It was a looking like it was going to be another beautiful day in Ponyville as Twilight walk down the street towards Surgercube Corner. She had decided to grab breakfast at the bakery that do and let Spike sleep in as he had been woken up from his sleep by a bright flash of light that shown right into his room. Twilight had come out onto one of the balconies of her castle to see if she could see anything once Spike woke her up and told her. But as far as she could see nothing had changed. So she had sent him off to bed with a promise to look into the matter today with her friends.

“Hey there Twi, you’re out and about rather early. Something up?” Twilight was drawn from her thoughts by a southern accented voice.

Twilight smiled as he looked over at the orange mare with a yellow mane and a cowboy hat planted firmly upon it standing behind a stand piled high with apples. “No, not really Applejack. Just decided to grab breakfast at Surgercube Corner as spike got woke up last night by a bright light.” She said stopping.

“You mean that light that happened well past midnight? Shoot ah think that woke up the entire town.” Applejack said rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Ah ain’t ever seen nothin’ like it before.”

“Did you happen to see where it came from? I promised spike we’d look into it.” Twilight asked.

Applejack responded by shaking her head. “Sorry surgercube but at that hour ah was very much asleep.”

Twilight sighed; it was going to be hard to investigate something when you had no idea where it was. “No problem AJ. We can look around and bit and see if we can find any sign of…whatever it was.” She said smiling

Just then three Fillies ran up to the, one yellow Earth pony with a big red bow in her mane , one white Unicorn and one orange Pegasus. All three of the former Cutie Mark Crusaders were panting as if they had galloped a great distance.

“What in tarnation has gotten into the three of you?” AJ asked as she stepped around apple stand.

The white unicorn spoke up. “We…we were exploring the Everfree Forrest to see if anyone needed help with their Cutie Marks—“

Aj cut her off. “What have I told you three about going anywhere near the Everfree huh? Applebloom you know better!” AJ said looking at the yellow earth pony who was he little sister who was catching her breath.

“Sorry big sis’ we were only trying to help ponies but—“

“Look, girls ah know you are still excited about finally earning your Cutie Marks but that still ain’t no reason to be going into the Everfree, it’s dangerous in there!” AJ interrupted her sister.

“Well tell that to the three ponies we saw in there. “The orange Pegasus, named Scootloo said causing both AJ and Twilight to blink.

“Other ponies?” Twilight asked stepping up to the three fillies. “What other Ponies, someone from Ponyville?”

The unicorn, Sweetiebell shook her head. “No, we’ve never seen them before and they talked funny. The two Stallions were arguing about something that didn’t make a lot of sense to me, and then the mare yelled at them to shut up and follow her. “Sweetiebell said rabidly. “They were heading towards the field outside of Ponyville.

“Huh, strange. “Twilight said thinking. “I think I’ll go meet these ponies.” She turned to AJ. “Can you gather the girls and meet me at the field?” Once AJ gave a nod Twilight spread her wings and took to the air. It wasn’t hard to spot the three ponies in the field next to the ever free, they were the only ones out there and they seemed to be staring at Twilights castle.

Twilight flew towards the three strangers and landed a little ways in front of them and smiled. “Hello, my names Twilight Sparkle, welcome to Ponyville. What’s your names?” She asked in a friendly tone. The three ponies stared at her wide eyed. “Uh…something wrong?” He smile faltered a little bit. Her question seemed to snap them out of something and they didn’t something Twilight hadn’t expected, their eyes got hard and they lowered their bodies slightly as their heads lowered, but they kept their eyes on her as their tails flicked a bit. Twilight blinked and took an involuntary step backwards. She didn’t know why, but the three of them looked ready to attack her. She wanted to check to see look back towards Ponyville to see if her friends were coming but felt if she moved the three strange ponies would attack. It was a bit unnerving how they stared at her, perfectly still watching her every move with their cold hard eyes.

“Easy now…I don’t mean you any harm.” She said trying to calm them.

The mare in the middle spoke. “Who and what the hell are you?” She asked in a slightly deep voice, but one that also reminded her of the Royal Guards in Canterlot.

The question also struck her as odd. “Um…as I said my name is Twilight Sparkle...and I’m an Alicorn.” She said watched them. They didn’t seem to recognize that.

The large tan stallion on the mare right spoke in a deep voice. “What the hell is an Alicorn” He looked at her with colder eyes as if suspecting some kind of trick or trap.

This caused Twilight to blink; they didn’t know what an Alicorn was? Before she could speak again she heard a slightly graveling voice above them. “Hey Twi’ whose your friends?” She looked up to see the cyan and rainbow mane form of Rainbow Dash hoovering above them.

This seemed to cause a bad reaction with the three strange ponies as they looked up at RD as well. “AMBUSH!” She yelled before the three of them lunged towards Twilight. Twilight barely had enough time to jump to the side as the three of them landed right where she had been standing. The three were fast and without missing a step the black stallion pivoted on his hooves and sent an applebuck straight into Twilights chest knocking the air from her lungs as she was sent flying through the air backwards before she could think.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Rainbow Dash said as she dive bombed the three ponies. Before she could hit them the three jumped clear and her hooves impacted the dirt. She had enough time to look up before the tan stallion bucked her in the face and sent her crashing into one of the trees of the Everfree forest.

By this point Twilight had gotten to her hooves and was taking large gulps of air into her lungs. She looked up to see the white mare charging her with her teeth bared. Once again before Twilight could react the full weight of the mare plowed into her like a train. Using her strength and momentum the mare powered twilight back a few feet before she shifted her movement from forward to up, lifting Twilight off her front hooves the mare planted her hooves on twilights chest and with a heave pushed light completely back till she came crashing down onto her back hard. The Mare’s front hooves came down onto Twilights stomach hard knocking all the air from her body and sending a jolt of pain through it.

A rainbow streak shot out of the bushed by the forest and slammed into the mare’s side sending her rolling. Twilight gasped for breath as she looked up at Rainbow Dash standing over her protectively head down as she growled. “What the hey is wrong with you po—“ RD was cut off as the black stallion was suddenly beside her and delivered a series of swift blows with his fore hooves staggering RD. He then reared up and brought a hoof down on top of RD head and she collapsed onto of Twilight with a groan.

The black stallion backed off a ways and was joined by the tan stallion and the mare that despite being sent rolling didn’t seem injured in the slightest. “Well…that was rather easy.” The black stallion spoke with a soft calm voice glancing at where twilight and RD lay. “They aren’t very well trained. “He said sounded both curious and confused at the same time.

“Yeah that was a pathetic fight.” The tan stallion said glaring over at the two downed mares as if insulted at the fact they were beaten.

“Perhaps they are recruits?” The black stallion offered as he glanced at the mare he was looking at Twilight and RD as they slowly started to collect themselves.

She trotted over and shoved twilight back down with her hoof, moving it to her throat and applying a bit of pressure making it hard for Twilight to breathe as the tan one pinned Rainbow Dash. The mare glared down at her, her eyes not filled with hate, but determination and Twilight could practically see the gear turning in her head. “I’m going to ask you some questions; you are going to answer them, all of them, with the truth. If I even think you are lying to me or hiding something…” The pressure on Twilights throat increased and she couldn’t breathe. After a few seconds the mare had made her point and released some of the pressure so Twilight could take shallow breaths. “Now then…who are you?”

It was hard to speak with her throat being crushed but she managed to barely speak above a whisper. “T-Twilight Sparkle...” The mare nodded.

“What are you?”

“I-I’m an A-Alicorn...” She gasped out. The mare tilted her head slightly.

“What is an Alicorn?” The mare asked, saying the word as if it was very unfamiliar.

This confused Twilight a lot, how could they not know what an Alicorn was? “I-It is…” Twilight was cut off as a lasso suddenly looked around the head of the mare. Her face showed surprise a second before the rope tightened and she was yanked off of Twilight.

“Come ‘ere varmints. Where do you get off attacking mah friends?” The voice of Applejack said as Twilight sucked in a mouth full of air and couched now that her throat wasn’t being crushed.

She looked over and saw the mare on her stomach the lasso around her head and beyond that she saw Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

“Yeah you meany-meany-pants!” Pinkie pie said in her happy voice.

The mare glared at them, then to Twilight and her friends surprise slipped her front hooves into the lasso and loosed it before slipping her head out and taking the same stance she had taken when the three ponies first saw Twilight. Looking She saw that the Tan stallion remained pinning RD but the black stallion walked over the mare. “I still think these are merely recruits, there fighting is terrible.” He said in his calm soft voice.

“I don’t care, they attacked us.” She said and growled.

The black stallion sighed. “You do have a point captain.” He said as he got into the same fighting stance as the mare his eyes going from calm to hard and determined as soon as he was in it.

Captain? What did the stallion mean calling the mare captain? Was that her name…or was it a rank. And what did they mean that they were attacked? Rainbow Dash and Twilight hadn’t done anything…except RD had suddenly been above them. Twilights eyes widened with realization. These ponies didn’t seem to know where they were, they were lost and confused and suddenly a Pegasus was above them and an Alicorn was in front of them! They must have thought they were under attack and were defending themselves.

The mare started to move to leap at Twilights friends. “Stop!” She cried out as she used her magic to grab the mare’s tail. She had already been moving to leap and having her tail suddenly held in place cause her to fall flat on her face.

Twilight slowly got to her hooves as the mare did the same, spitting out first and grass. “What the hell?” She said looking back at her tail still gripped in Twilights magic. She gave a small tug. “Enemy Mage!” She cried out and the black stallion leapt to the side before twilight could grab him and when she looked towards the tan stallion he was already moving as well, straight at her. Twilight barely got her shield spell up in time and the stallion bounced off it with a grunt. He glared at her through the shield.

“Stop, we are not your enemy, this is all a misunderstanding. “Twilight said.

“Bullshit, you attacked us, you are the enemy.” The mare said glaring at her, the black stallion seeming to have vanished from sight.

Twilight heard a gasp of indignation from Rarity when the mare swore and Twilight took a deep breath and let it out. “No, I came out here to greet you and asked my friends to come as well. I’m sorry if Rainbow Dash startled you. That wasn’t our intention. We are not your enemies. “To show she was being sincere Twilight let the mare’s tail go and dropped her shield.

The mare glared at her but Twilight could see the gears turning once again. Slowly her eyes softened slightly. “Stand down. “She barked and with that the tan stallion relaxed and the black stallion stepped out of the bushes near the trees of the Everfree Forest and walked up to the mare as did the tan stallion. They sat on their haunches. “Ok then Miss Alicorn I have one more question for you.” She said and Twilight looked at her and nodded. “Where the hell are we?”

Author's Note

The moral of the chapter: Never surprise three trained war horses!

also I know I probably represented Applejack's accent terrible. I honestly ant think of how to spell most of what she says in a manner that shows her accent. So I did what I could and left rest for now.