By Earth's calendar, it's the year 2018. It's been seven months since tensions between NATO and the pony nation of Equestria came to a head and resulted in war. Sergeant James Blackburn - a U.S. Army Ranger - has been a loyal soldier through it all. But after his patrol convoy is ambushed, he is wounded and captured by the enemy. While captive at a military hospital, he ends up forming an unusual bond with one of the doctors and begins to question the purpose of the war he spent so long fighting. Before he can contemplate further, however, a sudden attack on the hospital finds the sergeant betrayed by his own kind and on the run, leaving him with many questions to answer. With an unlikely ally by his side, he will do whatever it takes to answer these questions. Even killing those he once considered comrades...

This is a HiE story, as well as MiE. Thanks to all of the feedback I got with the prologue for this, I decided to go ahead and write the full thing. However, due to a specific comment that opened up my eyes to a heap of plot holes (thanks to Waterwalker for that), I decided to change direction with this. Instead of being set in the aftermath of the war, this story will instead focus on Sergeant Blackburn's exploits through the end of the war, and the events that lead to his defection. To be honest, I like the way this is going now far better than what I had originally planned, and I hope you do too.

As an FYI, this story is set shortly after the events of the two-part Season 2 opening "The Return of Harmony." This is mostly because I just finished season 2 a little while ago (I'm new here, please don't judge). Though, all events that take place in the show after that point are on hold due to the war, so don't expect any crossover with episode stories.

This story contains strong language, violence and gore. Sexual content is likely, with a small chance of full-on clop scenes in later chapters (I haven't really decided yet. Will depend on where the story goes), so I'm going to play it safe and add the tag.

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!