Chapter 1: "Nebraska ain't for ponies."
Rocky hilltop in unknown woods in Nebraska
July 18, 1864
108th Infantry, under command of Col. Richard Donaldson
"I got me some blues!" Tom shouted as he pulled the hammer back on his whitworth rifle, peering through the scope awkwardly set directly on the side of the gun. About three blue dots were around two to three miles away, though Tom couldn't tell through the scope. "You sure you saw blues? Ain't your eyes playin' tricks on ya?" Donaldson came over with his binoculars as he said it. "They are undoubtedly blues sir" Tom tried to say as sophisticated as possible, sadly not too easy with a heavy southern accent.
The rest of the men stood up and came over as well. They had been sitting on that rock for days and had been hoping for anything to happen. Anything just to get them off this rock. Even if it was nothing, it was something. Something just to get them off that damned rock. Tom and the colonel actually started arguing over what they were. Eventually Donaldson agreed to take the men scouting when he saw the dots retreating through his binoculars. "Where the hell are those federals headed?" Tom thought to him self while the dots on his cross hair slowly faded away in the forest.
"Look sir, there's a clearin' out there." One soldier pointed out. It was true, Tom pointed the rifle up a little bit, there was a clearing at the edge of the forest, four miles out. With a quick gear check and a demoralizing "Hurry your asses up or they'll be gone!" courtesy of the colonel, they set off quickly down the rocky hill and into the forest, nearly sprinting their way towards their potential prey.
Unknown field outside Canterlot
Nearby forest
July 18, 1002 Equestrian Calender
"MY hooves hurt, we've been walking for hours!" Rarity moaned because of the walking, like she always does. They were barely ten miles away from Canterlot, eight of them being by chariot. Celestia brought the elements of harmony with her as they wandered the foreign landscape.
"So this is what happens when you tamper with an invisibility spell centuries old hiding your whole world." Celestia thought to herself. It's been a bit over a week since the outside world was discovered, confirming why many Equestrian scientists concluded their world was really flat. A little forgotten scroll and an enchanted stone caused all this. The scroll told of other things going on during hearth's warming eve, of the savage, cruel beasts not like ponykind. Once Equestria was established an enchanted stone was placed on a pedestal in the Canterlot royal gardens, making the country and similar land around invisible, bonding the land together where it once was like nothing was ever there before. No pony cared to ever inform Celestia of this and she doesn't go around reading forgotten scrolls so naturally it was her curiosity that opened the gate to a landscape stretching far beyond what the eye can see. Not even Luna's powerful telescope could see where the land changes, meaning it must either be much, much larger then Equestria or just a land of rivers, forests and plains.
Ponies were actually excited, because now they had much more land fresh and fertile to grow crops, and endless room for new towns and cities. This new land however, eventually became feared after the first two official expedition teams never returned after three days. That is why Celestia took it upon herself to search the landscape for anything dangerous or unsuitable for ponies.
Clearing outside forest in Nebraska
July 18, 1864
108th Infantry
The union soldiers fled at a pace seemingly impossible. No matter how fast Donaldson and his men ran, the federals were always ahead and getting farther ahead. By the time the men finally took a break, their grey uniforms were getting darker with sweat and the blue dots still just dots. Donaldson concluded the fleeing union must be cavalry and there fore chasing them is a waste of time and energy. He ordered Tom to fire at them. The scope couldn't be adjusted for distance so Tom just aimed slightly upwards from his target blue dot and fired. The recoil made the scope smack his eye, and he got mad when he realized he ran with his gun being able to go off. As soon as he looked back through the scope he almost jumped back, that little dot was zooming towards him faster than he ever saw anything go! Unfortunately though, no one got a good look at the thing. It must have been a bird, that speed was not humanly possible.
It also soon flew back too fast to actually be seen, all that was seen was a blue streak in the sky. The men decided that somehow since that thing went back were it came from they should all continue forward. Then they saw it. Or 'them'. They just peaked a few hundred yards long hill when they saw, not more than three hundred yards off, the blue dots. Only, they weren't dots now, they were clear and somewhat easy to see. No man said anything as they watched this, this... thing. It was blue as a matter of fact, but it wasn't a man. No, it looked more like a horse. It's body was blue but it's face was orange. The hair on it's head, or mane, as some of the men knew about horses, was orange as well. It even had orange wings. This horse being was communicating with a bigger one near it somehow. The big one was, well, big. It was white as flour and it's mane was multiple colors and flowed even though not one man could feel even the slightest breeze. Tom made up his mind this was the leader because the other ones kept walking up and talking to it. Tom could only assume these things talked. For all he knew, these things could communicate using simple neighs like real horses, but that was unlikely because they couldn't have been so well organized if they actually did.
The men made sure to stay low on the hill in case the horses looked in their direction. After a few minutes of watching two of the three blue ones started staring directly at the men. It was a cold, get your ass out of here before I beat you dead kind of stare. It started driving Tom and the others crazy. They finally stood up, they couldn't take that stare anymore. Donaldson had the men start marching down the hill towards them. Those horse things just stared as the men marched forward, columns of five, ten columns, Confederate flag above their heads. It was about five minutes to cover those three hundred yards at that pace, but it felt like a lifetime.
"What are those things?" Rainbow Dash asked no pony specifically. "I have no idea." admitted Twilight Sparkle, who knew almost anything about everything. In Equestria, at least.
The creatures clad in grey carrying pieces of wood and a flag marched slowly down to meet them. Celestia was the first to meet them. One of these creatures, presumably the leader, came up to here. It wore a different hat than the others. They wore what looked like normal caps, except the top was flat and slanted downwards. This one though, wore a hat similar to Applejack's, wide circular outer brim, although this one had bumps in the crown and was grey. "Hello there ma'am." he surprised her, she didn't think he could speak perfect Equestrian, let alone talk at all. "From the way he sounds" Celestia thought, "This is going to be a long day."
