Present Day

Cooper staggered back a step as the alien creature's voice filled his ears, and he almost dropped his pistol from shock. His brow furrowed in disbelief at what he was seeing, and it took several seconds before he could find his voice. He immediately re-aimed at the strange equine, taking note of how she flinched at the motion.

"What the hell are you?" He demanded.

"I... I'm a pony... please... don't kill me... I just wanna go home." She replied, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Despite every instinct in his body telling him to shoot, or run, or both, Cooper felt the tiniest twinge of sympathy in his heart for the alien pony. Even through the complete absurdity of the situation, and albeit after several moments of hesitation, he lowered his pistol slightly, and gave her a critical look.

"It's not safe out here... Come with me." He said, before motioning for her to leave the box with his free hand.

The pony only hid away further under her wings at that, and gave him a fearful look that said more than words ever could. Cooper gave a sigh and lowered his pistol just enough to no longer aim at the lavender alien.

"I... promise I won't eat you." He said, once again motioning with his free hand.

She looked at his hand as if it was going to bite her, and for several seconds, it looked as if she wasn't going to move, however, eventually, a particularly cold gust of wind sent a hard shiver down her spine, and she finally relented. She shakily got to her hooves in the box, and gingerly stepped out onto the snow. Immediately, Cooper could see several scars on her forelegs, and the outline of her ribs on her emaciated figure.

Once she was completely out of the box, Cooper looked toward the apartment complex doorway and motioned with his pistol.

"In there."

The lavender pony slowly got the hint and made her way forward. There was a definite limp in her step, and she only made it half way through the snow before her right hind leg gave out and she crumpled into the icy ground. She let out a small whimper of pain as she tried to get back to her hooves, but her legs barely seemed capable of responding to her orders, and she only succeeded in reaching a kneeling position before she felt Cooper's hands on her barrel.

She instantly froze, and her breath came out in choked snippets, giving her a shaky appearance that made Cooper sigh.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Let me carry you. You clearly can't walk right now." He said lifting her out of the snow.

She was lighter than expected, even with her emaciated frame. With little trouble, Cooper pulled her up and propped her onto his shoulder, while he supported her rump with his forearm. Instantly, her forelegs wrapped around his chest and back, and she buried her muzzle into his shoulder as she shook in his arms. Whether it was from fear or the cold, he couldn't tell, but he pushed forward into the apartment to eliminate one of those possibilities regardless.

Once inside, her shaking seemed to die down some, however it was still noticeable, and with her face pointed away from him, he couldn't tell if she was still scared of him or not. All the same, he carried her up the steps to the third floor of the apartment and into the room he'd chosen. Once he opened the door and stepped inside, he quickly closed and locked it behind him, taking care to place a chair against the door handle just for extra security. With that taken care of, he made his way over to the couch, and gently patted the pony's back.

"I'm gonna put you down now. Don't freak out." He said.

She gave a small nod before being deposited on the couch. She looked around the room as Cooper walked over toward the propane tank to start a fire. The couch barely sagged at all under her weight, and for the first time in a while, her eyes were full of curiosity instead of fear.

Cooper arranged some of the pipes and more flammable materials from inside the room into a small fire pit, and with some finessing, managed to get a warm fire burning in the living room. Next, he pulled out the can of chili from his pocket, and a knife from his plate carrier. Instantly, the pony tensed up at the sight of the blade, but as he cut into the can and placed it on the makeshift grill, she relaxed slightly.

It wasn't until the knife was completely returned to it's sheath that she calmed down entirely. Cooper eyed her curiously before glancing out the window to see the world blackening, and he chewed his cheek in thought before looking down at the can of chili as it cooked.

"So... You got a name?" He asked, his eyes glancing up for only a moment.

For a few seconds, the pony seemed afraid of answering, but eventually, she did speak up, albeit timidly, and with a measure of fear still present in her tone.

"Y-yes... My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight Sparkle? Eh, you know what, that makes about as much sense as the rest of this, so whatever... You said you're a... pony?" He pressed, now giving her more of his attention.

"I am... I'm... specifically, I'm an alicorn." Twilight replied.

"Okay... So you're an alicorn named Twilight Sparkle... God, maybe that guy did kill me today." Cooper said, shaking his head.

"W-what?" Twilight somewhat fearfully replied.

"Nothing... Just the way things are these days..." Cooper sighed, "So how did you get here?"

"I... I'm not sure if I should tell you that..." She said, her voice just a whisper.

"Why not?" He pressed.

"I just... I'm not sure."

Cooper chewed his tongue in thought for a few moments before replying.

"Alright. I suppose that's fair enough."

He leaned forward to check the can. The food inside was bubbling slightly from the heat, indicating that it was just about ready. Cooper pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to the kitchen, much to Twilight's confusion and fear. A few moments later, he returned with two small bowls in his hands, and two spoons. He sat down in the same spot as before, and poured half the chili out in one bowl, and the rest out in the other.

"It's vegetarian, so... you know... there's no meat or anything in here."

Twilight took the bowl of chili in her magical grasp, her horn lighting up in the process. Cooper immediately jerked back as a tingling feeling formed around his fingers, and the bowl was lifted from his grasp.

"Whatthefuck!?" Cooper exclaimed as he instinctively grabbed his pistol.

Twilight immediately shot her hooves up in defense.

"It's just my magic! I swear!" She cried, her eyes wide in fear as she quickly placed the bowl on the floor.

"What? Magic?" He replied in disbelief. His gaze quickly darted down to his hand, and he gave it a few test shakes to make sure everything was still working.

"Yes... Why is that so surprising? Do you not know about magic or something?" Twilight questioned, her heart still pounding in her chest.

"Magic doesn't exist. It's not real... Tell me what you just did to my fucking hand or I'll fucking end you." Cooper demanded, clutching his affected hand against his chest while he aimed his pistol with the other.

"Wha... but... No magic? H-How is that possible!? Nononononono... Oh, Celestia please get me out of this place..." Twilight replied, as her ears splayed back and her eyes fell to the floor.

"Answer the question." Cooper pressed, as his index finger migrated to the trigger.

"I... I didn't do anything to you! I swear! I just tried to levitate the bowl..." Twilight pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.

Cooper stared at her with the intensity of a thousand burning suns, making her hair stand up on edge, and her entire body shake. Tears formed in the corners of Twilight's eyes as she stared down the barrel of his gun, and raw fear enclosed her mind, leaving her with tunnel vision that centered on that spiral of death she'd come to fear.

The stare down continued for almost a minute, before Cooper finally broke the tense silence and spoke.

"If what you're telling me is true... Then show me." He said, flatly.

Twilight almost aggressively nodded in response, before igniting her horn, and lifting the cup of chili in her magenta aura. Cooper stared with a blank expression as the bowl hovered in the air in front of him. Slowly, she lowered the bowl down to the ground, and looked back at him, a slight tremor still lingering in her spine.

"S-see? I can levitate things and do a w-whole bunch of other stuff with my magic." She said, after some time.

Cooper raised an eyebrow and slightly lowered his pistol.

"What else can you do?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well... I can cast some transfiguration spells... Teleportation... there really aren't too many limits to be honest..." Twilight replied, feeling a little more at ease.

"You can teleport?" Cooper asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Show me."

Twilight poured more energy into her horn, and disappeared in a flash. A microsecond later, she reappeared on the chair across from the couch, making Cooper jump.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed.

Twilight shrunk in on herself slightly at his outburst, but quickly relaxed at seeing his expression. A crooked grin was plastered on his face, and he immediately re-holstered his pistol.

"Holy... You can... You can teleport... Oh my God... This is insane..." He said, shaking his head in amazement.

"Among other things." Twilight sheepishly added.

"So... This magic... Is it... you know, safe to be around?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Very. It's only unsafe if you do something really, really dumb... like open a portal to another world and just jump in like a complete moron..." She rolled her eyes.

Cooper, having not heard the tail end of her reply, just shook his head in disbelief as his eyes fell to the floor.

"Wow... Who would'a thought something like you'd come out of all this shit..." He muttered.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'? It ain't exactly a pleasant world out there." Cooper replied as he sat down on the couch once more.

"You mean it wasn't always like this?" Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side.

Cooper moved his jaw to reply, but paused as memories came flashing by. His eyes slowly fell to the floor, and he closed his mouth as his brows knitted into a deep frown.

"No... Not always..." He said, his voice just a whisper.

In the perfect silence of the apartment room, Twilight heard his words as if they were spoken at full volume. She cringed at his tone, and took a hesitant step toward him.

"Are... Are you okay?" She asked.

Cooper took a few seconds before replying.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. Just remembered something I told someone a long time ago." He sighed, "Look, it's getting late. Let's just eat and sleep. Tomorrow, we can talk more."

"Alright." Twilight slowly replied.

They quickly returned to the couch and chair to eat their dinner. Twilight took one bite of the now moderately-warm chili, and let out a small moan of satisfaction. Cooper raised an eyebrow at her reaction, before glancing down at her ribs and chuckling quietly.

"First time eating in a while, huh?" He asked.

"I haven't eaten anything in three days... And even that was only some half dead grass I had to dig for." Twilight sheepishly replied.

"Yeah, I know the feeling... Last time I couldn't find food, I went a whole week without eating anything. Thought I was gonna die after day four." He shook his head.

For a few more minutes, they ate in silence, before Twilight finally set her bowl down and fixed him with a curious look.

"You know... I just realized I still don't know your name."

Cooper finished his chili before turning back to Twilight.

"Name's Cooper. Cooper Slait." He replied.

"That's a strange name." She said, tilting her head to the side.

"Says the purple pony named after a bad book series." He deadpanned.

"Heh, I guess names are just different where we're from." She shrugged slightly.

"I guess so. Here, I'm gonna go sleep in the bedroom. You can have the couch." Cooper replied as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Okay."

Twilight got as comfortable as she could on the couch while she watched Cooper walk away. A thought found its way into her mind that quickly made its way out her mouth before she could stop it.

"Hey, Cooper?"

"Mhh?"

"Why... Why are you helping me? N-not that I have a problem with it! I-I just... Every other creature here has tried to kill me so far... I just don't understand." Twilight admitted, her eyes slowly falling to the floor.

Cooper chewed his cheek for a moment and glanced up to the ceiling.

"I don't know... Just felt like the right thing to do." He shrugged.

"Well... Thank you." Twilight gratefully replied.

Cooper quickly looked away and gave a small nod.

"Get some sleep, Twilight." He said, giving a wave goodnight.

He closed the door to his room, and let out a shaky breath.

"God help me..."

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKmOL8XuK30

What are you hiding from us, Cooper... What are you hiding?