Blindfolded, I awoke to the sound of footsteps. “Who are y-!?” I was interrupted as a club like object hit me in the face.

“I'll ask the questions her you little piece of-!”

“Shining Armor, calm yourself.” Shining Armor? What kind of name is that? is his armor shiny?

“Yes your highness.” Highness? Oh crap, i hope i wasn't captured by a cult.

“Now, tell me what you are...”

“Daddy please don’t let go!”

“No no no no NO! KATE!!”

“DADDY!”

“I tried so hard to save our little girl. I’m sorry.”

“YOUR’E THE REASON SHE’S DEAD!!”

“Dan.”

“Dan!”

“DAN!”

“What?!” I said waking up to see my friend, Pvt. Michael Abbot shaking me.

“Captain Matthews is asking for you. He told me to quote on quote wake his lazy ass up, I have a special assignment for him.” said Michael, backing away from my bed.

“What time is it?” I asked, slowly raising from my bunk, rubbing my eyes wondering why the hell the CPT. would want to see me, especially at this hour.

“Hey Dan, uh are you alright? before I woke you, you kept saying no over and over again. You sleeping alright, man?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I answer, slightly annoyed at his curiosity. “Did he tell you why he wants to see me?”

“No he didn’t.“ You never could count on Michael to listen. I always had to save his ass in basic.

“When did he want me to be there.” I ask, sitting up in bed.

“0500.”

I looked at my clock reading 0445. Suddenly a jolt of adrenaline shot through my body as I realized how fucked I was gonna be if I was late. He may send me out on patrol in my Drawers. Or worse, he may send me out to clean the Latrines. If the thought of shoveling excrement didn’t get me out of bed fast enough, I didn't know what would. “Get out and let me get dressed man.”

“Hurry up or Matthews is gonna be pissed.” He said, slowly closing my door behind him.

“Yeah, no shit.” I said, pulling on my uniform as fast as I could.

Earth: Fallujah, Iraq 2013
14 min Later.

“Almost there.” I told myself as I was jogging to the HQ Tent. I jogged past a few broken down humvees, one completely missing the front left wheel well. Thank god I wasn't on that patrol. They got hit pretty hard and lost three good men.

Nearing the tent, I looked at my watch and saw it was about to change to 0500, I sprinted as hard as I could and burst through the tent flaps almost running over the CPT. himself. “Jesus Daniel, you would think that after i told Private Abbot an hour ago to get you, that you would at least be able to get here on time.” The Cpt. said, walking over to his desk with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Sorry Captain, the messenger was a little slow.” I said throwing up a Salute. That sly mother-

“At ease, Armstrong. I’m assuming you have heard of those attacks on our patrols?” He said, laying his coffee down and pulling a file out of his desk and laying it out on top.

“Yes sir.” Of course I had, who hadn’t. We had lost nearly 20 guys in 2 weeks thanks to those bastards.

“We have intel that says that the insurgents have a huge weapons cache that is fueling their attacks.”

“Do we know where it is?” I asked, picking up the file, opening it to see pictures of the surrounding area, marked with enemy positions and a few possible locations for hideouts.

“Not an exact location, no,” He said, standing up from behind his desk. “But we think it’s near Baghdad. we believe they are using some old caves in order to store supplies and carry out attacks.” He pulled out and lit a cigarette. “I want you and your team to go there and find it. You and your men are to deploy at 0600 tomorrow. Do you understand?”

“Yes. permission to speak freely sir?” I stood their wondering why he needed me to do this assignment.

“Granted.”

“Why do you want me to go, there are plenty of other soldiers out there who could go and find this cache.”

“With your... past,” Why did he bring that up? “and with your experience. we thought that this would be a good test to see if you can rank up.”

With that, all curiosity left my mind. If I get ranked up from First Sergeant to Master Gunnery Sergeant, then I’ll have a lot more responsibilities and a few more perks. “Yes Captain!”

“Dismissed.” He said throwing up a salute.

Walking out with a grin as big as the sun. “Hell, if getting promoted means that i have to put my life on the line, then so be it. I could use the pay raise.” I then left to get my squad ready for our assignment.

Equestria: Canterlot, 1 day before royal wedding.

“Your Highness what do you mean something is wrong with the mirror?” Said Shining Armor, rubbing his temple.

“Shining Armor, I know that you are stressed with the wedding and now that your sister Twilight has made a scene, this isn't helping your migraines.” She said with a sympathetic look. “But I need you to pay close attention to this mirror.” motioning over to the mirror next to her. “It started flashing and moving round 7 days ago.”

“Your highness I assure you that this mirror will not cause any problems in the future, this is a magic mirror, yes?”

“Yes, I am sure that you are right.” She said covering the mirror with a sheet.

“Now if it were alright with you, I would like to go back on Patrol. I also have to think about finding a new best mare.” He said backing up slowly.

“Everything will be alright Shining Armor. I will deal with other matters, like the threats of war.” The threats from Queen Chrysalis couldn’t be coming at a worse time.

“Yes and I will focus on keeping my spell up for as long as i can.” Said Shining as he touched his horn.

“Resume your duties Shining Armor.”

“Yes Princess.” said Shining leaving.

Earth: Iraq, just outside of Baghdad 2013
0900

I sat there in the humvee with my M4, safety on thinking to myself. I always had to mentally prepare myself for these kinds of assignments. I never knew whether I would make it back to base or not. My mind suddenly flashed back to the broken down humvee. Thinking back to when I lost my daughter. It was that Fucking truck. I knew i shouldn’t have driven on that bridge especially on New Years Eve. All those drunk people all over the road.

“Hey.” Said Michael, grabbing my shoulder. “You aright, you got that distant look in your eyes again.”

“Yes.” Obviously annoyed. “Stop asking me that.”

He pulled his hands and put them up in such a way as to show me he was backing off. “Sorry, man”

“It’s alright, I just-” BOOM

“RPG!” said one of my men as one of our humvees was hit.

We had gotten close to the caves and must have been spotted.

“Everybody out!” I yelled, as gunfire rang out all around us.

“Michael, on me!” I said, turning off my safety and motioning for Michael to follow me. “Tangos to our right, engage.”

“Jesus, they have a Technical!” Said one of my men before he was torn in half by the gun on top of the truck.

“Fuck!” Michael and I started running to flank that gun before it took out more of our troops. I saw the gun truck and tossed a grenade in to the back of it. the resulting blast sent the MG operator flying out of the truck and onto the hood. “Take that fucker!”

“Michael, go get the laser designator and mark these fuckers!” I said, unloading round after round into the group of insurgents coming our way.

“Yes sir!” Michael was never too smart but when it came to combat, he was a madman. he ran to the humvee and got in.

“RPG!!” BOOM

The humvee that Michael had gotten into exploded in a ball of fire. I stopped firing and stared in disbelief at the wreck that now sat in place of our humvee.

“MICHAEL!!” I said turning back and running back to the humvee. Hoping that he would be fine, that the armor on our humvees had protected him. BOOM

The Humvee exploded in a ball of fire, all bullet proof windows were blown out as I got knocked onto my back. I lay there dazed and confused. Why was I here? Had i really seen my best friend die? These thoughts flew through my mind.

“Sarge.”
“Sarge!”
“Sergeant!” I awoke from my daze to one of my men shaking me, trying to get me to snap out of my shock. “Sir we have to go, 2 of our Humvees are down and 8 of our guys are down, we need orders sir!”

I snapped out of my daze and got up, picking up my M4 and brushing it off. “Grab the rest of our men and head into those caves, I’ll check out that one. We meet back here in 10 minutes!” Brushing off my vest. “If i’m not here by that time, Retreat and I’ll find my own way back.” He nodded and motioned for the rest of our guys to go with him into the caves. I grabbed a few extra mags from one of the humvees and headed into the other cave.

I entered and saw no one. My gun raised, I slowly continued through the cave coming to a stone door. I sat my backpack down and grabbed a pack of explosive and set it on the door. I exited the cave and detonated the charges, the blast sent a shock wave through the cave and out that sent a shot of adrenaline through my body. I reentered the cave only to be dumbfounded at what i found. A single mirror. Everything was covered in dust, signifying that no one had been there in a long time. “I need to get back to my troops.” A rumbling noise made me turn around and see that the cave had come down, blocking my only exit. “Goddammit!” I looked at the pile of rubble where my exit was. I ran over and started trying to dig my way out.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I picked up rock after rock, boulder after boulder. But I couldn’t get out. Almost to the point of setting one of my C4 packs on the rubble, I heard a pulsating buzz behind me.

“What in the world?” I turned back to the mirror to see it start glowing. I slowly walked over and looked at the sides. I saw unintelligible scribbling and some small pictures of two horses revolving around a picture of the sun and moon. I touched the engravings and the mirror began to glow. I tried to pull my hand away, but it was like my hand was stuck. “What the hell, let go” The glowing became a blinding light, then dissipated into a whirling vortex, sucking me through the mirror.

Equestria: Canterlot, Day of wedding.

“Princess Celestia!” Said Twilight as she ran over to her fallen teacher.

“I see that I have now grown even stronger than Celestia!” Just then the protection spell broke and Changelings spun around the city picking their prey off one by one. The Changelings grew in speed until they had a sickly green glow around them. They then started falling out of the sky and crashing into the buildings and frightened citizens below.

Unknown: unknown, unknown
I was thrown against a wall and fell to the ground. Trying to get my breath back after having it knocked out, I looked back at the mirror and saw it had stopped glowing and had returned to it’s original state. I got up and ran to it trying to get back through but only saw my reflection. “What the hell is going on here?”

Just then, I heard what I could only describe as Helicopters over head flying by. I felt relief, thinking that one of my men had called for reinforcements and that it was a squad of UH60 choppers coming. Just then I heard it stop, and then Hundreds of tiny explosions that shook the ground. I grabbed my M4 off the ground and ran to the door. “Where am I?”

I looked around and saw a big white hallway with large windows that let light flood through, wait wasn’t i just in a cave? I had to find some answer. I put a full mag in my rifle and cocked it. “Time to get some answers”

I went outside and saw complete destruction. There were Horses all over the ground and I heard footsteps. I ran to an alleyway and hid behind a trashcan. “I have to find out what is going on here, and where are all the people?”

I heard growling behind me and expected a dog. After some of the shit I’d seen during my many tours to Iraq, nothing could prepare me for what I saw behind me. It was some sort of animal that had Blue eyes and fangs and had wings like the kind you would see on a bug. it had one horn that was stained red with what I imagined was blood.

“Holy sh-!” was all I got out before the thing rammed me to the ground. It tried biting me through my armor but couldn’t. In the commotion, my M4 was knocked away from me and was just out of reach. The beast then pulled it’s head up and I swear I saw it’s horn light up, turning a sickly green. Thinking fast, I pulled my M9 Beretta out of its holster and put three rounds in the beasts chest. It had a look of surprise as it fell off of me. I looked at it seeing fear in it’s eyes. I popped a round in it’s skull for good measure. I walked over and picked up my M4 when a small group of those things turned the corner. I aimed my rifle and dispatched one, then two, then three. My mag empty, the fourth creature shot something out of it’s horn that missed me, hitting the wall leaving a scorch mark. I saw an opportunity and grabbed my knife and tackled it to the ground and stabbed it repeatedly.

The thing started screaming at me and I swear that it told me to stop. I slit its throat and fell back against the wall, catching my breath. I stared in disbelief at what i had just seen. “Fuck this shit, I need to get out of here.”

“Look there’s more this way” That sounded like an American soldier.

“I thought I told you no lethal force” Lethal force? Maybe I was saved. Maybe I could get back to base and try and explain to Captain Matthews what the hell just happened.

Glad to hear American voices, I turned the corner. “Boy am I glad to see you- What the Fu-” I was hit in the face by what I thought was a small horse. I was knocked out immediately.

Equestria: Canterlot Main Hall, day of wedding.

“Captain Shining Armor.” Said an eager Guards pony.

“Yes Private?”

“We have a Problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Said Shining Armor, raising a brow.

“We found another one of Queen Chrysalis’s Spies.”

“A spy?” Shining Armor now facing the guards pony.

“Yes sir.”

“What kind of pony were they trying to imitate, we will need to notify the family of their loss.”

“That’s the thing sir, It’s not a pony.”

“What is it then?” Asked Shining Armor with a curious look on his face.

“That’s just it sir.” The guards pony now with a nervous look on his face. “We don’t know what it is.”

“Notify the princess and show me this creature.” Shining Armor showing interest, followed the guards pony.

Unknown: Unknown, Unknown

I awoke to the sound of footsteps. Blind folded, and tied down, I had to find some answers. “Who are y-!?” I was interrupted as a club like object hit me in the face.

“I'll ask the questions her you little piece of-!”

“Shining Armor, calm yourself.” Shining Armor? What kind of name is that?

“Yes your highness.” Highness? She must be their leader.

“Now, tell me what you are” My eyes were blinded by a yellow glow and the blindfold was lifted off my face. I blinked a few times to get used to the light. What I saw caused my heart to drop faster than my credit score. Standing in front of me were two horses, one larger than the other. Both with a single horn on their heads. “What the hell?”

“The princess asked you a question!” said the smaller one approaching me.

“Shining Armor” Said the larger one in a motherly tone. “Calm down and let me handle this.” The larger one leaned down and brought it’s face close to mine. “Now, tell me what you are.”

I sat there dumbfounded, realizing that it just asked me a question, I answered. “I’m... a human.” I sat there waiting for her to say something. She got up and told the smaller one something, and then she left.

“I am going to stay here and interrogate you.” said the smaller horse. I sat there still dazed, trying to put together what was happening. “If you try anything, I have been given clearance to kill you, so lets start with my first question. What is your name?”

“First Sergeant Daniel Armstrong Codenamed “ARES” with the USMC.” I answered hoping that I could find a way to get out of here.

“Ah, a part of some sort of Military.” He said, puzzled. “And what does USMC stand for?” He said his horn glowing a light shade of blue.

“United States Marine Corps., look I don’t know what is happe-” SLAP

“You will only speak when say it is alright, got it!” Son of a bitch, that hurt. I nodded up and down. Just then, the taller one came bursting in. “Shining Armor, stop the interrogation!” He nodded and stepped away from me.

“You are a human, correct?” I simply nodded.

“Shining Armor, untie him.”

“Yes princess.” His horn started glowing a bright blue, causing the ropes tied around my arms and legs to glow bright blue. They loosened within seconds.

“If you are a human, than you should not be affected by pony magic.” Pony magic? Not affected? “Shining Armor, use a sparring spell on him, if he is a changeling then he will change back, but if not then he may be able to help us.” Help them? wait, did she say sparring spell. the thought chilled me. I was then hit by a bright blue aura of energy. It knocked me back into a bookshelf, I lay there for a second. Then I got up and flipped the one known as Shining Armor the bird.

“He’s human” Your goddamn fuckin right I am.

“Listen human, we need your help."

“Why should I help you?” I was pissed. “You knock me out then hit me and interrogate me and then use some type of blue shit to shoot me into a fucking bookcase!” I’m still pissed and Shining Armor is standing in front of the bigger pony now. “Why should I help you?”

“Because we can get you back to your home.”

Author's Note

My First Chapter

I updated a few things:
1. The Corporal is now a Captain as to make more sense.
2. The death spell is now a sparring spell.
3. I corrected a few spelling, and capitalization errors.
4. Private Michael now has a last name (It’s Abbot, by the way)
5. Changed a few sentences around.
6. Took out some of my more “primitive” jokes
7. Daniel Armstrong now tries to get out of the cave.
And a few more things.