The Tale of a Human's Sanity

by JuliusPhillpa_

Rating: mature
Tags: Tragedy, Dark, Human, Sad, Adventure
Length: 33388

There is only so much the human mind can take. How much can one person take before he goes off the deep end? Pain, hatred, agony, can describe what he feels. He's treated as a monster in this unknown world. Is he? No. He can't. Right? What happened?

How many living, sentient beings have you killed today?
Can you remember what happened?
There is no difference between what is right and what is necessary.
If you were a better person, you wouldn't be here. Right?
It's time for you to wake up.
No one can help you now.
Can you remember what happened?
You are still a good person, no matter what you think you do.
Can you even remember why you came here?
Feel like a hero yet? Well, do you?
Amnestic syndrome, is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage, disease, or psychological trauma.
This is all your fault. Whatever that was.
You can't remember, can you?
To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is 20% cooler.
It's Discord. He did it. All of it. Or did he?
Why do they call you a monster?
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two conflicting ideas simultaneously. Remember that?
You cannot understand, maybe you want to, nor do you want to.
Why do you think they treat you as a monster?
A military government does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?
We cannot escape anguish. It is what we are…

Remember. I just want you to remember. But first… Just remember your name.

Complex trauma is a psychological injury that results from protracted exposure to prolonged social and/or interpersonal trauma in the context of dependence, captivity or entrapment (a situation lacking a viable escape route for the victim), which results in the lack or loss of control, helplessness, and deformations of identity and sense of self.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-07 11:26:30 UTC

Are you sure you want to relive it?

I don’t know where to begin

My life has been a living hell

I’m not sure if I want to keep living, anymore

After what I’ve done… nothing’s ever swell

But I have to move on and survive

Hoping that it would always last

And maybe, just maybe if I don’t die

I could be doomed to relive the past

All I have to do is open and walk out the door.

That’s it.

I will leave my terrible life behind. I will leave my harsh and horrible parents, my annoying and bitchy siblings, and the bastards at school. I just need to walk through the door. Just open it.

So… why am I just staring at the door? It’s currently night time, and it may not be long before someone notices that I’m not in my room, and in the entrance to my house, welding a gun. Just… staring at the door. My mind is in a battle.

Should I leave? I should. At least, I think I should. So… what’s stopping me? What inhabitations am I having right now? I… I can’t think of any. So why do I keep repeating this question? I don’t fucking know.

It’s been maybe a minute now. No one has noticed yet, and I’m making no movement at all. I stare expressionless at the doorknob.

Suddenly, I heard some big thumping noise coming from upstairs. I don’t flinch. I don’t move any part of my body. I still stare. I heard some commotion, some murmurs, and some discussion.

It’s been another minute.

More incoherent murmurs.

Then, another minute flies by. I then slowly raise my arm for the doorknob, not making any effort to rush at all. I felt, calm. Why did I feel this? I don’t often, or ever, feel this. In the atmosphere… I feel something else. Yes, something else. Like, I can’t describe it. I just sense something else that doesn’t seem natural.

Seconds later, maybe half a minute, my hand grabs the knob. I slowly turn it, still staring at it, where the brown door opens, letting the cool breeze of air enter the house. I didn’t think it was chilly today.

The door opens after who knows how long. I see the front porch, the city lights in the distance, the trees of the forest to my left, and the garage and vehicles to my right. The night sky, dimmed with grey smoke, fainted out by the small stars, with the crescent moon, barely visible over the several clouds that reside.

I take a step outside, breathing in the cold air on this night, closing my eyes, feeling… free. At peace, for once, you know?

But, sadly it didn’t last, as everything in my vision suddenly turned to black, and I didn’t know anything more.

My head hurts. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. Hell… my entire body hurts. But… why? All I can see right now is darkness. And the memories I am now experiencing… Boy, they hurt me. Over and over again, as I stare into the darkness… that is my eyes closed. I would open them, but for some reason I feel very weak, along with the pain I currently suffer, around my entire body, including my eye lids. I don’t know what to do. I can’t remember any ‘recent’ memories, being the last hour, before I was asleep. Or maybe knockedout. I don’t know which one is true. I have some feeling that the latter is correct.

I try and wait for some strength to come back, so I can open my eyes. But for now… for some reason… I’ll just relive the day that I just experienced, as painful as it is, but I just can’t forget something so… let’s say brutal. Though maybe that would be an over or understatement. I guess other people, if they watched what happened, can judge.

Well, I hope it’s just another day at high school. I’m sorry, I hope it’s a painless day at school. The days when you don’t get teased, or poked, for at least… once. Just once. I’m just walking on a sidewalk, towards my school in Chicago, where it’s always normal! I scoffed, as if it were that easy. I then imagine… living the good life. All day… every day… I can hope for that, all I want… but it’ll never come true. Most of my life proves that, I guess. The morning I just had, definitely confirms it. But- forget it. Nothing won’t ever come good of it- Stop it! I hit myself, dumbass.

I then notice the scenery around me. What a nice looking day. The sun is shining, with only a few clouds that are spotted. It was relatively… peaceful. For a long time… I can’t remember when it was this quiet, around the streets. Unless there was going to me a brawl, or a gun-fight, it was never this silent. I was slightly suspicious, wondering if there was going to be an ambush.

No, I doubt that. To others, I’m worthless. Why they would kill me, is beyond me. No one’s tried, thank the mythical god.

I was approaching my school, where I saw other people, both younger and older than me (I’m roughly the same age as most people in my year), getting slightly scared again. But… thinking about it, which all that is just normal for me. Ignore it, man. Ignore it…

But, hey… at least it is quiet and peaceful around here so-

“Hey, loser!” Oh, great. I eat my own words. Of course… the bullies were always around the front of the school. Whether they are waiting for me, or they just hang there, I don’t know.

I just sighed, and lowered my head in shame, knowing what they were going to do next. They never beat me up, which is somewhat surprising, considering they are the school’s bullies. Or… at least a small, yes small, part of them at this school. Which, may I add, mostly looks like a fucking dump. They approached me, as I walked through the front school gates, all three of them, two of whom were black, and the other was Hispanic. I don’t get it, either. They would start teasing me, poking me, insulting me, maybe sometimes they would spit at me. Then…

Then it got worse. I shudder remembering those moments which came after. It… was too heartbreaking, soul-destroying, crushing my spirit, of what was left of it. I jut sighed at looked at the ground, with anger, wanting to beat up those bastards now. But, it's not like I have a choice in the matter right now.

After a few minutes of reliving those few moments, my strength was starting to come back now. I then slowly opened my eyes, which I had the ability of doing now. I was halfway opening them, when… the night sky. Whoa. I never seen it like this before. It’s… beautiful. The night sky looks much more colourful, the stars are brighter, clearer than usual. I didn’t see any yellow light, polluting the view of the sky, from other houses and buildings from the city. It was some sight to behold, as somewhat odd as it sounds. That’s what it looked like to me, anyways. I felt calmer than before… something. Something which I couldn’t remember. Oh, now I- remember… I sighed. Why do I always think of the negatives? I guess it’s natural for me. Okay, just move on.

I wanted to sit up now, wondering if I had the strength. I did after a moment of trying to move the muscles in my body, aching in pain. Thankfully, it wasn’t as much as when I first woke. I wonder how long I stared at the sky.

Well, I’m now sitting up and taking in the new… sights. The… creepy and eerie sights. Very dark colours, in a tone which wasn’t very pleasant and reassuring. Dark colours spawned all around my vision.

I’m in a forest of some kind.

The trees of the forest, the colours came in the form of dark purples and blues. The bushes were in dark green. Moss covered random flora All having a negative vibe to me. Dangerous, perhaps. What kind of forest is this? The trees don’t look like any forest I’ve ever seen, anywhere. I don’t know where I can relate this forest to. I pondered for an unknown amount of time. It felt like hours, like everything I was feeling, including the pain that wasn’t going away.  Hang on, I’m getting some connection. From a book. The Heart of Darkness. The forests look like they were from the Congo. A darken African kinda look which I’m getting. ‘Dark Africa’. That ain’t a bad name for this forest. But…

Exactly where the fuck am I?

I can’t remember exactly. I don’t clearly remember anything after… that moment. Man, it gets me angry thinking about it.

After thinking that for who knows how long, I tried to clear my mind and rest.

I then stood too my two feet, while closing my bag, and looked down the path I was standing on. Both ways look nearly identical. I looked at my watch on my wrist (forget to mention it up until this point), and it said 8:43:14pm, about an hour after I decided to leave me house. I then sighed as I put the bag on the ground, and then preceded to lying and try to sleep on the ground. I didn’t want to take the risk of exploring this deadly forest at night, so I decided to wait until morning.

It was an abysmal and interesting night, from the party too now, in the space of a few hours. Huh. The decision of putting the past behind me came quicker than I thought.

And my clothes, my black t-shirt, my grey sleeves, and my long dark grey tracksuit pants, didn’t help me sleep, as it was really cold. I forget to bring a jacket. Damn. At least it wasn’t raining any time soon, and it hopefully wouldn’t be cold in the morning.

And yet again, in true fashion of jinxing myself, it was raining. Thankfully it wasn’t pouring. It was also much colder. I started to hate this forest there. What I also saw around my sleeping place confused me. There was fog everywhere, and there was darkness beyond the trees. My head felt slightly off, and my vision was ever so slightly black. Something was not right here. This game is starting to become deadly, blurring out some of my vision.

While I think this, I’m sitting up, and checking over my bag. No one has been around me last night. Thank mythical god. I look at my watch at its 8:23:05am. About normal wake up time in the morning. Or for me, getting beaten down until I get up.

I decided then to keep moving, because this forest seems unsafe for me. I put my bag on my back and stood up, looking in both directions on my path. I didn’t know what was down either path. I looked towards where the sun was rising, and it was closer to the path on my right, so I went left. Might as well.

I walked through the fog, somehow. I kept attempting to be in a positive mood, while trying not to be spooked out by the look of this forest. And for the most part in my walk, in worked, surprising me even. I was whistling the British national anthem, because I liked the tune, and was slightly skipping slowly.

As I was walking, I observed the poisonous looking plants I encountered. I didn’t touch any, just looked. The trees were also getting these odd patterns. All dark colours. Very odd. I heard a few roars coming from some unknown direction, but they were very faint, so I wasn’t all that worried. But I was very… relieved. I haven’t been this calm and unworried of being in pain, for a long time. Although pain is possible in this new world (it is), at this time I’ve yet to encounter it. It’s been a spooky walk, but nothing looks like it can kill me, the plants and the flora, unless I interact with it, I think.

And when the moment when shit started to hit the fan, is when I heard a whole bunch of roars coming somewhere right in front of me, from a distance. I’ve been walking down this path for a good twenty minutes now, and this just suddenly happens. I wasn’t sure what to do. Run off back down the path, or continue on, even more cautiously than before. I don’t think my life has been worth it, I hope it will in the future, but now, we will see. I essentially said ‘Fuck it’, and continued down the path. The roars were getting slightly louder, but I couldn’t see anything, even as the fog started to disappear.

At this time, the darkness was getting bigger around my surroundings. I was starting to get worried now. I slowly started to panic, but shook my head, when I came across a river. I looked around, and found ruins of a bridge, broken and laid over on the ground next to the river. That sort of spooked me, and lowered my chances of crossing this here river. I’ve been walking for thirty minutes now, and walked into a dead end of sorts.

And that’s when I spotted four crocodiles or alligators (with what looks like rocks on their backs, oddly enough) in the river, slowly moving towards me, unsure of if they have noticed me, since their not looking, and unsure of whether I should go back. I could swim across, with the river not looking that shallow and going at an un-walkable pace, and I could hold up my bag while walking through it.

The downside is, if I trip over, I’ve lost my phone and my laptop, my only technology that I have, and that it could blow up right in front of me and/or electrocute me. And there are crocodiles swimming nearby. There was rarely any fog, and darkness for that matter, anywhere near the river. But the path behind me and over the other side, there’s tons. I was pacing back and forth slowly, attempting to come up with a decision. I got my gun from out of my bag, just in case it came to that. I had a knife in my left pocket as well.

I decided to back off a few steps, getting close to the fog, when the crocodiles with rocks swam by, hoping they didn’t see me and stop. And that’s what they just did. All four of them saw me, and it looked like they made a beeline for me. I was now afraid there. “O-Okay… I d-don’t want to hurt a-anyone h-here…” I stammered, backing off rather quickly into the fog, while the crocodiles move at the same pace I think, coming out of the water.

The first thing I noticed is that they are shaped like a crocodile, but their skin is entirely rock. Yeah, all of their skin are rocks. I got that feeling that this is not earth anymore. I didn’t care to think about that as they approached me, getting closer. I booked it by then, not caring if they followed me, because I didn’t think they would chase me, as I did not look back.

Thankfully, that didn’t follow for the amount of time that I was running.

About five or ten minutes later, I assumed I ran to the same place where I slept. I was panting and sweating after continuously running.

The fog was mostly gone, surprisingly. The darkness also had lowered down in size. This place was odd indeed. I looked up at the sky, to see a nice looking sky, with the sun being redder than normal. I had a feeling there and then that I wasn’t on earth anymore. There were too many unrealistic things occurring. I started to panic and pant, going down on my knees and looking at the ground, thinking about never meeting another human. It’s a scary thought.

Even if all the humans I met caused me pain, it’s still nerve racking to say that you’re the only human alive on this planet. Or you’re the only one of your race of this strange planer. But in some cases, you look forward, forget about the past, and don’t turn back. In some cases.

And after running, it didn’t get any better for a while, along with more running. I’m not really that active, so I now dislike running a lot. Now with every fibre of my being, or what’s left of it, but I hate it nonetheless.

Now what happened, after thinking about all that, I got up after a debate in my head, but when I looked up, I froze, seeing a creature, right in front of me, was a Chimera? Or, at least it looked like one. The creature had a tiger’s front body, a snake for a tail, and a goat’s hindquarters and head on its left shoulder, along with multiple colours. All three heads just stood at me, not moving an inch, while I was trying my best to not shake, and stand still.

I walked back a step slowly, before the Chimera moved, charging at me. I braced for impact while closing my eyes, thinking about my life in a few split seconds, remembering nothing but bad moments, and maybe somewhat relieved that I won’t experience anymore. But also feeling bad, that I won’t ever make any friends, or for the record, anyone that likes, or even cares for me. I was scared nonetheless. I then just awaited my death, reluctantly accepting it.

And then after a moment, it just disappeared, as I wasn’t killed, or felt any pain. I looked around in confusion. Why did I see an animal for a few moments, only to disappear when I braced? I thought the forest was getting to me there. Making me go insane, by seeing hallucinations. But, it could have been a ghost, which is very unlikely. But then again, that scene proved I wasn’t on earth anymore. It made me wonder what world am I on.

Waste of fucking time, that was.

After compositing myself after a few moments, trying to get over the fear of pain and death, somewhat failing, I walked on. I was getting scared by the second, as the darkness slowly moved back into my vision. I heard the roars again, coming from an unknown direction, from some distance away. I was shuddering at that point. “Okay, the roars came from a faraway distance. It’s only my imagination.” I repeated to myself, in an attempt to calm myself down. It kinda worked for the most part. Before I stepped on a twig and jump scared myself, falling to the ground in the process. At this point, I was fucking scared of anything, and would kill on sight if provoked. I wanted to survive, with the adrenaline starting to occur in my body, for the hope of my dreams. I was not giving it up that easily, not matter what happened.

I got myself up, and looked around my surroundings, which was different. The fog had completely appeared again everywhere (with me barely able to see the path), the darkness was getting bigger in my vision, and there was the Chimera again, in front of me, staring at me. I stared back in slight confusion, wondering why I was seeing this beast again. Then it waved an arm, and turned around, running off down the path. Unsure of what to do, I followed running. It was the only path I could go down anyways, and I didn’t want to go back towards that dangerous lake with whatever that crocodile-like creature was.

It was nine o’clock at this point in time. Every now and again, the Chimera (I didn’t know the gender. Couldn’t tell) would look back towards me to see if I was catching up. I would stop a few times to catch my breath, running in this forest. It’s harder to run with a bunch of shit in your bag. The Chimera didn’t seem like it mind. It would just look at me, while I felt nervous about running with this beast. Not that I had a real choice. I ran for about half an hour, wondering where the fuck I was going, but it was best not to question it when I’m following a ghost of some sorts.

I heard a roar and a scream coming from down the path, which I presumed was pretty close. As I was taking my gun out of my pocket, just in case I needed it (while the feeling of fear started to come back), the Chimera stopped in my tracks, slowly turning around. I froze in place while it was walking up to me slowly, while I kept hearing roars down the path. Its tiger head went up to mine, straight in my face with a small smile, and said “Please remember..." with a soft feminie voice of some sort. I was absolutely stunned by that remark, while the Chimera disappeared into the light. How did it know my name? What is this forest doing to me? Is this a part of the game? Have some fri- I wanted to rage there, but it wasn’t the time. I started to hate this ghost, of if he’s behind it, Discord. This forest was fucking me up.

Anyways, once this female Chimera spoke those words, I was stunned, scared in fear and I was looking into space, wondering what world am I in. It was fucking crazy, that’s for sure. My trance was broken when I heard those screams again in a high-pitch, followed by a loud roar. I shook my head, not caring about that moment there and then, and bolted down the path, with my mind rushing through so many thoughts, that I couldn’t describe it, hoping there is answers to my questions, of where, when, why, and how I’m in this forest, filled with… magic most likely. Fuck magic, sometimes.

After twenty or so seconds of running, I found the source of the loud noises, which, then, filled me with fear, anger and confusion. The source of the roaring was a creature the size and shape of a wolf… made out of wood, with green fucking glowing eyes. That stunned me, gazing at the creature. Why is there a wolf, made out of wood, in this- Thinking about it again, this forest is crazy after all, with all I’ve seen? I didn’t, and couldn’t, question it there and then, when I saw the prey it was roaring and staring at, a yellow coloured, small horse. From a distance, it looked like a small horse, with yellow fur and pink fur in a bunch of patterns on its head and tail, along with a tattoo of three symbols on its back leg that I couldn’t make out, along with a few slight wounds on its body, around the neck area.

“What kind of fucking place is this?” I quietly asked to no one, making sure that both beings that are shown in front of me didn’t hear those words. What I was thinking there is that this place had all kinds of crazy around. Magic does a lot of shit, both good and bad. Go figure.

It could be a pony, but one, how in this world is there creatures like everything I’ve seen? Two, why was this small creature was (really it was trying cower away from that big beast) with a wooden wolf. How did the pony encounter the wolf, and why wasn’t the pony running away again? A justifiable reason as to why this small pony was facing a wolf like this, baffles me. The pony may not out run the wolf, I guess. It seemed too traumatised, to me. And finally, this wolf looked like a fucking badass. A wolf was made out of wood, which I guess, and shortly later proven, hardly made a dent in its wooden-made skin if you tried and attacked it. Magic is a bitch sometimes.

But while I was thinking this, I was frozen, unable to move any body part, while my backpack fell to the ground with a thud. No one else heard this. I watched for a few seconds as the wolf tried to swipe the… I went with the term ‘pony’ there, it just missed as it ducked, and kept moving away as fast as it could, crawling. I felt some sign of relief. It screamed out “Help!” in a high-pitched feminine voice. And these ponies can tal- It wasn’t the time to ask that question, I had to roll with it. Anyways, it sounded like a girl, who seemed shy for some reason. I was filled with worry and some rage, a creature killed another creature that can’t fight back (as hypocritical as it sounds, being a human and all), in this case, I had to save the pony, no matter what.

Before the wolf could attempt another swipe, I held my gun, and shot toward its right eye, hitting it in the process. The wolf yelped in pain, falling backwards to its left, keeping a claw on its eye, while feeling pain, I presume. I stared at it for a second, before looking at my gun, which was still being pointed at the wolf, and then at the pony, who was looking at me in, what I assumed was, surprise, shock, and maybe fear, on her face’s expression. This small distraction made her crawl further backwards, out of attacking range, and against a tree. I turned back to the wolf, after ten or so seconds, to see the wolf charging at me with only one eye, it’s left.

With my bag laying on the ground to the side, near the bushes (so hopefully it couldn’t be destroyed and/or noticed by the wolf), I rolled out of the way, just in time for him to charge past, to the right of me. But it wasn’t without a small wound to my lower left leg. I really wasn’t limping then, as I was quickly moving back towards where the wolf was in pain. I think the pony was just watching this unfold, with the wolf ignoring her attention of her presence. The wolf tripped over while swiping my leg, and fell over onto the ground, rolling a few metres back down the path. I quickly pointed my gun at the wolf’s head, and shot three times. It barely did anything, or if it did, it was good at not showing pain. The bullets just ricocheted off its head into different directions, with some wood being chipped out of its body.

While they do look badass, it’s a big pain having wolves somewhat immune to wood. I couldn’t question why it was made out of wood there and then, as the wolf was recovering and started to walk towards me. I then tried to shoot its left eye, but failed as there was no bullets left in the gun, and the other mags where in my bag, right next to the wolf (that it couldn’t see it). I looked at the gun with a panicked expression, and through it on the ground, as the wolf started walking towards me in a fighting stance of sorts. I then got a more even more serious expression on my face, as I pulled out my two knives in both of my pockets, while we circle each other, looking each other in the eyes (or eye for the wooden beast).

We continued this for ten to twenty seconds, waiting for the other to make a move. I knew that this beast was stronger than me and faster, so I had to go on the defensive. When taking self-defence classes, ‘I learnt that if you are fighting someone that is stronger than you, use that against him’, or something like that. I was worried then, so I couldn’t exactly remember. First, the wolf leapt at me, trying to jump on my body. I quickly ducked to my left side, and then grabbed onto the wolf, as it was still moving forward. I tried to stab its head with a knife, but made a little impact (only slightly breaking a log). I was on top of the wolf now, which was a mistake as it realised this, and lower its front legs and raised its back, to make me fall in front of the wolf. As I quickly turned around, the wolf leapt at me, getting on top of me.

The pony, watching, as screaming something that I couldn’t comprehend. The wolf tried to bite into my head, but I moved first, with its head going mouth first into the ground. I stabbed at its head on the left side/with my right-holstered knife, hoping for something. There was some damage being shown, but it wasn’t enough as the wolf got its head out of the ground, looking dazed. I took this as my chance as I kicked, with both of my feet, at its gut area, sending it backwards. But that was not before its claws swiped me across the face. Luckily it wasn’t in the eyes, but five scratches was marked across my face. As I tried to get over the pain and tried to get up again, the wolf was backing off as well, trying to get its composure.

After a moment of putting my hand of my face, checking the damages, I was standing in front of the wolf, with small amounts of blood coming across my eyes and my vision. The wolf looked at me for a second before growling, and swiping, with its right claw, across my lower right stomach area, tearing the shirt and taking some flesh with it. I was caught off guard with this, not being able to react fast enough, when I immediately clenched my stomach so I could try and stop the pain as much as I could, and so that I could try and not bleed everywhere. The gash didn’t go too far through my skin, but it definitely left a mark. I was on my knees when I was in pain, when the wolf was growling and charging at me again.

Only this time, I saw this coming.

As it was leaping into the air, I got my knife in my right hand, and swung it into its left eye. The wolf did not expect this, and was howling in pain for a good twenty seconds, rolling around in a position on the ground, while I was limping away with my stomach wound, but it wasn’t without a sacrifice, as it clawed into my left shoulder. As the wolf got back up, after attempting to get over the pain, it looked towards me for a second, before I kicked its head with a left-roundhouse kick, taking it off guard. The kick made the wolf dazed and facing the opposite direction, when I did the same action, only with the right leg this time, into its left side of the head.

It turned around again, facing me with an expression in pain and maybe agony, along with it feeling dazed, I dropped the knives in my hands and punched the wolf in the head, with a right hook, followed by a left over hook, and finally a right uppercut. My fists had blisters in them and they were probably in pain, but I couldn’t really feel it with the adrenaline soaring through my body. The wolf fell backwards on the ground, dazed and in pain, whimpering surprisingly. I then quickly turned around and grabbed my knives. But when I turned around, the wolf didn’t try and attack me. Instead, it ran off down the path I ran to get here. I looked on as the wolf ran, before I collapsed to my knees, dropping the knives and trying to get through the pain. There, my eyes started to go teary, along with the blood that was there already.

“O-Oh my! Are you okay mister?” A soft voice asked me, towards my right. I looked towards the pony, giving her a chance to see the pain I was in. I then got a better look at this one. Her fur was a lighter yellow than I thought, and her Hair (or was it called Mane with horses) and Tail were coloured pink. Her mane (until I’m stand corrected) went over her eyes. The three symbols of her tattoo on her back legs (on both, oddly) where three pink butterflies. I couldn’t ask why right there. She also had some scratches on her body, along with few bruises, but nothing looked serious, like what I was going through. She looked shy to me. When she looked at me for a moment, she had a horrified expression on her face, while I think she couldn’t tell mine. For her question, I shook my head and replied with “Are you okay?” very slowly.

She shook her head pretty quickly, still with the expression, and said “Oh no, your hurt! You need to get help immediately!” Well no shit, Sherlock. I then, ever so slowly, got to my feet standing up, after half a minute. The pony still had a worried look on her face. I was panting with pain being sent through all of my body. Though, I have experienced worse, sadly.

I looked around my surroundings, to find my bag was in the bushes 100 or so meters away. I wanted to know if anything was damaged. If it was, I would be mad, but the amount of pain that I was in, it was hard to rage.

I then asked the pony a few questions, while I limped a few paces. “So… What’s your name…?” I nervously asked. I wasn’t the social person. Not that I had a choice or anything.

She then jumped up in mild-shock and made an ‘Eep!’ sound or something. After gaining her composure after a moment, she replied with “O-Oh, sure! My name is Fluttershy. Do you need any help?” in a very shyly voice, while also sounding concerned.

“N-No… I’ll be…” I stammered, before being cut off while I fell to the ground, on my knees. I couldn’t take the pain of walking for a while there.

The pony then immediately rushed to my side, surprisingly. She said “No, no! You can’t wal- Wait here.” While I was rolling over into a sitting-up position. My right hand was still on my stomach wound, bleeding in pain. She then continued, looking at the paths around us. “I’ll find a friend. She can help you get to my cottage. I need to save you! I’ll be back!” She yelled, somewhat rushing those words, as she then ran off down the path that was opposite of the one I came down. She said cottage, as my mind was blowing. I just nodded in response, still in shock over the events that just transpired. Ponies can talk, wolves are made out of, ghosts exist, and crocodiles are made of rock… What the fuck is this place?

I thought this while I was looking around, taking in the sights. It looked beautiful, too an extent. The path I came down still looked like it was a part of the ‘Dark Africa’ forest, but the new area that I’m in, looks around the same but with brighter colours, no signs of any fog and any darkness, and nothing that wants to kill me.

Although I still thought I was in danger, I could have died bleeding out before Fluttershy, weird ass fucking name that I have to question later, could find her ‘friend’ that can help me. She seemed nice, and really… cared for me then. I may have gotten a friend, by saving her life. But, and I sadly can’t stop this, I always think about the negative side of things, unfortunately. I started to become nervous that she wouldn’t come back for me. That she would leave me to die, my bleeding out. But, no. I thought she would come back and help me, with her ‘friend’ she mentioned. If she doesn’t care for me, than the tone of the words she spoke said otherwise. So… she really did care for me. That what I realised there in that moment. I started to become happier, even with all the pain I was going through. Another question that I have to think about is, how long until they dump you and leave you in the gutter? That’s what happens with humans, anyways. Maybe these ponies are different. She didn’t seem like the violent type at all.

Digressing from this topic, I looked at my watch, which had one or two scratches on the glass screen, reading ‘9:42:12am’. Well it’s been one hell of a morning, that’s for sure. Time flies, but it really wasn’t pleasant at all. Fucking Timberwolves. I wonder if their called that, but that’s what I’m calling them from now on.

I got up a few times, slowly limping towards my gun, grabbing it off the ground with one knee down, and preceded to walk over to my bag in the bushes. I attempted to wipe the blood off of my eyes several times, but once I accidentally wiped blood over my mouth. I hate these badass wolves.

By the time I was walking, I didn’t know how much blood I’ve lost, but I was now starting to feel slightly drowsy. I stopped in the middle of my walk, bending over with my hands on my knees. I wondered if she was going to come back anytime soon. It’s been five minutes. And she didn’t ask me how she was going to get her friend, which got me thinking there, thinking that she betrayed me and left me to bleed out. I was starting to get mad there, but then opted against it, and wait patiently, hoping that she would come back, and hoping that hope isn’t bleak, because that’s what it seemed there.

Faintly, I heard a shout coming from a raspy voice, confusing me. I stood up and looked around, first at the path I came, then the path to the right of it, where I saw something cyan in the distance. It was flying. Yeah, I didn’t want to know why there and then, so I went with ‘Magic’. I then turned around, suddenly when I heard a twig snap. It wasn’t anything, as everything seemed unchanged to me. I shrugged it off.

Then I turned back around. And then it went further down the depths of mythical hell.

What I saw when I turned back towards that cyan thing, something happened in a split second that I hard to describe. What I saw, was a flash of cyan bolting towards me. Within a second, with no time to react, the thing speared me in the stomach-wound area, back into a tree, fifty or so metres away. On impact, my back starting hurting with a lot of pain, my abdomen was in immense amount of pain there, and there was more blood escaping my body. That attack took the absolute wind out of me, and I was unable to breathe for a few moments. My eyes were closed once the thing shot at me.

I was panting as two or three blisters coming out of my back was thriving in pain, contributing to ruining my shirt with tears, as I was panting, not at all catching my breath. Once I opened my eyes, with an expression on my face in pain, shock, and maybe horror, I saw the thing that attacked me, flying, or floating, in the air.

It was a cyan-coloured pony, only it could fly. A Pegasus I think it was called. This Pegasus had disorganised hair in a Rainbow-coloured pattern. The same with its tail. It had some sort of a pinkish-purple coloured eyes, and a tattoo on its back legs, the same with Fluttershy. Only this time, it was a cloud with some thunderbolt coming out of it.

I was in too much pain to even think why that was. Instead, I had a pair of eyes dawning down on me, with an angry expression that reads ‘I want to kill you’. I started to get scared now, as I was already in shock.

The pegasi grabbed me by both collars of my shirt, or at least around my shoulder area, and then threw me back onto the tree in a sitting position. The amount of pain I could handle was getting smaller and smaller. The Pegasus then jumped onto me and shouted “Where is Fluttershy?!” in a feminine and raspy voice, while holding back her right foreleg, ready to punch me. I tried to respond to that, but she already threw a right hook, hitting my jaw. I was in excoriating pain then. It got worse. I then responded, stammering, as she landed even more punches.

“I sav-“ She laid a left hood to my right cheek area. “ed her li-“ By then, she just laid three more right hooks to my face. In my vision, I could barely see this Pegasus. Blood was all over my vision. And for a moment while she was punching, I was wondering why this pony was hurting me. I guess this was Fluttershy’s friend, and they were both trying to find each other. And this one saw me, standing there with marks all over my face, and probably the amount of blood on the ground, which I didn’t noticed. I put two and two together, and thought that she thought I ate her friend, and that I was the main culprit. But when you think about it after a moment, there is a few traces that don’t make sense. Like, there are no marks of anypony’s hands- sorry, hooves’ bruises anywhere on my body. I couldn’t say this to her, because after her third shot, I was unable to talk, paralysed probably.

I really thought I was going to die from this Pegasus, and then accepted it, as I thought there that no one cared for me. As she was going for her sixth punch of my face, with some blood on her hair and her hooves, a voice suddenly stopped that. I couldn’t make out exactly who, but I guess it was Fluttershy. My ears were also slightly paralysed, not sure how that works, but it happened. After a few seconds, the pegasi’s expression slowly went from anger, to shock, to guilt and regret. Then then quickly backed away from me, when my vision was starting to black out. When she completely backed off, I saw a yellow blur, presumably Fluttershy, and a purple one, around the same size, and a smaller purple blur. I didn’t know what to make of this.

After a second of the batshit-crazy pony backing off of me, I tried to say something, before falling over to my side and blacked out. Arrivederci.

Are you sure you're dreaming?

A partially worn-down American flag, which was hung upside down from a pole, was been shown on a floor in a very tall building. A tall tower was shown to the right of this flag, as well as a few other buildings in the distance. All being effected by a giant sandstorm, the buildings have been damage, but haven’t collapsed, as sand is mostly shown everywhere on the ground, far below, showing destruction within miles of this flag.

Suddenly, a Helicopter can be heard flying towards the flag, but it isn’t shown. A few seconds after, the Helicopter just turns right while passing the building, right next to the flag, while being followed by another Helicopter.

“I can’t shake this guy, Phil!” said a man on an Inter-com voice, in the front Helicopter, which was being tailed by the other.

“Hit the brakes and keep her steady!” the man called Phil replied with.

“Are you out of your mind?” a third man asked Phil, worried about what will happen next.

“Trust me!” Phil replied with, while manning a Turret-gun. He then shot, for a few seconds, at the Helicopter that was tailing them, making it swerve to the side for a few moments. The affected Helicopter suddenly had flames, along with black smoke, coming out of the back of the chopper. Phil then went on to shoot the Helicopter again, this time killing the man at the helm, with the Helicopter drifting off to the side, with even more flames being present.

“Got ‘em!” Phil yelled out to the other two men.

“There's still more of ‘em!” the driver spoke out to Phil.

“I see ‘em!” Phil replied with, seeing the Helicopter explode in the air, in front of a tall building with a large poster of a woman wearing sunglasses.

As Phil’s copter continued flying on, two more copters appeared in front of him. One, being right in front of him, and the other far away in the distance, making it harder to shoot at that one.

The copter that was right beside Phil, was shot at himself, and eventually crashed into the building that they were both flying by, not without a lot of bullets being shot into the chopper. Then, the furthest copter suddenly flew right into his view, flying over a large balcony with tables and umbrellas, narrowly flying right over it.

Phil shot at the copter while bullets were also going into the building behind it. Eventually, it flew off into the distance while another flew straight by him, just missing the building by a few centimetres. Phil shot at this copter, while parts of the building, including windows and a moulded sculpture, fall to the ground after being shot at.

Once they passed the building, the copter attempted to fly into Phil’s one, but missed, as it crashed towards the ground, flying under Phil. By now, Phil’s vision started to slowly grey out, and blood appeared, which occurred if he was shot at.

The copter from before, then flew into Phil’s view, from a distance, right in front of another building. Phil’s copter was flying through the city, killing any Helicopter in sight.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?!” yelled out the third man of Phil’s copter, as the other copter just ducked under a bent down crane which had already been damaged.

“Gary, punch it!” Phil shouted to Gary, the apparent driver of his chopper.

.”I am!” he answered with, flying slightly unsteadily, as Phil’s shooting made the other copter explode, crashing into another crane placed right next to a building. The falling crane just missed Phil.

“Holy shit!” yelled out the unnamed man, watching the crane collapse. Suddenly, out of the dust of the ruins, another Helicopter came bolting out, going straight past Phil, and just narrowly missing.

“That was too close, Phillip! Take this guy out!” yelled out Gary, watching the copter speeding past, going further away from them. Phil’s chopper then turned left, as Phil was shooting at the copter from a big distance, through dust and smoke. Phil had some trouble trying to shoot this one, as it went behind one of the buildings for a few seconds, only to appear again, with black smoke coming out of it, damaged.

As Phil was shooting, he heard a noise for a second, while the other copter flew over a Satellite station, while two other copters came into view.

“Jesus, how many of them are there?!” yelled the unnamed man, watching as the new-spotted copters flew closer towards Phil.

“Doesn’t matter Henry! Gary, keep it steady!” Phil yelled towards both of his men, preceding to shoot towards a copter that flew behind a construction site on the roof of a building, as the other copter disappeared from view.

Phil, continually shot at this copter until it exploded after a second, while Phil’s view started to become blurrier and bloodier than before. To him, time started to slow down, watching the copter explode, and then immediately sailed to the ground, followed by smoke.

Phil’s copter then flew in-between two buildings, as his team spotted the other Helicopter, followed by Phil shooting at it, wondering where the third one went. He thought it crashed, which was the most likely scenario.

The other copter, immediately turned around and slowly flew right beside Phil, as it was being pummelled by bullets, and then flew straight upwards, while the other men spotted something they didn’t want to see at this moment.

“Oh shit! Is that what I think it is?” yelled out Henry, hoping it wasn’t what he is seeing.

“Yup! Sandstorm, closin’ fast!” Gary regretfully replied with, seeing in the far distance, a giant dust cloud approaching their copter, at a fast pace.

“So, get us outta here!” shouted Phil, watching the other copter slow down, going to the right of the building Gary was flying at, instead preceding towards the left of the building. Phil then readied his gun, and tried to point it at the other copter, while the sandstorm approached.

“Not with these guys on our ass!” Gary yelled, steadying the copter.

“Then take us in!” Phil exclaimed, while shooting through the windows, and the floor of a building, fitted with computers, tables, and plants, into the other copter, hoping it would hit. They passed numerous amounts of building while doing this.

“Into the storm?! Are you nuts?!” Gary yelled, not wanting to fly straight into a sandstorm.

“Guess we will have to find out.” Phil answered with, still shooting through the floors of buildings, going straight through, and barely hitting the other copter.

Once Phil ended his sentence, he stopped shooting for a second, once there were no more buildings in between both the copters, with the other one flying towards Phil, with flames and black smoke being present all over.

As Phil started shooting again, time slowed down again, only this time it was slower, as the copter went straight beside Phil. It got even slower, while Phil slowly watched the copter fly, and saw bullets come out of his mini-gun. After a second, suddenly a crane appeared out of nowhere, right in front of the other copter. Once it crashed into it, time went back to normal, in a fast pace. Phil’s vision then became clearer, as he saw the sandstorm get closer.

Then immediately after impact, they flew straight into the sandstorm, while Phil could see another copter in the distance almost on the verge of exploding.

“Hold on!” Gary yelled as he was trying to control the steering of the Helicopter, while seeing the copter in the distance move closer towards them. While it was spinning around, it suddenly kept going closer towards Phil. And closer. About to crash into him.

“Oh shit! Brace!” yelled out one of the men, bracing for the impact, while the Helicopter bolted towards Phil. It then immediately crashed-

“Bah!” I yelled out, immediately bolting up into a sitting position, widening my eyes, after having that odd dream, about three men in a helicopter shooting at other helicopters, while flying through a city that was run down by a sandstorm, while another sandstorm occurred. I was shocked by that last moment, which woke me up, jump scaring me.

But when I sat up, I immediately felt pain around my abdomen and back areas, and closed my eyes shut, moaning while I put my right hand to my stomach and my left to my face.. I then quickly fell back to lying down, on some bed, I think. I still felt pain, which some was coming back to other areas of my body. Mainly my face, head, and stomach areas. Only it didn’t hurt as much as when I was in the forest. And I didn’t feel any cuts. And my clothes felt different, along with the blankets that were placed over my legs. The hell is this? With my eyes still closed, I guessed as to where I am. I then heard a beeping noise, along with some murmuring that I couldn’t exactly make out. I’m… in a Hospital? But how, though? I guess I didn’t die, somehow. And Fluttershy got me here somehow, as well. Well, there was clear evidence of magic in that forest I was in, so I guess magic healed me. It’s the most likely answer.

There’s nothing else to do, as the pain around my body slowly went away, again. I slowly opened my eyes, and leaned up. I looked around the room I was in. It looks like a typical hospital room. But it doesn’t seem like an earth hospital. My vision was still blurry. As it was clearing up, I saw Fluttershy to the left of me, having a soft smile, along with all of her cuts and bruises disappearing. Magic is useful for certain things, after all. I made a small weak smile back at her. Then I turned my head to the right when- Hang on, that fucking cyan Pegasus is here. What?! I’m never really angry, but the expression she now sees on mine, makes her’ goes to a guilt-filled one with regret and worry. My expression was anger. My eyes twitched, as I wanted to leap at her throat, but then I didn’t because I still think she can beat the shit out of me. I nearly did a stupid thing, there.

The Pegasus saw my face again, and looked away, while rubbing her neck and smiling sheepishly. She can be guilty all she wants, I’m not forgiving her. To my right of the batshit crazy pony-thing, I saw a caramel-coloured unicorn. I guess that makes sense in a way. This unicorn had a brown mane and tail, while wearing a- So this guy is the doctor. He looks like a male to me. He was smiling at the sight of me waking up. That’s… Alright. And to the righ- Hang on is that a dragon?! Holy fuck, it is! Only, it looks like a baby dragon, coloured in purple and some type of green, who was staring at me. I think he was analysing me. Not sure. My expression was just a confused one, as I looked around the room. Then I saw another unicorn. Only this one looked more like a girl, and had different patterns of the colour purple. She was smiling as well, while making a sigh of relief. I guess the two purple blurs were the unicorn and the dragon. I wonder how they got me here. Maybe teleportation.

“You’re awake!” Fluttershy softly spoke, not being shy at all, with some excitement in her eyes. I smiled back at her, somewhat nervously. I don’t really converse with anyone, so this will be new to me.

“Yes, how are you feeling, sir?” the Doctor pony asked me.

Sir? Never heard that term used to describe me before. That was new. Well what do I say? I fear for whatever I say wrong, I will regret it. Unless anger takes me over. “I feel better…” was the only words I could mutter. I was honest, I did feel better. I wonder how much magic it took to heal my wounds. Oh, I have bandages. Why didn’t I notice that before? And why didn’t I notice my bag laying against a wall, next to Fluts. That’s a terrible nickname, and that could offend her, don’t say that name.

I think Fluttershy sighed in relief, along with the rainbow one. “That’s good. You were… quite damaged severely… once you were rushed here.” He responded, slightly stammering. Hang on- How severe were my wounds and the damages to my face? And why does my jaw, and everything around my face, feel quite normal, ridden of any pain? I’m starting to respect magic again.

I raised an eyebrow at his words, and then, nervously, spoke “How severe… was it doctor?”

The purple unicorn, the dragon and Fluttershy started to look away nervously, oddly. I don’t feel as bad as I did. How badly did rainbow here beat me up?

“Well…” He started to stammer. “You received major cuts to your… central body area, along with major cuts to your face, and minor cuts to your leg, there…” Right, how badly did my face get broken? This will be… interesting to say the least.

“And your face,” the cyan one flinched at the sound of those words, oddly. “Had, or so we believed, a broken jaw, chin and two broken teeth.” Wow that Pegasus can punch. I don’t think I want to get on her bad side. Unless I ever get real pissed off. I still hate her. Wait, did he say ‘or so we believed’?

“But keep in mind, we have never met your kind before, so the anatomy of your body was somewhat hard to heal, but it’s mostly healed now.” He said with a smile. Makes sense now. So I am the only human inhabited on this world of… ponies and fucking wild animals.

I just moaned as I laid back, thinking about the events that transpired, and the dream I had. Why did I dream about that? Why does ‘Phil’ sound familiar?

I then laid back up and asked “How was I rushed here exactly?” curious as to how they did this.

I saw the cyan one, shaking in… fear maybe, chuckling nervously, still looking away to the side, floating slowly towards me, while still rubbing her neck with her… hoof. “Yeah… I flew you here as quickly as I could.” She spoke. Really? I don’t know if I should believe that. Why the fuck should I trust her, again?

“Yeah, after nearly killing me…” I muttered under my own breath, looking away to my left in the process while also crossing me arms, hoping that it was loud enough so that she heard what I said. I think she got the message, as she immediately flinched backwards.

Now she started to stammer “Y-Yea-yeah…” while it looked like she was choking, and maybe her eyes were getting teary. But it looked like she manned up a bit. “…I-I’m sorry, fo-for… punching yo-“

I then decided to cut her off and make her feel even guiltier. “-Me after beating me for no fucking REASON!” I shouted with anger and hatred. Wait, I’ve never felt like this, before. So this is how having a passion to kill feels like. It doesn’t really feel good.

The looks on everyone’s faces had mixed expressions. Fluttershy made some ‘Eep!’ sound again, the doctor, Twilight and Spike looked between me and the Pegasus in shock of some sort, and the cyan pony looked like she was starting… to get mad? For me standing up for myself? How much of this can I-

“Look, I said I was sorry, alright? You don’t need to make me feel guilty.” The bitch just scolded me, moving much closer, with an irritated expression. I’ve never felt this angry before, but I was going to release it. I think the purple unicorn could tell was I was going to do, but I wasn’t sure.

“Then why the FUCK DID YOU ATTACK ME FOR?!” I shouted at her, while giving the rainbow bitch a glare that said ‘I’m going to kill you, now’. I went straight up into her face, staring into her eyes with hatred and pain. I think Fluttershy, the dragon and the Doc may have flinched, being surprised that I was this- Well, how are they surprised that I’m angry? Fucking… I don’t even know.

Rainbow, instead of backing away, she butted her forehead against mine, surprising me. “Because I thought you ate Fluttershy!” she yelled at me with her raspy voice. I raised another eyebrow while we both glared at each other. I think Fluttershy said something, but it was so soft, I didn’t hear it.

Then suddenly, a purple aura formed around me, and pulled me back towards the pillows I was sleeping on. A caramel aura formed around the crazy rainbow pony and pulled her back too, surprising both of us. We both looked around for a moment, when I saw the source of the auras. The purple unicorn pulled me back with her own magic, with her horn glowing a purple colour, while the doctor pulled back the rainbow-cyan freak. I muttered “The hell…” in a lot of confusion, with my anger dying down, but it was still there.

“Ok, that’s enough, you two.” Said the purple one, with a serious face, looking at me for a second, while I looked away, in shame for whatever reason. I didn’t want to look her in the eyes for some reason. I then looked back, when she was glaring at the Pegasus, with a shameful look reappearing on the cyan’s face. Simultaneously both of our auras that held us disappeared, and the cyan one floated disorganised, trying to get her balance. That was kinda funny. I snickered a bit, looking at her. She glared right back at me. Then I saw the purple unicorn turn back towards me, now smiling. The doctor was also smiling again.

“Now, I’m sorry for my friend here, and her… actions…” She continued. Wait, this thing is your friend? You may have some issues, lady. I wasn’t sure how to answer this, so I just looked at her, while she kept talking. “…Rainbow Dash here- I just got her off, laughing for a moment. Oh, these fucking names. Their stupid and priceless. Four of them just looked at me in confusion, while Dash looked irritated. Alright. “What’s so funny?” the purple unicorn asked curiously.

I sighed as I stopped laughing. “Sorry, it’s just- You won’t get it. Please continue.” I smirked for a few moments after that. Rainbow Dash. These names, man.

“O-Okay then. Dash here thought… that you ate Fluttershy.” She then spoke, making me raise an eyebrow, before looking at Dash, who seemed like she was angry and guilty at the same time. If she is really sorry, she’s good at not showing it. But really no one ever cares for me. Except in this moment, when at the least three (I don’t know about the dragon) actually cares for me.

“I- Okay… go on…” Those were the only words that I could stammer out of that remark. I really didn’t know what to say to that. When you think about it, it kinda made some degree of sense, but she didn’t give me a chance to explain. The benefit of the doubt is being shown here.

She then continued “But you actually… saved her life… from a Timberwolf, no less.” Okay, so they are called Timberwolves. And she seems surprised that I saved her life from those badass/deadly fucks that are magical beasts. Huh. “And, we thank you for your service, for saving Fluttershy.” That sounds like I’m getting laid off of work or something. I wasn’t sure if she really meant that, so I stared at her for a couple of seconds. She wasn’t budging- She meant that? Okay… “And… I apologised for my friend… nearly killing you… For some random stranger…” She looked like she was starting to choke up there. That… okay. She’s really grateful that her friend didn’t die. That makes sense. But for how long though? That is the main question.

I looked towards Fluttershy, who softly said “Thank you.” I smiled and nodded back at her. Wait- I rarely ever smile. And before, I smiled. The hell is happening here? What the fuck is this magic doing?

“No worries.” I replied with slowly, meaning it. I hoped she believed that I meant it.

Thankfully, it looked like it did, and had a slightly bigger smile on her face, which was hard to tell with her pink mane going over her face. The Doc was still smiling, while ‘Rainbow Dash’ continued to look both angry and guilty.

“Will you be okay?” the purple unicorn asked me. I turned to her.

“I think I will be. I feel much better than… before.” I responded with, remembering the pain I suffered. I shuddered in slight fear of those moments.

The purple unicorn then smiled. “I’m sorry, I don’t think you know our names.” That caught me off guard, somewhat. I really wasn’t curious, but it’s not a bad thing to know. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said, while I was trying my hardest not to laugh, but these names man… “This here, is my assistant, Spike.” She pointed to the baby dragon, who waved a hand. Assistant? How does that work? I guess I can find out later. I just waved back to him.

Then the Doc stepped forwards and spoke “My name is Doctor Horse.” I gave him a slight deadpanned stare. Is that really is fucking name? That is stupid. Is he supposed to be ‘Doctor House’? This seems like a rip-off.

Now, I turned towards Dash, whose name I already know. But I didn’t interrupt the introductions here. She looked at me, then at Twilight, raising an eyebrow. Twilight nodded, and Dash just sighed. Then she bolted up, looking proud, for whatever reason. “My name is Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria!” She bragged. An egotist. I forget how many of those that I’ve met. A lot. Too many, is a better number. I wasn’t sure if she was lying or not, but it would make sense that she calls herself the ‘faster flier’, as she apparently rushed me here. I really wonder how guilty she really is, if she is remorseful, or just acting this awkward play. Hope it’s not the latter. And- Equestria? That… I’ll ask later.

But, hang on, this one is an egotist. I bet I can piss her off. I’ve never done this, because that wouldn’t help me socially. “Yeah, sure.” I bluntly stated. I don’t want to push her too far. And the reaction I kinda predicted, occurred, as she just glared at me. I shrugged in response.

“And I’ve met Fluttershy.” I said, turning around the room, noticing something. These ponies seem too happy. Something is up. How are they always smiling, except for when I yelled? No one is this friendly. Hmm.

“So Doc, when can I leave?” I turned towards him, not sure if I should leave town, or just stay. Guess it’s not much of a choice.

“Well, we want to make sure you get a full recovery,” Really? “So you will be in here for a few more hours.” I sighed as I laid back on my pillow. I just said alright, as he spoke again.

“Okay, I think I want to be alone for a while, so I can think things over.” I said, wondering whether I should stay or leave.

Twilight interrupted my thoughts, as the Doc nodded and starting leaving the room. She said something about her wanting to show her around town. I replied with “Okay…” suspiciously, as she just smiled, and left the room with Spike, what a name for a dragon, of all things, and Fluttershy. Rainbow didn’t leave, for some reason.

When the other four left, Dash started glaring at me. “Okay, I don’t know if you are trustworthy or not, but you saved my friends life, so I can trust you for now.” Wow. Is she starting to make a threat? “But if you ever mess with anyone of my friends,” she has a more of an angry tone in her voice as she starting moving straight into my face. “I will beat the crap out of you!” She then snarled right at me, in my face. She was a lot angrier than I expected. And she’ll beat the crap out of me again. Yeah, ain’t that great. I didn’t do anything but glare at her still.

For a while. Maybe like a minute, before my expression started to become more of a calmer nature. She looked surprised at my expression, backing off slightly. She then, flew towards the door, opening it before looking back at me, and then flew off out the room.

I then just sighed and laid back again, wondering why there are always people like that. Loyal to their friends and themselves and no one else. I put both of my hands on my face, while thinking this. I don’t know what to do. I could make some friends here. I hope. Unless the Rainbow one runs me out of town, and/or gets the rest of this apparent town that I’m in, against me. I don’t know.

I then reached over and grabbed my bag, and pulled out my journal book, and started writing in it, recalling the previous day. Come to think of it, I never asked how long I was out for. And then- Wait, where’s my watch? No- no! Fucking hell! I lost my watch. How?! Great.

Guess I have to live without it.

After an unknown amount of time, I finished writing, and placed it back in my bag, zipping it up. I noticed that my letter was still there, and didn’t look like it was opened. Good. Everything else was in there, as well, thankfully. Unsure of what to do know. I decided to go back to sleep.

Blackness was the only thing that was in vision. Then the sun’s light appeared with dust. The vision then scanned a tree from the top to the bottom roots, with the light shining through the holes from behind.

Then the vision moves out, showing the tree, which is a very small one placed on a desk, where there is a couple of books placed on top of it. There is a wooden chair, and a bookcase connecting to the right of it.

The vision then moves even further outwards, showing an entire room. The desk/bookcase is in the right-hand corner, with to the right, three glass doors are shown, with a small relaxing chair on a balcony outside, along with one large open glass door window open, with the blinds moved to the far left. There are a few plants in front of the curtains as well. In front of that, is a man lying halfway on a giant bed. The blankets have been moved down most of the way on the bed. The pillows are stacked neatly. The man, then started to wake up.

“Is Michael-Luke Buchanan the greatest man I ever worked with?” Phil asked, voicing over the vision. The man, who is now shown to have a short buzz cut, and looking like he is in his early forties, is now sitting up over the side of the large bed, panning around him. “Well, I don’t know.” Phil continued.

The vision now moves back outwards, showing the entire room again, with Buchanan still sitting. “There was this one time in Kabul when he dragged my bleeding carcass half a mile to an evac-chopper.” Phil explained his backstory of the man, who now stood up and looked outside the large open window.

“So maybe I’m biased” Phil said, as Buchanan was now in a black shirt, walking across the vision, where, concealed in a glass case that was hanged against a wall, was four medals that looked like they were received by the United States army. There, also, was a golden statue, looking like a woman, pointing to the sky with her right hand, and a sword drawn, that was pointed down, in her left. “But the facts don’t lie, the man’s a fuckin’ hero.”

The vision then panned over a couple of pictures. On the left, was Buchanan and a blonde woman in a suit, while on the right, is Buchanan with a man looking like he was from Arabia. “Remember when the storms first hit Dubai?” Phil asked, while the vision panned over a picture of Buchanan talking, and shaking, President Barack Obama’s hand, while being given the four medals from before. This picture was place in the centre. To the left, there was a newspaper clipping saying ‘Sandstorms come to Dubai’, and to the right, another newspaper clip says ‘UAE Denied Need for Foreign Aid’.

“You were probably safe and sound at home, watching TV. Well, Konrad was leadin’ the Dammed 33rd outta Afghanistan.” Phil said as more pictures and newspaper clippings were being shown.

Then the vision showed Buchanan’s army jacket being placed on a stand. “Stead of comin' home, he volunteered his entire battalion to help with the evac.”

The vision turned towards a set of stair, where Buchanan started to walk up them. “I bet all you did was send a check.” Phil guessed, still voicing-over all of this. “Rumour is Buchanan was ordered to abandon the city.”

The vision then moved to a table, where a bunch of newspaper articles were stacked, all relating to the sandstorms in Dubai. There was a loaded gun on top of the stack. There was a briefcase as well, along with three pencils and a bunch of books. “Rumour is Konrad was ordered to abandon the city. He defied that order.”

“And the 33rd stood with him.” Buchanan is then shown to grab the gun. The vision turns to follow Buchanan, who is now wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, along with green baggy pants, looking clean. The gun was holstered in a Handgun holster on his right side. He was drinking coffee, while reading an article. “Now, the official story's still hazy 'bout what happened next. All we know for sure is the storms got worse. Much worse.”

Buchanan is then standing in front of an open shōji, with a Zen Garden to the right of him. He then proceeded to walk out the open door. “Last thing we heard outta Dubai was the Konrad was leading a caravan of survivors’ outta the city.”

“That was six months ago.” Buchanan is then shown looking over a glass railing on a big balcony, looking at the city of Dubai in its pre-sandstorm state, looking normal. There was dust clouds blocking half of his view. He smiled as he saw the city.

“Then, about two weeks ago, we picked up this transmission…” Phil said, as the vision slowly cut to black.

Static appeared at random times during the transmission. “This is Colonel “Luktz” Buchanan, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete... failure. Death toll... too many...” And static was played for another ten seconds before it ended, and the vision cut to darkness, once again.

These visions mean something.

How much of this is real, Phil? How much of this is a lie? How much hope do you really have? You think you can run from your terrible past? Remember. You cannot forget the past, and you must accept that. Remember, Phil. Otherwise…

Otherwise, it will end in your death. You brought this on your ambitious self.

Feel like a hero yet? Well, do you?

I woke up, looking straight up at a white ceiling. Although, something woke me up. This place… looks like a hospital. What did I do? Why am I here? Hopefully, my parents don’t kill me when they find out I’m here.

Wait… how did I get here? I can’t remember. I can remember who I am… But… Oh, my fucking head. I guess I have amnesia.

Now, where am I? And… who woke me up?

I was woken up by a doctor, I think. It probably was. It makes sense, with the current surroundings that I have taken in.

Before I decided to get up, I thought about the dreams that I’ve been having since I got to this new world. First, a Helicopter battle through a city that was destroyed by a sandstorm, and then a guy called ‘Phil’ was talking about this man named ‘Buchanan’, who saved his life in Kabul, and then, presumably, died in Dubai, which was the apparent town Phil was fighting in the first dream. Why was I dreaming this? There has to be a meaning. Pain?

Pain will take me over again in the future, like always. It’s more than likely to happen.

Think about the positives… Think about the positives… Forget the negatives… Okay, just get up, and deal with this pony that woke me up.

I went into a sitting position, rubbing my eyes. It looked like it was in the afternoon, around… maybe four o’clock. It’s hard to tell without my watch- Which I apparently lost. Great.

As my vision was starting to get clearer from the blurriness, I saw this pony, which was smiling, kinda creepily. There is something wrong in this place. I’m getting a creepy vibe. Anyways, this pony looked like a female to me. Mares I think their called. And she looked like a nurse. Her fur was a fully white, along with a pink mane. There was a Red Cross symbol on her back legs, and on her cap as well. She was smiling, hopefully she doesn’t-

“Hello, sir! Good to see that you’re awake.” She spoke.

“Ugh…” I moaned, rubbing my head, my vision was becoming less blurry and blurrier by the second. “Where… am I? And how did… I get here?” I asked, slowly as my head was throbbing.

“Oh! Well, you’re in Ponyville Hospital!” She said, cheerily.

What? Ponyville…? Okay, some things are starting to come back. Me, attempting to run away from home, when I was mysteriously transported to that darken-filled place of a forest, when I saved the life of another pony… from a wolf of sorts… There also was something about a guy named ‘Discord’, and a Chimera…

“And you arrived here a few days ago, when you were rushed by Rainbow Dash.” She continued. Okay… That name… sounds familiar, slightly… something to do with pain. I don’t know why, exactly…

“After you- I wasn’t told actually. It’s just that you were in this terrible condition.” So, either the word didn’t get around… or… it was all a dream. I sighed. I don’t feel like I’m in any pain.

How did I get amnesia, anyways? I rubbed my head, again.

“I’m sorry sir, but may I ask, what is your name?” She asked

“My name is Walker…” I said, slowly and cautiously. I made this up on the spot. I wonder why Walker came to mind.

“Well, hello Walker, my name is Nurse Redheart.” She said with a smile. Redheart… Odd name for a pony, but… I don’t want to think about this now. I have more important things to worry about.

“How long have I been out?” I asked, slowly and suspiciously. She said I was here for a few days. I wonder what has happened during that time period.

“Well, when you first came in, you were knocked out for two days while we healed most of your wounds.” How badly were my wounds? I had wounds? “And you woke up three days ago for a few seconds, apparently. Then, you passed out.”

Wait, what?

“Passed out?” I asked, confusingly. I was only up for a moment, before I passed out? But, I met those four ponies then, which I now remember. I didn’t remember what they looked like… so… how? It made no sense to me. How did that happen?

“Yep! Twilight said you poked your head up for a second, before passing out again, three days ago.” She, somewhat, repeated. Twilight… That name sounds familiar to me. Was she one of the ponies I met? I know that Shy-like one, but I couldn’t remember the rest. Or, what they looked like.

The fuck?

The pony I saved in the dark forest, was yellow and pink, named… Flutter… Shy I think. Wha- Why can’t I exactly remember what happened?

There was a wolf… made out of wood, that attacked the pony… and I saved her… nearly passed out, got the shit beaten out of me from some rainbow pony… then I was confronted by four ponies… and… some other thing, then…

What happened? Why do I have amnesia? How come I just got thi-

Holy shit… He made me forget about what happened? Or… was it all a dream? It can’t be- I’m lying in front of a Nurse pony… In a hospital. Is it a dream? Is this one? N-No it can’t-

“Sir? Are you alright there?” I got out of my trance there. She looked somewhat worried at my expression, which had a disbelieving and panicking one.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking over some things…” I calmly said, trying to regain myself. What else could I say? If I explained things to this one, she might think I’m crazy. I don’t want that to happen, me going to an asylum.

Oh… my fucking head…

“Oh, well… You have a few visitors that want to see you…” Visitors? Who exactly? I guess it makes sense if Fluttershy wants to thank me, but… who else? Maybe that ‘Twilight’ or ‘Rainbow Dash’ names I heard.

I looked around for my bag wher- The only thing I remembered… It’s gone. W-What?! Where my bag?!

“Where’s my bag gone?” I asked worryingly and somewhat angrily. If someone stole my bag, then I’m going to be real mad. Or, if that was a dream, and my bag was never found… Oh, great.

“E-Eh… What bag? When you arrived, there was no bag with you when Dash brought you in… in a… disturbing state…” She looked horrified at those last words. It, most likely, was a dream. Fuck. I didn’t know the guys’ names anyways.

Dash? Was that the name of the one that beat the shit out of me? Or was she the friend of Fluttershy? My head…

“O-Oh yeah… Send them in.” I didn’t want to think about this right now. Let’s just get this over with.

She nodded, and opened the door, leaving the room in the process. Don’t know why. It looked like she murmured something to someone else.

Then came in two ponies. One was yellow and had a pink mane (memories are slowly starting to come back), so that was Fluttershy. And then there were was another, with different colours. Hmm. Technicoloured ponies. This world really is fucking insane. And I’m talking about this purple… unicorn? Every pony I’ve met has different colours for some reason. Magic has done a lot to this place, hasn’t it?

Also, why the fuck are there these random tattoos on their back legs? Magic, I suppose. Ow! My head.

“Are you all right?” the purple unicorn asked, looking slightly worried. I was rubbing my head, while drifting off into space. She seemed like she meant that. Why would she care? Would- Oh, is she one of Fluttershy’s friends? I… guess it makes sense that she is here… as well.

Now, let me think about this. Are these three ponies here to congratulate me for saving one of their friends? Maybe. Or… maybe they are here to take advantage of me. Again. Like every fucking time.

For now, I’ll play along with this. “Yeah…” I mumbled, sounding somewhat negatively. I tried to be in a positive manner, but I’m in a new world, where I don’t know anything, other that it’s inhabited by ponies, pegasi, and unicorns.

The yellow pegasi, I think is Fluttershy, stepped forwards from the three that was there. “T-Tha-Thank…” She started off, stuttering while also looking shy. Clue’s in the name, for some stupid reason. Is every pony named after their profession or their characteristics? She then continued, looking slightly braver. “Thank you, for saving my life…” She apologised, saying something after that which was so soft that I couldn’t hear.

“Yeah, sure.” I stated bluntly. A thanks is all I’m going to get out of that?

She jumped back, slightly, after that remark, in shock perhaps. Don’t know why. I didn’t care why, though it was odd nonetheless. I think it’s better to not provoke them right now.

That kinda didn’t work. The purple unicorn narrowed her eyes for a second, ever so slightly, before shaking her head and smiling, confusingly. This place is odd. “Well, we all thank you for such an action, and…” the purple unicorn paused for a moment. “We apologise for putting you in that… event.” She looked guilty. Why do I get the feeling of Déjà vu? I felt like this conversation has happened before, but I can’t remember when.

Well, does it matter? How much of this is truth or bullshit. Or, maybe horseshit in this case. I can’t tell if she is acting or not, but It’s safe to assume she is. And Fluttershy may be sincere with her words, but I can’t trust any of them.

“Alright.” I responded with, acting as if I don’t care about her apology while looking away for a moment, which I believe is false. If I think she was telling the truth here, which I think I don’t, I would say that it wasn’t her fault, but as if she could give a real fuck.

Only a matter of time before they turn. Hope is blunt and thin.

I wonder what will happen now. I feel fine, for some reason. I can’t remember how badly I was hurt, but I guess that doesn’t matter now, as I don’t feel any real pain, except for my head a few moments ago, which has now disappeared, surprisingly.

“So, I think you have met Fluttershy here,” She said as she waved a hoof towards Fluttershy, who nodded while also smiling. “And now for me…” She softly spoke to herself, which I still heard. “My name is Twilight Sparkle…” I raised an eyebrow while also getting a sightly confused look on my face. So this is that big purple blur at the mossy Darken Africa-like forest, known as Twilight. Names in this world makes no sense to me. And she’s a unicorn, in human myth. Don’t know why that is, along with pegasi. “…And may I ask…” She paused, awaiting a response from me over my name, which I’m debating over whether to reveal. I decided to keep them guessing.

“Nemarluk is my name.” I told them. I’ve used this name before, and it has some history as to where I was from. Though I’m white for the most part. Wait, why did I think that?

“Nemarluk, may I ask…” She stuttered when she said my name, and looked like she was confused over something. “Where did you come from?” Twilight asked curiously. I wasn’t sure how to answer this question. I don’t think she would believe me. I then was going to answer honestly over some of the events that happened, before she cut me off.

“Because I have never seen your bi-pedal kind before.” She stated, giving further facts that I’m the only human on this new world. I sighed thinking this, wondering how I’m the last human, or really the only human on this world. A terrifying thought. Guess there really isn’t a future for me.

So I decided to tell the two that I woke up in the deadly forest, in the morning, while I wandered around for an hour before discovering the pony being confronted by some beast, which I couldn’t fully remember. They don’t need to know everything that I remembered, and did.

“So…” Twilight started to speak, “You’re not from this world.” Stating the now obvious, proving my suspicions.

“Yeah, alright…” I muttered, feeling somewhat das that I’m the only human around. But it was somewhat relieving that I don’t need to meet more fucking scumbags everywhere… Hopefully these ponies aren’t. I wonder how ponies are the sentient beings around.

The two then looked gloomily and sad, and then slowly approached me as I was sitting up over the side of the bed, looking at them as… Wait, are they going to hug me? “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I exclaimed pushing them both back. “As you can see, I’m fine.” I stated. Hugging me won’t make me feel better. The thought won’t ever go away.

Ever.

I think they were both taken back, surprised at my action. They then both postured themselves, very quickly while still looking sad. I guess they knew what I was thinking. “Well, alright.” The purple unicorn spoke in a sad tone. She then shook it and was suddenly enthusiastic, for some- “What are you? What kind of species are you? How are you standing on two hooves? Where did you-

I cut her off before things started to get personal. And she was starting to get annoying, asking these questions all at once, and immediately forgetting the moment that just transpired, oddly. This place has some kinds of crazy.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down there.” I tried to calm down Twilight. “Okay…” I then tried to compose myself. “I am a human. We are bipedal in nature. How that happened is… a very long story… but yeah.” Fuck that is a long story.

“Human… Human… I’ve never heard of you before.” She stated, somewhat obviously. Fluttershy was quiet throughout all of this, surprisingly.

I didn’t really wanted to continue with this conversation. “Yeah, alright.” I stated once more. I rather not talk about my own kind, which doesn’t exist on this planet, thank you very much. Thinking about it, I have to ask “Where am I?” Because I’d rather at least get some information about this place.

“Well, Nemarluk, you are in Ponyville,” Oh boy, I sighed and face palmed. How original. I’m guessing this place is mostly, or 100% fully inhabited with ponies, with names that are based of their characteristics and personality. How fucking original. I get the feeling that this is cliché somehow.

Also now that I’m thinking about it, this place feels awfully cartoonish to me, anyways. The art style of everything I see, it makes some sort of sense.

And I could go on with this train of thought, before Twilight continued. “…which is a small village in Equestria.” Equestria? The hell- What kind of name is that? Why a nation/country is called Equestria, I don’t know. This place is gaining more reasons that this world is crazy. I then thought about the ruler of this land, which I’m guessing is big, for some reason. I then dreaded to ask the question, but she told me so that I didn’t have to ask. “Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

I gave her a deadpanned glare. A Diarchy? How the fuck- That would never work. I mean, how? Humans would tear each other apart, trying to get to power. And no queen. Odd. And their names. ‘Celestia’ and ‘Luna’. Those names have something to do with the sun and moon, I’m betting. This world is starting to get more predictable by the second.

“Alright.” I responded with, not giving her any ideas over what I’m thinking. I rubbed my face with my right hand, while standing up, and seeing how taller I am then they are. I’m over a meter taller, that’s for sure, but I’m not exactly sure by how much. They flinched when they saw how taller I was over them. I think Twilight’s jaw opened up in… awe? I just ignored that.

“Well, I was permitted to leave the hospital now.” I looked at a window while saying that, looking at three or four ponies walking past, in different colours, and different tattoos on their back legs. I’m getting even more confused now.

Is there any reasonable logic in this world?

“W-Well,” Twilight stuttered, composing herself, yet again, “Would you like a tour of Ponyville?” She asked. That is a stupid name, Ponyville.

I’m still sceptical over what they were going to do, and whether or not they really are nice or not. Time will tell, so I went with it. “Fine, sure.” I somewhat stuttered, looking like I didn’t care.

“Oh, sure! Let me lead…”

I walked out of the hospital, after getting looks my other patients (there are so few of them), and personnel (which proves that their profession is their characteristic, for some god-awfully weird reason), and… this town, or village, as it seems, looks quite nice. Although it looks medieval to me. The hospital was also designed quite well. The trees and the bushes looked quite nice as well. There were very few other people- or ponies for that matter, who were walking by, on four legs. They gave me odd looks, which I guess is expected.

I looked around, seeing where I am. I started to follow Twilight, who went down the right path. Fluttershy then spoke up for the first time in, five minutes or so. “Sorry, I would like to stay, but my animals need to be fed right now.” Animals, eh? So, are ponies the only sentient being around here? Considering the fact that pegasi and unicorns, both are which are myths, do exist, I’m going to take a stab in the dark that Griffons, Dragons, Minotaur, Naga, and other mythical animals exist. Hell, I met a chimera, so it’s most likely true.

“If… that’s okay with you…” She then softly spoke, shyly.

I shrugged, not really caring if she stays or goes. She may have smiled, not that I could really see it, and ran off somewhere, while I was looking at the sky… There were no clouds anywhere, other than a few places, but they are really small. Also, the sky looks more colourful and brighter than usual, on earth. I guess these places don’t have any pollution. But then again, these houses look like they were from the medieval era.

So apart from that, I and the small purple unicorn started walking. The places around here look really nice and… peaceful. It was silence, as I was just taking in the sights. She may have spoken a few times, but I ignored them, because nothing looked that important at the moment.

I was getting even more looks by multiple ponies, all with different colours. I tried to ignore them, but they were starting to get on my nerves. They, or most of them, were murmuring something. I didn’t want to hear what they were talking about.

We were both walking over a hill, when I saw a big tree, which looked like someone lived inside of it. That’s… somewhat impressive, but then again, magic probably did that. Come to think of it, most of these houses look more or less the same, except for a select few. I wondered who lived in the big tree, before Twilight started walking towards it, while I followed.

“This is my home,” She started, looking back at me, while raising a hoof at the tree. “Golden Oak Library.” Library? So… she’s a librarian? I… guess that could be useful in wanting to know more about this place. That is, if I cared.

But… I just had to ask “How do you live in a tree? And… Why?” because it doesn’t seem possible to me. But, magic I suppose. If that’s the case, nonetheless ‘Magic’ is starting to become annoying.

“Well, because it was given to me when I first moved here.” Okay I think there’s a story behind that, which wasn’t interesting to me now.

Now, I would ask her another question, or she would continue explaining illogical sense, before I heard a shriek coming from inside the tree, followed by small flames, which slowly started to spread. “Oh no! I’m sorry, but I have to deal with this! Sorry, but I think you can look around the town by yourself!” She quickly yelled at me, while she ran inside the tree.

Well, that was somewhat rude towards me. First, she didn’t ask for my help, for some reason. Two, she just… deserted me in the middle of the grassy street. I wondered if she just hated my presence, and saw this as a reason to ditch me. Maybe, I sighed.

Maybe.

But now, I guess I could wander around by myself, not that I think that I’m in any danger. The flames disappeared as I looked around, being replaced by smoke, drifting into the sky. I wanted to look around the town by myself, but…

I’m completely lost.

I didn’t really want to wander around by myself… because other ponies may kick me out of this village for… being different is a plausible term here. As racist as it sounds, it could happen. There were many directions I could walk down. I turned my head in both directions, left and right, and didn’t see much of any reason to go down either. Randomly, I started walking right.

Before I heard a yelling coming from behind me, somewhere. I then saw another blue blur, coming at a really fast pace, when I realise that I couldn’t move out of the way in time. I tried to brace for the inevitable impact, before I was knocked out. “Oh shit! Brace!” I then heard, followed by a crashing noise was echoed in the complete blackness.

Then the vision slowly came into view, with the whistling of sand flying through, at a high speed. Three men, with black scarf masks, along with goggles, where tracking through a sandstorm, with the colours from dark red to orange being shown from the sand to the sky. One of them was walking a few metres in front of the other two.

“Gentlemen,” Phil started, looking at Henry to his left for a second before looking back at the city, again. “Welcome to Dubai!”

“Yep… it’s still dead.” Henry stated, looking between Phil and the ruins that laid in front of them, a section of a highway covered in large amounts of sand.

“Yet to be seen, sergeant.” Gary stated, walking next to Phil, looking at the city.

“You got a lock on that transmission?” Phil asked, stepping forward.

“Yes, sir! About 800 yards away.” Henry answered, with all men looking at the path that laid in front of them.

“Then, we are 800 yards away from findin' out whose more fulla shit - you or Intel.” Phil stated, looking at Henry, before walking towards the city, as Henry ran in front them.

The three-man team preceded towards the ruins. “Wow. If I wasn't a hardened kill' machine, that mighta hurt.” Henry sarcastically shot back, as the vision showed the city of Dubai far, far away, with dust scuttling around their area. Several sand hills were formed, as they walked down one, towards a section of a ruined highway.

The vision then shoots towards a worn upside-down American flag on a single pole, with the whistling of the wind hitting the flag, before everything faded to white.

Is this what you want to live in?

Is this what you want to read? So be it...

I don't know what's real at the moment. Am I starting to lose it? Why am I being put through this? Damn you... I can't remember his...

I know everything now. He did it. All of it.

Everything blacked out after thinking most of that through. My head still hurts… and so does my body, for some reason. I felt dirt all over, mostly on my face, and I also feel bruised and had been in a fight. It feels real to me. It doesn’t seem fake. I feel hurt, mainly physically… I don’t know where I am.

And that’s when, slowly, I start to hear chants of people, coming from behind me, but it was too distorted to make out. I haven’t opened my eyes to check yet, I still wanted to think. Where did he put me? I’m going to assume that this is real, and that… I’m staring at a grey wall.

Where the hell am I? I opened my eyes, and this is what I get. I’m currently lying on a concrete floor of some sort. I turn my head ever so slightly, both left and right, to see that… I’m in some sort of a circular cage. The fuck? Did I do something wrong? What did I do wrong, is a better question. He… what did he do?

The yelling coming from behind me, is slowly becoming louder and clearer. I tried to sit-up, but my entire body was throbbing in pain, mainly around my head and my abdomen, but very slightly everywhere else. My face felt like it had been hit with a baseball. Was I beaten up by someone or did he make me suffer like that?

I got up to a sitting position, before I was hit in the head with something. I think I heard slight cheers. I lost my vision for a few seconds, when I then was in the same position as when I woke up. I turned my eyes and saw… an apple had hit me in the head. An apple? I think I may have done something really wrong, here. But… what? Why would someone throw an apple at me?

I then sat up again, rubbing my head in the process, when I turned to my right, at the cage doors. I saw… a blurry vision of different colours, in shapes that I couldn’t recognise. I think these multi-coloured things, they may have been ponies (although why they would attack me is beyond what I could comprehend), were facing me, I think, yelling and/or chanting something at me. They kept throwing small rocks at me, and occasionally apples. I was starting to get hurt by this. The pain that I was experiencing was somewhat minor, but it was growing.

And that’s when I noticed the clothes that I’m wearing. They had been effected.

They were the same clothes that I had before, but there were multiple tears in random places, small amounts of blood and (presumably) sweat, dirt scattered all over my shirt and my pants. And my boots were covered in mud and blood. Something felt wrong here…

I covered my eyes from the rocks that they were throwing, when my vision became clearer. And my assumption was correct. There were multiple ponies, all with different coloured fur and manes, looking like they were going to kill me, if it weren’t for the bars that looked like it was made out of bamboo were protecting me.

Some held up rocks, and a few help up apples. Most, if not all of the crowd that were there, which seemed like fifty to hundred ponies were there, glared and yelled at me. There was this pegasi which- Her? Wait, what? Why is she wanting to kill me? She was floating only a meter away from the cage, with a look that could kill you. I don’t know why? She hates me, still? Well, this is a real reality, if I’m correct. I don’t know whether to hope it is or not, but… she looked guilty when I last saw her. That reality turned out to be fake, but… He did something…

I could spot out one or two ponies which had the look of small pity, maybe. One was a green unicorn, which I could spot out. There was another, and this pony had a cream coloured-fur and a purple and pink mane, I think.

I couldn’t tell over the expressions of other ponies, wanting to kill me. Why? I don’t know why, which I keep repeating to myself, because nothing is making sense at the moment. I also noticed that there were two white unicorns, with silver and gold armour on. Don’t know why. Wait, are they guards?

Discord, what have you done? I started to feel slightly scared, not knowing where I was being taken. I’m most likely true at the statement that no one trusts me. I don’t get it. If this is real, then why does everyone hate me? They were all nice, or at least content, in the un-real world. But… realistically they hate non-ponies…? Are these guys racist or something?

I thought all this over while I was sitting against the wall opposite the bars, closing my eyes, hearing the thumping of this cage while it’s in motion, and the hateful threats at the ponies. And to think they were nice… I tried to make out what they were yelling.

“How dare you, foul being!” One would yell. “You horrid, and foul being.” One other pony would yell. “You think you can get away with stealing the crown?” Another would ye- What? ‘Stealing the crown’? What crown? I didn’t steal anything. Also, how would I steal a crown? I- remembering the rules of this land, I don’t even know where they are? Or what they look like, for that matter. But… I’ll think about that later, I guess.

Either way, the taunts would keep coming from them. I don’t know how long it’s been, maybe fifteen minutes, but the cage suddenly came to a stop. I looked outside the cage from where I was sitting. Some of the ponies from the crowd dispersed, disappearing. Dash was now on the ground, still glaring death at me. But the surroundings… these houses seem familiar. Like… I’ve walked past them before.

The medieval-like houses… Wait, were they the houses I walked past during the third time, when-

So am I being brought to the other’s tree home? It could be possible, after all. If so, why?

After a moment, the cage started… was it levitating? Wow. I’m not sure if it is, but I guess magic is a common thing around here. She was still glaring at me, for whatever reason. I guess grudges are a common thing to ponies, as well. The crowd that was around the cage didn’t come through the doorway to the house, but I could still hear the yelling coming from outside. The cage was moving towards the centre of this big room, which… is apparently a library. Well, I know that I’m in the other’s home, because I can see the outlines of the carvings on inside this big tree.

And then, there were six ponies, looking female to me, that came into my view, standing in front of the cage. Her, the ignorant bitch was one, she was one, looking… angry at me. That’s odd. She seemed kind and shy towards me before, but I guess that wasn’t the real... her. There was then a white unicorn, with a blue mane or something, looking at me with a mortified and dissatisfied expression. Next to her right, was a basic gold pony with a cowboy hat and freckles, glaring at me, like Dash’s expression, but only a little less timid. And there was a pink pony with, for a lack of a better word, poufy mane, raising an eyebrow at me, looking over me. Then, there was... her, who looked even madder than the rest.

I sighed, wondering what happened that got them so pissed off at me. I just remember blacking out in his realm, then appearing in this cage. What-

“What is t’ere thing, Twilight?” The cowboy pony spoke up, with a thick southern accent, after moments of silence, turning towards the one she called... Twilight. Twilight...

I was just leaning against the back wall, sitting down looking at them, trying my best not to get angry at the southerner-accented one for calling me a ‘thing’. But what could I od about it? Also, why am I here?

“I don’t know, Applejack,” She started off. Applejack? What kind of names to these ponies have, anyways. Seems... I don't know what to think... “I’ve never seen this kind of being before.” I just stayed silent, making them think that I can’t speak their language. That sentence also confirms that I’m definitely not on earth, which was obvious.

“Can we beat it up?” She asked with a tomboyish accent, along with a big evil grin on her face, pointing straight towards me. She flew to the bars of the cage, trying to intimidate me, most likely. I started to get angrier, but didn’t attempt to fight back, seeing as it wouldn’t be the smartest decision at the moment. ‘It’.

“No, do not do such a thing, Rainbow.” Rainbow? A different voice answered, coming from next to cage where I can’t see this new pony. That voice had some motherly-like feeling that I heard. All six ponies looked towards the side, at this being. I had no clue as to who this pony is. “Twilight, keep this being here in your basement. You can study the being.” She didn’t call me ‘it’, which was new, but- Wait, study? Oh…

Twilight seemed to have nodded, and then the cage was moving towards a different doorway, where it was much darker. I then blacked out for a moment.

I don’t know where I am now. I was knocked out, by… something. I’m now here, in the dark abyss. Not like his one, as it’s all pitch black with-

Hang on, a vision is forming.

I see… me. On a grassy plane. Just lying on the ground. Just me.

I seem peaceful. No danger. No chaos. No uncertainty. I was smiling. Enjoying the soothing sounds of the birds, as they chirp in the background, while also faintly hearing the wind breeze through the air. I felt really calm. I felt really peaceful.

Happiness.

Something I haven’t felt in a long time.

I was just staring up into the sky. Enjoying the light blue sky, the scenery of the flora and fauna of the landscape around me, several trees along with several different animals.

Happy.

Then the vision blurred and changed for a moment, where I now appeared to be lying on a cloud. In the sky. It was now night time.

The sky looked beautiful, with the shining moon gazing upon me in the night sky. The stars also shining, with the dark blue background of space. At peace.

At peace, I thought. Why am I seeing this? Is this just an ambition I have? It must mean something, right?

Remember. Remember. Remember. It will be the end of you.

I then suddenly woke up from my slumber, where a cold bucket of water was thrown on me. I blinked a few times, trying to process this, before shivering for a moment. I was lying on the back wall of the cage. My vision was still hazy, but I could make out six small figures with different colours, the six ponies from before. There also was a seventh one, which was half the size of the ponies. That must have been the dragon from before. The baby dragon.

I remember some of their names. Do I? But, they don’t remember me. And taking what he had said into consideration, they probably thought I would be some sort of spy if I said I knew their names. So all in all, hope was flushed down the drain.

My vision was becoming clear again, and I found that my cage was in a basement of some sorts. There were a few shelves of books in the back, while there was some sort of machinery to the side, like it was something out of a mad scientist’s laboratory. Wow, I wonder what these ponies could do to me.

They noticed that I was awake, and started to talk about something, but my ears were ringing and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Twilight stepped forwards first, looking irritated and paused, probably waiting for an answer. I just stared at her, with nothing else coming to mind over what I should be doing. After a silent moment, she huffed and then the blue pegasi flew straight at the cage, yelling at me. I could make out the words of ‘say something’, or anything similar to that. I just closed my eyes, as saliva flew from her mouth, and onto my face, very disrespectfully. I was trying to contain myself, feeling many things right now.

Shocked, scared, angry, hurt. Just to name a few. But, what else would I be feeling. I’m locked up in a cage, treated as an animal. Feeling helpless, being looked down on, weak.

I took breaths, breathing in, breathing out.

“Hey, animal. Talk to me!”

Breathe in, breathe out.

“Come on! I know you can understand us!”

Breathe in…

“Rainbow Dash, please calm down.”

Breathe out.

“No! This animal can hear us. It knows what we’re saying!”

I flinched for a moment, hopefully it wasn’t really noticeable. I still tried to breathe in-

“See! Did you not see that? It just heard me. It just did!” The anger levels in me were rising, but I felt weak to express them.

My ears then started to ring again, and I couldn’t hear what they were saying most of the time, but I could hear insults, threats, language you shouldn’t hear being directed at anyone, racial slurs. I couldn’t exactly make it out, but I could take a few guesses at who.

Mainly Rainbow , occasionally Applejack would take shots at me, but would really just glare at me, the white unicorn would often criticize the way I looked, and the clothes I wore, Fluttershy would either glare at me or, what looked like feel some remorse, which seemed like a fake mask to me, the oddly-looking pink one just stared at me, looking like she had no emotion at all. Strange. Twilight was just glaring at me for the most part. She may have done something else, but I didn’t pay attention to that. What got my attention was the baby dragon, known as him, I believe. He…

He looked guilty. Like he didn’t think that I should deserve this. Well, maybe I’m making that up, but that’s what it seems to me. He looked like he didn’t want to be here, witnessing this. He locked eyes, just staring at each other. He gave a small smile after a bunch of moments. When I thought no one was looking, I smiled for a split second before going back into my shocked expression. I think I’ve made some friend.

Then again, suddenly I blacked out again.

Loneliness. Powerless. Anger. These are some of the words that describe Tirac, or who ponies called Tirek. He had failed in his mission to conquer Equestria, and he was not happy with it, not one bit. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony, using power from the Tree of Harmony, had drained him off all the magic that he stole from everypony, including Discord. That proved that Tirac was still inferior to the Mane Six, even with the magic that he stole from the Princesses’, Luna and Celestia. Without any magic, in his weakest from. His corrupt mind made him overestimate the Elements.  Now, he was back in Tartarus, back where he had escaped from some time ago, back to square one. And what did he think of this?

He hated it. Hated being a prisoner. Hates not ruling Equestria, with all of his power that he had gained. Hated that he failed, even with all the odds on his side. He wondered how he could have been defeated. How had those six ponies weld so much more power over him? He even took their magic from them, every last one, and he still lost his battle. He couldn’t figure out why? He hadn’t foreseen the Tree of Harmony, and the power that stopped him. He also was wondering if it was best to betray Discord, but quickly disregarded that is wouldn’t have made any difference, showing how weak he was compared to him, then.

Now he spends his days in this cage, isolated, in the depths underground of mainland Tartarus, inside a carved out mountain. His cage was floating above a giant white circle, which contained the cage and himself, stopping every last chance of him escaping. No one can get in, or can get out. He was vulnerable to any attack, which was not foreseeable to anyone, considering Cerberus was guarding the small pathway that led towards the mountain, guarding for everyday that Tirac still lives. His chances were slim to none. He couldn't even rationalize what had happened years ago. He couldn’t break out of this prison by himself, no matter what he did.

Unless someone breaks him out.

Teleporting behind Cerberus, an unknown figure which Tirac couldn’t make out, kicked the three-headed dog, in the back of the middle head, sending him towards a wall of rock. Cerberus was stunned by the sudden attack, unsure of who it could be. He tried to compose himself for an attack, if the being hadn’t shot a bolt of magic at Cerberus, knocking it out in one hit. Tirac tried to make out the silhouette of the being. He thought it looked… like a pony, most likely a unicorn, considering the bolt of magic it assaulted the guard dog with. Tirac started to get excited, thinking that someone was going to break him out of Tartarus, but then had some second thoughts as to why, and how, a pony got into here and took down the dog guard. Why was this pony here?

He waited anticipatedly for a few moments as the pony slowly walked, on the rocky up-hill path, towards Tirac’s cell. Tirac was trying to figure out who this pony is. He didn’t think it was any of the Elements of Harmony, because why they would show up here, and only one of them, didn’t make much sense. He also rules out the Princesses’ because the power that was shown on display didn’t look similar towards any of the four that existed in Equestria, and why they would show up like that made no sense. He then ruled out Discord for similar reasons, thinking he was probably imprisoned in stone for a second time, to Tirac’s knowledge anyways. He just couldn’t think of anypony at all, really.

And then the pony came into full view, standing in the walkway, with a facial expression of seriousness and slight angriness. Tirac observed this pony, which a male, and looked at him was while he just stood there, staring at Tirac as they locked eyes. And had couldn’t believe it for himself. This male pony was an Alicorn. He had a very dark grey coat, along with a full back mane, with two strains of his mane being a dark blue, and his cutie mark was a long blade that was slightly see-through, being the same dark blue colour. He also noticed other features, such as the left side of his face was blackened out being, what he believed, was ‘burnt’ off in some way, his right front leg had bandages around it, as with some parts of his back left leg. Several parts of his coat were covered in blood, and he looked slightly wounded, but walked fine.

He looked like a soldier. A harden battle soldier. One who had been through much, and knows much.

He could tell in his eyes. It was filled with anger, fear, and regret. He looked like he had been from all of Tartarus and back, in a place where he had seen so much, but had gotten used to it. Tirac didn’t know why at first of who this pony was, or what he did, but then… he figured it out. He knew who this Alicorn was. He had met him once before, but his name has been thrown around Equestria and Tartarus.

“You… It was you… You did…” Tirac spoke in a weak voice, wondering why he was here, and what he wanted from him.

The Alicorn with the unknown name, kept staring at Tirac, looking at what he had become. He watched the entire events unfold at Ponyville, the battle between Tirek and Twilight Sparkle, who became a princess months before, the five out of the six Elements get captured, Tirek capturing most of the magic from every other pony but himself, as he watched. He was also there when the Tree of Harmony activated, and Twilight’s castle arose. They both remembered the confrontation they had that day.

Tirek had already taken the magic that he drained from a bunch of pegasi, some being all of the Wonderbolts, while there were other ones as well. They were all charging at Tirek, before Discord froze all of them in place, while Tirek drained the magic from them, along with their cutie marks disappearing. They were then dropped to the floor, as they walked past them and on to their destination. They all looked dazed, confused and weak.

And I followed them. I followed the power-hungry Tirek, along with Discord who had betrayed Equestria, as they continued their search of everypony within miles of Canterlot, draining the magic from everypony they encounter. And they were doing a good job at it. They were going towards Appleoosa, while I was about a minute’s walk behind them. It wasn’t hard to spot the two figures. They were unaware that I was following them. The pegasi who were trying to recover their fall and their loss of magic, rubbing their heads, moaning in confusing, and shaking in fear over their cutie marks being gone and a great and evil power dominating them. You couldn’t really blame them. Nor, could you help them. Things are supposed to be set in motion for the moment.

Some looked at me with confusion as well, as I walked past them. They didn’t know who I was. Although, one or two had seen me before. I didn’t care for the looks that they were showing me. I had a job to do. One may have asked me a question, and if they did, I ignored it. It didn’t matter of what they did, because it wouldn’t have made a difference with the following events that has to go in motion. I have a thing to do, and for now, I just wait and watch. I, interrupting the course at this moment, confronting Tirek who was getting stronger, didn’t help me with anything. Although, there are some secrets that he doesn’t know of.

Discord had rounded up a bunch of earth ponies, farmers really, as they were attempting to run away from Tirek, who had burst through the front doors of a saloon. The ponies were shocked, and started to shake as he approached, while Discord just watched, feeling very little regret at this stage over if his choice to side with Tirek was wise. It soon wouldn’t be, but he didn’t know that right now. Tirek’s eyes became slightly larger and redder, when draining the magic from the farmers. They were satisfied with draining from the last ponies in the colonial town, and started to move towards Canterlot, to confront three princesses of Equestria that only he knows of.

Tirek was stomping towards the doors to Celestia’s throne. Candace and Luna were also there, on the side of the throne, all being weak after draining their magic, giving it to Twilight, who Tirek did not know of. Not that it currently mattered, as she was elsewhere, trying to learn as much as she can, with the magic she gained to use in combat. I believe she may have been in the Evertree Forest, or in her tree home. Digressing, Tirek burst through the doors, throwing the pieces of what was left in his hands, over to the side. He had just come from his confrontation with Shining Armour, taking his magic, while Discord was starting to feel some guilt over his choice. He would regret that choice.

I was watching from outside the throne room, next to one of the giant windows that they had, listening and watching the conversation. Mainly, watching Tirek getting angry after realising that the three princesses had no magic on them, and that it was gone. To put it lightly, he wasn’t pleasant with this. But he was somewhat amused that he thought that this was their entire plan. Oh boy, was he wrong. In his giant from, he sat on the big throne, taking up much of it, as he send the princesses to Tartarus, to where he was imprisoned, and told them to send Cerberus their regards.

Then Discord went back to Tirek, and gave Discord some necklace thing, which took the shape of a gold pyramid of some sorts. Tirek then looked amused at the window that Discord had made, with was him riding on top of Tirek, who was welding an iron sword, while Discord was welding a break stick. And he’s the self-proclaimed ‘God of Chaos’, believe it or not. Then, Tirek saw Twilight’s window, and then grabbed Discord by the throat. Why Discord didn’t tell him earlier is beyond me, really. He said he wanted Tirek to gain his trust, which was stupid, considering he hasn’t turned on you… yet anyways. They then proceeded to go to Ponyville, where Tirek melted Twilight’s window in the process. And meanwhile, I was just floating in the air outside, watching it all. I need to make sure they don’t see me now, but they won’t, because they aren’t aware of me yet. And Discord forgot all about it.

Discord had led the bearers of the Elements, to a small field, out in the opening, where Discord spawned a cage out of nowhere, and trapped six beings, while I was hiding behind a bush and a tree where no one could see me. There was Applejack, the southerner farmer who was the Element of Honesty, Rarity, the dresser in Ponyville who was the Element of Generosity, Pinkie Pie, who, surprisingly, I can understand most of the time, was the Element of Laughter, Fluttershy, the easily-scared of everything who’s the Element of Kindness (go figure), some random baby dragon who is also there, and is Twilight’s assistant, which I don’t get to this day, and… I sighed.

To this day, I still don’t know if I have a crush on this Pegasus. I honestly don’t. This tomboyish, brave, courageous, gullible to some extent, mischievousness, brash, and overconfident, and probably more, pegasi is… interesting to say the least. Rainbow Dash. I have mixed feelings with this one. I love her and I hate her. Some of her traits are good, and then she’s an egotist, who doesn’t really trust anypony other than her friends and friends of those friends. If she hasn’t met you before, she will think you’re a spy for some reason. Sorry, this is just personal experience talking.

I’ve seen her before in person, and she has seen me at least once before. In one of the many scenarios I have gone through. That is a long story for some other time. But yeah, they were caught in a cage, where they didn’t notice Tirek walking up towards them, for some apparent reason. I don’t get it either.

Then these things happened. Discord reveals to them that he has sided with Tirek and betrayed them, Fluttershy cries over this, Tirek then betrays Discord… blah, blah, blah. It’s boring. I already know that this will happen, so I just have to wait patiently still. When Tirek took the Elements’ magic, I felt somewhat heartbroken over looking at them. Dash’s eyes had become shades of grey, and all of them looked grayer and weaker. Except for Spike, the baby dragon, who hadn’t been effected at all.

Then Tirek betrays Discord and steals his powers, which looked somewhat majestical. And hilarious that Discord had been defeated, again, again, and again. I tried to hold in my laughter, as Tirek stormed away, looking for Twilight. Discord was looking very weak as well, trying to get up but failing, feeling heartbroken as well that he had been betrayed, and then Applejack may have said something. As soon as Tirek was out of view, I couldn’t help but laugh from behind the tree. I mean, why Discord would side with someone who, at the time, was weaker then he is a mystery to me. They all looked in my direction but couldn’t see me. Discord then knew who I was, and widen his eyes. “What…?” He murmured in disbelief. I then teleported away, towards a lone cloud in the sky, getting a bird’s-eye-view of the field where Tirek was yelling out to Twilight Sparkle, essentially challenging her to a fight.

I spotted Twilight in her tree house, using here telescope, looking for Tirek in the distance, and when she did spot him, he was already charging a bolt at her. She then, with a split second just flew out of the way, with her owl in hoof, from the tree house, which had exploded from the blast of Tirek’s power. The explosion made the atmosphere change, changing the colours in the sky, and on the ground. Twilight was laying on the grass for a few moments, looking at her former home, with was still partially there. Most of it had blown off. She then teleported into the sky, and that’s when things got very interesting.

The fight between the two went on for about two minutes. It was kinda epic, but really boring for some of it. It was mainly Twilight trying to dodge Tirek’s attacks using his magic and the earth changing from him smashing into the ground, or throwing gigantic rocks at her. While he was putting a force field around himself from Twilight’s attacks, which didn’t do anything. Then they both shot bolts at each other once, and made a blinding explosion for a minute. When it cleared, something happened which I didn’t expect to see.

Twilight was hurt from the blast. She wasn’t mean to, which was the interesting part.

Tirek was covered in a bunch of rocks, before the Minotaur stood up and walked over towards Twilight, who was struggling to get up after being flown into a big rock. He laid on the ground for a few moments, with some blood, cuts and bruises covering her entire body. She was grunting and breathing in pain, and once she stood up, for where she struggled for more couple of moments, she then limped over towards Tirek, where she still wanted to fight, but was unsure over whether or not she could physically continue. From my brief observation over this, she couldn’t continue without getting seriously hurt even more.

They locked eyes for a moment, where Tirek considered fighting still. He noticed the condition Twilight was in, and barked a laugh. Twilight moaned in pain, with her legs shaking rapidly, starting to give way. A tear may have formed in her eye. She knew that he was winning this fight, and that she was losing. She started to get slightly scared, that her last hope was being burnt to ashes. She then went into a stance to keep fighting, with her whole body throbbing in pain. She winced in her eyes as she, slowly, was starting to collapse to the ground. She knew that she couldn’t continue in the fight. She looked down as she tried to stay up, and after another moment, stared at Tirek weakly. He slowly walked up to her, knowing that he had one, laughing in victory and dominance.

Twilight then tried to blast Tirek with all the strength she had left, but Tirek had suddenly blasted the ground in front of Twilight, sending her backwards, unable to fly, she landed on rock, back first. The impact temporarily paralysed her, making her unable to move any body part or to use her magic. She knew she had lost, and that Tirek will rule Equestria. And she thought that… she will be murdered by Tirek. The Minotaur himself was approaching her again, with a giant smirk on his face.

Now, at this point, you think I should be intervening here before Tirek makes his move. But no, these events are supposed to happen, so I still have to wait a little bit longer. Even if sacrifices had to be made…

And if he didn’t do it…

“Was it? Now, what did I do?” The Alicorn had spoken after a small pause, with a foreign accent which made him sound intelligent towards Tirac.

“It was you…” Tirac started off, still in disbelief over seeing this pony. “You were the one that did-

“Now, I’ve done many things before,” He interrupted, knowing what he was going to say. “And I have regretted those and accepted what I’ve done. And so have you. Some which I believe that you regret, and other that don’t. Things that you can’t accept.” He said this, getting closer to the cage, until he was standing right in front of it, with a deadpanned and fixed facial expression. It was really unreadable to Tirac. “But, we don’t live in the past, now do we?” He started to walk back and forth, slowly and collectively. “Because we are all living in the present. The present, show that you are locked away in your cage.” He tapped the side of the cage to Tirac’s left, while he was still staring at him. “And I could break you out, so you can escape once more.” Tirac’s eyes started to widen by what he had just stated. “So you can attempt to conquer Equestria’s throne once more, and live in glory at the fact that you are the ruler of all earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns.

And now you could prepare for the future, prepare for the challenges of the princesses who managed to thwart your plans, somehow. King Tirek. It has a ring that name.” He stopped, putting his hoof on the far right bar to Tirac, staring at his hoof. Tirac meanwhile, while listening to this, was still astounded at the fact that this Alicorn was willing to let him go free. Free from the loneliness of this cage, to weld all the power of an entire kingdom, which spanned most of a continent. Tirac wanted revenge from all of the time he has been in Tartarus. But while he was thinking this, the alicorn sighed. “But before all of that, let’s take a few moments to consider.”

He then summoned two pieces of paper, one of which he floated towards Tirac, who was confused, but grabbed it from the air, as the mysterious pony stared at his. “Origami,” He started off with, looking at Tirac for a moment, before looking back as his paper. “One of the ways of representing an object or an animal.” He then focused on the paper, and then using his magic, folded the paper several different times in a pattern, as Tirac only watched it unfold, wondering why he is making Origami in the first place. He thought that there had to be some meaning. The alicorn, after a minute, folded the paper into, what looked like a dragon. “Tatsu,” He said, looking at his construction. “A symbol of power, wisdom, mastery and success. It also brings strength, luck and fortune.” The Origami dragon floated in front of Tirac’s face. “Something that you want. Something that you think you are. Something that you think you deserve. Something…” He paused for a moment, looking away uninterested in something.

“Something that you are not.”

The construction floated back over to the alicorn, while Tirac was looking confused, and felt angry. ‘Something that you are not. What does he mean by this?’ Tirac was slowly getting frustrated over what he said. He wanted to know why he could not ever have strength, luck and fortune.

“Now, you may be wondering why I compared you to something where, which I stated, that you aren’t, well…” He trailed off, not finishing that sentence for a few moments of complete silence, as they stared at each other, letting time pass, and giving Tirac thoughts over what this alicorn is really going to do.

Then the black stallion walked up to the cage, in front of Tirac, and sat down, crossing his legs. Tirac was utterly confused and angered by this pony’s actions. He wanted to know why he hadn’t been released from this cage, but he wasn’t getting an explanation out of him. He wanted to yell at him for an explanation, but thought better of it, considering him relies on his only escape from this place. Though he won’t get an answer saying why. The Alicorn then looked at the piece of paper in Tirac’s hands. He followed his line of sight and held up his piece of paper. Tirac wasn’t sure of what to do with it, as he looked at it in confusion for a few moments, before the aura of the pony snatched it out of his hands. He then proceeded to make another animal, while Tirac watched. After another minute, when he had finished…

“Tsuru” The pony started off with, stating the creation’s name, which was a variation of a crane. “A symbol of happiness, good luck, and…” He paused, looking at Tirac. “Peace…” ‘Peace’ rang in Tirac’s mind. Something that he didn’t want. He wanted control. He wanted power. He wanted fortune. He wanted glory. Wanting peace came into none of those in the slightest in Tirac’s mind. What Tirac didn’t know is that the pony knew what he was thinking there. “None of which you want, I presume.” The crane floated away from Tirac and into the pony’s right hoof. He held up his hoof, looking at it for a moment before turning back to the Minotaur. “None of which many perceive those words as.” He then continued, before pausing for a moment, looking even more serious at Tirac, who looked stern.

“I know who you are.” The Alicorn started, with his voice sounding gruffer than normal. “I know what you’ve done in the past. I know that you want power. I know that you can’t accept what you’ve done. I know that you can’t forgive either.” He lowered his hoof, as they locked eyes one more, looking angrier. “I know what you did all those years ago, in the southern Badlands.” Tirac widen his eyes ever-so-slightly. He knew what he was talking about. “And what you did to the many, all… all for a distraction. A distraction. All the murders, all the crimes- all the slaughter you committed… for a distraction. To distract Celestia from you trying to claim the throne of Canterlot, once more. And who took that blame?” Tirac knew, and didn’t feel any guilt of passing the blame for his own gain. He didn’t. He was selfish, and only cared about himself. If he needed to get rid of anyone in his tracks, then he would get rid of them, and even use them for his own personal gain, for power. And the being that he passed the blame. He remembered those events. “You remember don’t you? And you don’t feel bad about anything that you did.” He didn’t. Tirac didn’t. Those lives meant nothing to him. And Tirac smiled evilly. And the pony’s reaction was a raised eyebrow.

“You know that I don’t. All I want is power, and revenge on Celestia. And you seem to know that.” Tirac stated, speaking in a voice that made him sound weak, in an old man’s voice. “And nothing will change my opinion. Not yours, not the ponies I killed, not the dead, not even my brother, not ANYone.” He stated bluntly, raising his voice in the process for a moment.

“Because you wanted to feel like something you’re not, a king.” The Alicorn replied with. He let that sentence sink in for a moment before continuing. “The power you wanted, the power you gained… corrupted you, and for what? You’re not some leader. Your talents lie elsewhere.”

The alicorn then held the crane with two hooves, studying it, while Tirac was frustrated and angry over what he had just called him. He said that he wasn’t a great leader. He thought that he just wasn’t some leader, but a great one at that. And he thought that he wasn’t corrupt, but that everyone else was, and he becoming ruler of Equestria would solve all the corruption of the ponies in the land. At least, that was from his perspective, and how far from the truth that was is too long to count. The need for power had corrupted Tirac’s mind severely, that he couldn’t tell.

“You see,” The Alicorn said after a few moments of silence, with Tirac feeling tense while the pony felt very calm and comfortable, almost… like he was savouring this moment. “You think that I’m here to rescue you from your imprisonment, to destroy this cage for your freedom, to leave Tartarus once more.” And something happened which surprised Tirac, the alicorn slowly grew a devilish smile, with an intent on something. Something that Tirac didn’t anticipate happening. And something he had hoped he’d never hear in this situation.

“You thought wrong.” He then said, with his voice becoming much darker and gruffer.

Holding the crane by the tail with two hooves, he suddenly, quickly and swiftly stabbed Tirac in his chin, with the point of the crane’s tail. Tirac couldn’t react to this action fast enough, as was about to back away from the pony… before he froze still from the impact. Stock-still, he was paralysed. Had no ability to move. He looked at the alicorn, who was still smiling, with worry, over what he had just done.

“Oh this?” Now standing up again, the pony referred to the crane that was on top of his right hoof. He slowly unfolded the creation with his magic, until it revealed a lone piece of paper with several different folds, and a small sharp object. “Well, you see this thing here in the middle, came with a dose of Atroquinine.” Tirac widen his eyes in even more disbelief, and realised what he had just done. “Yes, Tirac. I just killed you.” Tirac had a single tear come down his eye, knowing that he was going to die from some random stranger. That the stranger had been sent here to kill him. “Let me tell you why.” He continued, dropping the paper and the object on the floor, standing on all four hooves. “Because I want you to pay for what you have done to the innocent lives that you killed.” His facial expression went to one of pure intent to kill, glaring right into his face. “And what you have done… to me over the years. The torment that you put me through, the trauma that I had to face and deal with. Things that I will never forget with my life.” He took one breath before speaking calmly and evilly, like a sociopath. “You decided to make me suffer for decades, so now I think it’s only right to pay all of that with your life.” He then stood up and backed away from the cage in a few steps. “Die in hell, you bastard.” And then turned around, and slowly walked away, with a smile on his face.

Tirac, meanwhile, was slowly dying inside, he couldn’t feel anything in his body, for the poison had attacked his central nervous system. Tirac had his hands on the ground now, coughing up blood, thriving in pain, and suffering. He didn’t know who this pony was, but he knew that he had ended him. After all these years, he was the one to kill him. And he didn’t even know his name. “W-Who ar-are y-you?” He struggled to ask the question, as it was seemingly almost impossible for his current state.

The Alicorn stopped, and lowered his head. He was looking at the ground, with nothing coming to mind. He then moved his head to the left slightly, looking back on the Minotaur that had caused him so much harm, and then slowly stated his name, a name in which Tirac knew very well, but realised it wasn’t him till now. When it was too late.

Escape is a Virtue, the Essence is Clear

You can't escape the past. You can try all you want…

One does not forget the madness of war.

Because a fool is quick to hope and slow to learn. Are you a fool? Answer me. I'll guess we will both find out… together.

I jolted up from my dream, wondering what the hell that was. I don't know why I'm having these dreams… They must mean something… It's all too confusing.

I noticed my surroundings, and I'm still in the cage form before, sadly. This basement, with shelves filled with books, and some sort of machinery that looks slightly old and has a lot of dust of them. I wonder what these ponies could do to me.

Surprisingly, they left no one to guard me. Why? If they see me as a threat that they do, or at least I think that they do, they just leave me here?

I poked my hand outside of the bars, to see if there was any magical barrier in place, and surprisingly again, there was none. Now, this would be good for me, if I knew how to get out. I needed to. I can't clip in-between the bars, as I'm not that skinny to escape. I tried pulling on the bars in hope of their being one faulty one, and there wasn't any. There wasn't any way.

I sighed as I slumped back onto the cage wall, wondering what I did to deserve this. Did I steal something? If I did, I wouldn't remember it. Not that I have remembered most of my things in the past. He made me to that. He must have done. Why would I steal a crown belonging to royalty? That would be stupid. Always stupid. Always… stupid. These ponies… they are stupid. Ignorant is a better term to use. They don't ever seem to rationalize. Ever. They haven't shown me that they have.

And that maybe my downfall. Is there always a way out? I don't know. I wonder why that is even so, where-

"Hey!" A feminine voice called out to me in a low whisper, from… somewhere. Who- What? "Hey, over here." The voice said again, appearing from the darkness of the room, where this female pony (I presume) walks up to the cage bars, wearing a dark black cloak or a hoodie, with a light green… horn coming out the top of the pony's head. I could barely see her face, but I could see a small smile, at least for a moment before she went wide eyed once looking at me again. Um…

I looked down at my clothes, and they looked more trashed than before, with there being blood, dust, mud and dirt visible all over my shirt and my pants, which had few holes in them as well. I looked down in disbelief. What did I ever do to deserve this? I sighed. "Hey," the pony spoke again. I looked up, into those sunglow eyes, which also showed disbelief, shock, and… sorrow? She wasn't smiling.

For a moment, I considered over if I should talk to her, being that she could be trying to break me out of here. But, how can I trust these ponies? They've done nothing but trash me after my encounter with him. I hesitated for a second, before asking "Why are you here?" slowly and gruffly, making sure I express the right words in the right context carefully.

She seemed to flinch after hearing these words, and stared at me in silence for what seemed like the longest time. You could hear the wind blowing outside… "I-err-um…" She started off, stammering nervously. She then shook her head and composed herself. Then she cleared her voice. "H-Hi. I'm here to break you out of this cell?"

"Why?" I ask.

"Because…" She started, then trailed off. "Because I don't think you deserve to be treated like this." She waved a hoof, gesturing to the cell bars.

Well, if she is sincere, how nice is that? Risking your own life. But why was she even doing this? These other ponies see me as a monster where I didn't do anything wrong. "Okay," I imply state off first. "But why? Why do you not see me as some sort of 'monster'?"

"Because nopony deserves to be caged up like that." At least she is sane. Wait… 'Nopony'? "Also… I know what you are," Do you? W-what…? "A human." I upon hearing that.

"B-but…" Now I'm stammering. "Why-what- Did I hear a faint giggle, or am I hearing things. "How do you know that I'm a human?"

"Well," She got closer towards me, reaching out a hoof towards my right hand, which was next to the bar. I don't flinch or attempt to move away from her as she touches my hand, not that there's any point really. "Humans are a myth here in Equestria," A myth…? "And well… I'm told I kinda have an obsession."

"Err, okay…" I said uneasily, not sure where this is going now.

She seemed to notice my uneasiness over what she said. "Oh! No! No! I won't harm you. I'm here to break you out." She softened her voice. She then proceeded to do so, by using magic from her horn (is this a dream or something?) and broke the lock with ease. I stood up, and walked out of the cell, where I was strangely limping.

Ehva I dotl het fiodeifnin fo sinaiynt?

We were making ourselves up the stairs to the main room I presume, where I blacked out, being as quiet as we possibly can. Which was sort of hard to do, when you feel like your leg and body is injured. How does my clothes even look like this? There was blood, spit and dirt. Man, those ponies aren't nice at all. But… don't take grudges. Nothing positive will come of it. But then again… will they still imprison me anyways…?

I then looked over this pony beside me. I don't know who she is, or what she really looks like, only that she is a unicorn. "I never got your name." I state quietly, as I remove the cloak from atop her head. And saw her face.

Her hair (mane was it?) had this pale light greyish blue, along with white highlights. Her coat was this light aquamarine colour (some sort of green), with her darken orange eyes. I raised my eyebrow when I saw her, considering her eyes of ponies are bigger than humans, and that… she looked cute? But, how can I tell? I don't know if a pony looks cute or not? Do I? Shake off your thoughts, man.

She may have blushed when she saw my expression, only how does she know what I'm thinking, and what was my expression exactly? I wasn't paying attention. Was I widening my eyes?

"Oh! My name is Lyra." As in the harp? I… guess that could be a reasonable name. "What's yours?"

I have to consider this. Do I trust her enough to give her my name? "Theodore." In the future, maybe. Right now, I just can't…

"…Interesting name." Interesting? I hope she isn't suspicious.

We may our way to the door, where I saw the darken entrance room of this… carved out tree? That's what it looks like, anyways. There were bookshelves to both sides of the door, two windows both next to the entrance door on either side, and a staircase to the right. The only way I can see this is due to the moon's light shining from the night sky. "Come on, this way." She whispered to me, moving towards the entrance door, slowly and carefully. I then also noticed the several piles of books on the ground. I wander why those books are there. We made our way to the door, hearing creaking sounds from our feet and hooved stepping on the floor, hearing the wind blow softly outside in the breeze, hearing the crickets chirp outside in the bushes. It was somewhat peaceful, these sounds. Lyra used her magic to open the door-

And a click sound, followed by the room lighting up, occurred suddenly, leaving both of us in shock. I think I saw Lyra starting to shake, as she quickly put her cloak back over her. I slowly turned around, where I was hearing footsteps, and saw…

The baby dragon from before. Shit, he lives here. He rubbed his eyes, before taking a good look at us, then widening his eyes, probably in shock as well. Well, I'm now fucked. I don't know what those ponies, or this dragon, could to do me now. Anything. It looked like they had torture mechanics downstairs.

I and the dragon stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. I considered bolting out the door, hoping to find the forest, and taking the risk of getting caught by some other pony at night (by sheer luck), or beat up the dragon with every force that I have left. The bolting idea seems most logical, and the best chance of me escaping from this place. I don't know how strong the-

"Hey," Did he just say 'hey'? He did. He didn't make any sudden movements, and didn't look hostile, which surprised me. He looked… sad? He looked over me, and Lyra next to me, who was slowly moving for the door. "I- I- He stuttered…? "I'm not…" He seemed to think over the words he was going to say, I presume making some sort of decision. "I'm not going to stop you."

…

"Why?" I cannot believe this. Why would he just let me escape? Does… he feel sorrow for me? I'm slightly feeling fear which slowly disappeared along with the breeze as time went on in this awkward silence. I noticed Lyra stopped moving.

"I think I'm going to regret this," He muttered to himself softly, which I just managed to hear. "Because I don't want you to be caged up like that." At least there are SOME sort of decent… sentient beings on… wherever I am. He then backed u a few steps to the stairwell. "Now, quickly run away before Twilight notices." Twilight… lives here? Holy shit… I better scram.

Before I turn around and rush out the door, I look to the dragon, and said "I owe you one." While smiling, which surprised me even. He nodded while also smiling, before making his way downstairs and turning the light off. I turned around and nodded to Lyra, who then proceeded to take both of us outside.

I looked up at the night sky, seeing the moon shine with the stars, looking how beautiful the sight really was. The colourful background of space, the dark pastel colours (why did it look like that anyways?), something you don't ever see on Earth. On Earth… Am I really on another planet? I probably am. So, how did I even get here? It's better not to think about it now.

I looked back at the suspected tree house that I was in, and it was quite big. How did they even carve out the inside of it? Now that I notice it, everything around me looked… quite cartoonish. I can see pastel colours everywhere, and I don't know why.

"Theo," Lyra snapped me out of my thoughts, making me shake my head. "Quickly, this way!" She whispered, starting to move in the night towards back streets and alley ways, out of the view of the main paths. I followed without any hesitation. The buildings that we passed did really look medieval, and some had their lights on in their rooms, and one house smelt like there were something cooking. That house kinda looked like it was made out of dough and chocolate. These ponies seemed somewhat advanced (not advanced as humans), but they use no technology? I guess that makes sense, considering they have magic, and they probably rely on it, too. I guess that could also answer why I feel this kinda aura in the atmosphere.

After sneaking around the alleys of what seemed like a small village for what seemed like hours on end, and getting no response that we have been spotted by anyone, not that we've seen anyone either, Lyra directed me to this house, which I presume is hers. But…

"Why are we here?" I whisper to her, because I'm getting a feeling that I'm going to get caught.

"I just need to get something. I'll be quick." She tried to assure me, but I still have my doubts. Also, where am I going exactly? I think I'll just retreat to the forest again, which I think is exactly next to this village and it borders too. I turned my head to Lyra, who opened the door to her house and…

There was another pony at the door, staring wide-eyed at me in shock, as well as I was. This pony (which wasn't either a unicorn or a pegasi), had a cream-coloured coat, and a purple and pink mane and tail. We both froze with fear, where I slowly was taking in options. Knock her out or bolt the fuck outta here hoping to find the forest, which at this point seems safer than this place. Flee or fight strategy, because the freezing strategy that I'm doing at the moment won't last forever. I think my heart may have skipped a beat.

"Bon Bon," Lyra started, probably trying to calm down her… roommate. Also, 'Bon Bon'? Really- Not time for questions right now. "It's okay, don't panic-

And she started to panic, by screeching at the top of her lungs, while I also feel shaken by the noise, and turned and ran in a single direction, ignoring everything else I encountered. I ran. This is all I could do now. I need to get out of here. I ran by different homes, with most of them having their lights suddenly turn on, I ran through what seemed like some sort of park. Where is the forest? I noticed some of the ponies were coming out of their houses, unicorns and pegasi alike. I hid in the shadows of the alleyways as they passed, probably going towards Lyra's home and another traumatized pony. They were all muttering to one another, about what that scream could have been, and if the 'monster' was involved. What did I even do in the first place? I then, silently as I could, ran while the ponies passed my position, to this bridge over a small river, where I then ran past, this giant tree featuring a lot of flora. I wonder who lives there. Then I turned my head to my right, seeing a mossy, darkened forest. My escape. I may have heard commotion coming from the tree, but I ignored it, and ran like a madman to the forest. I noticed some sort of shadow to my right, blocking out the light of the night sky, and stopped suddenly to look up… only to find nothing. The hell was that even? I don't know. I need to keep running-

*Thump*

Something… or someone… just landed behind me. A pegasi? How did this one find me? This must have been one of the feelings that I've gotten, which that being someone following me, along with being found, which I presume both are now definitely true. I think this over as I'm frozen still, kind of scared to see who just landed. But, never give up on escaping… Theodore was the name. Just look back. So what if you get caught, you can just escape again. Though, why are they even imprisoning you in the first place? Just look back at this… pony. This pony. This pony. Holy- this pony. This is no pony. Could it be? What kind of pony- What kind of pony is both unicorn and pegasi? What kind of pony. This pony…

The one to the right of me, she looked about the same, in a somewhat smaller size than the white unicorn, was coloured in some dark blue, with lighter blue outlines. She had the same jewellery only coloured in black and had no stones in them. It also had blue eyes. She had a symbol of the moon on its back legs instead of a sun. It was one and a half metres tall.

I know this pony… This pony which was giving me a stare. Not of any hostility, not of anger, not of fear, not of one seeking revenge, but… intrigue…

Luna.

…

…

…

…

…

We stared at each other for the longest time. Her expressions slightly changed throughout the entire ordeal. What was she even doing here? She… why hasn't she attacked me, or even feel threatened? If memory serves correct… she is Princess Luna, one of the co-rulers of this crazy, possibly even unforgiven lands, that wants to torture me. So… why is she just staring at me? Does she want me to do something?

Now, there a few options which I could do now, run (which seems logical, but she might stop me), fight (she would probably kill me if I try) or converse (which she would ignore everything I say and think I'm lying, just because of some grudge…). I need to find out what the hell went on.

…

She made the first move. She took one step forwards towards me, slowly. She didn't try and talk, thought I don't know why. She took another step, hesitating this time for the slightest of moments, before gradually moving faster towards me, with each step, makes me feel differently. What was she even doing?

She started off being about fifteen feet away, now she was seven, maybe six. Along with an expression that didn't want to kill me. I don't think she wants to. She took another step forward, making it about four feet now, when I heard some sort of noise which I couldn't make out. Someone's spying on me. I need to get out of here. This is a trap. Look for an exit Theodore. Find one.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I stopped my panicking. I turned to her, who didn't move at all, and that voice kinda sounded like an order. An order that she was going to kill me? You won't hurt me? Can… Can I believe that? I didn't try and run. I stopped moving. My decision… is that I followed what she said for now. At least for now…

"What do you want with me?"

She made a small flinch when she heard me gruff voice. Why does my voice sound like that? It didn't usually in the past.

"…Let me show you." She spoke with a much softer voice. Her horn lit up, but she wasn't in any fighting stance that I knew. What was she going to do? Either way, I guess this answers the questions I just asked. I needed to know. I didn't stop her. Her horn touched my forehead, and everything went blank.

…you wanted to feel like something you're not…

I saw, a big pail white coloured unicorn, with a horn. I also noticed the giant wings it had, and I guess that had another for it, but I didn't know it. It looked it was about 2 metres tall, has a long mane and tail that was striped with pink, blue, a faded light blue and purple, had soft purple-coloured eyes. It was wearing a breastplate, some crown-like object on its head, and a necklace, that looked like it was made out of gold, along with some form of metal on its hoofcaps. It also had a symbol, similar to the sun on its back legs.

Princess Celestia. Her sister, the other co-ruler of…. Equestria. Why are you showing me this?

"I need to-

Have I... told you...

In the first days, there was no fear

Sandstorms had come before, the damage had been minimal, this would be no different

But the storm did not stop us

Whole days would pass without seeing the sun

We were told to remain calm, that all was well

And like fools we listened

We sat silently as the first planes went down

We watched calmly as sand stripped pain from our homes

We waited patiently as our world feel down around us

And how was our virtue repaid?

ABANDONMENT

We had toiled, keeping … alive through the storm, but our bosses, owners, leaders…

Those who draped themselves with entitlement had fled the city, and with them…

Our hope for escape

Then HE came

Without reason or reward

BUCHANAN AND THE …

We were not their families

And this was not their HOME

And still they CARED for us

We were gathered together, those who were left

US AND OUR PROTECTORS

They led us away from our homes, believing all was well

"Because a fool is quick to hope and slow to learn"

THE STORM came upon us WITHOUT WARNING or mercy

I cannot tell you what happened

All I saw was the storm, all I heard was its ROAR

Somehow, we made it back to the city, TO SHELTER away

From those we left DEAD AND BRUIED by the storm

Now, we are all REFUGEES

Us and the … our identities and ideals

STRIPPED AWAY by the storm, like FLESH from the BONE

And with them OUR HOPE FOR ESCAPE, and our LIVES WITH ANY MEANING

And in the last days that we have

FEAR IS ALL WE WILL EVER KNOW AND REMEMBER

A story... Was this from a civilian? Why was I being shown this? Is there any reason-

A man in a black mask, welding a Pistol, shot one of the hostages without having any mercy. He was with three other men, who were welding Assault Rifles and Shotguns. They were either behind the seats of the plane, using it as cover, or out in the open, waiting for the men to come out so they could shoot them. "Stay back!" The masked man yelled. "I'll kill him!"

"Shit. We got a hostage situation." Henry stated, being on Phil's right on the other side of the opening doorway, pointing his gun at the man on the far left, who was semi-out in the open.

"We'll fire when ready, sir." Gary added after that, behind Phillip, pointing his gun at the man on the far right, mostly behind blue seats of the destroyed and wrecked plane.

"We will kill him if you- The masked man was cut off from yelling out threats, when Phil instantly shot his head off, holding an AK 47, which was quickly followed by Henry and Gary killing at their targets as well. The four rebellious men didn't have any time to react as the Delta operators blitzed through the bodies like nothing, as Phil killed the last guy which wasn't being shot at. The hostage survive the attack, but fell to the ground. When the blitz ended after a split second, the three men rushed to the fallen hostage.

"You gonna have to talk fast boss, he's fadin'." Henry said, as he and Phil both rushed to the man, checking up on him. The man was going to dye, and Delta couldn't do anything about it, so they tried to get answers from him quickly, before he passes away. Gary was keeping watch from any other potential enemies.

The man grunted in pain, trying to stay alive, but failing. "Forget… me. They took McGavin. You gotta find him.

"We will, but I need you to tell me where they took him." Phillip, as quickly as possible, interrogated him on his dying words.

"They took him… to the nest…" The man grunted in pain once more.

"Alright, that's good." Phil tried to assure the man… "And what about-

The man choked and moaned in pain, before felling dead, leaving the men without answers to more questions they needed answering. He took one last breath, before closing his eyes, and didn't move no more.

Phil sighed in defeat, and in sorrow that this man died. "God dammit…" He paused, looking over the man who had just died. He looked to me in his late-twenties, and he had become unlucky when the refugees decided to murder his entire squad, and Phil felt a bit guilty that he couldn't have made it in time to save him and his squad, but knew this, death, was a part of war, and his sacrifice would be remembered, and shook off the thought. "Henry, mark the bodied on TAC." He then ordered, looking towards his squad mates. "Gary, check outside for tracks." He nodded in reply, before setting off outside, where containers of wreckage, and dead bodies of rebellious refugees laid. Phil sighed again. "I want to know what the hell is going on in this city."

Phil and Henry made it out of the plane a few minutes after the whole scenario, meeting with Gary, who was looking at several tracks, and picking up the sand which footprints of shoes laid, smelling them, which then lead to one particular direction.

"Got multiple tracks headed north." Gary gestured towards the city that laid in front of him.

"Then we follow them." The Captain ordered, moving north towards the city, as Gary and Henry then followed suit after him, pointing out their guns in defence of any enemies that they can see.

the Definition… told you

"Where'n the hell's that coming' from?" Henry asked curiously, after hearing music randomly appear as they were fighting enemies through the entrance of the station. They are now in a lower part inside the area, where there are random speakers.

"It's these speakers. They're built from scratch, just like that beacon we found." Phillip answered with the knowledge that he learnt, after seeing the speakers up closer, they look very similar to the handmade-beacon from before, with the speakers also looked like they were handmade.

"Why are they playing Jimi Hendrix?" Gary wondered how they got Hendrix tapes in the first place, and wondering where the music was originating from.

"Don't know. Let's just keep moving." The three men moved through a doorway, into a different part of the station, jumping over a barricade, where a man's voice was suddenly heard from the speakers.

"Oh hoo! Hoo! Hoo! This just in… an unwarranted assault on the 33rd today means, you guess it, an end to the ceasefire!" Phil and Henry looked towards the only speaker in the room they were in now, which was a hallway of the former radio station that contained broken windows, all across one side, in the curved hallway. They and Gary wondered who the hell this guy was, speaking over the rock music which was still being played. "All insurgents wishing to surrender, please report to your nearest outpost for processing. Haha! We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast. Here we go!"

Henry was confused and amazed of all that. "Let me go on record and say shit just got weird."

"Fuck weird. This is all outta control!" Gary expressed, amazed as well, while Phil shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Not only do they got people here, they got a fuckin' DJ!" Phil wondered where this mysterious DJ could be in Dubai. He thought there must have been some other radio station in the city, but due to the sandstorms, he wondered how that was even possible. "We need to radio command now, ASAP."

Phil didn't like that idea, since he thought finding the Colonel would make all solutions become clear and explained to what happened in this city, which right now was still a mystery. He didn't want to go back now. "Not yet. Buchanan need our help." They kept walking down the curved hallway, which was going left, where they noticed this man running down an exit which used to be a part of the wall.

"And this soldier can lead us straight to 'em." Henry thought this would help them, in some way or another. "Once we know that the Damned are safe, we'll radio in for evac." They all hoped that this would happen, that this could all be over with right now. They didn't want to kill any more people for answers, but it had to be done.

Yet they don't know how long that would be.

…of Insanity?

I came back into conscious, with me still in the same standing position as to when Luna placed her horn on me, which told me she was… searching for dreams? I saw Luna walking back in shock, wide-eyed, looking at me with horror. I tried to say something, to ask what the hell she was even doing, and what those visions even were, when I saw some sort of light, emerging from over the path I came before, running away from the village. After a few seconds, I saw fire emerge from sticks, and pitchforks emerge from floating auras or hooves.

I couldn't wait around any longer, the village sent a mob after me, and this… was all a distraction. "You distracted me." I accused Luna. She did. She doesn't want to kill me, so instead, she sends a militia to do the work for her. "You want them to kill me."

She even seemed more shocked from this accusation that was true, and I didn't wait for her response, as I ran as fast as I could, into the forest, and never looking back. "Wait!" I heard faintly. It was a trap. She set me up. Why did they want me killed? It doesn't make sense… Not that anything here has so far…

I've been running for what seems like about twenty minutes. I'm now in some random part of the forest which I used to reside in, for a night, and now I do so again. I am panting as I'm down on my knees, looking back and seeing only darkness, moss from the flora, and the dark colours and patterns from my surroundings. I guess I out ran them or lost them. Either way… it's over for now. For now…

I need to rest. I don't feel cold with the clothes I'm wearing, but I feel some pain from the bruises that lay upon my skin and the blood that lays on my flesh. Ignore them, Theo. They aren't critical or life-threating in any way. At least not right now.

And those dreams, those visions… What the hell do they mean? The army ones are telling some sort of story. Was Luna making those up? Why did she make me see those things? So many questions that won't get answered for me… and probably won't ever will. But… those dreams…

…of Insanity…

As I lay myself on the ground, on grass and dirt which footsteps of the possible Timberwolves that exist very much around these parts, I can only hope that I can survive all this, and that my survival instincts can also kick in right now.

But I don't think the hope is worth it. Is Friendship really magic…?

Can you figure out the puzzles? If so, what do they all mean? Oh, this is all so fun! Some much destruction. The minds are reacting! I just wish you could get a better view of all this. It's so much fun!

Lessons on Observation and Ranting

Do you remember, when we conversed upon the sandy hill, looking up at the clear sky, retelling our day, and how I saved your ass? You, praising me for it, dragging your half-dead carcass across half a mile? You called me a hero for it.

But I’m no hero, no matter what you tell me. I’ve saved many a life before…

And I’ve ended even more…

“The distance between… insanity and genius… is measured only… by… success. That is, true… Crazy, but it’s true… And if anyone says otherwise… Boom. I shot them.”

I woke up to leaves rustling in the wind, the breeze flowing through the air at a cool rate, in such a dark and despair place, of all things. Funny that. Another thing to note is that the weather here is random, just like Earth. And yet, that insane village seemed to always be clear, for whatever reason. Magic…

I sat-up, looking at the surroundings that I’m in, once more. Looking almost exactly like the first time I woke up here. Nothing out of the ordinary…

Except for FUCKING EVERYTHING! Ponies are capturing me for no reason! The dreams are random and fucking weird! Magic makes no fucking sense! NOTHING IN THIS WORLD DOES!

Why do they want to kill me? I’ve done nothing wrong! I haven’t. I haven’t. What have I done then? Prove it. You can’t, you bastard. See? You’re just crazy, like each and every one of them. CRAZY!

Okay calm down… Theodore. Calm down. Don’t go into a rant-

You know? Fuck it. I’m getting fed up with this persona of me being a ‘monster’!

Firstly, what was Luna trying to do with me? What did she want to see? Did she get what she wanted? How much do you want to bet that she did? And why was she even there? What was her motive? Playing guard from my escape? A Princess? Why would royalty become guards? And when, actually? If so, that village if fucking stupid! Why would they get a Princess, a co-ruler of this land, no-less, to be a guard for me? Do they not have an army? What kind of nation doesn’t have an army? That’s stupid. She must have been… stupid? She didn’t seem hostile. But the militia she made is. That was her plan, to distract me long enough to torture me, beat me, bruise me, spit at me…

And, not just her, but the others… Rainbow Dash… I don’t hate her. That’s true. I honestly don’t… I DESPISE her. She… Is just nasty, cruel, unforgiving, and… Inhumane. Yeah, Inhumane. And not because she is some flying pony (how does that work?), but she acts so egoistical, arrogant, and just straight up NASTY. She glares at me and spits on me without a second thought. Won’t ever let me explain. Thinks that any ‘Alien’, or any being that they are unfamiliar with, are evil monsters that don’t have any conscious. I’m no villain. That can’t justify as a VILLAIN! You think that is evil, you fucking HYPOCRITE!

Unngh…

...

What kind of world is this?

…will anyone answer that question- What kind of world is this?

I sighed in defeat. There’s no freedom for me, and…

I can’t ever be in peace and live in harmony with at LEAST one other sentient being.

Not even one… Is there anyone…?

Not one…

Anyone…?

They all want me dead. They all do…

They all do. Why?

Why do they all want me dead? Why do they see me as this ‘monster’? Every pony their sees me as one…

…except for Lyra… and Spike… they were actually, ‘nice’ to me. Didn’t treat me like any monster, or at least not violently and unfairly. The only pony and dragon (there is only one that I’ve seen) that don’t see me with hostility.

I sighed. This is my life, now. To… survive in a forest where it can become deadly, whenever it wants to be. Sighing again, I need to get my mind of this. Move forward, Theo. And don’t look back. Forget about it. Hopefully, it will all be in the past. They can’t haunt you if they can’t find you. Someone said that there is always a way out, whenever you are stuck. I’m not sure if that philosophy is true, but I wouldn’t give up, if my life depended on it. It probably will. And if they even find me… I’ll be ready. I think they want a war. War… Just like in my dreams, that war. Sighs…

I got up from my place, shook myself to get all the dirt and grass off of me, and walked down the new path. Move on. Ignore the past for now, clear your head. Yelling out and continuing your rant won’t help you. There isn’t anyone to answer your questions. You will get past this. Don’t become as insane as they are.

“You will get your revenge…”

What the hell is this? Is this ruins from some… ancient castle? It doesn’t look that ancient, actually. Just old and broken down. The colours of the walls are still there, most being worn down to the bricks that construct the building, covered in moss, flora growing from inside the building. It looked like a part of the building had recently been blown, a gaping hole is shown at the right side, moss dangling from the top of the exposed area. Now that I take a second glance at the castle, it looks to be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. And it is now not in use. Why? Also, why did they put a castle in the middle of this forest? Ugh… This world makes no sense.

And… wait. Is that… Is that a gun? Why is there a gun here? How did the gun even get here? Why do I even ask these questions? No one ever answers them. I walked up to it, observing it. It looks like it’s got some sort of slobber on it. And earth’s natural resources. A handgun at first glance. I picked it off, flicking off the slobber of what I presume a Timberwolf brought it here. Wonder why? The pistol looks like it is semi-automatic. I opened up the magazine, and saw that it hold about ten to fifteen shots, and it’s fully loaded. Wow. Where did this handgun come from? I didn’t bring this with me. Did I? Or did he have it, and somehow lost it? Another mystery. Ugh…

I better use this wisely. Don’t want to waste shots, and that means practicing. There aren’t any other magazines around, so I guess this is my main resort to combat. Or attempting to knife something that comes my way. If I had a knife… Shake it off, man. You’re not getting anywhere. Search this castle… seems unhabituated for years. I only notice it now that the entire roof and ceiling had been blown off the place. And the fact that this is in an open area, surrounded by a grass plane and bushes, with the trees looking like them were 100 metres away, with a giant fuck-off pit to the side. There was a mountain landscape in the background, looking… curved.

Firstly, I walk through the front entrance, where the ceiling was non-existent. There was this… thing in the middle, some big platform that looked like it used to hold something. A circle stone was holding the platform at the bottom, which had a repeating design that went all around it, a grey pyramid on top of that, which then had another circle platform, containing moss and vines that drooped over the side of the small structure. Then the top bit had a cylinder shape that was stone, with this big orb on top of it, which had no light emerging from it. There also were six small platforms sticking out from the side of the top platform, looking like it used to hold something…

Okay, why? Why is there a structure like this? Does it have to do something with magic? I presume there use to be six… orbs on those six platforms. Probably…

The pillars around this room, which sort of looks like it is a throne room, were broken and had vines draping around it, at different lengths as well. The windows of this room were either destroyed entirely, or just intact, where there were three bars in the middle of each one, being about 4 metres across and 7 metres high. This ‘throne’ room was oval-shaped.

Did this use to be some sort of castle for Equestria? And they just abandoned it for… being in this dangerous forest? How did this forest even become this dangerous, if there is a castle in the middle of one? These fucking ponies… And walking over that sturdy bridge, over the gigantic pit, didn’t help matters over why there is a castle here.

I walk into a corridor, which looked old, worn down, and destroyed. There still is a big hole in the ceiling corridor. What could have happened here? This entire castle looks like it was made out of the same stone or brick, considering their all some sort of grey. Pastel colours… There are several banners that are ripped up and burnt, that a few are still standing, being hung up on the wall. There are several holes in the ground, including a used pressure plate in front of me and another giant pit. Is this a trap or something? Looks pretty deep.

I walk into another room… where there was a giant organ piano in the middle of it, which had small stairs leading up to it, with two statues of pegasi on both sides, holding a stand which had five unlit candles on top of it. There were still drapes dangling down from behind the organ piano on the wall, both being held on the top corridors on the next floor. There were four different walkways that break off from this main room. I assume that this was some sort of theatre room. There are few seats that still stand, but mainly look like they were burnt to a crisp. I guess exploration on this ‘castle’ is the way to go…

This place is really old. Or just worn down a lot. And/or both. You can tell because most of the underground stuff is either covered in dust and cobwebs, or flown away by the sands of time. Because other than the armoured statues of unicorns and pegasi that I occasionally notice, there wasn’t much here. There wasn’t any weapons to find, other than spears, and they can’t help me survive much, knowing some of the fauna that live in these parts.

Upstairs, there are several bedrooms, which look like they used to house the princesses. There were several drapes of the two, or at least I presume that it’s them, around the area, with them mainly being in the giant royal-looking ones. All worn down, or destroyed over time. Abandoned…

Kinda like me.

While the place seems inhabitable at the moment, it seems like I could build up some of the places here. The beds still seem functional, the ceiling doesn’t look like it will collapse on top of me (at least I hope it doesn’t), and the windows still can open and close, though some still have holes in them. And this is… Celestia’s bedroom?

I’ve never met the second princess. She seems older than her younger… sister. Is she the same as them? The ponies who wanted my head? Did she order this arrest? Did she order… a bounty on me? A manhunt?

The questions are really piling up now. And probably won’t ever get answered while I’m still breathing on this earth. On this earth…

I sighed while looking outside the window, at the landscape before me. It’s some sight. I see the mossy trees of the darkness, in the deadly forest. The clouds being blown over from the wind, going… east. I can see the largest mountain from here. The tip having some snow on top of it, but it is really steep. And… is that a city on the cliffside there? Well, magic Theo, gotta take that into consideration around these parts… And while I notice all of this, there is always, ALWAYS, one thing that is bugging me to hell, and probably won’t ever stop.

And that’s Loneliness.

The closest thing I have to a friend. We’ve known each other for some time know. What is it, seventeen, eighteen years? I can’t remember. How long is not important. IT’s just the fact that Loneliness has always been there for me. Through thick and thin. Bugging me. Prodding me. Reminding myself over how lonely I am. That I’ve never had a ‘true’ friend. That it will always be there for me… Loneliness. Reminding me over how no one ever wanted to be my friend, over why my family never wanted to acknowledge me, over and over again, reminding me that I should question… the nature of my existence.

Not like, ‘What is the meaning of life’? But, I don’ see any reason for me to even live. No person like me. No family member likes me. No pony likes me. No royalty likes me. No animals like me. No sentient beings like me… Why do I still stand today? I don’t have any dreams that are still possible. So why do I keep surviving? Why don’t I commit suicide to be rid of all these thoughts, and the pain and the misery? Not because of human instincts…

But because of hope. It’s the only other things that I have. I can hope one day… just only one day that I want this wish to be true, that I’m on a grassy plane. Just lying on the ground. Just me. Looking up at the clear blue sky, listening to the chirping of the birds, hearing the breeze of the morning wind soar through the air calmly, embracing the surroundings of me, the flora of the colourful roses and dandelions, the fauna of the squirrels that occasionally make a sound, while also moving through the grass, that makes a soothing sound.

Freedom. We were free. I was free.

No danger. No chaos. No uncertainty. Just me smiling, enjoying this moment, and only this moment. Enjoying my existence, being... happy. That’s what I want, happiness. Enjoying the soothing sounds of the birds, as they chirp in the background, while also faintly hearing the wind breeze through the air. I felt really calm. I felt really peaceful.

At peace. I didn’t need to survive in the unforgiving wild. I didn’t need to fight unforseen enemies. I didn’t need to be looked down upon by others who consider themselves better than the rest. I just need myself, in this very moment, to feel safe. And it doesn’t matter if Loneliness invites itself into this world, I can still… feel… happy.

At peace. I just hope that this is all real, that this can become a reality. Me, lying down on the grass, being happy, safe, calm, satisfied, peaceful… And that it can’t ever be ruined by anyone ever again. That it’s all real.

But then there’s the truth. You’re alone in this world. Alone. No one in this world to love you, to make you feel happy. Those thoughts that won’t ever become real. They won’t ever become a reality. You won’t ever be loved, won’t ever feel fully safe, won’t ever feel satisfied, won’t ever feel

They say that if you try hard enough and succeed, you can become whatever you want, and get whatever you want. That’s not reality. At least, not mine in any shape or form. And that’s why I should ignore those thoughts. Push them out of your mind. Move on…

Survive.

One of the things that you need to learn on how to survive. That’s finding and using a water source. Or simply finding water. This is somewhat hard without the right materials, but still possible nonetheless. I think… There are ways to find water in certain predicaments. For instance, finding water in the desert. Find a dune, and dig at the bottom of it, and there should be water underground. That’s how science works over millions of years during where the areas where deserts now-stand today on earth, used to be oceans. That’s change over the long periods of time. It’s that the same here? It could be, but it doesn’t matter. This isn’t an isolated desert. This is… an isolated forest that is potentially deadly. Great…

I think I can still remember some parts of a survival book I read some time ago, about how to gain water in the wild…

Facts about Survival/Water Sources (September 2001)

Streams/Rivers:

Any stream or river with running water will be a good source, but keep in mind that just because it looks clean doesn’t mean that it is. You will need to boil the water to kill any bacteria before drinking it. If you have a tin/aluminium can, this will be an effective container to boil water over a fire.

Lakes:

If you come across a lake, this is a great resource for water. You should boil this water also in order to avoid becoming sick from bacteria.

Rain Water:

If it rains, be sure to set out any containers you have to catch falling water. Any large leaves can provide an effective surface for catching rain and funnelling it into a container.

Solar Water Still:

If there's no rainfall or fresh water available and you have a sheet of plastic available, then you can make a solar water still.

How to Create a Solar Water Still:

Step 1: Dig a hole in the soil.

Step 2: Place a container in the centre of the hole.

Step 3: Fill the gaps surrounding the container with anything wet, such as leaves.

Step 4: Place a plastic sheet over the hole and anchor the sheet in place with larger rocks around the edges of the hole.

Step 5: Place one small rock in the centre of the plastic, just over the container.

Step 6: Condensation will occur on the underside of the plastic and run down to the centre. It will drip into the container filling it with distilled drinking water.

It took a while to find the resources needed for making the water still, that being the lake from before which contained the rocky crocodiles. Thankfully, there weren’t any there when I came back, which took me about an hour to find. Damn it was a long time ago. At least it felt like it. There wasn’t any soil around or near the castle as well, so I stuff some in my pockets, in my damaged pants. Now that I I’m discussing it, my clothes are still wearable. They are far from clean, and is slightly uncomfortable to sleep in. There are a few tears in this once long sleeved grey shirt, and in the once clean long pants that are cargo. Several blood stains covered my clothing, making some parts of my skin, where there re bruises and maybe cuts are visible to the world. The regular short haircut (crew cut was it called?), now is messy and has got dirt in it, maybe. The point is, it’s far from clean.

There was pain there. There always was. This time, physical. A big, but not often, one which seems to arise on occasion. It’s not the worst I’ve felt, and it ain’t well, but not close to critical. There could be scars on my skin for all I know, haven’t checked. I don’t often focus on the things that I physically fell that occurs, pain for instance. I’ve learnt to ignore it over the years… of suffering… torment-

I- Ignore that! Forget it! Nothing good will come of it! NOTHING! Just… don’t remind yourself. Nothing good will come of it!

…never does…

It could be around three o’clock in the afternoon at the moment. Probably later. The sun light of the place seems all too familiar to me… The base of operations that I’m setting up outside the castle is going well at the moment. I tore down several pieces of silk and cloth from around the place, the drapes that had alicorns and ponies on them and window curtains, and either made those as blankets for a bed that was in one of the, I presume royal bedrooms, which the blankets were covered in dust, were disposed of as being placed somewhere randomly. It could be useful in the future.

The drapes were used as covering the broken and exposed windows, unless there will be thunder tonight (which could be possible as it is now overcast in most places) which will render that all useless if it strikes the windows by SOME luck. I found containers of pots and pans which still looked durable, but were a little rusty, but usable nonetheless.

I’ve set them out around random places in the field, which all looked pretty if anything, and yet there was no moss within a hundred meters of the castle area, until you get to the bridge and pit part. Interesting…

I also created a Solar Water Still with a plastic sheet I found in a medicine cabinet (don’t know why) in one of the bathrooms (along with medicine that I know nothing about, and bandages and scissors), and several small rocks that were lying around. Took me about twenty minutes to do. I also attached a drinking tube which I found about the place, which looked clean, along with vegetation (leaves) around the pot. Survival…

It was TIRING after all of the exploration. Then it came to doing the damn thing. What I now think of is that I’m not hungry in the slightest. But I know that won’t last forever. Timberwolves have no meat in them, they don’t look like they do, and if many, if not all mythical creatures do exist in this world, then I hope I could find a Manticore or something.

I observed that no animals ever hang around the castle area, no deadly-looking plants exist as well. I guess that’s a good thing… Hopefully it is.

I cannot believe that I have to go through with this, but this is some new reality that I’m in. But not for the best…

Interesting predicament he is in, now. He doesn’t realise it, but he is now wanted. Why? I’m not going to spoil it. That would take the fun out of it! He is in a ‘New Reality’, or whatever he said. Not important. His skills will be put to the test. Let’s call them… exercises… Yes, exercises. How will he deal with the scenarios that he will come across?

And… why is he even ‘Wanted’? What does that word mean, ‘wanted’? It could only mean one thing, or many. You decide what it means… it’s not my choice to judge your weak mind. You wouldn’t know the half of it.

And there is nothing very chaotic yet, which is a shame. I thought he would go insane. Hopefully, things will speed up, and that it will be likeable, enjoyed even. In time, it will occur. In time…

Is he even wanted...?

**Facts about Guns-Weapons Handguns* - (19th June 2001, Undisclosed)*

SIG Sauer P226 is a full-sized, service-type pistol made by SIG Sauer. It is chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .22 Long Rifle. It is essentially the same basic design of the SIG P220, but developed to use higher capacity, staggered-column magazines in place of the single-column magazines of the P220. The P226 itself has spawned further sub-variants; the P228 and P229 are both compact versions of the staggered-column P226 design. The SIG Sauer P226 and its variants are in service with numerous law enforcement and military organizations worldwide, including the United States army. The United States of America force.