Old Habits Die Hard

Preston in his time in the army had seen some pretty amazing things, things that would more than likely scare a average civilian shitless. But today after his fight with wolves made out of WOOD he had seen it all, his Heavy Pulse Rifle in his hands as he wandered the forest.

He felt like he had been walking in circles, breaking a branch off of a tree he dropped it on the ground, "this should help distinguish where I have been." He said as he kept walking. The sound of leaves crunching making him pause as he quickly hid behind a tree.

"I dunno Twi. What if this thing is friendly?" A country sounding accent, Preston hadn't heard one of those in a while. "AJ. If it was friendly. Why did it set the Everfree Forest on fire? And cause a massive magical disturbance?" A feminine voice said, from what Preston gathered the more feminine sounding voice was what 'AJ' called Twi.

'That's a weird nickname...sounds like something from the Twilight Zone.' He thought as he kept listening, 'at least I got a name of where I am.' He thought as he  began to follow them.

"That is true. But considering the reputation of the Everfree Forest how do you know it just got tired of living here?" AJ asked.

"Applejack why are you siding with a arsonist? That's like siding with that dragon we met on the mountain." Twilight said.

Applejack sighed, "I'm just saying." She said shrugging.

Preston narrowed his eyes underneath his visor, 'what are they talking about.?' He asked himself raising a brow. The fact they were humanoid colored horses, looking at the top left of his Tactical Visor he saw a small bar that read 30%. He raised a brow but shook his head as he kept following them.

"What are we even lookin for?" Applejack asked the purple unicorn/human.

"Unforgettable hoofprints. Anything that doesn't look like a pony or anything we've seen in the Everfree."

"Hmmmmm...alright...I reckon we go back to the others. Regroup." Applejack said, 'there's more of them?' Preston thought listening closer.

"I suppose we should." The unicorn said as she sighed putting her hands in her pockets, walking forward Preston not far behind.

After a 10 minute walk of complete silence and reaching the edge of the Everfree Forest. The gang finally got back together, Rarity shivering. "I hate going in that forest..." She said. Pinkie giggled, "I like it! It reminds us of when we stopped Nightmare Moon!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly, "and when Twilight was still stuck up egghead?"

The purple unicorn blushed, "how many times do I have to say I'm sorry about that?" She asked embarrassed, Fluttershy smiled faintly. "I like the variety of animals in there…”

A shadow was behind a tree as it watched them. It's red visor shining slightly as its head turned, its white hair flowing slightly as it saw a town in the distance. ‘Maybe I'll find someone like me…’ Preston said as he slowly made his way past the Mane Six managing to pass them before running off to the town.

Upon entering he walked along what was supposed to be the main road, looking around seeing ponies with boarded up doors and windows. Some peaking through them looking at him as he passed, Preston held his Heavy Pulse Rifle as he narrowed his eyes underneath his visor. ‘They are...scared of me?’ He asked himself in his mind.

He remembered back when he was first given the title commander, chuckling to himself at the feeling of happiness. Shaking his head he kept walking until he heard something behind him, “u-uh...excuse me..?”

He moved his head to where he could see behind himself, seeing a little girl, her...fur yellow and her hair red with a massive bow in it. “Are new to t-town?” She asked him.

“Yea.” Preston responded trying to copy Soldier 76’s attitude.

“I don't understand why everyponies so scared...I thought w-we got past that with Zecora.”

Preston shook his head, “maybe they haven't seen anything like me before. Understandable.” He said flatly as he turned his head back. “Listen kid. Maybe you should listen to them, frankly I don't know what happened to me and if it's bad or good. So run home kid,” he said as he kept walking the girl just staring at him as he eventually reached the edge of town. A chariot flying in overhead as Preston looked up it had sun like patterns on it as the ponies began to step out to the regal looking object.

The chariot landed on the ground right in front of Preston, the human stopped and looked a woman stepping out. She was wearing old timey battle armor with white and gold on it. The metal glimmering in the sun, a platoon of guards surrounding him with their spears drawn at him.

The woman stepped closer to Preston, “you are under arrest for disturbing the peace and attempting to burn down the Everfree forest.”