A nondescript, red substance dripped from a white surface, crusty plaster falling away from the ceiling. Green, bioluminescent fungus infested the darkened room, the drip of the blood on the white tiles a constant reminder of the horrible crime that had taken place mere hours ago in the bathroom of this unassuming apartment.

Sirens flashed outside the window. The colors mixed together, forming a swirl of neon light that pierced the eyes of the dying man, laying in his own blood. The faint sound of gun shots could be heard, just a few rooms away. The dying figure was in a haze, barely conscious in the disgusting room. Scars could be seen all across its body, crisscrossing. The madman who had inflicted them was only a few rooms away, but that was far out of the reach of the dying man. Little did he know, his own, twisted guardian angel was peering through the window pane.

As the guardian watched, however, a colorful stream of energy came from the sword it was clutching. The dying human was gently enveloped by the energy, its many colors dancing in his vision. Finally, the figure rose into the air, drifting towards the nearby wall. As the dying body touched the plaster wall, it seemingly warped, allowing passage through into a strange, red abyss.

Soon, the human felt a strange sensation, almost as if he was falling and rising in the air at the same time, much like the feeling you feel when you are about to go to sleep. However, the sensation soon ended, replaced by a feeling of coldness, and then the human's vision fell away to darkness.

Act 1 Chapter 1: Machinations of the Divine and Unknown

What felt like a weight suddenly threw itself from my shoulders, as I shot up. I quickly stood, observing the immediate area around me with no amount of unreasonable fear.

The room I was in was decorated as if a room for a child. A blue background of stars and the moon covered the wooden walls around me, which were crumbling away to reveal stone behind them. On the northern side of the room, a blue crib was placed, with a mobile as well. Other features of the room included a toy chest, a small, deflated ball, and a rather large cabinet with several faded pictures and dusty, or otherwise destroyed, children's books.

Looking at the cabinet's glass, I soon reminded myself that I was currently in the buff. My face went slightly red, as I set out to find myself some suitable clothing. However, it was then that I nearly tripped over a bundle of clothes. Looking down, I spotted the rather large bundle of patchwork clothes. They appeared to be made of a strong, itchy material similar to burlap, but not quite.

First, I grabbed a pair of what appeared to be cloth boxers. Slipping them on, soon followed by the patchwork pants and shirt, I no longer felt quite as naked. However, underneath the clothes appeared to be a cloak, with a pair of leather boots that had shoestrings on them. Despite the frayed strings, I slipped the boots on and quickly tied them. That done, I glanced back down to the cloak. It appeared to be, once again, patched together despite the same material being used. I slipped it on, noting that it had sleeves, and only went down to my hip. Then, I realized this was a jacket, and a rather nice one too.

My body covered appropriately, I decided to scour the room for things of use. The first, most notable thing, was a small contraption with a pair of ports on its side. Each port appeared to fit most normal electrical cords used in everyday households, but there were also ports for other things, such as USB ports and what looked like HDMI cable ports.

...And that's when I realized that there were yells and what sounded like gunfire outside. Alarmed, I flopped on the floor and covered my head, knees to my head. I was currently defenseless, so I decided to rectify that situation by pulling myself up and storming out the door behind me, aiming to find a gun case or baseball bat. Instead of a hallway, a caved in piece of ceiling met my gaze instantly. The door was blocked; however, there was enough room that I could shimmy my way through the small gap, if I pushed on the caved in roofing as I did so. This would, however, mean that I would have to leave the device behind, or be weighed down while under fire from... Who, or rather, whatever, was out there.

Then again, I could always come back here and wait. It would be much more safer than staying out there, risking a bullet to the brain from a startled... Pony?

Indeed, as I peeked out the small opening on the other side of the barrier, I saw a clash between two armies. One had yellow, gold-like armor with blue accents and what appeared to be an orange sun emblazoned on their armor. On the other side, the horse-like creatures were wearing what appeared to be onyx battle armor, with blue accents. However, these were bat-like, and their symbol was that of a splotch of black with a crescent moon in the center.

Their equipment appeared to be flintlock and matchlock weapons, with muzzle-loading rifles. However, some carried what appeared to be a crystal rifle. It fired what appeared to be some kind of energy, which easily punched through armor. The solar army (my name for them) was using British fighting tactics, mostly just standing around with a rifle in the open and firing. The lunar army, however, was actually taking cover and lining up their shots, rather than firing a barrage. However, both sides met each other in the middle with swords, what appeared to be unicorns were holding the line with swords and shields, while regular horses stabbed from behind the unicorns with glaives and spears. Pegasi seemed to be a mixed bunch, as they either used swords, spears, or what I'd like to call wing-blades.

The flying ones were able to deftly use their wings as proto-hands, they were primitive, but worked quite well for them. However, the ones that had their wings bladed would sail into a crowd and cut their heads off, extending their wings far. They would then launch themselves back into the air with a flap.

However, neither side was faltering. The bat-like ones had superior commanders and tactics, but the solar army had silver-tongued speakers and numbers. But, the bat-like horses seemed to be pushing forward, using a testudo formation supported by rooftop ranged troopers. It appeared they were desperate, but the solar army was repelling them with a flanking maneuver. They had managed to take out the rooftop support by using... Was that some kind of magic? I just had noticed how the unicorns were actually fighting, and that made me shiver. I could somehow feel the raw exchange of power, as the unicorns of each army were wresting control of some kind of ambient energy from each other, constantly tugging and pushing and pulling.

This is when I slinked back into the room, satisfied to wait out the battle...

Two days.

That's how long I waited for them to stop fighting. Thirst was sapping my strength, as was hunger. However, thirst was the more pressing issue, as I had gone a day without eating before. I knew I could drink my own piss, and I knew how to boil and filter it. I had taken several survival classes, even been in the boyscouts for a time. However, the fighting had wound down to a close. It appeared each side had elected to retreat, licking their wounds from their forward bases on each sides of the town. However, this left me to my devices and allowed me to get my own pick of killing gear, as well as plate armor. I knew, as well, I could probably eat these horses. However, I was hoping there would be rations on their bodies.

As I picked over the bodies, I felt I would have no such luck. However, I had managed to retrieve a tinder-box, several canteens, some twigs, plates of armor that I could strap to myself for some light protection, a few relatively well-cared for weapons, and a few other things. However, I had luck in salvaging some food and other gear that I would need in order to leave the town from nearby houses.

However, there was a problem. Most of this pony food was made of flowers, or flower byproducts, including buttercups. I knew most of them would be poisonous to me, and I had instead elected to sever several haunches of meat from the ponies. Thankfully, it was easy enough to cook the meat with minimal preparing. I had kept the hides and decided to store them in some canvas bags, resembling saddle bags. Adjusting these to fit me was easy, all I had to do was remove the seams and then reposition the strap, so that it would not be sideways when I fitted them around my waist.

All of this was taken care of in a few days, and I saw minor skirmishes during this period, but nothing too serious until day nine in this god-forsaken town.

On that ninth day in hell, I had exited my hidey hole to find another battle raging. However, this time, there were two unicorn-pegasus hybrids fighting in the air. Their spells crashed together, dispersing into the wind. They drew their weapons and fought, the white horse preferring a glaive and the black one preferring a scythe. I didn't really understand how people fought with the things, but sure, whatever floats your boat. I had used scythes before, but to do farm-work, as I came from a nice family out in the country. My parents owned a ranch, which I inherited.

Enough of that, back to the fight.

They seemed pretty evenly matched, each fighting with ferocity. The black one preferred beam spells, overwhelming power, while the other preferred finesse and short bursts of magic, conserving its power carefully. The strikes from the white horse were carefully planned out, as if she was playing a game of chess, while the other seemed to gravitate towards openings in the white horse's defense, attacking them with heavy force. However, the other pony was able to duck and dive gracefully, weaving around the spells and sending her own back in kind. With those fighting strategies, it was easy to see how each were evenly matched, as were the armies that clashed below them.

I don't know why, but I had this conviction rising in my chest, so I raised the crystal-lock rifle (my name for it) and took aim at the dark horse. I had handled guns before, even being trained in the proper usage of muzzle-loading rifles and bolt-action game rifles. Additionally, I owned a hunting revolver back home. With my only weapon at the ready, I fired.

Everything went into slow motion. The solar army trampled down the lunar one, finally pushing through the army as their leader fell to the ground, an energy blast having pierced through their leader's left wing, causing the large horse to fall to the ground. The solar pony looked on in surprise, fear, and a mixture of what looked like concern for a sibling. She dove after the falling body, and I took that as my cue to slink away back into my den, rifle slung over my back.

As I did so, I felt an energy swelling in the area around me...

In a flash, my vision turned to white.

AFTER ACTION REPORT:

After the forces of the Lunar Republic retreated, with their monarch injured, we detected a large flare of magic in the area. Upon inspection, we found an area where a house previously stood, saturated in chaotic magic. Several of our unicorn specialists were incapacitated by constructs of this magic, but we managed to extricate them without many serious injuries.

Additionally, we found an Arcana cartridge, which matched the thaumic signature of the projectile that injured Empress Luna. The cartridge appeared to have small ridge markings on it, similar to a hoofprint except much smaller and more oval-shaped.

END OF AFTER ACTION REPORT.

Author's Note

Ooh boy, let's see where this goes.