[Location: Manehatan]
[Night]

It was a peaceful night in the big city of Manehattan. Most ponies were asleep after a hard day's work; those who were still awake were either guards or those on the night shift. Still, it was a quiet night—almost too quiet. The silence was broken as two balls of energy suddenly appeared in the sky, making a strange "vurrrrr" sound.

After a minute or two, both energy balls started moving: one of them went towards Central Park, and the other towards downtown.

[Manehatan central park]

The first ball of energy that had been directed towards the park crashed into the ground before vanishing. In the midst of the eerie surroundings, a figure lay on the park floor, donning a distinctive outfit that included a mask concealing his face and red, two-lensed monocular sonar goggles over his right eye.

Yes, it was Kestrel, but contrary to expectations, he was alive and breathing. He wore his VR SV1 Akula uniform. Suddenly, his eyes shot open wide, and he swiftly sat up, gasping for breath. "Ughhh," he groaned loudly, experiencing the most excruciating headache of his life. The pain was unbearable.

Despite the difficulty, he managed to stand up, his head throbbing with agony. He surveyed his surroundings, taking in the sight of trees and grass. Confusion overwhelmed him as he muttered to himself, "Where am I?" Memories of his recent battle with Archer flooded back into his mind, along with the realization that he had killed him in self-defense. But, there was one more memory that resurfaced—he had been shot and.... died. Yes, he remembered it.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Kestrel glanced down at himself and noticed he was wearing his uniform. It perplexed him since he had been in his regular clothing on the transport plane. "Strange," he thought to himself. Did someone help him put on the uniform?

He stood up and made his way toward a chair that was not too far from him and sat on it, resting his head on the table in front of him. He took off his sonar goggles and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, hoping the pain in his head would end soon. After a minute or two, the pain died down. Kestrel sighed and slowly opened his eyes, removed his head from the table, and leaned back in his seat. Looking around, he realized it was nighttime and he was in a park, which puzzled him. "How did I end up here?" he thought to himself.

Wanting answers, he stood up from his seat, put his sonar goggles and headsets back on the right side of hes head, and started jogging, wanting to get out of the park. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something on the ground to his left, hidden in the grass—something shiny. Curiosity got the better of him, and he made his way toward the object. Upon arrival, he crouched down and slowly grabbed the metal object. He picked it up and realized it was his fully upgraded spas-12 shotgun. He examined the weapon and wondered how it had ended up here with him. "This doesn't make sense," he thought.

Kestrel examined the weapon, it had a red dot sight on, extended ammo with 12 shells, he pumped the shotgun, to get it ready. Kestrel put the weapon on his back and started walking to find an exit.

After a minute or so, he came to a sudden halt when he felt something on his back brushing against the grassy ground. It was... unusual. He looked over his shoulder and looked down; it was... something black and hairy. He touched the strange thing with his hand and realized it was somehow attached to him. Kestrel grasped the thing and gave it a tug. "GAHH!" Kestrel grunted as he gritted his teeth and gave it another tug, which caused him to grunt again.

Kestrel stopped tugging on the thing as he felt it twitch. He let go of the hairy object and felt it swish left and right; the problem was that it felt like it was part of his being.

Kestrel took off his mask and goggles, and touched his face. "what is going on?" he stammered as he felt his face was in a strange shape. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a pool of water.

He quickly ran towards the water and looked down at his reflection; the sight caused him to gasp and go wide-eyed.

Staring back at him was the face of a horse-like creature. It had a dark gray coat with a black mane and tail, orange eyes, and a large scar from its left eyebrow all the way to its cheek. The horse guy looked terrified, just like him.

He blinked a few times to see if he was seeing things, but it was still there.

Fear gripped him, an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. Pure terror consumed his soul.

"[Что, черт возьми, со мной случилось!!!!!?]" he yelled, his voice carrying beyond the confines of the park.

[downtown Manehatan]

The second ball of energy, however, went towards downtown. It made its way above an apartment and disappeared, dropping a figure on the rooftop.

I think you know who it is, right? Well, you're right; it's Archer, in his 3E eclipse uniform. He's not aware of it, though; hell, he's not even awake yet.

His eyes started twitching beneath his sonar goggles. His goggles were gleaming with green light, unlike Kestrel's, which were red and it was positioned on his left eye.

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and he sat up, clutching his chest, his breaths coming in short gasps. His chest was in excruciating pain, making breathing difficult.

After a few minutes of failed attempts at taking a deep breath, he could feel the pain slowly going away, making breathing much easier.

After taking a few deep breaths, Archer opened his eyes and looked around him. It was clear that he was on the rooftop of an apartment in a city, which puzzled him. "What the fuck?" he thought.

Archer slowly stood up, examining himself. To his surprise, he was wearing his 3E Eclipse outfit, and he raised an eyebrow at that.

He checked himself more carefully and realized he had all his gear: his goggles, OPSAT, gadgets, and his Five-Seven handgun.

He was in shock. In the Pelican, he had been in his normal shirt and pants, but now he was in his uniform with all his things. Last but not least, he was in a city, on a rooftop. "Damn," he whispered.

He was trying to remember what had happened in the Pelican. He had been ordered by Director Reed to eliminate Kestrel, his Russian friend, but somehow, Kestrel had used his plan against him and shoved a knife into his chest after a fight. Well, that was it; he couldn't remember anything else.

Archer decided to leave it at that and try to find out where he was first. He made his way toward the ledge of the rooftop and looked down at the city.

First of all, it was nighttime. Second of all, he realized he was in a downtown area or something, judging by the fact that all the apartments were dirty and old.

Thirdly—"What the actual fuck!?" Archer exclaimed as he saw something he wouldn't even dream of.

Down in the streets stood a figure whose appearance was something that could only be from a little girl's dream.

The creature was something like an anthro horse or something like that; it had a yellow coat with a green mane and tail. It looked like a female, a mare to be precise.

She was dressed in a pink t-shirt and blue jeans. She looked stressed and kind of scared, glancing side to side to make sure no one was following her. The man began walking, and he decided to follow her, rooftop to rooftop.

He was going to climb up to the next flat that was taller than the one he was currently on when suddenly his eyes caught sight of his reflection in a half-broken mirror that was leaning against a wall.

Slowly making his way towards the mirror, his heart pounded more rapidly at what he saw—or thought he saw—in the mirror.

When he was close enough to the mirror, the sight was something he couldn't believe. It was him, for sure, but his head was in a strange shape, covered by his mask and goggles.

He gulped and slowly brought his hand to his head, taking off his mask completely. The sight made him gasp and back away a few steps, eyes wide.

In the reflection, just like the horse lady from before, stood a tan-colored horse guy, or stallion, donned in a special uniform.

He had dark brown curly hair, or mane, and light brown eyes. Archer felt something on his ass and looked back and down: a tail, a fucking tail.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Author's Note

Sorry for the long long wait, I almost forgot everything. But I managed to write this, don't worry the next chapter will come way sooner.