I couldn't sleep that night. There was simply too much going on in my mind. I tried to lye still and avoid moving, but it was incredibly hard what with all that was swirling around in my brain.

It was incredibly dark outside. The sun was gone, replaced only with the sickly pail of the moon, which cast an uncomfortable white light down on the forest. I could see easily why so many ponies feared the night and chose to stay indoors. At night everything looks different, and many of the natural light we had in the day was gone. The milky light from the moon was not as bright as the sun, and this meant it was easier to hide and potentially ambush somepony.

It was a good thing I was safely indoors and with the doors and windows locked, so nopony could get in. But the darkness was haunting inside as well. My eyes had somewhat adjusted to the light, but I couldn't help but feel something was off.

Like something was lurking in the room with me. You always have that fear when it's the dark, not knowing who or what you might see or find in there. That's a primal fear that often gets exploited, to be honest. I recalled one of the mares in Maretime Bay said she dreaded having to go out at night, as it was so hard to see what was going on. And given that a curfew was now in effect that was doubly difficult.

My eyes scanned about the room at several of my new friends, all of whom lay asleep in varying positions. Sunny appeared to be making some noise and was looking about, but her eyes were shut. Possibly it was some side effect of a dream she was having. It was largely incoherent babbling.

At least that was a vast improvement over Hitch, who was snoring extremely loudly. Good luck sleeping with that lot going in your ear.

I turned my head upright again, and thought once again to myself.

What was the point of it all?

Why was I here? What was I doing? What was the air speed velocity of a swallow? And, if so, was it an African or a European one?

I shook my head. I had no clue where that one had come from. I looked about again, and continued to try and think?

What had I actually achieved out here, apart from the obvious? Clearly I'd been given a new shot at life, but how else was I meant to keep going with this plan? I had no purpose, no drive. I spent the entire time just following other ponies, being bounced about like a ping pong ball between locations and having a tough time making sense of it all.

I was a tiny fish in an absolutely enormous ocean stuffed to the brim with sharks. And that left me very vulnerable, as I had an uphill struggle living life out here as a literal hate sync.

My eyes continued to scan about the room, looking for other figures. But then my eyes fell on Misty. Her mane was all over the place, her dreadlocks parted to reveal more of her face. She was sleeping soundly with her forelegs crossed over her chest, and a locket hanging round her neck. I had spotted it when we were on the mountain, but I hadn't really commented on it.

I know it's kinda weird looking at somepony sleep, but the moonlight actually caught her features really well and captured her beauty really nicely-

What am I talking about?

I sat up and looked in another direction, trying to make sense of the emotions raging inside me. I had to resist. I couldn't be falling in love with Misty! It's bizarre! She's not real!

And yet there she was, next to me. Just as true as a person would be back in the other world, with her own thoughts and feelings inside her mind.

I felt butterflies in my stomach whenever I looked at her, and my heart rate increased too. My mind was struggling in vain against what my heart and body were telling me. I had somehow, in another reality, found something I never thought I'd experience.

Love.

And just my luck that I had ended up as the son of one of the most bigoted mares on the entire planet.

As I lay there, she suddenly appeared before me. "How could you, Sprout?" she said.

"Could I what?" I asked.

"You've brought shame on the Cloverleaf name by falling in love with that thing!" she said. "I'm not prepared to risk my company or my reputation because of this!"

"She's not a thing!" I protested. "She's a pony with her own thoughts and feelings, and if you took the effort to know her you'd understand why I love her."

"Unicorns killed your father, Sprout," Phyllis said. "We cannot trust them. Once you've turned your back, what's stopping her from frying your brain or stabbing you somewhere important?"

"Because she's a nice mare and unicorns can't fry brains?" I returned.

"You can either inherit the company or have her, not both," Phyllis said coldly. "You had better choose wisely." And just as suddenly as she had appeared she vanished into thin air.

Once she was gone, I fell back onto my pillow and sighed. This was all turning into such a mess. The world going to war right before my eyes, the scenes here, me falling for one of our enemies- I was so, so worried about the future now.

Not that the blasted stripes guy made it any easier. Things were going so well before he showed up.

I guess it shows that the old saying is true, huh? The road to Tartarus truly is paved with good intentions.

The moon continued to glow above me, and I tried to focus on the needs of my brain. It was probably just exhausted after a long day, and hopefully I would soon be out like a light.

My mind was suddenly sucked into a dark and fiery landscape. I looked around, seeing the flames burning all around me. "Hello? Is anypony there?" I noticed there was no sunlight, but it couldn't have been night time as there were shadows.

My eyes were suddenly drawn to a massive explosion nearby, and my eyes looked over to see what seemed to be fighting. Artillery and missile vehicles were firing on targets outside of my line of fire, and there were ranks of soldiers lined up in defensive lines below my position.

They formed a mixture of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi- all three tribes fighting together. But what against?

As machine guns and cannons continued to blaze, and tanks moved in to provide fire support against advancing foes, I finally got a line on the enemy.

Soldiers. Human soldiers. They swarmed forward like a tide, the goggles of their helmets glowing bright red as they charged forward. The armour plating had a number stamped on it- 732.

732? What did that denote? I had never seen armour or weapons like this before, but they were advancing in huge numbers. Supporting their advance were large battlemechs. Some lumbered forward slowly, providing weapons fire like tanks. Others leaped through the air like gymnasts and sliced through the field, tossing tanks and fortifications aside like toys. It was actually quite terrifying to watch, seeing these machines rip through pony lines.

And yet the ponies kept on fighting. "HOLD THE LINE!" I heard an officer shout. "WE NEED TO BUY THEM TIME!"

Them? Who was them? Who, precisely, were they buying time for?

It was then I saw a bright flash of light from up above, and realised why there was no sunlight. What I had assumed was the night was a craft. A circular craft, possibly a spacecraft. It was so incredibly massive it blotted out the sun itself. It floated above the terrain, the source of light coming from underneath the craft and being attached to it.

Equipment on the underside of the vessel began to open, and the light grew stronger. Energies began to coalesce around the equipment as something began to happen. A loud noise, sounding almost like the groaning of some sort of machine, started up.

Once the noise reached fever pitch, it seemingly stopped. All went silent. And then a single beam travelled down from the ship, and into the ground, punching into it with a bang. Rock and dust was blown into the air, flattening anything in its path.

The light continued to burn, and suddenly lava began to spew forth from the ground. I tried to run, to retreat, but I saw the entire planet's landscape starting to flood with lava. Was this it for me?

Just as the lava reached me I suddenly bounced back into awareness, breathing heavily. The sun was starting to rise outside.

I looked around, confused. "What the Fuck did I just see?"

Author's Note

Looks like Sprout is starting to have some feelings for of Misty.... :3