Taking a step in front of me, I heard Jacob's voice break down. The sound seemed like it was being rewinded backward and a filter was applied to distort it, making it resemble a cacophony, while my mind attributed each distinctive sound to a letter, forming my name among the timbres I heard.

I was blanked out, I felt as if I were suspended in mid-air, as if I were falling. Trying to take one step at a time, I hoped that my intentions were not in vain at least right now. I was worried, as I could not feel my legs. There was only one thing I was sure of, that I am.

But unexpectedly, the smell took my nostrils by storm on a date. With a blitzkrieg, the signal reached my brain, and I read the scent I smelled. Nice, sweet, inviting me to the source of its origin, it made the glands in my mouth eagerly release saliva. It was the familiar smell of caramelized sugar that seduced me.

The sense of feeling didn't fall behind. My feet made their presence known again, letting me know that I was on steady and firm ground. I tried to listen for what sound my steps were making. My footsteps didn't make much of a sound, except that when I pulled my foot off, I could hear my shoes rubbing lightly against the floor.

My ears, amidst the enigmatic high-pitched clatter and noise alike of something akin to waves washing over the coast, picked up other, clearer sounds. Something like voices, but I wasn't sure. I dismissed the thought, however, as the portal was about to take me away from the humanity. A chaotic opera of knocks and footsteps surrounded me like vultures scavenging carrion, throwing me into a stupor.

My field of view, which had been occupied by white, was suddenly liberated by pink and purple, shortly followed by blue which danced with red as well as yellow. The colors did not mix, they were like fluids or clouds, undulating and full of lumps. One color would come on top of another and pass under yet another or break up the battle of two.

The build-up of every new noise, feeling of touch returning and my eyes looking at the clouds that now mixed and created a rainbow of sorts suddenly stopped dead.

But…In the blink of an eye, motion returned.

However, the sweet and delicate smell of sugar was replaced by that of smoke and burned plastic. My foot stumbled upon something that I stepped on, while the other almost caught on something sharp jolting out of the ground. Noises became screams and among the chaos I heard rhythm; I heard order of repeated notes…Sentences.

Then, the colors before me have ripped apart, as if an invisible hand or person tore them away, revealing a set of new colors and shapes, some as beautiful as the ones I saw, others filthy and industrial, especially the clouds that reminded me of pollution and factory waste.

I didn’t even notice, but I still held my backpack tightly with my hand as it rested peacefully still hanging over my shoulder.

I did another step forward, and the colors that now turned pink and then brighter until white again, disappeared from my sight. I would've looked around to see if it still was behind me, but other things caught my attention.

The destruction…The colorful…Tiny horses. Some had wings and were flying, others had horns and they were glowing, while objects surrounded by something like an energy field followed right after them.

These were unicorns and pegasuses. Mythical creatures. I blinked, my mind only gathered information, I didn’t react as consternation immobilized me from doing anything.

Thousands of them were running around and some even looked in terror at me. I looked at them and they eyed me with fear. I gazed at the ones that ignored me and took note that the horses avoided me when running in a wide radius forming a circle, a sort of no step zone.

They were strange, they looked so cartoonish. Their eyes were grand and their heads round and big. In comparison to me, and I was under the average, they were small. Most bizarre to me was the notion it didn’t bother me, I took it as something acceptable to exist, was it because I myself am a special case? What was happening to me?!

Then I remembered. The same horse, closely resembling the looks of these here, I saw on the portal I have materialized.

I heard heavy grunts and metal hitting stone. I turned my head to the direction the noise came. Same way when something gets lifted off one's mind, I felt exactly the opposite to that. I started to back away, although the creatures I focused on weren’t interested in me.

Furry and big, almost two meters tall, muscular yeti-looking monsters wearing ash gray plate armor, some with a shield and others without, rounded up masses of the tiny horses also dressed in armor or without it who were simply frightened and lacked weapons. On the beasts’ chests was a sign of two teal lighting bolts that faced one another.

The horses in armor held spears but swords were present as well. Their armor looked more ancient in design, made from plates and distinguishable from each other parts, they looked Roman in appearance. What I found strange is that their armor was gilded. I only guessed that their manes must have gone through the crests on their helmets.

I looked around and everything now started to make more sense. This was some sort of event gone terribly wrong. I saw conical tents serving the role of covering the stalls scattered everywhere. I saw decorations hung up all over the place, ranging from balloons to wreaths in the shape of hearts and other objects or sets of objects. I saw ivy that was spread on wooden arches that created entrances to different areas. I saw bouquets set before a grand circus stage with lights decorating the fascia.

I wished I could have analyzed everything I looked at more, but I was forced to bring my attention elsewhere, as I heard a feminine and mature voice that set a warm flame of appreciation when I heard it.

“Luna!” She called in distress.

A tall and illustrious winged unicorn with a white coat and wavy tricolor mane that seemed to be carried by a light breeze, was speaking to the shorter, blue equivalent of herself. What caught my attention was the crown on her head and the blue ones as well.

A mare that spoke. In light of what I was going through, this wasn’t such a shocker to witness.

I couldn’t make out what the mare said, I stood too far away and the stampede around muffled her voice. The only word I heard other than the name of the blue, winged unicorn, was ‘south’.

I looked there and my eyes linked with the image of stormy clouds that had the color of mud. My heart sank when my eyes jumped from one point to another, making me see a fleet of flying units, ships of some sort like zeppelins moving towards the location I was in.

Four of such ships were stationed around the edge of the area I stood on, which must have been located somewhere high up for the ships to stop and still hover.

From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the big, clad in armor yetis approaching me. I took my backpack off swiftly and looked it in the eyes. My breath was shallow and my heart raced like crazy. My hand opened my backpack and grabbed one of the notebooks I have brought with me in it.

I couldn’t help it, I was forced to defend myself at the moment. I was prepared for such a situation to occur, but I never would have thought that it would come to this in such odd circumstances.

I managed to find the desired drawing I had in mind. A simple pistol, nine millimeters. My dad taught me a few things and I knew how to shoot. He wanted me to be better and to practice but I never intended to do that.

I looked at the creature and showcased my ability. My hand disappeared halfway into my notebook. The creature was confused as to what was happening and stopped its advancement. As I retreated my hand, with the intention to only threaten it with the pistol I tightly gripped.

I pulled the pistol out. The creature then sprinted in my direction. I thought I was going to pass out or even worse, have a heart attack. His heavy stomping shook the ground the closer it got. My God.

I pulled the trigger.

Princess Twilight Sparkle struggled to hold one of her beloved rulers in her magical grasp. She mustered her strengths, however, the strange crystal that enveloped Princess Luna was very mana-phobic in its nature, making her efforts laughable.

“Luna,” She whimpered.

A petrifying sound summoned her attention to her right. It was a loud bang, that passed away as quickly as it had appeared. Her eyes landed on a creature that she at first identified as a minotaur, then her mind switched sides after coming to terms with the knowledge she had about minotaurs, that the creature was only similar to a minotaur. The being was too far away for her to get a good look at it, but she was almost positive that it was a male.

Minotaurs were large, both in height and width. The creature was far smaller, about equal in height to Princess Celestia. The creature wasn’t muscular, although it possessed a fine silhouette. Minotaurs possessed a very thin coat, raging in coloration from different blues and grays to browns and dark reds. It had no coat and its fair beige skin was exposed to the outside world. Its hair, present only on the head, was dirty blond and slicked back. Its goatee was thick, chocolate brown, and pointy.

He was wearing an absurd amount of clothes. He was dressed in a green flannel shirt, and wore pants made from denim that matched the green color, together with perfectly contrasting white footwear. A gray backpack lay on the ground beside him and a book or something of a similar kind lay there as well.

He held something in his hands, an object she couldn’t identify. However, another one of those loud bangs that made her quail, got her all the information she needed. It was a weapon.

A roar of pain followed soon after. One of the beasts under the command of Tempest Shadow grabbed its face and released its weapon that fell to the ground. It was dangerously close to the creature she has been looking at for the last moment. A consecutive sound of three more shrieking explosion-like sounds, reminding her of fireworks, brought the beast down. It was shrieking and crying in pain, while drops of blood that ran like rain down the windows, dropped from its armor to the ground.

“Twilight!”

The princess in a great heist turned her head the other way. Her heart skipped a beat seeing Tempest Shadow in the air, with a kick sending an orb, the same kind that enclosed Luna, Celestia, and Cadence in dark crystal. She was forced to drop Luna, who didn’t suffer any damage, onto the stage to dash backward.

Before the orb could have hit her, a good citizen and postmare, Derpy Hooves has shielded her from the horrifying fate that the three princesses have suffered before her. Twilight’s horn shined brightly and used the greenish and foul smoke as a perfect cover, she cast a teleportation spell on herself and disappeared.

My hand trembled, and my heart wept with regret that I was forced to go to such lengths. In a flash of light, the short mare with the crown, called Twilight, disappeared out of my sight. I had so many questions, and as many guesses as there are grains of sand in the desert.

Yet, I learned that whatever these orbs are, I musn't allow myself to be hit by one of them.

My fight against these creatures brought me attention of the furry soldiers. Three more were running towards me, this time carrying shields. My pistol was able to pierce through their armor and also inflict some damage. Their armor really must have been bad in terms of quality, or by luck I pulled out a enhanced piece. I was forced to shoot them in the heads and exposed body parts, like hands and feet, for efficiency.

My hands were shaking, and due to the fact that I was holding my air, I started to feel dizzy. I zipped up my backpack after I hid my notebook in it, by firing four more times, I managed to stop their advance towards me.

This gun may not have been able to kill them, but its ammunition was infinite. How did I achieve this kind of effect? There was an image of the infinity sign on the side. You could say that it was a kind of rune.

These furry soldiers fought fiercely with the horses. The unicorns fired lasers from their horns, which, unfortunately for them, could not do anything. The energy beams were absorbed by the armor, but knocked the beasts away. I saw as one of the unicorns let out a stream of fire from its horn which spiraled and at one point flew out in many directions, setting some of the furry soldiers ablaze.

In order to once again gain some time I shot toward the three soldiers that were chasing me. I was successful in hitting one in the hand. These beings have never seen a firearm like mine before, and were afraid of the sound of my pistol. Looking at the damage I dealt, and the fact that bullets moved too fast for them to avoid them, they were afraid to chase after me.

In the distance, I spotted the tiny, lavender. winged unicorn. She and a few other colorful horses, from which one was also flying, were running in a direction that was free of the creatures that were chasing me.

On instinct, I decided to follow them, but only then did I notice that two creatures ran after the pack of horses. I stopped and among the running ponies that number has dwindled in the past few minutes, I sprinted to hide among the stalls and tents.

When I approached one of the tents I was forced to violently stop, as one of the colorful horses got in the way. The mare, judging by the voice, fell over and scrambled away throwing her legs in all directions. She screamed in horror as she ran away in the opposite direction.

I wanted to say something, but it would be of no avail. I continued on, not stopping and having to carefully direct myself among the tents and stalls. I encountered numerous horses, some even wanted to fight me. I however pointed my pistol towards the sky, and shot it. This managed to scare them.

I heard a choir of slams, objects tossed around. I looked at the tops of the tents and saw as one by one they were falling down. Familiar incoherent mumbling and grunts of the creatures I fought against met my ears. I retreated and hid in a blue tent.

Inside the tent was food. Tons of it. On the shelves, on the right, there were beagles and croissants, in the front cakes and pies, and on the left I saw beverages stored in glass bottles.

I waited patiently and swallowed. My throat was burning from all the running as it dried and I could feel iron on the tip of my tongue.

“No! Please! Leave m- AHHH!!!”

I closed my eyes.

“Leave her!” shouted a stallion.

A hiss of pain followed, with the mare screaming suddenly at the top of her lungs. I wanted to remain inside, but I couldn’t. I knew I could intervene, and that whatever would happen with or without my part, would also be entirely my fault. The guilt was eating me up.

So, I stood up and with a deep breath, I revealed myself from around the corner. I gazed at the side of the beast's head. They were wearing masks rather than proper helmets, making it an easy target for me.

Although my hand quaked I kept it steady for the moment. When I was sure the scope was perfectly aimed I reluctantly pulled the trigger. The shot realesed hit my target and jerked the limb.

The beast jolted in place, suffering something akin to a seizure. I watched as it slowly lost its balance and collapsed with the mare still in its grip, as if it was a bag of potatoes. The creature’s right leg was still moving, and its hands still tried to grab things in close proximity. It didn’t drop dead, it moved snazzily, grunting and whining. Its deep voice sounded like it was crying.

I let out a breath and with it a part of my soul. I didn’t want to do this.

The mare backed away from the attacker and looked my way. It was the same mare that I had met earlier at the very beginning when I moved towards the tents. She had a slender body and an elongated muzzle. She looked different than most ponies because of that. Her coat was fair blue, almost azure, and her mane was orange with a stripe of yellow. She wore a dark dress with golden sequins and a saddle on her back. I almost cackled.

Beside the beast was a horse clad in gilded armor, with a brown coat and dark mane. He was lying in a pile of blood that increased in size every second of me looking at it.

It was my fault…I should have done something right away.

“Who are you?” The mare asked.

I looked away from the dead body and focused on her. I pointed pitifully with my pistol at the beast “Not with them”. My answer didn’t make that much sense.

She understood enough and stood up gingerly while wincing. I wanted to help her out but she immediately backed away and fell down again.

“I’m sorry” I said quickly and gazed again at the dead horse.

I ran away in the other direction, seeing that it was almost empty from where I came from. The northern area was invested with the yeti creature's activity and I refused to take part in it. I decided to backtrack and take the path the flying unicorn went. She had a crown like the two before, so, I hypothesized that she was some sort of royalty.

I knew that the horses would classify me as an enemy, as I am an alien and they are currently being attacked. It would be logical to assume I am with the striking force. Which was another argument for not joining them.

But, wouldn't me following the lavender equine, Twilight, lead me to trouble since she's royalty and the beastly soldiers have interest in cathing her? Yes. It would, but I didn't yet strike an equine, only the furry monsters in black armor, therefore I already had an argument that could defend me from their hostility. Secondly, the pony I have helped could, If I'd be lucky, back me up. It was the most rational decison I could go with.

As I ran I looked up and noticed the sun shining faintly through the dark clouds. I remembered the words of the white-winged unicorn. She said something about the south. The direction I was running was southwest.

I suddenly was carried with energy and vigor brought by the feeling of hope. Maybe in the south was the military force of the city located?

Luckily I had avoided any interaction with the invading nation when I was retreating. I looked towards the ships and saw five more slowly docking at the edges of the city. I guessed that another thirty were coming from the looks of it.

Now as I walked, I had time to collect my thoughts. I was in shock because of what was happening.

I was supposed to be alone but I didn’t end up in the middle of nowhere as I intended it to be. Contrary to this, I ended up in a city, filled with colorful horses that spoke!

This was an invasion, I appeared in the middle of a war. These creatures clad in black armor were fighting with the horses. I had no right to pick a side, I had no knowledge about prior events, as far as I was concerned either could be the evil ones.

The aesthetics of the soldiers with the teal lighting bolts as their sign were frightening though. The clouds above and the ships that they used, everything spoke against them.

They attacked the mare, but it was probably because she was a unicorn. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I did the right thing in the end, as I potentially saved her life. She might have been hurt later on in order to make sure she wouldn’t be able to fight against them.

Still, this was no excuse to attack a citizen. I had to admit, that I was siding with the horses the more I thought about it. Not to mention I unofficially sided with the equines by fighting the creatures.

I stopped in track before entering the plaza, seeing countless of these creatures exiting their ships by jumping down with shields and spears in hand.

I took my backpack off and took out a green sketchbook. I went through the pages looking for an item I have once included in my set for survival, including a scenario when I’d have to make contact with civilization.

Drawn from a perspective to look as if was hanging down from a bird's point of view, was the cloak of invisibility from Harry Potter. I buried my hand into the paper, having to slide it deep, stopping before my elbow was swallowed. When I felt the tips of my fingers touch the soft skin-like material, I grabbed it and pulled it out, slowly and without making much noise.

I placed the sketchbook down on the ground and slowly wrapped the cloak around my arm as I pulled it out from the drawing. When I ended, I packed my sketchbook and put the cloak on myself. It didn't look exactly like in the movie, but it was close enough as it was brown and patchy.

I saw the world from behind it, where it folded there the image distorted with a few strings of the cloak not being transparent, while the world around was overlaid with a modest grayish tint.

I sneaked by as I walked before the stalls that stood at the very front, seeing that tvelve armored creatures were transporting what seemed to be some statues made from almost black crystal. I analyzed what they carried by taking a closer look at the statues and recognized that it was the white-coated mare from the beginning being carried along with her blue look-alike. I had no idea who was the third statue, but it too was a winged unicorn.

Why were they interested in the winged unicorns? Was all royalty them? Most likely yes.

I waited patiently until they left and slowly made my way to where I last saw the lavender horse.

Making sure that nobody followed me or saw me go this way, I took the cloak off me and I tied the invisibility cloak around my waist after reaching the passage where I last saw the horse princess.

After three minutes of running, I came to a stop. There were two possible routes I could take. One of them circled back to where I came from, making me arrive there from a different side and the other descended further into the city. The problem was, a bridge made that path and it was completely destroyed in the middle.

“Fuck”

I knew that staying at the level I was on was basically suicide, as I decided to backtrack and now the plaza was probably occupied by dozens of the creatures. I wouldn’t be able to fight off the rest of the forces. It wasn’t a guarantee that they would take me hostage.

I approached the edge and looked down. Water. The stream was clear enough for me to see the bottom of the channel which was deep. The stream led to a waterfall, however, I didn’t know how high I was and from what height the waterfall poured down.

I looked up, as the wind and sound of engines summoned my attention to itself. I noticed five more ships above me, probably heading towards the center to deposit the units they have carried. About seven in total were very close to the ground in the area I had in mind reaching. Whatever I would do now, a fight was inevitable.

“Which one of you guys is going down there?”

In a hurry I looked the way the voice came from and saw a small creature with two of the soldiers accompanying it, standing at the edge of the cliff near the waterfall. The way he said the sentence, accompanied by the splashing of water made it seem like he had a speech defect.

I was anxious. I was lost.

What should I do?

“Hey, who’s that?” I looked at the small creature who was now pointing at me.

“Shit!”

In reaction, I ran again, but in distress and fear, I tripped. I let my pistol out of my hand, it bounced a few times and landed a short distance away from me. I stood up gingerly as my mind was occupied with finding an answer as to how to survive. I began to reach for the weapon.

Out of nowhere, a furry soldier clad in black armor landed on the remains of the bridge, crushing my pistol under its feet. The two lighting bolts on his chest shined and pulsated, while cords of lighting jumped around his body.

Now I know why the lasers of the unicorns didn’t work.

I ducked as the furry soldier tried to smack me. Their movements were cumbersome and allowed me to swiftly avoid their attacks. Another one of the beasts appeared, blocking the way entirely for me to escape. I managed to hold my ground as the remains of the bridge shook and cracked under the force of the second beast’s landing. They extended their hands forwards, as if I was some sort of walking treasury awaiting to be molested.

I had only one alternative left.

I unequipped my backpack and held it in my hands. My heart was pounding heavily against my chest, ready to burst and fight alone, since my brain led me towards the edge. I knew that in a moment I would fall down. I was gazing into the teal eyes of the furry creatures that looked like dead points, lacking emotion. Their masks looked as if they were styled after ape skulls, sending a shiver down my spine.

The inevitable came quicker than I thought. The soldiers rushed forward in a last attempt to get me, but my stubbornness had eaten my fear and I jumped backward.

I felt dead inside, a feeling of powerlessness, like a bolt of electricity, has hit me and hugged my whole body in dread. A blanket of despair covered my entire soul, as I descended down. Before falling into the cold water, I saw the two creatures looking down at me, observing attentively.

First, it was my left leg, then the rest of my body followed suit. I fell into the freezing water, being wrapped by the cold, and held with an iron grasp by it. I swam up, holding my backpack with all the force I had. I knew it was pointless, but maybe something would survive, at least one drawing.

My head appeared above the water layer and the first thing I did was sweep my hair from my eyes. I held my backpack, now soaked in the water, high in the air. I moved my legs in an appropriate order and pace to stay above the water.

I was coming close to the waterfall, my eyes observing the gurgling liquid as I neared the edge, thinking only about the height I would drop from.

At the last moment, I looked to the right side, seeing the small creature I saw from above before I plummeted from the bridge’s remains. It looked like a hedgehog but its face didn’t look in any way like a hedgehog's.

The creature’s arms hung lazily to the sides, he looked at me passing by, and didn’t even attempt to do anything in order to stop me, showing he lacked the necessary tools to do it. I was sure as hell he’d be able to pull me out of the water. If the armor of the bigger creatures was able to modify their jumps, why wouldn’t some be able to lift objects with telekinesis?

“Yeah, no” He huffed and shrugged his arms. He looked up, and yelled at the two creatures “You are explaining this to commander Tempest directly!”

I swiveled my head and looked forwards, seeing that in a moment I would once again fall down. On the horizon, I saw an ample of ships circling some town. The buildings were burning and strips of dark smoke reached the very muddy clouds covering the skies.

I was suddenly brought down as I reached the edge. The distance wasn’t great, almost the same as when I dropped a moment ago when I jumped down the bridge. I fell into a pit of water, and had to again recover by swimming up. This time when I appeared above the water, I knew my backpack was entirely wet, and my hope for it to protect at least one drawing was foolish and stupid to believe.

The water current weakened down, but it still was strong enough to pull me the direction it was flowing. Stones that distributed the stream into a few separate currents had sharp edges that guaranteed major and potentially lethal injuries were the newest of my problems. I swam to the widest one to avoid hitting any of the boulders, but in doing so my hold on my backpack worsened.

Again, like before, I fell with the water. I didn’t worry about my phone, as it was waterproof, and could withstand the unfavorable conditions it went through. My backpack, on the other hand, slipped from my grip and in panic, I swam upwards looking for it in desperation. As I sucked fresh air into my lungs, my eyes scrutinized the nearby area. I should have had it on my back, but I was stupid enough to take it off.

I looked to the left and right, but I couldn’t find it. I was losing hope and will to swim and to fight. Everywhere I looked there was either foam or the water was too dirty to see anything. Considering the fact my backpack was gray and could mask itself well in the water’s hue, I lost my passion to save the drawings. They were lost anyway.

Tired and cold, I swam to the nearest shore. The river was merciless and carried me forwards. I focused more on avoiding the rocks and debris that I saw on the way, rather than fighting fiercely so that I could walk out of the river.

My body felt strange all of a sudden, the world looked pink and I saw sparkles and glitter appear around me. I found myself being lifted up by something from the water. I felt so lightheaded that I remained calm when it happened, surrendering to what was about to take place.

I was turned by a hundred and eighty degrees, and then I saw it.

The small, lavender horse but without the crown she had earlier.

Twilight.

Author's Note

Hello everypony!

I hope you'll leave a comment that will help me improve my English and leave a tip for how I should improve my story.

Is the pacing to quick? Is the story to simply written? Is it just bland?
Don't be afraid to tell me what's on your mind. I'm a person that just can't go without making a mistake.