A flame in the darkness

Every feeling and muscle told you to be still, and your instincts told you something bad was flowing around you like silk, you were flying, weightless, reaching out you felt soft fur, being carried by the same horse. Opening your eyes slowly you can feel something start to claw at the edges of your mind, wanting in, wanting to know you and comfort you it said. You don’t trust it and focus on the horse, this close it was beautiful, a mane and tail made out of cosmic dust and fur softer than the finest blankets, Adorned with a golden breast plate with a huge gem in the middle. You assume its female. Giant gull wings beat forward relentlessly while the long horn up front glowed the same strong blue glow. Brow furrowed and with a look of determination she pulls you through the void.

You feel strong enough to look around and the clawing sensation comes back immediately, you venture a look anyway, everywhere you look there are colors, colors you’ve never dreamed of, blues and greens collide and explode making all manner of rainbows while reds and yellow fight for dominance to your left. You could see forever and only a few feet at the same time, you felt your mind starting to twist and gazed back to your rescuer. Curling up against her you closed your eyes and returned to sleep

______________________________

You jolt awake, unable to see and sitting stark upright, as everything comes into view you hear a steady beep. A heart monitor is beeping erratically at you warning you need to calm down, training kicking in you asses the room quickly, 4 beds all empty fill the rectangle room, you are in bed three still wearing your drilock suit but all other gear stripped, you search the cabinet to your left and find your combat boots and vest. Slipping the IV out of your arm and the heart monitor off of your finger, silently putting your boots and vest on you press what looks like an emergency call button and crawl on top of the shelving behind the doors entrance. 45 seconds according to your watch you hear running steps, too high pitched for footsteps, maybe high heels. You ready your tranquilizer gun and wait, shortly the door bursts open and a panicked pony doctor busts in with a female nurse, the doctor is brown with lighter spots while the nurse is a deep pink. Waiting you listen in on the conversation.

"What happened to the patient Grace? " The brown stallion cried, I don’t know Doctor Brownhooves, he’s been right here for the past 12 hours, he shouldn’t have been awake for at least another day and a half with the drugs we had him on" the nurse quickly replied, "Well find him Nurse." The doctor fell to the ground with only a glance to the flank to see what had pinched him, the nurse went to scream but was quickly silenced with a chloroform rag from behind, struggling in vain to break your death grip around her neck she slowly succumbs to the effects of the toxin. Setting her down gently you grab the doctors key card from around his neck and walk to the door, at 6'2" everything is a little small for you but you can still stand upright without issue, peeping into the hall you see no one else and step out.

Making your way down the hall you realize you cant read the language all around you, but thankfully it looks to be night and most people are asleep, the sterile white walls with colorful paintings roll on for a long ways and following a red line down the hallway you come to what looks like the bathroom, you pop in and quickly fill your canteen with water and grab a roll of paper towels to put in your duffel bag. Zipping up you hear the door open and quickly throw yourself into a stall. A young colt walks in and goes over to the urinal, you call out and ask him from inside the stall, say son, you know which line leads to the exit. "Well sure mister" he calls back, it’s the green one". Thank you son. "No problem", he finishes and washes up and you peek out of the stall, 10 minutes have passed since the room, you should have another 10 before the doctor even thinks of waking up.

. Making your way back down the hall you follow the green line to a strange elevator, much wider than the ones back home but almost not tall enough for you. Hitting the lowest button the you lurch downwards, the smooth shiny wooden interior panels polished to a glistening shine and soft ambient muzak rolls out from a hidden speaker, as the elevator halts and the doors open to a lobby, checking the coast is clear you step out, a receptionist asleep at her post and a brisk walk are all that keep you from the door, marching silently you push through the double doors and out into the cold night, your watch says it is 36 degrees outside and one thirty two in the morning. The stars are a shimmering array above you, ten times brighter than they ever were back home, and the moon looks much bigger and closer than you remember, the air is crisp and clean smelling of exotic flowers and fresh grass.

You quickly orient yourself, Town to the west and woods to the east and south, mountains holding what looked like a castle and a town up north but no way you were headed that way. Seeing no one was around so you take a swig from your canteen and start walking down the path to town, town was no more than a mile and a half away so it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to make it and start investigating. The well traveled dirt road crunched softly beneath your boots.

Suddenly blaring sirens and flashing red lights along with giant floodlights pierce the night air. Scrambling to the closest patch of forest you watch as several ponies burst through the front door along with what sounds like a hound. Quickly scaling the tree in front of you and donning binoculars it’s apparent they are trying to discern where you went, you break off a large rotten limb and toss it down the northern path. All parties turn towards the sound then start a mad dash up the path, you note the speed at which they run, you would be able to outpace them. You descend the 20 feet down the trunk and make your way towards town with renewed vigor. Sprinting down the path is refreshing, getting to stretch and work your muscles.

5 minutes later you come to the edge of a row of houses, no sign of alerts or patrols but you are watchful anyway. Walking in and staying close to building you notice the architecture is similar to human style. More lively and relaxed, mostly cottages. Looking around you spot several buildings clustered around a central area, heading towards what looks like a park you drink deeply again, the water is sweet and clean, much better than normal water. Heading towards the center you notice a fire and some ponies standing around it and a small pond a short ways down a hill, six in all, two with horns, Purple and white, two Pegasi, blue with a rainbow mane and a yellow one and two plain ponies bright pink and orange respectively.

Crouched down and sneaking close you prop against a large tree a few feet away and start to listen. The purple one spoke first, "Calm down girls, the princess told us to enjoy tonight and she would be here with news tomorrow, I’m sure if it was that important she would’ve told us tonight". A younger sounding voice full of brashness broke in, "I’m just tired of waiting around and we need to get started if we have to stop the comet".(A comet you muse to yourself, wonder what thats about) The first voice again, "We have plenty of time for that Dash, just try to enjoy our last night off okay?" Deciding you would follow these ponies to find out about this comet you turn around only to be met with the pink one
All in your personal space
All of it
Years of conditioning taught you to remain silent, but it still took restraint a normal man would falter trying to exercise.
"HIIIIIII Mister, I'm Pinkie Pie who are you?

Your cover had been compromised and it was time to get out of dodge and quick.Pushing against the tree trunk you propelled yourself forward as hard as you could, super human leg muscles let you average at 30 miles an hour but you were easily breaking 50 now, tearing out of the park and heading straight down the main drive, cobblestone pounding and cracking with your powerful strides, a whistling noise started to fill your ears and you glance back. Slowing down you notice what looks like the blue pegasi hurling herself at you, the air around her shifting and tearing. In a moment you throw yourself flat on the ground and stick your arms straight out, grabbing her front forelegs as she hurtles by. The painful acceleration threatens to tear your arms out of socket but you are quickly hurtling down mane street on her underbelly inches from the ground.

"Whaddaya think you’re doing Punk?"

Ignoring her you reach around and crimp her left wing right at the joint. Eleciting a cry of paint you both come tumbling down violently feeling your ribs cracking as you roll along, rolling to your feet you resume running when you feel all weight leave you again, picking into the air you see a magic aura around the purple unicorns horn, spinning in mid air you give the wall to your left a powerful kick and break out of the force field cracking the wall in the process, hurrying down an alley with your abdomen starts screaming at you,hopping on some crates you push off again and land on the roof ten feet up, jumping silently from rooftop to rooftop you glance back and see no one, jumping down a back alley you spot the nearest door and go for the handle, the door is locked but pulling slowly you feel the lock give and break, stepping inside you are in a kitchen, strong odors assault your nose and your eyes shift for the near darkness, making around the greasy ovens and stoves you burst into the next room, a colorful place full of sweets, all of a sudden the lights come on and again you see the pink pony standing in the doorway, she slips in and closes the door behind her.

"Hehehe you're fast" she giggles as she steps around the counter, How in the world did you get here that fast? you ask truly curious. "Well its easy when you know how everything is going to end" she says with a smile leaving you utterly confused. "Now my Pinkie sense (Dafuq is that?) says that you're important to us, so come with me", she turns to trot up a staircase to the left and disappears, cursing yourself you slowly follow her up wondering what in the world she could be up to. The colorful walls are replaced by a slightly tamer palette on the second floor, the sweet scent is even stronger up here reminding you of cinnamon buns and cookies. You are hungry and in pain but trudge on dutifully behind her. She turns to the right and ushers you into a room with a cot in the corner and a plate on a dresser, the rooms vibrant blue walls clash harshly with the red bed but the smell is pretty calm here. Whatever is on the plate smells amazing. Sitting down you let your guard down a little and the pony that called herself pinkie pie sits down across from the bed and looks up at you.

So why did you bring me here? "Well I couldn't just let you sleep in the street" She says cheerfully, Her happiness was infectious and you caught yourself feeling almost...
Happy
All through the past years you had given your old life away to be the perfect soldier, and it had been years since you had felt truly at ease, now here in a strange room in the home of a talking horse, on another planet you had been whisked to after having watched earth die, you almost felt, safe. Not completely, you couldn't but enough to function in a friendly manner at least.

"I'll let you sleep, we have to be up early in the morning to go see the princesses in Canterlot, Goodnight" She said and walked through the door, shutting it behind her. Still thoroughly confused you grab the plate of food and sit on the cot, your ribs were already almost finished healing thanks to your incredible body, but the strain on your fat and mineral stores was great and you were famished. Having to survive made you appreciative anything that wasn't still moving, Tasting just a bite brought new wonders to your mouth, a sweet smokiness exploded across your tongue while a spicy aftertaste left you thirsty. Waiting ten minutes (It was hard) you hadn't been drugged so you continued eating. Your body felt fresh and new and after latching the door you lay down and are appreciative when sleep comes quickly.