Craig was used to pain, sure, but not to this extent. He had been shot, stabbed, partially crushed, and had stepped on more Lego bricks than he cared to count. But this was different. The twisting and cracking of his bones was almost unbearable, and the cyanide capsule in his coat pocket tempted him as his body groaned and creaked in the most grotesque way imaginable. After years of experiencing this specific feeling, you'd think one would have grown numb to the pain. "Son of a motherfucker...." He murmured, barely taking in the sight of two of his squadmates unconscious on the ground near him. He reached out, digging his gloved hands into the soil, attempting to crawl towards them. The one nearest began to stir, shifting his head to face Craig, who took a quick glance at the shuffling figure. It was female, with pale white skin, and silky orange hair cut just above her waist. She opened her eyes, wincing as thin rays of sunlight assaulted her grayish-blue orbs. Craig managed to pull himself somewhat closer, and dropped his upper body to the ground near the woman. No way in hell was he going to be getting up just yet.
"Dawn, status report?"

"The matter manipulation devices went awry. Honestly, it's amazing we made it out of that tunnel alive." Dawn explained, her heavy english accent doing wonders to sooth the headache worming it's way into Craig's ever growing list of pains. "Permanent damage is a possibility, so be light on your feet."

"It's always a goddamn forest..." Craig grumbled, rubbing his temple with his free hand.

The other figure finally began to move, brushing the black hair away from his hazel eyes. His dark brown skin held wrinkles that no anti-aging cream was going to hide. "Light on our feet, Dawn? First is after us. Ain't no-how, no-way we get to be light on our feet, seein' as this is life or death. So where in God's name did Milo bring us this time? The Break of Dawn? Dark Awakening?"

"Good morning sleepypants!" Greeted another man, this one short, with pasty white skin, long black hair tied into a ponytail, and a pair of circular glasses. "And no, Russman. Those timelines would have been much preferable, but AntiSync destroyed them. I...sorta pressed random buttons on the keypad to get us here. I don't even know what this place is."

Craig let out a quiet groan before he spoke. "So the four of us are accounted for. Where are Thomas, Zach, and Bailey?"

Milo pointed a gloved thumb towards the exit of the forest behind them. "They went off to scout out the area. There's a settlement nearby. Bailey was the first one up, and apparently she spotted an apple farm somewhere near there." Russman let out a scoff, and finally made a move to lift himself off the bed of charred grass and soil that had served as a temporary resting place for the seven of them. Craig and Dawn followed suit, brushing the ash and soot off of their solid black combat uniforms. The pain finally numbing itself, the four began to walk the direction Milo had pointed, XMP-40's at the ready. It didn't take long to get to the outskirts of the settlement in question.

Reaching for the pair of binoculars on his hip, Milo let out a hum. Looking into them, he hummed again.
"It would seem as if the settlement is either an agricultural town, or inhabited by sentient horses-"

Russman snatched the binoculars from the shorter man, grumbling something along the lines of dimensional travel and the side effects it caused. His grumbling was cut short as he too layed eyes on the town. "What the fuck...? Milo, you ever see anything like this?"

"Outside of some shoddy VHS movie my grandma gave me when I was three, no. I think it was called uh...My Little Horsey, or something. Danny DeVito was in it."

Dawn scoffed. "That movie was fuckin' retarded. And it was called My Little Pony, by the way." Milo merely shrugged, and smiled. "Either way, it's not like they'd ever manage to revive a franchise like that."

Russman passed the binoculars to Craig, who politely turned them down. "Whatever it is, I honestly just don't have the capacity to care anymore. Let's find those three, and get the hell out of dodge." Russman simply nodded, handing the binoculars back to Milo. The four of them made their way closer to the town, eventually catching the attention of several of the small horses that had previously been going about their day. Craig couldn't care less though, seeing as in the crowd of four foot ponies, five to six foot human's should be easy to spot. He wasn't exactly wrong as a brown haired, tan skinned woman waved the group over. They made a beeline for the woman, leaving the ponies in front of them to either scramble away or be pushed aside.

The woman was equally ruthless towards the crowd, earning a few obscene insults as she pushed the small creatures aside. This was Bailey, Squadron 4's group engineer, and one of the few friends Craig had been able to hold onto as he was initiated into the group. His gray eyes met her lavender irises, amd she began to speak. "Town seems to made up of three forms of Equine, sir. All sentient, and capable of speaking perfect english. None of them seem to pose an immediate threat, but we'd best watch out for Unicorn's, seeing as we don't quite know what those are capable of."

"Unicorns?"

"With all due respect sir, we served under the sole ruler of literal Hell for five years. Unicorns shouldn't surprise you-"

Craig bit at his inner cheek, withholding a shout as his headache began to spike. "Shut up Milo."

Bailey smirked, before continuing; "This is a fully functioning society, Craig. We may be able to find a way back."

This time Russman piped up first, narrowing his eyes. "We left so we didn't git caught by First. Why in the hell would we wanna go back?"

Milo cautiously raised his hand. "I only brought us here as a quick escape. As powerful as he is, Nightwatch won't be able to take AntiSync by himself…"

"And if we can't get back-" Dawn smacked the back of Russman's head, earning a few choice curse words from the older man. "We will, dinosaur. It may take a while, but we will. I just hope that war doesn't follow us here."

Craig nodded, deep in thought. A week ago the seven had been in Destakore for a well deserved vacation. They had then been brought back to the Laboratory of Future Engineering in Clermont, Florida to oversee tweaks on their equipment. Mathew Marshalls, Nightwatch himself, was even there in hopes of finding a way to install a slushy bar in his fortress in the depths of Hell. That's when First had attacked. Not First directly, no. He was to much of a coward to do it himself, so he sent in his own little brigade. They had managed to destroy the lab, but Nightwatch held them back, ordering Squadron 4 to escape and regroup the rest of L.O.F.E.'s private military force. That's when Milo began to bang on the teleporter's keyboard in a panic, leading to….this. This grossly bright world, seeming to be straight out of some poorly made children's show from Earth.

"Weapons warm, but not hot. We don't know what these….thing's….are like. I have a feeling we may need to pop a few caps."

《♤♡◇♧》

Luxord gazed upon the circular pad and it's built in console within the blindingly white room. Stepping over the broken lab equipment and towards the gray pad, he tapped the console lightly, booting it up.
The man smiled, running his fingers through his jet black goatee, his golden eyes holding a malicious glint. "We aren't going to back down, boy. Your armies, your heroes…." His gaze shifted to the crumpled figure in the corner. This was Mathew Marshalls, hunched over and defeated, his blond bangs covering his light blue eyes, and the dark bags just under them. "…they aren't enough to take us down."

His breathing raspy, Mathew let out a small chuckle. "I-If you can't b-be stopped….then w-why are you so worried about seven people who r-ran away from their duty? They don't have plans to fight back. They were c-cowards…."

Luxord put up a hand, shushing him. At first he snickered, then chuckled, before breaking into full on laughter. Out of breath, an amused smile was plastered onto his face. "No. You told them to go and find help. My dear leader, that's First, has a contingency plan to assure that no matter what, at the end of the day he'll always win. Those seven troublesome soldiers have always come back with an unbeatable army at their side. Not this time though. See, I've been dispatched to follow them, and kill them before they can carry out their task."
Luxord tapped a button near the bottom of the screen, locking in the last used coordinates. "First knew I'd be able to do so. Plus…." He finally pushed the activation button, before stepping on the pad which began to glow a bright blue, a whirring sound roaring throughout the room. "…I need a vacation from Zinnia."

And with that, the molecules making up Luxord had been sucked into the pad as the power flickered furiously. Each time Mathew could see less and less of the black cloaked man. Each time, the mocking laughter would fade more and more. At long last, the power became stable again and Luxord was gone, leaving Mathew to his own tired thoughts. Slipping away into sleep, he let out a quiet mutter.

"They'll make it…"

《♤♡◇♧》

Thomas, now eye level to the waist-tall baige pony. Her sapphire blue eyes wonderously staring into his own olive green irises. If one looked hard enough, perhaps they could see the gears turning in her head.

"Hello." He spoke, his gentle voice taking an almost childish tone. "Would you happen to know where I can find some food? Preferably for omnivore's?"

The mare could barely stutter out a response before a voice from not to far off called for the man. "Thomas." Craig called, waving to the strawberry blond in question. "Let's go."

Thomas let out a silent "Thank you.", leaving the pony to continue stuttering, only to shake her head and walk off.

As he approached, Craig began firing off questions. "Any idea where we are, what's here, and where the nearest deli would happen to be? I could really go for a roast beef sandwich right now." He asked, ignoring the disgusted looks of the pony passerby as he rubbed his forehead.

Thomas nodded, gesturing to a nearby sign. "This is 'Ponyville'. Very original naming convention. Never done before. As for what's here, there's a bakery, a farm, a castle that would probably be best left alone until later, and some other shit we don't need to worry about. There's a deli, yeah, but unless you want grass sandwiches, I'd stay away."

Craig made a gagging noise, grabbing Thomas' shoulder. "Back into the forest then. There's bound to be something out there we can eat. Besides, I think we may want to keep to ourselves for a while."

《♤♡◇♧》

Christoph's march towards the teleportation chamber would have been a short one, had he not tripped over his own white lab coat so many times. Overhead lights shining off his wrinkled skin, and his hazel eyes stared straight ahead towards the large airlock door in front of him. Reaching for the keypad, he quickly tapped in the four digit code, and the airlock let out a hiss. As it opened, Christoph let out streams of silent curses, knowing he was already to late. He looked to the corner of the room, where a figure was slumped against the wall. The older man approached the figure, taking note of the dark gray smoke escaping it's mouth with every weak breath.

'He's weak.' Christoph thought as he picked up the figure; an unconcious Mathew Marshalls. 'At this point, he wouldn't be able to beat his brother in a game of chicken.'.

Looking over to the teleportation pad, he let out a hum as the boy stirred in his arms. Taking the time to approach, the center of the pad was now a light teal. Could it be? Had First really made such a dire mistake? He glanced to the console, and a gasp escaped his lips. He had just hit the jackpot.

《♤♡◇♧》

The silver unicorn stallion trotted along the red carpet leading to the throne, his shorter chocolate brown mane bouncing with each step, and his glowing emerald eyes showing signs of exhaustion and desperation as raced to the far side of the room. The marking of a rusted pocketwatch adorned his flank on each side, and the green flannel coat he wore showed it's age via the many grease stains and tears that decorated it. This was Monty, the royal engineer.

"Princess Celestia." He acknowledged the Alicorn with a bow, as she was the shining light of hope to the ponies of Equestria, and a powerful leader that was always two steps ahead of anything that threatened to harm the subjects she had sworn to protect. "I come here bearing news of an unexpected disturbance in the town of Ponyville."
He rose from the bow, looking into her eyes. A pale shade of purple. She was considerably larger than her subjects, and far more majestic as well. Her flowing ethereal mane of cerulean, turquoise, lavender perfectly complemented her snow white mane, decorated with her golden royal regalia.

"Ponyville, Monty?" She asked, to which Monty nodded his head silently. "How strange. I've sent my student there to prepare the annual Sun Celebration."

Monty tensed at this. He had known that student for quite some time now. Whatever was coming, she wouldn't be able to take care of it. "Twilight Sparkle? With all due respect my dear Princess, if something was to happen, she'd have no means of protecting herself!" He shifted his front right hoof, and closed his eyes in thought.

Celestia cocked her head to the left, her gaze never leaving the silver stallion's face. She had often wondered about Monty. He had no records, no family, and no connections to anypony in Equestria, or Equis for that matter, yet he had still fit right in. His creations would be vital to the improvement of Equestrian society, and would no doubt be appreciated by everypony that would receive his brilliant gifts. This stallion was an anomaly, and the fact that he had known about the return of Nightmare Moon had simply baffled her. Still, her plan was in motion, and all would be right in the end. Finally she spoke. "Twilight Sparkle is more than capable of protecting herself, my little pony. However, I must ask, what is this disturbance you speak of?"

Monty's emerald eyes opened, and met with Celestia's own. "Eight bipedal creatures have been sighted lingering in and around the town. They aren't dragons. In fact, nopony knows that they are, but the populace is weary."

Celestia blinked once, then twice. If these creatures posed a threat to the town, then they'd have more to worry about than Nightmare Moon. "We will see that it is looked into. Is that all?" Monty nodded, and Princess Celestia smiled. "You may take leave for the day. I myself will see to these creatures, and learn of their intent."

Monty nodded, and turned towards the throne room's exit. A subtle smirk was plastered upon his muzzle. Despite what the monster that was lurking in the dark had thought, they still didn't have a chance of winning. Monty had already made sure of that.

Author's Note

Wrote this as a way to explore some background characters from a much larger continuity I've been working on. This story is simultaneously canon, and uncanon to the larger continuity, meaning you don't have to go searching for the rest of the story. This is it's own story that happens separately, so anything that might be confusing will be cleared up in the story itself.
It's short, but there's more to come. I finally found out I can upload to this site on mobile!

Hopefully you all find this enjoyable, because admittedly, writing was never my strongsuit, although I'd like to say I've improved since 2016.

Hail to the Moon.