I was still suffering from some sort of head injury but now...not so much.

Watching roughly two horses talking is a bit boring but seeing the two communicate and give what I think are quote unquote 'Hoof Gestures' but when I made my mistake in losing my grip the tall white one came over and start to look around, trying in vain to find the disturbance that is me but so far all she found was strange colored goop in glass and dusty old books.

'Shit! That was close...gotta keep a firm grip...can't let this horse know about me....even though she looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly I am not so sure on someone that is invisible and pops into a existence like a surprise.'

Gripping the knife handle I moved around a bit, trying to keep my noise making to a minimum which seems to work for the most part, the white winged and horned horse turned her head away from my general direction in the corner of the ceiling back to the vials and flasks, I watched her hoof move a few around filled ones and went back to talking to my zebra acquaintance and so far it seems like these horses are civilized to the point where they must have a strong government structure, they two guards outside are a dead give away. As for the guards, why are they escorting this particular white horse? Is she royalty? Is she some sort of noble or extremely wealthy merchant? All of these questions are swirling around in my head as the two talked and it was when the white horse came back to where I was at did I feel nervous and for good reason.

This white horse was practically in my face and she was trying to see if there was something right where I am at, and it was when we were just a few inches apart did I get nervous.

Inside my helmet I am starting to sweat, my right hand slowly going to my hip holster for the Taser while quietly praying that she just turns around and leaves this little corner of the hut alone. Now, most people would have just quickly pulled out their sidearm, shoot the unknown before making a tactical retreat but for me, I am actually afraid that if I do attack a wealthy horse...thing, that it will draw unneeded attention to this forest which will in turn draw attention to myself and my Atlas, something I don't want to do.

As she got closer to my face I can see that her eyes are magenta in color, her pelt looked more alabaster then off-white and her hair...mane...hair mane is a colorful bundle of pink, green, blue and I think all of the colors mixing together. The gold on her seems to be actual solid hunks of gold, maybe fifteen or twenty pounds of the stuff was just hanging on her, the necklace or yoke is maybe most of the weight followed by the golden horseshoes and lastly the tiara is a pound or two...whoever this horse is she must be bloody loaded.

Just as my hand finally reached the molded pistol grip and unclasped it from its holster the white pegacorn moved back and turned around before trotting to the front door, seemingly satisfied with whatever answer she have just found and for some reason promptly left the two of us or one for the white horse since she didn't yell for help against the unknown ball of displaced air.

With a bow from the zebra and a few choice words that I could not fathom to understand the white winged unicorn horse opened the front door somehow without even twisting the doorknob and I saw something strange and unique at the same time. The knob held a strange golden glow to it and when I tilted my head to see where the source of it is I saw that the white 'mare', I say mare because of well...yeah...apparently if you look at a horse's rear end and their tail moves out of the way for the briefest of moments you get a sight you would otherwise shouldn't see...but still though, when she turned around all I saw was that ass with a picture of the sun smacked dab in the middle on the top of her hind legs.

'Dayum girl!'

My brain temporarily turned itself off at that moment and my hand lost its grip on the taser as it slowly drifted downward, I know I told myself that I would still hold out on hope that there is a way for me to return but after seeing that, I started to question myself when I started to think of horse ass.

'What the hell is wrong with me? I know Ingrid is still alive out there, she just has to be, I know she was onboard one of the Goblin's before Demeter erupted into a fiery hellstorm...she just has to be...'

As soon as the large horse was gone and the sounds of hooves leaving the hut start to become quieter and quieter until becoming non-existent and at that moment I slowly let myself down from the corner and yanked my knife from the wall before turning off my cloaking field and once I was fully visible I placed the knife back into its sheath in my shoulderguard and stared at the zebra in hopes of getting an answer.

My zebra friend brought back out the chalkboard before erasing my half-drawn Militia insignia before replacing it with what looks to be a crown and a scepter, then finally drawing around it the map of the country. As she was drawing on the board I took my helmet off again and lowered the piece of face-concealing cloth, the wool was starting to get itchy like something fierce was crawling underneath my skin.

I tilted my head a bit in confusion, at first I thought that the white horse was just someone of importance but after a bit of thinking, looking at the board and trying to put the pieces together did my answer arrive.

'That horse was wearing a gold crown, throughout human history only royalty or tyrants wear gold crowns, so that was either a royal horse somewhere up the hierarchy or that was the queen horse of all the land. Oh nooooo that's nooooo......wow and I was staring and almost stunned her fat ass for discovering me....just got to calm down now and think of a way to learn and adapt....and find some food that isn't a granola bar that would go great with some actual granola.'

Looking at the board one last time I shifted my weight around a bit and was about to start re-drawing the Militia symbol but that was when there was another series of knocks on the door but before I could hide the door bursts open to reveal yet another horse. But this time it wasn't the large winged and horned white one from before with all the gold jewelry and royal tiara nor was it the white guard horses wearing authentic medieval armor.

No this horse was....tiny, small to put it kindly, and but still this horse would be reaching up to the middle of my thighs, and her coat color...seems to be a banana color, her mane is red and in that bundle of hair was a overly large bow which raised the adorable factor quite a bit but unlike the white or the zebra, this one doesn't have a strange mark on her rump.

'Another new theory for these horses, the marks on their asses might be a coming-of-age thing where it gets placed on their by any sort of means that could be known or unknown to mankind. The purpose of the ass marks are still unclear but one thing is certain, only adults seem to have them while the youth don't....more data is required.'

I was standing in the center of the room when the little yellow horse came trotting in with her eyes closed and a big smile on her face, she is completely oblivious to the fact that I am in the same room as her and has no idea that I am even here. That is until she opened her eyes and saw me, I was expecting her to scream and for me to knock her out with my taser but instead of having to do that the unexpected happened.

The little...filly? I think that is the term for female horses that are not fully grown yet. Anyways the little filly was standing there, staring up at me with the overly large expressive orange eyes and us three just stood there stock still, the zebra was staring back and forth between me and the little filly, I was busy trying to figure out a smart course of action to partake in and the filly...well I have no idea what she could be thinking of. What I did not expect to happen was the little filly to let out a loud gasp before galloping over to me, looking me up and down while bouncing in place, my guess is that she is excited in seeing something new, that or is on a sugar rush like the world has never seen before and that is before she started to talk to my zebra companion, while I just stood there and watched the two.

Applebloom's POV

Today is the perfect day to visit Zecora! The sky is clear, the weather is fine and all the wild critters in the Everfree are off sleeping in their dens for the winter, 'cept for those that are still hunting to put some fat on those bones before taking a long nap till spring. I had already finished all of my chores on the farm and my friends are busy with their own things and I didn't want to be bored all day at home so I decided to come visit my friend. With a skip, a hop and a trot I steadily made my way through the creepy forest, at this time of day it looked peaceful enough to not worry about any timber wolves or manticores but there is still enough light to peek on through the leaves and yet I still have this feelin' that somethin' is not right here but I do know that nothing could possibly make this day bad!

Smiling to myself on this little nature walk I kept on trotting at an even pace and as I saw the faint outlines of Zecora's hut I let out a small gleeful noise that I had finally made it and in record time. As soon as I was at the front door I heard the sounds of chalk scribbling on a blackboard like the one that Miss Cheerilee has back at school and I thought that she was just keeping notes on somethin' that she is brewin' in there.

With a cheerful pep in my step I gave a quick knock on the door and seeing how Zecora didn't answer my guess that she was busy stirring something sweet smelling so I pushed the door open and trotted on in, my eyes closed because I was still so excited to learn about this strange new plant.

What I did not expect to see when I opened my eyes was a lanky looking diamond dog that was wearin' some strange lookin' clothes, its head was different from what Rarity told us about 'cept that his face looks all smashed in and is mostly furless like he got shaved down for having fleas or ticks.

Starin' at the diamond dog I sorta just started to space out and wondered what it was doin' here in the first place but seein' how he isn't tearing up the place I can tell that he isn't a bad doggy like the others that ponynapped Rarity and a few other ponies a long time ago. This dog looks kinda cute with its little nose and small beady eyes, I wonder if he likes treats like Wionna does.

"Uh...hi?" I said to the tall diamond dog but instead of getting a response it just tilted its head to the side in confusion as if it doesn't understand Equish?

Turning to Zecora I saw that she was busy drawing something on the blackboard before giving it to the tall dog and after he looked it over he made sound like he just understood what I just said before drawing something else on it and giving it back to Zecora who then gave it to me.

I grabbed the large board with my hooves and flipped it over to see that it looked at it to see that it was the same thing that Zecora drew but he added what looks like an ant and a jar of honey with a plus sign in between the two. I knew that a plus sign meant addition and seeing that it was Ant plus Honey so it must equal Anthoney, a weird name for a diamond dog but after dealing with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon almost my whole life I learned not to judge a pony-er I mean dog by its cover.

"So umm...your name is Anthoney, well happy to meet ya!" I said with a smile on my face and a bit of a hop before landing directly at the feet of the tall dog and that was when I realized just how tall he was compared to me. He is easily, give or take three or four times my size! I actually had to tilt my head all the way back and not fall over cause of how tall this dog really is! I bet I could see everything if I was on his shoulders!

He looked down at me for a few seconds before waving at me, at least it showed me that it wasn't as mean or dumb as the others from the stories that ma sister tells me when its time for bed, and that is when I got an excellent idea.

"Ya have to come with me to Ponyville! With all dem clothes you got on shows that your smarter then the rest of them dummies. I bet even Rarity would be happy to see you!" and with a squeal of overjoy I grabbed him the paw with my mouth and started to yank on him to follow me, and after a few tugs he started to move and before we know it we were out Zecora's door and steadily making out of the Everfree Forest. While we were running I heard the sound of stuff being shuffled around and only had to tilt my head to the side a bit to see that he put his strange helmet on and I saw that it looked like something that Twilight would wear when she is about to do some weird science or somethin'.

I can't wait to show my friends what I just found!

Anthony's POV

'Did I seriously just get kidnapped by a filly?'

I thought that as I got led through the trees and bushes in the forest on a path I have not seen before, it looked like it is well used and has been used more recently with the shapes of hooves pressed into the soft dirt. Looking down to the little filly holding my hand with her mouth I saw that I had to hunch down and keep up with the excited little filly. One thing I noticed is that she is a horse, a farm animal that is capable of easily outrunning a human being even when they are young, and yet here we are running at the same speed and not once did she outrun me or I overlap her.

'So I wonder...where are we going? Is there a village or something nearby cause there is no way in hell would a child ever be on their own, there is always a parent or two watching over their little one. Unless this section of the forest is devoid of hostile monsters or that this filly has some sort of object or device like the Dog Whistle Towers at Airbase Sierra or on Demeter.'

Thinking on how this filly hasn't attracted any unwanted attention from the bat lions, chicken lizards, wood wolves and the mythical hydra I saw that off in the distance is a light, sun light and its shining in my eyes but when my helmet lowered the intensity of the light with a dark tint I saw that it was indeed the light at the end of the tunnel. Wondering what could be waiting for me on the other side of this forest I closed my eyes and waited for us to breach the barrier that is this hellish place and when I felt the full warmth of the sun grace my body I peeled open my eyes to see what was waiting for me on the other side.

What lay beyond the shroud of trees was a town on inhuman origins but that isn't what fully got by attention, it was the part that the town was filled with nothing but horses of all kinds of colors, some had wings, some had horns and others had neither and yet what really caught my eye was the fact that they were all colors of the rainbow and beyond. Then there was the buildings of the town, they looked like something out of a museum art gallery from the medieval ages.

There was thatched roof homes, a large clock tower, what looks like Earth's White House, a giant tree in the town and lastly a gigantic orchard past the town. Wherever this little filly is taking I don't know but I do know is that it is somewhere within the general vicinity of either of the two, the town or the orchard.

'Wow...how did horses do all this? This seems physically impossible! They don't have hands, tools, construction apparatuses! How is all this even possible?'

My mind was busy trying to process everything I was seeing but as my brain was rebooting I kept on being pulled by the hand by a small yellow filly with an overly large red bow in her red puffy mane, and not once did I realize that my cover has been blown by a child let alone some random mini-horse that just so happened to walk into a tree hut owned by a zebra without even waiting to be let in...just like I did...huh....

'Doesn't this filly know anything about stranger danger? She just barges into my zebra companion's home, says a few things and is really happy and when she sees me she says something else before dragging me off to god knows where. Are these horses that carefree or trusting to allow a child to bring home a stranger back with them?'

I guess only time and experience will tell cause we have stopped in the middle of the orchard and was standing in front of a tree that just so happens to have a small wooden building made around it. If I knew better then I was this filly's show-and-tell to her friends.....was this even a good idea on her part cause if they start freaking the fuck out and scream as loud as physically possible and alert their parents to this location and get my ass beat down before I could turn invisible.

Coming back to my senses I felt a tug on my hand again but this time it was in the general direction of the tree house and after going up the ramp and somehow not bumping my head against the branches and when the front door to the house was pushed open by the tiny filly I was dragged in to be revealed to two similar in height fillies but the two were different. One filly had wings and no horn, had an orange coat of fur, fuchsia colored mane and I think greyish purple eyes and for the other filly, she had a horn, no wings, light grey coat, mulberry colored mane and very light green eyes. And both don't even have the butt marks that the zebra had so my theory on adults having the strange ass marks is somewhat given more proof.

When the two saw me they both had the same expression I would be having right now but I already had that shocked expression when I first encountered the zebra that talked to me that resulted in us trying to communicate through crude drawings. And instead of the screaming and hollering I was expecting the two to make, they instead surprised me by getting up and running around me, seemingly looking me up and down and studying me before talking to their friend about me, and I know its about me cause their hooves are pointing at me every other second.

'I hope this ends well for me.'

Author's Note

Celestia's Height: 7'6''
Luna's Height: 6'7''
Anthony's Height: 6'4''
Average Pony Height: 4'0'' - 4'5''
Fillies and Colts Average Height: 2'5'' - 2'9''
Foals Height: 1'0'' - 1'3''