"Why would you let this monster into your home, Twilight?! What the hay were you thinking?!"

The rainbow-maned pegasus slowly began circling me as it spoke, looking for an opening. I followed suit, adrenaline pumping, ready to respond to anything it tried. I couldn't place its gender. Mare? Stallion? I didn't know. The voice suggested mare, but the body said otherwise. Muscle ran up and down its body, suggesting a hard workout regime rivaling mine. I wasn't going to play nice, cause I'd already been hit once, and I sure as fuck didn't want to be hit again.

"Rainbow? What are you doing?" Twilight said, confused at its sudden appearance. Rainbow? These names...

"Keeping you safe! Why didn't you stop it when it came in!? It's ...dangerous " The pegasus was irritated, and angry. That doesn't mix well.

It suddenly made a move, lunging forward at a blistering speed, almost too fast for me to react. Almost. Two hooves came sailing towards my lower body, but I dropped my stance, using both palms to sideswipe the lunge, and moving to the right as it flew past, into a bookshelf.
*CRACK!*

Most of the books toppled to the floor, over the pegasus, but it shook them off and turned, angry.

"Oh, now you're asking for it," It said, lunging again. Once more, I dropped my center of balance, but instead of sideswiping, I drove a brutal punch into its chest, with a lot of my weight behind it. I felt the blow reverberate up my arm. The pegasus stopped dead in its tracks, groaning in pain, stumbling back and gasping for breath. However, I didn't think any bones had been broken, and its look showed pure fury. Jesus Christ, I don't think even I could take a hit like that! Yet again, it lunged, and again, I dropped my center of balance, ready to deflect another attack. But this time, it dived to the left, away from me. I whirled, trying to follow its movement, but suddenly felt my legs buckle at the knee.

"You sneaky motherfuc-Ahh!"

I toppled to the ground, face first with the pegasus atop my back, punching me with its hooves. However, its punches hit nothing but my rear plate, and all I felt was the pressure.

"What in Celestia's name are you made of!?" It screamed, hitting the hard steel plate. I groaned, rolling onto my left side, attempting to throw it off. However, it held fast, wrapping a foreleg around my neck as the other kept up the assault.

"Rainbow, stop! He's not dangerous! Leave him be!" Snow shouted. Uh, I beg to differ.

I struggled to my feet, not exactly easily with a pegasus assaulting my back and landing some blows on my head. Now that hurt. Not to mention the leg around my neck, threatening to cut off my air supply. I knew that if it could take a forceful punch to its chest, it could take what I was going to do next. Grasping the leg around my neck up high with my right hand, I suddenly dropped to one knee, using my left hand to assist in flipping the pegasus over my right shoulder.

"What the ha-AHH!" The pegasus fell to the ground, and I landed atop it, Hard, using all my body weight to put down a considerable force and pin its forelegs under my crushing weight.

"Agh! Get off of me!" It struggled, attempting to push me off and failing miserably. It was extremely strong, but not enough to budge me.

"John! Move out of the way!" Twilight shouted. I complied, quickly rolling off of the struggling pegasus. It was engulfed in a purple aura as soon as I was clear, and stopped moving entirely. Its eyes flicked around, wild. I stood, rubbing the back of my head and brushing dust off my clothes

"Twilight! Are you out of your mind?? I'm trying to save you!" it said, barely able to talk due to being unable to move.

"Rainbow, you are out of control! He has done nothing wrong!

"He's a monster!"

"No, he saved me from getting raped by Vapor!" Snow said.

"What?? Vapor told me that he just appeared out of nowhere and attacked him!"

Twilight groaned loudly, face-hoofing. "Rainbow, he was lying. I've talked with John, he's innocent."

Rainbow was getting flustered. "O-o-oh yeah? Well then why did he attack me just now?"

"Simple. You attacked me. Self defense." I said, with a shrug. "You're lucky I didn't use this guy."

I patted my Sig Sauer, still in its holster.

Finally, after multiple attempts to calm the technicolor pegasus, and Snow telling her side of the rape story, Rainbow agreed to refrain from murdering me. For now. She(?) stood, blowing a few strands of multicolored mane from her face. I noticed the symbol on her flank for the first time. It was a cloud with a rainbow lightening bolt streaking out of it. Is everything about this pegasus rainbow colored??

"We cool?" I asked, tentatively.

"Yeah, I guess," She said, shrugging. "But we'll be having a rematch eventually. No-pony beats Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus ever!"

I figured that was as close to an introduction as I would get.

"And I'm John Kent. Most-coolest human around. Actually the only human around. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, uhm, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, sure," She said. I'm pretty sure its a 'she'. "I gotta go do awesome stuff now, so, peace."

She trotted out the door, head held high, gave me one last cocky smirk, and took off into the night sky. I watched her go, kind of in awe, kind of in disdain. She seemed nice enough, in the 30 seconds that she wasn't trying to kill me.

"Sorry about that, John. Rainbow is a bit protective. Element of loyalty and all."

"What? Nevermind, whatever. Can you tell me what the hell those symbols on your flanks are? Haven't been able to take my eyes off of them." I instantly regretted that sentence the second it came out of my mouth. Twilight looked at me, embarrassed, her cheeks burning red. She shuffled on her hoofs, uneasily.

"No, I, uh," I stuttered, probably also becoming very red. "I meant that I've been trying to decipher the meaning, not that I was, um, yeah..."

She looked at me for a moment longer, still embarrassed, then began giggling. I exhaled, glad she hadn't taken it the wrong way.

"Don't worry about it. I know what you mean. Anyways, those symbols are our cutie marks. They represent what we're good at, or our personality. Most ponies get them relatively early on in life, usually after doing something abnormally well. Then, the mark will appear on their flank, representing said skill. Most ponies then make a living doing whatever their talent is." Twilight explained, a twinkle in her eyes.

'Cutie' marks? Did a 12 year old girl name everything here?

These marks seemed to be a central piece of the society and culture here. I asked about the government, the different types of pony that I had seen, the technology of the time, amongst other aspects of the culture and society. I found out much about the world that these sapient ponies inhabited, how it really wasn't that different from earth, aside from the magic and all. Ponies were essentially the humans of this world, being able to use their intelligence and their magic to conquer all other species. However, they hadn't had a true war in over 1000 years. After I heard that figure, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. Damn.

"What? What's wrong?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"That is a really long time." I replied, in shock.

"When was your last war?" Twilight asked, interested. "I'm assuming that you have wars, you are a soldier after all."

"Well, the human race has essentially been in a perpetual state of war. We have wars popping up all of the god-damn time. There's so much politics that go into it that it's basically impossible to explain without having grown up with it."

Twilight's eyes fell, and her ears drooped.

"That's... sad. Don't you have a government to prevent it? Why haven't they stepped in?" She said, suddenly angry.

I sighed. "Twilight, we have over 100 countries on Earth. There is no 'one government to rule them all', like there is here. Everyone is always fighting, taking land from other countries, other governments. It sounds sad, but it's just normal to us. Not saying that it isn't sad, but it's just life at this point."

"Humans are horrible." She said, reeling in shock.

"Yeah. We really are. Not all of us, but some days it feels like it. There are plenty of people who do good in the world, but not damn near enough of them." I gestured to myself.

Twilight sat down, still in shock. I sat as well, to not tower over her. My head was pounding from the few hits Rainbow had gotten in. Fuck, that still hurt. Twilight and I sat in silence for a while, before she looked over at me and spoke up.

"You know, I'm really glad that you talked to me about this. It must be hard living in a world of war. It's a good thing that you're so nice, too. When I first saw you at the door, I thought that we were being invaded or something. That's why I was so nervous earlier. But Snow proved that you were so much better, talking about how you saved her and all. It's good that the first human I met wasn't evil. The stories do say that humans are warmongers, and I never believed it, until just now, with what you've said. But it is good that you're not all that way." She smiled warmly, her ears perking up again.

"Thanks, Twilight. I appreciate it. Honestly, I didn't believe that a world like this existed until this morning, so I guess it's good that you're all so peaceful. It's refreshing." I smiled back. We sat in silence once more.

Finally, Snow spoke again.

"You know, I'm really getting tired. Let's go back to my place, eh? Get some sleep. It's late!"

I finally realized how tired I really was. My eyelids were having trouble keeping themselves open, and I could feel my movements slowing.

"Yeah, let's go." I stood, stretching and yawning. Twilight followed suit, though admittedly her display was more adorable than mine. These ponies... Snow headed towards the door, and I gathered my pack and rifle before Twilight stopped me.

"Hey, John? Can I..." She trailed off.

"What? Need something?" I said, turning away from the door to face her.

"Can I, um, get a hug?" She said it so quietly it was barely audible. I blinked. Did she just ask me...? For a minute I was hesitant, but in the end decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Gotta fit in. I dropped to my knees, and wrapped my arms around her midsection. She followed suit, her forelegs tightly wrapping around my chest. Her fur was soft and warm, and her mane was silky smooth. We stayed like that for a couple seconds, before I pulled away. Fancy Special Forces, ladies and gents.

She smiled wide, before walking us to the the door and waving us out. That wasn't too bad. It had been almost 3 hours since my arrival at her doorstep.

It looked like I had made another friend in this strange world. I smiled to myself. She was nice enough, I just hoped she didn't get into me.

"You're lucky," Snow spoke. "Twilight only hugs ponies she really likes. As friends, of course." She grinned on the last part, catching my slight discomfort.

"Yeah, I'm not a pony, and I've only just met her. I feel special." I said, smirking.

"If you haven't noticed, you kinda are."

She was right, I was probably the only human here. That does put me pretty high up on the 'special' list. The starry night was peaceful, the moon large and glowing. Wasn't there a princess that was trapped up there or something? Or was she released? Jesus, I don't remember. Snow guided me to her home, a little two storey shop/house about 2 blocks from Twilight's tree. On the front, there was a sign that showed a horseshoe and a hammer, the same as Snow's, ahem, cutie mark. It still felt cheesy saying that. I brought it up a moment later.

"So you do horseshoeing?" I asked, pointing to the sign.

"Yep! It's my talent. I'm the only one around from Canterlot to Appleloosa!" She said proudly, puffing out her chest in pride.

"Neat. Make good money?"

"Enough to get by," She said, shrugging. "But it's not about that, I love doing it!"

Can't fault someone for doing something they love.

We walked in the front door, into the storefront. That part of the building consisted of a couple pony-sized chairs and some horseshoeing equipment, with a counter and a sign that listed off prices of services, like horseshoe replacements and other horsey things. We passed through, going up a set of stairs around a corner far behind the counter. Ascending, we reached a door leading into the house portion of the building. It was a cozy little living area, surprisingly large, tall enough for me to stand with a good foot of clearance. Opening the door, there was a couch and table in the center along with a fireplace up against the wall nearest us. A hall led off to the left, presumably to the bedrooms, and a small kitchen was situated near the back. Overall, it seemed very comfortable. Snow pointed down the hall to a door at the end.

"That's the guest room. There's a bed there, though I'm not sure if you'll fit..." She thought for a moment.

"Don't worry about it, I've got a sleeping bag." I said, patting my pack. She looked up, confused.

"What's a 'sleeping bag'?"

"It's like a portable bed. You crawl inside, and it keeps you warm while you sleep. It also gives you some padding to be at least relatively comfortable."

She looked at me in awe. "That sounds so fun! You'll have to let me try it sometime."

I laughed. "You'll have to get to know me better before that, Snowy."

"That's not what I meant!" She said, giggling. I yawned again, exhausted.

"Well, that about does it for today. Boy, have I had a long day... I'mma hit the sack. Night, Snow."

"Nighty night, Jo-hawn-eh!" She was still having trouble pronouncing my name. Cute. Grinning, I headed into the guest room. Sure enough, the bed was not human sized. I was so fuckin' tired, I didn't even strip out of my cammies. I just unfurled my bag, crawled in and crashed.

Ponyville, Equestria, Holic's Bar. April 21, 2020. 8:13 PM PST(Ponyville Standard Time)

Over the past three days, I had spent my time meeting new people- well, ponies, and also a dragon-, going around the town visiting new shops and stores, and helping anyone I could. I learned that there was a whole city chock-full of pegasi, called Cloudsdale, and that the two princesses that ran Equestria lived in a castle perched atop a mountain, similar to Minas Tirith, from the Lord of The Rings movies. I made Twilight promise to take me before I left. I noticed that I became increasingly relaxed, and started to feel myself becoming less Special Operations, more touristy. I still carried my pistol, out of habit. Just because there wasn't any violence didn't mean there wouldn't ever be. Most issues were resolved peacefully, though occasionally, there was a bit of a hoof-fight, or a couple unicorns fought with magic, but they were short and normally ended with both ponies walking away, happy with the outcome. The first few times I went out, either to visit new friends or just walking about, I was worried that most ponies would shy away from me. I couldn't have been more wrong. I was like a celebrity, people-err, ponies- coming up to say hi, marveling at my size, or just staring in awe. Once, while going out to ruck in the morning, I got so many of them around me that it was difficult to even move 10 feet without one asking for my autograph or something. Seems like they figured out that I wasn't a threat. I caught myself using 'somepony' more and more often, rather than someone. Although I was relaxed, I still trained hard. Every morning I went out for a ruck march with rocks in my backpack, walking the perimeter of the town, about 5 miles. My MP3 player still worked here, albeit with a bit more static than I was used to, so I'd listen to music as I rucked. Lemme tell you, the band Tool has excellent music for rucking. Really makes you motivated. And yes, call me old, but I still used an MP3 player I'd had since I was 16. I did basic calisthenics, and even found a place way out in the hills with a good barrier to shoot at. I had to talk to the mayor, though, to get approval and so I wouldn't get a visit from the Royal Guard. Speaking of Royal Guard, their little barracks in Ponyville was basically the police force around, and I made some good friends with some of them. We chatted about battle tactics, weapons, all sorts of things. They took care of ceremonies and dealing with the occasional rowdy animal, though mostly they were for show only. I also managed to get Twilight to find a way to replenish my ammo, magically. All she needed was a live round, and she was able to duplicate new ones en masse, using some kind of cloning spell that she found in a dusty old book. Neat. I found myself calling the ponies 'cute' and 'adorable' more times than not, but it was hard not to when they come in all the colors of the rainbow, stand just above knee high, have eyes the size of dinner plates, and are essentially big teddy bears. I brought a small camera with me to take reconnaissance photos, but ended up just taking pictures around town like a tourist. Another thing that was definitely a change was the food. No one ate meat, so I had to eat veggies and non-meat things. A little bit of a change, but I found that much of the food was absolutely delicious, and I ate very well. I did have MREs, which I ate for the first night, but after a taste of Snow's cooking, I didn't touch them again.

There was something I was missing, however.

My team.

My family.

I missed a lot about home.

I made a vow to shoot that goatfucker Hapkins when I got back. God, he pissed me off. I also planned on telling the team about Equestria; maybe I could return someday. Though, they would probably laugh at me, until I showed them the pictures I took. Although I missed home, I still liked it here. It was pleasant to be in a world without violence. It really calms one's mind.

Of the many ponies I met and befriended, several stood out.

There was a earth mare named Applejack, who ran a farm called Sweet Apple Acres, out in the country about 2/3 miles from Ponyville. She was very similar to Rainbow Dash, though apparently they had quite the rivalry. I became good friends with her, as well as Rainbow. Applejack spoke in a deep southern drawl, and called me 'sugarcube', supposedly as a sign of affection, or when she was being cocky. I spent some time helping her out with picking apples and whatnot, though her method of bucking the trees until the apples fell was significantly more effective than my slow picking. However, I could easily lift more weight than she could, much to her annoyance. One morning she came out to ruck with me, but had trouble keeping pace. By the end, I was barely breathing hard, and she was bathed in sweat, despite working hard all day at a farm. I made endless fun of her for that. Her brother, Big McIntosh, affectionately known as 'Big Mac", was a massive earth stallion, nearly as strong as I was, and normally communicated in simple "Eeyup" or "Nope" phrases. We also became good friends, hanging out on occasion, where I found out that his vocabulary didn't just consist of those two words. Shocking!

There was an extremely excitable earth mare named Pinkie Pie, who, I shit you not, was bright pink. She was the party master, anything fun, she either did it or knew someone who could. The second day in town, she threw me a massive party, with the whole town turning up. I learned that there was alcohol in Equestria, and proceeded to drink so much that I passed out at her place. Fortunately, I woke up, with a massive hangover, comfortably sleeping on a couch that was, surprisingly, human sized. These ponies made great liquor.

There was a unicorn named Rarity, who ran the local boutique (Yes, they wear clothes. Not all the time, but occasionally), and was essentially the definition of elegance. She spoke like the Queen of England was always right next to her, but overall had a lighthearted and humorous attitude. Sometimes, I found myself reaching all the way back to high school English class to decipher what she was saying. She was obsessed with trying to make human sized clothes, too. Always loved a challenge.

I also met the Lyra that Twilight warned me about, who stared in awe for almost 5 minutes the first time she met me. Somehow, I also became good friends with her, but friendzoned her more than once. Good god, was she persistent though. And adorable. Then again, weren't they all? Still, I said no.

Late the third night, I was hanging at the local bar, run by a pegasus named Alcho, last name Holic. Alcho Holic. Fitting that he ran the local bar. Earlier that evening I was out at my little pseudo-shooting range, showing Rainbow Dash and Applejack my gun drills and generally explaining what they were. The both were astounded by how loud they were, but thought that they were pretty damn cool. In Rainbow's words; "Those are so AWESOME! Sucks they don't come pony sized, though."
They both wanted to shoot, but considering they didn't have hands, I had to decline.

"I can handle it, in mah mouth! C'mon Johnny, just lemme try!" Applejack pleaded.

"Girl, this would break your teeth. There is no way I'm going to let you do that to yourself. Sorry, sugarcube" I replied.

"Pleeeease?"

She kept persisting. Eventually, after I proved to her how stout the recoil was by having her hold a hoof up and smacking it with a hand, she let up.

Anyways, I was having a cold glass of cider, made from apples straight from AJ's farm, sitting with her and Dash, laughing, joking, and having a good time. I think that because of our joking and laughing, we didn't hear the screams when they started. The bar was a loud place, and it was tough to hear anything, honestly. Rainbow's ears perked up, and her face became confused.

"Hey... do you guys hear that?" She asked, a bit worried. I sensed the tone and straightened up.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"It sounds like, somepony screaming for help or something." She was beginning to show signs of terror, clearly scared. Everyone shut up, and only then did we finally hear it. Several ponies were screaming, like their lives depended on it. Then, there was a loud thump, as something slammed into the door to the bar. I stood and ran to the door, opening it to help whatever hit it.

Laying there was a blue shape, a corpse. A pegasus, missing a wing, most of its head and bleeding from massive lacerations.

I felt my sense of security, my wall, come crashing down, my heart pumping, my eyes wide.

"Jesus fucking Christ..." I whispered, horrified.

Then, I heard it.

The inhuman screech that cut through the air like a hot knife.

I looked out into the street, about fifty meters away, and saw a creature out of someones worst nightmare. A 12 foot tall bipedal thing, pale skin stretched over bones, body contorted into a shape that would drive lesser people insane by merely looking at it, with two massive, clawed hands in the process of ripping a pegasus's guts out. The pony gave me one last horrified, pained look before he was completely eviscerated and discarded, added to a growing pile of bodies. It made a sickening slap as it hit the ground. The thing turned towards me.

My god...

Its face had a wide hole where the mouth should be, without any teeth at all. Just a gaping maw, for nothing other than producing a horrifying screech. Its eyes, or lack thereof, were just gaping sockets, rimmed with blood. I was horrified, angry, scared. But, as any good soldier does, I shook it off. I sprinted back inside, snatching my rifle and plate carrier. Putting my vest on, I tore a fresh mag out of a pouch and slammed it into the magwell of the FNC, bringing my left hand over to the right side and running the bolt.

"John? What's going on?" Rainbow asked, terrified. She saw the body in the door and her face went completely white. "O-oh Celestia..."

"Dash, listen. Get everypony here the fuck out. Go to the Royal Guard's barracks. They'll be able to keep them safe. I'll deal with the thing outside. Get going. Don't look back. " I calmly said, the fury in my eyes burning. She blinked, reeling in terror, but began ordering all of the ponies out the back door. Applejack helped as well, their rivalry forgotten in the face of crisis. The ponies were confused and scared, but followed Rainbow and AJ's orders.

I turned to the front door and walked out, stepping over the corpse. Fury boiled in my chest, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Facing the monster, I raised my rifle. It let out another screech as it saw me again, beginning to run my direction.

You've made a mistake, motherfucker.

The sound of the safety flipping to auto increased my confidence. Whatever this thing was, it was about to face Kent's Fury. I exhaled, centering it in my red dot sight. My right index finger slipped inside the trigger guard. 8 pounds of pressure was all I needed to riddle this fucking thing with holes.

You picked the wrong fight, bitch.

Author's Note

Holy Fucking SHIT! Stuff just got real! Anyways, Hope that plot twist satisfies, a complete 180 from the start of the chapter. Goodbye, Comfort. Hello, horror!

Next chapter should be out soon.