SCAR

Chapters

Chapter I
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter II

Chapter I

SCAR
Chapter I

Journal entry 1: May, 2018

Four years.

It's been four God forsaken years since North Korea made good on their threats of nuclear attack against the United States of America. In that time, I've seen buildings looted, children executed, women raped, and people starve to death. I always intervene when I can, although it's not a perfect world, and I have to look out for myself first. What good am I if I just got riddled with bullets trying to save one girl?

Maybe it sounds cold, but I can't be bothered to care.

This is not a video game, like I always expected it might be. I prepared, a little bit. A green handled Ka Bar knife was the first item, followed a month later by a SCAR-L. I did it right, went through firearms handling classes, filled out the proper background checks and paperwork to own the assault weapon; the paperwork didn't help much in the long run I suppose. Although I've yet to ask a bandit if they'd like to see my permits.

I got good at using the rifle, which I guess is the important thing. I can fire the 5.56x45mm ammunition from one hundred yards and hit every time, I'll never claim to be a sniper, although if I had some kind of optics beyond the model 552 holographic sight, I might surprise myself.

So there I was, SCAR-L all shiny and new, mounted fore-grip and holographic sight, Ka Bar combat knife, a matte black blade with a neon green handle and biohazard logo. A Cutco model to be specific, one I got from a friend when she had a summer job as a salesperson for the company. Only $160.

. . . Damn was I wasteful back then.

Oh well, paper currency only counts for fire starter these days.

And let's not forget my pistol: a Sig Sauer P226, firing .40 rounds. I only have two clips for her, both holding 15 rounds apiece. I've also got four STANAG magazines for my SCAR, holding 30 rounds apiece. Running low on 5.56 rounds though, going to have to make an ammo run here soon.

Oh, I suppose since this is my first entry, I should at least write who I am. My name is Geoff, that's all anyone reading this needs to know. Only my family knows my last name, and they're all dead. I think.

I grew up in a town in northern Arizona, a little place called Winslow. It wasn't touched by the bombs, but there was literally nothing there anyway.

I'm off to town now, hopefully the Wal-Mart here has some ammunition. Wouldn't count on it, but I do know of one crazy prick who lived around here. He was the "prepper" that got me started with my weapons, his name was Jack Thompson. I know for a fact that he's long gone. Woke up one morning to a note in my old house's mailbox that said he went east and left some supplies for me in his personal fallout bunker.

I pray that it's not just a shit ton of saltines.

If anyone finds this, and I'm not back by sunset, feel free to write in here. Leave it for the next person to come along though, tell your story, where you're from. Maybe we can be friends, I think I'm starting to lose my mind thanks to the lack of human contact.

I descended the stairs of the watch tower, originally built to watch for forest fires. Taking a deep breath, I headed off toward the town at the bottom of the mountain. I had no friends, not even any allies, but after finding that dusty old leather bound book I decided to write down my thoughts. The tower would make a decent base of operations for him while picking the city clean, and it'd also provide a place to store extra food and water.

I let my thoughts wander as I descended along the trail, keeping half an ear out for any signs of movement that could indicate a threat. Mt Elden I think the mountain is called, it lies just north of the city of Flagstaff, Arizona. There's even a marked trail leading up to the top. I grew up around this place, coming into town on the weekends with my dad to get some hardware or going school shopping with my mom. My grandparents lived somewhere around here, I need to see if I can remember where their house is.

There's also a lake fairly nearby, probably a day's journey there and back. Less if I can find a bike or *scoff* a working car.

I marched on silently, double checking my holster and combat vest a few times. I'd picked up the vest at a sporting goods store, where it was advertised as an air soft accessory. Didn't stop me from repurposing it to hold my extra magazines though. I kept my SCAR at my chest, always pointing down into the dirt. For this trip, I'd wrapped my Ka-Bar handle with an old shirt sleeve, just to hide the neon green from anyone looking for targets.

Leaving the trail when I neared the bottom, and creeping through an abandoned neighborhood, I exited onto an old road. There were many cracks and blemishes on the surface where different grasses and weeds had grown through.

There was a road sign on my way in, built with some sandstone and metal, it read "Welcome to Flagstaff, where we're building an inclusive community!" It was the first time I'd laughed in weeks.

The laughter reminded me of my dad's laugh. Somehow I'd ended up with his belly-based guffaw style of expressing humor.

As soon as the bombs fell it was every man for himself, DC had gone up in flames, they didn't even pick up the missile before the blast. The government was obliterated in seconds, no word from the President or any officials. The first blast had rocked the world, the dozens that followed it just rubbed broken glass in the wound.

Amid my laughter a bucket rolled down an embankment beside the road, making a noise that snapped me back to reality. I dropped to my stomach, shouldering my rifle and scanning for threats for a whole ten minutes before deciding that it was just the wind. I still get freaked out by unexpected sounds, the first time had been just a couple hours after leaving my home to search for help or supplies.

That time, it wasn't the wind.

A young man strolled down the middle of a street, temperatures that day were in the 90 degree range. He was sweaty and tired, hungry and dehydrated. Almost everyone had left town, opting to head inland to avoid the bombs along the coast. The kicker for most of them had been when Phoenix and Las Vegas had gotten hit.

A rock skidded across the ground, barely drawing a glance from the boy in his zombified state of mind. He took three more steps before a gravely, slurred voice called out behind him.

"Hey! You got a few bucks, kid?" A clearly drunken man walked up behind him.

He wasn't frightened, drunks were all over the place in his town. The most they'd do was cuss a few times and waddle away to clean the shit out of their pants before passing out beside a road. He turned around, backpedaling and throwing his arms out to the side nonchalantly, "Naw man, sorry. All the shit recently hasn't given me much reason to carry money."

This drunk though, apparently was not to be dissuaded so easily. "Come on man, help a brother out. I gotta get a bus ticket back to my family in Iowa."

Geoff sighed, idly placing a hand on the grip of his Ka-Bar, "Look, I'm sorry man, but I don't have any money at all. Besides, there hasn't been anyone in town for a week and a half."

He turned his back on the man, picking up his pace a bit and undoing the strap that held the knife securely in its sheath. He heard the man grumbling something incoherently behind him, seemingly discouraged enough to quit pestering him. With a smug smile, he walked on.

"GREEDY LITTLE BASTARD!" The sudden shout from the man startled Geoff into turning around, just in time to catch a fist to his face. He fell back against the burning concrete, dropping the knife, which skittered across the ground and stopped beside his head.

His vision swam as he tried to get the weapon back, but the drunken figure on top of him grabbed it first. "Damn kids these days, not wanting to share their blessings with other folks. When I was your age, we'd get beat up for not sharing!" He rambled on, turning the knife on Geoff's face.

The young man hissed in pain as the razor sharp blade bit into his cheek, causing a stream of blood to roll down the left side of his face. The man laughed bitterly, drawing back and punching him again. Geoff could feel his right eye swelling shut from the hit immediately. The man mumbled something else about kids and how they were all pussies compared to his generation, before driving the blade down into his left bicep.

Geoff screamed in pain, praying in the back of his mind that someone not crazy would just shoot the guy and let him live. The drunk started laughing, screaming at the boy, "I was in 'Nam! I FOUGHT FOR YOU SNOT NOSED BRATS AND WHAT DID I GET? I GOT A LIFE SENTANCE FOR KILLING THE PRICK THAT PUNCHED MY FRIEND!" The man brought the knife to Geoff's ear, "I got fucked plenty of times in that prison, maybe it's time I return . . . the . . ."

Finally, the drunk passed out. He slumped forward onto Geoff's face, forcing the young man to push his limp body off him. He grabbed his Ka-Bar, favoring his left arm as he pushed himself up. He immediately hobbled back to his house, a small trailer in one of the suburbs of Winslow. The entire time, he had tears staining his cheeks, stinging the gash cut into his face.

I shuddered after recalling that event. For months afterward I never went anywhere without my rifle, and would hide for hours at the first sign of trouble. It had taken seeing a little girl, no older than twelve, attacking a guy my age for me to finally sack up and do something. I'd shot her right in the chest to save the guy's life, hoping to gain a friend and partner out of it.

Turns out that she'd been stabbing him because he had shot her dad in cold blood. I'd killed the attacker, who was taking revenge on a piece of shit murderer. When I found out, I shot the guy twelve times in the chest. He'd had the gall to brag about the event like it was some video game achievement.

I crept down the side of the highway, using the ditch to conceal my movement. I passed the Flagstaff mall, a pitiful little shopping center that didn't hold any promise. A few minutes down the road, I came across a used car dealership. I doubted any of them ran, and all of the tires were deflated and cracked from four years of sitting still. I still scavenged for useful things, taking some copper wire and rubber hoses from the ones I could get into.

An hour later, I entered a Wal-Mart. I went to the food section first, making sure there wasn't anything useful there. I did manage to find a gallon of drinking water and a bag of potato chips, so the trip wasn't a waste at least. I grabbed another pair of pants also, ditching my old hole filled rags for a new pair of black Dickies work pants. The pockets on the sides would come in handy.

I rounded the corner to the sporting goods department, and my heart sank a little bit. The ammo had been stripped from the shelves, the only evidence that it'd been there in the first place was a few stray .22 rounds on the floor. I did manage to get a roll of fishing line though, I knew of a couple ponds in the area that were stocked with Rainbow Trout before all this. Maybe they'd supply me with some food.

Checking around some more, I found a portable IPod charging station, as well as a few batteries to power it. I was glad to see the batteries, most other places were fresh out of the precious little capsules, and I'd at least have something to listen to my music with. Before heading out, I decided to grab a couple magazines from the news stand, I didn't pay much attention to what I got, just something with hot women, guns, and big trucks.

Also found a Twix bar on one of the shelves. Awesome day.

I took inventory before heading out, my once empty backpack now filled with a gallon jug of water, copper wires, rubber hoses, half a bag of chips, reading material (and let's be honest, masturbation material, don't judge me, it's been two and a half years since I've seen a grown woman) fishing line, a couple lures, 30 AA batteries, and my new IPod dock.

All in all, not bad for a day of scavving a single store. Shaking a can of spray paint, I started marking the wall beside the door. A simple message: "Looted" was all. Just to keep my numbers right and not waste time checking the same place twice. I knew that there'd be more in other places, and there were some sporting goods stores to hit also. I'll hit Jack's place tomorrow and see what the crazy bastard left for me.

The hike back was uneventful, although night fell halfway back to the mountain. I got back to the tower alright, sorting my gear into piles to store until I either used everything or decided to move on. The tower still had working lights, which were on a mysterious timer that I couldn't find, so I opted to leave my gear in the tower and set up my tent a couple dozen yards away in the tree line.

I set a trip wire at the bottom of the steps, using a bit of fishing line to tie some tin cans together. They would rattle around if someone got caught in it, alerting me that my equipment was in danger. I would've moved it with me, but after a year of not seeing anyone there, I simply didn't give it much thought.

Sighing, I shuffled down into my sleeping bag, ensuring that my SCAR was at my side and loaded just in case, and drifted off to sleep.

Entry 2: June/July?, 2018

So it's been a while since I wrote in this thing. I'm still in the tower outside Flagstaff. I went by Jack's bunker to check for supplies, turns out he actually left me most of his stash. I've got a few cases of water bottles now, getting them up here is the hard part. I've gotten three of the twelve up the mountain, one every few days as needed. He also left me a ton of Army MREs. I've been limiting myself to one per day, since I figure they were made to fuel a soldier through a day's worth of fighting.

He also left me some ammo, I've now got all four magazines full with 5.56 rounds, as well as another 180 in my pack. They're extra weight, but I can deal with it for the security.

I honestly can't complain, there's not anyone to fuck with me here, and I have food to eat and water to drink. I built up my magazine stash a bit, and now have about ten of them, including a Playboy that Jack left just for me.

I love that crazy old geezer.

I've almost gotten the radio on this tower working, it was a bitch to find a manual on electronics to fix it up, but the Radio Shack here had a bunch of components so I've been able to grab whatever I need.

I think I'll leave a case of water buried here under the tower when I leave, and a few meals. If you find this book, leave your name, the date, and your story if you feel like sharing. Look for the rock pile under the tower, there will be supplies there.

I closed the book, setting it back on the table in the observation tower. For a second I thought I saw a flash further down the mountain, but after twenty minutes of staring at the area, I brushed it off and went back to work on the radio.

"Let's see," I mumbled, "This wire goes. . . here? No, here." I set the wire in place before staring at the circuitry for a few moments. All of this effort to get this shit here, and I'd forgotten that I'd have to solder the damn cables. Not to mention that I had been bullshitting my face off in the journal. Those twelve cases had really been four, and the ton of meals had been around fifty. I wasn't eating one a day, but one every three days.

My body was showing signs of malnourishment, I was hallucinating fairly often. Yesterday, I thought that there was a Playboy bunny walking across the clearing toward me, but it was really a mountain lion. I shot the bastard before he pounced, so that would feed me for about a week, but I'd have to eat it before it began to rot.

I was still planning on leaving some supplies behind, not because I couldn't use them all, but because I just didn't give a fuck any more. I had ammo, yes, but I was taking that shit with me. I'd found a nice grove a few miles away, and it seemed to be a nice place to die.

In a fit of rage, I brought my fists down on the radio in front of me. I was planning on making one broadcast to see who I could reach, but my fist saw that plan shattered. The pcb that was the heart of the radio split into five pieces, and I was left with several pieces of metal and plastic stabbing me in the hand.

Sucking on the wound, I grabbed my second IPod. I'd found it in a house I'd decided to go through, and it had some decent stuff on it. Not what I'd normally listen to, but it fit my situation better than the rap and techno I used to listen to.

That was by far the highlight of this whole apocalypse. Discovering metal. Sure I listened to rock before, who hasn't? But there's something about double bass and high gain guitar that made it click with my daily fight for survival.

I sighed, picking up my backpack and throwing my standard kit in; four MREs, four water bottles, ammo, spare batteries, IPods, speakers and headphones for said IPods, and magazine collection. I stood and thought about it for a minute, then threw two of the MREs back into the pile. I wasn't planning on coming back from this trip.

I left my campsite as it was, not bothering to clean up after myself. After five hours of stalking through the woods, I finally came to the aspen grove. It was beautiful, a steep valley filled with the white trees. Sunlight filtered down through the canopy, casting a warm glow throughout this little sanctuary. I saw a deer bounding through the trees, scared away by my scent or the noise I was making.

I pulled out the IPod speakers, scrolling through the song list on this new device. There was a big selection, around 7,000 songs. I still don't know how people have that much music, most I ever had was 1,200 on mine. I scrolled through the songs, looking for a title that would catch my eye. Eventually I found one, 1,000 songs in and only on 'C'. I hit play, the title reading Come Little Children.

As I sat there listening, I pulled out an MRE. I began to eat and listen at the same time, taking time to actually enjoy the meal rather than just shovel as much into my mouth as I could. The view was serene, with the soft female voice echoing gently from the valley walls. I sighed as the song neared its second ending, packing up my speakers and allowing it to repeat a third time. I sat back against the rock, deciding that the song would repeat until someone found my body or until the IPod ran out of battery.

I took one last glance at the sky, clear blue met my gaze. It was so peaceful, and for the first time in years I was actually relaxed. I wasn't constantly tense, looking around for anything that could kill or injure me if I wasn't alert. I finally had an end in sight, and for a moment I figured that thousands of others had taken this way out too. I brought my pistol up, placing the barrel between my eyes and closing them.

I began to sing at the end of the song, "Come little children, the time's come to play, here in my garden of sha~a~dows~." I listened for a little longer, allowing the song to finish its last beat.

POP

Twilight Sparkle dragged herself out of bed, a long night of studying causing her to sleep well into the afternoon. Her library was a mess, a mess she really didn't want to clean. She glanced around the room, noticing that Spike was still passed out in his basket.

She smiled happily, content with her life and all she had. Six amazing friends, a fantastic assistant, and her teacher was the Princess herself, almost a second mother to the purple mare.

pop

A distant noise caused the sleepy pony's ears to swivel toward the Everfree Forest that encircled half of the small town. Her curiosity piqued for a moment, before her stomach growling called her to find food. She shrugged, levitating a brush to tame her bed mane, before venturing down to the kitchen.

Author's Note

Just a side project, I'll not be updating this one very often, still have two other stories to write for and all that.

Comment and stuff, I read them all.

Chapter III

SCAR
Chapter III

I sighed, clearing the breach of my SCAR and inserting a fresh magazine. I racked a round into the chamber, maybe being a little rough with the charging handle as I took several deep breaths to try and calm myself.

I sat down on the hill, calming myself by making a mental map of the town while loading the now empty mag with fresh rounds. I placed the now full magazine in a chest pocket, squinting through the bright sunlight for a moment before remembering that I had a pair of sunglasses. . . somewhere. After a few minutes of digging through my backpack, I pulled out my final pair. My dad had worked for the railroad before the war, and he had ended up leaving several pairs around the house.

While rummaging through my pack, I discovered that I had one extra item with me. A book, hard cover, titled The Ever Lasting Man. I wasn't sure why it was in my pack instead of in its usual place in my tent, but there were some useful passages within that could come in handy if I were to try and explain humanity at some point.

Returning to my search for sun glasses, I don't know if my dad knew that I would snag a pair every once in a while, but I do know that the Nemesis safety glasses were roughly $7 on Amazon back then. I packed up my gear, being cautious with the loose ammo so I didn't accidentally set off a round by dropping it or something equally stupid.

Everything packed away, I put my backpack back on. My foot was killing me, so I began the arduous task of limping toward the town. After what felt like an eternity, I turned to glance at the hill, I'd made it about thirty yards. Great.

I started up some music on the newer of the two IPods, letting it play over the speakers. I wasn't quite sure how to feel, on one hand, I was finally going back to civilization. On the other, . . . that civilization was inhabited by ponies with eyes the size of my fist, in roughly the same sized head.

Thinking back on Alpha's memories, I realized that they actually looked fairly creepy if I thought about it, but I decided to hold judgment until I met them for myself.

Can I kill them?

My thoughts caught me off guard, it wasn't a new thought by any standard, but not one that I was expecting when reuniting with the civilized world. I decided against it if it could be avoided, better to live the life of an angry old hermit than behind prison bars.

Can I fuck them?

I snorted for a moment, probably not. I don't know how things work here yet, but I'm fairly sure they'd look at it as most people look at bestiality. Sure they were intelligent, but unless a human female appeared like I had, I was pretty much S.O.L. Not to mention, quadrupeds weren't really my thing.

I shook my head as I approached the edge of the town, only now noticing the figures in the street growing thinner and thinner. Some darted into buildings, others into the air, and some even disappeared in flashes of light. The first few of those startled me, as they were accompanied by a quiet pop that reminded me of distant gunfire. I figured I must look more alien to them than they do to me, with my small eyes and covered in bulky equipment and mud.

As I passed the first set of houses, a familiar guitar intro kicked in. I chuckled a bit, realizing how fitting the song was to myself and my situation.

I turned the volume up to maximum, allowing myself to at least jam out for once in the last four years. I sang along loudly, and could see a few curious eyes come my way as the lyrics reached them.

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals

A tear rolled down my face, the number of times I'd actually woken up rolled over into a pile of dirt or the. . . remains of someone. The song had just started, and it had summed up my most recent four years of life pretty well.

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm Radioactive, Radioactive
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm Radioactive, Radioactive

I raise my flags, don my clothes

It's a revolution, I suppose

We're painted red to fit right in

Whoa

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus

This is it, the apocalypse

Whoa

Yeah, damn right it is. Nukes everywhere, the sky burning orange as fire engulfs half a continent. If that wasn't it, I don't know what it could possibly be.

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my systems blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm Radioactive, Radioactive

All systems go, the sun hasn't died

Deep in my bones, straight from inside

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my systems blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm Radioactive, Radioactive

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm Radioactive, Radioactive!

I stood still for a moment as the song ended, shocked that I actually remembered how to sing. I'd done a little of it in school, but that was just talent show shenanigans. I'd had people say I had a good singing voice before, but I always brushed it off as them trying to make me feel better through false compliments.

For the first time in three years, I let myself cry. Not a sniffle, or a tear, but an actual cry. The last time was after making the trek all the way to Utah, to see if Salt Lake was still operational. When I got there, there was nothing but a crater. Or rather, three.

I ignored the memory, preferring to use it as a story later for whomever I would explain my situation to. I focused on the pain for a minute, feeling my shoulders heave with each sob as the ground beneath my feet was stained with tears. I berated myself for wasting water, but I couldn't bring myself to stop crying. I came to a halt about three blocks from where I'd began the song, a soft sound behind me catching my ear for a moment.

I didn't turn to face it or react in any way, I was feeling just lousy enough to let my guard drop and just go with whatever this world had planned for me. I heaved a shuddering sigh as I double checked the safety on my SCAR, pulling the strap over my head and resting the rifle across my back. I figured I didn't need the weapon right now, even if they turned out to be hostile, my pistol was easily within reach.

I tensed up as I felt something slide around my waist. Glancing down I noticed two light yellow appendages, ending in hard hooves. I lifted a hand, removing my sunglasses and turning them so they were backwards on my head. Then, I noticed another feeling. Whatever was wrapped around me was shaking gently. I wiped the remaining tears from my face, taking some mud with them and tugging uncomfortably on my scraggly facial hair.

The limbs detached from myself, and I turned around slowly. Behind me, there had to be at least twenty ponies, all different colors, and most looked to be female. Their gentler and more rounded muzzles the only way I could differentiate without getting a little personal.

I noticed a group of five, all staring at my knees, or towards them anyway, with more than a little fear in their eyes. Looking down, I saw the pony that had hugged me, huddled close to the ground under a light pink mane. Crouching down, I brought myself to eye level with the roughly 3' 6" pony, who was trying to simultaneously hide from my presence and provide comfort.

I lifted a hand slowly, making sure that there wasn't too much mud on my palm by wiping it on my pants. She shied away a bit, but then hummed softly as I scratched behind her ears a little. One of her eyes looked up at my face, the other hidden behind her hair, and I could see the tear stains on her cheek. I tilted my head to the side in confusion, "Why are you crying, little one, and what is your name?"

My tone took on one that my dad had used a few times, that 'I'm here to help and listen, talk when you are able' style that is both warm and comforting, while staying manly and in-charge. I decided to save the: 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' bullshit for a later date.

Her voice was so quiet I almost missed it, years of gun battles, explosions and loud music didn't help much either, but it was clear enough. "Your singing, it was so sad and lonely. A-and I'm Fluttershy."

Her voice descended to a whisper, but I was still able to pick it up. I returned her earlier hug, earning a little, "Eep," from her before I remembered I was still covered in mud.

"Well, Fluttershy. I appreciate it." I smiled warmly at her, or as much as I could. I winced a little from the tugging on my moustache hairs, still covered in mud. "There wouldn't happen to be somewhere I could wash up, would there? I want to get this mud off if I'm going to be meeting new people."

The five that I'd seen before stepped forward, and a purple unicorn spoke up for the group, "I have a washroom at my library if you'd like to freshen up, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you covered in mud in the first place?"

I laughed a bit, now that I was seeing the ponies up close, and not through someone else's eyes, they were actually pretty cute. Not physically attractive cute, but all 68 kinds of cuddly. "Actually, I just woke up in the forest over there yesterday," I said, pointing to the mass of trees behind the group. "I used the mud to protect from mosquitoes and other bugs."

The purple unicorn squinted her eyes a bit, looking suspicious all of a sudden, but apparently let it go. A white unicorn with them stepped up next to her, appearing as if she was going to say something before looking me over again, and vomiting in the middle of the street.

I facepalmed, sighing, "Thanks for the self esteem boost there ma'am," I chuckled again. Fluttershy went to help the white unicorn as the others headed off down another street. The purple one, I decided to call her sparks due to the little starburst on her butt, motioned for me to follow them.

Out of habit, I unslung my SCAR again, following her as a blue pegasus and orange earth pony flanked me on either side, eyeing me cautiously but holding their tongues for the moment.

I realized that I was sweeping the alleys and side streets with my rifle, while walking in a half crouch. Blushing under the mud, I decided to stow my SCAR again for the time being. They didn't appear to know what it was, but I knew, and I felt embarrassed for being so un trusting to ponies that were so peaceful.

The memories of the pack were constantly in my mind, filling in blanks where there was a lack of information with their memories. Like the species of each pony, as well as something called a cutie mark, that was the tattoo looking thing on everyone's butt. I was slowly beginning to meld those memories into my own, but keeping them compartmentalized to remain myself.

It was difficult, and catching me off guard when I'd look at a pony and immediately dissecting their race and mark in my mind without thinking about it. The memories also brought with them the education that they'd received, allowing me to infer the meanings of a few of their marks.

I settled for staring at the ground as I sorted through their thoughts, storing some things for later, pushing some aside as inconsequential to my current situation. I'd let them roam freely for too long already, though, and when I thought about my childhood for a moment and going to visit a ranch, I was suddenly offended that there had been horses kept in corrals. I shook my head, recalling that they weren't sapient back home, and that was the only way to keep them domesticated.

Lost in thought, I ran headlong into a door frame, clothes lining myself and falling on my ass. I heard a gasp from in front of me, and snickers behind me. "Are you alright!?" one of them asked, presumably sparks, with a hint of panic in her voice.

"Don't worry, my pride broke my fall," I replied sarcastically, rubbing my nose. A trickle of blood flowed from it, but I was going to take a shower soon anyway so I wasn't too concerned about it. My comment brought full on laughter from the two that were behind me, I didn't know where the other three went. Maybe to take the white one home. "Laugh it up, fuzz ball," I growled, leaning my head back to glare at the orange and blue ponies behind me, before grinning and chuckling myself.

On the inside, I was elated. After four years of basically being alone and stranded, to have someone to talk to was amazing. Even if they weren't large breasted women with wide hips dressed in skimpy bikinis, this was more than I could ever ask for.

Sparks spoke up again, "Well there's a shower up the stairs, first door on the right. I'll get things set up in here, and have Rainbow go find the girls while you get cleaned up." She spoke with authority, almost as if she'd planned my arrival before I got here. I just nodded, getting to my feet again and trudging up the stairs to the shower, keeping the door height in mind as I had to sink into a low crouch to get through the door.

I figured she meant the blue pegasus when she said Rainbow, seeing as her hair was dyed with every color of one. I don't know what caused her to do that, but I wasn't going to start asking personal questions until I'd at least met them somewhat.

Closing and locking the bathroom door, I shed my clothes and equipment, lining the weapons up on the counter and hanging my pistol's holster on the shower curtain rod just in case. I set up my IPod speakers again, playing a Green Day song: Basket Case, after I turned the water on and got it to the right temperature.

Stepping into the shower, I was almost giddy with the prospect of actually bathing after so long.

Downstairs, Twilight finished a letter to the Princess asking them to come to Ponyville to meet their new friend. She still didn't quite know what to think of him, he seemed to completely waltz across all shades of the emotional spectrum without pause, going from crying loneliness to hardened paranoia to relaxed and laughing al in the matter of a few minutes. Her curiosity was driving her up the wall, as she didn't know what could cause someone to behave so erratically.

As she woke Spike from his nap and had him send the letter, she heard singing coming from the bathroom along with some kind of instrument in the background.

"Do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once?! I am one of those, melodramatic fools, neurotic to the bone no doubt about it!" There was a pause, as Twilight approached the door to listen to the music, tapping her hoof to the beat when a sudden scream made her jump back, terrified for a moment. It sounded to her like "GUHDGODHAWTWATAHH!"

"GOOD GOD HOT WATER! HOW I'VE MISSED YOU MY FRIEND!!" I screamed as the steamy liquid washed over my back and neck. Truly, it was the most amazing feeling of all time, I turned around in the shower, letting it wash over my chiseled chest and abs. I looked down, and damn was I hot. Fuck your ideas of humbleness, if you've got body image problems, spend four years on your own surviving in the wilderness and ruins of society. It's a decent workout. If it weren't for the road map of scars covering my left shoulder, arms and back, I'd say it was awesome.

I got all the mud off quickly, and even washed myself with the lavender scented shampoos and stuff in bottles around the edge of the tub. The shower was a bit short, but even having to crouch down couldn't bug me right now.

After showering for about 20 minutes, and running out of hot water, I got out of the shower and toweled off with one of the generic brown towels, figuring that the purple ones with the monograms were probably used regularly by sparks. I moved over to the IPod, putting it on shuffle to listen to some more random songs. The first one was a little off from what I'd normally listen to, but I didn't pay much attention to it and let it just fade into the background. I looked around the cupboards a bit, finally finding a razor in a first aid kit.

I began the arduous task of removing my overgrown neck beard, it was rugged looking, but I never really enjoyed having it stuck to my face.

Downstairs, there were now eight ponies present, Spike opting to sleep through the shenanigans and stay upstairs. The Princesses were eagerly awaiting their guest, Luna having told Celestia about the strange creature she'd seen in her dream realm. Luna stood by the stairs, bopping her head a bit with the music filtering through the library from the washroom. All eight suddenly froze as lyrics from the song suddenly caught their attention.

"Luna won't you cry for me? I'm as lonely as I've ever been, I am forced back into the start, is there any way to fix a broken heart?"

The royal sisters looked at each other, confused possibly more than the other ponies.

I finished shaving my face, taking a wash cloth and dampening it in the sink before putting on my only pair of pants and using the rag to ghetto-wash the dirt off of them. I opted to leave my boots off, and air out my feet now that they didn't smell like twelve different kinds of death. Although, they still looked the part.

I turned off the music and stored it away in my pack, throwing my SCAR over my shoulder and letting it dangle off to the side. I also reattached my holster to my belt, with the knife alongside it. I filled my boots with water again, leaving them to soak in the bottom of the bathtub to hopefully get rid of some of the stink and blood.

I stepped out of the bathroom with my vest in my hand, since I wasn't expecting a fight around here I didn't feel the need to have my ammo strapped to my chest. I turned and noticed all the ponies staring at me with confused faces. I gave a half hearted wave, "Yeah, sparks there let me use her shower, remember?"

They just got more confused. Although the white unicorn from before wasn't vomiting any more, and instead was groping my chest with her eyes. I suddenly felt like a woman getting eyed by a man, it felt awkward to have someone just staring at me with their tongue hanging out of the side of their mouth.

"Someone wanna wake her up?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at the white unicorn and taking a seat on the couch across the room from them. There was a cough from my side, to which I responded by popping up, spinning, dropping to a kneeling position, and bringing my SCAR to bear. I was met with a roughly six foot tall pony. The memories in my mind began screaming 'Princess Celestia' and I had to fight for control over my own body.

From behind her, stepped a blue form. I knew her from my dream the first night, and while the pack's memories started screaming again, some of them saying 'Princess Luna' and others crying 'Nightmare Moon'. I noticed that those calling her Nightmare were angry, livid that she would show her face. I made the connection on my own that these were the two that were fighting over the ancient city, but I was confused at how old they'd have to be.

All of the memories urged me to take action, some to bow and some to attack Nightmare. I began to sweat, trying to fight my way through the haze of memories. I could hear other voices, those of the ponies, asking what the problem was. I couldn't hear them clearly, I could barely hear myself think. I began to panic, losing myself.

'Shoot her'

"No."

'Bow to them'

"Not yet."

'Kill her before she strikes!'

"No threat, can't waste ammo. Just need to think. Need to. . . breathe, need to listen."

My hands were shaking so hard that my rifle fell from them, hanging to my side again. I could feel tears on my face, although they were a product of frustration rather than fear or sadness. I glanced around, seeing the fearful faces on all of the ponies as I mumbled to myself, shaking hard enough to void almost anything I tried. I got desperate, acting purely on instinct as I kept the pack's memories from driving my body.

"SHUT! UP!" I roared, ripping my knife from its holster and slamming it into the ground.

Through my left hand.

I screamed out in pain, but I could hear it now. The pain forced the thoughts out of my head, snapping me back to reality. In hindsight, I could've handled it better with a slap to the face or something, but I didn't really have the capacity to rationalize the situation.

I squeezed my eyes shut, panting as the shaking slowly receded. The library had gone silent. "A bandage would be great," I rasped, keeping my eyes shut to avoid triggering the cascade of memories again. I heard hooves clattering up the steps, and a moment later the thump of the first aid kit landing beside me. Leaving the ka bar where it was, I opened my eyes. I kept them diverted from the Princesses, fearing triggering the voices again. I hoped that they had a way to help me, but I wasn't going to count on it.

In silence, I opened the box with one hand and removed a roll of gauze. They also had some coban, the shriveled elastic stuff that doctors put on your arm after getting blood drawn. I used my teeth to get the end of the roll up, and got ready to remove the knife now that I had supplies. I wasn't worried about infection, as I regularly sterilized my knife and sheath with rubbing alcohol. I used it to cut my food after all.

I would worry about going to the doctor later. I gritted my teeth, wrapping my hand around the handle of the blade, and grunted fiercely as I yanked it from my palm. Acting quickly, I grabbed the gauze and rolled it around the hand, giving the wound a thick layer to bleed into. Holding it in place against my knee, I began wrapping the coban over the gauze to hold it in place and add pressure.

When it was all said and done, I was pleased with the dressing. I'd have to go to a doctor for stitches later, since there'd be no way in hell I was going to drag a needle through my skin, but I'd had worse for sure.

I grabbed some paper towels next to the kit to wipe up the blood from the floor, using the hydrogen peroxide in the kit to sterilize the floor. Afterward, I sat back on the couch, purposely avoiding looking at the Princesses again and staring directly at the six who were still huddled in the corner of the room. The silence dragged on for a full minute before I started feeling awkward. All six of the ponies that I met when I first arrived were looking at me like I was a crazed murderer, and thinking about it, I realized they weren't too far off the mark.

"Well that was. . . strange," I heard Celestia remark, still beside the base of the stairs.

"Yup," I nodded once, "I've had worse though. Just had to shut my brain up for a minute so I could think."

The purple unicorn, sparks, stepped forward. "What do you mean by that? You were just mumbling and shaking and pointing that weird box thing at Princess Luna."

"Box thing?" I mumbled, "Oh! You mean my SCAR. It's a rifle, not a box." I smiled at her, back up to full speed as the pain in my hand receded to a manageable level.

A younger voice spoke up from beside Celestia, "Does it serve a similar purpose to the small device on your hip that I saw in your dream?"

I had to resist looking in her direction, "Yeah, but with more range and power. It's my primary weapon."

"Weapon," Celestia spoke, "it's not like any weapon I have ever seen."

I scoffed, "What, do you guys still use swords and bows?"

Sparks nodded, "And magic!"

I deadpanned, "Awesome. I guess before we begin the discussion, I should introduce myself. My name's Geoff, four years ago my country was annihilated at the beginning of a global war."

The girls across from me gasped, a few of them moving their hooves to their mouths.

I threw my thumb at the Princesses next to me, "And I know you're Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Or is it Nightmare Moon?" I asked innocently, simply seeking clarification from my jumbled mess of information.

Celestia, however, didn't like that question at all. "Who do you think you are to bring up such painful memories!? She was returned to herself by the Elements of Harmony almost three years ago!"

I held up my hands defensively, "Hey, I'm sorry, alright? I've just got a lot of information in my head, and I don't know which is right. When I saw her, they all started screaming for me to either kill or bow, and I just wanted to know which I should've listened to."

The shocked stares I got from the six I could see told me that this wasn't something they were expecting. Sparks spoke up before the Princess could, "Well you already know Fluttershy," she motioned to the now crying yellow pegasus, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie." She pointed to each of the group as she listed off their names.

I nodded at each one, unslinging my SCAR and placing it next to my backpack and vest at my feet. I must've looked fairly intimidating, because each of them stayed where they were.

"So to address your prior claim," came the motherly voice of Celestia, "What do you mean by the information in your head?"

I sighed, "Well I said I wouldn't tell anyone, but I suppose it's necessary. Twilight, could you six leave the room for a few while I talk with the princesses for a minute?"

She nodded, beckoning the other five with her into what I guessed was the kitchen.

After the door shut, I leaned back a bit. Crossing my arms, wincing slightly at the wound in my hand. "Truth is, I had a run in with a pack of timber wolves." I paused, scratching my chin for a moment. "What's the story behind them anyway?"

They paused for a moment before Celestia answered, "We assume that they're elementals. Spirits of the forest that have found homes within the wood there."

I nodded, "And where did the spirits come from?"

Luna answered this time, "We. . . do not know."

I sighed, "Really? Because they're very. . . aware of pony society for you to not know." They remained silent, and I chanced a glance over at them. They looked confused, and the memories in my mind picked up again. I flexed my injured hand, drawing a sharp burning sensation to keep my mind still. "I've seen their memories. Well not exactly seen, more like their memories were seared into my mind. They were ponies once. There was a battle, from the Alpha's point of view. He was only a child at the time, watched his own mother get crushed by burning debris."

I glanced over again, keeping my hand flexed. It seemed the pain kept the wolves' memories silent. Realization dawned on their faces, and a tear rolled down Luna's cheek. "Don't feel sorry for them, they've found purpose in their new forms. They keep out of pony society, due to their predatory nature now, and they protect the edge of the woods and keep more dangerous beasts contained."

"But ponies are occasionally attacked by the wolves. Why would they claim to protect us and then attack those that stray too far?" She searched my face for what I guess were signs of lying or betrayal.

I shrugged, "Not all of the wolves are of the same mindset, I suppose. The Alpha also said that once every year, new wolves awaken from the ruins of the old city. He said that the probuzení was coming in the next week, and to stay out of the forest until it's over."

Luna's eyes widened at the strange word, "Probuzení? So he knew old Equestrian?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. This world is new and strange to me. All I know is that the pack of wolves imbued me with their memories, and when I saw you two, they were all screaming for me to either bow or kill Luna."

Celestia's gaze turned hard, "And what are they saying now?"

I shrugged again, "Don't really know. As long as I'm in pain, the suggestions from them are more like whispers in the back of my head. Not screaming like before." They looked puzzled, scratching their own chins with their hooves and looking at each other. "Which reminds me, is there a way to keep them quiet unless I want to access them? It would be really annoying to have to stab myself any time I see you."

"No," Celestia shook her head, "meddling in the minds of others was outlawed long ago. After, well-"

"After I became Nightmare Moon." Luna lowered her head, staring at the floor, "I still watch over dreams and protect ponies from their fears, but there was one that I went too far with. I allowed his fear to become my own, and it consumed me until I went insane."

I raised my eyebrows, running my good hand down my face with a sigh. I leaned back into the couch, "That's a lot to digest, but why tell me that? We haven't even known each other that long."

Luna nodded, "In all honesty, that's barely a proper summary. The story goes much deeper, and is much more. . . sobering. Maybe one day I'll tell you, but it's something I've only told my sister of to this day."

I smiled sadly, "Well thank you for sharing, it makes sense I suppose." I sighed, "I suppose we'd better let the girls come back. Oh, and do not act on the information about the wolves. I told them I wouldn't say anything, but it was necessary. They're content with their current situation."

The princesses nodded, and Celestia trotted to the other door, pulling it open with her magic and allowing the six others to enter again. They weren't as scared of me this time, Fluttershy even came over and sat beside me.

She looked down at my hand, wrapped and clenched into a fist. "D-does it hurt?"

The question was so quiet I almost missed it, I looked down at my hand, then up to her. "Yeah, but I've had worse. The pain keeps my mind focused, and compared to a mutt bite, it's not that bad."

That drew a few looks, Applejack in particular looked especially upset, "What're ya talkin about? Ah've got a mutt at home an she's the most lovin thing I ever met!"

I deadpanned, "Applejack, a mutt is my term for the feral dogs back home. Everything there was exposed to massive amounts of radiation, and dogs that used to be happy family pets became bloodthirsty, homicidal monsters."

Fluttershy whimpered beside me, causing my protective instincts to perk up a bit. It was odd really, everything about her suggested that she needed protecting, and yet I could see a near bottomless pit of determination in her eyes. They were much less creepy when they weren't panicked, like in the pack's memories.

I put an arm around her shoulders, rubbing behind her ears to comfort her. She sighed contentedly, laying down with her head across my lap.

Luna hummed, "Well that certainly would explain your dream."

"That wasn't a dream, Luna," I sighed, shaking my head, "That actually happened, a few months after the war began and barely a day after I left my home to try and find other people. If you hadn't stopped time." I sighed, leaning forward and turning to show the two princesses my shoulder. They gasped and covered their own mouths, "You would've seen how I got these."

Celestia looked like she was going to be ill, "That's. . . that's. How?"

I looked at her, "They're mutts. They used to be dogs, which used to be wolves. They're predators at their core, and the radiation poisoning and lack of humans turned them back to their baser instincts. They hunt, and to them, I'm prey." I shrugged, brushing it off, "It happened almost four years ago, and I got out alright. I just try not to dwell on it too much."

She nodded silently, before a strange look crossed her face, "Wait. Did you say humans?"

I nodded, "Yeah, that's what I am. Why?"

She hung her head, depressed all of a sudden, "It's nothing, but now I owe one of the guards fifty bits."

I laughed at that, she didn't strike me as the betting type. "Well Princess, your wallet has my condolences."

All of the ponies laughed at that, except Luna. She was staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

"What?"

"How can you do that? After everything you say you've been through, how do you just go from acting as if your mind is broken, to depressed, to laughing in the space of just a few minutes?"

The room came to a dead stop, all of the ponies looking from Luna to me and back again. All of them waiting to see how I'd react to the blunt question.

"Luna," I began, choosing my words as I went, "At first, I cried constantly. All the death, all the destruction, it tore me apart. I don't know where my mom and dad are, or even if they're still alive. When things seemed at their worst, when I couldn't do anything but sit there numbly watching old recorded TV programs with the power grid failing at random times." I sighed, "I saw an old show about the War on Terror. I didn't really watch, just stared at the screen. A soldier was giving an interview and said: "Embrace the suck. You may be thousands of miles from friends and family in 120 degree weather, but crying and complaining about it isn't going to get the job done. So embrace the suck.

"That saying, 'Embrace the suck,' became a sort of motto for me. It was beyond my power to change what had happened, or even make much of a difference aside from helping those around me, but crying about it wasn't helping my chances of getting out of there alive," I stared into her eyes, making sure that she heard every word I said. "I know my behavior is erratic. . . hell, I've been on my own for four years, the last human contact I had was two years ago, and he was trying to kill me. I'm sorry if I seem strange, or difficult to understand, but I like to think that the best way to get back to normal would be to interact with people again. Wouldn't you?"

She looked to the ground again, frowning before she gives a small nod.

Celestia takes a moment to look out the window, "If you'll excuse us, we need to get the night started."

The ponies nodded, but I was confused. I followed the two out in front of the library, and watched, captivated, as Celestia's horn glowed. In the dying light of the sun, I could just barely see a shimmering strand shooting toward the sun. When she finished, Luna's horn began to glow with a royal blue light, in response to which the moon began to peek up from behind the horizon.

The whole process took several minutes, night came extremely suddenly. I just stared at the moon as it came up, its perfectly smooth surface still somewhat unsettling. I wasn't sure why, but I felt as if I'd lost an old friend. A few tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at the ivory orb.

I heard Celestia whisper something to Luna, who nodded in the corner of my vision. Celestia went back inside.

I stood there in silence, watching the moon rise above the rooftops of the quiet village. I didn't even hear Luna approach as I sank to the ground, sitting with my legs stretched in front of me.

"Why are you sad, Geoff?" She asked quietly, almost whispering.

I never took my gaze off the moon, using the same quiet tone, "Everything here, is different. Before the war, I couldn't go outside at night without the background noise of the highways and trains. They added a silent roar to the night, but it fit for some reason. After the bombs fell and everyone left. . . the only thing the same about the night was the moon."

I felt a wing drape across my back, warming me substantially against the sudden chill. "There, the moon was scarred. Billions of years of asteroids impacting its surface left it cratered and rocky. It was the only constant, going through its phases, I used it to keep track of time. I used it for a lot of things, really. If I was ever lonely, or just feeling it, I would stare up at the moon, and memorize the contours. The different shades and shapes that the craters made. I would talk to it, confide in it really."

Luna sighed, causing me to glance at her. "You know, I've controlled the moon for thousands of years. I've always taken pride in her simple beauty but. . . The way you describe your moon, that tone of voice. This is honestly the first time that I've felt my night to be. . . inferior. Not to the day, or to any view on this earth, but to another night."

It was my turn to sigh. . . again. . . I've got to quit doing that, or I'm going to start noticing every time and it's going to get annoying. Back on track, I looked at her, noticing the sadness in her eyes, "Luna, please." She looked at me, and my voice turned slightly playful, "If you're jealous, I'm sure that I could arrange a play date for our moons. They could play checkers. Moon checkers, Luna!" I laughed, her gaze turned confused again.

"I still don't understand how you do that. You were crying not even a minute ago, and now you're laughing. You're more chaotic than Discord I swear!"

I poked her in the shoulder, "Hey, here's another soldier's saying for you. 'Take all the laughs you can, they'll keep you sane.' Besides, many humans believed that we are children of chaos itself."

She grew apprehensive, "You do not think that way, I hope?"

"Me? Nah. If you ask me, and I'm not saying that I'm a philosopher or anything, but if you ask me, I'd say we're creatures of balance. We tend to find the chaos in harmony, and vice versa. If we're all getting along, someone will come in and start a fight to get things interesting to them. When we're fighting, some other event comes along and pulls us all together as a country, or as a species." I poked her in the side, drawing a giggle out of her. She's ticklish, that'll be good to know later. "Besides that, what's the fun in total peace? If I had to do the same thing, all day, every day, I'd go crazy inside a week! Chaos is never a bad thing, it exists everywhere. Like when a bear comes along and steals your food, and because of your unexpected, forced scavenging trip, you find a chocolate bar and porn!"

I laughed for a second before rethinking what I'd said. My face went straight to default poker mode as Luna's cheeks burned red. We looked at each other for a moment, before I couldn't hold back my laughter any more. She simply sighed and facepalmed. . . facehoofed?

"Luna. Luna come on, don't be upset. It was a very lonely apocalypse and there were no females anywhere." She turned up her nose and 'humph'ed. I was on a roll though, I couldn't stop there. "C'mon Luna," an evil smirk crossed my face, "I'll share with you if you promise to keep it a secret!"

I fell over at that point, roaring with laughter with tears streaking down my face. Luna shook her head, before standing and heading toward the door. She was blushing like mad, and I found that hilarious. She stalked back into the house, apparently having difficulty with her wings for whatever reason as she had to force them down with a hoof and hold them there with her magic.

After a minute, I headed back inside. As I entered, I noticed Luna going through my backpack. Just before I asked what she was thinking, she brought out my magazine collection. "Oh. . . Well then, you were interested!"

Her blush heated up more, beginning to spread to her mane apparently. I watched with wonder as her navy blue reflection of the night sky turned into an almost pink color. Celestia looked more surprised than anyone, staring at me with a silent, 'What in my name did you do!?' She turned to Luna, "Sister, what in the world happened out there?"

Luna snorted, "Well we had a heart to heart. It was nice, and then his mind got to the topic of porn."

I facepalmed, ignoring the looks of shock from the ponies, "Well when you say it like that it sounds bad. But really, it just came out on accident, and you got embarrassed, and that was funny so I teased you one little tiny bit."

Twilight looked closely at one of the floating magazines, "These could actually provide useful anatomical insight into the human species, Princess."

Again, default poker face. "Twilight," I was going to give her a lecture about how I was a living reference book, but then again, I was on a roll. "If you wanted to hold on to one for your personal stash, you only had to ask."

That comment set the room aglow with red cheeks. I swear I was going to rupture something if this kept up. Pinkie Pie joined me on the ground, Celestia's mane had lost its rainbow-ness, and was now bright pink, as well as her face. Luna's mane managed to keep pace with her sister's as they both turned the same shade.

Luna glared at me, before smirking and sending a fireball into one of the truck magazines. It burnt to ash in seconds.

That shut me up quick.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry!" I pleaded, picking myself up quickly. "Just don't hurt the magazines, what did they ever do to you?" She smiled a little more, burning one of the gun catalogues. "Think of the trees, Luna! Think of all the trees that will have to die to replace that paper!"

Celestia sighed, taking the magazines in her magical grasp and returning them to my backpack. "Luna, I do believe that's quite enough. I think it would be best if we retire for the evening, I bid you all a good night."

Everyone nodded, murmurings of 'goodnight' were heard as Celestia and Luna vanished in a dazzling flash of light. I went back to the couch, collecting my equipment.

"What're you doing," I heard Fluttershy ask from beside me. She was still laying on the couch.

"Well I figure I'll go find somewhere to sleep. I've got enough time to find somewhere safe." In my mind, I was running through my checklist. A rooftop somewhere, since the weather was looking alright, and make sure it had a lock on the door leading up there. Somewhere with good lines of sight, so I could cover all approaches.

"Oh. . . Well, um. If you'd like, you could stay at my house tonight. I've got plenty of spare beds," she said bashfully. It was adorable, everything here was adorable.

I paused my thoughts, "Actually, that would be nice. It's been forever since I slept in a bed."

She smiled warmly, "Well let's get going, just follow me." She hopped off the couch, heading toward the door. I opted to leave my boots where they were, I wasn't too worried about them and they were full of water.

We said goodnight to everyone at the library, and I followed Fluttershy into the night. The ground was nice, alternating between smooth grass and soft dirt. I enjoyed the feeling while it lasted. We passed the trip in silence, arriving at Fluttershy's in just a few minutes. I placed my things by the door, leaving my pants on since I didn't have underwear. I also took my SCAR with me, placing it by the bed that she designated as mine.

"Are you sure that you'll be alright? The bed looks awfully small compared to your height, and I have a larger one in my room if you'd like to take it."

I smiled at her, "Fluttershy, this is perfect. You have no idea how inviting this looks to me after sleeping in a tent for so long."

She smiled back, "Well if you need anything, I'm right next door. Don't be afraid to ask for anything." She trotted out, closing the door behind her. I lied down on the small mattress, my lower legs hanging off, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I lay there for probably an hour before I noticed a problem.

My survival habits were kicking into overdrive, the only window looked out toward the forest, rather than the town. My heart rate began to pick up, and my hearing went into overdrive. Every little creak of the house was a mutt, or a raider, or a bandit. I found myself sweating. I zoned out for a while, coming back to my senses sitting in a corner, with my rifle aimed at the doorway to the room, hyperventilating.

I groaned in frustration, pushing myself off the ground and walking to Fluttershy's room. There was still a light on inside, so I knocked gently.

"Come in," I heard her call, though it was quiet. I opened the door cautiously, not sure if she was decent or. . . ponies. Naked 90% of the time, got it.

I entered the room, my body covered in a sheen of sweat and my rifle gripped in my shaking hands. "Fluttershy, I hate to ask, but do you think I could stay in here tonight?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck and doing my best to get rid of the shaking.

"Oh," she perked up, "I knew that bed was too small for you, I should've given you this one in the first place, I'm so sorry."

I looked over to the bed in question, it was literally a California King sized bed. It wasn't a big stretch of imagination to see six ponies laying in it comfortably. I stared, confused for a moment, before I saw Fluttershy beginning to edge toward the door.

"N-no Fluttershy, I mean. . . could I stay in here, with you."

Her cheeks turned red, and she began to sputter an answer before I cut her off to explain, "No, nonono that's not what I meant. I mean. . . I would feel. . . I don't know, being alone in the other room was making me more paranoid than I've felt in a very long time. I just. . ." I choked on it for a second, "I just don't want to be alone anymore."

She must've seen the desperation in my eyes, because she hopped up onto her bed. She laid down, facing me. She patted the bed next to her with a soft smile on her face. I climbed in, under the covers with her and my SCAR propped up against the night stand.

"Thanks Shy." I said, wondering why she was still facing me.

"S-sure, sleep tight," she stuttered, turning off the light with a wing.

A few minutes passed, I could hear her breathing. I could tell we were facing each other, but I didn't know how close she was. In my mind, her breathing slowly turned into panting, like a mutt was sitting right in front of my face. My trigger finger twitched, bringing my mind back to reality.

"H-hey Shy?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you. . . ya know, facing me?"

I heard a slight rustling and an annoyed sigh come from her, "I'm. . . well you know. . ."

"Know what?"

"A. . . a. . . uh. . . a virgin."

I heard it. . . oh boy did I hear it. My face heated up faster than an in-line water heater. "Shy. . . why would facing away from me change that?"

She sputtered, "W-w-w-w-e-l-l you kn-know. That's how stallions. . . um. . . gain acc-access."

I deadpanned in the dark, "Fluttershy, can I tell you something?"

"S-sure."

"So am I. I'm not going to do anything. I owe you too much for giving me a place to stay. Look at it like this: I'm not a pony, I'm human, I don't. . . work like that," I sighed. "Besides, I don't see female ponies the way stallions do, I think. You all look too cuddly to me, and I couldn't see myself doing anything like that with any of you. Especially on my first night among ponies."

She shifted under the covers, and I was slightly surprised to feel her back press up against my chest. It wasn't unwelcome, she felt like a life sized teddy bear. Her feathers were soft too, although I couldn't figure out why her wings weren't closed all the way. Nothing in my pack memories related to wings. I stored it away to ask someone later.

I was comfy, my own personal space heater snuggled against my chest and my arms wrapped around her in a hug. As I'd suspected, I actually felt safer when I could feel her. Though I could feel her shaking a little. I brought my hand up to that spot behind her ear again, and began scratching away. I did it gently and slowly, and soon enough her breathing evened out and I could hear a light snore coming from her. It was, again, adorable. I actually found myself fighting back an 'Awww' as I found my eyelids getting heavier.

Author's Note

INB4 sexyshy. Calm your tits. I'd imagine that after four years of isolation and survival, I'd need a teddyshy too. There be no Geoshy shipping in this department.

Also, is he random enough? I hope so. So many mood swings, you sluts should be jealous!

Also, embarrassed Luna is best Luna, she also likes burning magazines. Poor trees.

Remember their sacrifice.

Chapter IV

I don't remember my dreams unless they're recurring. That said, the one I had that night with Fluttershy wasn't one of them, and I remember the whole thing.

Well most of it. It was a blue screen. Not just a wall of blue, but a "Brain has encountered physical error, preparing for physical memory dump" blue screen. I chalked it up to the wolves and let it be.

I awoke slowly, breathing through my nose. The scent of strawberry greeted me, and I hummed slightly, pulling the pillow closer. I was warm, and the blankets were oh so very soft. I was more comfortable than I'd been in years, and that scared me.

I kept my eyes shut, reaching back over the edge of the bed until I found my SCAR. I rolled out of bed silently, dropping to a knee and bringing the weapon up. I kept my breathing steady, scanning the room for threats when my eyes fell upon the light yellow pegasus I had been in bed with.

I paused, nearly laughing at my paranoia when I remembered the events of the night before. I wasn't completely insane yet, it seemed, so I stood and went to get some food. My first thought was the MRE that I had in my pack, but I wanted to hold onto it in case of an emergency. Instead, I headed downstairs to the kitchen, navigating my way through the plethora of little animals sleeping all over the house. I had to half crouch to avoid hitting my head on one of the bird houses hung from the ceiling.

I breathed in the fresh morning air wafting in through the open kitchen window, it smelled like fresh cut grass, with a hint of smoke from a fireplace. It made me smile. For once, I felt like everything was normal again, I felt safe.

I stretched my arms over my head, ignoring the slightly painful tugging from the scars on my back. The birds in the other room were stirring slightly as the sky outside began to lighten. I zoned out for what seemed like a few minutes, watching the scenery with a smile on my face. The memories from the pack were quieter, barely murmuring in the back of my mind now instead of all vying for my attention.

If they could stay that way, I didn't doubt that I could ignore them and live my life normally. My concerns were mainly fitting in to this new society, figuring out what passed as normal. I also was wondering which of my own customs would find a place here, and if anything I considered normal was a taboo to them.

I was leaned back against the dividing wall, next to the entrance to the living room. Shaking off my musings, I crept back upstairs and retrieved my second IPod and speakers. I noted that the battery was still at about 80%, which was strange. Usually, a full charge only lasted a few days, but the last time I'd charged this one was about a week ago. I chalked it up to being in a different world where IPod batteries actually worked as a viable power supply.

I walked back to the kitchen, flipping through albums to find something I could make breakfast to. I figured I would be nice and cook something up for Fluttershy to repay her for letting me stay with her. I found a Naruto soundtrack, and if my memory was correct, it was a pretty badass show back when I had a TV to watch. I started that album, letting the music flow through the house, though mindful of Fluttershy still asleep upstairs. It was a little action-y for just cooking a meal, but music is music, so I just let it fall into the background of my mind.

I let my SCAR hang from my shoulders as I picked out several things to make some French toast, and got to work.

Fluttershy awoke slowly, feeling the lack of a body next to her. She sighed, feeling slightly sad that he was gone. Her big bed was often lonely, and with her pet bunny, Angel, off doing something all week, it was even emptier than usual.

She laid there for a few moments, realizing how comfortable Geoff's arms had been. She doubted the need for blankets with him, since he was so warm. She recounted the events of the night before in her mind, the strange thing walking into town on two legs, everypony's panic when they thought he was just a monster. His singing had been what won her over at the start, it was so lonely sounding, so sad. His brief story about how his world had fallen into a giant war had only pushed her desire to help the poor fellow.

Sighing, she stood up, hopping off the bed and over to her nightstand to get the tangles out of her mane for the day. She could hear something downstairs, it sounded like a flute. Figuring it was just Geoff listening to some more of his music, she finished preparing herself and went downstairs to greet him and get some breakfast ready.

As she descended the stairs, a light knock came from the door. Moving to it, she opened the door just a crack to peer out at whoever had decided to stop by. It was fairly early, so she was confused as to who it might be. To her surprise, there were two ponies there, though she recognized them instantly.

"Oh, hello Twilight, Applejack," she smiled as she nodded at her two friends.

"Good morning Fluttershy," Twilight greeted. "Is Geoff up yet?"

"Mornin," Applejack nodded.

Fluttershy glanced toward the kitchen, where she could see Geoff working diligently over the stove. "Oh, yes, come in please." She motioned for them to be silent as the three stood by the entrance to the kitchen, watching Geoff at work as a new song began to play.

I heard footsteps behind me, figuring it was just Fluttershy coming down for the morning, I decided to just keep working. I put a little more flare, flipping the toast high into the air before catching it smoothly with the pan. I hadn't inherited my father's muscle, or his work ethic, but I had inherited his mastery with cooking utensils. I snuck a glance behind me without her noticing, seeing that there were two more ponies than there should've been, but I was content to just let them watch.

I stacked more food on the serving tray, all without letting the girls know that I was aware of their presence, until I had enough for the four of us. Well, mainly the three of them. I wasn't planning on eating much, I learned a long time ago that over eating was very possible for me now, and usually ended up with said food all over the ground.

I turned off the music, no longer needing ninja themed sounds to accompany my amazing cooking show. Without turning around, I addressed the three watching with my best English accent, "Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy. Good morning, I hope you enjoyed the show." I turned with a smile, flexing my arm a bit as they giggled a little at my haughtiness.

I had taken the time before cooking to set the table, and doled out the French toast between three plates as I set spots for Twilight and Applejack. The former stepped into the room after Fluttershy, taking a seat and speaking to me, "Well, Geoff. Thank you very much for breakfast. Why didn't you set a place for yourself though?"

I waved her concern off, "Don't worry about it. I'm probably not even going to eat a whole piece. Besides," I smiled, picking a slice off of the stack in the center of the table. "I prefer to use my hands. Too long without utensils and you get used to not having them."

Applejack eyed me suspiciously, "Half a slice? I'da figured someone yer size'd eat half a this on their own."

I laughed, "Maybe I used to be able to. Maybe I'll get back to that point if food is abundant here." I sighed, "It's a side effect of starving half to death all of the time. My stomach has shrunk to the point where if I were to gorge myself, best case scenario would be me throwing it back up."

Fluttershy's pupils shrunk, which seemed excessively odd to me. "But if that's the best case, what's the worse?"

I sighed, "Cardiac arrest I think. Something about a surge of insulin as the body tries to switch back to a carbohydrate based metabolism. I didn't pay too much attention in biology."

Twilight nodded, "I have to agree, that sounds a lot like what would happen to a pony, although I don't know what insulin is."

"It's a chemical that the human body produces," I said, "I don't know much more than it regulates blood sugar levels. I had a friend who was diabetic, he couldn't drink or eat super sugary things, constantly had to check his blood sugar and take insulin shots."

Twilight's ears laid back, "That doesn't sound pleasant."

"Nah," I shook my head, "He didn't let it get him down though. One of the most in-shape guys I knew."

"Wha' happ'n to 'im?" Applejack asked through a mouthful of French toast.

I sighed, chewing a bite of toast thoroughly before answering, "When the war started, a lot of medical supplies and equipment became very scarce. Supply couldn't keep up with demand, a lot of production facilities were destroyed. I don't know for sure, and it pains me to think of it, but without insulin. . ." My face grew dark, the ponies understood well enough I think, as they quieted down and went back to their food with somber faces.

I finished my meal, half a piece of toast as I'd guessed and I felt stuffed. I left to clean up for the day as the girls finished their meal. I grabbed my gear from the other room, opting to leave my backpack and vest sitting there for the day. I decided to keep my ammo on me, carrying it in the pockets on my pants. I went into the bathroom, where I scrubbed my face and hands clean of the residue from cooking.

I looked in the mirror, and couldn't help but stare. I hadn't realized it, but my appearance had changed so much. My slightly rounded face had slimmed down a lot, prominent cheek bones and a broad jaw greeted my gaze. Gone were the slightly pudgy cheeks, no more red tint to them. I felt like I was looking at a different person. This couldn't be me, especially the messy, long brown hair that reached to my shoulders. I never let my hair grow that long before, I always kept it cropped short.

I spent several minutes simply staring at the figure in the mirror. Small scars dotted my face, each of them carrying a story of a close call, or stupid mistake that left its mark. I had two that were familiar, one on my chin that I got from a frozen driveway, and one on my forehead from catching a car door to the face. The others though, the prominent one down my cheek from that drunk, dozens of others indicating little fights, shrapnel, scratches that got infected or a tree climbing error.

My eyes had changed also. They weren't warm anymore. They used to be friendly, a lot like Fluttershy's, tilted down at the outer edges with a constant air of friendliness and humor. Now, though. They were hard, cold. . . constantly looking like I was glaring. I didn't like it. Dark grey circles under my eyes told of countless nights sitting awake, clutching my rifle to my chest as I heard some animal moving through camp.

I fished my whetstone out of my pocket and drew my knife, deciding to do something to bring my hair back to normal. I sharpened the blade, bringing it back to its razor sharp edge and grasped a handful of hair. With a grating swish, the hair was detached. I tossed it in a waste basket beside the toilet and repeated the process several times. When I was done, it was all irregular. Random clumps of longer hairs stuck up at odd angles.

I fished around in the cabinets until I finally found a pair of scissors in a drawer, and used them to even out the high patches. It wasn't a professional job, but it would do for now.

Looking somewhat normal again, I ventured back downstairs to find Twilight doing dishes. Her magic captivated me as she scrubbed, rinsed, and dried them all in one smooth motion. Apparently they didn't notice me come back down, as Applejack was fiddling with the IPod still on the counter, and Fluttershy could be seen outside the house feeding animals. I entertained myself for a minute, looking at all the different critters around her home.

I could feel something watching me, and it put me on alert instantly. Looking around for the source, I finally spotted the animal. It was some type of bird, a hawk or falcon, I couldn't tell what. I could tell that it was watching me intently though. I approached it slowly, never breaking eye contact as we stared each other down. I heard Fluttershy come in the back door, and a gasp from her as I got within arm's reach of the bird of prey.

The bird's gaze hardened even more, I swear its eyes were half Metapod. . . yeah I played Pokémon a few times back in the day, what of it?

I heard Fluttershy talking with the other two girls, though I wasn't aware of what was being said. They all came in and stood off to the side, watching me closely and eyeing the bird with worry. I think they may have thought that we were going to attack each other or something. I slowly held my hand out to the large bird, I knew that I'd seen its like somewhere before. It observed my hand cautiously, obviously not trusting me in the slightest.

It reached its beak forward, opening it as if to bite, but I held steady. A cut wasn't a big worry at the moment, and the black and white colors of its feathers, with the yellow skin accenting its beak and eyes. . . it was a beautiful animal.

It placed its beak on my finger, not quite biting enough to draw blood, but more like a love nip. I'd gotten them from my dad's parrot a few times, though she was a bitch and would draw you into a false sense of security before gouging out several pounds of flesh with her big stupid ugly twisted beak.

After several moments of her mouthing my hand, which was beginning to creep me out, it gave a small chareek, and hopped onto my forearm. Its talons dug into my skin as it stabilized itself, which drew some blood, but overall wasn't a big deal. I smiled at it warmly as she worked her way up my arm and took a seat on my shoulder, pleased with its new mobile perch.

Fluttershy approached me, "That's amazing, I've never gotten Ms Falcon to behave like that."

She was talking softer than usual, maybe afraid of spooking the falcon. I didn't know what to say, so I just let the silence hang there as I massaged the feathers of her neck with a finger. She cooed softly, leaning into the touch as I observed everything about her. She really was a beautiful bird.

After a couple minutes, Twilight stepped forward. "Well I hate to break this up, but we have a schedule to keep you know."

I glanced back at her, "A schedule?" I was slightly annoyed, the fact that she'd make plans for me without telling me or involving me in the process was. . . intrusive, I felt.

"Yes," she nodded happily, "We need to go into town and pick up a few things, as well as make sure you know where to find items you may need. We also have a meeting with the princesses again this afternoon so we'll have to stick to the timetable I have here." With that, she pulled out a sheet of paper as long as my arm. I gawked for a moment, before snagging the paper out of the air.

"Wake up: 6:00 am?" I chuckled, "Walking time: 6:30-7:00, with ten minutes allowed for distractions?" I raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Twilight, you can't possibly be serious with this."

She huffed, "Well somepony has to be organized."

I grinned evilly, "Well then allow me to be the bane of your existence." With that, I tore the sheet of paper in half from top to bottom, dropping the pieces and dusting my hands off in front of me while she gawked. "There. Now we know what we have to do, so instead of using a sheet of paper to do it, let's just get it done!" I placed Ms Falcon back on her perch, giving her a last little pet before retrieving my IPod and speakers from the kitchen.

Twilight stood there, stunned at my treatment of her precious list, "I. . . how could you just. . ." She groaned, "We're going to be so~ inefficient now."

I placed the IPod in my pocket, collapsing the speakers to stow them with it, "Twilight, you really need to loosen up. Why take an hour to write a to-do list when you could just go do it."

"And what if I forget something?" she pleaded.

I laughed, "That's half the fun! If you forget something, then you get to go on a whole 'nother adventure!"

She sighed, "I don't know how you made it more than a week with those types of organizational skills."

I halted at the door, hand on the knob. I turned my head to glare at her, and she immediately shrunk away, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Twilight," I growled, "This isn't a survival situation anymore. My life does not depend on doing every little thing 'by the book'."

She blushed, seemingly fighting back a tear, "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean. . ."

I shrugged, my good mood definitely ruined, "Don't apologize. I don't expect you to understand, just a little filter would be appreciated."

She nodded, and I stepped out onto the path in front of the house. I spent the trip into town scowling at the dirt at my feet. It surprised me, when I thought about it, how easily I'd slipped back into staring at the ground as I walked. Back home, I had to be alert all the time, constantly watching everything with my rifle ready. . . something about this place made me drop my guard though.

The trip into town went about as well as can be expected, I said nothing the whole time, partly because I was mad at Twilight, and partly because I started to enjoy seeing her sweat it out. Does that make me a bad person?

About halfway through the day, we came upon a sickening building. It was decorated like a cake, bright blue frosting looking adornments about the roof and everything. I suppose at one time it would've made me hungry, but now I just wanted to throw up from looking at it.

And then there was pink.

"HEY JEFFY! Want a cupcake!?" She practically screamed, causing me to flinch back as something soft and sweet was crammed into my mouth. I was stunned for a moment. In all honesty, it tasted fantastic, but the method of acquisition left a lot to be desired.

The sugar in it immediately made me vomit, which sucked. What sucked more was that after all that was done, I still had frosting in my teeth. I grabbed my mouth, nearly falling over as pain erupted from several cavities lining my jaw. I could hear Twilight and Applejack scolding Pinkie, who sat there with tears in her eyes.

I slowly recovered as the pain receded, after a few minutes spent doubled over in pain. We exchange a few words, Pinkie and I, and come to an agreement. I agreed that she could make me a sugar-free cupcake to try, and she agreed that she wouldn't stuff anything in my mouth again.

Pinkie decided to accompany us from there on, and try to make me smile, which was succeeding only in annoying me further. We hadn't even made it three blocks when we heard a shout from the street over.

"I already told you, I don't want to see you again!" Yelled a scratchy feminine voice from the street over.

Fluttershy glanced at us, clearly worried as we changed course to see what all the fuss was about. In the middle of the street stood Rainbow Dash, arguing with another pony, who I assumed was a stallion due to his bulkier build and more squared facial structure. Something that caught me off guard was that he was clearly dressed in a military uniform, sporting rank insignias on his shoulders and various medals across his chest.

I immediately didn't like him, in fact, I was ready to jump into a fight should the need arise. He was whisper-shouting at Rainbow, and carried an air of arrogance that I found grating at best. Out of habit, I racked a round into the chamber of my SCAR, preparing for the worst. I was about to shoulder the weapon before remembering that I was back among society, and things were no longer governed by the time tested tradition of "shoot first, ask questions later".

Holding my rifle to my chest, making sure I wasn't sweeping anyone with the muzzle, I stalked up behind Rainbow. I squared my shoulders, making myself look slightly larger and preparing for a fist fight.

"Everything alright, Rainbow?" I asked as I came up beside her. She jumped a little, not expecting to see me apparently, before turning away with a sour look.

"It's fine, Geoff. Just some. . . personal business."

The stallion scoffed, "Please, personal? With the way you keep shooting your mouth off, I'm surprised the whole town doesn't know by now."

I raised my eyebrow at him, "Know what, exactly, Mr. . .?"

He extended a hoof, "Lieutenant Soarin, Wonderbolts flight squadron and exhibition team, Equestrian Air Corps."

I let his hoof hang there, fixing an unimpressed scowl on my face. "That's cool I guess."

He lowered his hoof awkwardly, some of his bravado fading as he squinted at me with a glare. "I've heard about you, human. You think you're some kind of big shot after being here for just one day?"

Dash cut in before I could reply, "Leave him alone, Soarin. Just get out of here already, we don't have time to deal with you right now."

I glanced at her, realizing just how agitated she was. Her wings were twitching erratically, muscles in her shoulders were tensed and forelegs bent slightly. I realized that she was as ready for a fight as I was, which only soured my mood more.

"I overheard Dash here asking you to leave," I growled, clenching my weapon a little tighter, "I suggest you take her up on that offer."

Again, he scoffed, "You don't even know what the situation is. I was just taking a chance to catch up with my old buddy Dash here. That's all."

He strode forward, inserting himself between Rainbow and I, and putting a foreleg around her neck. I noticed her flinch at his contact. . . the kind of flinch that only comes when you're either afraid or surprised. Judging from her nervous glance at him, I was going with the former. From the corner of my eye, I could see a crowd forming. Front and center were Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack looked like she was itching to put a hoof through his face, and Twilight was readying a spell with an angry scowl on her face.

I noticed most of the stallions were hanging back, glancing awkwardly at the two even though there was a girl who clearly need help to get out of the situation. It confused me why they wouldn't be the first to step in and do something, but maybe they knew something that I didn't.

"Come on, Dash. Let's go find somewhere more private so we can continue our discussion."

Soarin's comment brought me back to the moment, and I could see her actively trying to get out from under his leg. I noticed a twitch that shouldn't be there either, and came to the horrifying realization that his. . . equipment, was in full view for the world to see. My mind's eye replaced him for a split second with a bandit, and Dash with a teenage girl. That memory was squashed before I could swing into a full blown flashback, however, but the reaction was already there.

I snarled, baring my teeth and shouldering my weapon, "Listen up, shit stain. You're going to leave. Now. And if I ever catch you around here again, or hear about you so much as looking at her funny, I'll make sure you don't get the chance to run away."

It must have come out more menacingly than I thought, for there were several gasps from the small crowd that had gathered to see what the fuss was about. He looked back at me, a smug grin on his face.

"Oh please, the way you talk, it's like you think I'd ever be afraid of you." He sneered, taking his hoof off of Dash and turning to face me. She took the chance to back away from him, putting herself between the two of us.

"Dash, go over by Twilight, please," I growled. She glanced back at me, before realization dawned on her face and she fluttered over to her friends with a worried look on her face.

I was glad that there weren't any ponies gathered behind Soarin as I shouldered my rifle. He looked at it for a moment before chuckling, "What're you gonna do with that, huh?"

"Last chance," I snarled, "I'm in a pretty bad mood. You get one last chance to leave, and never come back."

He growled back at me, widening his own stance and flaring his wings. He held that pose for a few moments before straightening out, chuckling again, "Heh, almost had me there, twig. I won't be drawn into starting a fight so easily though." He walked forward, brushing past me as I lowered my rifle a bit. He walked up to Dash, ignoring the others completely. "Well babe, when you want a real stallion, you know where I am." He hooked a hoof around her head, pulling her in for a rough kiss as she tried to squirm away.

Bad move.

Faster than I thought I could move, I leapt at him. My SCAR fell back to my side as I unsheathed my knife and held it in my left hand. Time seemed to slow as I dropped an arm around his neck, squeezing his trachea in the crook of my elbow and wrenching him back. He gave a strangled squawk in surprise as I brought my knife to the base of his jaw line, pressing just enough that he could feel the steel bite a bit.

"Leave. Now." I hissed, I paused for a moment, "Or I take a wing."

He gulped hard, before nodding frantically. I spun around, using my arm to throw him to the dirt and shifting my knife to my right hand while dropping into a low, aggressive stance. He coughed hard, shakily getting to his hooves before shooting one last glance at us and flying off toward the sky.

I turned back toward the crowd, all of the ponies there had shocked faces. I was about to question it before my eyes fell on Fluttershy, who looked very near fainting as she stared up at me in horror. My heart sank a little, and I was immediately ashamed for allowing her to see that. She was way to gentle and innocent to get mixed up in that kind of fight.

I sighed, sheathing my knife and pushing the round from the SCAR back into its magazine. I thought I was the good guy there.

Author's Note

Scumbag Soarin is a go!

Because that guy gets off too easy as far as assholes go.

Chapter V

Chapter V (suggested background music)

Canterlot

Luna and Celestia were lying on large, square pillows in one of their private studies. Both were filling out paperwork, when the smaller alicorn sighed.

"What is troubling you, sister?" Celestia asked, looking up from a supply requisition form sent from the Stalliongrad garrison.

"Hm?" Luna hummed, "Surely, you noticed it too, Tia."

Celestia sighed, placing the stack of papers on the floor. "You're talking about Geoff, aren't you."

Luna nodded. "That weapon of his, to be more specific."

Celestia stretched out, laying her head upon her forelegs and closing her eyes. "I think I know what you mean, but I want to hear it in your words, to be sure."

"He carries it like I carried my past," Luna murmured, frowning. "Like all the bad he's had to do is embodied within that weapon."

Celestia nodded, "He did call it a scar. I'm beginning to wonder if that title is the design of the weapon, or its impact on his psyche."

Luna sighed, "I believe it is more likely to be the latter." She turned her gaze to the floor, "From what little we know about him. . . Sister, I don't like it. I need to talk to him, if he's just an immature joker or someone like-"

"You don't have to say it," Celestia cut in, raising her head sharply and staring into her little sister's eyes.

Luna returned her gaze, both with misty eyes. "-me."

I stood for a full minute.

I took a step forward.

They took a step back.

I took a step back.

They remained where they were. All their glares directed toward me, all their anger, their fear, even hate. I couldn't distinguish pony from pony, the colors blurred together as my eyes misted.

Doubt began to eat away at me, I began questioning if I had done the right thing. If I had been too threatening, or if my intervention had been needed. The memories in my head were screaming again. . . telling me to leave, disgusted with my actions.

I picked out a pair of sky blue eyes, "Fluttershy. . . I. . . ," I whispered, "I didn't-"

"Just git," came a southern sounding voice. "Don't nobody wanna hear yer excuses ya monster."

I had been called a lot of things. Weakling, meat, dead man, corpse, failure, wimp, joke. . . the list goes on. . . but never monster. I was doing the right thing, I was standing up for Rainbow. . . how did that make me a monster?

My mind went silent. The memories stopped, my thoughts stopped. My hand twitched toward my pistol, muscle memory taking over as my hand wrapped around the grip. Everything was numb, everything was loud, silent. . . deafening.

At once, the ponies seemed to snap. Whispers turned to murmurs, murmurs to words, words to shouts. A cacophony of discontent and unacceptance bombarded my ears. Some wanted me dead, more wanted me banished. They demanded that I leave and not come back. Even Rainbow, the one that had been the victim was glaring at me with ill concealed hate.

Fluttershy was crying. She tucked her wings close to her sides, shivering in fright as she found herself unable to break eye contact with me.

I could do it for her though. I sighed, turning my scarred body away from them. I clutched my SCAR to my chest, squeezing until I was sure my palms were bruised. I racked a cartridge into the chamber, for fear that one might try to attack me with my back turned. I started walking away. Toward the forest that I limped out of before.

The library was on my way out, and I turned my steps a bit to head in that direction. My boots were there, and they were a necessity. The scenery all blurred into one as I marched past, unconsciously opening the door to the tree and heading upstairs. I found my boots empty of water and dried in the washroom, most likely from Twilight.

I picked them up, heading back downstairs, where I sat down on the couch to lace them up. I was surprised that they were no longer stuffy and uncomfortable. Picking up the second one, I noticed a small note inside. I pulled it out and read its contents.

Absorption enchantment; removes sweat, bacteria, and maintains even temperature.

So Twilight had taken it upon herself to improve my boots. I would've been thankful if I had the capacity for emotion. I finished lacing up my other boot and made to leave the building, when I stopped. I may not be welcome here, but there was still nothing to stop me from doing what I believed was right.

"I can't believe him!" Rainbow exclaimed. "We totally could've handled that jerk!"

The other girls nodded their assent as the group neared the library. Twilight spoke up, "It would've been a simple knock out spell, a few words with him when he woke up, and he'd be on his way. It had no need to be escalated that far."

Applejack turned her head to Rainbow, "Ah don't know the specifics, but wasn't that guy a Wonderbolt?"

Rainbow cringed, but nodded, "We had a thing for a while. He was a nice guy, but. . . well he's got some issues if everything doesn't go exactly how he wants it."

"Care to elaborate, darling?" Asked Rarity.

"Not out here," Rainbow shook her head. "Back at the library, I guess. But not here."

The remainder of the walk was spent in silence, until Twilight finally opened the library door. The six stepped inside, before noticing something out of place. Twilight walked to the centerpiece of the room, a large, solid table. There, embedded tip first into the wood was a matte black blade. It was pierced through a single piece of paper with four words written on it in a sloppy scrawl.

Next time defend yourself.

On Fluttershy's bed laid a folded piece of paper, sitting on her pillow so she would find it when she returned. I shouldered my pack, feeling a little off without my knife at my hip. I could make due though. I'd never relied on it too heavily, mostly using it for convenience.

I ducked out of Fluttershy's cottage, after traversing half the town, avoiding as many ponies as possible. The ones I did happen to run in to would react differently, some ducking out of my way, while others spit in my path or shot their mouths off.

I had my gear now, all of it, and made my way toward the only place I knew I could disappear. The same forest that I'd crawled out of on my second day in this FUBAR excuse of a world where the punishment for helping others was exile. It had been a few hours since the altercation, and the sun was nearing the horizon. I imagined the princesses were at Twilight's by now, getting the full story about how horrible of a person I was.

I marched onward. It would be a good few hours before I entered the Everfree and disappeared for good. My canteen needed refilling, so I stopped at a small stream on the outskirts of town to drink and store some water for my trip. I didn't know where I was going, but anything was better than here.

I knelt beside the water, rinsing my hands and splashing some on my face. The biting chill of it snapped be back to reality some, though not enough to fully process my surroundings. That part would come in time though. Even if it was just a night, I knew that my survival instincts were not what they were before meeting those ponies.

I held my canteen below the surface, glaring at the bubbles that came to the surface. I half wished I could go for a swim, just relax the way I used to. My mom and dad, sitting on the bank of the creek and laughing together as I leapt from the cliffs. . . waving at people floating by in kayaks or boats, showing off with a flip or dive for the cute girls and shrugging off the icy glares from their dads who were with them.

I couldn't though. In my heart, I knew that I could never again relax with my family, never again watch my dad throw my mom into the water while she yelled at him for being immature. Never hear him laugh and cannonball into the creek right next to her to scare her. Never sneak up behind him when they got out and throw him in for my mother and I's amusement in revenge.

Go to dairy queen to cool off after a day of swimming.

Watch a movie at home and tell jokes back and forth.

New ripples disturbed the water, I barely noticed. Self pity was something I rarely indulged in, and I was knee deep by now. Waves of misery washed over me, regret, jealousy. Why did they get the easy way out and just die? Why didn't I go with them? Why, when they left, did I hate them so much. I called my own dad a coward to his face for running away instead of defending his home. Watched without shame as he punched me in the face, calling me an idiot for thinking I stood a chance.

Listened without regret as his last words to me came out of his mouth. "I have no son. My family is evacuating, good luck, kid."

In my arrogance, I laughed it off. Thinking them the weakling and the fool for abandoning all they knew because a few bombs had dropped on the coast.

My hands balled into fists, now resting on the shoreline with my canteen tucked away in my pack. The mud got in between my fingers, grass uprooted by my hands broken easier than half of the lives I'd ended since that day.

I looked at my SCAR. Twenty three lines scratched into the paint. I'd never made the mark for my own.

Maybe that's why I ended up in this world. I never accounted for that bullet.

I just sat there. The energy to continue seemingly ripped out of me. Tears hit the shore of the little creek, rippling out as the water flowed smoothly on. I heard a faint rustle behind me, though I couldn't be bothered to look at who it was. I just stayed hunched over, on my knees.

Hoof steps approached me from behind. I still didn't move.

"You know, most of us thought you'd be long gone by now."

I huffed a bit. Of course Luna would be the first to find me at night.

"I heard what you did, you know. Do you want to explain why? Threatening to remove a pegasus' wing is akin to threatening to kill him outright."

I shrugged.

". . . You know, I know what isolation is like as well."

That comment. . . "I know what it's like." . . . It hit me wrong. Got me so mad that I could feel my heart thudding in my ears. My hands tightened even further. If I had been paying attention, I would've heard the other hoof steps coming up.

"If you would just talk to us, we'd all like to get this resolved."

I began to shake. First my legs, then my hands, until if I had been standing, I'm sure it would've looked like I was having a minor seizure.

"Please, Geoff. I'm trying to help you. Just talk with us, and we can get this whole thing behind us."

"We. . ." I whispered, followed by a small huff of indignant laughter. "What do you know about isolation?" I turned my head to see Luna in the corner of my vision, not noticing any other presence as she stared back at me. "What do you know about having to fight to survive every day? About running from people that you once called friends and neighbors?"

"I was-"

I shouted, "YOU DON'T. YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST FUCKING THING ABOUT SURVIVAL. YOU DON'T KNOW A FUCKING THING ABOUT PUTTING A BULLET THROUGH A MAN'S HEAD BECAUSE IT'S EITHER YOU OR HIM!" I tossed my SCAR to the ground in front of her, making sure she had a clear view of the marks on its side, "Those are the people I've killed. Count the marks, there's twenty three. You don't know a damn thing about having to fight other members of your species just to live, just to keep from being tortured or killed over scraps of food."

I glanced at her again, noting the shocked look as she stared at my rifle. I took her silence as a sign to continue. I stood up, turning toward her, noticing that we had company. Twilight and her friends, along with Celestia stood to my left now, the river on my right. They looked horrified.

"I never asked for much from life, a place to stay, food to eat, water to drink, a decent paying job and maybe a girlfriend to keep me company. ALL of that was ripped from me. Torn from the realm of possibility because some fat ass politician decided to fire off his mouth." I raged on, practically spitting venom at the princess as she stared at my weapon. "I was tired of it all, Luna. I was sick of having to kill or be killed, scrounge the ruins of abandoned cities for scraps. Sleep on the dirt at night in a torn up old tent with a shitty ripped up sleeping bag to cover half of my body."

I glared at the ground, words that I probably shouldn't have said welling up in my mind, escaping before I could stop them. "I ended it."

Luna glanced up at me, tears in her eyes as well, "What?" Her voice came out rough, barely a whisper.

I shut my eyes, a grimace on my face as I drew my pistol. "I ended it. The only way I could figure out how." By the look on her face she wasn't following, which pissed me off even more, "I TOOK THIS FUCKING GUN, PUT IT TO MY FUCKING FOREHEAD AND-"

*CRACK*

A gout of water shot into the air where the round hit the surface, startling the princess as she saw for herself what the little chunk of metal could do. Silence reigned over the meadow as she slowly turned her tearful eyes up to mine.

"I don't know how I'm here," I growled, my anger receding, being replaced with depression, "I don't know why I'm here. All I know is that I should be dead. For all I know, I AM dead." I sighed, "I thought I could start over, make some friends, build a life maybe, who knows." I laughed once, "As luck would have it, my first day here I step in to defend someone I thought I could call a friend, and now I'm hated, feared. . ." I picked up my rifle, slinging it over my shoulder. I began to turn my steps back toward the forest when another voice made me stop cold.

"Now hang on there for just one second." A southern accent, "Who ever said we hated ya?"

I turned slowly, putting every ounce of hate into a single glare directed at that fucking cunt who had the nerve to say that. Every pony recoiled at the look, and with as much ice as I could gather, I hissed through gritted teeth at Applejack, "Don't. Fucking. Talk to me. It's as you yourself said, I am just a monster, so I'm going to live with other monsters."

With that, I turned on my heels. In a single jump I was over the small stream, and trudging forward to my new home. I could hear the sniffles behind me, some comforting words being exchanged, and it incited a twinge of sadistic glee in my mind.

Author's Note

Here it is. Don't worry about the Soarin story for now, it's coming later. Don't forget it though.

Chapter VI

The library door slammed shut, eight irate and upset mares, two of each pony species, marched in and plopped down in a large circle.

Silence reigned over the room for several minutes, aside from the soft sniffle from Fluttershy and even Luna. Celestia was at a loss for words, Rarity was deep in thought, Applejack had removed her hat, setting it on the floor and staring at it. Pinkie Pie's hair was shock straight as silent tears rolled down her cheeks, but she otherwise looked calm.

A loud sigh broke everypony out of their trance, "He's not a monster, you know." They all whipped their heads up to stare at Rainbow Dash, who had unsheathed the knife that Geoff had left her. "He's the first guy to actually stick up for me, even if he did scare us all half to death."

Celestia turned her head to the side, "What do you mean by that? I've heard that he was extremely aggressive, threatening to. . ." she winced, "remove one of Soarin's wings, but how did he scare you all so badly?"

Fluttershy shook her head, responding with a whisper. "His face, Princess. It was just wrong, before that, when he would look at us he would look friendly, maybe a little scarred and suffering, but it was still friendly. When he grabbed Soarin," she choked, "there wasn't any mercy there, no caring, just anger and hate." More tears rolled down her muzzle as she looked at the floor.

Celestia looked at the other mares, who all nodded. She found herself once again at a loss for words, when Luna spoke up for her.

"Sister, with what he's told us. . . perhaps we should track him down and get him to come back." She cast a hopeful glance at the ivory alicorn, who frowned at the floor in thought.

"No." She whispered, causing everypony's eyes to snap to her. "With the information he gave us, I'm not willing to risk anypony's safety when he has the experience and equipment to survive until he decides to return."

All seven mares, except for Applejack, began shouting at her. All of them expecting her to let them venture after the human. The noise grew to almost unbearable levels before the orange mare stood, shooting her rear hooves into the wall of the library, causing a crack almost as loud as the shot Geoff had fired before.

"Would y'all quit bickerin?" She glared at them all, "If he's got the kinda experience he says he does, we ain't got a chance in tartarus of findin him unless he wants us to, ya hear?" She placed her hat back on her head, "'Sides, the Timberwolves started howlin' last night. Means they're more active since it's their mating season. We'd be more likely ta' run into a pack of them than into Geoff."

I trudged through the forest, swiping branches and vines out of my way in my anger. I couldn't believe it - them - I wasn't even sure anymore. I was just mad. It was one of those times that, in my younger days, I probably would've retreated to my room, jumped on my computer, and blast music for hours while browsing random websites while I just enjoyed the feeling of being mad.

But now it was a hindrance.

I could tell that I was unfocused, and that was a problem. Even though I'd only spent less than a day in the company of those ponies, I was already missing Fluttershy at least. The name calling I could handle, even the wild accusations that I was some psychopathic murderer, which in all honesty I could be. But the look on Shy's face when she looked at me, it had a certain. . . soul rending capacity to it that I'd never seen before.

'Come on, Geoff,' I mentally scolded, 'You've been fine on your own for this long, just buckle down and fall back into that routine.

I sighed, checking my rifle and chambering a round, doing the same for my pistol. I regretted leaving my knife behind, as it would probably have come in handy out here. Who's to say, though? Taking count of my supplies, I realized that I had little water. I grumbled in frustration as I set a stream to the top of my to-find list, if things got really desperate, I could always find a clearing and make a rain trap from the MRE wrapping, the Everfree looked like it got frequent showers.

*SMACK*

"FUCK!"

Processing different scenarios for housing arrangements, I wasn't paying attention to my path. I'd walked straight into a low hanging branch. I shouted in pain as I fell back on my ass, the muzzle of my SCAR digging into the soft mud of the forest floor and getting a good chunk of filth into the barrel. I groaned in pain as I brought my hand away from my nose, which was producing a gratuitous amount of blood.

I brought my rifle up from the mud, scooting my stupid ass back against the offending tree as I removed the round from the chamber and reinserted it into the magazine. I'd have to deal without my primary weapon until I could break it down for cleaning, or risk having the barrel explode in my face.

Yeah, I had a lot of old scars, but I did not yet have one from a SCAR.

"Yo dawg, I heard you like scars," I muttered, chuckling at my own horrid sense of humor before sighing as I realized just how terrible the joke would've been if my friends had been around to hear it.

I picked myself up, deciding to ignore the bloody nose for now as I felt the hot liquid displace itself to my face and chin. I considered wiping it on my hand or something, but that would just lead to a mess that I didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. Besides, I was looking for a stream. I could wash up there.

Four hours.

Four fucking hours of hiking and not a single stream. Either I was going in circles, or my assessment of the Everfree had been the exact opposite of accurate. On the up side, my feet felt dry and, for once, not excruciatingly painful. I silently thanked Twilight for that, even if we weren't on good terms anymore.

I found a decent sized tree and climbed up to the highest weight supporting limb, watching the moon as it descended toward the horizon. Dawn wasn't quite here, but the skyline to the east was beginning to lighten. My eyes burned from straining to see in the dark, even though I mostly relied on my hearing during my night treks.

I wiped as much crusted up blood from my face as I could, hoping that I wasn't too much of a wreck. By this point I'd pretty much figured out my path. I knew I would have to face the princesses again, although how and when had yet to be decided. Part of me hoped that Luna would speak to me in my dreams, although I wasn't too keen to see her. Even if she knew what it was like to be alone. . .

Hell, maybe she did. But my experience wasn't just isolation, it was survival. Having to scrounge ruins and run from threats or kill them, that was what I'd done for those four years. I survived. I had no reason to continue other than keeping myself alive, even if I claimed I was searching for my family, inside I knew they were long gone.

Realizing that I had been zoning out, I looked toward the eastern horizon to see the first rays of sun peeking over the distant mountains. I also realized that Ponyville sat in a nice little valley. To the north and south were more towering peaks, and it seemed that to my west was some sort of pass where the Everfree had seemingly invaded from.

I was near the base of a mountain as I sat, realizing that there was a city high up on the mountain side. I could barely make out the ghost of a silhouette as I stared in wonder. The entire thing was built upon what looked like an artificial shelf. I couldn't imagine it being stable enough to support a community, but maybe their magic was at work there.

I watched the moon a little longer as it fell behind the western horizon, before leaning back against the tree and dozing off. I wasn't worried about falling, sleeping in trees wasn't very comfortable, but for a nap, I wasn't going to complain when there was an opportunity to avoid any carnivores on the ground.

Darkness.

Darkness all around me, I could feel something soft beneath my boots, but I couldn't tell what it was. Cold air assaulted my face, or rather, just cold. I couldn't feel a breeze, or any movement of atmosphere as I moved my arm. I could hear crying. . . somewhere.

Looking around again, I noticed a faint glow coming from one side of. . . wherever I was. I could tell there was a hill there, so I began to climb. The terrain under my boots shifted and slid as I navigated my way up to the light. This void I was in was freezing, to the point where I could swear my breath was forming into ice drops in front of my face, which confused me since there was no air to breathe.

I clawed my way up the silt covered edifice, turning once to watch in wonder as my boots kicked up a rooster tail of particles that floated into the rays of light, creating a sparkling arc in the pitch blackness. The sobs were more pronounced now, beckoning me to the source. My climbing gained speed as I neared the lip of the wall, finally reaching out to pull myself over the edge.

I was blinded by the light for a moment, the unfiltered rays of a distant sun assaulting my exposed upper body. I realized that I wasn't wearing my pack or vest, and had no weapons on my person. Just my boots and pants. The heat from that star before me was so hot I was sure that I should have been on fire.

It felt like an oven, which perplexed me. Only seconds ago I was in temperatures so cold it burned, and now my body felt so hot that it was like being stabbed with ice every instant.

Blinking the light from my eyes, I gazed forward. The view took my breath away. I'd seen images from the moon of the Earth coming up, but to see it for myself was a religious experience to be sure.

Whites, blues, greens, even the tan of a desert here and there. They all meshed together into a collage of life. I thought for a moment about how many people were down there, living their lives happily, looking up at the moon as it rode through the sky. I turned away from the Earth to see the stars, which were more numerous than I would have ever thought possible.

I could do nothing but stare as the sheer number of stars overwhelmed my vision. Thousands upon millions of specks of light, each one potentially holding worlds and life of their own, I found it hard to believe that we could be the only intelligent life in the galaxy if each of those had the potential to shelter Earth-like worlds.

More sobs interrupted my thoughts. I turned back to the planet, to the day-side of the moon that I was on. Covering my eyes, I strode toward the source of those cries. They seemed familiar to me, and I realized that I had made that noise before, just after realizing that everyone I had ever known was dead.

After what felt like an eternity, the sobbing stopped abruptly with a sharp intake of breath. Somehow I'd managed to walk right by whoever it was, and they were now behind me and to the right.

"Even in my dreams, you remind me of what a failure I am."

That voice was familiar also. . . I turned around, and gasped slightly at what I saw.

"Luna," I rasped, surprising myself with the sound of my voice. She looked terrible, her cheeks matted with dried tears that boiled away the moment they left her eyes, her starry mane faded to a baby blue color, hanging limply from her neck, around her shoulders instead of flowing as it usually did.

She turned away, sulking off toward the horizon. My curiosity was piqued, however, so I jogged after her, or tried to. My first push sent me flailing into the air, my startled swings causing me to do a full front flip and rotate so I was facing away from her. I turned quickly, marching much more carefully as I caught up to her after several minutes. She had found a new spot to weep, and was staring at the ground as I reached her from behind.

I placed a hand on the base of her neck, between her shoulders. She tensed up at the contact.

"Luna, what's going on? Where are we?" I asked as gently as I could, kneeling beside her so we were level with each other.

She glared at the dust, wrestling with herself over what to say, "We're on the moon, of course."

I nodded, "Well I figured that, but why are we here, was what I meant."

She sighed, "I know why I am here, but I do not know how you came to be in my dream."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "And I don't know how you got in mine. Unless we're sharing a brain at the moment. But that doesn't answer my question; why are we here, Luna?"

She groaned a bit, "We're here because I made a mistake, Geoff. I failed to protect somepony that I cared for deeply, and the resulting chain of events landed me upon the moon that I so dutifully watched over. . . I was banished here, to contemplate the consequences of my actions for one thousand years."

Something clicked in my mind, ". . . That light, the one that Shadow died to. . ." I lost myself in thought as I ran over the memory again, "Luna, that was. . . you, and who else?"

Luna stared at me with a quizzical expression, "What light? What do you mean?"

"My memories, er, the memories of the pack, the ones that I told you and Celestia about. There was one from the Alpha that showed a huge explosion, it's when he died. There were two beings fighting over the city where he was living." I rubbed my eyes, it was getting harder to differentiate between my mind and the implanted images.

Luna's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, and she gasped, "That- you know of that?"

I nodded solemnly, "I watched it happen as if I were there myself."

New tears formed in Luna's eyes, her crying picked up again, "The- The other was Cel- Celestia."

I sighed, realizing now that it was the two sisters clashing over the doomed city. I berated myself for bringing up such obviously painful memories for her, but at the same time I was reeling from what she had told me. I replaced my hand between her shoulders, rubbing lightly. I gave a startled yelp when she dove at me, drawing me into a bone crushing hug.

"I-I'm so so-rry," she sobbed, before collecting herself enough to speak, "I should never have tried to use my own banishment as a comparison to what you must have gone through. I-"

"That's enough, Luna." I growled, a little more harsh than what I had intended. "I'm sorry for reacting as I did also. You've been through a lot, and while I see no need for you to apologize, I accept it."

She drew herself back, smiling a little through the tears.

"What's more, I can't help but feel that we cannot compare our experiences without making one or the other seem unimportant. While one could make the argument that I only lived for four years like that-"

"One could also make the argument that I only spent one thousand years out of a potential millions here," Luna cut me off, "When one looks at the ratios of time spent like this, and total time alive, I believe that in the end yours amounts to a larger percentage of your life."

I chuckled, "I guess, yeah. So we're good?" I asked hesitantly, still weary of her depressed state of mind.

She giggled, "I suppose we are, all of us would like for you to return to Ponyville, though. After how things developed as they did, all of the girls are sad that you left before they could apologize."

I sighed, shaking my head, "Not yet. You I can forgive, Luna. We have reached an understanding about each other, I think, and while I may have overreacted, I'm not ready to forgive them yet."

Luna furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

I sighed again, wondering how that was possible on the moon, "They didn't do anything, Luna, and that's the problem. They didn't step in to tell that Soarin asshole off, they didn't step in and help their friend, they let me do it for them." Luna went to speak, but I cut her off, "And what's more, after it was all said and done, they didn't thank me, they didn't even walk it off like nothing had happened. They were horrified by my actions, and when I tried to explain myself, Applejack told me to just leave and called me a monster right to my face."

My shoulders sank, all the fight leaving me as Luna wrapped me in another hug. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind going back to Fluttershy, she made a good space heater at night.

"So what will you do?" Luna asked from my shoulder.

I returned the hug, feeling myself drifting back to my body, "I'll survive, just like I have for the last four years. Eventually, when I can come back without blowing up in their faces like I did before, I'll allow them to say whatever they want, but not yet. I'd just end up yelling at them and leaving again."

Luna nodded in understanding, "Well until then, I'll keep a watchful eye out for your dreams. Some company couldn't hurt when you sleep, right?"

I chuckled a bit, drifting further from her, "Yeah, that sounds nice. See you later, I think I'm waking up."

Author's Note

So here's chapter 6. Right up there ^

If I messed anything up, let me know, but I'm liking it.

Removed the Slice of Life tag, because it's not quite SOL, and it's not quite adventure. . . so in place of either of those, I put the random tag.

Also, I broke down pretty accurately how I feel about the whole Luna's banishment vs Geoff's survival in this chapter. I don't like comparing them because the circumstances were entirely different and unique, and to say one was tougher would devalue the will and experiences of the other in my eyes. So there's a beautiful grey area for you.

. . . So much grey. . .

PS: The mystery of what happened between Soarin and Dash continues to elude you readers. I'm getting some sadistic glee out of making you wait for that little story.

Chapter VII

I awoke slowly, hearing birds chirping through the early evening air of the Everfree. I could see the orange glow of the sunset through the forest canopy. I double checked my gear, making sure nothing had fallen from the tree and downing a mouth full of water before hopping down and continuing my search for a water source.

Luckily, I had no sooner began to settle into a rhythm for the search when I practically fell into a stream in the fading light. I happily filled my canteen, holding it under the surface to avoid any debris floating on the water, and drank deeply. Happy to finally have a way to renew the precious resource.

My mind strayed back to the incident in Ponyville, and to be honest I was rushing myself to come to a conclusion about the event as a whole. I didn't know their customs, maybe stepping in was the exact wrong thing to do. Maybe that was an everyday occurrence and I stepped on some major cultural toes, so to speak.

I shook my head, no, I thought, if that's the way they live then I doubt I'd even fit in for a week without shooting some ignorant motherfucker for harassing a girl.

I may not be the most virtuous guy around, but I was raised to respect and protect females. I didn't see the species mattering much. I spent a few more minutes thinking about it, before shoving it to the back of my mind and grabbing my kit from the shore of the creek. I double checked all my gear, knowing that I'd have to either find some edible plants or kill an animal if I wanted to eat that night. Thinking back, consuming my last MRE after eating a real breakfast that morning wasn't a smart move in the slightest. I berated myself for being so short-sighted as I sighed deeply, and put boot to mud.

I made slow progress, being in unfamiliar territory was still far from comfortable. I had no bug-out sites, no safe house to retreat to if things got heated, just my rifle and pistol with plenty of bullets for a few encounters with hostiles or several dozen hunting trips.

Night fell quickly, the dark forest shifting from gloomy to downright creepy like someone flicked the color-filter switch. What was dark shadow turned to bluish grey, and what were sun shafts poking through leaves turned to ghostly white moonlight. What was worse, was that the forest just stopped. There were no dogs barking in the distance, no elk bugling or owls hooting. Everything was dead with the exception of one thing: timber wolf calls.

I knew Alpha said it would be dangerous, but fuck me. Every few minutes a snarl would rip through the stillness, causing me to whip around and fall against a tree trunk with my rifle raised. Occasionally, I could hear a howl from some wolf or another, though I couldn't tell one from another at those ranges. I could hear fairly constant snaps and cracks, and eventually figured that the wolves were either ripping apart trees to fix themselves or engaging in territorial battles.

With the wolves such a present and constant threat, I didn't even consider what other threats could be hiding among the trees.

I kept creeping forward, keeping a constant bearing with the moon since it was still hovering over the eastern horizon. I kept it at my back, allowing it to provide a sort of guide and illumination. More than once I found myself thankful that it was so bright as it allowed me to spot movement in a few small groves. Every time it was the same thing, a timber wolf, sitting proudly in the center of the clearing. Their ears would swivel, muzzles twisting atop a stationary body as they tracked whatever snarling could be heard at the time.

Their eyes, though. When in 'sentry mode,' apparently they turn off. More than once, a snarl ripped from my six, making me tense up as I stared at yet another sentry wolf. As its head turned my way, I could see none of the glow that substituted for eyeballs. Instead, a subtle green hue was glowing inside their heads. My guess was that they sacrificed their sight to improve their hearing or sense of smell.

Onward I went, avoiding initiating contact with any wolf just to be on the safe side. Alpha did mention that some packs thought differently, and I really didn't want to fire off my rifle with so many apparent predators relatively nearby.

I unconsciously turned south, putting the moon on my left, after my fifth clearing occupied by a timber wolf. Somewhere in my mind I noted the change of heading, and started tracking my steps and any strange looking landmarks. A weird boulder here, snarled tree there, simple things. They would help me find my way back to the stream later. It was all instinct to me by that point, and it fell easily back into place after my apparent tenderizing in Ponyville.

I stopped running into clearings after the switch. Offhandedly noting how strange it was that they were all aligned in an almost straight path. Somewhere it occurred to me that they were placed there strategically, though I couldn't bother to think about it.

Right, clear. Left, clear. Back, clear. Front, Clear. I repeated the crucial mantra in my head again, sweeping my SCAR across my field of vision and craning my head to double check my back. I would repeat the process at random intervals, a practice born out of being hunted by humans at least as smart as I was. Even if they were feral, they could still set a trap, and they could still send scouts to watch my movements. I wasn't taking any chances with wolves practicing that doctrine, especially after my meeting with Alpha.

An hour after the change in direction, I happened across another clearing. Alarm bells rang in my head as I laid eyes upon the wolf in the center of this one. It was bigger than the others, still sitting calmly in the center, although his eyes were 'active', I suppose you could call it.

It was all too convenient. Five clearings in an almost perfect line heading east/west, and one at a perfect ninety degree angle to the south. Everything about the layout screamed intelligent design, and as I hunkered down behind a tree, silently, I began to process possible reasons behind such a setup.

There was an annoying sound though. Small grunts and sniffles could be heard from the clearing, and I was effectively confused. From what I'd heard, the timber wolves didn't make any sort of grunting noise, unless they were grinding their teeth or something I suppose, so I peeked my head around the tree. There was a hole in front of the wolf, though I couldn't see anything within, just a little patch uncovered by grasses.

In the midst of my gawking, a snarl and a loud snap could be heard. Directly behind me. This one was closer. Much closer. I froze on instinct, tightening my grip on my SCAR until my left hand reminded me of the still painful stab wound present in the palm. Icy fear drenched every atom of my body, like playing a game of tag and getting an adrenaline rush when you're about to get caught, but multiply that by about eighteen thousand. Give or take.

The large wolf's head snapped in my direction, and the eyes got me to move. I ducked behind my tree, hyperventilating and keeping my rifle aimed at where the wolf would have to come before a familiar feeling prodded the back of my mind again.

"Mladý, it has not even been three suns since I warned you of the dangers of the probuzení, and yet here you are. Scurrying amongst the trees. Just like last time. What is your game, human?"

I could've jumped and cheered, but settled for taking my rifle off of his forehead. I put on a wan smile, letting my SCAR swing at my side as I stood and approached him. "Alpha," I sighed, "It's good to see you again. I had a bit of a. . . misunderstanding with the ponies."

The massive wolf's head tilted in confusion, "Ah, not as much prey as predator, I take it?

I almost chuckled. . . almost. "Yeah, you could say that," I rasped, whispering.

Another snarl from behind us caused me to snap around again, falling silently to a knee and scanning the trees. Alpha's eyes flashed yellow, before fading to a deep, blood red.

" Mladý. I must present a task to you in exchange for your protection. Do you accept?"

I gulped slightly, before nodding to the wolf.

"Good. Children," he motioned to the center of the clearing, "Fillies. They must be protected while I deal with this intruder. We will discuss more upon my return."

Without waiting for any confirmation, Alpha leapt forward. In one leap, he took to the forest canopy, bounding from branch to branch as he disappeared from sight.

I gulped, seeing the giant wolf's agility reminded me just how impotent I might be against some predators in this God-forsaken forest. My adrenaline rush wore off, leaving me shaking slightly as I gripped my rifle to my chest for comfort. I debated on how to protect the children that he mentioned, figuring I could either hide in the tree line and provide cover from a distance or get up close to make sure they were alright. The decision was made for me as a series of hushed whispers came from the hole, which at second glance was much larger than I'd assumed.

"Is he gone?"

"Ho-How am I supposed to know? I can't see two feet in front of me in this stupid dark!"

"Well go look, stupid! It's your fault we're here in the first place!"

"My fault? I'm pretty sure you're the one that dared us to come in here! We could all be asleep at our homes right now but noooo~, Diamond Tiara wanted to go into the scary stupid forest!"

The voices grew more heated, gaining volume as I crouch-walked closer to my new charges. If they were kids, which sounded right and fit what Alpha told me, they were either very stupid or very overconfident. . . hard to tell the difference really. I glanced in the hole, my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, and saw what it contained. In the pale moonlight sat five small shapes, two of which looking vaguely familiar to a couple of Twilight's friends back in Ponyville.

They argued for another few seconds, before the white one suddenly stopped mid sentence. Eyes dilating as she did a rather good fish impression, prompting my eyebrows to rise a bit in amusement. Slowly, the others turned to follow her gaze, one by one falling into the same fish impression. Their synchronized awe/fear/brain failure was almost enough to get me to laugh, but I settled on tilting my head to the side and quirking my mouth into a lopsided smile.

Cute kids. . . stupid, but cute.

Not wasting time, I hopped down into the now vacated half of the pit that was occupied by three of them when I arrived. They flinched away as I sat down with a huff, pulling my backpack off and placing it beside me in the hole. I kept my SCAR in easy reach, though I turned the safety on just to make doubly sure that the children weren't at risk. A very awkward silence followed, the fillies clinging to each other and trembling, terrified.

I cleared my throat, quietly, which of course made them all just about seize in surprise. "Uh, hi?" I said intelligently, tilting my head a bit. I kept my voice down all the same, popping my head upright to catch a glimpse of the tree line around the clearing.

The fillies stayed riveted to the spot, unwilling or unable to look away from the big scary. . . malnourished human that had just plopped down into their foxhole. Fine then, I thought, be that way. The white one suddenly gasped, making me flinch.

Her voice was clearly more than excited, "Are you that Geoff thingy that Rarity was talking about?"

Her voice. . . my God if I wasn't such a good person, I'd cut her vocal cords out to save the ears of the next unfortunate soul to hear that frequency.

Alright, maybe it wasn't that bad, but I double checked for blood just in case as I shushed her and checked the clearing again, praying that nothing hungry heard that nice little dog-whistle.

"Keep it down, will you?" I hissed, "There's things in this forest that are dangerous, you know." She looked down, scuffing the bottom of our cozy little foxhole with her fore-hoof. I sighed, "Yeah, my name's Geoff. I. . . uh, I've met Rarity once or twice, why?"

"Oh, uh," she stammered, "Nothing. . . What are you doing here?"

The orange one spoke up next, "Yeah, where'd the big timber wolf go?"

My eyes had taken to scanning the tree line from end to end, "Well, he had to go take care of something. He'll be back." I huffed a silent laugh at their horror-stricken faces, "Trust me, he's protecting you until it's safe to take you back. I know him."

"Y'all know that thing?" The yellow one whispered, apparently set at ease with two of her companions speaking freely.

I nodded, scanning again, and left it at that. The talking wasn't helping my focus, and being snuck up on was not my favorite past time, despite what others may think. Several minutes passed with no activity. The barking and snarling of the timber wolf pack moved further to our north, seemingly getting further away as I somehow recognized the barks as orders from Alpha himself. I couldn't actually discern any real meaning, but simple impulses like 'flank' or 'dodge' or 'kill' were ringing through my head at certain calls.

I was startled to realize that those associations came from the pack's memories, not my own. . . and that I had been interpreting everything in the forest through their mind. It was. . . unsettling at the very least. The fight seemed to be going well for them at least, from what I could tell. Something was nagging at my mind though, as they drifted further from our little slice of mud and dirt.

A voice made me jump, squeezing my SCAR into my shoulder, "So what was it like?"

I sighed, "What was what like?" I didn't even bother to look at them, as far as I was concerned, their only purpose was to stay safe long enough for Alpha to return, and then I could see what he wanted.

"Rarity said you had to survive on your own," another voice crack, another flinch from me, "She said you were from somewhere very far away, too. So what was your home like?"

I glanced at the white one, who had her head tilted in curiosity. Her two apparent buddies were looking curious as well, and the two others. . . purple and grey, left and right, were still hugging each other in fear. I snorted, remembering when I was that scared of everything.

"In short, it sucked." I whispered, "Some people got mad and hurt a lot of folks. From then on, it was pure survival. Some people would try to hurt others. . . hurt me. . . You learned fast or you died."

They were all shivering again. . . and I had given them the abridged, sugar coated version. The unabridged version contained a lot more blood and guts. I continued, "It was tough, any sleep was restless, since actually falling asleep was a good way to get hurt. Come to think of it. . . think about how scared you are now, sitting in this hole in the middle of the Everfree forest, and know that I had to live with that fear all the time, and still move and operate to stay alive."

I grew quiet after that, the general idea was enough for them to know until they were older. Maybe I said too much, but oh well. Another minute passed, another minute that Alpha wasn't back and his barks grew further away. I felt small legs circle around my midsection as the white one crawled onto my lap for a hug. I could see her tears in the moonlight, and to be honest, it was heartbreakingly cute.

I sighed, wrapping an arm around her for a minute while she trembled. Her friends put on a brave face, settling for looking solemnly at the dirt. Poor little filly. . . they really were just that sheltered after all, I guess. A bit of movement on the tree line made me tense up, squeezing the filly a little tighter before pushing her back to her friends.

As I watched, my SCAR propped on the side of the hole, a massive hulk of a cat came prowling into the clearing. Half again my height, the thing was fucking massive. Oh, and just to make things predictable, it had bat wings and a scorpion tail. The latter was dripping with honey-colored fluid, presumably venom. It seemed like a waste to me, but maybe its body just produced that much of the toxin. Come on, I pleaded silently, just turn around and walk away!

I glanced at the girls, who were staring at me with wide eyes. "Cover your ears, and stay in this hole if something happens. You're safer here than in the open. I'll come back for you when it's safe, or Alpha will come back to protect you, okay?" I hissed as quietly as I could, seeing them nod and put their front hooves in their ears.

I returned my eyes to my holo -sight, only to find the massive cat staring right at me. Everything coalesced into that tiny moment as I watched the events unfold in slow motion. The cat's massive legs coiled, launching it easily five yards with each stride, foot long daggers shining in its mouth. My heart beat once, my finger stroked the trigger, *Crack*. From the corner of my sight, the fillies flinched. My heart beat again, my finger moving in time as I curiously noted the brass casing fly out of the breach and out of the hole.

*Crack*.

Blood sprouted from the forehead of the cat, from two black holes. Both right between the eyes. It fell to the earth, digging a trench with its massive weight and skidding to a halt barely a foot from the muzzle of my weapon. It let out a great huff, blowing my short hair a bit as its life left its body. From its size, the skull alone could've been a foot thick for all I knew. That thought made me glad I had green-tips loaded. Any less penetration and it may have just shrugged the hits aside.

I could hear the beginnings of screams from the girls, tiny little whimpers that grew gradually. I immediately shushed them, turning my head to shoot them a withering glare. They shut up without complaint, and I sighed heavily. I motioned with a hand for them to stay down as I hauled myself out of the hole, and debated with myself on how to move the body. It was massive, true. I didn't even know if I could move it, but I knew two things; one: the sound of my rifle firing would for damn sure attract the attention of other predators, and two: I needed to get this thing away from my hiding place before they showed up. Having it right there was a dead giveaway, and maybe it would distract whatever came to investigate.

In all honesty, I didn't want to kill in front of these kids again if I could help it.

I grabbed a hind leg, hefting as hard as I could. Thankfully, it turned out to weigh about as much as a big elk, maybe a little more. I'd had plenty of experience dragging those to a safe place before, so I was able to make good time getting it to the edge of the clearing and laid behind a tree. The process took too long, though. I snapped around at the sound of a mournful meow. . . or growl. . . or rocks in a blender with an air horn. Not ten yards from the foxhole was another cat. This one was about half the size of the first one, coming up to about my shoulder.

There was no adrenaline this time. I brought my SCAR up, pulling the trigger three times rapidly. The rounds went wide, impacting into the trees on the other side of the clearing. I heard the fillies scream out, high pitched wails compared to the snarl of the beast that was now charging me. I squeezed again, only to be met with a damning *tick* as the firing pin of the SCAR struck a dead primer. An icy lance of fear ripped through my chest.

I fumbled for a second, not having enough experience in this type of situation. Usually, if I was using my SCAR in a fight, it was because the other guy had an AK or an AR. In my hesitation, I panicked. I dropped the weapon to my side and reached for my pistol, bringing it up at the last possible second.

Twilight looked at her bedroom clock as it chimed again, signaling that the hour had just struck 3:00 AM. She sighed, picking up her most recent textbook on psychiatry and stuffing it onto a temporary shelf beside her bed for safekeeping. She strode to the window, pushing it open and breathing in the cool night air. Aside from Geoff still missing, everything was going great. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been invited to a sleepover at their rival, Diamond Tiara's house at the urging of her father, Filthy Rich.

Twilight smiled at the sentiment, he'd been putting a lot of effort to get his daughter to ease up on the three fillies, since they'd all be living together in Ponyville well into their adulthood as far as anypony could tell.

She slipped under the covers of her bed, savoring the cool night air as she closed her eyes for a restful night's slee-

A window pane no more than three feet from her bed shattered, bursting inward for seemingly no reason with a loud *SNAP-HISS*, the psychology book she'd just been reading exploded into a flurry of paper shreds. The noise of the glass hitting the ground had yet to abate before a series of noises came rolling into her room from the Everfree, causing the hair on her withers to stand on end.

*pa-pa-pop*

*grrAH*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

Author's Note

Alrighty, A/N time. Please point out any mistakes I might've missed, as usual.

All of my stories have been put on hiatus, as I am just burnt out on writing for the most part. I'll update them as they come, but compared to the chapter every 1-4 days like before, I'm expecting to finish one chapter for one of my stories every couple weeks. It's a long wait, I know, and I'll say sorry now for the cliffhanger.

Leave a comment, let me know your thoughts. I'm posting this story for you guys and gals to read, so tell me what you're thinking. I enjoy comments more than faves or thumbs. (though both are always appreciated)

Chapter VIII

Scootaloo

I watched in horrified awe as Geoff dragged the dead manticore away from our hiding spot, a shimmering trail of blood reflecting the moonlight from the short grass of the field. Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to be sick. . . for that matter, Diamond Tiara was already retching in the corner, fighting back vomit with a force of will I wouldn't have guessed she was capable of.

The meowing of the second manticore caused my head to spin around fast enough that I flinched in pain as a loud pop echoed through the night. This one was smaller, but no less terrifying. All the others in the hole were busy hiding their eyes, some sniffling and tears were present, but not from me. I was scared, but I had to be tough for the other girls and be there for them. That's what Rainbow Dash would do.

. . . Rainbow Dash also never would've come out into the forest in the middle of the night, though.

I stayed low in the hole, glancing between the new manticore and Geoff as he hadn't yet noticed the new arrival. The beast was making its way across the clearing, when it stopped next to the fresh trail of gore linking Geoff and our hideout. My heart sank as it stopped, sniffed, and turned toward us.

I wanted nothing more than to scream, to shout for Geoff to save us again, but I knew that our best shot would be to stay hidden and pray to Celestia that he would notice before we were filly-chow.

Shushing the girls, I squeezed my own eyes shut and put myself between them and the manticore, and it snarled. I thought my blood was going to freeze, until the scariest noise ever known to filly-kind sounded for the second time that night.

*HssCra-Cra-Crack*

All three of us flinched in unison, squeezing tighter together, as the thing that Geoff had snapped three times in rapid succession. It sounded different when it was aimed in our direction, the loud bang it made preceded by a slight hiss, like a rock flew by really fast. I opened my eyes as the manticore charged at him.

Please, I pleaded, Please get it!

He didn't. I watched, horrified, as the beast charged wildly, swinging its stinger overhead and toward Geoff's chest. He had dropped his weapon, and pulled something from his hip that I couldn't see, but he was too late. The manticore's stinger sailed forward and punctured his left shoulder between the joint and his neck, and down a few inches from the top. My scream was drowned out entirely as a massive roar echoed through the clearing, followed by a blood curdling scream of pain from Geoff.

I shifted my eyes just in time to see the timber wolf come back, and body slam the manticore easily thirty yards before beginning to circle it, snarling. I watched in awe as the two titans began trading blows, a twig flying off the timber wolf, a gouge through the manticore's hide. It was about three seconds into the fight before I heard the panicked voices of my friends calling after me.

That was when I realized that I had bolted straight for Geoff, about two seconds ago. I began to panic again, being unprotected with a fight going on so close by, but I carried on. I knew he was hurt, worse than me or my friends had ever been before. I wanted to help him, needed to help him, he was the reason we were even alive to be scared, and I couldn't face Rainbow without having done anything to help him.

Geoff

My nose itched.

Heh, funny what you notice when you're screaming in pain from an eight inch long hypodermic needle filled with God-knows-what sailing through your shoulder. I was fairly sure there was some arterial damage, from the amount of blood pouring from the quarter inch wide hole going through my collar bone and out my shoulder blade, but that was purely pain and adrenaline that swept my focus into a point.

What brought me out of that tunnel was an orange hoof pressing a cloth to the wound and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. With that, my vision exploded to its normal field of view, though my focus was not lessened in the slightest.

What I saw confused me. Scootaloo, the orange filly, one of the children I had been tasked with protecting, was holding a. . . ripped piece of my pant leg to my shoulder. Tears rolled down her face, landing on mine as she focused all of her attention on the wound. It was a sad sight, with all the force her little body could apply, I barely felt anything but more pain on the wound. Blood still flowed out, unhindered by about fifteen pounds of filly pressing against it, but she still gave it her all.

Tears began to form in my own eyes as I realized how futile it was, I was going to die here, for real this time. Bleeding out in the middle of some forest right in front of a fucking child that was trying her damnedest to save me. I blinked the tears back, rolling my head to the right a bit to get a clear view of her.

Darkness encroached upon my field of view, the hazy blackness of death crawling in to claim me. I knew it was hopeless, she knew it was hopeless, and yet she still struggled with all of her might. It was touching, really. Slowly, I brought my right arm around, dropping my pistol into the dirt with a soft thud. I put my hand on top of her vibrant purple mane.

She paused, glancing at my face in confusion as I gave her a sad smile. Her tears only increased in number, and I felt somehow guilty for putting her through this. I was sure it would be traumatizing for her. With one fluid motion, I put my hand around her barrel, lifting the incredibly light weight filly to my right side. She struggled, saying something about stopping the bleeding, but her words went ignored as I pulled her into a hug.

At that point, all her determination left her. She buried her face into my neck as she sobbed, and I wanted to say something. . . but whatever it was, I couldn't remember. Darkness took me silently, no heaving or choking on my own fluids, no violent shuddering, just a long sigh as my body went limp, still holding the sobbing kid.

Somewhere in the blackness of my mind, I took note that Scootaloo was pulled away by something that sounded like a bunch of two by fours rattling together.

Alpha

With the manticore dealt with, its beaten corpse already cooling, I turned back to Geoff. I had been hoping to reach him in time, but regrettably, that was not the case. I could see the pool of blood under him from where I stood, and began the trek to retrieve him. In his arm, a crying filly could be seen. Scootaloo, I think she was called. One of the bunch that came adventuring because of a childish challenge. I sincerely hoped that she would never forget this night, the same for her friends as well.

A slumber party, a dare, and a dead man. All in one evening. These fillies would surely be scarred for life, if not longer. Silently, I willed a branch forward, acting as an arm as I scooped her out of Geoff's grasp. She struggled, of course, and if there was anything to gain from it, I would've told her that he would be fine. His body being unable to maintain consciousness was a long ways off from being dead, and his heart was still thudding away as I sent my will through the forest around me, silently asking the trees to maintain his life force until his wounds could be seen to.

"Nala," I called over the pack's network, "The Human has been injured. Come retrieve him and return to the den to assess his condition."

"Yes, Alpha," she replied. She was our fastest, as well as one of the few who held to her pony side even in her wolf form. She was like a mother to the pack, always caring and kind, though most others so seldom showed any emotion at all.

I collected the other fillies, arranging them on my shoulders as Nala leapt gracefully into the clearing with barely a glance in my direction. The fillies were a mess, huddling together and crying as I wove between the living pillars of the Everfree.

Geoff

I sat alone in a cozy study, a high backed leather desk chair under me and an almost comically oversized cigar burning between my fingers. I was wearing what I thought looked like an expensive white suit, but for the sake of the song playing, it seemed appropriate to wear a black ballistics vest over the suit coat. I picked up the tumbler from the desk, half filled with two ice cubes and a couple fingers of whiskey as I indulged in my own personal heaven. A cozy fire crackled in the corner, and on a whim, an Xbox materialized before me on the desk, along with a copy of Halo: Reach and my P226 appearing beside two controllers.

As I was about to turn the console on and call up an old buddy, who had been dead about as long as I was surviving, the doorknob twisted and the large oak door swung inward. Coincidentally, this turn of events happened in time with the final chorus of the song, prompting me to grab my pistol in my right hand, holding my cigar in my left. As Luna entered, I sang along rather loudly. . . or shouted, definitely shouted.

"When they come for me, I'll be sitting at my desk. With a gun in my hand, wearing a bulletproof vest singing, 'My, my, my, how the time does fly, when you know you're gonna die by the end of the night.' And said hey!"

Her look of absolute confusion made me crack right the fuck up. I, inwardly, breathed a huge sigh of relief upon seeing her. She meant that I was alive, and dreaming. Or she was a construct made by my subconscious to keep me company in my personal heaven. Either way, this was the first time, aside from my arrival, that she'd visited my dreamscape instead of me falling ungraciously into hers.

"Well," she began after a moment of confusion, "That song was certainly. . ."

"Great?" I laughed, interrupting her.

". . . Loud," she finished, causing my laughter to grow as I flicked a hand and materialized a huge flat screen TV that was, surprise, connected to the Xbox with a length of HDMI cord.

She examined the setup cautiously, before waving a wing and materializing a large beanbag chair beside my desk. Glancing jealously at her, admittedly, more comfortable looking chair, I promptly disposed of the cigar, suit, whiskey, and desk. Opting to summon a similar beanbag chair next to hers as the Xbox floated slowly to the ground and powered on all by itself. Dream logic, because fuck normality.

"What is all this?" Luna asked, curiously glancing around the room.

"My study," I quipped, "Also, my man cave for the evening." I thought about telling her about the encounter in the Everfree, but decided to just enjoy myself for the time being.

She giggled at that, plopping down on her beanbag with a whump and eyeing the TV curiously as the Xbox dashboard came up.

I flexed my fingers at her, "Gonna want a pair of these, Lu."

She raised her eyebrow at the nickname before bringing up her forehooves.

What happened next was not meant for the eyes of mortals. Her hooves morphed into navy blue hands. She giggled in her victory as I gave her my best, 'Oh-God-What-The-Shitting-Fuck' face. (OGWTSF for short)

"Please, Luna. For the love of all that is holy, please just change into a human. Hands on your forelegs is just wrong on so many levels," I cringed as she looked at me in confusion.

"Oh fine," she pouted, her whole form shimmering as I noticed idly that my vest and suit had been swapped at some point for a pair of long shorts and a loose T-shirt.

But when she was done, holy fuck. Before me sat the incarnation of beauty. Her flowing hair had receded to its normal, sky blue state, falling around her shoulders and covering her pale breasts in an absolutely thrilling way. I'm not ashamed to admit that it took me a full five seconds to realize she was nude, another five seconds for my ability to speak to return, and another five seconds for her to start to shift uncomfortably.

"Geoff," she questioned, "Are you alright?"

"NAKED," I blurted, so fucking smooth. "I. . . I mean," I shielded my eyes, turning away to save whatever few atoms of my decency were left, "Please put some clothes on, Luna."

She giggled, a sound which, coming from her current form, tested my restraint thoroughly.

"Can't handle a naked female when she's your own species, but a naked pony is just fine?" She asked sweetly, but when I turned to tell her exactly what I thought of that, I was greeted by clothing like I had asked, almost.

She was now wearing a loose fitting T-shirt, and a pair of panties. Not that I was looking, but the panties were definitely black, with a small white moon on the front.

I nodded dumbly, sinking into my own beanbag as I handed her a controller, player two, before realizing I hadn't responded to her question.

"Dammit Lu," I griped, "Naked ponies is the norm, naked humans is. . . well, you saw the magazines yourself." Her laughter was heaven as she threw her head back, scattering her hair behind her. She seemed so much more relaxed in the dreams than she did in person, though maybe it was because her older sister was always around in the waking world.

I sighed, starting a two player match on our now IMAX sized screen, that somehow fit into my study. Yeah, dream logic. I love that shit. I heard Luna give a rather loud snort, still laughing at my response.

"Fuck you," I grumbled, immediately using a sniper rifle to dome her as she abruptly stopped laughing.

I looked at her, and she looked. . . well sad doesn't begin to cover it. She looked fucking devastated. Tears in her eyes, mouth agape, she turned to me.

"You just. . . Killed. . . me?" She squeaked, nearly bursting into tears.

"NO! Luna don't, it's just a game, calm down, it's okay!" I shouted frantically, pulling her into a hug for some reason, or rather, it was a good enough excuse to get closer to her. In the back of my mind I knew she was a pony, but even in a dream, it was contact with a female of my own species that I hadn't had in years.

Which is when I noticed the wicked grin on her face as her hands maneuvered the controller behind my back. With a loud bang, I felt my own controller vibrate as my spartan dropped dead.

"Son of a," I stated dumbly, glancing at the shit eating grin on Luna's face as my respawn timer ticked away. "You're dirty," I griped, "That's some dirty shit right there, Lu." She quirked her head to the side with an innocent (I totally know what I fucking did you gullible fuck) smile.

And with that fucking beautiful, I-hate-that-smile-so-much, grin, we dove into the game, laughing and beating the hell out of each other with each kill, because in dreamland, punches only tickle.

Author's Note

Here it is! An update, finally!
I apologize for taking so long, been having computer issues and work has been a bitch. Hopefully, I'll get back to my old routine of getting a chapter out every few days, instead of these multi-month breaks.

As always, criticism is appreciated, as long as it's constructive and not just a rambling flame wall-o-text.

Fakto out, peace.

Chapter II

SCAR
Chapter II

Peaceful.

That's the only thought going through my head right now. Funny, I thought it'd be a 40 caliber piece of lead. The thought made me chuckle a bit, that's when I realized I was breathing. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't control them. I sighed, trying to move anything. I couldn't.

Great, I thought, I went and missed and now I'm paralyzed. What a shitty way to go.

With that thought I drifted off to a fitful sleep. I'd had this dream before, more like a memory, but every time it happened just the same. Sprinting down a dusty highway, being chased by mutts.

A man ran for his life, dark brown hair messy and unkempt as it whipped in the dust storm. He was too terrified to rest, but he knew he couldn't keep running for long. Behind him, a pack of feral mutts snarled and nipped at his heels, poisoned by radiation. Their hair had long ago fallen out, and some had burns across their bodies. One in particular looked like the perverted love child of a zombie and a German Shepherd.

Half of its face was missing, exposing a sickening set of jaws as congealed blood bridged the gap from its gum line to its eye. It wasn't the first time he'd seen mutts, but it was the first time that he'd opted to keep his ammo in his backpack instead of his pants pockets. He couldn't stop to retrieve the ammo, and the magazines in his SCAR and P226 were dry from dispatching half of the group that was hunting him now.

Realizing that they weren't going to give up, Geoff turned and drew his blade. The mutts stopped, circling around him as their pack hunter instincts took hold. One leapt at him, an ankle biter, probably used to be a Chihuahua. He sidestepped it easily, stomping his foot down on its miniscule head as it gave a final yelp.

It was then that something odd happened. A blinding flash of light caused the mutts to wince, Geoff covering his eyes as he looked around for the source. Many miles away, he could see a fireball rising into the air, he cursed out loud, four months and the nukes were still falling. The shockwave reached him after a couple minutes, the dogs having ran off at the sight of the mushroom cloud. He took the opportunity to place his backpack down on the road, pulling out fresh magazines for his weapons and storing spares in his pockets.

Just before he put the backpack on, a sudden snarl caused him to spin. The leader of the pack from before, the zombie-shepherd, had leapt at his back. He couldn't dodge, couldn't bring up his weapon, just watch as the bitch would inevitably sink her teeth into his shoulder.

At that moment, the mutt froze in midair. Geoff looked around, noticing that everything had stopped moving. He moved his hand, knocking several pieces of dust out of the air. He looked back at the explosion, knowing that there wasn't any major target in this part of the state. After a moment of thought he figured that it had been off from its intended target.

As he turned back around to the mutt, a second figure caught his eye. It looked like a horse, but he could see a horn protruding from its head, and a pair of wings flared on its back. Slowly, it stepped forward, eyeing the mutt carefully before noticing Geoff getting to his feet.

With a regretful sigh, he drew his pistol. He brought a hand up to shield his face from any blood, and pulled the trigger. The mutt broke out of its paused state, body flying forward and rolling limply across the asphalt as the new creature looked at Geoff with horror etched into its feminine features. Without saying a word, it vanished with a small pop, and time resumed its normal flow.

I shot upright, sweating slightly from the recurring nightmare. It was different this time though, every other time that one mutt gets the drop on me, and practically rips my shoulder apart before I can get the knife through her skull.

My mind kept straying back to the horse thing, just what the hell was that? I sighed, running a hand through my long brown hair. It was messy, clumped together with mud and dirt from going months without any way of bathing. Water was too precious to waste on getting clean, so I just dealt with it.

Brushing it all off as a dream, I stood, grabbing my gear and getting ready to head back to the tower, when I suddenly froze. I looked myself over, realizing not only that I was completely fine, but more importantly, I WASN'T DEAD!

I almost jumped for joy, before coming to the sobering realization that I was still alone, in the middle of nowhere, with very limited supplies. I rifled through my possessions, taking stock. Still three bottles of water, one chicken and rice MRE, all my ammo, two IPods, speakers, a red lensed flashlight and a pair of emergency road flares. . . all my standard gear less three meals. I wasn't too concerned, the only reason I'd brought two in the first place was if I decided to chicken out before pulling the trigger and got lost in the woods.

I double checked my weapons and ammo, making sure that all my magazines were full, which they were. Next, I decided to look around and take stock of my location. The first thing I noticed was that the trees were not the same. . . at all. . . When I. . . passed out? I was in an aspen grove. Tall, white barked trees. Here, wherever 'here' was, was all thick, gnarled old wood.

I picked up my SCAR, taking a few minutes to disassemble it and clean the dirt from the barrel. It was something I'd formed into a sort of meditation, using the repetitive actions to slow down and form a plan. This wasn't the first time I'd woken up in a strange place, although this time involved considerably less alcohol.

But that's a story for another day.

I sighed, checking the barrel again as I began to rebuild my weapon. First on my to-do list was figure out where in the world I was, then find a town or city with a suitable base of operations nearby. After that, just settle back into my routine of scavving and attempting to make contact with someone. It had been what? Two years since my last human contact? I didn't even care if they were bat-shit crazy or not at that point.

One thing was bugging me though, if I wasn't dead, and I wasn't where I was when I tried to. . . do that. . . then who brought me here? And more importantly, would they be back?

I shook my head, leaving an arrow in the dirt pointing in the direction I was planning on scouting. If they were friendly, maybe they'd follow and help out. And if not, well I'd have to be alert for any hostile movement. Just like always.

A young woman ran up a mountain trail, tear stains on her face as the screams of her younger brother echoed in her mind. They hadn't seen the pack of mutts before they were on top of them, and he'd had their only weapons, save a machete that she carried with her.

There was a tower up ahead, she ran forward with renewed hope, clambering up the rusty steps. When she reached the top, she stopped cold. There was trash all around the small watch tower, water bottles and MRE packaging, as well as various pouches that used to contain electronic components. In a corner on a desk, was an old black notebook.

Curious, she stepped forward. Opening the book, she read the only two entries inside. She frowned, setting the book back down and turning to a fresh page, she began to write.

Geoff, if you read this, my name is Yyvan. I'm twenty three years old, and I'd guess that your most recent entry can't have been more than a week ago. I just lost my brother before finding this place, so I'm not really in the mood for writing, but I am going to take the water and food under the tower, if it's still there.

I can't thank you enough for sharing what you were blessed with, as it may just save my life this time. I hope you make it out of this alright.

Sighing, she closed the book, and headed back down to the ground. There was no sign of the mutts, and she found the pile of rocks described in the journal. Digging for a moment, she unearthed several MREs and the case of water.

A noise behind her made her draw her machete, spinning around to face whatever was sneaking up on her. Her face was hard and angry, before lighting up with joy.

Limping up the hill was a battered man, her nineteen year old brother. He had cuts and scrapes all over his arms, and in one hand was holding a bloody baseball bat. He was missing his silenced pistol, but he was alive. Yyvan ripped a water bottle out of the case and sprinted over to the boy, wrapping him in a tight hug, ignoring his slight hiss when she accidentally grazed one of his wounds.

She offered the dehydrated kid the water bottle, which he drank greedily before pausing and offering the remaining half with a guilty look on his face. In reply, she simply giggled at him, walking back over to the small stash and fishing out another for herself.

The two siblings sat back on the steps of the tower, laughing with each other and reveling in their new found luck. They grew quiet as a solitary pop of a gunshot rang out from down the backside of the mountain.

I cursed under my breath again as I tripped on another root, darkness had fallen much faster than I was expecting, and it appeared as though my trusty watch was off by several hours. I lit up the backlight and read the time again, 1345, so 1:45 pm. Unless I was in the arctic circle and it was the middle of winter, I doubted that it was anywhere near correct.

This forest though. . . it's not right. As soon as I began my scouting hike, every bird for miles stopped making noise. Nothing moved, nothing rustled, it was complete silence. Now, with the darkness of night, and nothing to see by but my flashlight, I swore that every shadow was another bandit looking to kill me.

It was like playing Day Z all over again, but with less zombies and more paranoia.

For example, I tell you that I'm dropping you off in a forest for the night, and that there will possibly be predators around and a 90% chance that any people you happen across will be hostile. Imagine how tense you'd be before getting left alone in the dark. Now imagine that you have no idea what's beyond three feet in front of you, and suddenly every little rustle of wind in the leaves or twig you step on and break becomes the fucking bogey man.

It was somewhere around forty degrees, Fahrenheit, so I could just see my breath steaming in front of the flashlight lens. I'd switched to my pistol, letting my SCAR hang from my side with the flashlight held in my left hand. I didn't want to mess with trying to aim the assault rifle and light at the same time.

Maybe if I find a sporting goods store they'll have an accessory rail mounted flashlight to fit my gun. I thought as I resumed my stalking. I swore for a minute that I'd heard something breathing behind me, but after ten minutes of crouching behind a tree in complete darkness, I felt it best to keep moving.

After a few more minutes I decided to rest, although I climbed a tree just to be safe. Lying in the crook of two branches, I stayed alert, deciding to wait until sunrise to keep moving. I wasn't tired, as I'd just slept for God knows how long, but I wasn't about to fumble around blindly through a thick forest. I notched an arrow into the base of the tree trunk, pointing back the way I came in case I forgot, and held my rifle close as I just sat and listened.

Sometime during the night, the moon arced overhead into a small gap in the canopy. I stared at it for a few minutes, captivated by its gentle glow. I noticed, however, that it was completely perfect. There was no scarring or craters like the one back home, just a pearly white ball hanging in the sky. It was haunting, to see something I looked to every night appearing so different than I remembered it, but it also seemed to give off a new aura of comfort and empathy.

I found myself wondering what it would be like to be up there, like the old astronauts, watching the Earth rise over the lunar horizon. To get away from all the danger and uncertainty here on Earth for just a day, or an hour. If I still had internet then, I'd probably go Google some pictures from the moon, or space. For some reason the Horsehead Nebula came to mind.

Hours passed, finally my watch read 0033, and the sun began to rise. It was much faster than I had ever seen, going from dark purple sky to full sunlight in only about an hour. That caused me some confusion as I simply glanced from my watch to the sky repeatedly, trying to make sense of the speed of it all. For it to rise so fast, apparently the world was spinning three times faster than it was yesterday, or the day before, or any day for the past four billion years.

I stared in wonder for a few minutes before trying to brush it all off as a trick of the light. Jumping down to the forest floor, I continued in the same direction I was going before. In the morning air, I quickly became aware of several hundred bugs trying to suck my blood, bastard little vampires. I came across a small watering hole, and decided to use the mud to try and repel the mosquitoes.

I marched on, passing through a few clearings filled to the brim with blue spotted flowers. I thought about picking one and smelling it, to see what a spotted flower would smell like of course, but they stood out just a bit too much in the gloomy forest. I assumed they were poison in some way, so I avoided letting them contact my skin.

So there I was, half a day into my second day awake in this strange place. Seated by a small river to refill my canteen and the three empty water bottles in my pack, I decided to let my feet air off a little. Peeling the black steel toed boots off of the appendages was a nightmare in itself, having no socks to wear sucked, and I only took them off for about an hour at a time on other days if I was feeling up to it.

My feet were in an ungodly state, cracked and split all over, my toenails were a sickening yellow and overgrown to the point that a few of them were interfering with the toes next to them. In those spots there were wounds seeping blood, and oh God did they stink.

I soaked the boots in the river, trying to get all the blood and sweat out of them. A trickle of red clouded the water the moment I set my boots in. I looked over my feet, deciding that it would be a good time to do some maintenance. I cut the worst nails with my knife, shortening all of them considerably, except for the big toe on my left foot. That one just peeled off with a sickening pop and a jolt of pain.

I gripped my bleeding foot in my hand, rocking back and forth on the ground until the pain receded. Blood was still pouring from the former nail bed, so I placed my feet in the crystal clear water for a bit to try and soothe them. I stripped out of my clothing while doing that, deciding that this would be the last time I wore underwear for a while as I saw the tattered state that they were in.

I couldn't even call them underwear really, more like an elastic band with some strings attached. I didn't care all that much though, and stripped out the elastic to hopefully find some use for it later, also taking whatever fibers from the rest of them that I could and saving it for tinder in a side pouch of my pack.

I sacrificed my shirt to make some sock-ish devices, mainly just to wrap the bleeding parts of my feet and keep them dry for a few hours. After a quick wash in the river, and re-applying mud from the bank anywhere my vest, pants and boots didn't cover, I set out once again. This time, I followed the river, hoping to find a town or at least have a reliable source of drinking water nearby.

The lack of wildlife was still strange, usually I'd have come across a deer or elk by now, or at least a rabbit. This forest, though. It was like the trees themselves were warning the animals of my presence.

snap

Or warning them of the presence of whatever was behind me.

I froze at the sound, the hairs on my neck standing straight up from under a layer of mud. I hesitated for a second, before spinning around and dropping to my stomach, bringing my rifle to bear on the tree line behind me. After a few minutes, I figured it was probably nothing again, and went to stand back up.

However, as soon as I was back to kneeling, a massive mutt came creeping around a few trees. I was unshaken by the new arrival, but this one was. . . different. Where skin and burn marks should've been, there was nothing but tree-like armor surrounding the animal. Where there should've been hungry looking eyes, was nothing but glowing yellow specks, and where there should've been ears or a tail, there were spidery looking branches.

I hesitated again, lowering my rifle a bit before the mutt gave a low barking-growl. From all around me, dozens more appeared, all staring at my kneeling form. I doubted my ability to fight them all off, especially if they were made of wood instead of flesh. I could take some down with my guns, but the knife would be useless.

A strange voice passed through my mind, "He who knows when he can and cannot fight, will be victorious." I was puzzled for a moment, wondering why that would run through my head as I aimed at the largest mutt's face. For a moment, we stared each other down, waiting to see what would happen.

Slowly, I came to the conclusion that my chances of winning the fight were slim to none. I lowered the SCAR slightly, never taking my gaze away from the eyes of the gigantic six foot tall mutt in front of me. It walked forward, slowly. Something about its posture seemed submissive, like it was having second thoughts about eating me.

I felt a tingling feeling in the back of my mind as the mutt approached, and then a voice spoke from inside my head.

"You show no fear, small one. Most prey would've attempted to run by now, and yet you hold your ground. Why? Do you not fear for the loss of your life?"

My eyes widened in shock as the mutt's head tilted with the question. The only reasonable theory for it was that he was the one speaking to me. I sighed, deciding that if I was going full on crazy I might as well entertain the voices in my mind. "No, my life means nothing to me, and I do not fear death."

The mutt's head tilted the other way, so I decided to continue.

"I may fear the pain that comes before, but I do not fear death itself."

The mutt's head leveled out again, and it rose from its submissive posture to a tall, proud stance. It looked down on me from its head level of about 8 feet, and for a moment, its eyes flashed from yellow to green.

I didn't know what to make of the sudden change, until I was assaulted with a massive headache. The mutt's face remained straight as a board, (ha), and for a few moments my life was dragged out for all to see. I could see the mutts around me relax, their eyes adopting the light green shade that the alpha's had taken. I could see everything about every one of them as well. Every hunt they'd been on, every memory and emotion. To say it was overwhelming would be to say that hurricane Katrina was just a windy day.

The giant mutt in front of me paused for a moment, his eyes returning to their yellow hue before his deep voice echoed within my head again, "Raised like a pony, but with less mothers. Your life is that of prey, but. . . the recent years have been difficult. You've survived only by behaving as prey would, hiding from threats, cowering from danger. Yet when life called upon you to assist another, you treated others as part of your own pack. This is confusing to me," he let out a low growl, "I cannot decide, young one. So you will tell me. Are you prey, or are you predator?"

I crossed my legs, managing to push all the reactions, emotions and memories aside and respond through my suddenly dulled senses. "I would say that I'm both. I am a human, and we're omnivores. While I can hunt and eat meat whenever I want, I can also gather edible plants, and survive on pretty much anything from some grasses to fresh elk. I suppose what the question really should be is how crazy I've gone that I'm talking to a mutt."

The mutt growled threateningly, his voice booming through my skull. "Watch your tongue, dítě. I am no mutt, and to continue to call me by such a name would be to challenge my status as Alpha. We are wolves, and you would be wise to refer to us as such."

My hand flew to my SCAR at the sudden hostility, although I didn't really understand. "I suppose I'm sorry, it's just that where I'm from, after the bombs, many animals were irradiated. They would mutate a bit, losing their fur, having large burns across their bodies. The worst were the dogs, they would hunt in packs. I took to calling them mutts because they were mutated dogs. I figured that you had some sort of mutation as well, seeing as you're covered in wood." I shrugged, holding my hands out in a placating gesture. The wolf gave a raspy chuckle before his voice returned, much calmer than before.

"Ne, we are known as Timber Wolves. The ponies will tell you that we are evil forest spirits, or some form of demon. In fact, you now have the collective knowledge of this pack, as the memory exchange works both ways, mladý."

I thought about that for a minute, sorting through the mountains of information in my head, trying to make sense of it all. I saw some memories, a very small portion, of the lives that they'd lead before becoming wolves. They were once smaller, a couple of them only children when they'd been changed. From what I could gather among the mass of lifetimes, they were all much older than they appeared to be. I thought at first that they had the memories of several ponies they'd hunted before, but I dug a bit deeper into the Alpha's thoughts to be sure.

My vision swam for a moment as the memory surged to the front of my mind.

"SHADOW RUN!," a feminine voice screamed, the first thought through the small being's mind was 'mother'. Off in the distance stood a tall castle, many proud, gleaming spires rose into the sky, easily tens of stories tall. Fires raged throughout the city as ponies everywhere scrambled for safety. The sky above them turning orange from the flames.

The small being Geoff observed through, Shadow, glanced over his shoulder. He could just make out the bloody stump of a wing beneath a few hastily applied bandages. Behind him, he could see a larger pony, trapped beneath some burning rubble as her forehooves scraped the cobblestone street in a futile attempt to gain her freedom.

Shadow watched as the flames consumed the poor mare, and he ran for his life. Tears blurred his vision as he cut into an alleyway, where he hid beneath a pile of refuse and sobbed for hours.

When he finally emerged, there were no ponies in the streets, although he could hear the panicked cries of those trapped in collapsed buildings or trying to dig out the remains of their loved ones.

Above him, a battle was taking place. Two winged ponies were engaged in combat, firing beams of raw energy at each other. A few of these hit the ground around the remaining houses, some hit un burnt structures and set them ablaze. The young colt could do nothing but stare in awe at the two powerful combatants.

Then there was light. Pure, blinding white light. A few ponies in his field of view were instantly turned to ash, and then the heat hit him. He burned so quickly and so ferociously that he didn't even have time to cry out in pain. Although, his awareness remained. He could see his own ashes blowing down the street, his own shadow burnt into the bleached stone behind him.

He waited there, long after the fires died out, long after the survivors came through to remove the remains of the dead. Long after the forest encroached upon the now abandoned city. Eventually, the forest sought out his spirit, when a tree began to sprout beneath him, he was drawn into it. Over decades the tree grew, and his soul with it. He became more and more aware of his surroundings, noticing at first that he could feel the wind caressing his branches.

Over decades more, he began to change, and finally, after five hundred years of nothing but stillness and silence, over the course of a day his body reshaped itself.

The sudden change was immensely painful, causing him to go into a blind rage for days, blinded by the pain and the new sensations that his body brought. Without any semblance of self control he ran through the woods, howling and snarling as his hunger and pain drove him onward. He burst out of the forest, finding two ponies traveling on a road beside the trees, and tore them to shreds without hesitation.

Weeks later, he came across a tree laden with strange striped fruit. A fraction of his former self shone through for a moment, and he devoured one of the apples. The magic contained within the fruit numbed his pain, and sated his hunger. He regained control of himself in an instant.

I fell back to the ground, gasping for air as I relived someone else's life. A period of five hundred years condensed into little more than five seconds. I looked back at the wolf, feeling somewhat afraid again. He simply nodded.

"Every year, at the same time, new wolves awaken. The souls of those caught in the blast made by Celestia and Nightmare Moon inhabit several thousand trees, and every year, down to the exact second, more rise from their rest. We do not breed, as the ponies believe us to, but for days after our awakening we are ravenous, unintelligent monsters. Even after our enlightenment, which only comes with eating a ripe zap apple, we choose to fend for ourselves. These bodies, they would only terrify ponies into killing us. And though we easily reform ourselves after most hits, it would be only a matter of time until they turn to flame and magic and put us down for good."

His voice was filled with sorrow, a longing to go back to what he once was. I felt a sort of kinship with him, this Alpha, although I'd only known him for a few minutes. He was unfairly labeled a monster, condemned to this forest because he was a predator in this form. I was left speechless, my mouth opening and closing on its own accord.

"There is no need to say anything, human. We have accepted the change, and choose to guard ponies from our newly reborn brothers and sisters. However, I must warn you that the probuzení will happen soon. Tonight is the night that they break free of their static prison and join us in the waking world. I will escort you out of the forest, and to safety, but you must not venture into this place for some time after, as we will be on the hunt for any who pose a threat. Not to mention that other packs are not as patient as mine, and will gladly take you as a meal."

I nodded stupidly as the wolf lowered himself, offering me a ride to safety. I gladly accepted, and climbed aboard. The ride was not long, only a couple of hours, but the speed we traveled at was incredible. The long legs of the wolves ate up probably a dozen yards with each stride, propelling them at close to fifty miles an hour. I had to hunker down behind Alpha's shoulder blades to keep the wind from stinging my eyes. I was dumbfounded at their agility as well, dodging around and through the forest like it was a clear field.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Alpha allowed me to dismount. I turned to him, smiling, "Thank you, Alpha. If you ever are in need of anything, come find me. I won't forget your kindness."

The Alpha bowed his head, speaking again, "Think nothing of it, mladý. You have been through much hardship in your time, it is not entirely different from our own experiences. I do ask that you keep our origins a secret, as we have grown accustomed to our solitude. Also, be kind to those you come across. Even the angriest of dragons may sometimes be soothed with a kind word and helping paw. The ponies in this land are brilliant in their own right, but they are naive to many facts of the world. Stay strong, human."

I smiled up at him, "You too, Alpha. For those who cannot anymore." I gave him a deep bow as the pack nodded their farewells and retreated into the forest. They changed something within me, I wasn't sure what, but I felt refreshed. It wasn't human contact, but it was a hell of a lot more than I was used to.

With a new spring in my step, and a new limp as well brought about by my now absent toenail, I headed to the top of the hill behind me. I came to the top and looked around at the valley before me, and time stopped.

Highlighted by the orange and purple sunset was a town. Not a dead set of ruins like I was used to, but an actual town! The buildings weren't falling apart, there wasn't evidence of massive fires or destruction, just a happy little rural town!

And then my heart sank. I looked back at the memories, their significance finally hitting home. Magic, as I recalled the memory thinking. Ponies: unicorns, pegasi, earth, and alicorn. My breath grew short as I tried to fit it into my working model of reality, which wasn't fitting all too well. I sank to my knees, tears of both joy and despair in my eyes as I realized that this couldn't be the Earth I grew up on.

Maybe this is my heaven? I thought, Maybe this is my reward for my life, or maybe it's punishment for the wrongs I've committed. I let my rifle fall from my hands, where it rested in the grass beside me. A whole new life, possibly in a whole new world. I ran a hand through my still damp hair, before reeling back and slamming both fists into the ground with a loud scream. Not helping the fact that I couldn't make sense out of everything was the fact that the pack's memories were still swirling around my head. Constant whispers, screams of pain, it was grating on my nerves to feel so many lifetimes worth of suffering and sorrow.

I didn't know what to do. None of my plans fit a scenario like this, and so I did the only thing I could think of. I pulled my rifle to my chest, curling up atop the grassy hill. I pulled a picture from my wallet, a family portrait of myself and my mother and father. Looking at them, at that child that I was once upon a time, so happy and ignorant to real suffering and hardship. I cried myself to sleep that night, and my dreams were nothing but chaos. Fragments of other lives and experiences.

When I awoke, I was remarkably calm.

No, not calm, numb.

I hated this place, hated everything that had happened to bring me here and force me into this world. I hated myself for not persevering through my troubles and finding civilization back on Earth. But I couldn't take it out on anyone. I kicked the dirt angrily, deciding to blow off some steam by firing my SCAR for a bit. I aimed it at a tree on the edge of the forest I'd spent the day before wandering, and set the weapon on semi-automatic.

Twilight Sparkle was out at lunch with her friends, reminiscing about some of their adventures and laughing together. All of a sudden, every one of them fell silent, ears swiveling toward the eastern side of the town as they heard a distant noise.

POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP

They looked at one another as the popping ceased, all wearing masks of confusion and a little fear. Twilight instantly made the connection between those sounds and the one she'd heard the prior afternoon, and just hoped that whatever was coming, it was something they could handle.

Author's Note

Here it is, chapter 2. I know I said not to expect frequent updates, but I just felt like writing for this one. Tried something I haven't seen yet with the Timberwolves, let me know what you think.

By the way, those strange words when Alpha is speaking, I'm using Czech as a kind of 'ancient Equestrian' for this one, and he'll slip into it from time to time when we see him.

Also, Alpha's real age? 1,008 years.

Translations:
mladý: Youngling
probuzení: Awakening
Ne: No