CHAPTER 1:
Rushing wind was the only sound flowing through Roger Mason’s ears as he sat in the Blackhawk’s open door. The chopper was quiet, outfitted for high stealth, deep penetration missions. He sat, keeping to himself, constantly running through the plan in his mind. Rappel down, 4 seconds. Two Militiamen, 100 meters to the west. Three more in the tower 275 meters north, 10 meters high. Watch the corners; beware of tangos responding to shots… On and on he sprinted through, knowing exactly where and when to expect trouble. They had been trained for this, the five Delta Operators riding in the helicopter with him were some of the best the Army had. They had been handpicked for this mission, not only for their skills and toughness, but because they had few or no relatives back home, no one to miss them when they didn’t come home. If we don’t come home Mason corrected himself. You never had that attitude, or else it’ll manifest itself in your actions, he thought, and then you’re not the only one who will die. Mason looked around at the other men. Besides, we’ve planned for everything. What can go wrong? They’ve got my back and I’ve got theirs. The positive thinking comforted him. What he wasn’t thinking of though, was something no one ever thought they’d need to plan for.
The pilot, a Lieutenant Colonel in the 160th SOAR, was on his last Special Operations mission. After this sortie, the only items left on his schedule were retirement and lots of fishing and hunting back home. He was still focused on the mission, because he knew six of the military’s best were relying on him. He looked down to check his instruments, and noticed something funny on the terrain following radar. The output screen was glitching, but the auto-navigation system was fine, so he put it out of his mind. They were speeding along the valley, hidden from any Anti-Air system, completely undetectable. As he was about to speak to his co-pilot regarding the glitching screen, they heard a sharp noise come through their headsets, like a young child yelling “Yay”. The operators heard it too, and as the Co-pilot asked who broke radio silence, there was loud grinding noise and a large crash. The last thing Mason remembered was seeing the desert rush up towards him, then black…
Mason woke up later, Who knows how later he thought to himself, and looked around. No wreckage, no remains, just the five other operators who had been enroute with him what seemed like only moments before. As he came too, the others did as well, and the first thing they all noticed was that no one had a scratch, a bruise, or even a sign of impact. It was as if some omnipotent being had set them all there, ever so gently. They checked their equipment, no one was missing a thing. How could this be? thought Mason, A high speed crash like that, and not only is no one hurt, we aren’t missing a thing. His first instincts told him to be suspicious, but at the same time his gut told him to relax. He had a warm, comforting feeling, as if a person was hugging him, telling him it would be alright, but that only made him more suspicious. Before he had time to think on it, Onyx, the team leader, was calling out a roll of call signs, making sure everyone was alright. “Granite!” “Here and fine, sir!” said one. “Knight!” “Here and fine, sir!” said another. “Steel!” “Here and fine, sir!” barked Mason. One by one, Onyx went through the call signs. One by one, each operator answered the same way. After they all checked equipment and themselves, they decided the best course of action was to climb to the top of a nearby small hill to get a better view and plan from there. As they were climbing up, no one spoke. Where are we? How did we get here? How long were we out? Can we still complete our mission? Mason thought to himself as he climbed upwards, unsure of what awaited him.
Mason was first to the top, as he was on point, and he rose above the crest he saw a town, but not a normal town. He stood in awe, saying nothing, as the rest of the group reached the top. “Holy god.” one of the soldiers muttered as they gazed upon the town. For this was not a town full of people, but one full of…what appeared to be….colored horses. Of all colors and sizes, and each had a drawing right above their back hip on both sides. I’m either hallucinating in the desert, or I’m dead thought Mason, as he was these ponies bound and walk and appear to communicate with each other as humans would. Granite spoke first, “Well, I suppose we’re either all dead or we’re on drugs. But, since we all see it, I say we go down and have a look-see. It ain’t like we can’t handle anything.” All agreed, except Onyx, who stayed silent and simply shook his head. Mason started walking and the others began to follow, but just as they did four pegasi swooped down and surrounded them. The team began to raise their weapons, but Onyx ordered “Weapons down, hold your fire!” and the team followed. Mason approached one of the pegasi, a cyan one with a rainbow mane and a rainbow lightning bolt on its flank, and told it hello and asked for a name in all 5 languages he knew. The pegasus, however, it only motioned its head in the direction of the town. “They want us to follow them, I guess” said Knight. As they walked forwards, the other pegasi formed a diamond around them. At first, Mason assumed that this was to keep them from trying to escape. But once they entered the main town, he realized it was as much to keep them from running off as to keep the other horses from flocking stampeding them. The pegasi guided Frost Team to a building carved out of a very large, very old tree. As they entered, a purple unicorn walked down a flight of stairs.
The unicorn and cyan pegasus approached as human friends would, Mason noted to himself. They appeared to communicate in hushed tones until the purple unicorn grabbed a book- wait, a book? Mason did a double take. The unicorn flipped through the pages until it found what it was looking for, then closed its eyes. As it did this, its horn lit up in a purple glow and then a bright flash filled the room. As the soldiers recovered from the shock, they heard the purple unicorn ask “Hello?” Every soldier snapped up as the unicorn repeated “Hello? Can you understand me? My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight? What the hell sort of name is that? Mason thought. Onyx stepped forward saying, “Hello. My name is James Short, First Sergeant, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, United States Army. I am the leader of this team. We do not know how we arrived here, wherever ‘here’ is. We do not come to harm anyone, but we will defend ourselves. We are humans, from a planet called Earth, as I assume this is not Earth.” The cyan pegasus spoke for the first time, “Oh my gosh, Twilight! Humans! Do you know what this means?!” however, the unicorn motioned for her to be quiet. “I was correct in assumption then, that you are human” said Twilight, “And I also believe that I am right in my assumption that there is no chance you could be here, and even less chance of you returning.”