Semper Fidelisby Perception FilterChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1Chapter 1 A/N WARNING! Contains SCIENCE! “You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here.” Said Twilight Sparkle. “What?” Sputtered Nightmare Moon. “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!” “Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of...kindness!” “Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of...laughter!” “Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of...generosity!” “And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!” “The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us.” “You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!” Nightmare Moon responded. “But it did! A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all are my friends. You see, Night Mare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic.” Finished Twilight, putting a period at the end of her sentence by blasting her with the Elements of Harmony. “NOOO! Nooo!” Screamed Nightmare Moon in panic. In her panic, she tried use her magic to get away. The powerful magic of the Elements of Harmony were already putting strain on the dimensional boundaries of their universe. Combined with Nightmare Moon’s magic, it opened a small invisible hole to an alternate reality. The Elements of Harmony were close to completing their job and ridding the world of Nightmare Moon forever when the invisible hole to the other dimension started glowing. The glowing hole, at first, had no effect on what was going on around it. But, as it began to glow even brighter, the six ponies were forced to look at it through curiosity, only to have their gazes shoved away as it began to glow brighter than the sun. By now, the spell that the Elements of Harmony were casting had already faded as they had lost their concentration before completing the spell. Nightmare Moon, seeing her escape opportunity, teleported away quickly, but nopony noticed. They were focused on the loud high pitched screaming that was coming from the glowing hole. It was slowly getting louder, and they knew that somepony was in immense pain. “Twilight, what is that?” Asked Rainbow Dash, shielding her eyes with her front leg. “I don’t know!” Twilight yelled back. The screaming was getting louder. “It sounds like somepony is getting hurt!” The screaming was so loud at this point they were forced to cover their ears instead of shield their eyes. “I’m going to see what it is!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. Before Twilight could spout any objections, the light went out, and in its place was a strange...thing. It was bipedal, it wore a lot of heavy looking clothing that was green, olive green, and light green, and although they were unfamiliar with this certain creature, it was obvious that it was hurt. It was lying on the ground with a pained expression, and was looking at them with pleading eyes. It was covered in blood and bruises, and several of its appendages were bent at odd angles. It also wore a strange black mask that was strapped onto its face, leaving only its eyes viewable. Then it did something no one expected. “Please...help...m-me.” It said in a gravelly voice, and then proceeded to cough up large amounts of blood. Everypony present stared in shock at the bloody and bruised creature. It had just spoken Equestrian. It then let its head fall to the stone ground with a small *thump*. “Twilight....w-what is that thing?” Asked Rainbow Dash with a stutter in her voice, revealing fear that she hardly ever showed. “I...I don’t know Rainbow. But we have to get it to the hospital, it’s seriously injured.” She said as she tenderly picked up the aforementioned creature and tried to set it on her back. She was instantly besieged by, what felt like, thousands of pounds of weight. She collapsed under its weight and struggled to get free. “TWILIGHT!” Yelled Rainbow Dash protectively, as she swooped down to her new friend to protect her from the dangerous alien. “It’s fine Rainbow, it’s just really heavy. Can somepony help me carry him? I can’t hold it with my magic all the way there.” “I got this Twilight.” Said Applejack. “Just drop it on mah back, I can hold ‘im.” Twilight obliged and when she dropped the creature, Applejack stumbled a bit from his weight. She stopped, and put on a strained expression and started walking. “Are you sure you can carry it AJ?” Asked Rainbow Dash, actually doubting her friend for once. “Yea...at least ‘til we get to Ponyville.” “How heavy is it?” “I’d say around 300 pounds, give or take.” And with that, the ponies began their journey back to Ponyville, not giving any thought to Nightmare Moon and how she escaped, and focusing only on the hurt animal that had come to them. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Nightmare Moon watched as the ponies left from the castle from her tower, high up in the crumbling castle. She also paid specific attention to the strange thing that the orange one was carrying on her back. “Whatever this strange creature is, I owe it my life...I shall find a way to repay it, and maybe recruit it to my cause.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~ “What is that thing on its face?” Asked Rarity in a very unladylike manner. “It looks simply, horrid.” “Judging by the vents on it, I think it’s some sort of breathing mask.” Answered Twilight. “OOOH! Do you think I could wear it?!” Asked Pinkie Pie, in a sing-song voice. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Pinkie.” But her words fell on deaf ears, and the pink mare was soon tugging at the mask in a futile attempt to simply pull it off. “Pinkie, can ya stop that? Yer makin’ this...eumm...thing a might hard ta’ carry!” Applejack asked, as Pinkie continued pulling on the mask. “That’d probably be a good Idea Pinkie, it might not breath the same air as we do. What it’s breathing could be poisonous to us, removing it could have fatal consequences for it and us.” Said Twilight with a worried voice. The rest of the trip was spent in a brooding silence. But, before long they reached the edge of the Everfree forest and the silence was shattered to pieces by the groaning of the thing on Applejack’s back. Twilight’s horn began to glow a deep purple and it lifted the head of the creature up to look at it. Its eyelids were fluttering and they opened all the way and winced shut in pain. “Urrrghh, goddamnit that hurts.” It took a deep breath, and bit its lip quite forcefully to avoid groaning. “That hurts too.” it said, voice muffled from its mask. “GIRLS! It’s AWAKE!” Shouted Twilight, and the thing winced. “GAH!” It near yelled in pain. “Could you keep it down?” It then tried to push itself off of Applejack and succeeded, with the ground as a reward. It let out a pained yelp as its broken body hit the ground and when Twilight checked again it was passed out. “C’mon girls, we have to get him to Ponyville.” She said as she picked it up again and gave it to Applejack. “There is no telling how much longer it can stay like this.” She spoke with a frown, gazing a small trickle of blood that was leaving a trail through the Everfree. They continued their trek in silence for about five minutes until they passed Fluttershy’s cottage. “Um, girls, I really have to get going, and take care of the animals. That is if...it’s okay with you.” She said with a small cower. “Of course Fluttershy, we will take care of this...thing.” Said Rarity with a small smile at her friends timid ways. And with that they left behind Fluttershy, who was too scared of the alien thing to stay with the group. Fluttershy was intrigued by the new animal, but scared to death of any possible hostility from the alien. They continued trotting along at an urgent pace, but not too fast as to damage their passenger any more than it was already. After a five minute walk through the town, ignoring the weird stares they were getting from the inhabitants, they arrived at the hospital, and they burst in. “Hello, somepony! We have an injured...thing! It needs medical assistance.” Yelled Twilight as they ran in. As it turned out, her yelling wasn’t necessary because Nurse Redheart was standing there, behind the desk. “What do you mean, a ‘thing’?” She asked, and Twilights response was gesturing to Applejack. The nurse looked over, and let out a gasp when she saw the creature. “W-what, is that?” She asked in horror, both at its appearance and that it would be easily taller than 2 ponies stacked on top of eachother. It was also very burly, as far as she could tell with all of its clothing on. “No time to explain. It needs medical assistance right away. Only one note, the thing on its face looks like a breathing apparatus. It is wise not to remove it until we figure out what it breathes.” The nurse blanched and nodded. “Please take...it... to operating room 4. I will get a doctor.” She said as she hurried away. “Uhmmm, does anyone know where operating room 4 is?” Asked Twilight. “Yea, it’s that way!” Said Pinkie Pie, pointing down a corridor. “How did you know?” “There’s a sign that says operating room four on the wall.” She responded. Twilight coughed and started walking down the hallway. Not a moment later they arrived at the room, and Twilight levitated the creature onto the table. “C’mon, we better leave. Let the doctors do their thing.” She said as she trotted out the door. Pinkie followed, hopping cheerily out. Rainbow grumbled something about an awesome alien that she couldn’t talk to, and then followed. Applejack and Rarity didn’t complain and just walked out. Chapter 2Chapter 2A/N MOAR SCIENCE! Nightmare Moon sat in her tower, brooding over the mysterious creature that had saved her life. She knew the power of the Elements of Harmony now, and she was going to need help. But how would she recruit this strange being to her cause? If she tried to contact the being conventionally, things would go badly for her. She needed a way to talk to him, and him only. She walked down out of the tower that she had taken refuge in, and down to the main room. Nothing was different about it. There was almost no magical residue, and nothing to suggest how the thing had gotten here. She frowned and gazed at the small bloodstain on the ground where the creature had landed. ~~~~~~~~ “Alright nurse, we have to get the clothes off of this...uhh, thing.” said Doctor Stable. They first tried to simply pull them off. After a minute of fruitless efforts, they were forced to find another way. After looking over the creature they noticed that the clothing was simply strapped together. After removing its clothing, they gazed in awe at the broken creature that lay before them. Bones were shattered, and pushed at unnatural angles. Blood was freely flowing from several wounds along the length of its body; it was a wonder that the creature was still breathing. After looking at the thing for a unusually large amount of time, they finally sprang into action to save the poor being. After internally scanning the creature for injuries, they realized that its injuries were far more devastating than they first thought. He had minor bleeding in almost all of his internal organs, and most of the bones in his body were shattered. How this thing was still alive, he could only speculate. After scanning his body again, he realized that the thing had large amounts of magical residue clinging to it, keeping it alive. The amount of which he shuddered at. It was more than any one being could ever create; not even Celestia or Discord could do such a thing. ~~~~~~~~~ Nightmare Moon was still wondering how to contact the creature when she felt a strong burst of magical energy. She quickly used her own magic to track it back to the source, and saw large amounts of magical energy leaking from the creature, and she also felt its life slowly fading away. The doctors and nurses scurried around the room in a panicked attempt to save the creature. Thinking quickly, she began to siphon her own life force into the creature making sure not to kill herself on accident. She watched as the hospital staff gazed in awe at the being as its wounds began to heal of their own accord. His wounds closed, and his bones started to mend together. She released the spell. It was taking too much out of her. She had done all she could, and now she had to wait and hope that the thing had the will to pull through. ~~~~~~~~~ They were all shocked. This things wounds had closed of their own accord and his injuries were mending faster than anything they had ever seen. The spontaneous regeneration had stopped before his more major wounds could close, but he would live. His bones had not knitted together, but they were already set in the right place to heal on their own. They quickly put them in casts to prevent too much movement. “Nurse...Do you know what just happened?” asked Doctor Stable. “I...I don’t know. I detected a very powerful burst of magical energy, and he started healing.” Spoke Nurse Starlight. They heard a groan, and they froze. Slowly, they turned around to face the thing. It was waking up. “Ugh, where am I?” It said and its voice cracked on the last word. “Uhhh, hello there.” said the Doctor with a cautious voice. “What? What’s going on?” It said as it gazed at the doctor. “I can’t really tell. You just nearly died, and barely recovered.” “...” “Are you okay?” “You’re a talking animal.” He said in a deadpan voice. “Uhhh, what?” “Animals don’t talk.” He said, still using the same tone of voice. “Uhh, no, ponies have always talked.” He replied with a ‘what are you talking about’ voice. “...” “Can you tell us your name?” He asked trying to skip over the awkward subject. “It’s...I...I can’t remember.” He said with a scrunched up face. “What can you remember?” “That animals aren’t supposed to talk.” He deadpanned again. “Ooookay...Do you know what all this stuff is? We found it on your body.” The doctor asked, gesturing to his bloody clothing. “I believe those are my clothes.” He said in a dry voice. The doctor blushed immensely at this statement. “Can you tell us what this says?” he asked as he tossed a pair of metal tags over to the strange creature. Clifton. Michael. CM. Blood Type: O+ 554917431 USMC. M No Preference. Peanuts. He read out off of the tag. “I guess my name is Clifton.” He said. ~~~~~~~ Twilight was pacing a groove in the floor...again. She was worried about the alien. The thing had sustained massive injuries, and she wanted it to live; if only to answer her questions. She had come straight back to the library from the hospital after dropping off the creature, and then started pacing. Rainbow Dash had followed her, and was outside the house doing loops in the air, burning off her excitement. Rarity had opted to go home, and make the thing some better looking clothes; and Pinkie was, at first, trying to plan a surprise party for the thing, planning on inviting everyone, until the others had managed to convince her to keep it between themselves. Applejack had gone home to rest after carrying the 300 pound thing all the way from the Everfree forest. Lastly, Fluttershy was hiding in her cottage, hoping that the scary alien creature wouldn’t be mad at her for...whatever reason. Back at Twilights house, Spike was sitting on the couch trying to work Twilight out of her funk. “Twilight! What’s wrong?” “...” “Did you stop Nightmare Moon?” Twilight's head shot up. “SPIKE! OHMYGOSHWEFORGOTALLABOUTNIGHTMAREMOON!” She yelled, and sped out the door calling down Rainbow Dash at the same time. “RAINBOW! WE FORGOT ABOUT NIGHTMARE MOON!” She yelled at her. “GET APPLEJACK AND FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow Dash saluted and flew off in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres while Twilight ran to find Rarity and Pinkie, leaving Spike sitting on the couch with a confused look on his face. ~~~~~~~~ “Well Clifton, you have several broken bones, and you had severe internal hemorrhaging, but it healed right up.” “How?” “I don’t know. For now, you are stuck in the hospital until you heal up, sorry.” Said the doctor as he walked out. “Great...Stuck in a land of colorful talking animals, and I can’t remember who I am...great.” Hello Clifton. Said a voice. His head jerked up and he surveyed the room in full very slowly. Don’t bother looking for me. Said the voice. “Where are you?” In the Everfree forest. “Where is that?” Doesn’t matter. What matters right now is that those ponies want you dead. He froze. They only saved you to interrogate you. “How do you know. I couldn't even remember my name. In fact, I am probably dreaming right now.” I know because they tried to do the same thing to me. “Are you another talking animal?” He asked with scepticism. Yes, but just trust me on this. If you keep your guard up, they can’t do anything. You are more powerful than them. They WILL try to get the jump on you when you leave the hospital though. Don’t let your guard down. “Wait! Who are you?” A friend. Remember what I told you... Chapter 3Chapter 2 A/N Well, sorry for the long wait....again. “She’s not here.” Said Rainbow Dash “Oh no. Oh no, oh nonononononononononononono. This is bad, really, REALLY bad girls.” Responded Twilight with nervous hopping session. “This is BAD!” “Twilight, loosen up. We can find her. We just have to do it before the eternal night hinders our food production and we all starve to death.” Twilights eyes went to pinpricks. She flinched a couple times and her mane was becoming disheveled and she started giggling maniacally. “Rainbow, what in tarnation what were you thinking sayin’ that to her?” Said Applejack voicing her flying friends mistake. “Don’t worry Applejack, I have the perfect solution.” Said Twilight in a maniacal voice. “First, we are going to go back to the library, and then I am going to create a cloning machine. We will then clone Nightmare Moon and use the elements on her! It’s foolproof!” “Uhhhh, sugarcube I don’t think that’ll wo-” “FOOLPROOF!” She shouted and sprinted out of the castle back towards Ponyville, giggling all the way. “Ugh, I’ll go get her.” Said Rainbow Dash as she flew away after her mentally unstable friend. ~~~~~~~ “TWO MONTHS?!” “Sir, can you please calm down. I assure you that-” “TWO GODDAMN MONTHS?” The doctor sighed. “Sir, there is nothing you can do about it. I would implore you to calm down. The blood results should be back momentarily and we can find out if you can take that mask off.” “Hey buddy, screw you. I am taking this thing off whether you like it or not.” He said, and undid the straps and pulled it off, ignoring the doctors loud complaints. After doing nothing for a moment, he took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “See? I told you it would be fine...God you horses don’t listen.” “We are ponies.” The doctor said repeated for what must have been the 20th time in the past hour. “Whatever, just leave me alone.” Doctor Stable huffed in annoyance and trotted out. Clifton sighed in relief. Now maybe he could get some sleep. He was still on his guard after what his ‘friend’ had told him. Apparently they were ponies. He had called one of them a horse when he had remembered the word, and they were getting all uptight about it. He sighed and moved around as much as he could with all of his casts, and closed his eyes for a rest. He was just about to feel the gentle hands of sleep overtaking him when he heard some voices arguing in the room across from his. He grumbled in annoyance and tried to go back to sleep when they kicked it into overdrive. “GODDAMNIT, I AM TRYING TO SLEEP! SHUT THE HELL UP!” He screamed and the yelling stopped. He grumbled again and tried to get back to sleep. After another five minutes of uninterrupted, blissful silence, he heard his door open. “Sir, we have been getting complaints from the other patients about a large amount of screaming coming from this room.” Said a nurse as she walked in. “I don’t give a fuck, I was trying to get the people across from me to she the hell up.” “That’s no excuse sir, if you don’t stop yelling I am going to have to sedate you.” “Take one more goddamn step and I will strangle you with my good arm.” The nurse stepped back in hesitance and he closed his eyes again. He heard a slowly fading trotting and he knew he could finally get some sleep. “Somepony is here to see you.” ‘Fuck.’ He thought. ~~~~~~~ Earlier... “SPIKE!” Yelled Twilight bursting through the door. “What is it Twilight?” Responded a small purple and green dragon. “I need you to go down to the basement and hook up the Quantum Harmonizer and hook it up to the Photonic Resonation Chamber.” “But Twilight, didn’t you say not to do that? Something about parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity?” “Well up yours too Spike!” She yelled and ran down to the basement. Spike shrugged off her last words after looking at her mane and the crazed look in her eyes. Not 3 seconds later, Rainbow Dash flew through the door with a very nonchalant look on her face. “Sup Spike.” “Oh hey Rainbow, are you looking for Twilight?” “Yup.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the basement. “Thanks.” She said as she zoomed towards the door. “WAIT! MY PINKIE SENSE IS GOING OFF.” Shouted Pinkie as she broke down the door, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash tried to slow down at the last second but it was inevitable. The door to Twilights basement slammed open and made a Rainbow Dash pancake against the wall. “Oooooh! Girls, I’m glad you’re here, we need some DNA samples from Nightmare Moon.” Said Twilight, her head twitching with every word until it was almost a full 180 degrees upside down. “Uhhh, Twilight, I don’t think that cloning Nightmare Moon will work.” Said Pinkie with an unsure smile adorning her face. “Wait, that’s why you needed to hook up the Quantum Harmonizer to the Photonic Resonation Chamber?” Asked Spike out loud. “Wait! You can’t do that! It would cause a parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity!” Pinkie stated. “I know, that’s what I said.” “QUIET! We need a way to stop Nightmare Moon, and I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas.” Twilight practically screamed. “Well cloning her isn’t going to work sugarcube.” Said Applejack as she walked in the door with Rarity and Fluttershy. “Then what are we supposed to do?” She asked in defeat and slumped down onto the floor. “I don’t know dear, but we will figure something out. We MUST! For EQUESTRIA!” Said Rarity, waving her hooves about for dramatic effect. “Well what if we asked the creature?” Suggested Fluttershy in a small voice, but as usual, she was drowned out by everyone else. “But Rarity, we don’t even know where she is. How do you suggest we stop her?” “Uhm, girls, I have an idea.” “Well, as always the first step is to track her down.” “Girls...” “But we already checked the castl-” “GIRLS!” Fluttershy finally shouted and got everypony’s attention. When everyone looked at her, she shrunk behind her mane. “Well, I was just kinda thinking that, you know if it’s okay, we could check with that creature. If it’s okay with you.” “Ugghhh, my head.” Groaned a certain rainbow colored pegasus as she got up. “Oh, there you are Rainbow Dash, I didn’t see you there.” Said Twilight. “That’s because you slammed me against the wall when you opened the door.” She grumbled under her breath. “Well, we are going to the hospital.” “OH, are we going to see the alien! He is sooooo awesome!” She said, and without waiting for a response she zoomed out the door. ~~~~~~~ “Fine send ‘em in.” After only a few seconds had passed, did one of the horses with wings flew in the door, and stopped, hovering right in front of his face. “You mind backing the hell off?” The pegasus’ enormous smile instantly wilted into a frown and she backed away a bit. She just hovered there, staring at him with a small frown. “...” “...” “Is there something you want?” Clifton finally asked. “Well, I was going to ask you about you but the doctor says you lost your memory.” “If you don’t have anything important leave. I want to sleep.” “No wait! I was gonna ask you if you know where Nightmare Moon is.” He regarded her with a unamused stare and a uplifted eyebrow. He stayed like that for a few seconds before the horse did a facepalm (Facehoof?) and explained. “Nightmare Moon is an evil pony who wants to shroud the land in eternal night.” “And?” “Annndddd, we need to know where she is.” “Sorry, no clue. Now leave me alone.” “Well fine, be that way.” She said with a frustrated huff and zoomed out. ‘Maybe I can get some sleep now.’ He thought. Oh boy was he wrong. Chapter 4Chapter 4 Semper Fidelis A/N This is where the dark tag comes in. Make sure you have no aversion to fighting/killing/finding enjoyment in said activities. Please don’t judge Clifton on what kind of person he is after only reading this chapter. “So what does this thing do?” Asked the purple horse, somehow levitating something I had on my body. It was in some sort of holster and she was looking down its barrel. “How the fuck should I know? I lost my fucking memory.” The human replied to the annoying purple horse who wouldn’t leave him alone. The horse winced. “You don’t have to swear.” She said, flattening her ears against her head. “Leave me the fuck alone. I am trying to sleep.” “But I have so many questions!” She whined and his eardrums nearly burst. “I don’t care.” He sighed out heavily. “I just want to go to sleep.” He thought trying a more subtle approach might work. It didn’t. “No.” She stated stubbornly. “I’m not leaving till I get some answers.” He silently resisted the urge to get out of bed and strangle the small purple horse. “What part of ‘Lost my memory’, do you not understand?” “Well.....I....” He had stumped her. “Leave me alone. Please.” Begged the human. The unicorn relented, but only slightly. “Fine, but I am staying here and examining your things.” It was as far as he would get with the stubborn purple horse, so he just let out a “Fine.” and fell asleep in the silence that ensued. ~~~~~ Twilight was examining a strange device that the alien had attached to his clothes. It was a small metal device with some sort of small lever protected by a guard. It had a button, that when pushed, ejected a container of some sort that held a few small cylindrical objects. It looked like it could hold more, but it only had two in it. She shook the thing a bit, and nothing happened. The put the small container back in the main object and looked down the circular tube in the thing. After looking at it for a few moments, she guessed a bit at its purpose. Judging by the length of the small container in the main contraption, the objects could be put into the main tube. She squeezed the lever and was surprised to find it prone, and unable to move. She began to frequently pull it in an attempt to make it move, but the thing resisted her efforts. Frowning at the thing, she gave it another once-over. I was obviously designed for the strange appendages at end of his hooves, but there was no obvious purpose of the device. She shrugged and put it aside. So far, she was successfully distracting herself from the Nightmare Moon situation, but she had to get back to it eventually. Sighing in defeat, she walked out of the room, taking one more glance at the metal thing. She glared at it. Nothing happened. Right as she was about to leave, she noticed a small horizontal lever on the left side of the weapon. She flipped the curious switch and there was a small click. Barely audible actually. If there had been any ambient background noise, she wouldn’t have heard it. Her curiosity once again piqued, she levitated the thing again and pulled the larger, guarded lever. Almost instantly, the thing repelled against her magic, let out a large crack with a flash of light, and it began to smoke a little bit. She yelped in fear and dropped the device. Her ears were ringing because of the marble floors and ceiling. She shook her head, and crunched down on the ground, waiting for the noise in her ears to stop. When it did, she rubbed a hoof with her ears and looked at the device. It was sitting prone on the floor as if nothing had happened, with a smell of odd smoke in the air. Looking across the room, her gaze stopped on a shallow hole in the floor that was next to a small golden colored empty cylinder. Around the hole, the marble floor was cracked severely, and there was a small flat, chunk of metal embedded in it. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Came a yell, and she looked up to see the human not in bed, but behind his small nightstand flipped over, and grimacing in pain as his still new injuries screamed in protest. He held a butter knife in his hand, clutching it in a death grip. His face held a sweaty sheen and his eyes were flicking all over the room, taking in everything. “A-are you okay?” Asked Twilight worriedly. “W-w-w....” He stuttered then inhaled fiercely and slumped over, unconscious. ~~~~~ The sound of a gun going off could be heard in the distance, as Lance Corporal Clifton Michael trudged through a small patch of mud on the street. He nervously glanced left and right, eying everything around him. Most of his squad had been killed in an ambush, and only him and Frosty - their squads combat engineer - were alive. His teammates quick thinking had saved their lives. And embedded a shard of metal shrapnel in Frosty’s leg. Their radios had been taken out in an explosion and he was going to get to the extraction point, get help and come back for him. He was new to the Marine Corps, but was good as any other. He had trained for situations like this and he came to a stop. Up ahead, about in about five hundred meters, was the extraction point. However, there was also a particularly tall hill of concrete and brick debris blocking his path. He was in no condition to get through it right now, so he set off around it. The torn and snapped electrical wires and still-living streetlights buzzed around him, as the dilapidated city came to life with noise. Then it stopped again. He didn’t really care, but it did make him easier to hear. Then he spotted his salvation. There was a small narrow path conveniently left open and free from fallen buildings or wrecked vehicles. Any decently trained person, hell even a dumbass could see the obvious trap that lied within, but Clifton was exhausted. He just wanted to get this mission over with to earn some R&R. He valiantly stormed through the passageway and into the opening. He smiled as he spotted a clearing coming into view beyond a mass of cars before he was tackled from the side. He caught a brief glimpse of the figure. It was a person completely covered in black garb, with two small holes for its eyes. One was a deep emerald green, and the other was a burning fire red. After being caught off guard, his training kicked in and he pulled out his fourteen centimeter carbon-steel blade and jammed it into the stomach of his attacker, twisting it and pulling out the toothed side and tearing up his insides. His attackers eyes narrowed, but the corporal gained no other reaction, except for a few well aimed punches that hit his kidney and side of his neck and he fell to the ground. The black garbed figure followed up with a vicious followup attack by pouncing on him, but Clifton had predicted it and rolled away leaving his assailant stunned for a moment. Taking his advantage while he had it, he jumped up attacked with nasty uppercut with his knife, that dragged all along his attackers stomach and ripped it open without remorse. This time, the reaction he elicited was a cry of sharp pain, and the figure trying to grab his guts as they fell out of the gaping hole in his chest. Wasting no time, he brought the knife up and thrust it into his enemies throat. He fell to the ground, clawing at the knife trying to pull it out. He continued to claw at the steel blade for only a moment before his own death. His officers and Sergeants had always told him "You won't like killing kid, it's not a fun thing to have to do." They were wrong. It was glorious. The rush of adrenaline, the pounding of his heart in his ears. He loved every second of it. The was no regret in a single cell in his body. He loved it so much. He suddenly remembered that he was looking to get pickup for him and his friend, bent down to pull my knife out of the figures neck, wipe it on a nearby slab of concrete and kept going, making sure not let his guard down now. His eyes were once again taking in all his surrounding, but no longer out of fear. He now wanted to fight again. He wanted something to attack him. He wanted to feel that feeling again. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter coming down from above as he absentmindedly popped a flare to signal pick up, the colorful smoke towering up above the destroyed city. ~~~~~ Clifton jerked up with a start and by some instinct not-so-entirely unknown to him he lashed out with his good arm and socked the doctor horse that was trying to hold him down. The doctor skidded across the room and the marine shook his head for a moment. “Sorry doc.” He grimaced when he noticed himself taking on a gentle attitude. Maybe these ponies were getting to him. “Bad dream.” “NURSE!” Screamed the doctor. “RESTRAIN HIM!” and the nurse from earlier came charging in and stopped with a skid into the room. “Wait!” He insisted, glancing around nervously. “WAIT!” He shouted as the nurse approached him. He tried to scoot backwards and found his legs working again. The human fell off the bed in shock. “How long have I been out?!” He said, testing his newly healed arm and legs, enjoying the full mobility. “Just hold still sir. It will be over in a moment.” Said the nurse, cautiously approaching him with a syringe held in levitation. The human nervously glanced left and right, looking for a way out. There was none. “Hey, back off.” He said, rising to his full height for the first time in a while. The nurse blanched at seeing his full height. She let out a blush and averted her eyes. The human looked down and groaned. He was naked. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his blanket and covered himself up. “Alright you horses, listen up-” “We’re ponies!” Protested the nurse, looking at him once again, but not continuing her assault on him. “Whatever. It was an accident when I punched him, I honestly didn’t mean to.” The doctor got up, now sporting a black eye and glaring at the human with a deathly gaze. “Sorry doc, didn’t mean to punch you.” The doctor continued his stare for a few more seconds, while the human let out an intimidating glare of his own. Eventually, after an eternity of silence, the small horse relented and hung his head down. “I-it’s okay then.” He mumbled under his breath. Clifton breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the nurse again. “Where’s my stuff?” “It’s in the locker room we made sure to keep it all secreted away so nopony could get at it.” “Thanks. You mind telling me where the locker room is?” “NO!” Shouted the nurse a bit too quickly. “I-I mean, we can’t do that yet. Heheh, we have to make sure you are well enough to leave the hospital." His eyes narrowed. Remember what I said. Whispered that voice he heard a while ago, in the back of his head. “Yea.... Sure.” He started to roll with it. “How long have I been out?” “Y-You’ve been out for about a month.” She winced as she expected him to be angry for some reason. “Really?!” He asked shocked. It was clearly not the reaction the nurse was expecting. “You’re not angry?” “No. I’m just surprised. Normally my injuries wouldn’t heal that fast.” Replied the bewildered human. “Really?” Asked the nurse. Now it was her turn to be confused. “Most injuries heal in that amount of time. Do things not do that in your world?” For a moment, he remembered the feeling of the blood in his ears, and adrenaline in his veins as he killed his first on his first mission. The barely felt resistance as his knife tore into the black garbed figures entrails and he smiled and took a deep breath in, relishing the feeling as it lasted. It was over after that, and he was back in the hospital with colorful talking ponies. The nurse was looking at him with a concerned expression. His fists were clenched, he wore an evil grin on his face and was acting like he was somewhere else. “Are you okay sir?” She asked, prodding his leg with a hoof. Without thinking, his hand shot down and grabbed the hoof, preparing to snap it with a single moment, but he stopped. His rational mind took over for a moment. He needed to keep a low profile, or these ponies would be all over him. The human dropped the nurses’ hoof and shook his head. “Yea.... Yea. I’m fine, just....” He trailed off, looking at the floor. “So!” Clifton said, jerking his head up suddenly. “Can I have my stuff back?” “Sir, we have to run tests on you and make sure you are well.” She said, too quickly once again. “Okayyy, at least tell me where the room is so I can get my stuff when we are done.” “Uhhh, sure. Down the hall and to the right. The door says Locker Room. You can’t miss it.” Said the nurse after hesitating for a few moments. He had to remind himself that these horses were the enemy. They were keeping him from his combat gear, as he now remembered what it was. He nodded and went to the table to put on his undergarments, which they had left on the table. “What’s that say?” Asked the nurse. “Excuse me?” “Your back. It says something, but I can’t understand it.” “I don’t know. You have a mirror?” She nodded, and retrieved one from the closet. Looking over his back at it, he read what it said. “Id praecipui infernum manet illis qui gaudent in bello.” The nurse was confused. “What does that mean? I thought we spoke the same language.” “It’s latin. I... knew what it said, but.... I can’t....” The human closed his eyes, and concentrated. After a moments thought, he opened them again. “A special hell awaits those who rejoice in wartime.” He said. The nurses face took on a look of confusion mixed with horror. “Do you have a lot of war where you come from?” “I can’t remember.....” He trailed off again, remembering his sole memory of his past life. That fight, and the indescribable feeling of his opponents death. There was a moment of awkward silence, and Clifton realized that the doctor had left the room. Probably trusting the nurse to take care of him. “So. What are these tests you need to perform? I want to get out of here.” “Well we have to test you for any more injuries. Your blood came back clean. You don’t have any diseases that we have encountered before. So I just need to scan you and you can leave.” “Do it already then.” The nurse started for a moment, and then obliged and he felt a strange sense of calm washing over his body. He started to nod off. He wanted to fall asleep so badly, but he couldn’t. They were going to do something to him. Despite his efforts to resist, the spell began to take effect and he fell to the floor. He was about to close his eyes when it stopped. He felt the cool marble floor again and he came to his senses. He shot up and grasped the nurse by the throat, holding her in the air. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?” He roared at her. “I.... I..... I...” She choked, trying to speak. Her face began to change color from white to a red and purple. “C-c-can’t breat-” He dropped her and she inhaled and began to cough. He glared at her. “Tell me now.” “I was scanning your body. I should’ve warned you that the spell contained a natural sedative in it. I’m sorry!” She curled into a ball and faced away from Clifton. “Whatever,” he said and went to the locker room. He passed a few horses that saw him and bolted away in fear. He finally reached his destination, put on his combat gear, but found himself missing his knife and his gun. Looking around the room, he saw a safe in the back which was sealed. It looked very out of place. Trying the safe, and finding it unlocked he scoffed. “Stupid horses.” Clifton checked inside and found his gun, and his trusty knife. He put the knife in its sheath on chest, and his pistol into its holster. Checking again in the locker and safe to make sure he wasn’t missing anything he set off out of the hospital with no particular goal in mind. After passing several frightened horses, a few of which had tried to stop him. After sliding his knife out of its sheath, they had turned pale and ran. After his short trip, he reached the lobby and turned to the receptionist. “Where should I go for tourist information?” “Head to the library. Twilight might be able to explain some things.” Said the mare, not even looking up. Without another word, he set out to the library. Chapter 5Semper Fidelis Chapter 5 Colton was lost. All around him were unfamiliar buildings of all shapes and sizes, and he had no idea where Twilight lived. He should have asked for directions before leaving. Letting out a weary sigh, he rubbed his temple with one hand and kept walking. After several more minutes of being lost, he spotted an empty bench and went to sit down. Sitting down and clasping his hands together, he leaned back and admired the night sky. It was surprisingly chilly, and his breath frosted in the air. Finally, the cold got to him and he had to get up and walk once more, to get his blood flowing. Even more odd than the freezing night air, was the lack of any kind of life anywhere. It was like the town was abandoned. There were plenty of lights on, and he could hear voices from inside them, but no one was out on the street. Finally swallowing his pride, Colton walked to the nearest building and knocked several times, with the intent of asking for directions. The door opened almost immediately, and he saw a dark green pony with no mane and a broken lightbulb on his ass. “Do you know where Twilight lives?” he asked. “Oh, it’s nothing Gera, just that weird creature the hospital pulled in a while ago,” said the pony, turning to his side addressing someone who wasn’t there. “Uhhh, who are you talking to?” “Gera, why?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well, there’s no one in there with you...” Colton trailed off. “What are you implying, Gera’s right here,” the pony pointed to empty air. “Uuuhhh, are you okay?” “Why wouldn’t I be?” Asked the pony suspiciously as he narrowed his eyes at the human. “No reason... Annnnyyways, do you know where Twilight lives?” “Oh, she lives in that tree over there.” The pony pointed to a nearby tree that had been made into a house. He had walked by it several times already. “Thanks, Mr... ?” “Psyche. Just, Psyche.” “Well that explains it.” “Explains what?” “Nothing,” Colton said quickly, and walked off. Psyche turned and addressed the invisible figure once again. “Jeez Gera, I tell you, this town is full of loonies,” he said before closing the door behind him. Colton shook his head and walked on, trying to expunge the obviously insane pony from his mind. He walked for about half a minute before arriving at the wooden door. Knocking on it he crossed his arms and waited. Five minutes later, still nothing had happened and he knocked again. Still nothing. Frowning, he began to pound on the door and there was a loud crash and a groan from inside. He then heard faint yelling from the inside. “SPIKE!” Called one voice that he recognized as Twilight, “GET THE DOOR!” “I’M SLEEPING,” yelled back another voice, one he assumed was “Spike” “AND I’M NOT GETTING UP!” There was another loud groan and the sound of shuffling feet, which he assumed would be hooves and the door opened revealing a beleaguered Twilight Sparkle. Giving him what he assumed was supposed to be a horrible death glare, her face instantly lit up when she saw it was him. “Ohmygosh!” she shouted out, completely awake now. “You’re awake!” “Yes, I’m awake,” he muttered grumpily. “Although I’m not sure if I’m still dreaming.” The door promptly slammed in his face. He stood still for a moment in confusion before knocking again. The door didn’t open and he was met with a shout from the other side. “Go away!” “Why?” “Because I don’t want to talk!” “Let me in or I’m going to break down the door,” he responded flatly. A brief moment of silence, then the door opened slowly, revealing a timid purple unicorn. “W-what do you want?” She asked, shaking nervously. “I want answers, and I was told you were the one to talk to. You gonna let me in?” He towered over the small pony as she shrunk down even more under his angry gaze. Slowly, Twilight backed away and opened the door, allowing him access to her home. “Thanks,” he grunted. “N-no problem.” Twilight stammered out, trying to stay out of the human’s sight as he observed the library. The interior was sparsely furnished, with only a couch and a table adorning the main room. Although there was no shortage of books, which he didn’t consider surprising, considering it was a library. “So, you live here?” “Y-yes.” Colton took one more look around before replying. “I feel bad for you.” The unicorn’s demeanor changed immediately when he said that. “Hey! And just what is wrong with books?” she demanded, poking his leg with her hoof, glaring up at him. Colton gazed down at Twilight, not looking very amused, and the purple pony shrank away once again under his deadpan gaze. The human slowly made his way over to the couch and settled down, despite it being a few sizes too small to hold him comfortably. “So, question number one. Just where am I?” he asked, spreading his arms out over the couch. “You’re in Equestria.” Twilight responded, trying to imitate Fluttershy and make herself as quiet as possible. Colton was silent for several moments, resting his head on his hands and taking slow deep breaths. “Do you have any idea how I got here?” he asked after the long silence. “We were fighting Nightmare Moon—” Colton froze when he heard the name, and Twilight took notice and stopped talking. “Are you okay?” “Fine,” he snapped back, a little too quickly. “Just keep going.” “W-well we were fighting Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony were about to banish her for good, but I got distracted by this light thing, and well...” Twilight trailed off, too embarrassed to continue. “And...” he prompted her, tapping the floor with his foot, getting annoyed. Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “I kinda cancelled the spell and let her get away... We were too distracted by the light... There was a screaming, and you sort of appeared...” “Where was the screaming coming from?” Colton asked with an upraised eyebrow. “It was you, we assumed. You looked to be in so much pain when you appeared.” “Really? I can’t remember anything since I woke up in the hospital.” “Y-yeah... “ There was silence as each decided what to say next. “Why is it so cold outside?” the human asked, breaking the quiet with a single question. “The sun hasn’t been up in about a month,” Twilight replied sadly. “What? Why?” Colton was thoroughly confused. “Because—” “TWILIGHT!” Before she could finish her sentence, the door burst open and the Rainbow maned pegasus burst in shouting her name. “Rainbow?! What’s wrong?” The unicorn asked in concern. “The monkey thing woke up! Nopony knows where he is and we have to catch him before—” She stopped talking right away when she saw Colton sitting on the couch, glaring at her. “Can I help you?” he asked in an unamused tone. The pegasus’ eyes widened and she started slowly backing away, babbling incoherent sentence fragments. “W-what, I didn’t- I mean, no- I mean-” “Something wrong?” he asked suspiciously. “N-no! Nothing at all!” The pegasus had finally regained her composure and was smiling nervously. Colton stole a quick glance at Twilight, who was trying to hide her nervousness. They were hiding something, and he was determined to find out what. “Well, if nothing’s wrong, I guess I’ll just take my leave then.” “No!” Twilight shouted out, and covered her mouth real quickly. “Is there something keeping me here, Twilight?” “N-no, not at all!” She kept her nervous smile up, and was starting to sweat. “Good, because it would be a shame if I had to forcibly leave,” Colton said, walking out of the house, with no particular destination in mind. ~~~~~ “Twilight, we have to keep him away from Sugarcube corner!” “You think I don’t know that Rainbow?!” Twilight snapped at her new friend, who recoiled slightly. “Well what am I supposed to do?” the panicked pegasus asked. “Just, stall him. I’ll go get Pinkie and tell her to hurry things up.” “Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash said with a salute before flying off. A few seconds later, Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light. ~~~~~ Colton was walking down the street when a small blue blur shot past him. He stopped in confusion, and looked behind him, but didn’t see anything. Frowning and shrugging it off, he turned around and nearly fell over when he saw the annoying rainbow-maned pegasus hovering in front of his face. “Something you need?” he spat out after a moment of shock. “Uhh, yeah.” “...” “Yes?” Colton asked, exasperatedly. “Oh, uhhh, so... uhh, how are you?” she asked lamely. “Fine. Get outta my way,” he said, preparing to shove by the pegasus, but she stopped him before he could. “No, uhh, you can’t go anywhere.” “And why the hell not?” He crossed his arms. “Oh, uhhh.... OH! You can’t go ‘cause uhhh, oh, because .... becaussseee...” she hit her head a few times, racking her brain for an answer. “Ah! Because you need to get some food!” She plastered on a fake smile as she said this, and Colton didn’t move an inch. The human narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, who just kept smiling, hoping he would buy it. “You expect me to buy that huge piece of bullshit?” Damn, he didn’t buy it. “But you’re hungry aren’t you?” Her smile wavered for a split second. Colton was about to deny her claims, but before he could, his stomach grumbled loudly. “Great!” Rainbow said excitedly, happy her excuse had worked. “Let’s go get you some food!” She said, shooting off, and Colton reluctantly followed, with nothing else to occupy his time with. ~~~~~ “PINKIE!” Twilight shouted as she popped into existence right next to the party pony in question. Despite all odds, this actually managed to startle her and she squealed loudly before jumping in the air and bolting away. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, confused. Slowly, a pink head of fluffy cotton-candy hair emerged from a nearby door and looked at Twilight. After catching sight of who it was, she popped out and started jumping over to the purple unicorn. “Oh, heya Twilight, what’s up?” She asked in a happy carefree tone. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” “You disappeared when I teleported in here. How?” “Oh, you scared me, so I ran away real quickly, but I didn’t know it was you, and if I did, I wouldn’t have run away, but I gues—” the ranting pony was interrupted by Twilight as she shoved a hoof into her mouth. “Pinkie, I asked how.” “Oh, I don’t know!” “But... Ah! Nevermind, I came to tell you to hurry it up with the party. I’m still against this idea, but since you insist, I guess I’ll have to allow it.” “Why should I hurry it up? Everythings going nicely already!” “Yeah, but I think Colton is getting suspicious. I got Rainbow to stall him, but I don’t know if she can for long. So, just try to speed it up.” “Yes ma’am!” Pinkie replied, completely serious before turning into the kitchen in the back of the building. ~~~~~ “You guys got any meat here?” Colton asked. “Meat? What the hay are you talking about? Why don’t you just eat some Daffodils?” The blue pegasus replied. She had explained what her name was, and they were sitting inside of a restaurant that was too big for him, in a chair that was also too big for him. “Daffodils... Is this your idea of a practical joke?” “No...?” “I’m getting tired of this. If I can’t get any meat, I’m leaving,” Colton said, getting up from his too small chair. “No! Wait!” Rainbow said, grabbing his sleeve with his teeth. The human reacted instantly and yanked his arm back, knocking the pegasus off balance before he reached down and grabbed her throat to prevent her from falling. The commotion had frozen everyone else in the small restaurant. He leaned in menacingly on Rainbow. “You don’t ever fucking touch me. Ever. Got it?” Colton shook her a little to prove her point. “Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, shaking her head vigorously. The human let her go and she fell back onto her chair as Colton couch-walked out the too small door. Author's Note Woohoo! I finally got it out!
Chapter 1Chapter 1 A/N WARNING! Contains SCIENCE! “You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here.” Said Twilight Sparkle. “What?” Sputtered Nightmare Moon. “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!” “Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of...kindness!” “Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of...laughter!” “Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of...generosity!” “And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!” “The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us.” “You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!” Nightmare Moon responded. “But it did! A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all are my friends. You see, Night Mare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic.” Finished Twilight, putting a period at the end of her sentence by blasting her with the Elements of Harmony. “NOOO! Nooo!” Screamed Nightmare Moon in panic. In her panic, she tried use her magic to get away. The powerful magic of the Elements of Harmony were already putting strain on the dimensional boundaries of their universe. Combined with Nightmare Moon’s magic, it opened a small invisible hole to an alternate reality. The Elements of Harmony were close to completing their job and ridding the world of Nightmare Moon forever when the invisible hole to the other dimension started glowing. The glowing hole, at first, had no effect on what was going on around it. But, as it began to glow even brighter, the six ponies were forced to look at it through curiosity, only to have their gazes shoved away as it began to glow brighter than the sun. By now, the spell that the Elements of Harmony were casting had already faded as they had lost their concentration before completing the spell. Nightmare Moon, seeing her escape opportunity, teleported away quickly, but nopony noticed. They were focused on the loud high pitched screaming that was coming from the glowing hole. It was slowly getting louder, and they knew that somepony was in immense pain. “Twilight, what is that?” Asked Rainbow Dash, shielding her eyes with her front leg. “I don’t know!” Twilight yelled back. The screaming was getting louder. “It sounds like somepony is getting hurt!” The screaming was so loud at this point they were forced to cover their ears instead of shield their eyes. “I’m going to see what it is!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. Before Twilight could spout any objections, the light went out, and in its place was a strange...thing. It was bipedal, it wore a lot of heavy looking clothing that was green, olive green, and light green, and although they were unfamiliar with this certain creature, it was obvious that it was hurt. It was lying on the ground with a pained expression, and was looking at them with pleading eyes. It was covered in blood and bruises, and several of its appendages were bent at odd angles. It also wore a strange black mask that was strapped onto its face, leaving only its eyes viewable. Then it did something no one expected. “Please...help...m-me.” It said in a gravelly voice, and then proceeded to cough up large amounts of blood. Everypony present stared in shock at the bloody and bruised creature. It had just spoken Equestrian. It then let its head fall to the stone ground with a small *thump*. “Twilight....w-what is that thing?” Asked Rainbow Dash with a stutter in her voice, revealing fear that she hardly ever showed. “I...I don’t know Rainbow. But we have to get it to the hospital, it’s seriously injured.” She said as she tenderly picked up the aforementioned creature and tried to set it on her back. She was instantly besieged by, what felt like, thousands of pounds of weight. She collapsed under its weight and struggled to get free. “TWILIGHT!” Yelled Rainbow Dash protectively, as she swooped down to her new friend to protect her from the dangerous alien. “It’s fine Rainbow, it’s just really heavy. Can somepony help me carry him? I can’t hold it with my magic all the way there.” “I got this Twilight.” Said Applejack. “Just drop it on mah back, I can hold ‘im.” Twilight obliged and when she dropped the creature, Applejack stumbled a bit from his weight. She stopped, and put on a strained expression and started walking. “Are you sure you can carry it AJ?” Asked Rainbow Dash, actually doubting her friend for once. “Yea...at least ‘til we get to Ponyville.” “How heavy is it?” “I’d say around 300 pounds, give or take.” And with that, the ponies began their journey back to Ponyville, not giving any thought to Nightmare Moon and how she escaped, and focusing only on the hurt animal that had come to them. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Nightmare Moon watched as the ponies left from the castle from her tower, high up in the crumbling castle. She also paid specific attention to the strange thing that the orange one was carrying on her back. “Whatever this strange creature is, I owe it my life...I shall find a way to repay it, and maybe recruit it to my cause.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~ “What is that thing on its face?” Asked Rarity in a very unladylike manner. “It looks simply, horrid.” “Judging by the vents on it, I think it’s some sort of breathing mask.” Answered Twilight. “OOOH! Do you think I could wear it?!” Asked Pinkie Pie, in a sing-song voice. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Pinkie.” But her words fell on deaf ears, and the pink mare was soon tugging at the mask in a futile attempt to simply pull it off. “Pinkie, can ya stop that? Yer makin’ this...eumm...thing a might hard ta’ carry!” Applejack asked, as Pinkie continued pulling on the mask. “That’d probably be a good Idea Pinkie, it might not breath the same air as we do. What it’s breathing could be poisonous to us, removing it could have fatal consequences for it and us.” Said Twilight with a worried voice. The rest of the trip was spent in a brooding silence. But, before long they reached the edge of the Everfree forest and the silence was shattered to pieces by the groaning of the thing on Applejack’s back. Twilight’s horn began to glow a deep purple and it lifted the head of the creature up to look at it. Its eyelids were fluttering and they opened all the way and winced shut in pain. “Urrrghh, goddamnit that hurts.” It took a deep breath, and bit its lip quite forcefully to avoid groaning. “That hurts too.” it said, voice muffled from its mask. “GIRLS! It’s AWAKE!” Shouted Twilight, and the thing winced. “GAH!” It near yelled in pain. “Could you keep it down?” It then tried to push itself off of Applejack and succeeded, with the ground as a reward. It let out a pained yelp as its broken body hit the ground and when Twilight checked again it was passed out. “C’mon girls, we have to get him to Ponyville.” She said as she picked it up again and gave it to Applejack. “There is no telling how much longer it can stay like this.” She spoke with a frown, gazing a small trickle of blood that was leaving a trail through the Everfree. They continued their trek in silence for about five minutes until they passed Fluttershy’s cottage. “Um, girls, I really have to get going, and take care of the animals. That is if...it’s okay with you.” She said with a small cower. “Of course Fluttershy, we will take care of this...thing.” Said Rarity with a small smile at her friends timid ways. And with that they left behind Fluttershy, who was too scared of the alien thing to stay with the group. Fluttershy was intrigued by the new animal, but scared to death of any possible hostility from the alien. They continued trotting along at an urgent pace, but not too fast as to damage their passenger any more than it was already. After a five minute walk through the town, ignoring the weird stares they were getting from the inhabitants, they arrived at the hospital, and they burst in. “Hello, somepony! We have an injured...thing! It needs medical assistance.” Yelled Twilight as they ran in. As it turned out, her yelling wasn’t necessary because Nurse Redheart was standing there, behind the desk. “What do you mean, a ‘thing’?” She asked, and Twilights response was gesturing to Applejack. The nurse looked over, and let out a gasp when she saw the creature. “W-what, is that?” She asked in horror, both at its appearance and that it would be easily taller than 2 ponies stacked on top of eachother. It was also very burly, as far as she could tell with all of its clothing on. “No time to explain. It needs medical assistance right away. Only one note, the thing on its face looks like a breathing apparatus. It is wise not to remove it until we figure out what it breathes.” The nurse blanched and nodded. “Please take...it... to operating room 4. I will get a doctor.” She said as she hurried away. “Uhmmm, does anyone know where operating room 4 is?” Asked Twilight. “Yea, it’s that way!” Said Pinkie Pie, pointing down a corridor. “How did you know?” “There’s a sign that says operating room four on the wall.” She responded. Twilight coughed and started walking down the hallway. Not a moment later they arrived at the room, and Twilight levitated the creature onto the table. “C’mon, we better leave. Let the doctors do their thing.” She said as she trotted out the door. Pinkie followed, hopping cheerily out. Rainbow grumbled something about an awesome alien that she couldn’t talk to, and then followed. Applejack and Rarity didn’t complain and just walked out.
Chapter 2Chapter 2A/N MOAR SCIENCE! Nightmare Moon sat in her tower, brooding over the mysterious creature that had saved her life. She knew the power of the Elements of Harmony now, and she was going to need help. But how would she recruit this strange being to her cause? If she tried to contact the being conventionally, things would go badly for her. She needed a way to talk to him, and him only. She walked down out of the tower that she had taken refuge in, and down to the main room. Nothing was different about it. There was almost no magical residue, and nothing to suggest how the thing had gotten here. She frowned and gazed at the small bloodstain on the ground where the creature had landed. ~~~~~~~~ “Alright nurse, we have to get the clothes off of this...uhh, thing.” said Doctor Stable. They first tried to simply pull them off. After a minute of fruitless efforts, they were forced to find another way. After looking over the creature they noticed that the clothing was simply strapped together. After removing its clothing, they gazed in awe at the broken creature that lay before them. Bones were shattered, and pushed at unnatural angles. Blood was freely flowing from several wounds along the length of its body; it was a wonder that the creature was still breathing. After looking at the thing for a unusually large amount of time, they finally sprang into action to save the poor being. After internally scanning the creature for injuries, they realized that its injuries were far more devastating than they first thought. He had minor bleeding in almost all of his internal organs, and most of the bones in his body were shattered. How this thing was still alive, he could only speculate. After scanning his body again, he realized that the thing had large amounts of magical residue clinging to it, keeping it alive. The amount of which he shuddered at. It was more than any one being could ever create; not even Celestia or Discord could do such a thing. ~~~~~~~~~ Nightmare Moon was still wondering how to contact the creature when she felt a strong burst of magical energy. She quickly used her own magic to track it back to the source, and saw large amounts of magical energy leaking from the creature, and she also felt its life slowly fading away. The doctors and nurses scurried around the room in a panicked attempt to save the creature. Thinking quickly, she began to siphon her own life force into the creature making sure not to kill herself on accident. She watched as the hospital staff gazed in awe at the being as its wounds began to heal of their own accord. His wounds closed, and his bones started to mend together. She released the spell. It was taking too much out of her. She had done all she could, and now she had to wait and hope that the thing had the will to pull through. ~~~~~~~~~ They were all shocked. This things wounds had closed of their own accord and his injuries were mending faster than anything they had ever seen. The spontaneous regeneration had stopped before his more major wounds could close, but he would live. His bones had not knitted together, but they were already set in the right place to heal on their own. They quickly put them in casts to prevent too much movement. “Nurse...Do you know what just happened?” asked Doctor Stable. “I...I don’t know. I detected a very powerful burst of magical energy, and he started healing.” Spoke Nurse Starlight. They heard a groan, and they froze. Slowly, they turned around to face the thing. It was waking up. “Ugh, where am I?” It said and its voice cracked on the last word. “Uhhh, hello there.” said the Doctor with a cautious voice. “What? What’s going on?” It said as it gazed at the doctor. “I can’t really tell. You just nearly died, and barely recovered.” “...” “Are you okay?” “You’re a talking animal.” He said in a deadpan voice. “Uhhh, what?” “Animals don’t talk.” He said, still using the same tone of voice. “Uhh, no, ponies have always talked.” He replied with a ‘what are you talking about’ voice. “...” “Can you tell us your name?” He asked trying to skip over the awkward subject. “It’s...I...I can’t remember.” He said with a scrunched up face. “What can you remember?” “That animals aren’t supposed to talk.” He deadpanned again. “Ooookay...Do you know what all this stuff is? We found it on your body.” The doctor asked, gesturing to his bloody clothing. “I believe those are my clothes.” He said in a dry voice. The doctor blushed immensely at this statement. “Can you tell us what this says?” he asked as he tossed a pair of metal tags over to the strange creature. Clifton. Michael. CM. Blood Type: O+ 554917431 USMC. M No Preference. Peanuts. He read out off of the tag. “I guess my name is Clifton.” He said. ~~~~~~~ Twilight was pacing a groove in the floor...again. She was worried about the alien. The thing had sustained massive injuries, and she wanted it to live; if only to answer her questions. She had come straight back to the library from the hospital after dropping off the creature, and then started pacing. Rainbow Dash had followed her, and was outside the house doing loops in the air, burning off her excitement. Rarity had opted to go home, and make the thing some better looking clothes; and Pinkie was, at first, trying to plan a surprise party for the thing, planning on inviting everyone, until the others had managed to convince her to keep it between themselves. Applejack had gone home to rest after carrying the 300 pound thing all the way from the Everfree forest. Lastly, Fluttershy was hiding in her cottage, hoping that the scary alien creature wouldn’t be mad at her for...whatever reason. Back at Twilights house, Spike was sitting on the couch trying to work Twilight out of her funk. “Twilight! What’s wrong?” “...” “Did you stop Nightmare Moon?” Twilight's head shot up. “SPIKE! OHMYGOSHWEFORGOTALLABOUTNIGHTMAREMOON!” She yelled, and sped out the door calling down Rainbow Dash at the same time. “RAINBOW! WE FORGOT ABOUT NIGHTMARE MOON!” She yelled at her. “GET APPLEJACK AND FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow Dash saluted and flew off in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres while Twilight ran to find Rarity and Pinkie, leaving Spike sitting on the couch with a confused look on his face. ~~~~~~~~ “Well Clifton, you have several broken bones, and you had severe internal hemorrhaging, but it healed right up.” “How?” “I don’t know. For now, you are stuck in the hospital until you heal up, sorry.” Said the doctor as he walked out. “Great...Stuck in a land of colorful talking animals, and I can’t remember who I am...great.” Hello Clifton. Said a voice. His head jerked up and he surveyed the room in full very slowly. Don’t bother looking for me. Said the voice. “Where are you?” In the Everfree forest. “Where is that?” Doesn’t matter. What matters right now is that those ponies want you dead. He froze. They only saved you to interrogate you. “How do you know. I couldn't even remember my name. In fact, I am probably dreaming right now.” I know because they tried to do the same thing to me. “Are you another talking animal?” He asked with scepticism. Yes, but just trust me on this. If you keep your guard up, they can’t do anything. You are more powerful than them. They WILL try to get the jump on you when you leave the hospital though. Don’t let your guard down. “Wait! Who are you?” A friend. Remember what I told you...
Chapter 3Chapter 2 A/N Well, sorry for the long wait....again. “She’s not here.” Said Rainbow Dash “Oh no. Oh no, oh nonononononononononononono. This is bad, really, REALLY bad girls.” Responded Twilight with nervous hopping session. “This is BAD!” “Twilight, loosen up. We can find her. We just have to do it before the eternal night hinders our food production and we all starve to death.” Twilights eyes went to pinpricks. She flinched a couple times and her mane was becoming disheveled and she started giggling maniacally. “Rainbow, what in tarnation what were you thinking sayin’ that to her?” Said Applejack voicing her flying friends mistake. “Don’t worry Applejack, I have the perfect solution.” Said Twilight in a maniacal voice. “First, we are going to go back to the library, and then I am going to create a cloning machine. We will then clone Nightmare Moon and use the elements on her! It’s foolproof!” “Uhhhh, sugarcube I don’t think that’ll wo-” “FOOLPROOF!” She shouted and sprinted out of the castle back towards Ponyville, giggling all the way. “Ugh, I’ll go get her.” Said Rainbow Dash as she flew away after her mentally unstable friend. ~~~~~~~ “TWO MONTHS?!” “Sir, can you please calm down. I assure you that-” “TWO GODDAMN MONTHS?” The doctor sighed. “Sir, there is nothing you can do about it. I would implore you to calm down. The blood results should be back momentarily and we can find out if you can take that mask off.” “Hey buddy, screw you. I am taking this thing off whether you like it or not.” He said, and undid the straps and pulled it off, ignoring the doctors loud complaints. After doing nothing for a moment, he took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “See? I told you it would be fine...God you horses don’t listen.” “We are ponies.” The doctor said repeated for what must have been the 20th time in the past hour. “Whatever, just leave me alone.” Doctor Stable huffed in annoyance and trotted out. Clifton sighed in relief. Now maybe he could get some sleep. He was still on his guard after what his ‘friend’ had told him. Apparently they were ponies. He had called one of them a horse when he had remembered the word, and they were getting all uptight about it. He sighed and moved around as much as he could with all of his casts, and closed his eyes for a rest. He was just about to feel the gentle hands of sleep overtaking him when he heard some voices arguing in the room across from his. He grumbled in annoyance and tried to go back to sleep when they kicked it into overdrive. “GODDAMNIT, I AM TRYING TO SLEEP! SHUT THE HELL UP!” He screamed and the yelling stopped. He grumbled again and tried to get back to sleep. After another five minutes of uninterrupted, blissful silence, he heard his door open. “Sir, we have been getting complaints from the other patients about a large amount of screaming coming from this room.” Said a nurse as she walked in. “I don’t give a fuck, I was trying to get the people across from me to she the hell up.” “That’s no excuse sir, if you don’t stop yelling I am going to have to sedate you.” “Take one more goddamn step and I will strangle you with my good arm.” The nurse stepped back in hesitance and he closed his eyes again. He heard a slowly fading trotting and he knew he could finally get some sleep. “Somepony is here to see you.” ‘Fuck.’ He thought. ~~~~~~~ Earlier... “SPIKE!” Yelled Twilight bursting through the door. “What is it Twilight?” Responded a small purple and green dragon. “I need you to go down to the basement and hook up the Quantum Harmonizer and hook it up to the Photonic Resonation Chamber.” “But Twilight, didn’t you say not to do that? Something about parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity?” “Well up yours too Spike!” She yelled and ran down to the basement. Spike shrugged off her last words after looking at her mane and the crazed look in her eyes. Not 3 seconds later, Rainbow Dash flew through the door with a very nonchalant look on her face. “Sup Spike.” “Oh hey Rainbow, are you looking for Twilight?” “Yup.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the basement. “Thanks.” She said as she zoomed towards the door. “WAIT! MY PINKIE SENSE IS GOING OFF.” Shouted Pinkie as she broke down the door, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash tried to slow down at the last second but it was inevitable. The door to Twilights basement slammed open and made a Rainbow Dash pancake against the wall. “Oooooh! Girls, I’m glad you’re here, we need some DNA samples from Nightmare Moon.” Said Twilight, her head twitching with every word until it was almost a full 180 degrees upside down. “Uhhh, Twilight, I don’t think that cloning Nightmare Moon will work.” Said Pinkie with an unsure smile adorning her face. “Wait, that’s why you needed to hook up the Quantum Harmonizer to the Photonic Resonation Chamber?” Asked Spike out loud. “Wait! You can’t do that! It would cause a parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity!” Pinkie stated. “I know, that’s what I said.” “QUIET! We need a way to stop Nightmare Moon, and I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas.” Twilight practically screamed. “Well cloning her isn’t going to work sugarcube.” Said Applejack as she walked in the door with Rarity and Fluttershy. “Then what are we supposed to do?” She asked in defeat and slumped down onto the floor. “I don’t know dear, but we will figure something out. We MUST! For EQUESTRIA!” Said Rarity, waving her hooves about for dramatic effect. “Well what if we asked the creature?” Suggested Fluttershy in a small voice, but as usual, she was drowned out by everyone else. “But Rarity, we don’t even know where she is. How do you suggest we stop her?” “Uhm, girls, I have an idea.” “Well, as always the first step is to track her down.” “Girls...” “But we already checked the castl-” “GIRLS!” Fluttershy finally shouted and got everypony’s attention. When everyone looked at her, she shrunk behind her mane. “Well, I was just kinda thinking that, you know if it’s okay, we could check with that creature. If it’s okay with you.” “Ugghhh, my head.” Groaned a certain rainbow colored pegasus as she got up. “Oh, there you are Rainbow Dash, I didn’t see you there.” Said Twilight. “That’s because you slammed me against the wall when you opened the door.” She grumbled under her breath. “Well, we are going to the hospital.” “OH, are we going to see the alien! He is sooooo awesome!” She said, and without waiting for a response she zoomed out the door. ~~~~~~~ “Fine send ‘em in.” After only a few seconds had passed, did one of the horses with wings flew in the door, and stopped, hovering right in front of his face. “You mind backing the hell off?” The pegasus’ enormous smile instantly wilted into a frown and she backed away a bit. She just hovered there, staring at him with a small frown. “...” “...” “Is there something you want?” Clifton finally asked. “Well, I was going to ask you about you but the doctor says you lost your memory.” “If you don’t have anything important leave. I want to sleep.” “No wait! I was gonna ask you if you know where Nightmare Moon is.” He regarded her with a unamused stare and a uplifted eyebrow. He stayed like that for a few seconds before the horse did a facepalm (Facehoof?) and explained. “Nightmare Moon is an evil pony who wants to shroud the land in eternal night.” “And?” “Annndddd, we need to know where she is.” “Sorry, no clue. Now leave me alone.” “Well fine, be that way.” She said with a frustrated huff and zoomed out. ‘Maybe I can get some sleep now.’ He thought. Oh boy was he wrong.
Chapter 4Chapter 4 Semper Fidelis A/N This is where the dark tag comes in. Make sure you have no aversion to fighting/killing/finding enjoyment in said activities. Please don’t judge Clifton on what kind of person he is after only reading this chapter. “So what does this thing do?” Asked the purple horse, somehow levitating something I had on my body. It was in some sort of holster and she was looking down its barrel. “How the fuck should I know? I lost my fucking memory.” The human replied to the annoying purple horse who wouldn’t leave him alone. The horse winced. “You don’t have to swear.” She said, flattening her ears against her head. “Leave me the fuck alone. I am trying to sleep.” “But I have so many questions!” She whined and his eardrums nearly burst. “I don’t care.” He sighed out heavily. “I just want to go to sleep.” He thought trying a more subtle approach might work. It didn’t. “No.” She stated stubbornly. “I’m not leaving till I get some answers.” He silently resisted the urge to get out of bed and strangle the small purple horse. “What part of ‘Lost my memory’, do you not understand?” “Well.....I....” He had stumped her. “Leave me alone. Please.” Begged the human. The unicorn relented, but only slightly. “Fine, but I am staying here and examining your things.” It was as far as he would get with the stubborn purple horse, so he just let out a “Fine.” and fell asleep in the silence that ensued. ~~~~~ Twilight was examining a strange device that the alien had attached to his clothes. It was a small metal device with some sort of small lever protected by a guard. It had a button, that when pushed, ejected a container of some sort that held a few small cylindrical objects. It looked like it could hold more, but it only had two in it. She shook the thing a bit, and nothing happened. The put the small container back in the main object and looked down the circular tube in the thing. After looking at it for a few moments, she guessed a bit at its purpose. Judging by the length of the small container in the main contraption, the objects could be put into the main tube. She squeezed the lever and was surprised to find it prone, and unable to move. She began to frequently pull it in an attempt to make it move, but the thing resisted her efforts. Frowning at the thing, she gave it another once-over. I was obviously designed for the strange appendages at end of his hooves, but there was no obvious purpose of the device. She shrugged and put it aside. So far, she was successfully distracting herself from the Nightmare Moon situation, but she had to get back to it eventually. Sighing in defeat, she walked out of the room, taking one more glance at the metal thing. She glared at it. Nothing happened. Right as she was about to leave, she noticed a small horizontal lever on the left side of the weapon. She flipped the curious switch and there was a small click. Barely audible actually. If there had been any ambient background noise, she wouldn’t have heard it. Her curiosity once again piqued, she levitated the thing again and pulled the larger, guarded lever. Almost instantly, the thing repelled against her magic, let out a large crack with a flash of light, and it began to smoke a little bit. She yelped in fear and dropped the device. Her ears were ringing because of the marble floors and ceiling. She shook her head, and crunched down on the ground, waiting for the noise in her ears to stop. When it did, she rubbed a hoof with her ears and looked at the device. It was sitting prone on the floor as if nothing had happened, with a smell of odd smoke in the air. Looking across the room, her gaze stopped on a shallow hole in the floor that was next to a small golden colored empty cylinder. Around the hole, the marble floor was cracked severely, and there was a small flat, chunk of metal embedded in it. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Came a yell, and she looked up to see the human not in bed, but behind his small nightstand flipped over, and grimacing in pain as his still new injuries screamed in protest. He held a butter knife in his hand, clutching it in a death grip. His face held a sweaty sheen and his eyes were flicking all over the room, taking in everything. “A-are you okay?” Asked Twilight worriedly. “W-w-w....” He stuttered then inhaled fiercely and slumped over, unconscious. ~~~~~ The sound of a gun going off could be heard in the distance, as Lance Corporal Clifton Michael trudged through a small patch of mud on the street. He nervously glanced left and right, eying everything around him. Most of his squad had been killed in an ambush, and only him and Frosty - their squads combat engineer - were alive. His teammates quick thinking had saved their lives. And embedded a shard of metal shrapnel in Frosty’s leg. Their radios had been taken out in an explosion and he was going to get to the extraction point, get help and come back for him. He was new to the Marine Corps, but was good as any other. He had trained for situations like this and he came to a stop. Up ahead, about in about five hundred meters, was the extraction point. However, there was also a particularly tall hill of concrete and brick debris blocking his path. He was in no condition to get through it right now, so he set off around it. The torn and snapped electrical wires and still-living streetlights buzzed around him, as the dilapidated city came to life with noise. Then it stopped again. He didn’t really care, but it did make him easier to hear. Then he spotted his salvation. There was a small narrow path conveniently left open and free from fallen buildings or wrecked vehicles. Any decently trained person, hell even a dumbass could see the obvious trap that lied within, but Clifton was exhausted. He just wanted to get this mission over with to earn some R&R. He valiantly stormed through the passageway and into the opening. He smiled as he spotted a clearing coming into view beyond a mass of cars before he was tackled from the side. He caught a brief glimpse of the figure. It was a person completely covered in black garb, with two small holes for its eyes. One was a deep emerald green, and the other was a burning fire red. After being caught off guard, his training kicked in and he pulled out his fourteen centimeter carbon-steel blade and jammed it into the stomach of his attacker, twisting it and pulling out the toothed side and tearing up his insides. His attackers eyes narrowed, but the corporal gained no other reaction, except for a few well aimed punches that hit his kidney and side of his neck and he fell to the ground. The black garbed figure followed up with a vicious followup attack by pouncing on him, but Clifton had predicted it and rolled away leaving his assailant stunned for a moment. Taking his advantage while he had it, he jumped up attacked with nasty uppercut with his knife, that dragged all along his attackers stomach and ripped it open without remorse. This time, the reaction he elicited was a cry of sharp pain, and the figure trying to grab his guts as they fell out of the gaping hole in his chest. Wasting no time, he brought the knife up and thrust it into his enemies throat. He fell to the ground, clawing at the knife trying to pull it out. He continued to claw at the steel blade for only a moment before his own death. His officers and Sergeants had always told him "You won't like killing kid, it's not a fun thing to have to do." They were wrong. It was glorious. The rush of adrenaline, the pounding of his heart in his ears. He loved every second of it. The was no regret in a single cell in his body. He loved it so much. He suddenly remembered that he was looking to get pickup for him and his friend, bent down to pull my knife out of the figures neck, wipe it on a nearby slab of concrete and kept going, making sure not let his guard down now. His eyes were once again taking in all his surrounding, but no longer out of fear. He now wanted to fight again. He wanted something to attack him. He wanted to feel that feeling again. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter coming down from above as he absentmindedly popped a flare to signal pick up, the colorful smoke towering up above the destroyed city. ~~~~~ Clifton jerked up with a start and by some instinct not-so-entirely unknown to him he lashed out with his good arm and socked the doctor horse that was trying to hold him down. The doctor skidded across the room and the marine shook his head for a moment. “Sorry doc.” He grimaced when he noticed himself taking on a gentle attitude. Maybe these ponies were getting to him. “Bad dream.” “NURSE!” Screamed the doctor. “RESTRAIN HIM!” and the nurse from earlier came charging in and stopped with a skid into the room. “Wait!” He insisted, glancing around nervously. “WAIT!” He shouted as the nurse approached him. He tried to scoot backwards and found his legs working again. The human fell off the bed in shock. “How long have I been out?!” He said, testing his newly healed arm and legs, enjoying the full mobility. “Just hold still sir. It will be over in a moment.” Said the nurse, cautiously approaching him with a syringe held in levitation. The human nervously glanced left and right, looking for a way out. There was none. “Hey, back off.” He said, rising to his full height for the first time in a while. The nurse blanched at seeing his full height. She let out a blush and averted her eyes. The human looked down and groaned. He was naked. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his blanket and covered himself up. “Alright you horses, listen up-” “We’re ponies!” Protested the nurse, looking at him once again, but not continuing her assault on him. “Whatever. It was an accident when I punched him, I honestly didn’t mean to.” The doctor got up, now sporting a black eye and glaring at the human with a deathly gaze. “Sorry doc, didn’t mean to punch you.” The doctor continued his stare for a few more seconds, while the human let out an intimidating glare of his own. Eventually, after an eternity of silence, the small horse relented and hung his head down. “I-it’s okay then.” He mumbled under his breath. Clifton breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the nurse again. “Where’s my stuff?” “It’s in the locker room we made sure to keep it all secreted away so nopony could get at it.” “Thanks. You mind telling me where the locker room is?” “NO!” Shouted the nurse a bit too quickly. “I-I mean, we can’t do that yet. Heheh, we have to make sure you are well enough to leave the hospital." His eyes narrowed. Remember what I said. Whispered that voice he heard a while ago, in the back of his head. “Yea.... Sure.” He started to roll with it. “How long have I been out?” “Y-You’ve been out for about a month.” She winced as she expected him to be angry for some reason. “Really?!” He asked shocked. It was clearly not the reaction the nurse was expecting. “You’re not angry?” “No. I’m just surprised. Normally my injuries wouldn’t heal that fast.” Replied the bewildered human. “Really?” Asked the nurse. Now it was her turn to be confused. “Most injuries heal in that amount of time. Do things not do that in your world?” For a moment, he remembered the feeling of the blood in his ears, and adrenaline in his veins as he killed his first on his first mission. The barely felt resistance as his knife tore into the black garbed figures entrails and he smiled and took a deep breath in, relishing the feeling as it lasted. It was over after that, and he was back in the hospital with colorful talking ponies. The nurse was looking at him with a concerned expression. His fists were clenched, he wore an evil grin on his face and was acting like he was somewhere else. “Are you okay sir?” She asked, prodding his leg with a hoof. Without thinking, his hand shot down and grabbed the hoof, preparing to snap it with a single moment, but he stopped. His rational mind took over for a moment. He needed to keep a low profile, or these ponies would be all over him. The human dropped the nurses’ hoof and shook his head. “Yea.... Yea. I’m fine, just....” He trailed off, looking at the floor. “So!” Clifton said, jerking his head up suddenly. “Can I have my stuff back?” “Sir, we have to run tests on you and make sure you are well.” She said, too quickly once again. “Okayyy, at least tell me where the room is so I can get my stuff when we are done.” “Uhhh, sure. Down the hall and to the right. The door says Locker Room. You can’t miss it.” Said the nurse after hesitating for a few moments. He had to remind himself that these horses were the enemy. They were keeping him from his combat gear, as he now remembered what it was. He nodded and went to the table to put on his undergarments, which they had left on the table. “What’s that say?” Asked the nurse. “Excuse me?” “Your back. It says something, but I can’t understand it.” “I don’t know. You have a mirror?” She nodded, and retrieved one from the closet. Looking over his back at it, he read what it said. “Id praecipui infernum manet illis qui gaudent in bello.” The nurse was confused. “What does that mean? I thought we spoke the same language.” “It’s latin. I... knew what it said, but.... I can’t....” The human closed his eyes, and concentrated. After a moments thought, he opened them again. “A special hell awaits those who rejoice in wartime.” He said. The nurses face took on a look of confusion mixed with horror. “Do you have a lot of war where you come from?” “I can’t remember.....” He trailed off again, remembering his sole memory of his past life. That fight, and the indescribable feeling of his opponents death. There was a moment of awkward silence, and Clifton realized that the doctor had left the room. Probably trusting the nurse to take care of him. “So. What are these tests you need to perform? I want to get out of here.” “Well we have to test you for any more injuries. Your blood came back clean. You don’t have any diseases that we have encountered before. So I just need to scan you and you can leave.” “Do it already then.” The nurse started for a moment, and then obliged and he felt a strange sense of calm washing over his body. He started to nod off. He wanted to fall asleep so badly, but he couldn’t. They were going to do something to him. Despite his efforts to resist, the spell began to take effect and he fell to the floor. He was about to close his eyes when it stopped. He felt the cool marble floor again and he came to his senses. He shot up and grasped the nurse by the throat, holding her in the air. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?” He roared at her. “I.... I..... I...” She choked, trying to speak. Her face began to change color from white to a red and purple. “C-c-can’t breat-” He dropped her and she inhaled and began to cough. He glared at her. “Tell me now.” “I was scanning your body. I should’ve warned you that the spell contained a natural sedative in it. I’m sorry!” She curled into a ball and faced away from Clifton. “Whatever,” he said and went to the locker room. He passed a few horses that saw him and bolted away in fear. He finally reached his destination, put on his combat gear, but found himself missing his knife and his gun. Looking around the room, he saw a safe in the back which was sealed. It looked very out of place. Trying the safe, and finding it unlocked he scoffed. “Stupid horses.” Clifton checked inside and found his gun, and his trusty knife. He put the knife in its sheath on chest, and his pistol into its holster. Checking again in the locker and safe to make sure he wasn’t missing anything he set off out of the hospital with no particular goal in mind. After passing several frightened horses, a few of which had tried to stop him. After sliding his knife out of its sheath, they had turned pale and ran. After his short trip, he reached the lobby and turned to the receptionist. “Where should I go for tourist information?” “Head to the library. Twilight might be able to explain some things.” Said the mare, not even looking up. Without another word, he set out to the library.
Chapter 5Semper Fidelis Chapter 5 Colton was lost. All around him were unfamiliar buildings of all shapes and sizes, and he had no idea where Twilight lived. He should have asked for directions before leaving. Letting out a weary sigh, he rubbed his temple with one hand and kept walking. After several more minutes of being lost, he spotted an empty bench and went to sit down. Sitting down and clasping his hands together, he leaned back and admired the night sky. It was surprisingly chilly, and his breath frosted in the air. Finally, the cold got to him and he had to get up and walk once more, to get his blood flowing. Even more odd than the freezing night air, was the lack of any kind of life anywhere. It was like the town was abandoned. There were plenty of lights on, and he could hear voices from inside them, but no one was out on the street. Finally swallowing his pride, Colton walked to the nearest building and knocked several times, with the intent of asking for directions. The door opened almost immediately, and he saw a dark green pony with no mane and a broken lightbulb on his ass. “Do you know where Twilight lives?” he asked. “Oh, it’s nothing Gera, just that weird creature the hospital pulled in a while ago,” said the pony, turning to his side addressing someone who wasn’t there. “Uhhh, who are you talking to?” “Gera, why?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well, there’s no one in there with you...” Colton trailed off. “What are you implying, Gera’s right here,” the pony pointed to empty air. “Uuuhhh, are you okay?” “Why wouldn’t I be?” Asked the pony suspiciously as he narrowed his eyes at the human. “No reason... Annnnyyways, do you know where Twilight lives?” “Oh, she lives in that tree over there.” The pony pointed to a nearby tree that had been made into a house. He had walked by it several times already. “Thanks, Mr... ?” “Psyche. Just, Psyche.” “Well that explains it.” “Explains what?” “Nothing,” Colton said quickly, and walked off. Psyche turned and addressed the invisible figure once again. “Jeez Gera, I tell you, this town is full of loonies,” he said before closing the door behind him. Colton shook his head and walked on, trying to expunge the obviously insane pony from his mind. He walked for about half a minute before arriving at the wooden door. Knocking on it he crossed his arms and waited. Five minutes later, still nothing had happened and he knocked again. Still nothing. Frowning, he began to pound on the door and there was a loud crash and a groan from inside. He then heard faint yelling from the inside. “SPIKE!” Called one voice that he recognized as Twilight, “GET THE DOOR!” “I’M SLEEPING,” yelled back another voice, one he assumed was “Spike” “AND I’M NOT GETTING UP!” There was another loud groan and the sound of shuffling feet, which he assumed would be hooves and the door opened revealing a beleaguered Twilight Sparkle. Giving him what he assumed was supposed to be a horrible death glare, her face instantly lit up when she saw it was him. “Ohmygosh!” she shouted out, completely awake now. “You’re awake!” “Yes, I’m awake,” he muttered grumpily. “Although I’m not sure if I’m still dreaming.” The door promptly slammed in his face. He stood still for a moment in confusion before knocking again. The door didn’t open and he was met with a shout from the other side. “Go away!” “Why?” “Because I don’t want to talk!” “Let me in or I’m going to break down the door,” he responded flatly. A brief moment of silence, then the door opened slowly, revealing a timid purple unicorn. “W-what do you want?” She asked, shaking nervously. “I want answers, and I was told you were the one to talk to. You gonna let me in?” He towered over the small pony as she shrunk down even more under his angry gaze. Slowly, Twilight backed away and opened the door, allowing him access to her home. “Thanks,” he grunted. “N-no problem.” Twilight stammered out, trying to stay out of the human’s sight as he observed the library. The interior was sparsely furnished, with only a couch and a table adorning the main room. Although there was no shortage of books, which he didn’t consider surprising, considering it was a library. “So, you live here?” “Y-yes.” Colton took one more look around before replying. “I feel bad for you.” The unicorn’s demeanor changed immediately when he said that. “Hey! And just what is wrong with books?” she demanded, poking his leg with her hoof, glaring up at him. Colton gazed down at Twilight, not looking very amused, and the purple pony shrank away once again under his deadpan gaze. The human slowly made his way over to the couch and settled down, despite it being a few sizes too small to hold him comfortably. “So, question number one. Just where am I?” he asked, spreading his arms out over the couch. “You’re in Equestria.” Twilight responded, trying to imitate Fluttershy and make herself as quiet as possible. Colton was silent for several moments, resting his head on his hands and taking slow deep breaths. “Do you have any idea how I got here?” he asked after the long silence. “We were fighting Nightmare Moon—” Colton froze when he heard the name, and Twilight took notice and stopped talking. “Are you okay?” “Fine,” he snapped back, a little too quickly. “Just keep going.” “W-well we were fighting Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony were about to banish her for good, but I got distracted by this light thing, and well...” Twilight trailed off, too embarrassed to continue. “And...” he prompted her, tapping the floor with his foot, getting annoyed. Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “I kinda cancelled the spell and let her get away... We were too distracted by the light... There was a screaming, and you sort of appeared...” “Where was the screaming coming from?” Colton asked with an upraised eyebrow. “It was you, we assumed. You looked to be in so much pain when you appeared.” “Really? I can’t remember anything since I woke up in the hospital.” “Y-yeah... “ There was silence as each decided what to say next. “Why is it so cold outside?” the human asked, breaking the quiet with a single question. “The sun hasn’t been up in about a month,” Twilight replied sadly. “What? Why?” Colton was thoroughly confused. “Because—” “TWILIGHT!” Before she could finish her sentence, the door burst open and the Rainbow maned pegasus burst in shouting her name. “Rainbow?! What’s wrong?” The unicorn asked in concern. “The monkey thing woke up! Nopony knows where he is and we have to catch him before—” She stopped talking right away when she saw Colton sitting on the couch, glaring at her. “Can I help you?” he asked in an unamused tone. The pegasus’ eyes widened and she started slowly backing away, babbling incoherent sentence fragments. “W-what, I didn’t- I mean, no- I mean-” “Something wrong?” he asked suspiciously. “N-no! Nothing at all!” The pegasus had finally regained her composure and was smiling nervously. Colton stole a quick glance at Twilight, who was trying to hide her nervousness. They were hiding something, and he was determined to find out what. “Well, if nothing’s wrong, I guess I’ll just take my leave then.” “No!” Twilight shouted out, and covered her mouth real quickly. “Is there something keeping me here, Twilight?” “N-no, not at all!” She kept her nervous smile up, and was starting to sweat. “Good, because it would be a shame if I had to forcibly leave,” Colton said, walking out of the house, with no particular destination in mind. ~~~~~ “Twilight, we have to keep him away from Sugarcube corner!” “You think I don’t know that Rainbow?!” Twilight snapped at her new friend, who recoiled slightly. “Well what am I supposed to do?” the panicked pegasus asked. “Just, stall him. I’ll go get Pinkie and tell her to hurry things up.” “Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash said with a salute before flying off. A few seconds later, Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light. ~~~~~ Colton was walking down the street when a small blue blur shot past him. He stopped in confusion, and looked behind him, but didn’t see anything. Frowning and shrugging it off, he turned around and nearly fell over when he saw the annoying rainbow-maned pegasus hovering in front of his face. “Something you need?” he spat out after a moment of shock. “Uhh, yeah.” “...” “Yes?” Colton asked, exasperatedly. “Oh, uhhh, so... uhh, how are you?” she asked lamely. “Fine. Get outta my way,” he said, preparing to shove by the pegasus, but she stopped him before he could. “No, uhh, you can’t go anywhere.” “And why the hell not?” He crossed his arms. “Oh, uhhh.... OH! You can’t go ‘cause uhhh, oh, because .... becaussseee...” she hit her head a few times, racking her brain for an answer. “Ah! Because you need to get some food!” She plastered on a fake smile as she said this, and Colton didn’t move an inch. The human narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, who just kept smiling, hoping he would buy it. “You expect me to buy that huge piece of bullshit?” Damn, he didn’t buy it. “But you’re hungry aren’t you?” Her smile wavered for a split second. Colton was about to deny her claims, but before he could, his stomach grumbled loudly. “Great!” Rainbow said excitedly, happy her excuse had worked. “Let’s go get you some food!” She said, shooting off, and Colton reluctantly followed, with nothing else to occupy his time with. ~~~~~ “PINKIE!” Twilight shouted as she popped into existence right next to the party pony in question. Despite all odds, this actually managed to startle her and she squealed loudly before jumping in the air and bolting away. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, confused. Slowly, a pink head of fluffy cotton-candy hair emerged from a nearby door and looked at Twilight. After catching sight of who it was, she popped out and started jumping over to the purple unicorn. “Oh, heya Twilight, what’s up?” She asked in a happy carefree tone. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” “You disappeared when I teleported in here. How?” “Oh, you scared me, so I ran away real quickly, but I didn’t know it was you, and if I did, I wouldn’t have run away, but I gues—” the ranting pony was interrupted by Twilight as she shoved a hoof into her mouth. “Pinkie, I asked how.” “Oh, I don’t know!” “But... Ah! Nevermind, I came to tell you to hurry it up with the party. I’m still against this idea, but since you insist, I guess I’ll have to allow it.” “Why should I hurry it up? Everythings going nicely already!” “Yeah, but I think Colton is getting suspicious. I got Rainbow to stall him, but I don’t know if she can for long. So, just try to speed it up.” “Yes ma’am!” Pinkie replied, completely serious before turning into the kitchen in the back of the building. ~~~~~ “You guys got any meat here?” Colton asked. “Meat? What the hay are you talking about? Why don’t you just eat some Daffodils?” The blue pegasus replied. She had explained what her name was, and they were sitting inside of a restaurant that was too big for him, in a chair that was also too big for him. “Daffodils... Is this your idea of a practical joke?” “No...?” “I’m getting tired of this. If I can’t get any meat, I’m leaving,” Colton said, getting up from his too small chair. “No! Wait!” Rainbow said, grabbing his sleeve with his teeth. The human reacted instantly and yanked his arm back, knocking the pegasus off balance before he reached down and grabbed her throat to prevent her from falling. The commotion had frozen everyone else in the small restaurant. He leaned in menacingly on Rainbow. “You don’t ever fucking touch me. Ever. Got it?” Colton shook her a little to prove her point. “Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, shaking her head vigorously. The human let her go and she fell back onto her chair as Colton couch-walked out the too small door. Author's Note Woohoo! I finally got it out!
