And sometimes we will die gladly for it.

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The sun was half way across the sky when I heard my dad call me back into our shack, the tone in his voice was that of unease, like something was wrong and that I had to be there to hear what could be bad news. I was only sixteen at the time and I had just celebrated with my family when I had finally got accepted to work as an intern for Hammond Robotics, even though it was working as a janitor it was still for a major company that has helped boost the economy of several star systems and luckily the planet I was going to was one of those lucky places.

Putting down the spade that was being held in my left hand I turned away from the small vegetable garden that we hard growing out back to help ease the need to spend what little money we had on food when we could easily grow it our self. We would still need to buy some poultry and meat on occasion but now we could save and cut our spending on groceries by half and seeing that I got a job over at Hammond Robotics even though it would consist of me mopping the floors and scrubbing out the toilets but hey, its a good paying job...well if it follows what it said on the pamphlet.

"Hey Anthony! Come on there is something you need to see on the telly!" my older brother shouted from the second story window before closing it, the sun was beating down hard on me as I wiped the sweat from my brow with a gloved hand and with a glance at the sun I can only shake my head before jogging back inside the house, pushing the metal screen door before feeling the relieving cold blow of a fan as the icy winds caress my face and with that gentle feeling I saw that my family was looking at.

Playing on the screen was a news reporter, and right behind her was a scene, there was a building on fire and it belonged to the IMC, the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation for those that have not been keeping up with the daily news, and we have found out the cause of the fire was from an electrical fire on various floors and the perpetrators was the Frontier Militia, a group of renegade soldiers, pirates, smugglers and terrorists that are fighting the IMC to 'liberate' the star systems out in the frontier away from the core worlds.

"Do you believe in this crap Anthony? I mean come on! They are doing way more harm then good and they are going to bring the wrath of the Core Systems down on us cause of their actions!" my father, Erin, said as my mother walked in from the front door holding some grocery bags and I immediately went over to help her and that was when two of my younger sisters followed in behind her.

The first sister to walk in was Elizabeth, she was nineteen and was working as a nurse at the local hospital and the youngest person in the family was Sarah, she was only six years old.

"Anthony! Look at what we found while we were at the store!" Sarah said as she ran past our mother and Elizabeth and she was holding something in her hands as she rushed over to me.

When she came up to me I looked down and saw that she was holding up to me a small book, it was an old 'Winnie the Pooh Bear' book and it was mostly in a pristine condition with a few rips and tears on the cover and back but it was still whole and intact.

"Wow, I thought those books were discontinued, can't believe there was one in the old grocery store down the block." I said in genuine surprise and like that she grabbed me by the left hand and started to drag me to Elizabeth's and her room which was by the way the most girly thing I have seen. That room of hers, it had salmon colored wallpaper and on Sarah's bed was almost overflowing with stuffed animals I won for her whenever the carnival was in town.

"Come on Anthony! Read it to me!" she shouted in glee and before I could read it to her I felt the world shake violently and everything started to blur and as I reached to grab Sarah to hold this place together I saw both my arms change from their tanned colored skin to a olive green colored cloth that covered my arms that were thick looking padding and that my left arm held a data pad of sorts on the forearm and as I looked down I saw that my body was covered in brown and olive green thick looking Kevlar padding and when I tried to hold her close to me I felt nothing but a soft marshmallow like object and when I looked at it I saw nothing more then a off-white pillow.

It dawned on me that I having another dream and when I blinked again I saw that everything was dull grey with the one light in the room I was in was flickering on and off.

"Christ...it happened again." I mumbled to myself as I slowly slid out of my bunk and let my feet touch the dirty metallic floor and with a sigh I pushed myself up and over to the edge of the bed, my heavy leather boots softly coming into contact with the grates as I let out a sigh of sadness.

"The Titan Wars had nothing on this war....recruited to help free the oppression on the planet, my home ends up as collateral damage...my family slaughtered by the Spectres....Sarah is in a coma and her legs were melted off....why did all this happen...where did it all go wrong?" I spoke softly to myself, my eyes not once leaving the grime covered floor but when I heard the intercom snap to life that was when I knew that the day of reckoning was here.

"Pilots, all of our fight, all of our sacrifice...has bought us this one day. Every ship in the Militia's fleet is marshaling for the Battle of Demeter, it is the refueling station that connects the frontier to the core systems and its endless supply of enemy reinforcements. It falls to you pilots to destroy the Demeter base, I swore I would never climb back into these things. I would never order you into the fire that I would not go in myself, I will personally take command of Sarah's covert assault squad, and initiate a chain reaction of the IMC fuel cells . I ask you pilots to engage the IMC Infantry, if you could win this battle on the ground you would alter the course of history. Pilots, prepare for titanfall."

"MacAllan out."

Sighing I looked to my nightstand to see my helmet, the camera faced round bush helmet, the central camera flashed a bit in the low light as I shook my head and slipped it on, feeling the snug soft fabric mold to my head to ensure a perfect fit. Once my helmet was on my head I felt the pliable metal plates at the neck region connect itself to the rest of the neck armor provided by my body armor, ensuring that everything is connected and that when my invisibility cloak provides maximum stealth to me whenever I would need it and in this case, a gift to all the best sharpshooters the in the Marauder Corps, a very powerful stealth generator that if what Sarah at covert operations says is true, this will grant me permanent invisibility as long as I don't open fire and if I do just wait a few seconds for it to turn back on.

And...I may have abused that gift once or twice....in the locker room...but it was because I was curious about something and not because I just wanted to take a peak!

As most people that know me I am a loner and since I was younger then most people to become a pilot and join the resistance against the IMC, they told me to go home and wait a few years before joining the Marauder Corps but, how do I return home when it was burned down and shot up with explosive rounds.

Walking solemnly to the hanger bay I went over to the impromptu armory that was quickly erected there just for this mission everyone in the Militia is about to partake in. I went over and grabbed the Kraber AP sniper rifle and grabbed the explosive ammunition that I had requested earlier from Sarah, and she came and delivered it to me. This hefty sniper rifle only takes one shot to kill a man sized target, human or robotics, and the large bullet is heavy enough to put small dents in any titans armor besides the Ogre, the thick hide on that thing would make the Kraber more like a peashooter.

"Hey Anthony! Wait up brudda!" a deep voice said from behind me and with a glance back I saw that it was Sargent Rhok, that beast of a man is built like a friggen tank, I don't know what he eats or how much or how often he works out but that man is a solid wall of muscle. I saw him once lift up a discarded 40mm Cannon and fired a few shots off before dropping it and running to cover. That man has the biggest balls that any pilot in the existence of humanity, I seen that man charge at incoming titans and not get killed, hell I saw him beat a dragon to death with his bear hands, and that took a lot of balls just to do while he was being shot at from both sides.

As I heard the thundering foot steps come from behind I felt the world go weightless as I am lifted off the ground and lifted up three feet into the air as I felt the strength wrap around me, Rhok was giving me one of his traditional greetings of shaking the hell out of me. He started to laugh in his usual deep baritone as I struggled to break free but it was no use, this man was impossible to escape from once he has you in his grasp.

"Dang you two, I swear that if it wasn't for Rhok being a single child and you Anthony for being a lighter tan then him, I could have sworn that you two are brothers." a snarky voice said from behind the two of us, Rhok placed me back on the ground as I shoke my head to get rid of the stars swimming in my vision, my eyes rattling about from the aggressive bear hug I had just received.

Once I could see again I saw that it was Ingrid, this girl used to work in the metalworks that constructed Atlas Titans for the IMC and when she was fired for being late only once she got hooked up with the Militia and helped them make their Atlas's more efficient. She later became a pilot when she kept asking to join the fight, and once she gave the Militia everything she had on the IMC's construction methods, and she passed with flying colors. Now that girl honestly scares the fucking shit out of me, six times she scared the crap out of me, one time almost quite literally. She uses the EVA-8 shotgun and every time she went to scare me she would turn on her cloaking field and sneak up on me, popping up from the side or from above me and also getting up in my face, and she is always pressing herself against me just for a reaction, a reaction I always show because of how crude she is.

"Ingrid, what did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"

"To keep doing it cause it keeps you on your toes and to keep yourself from having your neck snapped by the IMC Pilots?"

I shook my head at her before walking around her, she only laughed at my darkening face as I stormed off to the Goblin Dropship, the rear hatch opened up as I walked forward, my Kraber strapped to my back since its pretty heavy to be holding all day.

"I hate you sometimes Ingrid, you know that right?"

"Oh please honey, if you hated me so much you would have already reported my behavior to Sarah and we both know that you wouldn't do that cause we all know that you love it when I tease you." she says coyly before following up behind me and dragged her hand around my neck, her fingers were cold against my skin but it was pleasant enough to send shivers up my spine.

Growling a bit I tried to worm myself away from her touch but she just kept following me until I finally got tired of it and grabbed her by the hand and forced her arm into a lock and slammed her into the side of the dropship.

"Ingrid, I swear one of these days I will get you back...I don't know when...but when I do...I will." I said through gritted teeth, this girl was pushing all of my buttons and she knows that I hate being messed with and yet she does it anyways.

From the left of us we both heard someone cough and we saw that Rhok was standing there with a grin on his face and standing next to him was a skinny looking man, he wore something similar to me but it matched his frame so it was lighter looking and I doubt that I could even fit in it.

"Be gentle with my younger sister Anthony unless you want to lose that other arm of yours like you did the first time." he said as I snarled at him, my temper flaring as he brought up that painful moment.

The day he was talking about was during the battle for the Odyssey, I was watching Ingrid's back when three pilots came from no where, she managed to kill her attacker while I was having trouble with mine and when I finally got the barrel of my Kraber to the underside of the assassin's neck I squeezed the trigger and blew his head all over the place but what I didn't see coming was a Spectre sneaking up on me and lifting me off the floor, the third assassin had his own shotgun out and took aim at my head. He was stopped just in time when Ingrid snapped his neck like a chicken bone but his body spazzed out and his finger pulled back as the shotgun was aimed at my arm and blew it off at the forearm, my right arm was bleeding profusely and as I screamed out in pain I was dropped to the ground with the Spectre pulling out his R-99 Compact SMG and was knocked over when she leapt over my kneeling body and stabbed the machine to death. As soon as it was dead she had to help me stop the bleeding but by the time I was stabilized from the blood lose the battle was over, and Ingrid was watching over me as I was loaded into a Goblin and taken to a med-bay and got a new forearm, the mechanical limb serves its purpose well, even the replaced skin that covers it almost makes it look normal again.

Before I could lunge at the bastard Ingrid pulled me back and scoffed at my strange behavior, my anger usually dissipates quickly but he simply pushed it pretty far.

"Easy there Anthony, just take deep breaths, calm down, I swear it feels like I am the only thing keeping you stable around here."

Grumbling a bit I went over the front of the dropship and grabbed the right handlebar and held it tightly, knowing that the trip to Demeter will be a bump ride.

Ingrid moved behind me and took the behind me as Rhok took the one opposite of hers to the left and the guy that spoke to me, George, he took the one to my left as a militia soldier grabbed the rear hatch and closed the door and once it was sealed tight the dropship lifted gently off the bay floor and made its way to outer space.

System: Demeter, Planet: Demeter, Location: Merchant Ship Pub Crawler

The ride to Demeter's surface is...bumpy would be an understatement.

"Brace for impact!" Wilson shouted as I looked to my left to see a Militia ship explode into a fireball as the concussive wave shook the entire craft.

"Everyone hold on!" the grunt shouted as I tightened my grip my eyes still looking at the window and when I saw a piece of debris go overhead I turned my head back forward out of fear that one piece will go straight to us cause I was looking for it.

As I held on tightly to the handle we all lurched forward as the ship dove to avoid another explosion which shook the hull, George dropped on his knee before quickly getting back up and grabbed his handle.

'Oh god we are all going to die up here!'

"Wilson get us the hell out of here!" the man behind is said as another explosion rocked the ship along with us, I nearly lost my lunch from that shake as I dropped to the ground before being tossed up into the ceiling and when I land back on the floor I grab the handle and shake the dizziness from my head.

"Sir, the jump calculations haven't finished yet!" Wilson called back as another dropship that was next to us got hit and exploded everywhere, a body smacked into the window next to me as I stepped away from it to not see the carnage.

"I don't give a damn just do it! Jump now! Now damn it now!" he shouted along with myself and Rhok, the ship shuddered again and soon enough everything started to turn blue and sparkly.

"Jumping in 3. 2. 1. Mark!" and with that Wilson hit the button and just like that we zipped out of the atmosphere and straight to the planet's surface without a scratch.

I checked myself out to see if any part of me was missing, my arms were still whole, my legs unscathed, my chest and back not melted or malformed in anyway, it was a success.

"Jump Control we made it, on route to Reactor Core 5-" Wilson said before I turned around to look out the back ramp but out the corner of my eye I saw missiles flying in the air followed by our partner ship get snagged by one.

'Oh fuck me with a rusty spoon.'

"-2 been hit!"

"Brace for impact!" Wilson shouted to us as I grabbed the handle for dear life as all four of us pilots and the soldier at the rear get tossed into the air but the soldier was unlucky.

"Mayday we are going down!" was all that Wilson said that the soldier heard as he got sucked out the back with his rifle, I saw his body flail for a moment before disappearing from view, I think the impact with the ground killed him.

I held on for dear life but the violent shaking that was going on made everything much worse. I felt my body slam onto the ceiling, the wall and the floor repeatedly as I saw broken glass and pieces of random debris fly through the cabin, slamming into everything before I saw the ship crash into the ground from the rear and my vision turned black.

"Misfit this is MacAllan, hang on I am on my way." I heard through my headset as my vision was disorientated and blurred, nothing was even as I slowly picked myself up, breathing was painful as a rib or two might be broken.

As I looked up I saw a titan fall from the sky and when it landed right in front of me I saw that it was an Ogre, and when it opened up to reveal MacAllan himself my jaw nearly dropped, I heard that he would join us in this battle but I never thought he would drop in right here! His Ogre reached back and pulled into view a Quad Rocket before talking again but this time I can clearly him.

"Were getting off this hill! Come with me!" the man of legend shouted at everyone that was on the field, all of us snapped to attention and without a single word uttered we followed him.

"Holy shit its MacAllan!" a grunt said as the turrets at the perimeter wall opened fire at us and that moment I saw bullets tear up the ground around and between us, but I saw bodies get torn to shreds as the large 30mm rounds went through us like wet tissue paper.

I grabbed the Kraber from my back and slid it off before running behind MacAllan, hoping his titan can withstand the pelting.

Running behind the hulking mass of metal and weaponry I saw him open fire on the turrets, destroying them in the process to let more of us land down in the field to provide support to the crash landing party, but sadly his right arm got blown off forcing him to take a drastic chance at breaking the door down, and he did so by turning himself into a battering ram and I saw the doors get torn apart as they get blown wide open.

As soon as he broke through the front doors the Ogre couldn't take it anymore and finally broke down, his body caved in and I saw MacAllan open the hatch before leaping out with a R-101 Carbine in his hands.

"Move out and secure the hardpoints!" he shouted before sprinting off to the main section of the reactor, the giant reactor itself in the center of the fifth reactor station.

"This is a hardpoint battle, hold all points of Alpha, Bravo and Charlie to overload the reactor core to trigger a chain reaction and whip out Demeter. We pull this off and it will take years for the IMC to send ships back to the frontier." Bish said before closing the transmission, my cloaking field crackling to life as my body faded from view to become nothing more than a distortion of air to everyone.

As I watched pilots and grunts alike spread themselves out so they are not mowed down so easily I watched Ingrid tap me on the shoulder before pointing to the pipelines then to the tall building in the middle of the area, and I gave her a nod before running off to it, my feet kicking up dirt before I leapt up and grabbed the ledge of a first floor roof before hauling up on it, a stray bullet from a shoot out ricochets off a steel plate in front of my face, the bullet scraping my helmet but did nothing to disrupt my cloak.

"Hardpoint Charlie is under our control." Bish said as I turned my head to see Rhok run on the wall with a Spitfire in his hands and as he ran he opened fire on four IMC grunts that were running across a catwalk heading to Charlie, the short burst of gunfire killed them, the bullets finding their home and running directly under Rhok was Ingrid as she turned on her cloak before snapping an unsuspecting enemy pilot's neck, I saw the head do a complete 180 and I thought I heard the bones in his neck cracking from here.

Running up another wall I grabbed the ledge before reaching the top and leveled my weapon to the edges of the roof, looking for anything hostile and before long I saw my target, it was a pilot and he was limping badly, he took several rounds to his torso and legs but was still going but before I could shoot him in the head there was an explosion below me followed by two more and I knew what it was, satchel charges, and whoever they were meant for got blown all to hell.

'Okay, calm down, calm down now....Ingrid is still alive...she is still alive...'

When I opened my eye through the scope I saw the same pilot but this time he was dead, his head was blown off but my finger was on the squeezed trigger. Pulling back the bolt I slide the next bullet in its new home before switching to a different target, a Spectre holding an Archer Heavy Rocket and it was aiming at a friendly Atlas, the beast of a machine was shooting at a small group of hostile grunts and with a deep breath I zeroed in on its head before pulling the trigger and a moment later its head exploded into a shower of sparks and metal fragments.

As I switched targets a few bullets came my way and when I turned to face my attack I saw that it was a pilot with a Hemlok BF-R and a few more bullets bounced off the metal pipe over my head and since my invisibility cloak didn't get disrupted or dispersed I aimed back at the attacking pilot to see that he has popped his back out from a wall and fired another two bursts of five rounds but I stood there waiting for him to pop back up again to kill him.

'Nothing personal, its you or me and I just want this war to end so I can go home.'

And as soon as I saw his body poke out I fired two rounds in rapid succession, the first one hit him in the upper left thigh, the bullet going right through it and blowing it off, the second one hit him in the neck, blowing it all over the place.

"Mac, I don't know what's wrong but the hardpoints aren't routing enough power to the core. Between that and the fleet taking a pounding we might have to abort the mission." Sarah said as I ran off the roof and moved to another tall building, my field of vision is much more clear as I have a better chance of finding a target and getting lost in the background to blend in.

"I didn't come all this way to give up Sarah." Mac said as I ducked underneath a friendly Atlas's foot as it lumbered on by, my breathing was slowing down a bit as the broken rib started to irritate me but I started to control my breathing as I set myself back up and looked back down the scope before shooting a pilot in the back of the head, watching the display of gore in disgust but sadly I have to do this if I am ever going to get back home, the family farm may not be there but at least mother and Sarah are still alive...I can not let them down.

"Mac I uh...I think she might be right. The reactors are much more shield then the intel indicated, the pilots on the ground might not make it go critical as we might have planned." and as Bish said that all I could think of was how the hell are we gonna do this now without getting fucked over or killed.

"I said were not giving up! Pilots, keep those hardpoints under control and give me a little more time we'll figure something out."

'Well at least the man is thinking up of something to help us get through this cause if he doesn't then we have just threw away a bunch of lives for nothing.'

'I can do this...I can do this...just a few more dead IMC...that's all it takes to get home. Just a few more lives to end...'

Pulling back the bolt I slammed the last bullet into its housing before discarding the ammo box and replaced it with a fresh one before firing the last round, the bullet finding its new home inadequate as the Spectre took it like a champ to the heart, which its chest blew out like a water balloon.

Once the empty shell was ejected from the chamber I pushed the cartridge inside, pushed the bolt in along with its new explosive buddy and went back to searching for a way home.

"Okay your titan is prepped for launch, call it when ready." Sarah said as I let out a sigh of relief.

I watched George from a distance get the drop on a group of pilots, there was four of them in total, one had a Spitfire LMG, another had a EVA-8 shotgun, a R-101 Compact Carbine and the last one held a silenced Mk. V Smart Pistol, as he fell behind them the one with the carbine pushed the one with the shotgun and pistol out of the way but he took a buckwall of death before falling over in a bloody heap but the man holding the Spitfire managed to turn around in time and let George taste fifty caliber rounds, and I knew he was a goner because he got cut crudely in half with that burst of gunfire.

'Oh man...Ingrid is going to be pissed when she hears this....'

"Its on the way, standby for titanfall." and before I know it I heard my titan come down but once it made contact with the ground I saw heavy sniper round explode a chunk of plate metal above my head, a sniper missed his chance as I jumped off the little support strut I was using for stability then slid underneath the undercarriage of the Atlas and was picked up in its graceful fingers and gently put into the cotton chair and the screen turned on to reveal everything in front of me in a crystal clear sight.

"Were running out of time here and the fleet upstairs is in bad shape, if your going to do something MacAllan you'd better do it fast." as they talked about what is going on for the plan to win the war, the plan for the battle down here is getting scarier.

"Bish, give me something I can work with."

'Ya, cause if you don't Bish then everyone down here will get killed while all of you up there will jump to safety and leave us behind to die.'

"Mac if you can find a way to trigger a manual overload that'll work even if they manage to shut down the reactor core. Except there is one problem, there isn't a titan in the world that can protect you against that kind of radiation."

'What the hell is this guy thinking! We need him alive so we can beat the IMC and free ourselves from their oppression! Yes they may have helped a few planets grow economic wise but they destroyed the landscape of a dozen planets for fuel.'

"You let me worry about that, were not giving up, not yet. Pilots, your doing great, keep up the fire. MacAllan out."

'Yes...were doing great...sure I may have just punted a pilot into a fuel cell and watched him explode into fiery bits and punched an Ogre so hard in the face that I ripped the pilot from his seat before tossing him like a football into a solid wall...and watched him leave a splat mark all over it....it makes me sick.'

As I strode through the carnage of a small pile of dead IMC grunts I let my Arc Cannon charge up to twenty five percent before letting it loose on a pilot, reducing him to ashes as I heard a single scream before going poof then a pile of ashes.

Discharging a weak electrical buildup I zapped another group of grunts and spectres, the arcs of ionized power coursing through their bodies made the living burst into ashes while the machines overloaded before exploding. The moment an enemy Atlas came into view I unleashed an unguided salvo of rockets, letting them distract the driver as I built up my Arc Cannon to maximum power, the electrical buildup sent sparks flying everywhere and when I saw them connect to the Atlas I saw its bodyshields sputter to life to reduce the damage but three rockets came into contact with the right shoulder and I laughed inwardly as I heard the shrieking whine of the Atlas losing its protection.

"Ride the lightning you bastard!" I shouted through the intercom as the bolt of overly charged ions disrupt and scramble the Atlas's cameras and as its distorted vision was up I rammed into the confused pilot, the mech didn't have a chance as I began to wail on it until I knocked the X0TBR-16 Chaingun from its hands before I planted the four prongs directly onto its central camera, resting it on the cockpit and once it was fully charged again I let it have it, frying the pilot inside forcing the hulking beast die without its host.

"Sarah, Bish I got this, get the fleet out of here."

'Wait we won? What is he planning? What is he even doing that requires us to leave him behind?'

"What the hell are you talking about Mac? Mac! Come in! Bish get him back on talk now!"

'Did he just hang up on our spy master? Damn this guy got some balls on him to practically hang the phone up on her.'

"He's transmitting just not to us. I'm patching into his feed."

'Oh...well then...wait a tick, who the fuck is he talking to then?'

"Open your eyes Marcus, you could have stopped me fifteen years ago aboard the Odyssey, instead you gave me the ship."

"Sir! I got the bastard in my sights, I'm going after him standby!"

'Run motherfucker run! That psycho bastard is going to kill you!'

"Blisk hold your fire, your going to rupture a cooling circuit and blow the place to hell. Hand-to-Hand Combat only, move." so this is the voice of Marcus Graves, the Vice Admiral of the IMC Fleet....sounds like my grandpa.

"With pleasure sir." oh damn...I heard that Blisk was a scary man to fight against but up close and personal with a knife? Forget that.

"He's going to get himself killed."

'No shit Sarah, he is messing with someone that is born to kill everything in front of him.'

Eventually I hopped out of my Atlas and went back to fighting on the ground, I set my Atlas to guard mode as I stopped and rested against the side of a freight crate, my heart was beating fast and my breathing was matching it in rhythm and tempo, I was scared, and I bet the enemy knows it for the sight of me hiding behind a crate just to ease the pressure off of me.

Pulling out a syringe from my med kit I pressed the needle into my neck until it punctured the skin and I pushed the plunger down, the calming drug inside of it being forced into my veins.

My vision soon exploded into a rainbow of colors, the very air itself was colorful and the sounds too had color matching to it, the crackle of gunfire and eruptions of explosions but soon enough the euphoria of colors and feelings ended as a calming sensation crawled through me.

"Uh...Bish, I'm picking up a spike in the reactor core. Hacking in now."

"Oh no....", "Damn it Mac you crazy son of a bitch, what the hell are you doing?

"Vice Admiral, MacAllan has locked himself in the reactor core chamber."

I kept on fighting, the calming agent running in my blood was helping me cope with the feeling of regret and disgust, allowing me to keep on killing but I know it is only a temporary solution but for now it should work until we win the war and I can leave all of this behind me, and if I can't get rid of these horrible memories...well I heard alcohol and drugs could hope to cope with it.

Another pilot fell victim to my Kraber, the bullet found his gut and it blew it out, the colorful spectacle brought a smile to my face, the serum was working like a charm. Following the pilot was three grunts, the bullet went through the first two before stopping in the third. It was funny as hell to watch as I started to laugh with glee, even when a Spectre stood next to me with a shotgun pointing at my head but it was killed when it got its body crushed by a foot.

Ant, meet titan boot.

"Pilots, the core is going critical. We're sending evac ships to your location. Find MacAllan and get the hell out of there!" as they said that evac is going to save us I got back in my titan to ensure that my survival is protected, I didn't want to die on the surface of some planet that is under the control of the enemy.

"Negative!" I heard the war hero cough badly, the radiation must already be effecting him. I thought for a moment he said no...why would he say no to have everyone saved?

"Fleet, this is McAllan. I've triggered the reactor core overload manually. Clear out as fast as you can. Do not wait for ground forces. Repeat: There is no time for evac." as he said that I shouted as loud as I can at how stupid that sounded, then realized that I was on the ground still.

"Marcus, they trusted me as an ex-IMC officer, and they're going to need someone after I'm gone." he coughed again violently, but when he hinted for the enemy vice admiral to join us I immediately thought he was asking him to be his successor.

"You told me fifteen years ago, on board the Odyssey, to take the ship. Now I'm giving you the same choice." as he kept on speaking I just stupidly walked into the middle of the battlefield, both pilots and grunts on both sides are just staring blankly at the sky, their hopes of being saved from a terrible death dashed as they are left behind to die just for their respective fleets to get away from a surface explosion.

I walked up to an enemy titan and tapped his shoulder, and as soon as he turned around I had my Arc Cannon on my back and I just raised my arm in a 'well, were boned' arm wave, and he did the same before we just stared at one another.

'Well, we might as well have some sort of friendly banter before we all die a very horrible and quite possibly agonizing death.'

"Pilots...this is MacAllan. If you're still on the ground out there...it's been an honor serving with you."

As he said that me and the other titan decided we might as well get one last hug in before we die, cause hey, we might be enemies in real life but if since were going to the afterlife we might as well make peace then war, and hell we would probably be meeting on the same grass fields in heaven. Off in the distance I saw ten titans trying to flee from the blast, I wished them the best of luck, if anyone could escape this place it could be them.

What felt like an eternity the explosion happened, we both looked at it as he sagged, I just stood still but that was when the immense heat and pressure hit the both of us, and in a moment of a brief flash of pain it was over.

Unknown World

'Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again.'

I felt something touching my body, I thought at first it was Death coming to take me away from wherever I am to the afterlife but the feeling wasn't boney or cold, in fact it was quite warm and very thick. When I opened my eyes to see what it was I was pleased to see that it was my Atlas, he was kneeling over me and was poking me with a single digit.

"Okay...okay...you can stop now...I'm up man, I'm up..." I mumbled as I slowly peeled myself off the floor which didn't feel like the unyielding metal plate or the softness of a bed and when I looked down I saw that it was dirt, actual dirt, gravel, rocks and grass.

As soon as I turned my head to see where I was I saw that I was sitting in the middle of a forest, there was trees that looked all twisted and gnarled, grey bark with dead leaves everywhere. This wasn't Demeter, not even by a long shot. So where the hell was I?

"Okay Anthony...we were on Demeter...there was a battle, we won I think, I can't remember but the reactor exploded so Demeter must have been completely wiped clean of IMC property...so I think it will take years for all of the IMC to even send a response team to save those left behind. The tables have been turned...but that leaves me wondering where the hell am I? Sure as hell doesn't look like Troy or the Boneyard...that's for sure." I again mumbled to myself, getting to my knees before standing up, my vision blurs as I stood up way to fast but my titan helps me by giving me something to grab onto as the stars in my eyes dissipate.

Taking another look around I saw that this place could be Troy but just in a part that wasn't explored yet or somewhere near the colony that was put to the torch and the flames just past onto the trees nearby.

"So big guy...is there any civilization around here?" I asked and hoped that he knew the answer to it, and surprisingly enough he did. The Atlas gave me a nod of sorts before pointing in what I think was to the east and with a shrug I tried to climb back in and he assisted me by giving just the barest of nudges with his fingers and once I was in the chassis it closed up tight but almost sensing that I was tired he started to move on its own, heading towards life.

"Wake me up when we get there." I said as my eyes gently went off to sleep, my snoring was quickly picked up by the OS as it gave a shake of its central eye as if expressing shame of sorts at my tiredness.

Zecora's Hut

Zecora's POV

Tonight was a strange occurrence as the night sky rippled and cracked with red and blue thunder. Swirling around the Everfree Forest was a thunderstorm unlike anything in Equestrian history, and what defines a thunderstorm here is that it is always within the deepest parts far from any type of civilization but this one, it starts at the very heart of the old trees and ends at the very edge of the new sapling, bordering right on Ponyville. If it was not for Princess Celestia coming to me and asking if this is any sign of dark magic at work, something that I find odd since most dark magicks would not require such a display of madness, but then again this is the first time I have ever seen or heard of this happening.

As soon as the solar goddess left my humble abode I went back to my cauldron, experimenting with a new type of poison joke, the plant itself is like its original version but this one seems to last longer and that it can't be cured with a bath but instead the afflicted pony must wait it out, and that the joke is much crueler then its weaker cousin.

'And here I found you my poison friend...resting around a tree acting like a parasite.'

Trotting over to the swirling pot I watched the contents of it bubbled and popped, the scent rolling from it was strangely pleasant to say the least, poison joke smelled like dry hay but this...this cruel joke smelled like lavender oil. Placing a similar planet between the pages of an old book I closed it shut but when as I placed it back into its place on my shelf I felt the ground shake for a few seconds, an earthquake I thought but usually it lasts for a couple of seconds to a minute but this was just three seconds of rumbling before it stopped so I quickly ruled that out.

'Maybe it was a diamond dog clan digging a new surface pit?' I thought and at that lone mental distraction the storm started to die down, now that is considered strange.

Looking out my window I saw that the storm was starting to slow down from its spiral, the raining was starting to lessen but it was still considered a downpour, even the thunder was starting to become less common with its constant appearance.

'I wonder what could have created such a storm that could create an earthquake?'

Shrugging to myself I just ignored it for now and went back to the cruel joke brewing in my cauldron, the mere thought of what it could do in its liquid form on a pony, but for now that would have to be put aside for the time being as I would have to ask little Applebloom for assistance on this one.

As the rain started to die down I stirred the black cauldron, the contents of it now completely in liquid form and was now ready for testing, but for the time being I left it alone, trotting to the shelves to grab a small jar to place some of it in for storage as the rest will be kept heated for a much later use.

It was during the time I was getting ready to turn it in for the night did the ground start to shake again but it was not in the form of an earthquake as it was a constantly rolling shake, no this one was irregular, almost like something was stomping on the ground and it was getting steadily stronger, as if it was coming this way.

Quickly galloping to the front window I poked my head out to see what it could be but due to it being dark outside and that the night mist has shown itself everything was shrouded and was hard for me to see anything beyond a few hoofspaces away.

Cocking my head a bit I tried to focus on a distant shape but soon the thumping stopped short of my humble abode and the shape was vague at best, but it was large, much larger then a manticore, and it didn't move on four legs like the dreaded monsters did, and it wasn't a minotaur as it did not have any horns on its head, nor was it a dragon for I saw no wings or its long prehensile tail.

As I started to wonder what it could possibly be, the mysterious figure got to one knee before what I think its torso moved and something dropped from it, maybe its child or baby, but whatever it is it quickly stood back up and moved back a bit but when I went to the front door of my home I heard something begin to talk, I couldn't quite understand what was being said but I think it was between the child and its parent.

Poking my head past the threshold of the door I saw the two were having an argument or maybe a one-sided argument from the look of it.

'What could possibly be going on between the two?'

Before I could possibly try to reconcile the family the large one lifted an arm and seemingly pointed in my direction and when the younger one turned to look over at me I saw seven bright icy blue eyes stare at me and I immediately closed the door and retreated to my bed room, whatever it was is not a diamond dog nor a minotaur.

'Please leave me alone...please do not come inside.'

Sadly my prayers were not answered as I heard the front door slowly open up, as if the monster was afraid of what it would find, but once I heard the steps slowly come into the main area it was growing louder then quieter and back to loud, it was circling the cauldron. Whatever it is it seems to be interested with what is inside of it. What felt like an hour it soon left the cauldron alone, and moved onto somewhere else but it eventually left my home, as if it didn't like the fact that somepony was living here or that the décor wasn't up to its standards. Either or I am just glad that it left me alone.

At the sound of my front door being closed I slowly and steadily trotted to the window, and when I peered over the edge I saw it climb back to its mother, I think, and with its child safely back in her grasp the mother retreated back into the forest and soon after I lost sight of the pair I left the safety of my home to see what tracks it might have left behind and what I saw both astounded and scared me.

Its track was easily my size, it had a large almost rectangular pattern for the back part and as for the front part, it was two smaller squares but at a different angle, and it was only what I think was two toes.

Whatever this type of creature is, it can easily ignore the moss that repels manticores and timberwolves so whoever it could be, must be looking at its territory.

Anthoy's POV

'I couldn't believe that my Atlas found a random hut in the middle of this cursed forest, the creatures here are strange, I saw wolves made out of wood and hellish looking beast, a lion with a scorpion tail and bat wings, and now I thought I just saw a zebra living in a hut in the middle of this place.'

My mind was busy trying to comprehend what I had just seen but when I saw the zebra, an actual zebra but wearing gold neckrings, a few gold rings on a foreleg and two gold earrings, and this zebra had a Mohawk. At this point I would just say that it was the calming serum making me see thing that would be lying to myself and that it was my Atlas that found this zebra, the fact that it was staying in the middle of the forest is confusing. I honestly thought that they loved the rolling grass plains cause of the abundance of food, a forest is hardly a fitting place for that species let alone be able to make a hut, have African tribal masks and other knickknacks, and to have a cauldron with some strange goop bubbling in it, everything about it all screamed 'witch doctor'.

"Atlas...find a good place to stay for the night, let me sleep for now...I'll...i'll try to deal with this in the morning...my head is hurting something fierce." and with that I passed out from the shock of everything finally kicking in.

I feel too old for this shit.

But not me, I have too much to live for.

View Online

I woke up to the feeling of deep hunger and the feeling that something was microwaving my guts to the point of them being cooked to exploding. That or that chef surprise that I had aboard the Merchant Ship Two-For-Flinching is starting to kick in. Either way my stomach is killing me.

Blinking the sleep from my eyes I took a peek as to see where I am, hoping that what happened yesterday was nothing more then a dream and that I was back in my bunk aboard the Two-For-Flinching, and as soon as my eyes opened up just a crack I saw the darkened screen of my Atlas. This is real, Demeter really happened, I got vaporized in a ball of radioactive heat, I saw a zebra wearing fancy gold rings as if it as bling, and I smelled some strange goop that was between lavender oils or fruity perfume.

And now I am hungry.

Poking around my armor I looked for the one emergency ration that is given to pilots in the event we are stranded behind enemy lines in the event our evac ship ever gets destroyed. The ration is supposed to last for three days, but seeing the size of it now makes me wonder how exactly that three day is actually true.

Unwrapping a small section of the ration I gave it a sniff just to see if it is even edible, and after seeing that it doesn't have the pungent odor of mold or decay I took a small bite and immediately regretted it, the bloody thing was dry as saw dust. I will never know why doctors and scientists create things that are good for mankind but whenever it be medicine or emergency rations it always tastes like someone shoved it up their ass and bottled it up or placed it within plastic wrap.

'You are good for me and yet you taste so bad.'

Taking another small bite I resisted the urge to just cough up the dry granola bar and never touch it again is strong but I soldier on and started to chew, my hatred for the dry granola bar only growing with each jaw straining chew. At first I thought it was bad but as I continued to chew the small one inch block of live-saving essence in nut and sugary false form, it started to taste less like saw dust and more like cardboard but it will keep me alive for now.

'I gotta find some more food cause I highly doubt I can make that six inch bar last three days...and even if I could...starvation is not worth going through again.'

Popping the hatch to my Atlas I leapt out of it before it closed automatically but as soon as he tried to follow me I placed him in standby mode, his reactor said he was at full power but I didn't want to drain the battery just yet, my cloaking field is reliable enough to keep me alive.

'Now time to get a feel for my surroundings, if I am truly on Troy then I should be able to find a colony around here somewhere, I just have to look hard enough.'

Turning on my cloak I faded from view from my Atlas though it knew where I was at the time for he saw me just disappear from view when I stood directly in front of him when I did the deed. Looking around the two of us I tried to define a major landmark and saw that all the trees that are at least fifteen feet around us are burnt because of our impact or from being subjected to the vaporization of Demeter's reactor having a pulse-detonation, either case this could be used a means of direction, assuming we can find which way is north, east, south and west.

"Lets see...heads I go west, tails I go east..." I said to my Atlas and when he picked up a stone that was partially melted I then said burnt side up east and the unburned side west and with a flick of his metal fingers the stone flipped end over end in the air before landing burnt side up.

"East it is then, I'll leave a waypoint here so I can find my way back." and with that I gave a gentle pat to his left hand before walking off, my Kraber still on my back and when I felt the tip of the barrel hit the back of my shin I realized that I still had it and shifted it around till it was being held in my hands.

Once I have left the general vicinity of the crash site I saw that the trees still retained their grey, gnarled and twisted appearance but they now had somewhat lush green leafs to them, there was grass sprouting around here and there and there was also a strange abundance of blue bell flowers. I don't know anything about these plants or what they are capable of doing to a human being so I did what came naturally to a human being. I plucked a single flower from the field of them and took a whiff, the scent of it was strange, almost smelling like lavender and yet it wasn't the purple bush plant, and seeing how humans can't eat flowers I just placed it back in the ground before walking around it, not sure if it has any powder or pollen that can sneak through the Kevlar weave and come into contact with my skin.

Continuing on going east I eventually came across a flowing river, from what I can see that it is give or take a couple of yards across and so many feet deep, and seeing how fast it is going if I was to fall in it I would more then likely get sucked in and get swept away in the current. Taking a glance at the water I saw that it was crystal clear and didn't show any signs of industrial or medical pollution which indicates that if there are any signs of civilization here they are being very careful and extremely conservative of nature, so this has to be a militia planet.

'But which one? I only know of Troy and New Haven...gods I hope its Troy, I could hitch a ride back to the fleet and see what has become of it, hopefully that we won at Demeter and have some time to reprieve and recover from our loses.'

As I looked for a way across the river without it leading to me drowning I heard something splash far up the river, and seeing how it could be a boat of fishermen I jogged along the water's edge and saw that it was not a boat or fishermen, in fact it wasn't even human, hell I don't even know what it is.

Relaxing in the river without a care in the world is an extremely large and quite possibly long purple river snake with arms, what I can assume is hair on his head and a moustache, and both were orange in color and looked almost silky smooth so that indicates that this giant river snake isn't a savage beast, but how it manages to keep it smooth and clean.

Crouching down I placed the butt of my Kraber to my shoulder before looking through the scope and zooming in on the river snake as I take in every single detail I could possibly find about this giant snake.

"Hmm....seems to be three titans long....half a titan thick...hmm its moustache is in the classic handlebar style so I think that would indicate it as a 'he', so that would give the reason as to why his hair was slicked back like a sophisticated gentleman's haircut. Based on the fact that the hairstyle and the presence of a moustache I can assume that this is a he and since I can't see the plumbing from here or from possibly anywhere on the surface I would have to go below the surface, but I rather not since I am trying to remain stealthy so from now on any and all discoveries based on this one river snake shall be in the 'male' reference." I said quietly as the giant river snake started to brush his hair with a large comb that looks like it is made out of plastic due to it being shiny, that or a really well kept metal comb.

"Due to the size of the river snake I can estimate that his strength is that of an Ogre titan's if not more, strength testing can not be done due to unable to figure out if he could speak English or understand a word that I could say to him. Intelligence of the subject is currently seen in the ranges of primitive to intelligent, maybe even the same level that of a human being, and as for a dietary needs I can guess that for being a large snake it is a carnivore."

"Further study of the purple river snake will be placed on hold as I have to move on now, I think he heard me." and as I said that I quickly strapped my Kraber to my back again before pulling out an experimental Hammond P2011 variant, instead of using bullets to kill this prototype instead is a miniature ARC Cannon, on its lowest setting it is capable of stunning unarmored human beings and unshielded robotics, on normal setting it is capable of burning an inch of titanium metal while at the same time incapacitating a fully armored human being while it would take three shots to render unconscious a pilot, on its highest setting it could very easily stop a human being's heart and act as an EMP to machines other then titans.

I stood absolutely still, hoping that my cloak would render me safe from the giant river snake's gaze, I don't know if it heard me or not but it was coming toward my general vicinity, and I was quite afraid of it because it was easily ten times my size and from looks alone could easy swallow me whole. As he came closer and closer to me I saw that his scales were relatively clean and as he got closer they were also highly reflective which only cemented my earlier comment of this river snake being intelligent, he keeps himself clean and tidy, prim and proper, this river snake seems to me to be the very embodiment of a sophisticated gentleman.

'Just keep slithering on by me Mr. Snake...just keep on slithering on by...do not look for anything irregular with the air.' I quietly mumbled to myself, praying to god that he completely ignores me and keeps on going, something that never happened.

As I watched the snake glide through the water with ease I saw him slowly go past me and before I could utter a sigh of relief I heard the water splash suddenly and when I turned my head to see him go by I was face-to-nostril with the giant snake and at that moment I could have sworn that my bladder was on the verge of emptying itself if it opened its mouth just an inch.

'Oh dear god this is a mistake...'

Before I could crap my pants in fear the river snake pulled its head back before...pouting? When does a guy ever pout? Why would a guy pout, unless he just asked his girlfriend or wife for some bedside loving and had his request refused but this guy...he pouted for not being able to see me? So I guess that he is capable of hearing me talk from that far but how well can he hear me when my very footsteps are quiet as the grave?

My stealth kit that I have added to my covert operations armor has done me wonders through the four years I spent with the Militia and now I was putting it to the ultimate test by being stealthy against an indigenous intelligent being that can easily hear my words, now I have to see if he can hear me sneak away.

Taking my first step away from the snake I didn't see its head come close to me nor did its facial expression change from his pout, and when I took a few more steps I got the same result. With a silent 'Yes!' I started to pick up the pace from a slow walk to a jog and as I got within a tenth of a mile away from the snake I let out a breath that I didn't know was holding before finally being out of sight from the snake to quietly and almost shamefully check myself to see if I have accidentally evacuated in fear, and by the good grace of god I didn't.

'My mission easily was a successful failure, I managed to go as far east as I could be seeing how even if I sprinted and double jumped I wouldn't make it across the rapidly moving flow of water. I have encountered by going east a new type of flower, a river snake that might as well be a Sauvé gentleman, and a river that is meant for a titan to get across. Now it is time for me to head north, then west and lastly south.'

Keeping my Hammond Taser out I started to walk north along the river edge, my eyes slightly lingering onto the water, imagining myself and Ingrid swimming together in the hopefully cold water to wash away the sweat, grime, blood and shame from our bodies after a day of hard work and fighting against the IMC, but as my daydreaming started to veer off course into a much more mature setting I heard the cawing of a chicken nearby, and at first I thought I was just hearing things. Cause honestly, how is a chicken even being able to survive all the way out here when there are wolves made of wood out here and mutant lions out here next to a river snake as big as a freight train.

Staring to the source of the disturbance I saw that it was a chicken, a very white, big as a normal sized chicken from the head up...but when my eyes saw below the head it was ungodly ugly. It had the body of a dragon from the Boneyard, and its legs were chicken legs, and those piercing red eyes chilled me but it wasn't much looking at me but through me.

Leaning down to the floor I picked up a stick and broke it at my feet, hoping to lure the beast to me so I could get a better look at it, and when it actually did get closer it was being cautious from the sudden twig-snapping.

'It's eyes must be bad, I snapped the twig practically in its field of vision and yet it was confused as to where it came from but when it confirmed where it was it made tentative steps towards me, scratching and pecking at the ground while at the same time flapping its leathery wings a bit to scatter light debris out of its path.

As I stood still I watched with amazement as the strange mutated chicken looked around trying to find me, its feet kicking up a storm of broken twigs and leaves, trying in vain to find what broke the twig a few feet in front of it but to no avail did it ever find me, in fact it couldn't because I am invisible and also quietly climbing up the tree that was kind enough to be next to me.

'New Species discovered, Name: Umm.....Lizard Chicken, Dietary Needs....Omnivore? Maybe?, Appearance: Has the body of a chicken but from the neck down it is scaly, leathery wings instead of feathered ones, glowing red eyes, I think I saw some teeth in that beak of his, the tail has what I think are triangular spines for grooming purposes or for inflicting damage to its prey.'

Watching the little Lizard Chicken walking around the tree was starting to get boring, and seeing that it is made of meat I decided that if I am going to be stuck out here I might as well figure out what I could eat and what I can't, namely flowers and plants, but for now I am going to start with this new species, hopefully it isn't the last of its kind.

Pulling out my data knife I slowly moved on the branch that was directly over the strange bird, my grip was tight and with a sigh that I didn't want to kill another being I told myself that if I don't eat actual food and get used to the world around me, then I would starve and die. Alone.

A short prayer and a grunt later I dropped from the branch directly and on top of the hybrid, my knife plunging deep into its skull as the weight of the impact shoved its head into the ground, the blade stuck in its braincase as the beast's body shook and twitched before finally dying with a low growl then going absolutely still.

"It's you or me...and its better you then me." I said as I removed my knife from its skull and for an added measure I made a shallow hole in the dirt with my bare hands before cutting off its head with a few short slashes and once the dirty deed was done I buried the head, taking some precaution since I have no idea on what it could do once its dead.

Once I had my prize of a dead lizard chicken hybrid in my hands I started to make my way back to my Atlas, knowing full well that I had to get this thing skinned, gutted, and cooked before nightfall since most survival books say that is when the beasts of the wild comes out to hunt.

Jogging in the woods sounds something like most people would say is nice and enjoyable to do but these woods, you might as well take the long way around then go through it because I just saw a plant as tall as my legs just lash out and swallow whole a bird. I could only stare in shock and horror as the lump in the plant's stalk steadily goes downward and also at the same time, gets slimmer and thinner before finally disappearing below the surface. I ended up destroying the planet by cutting it in half and cutting the stalk to bits and pieces out of fear for my own limbs.

'New Flora, giant venus fly trap, hostile, kill on sight.'

As soon as I got back to my Atlas I saw that it was busy by making a compass of sorts by removing all but four of the dead trees forming the 'North, West, East and South' points and right in the middle of the four points was a smoothed and shaped rock and that was when I realized that it was the same stone that we used to flip to determine which direction I go in, except it was now in the shape of an obelisk.

"I see that you have been busy Atlas." I said as my titan turned around with a two pieces of gnarled tree in his hands, the central eye tilted a bit before placing the chunks of wood down into a pile near the rest of the shredded wood.

Staring at the work he has done I gave the large machine a soft grin, I knew that having the Guardian Chip installed would have improved its cybernetic intelligence significantly but I never thought that it would act like a human being, hell it had even made a small clearing around the four trees to make an efficient compass and seeing how that it turned the uprooted trees into usable firewood I can say that it has my survival has its best interest at heart...or core...whatever it uses for a heart.

'First step...skinning the chicken lizard hybrid...'

With my data knife in hand I laid the dead thing down on the now cool glass floor, the thing looked appetizing enough since it looked meaty and plump but as I started to remove the hard leathery skin from the muscle layer below it I saw my Atlas stomping around placing the last of the firewood into a pile away from everything before coming back to me and kneeled down ready to be used.

"God this thing stinks...I wish this helmet had a function to turn off the smell...now I can see why those IMC pilots never had any trouble on the planets that had foul stenches...bloody methane planet was horrible." I muttered to myself, the leathery skin steadily being peeled off from the rest of the body and as I skinned the thing I thought I heard some snap and I quickly looked up from where I was kneeling in the general direction of the disturbance.

Off in the distance waiting at the new tree line was a wooden wolf, the emerald green glowing eyes stared at what I believe was the freshly skinned chicken lizard and as I stared at it I saw the wolf raise its head, its muzzle pointing to the sky as it let out a loud howl, signaling its pack or mates or whatever, but what I do know is that I could expect more of them to show up.

Spying on the wooden wolf I pulled out my Kraber-AP and zoomed in on the lone wolf, my scope working flawlessly as I took in the shape of its body.

Standing alone in full view was the beastie, in every way it resembled and looked like a wolf with the exception that instead of fur and flesh for a body it was replaced with wood, branches, twigs and leaves, the head was wolf like but instead of normal canine ears they were replaced with wooden antler-like pieces and from what I can see just behind them was a pair of soft looking wooden ears. There was a few small thin twigs on its head representing fur tufts and along its back was more thin twigs to make it look shaggy and all along its back was twigs and even if its tail that I got a brief glimpse of was virtually a large branch. Its legs were just that of a wolf but I could see the joints and it looked almost doll-like which means that these things couldn't be quite possibly alive so these must be like machines but only made of natural products.

The wolf has been standing there in place for little more then ten minutes and it wasn't before long that the wolf's friends would show up, I saw the rest of his pack assemble on behind him, there was a total of fourteen of them and they all were just like the first wolf but varied in wood coloration, amounts of twigs on the back of the head and body, even the shape of the body had variations to it but all I could think of for the wood colors and body shapes was that there had to be male and female versions of these wooden constructs.

'How does one make a gender for something made out of wood and give it life? Does it still function as an organic being or does it just replicate the same actions the real one would do because its creator gave it memories of an actual wolf...and why the hell do they all have the same color of eyes and why in good gods name are they glowing like that! Its like there the unholy spawns of Satan!'

Turning my rifle to a different wolf I saw that it had the same green glowing eyes but it was more slanted, as if it was glaring at me or just not being in a happy mood. Shifting to the next wolf I saw that it was panting lightly before pushing its leafy-looking tongue back in its maw, the teeth looks like sharpened bits of wood and less like actual teeth.

'Okay...fourteen wolves, six rounds of high explosive ammunition, an unlimited taser that has a varying recharge rate depending on setting and an Atlas with an ARC Cannon....we can totally handle this.'

Looking back to the wooden wolves I turned down to look at the dead skinned beast before back to the wolves before sighing in defeat that it would seem that I have to give up my meal to not make any kind of disturbance, if a zebra in a hut that wears gold jewelry can be out here I am afraid what is could be living around here, and the sound of a Kraber is exactly what I need to bring in anything to come find me, especially if it involves the IMC.

"Atlas, do not engage, just toss this thing over to them, and if they come charging forward then weapons free with only the ARC Cannon, your hands and feet, nothing else." and with that I kept my Kraber pointed at them and as soon as my Atlas grabbed the little bloody mass of meat before tossing it towards the wolves but as soon as it landed in the middle of the pack all I saw was snapping jaws and bloody bits flying everywhere but as soon as I saw that it my meal was gone they went back to looking at me but since I had nothing else to give them I saw that one started to come toward me and soon afterwards the rest of them.

'Aw crap...'

Staring at my Atlas I gave it a nod and with it the chest cavity opened up and I jumped into it before slamming it closed and stood up at my full height, the wolves stopped in their tracks as they saw me at my tallest.

When the wolves started to stop coming towards me I stood at my full height with my ARC Cannon pointed right at them, and as soon as the lead wolf took a step forward I stomped hard right in front of it before letting out a silent roar, flinging my arms open as if I was going to take a swing at them but I didn't, just my attempt at intimidating them. And it worked, the wolves started to back off but a few growled but when I shot the glass beneath their feet they scurried back faster then they would have liked, the wooden beasts now fleeing me but with my skinned meal gone I now had to go back to that dry tasting granola.

I am just hoping that the zebra back in that hut doesn't try to investigate the stomp I did...pffft yeah right, a zebra investigating anything, that zebra most likely has an owner and he or she lives in that hut with the exotic equine...and if that zebra is there alone then I think I might be leading myself to a really painful headache if I keep thinking on that subject.

Zecora's POV

It happened again.

I was out gathering more carnis roots and silver petals to be used in the salves and potions that I give to the ponies of Ponyville whenever they scrap or burn themselves on a semi-regular basis, and it was when I was digging for another cluster of carnis roots did the earthquake begin and end just as it did last night.

The large beast was back, and it wasn't very far away from me, maybe six or ten minutes away if I moved at an even trotting pace.

Taking a risk on the beast discovering me I decided on finding out more about it, if I could find out what this creature is and if it is a previously unknown species then there could be many more in hiding within the boundaries of these cursed and sacred woods.

Placing my saddlebag on the ground I grabbed what I could get from the cluster of roots near a dead tree before closing the flap and pulling the strap tightly to keep the contents from spilling out. With a deep breath and a small prayer to Celestia I started to trot toward the source of the shaking, my eyes looking around for anything that does belong in the Everfree such as the manticores, cockatrices and timber wolves but as time went on and all I heard was the occasional bird call or my hooves clopping on the compact dirt or in few spots fresh mud and not a single sign of the strange beast.

As I kept on trotting along an imaginary path that hopefully led to whatever it is I am going to I heard something moving but it was quiet but I largely ignored it because I was too focused on going forward, that is until I saw a wide clearing straight ahead of me did I find what I was looking for.

In the middle of this clearing was four blackened trees, not a single leaf on its broken branches and in the center of those trees was a single pointed partially burnt rock but what somewhat drew my eyes was the ground surrounding the trees and rock. The very soil surrounding those trees was not even considered soil as it was more along the thing called glass, how hot the ground must have been for the earth itself to boil and melt into something like glass is beyond me but that isn't what really caught my eyes.

Standing there in the center of everything was the beast, and by Celestia's teats it was huge! It was easily standing give or take four Celestia's tall and it is...unique. The beast a similar body structure of a diamond dog but it didn't have much of a visible head but it instead had what must be two sets of eyes, the one that was at the center of its torso had two icy powder blue eyes with one on the upper left and lower right while the other set of eyes was a single ocular orb and it was just as icy blue as the other eyes. As my eyes went from staring at its own I went to its body as it seems to be encased in metal, like a suit of armor but its design is strange, very different from what the typical diamond dog soldier wears or even what the one minotaur wore, and when my eyes got to the shoulders it was just strange, as if parts of its skeleton was exposed for some reason or another. On its chest looked like a red painting of a buffalo skull with a lightning bolt through it, whatever it means I can plainly see that it isn't friendly or peaceful, a warrior for some new species but whether they are carnivorous or not is up to debate.

As my eyes kept on drifting along its body did they eventually find its way to its legs, the joints itself look exposed to the world but what truly caught my eye was its feet, from here it looks rectangular and had two toes, the same kind of tracks that was left behind in front of my hut the other day.

'Wow...such a strange being...whatever it is must have seen some terrible things for its body to be exposed to the world like that...the bones itself at the shoulders and knees are exposed but its eyes...so strange to have two different sets, not like a spider or well...that is all I can think of.' just as I thought of that I saw the unknown being move a bit, the sudden shift in its weight caused me to move a bit in fear that I have been spotted but when I turned my head to see what it was doing I saw something that both shocked and amazed me at the same time.

It kneeled down and let its left hand touch the glass and as it did so I saw its chest open up into two parts like a double door swinging open but up and down instead of side-to-side and something small and covered came popping out of it. Standing right in front of the now obvious large suit of armor was the same lithe diamond dog-like being that entered my hut the other day, but this time there was something different from it, it look like...like it was having some sort of trouble.

Before I could figure out what this strange being is exactly I stepped forward to get a better look at it but when my hoof came forward I stepped on a twig and that was when everything came tumbling down. As I looked down at the twig I silently cursed myself for making such a foalish mistake like that but when I looked up the strange being was gone like the leaves in the wind.

'Where did it go?'

I started to breath fast as I felt the wind suddenly change directions but when I took a step back I felt something bump into me and when I turned around I saw nothing but when I took a closer look I saw that the air was displaced, as if some above water bubble was blocking me from moving backwards.

Just as I started to get a closer look at the bubble it started to get some color, I saw olive green and brown with bits of orange but my eyes widened in fear as I saw that it was the same being that entered my home last night.

Before I could even scream it pressed its gloved hands to my muzzle and held me down, I tried to scream and fight back but it was so strong, perhaps strong enough to even break my neck and be done with me. I closed my eyes and waited for my end to come, I waited patiently and after what felt like an eternity nothing happened and as to see why it never came what I saw was beyond believing.

The strange beast was crouching over me, its hands holding me tightly as my eyes saw past him a Hydra, the large four-headed monster was right behind it and as it roared I closed my eyes and felt tears start to fall, what I thought was going to be my end by a pair of hands was now replaced by being eaten by one of the Everfree's most dangerous beasts. I kept my eyes shut and waited for those teeth to clamp down on the both of us but as I smelt its horrid breath the sound of lightning came behind me and the feeling of rolling thunder soon followed as the ground shook to no end before I couldn't handle it anymore and started to slowly fade from consciousness.

The last few fleeting things I saw before losing consciousness was the large suit of armor charging right at us a strange object in its hands before it was dropped, and as if enraged that we are in danger from the Hydra bearing down on us both it came running to our aid, the being taking me to the center of the four trees before laying be down and lastly running to its giant suit of armor before it leapt into the air and grabbed right out of it before being placed back inside.

Anthony's POV

Kneeling down on top of the zebra I covered 'her' with my body, my armor providing her with the best protection against any stray electrical discharge coming the ARC Cannon, the bolt of energy striking the Hydra square in the center of mass forcing the air out of its lungs and melting a large patch of its scales into a mess of burnt flesh and broken blood vessels as its blood started to drip from the wound.

'Damn zebra...how the hell did it find me? It doesn't matter now cause we have this freaking beast to deal with!'

Holding the zebra in my arms I stayed still as my Atlas charged at us, its heavy foot steps thudding against the hard dirt and over to the tree line, and as soon as it was right in front of us I lifted the zebra off the ground before running between his legs and kept on running until I was at the half-burnt stone and placed her down before turning around and ran back to my Atlas, it may have an enhanced combat matrix algorithm from the chip but it needed a pilot to unlock its full potential.

Once the zebra was safe by the obelisk I quickly turned around and started to run right at my Atlas cause I knew that it needed me now more then ever. I watched from a rapidly closing distance that it was so far a draw between the two colossal beings, it was a slug fest as the four headed beast head-butted and chomped on my Atlas as the head-butt forced its bodyshield to take the full blunt of the force while the biting resulted in its teeth being chipped and broken. My Atlas responded in kind by reaching back with its right arm and clocked its far left head, the sound of bones breaking and cracking can be heard and before it could give it another haymaker it stopped as a head lashed out and took a bite at the left forearm, its teeth getting stuck in the small holes protecting it.

Angrily growling at the four-headed beast I kept on running before finally leaping in the air and as soon as I started to fall I turned on my jumpjet and given some extra air time just for my Atlas to turn around and grabbed me from midair and as I laid there in his hand it placed me within the cockpit, the hatch sealing itself off form the outside world and when the screens turned on I saw the right hand still close to my 'face' and when I saw a head lunge at me I did what was normal for a fist fight with a titan, I backhanded it.

This beast was reeling from being hit by a hundred tone death machine and as its four heads rose up to try and take advantage with its numbers I took the initiative and kicked it in the chest, forcing it back down on its tail and before it had a chance to get back up I pulled both of my arms back before clocking the other two heads in the face, breaking whatever bones there is and as it fell backwards the last head managed to take control of the body before limping off, the last head letting out a fearful warbling noise as it ran into the forest disappearing from sight.

As soon as I lost sight of the beast I went back to where the zebra was located and found she was still there, not moving but when I kneeled down to get a closer look I saw that she was still breathing. Remembering where she lived I gingerly picked her up before walking back into the forest, leading straight back to the hut I found earlier yesterday, and as it was starting to get dark we arrived at the strange hut and as soon as my titan kneeled down I hopped on out and took the zebra from his hands, the zebra alone weight only about eighty pounds, about roughly the same weight of my Kraber and with a bit of a grunt of exertion I hefted the girl and pushed in her front door before looking around with her in my arms until I finally found her bedroom, it looked small but the bed was more of a hammock but at least it serves its purpose well enough.

Just as I placed the zebra in her hammock she began to stir, waking up and seeing how this is her home I turned back on my invisibility before quickly running out of her home, not making a single sound as I closed the front door almost with a slam, and just as I entered my Atlas I turned around and pushed the dash thrusters on and was gone from path to the hut.

'I just hope she thought all of this was a dream.'

Zecora's POV

"Gah!" I shouted loudly as a few birds that were resting on my windowsill flew off in panic, my eyes looking around for the strange being but all I found was my bedroom, I was laying in my hammock, I was back home. I reached a hoof to my muzzle as I felt around to see if anything was broken but my mind was thinking back at when it grabbed me, its hand was on my muzzle and back holding me in place, it was trying to protect me from the hydra and I thought it was just going to hurt me.

Sighing sadly at the thought that this new race was I think friendly and how quickly I judged it, even thought its body had the appearance of a predator along with the suit of living armor it had, and with that rapid judgment did I realize that the ponies of Ponyville did the same thing to me, and I suddenly felt ashamed of myself, I judged a book by its cover without even getting to know it.

Getting out of my hammock I moved through my to the front door and looked outside, my eyes catching the sight of the two sets of footprints and recognizing the first one was the large suit of armor, the second set must be the actual gentle creature that saved my life.

'Tomorrow, I must find it, and thank it for saving my life from meeting such a grizzly end.'

With a new sense of resolve in mind I turned around and went back inside, brainstorming of a way to come up with a way to thank my savior and hopefully get new insight on who my savior is.

Anthony's POV

'This granola bar tastes like shit...'

Unless of course its for a friend in need.

View Online

'Gods...why couldn't the people that make these things have them taste like actual honey roasted granola instead of cardboard.'

Taking another bite from the same one inch square piece of filling granola I let out a disdain full snort as the feeling of being full started to overtake me, another day of starvation staved off, for the time being. As the last of the granola is disappears from view I get up from the top of my Atlas, yawning in the pre-dawn light watching the sun rise slowly over the tree top.

Grabbing my Kraber from my back I rotated it around and placed it on my lap, I grabbed the bolt action and pulled it back before discarding the magazine, and pushed the spent round back into the box then shifting it back into the Kraber without properly chambering the round leaving it in a dry fire state.

"Atlas, stay here, I am going to check on the zebra and see if she is alright, its not everyday that a civilian getting caught in the crossfires between a pilot and his enemy survives or leave it unscathed. If I sense any danger I will contact you via silent chatter, stay here and see if anything shows up and if something does take a picture of it and send it to me so I can verify if it is friend, foe or neutral." with that I placed my Kraber back where it belongs and checked the setting on my Taser to its lowest setting, I rather not accidentally kill something unless it absolutely deserves it.

The Atlas gave a thumbs up with his left hand before retrieving his ARC Cannon and stood up before starting to rotate around, scanning everything in a circle, his optical scanners turning on to pick up anything that is out of place.

Turning on my active cloaking device I skirted through the trees and bushes of the forest, still unsure of what is safe and edible and what is lethal and dangerous to consume or be around like the giant fly trap. Walking through this forest I saw that a great deal of no wood wolves or even the legendary hydra, the monster from Greek mythology with the exception that this hydra wasn't grey and that it didn't have eight heads, it only had four.

During this walk to the zebra's hut I started to see less of the gnarled trees and more normal looking trees, their bark was brown and lively and the leaves were green instead of being dead or non-existent.

'Huh...seems like I was in the center of the forest everything there must be dead for some reason or another while everything far away from the central area is lively and safe looking...what could possibly be the cause of this. Couldn't be me...right?'

It was during this walk through the forest did I start to see familiar and if not similar creatures from Earth and any other planet that has been lightly terraformed and repopulated to better suit us. I saw squirrels running along the branches above me, I saw cardinals and finches fluttering from branch to branch, I saw what I think was a deer but when I saw the beautiful gentle creature munching on some grass but when I came close to it I saw the gentle doe raised its head to stare at me but seeing how it couldn't see me the girl went back to eating and with a quiet step I went around the eating deer and shook my head, last time I was here there was no life but now there is.

What felt like thirty minutes of jogging when it was actually six I eventually made it through the thick of the woods and arrived to the zebra's hut, everything about it looked more clean then normal for some reason or another. Peering through a crack in the front door I saw the zebra stirring her cauldron with a large wooden spoon and that she holding said spoon with her mouth, how one can effectively stir something with just the strength of ones jaws?

As I watched the zebra lass stir the cauldron my eyes began to wander across the room noticing the now obvious lack of dust or cobwebs and when I saw sitting in the corner a bucket and what must be a washing rag but as to why she would clean everything so vigorously but when my eyes went back to the zebra I may have....seen something I should not have seen, but for some reason I just couldn't look away from it but I reminded myself that there is still a slim chance that Ingrid is alive out there, that she is already back aboard the Two-For-Flinching waiting for me and mourning over her brother's demise.

'By all that is holy that ass is huge! I mean sure Ingrid's is nice, small, firm and taut but this...jumping Jesus Christ on a pogo stick they're huge!'

To my own failure I realized that I had pushed the door fully open, and once that door was gone from supporting me up I fell down and landed right behind the zebra who by the time heard the door push inward saw a blur of air fall down onto the floor.

Now normally when an invisible pilot lands in front of anyone the first response is to shout out to alert everyone around that you got a ghost in the vicinity before opening fire, this zebra on the other hand raised an eyebrow at my display before placing the large wooden spoon down on a makeshift table before coming over to me with somewhat a glance of concern.

Looking up at the zebra I saw that she has clearly noticed me and is now waiting for me to do something and seeing how I had nothing in my arsenal to turn back the clock so I do not embarrass myself and also something to understand what this zebra is saying cause I see her mouth region moving up and down as if in a manner that she is actually speaking a real language, and seeing that she still has an eyebrow raised at my hidden appearance even though she clearly knows I am still splayed out on her floor.

Picking myself up I turned off my cloaking field and as it deactivated my body steadily revealed itself to the lass who was busy looking me over, taking in every single detail that she can but when my head revealed itself she let out a gasp but stopped herself from letting said gasp linger on anymore then it needed to be.

We stood there for about fifteen minutes staring at each other, I was looking at the stripes that adorned her coat and the gold rings that cover parts of her body, the turquoise color of her large expressive eyes, the black and white Mohawk that rests firmly on her head between those soft looking ears of hers and finally the strange looking mark on her butt. The symbol to me looked like a one way spiral with triangles pointing away from the spiral, though to me this symbol looks more like a brand but from where I am standing and how she would occasionally move to the side a bit I can tell that there is no dents in that rear flesh of hers that indicates a hot iron pressing down, so this could be a tattoo done by an artist or that it was painted on, either or it was done in standard-issue black.

I can guess from the zebra's view from down there that she is eyeballing me, trying to figure out what exactly I am, and hopefully she doesn't scream if and when I take my helmet off, that bloody thing gets stuffy sometimes.

Zecora's POV

I woke up this morning to the sweet sounds of birds calling to each other, my eyes weakly cracking open to the sight of a half empty hammock and with a sigh I rolled on out of it, beginning my day with a daily routine of brushing my teeth, taking a hot bath in my cauldron and getting everything ready for my early morning collection of alchemical supplies before making my way to Ponyville to pick up on much needed goods.

Slowly shuffling to the kitchen sink I had skewered a mirror to help me brush my teeth properly as I do not want to return back to Miss Colgate because I failed to properly clean and floss my teeth. As soon as that was done I left the safety of my humble abode to the water pump out back and waiting for me there was the bucket that I use to fill my cauldron with and after a few trips back and fourth my tub was ready to be used, now I just have to get the fire going. One thing that ponies and zebras of ages and types besides unicorns and the royal sisters have as the same problem is trying to start a fire, and seeing how some ponies are still wary of me I have to use flint and steel to start my fires and this always took me many attempts to do so without accidentally setting myself on fire.

As soon as I managed to get the fire going for my cauldron I waited patiently for it to heat up to the right temperature and once it was there I quickly put the fire out with a few splashes of water from the bucket I had in case something I didn't want was set alight. Once everything was ready for my bath I hopped in started to scrub myself clean, the long handled scrub brush helped me reach places that my hooves just couldn't reach on their own and with a bit of tad annoyance I reached the hard to scrub spots and with a sigh of relief that everything was done I sunk a bit into the water to relax before going on with my day.

Climbing out of my cauldron has been on occasion a hard task since there was nothing much to grab onto and that the cauldron sometimes moved whenever I tried to climb over the lip of it and only a few times did it ever completely spill over when I was still in it but this time it was a success with only a few drops of water touching the ground that came off my still damp body.

Drying myself off with a pre-heated towel and brushing my hair into my trademark Mohawk I gently placed my gold rings on my right foreleg and then the two gold loops on my ears and with a quick look in the mirror I was ready for the day.

Emptying out the cauldron is an easy task to do as all I had to do was empty it by the bucket load since Ponyville has yet to install a pipeline all the way to my home here and seeing that the Everfree Forest isn't safe for these ponyfolk I was without their necessities but sometimes it is a good thing to not rely on others when it isn't needed.

As an hour has passed I had begun where I had left off with the new breed of poison joke, when it was still in its native form it had the same effect as its cousin the poison joke but then it didn't, it lasted longer, its effect on the pony body was more evil and also sometimes did something much more strange then changing your voice or making something like your horn or wings act differently.

It was during this stirring did I get the feeling that somepony was watching me but when I looked around I saw nothing out of place or out of the ordinary and just shrugged it off as the breeze moving on by but when I heard my door slowly push open I thought it was Applebloom but as the door was slightly pushed inward I saw nothing was behind it and took a second to realize that it was my mysterious savior and for some reason it was invisible again, probably shy to meet me face to face.

Just as I started to go back to stirring the front door was suddenly pushed open and it was followed by something large and heavy landing directly behind me, and I must admit that I did jump into the air a bit in fear but when I turned around and looked at the floor I saw the large bubble of displaced air and for a while I just looked at it in disbelief.

Though it didn't last long on the floor it eventually stood up and as it did so I saw its magical cloak dissolve away, revealing its brown and olive drab green clothes to me, and as I watched the rest of its body slowly become visible revealing its elongated arms and legs, it easily stood twice my height and could easily be as tall or taller then Princess Celestia. As I watched its body start to appear from behind its protective invisibility field I had forgotten about its head and stepped back quite a bit because of how...off-putting those seven eyes are, its almost like they could just see right through you and yet how they never blink is disturbing.

As we continued to stare at one another I saw that it had tilted its head to the left a bit, trying to get a good look at me and when I saw its head tilt a bit upwards that was when I noticed that it had started to stare at my flank or hopefully at my cutie mark. This impromptu staring contest of ours eventually came to an end when I saw it raised both hands to its head and in that moment I thought it was going to attack me even though it has saved my life and before I could rear back and try to kick him away I saw that his hands was going for his head and that made me question and wonder what exactly was it going to do with its head?

'Hopefully it doesn't try to break its own head in front of me...'

What I saw was something that will change Equestria forever.

Anthony's POV

Once my hands were on the sides of my helmet I gave it a sharp twist and as soon as I heard the quiet hiss that told me that air was now being leaked into the compressed space and that I was now given the green light to completely take off my helmet without having to worry about my head suddenly imploding under gravitational pressure. As I tasted the sudden shift of purified stale air to a more earthy and clean air I steadily lifted my helmet up and off my head, revealing to the zebra the balaclava underneath it showing her only the two eye holes as the face covering cloth was the same brown as most of my uniform.

Letting the zebra take in her fill of what was underneath the helmet I then moved on to moving my balaclava out of the way, the wool fabric now being exposed to the temperature of the room was starting to make it itchy and uncomfortable and as I wrapped a thumb underneath the facial covering at the base of my neck and steadily lifted it up I could have sworn that I heard a gasp followed by a few clopping noises of hooves hitting the floor, my guess was that the zebra was coming to take a closer look at me.

With my helmet resting between the pit of my left arm and my balaclava behind my head I saw the zebra get a good look at my face and head, her eyes taking in every detail but I left a portion of the wool covering on, specifically the right side of my face for a good reason.

"So...I take it that you live here by yourself?" I said in a quiet and gentle tone, trying my hardest not to spook the zebra lass and hopefully not incite some sort of panic if she does feel scared by my presence.

Soon after I stopped talking the zebra girl turned around and went off and I heard the sounds of objects being moved around like she is trying to find a certain something and when I heard a noise like the one someone makes when they are triumphant at what they have set off to do, she comes back with what looks to be a small chalkboard and in her mouth was the board and a large chunk of white chalk. Taking the silent hint from her I gently removed the chalk and the black board from her mouth before thinking of something to do with the two and that was when an idea struck me, seeing how that I can't understand zebra and no way in hell that she could understand English let alone any language that is human in origin, I decided that for us to communicate that we would have to talk by doing drawings, pictograms if what my instructor in Angel City taught me during my training as a Militia Pilot.

I started first by drawing out my name, first was a crudely drawn ant and a jar of honey, hopefully that she can put the two together and get 'Anthony' instead of 'Anthoneyjar' or lord forbid 'Antjar', cause that would be just plain ridiculous to me. When I showed the zebra the picture she gave it a good and long stare before slowly nodding and as soon as she got the jest of it she reclaimed her chalkboard and chalk before scribbling down whatever her name is on the board.

Watching her from behind I saw that she held the chalk in her mouth and not once did I see a single drop of drool come into contact with the piece of white chalk so maybe zebra's on this planet have some sort of ability to write with their mouths without getting slobber all over it and after a few seconds she placed the chalk down and turned the board around so I can see it and saw what she drew in an attempt for me to know her name. Getting a good look at what she drew I started to pick out what exactly it was she placed down, so far I depict what must be a horse asleep with what must be their equivalent of a 'Z' floating up and what is an arrow pointing at the 'Z' instead of the horse, next was half an apple and I think an arrow pointing at the inner core part, and the last thing on the board was a letter but since I couldn't tell I was just gonna leave it out until I could figure it out so now I have to play the game of Mad Libs.

'Okay...that has to be a Z, next is an apple and an arrow leading to the core....and a letter....hmmm Zcore...I know there must be a letter between the 'Z' and the 'core' but what? And as for the last letter....that gives me twenty-seven possibilities and lord knows how many in the zebra language...fuck I wish I had a translator that works on zebra's.'

Once we mostly got our names out of the way she gave me back the board and chalk and my guess was what I wanted to ask her and after a while I was thinking of where in the world I am located and with an idea on how to draw that out I made a crude looking scroll that filled pretty much the whole board and within it I made a poorly drawn landmass with a flag in the middle of it.

Showing the board to the female zebra she looked at it and after giving it a long once over she plucked the board from my hands with her hooves before erasing it and drawing a slightly less but still crude map of what I think is the country or nation that I am, and she went into details by drawing a large patch of trees with a tiny flag where we must be located, a large square in the forest as well but without any details because there was a tree over it, a small house outside of the forest, a single mountain over the forest but there was another house what looks like it is attached to said mountain, a ravine starting in the forest and ends outside of it, a swamp of sorts, a flat expanse of land on the other side of the mountains which could be snowy land or a desert or just a lovely grassy plains, way up north was just as bland and flat and all other the place was clouds with a building on it, three clouds with buildings on it, a short wall with a house.

In all this looks well done for having it been for a chalkboard the size of a sixteen-by-twelve piece of wooden and slate, and after I looked it over I waved my hand over the chalkboard slowly and as I did so the small scanner in the center of the underside of my hand opened up and started to copy the drawing, and very slowly it made an exact copy of the map and the small earpiece in my ear soon chirped twice telling me that the download is complete, before I quickly wiped it clean.

I replaced the map of this country I then drew the planet of Aurora, the planet I was born on and well drawing the planet from an orbital view is a bit hard but I did point out a few of the major cities on the surface before handing it back to her. I could have sworn that she gasped and giving me a look before pointing at the board with a hoof in what must be stark confusion but here is hoping that this is universal and as soon as I nodded at her she just stared at me studiously before steadily walking off to a part of her home and as soon as she left I got up and followed after her but I saw that it was because of a pot was over a small fire and within said pot was steam rising and when she went to a cupboard she pulled out two cups, both obviously made of some sort of non-absorbent wood but either way she poured herself a glass of tea followed by one for me when she turned her head back and I nodded.

Now I am more of a coffee drinker then a tea sipper but seeing how my gracious host has offered me a cup and hasn't already screamed and/or ran off to call for help so I took the cup with a smile and gave it a sniff test first to see if I could know what kind of tea it was and failing badly because I have no real idea on tea scents and flavors so I did what most sensible people did when presented with a drink they have no idea on what could possibly be in it.

I took a sip and hoped for the best.

After what felt like a few seconds I was expecting a lethal burning sensation or to be foaming at the mouth and when neither happened I went against my better judgment and took another sip and when this one too resulted in me not dying a horrible death I let out a hum of delight and started to drink it slowly since it was still hot enough to burn my tongue.

As I stood there in the kitchen archway taking small, careful and precise sips of tea from the wooden cup my zebra companion poured herself a small cup as well and soon enough we were drinking nearly at the same time, a few small sips here and there, her eyes were closed and I thought that was how zebras 'round here drink their tea so I decided to do the same thing but my helmet was resting underneath my arm, the seven light still watching the zebra and recording everything that is going on between us.

'You know...this would be funny as hell if we both had top hats and a monocle on, and I had a hold rich person's moustache to go with it all. I dear say old chap this tea is splendid!'

By the time we were both drinking what must be the best tea ever made in the history of tea, I placed my cup in what must be her sink and as she did so she made a hoof motion and seeing how it was in a rotating fashion I could guess that it was meant for me to follow her and I did so with a bit of hesitation.

We went back to the main room and went back to using the chalkboard as a means of communication but as I was in the middle of drawing the symbol for the Frontier Militia there was a knock on the door that lasted about a minute and I quickly placed my helmet back on and turned on my invisibility cloak before hiding in the corner of the ceiling, staying in place with the help of my data knife anchoring me into the tree hut.

Once I was in the safety of the ceiling corner I turned down the glowing lights of my helmet and my hand kept a firm grip on the knife so I don't accidentally fall like I did a while ago and it was during this moment that I saw the front door steadily open up to reveal what must have been the whitest horse I have ever seen.

Zecora's POV

When I saw my new diamond dog friend put on his helmet and climbed onto my shelf of books and vanished from sight I quickly turned back to the door and as soon as it opened up I saw to reveal Princess Celestia and waiting outside was two of her royal guards, both were pegasi and had the same stoic stone face as any other guard I have ever seen. As soon as the princess stepped through my front door and said hello before giving everything a quick once over and once she was done examining she turned her attention to me.

"Greetings Zecora, I have come to check up on you since it has been a three days since the Everfree Forest became restless with the strange phenomenon that has occurred here and that my sister has found something strange in your dreams that has us both wondering if you had found something strange out there." Princess Celestia said with a calm and yet concern filled tone, her eyes not once leaving mine as she sits down and starts to look around again but this time slowly scanning everything her eyes lay upon.

"And greetings to you as well princess but sadly I can not go because of an instance." I said as I slowly went back to my cauldron, the greenish and silvery sludge swirling slowly as it begins to bubble, the smell coming off it is pleasant enough to cover the strange smell that my strange guest has brought with him.

'He looks so much like a diamond dog and yet he might not be one....little to no fur on his face with the exception on the top of his head and under and around his mouth...his fur looked dark as charcoal and his face...how does one get so burnt like that and not heal properly?'

"Please do tell me Zecora, what could possibly out there that has forced you to postpone your search for the disturbance?" the white alicorn asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as I started to push the mixing spoon into the goop the sweet scent only being refreshed as the bubbles popped and released its fresh goodness again.

"I am sorry my princess but my search last night was halted by a hydra and I had to run away as my search could have led to me being in an early grave." I said while giving the princess a half truth, I am not sure if I should tell her about my savior and the suit of armor he used to save my life but seeing how he fast and how effectively he hid himself from her view I can guess he is rather nervous or shy about meeting new ponies.

Looking back at the princess I saw that she has gotten up and is now moving around, looking at the various masks, glass jars and books that I have on the shelves, seemingly interested in them but I can tell she is actually looking for something that has peeked her curiosity. Trotting over to a shelf containing the glass jar that was holding the same green/silvery goop that I had poured into the other and when I opened the lid I made a smell comparison between the two and once I found out that smell hasn't faded at all during its time within the confined space but as I inspected it I found that it has solidified and is now effectively a candle without the burnable string in the center.

Humming to myself in delight at the result I place the jar back where it belongs before returning to the other side of the bookshelf and with a quick look-through the contents on said shelf I found the book I was looking for and pulled it out gently as to not disturb the other books resting along side the old dusty tome.

"I see, well it seems that the disturbance must have upset the hydra's down at Froggy Bottom Bog to make them come out far into the Everfree Forest, which is odd...the manticores, Ursa Minor and Major's and the Scorpio's would have kept them out so something else must have upset this only semblance of balance here." the solar princess said as she trotted over to a small shelf and unknowingly she was practically standing underneath the diamond dog, she may not know that he is there but I do not know how long his invisibility spell can last.

Staring at Celestia I can tell that she hasn't yet noticed the displacement of air and is more interested in the small collection of vials and flasks holding different antidotes for varying poisons and toxins that grows in and around the Everfree Forest and Whitetail Woods, and just as I started to write in the old tome about the liquefied and cooled down states of the Cruel Joke flower but as soon as I started to write about it I heard a loud clink! noise coming from where Princess Celestia is located and I saw that she is staring almost directly at my new acquaintance.

Anthony's POV

You know that feeling you get when you know that you are being watched but you can't do anything about it? Well I got that feeling and I swear to god that I got it something fierce, like really bloody fierce because there is a very large white horse with the horn that looks like it is at least two or three feet long, it might as well be a bloody spear!

I have been watching this white horse for a while now and so far I can tell that for a horse, she is radiant, I am not sure if that is just how clean her coat is, the polish that is on those gold objects on her hooves, neck or head or maybe its just her 'beauty' showing through...I don't know where that last one came from but...nah it's probably nothing.

'New Theory on how to tell genders apart for this horse world, females appear to have more gentle features like rounded muzzles, softer-looking faces, long eye-lashes, slimmer build and thinner body. If my guess on the females here are correct then it should be the opposite for the males here, broad body, square muzzle, thicker limbs and not so gentle features, and of course the bits between the back legs. Note to self: Do NOT look between their back legs, that is inappropriate and I am not going into unmarked territory.'

As I stare at the white horse I saw that besides the large and long horn that is plastered on her forehead I saw a dainty pair of white wings tucked to her sides, just like a bird's wings when they are not in use. Staring at the folded appendages in wonder, trying to guess how large they are I slightly slipped from my position and my foot accidentally touched a glass flask and made it collide with another and the two made a clinking noise which gathered the attention of both beings and I had to quickly push myself back up and gripped harder so I don't make the same mistake twice.

Now, when I heard the two talking I had thought it was words but to my ears, it was more along the lines of actual horse noises, yea go figure when I first heard the zebra talk and thought that I was still suffering from some sort of head injury but now...not so much.

Watching roughly two horses talking is a bit boring but seeing the two communicate and give what I think are quote unquote 'Hoof Gestures' but when I made my mistake in losing my grip the tall white one came over and start to look around, trying in vain to find the disturbance that is me but so far all she found was strange colored goop in glass and dusty old books.

'Shit! That was close...gotta keep a firm grip...can't let this horse know about me....even though she looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly I am not so sure on someone that is invisible and pops into a existence like a surprise.'

Gripping the knife handle I moved around a bit, trying to keep my noise making to a minimum which seems to work for the most part, the white winged and horned horse turned her head away from my general direction in the corner of the ceiling back to the vials and flasks, I watched her hoof move a few around filled ones and went back to talking to my zebra acquaintance and so far it seems like these horses are civilized to the point where they must have a strong government structure, they two guards outside are a dead give away. As for the guards, why are they escorting this particular white horse? Is she royalty? Is she some sort of noble or extremely wealthy merchant? All of these questions are swirling around in my head as the two talked and it was when the white horse came back to where I was at did I feel nervous and for good reason.

This white horse was practically in my face and she was trying to see if there was something right where I am at, and it was when we were just a few inches apart did I get nervous.

Inside my helmet I am starting to sweat, my right hand slowly going to my hip holster for the Taser while quietly praying that she just turns around and leaves this little corner of the hut alone. Now, most people would have just quickly pulled out their sidearm, shoot the unknown before making a tactical retreat but for me, I am actually afraid that if I do attack a wealthy horse...thing, that it will draw unneeded attention to this forest which will in turn draw attention to myself and my Atlas, something I don't want to do.

As she got closer to my face I can see that her eyes are magenta in color, her pelt looked more alabaster then off-white and her hair...mane...hair mane is a colorful bundle of pink, green, blue and I think all of the colors mixing together. The gold on her seems to be actual solid hunks of gold, maybe fifteen or twenty pounds of the stuff was just hanging on her, the necklace or yoke is maybe most of the weight followed by the golden horseshoes and lastly the tiara is a pound or two...whoever this horse is she must be bloody loaded.

Just as my hand finally reached the molded pistol grip and unclasped it from its holster the white pegacorn moved back and turned around before trotting to the front door, seemingly satisfied with whatever answer she have just found and for some reason promptly left the two of us or one for the white horse since she didn't yell for help against the unknown ball of displaced air.

With a bow from the zebra and a few choice words that I could not fathom to understand the white winged unicorn horse opened the front door somehow without even twisting the doorknob and I saw something strange and unique at the same time. The knob held a strange golden glow to it and when I tilted my head to see where the source of it is I saw that the white 'mare', I say mare because of well...yeah...apparently if you look at a horse's rear end and their tail moves out of the way for the briefest of moments you get a sight you would otherwise shouldn't see...but still though, when she turned around all I saw was that ass with a picture of the sun smacked dab in the middle on the top of her hind legs.

'Dayum girl!'

My brain temporarily turned itself off at that moment and my hand lost its grip on the taser as it slowly drifted downward, I know I told myself that I would still hold out on hope that there is a way for me to return but after seeing that, I started to question myself when I started to think of horse ass.

'What the hell is wrong with me? I know Ingrid is still alive out there, she just has to be, I know she was onboard one of the Goblin's before Demeter erupted into a fiery hellstorm...she just has to be...'

As soon as the large horse was gone and the sounds of hooves leaving the hut start to become quieter and quieter until becoming non-existent and at that moment I slowly let myself down from the corner and yanked my knife from the wall before turning off my cloaking field and once I was fully visible I placed the knife back into its sheath in my shoulderguard and stared at the zebra in hopes of getting an answer.

My zebra friend brought back out the chalkboard before erasing my half-drawn Militia insignia before replacing it with what looks to be a crown and a scepter, then finally drawing around it the map of the country. As she was drawing on the board I took my helmet off again and lowered the piece of face-concealing cloth, the wool was starting to get itchy like something fierce was crawling underneath my skin.

I tilted my head a bit in confusion, at first I thought that the white horse was just someone of importance but after a bit of thinking, looking at the board and trying to put the pieces together did my answer arrive.

'That horse was wearing a gold crown, throughout human history only royalty or tyrants wear gold crowns, so that was either a royal horse somewhere up the hierarchy or that was the queen horse of all the land. Oh nooooo that's nooooo......wow and I was staring and almost stunned her fat ass for discovering me....just got to calm down now and think of a way to learn and adapt....and find some food that isn't a granola bar that would go great with some actual granola.'

Looking at the board one last time I shifted my weight around a bit and was about to start re-drawing the Militia symbol but that was when there was another series of knocks on the door but before I could hide the door bursts open to reveal yet another horse. But this time it wasn't the large winged and horned white one from before with all the gold jewelry and royal tiara nor was it the white guard horses wearing authentic medieval armor.

No this horse was....tiny, small to put it kindly, and but still this horse would be reaching up to the middle of my thighs, and her coat color...seems to be a banana color, her mane is red and in that bundle of hair was a overly large bow which raised the adorable factor quite a bit but unlike the white or the zebra, this one doesn't have a strange mark on her rump.

'Another new theory for these horses, the marks on their asses might be a coming-of-age thing where it gets placed on their by any sort of means that could be known or unknown to mankind. The purpose of the ass marks are still unclear but one thing is certain, only adults seem to have them while the youth don't....more data is required.'

I was standing in the center of the room when the little yellow horse came trotting in with her eyes closed and a big smile on her face, she is completely oblivious to the fact that I am in the same room as her and has no idea that I am even here. That is until she opened her eyes and saw me, I was expecting her to scream and for me to knock her out with my taser but instead of having to do that the unexpected happened.

The little...filly? I think that is the term for female horses that are not fully grown yet. Anyways the little filly was standing there, staring up at me with the overly large expressive orange eyes and us three just stood there stock still, the zebra was staring back and forth between me and the little filly, I was busy trying to figure out a smart course of action to partake in and the filly...well I have no idea what she could be thinking of. What I did not expect to happen was the little filly to let out a loud gasp before galloping over to me, looking me up and down while bouncing in place, my guess is that she is excited in seeing something new, that or is on a sugar rush like the world has never seen before and that is before she started to talk to my zebra companion, while I just stood there and watched the two.

Applebloom's POV

Today is the perfect day to visit Zecora! The sky is clear, the weather is fine and all the wild critters in the Everfree are off sleeping in their dens for the winter, 'cept for those that are still hunting to put some fat on those bones before taking a long nap till spring. I had already finished all of my chores on the farm and my friends are busy with their own things and I didn't want to be bored all day at home so I decided to come visit my friend. With a skip, a hop and a trot I steadily made my way through the creepy forest, at this time of day it looked peaceful enough to not worry about any timber wolves or manticores but there is still enough light to peek on through the leaves and yet I still have this feelin' that somethin' is not right here but I do know that nothing could possibly make this day bad!

Smiling to myself on this little nature walk I kept on trotting at an even pace and as I saw the faint outlines of Zecora's hut I let out a small gleeful noise that I had finally made it and in record time. As soon as I was at the front door I heard the sounds of chalk scribbling on a blackboard like the one that Miss Cheerilee has back at school and I thought that she was just keeping notes on somethin' that she is brewin' in there.

With a cheerful pep in my step I gave a quick knock on the door and seeing how Zecora didn't answer my guess that she was busy stirring something sweet smelling so I pushed the door open and trotted on in, my eyes closed because I was still so excited to learn about this strange new plant.

What I did not expect to see when I opened my eyes was a lanky looking diamond dog that was wearin' some strange lookin' clothes, its head was different from what Rarity told us about 'cept that his face looks all smashed in and is mostly furless like he got shaved down for having fleas or ticks.

Starin' at the diamond dog I sorta just started to space out and wondered what it was doin' here in the first place but seein' how he isn't tearing up the place I can tell that he isn't a bad doggy like the others that ponynapped Rarity and a few other ponies a long time ago. This dog looks kinda cute with its little nose and small beady eyes, I wonder if he likes treats like Wionna does.

"Uh...hi?" I said to the tall diamond dog but instead of getting a response it just tilted its head to the side in confusion as if it doesn't understand Equish?

Turning to Zecora I saw that she was busy drawing something on the blackboard before giving it to the tall dog and after he looked it over he made sound like he just understood what I just said before drawing something else on it and giving it back to Zecora who then gave it to me.

I grabbed the large board with my hooves and flipped it over to see that it looked at it to see that it was the same thing that Zecora drew but he added what looks like an ant and a jar of honey with a plus sign in between the two. I knew that a plus sign meant addition and seeing that it was Ant plus Honey so it must equal Anthoney, a weird name for a diamond dog but after dealing with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon almost my whole life I learned not to judge a pony-er I mean dog by its cover.

"So umm...your name is Anthoney, well happy to meet ya!" I said with a smile on my face and a bit of a hop before landing directly at the feet of the tall dog and that was when I realized just how tall he was compared to me. He is easily, give or take three or four times my size! I actually had to tilt my head all the way back and not fall over cause of how tall this dog really is! I bet I could see everything if I was on his shoulders!

He looked down at me for a few seconds before waving at me, at least it showed me that it wasn't as mean or dumb as the others from the stories that ma sister tells me when its time for bed, and that is when I got an excellent idea.

"Ya have to come with me to Ponyville! With all dem clothes you got on shows that your smarter then the rest of them dummies. I bet even Rarity would be happy to see you!" and with a squeal of overjoy I grabbed him the paw with my mouth and started to yank on him to follow me, and after a few tugs he started to move and before we know it we were out Zecora's door and steadily making out of the Everfree Forest. While we were running I heard the sound of stuff being shuffled around and only had to tilt my head to the side a bit to see that he put his strange helmet on and I saw that it looked like something that Twilight would wear when she is about to do some weird science or somethin'.

I can't wait to show my friends what I just found!

Anthony's POV

'Did I seriously just get kidnapped by a filly?'

I thought that as I got led through the trees and bushes in the forest on a path I have not seen before, it looked like it is well used and has been used more recently with the shapes of hooves pressed into the soft dirt. Looking down to the little filly holding my hand with her mouth I saw that I had to hunch down and keep up with the excited little filly. One thing I noticed is that she is a horse, a farm animal that is capable of easily outrunning a human being even when they are young, and yet here we are running at the same speed and not once did she outrun me or I overlap her.

'So I wonder...where are we going? Is there a village or something nearby cause there is no way in hell would a child ever be on their own, there is always a parent or two watching over their little one. Unless this section of the forest is devoid of hostile monsters or that this filly has some sort of object or device like the Dog Whistle Towers at Airbase Sierra or on Demeter.'

Thinking on how this filly hasn't attracted any unwanted attention from the bat lions, chicken lizards, wood wolves and the mythical hydra I saw that off in the distance is a light, sun light and its shining in my eyes but when my helmet lowered the intensity of the light with a dark tint I saw that it was indeed the light at the end of the tunnel. Wondering what could be waiting for me on the other side of this forest I closed my eyes and waited for us to breach the barrier that is this hellish place and when I felt the full warmth of the sun grace my body I peeled open my eyes to see what was waiting for me on the other side.

What lay beyond the shroud of trees was a town on inhuman origins but that isn't what fully got by attention, it was the part that the town was filled with nothing but horses of all kinds of colors, some had wings, some had horns and others had neither and yet what really caught my eye was the fact that they were all colors of the rainbow and beyond. Then there was the buildings of the town, they looked like something out of a museum art gallery from the medieval ages.

There was thatched roof homes, a large clock tower, what looks like Earth's White House, a giant tree in the town and lastly a gigantic orchard past the town. Wherever this little filly is taking I don't know but I do know is that it is somewhere within the general vicinity of either of the two, the town or the orchard.

'Wow...how did horses do all this? This seems physically impossible! They don't have hands, tools, construction apparatuses! How is all this even possible?'

My mind was busy trying to process everything I was seeing but as my brain was rebooting I kept on being pulled by the hand by a small yellow filly with an overly large red bow in her red puffy mane, and not once did I realize that my cover has been blown by a child let alone some random mini-horse that just so happened to walk into a tree hut owned by a zebra without even waiting to be let in...just like I did...huh....

'Doesn't this filly know anything about stranger danger? She just barges into my zebra companion's home, says a few things and is really happy and when she sees me she says something else before dragging me off to god knows where. Are these horses that carefree or trusting to allow a child to bring home a stranger back with them?'

I guess only time and experience will tell cause we have stopped in the middle of the orchard and was standing in front of a tree that just so happens to have a small wooden building made around it. If I knew better then I was this filly's show-and-tell to her friends.....was this even a good idea on her part cause if they start freaking the fuck out and scream as loud as physically possible and alert their parents to this location and get my ass beat down before I could turn invisible.

Coming back to my senses I felt a tug on my hand again but this time it was in the general direction of the tree house and after going up the ramp and somehow not bumping my head against the branches and when the front door to the house was pushed open by the tiny filly I was dragged in to be revealed to two similar in height fillies but the two were different. One filly had wings and no horn, had an orange coat of fur, fuchsia colored mane and I think greyish purple eyes and for the other filly, she had a horn, no wings, light grey coat, mulberry colored mane and very light green eyes. And both don't even have the butt marks that the zebra had so my theory on adults having the strange ass marks is somewhat given more proof.

When the two saw me they both had the same expression I would be having right now but I already had that shocked expression when I first encountered the zebra that talked to me that resulted in us trying to communicate through crude drawings. And instead of the screaming and hollering I was expecting the two to make, they instead surprised me by getting up and running around me, seemingly looking me up and down and studying me before talking to their friend about me, and I know its about me cause their hooves are pointing at me every other second.

'I hope this ends well for me.'

First Contact but with Children

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WARNING! THIS CHAPTER IS COMPLETELY RANDOM! SHENANIGANS WILL INSUE WITH THE ASSISTANCE FROM THREE SMALL FILLIES AND ONE CONFUSED HUMAN BEING.

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

'I take it back, getting tortured is probably better then this.'

As I sat there in the middle of the club house I was being circled by three fillies wearing red capes and they were all hopping around, happy as a clam and they don't have a care in the world. I have no clue as to why they are happy but I just sat there staring at the oak wall and started to imagine of ways to off myself because this was starting to get ridiculous.

Sighing loudly through my helmet I sink a bit lower into my lap as my hands hold my head up and before the fillies could notice how bored I am I just decide to fall over with a loud thump that didn't just not disturb the fillies but it also made them hop over my crumpled body as I groaned in defeat.

'I wonder if I can hold my breath long enough to stop hearing their happy horse noises...'

Lying down on the floor I waited for the fillies to get done doing whatever it is they are up to and as soon as the happy squeals came to an end I was poked and prodded with hooves, sticks, and one even had the audacity to poke me with a ruler. Of course with all of these poking and prodding I eventually gave in and sat back up before leaning against one of the walls in the little club house and sighed again but this time they were now all talking to each other and it was so fast I couldn't tell who was talking to whom.

It was at that moment that they were passing around pieces of paper to one another, all of them had what I think were drawings of themselves and some other object but when one flew out of a hoof it landed on my lap and I saw that it was a picture of me but a crude stick figure, and three small stick fillies and what looks like a catapult and a parachute....what the hell are these girls up to? Another piece came flying on by and I snatched it out of the air and flipped it over to see it was me again but this time in a wagon going down hill I think really fast and they are trying to catch me...dear god these fillies are insane!

Staring at the sketches of what they are planning to do to me I slowly got up and tried to silently escape from what was going to be bodily harm to me but sadly I was caught by three pair of eyes and I was dragged back in by a barrage of hooves and giggling noises.

Ten Minutes Later

'How did I get roped into this again?'

As I thought this I saw a kitchen knife get tossed right at me as it lands to the left of my head, the metal end embedding itself into the wood wheel behind me as my vision goes from normal, to slanted, sideways, upside down then back to sideways, slanted and normal. How these horses managed to make one of those circus knife throwing wheel things I will never know, but how they managed to get all the knives from their families kitchen's is something else entirely.

Another knife flew right at my but this time it landed above my head with a loud thunk and I just let out of relief as I looked back at the three fillies, all of them picking up sharp pointy objects with their hooves or mouth's, the unicorn grabbing them with a mental field of some kind and with a flick of her horn another knife twirled end over end and landed between my fingers of my left hand.

'Oh yea...they lassoed me up and dragged me out here before strapping me to this thing.....'

I thought it was over since I didn't anything be tossed at me but when I saw the orange pegasus grab a hatchet from the table I started to squirm in my ropes, I knew that in the circus the knife throwers at years of training and practice but seeing these three girls do the exact same thing but holy shit did they go for the kill tosses.

Watching the pegasus filly grab the axe with both of her front hooves I saw her start to rear back with it before throwing it with all of her might but as it flew in the air it landed short of its target but the stick handle bounced off the dirt and kept it going and like a pinwheel of doom I watched as it bounced a few more times before sinking into the wood between my legs and I nearly emptied my bowels at the sight.

'Oh thank you god! I did not want to be a eunuch this early in my life!'

I was looking down between my legs I saw that the axe shaft was pointing up at me and the axe head embedded between my legs, right below my crotch. Being in a state of catatonic fear I saw more sharp and deadly objects get tossed at me but I was scared shitless to do anything about so as I laid there strapped to the wheel a saw, another hatchet, a couple of kitchen knives and even a mace.

Wherever the fillies would pick up something and throw at me I would just close my eyes and wait for it to rather hit my body, hit my body and bounce off, hit the wheel, hit the wheel and nail me at the same time, or my favorite, completely miss me and somehow manages to come back and bop me upside the head. At one point in time one of them picked up a pie and threw it at me only for it splatter against my head and I was crying not for being hit by a pie but because I was hit by a pie and my helmet was on. I really wanted to eat that pie, it looked like it was apple flavored.

As I waited for them to run out of things to toss the white unicorn filly lifted up a rather large looking mallet and threw it at me but it missed me by a few inches but what came next was a complete surprise to not just me but also to the fillies.

For a moment none of us moved an inch or even breathed but it was that that lull on the day did the sound of wood creaking and cracking did we all look for the source and favored by the gods above and below the wheel I was strapped to broke off the spinning device, fell onto the ground without flipping onto either side and with it I started to roll away.

"Oh dear god someone stop MEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" I shouted as I started rolling off into the horizon with the trees by my side and if this was a movie then the words 'THE END' would appear overhead but for me it was more like three fillies chasing after me.

Rolling off and away from the three fillies I started to think on my life decisions that I made in the past but I also started to wonder if letting these three use me to do something for themselves was a good idea.

Thirty Minutes Later

'God, give me the strength I will need to survive what will be the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life.'

As I stared at the horizon past the town I slowly tilted my head down as I see the wooden ramp beneath the wagon I am in and the ramp didn't look that safe since I saw a few spots that was held together with duct tape and glue. What made this even worse was that they somehow managed to not only tie me up in rope but the yellow filly managed to effectively leave me unable to break my way out so I was not only at their mercy but at the mercy of this wagon for if it was to go off course, I would be screwed seven ways to sunday.

Closing my eyes I felt the wagon begin to wobble in he breeze and soon enough the wheels begin to turn ever so slowly and before I know it I am rolling down the ramp, rapidly picking up speed and before I go off the ramp and go sailing over what I think is a barn, a net gets yanked up and just in time to because for as second I thought I saw myself about to have an ET moment. Stopping from the sudden deceleration is a bit taxing on my body but I pulled through when the three fillies came running up to me to see if I am safe but when they found that I was unscathed they quickly looked at their flanks to see if anything changed and saw nothing different which earned a small round of moans of displeasure but they quickly perked back up as they took me out of the wagon before blindfolding my helmet but it did nothing but block a long rectangular strip of my vision from what they are doing.

I heard the sound of wood pieces being re-arranged, a wagon being wheeled away and the sound of a saw cutting something before the snapping of wood can be heard as it gets split into chunks. Whatever these girls are up to I can tell is that they are probably revamping their ramp to be better then the old one and when I felt myself get pushed into the wagon but this time the journey was short and when the blindfold was removed I found out why.

The ramp was lowered quiet a bit but it was changed into a very large and somehow impossibly long tube slide, like something a bobsled team would use, and instead of a bobsled I got a red wagon and no snow.

'God give me strength, for I am about to shit my pants and scream like a little girl because there are no brakes on this little red wagon.'

The feeling of dread filled my body as I felt weightlessness that was immediately followed by steadily acceleration and the constant waving back and forth motion and if I could I would have my arms up and screaming in joy cause this feels like a rollercoaster, just without any safety bars, belts, an actual rail system, safety measures, and that one person that hurls half way through the ride. I was actually enjoying myself this time and when I made a loop-de-loop I was actually shouting in joy but at the end of the loop was a yet another net but because I was going really fast this time me and the wagon went right through it and I just thought that this planet must really hate me.

As I kept on rolling past the net I saw that there was trees growing apples and they were growing in every single direction, and they just keep on going for miles and whoever owns this orchard must be bloody rich, the taxes on this place must be through the roof for this many acres of land let alone property taxes, water use and everything else that gets put into the tax report.

Slowly rolling down I saw that these trees were all healthy, no signs of damage or decay, even the apples themselves looked fine but seeing how the rope is tight around my arms and body hinders me from grabbing one I just sit in the wagon, rolling on by before finally being stopped by a tree but I heard the sounds of tiny hooves thundering over to me, their voices growing loud as they got closer but when I finally hit the tree I thought I was safe.

That is until for some ungodly reason the wagon tilted to the right and fell over, along with me as I slammed my head down on the dirt. I grumbled angrily at the tree for knocking me over as I wiggled my way out the wagon and slowly inched my way from it, my body worming itself steadily but it was for not when the three fillies showed up.

Watching from the floor I saw them help me up, the unicorn couldn't even lift me up with that strange glowing horn thing even though I saw her managed to lift up the wagon when it was on its side and I saw her using a saw to cut some wood earlier but she can't even lift me up?

'I'm not that heavy now...am I?'

But my mental question goes unanswered as the yellow and orange fillies helped me up by pulled on the rope binding me or pushing me with their head but I found it to be funny because as soon I was upright and on my feet they looked me over before checking their butts for any marking and yet it wasn't there.

I started to feel my nose itch and before I know I was leaning back before sneezing inside of my helmet, spraying the visor and mouth guard. At that moment I was seeing nothing but snot and spittle all over the place as I had only one reaction to this miss.

"Oh my god its everywhere! Holy fucking Christ there is snot and spit all over the place! This is almost as bad as having the shits during a pod drop." I was quiet honestly freaking out, its one thing to sneeze in an open-face helmet cause you don't have to worry about cleanup or a mess but sneezing in a closed-face helmet and by all that is pure and good it is a horrifying experience, especially when you sneeze in the middle of a battlefield.

Sneezing inside my helmet was only made worse when I realized that I had forgotten to put back on my balaclava so not only was it everywhere but the means to clean it off was out of reach since it was behind my head.

As the little fillies talked to one another about ideas while shuffling through piles of scribbles of paper and other bits of drawings the white unicorn filly pulled out yet another scheme for all four of us to do and when they squealed in joy I felt a lump grow in my throat as I looked at the picture to see me, running away from the three fillies, and they all had butterfly nets in their mouths.

When I looked up from the piece of paper I saw that the three were gone from sight and as I looked down as to figure out if I am free from my rope or not I hear the sounds of hooves coming back but when I looked up I saw that they all were holding nets in their mouths so I knew that I was to be hunted and then captured by a bunch of fillies.

Taking a deep breath before exhaling I slowly turned around and let the paper slip from my grasp before walking away and after a few minutes the sounds of little pitter-patter can be heard and when I turned my head back a bit to see how far away they are, I immediately regretted it. I saw a black smoke cloud that was followed instantly by a loud boom and I saw a large cargo net come flying out of the open barrel of a net gun that was being held in the mental grasp on the white unicorn, and that adds something else to my theories on these horses.

'I just found out that unicorns here have the innate ability to hold objects in a strange mental field and it glows the same color of what I think is the color of their eyes. The exact strength of the mental field is unknown but I can hazard a guess is that the more they age and grow in the intellectual range so to will their power in manipulating larger objects.'

The net slams into a tree and the four corners wrap around before clasping shut, the metallic balls at the end of each corner must be magnetic since I don't see any other means of them sticking together besides momentum. Quickly looking forward I maneuvered around a tree and kept on running as I heard the giggles get louder and I knew that outrunning them is all but impossible if I can get rid of these ropes binding my arms down and that was when I saw my chance.

Off in the distance was a low picket fence and one of the triangular planks was partially dislodged leaving its pointy end sticking out of the air and with that in mind I started to run between trees, ducking and dodging nets and when I thought I was in the clear to quickly free myself from the rope I took a short breather behind a tree. My respite was short lived when I heard the sounds of the fillies giggling loudly directly behind me and for a second I thought they had found me but seeing how I was standing perfectly still and they couldn't see the rope from the sides I just waited for them to go on by but when I heard the net gun go off I knew that something wasn't going to end well, especially when I felt it slam into the tree.

I expected the net to just circle around the tree and the four metal balls to slam into my chest and I could just push forward and break free but what I did not see coming was for three of the four balls to slam into my lower chest and for the fourth one to slam directly into my balls.

I don't know if there has been any other human in the history of humanity to be hit in the nuts by a single solid magnetic ball the size of a softball, and if I am the first then this should never get put into the record books because the unmanly scream of pain that I unleashed is more then likely strong enough to shatter glass and make ears bleed.

No one knows exactly how long I have stayed leaning against that particular tree or how long I was making those whimpering noises but all I can remember is that there was not enough icepacks or frozen corn that would make the pain and swelling go away, for all I know that one if not both of my testicles have exploded from the impact.

Slowly sliding down and letting the four ball barring's hit my helmet I whimpered pathetically to myself as I eventually dropped to my freedom and as soon as I started to stand back up the sounds of hooves were approaching me but instead of the stampede-style approach they were being quiet, stealthy almost. But hooves can't be stealthy since they make a clip-clop whenever they touchdown against the dirt, stone, wood, sand, whatever they are stepping on it will make that sound and these three small ones are no exception to the rule.

Bumbling about to my feet I made my way to the fence, their approaching pace hasn't increased so they did not know that I got up or even moved which was perfect and with a bit of luck and shuffling I got to the fence and started to fiddle around with the pointy plank I felt it slip between myself and the rope but what I didn't expect to happen was the piece of wood to snap in half.

CRACK!

I started to shout every single obscene and ungentlemanly words that I can think of as I looked back to see the plank I was using to help lift the rope over my head has broke in half and when I turned to see how much it was wedged between my back and the rope I couldn't see it but I felt that it might as well have been shoved up my ass since I couldn't bend backwards anymore to see it.

'So this is what it must be like to go to one of those physical examinations....this fucking sucks! Oh come on what kind of idiot uses cheap ass wood as fencing material! It's supposed to be strong and durable not flimsy and weak like wood pulp!'

Shouting to myself I failed my spot check when the sounds of hooves stopped getting louder and closer and in my one moment of clarity I looked down to see a net gun pointing right at me and the adorable smile on the yellow fillies face would have distracted me completely if it wasn't for the white filly aiming that large cannon at my face with the look of utter concentration etched on her muzzle and as for the orange pegasus, she looked giddy with excitement.

What came next was both unexpected and hilarious.

The white filly fired the net gun but what I was not expecting to happen was for the net to get launched out two feet before flopping onto the floor, it didn't even get a chance to open up let alone change shape. I honestly tried hard not to laugh but I just couldn't help it, I let loose and started to laugh much to the displeasure of the three mini-horses but of course they had a backup plan.

And that plan was a lasso.

At that point I just stopped laughing and hauled ass over the fence and ran straight to the town I saw earlier. I don't know if horses can use lassos but after witnessing a small unicorn hefting a cannon that was twice her size and more then likely triple her weight then there is nothing that would stop them from using a rope lasso on me.

As I ran I heard the little fillies neigh and whinny and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that they are calling out to me to slow down and probably to stop moving out of the way. I know this because kids back home did the same thing but with squirt guns and water balloons and I was a victim of the same thing but instead of ending up wet and laughing it off I am now going to be tied up and paraded around like a caught lion.

Continuing where I left off I ran like hell and started to sprint down the dirt road into town, and to my surprise I saw horses trotting around having a good time, they were talking, laughing, a few were even playing a game of football which I find to be highly improbable since they don't have fingers to grasp the pigskin and they don't even have the right limb form to throw the ball efficiently but there they are playing the sport. As I ran by them a few gasped and one of the horses even tried to stop me but then they stopped galloping at me when they saw the three little demon horses chasing me with a lasso and fairly large bird nets and the stallion, yes it was a guy running at me, turned around and actually ran away as if his life was on the line.

I guess that these three little fillies have some sort of reputation that involves the three of them and well...apparently they are not to be messed with when they are on the hunt.

Another thing I noticed is that these horses were actually moving out of my way and I knew they were getting out of my way because as I ran at a large crowd they split in half like Moses did with the Red Sea, with the exception I weigh more then him, I don't have the clothes or the facial hair, and I don't have the Lord Almighty's good graces to split water with a magical staff but hey, it was funny to see them scramble out of the way as I sprinted past them. I could have sworn that heard loud grumbling and yelling that the three fillies of the apocalypse threw their lasso but caught someone other then me instead.

I don't know which is worse, me as a grown man running away from three little horses with nets and rope or the fact that I am running away from them while still tied up and that I got hit in the balls with a much larger metal one.

Turning down a street I saw that it was less crowded and that there was a few horses here and there but enough for me to run around and use as fence posts to get hitched by the lasso but on occasion I can hear and almost feel the lasso graze my neck. Nearly slipping and falling in a puddle of water I adjusted myself and kept on running until I found a horse holding a large cake knife and ran up to said horse as it froze, took it from its hoof, and cut my ropes free before putting the used knife back in its hoof and with a salute I ran like hell again only to hear a loud commotion from behind me.

Seems like those three lassoed the cake instead of me or the horse.

Going back to running I turned another corner followed by another corner down another street and just when I thought I lost them a cyan pegasus flew right at me in time for me skid to a halt only for a metal trash can to be slammed over my head, rendering both unable to see where I am going and now my hearing is limited severely to whatever that manages to echo in from the bottom.

The first thing I did as soon as I got trash canned was to wobble away awkwardly and have that followed by me making an equally awkward sound.

"Wob wob wob wob wob wob wob."

Man as soon as that trash can was covering my head I took off, zigzagging and shit just to get away I didn't even know if the horses thought I had x-ray vision and could see right through the flimsy metal can but sadly I left that suit modification back on the ship.

I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and the three little horses were still having a hard time capturing me, I mean at this point in the game I am already handicapped by the fact that I can't see, and now I got more horses trying to join in and capture me, which I thought was hilarious because for a moment I heard that whacky chasing music that they used to play on children cartoons.

Bumping into horses and buildings I ran through the streets with a trash can on my head protecting me from projectile objects and the harshness that is the sun, and at one point I could have sworn that someone was climbing on top of the trash can trying to get at me since going for my legs could result in getting trampled under my feet. The clanging and smashing against the tin can covering the upper half but then I felt something collide with my shins I lost control of the situation and fell forward, landing hard on the ground.

'Perfect...now I can't even run without tripping over myself.'

Slowly wiggling myself back onto my feet I tried to dislodge the trash can from my head but the sounds of approaching hooves I ran and somehow found myself in a dark place, and by dark I mean it smelled like pure garbage and I know it was the trash can on my head because for some reason it smells incredibly fruity and clean like shampoo.

My fingers fiddled around by my waist trying to find some grip on the lip of the trash can and with a bit of luck I managed to pull it over my head and placed it down on the ground and what I saw was indeed an alleyway with numerous trash cans and dumpsters, so wherever this place was it must be in the back of several businesses or somebodies apartment complex.

Looking around in the alley to find something to hide under to have enough time to shift into the unseen spectrum and from the sounds of the approaching horses from their whinnies and neighing they are getting closer. Glancing at everything out here I saw a large cardboard box that looks like it is roughly the size of a fridge and with a grin I quickly lifted it up and opened it up from the bottom before climbing underneath it and once it was covering me completely I turned on my stealth field, rapidly vanishing away only to leave a distorted blur of air and as soon I was gone from sight the box I was hiding underneath was lifted up and I looked up to see a cyan pegasus mare staring right at where I am but couldn't see me, her rose colored eyes were moving about looking for me but found nothing but an old newspaper and some mud and with that boring discovery the mare dropped the box and moved some to a different spot and lifted something up, my guess is that there must be at least six horses out there and I was not going to get out of this so easily unless they all leave for a few minutes.

Sitting under the box I waited for what my HUD said was six minutes and as soon as I heard the sounds of hooves fading away and wings flaps vanished and as soon as I gave myself the go-ahead I started to move on my hands and knees and then I was off, on the lamb while hiding under a box and moving through horse town like a god damn ninja.

Little did I know that as soon as I left the alley a pair of amber eyes was watching me leave with the box acting as my mobile cover with keen interest and started to follow the strange moving box.

Random Ponies POV

"Is it me or is Lyra acting strange today." Roseluck said as she watched the lime green mare trot carefully far behind the moving cardboard box, something she too thought was strange but she just chalked it up as Ponyville being Ponyville, especially since the wake of Discord.

"When isn't she acting strange?" another mare said, Bon Bon, Lyra's roommate and closest friend, and as the two watched the mare trot slightly closer to the box she coughs loud enough for Lyra to hear and give the box enough time to keep moving forward and away from her friend.

"You know that isn't very nice to say Bon Bon." Roseluck said as Lyra kept an even pace with the box, slowly getting into a pouncing position as the box stopped moving and just as she pounces the box lifts up a bit, turns to the left and starts going forward again and Lyra ending up in a heap.

"I know but...she is just a bit strange when it comes to anything with hands, remember when Spike first came to Ponyville and the two were at the party? I swear that I saw Lyra looking at Spike with such a strange stare and acted even more strange when she started to mess with his claws." Bon Bon said, losing of her marefriend for a second as she goes around the corner leading to Aloe and Lotus's Spa but once she is out of sight both Bon Bon and Roseluck hear the sounds of a short scuffle and before they know what it was about the box came back but zooming on by between the two and following closely behind it was Lyra.

"Come back! I just want to know what you are hiding my friend!" the pair heard as it turns another corner and vanishes from sight, heading down Apple Road and is now out of sight again.

"Should we get Twilight?" Roseluck asks just as there is another scuffle but no return of the moving box nor a pleading Lyra.

"Do we really want to get involved in something like this?" a passing Rainbow Dash said as she flew past the pair, trying to catch up to Lyra and the mysterious box.

"Do we?" the pair asked each other and after a minute of debating one the pros and cons of helping Lyra capture a cardboard box the pair came up with their answer.

"Nah, I am sure that Lyra could figure it out that its some colt playing a prank on everypony again." and with that the two went about their separate ways with Roseluck going back to watering her plants with her watering can and Bon Bon going back to her candy store.

The dynamic duo of the mystery box and the inquisitive light aquamarine unicorn mare continued their chase in the town of ponies, the box on occasion bumping into ponies and buildings, unexpectedly dodging Lyra as she keeps trying to pounce on top of the box and discover who is underneath it but each pounce and leap ends in failure, sometimes a funny failure but a failure nonetheless.

As the two kept running throughout the town the ponies at first were afraid of the box but seeing how it keeps on ramming into random objects and ponies they all decided to let it be, seeing it as one if Discord's last weak amounts of chaos at work and with that everypony went with what they had planned for the day only to adjust it ever so slightly to include avoid running into Lyra or the box.

"Wob wob wob wob wob wob wob." the box said and everypony that was around that heard that, mainly Lyra who was now holding on the top of it for dear life as she realizes she didn't really plan this out all the way, and Derpy Whooves who just so happened to be watching the whole thing from a cloud. Then there is Rainbow Dash who is just flying around keeping watch on the box since she lost the diamond dog that the cutie mark crusaders were chasing earlier and when it made a noise she knew that she found it again but this time she isn't losing sight of it again, Fluttershy was nearby buying some carrots for her pet rabbit and when she saw the box she thought there was a wild animal underneath and that Lyra was being mean to it and gave chase. And lastly Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon were trotting by when they saw a Lyra Heartstrings riding on top of a cardboard box while screaming for help to get off said box.

The lavender unicorn and the purple youngling looked at each other for a while, the pony as busy trying to contemplate what she just saw while the dragon was trying to understand how Lyra got the box to act like a skateboard without even riding it correctly.

"Twilight, is she?" Spike said as he turns his head to the fleeting speck of pony as it goes down the road and makes an abrupt turn and bumps into a food stall before turning around and zooms off out of sight.

"Yup." Twilight said as she is still thinking and mentally solving what she just saw.

"But she isn't-" he pointed at where he last saw the aquamarine mare but is still flabbergasted at what had occurred.

"Uh huh." the lavender mare spoke as she trotted to where the box had stopped, bumped unto a stall before sliding down the road.

"How is she even-" before Spike could even start what he was about to say on what they just saw Twilight covers his mouth with a hoof and pulls it back and continued to trot after the box, thinking that it will come back.

"I don't know Spike." the older pony said as they come to another scene of where Lyra and the 'Box' was, a toppled and very dizzy Berry Punch without her signature wine bottle and a confused Time Turner, the stallion was simply standing where he was when the box went by and his mouth was hanging open, his brain apparently couldn't handle what it had just seen and is trying to rationalize everything that just happened.

".....should we tell Princess Celestia about this?" Spike said just as he grabs a scroll and a quill from Twilight's saddle, but before he even had a chance to start writing his older sister shakes her head and magically levitates the two back where they belong, still trotting at an even pace to where the unicorn and box is going.

"I think we can handle this one Spike, it is just a magically controlled cardboard box, what could possibly go wrong?" and just like that a random thunder cloud goes off and a loud gasp from nowhere goes off as Spike looks around for the cause of the gasp while Twilight looked in the sky for the storm cloud but neither find what they are looking for and just shrugged it off as a coincidence.

"Uh everything now since you said that." Spike says as he pulls out a hoofball helmet from Twilight's saddle, the protective headgear he always brings whenever Ditzy Whooves is out delivering mail or when something strange is going on in Ponyville.

"Oh really, and how often did something bad happen?" Twilight says with a smirk, thinking she was in the right as she usually is but when Spike started to talk her smug smirk started to falter with each event he lists off.

"Well...." Spike said as he began to think back and soon enough Twilight joined in on the mental flashback of everything they did together. First thing was when she accidentally set the kitchen on fire she tried to make breakfast one time, when she somehow burnt orange juice, trying to understand how Pinkie predicted everything, the slumber party with Rarity and Applejack, the buffalo incident in Appleloosa, the Trixie incident and so many more but he was pulled out of it when Twilight gave him a flat stare when she realized that he was counting every incident down on his claws.

"Okay I get it, but this time I am sure nothing bad will happen." Twilight said as her ears lowered down from all the apparent 'bad events' that happened on her watch, and before she could say anything else three little fillies ran up to herself and Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were out of breath when they finally caught up to the pair.

The trio were huffing and puffing, beads of sweat was covering all three of their foreheads, their butterfly nets were broken, one was missing the net entirely, and Applebloom has her lasso but it currently has herself hogtied somehow.

"Twilight! We need your help!" the three said in unison as Sweetie Belle gently places her friend down on the ground as Twilight lights her horn up and Applebloom was quickly unbound from her ropey prison.

"Girls what is it, is something wrong?" and with that question set off the floodgates of words from the three little fillies on what is going on.

"Well we were thinking on how to get our cutie marks when Applebloom said she had to go see Zecora for her weekly lessons on the Everfree forest-" Scootaloo started off as Applebloom picked up where she left off, "-an' when I got to Zecora's I saw that she was talking to a tall looking Diamond Dog wearing funny clothes an' I thought maybe he could help us since he was all nice with Zecora and well I brought him back-" and then Sweetie Belle started to talk, "-and as soon as Applebloom got back with the Diamond Dog she told us that he could help us with our cutie marks and since he can't talk we had to draw out what were going to do and he actually agreed to help us!" and back to Scootaloo, "We started with circus knife tossing and we sorta almost neutered him when I kinda aimed a little too low, but he was alright so we tried Diamond Dog Rescue and we placed him in our little red wagon and we sorta saved him with a cargo net we found in the barn and we then did it again and again but when it failed we kinda...umm...well..."

"It's okay girls, it can't be that bad what you did next to your new friend right?" with hope in her voice the three fillies looked down and kicked their hooves against the dirt, a rock or two being kicked away from them.

"We might have, sorta...tried to get our Diamond Dog Capturing cutie marks...with a net gun." and just like that they all gave sheepish smiles and Sweetie Belle even tried to give sad eyes to try and distract me from what she just said but it wasn't going to work on me that easily.

With a slow moving hoof to her forehead she started to rub away the crawling headache worming its way to the surface and with a loud sigh and a cranial rubbing the lavender unicorn stared down at the three fillies just in time to see the cardboard box come back with Lyra still barely hanging on to the top.

"Wob wob wob wob wob wob wob." the mystery box said as it scampered on by, Lyra was screaming while hanging, yelling at ponies for watching her hang on while not a single one was trying to help her get off. As soon as Lyra started to swear and cuss and use every not-so-friendly insult known to ponykind, every single pony that was within hearing distance immediately covered their foals ears with their hooves or with their magic to suppress the noise filtering in as they all pretty much glare at the screaming pony.

Staring back at the three fillies Twilight mutters something under her breath and with that she runs off after Lyra and soon enough a few other ponies are following in pursuit as well, a few wanting to know what is going on, others wanting to save Lyra and a couple just want to know who is hiding under the box.

Our merry chase takes us from the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres, past the Golden Oaks Library, into Town Hall, around Carousal Boutique and lastly running around Sugarcube Corner a couple of times. Why did we run around the sweet shop a few times? Because the cardboard box got lost and we waited for it to change course so we all just spread out and had to wait it out. Eventually the box stopped bumping into those of us chasing it and finally got smart enough to stop bumping in us and start bumping into trashcans and building walls and eventually left us all entirely and is heading straight for the lake.

"Everypony to the lake!" Rainbow Dash shouted overhead and we all started to gallop or fly to the only body of water in Ponyville that isn't filled with monsters or strange fish that has yet to be cataloged.

As we galloped to the lake and beating the box to it we saw that it was coming right at us full tilt and Lyra was still hanging on but this time trying to direct the box, and what it was lacking before is present now, a pair of eyeholes on the box and it was trying to find a gap between us but this time we are ready for it.

What we weren't ready for was for the box to leap directly over us and I was quite surprised that it even managed to make that jump without bumping into the pony it was going over or having Lyra fall off in mid-leap. But what really caught Twilight Sparkle's eye was that as the box went over Fluttershy there was a loud scraping noise one makes when they slide on the dirt to try to slow to themselves down and I saw that the noise came from under my friend, two lines of broken dirt underneath her and when the box landed it had a bit of a hobble to it as if it hurt its leg or something in that leap or slide, or both.

As soon as it hit the water it came to a complete halt, the box was starting to sink with Lyra but the pony or creature underneath the box kept it afloat by lifting it up just above the water's surface as it started to make its way to the center of the lake. Wadding through the water everypony watched the box move at a slow pace and as it got to what ponies would consider the deep end the being holding the box up is now up to its neck in water but is still fine, and as for Lyra, she is still not getting off the box because she still thinks and knows that there is somepony hiding under her and will not stop trying to figure out who.

The whole mystery of the pony under the fridge box comes to an end when Lyra accidentally loosens her grip on the edges of the box and slips off, and at first everypony thought that she would just swim back to shore and sulk on how she lost her chance to find out who is under it but when she started to struggle and seeing how she is in the middle of the lake and a big one at that, the ponies on the shore started to rush to her aid, pegasi took to the air to try and airlift her out and the unicorns tried to weave their magic to levitate or teleport her out but when their spells made contact with the aquamarine unicorn it fizzled and failed and before the flyers could make it Lyra is suddenly pulled down under the water.

For a second everypony thought that the pony under the box is messing with her but when the box flips over and she is sitting inside of it flailing her hooves around it is clear that something is going on.

Anthony's POV

'I can't believe this...the horse can't swim...unicorn horse can't even swim and yet they have a small dock for the lake...what gives?'

Watching the aquamarine unicorn mare flail her hooves above the water trying to stay afloat I stared at her from below the waters surface and hiding directly in the box's shadow to remain unseen even with my active camouflage on I still don't want to risk getting caught by the ponies. Shaking my head at the display from the horse I swim my way over to her and after a bit of debate on how I should help her I go back to the box and get it read as I moved it closer to the horse and as soon as I tilted it to the side I quickly pushed myself to the unicorn, grabbed her by the barrel and pulled her down under before hoisting her up and out of the water and into the box, I was expecting the horse to weigh at least two hundred to two hundred fifty pounds but she felt more like sixty pounds and through my gloves she felt soft, plush even.

Once I got her into the box I started to push it ashore while still remaining invisible, keeping my eyes peeled as a few pegasus flew by and as we got closer to the shore I decided that last length of the journey I pushed the box to the shore and wadded through the water and started to make my way to the other side until I felt something wrap around my right arm.

Looking at what is holding my arm I saw that it started to fizzle and distort as it tried to cloak the horse limb holding onto my prosthetic limb and following up from the foreleg of the aquamarine horse I saw that she was trying to get a good look at me but as the power cell in my suit sent me a warning that trying to cloak a second person will cause the cloaking generator to fail and I will lose the ability to fade away for a while as it reboots. Prying the mare from my arm I kick the box closer to the shore and it topples over when it snags onto a rock, sending the unicorn out of the box and into the water, she started to kick and flail while on her back but when the other horses came over to her and started to laugh, I laughed a bit also since she was somehow drowning or lack of drowning as I watched the mare stand back up and shake her mane out of her face as she looks in my general direction before I dove back into the water, turning on my jump jet to launch me deeper into the water.

Diving deeper into the lake I turn my lights on to see some seaweed, fish, an otter swimming by, and looking up with my lights on, a horse with what I think is scuba gear. Turning the lights off I settle on the lakebed and as the scuba horse started to swim by me I saw that it went to a half buried stick with a slightly blunt object at the end of it and when the horse yanked on it for a while I thought it was just a sunken tree branch but when the horse yanked on it again I saw that it wasn't a stick, it was a wheelbarrow.

Why would someone throw a wheelbarrow away is just silly, those things are highly useful in the farming community, but what was more silly was that the horse was wearing flippers, how they can get those things on will confuse me, how they can get the scuba gear on their snout and the goggles on their head....its making my head hurt.

Looking at the horse hauling away the sunken treasure I saw that it was a he, and this stallion had what looked like a scavengers tattoo, a recycling symbol with garbage behind it, must be nice to renewal old pieces of junk for the people, if only we had such kind humans back home.

As soon as he leaves me I start to move again and as soon as I reach the other side of the lake I began my ascent, keeping it at an even pace to not cause any kind of sickness or pressure weakness to hit me and eventually I breached the surface and was greeted with the wonderful sight of trees and bushes. Climbing out of the water I let myself drip dry and once I was sufficiently dry I started to walk back to the zebra's tree hut and when I was close enough to see her working at the cauldron I gave the window a knock before waving at her and left as soon as she gave one back to me, my walk back to my Atlas was uneventful to say the least, wooden wolves followed me for a while before stopping at the tree line and turning back.

I thought that I would be returning back to the titan alone with just myself and Atlas but when I look at him I saw that he was petting a bat lion gently while the beast was purring quite loudly and I was just staring in disbelief.

Talking quietly to myself I just shake my head and jogged to my Atlas and it opened up while it kept on petting the bat lion, climbing into the mech warrior and closed the hatch, the beast growled at me once but stopped when the Atlas wagged a finger at it as the bat lion let out a submissive mew and I just laughed that my Atlas now has a pet as do I.

"I am getting to old for this shit..."

Little did I know that a pair of emerald eyes were watching me, every watching and staring before fading away into the forest.

New Home means New Neighbors

View Online

After what has happened yesterday with the three horse children and the adults of the town I have decided to stay low for a while, I know that they will eventually come looking for me but I don't know if they would search in this forest or search the outlying area, maybe check the farm for me since they would probably ask the children of where I could be but since that one red-haired yellow filly took me out of the forest this would be the first place to check. Turning on manual control for my Atlas I rose off the floor and grabbed my ARC Cannon and with that being done I turned to the river and decided to venture across it, relocate, rebuild the stationary compass, and think on my next course of action.

Petting the bat lion one last time I turned around, faced the general direction of the river and pushed off with a ground shaking thud and ran through the forest, ignoring everything in front of me. At this moment of evacuation to a different location I didn't care about letting anyone know where I am going because I know that they wouldn't be able to follow me across a river that has actually forced my Titan to meet the water at its waist. I knew that taking a titan to water is a dangerous task because taking it in water too deep for it to survive the crushing depths is suicide but this river, it just makes moving annoying and the rocks makes having careful footing a bit of a chore but with some patience and well timed steps we managed to push through the river and entered what is the actual dark forest.

The trees here are more vile and evil looking then their twisted and gnarled cousins on the opposite side, each and every single one of these trees look more like spirit-possessed treants then actual trees, many of them look like they actually got evil faces on them and a few of the branches on them look like appendages, hell one of my cameras actually caught the tree slowly turning to face us as we walked by. Sprinting through the dark forest I eventually come upon an old rickety bridge, the wooden planks on it look about as old and decayed as the forest I just came out of, and the rope holding everything together doesn't seem that safe to use either.

Tilting my Atlas to the left then to the right to see if there isn't any other way of getting across without having to do something dangerous or risky I am saddened when there is no other way around, well not that I can see immediately but from the sight of this ravine then that would be a foreseeable 'No' since I can't see any other bridges or paths. Contemplating on how I should go about this my Atlas showed me an option that I could take but seeing how that option requires a running start and a power dump into my dash boosters I went with it since my other option was to leave my Atlas behind and across the bridge alone.

"Alright...nothing was ever gained by standing idle..." I muttered to myself and with a bit of a sigh of resigning myself to an unknown fate of landing or falling to the bottom I slowly stormed back and when I think I moved as far back as possible I put the pedal to the metal and started to run full tilt and as soon as my left foot hit the edge I crouched down and jumped. The feeling of being in the air is an exhilarating experience, something that I have been through before in the cockpit of a Hornet but this, leaping out over a ravine and with only the power of an Atlas and the thought that this plan could work and the errant notion that failure means death, yea this feels like a typical mission with the Militia.

Just as I reach the top height of my jump I hit the boosters and with the sudden jerk of acceleration and me nearly crapping my pants because the bottom of my right foot clipped the lip of the cliff, sending me within my Atlas into a tumble that resulted in me rolling over trees and bushes, crushing everything beneath me and as we both rolled I was busy yelling swear words and cursing my god for letting my foot to barely tap the edge.

After the spinning stopped and the feeling of me not know whether up is down or down is up I slowly pulled myself up with the assistance of a sturdy tree before it snapped it half, and once I was standing up again I turned back to see the carnage of broken trees, crushed bushes, splintered stumps and a crushed patch of poison joke. Dusting myself off and picking twigs and other bits of green from some spots on my armor and when that was well and done I turned back to the unused path that was connected to the wooden bridge I followed it in hopes of finding out what is at the other end of the rainbow. At first I thought this road was unused because it goes through a forest filled with horrible beasts and carnivorous plants but now that I see it as it is right now, I can tell that there must be something else wrong, like some ghosts haunting the road or there was a battle that took place somewhere down the road and it was so horrible that it completely ruined the landscape.

Either way I am going down this path to find what is on the other side and I pray to god that it is shelter of some kind for both my Atlas and myself.

Resuming my walk down the unused road I saw that the trees are still dark and creepy but they are started to move away from the road as if it used to be bigger then it currently is, and as I keep moving forward I begin to see cobblestone rocks dotting the road and it soon became a solid stone path and that is when I saw something right out of a history book. Resting at the end of the stone road was a magnificent ruined castle, the walls that act as the bulwark defense against invaders is broken and damaged all over the place, the ramparts are cracked and fractured, stone blocks that fell from the wall and from the castle itself lay on the tall grass and plants that have taken over the place, ivy and moss clings to practically every single surface that I can see.

The sight is breathtaking even from the outside it looks formidable against an invading force and when I walked through the front gates without even having to duck, the inside is both beautiful and sad, the first because it is still mostly intact and could be repaired if someone put down some money to fix it all and its sad because whoever built this place just abandoned it and left it to fall apart.

Taking my first step into the ruined castle courtyard I saw nothing but tall unruly grass, dead or twisted trees, broken dark grey stone blocks, wild flowers and flying birds too and fro, this place can be rebuilt and be a perfect place for me to hide while I try to learn more about the natives here.

'Lets see....that zebra girl knows the most about me and hopefully she doesn't spill the beans on me but seeing how she let in a little yellow filly with red hair and an enormous bow to match...but seeing how they don't know much about me I can safely guess they won't be able to find me since I am still an anomaly.'

Walking further into the courtyard I saw a few birds fly out of the brush and a few looked like crows or blue jays, I don't know if these birds are similar to the ones back home but if they are then this world might have some other strange connections, I even bet they have some horrible pun names on some towns and cities we have.

As soon as I arrived to the front doors of the broken castle I pushed it open with ease, the hinges screeching loudly, most likely hasn't been greased for hundreds of years and is grinding metal on metal, that horrible noise would have hurt my hears if I wasn't inside my Atlas and with the noise dampener built in I had the luck of hearing it creak for a second before it was muted. The first thing I see of what must be the lobby of this castle is that there are banners adorning the walls are moth-eaten and moldy, whatever banner that is still whole I can see that there are two horses with wings and horns and they are going in a circle like the yin-yang symbol and seeing the colors of the two horses they might as well been the yin-yang symbol. One horse was white and had what looks like the sun above it and the black horse had the moon at its back, whether these two controlled the sun and moon is up for debate but if they are the living embodiments of the two celestial bodies then if they are ever killed then this planet will be up shit creek without a paddle.

Cracking open my hatch of my Atlas I dropped down to the ground and dusted myself off, turning my filters on since I rather not have my allergies of dust overload go off and I don't want to sneeze my brains out all over the place. Looking around the lobby I see that the few glass windows that are here are all shattered, broken glass litters close to where they were placed and there are broken brick pieces all over the place and whatever happened here must have been an epic battle probably on par with the one on Demeter or Angel City. I saw overturned moth-eaten furniture, a few horse skeletons in rusty armor and spears still in their skeletal hooves, and to top it off I just saw a rat run out of the eye-hole of a horse skull.

'That...is fucking disgusting...'

Blanching back from the sight of the dead horse bodies I stepped around them as to not disturb their remains and after a bit of tip-toeing action and some acrobatics I got passed what must have been a battle between two groups of horses, one group was wearing white-ish armor with the symbol of the sun stamped onto the upper sides while the other group wore black armor with the symbol of the moon on the spine area. A few of the white armored horses at normal bird like wing cause of the feathers strewn near their corpses and for the black armored horses...I don't know what kind of wings those are...bones look kinda thin and long....maybe bats or prehistoric birds? I don't know my bones but I do know that it looks like the sun and moon were at each others throats to be taking stabs at each other. A bunch of the horse skeletons have horns on their head and plenty of them are broken or crack so they tried to use them as stabbing weapons and they got broken off, maybe they grow back like teeth.

Running up to and then double jumping over the pile of corpses I came into what must be the throne room and it looks nice, two thrones sitting side by side, the same banners are still up, more broken glass and cracked fallen bricks, and of course more skeletons. If this is going to be my new home then I got a lot of graves to dig, tons of tall grass to remove and a bunch of heavy ass stone bricks to haul around.

That is a lot of shit to do.

Sighing I made my way to the thrones, my eyes peeled in the event that something alive is still here or worse, something undead is staying here but seeing how there is no such thing as ghosts or ghouls the possibility of the undead being real is slim to none but seeing a few mythical creatures in real life the other day...well one can't be so easily dismissive of the unknown.

Walking over to the thrones I saw that they are very low to the ground and after looking back at the skeletons I saw that since they are horses they would have to sit like one which would be how dogs sit, so I guess that is why it is that low but what I don't is that why is there a back to the thrones since they shouldn't be leaning back ramrod straight like humans, probably something to prevent getting a knife to the back so easily? I don't know but for now it would serve me as a low chair for the time being until I can find a way to put some legs on that throne and I am set to sit in luxury. Moving to the thrones I inspected them, gave them a good once over to see if they have anything of worth on them like gold pieces or even gemstones since thrones have been known to carry such riches on their exterior but after finding absolutely nothing on them I just sigh and sit down on the dark chair, the picture of the moon on the top of the throne glows slightly and I had to quickly get off as it started to glow brighter but once I was not touching the lunar throne it stopped glowing and for a moment I thought I heard a strange sound, something akin to a sad whimper but I just shook it off as something howling in the wind in this deserted place.

Going away from the throne room I turned to the left as soon as I saw a hallway and decided that if I am going to stay here then I must explore every single piece of it and know it like the back of my hand. The hallway I am walking down looks just like all the one I was in earlier with the exception that it looks more plain and boring but it still held the banners of the two sides and with the two banners was more skeletons of the two groups scattered near each other and very rarely I saw a random horse skeleton with a rusty spear or rusted and rotten arrows sticking in their backs, these skeletons didn't have armor so they weren't soldiers so I can guess they were civilians or seeing that this is a castle, the staff.

Skirting around more skeletons and pushing open doors and very rarely pushing a door open only to disturb a skeleton impaled on the other side but it sickens me to know that horses could be so violent with one another, they are herbivores and they are herd animals but why would they do such a thing, especially to their own kinsmen?

Peering around the door I saw that it was a white armored horse with bird wings, and the spear impaling it to the door, and from where it was impaled it went between the ribs and the metal head of the spear was barbed so it wasn't getting removed from its body when it was alive anytime soon and in its death was the only thing keeping it upright against the door.

Creeping around the corpse attached to the door I made my way to what must be the royal quarters because this is where a chunk of the majority of the infighting must have taken place, there are old burn marks all over the place, a few skeletons plastered against the walls, one unlucky soul was melted to the ceiling and as for the rest they were all over the floor, I am not even sure if I could even make proper graves with how many intertwined skeletons there are here. Picking my way through the mini corpse-mountain I found that the fighting was taking place in front of a door with a picture of the sun in front of it, and with a Spartan kick to the door because it was locked I saw that the room is magnitude greater then any five-star hotel I have ever stayed in during my offtime with the Militia, the bed still looks great, the carpet may be slightly dusty but it is not even eaten by moths, everything inside looks like it hasn't been touched in ages.

'Huh....'

Looking around the room first for any signs of skeletons and when I found none I went in and closed the door behind me and once that gate was sealed I felt a sudden wave of a calming sensation hit my like a tidal wave, whatever this room is it sure as hell makes you feel at home and at ease. Taking a breather from all the death and destruction outside of this room I eased my way to the bed and after testing it to see if it could hold my weight and not only does it hold it but it feels like I can get sucked into the bed and never leave because it feels so damn soft and plush. If I can get this bed back home then I would gladly steal it, its just that soft.

Jumping backwards onto the bed I let out a sigh of relief as I sink a good two inches into the bed and once I have stopped sinking I let out a sigh of content as the bed released a sweet scent of roses, my guess is that whoever used to sleep in this bed was quite fond of rose perfumes, not that I have anything against the person that sleeps in this bed cause Ingrid used to use rose perfume whenever we went out on our dates, even though her brother did find us on a data and completely cockblocked at the end.

I don't know how long I have been laying there on the bed but from what my internal clock is telling me that it is eleven in the afternoon and that I still haven't explored the entire castle yet and if I am going to be staying here till I can find someway to get home then I must ensure that I am not going to be picked off for not seeing a hidden passage and a monster kills me in my sleep.

Pulling the door open and then gently closing it I turned back to the path and saw that this was a dead end, this room was the last one on this wing so this was the solar wing of the castle if the bountiful amount of sun banners is any clear indicator, and once again moving through piles of skeletons and damaged rooms that held more damaged bits and bobs and skeletons, my guess as to what happened here was the moon rebelled against the sun or the sun was trying to rebel against the moon and was in a losing battle, I don't know which is true but whichever is correct it scares me. The fact that the sun or the moon tried to kill the other means that there must have been some bad blood between the two and it started to fester and grow until it was too late, such a horrible way to end the world, by burning it to cinders or to freeze it to nothing.

'A war to decide the fate of the world...where have I seen this before? Feels like one of those cheesy action flicks where I will then find something behind a bookcase or a hidden vault and within is some sort of cursed treasure, like I am going to be falling for that one.'

The lunar section of this castle didn't fare as well as the solar section, there are still skeletons and debris all over the place but not as much as it was on the opposite side, I guess these horses managed to keep the white ones at bay and pushed them out but seeing how the damage around here is the windows and walls and whatever paintings on the wall have been torn to shreds by something because swords and spears don't leave something like this, hell it looks like a hurricane came through here.

Going up to one of the rooms in the lunar wing I knocked on its surface to see if the sound is hollow or not, I rather not open a door with a corpse on it and it falls on top of me, to many horror movies and stories share that little cliché where a corpse falls on top of the main character and everyone shits their pants because it is a recent corpse instead of an aged body. Of course the universe has made itself clear on occasions to mess me over and today it seems to be one of those days, as soon as I slowly started to pull the door open instead of pushing it, the door revealed a white skeletal ribcage of some creature and when I started to back up that was when the universe bended me over and fucked me, the overly large skeleton fell on top of me and the ribcage fell on top of me, trapping me as I screamed out in terror because having a skeleton fall on top of you would make plenty of people brown their trousers.

Picking my way out from under the skeleton I saw that I had some room to move around instead of being crushed under a horse skeleton it was something large, I don't know what it is but I can tell that it doesn't belong in a castle...doesn't look like a bear skeleton, not a human skeleton either....so what the hell is this?

Looking at this thing now where I am, I see that it is indeed a large animal skeleton, it has the sharp teeth, big claws, a thin tail with a needle at the end of it, and I see...wing bones. How the hell did a bat lion get all the way up here and get stuck inside of a room let alone through a doorway too small for it to fit through? Poking my head into the room I saw how it got inside, the windows were removed along with parts of the wall, and what else did I find in there? More white horse skeletons, their armor quite literally is scattered all over the room along with the bones of the white armored horses so whatever they were doing in here the bat lion was trying to keep them from finding something of great importance. Gathering my wits and detective abilities which are non-existent without my wooden pipe or detective hat I looked about the room for anything that could be used to hide something of great value or importance and behold the only door in this room that is not damaged or rigged with a skeleton to fall on top of you.

Knocking on the apparently clean door I waited for the sounds of ghosts or skeleton bones rattling to alert me to what is behind the door but hearing none I tried to open the door to find it locked, odd for a lock to be placed on a door like this one but I am not going to question horse engineers on how to make a room let alone a castle of this size. Lifting up my right hand I made a fist and punched out the entire door knob/ lock area and with a bit of a tug on my end I pulled the door open to reveal a sad sight, two horses holding each other, let me rectify that, two skeletal horses holding each other, both appear to be the same size and from one with the bat wings and the other with just a horn I can say that these two are the black armored horses group and are probably just the castle staff that worked for them but sadly they didn't survive the ensuing battle that raged on around them. What really caught my eye about these two horses holding each other is that at first they were homosexual because they were holding each other but that notion was quickly killed when I saw below the ribcage of the unicorn was a small skeleton...that horse was female...and she was with child when she died.

'Don't worry...I will make sure you three are buried next to each other...families shouldn't be separated from one another in the end.'

Gently backing away and closing the door I left the room, saddened a bit more that even families that were here was not safe from the now obvious civil war but whatever that sparked this war to be kick started, could it have all been avoided?

Taking the path to the end of the lunar wing I came upon what must the moon god's room, and just like the solar version it had matching décor but the color scheme was that are well...moon colors. The carpet was dark purple, the bed was a dark blue, anything made out of wood is very dark blue or purple, a few black wooden objects here and there but what really caught my eye is the black rose in a crystal white vase.

Walking over to the still living rose I looked around it to see if it was an illusion or a trick of the light but when I reached out to touch the black rose my hand barely tapped a thorn and I felt a stabbing pain in the finger that brushed against the sharpened point. I didn't feel any blood seep into my glove from the strange puncture wound pain that I had received but when I removed my glove to inspect my hand I saw that I was indeed bleeding but there was no damage to the glove itself, only my hand. Inspecting my left hand I saw that it was like any other rose thorn injury but this was just a little prick on the thumb and yet its acting like a damn deep penetration stab wound and this hurts like hell.

Taking out some bandage wrap and using a small amount for my thumb I gingerly put my glove back on and went back to searching the room for anything of value I found nothing but blankets, pillows, and spare bedspreads and all of them have been eaten by moths or fell to decay over however long it was since this place has been abandoned. Going back to the bed I tested it out to see how much of my body would sink in if I was to lay down on it but after sinking down only an inch I found that this bed is perfect for me to sleep in and when I went face first and was met with the scent of blueberries and jasmine, I don't know how they mixed these scents together but whoever did it must be a master at this. The sound of someone giggling cutely suddenly appears out of nowhere in the room and when I lifted my head to look for the source but I found nothing but the empty room and myself and after a while I went back to snuggling the bed before getting off and continuing where I left off.

Peeking around some more I ventured around the room, entering what must be the bathroom I go around and looked through the cupboards to find anything of interest or use but I found nothing so in light of current events I left the lunar section and went back to the main section of the castle and started to explore that seeing that is the last place to check.

Normally when someone finds something of interest they would be able to return it back to someone of importance and get paid for finding it but since I am here on this planet alone and that this place looks like it was picked clean a long time ago I doubt I would have found anything, I was proven wrong. In the cellar of the kitchen section in the castle I found a section of the wall that looked out of place and when I leaned against it I fell right through it and I came upon what I believe is the biggest wine cellar I have ever seen. Resting in front of me was row upon row upon row of casks and every single one of them was dusty and covered in cobwebs but when I shook one of the wine casks I heard the sound of liquid sloshing around inside.

'If I had a wine glass and a way of finding out how strong this stuff is I would definitely go for a glass right now to calm my nerves on finding enough skeletons to start a museum of ancient history.'

Backing away from the possibly dangerous tasty brew I exited the castle and went back to my Atlas but before it could open itself up and allow me to pilot the machine I gave a short motion with my right hand and it stood up immediately and tilted its central eye sensors in confusion.

"Atlas I am going back across the ravine to talk to the zebra girl, seeing how she is the only one that seems to be more interested in draw talking to me then the others who were more interested in capturing me or placing me in harms way. I want you to start working on this place, get the graves ready, I'll deal with the skeletons when I get back." I said with a bit of a grumble, the three fillies may be cute and adorable but their method in trying to get what must be their flank brands is dangerous to my longevity and as for the rest of the horses in that town...I am still undecided on if they are friendly or hostile toward me.

My walk through the woods was an enjoyable experience, being invisible in a land where the plants can eat you and the wolves are made out of twigs, branches and leaves it is nice to know that I won't have to deal with any of that nonsense today and hopefully for the foreseeable future. Going through the dark woods in the afternoon is nice especially with the sight of birds flying around and the spectacular part of seeing a bird that is completely red as if on fire flew by with two smaller ones trailing behind it, I don't know what kind of bird that is but I want to pet one so badly.

The bridge when I came upon it is still standing and swaying in a weak breeze but the mere sight of it makes me think that if taking it is a good idea, something at the time I forgot about and started to walk across it with my hands holding onto the rope for dear life even when I can use my jump jet to help me survive and falling from this height wouldn't kill me, just hurt my legs like hell. About half way across the bridge I took a step and my foot went right through the piece of wood underneath it and I nearly flip my lid but with a grunt and a tug I pulled my leg free from its wooden constraints and hurriedly scurried across to the other side out of fear of falling through the bridge.

Listening to the sounds of the forest I found it to be eerily quiet for a moment before a burst of motion explodes to my right, a fairly large furry body runs by me and for a moment I thought it was going to come back and get me but seeing that I am invisible it wouldn't come back and eat me but whatever is making it freak the fuck out must be considerably larger then it or is in a large group that could easily take it down with its numbers. Peeking around the tree I saw that it was the same pack of wooden wolves that has been tailing me for a few days now but this time they looked like they have given up on me and are now chasing the succulent meats on that bat lion, good for me now that I am off the menu.

It took me a few minutes to reach the river and once I was there I took a dive and let myself be dragged to the bottom of the river and once I was down there I started to crawl to the other side, making sure to avoid getting swept up in the current and with a bit of luck and me being pissed off for forgetting to take a bite out of my nasty yet nutritious granola bar from hell I managed to make my way across the river without drowning or losing my grip.

The trees here are now back to having life inside of them unlike the trees leading to the broken castle and as I sifted through the trees I found that the timber wolves are still present here, telling me that their numbers must be greater then I had previously guessed and seeing them running in packs of eight yipping and barking reminds me of actual wolf packs, I guess that applies here as well. Picking my way through the woods and to zebra's house I go with a Kraber-AP on my back and a Hammond P-Taser in its thigh hoister and a data knife in its sheath, with my recon arsenal on my person I bobbed and weaved through the brush and trees and soon enough and a stubbed toe later I was at the tree hut. Just like last time I was here the zebra had her back to me, her flank moving around a bit and I couldn't help but stare a bit and as that tail of hers moved back and forth and that was when I realized that I was at the window instead of the front door, and yet I just couldn't look away. Its like staring at a train wreck in motion, you want to look away but you can't, and instead of it being a horrifying experience this is...more strange.

'Oh god I am such a pervert...not even four days away from my fellow human beings and here I am staring at horse ass....what the hell is wrong with me?'

Going to the front door I gave it a series of short but loud knocks and after ten seconds of waiting I knocked again but this time the door was slowly pulled open to reveal the zebra with a mixing spoon in her mouth and a bit of green sludge on her muzzle. With a mumbled greeting she opened the door more and moved to the side a bit and as soon as I entered she gently closed the door and just like that I was sitting on the ground overlooking the cauldron being mixed while the zebra was standing on her hindlegs while mixing with her forehooves. How one can mix something with hooves and maintain a grip with them confuses me, there must be some sort of magnetism in the hooves that allows it to grip something or that it acts like a suction cup, either way they are superior to our horses back home.

Looking around a bit I saw that everything from last time is still here, nothing seems to be out of place or missing with the exception of a certain glass vial that was filled with that sweet smelling sludge. Staying on the ground I started to rock back and forth slowly while looking at the spooky looking masks on the wall and the many different books and bottles on the shelves, whatever this girl does for a living must be as some sort of medical drug maker or some sort of tribal remedies, whatever it could be she must be good enough at it cause with all the bottles and flasks around she must be making the big money or at the very least is in the green zone.

Out of the corner of my eye I spot the blackboard with a piece of chalk next to it and with a bit of hesitation on my part I slowly made my way around the cauldron and with a bit of a stretch I snatched the board from the ground and looked at it a bit to see if there was anything on it and seeing how it was blank I started to draw on it, my mind at first was debating on trying to draw a 'Good Morning' or even a 'Hello' but sadly I had no idea on how to draw a hello but for a good morning I can sorta guess that it involves a sun on the horizon rising or sun with a smile on it. Before I could draw a smiling sun I realized that it is now midday and also I had no idea what to draw, but that was when it hit me, I had yet to draw the symbol for the Militia for her and of course she has yet to do the one for the name of this place.

Drawing the Militia symbol on the blackboard I took my time to get in every detail that I could get on here and with a bit of a non-existent artistic flare I presented my crudely drawn Frontier Militia flag to the zebra and it took her a moment to release that there was a chalkboard near her head.

As soon as she saw the chalkboard near her head she stopped stirring her brew and stepped down and away from the cauldron before taking the board from the hands and looked it over before nodding slightly and erased it gently and took the chalk from me and started to doodle for a while leaving me to look around a bit. During the time of her doodling I went to the shelves and picked up one of the tribal-looking masks on the wall and gave it a good lookover, the hunk of wood has obviously been well-taken care of with the lack of rot and decay and when I flipped it over and pressed it to my face I just held it there for a while before putting it back where it was from.

"Huh...reminds me of Earth's African Tribal ceremonial masks...I guess this planet and Earth have plenty of similarities, including mythical creatures...I wonder if these horses know how to make noodles?" I said aloud and seeing how she can't understand a word I am saying and seeing that she is still doodling but as I started to mess with a particular strange bottle with a black viscous sledge did she come up to me and tapped my shoulder with a hoof and when I turned around to face her I saw that she was done. Putting the possibly hazardous and dangerous potion of sorts and when I looked at the drawing in her hooves I saw that it was the same symbol that I saw in the castle, two horses going in a circle with the sun and moon present on opposite sides.

Tilting my head at the sight I took the board from her hooves I stared at it and tilting it to the right and with that little motion it gave the impression on the board that the two horses were moving around one another and tilting it even more to the point where I had to readjust my hands to new positions the sun and moon were now on opposite sides and I laughed a bit when I realized that if the sun and moon are controlled by the two horses depicted in the banners and now in this doodle then if either one of them perished this world would be completely screwed.

Copying the horse insignia I then erased it and I wondered if she lives her permanently or if this place is just for the production of any medical or personal drugs seeing how this place looks like it could be easily replaced with the exception of the books and vials. Drawing the zebra's tree hut on the board I showed it to her and tilted my head in confusion, hoping that the head tilt is universal for confused and like magic the zebra girl gets it and nods at me and seeing how she confirmed this hut is her home I safely assume she wants to know where I live, which is gonna be hard to say because drawing an Atlas with chalk is going to be hard so I started to draw the next best thing.

Drawing a smaller version of the zebra's hut I drew the trees around it until it got to a crappily drawn river followed by dead trees, a gash and a badly made bridge followed by more trees and a half-assed drawn castle that needs repairs. As soon as I finished drawing I passed the board back to the black and white striped mare and waited to see if she knew where I was now staying and to my surprise she did know.

Looking at the zebra in hopes of getting an explanation of sorts I was met with a confused stare and she had to point to the castle then to me a few times until I finally gave her a thumbs up and a nod, which took her a while to figure out and when she did she gave me another confused stare before shrugging and gave me back the board to allow me to ask her another question.

Erasing the blackboard I started to draw out the question 'How is your day?' and it took me several attempts to get it right and once I did I passed the board back and this went on for the greater part of four hours, and as soon as it hits four thirty-four I said my goodbye to her with a pat on the head and ruffled her hair a bit which resulted in the zebra pulling her head back and shaking her head before swatting at me with a broom she had laying around. After I was done laughing from messing with her mane I waved a goodbye and snuck out the window when I heard the sounds of approaching hooves but sadly my foot caught onto the windowsill and I fell face first into a pile of mud that just so happened to be right outside waiting for me.

"You got to be kidding me..." I grumbled and as soon as I got up and wiped the mud from my helmet and when the mud was no longer obstructing my vision I saw that the source of the hooves was actually the horses that were in the town I was running in the other day...well two of them were the horses that was chasing me, the other four I have no idea who they are but for the time being I am lucky that they haven't seen me yet. Turning on my cloaking field I made my grand escape by casually strolling away from the hut and as soon I got out of earshot I picked up the pace into a jog and only got faster until I was running through the woods and thank god for my stealth kit or otherwise everything in the forest would be able to hear my loud footsteps on the ground and when I got to the river that is when the stealth kit fails me because when I jumped over the river I activated my jump-jet I got only two-thirds of the way across before I hit the water and was almost dragged with the current but I was strangely saved by something large plucking me out of the water.

I started to freak out because the only large thing I know that could have yanked me out of the water is my Atlas, that Hydra we fought off and....that river serpent....

Opening my eyes to see who or what has me in their iron grip I saw that it was attached to a large purple hand and connected to the purple hand was a large purple arm and to that was a long purple body and when my eyes finally found its head I saw that it was the same one I saw two days ago, the river serpent with orange hair and matching orange handle bar mustache. As I looked at the serpent I tried my best to not brown my trousers as I was held at least ten or twenty feet in the air and was now face-to-face/mustache and seeing how it managed pluck me out of the water with me invisible no less well...staying cloaked is probably a bad idea.

Squirming around a bit more before giving up I turn off my invisibility field and as I slowly started to come into view I could have sworn the river serpent let out a girlish squeal of delight and I was immediately lowered to the ground but not enough for my feet to touch dirt nor was I given enough room to get my arms to be released. Looking at this river serpent I can tell it is a he for obvious reasons alone like the mustache and the male flamboyant tone in his voice and seeing how I can't see the plumbing from here I could safely say this serpent is a he unless female serpents are the ones with facial hair and males don't have any.

"Ooh what do we have here? What manner of diamond dog are you?" the river serpent said in a clear and fluid voice that sounded remarkably clear and perfectly legible enough for me to understand which confuses me.

How does this particular river serpent know how to speak English and do it so fluently and flawlessly astounds me but for the time being I must remain calm and not throw a hissy fit on how the one thing on this planet that can understand me is also the only thing I am afraid of at the moment.

"I um...I am not a diamond dog Mr....?"

"Oh how rude of me he he, why my name is Steven Magnet! The most beautiful and stylish river dragon on this side of the Equestrian Black Mountains!" and just like that he flares his unused arm in a dramatic style and also like that I started to have a mental fit.

'E-Equestrian....that is basically horses....I...I sure hope somebody picks up that phone because I fucking called it! A world ruled by horses that have colored coats that range from the very prismatic array of the rainbow and that they are accompanied by mythical creatures! I do hope that I am surprised again by seeing pigs fly and the gods that protect this land are alive and kicking it with their mortal slaves!'

At this point in time my brain was suffering a typical case of 'Blue Screen of Death' as I can bet that this Steven Magnet is hearing the sound of wires shorting out and smoke leaving my helmet and is confused with what is happening to me internally. But before he could ask me something else I cut him short by speaking up about me not being this diamond dog beast that he speaks of.

"And I am not a Diamond Dog Mr. Magnet, I am a Human." I said with dignity and pride in my voice, something that I rarely use unless its to impress Ingrid or to bullshit my way out of getting my head shot off by a lone IMC Pilot when I am all alone.

The river serpent squealed in glee at meeting something completely new to him, and in that not-so-manly squeal he accidentally tightened his grip on me and in that moment I felt like I was being crushed but as soon as he realized that he had a living breathing being in his vice-like grip he gently released me onto the other side of the river I was just on. As soon I was released and was laying on the ground I could have sworn I saw my spirit leave my body and wave goodbye before fading away but I started to cough and groan as my body was trying to refuse my mental command to writhe and wiggle in pain.

"Oh my goodness I am sooo sorry! Are you alright little human?" he said in a scared tone, actually afraid that he might have accidentally killed me but when I waved him off and got to my knees while coughing loudly, trying to get the pain from my lungs to fade.

"I'm okay big guy, I'm okay...just be gentle with the squeezing, my body can handle being roughed up a bit but that was going past that threshold limit I got set up." I said as I started to straighten myself out and with a bit of pressing my hands into my back I felt my spine crack and with a pleased sigh of relief I let myself wobble around a bit before standing straight again.

Taking a breather for a bit I stared up at the serpent as it lowered itself down and was now leaning on his arm as he stared at me, his unoccupied hand twiddling with his mustache.

"So what brings you all the way out here little human? Are you trying to get back home? It is getting late and this forest isn't safe out here for a little critter like yourself especially since you are alone."

Cracking my back I turned to look around us to see a few animals of the forest like the bat lions roaming beyond the tree lines, a pack of wood wolves watching the two of us from the other side of the river, a chicken lizard pecking at the ground and when it turned its head to look at us I saw a worm in its mouth.

"Well Mr. Megnet I was out here to talk to Zecora and I was just coming back to my new home out in the untamed wilds and seeing how you plucked me from the river when I could have easily climbed out and been on my way but thank you anyways." I said while my left hand was messing with the synthetic foliage that is on the top and back of my helmet, my mind thinking back to all of the skeletons I would have to remove to make my new home more homely and less scary.

"Ho oh and what were you two talking about? Was it about me perhaps or maybe something about her hmm?"

"No no, we were talking about ourselves, how was our day, what we are planning to do, you know casual stuff. But seeing how I can't understand a word she is saying we had to rely on drawings."

"You couldn't understand her? But if we are talking in the same language that she is using right now then how come you can not understand a word that Zecora is saying!?" Steven said and when he said the zebras name I then am given her name and also something new I also just learned. Its rather that dragons and their cousins are able to understand and speak any language in the world because they are ancient and powerful or that humans are able to understand dragons for some strange magical reason.

Scratching my head in confusion I walked around a bit trying to figure it out I realized that I am wasting daylight by talking to the seemingly nice river dragon and with that I had to bid him a farewell.

"I would love to stay around and chat but I have to get home and clean it up, I fear that if I leave it a complete mess then my mother might randomly show up and see it and well...we both know how mothers can get when we fail to clean up our rooms let alone our homes." I said in a sheepish grin under my helmet before slowly backing away and with a flick of my wrist the stealth generator in my armor turned on and I rapidly faded away from view before running into the forest, easily avoiding the pack of wood wolves and vanished into the wilderness.

Activating the transponder that I was built into my Atlas I saw that I was heading in the right direction and over small hills and around spooky looking trees I came across a horse wearing some familiar looking attire, the horse was wearing a jungle explorer hat with a matching jungle explorer vest. I can't see what her eyes look like but I bet they have a determined look on them, her mane and tail were the same colors of black and varying shades of grey streaks, beige fur and a pair of wings on her back. Whoever this girl is she reminds me of that old Earth movie guy whats his name....Jones Indiana? Indiana Jones? Whoever that white man is called that met Hitler and got him to sign a book for him. This girl must have some big balls to be out here alone in the forest that everything here is trying to kill you, my kind of girl but sadly she isn't human, and if she was then I would try to ask her on a date, key word 'try'.

Sneaking up behind the pegasus explorer I slowly made my way to her by weaving through the bushes, leaping from tree branch to tree branch, crawling on the dirt and lastly by jumping and controlled landing my way behind her and once I was standing directly behind the mare I made a noise by picking up a rock and throwing it at a tree behind us and her reaction was perfect. She must have leapt at least a good two to three feet in the air before coming back down in a glide and when she landed she started to look around with an angry expression on her face.

I don't know what she is saying but it must be the common 'Whose out there!' or 'Show yourself!' whichever of the two I was snickering in my helmet while silently moving behind her and kicked a few rocks over the side of the ravine to get her to turn back and watch them go over the edge. When she turned back to face the rocks she had replaced that angry scowl into one of intrigue and interest, something I intended to change to keep a nosey horse away from my home until I got it fixed, I can understand the horse language and to get myself something good to eat before I run out of ration bars.

Rotating back behind the inquisitive mare I set my cloaking field to turn off in a few seconds and that is when I dropped another rock but directly behind her and when she turned around it was just in time for my helmet to slowly appear directly touching her muzzle and when she moved back she saw me towering over her while not moving before turning the generator back on and faded from sight and started to walk across the bridge and turned back to see her looking around for me and I knew that she will be here for a while thinking that I am just waiting for her to lower her guard which works for me for now.

Continuing with my walk back to the ruined castle I kept my eyes peeled to see if she is right behind me and when I gave a peek over my shoulder I didn't see hide nor wing of the exploring mare and with a smile I started to run back, taking my training in stride I got back to my castle and as soon I got past the threshold of the portcullis gate I looked around to see all the graves have been dug, the broken bricks moved into a pile and a new sleeping mat for an overly large sized creature of the wild, and resting in it is the same bat lion from before and kneeling beside it was my Atlas, petting it.

All I could do at this point was shake my head at my titan for adopting a pet but seeing how it is smart enough to care about a wild animal then I guess the bat lion could stay for now but I am not cleaning up its shit or piss. Walking over to my resting Atlas I gave it a tap on the knee before alerting it to my presence and that I am now going to start moving the dead into their respective graves.

My first stop was the dead bodies at the throne room, I had to be gentle with the skeletons as I had to use a banner to drag out their skeletons one horse at a time and a few of them I had to remove their armor and/or weapons from their bodies and hooves as it was causing some problems in getting them into their graves. One such skeleton was absolutely riddled with swords and spears, whoever this poor bastard was must have been in pure agony when he was still alive with all of these thing inside of em, then there was this one horse who was missing the lower half, that took me a few minutes to find in the pile of bones and rusty armor. Once the throne room was clear of the dead I went back to the thrones and sat down on the lunar throne, the firmness of the bed was comparable to the throne itself but the problem was that as soon as I sat down something was compelling me to not get up, almost as if something or someone didn't want me to leave just yet.

As I sat there, stuck in place as I felt a cold chill run up my spine as I heard the sound of a female laughing cutely from every direction there is in the room, I don't know who it could possibly belong to but whoever is here knows about my predicament and is laughing at my condition. Maybe this chair was booby-trapped with some sort of suction cup or industrial strength superglue but seeing how I had just got done talking to a large ass river snake serpent dragon thing with a fashionable swanky mustache and a fruity voice I can guess that anything is possible to be used as a booby-trap.

Waiting on the throne with a bit of anxiety on my face as I felt the chilly feeling creep and crawl up and down my spine and all throughout my body and eventually the cold feeling faded away only to be replaced by a calming soothing sensation as if something or someone was massaging my body but that too was fleeting as soon as it came to me I felt the strange feeling that kept me in place let go and I immediately got up and rolled away and drew my taser and knife and looked around for the culprit. The giggling came back but it was now more of a echo then an actual person so it was to my surprise probably a ghost that was messing with me.

'Pranked by a ghost...now I know that everything mythical and fake is real in this world...next is the gods living amongst the mortals and that the weather is controlled by the local populace.'

Looking around for a few more seconds I put away my taser and knife and walked back to the fallen banner and rolled it up before leaving the throne room and went back to looking for corpses to bury out in the courtyard. Sighing sadly I moved into the grave and gently started to put the skeleton into its new home, I never had the time to make coffins but at least it is getting an impromptu burial right that it should have received after whatever battle here has passed but didn't get. A part of me died inside, that little piece was that there was numerous dead here and not once did the local population of horses ever come back here to bury their dead, I mean how hard could it be to just take them home to bury them with their ancestors instead of having to be buried in a hole in the ground.

Going back inside I turned to the solar section of the castle and once again placed another horse skeleton onto the banner and gently dragged it outside, making sure not to disturb the skeleton anymore then it already has been and with another grave filled I went back inside to retrieve another skeletal remains and the process being repeated several times. Once the pile of skeletons in the solar wing is gone I went to the room with the skeletal bat lion and several dead lunar horses and started to pull them out one by one, placing the lunar horses into their section of the graveyard and when I finally went back to the room I went to the closet and gently placed the couple onto the banner and gently brought them back.

I made a special section just for them. I placed the father to the right and the mother to the left, and as for the young foal that died inside the mother, I slowly removed the little one from its mother and placed the foal between the two and then started to shovel dirt on top of them. I let a single tear fall down my face as I buried the family, its not something I like to do but this is the third time I had to bury somebodies family and it never gets easier when it there is a child involved.

Taking off my helmet I used the back of my hand to clean the salt water from my face I slipped it back on before continuing my grisly work, this part of the job never gets easy, burying the dead of homesteaders and civilians is a role all Militia must partake in because we know that we are all brothers and sisters in bonds and blood.

'May you find rest and peace in the afterlife patriarch, matriarch and child. May none disturb your eternal rest beside your gods.'

Walking back inside the castle I turned to the right and entered the lunar wing and began my burial work once more. I don't know why but when I started to bury the moon horses I felt a twinge of pain and sadness come across me every time I come across a skeleton and whenever I grabbed one and moved it onto the banner I felt loneliness...I don't know I have these feelings or why they are just now showing up.

Trying to shrug off the strange feelings that are just now bubbling up to the surface I went back to working on removing the dead from their crumpled heaps and piles and to send them outside to receive their final rest. Another skeleton here, another grave out there, a group of bones there, a row of holes out there and the cycle of clearing the dead continues on until the lunar wing is cleared of them.

Once all of the dead have been buried I eat the last of the nutria-grain bar and got the second one ready for tomorrow morning, and taking a look at my internal clock I saw that it was just barely time for me to get some sleep so returning to the lunar wing and once the door to the moon ruler's room is closed behind me I stripped myself of my armor, got out of the under-layer supportive garments and was in my boxer-briefs and got under the moth-touched sheets and gently placed my head on the pillow before steadily falling asleep. But as I do so the sounds of a girl's gentle laughter filled the room and it only got closer and louder as my eyelids got heavier and heavier until I was in a deep sleep and the gentle laughter was all around me again.

"Please...help me......PLEASE!"

Moving lethargically I let out a groan and slowly moved under the bed sheets, my hands coming to my face to rub the sleep away as I feel the faint rays of the sunlight hitting the bed and heating up all the sheets on it. With a loud and long groan I slowly pulled myself up and out of the bed, every muscle in my body burning for a few seconds before subsiding and with a mighty crack coming from my back and with a moan of sweet release I get out of my bed and slowly shambled into the bathroom and to my surprise the one sink that is leveled with me actually works. Waiting for all the foul water to filter its way out and after what felt like six minutes of strange gunk spewing out I finally saw actual clean water and I used said water to wake myself up and to splash myself in the face. Looking around for anything to use I found that there is a bar of soap but when I touched the small rectangular thing it simply turned into dust.

Sighing in defeat for even the smallest of things I walk out of the bathroom and walked over to my undersuit and with a bit of a sleepy grumble from me I zipped myself up then walked into my armored leather gear before putting my helmet on and with a sealing click I begin my day by walking out of the castle and into the courtyard to see my Atlas still petting the bat lion.

But what caught my attention was that the bat lion wasn't paying attention to me or growling in my general direction.

No, instead it was looking at the front gate and standing underneath the rusty portcullis was a zebra wearing a worn cloak with the hood down, Zecora the Zebra and she had what I think is a saddle on her back...my guess that is their version of a backpack or a satchel. With a wave from me she started to trot her way in making sure to avoid the graveyard I had set up and when she walked past the bat lion it snapped at her but when I glared at it my Atlas gave it a hard pet which forced it to let out a yelp but it didn't do anything out of fear of being crushed.

Once she was in front of me I kneeled down and gave her a hug of sorts, seeing how I have no idea on how to properly hug one of these small horses yet nor do I know if I am doing something wrong or touching a bad place. What I did not expect was for her to return the hug and stepped back away from me to wave her hoof at the gate, signaling for whoever is back there to come out.

And low and behold it was a group of six horses of varying colors, types and height and they were slowly trotting over to us. I saw an orange horse wearing a cowboy hat, a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, a purple unicorn with varying shades of purple mane, white unicorn with a spring styled purple mane, pink horse with an even pinker colored mane and lastly a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane, and all of them are wearing saddles of sorts and they look like they just woke up.

'Were they camping outside of my home?'

Looking at the six horses making their way through the courtyard I stared at my Atlas who stopped petting the bat lion in mid stride before fixing his rotating eyes on the six of them, right hand hovering just above the head and it must have unnerved them quite a bit to see a piercing bright blue gaze staring at you while remaining motionless, just waiting for a mistake to be made.

"So umm....hello?" and with a weak sheepish smile under my helmet I waved at them hoping that none of them scream at the alien waving at the natives.

What I did not expect was for the pink horse in the group to wave back at me with an extreme amount of enthusiasm.

Meet the Neighbors

View Online

Now when you wave at someone and they wave back that usually means a conversation is about to happen, but when your on a planet that you have no idea on the language or how to interact with the local population but seeing how a pink horse is bouncing in place and waving at me what is so far nonstop because for the past three minutes not ONCE did she stop. I think this horse is hyperactive to the extreme, at least she seems happy about being hyper, not many people can say that because they usually get scolded at because they don't settle down or calm the hell down.

Standing up after hugging my zebra friend I looked at the six horses, wondering how they found me and why they are here I turned to my small zebra friend and saw that she was busy looking at my Atlas kneeling beside the bat lion but when my attention went back to the six horses I saw that were coming closer in my absence of sight but when my head was looking back in their general direction and they stopped in their tracks. That was when the small lump of purple on the purple unicorn's back began to move, I thought it was part of her mane but when I saw it move and wobble on its own I then thought it might be a growth or a tumor, but I was proven wrong again when I saw it uncurl itself into a distinctive shape of a humanoid-like body with the exception that it is smaller, more round, is purple and green, and that it looks like a overgrown iguana.

'Huh...seems like they are curious about me but I really want to know how they found me...'

Last Night

Spike's POV

"So tell me again Twilight why must I come with you girls on this trip to find this diamond dog?" I said with a bit of a yawn, I was just woken up from my well deserved nap after working all day for my big sister, Twilight, and just when I was getting to the good part of my dream where I was fighting off Discord to save my beloved Rarity, I get woken up by Twilight for some big important mission.

With a grumble and a groan I had rolled from my cozy basket and stood up while stretching, feeling a few of my spines straighten out while popping, one particular spine took a bit of encouraging to right itself and when it did I felt a sigh of relief escape my lips as I hunched a bit and let the great feeling pass through me before getting yanked off the ground and placed onto my older sister's back and directly onto the saddle that was placed there.

"How many times must I tell you Spike?" Twilight says while trying to sound professional even though she looks like she hasn't slept in days.

"As many times as it takes for me to fully wake up?" I quip as I practically feel Twilight roll her eyes and with that eye-rolling she trotted downstairs and made her way out the front door with me in tow.

And just like that we were out the front door and out in the middle of the night with not a soul to be seen with the exception of a bouncing pink pony with a saddle on her back and a helmet with a flashlight attached to it on her head. Standing beside our loveable pink friend was our dependable friends Applejack and Rainbow Dash, somehow managing to wake her up at night seems much easier then trying to wake her up during the day. Arriving behind the two mares is the rest of the gang, Rarity and Fluttershy with saddles on their backs as well seeing how that we would probably be camping out there for the night and maybe a few more if it takes us longer then usual to find this elusive dog.

"Alright girls, do you all have what you are going to need for this trip?" the other mares gave a few nods, Pinkie giving the most since she was bouncing around all of us while Rainbow Dash was lazily hovering above us, trying to go back to sleep but from a tug on her tail by Pinkie she was forced to wake up again.

"Okay, I know this may seem odd that I called all of you out here especially since Winter-Wrap Up is just a few days away and that its already getting cold." Twilight said as I put on my new scarf that Rarity made for me and a pair of fuzzy gloves.

"Uh yea Twilight, why are we exactly out here, I was busy resting up for tomorrow." The Dash said as she landed beside Applejack who was busy trying hard not to yawn but a small one managed to escape while Rarity was busy putting on a fashionable yet cozy looking hoof booties.

"Well I know that you all must have heard about that Diamond Dog that Applebloom brought into Ponyville yesterday right and we partially chased before losing sight of I think is a male dog at the lake. We know that for the most part he is different from almost all the other diamond dogs because from what Applebloom told me the other day that he has somehow befriended Zecora and well she thought it was safe to bring him back."

"Ah still don't get why she thought it would be a good idea to bring one of those mutts here." I nodded at what Applejack just said as I reached into Twilight's saddle and pulled out a comic book, thinking that by catching up on my reading that all this would just simply blow over.

"Apparently she wanted his help to get their cutie marks." I facepalmed, I knew those three have been busy trying to get their cutie marks but this is just getting foolish.

"I still don't get why we have to do this now instead of in the morning, this cold is going to damage my mane!" Rarity whined a bit, I know I shouldn't be saying this but you don't have to worry about dying easily in this cold. Just in case if it does get any colder then it is now I put on my knitted sweater that Twilight Velvet sent me last year as a present on Hearth's Warming Eve.

It took these girls at least ten minutes to stop talking about what they heard and what they saw when the diamond dog came to town, I know I could care less because I was busy trying to sort the books in the library but once they were done they all started to trot off out of town toward the Everfree Forest.

Once we were off I had to get a hold on Twilight for balance and I had to put away my comic book because at the rate these girls were moving I might accidentally lose this.

You know that feeling you get when you enter a creepy building or when your reading a spooky story just before going to bed or even going into a creepy dark forest known for having dangerous monsters that are well known for tearing ponies limb from limb. Well I got that feeling because all seven of us just went into the Everfree as if it wasn't haunted or filled with manticores and timber wolves.

"Sooo tell me Twilight why you decided that we must search the Everfree Forest first instead of Ghastly Gorge or even that one Diamond Dog hidey hole that we know of?" I said hoping that at least one of the girls would stop and think on what I just said, put the pieces together and then get an idea to check those safe places first but sadly none of them agreed with me.

"Because Spike we got Applebloom to tell us that the diamond dog was at Zecora's place and seeing how that is in the Everfree we have to check that place first, and besides I doubt that Zecora would just brush us off on this once." and with that we continued on moving through the brush and trees before finally coming up to the lonesome hut.

With a knock from Applejack we all waited patiently for our zebra friend to show up and when she did Twilight told her why we are here and to my surprise Zecora looked shocked because she was honestly not expecting us to be looking for the elusive dog that has 'Terrorized' Ponyville the other day even though he was trying to run away from the cutie mark crusaders. I mean who wouldn't? They have been known to wreck things in their pursuit for a cutie mark, and even I know what they are good at, they just can't seem to see it.

After Twilight told Zecora why we were here and where we could find the diamond dog, Zecora agreed to tell us where to look and also wanted to come with us. I don't know why she wanted to follow us but hey, that's her thing if she wanted to come see an ordinary dog wearing strange feather back armor.

And off we are again but this time following the lead of one Zecora the Zebra, she had to pack a saddle for the trip stating that traveling in the Everfree Forest can be dangerous even with the right precautions and I have to say that she is right, cause we almost ran into a pack of timber wolves and just narrowly avoided bumping into them and if it wasn't for Zecora we would have become wolf meat.

"So Zecora, any idea why a diamond dog would stay all the way out here?"

"Maybe he has been exiled from beneath the stone, to be up here all alone."

With that being said we moved in silence, not one of us talking or making much noise and it wasn't before long before we showed up to a large, empty clearing in the forest, the center of the clearing was made of cooled glass. As we looked at the empty space I hopped off Twilight and walked over to a spot on the ground that is darker then the rest and when I stopped just right above it I leaned down a bit and dug my claw right into it and after I swiveled my claw in it for a good second or two, and as soon as I yanked it out I smelled something akin to iron and when I flicked my tongue out to taste it...it was simply repulsive to say the least.

"Spike, what did I tell you about tasting things that you don't know about."

"You don't need to remind me Twilight, tastes pretty bad to begin with." I said before mumbling about it tasting like Rainbow Dash's dirty sweatbands.

As we all looked around to see what was once here Zecora went to the center of the glass circle and started to mess with the darker shade of brown with a hoof, seems like she is trying to figure out where to go next or where the diamond dog went cause he was obviously here at some point in time.

It wasn't before long that we left the clearing and followed what looked like a long path of destruction made by something very large. I don't know what else could possibly make a mess like this besides a pack of manticore or a hydra but whatever it is, it must be huge!

Hopping back on Twilight's back all eight of us went through the wreckage of greens, climbing over crushed bushes and broken tree branches and we did this until we came across a river with running water that looked like it would be at least twenty hooves deep. And for those outside of Equestria that doesn't use our system of measurements, that would be two meters deep and if your really, really finicky about it, six point five six one feet...wow I really am a nerd.

"So umm...Twilight, any ideas on how to get across?" I said while looking at the running water, I knew it was running because when I looked upstream I saw it falling from the rapids and also that just from looking down at the water it was moving very fast. Maybe if I had some spare paper on me I could make a small sailboat and see how fast it is going.

Looking at Rainbow Dash I saw her hover just barely over the water, trying to look at her own reflection but seeing how the water is distorting it beyond belief she just lets out a huff flicking her mane a bit before coming back onto dry land.

"We can always just ask Steven Magnet to help us across like we did last time." I raised my eyebrows at that, I don't know who she is talking about but the sound of that name probably means some stallion she met...and he better have been nice to her or otherwise I might introduce him to lefty and righty!

"Who?" honestly that name sounds like a strange pony who has an obsession with magnets.

"Oh right, you weren't with us when we took down Nightmare Moon." and before I could ask just who this guy is from the corner of my eye I saw something very long and very purple come swimming up the river only to stop right in front of us.

And at that moment my thoughts of introducing him to lefty and righty were quickly dashed away from the sheer height of Steven Magnet, he is literally towering over all eight of us.

Anyways after talking to Steven Magnet, the Everfree Free River Serpent, we were allowed to across the river by using his back as a bridge, and apparently this was the second dragon that Fluttershy isn't afraid of seeing how I am the first that didn't make her lock up tighter then Rarity's gem lockbox, if only I can find the key that unlocks it...

Going back up the river we found where the path of destruction had ended on the other side and began on this side and it is safe to say that this beast surely did not stop for anything, even when wet it sure as tartarus didn't convince it to slow down and take a breather. I don't know about most ponies from the book on the Everfree Forest that I read that one time Twilight was out with her friends fighting Discord, I saw somewhere a passage that said that following anything within the Everfree Forest is a guaranteed way to get lost or eaten, and seeing how we are doing just that I had to make a mental note to tell Twilight just before we get mauled by a manticore or a timber wolf 'I told you so', just maybe I can get a chance to enjoy the feeling of being right for a second before imminent death.

"Are we there yet?" I said while reading one of my many comic books that I brought with me that was wearing a protective plastic cover to keep it safe from the world.

"No." was Twilight's response, and she had a good reason to, we didn't even get to the part where Pinkie supposedly laughed at the trees to make them go back to normal.

And after ten minutes have passed by and we found nothing but the creepy trees that Pinkie laughed at and flying moths the size of my head...why are they so big?

"Are we there yet now?" I asked as I flipped a page on my second comic book, Marevel versus Coltcom and so far it is an interesting read.

"Not yet Spike." Pinkie said as she was bouncing backwards, somehow managing to not hit a tree in the process.

As soon as it reached an hour of trotting through dense bushes, dark trees, and stepping into large hoofprints in the mud I just to ask again.

"How 'bout now?" It is truly amazing how many comic books a dragon can go through when they are absolutely bored out of their mind.

"No!" all six mares shouted as Zecora laughed behind her hoof, clearly enjoying the fact that I have little patience when it comes to being in this accursed forest.

"Actually my draconic friend, we are almost near the end." Zecora said and with a sigh of relief from all seven of us we continued to move on with the exception of me because if I was walking beside them then this would take forever.

I expected us to be relatively close to where the diamond dog is hiding out and I was thinking it would be a freshly made cave in the ground but I was not expecting us to cross an old rickety bridge that looks like it has seen better days. The old rope bridge even had some wooden planks missing and the rope holding it all together looked frayed and is about to snap at any sign of a sudden weight shift.

In all I did not look happy that we had to cross the bridge let alone go over a bridge that was built a thousand years ago, and a thousand year old bridge built over a canyon that even I can't see the bottom.

"So Twilight...you crossed this bridge?" I said as I let out a dry swallow, I really do not want to cross this bridge but seeing how Twilight is adamant about this it really leaves me no choice but to cross this bridge but with my eyes closed, its not the fact that I hate old rickety bridges but I just have a slight...tiny...fear of heights.

And without even telling me that we are she took one step on the bridge and immediately we heard the bridge creak rather loudly and I prayed to Celestia that this bridge does not collapse underneath us at the worst possible moment.

Muttering to myself I clung tightly to my big sis, my claws digging a bit into her fur and I felt just the tips of them brushing against the skin under it and to my surprise Twilight seemed to be ignoring it or not noticing the fact that I am gripping onto her for dear life while keeping my eyes clenched tightly and it wasn't before long that we made it to the other side and once we made it to dry land I slid off the lavender unicorn and proceeded to kiss the ground for only a second before thanking Celestia that I lived.

Before I climb back onto Twilight's back the rest of the girls crossed the bridge with the exception of Rainbow Dash because she just flew across and was waiting for all of us to get to the other side.

"Alright girls, just a little bit further and we will be back at the castle."

"So do you really think this diamond dog is all the way out here?"

"I have a ninety percent guarantee that he is going to be here."

"And what about the other ten percent?"

"Well five percent chance he might be hiding in Froggy Bottom Bog and a four point nine percent he is hiding in Ghastly Gorge."

"And that point one percent?"

"Probably hiding out in Ponyville somewhere we rarely see or visit."

And it was with that lone comment that made me wonder just exactly we haven't looked in Ponyville first instead of checking the spooky scary forest that has been known to eat ponies if they ever get lost within its dark and cold depths.

Sighing as quietly as I could I just sit there with my arms crossed as we start to move again but we stopped when we heard the sound of the bridge creaking and groaning and in a slow, agonizing moment, the bridge we just crossed snapped at our end as it fell down and slammed into the side of the canyon and two seconds later the two ropes holding it together on the opposite side creaked before snapping as well. With the bridge gone we are not stranded on this side of the forest, that is unless we want to go all the way around just to return home.

"Alright, so who has a map of the Everfree Forest we can possibly use to get us out of here without being eaten by the local wildlife?" I say in an almost sarcastic tone, I knew that coming out here was a bad idea and even when I voiced my concerns about this it went unheard and seeing how we are now stranded I can now safely say that I called it.

Hearing Twilight grumble under her breath as she trotted forward, following Zecora as she shook her head at us for taking too long and from the now plain as day howling that all of us can hear, we picked up the pace unless we wanted to be timber wolf food. Wondering what time it is I pulled out my small watch that I brought with me as it told me that it was almost midnight, and I could have been asleep at home the entire time in a nice warm basket with a fluffy blanket.

It was almost an hour later that we finally arrived at the castle but when Zecora poked her head past the gate she quickly pulled back and said we should camp out here for the night and when we asked why, all she said was manticore and giant beast.

I don't know about you ponies but when those two words are in the same sentence I tend think that coming on this trip is a bad idea.

After we all agreed to not enter the castle at this hour because of what Zecora saw and was later confirmed by Twilight and Applejack so we all set up camp right outside the walls. I know I said this before so I am going to say this again, this is not safe, this is a bad idea, and that I called it.

Once all of our tents have been set up I moved into Twilights as well as Zecora, seeing how Twilight made her tent big enough to fit four of us, and Pinkie had Fluttershy bunking with her, Applejack and Rainbow Dash sleeping together which isn't much a surprise for me, seeing how the rumors are floating around about those two. And lastly we got Rarity sleeping in her own tent, and I was gonna ask if I could join her but sadly she was already sound asleep so there goes my chance at trying to get on her good side.

Morning

Being poked awake is not something I am not used to but it still fairly rude to wake up a sleeping dragon even though the one being woken up is still considered a baby or a child. Either or I don't really care which I am I just wanted to get a few more hours of sleep since we were woken up to the sound of a manticore roaring quite loudly and the sound that Fluttershy made when she woke up was priceless.

Trying to snap Fluttershy out from her daze took us ten minutes out of our lives and when she did finally come back to us she was shaking like a leaf on the day of the running of the leaves, probably a pun was in there somewhere but I digress, it was funny to watch Rainbow Dash and Pinkie try to calm her down and bring her back to us.

"So this is it...a big scary manticore and a giant whatever-it-is monster waiting just on the other side of this gate?" I tried to keep my voice from cracking but at the sheer thought of having to face a manticore that probably has something larger then itself 'owning' it as a pet...it does not bode well for my continued existence if it decides to unleash its 'pet' on us.

Looking at every single pony here I saw that they all looked nervous except for Zecora for some reason, she never really explained to us why she knows this dog or what their relationship is but I am not one to pry into private matters, that is Twilight and Rarity's job, and to top it off why does she seem to happy? Are those two dating or something?

It didn't take long for everypony to take their tents down and have them put away within their saddles and before any of us could eat some breakfast Zecora was already trotting inside.

Before any of us could try to stop her or even tell her to wait up for the rest of us, she was trotting into what appeared to be a courtyard of sorts but when I saw the rows upon rows of half-flanked built tombstones constructed out of sticks and helmets I then thought of it more of a graveyard. Zecora stopped trotting for a moment to look at all of the graves that has been constructed but then she went back to moving, ignoring the growling manticore and giant armored creature for better or for worse I don't know and I can't really say otherwise but it seems she has this all figured out.

That is until the manticore snapped at her and before any of us could spring into action to pull her back to us we all heard it yelp as the giant armored beast pressed down on it a little too hard and we all let out a sigh of relief because the manticore backed down and whimpered in defeat, I guess Zecora knows the thing in the armor as well.

Seeing how that the manticore has been subdued for the moment all seven of us slowly started to make our way inside, I can say that this place looks like a dump, the walls are all broken or cracked, the rust on the gate is plain as day, the grass is wild and unruly, no plants to speak of and lastly there is a strange looking diamond dog kneeling down and hugging Zecora...

Wait...what?

As the two broke their hug she turned back a bit and waved for us to come forward, apparently she wanted us to greet this dog and with a bit of apprehension from most of us we moved onward, I decided to hide partially behind Twilight's currently ill-kept mane just to see what is going to happen between my friends and big sister, and the diamond dog, minotaur I think and lastly the now whimpering manticore.

Once we were inside the castle's courtyard slash graveyard, we all looked around to see if there is anything on interest but that was mainly on the diamond dog watching us and the giant armored minotaur with no horns petting the manticore, that is until it stopped petting said pet and that was when we all saw something we weren't expecting.

The upper center of the minotaur's chestplate had what looks like a small group of icy blue eyes, the largest of the group is at least twice the size of a hoof, second largest is hoof shaped and the other two are roughly the same, probably the size of marbles and then there was that larger blue eye that was almost on top of it, it was pretty creepy just looking at it. Then there is its body...multi-jointed metal legs, I see a bunch of nuts and bolts screwed into its arms and legs, strange bars all over its body and odd metal plates with holes in them placed in confusing locations.

Just what kind of madpony would even create such a monstrosity.

"So umm....hello?" I was not expecting the diamond dog to speak let alone sound so...young? I am using that in the correct context cause I was honestly surprised that the dog before us is not only alone but also sounds like he is in his mid-teenager years. He waved at us and I don't know why but Pinkie waved back, I guess there are some thing that everypony knows what it means so I can guess that this one dog is friendly.

After I heard him speak up I removed myself from Twilight's mane and oddly enough I saw the dog turn from the ponies around me and focused squarely on me, it feels strange because I can't see his face let alone what he is facial expression is since diamond dogs are pretty easy to read.

I was expecting Twilight, Fluttershy or even Pinkie Pie to say hello back but they just looked at him funny for a while, maybe he was speaking a language that none of the ponies understand but I know what it is clear as day.

Anthony's POV

Looking back at what must be a baby dragon or possibly an out-of-water river serpent I can see that its body is far larger then its stubby limbs so my guess of it being a river serpent can't be too far off.

Shrugging a bit I turned my attention back to the six mares standing next to and around the baby dragon as I waited for a response to be made and what felt like a minute I tried again.

"Uh, can any of you understand me?" I asked almost quietly but loud enough for all of them to hear me with the exception of the manticore who is still laying there beside my Atlas.

I was expecting the lavender unicorn mare now wearing a pair of egghead glasses to talk to me but when she did all I heard was horse sounds and noises, there was alot of neighing and whinnies so all of that was lost on me, that is until the little baby dragon standing in the middle of all those pony ladies started to talk my theory of mythical lizards can understand me. He actually had to wave at me to get my attention before he started to talk and he was the only one I was able to understand.

"Yea, I can understand you...I think, do you know what I am saying big dog?" the little dragon said and with a bit on an unease smile on his face I can tell he has no idea if anything got through to me.

And just like that I grew a new fondness for mythical creatures in the world and for a very good reason. He is the most adorable and cuddly looking being I have ever seen, he might as well be one of those stuffed animals you find in the claw machine that you discover at bowling alleys or at the mall. Not only does this dragon understand the words coming out of my mouth but he also called me a big dog, I knew that one day that somebody will call me that instead of calling me the guy with the big long gun and the thin body aka the glass cannon.

"Oh good, for a moment there I thought I was gonna have to draw everything I had to say again just like what I do with Zecora here. So little dragon, what is your name?" I said sheepishly before lowering myself to his height, trying to not look intimidating to any of them besides Zecora since she already knows what I look like beneath this helmet.

"My name is Spike, what is your name big dog?" and with an extension of his arm I saw that he was going for a handshake and this was the moment I was waiting for.

"My name is Anthony, and I am not a diamond dog, not sure why everyone thinks I am one." extending my own arm out to meet his I grasped his tiny, scaly hand and gave it an easy shake in fear that if I put all my strength into it I might accidentally crush every bone in his hand.

This is the moment humanity has been waiting for, sadly there are no other humans to witness this moment and to send it out for all to see.

"If your not a diamond dog then what are you? Not to sound rude and all buddy but you pretty much look like one." the little dragon asked me with an inquisitive look, I know that nobody on this planet knows what I am but I can at the very least enlighten these seven ponies and one baby dragon what I am, why I am here and most important of all, do they know of any plumbers or gardeners.

Waving them over I started to walk toward the castle entrance that led to the lobby and when I glanced back to see if they are following I saw that Zecora and even Spike was trying to get them to walk with me and with some convincing on Spike's part because I heard every single word he said and well...apparently even a baby dragon can be as persuasive as a high class lawyer.

"Come on girls, we came all the way out here in the most cursed and scary forest in all of Equestria just to find him and now you don't even want to know more about him? Like seriously, why the buck did we come out here if we are just going to go back with nothing in our claws or hooves to show for this misadventure." I don't know what buck means but seeing how these are ponies and mythical versions of ponies then I can think that it means 'fuck' or 'hell', but then again I have been wrong before.

With a bit of apprehension on their faces if I can call it that, they slowly started to follow me in and it took us a while but we eventually came into what is the dinning room and I had to remove the skeletons that was in here with the exception of a skull that couldn't be removed from the table because it was melted to it. Pulling the chairs out I went about doing so with some leisure because they were taking their time to get here and as soon as they arrived the chairs are all out, mine included, and that I was waiting patiently for them to make their way to their seats.

Once they sat down I helped push a few in, the rainbow maned pegasus and the orange normal pony with the cowboy hat did it themselves and seeing how the rainbow one looked a bit miffed for some reason I did not try to press my luck with helping her so I just let it be for now and moved on with the rest of the mares. The white unicorn seemed to like me for pushing her chair in for her when she sat down in it but sadly I couldn't understand a word she said cause it came out as horse sounds, and Spike just glared at me and I just shrugged before moving onto the buttercream pegasus who was shaking in her seat but seemed to have calmed down just a tad bit to the point where the shaking isn't so visible. The purple unicorn and the vibrating with energy pink pony took their own seats and pushed it in a bit but from the corner of my eye the pink pony is trying to hold something in, my guess is she is holding in all that abundant energy or is trying to say something but can't seem to without it coming out wrong...that or she just has gas, I don't know.

"So Anthony, you said you weren't a diamond dog earlier, just what exactly are you then?" the young dragon asks me and trying to put it lightly without blowing his mind and possibly the minds of the other ponies around the table.

Looking at the lavender unicorn who was still wearing the nerdy glasses and had a notepad and quill out and was apparently writing something down, I don't know if she can understand me or not but what I do know is that she looks like a complete nerd. I bet she even lives in a book shaped building.

"Well, from outer appearance alone I look like what you would call a diamond dog but underneath all of this armor is actually not a diamond dog, but a human." and with that said Spike just looks at me in confusion and I knew that he would have no idea or a clue on what a human is let alone what one looks like.

Watching the little dragon tell the purple unicorn what I just said I watched her scribble something down and that is when she speaks up only for it to come out as whinnies and neighing and I could only tilt my head at her in wonder, trying to figure out what she just said.

"Uh Spike, what did the purple one just say?"

It took Spike at least a second or two to get what I was saying before snickering a bit.

"Oh right, I forgot to let the girls introduce themselves." and before I could interrupt the little lizard the six mares started their introductions in order from left to right but sadly I couldn't understand a word.

Staring at all six mares I just scratched my head and tilted it to the side and it took Spike and the rest of them a while to get done but when they finished up they expected me to say something but I just went on ahead and said what was on my mind.

"Spike, I know that they all just talked about themselves for a while now but I have nary a clue on what they all said. I saw their lips move but all I heard was strange noises and whinnies." and just like that there was silence and then Spike started to snicker quietly under his breath but sadly he couldn't hold it together and started to laugh out loud.

Waiting patiently for him to stop I just sat there staring at him and when it was just him laughing all it took the hoof to the back of the head from a lavender unicorn sitting right next to him to get him to stop. I know that might be a bit rude but still though to be the only person to understand a foreign person's language and than hear from said person what they heard on their end well...I don't really know.

Rubbing the back of his he scowls a bit at the purple mare before getting rid of that angry look and opted to replace it with a somewhat unhappy pout.

"Alright, well the purple unicorn is Twilight Sparkle-" I suppressed a snicker, "- the orange earth pony with the Stetson hat is Applejack-" another snicker suppressed "-pink earth pony is Pinkie Pie-" my suppression of laughter is starting to falter " the white lovely unicorn is Rarity" snickering fal--....lovely? The hell? "-the cyan pegasus with the wild rainbow mane is Rainbow Dash and the yellow timid pegasus is Fluttershy, who is very timid and is currently hiding behind Applejack...again." at this point I was both trying so hard not to laugh and trying to figure out their names and its correspondence with their colors and butt tattoos.

"I see..." I really didn't see anything but then again these ponies did look adorable, with the bright colorful coats and wide, expressive eyes they did look quite cute and adorable, now if only there was a way to weaponize cuteness.

"So Spike, these friends of yours, what do they do for a living?" I said as I mulled over what each of these mares could possibly do for a living on this world, seeing how everything here looks like it belongs in the medieval ages.

"Well Twilight is the town's librarian, Applejack owns and works at Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity is a fashion designer, Fluttershy takes care of the local wildlife that comes her way, Rainbow Dash works as a member of the weather crew, and Pinkie Pie works at the local bakery." and with that being said I now had a clear palette to paint these ponies with.

Looking at the ponies I can clearly see them working as the very thing Spike just told me, and the funny thing is the purple unicorn really does fit the librarian card with the exception that she isn't wearing the hot librarian skirt, tight shirt and low square glasses with her hair in a tight bun.

'Wow I really need to keep my fantasies in check.'

"Hmm..."

"Yes Spike? What are you wondering because that 'hmm' could be quite a few questions that have yet to be asked." I think I might have just said something in a sagely manner, or I an way that just confused the hell out of him but hey, can't get worse then it already is right?

"I was just wondering who is that big minotaur that is outside petting the manticore? I mean he didn't say anything or even make a sound when he saw us...well I think it is a he." Spike said and I immediately knew exactly who he was talking about.

Slightly leaning back in my chair I barked out a laugh before turning on my throat-mic and telling my Atlas to come inside and to stand beside me. This room we all are in is large enough for him to stand in with plenty of room to spare, I don't know why these ponies would make a castle this large seeing how small they are but I can only guess they're must be much larger species out there.

As these ponies and young dragon wondered I let out a sharp laugh the ground beneath my feet and their hooves and claws started to rumble with short bursts of rumbling and it wasn't long before my Atlas walked through the double doors and walked around the long table before stopping behind me.

"To answer your question Spike, it isn't a he, neither is it a she. This, Spike, this is a machine, one manufactured by my people for a purpose that I can not freely say at the time being but I can say that this beautiful piece of human engineering is powered by a small piece of the planet's core." as I started to talk about my Atlas I saw Spike try to tell the lavender unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, everything I am saying and from the banter between the two I can see that he is somewhat screwing up in relaying the news.

"This colossal of a machine stands proudly at twenty-four feet tall and weighs exactly twenty ton without its weapon and twenty point four tons with its defensive armament. Standing before you is the Atlas model Titan, this fine piece of military and civilian hardware was created with the Frontier in mind for the purpose of assistance in construction of new buildings or to fend off against the hostile wildlife. This particular model though I have personally upgraded and altered to be user friendly and for it to be more safe for myself." I said as I smiled at the first thing I got for my Atlas, a form-fitting soft chair that comes with a warmer built into it so I can sleep comfortably when I am forced to stay inside during a lull in combat.

It took the little dragon a while to process everything I just said and even more time to tell that to the lavender unicorn but in the end he had this to say.

"So its a he then?" I just had to laugh a bit at that one.

"No, not really, machines don't have genders but depending on the person they sometimes give them a personality that implies a gender but for myself, this Atlas is a she, and I have taken to calling her Tabi." and as I said that I heard alongside with everyone else in the room my Atlas talk.

"You know I do not like to be called by that name Anthony." my Atlas spoke in a European accent, Russian to be precise.

I love her voice, it sounds hot and rough and that she always knows when to talk at just the right moment, especially when I was talking to Ingrid and I was about to ask her out for some private time.

Tabi can be such a cockblocker at times.

"Yea I know that, but what should I call you then? Not by your serial number cause that is way to long."

"You could just call me Lisa you know."

"But I like Tabi better."

"I know that but I prefer to be called Lisa."

"Fine...but you better stop waking me up at the worst possible times just for a confirmation code whenever you update your drive cores. That is annoying enough as is." truth be told updating a Titan's driver core is a pain in the ass, especially if it was damaged because you have to account for damaged data or corrupted streams of memory.

As I got back to asking Spike about what he had for questions since he had to be a proxy for his pony friend since I can't understand their pony language.

"Twilight is asking what is your cutie mark and what it represents." Spike said as I looked at him in confusion.

"What the hell is a cutie mark?" I asked as I scratched the back of my head, my eyes shifting over to Pinkie who is still vibrating in her chair, how she hasn't exploded yet is beyond me.

"You know, the thing that represents what you are really good at in life, your natural calling." Ooooh, now that makes perfect sense.

"Oh, that sounds nice, your job in life is the thing your best at but aren't there multiple people that have the same job? Won't their cutie marks look exactly the same?" and now it was Spike's turn to laugh at my question.

"Oh no man, I am sure there are plenty of jobs out there that are all the same, plenty of ponies got the same type of occupation but their cutie mark will always be slightly different from one another that and not everypony looks exactly the same, different coat colors, eye colors and mane colors will set them apart." Spike explained and that helped cleared up at least two other questions I had loaded up and it also filled in some information for my knowledge codex within my Atlas and armor's intel compartment.

"Thanks for explaining that to me Spike, that had me confused for a bit and if I was going to try and figure it out I don't know how long it would have taken."

"No problem...oh and Twilight is still asking me if you have a cutie mark and what it means, she seems to be pretty interested in it because she doesn't know what you are or what you even do for a living." that purple unicorn seems pretty adamant on trying to figure out what my job is and if I have a cutie mark.

I don't know if a tattoo of the Marauder Corps on my back counts or a tattoo of a Dragon's skull with a knife stabbed into it on my neck would even mean anything but seeing how this land has the thing of 'Tattoo makes the Pony' so I could tell them I am a soldier or a dragon slayer, either of the two are true but the dragon slayer was a long shot, I didn't even know that dragon would eat that grenade.

Just winging it I decided to go with the one on my back, I rather not scare the crap out of Spike and tell him I go around killing dragons every day.

"Well its not much of a job but out of necessity, I am a soldier for the Frontier Militia." and what a job that is...fresh out of high school, working as a janitor for the IMC and the first thing that happens is that it gets fire bombed and destroyed by the Militia and I get branded as a traitor but was released because lack of evidence, my town gets raided for harboring a few members of the attack and I get conscripted into the Militia since I was one of few homesteaders still alive in the area, meet some new people, trained to become a Pilot, killed some people, met Ingrid, got my own Titan, started dating Ingrid...just so much stuff to really think about at the moment.

Watching Twilight scribble something down on her notebook I look back to Spike who seems to have another question from the lavender unicorn.

"She is also asking what exactly did you do for this 'Militia', I didn't want to ask it cause I think it is something private and all but she is determined to find out, sorry."

"It's alright, and besides I didn't do much I just for the most part acted as a recon unit or as a spy, most of the time it was just laying down in one spot for hours or even days at a time while watching a bunch of people from a distance without being seen." I may not be telling them the whole truth about what I do for the Militia but I am telling them just what they need to know to get them off my back.

"You were a spy?"

"Yes, I was a spy, what does it matter to you?"

"So you wore fancy outfits and attended social gatherings and getting the mare of your dreams while living a life of danger!"

"Not really, no, more like I disguised myself as an enemy Pilot and walked around while trying not to blow my cover while I gathered information on what the opposition has at the moment, how strong they are and if they have reinforcements coming. On most days it was just boring to the point where I had to actively fight myself from falling asleep." I said as I messed with my hair a bit, playing around with a few strands as Spike relays what I just said to Twilight who then repeats what he just said so the rest of her friends can understand what is going on.

For the most part everything was going great, no one was trying to kill the other, no yelling matches, just a calm talk between aliens trying to lay the groundwork for peace.

Three Hours Later

"-and that was how I escaped from the military police when my extraction ship left without me." I finished my tale as Spike told everyone else my story, truth be told I find it nice to be able to tell someone else my life stories without being judged for picking a side.

Spike seemed to be completely entranced by all of the missions I undertaken throughout my carrier as a recon sniper for the Frontier Militia, it was made even better when the pink pony moved from her seat and came closer to me and just like Spike she seems to be enraptured with my stories. The cyan pegasus seems to taking my story with a grain of salt alongside with the orange pony, the yellow winged pony is still scared of me as for the white unicorn seems to be looking at my armor with some sort of disdain.

If you don't like synthetic leaf and twig camouflage on top of hard leather and plastic steel then you can go fuck yourself, this mishmash of armor saved my life on more then one occasion.

"Wow! That is amazing!" Spike said and I can safely say that Pinkie Pie said the same thing.

"I know, I was there, then there was this one time I took my girlfriend on a date to a carnival and her brother was following us the entire time and when we finally got to the photo-booth to take our pictures he broke in and proceeded to fight me. The booth got the whole thing on a single roll of film and we left before the police arrived, it was nice while it lasted." I sighed, my mind going back to all the fun times I had with Ingrid, that girl really brightened up life to the point where my nightmares were for the most part ignorable but that I am here in this world away from both the IMC and the Militia...I just don't know anymore.

As time went on and more questions were asked and answered it soon got to the point where we all knew each other fairly well enough to get a feel for what we like or don't like, and the friendly-brotherly relation between me and Spike was almost on level with the one I had with my brother with the exception that Spike is a living zippo lighter. I was actually amazed that Spike was able to breath fire because I always thought that baby dragons couldn't breath fire until they were older, glad I was proven wrong cause I hate spiders so much, my Atlas could have zapped it but it might have hit me as well. Another thing I learned about Spike and his fire-breathing ability is that if he concentrates he can make it send things to someone else, my guess that special gift passes for instant messaging for a backwater planet but hey, at least he is using his gifts to his advantage.

By the time it was lunch time the girl ponies pulled out from their saddles the equivalent of human salads, I saw flower petals, a carrot or two, some apples, and even hay. As they ate I pulled out from small pocket on my chest the protein bar, I hated the taste of it but it was enough to stave off hunger, Spike was eating what looks to be gems but that should be impossible, then I remembered that I am no longer on a world that should make sense so I just passed it off as this world running on magic and improbability.

"So Anthony..."

"Huh?"

"I was wondering, what's it like inside that thing?" Spike said as he takes a bit out of a sapphire gem, the crunching is rather loud, something I find unsettling.

'I wonder if that even hurts when he eats that.'

"Oh you mean in the Atlas?" I said as I looked up at Tabi/Lisa, its central eye tilting to look down at me.

"Yeah, must be fun." Spike said with a sigh, I guess he wants to know what its like to be flying under his own power.

"Oh Spike, trust me, it is, especially when your dropping down in it, feels like your flying." I said as I gave my Atlas a pat on the leg.

When that conversation ended we concluded our business for the day, the ponies waved goodbye, Spike waved a bit longer then normal but I just passed it off as a kid being impressed by a peer but seeing how we just met I had to guess I was like a big-brother figure for the little guy. Zecora later came up to me and sat down on her haunches and opened up her forelegs to me and I immediately get she was requesting and I kneeled down and gave her a hug, even though I couldn't feel her fur through my armor but when my head rubbed against hers and that large mohawk of hers I felt the warmth and soft texture, it is strange how this zebra can be so soft to the touch, I guess it must be a common thing on this planet.

Walking the girls, Zecora and Spike out of my home I led them back to the wooden rickety bridge and as they crossed it I waved goodbye and when they are finally out of my field of vision I made my return back to the castle, the manticore is fast asleep and was snoring quite loudly, bad enough that it could possibly put my father's snoring to shame.

'Such nice ponies...I wonder if I should try to visit them next time instead of having them come here. This forest isn't very safe without any weapons or a means of repelling the beasts of the wilds and to keep them at bay...maybe a Dog Whistle Tower...but where would I get all the parts required to even build such a thing.'

Tapping my Atlas on the leg I watched the hatch open up and as I crawled in to take a short nap I felt a slight shiver race up my spine and I just shake it off as me being paranoid about the local wildlife trying to eat me. Closing my eyes I started to count sheep hopping over a wooden fence and that was when my thoughts turned to the sheep, wondering if they were sentient like the ponies here.

Ignoring that thought I slowly wandered off into sleepy land and sighed happily as it started to rain pizza from the skies.

"P-please....you must help me...I don't want to be alone anymore!"

With a snort I was suddenly woken up, my Atlas blaring an alarm and when I looked to see what could possibly be the cause I saw that my heart-rate was almost skyrocketing into the red zone and that I was pushing my limits. I don't know what is the cause of this strange medical dilemma or who that voice belongs to but it is starting to haunt me.

I sure hope it isn't a ghost that is plaguing me.

Trying to go back to sleep I let my eyes close once more but this time I gave my Atlas permission to dump me onto the ground if this was to happen to me again.

'I really hope its not a ghost...I hate ghosts almost as much as I hate spiders.'

What I don't know is that as I fell asleep for a second time, my Atlas was given a short ping as something moved on its radar for a second before vanishing, it didn't register as organic or machine, nothing more then a phantom blip.

A shadow.

A Shadow in the Walls

View Online

Waking up a couple of hours later I was released from the chassis of my Atlas, the Titan looking down at me as I waved it off, yawning a bit as I cracked my back and went back into my Atlas to grab my Kraber, slinging it around my back and pushing myself out I landed softly on the dark marble floor with a weak thud.

My afternoon began with me going on a short patrol around the walls of the castle, just surveying all that I can see and almost as usual from my time watching an IMC Outpost I saw absolutely nothing of interest besides seeing a small flock of red birds flying off into the distance and my Atlas's pet manticore scratching a tree. Getting off the castle walls I ventured around the interior, seeing if I missed anything and for a while I saw some ruined portraits and destroyed carpets there was nothing out of the ordinary besides seeing a bird or two flying through the once thriving castle of ponies.

Heading to the throne room and with a cold chill taking effect I could only shake off the feeling for a while before it came back with a vengeance, my guess is that this particular part of the castle is haunted by some pony or something else that inhabits this planet.

Walking to the thrones I looked at the two again thrones but I went first to the white throne, it seems pretty wide yet short for a throne, I guess ponies don't really need a back for a throne since they sit ramrod straight like humans do, it looks like it has been broken during a fight of sorts. The black throne on the other hand seems to be perfectly intact, not a single crack or blemish or even a cobweb.

'Did someone repair this when I wasn't looking?'

As I inspected the throne I saw something that wasn't there last time I was in this room. At the base of the throne was a small indentation, two small rails just barely visible to the naked eye because of how well it is constructed, looks like this chair is meant to slide in one direction for some reason or another. Going to the other throne to see if it has the same tiny rails at the base of the throne I saw that I was correct, two small rails and putting my discovery into action I shifted over to the dark throne and with a bit of a push the throne moved on the rails and with a soft click I felt the ground slightly shift below me. Moving to the other throne I gave it a push as well and when it too moved and made the same click I heard from the dark one but this time instead of just a simple shake from the pedestal, I got instead the entire top section of the pedestal being split in half and beneath it was a long set of stairs leading to god knows where.

Turning on the lights on my ocular helmet I illuminated the dark stairwell, pulling out my knife and taser I slowly started to make my way down, wondering what exactly could be down there.

With each step down the stairs I saw cobwebs upon cobwebs and melted candles as the stairs descend into the earth, I don't know for how long this thing goes but from the obvious sights of dead candles I can guess for a fairly long way. Continuing down I started to feel at first chilled, as if something down there is generating a great deal of cold and the deeper I go the more cold I feel, soon enough I felt like I was freezing, and after ten minutes of walking down the stairs it was almost like being in deep space without a pressurized suit.

'Jesus...what the hell is causing all this?'

Putting my weapons away I moved my hands onto my arms, trying to rub the warmth back into them, my teeth starting to chatter and rapidly mash against each other and it only kept getting worse as I went down.

Eventually I arrived at the bottom of the stairs and waiting for me there was a large steel door with two torches resting beside it, completely lit and are strangely still burning even though the air down here was a bit stale from being sealed for god knows how long. Near the top middle of the steel door is a set of bars and a sliding metal plate allowing someone fairly tall to see into the room and seeing how ponies are short and would require at least three ponies on top of each other to look into the room I can guess that horses must exist in this world unless these ponies bring with them a ladder or stool to look inside. Looking at the door to see if there is anything out of place and to see if the key for the door is nearby but sadly I wasn't so lucky this time.

Peering through the open section of the door I saw nothing in particular seeing how it is so dark but when my lights kick in because of how dark it is inside I saw something that doesn't make sense.

Laying down in the middle of the room on top of a dark purple cushion large enough to be considered a mattress was a large horse. As my helmet zooms in to x2 magnification more details are shown about this mysterious horse, faint outlines of what looks like a wing, my guess is that those things are pretty large when they are fully extended and as I look at its head I saw that there was a horn on it, now what kind of species of horse is this? A winged unicorn? A horned pegasus? Whatever the hell this horse is I can be certain that it did something bad because the door is locked up tighter than Fort Knox and that around a hoof was white gold chain holding it there.

Looking more at the horse I saw that the mane on its head wasn't even made out of actual hair, it was a floating wisp of bright lights and smoke, a purple cloud and it was moving in a non-existent breeze. As I looked at the horse it shifted on its bed cushion and that was when I saw the gentle curves and soft features on its face and that was when I was able to paint a picture of the face and even the gender, seeing how this horse is a mare, I should have know its gender because of the long ass mane and squishy looking body.

It was during my peeking that the mare woke up from her nap or sleep and seemingly sensing my presence she slowly turned her head to the door and saw from her point of a view a strange icy blue light seeping through and I think this interested the mare, for whatever reason I don't know but it feels like the chill in the air has stopped and instead shifted to a low warmth.

Slowly getting up from the cushion I watched the mare slowly make her way over to the door, slowly zooming out as to not get an eyeful of fur and what lies beneath it, the mare in question was almost at the door but is physically stopped by the chain holding her in place.

Looking at the mare's face I can see that she looks quite lovely...for an alien horned and winged horse that is, her eyes remind me of a cat's being thin and sharp at the ends and that they are turquoise in color, something I thought that would be abnormal but being on an alien planet filled with talking magical ponies...I am leaving that up for debate. For a moment we sort of stared at each other for an indeterminable amount of time but as time went on I watched an ear twitch every once in a while but the ice between us finally breaks when she tries to say something but I hear nothing but silence.

Tilting my head to the side I just look at the mare in question as she keeps talking but with each passing moment and lull of silence between each attempt of conversation I can see that she is getting frustrated that I am not saying anything back to her.

That was when I realized at the little bars where we can see each other there is a little button that was glowing white with power or energy and when I pushed the button I then heard what the mare was trying to say.

"-for all that is holy and sacred, answer me you dog!" wow, even her voice is beautiful even though she just insulted me.

"You know by insulting someone you lose any chance on making a friend or in your case someone to talk to." I said while crossing my arms, even though she couldn't see it I can only hope she knows what I am doing.

In the ensuing silence that followed I watched as the dark purple mare in question stared at me at first with malice but as my words sunk in I watched as she let out an exasperated sigh of defeat before going back to her cushion and laid down with her tail tucked in, the same way a dog would when it knows it did something bad and their owner yelled at them for doing it. I watched as she let out a sigh of defeat for a second time before turning her head up and looked right at me, her ears folded back and I can tell that she is trying to uphold her image of whatever it could be but it seems that being locked up in a prison cell beneath the throne room and being isolated for lord knows how long...I guess I could give her some leeway.

"Can this stranger at least learn the fair maiden's name?" I asked in a kind manner and after a while it seems that the dark horse finally came to her senses and got up off her cushion and came back to the door to talk to me.

"Very well then, my name beast is -" *ahem* I coughed out as I stared down the rude prisoner as she glared at me and let out a snarl before looking me in the eye and in a manner most amusing, tried to speak to me on a similar level "-my name is Nightmare Moon, the true queen of Equestria but you may call me mistress." the mare Nightmare Moon said with a proud smile on her muzzle as I just give her a flat stare of not amused.

"How about I don't call you mistress and I leave you here in your cell to be alone for another indeterminable amount of time, how does that sound?" I said flatly and that made Nightmare Moon growl at me with disdain but after seeing that I was slowly closing the little metal gate that allows us to see each other she gets my point and just lowers her head.

Growling mostly to herself she conceded to my demand to not call her by a submissive title and with that I pulled back on the sliding window allowing me to fully see her again as she can only see a fraction of my ocular helmet.

"Fine...you know for somepony that is making me talk to you like an equal we are by far not even remotely close to being equals. I have been alive throughout the ages while you are nothing more then a mere mortal who can only last through a few seasons."

"And this mortal is the only person you can talk to unless you wish to talk to nothing but shadows and silence." I said back as I snorted ever so slightly, how this horse can just talk so big when she is chained to the floor, stuck in a room all alone and most likely has been abandoned by its previous owners.

As we stare at each other I eventually removed my helmet, letting the mare see my face and also to see that I am currently the only living thing that is willing to talk to her in her current state.

"So I was talking to a bald diamond dog...how quaint. It would seem that Celestia has forgotten all about me then if she allowed your kind to take over this abandoned castle."

"Not a diamond dog for the fourth time and also who is Celestia? Is she your captor or something?" I said as I patted down my body for the small water canister that I had refilled yesterday and when I found it I removed it from the leather holster and uncapped it to take a swig before putting it back.

"Do you live under a rock or something? How do you not know that sun tyrant!" When she just insulted me again for not knowing something that I had no clue about I grabbed the small handle on the cover and started to pull the cover back.

"Wait wait wait!" I stopped as it was just a small sliver of light from the torches poking through the crack leading into Nightmare Moon's prison cell.

I waited patiently for her to speak up and when she did I heard something that I was not expecting a prisoner with the name 'Nightmare Moon' to ever use in their tone or even in their dialogue.

"You...you really know how to force somepony who has already been beaten into submission to be brought down to an all new low to obey your word. I concede I-I do not wish to be alone again...not for another one thousand years..." now when she said 'one thousand years' I thought she was yanking my chain, I mean there is no way she could have been down here for that long, I know that sharks and some other creatures back home can live for almost that long besides trees but this...this is to much to be real.

"A thousand years? I highly doubt you were in this cell for that long or even for that matter alive for that long. Unless you are secretly a tree in disguise for a horse then you are obviously bullshitting me to the highest degree." crossing my arms again I looked through the small window in the cell and that was when I saw something that didn't make sense.

I knew that Nightmare Moon is a mare and that she was chained up inside that room but without my helmet to produce a concentrated beam of light on her body and with nothing but the faded light that is coming off the torches I saw that maybe what she is saying has some merit of truth because parts of her body isn't as solid as the rest of it, in fact I think her entire body is nothing more then an illusion of a real body, like a shadow or even a phantom.

"I see...you might be saying something that might hold a fragment of truth into your long life but I think you are still lying to me in some way."

"I am telling you the truth...whatever you are..." Nightmare Moon said and for a moment I thought I saw a look of sadness adorned on her muzzle, it could be a genuine one or it could be a false one being used to lure me into a false sense of security.

"Human." I said, hoping to clarify that with the apparently false horse, aberration, thing in the room.

"Human...hmm...if you are not swayed with that then I guess I must tell you more about myself before you pass your judgment unto me." Nightmare Moon said as she laid her head down onto the cushion.

Nightmare Moon began to tell me her story, how it all started thousands of years ago, something along the lines of six thousand years that she ruled alongside her side Celestia, who is an alicorn, a combination of all three of the pony races and are significantly taller then the other ponies, and that these two alicorns ruled over the lesser ponies as fair princesses. Apparently the three pony races all hated each others guts to the point where they were all at war with each other, fighting for resources and power, almost just like how us humans still are, and that the two alicorn sisters eventually settled the dispute when the freezing howling winds of a near endless winter nearly wiped out the pony race.

Apparently whenever a race's hatred reaches its apex it creates something called a Windigo, some sort of spirit of hatred and malice that slowly causes the land around it to wither and die in a maelstrom of snow and ice. I was going to call her out on it but I held my tongue cause Nightmare Moon was still talking and that her voice sounds rather lovely for a prison mare.

Anyways as the story went on I heard that before she got here in this cell she and her sister ruled this country in perfect harmony, something I find impossible because of greed, power, money and other motives are always present in society but seeing how she doesn't believe that I am just going to have to take her word for it, and as these two sisters ruled together a being of pure chaos who goes by the name Discord, came literally out of nowhere and overthrew them for what they said was at least two thousand years that is until they found an ancient artifact called the Elements of Harmony and when they were found in an ancient looking tree they then turned around and used them. Apparently whenever the Elements of Harmony are used on a being of evil it seals them away, for Discord it turned his ass into a statue which sounds like a fate worse than death.

After Discord was defeated Nightmare Moon and Celestia helped rebuild their kingdom, instated new laws and created the royal guard to help safeguard their freshly liberated country of ponies and whatever else lives there. Their new capital was this very castle that we are in and it was during that time after Discord's defeat that Nightmare Moon started to fall from grace. Seeing how that she rules the night and pretty much everything falls asleep at that time it felt like to her that her work went unnoticed and unappreciated, something that would drive lesser people mad if that was their sole purpose in life and seeing how that she rules over the night and creates the constellations, which I call bullshit but seeing that her mane is filled with stars and other space-related crap floating in there so I kept my tongue to myself, so when she saw every day for hundreds of years her precious ponies sleeping through her night she eventually hopped onto the path of darkness and fell from grace.

It finally came to a head when she snapped and brought about an eternal night which automatically was a stupid decision which I straight up told her that her plan of an eternal night was doomed from the start unless she had a few things considered. As soon as Nightmare Moon fell into darkness she roused her night guard and those that are loyal to her and led them in a hundred year civil war that started and ended in this very castle. Nightmare Moon later said that when she invaded this castle at the end of the war she knew this assault would be an all-or-nothing attack, something of which she knew was her last chance to defeat Celestia and win the war but sadly she was outplayed by her older sister and was defeated both in combat and by the Elements of Harmony.

When those artifacts was used on Nightmare Moon it didn't turn her into a statue like it did for Discord but it instead banished her straight to the surface of the moon, keeping her there forever...or so it seems.

Apparently Nightmare Moon managed to escape her imprisonment early by waiting for the stars to align just right and to use their combined lunar powers to break from the element's hold on her, something that was not known to any of the ponies at the time, and as soon as she came back she tried to bring the eternal night again but was soon defeated by six mares, all of which I have just recently met but I was not going to tell her that right now.

And here she is now, its been two years since her defeat, nobody came to visit her in all this time and I am her only visitor besides her sister who only visited her just once and that was when she was freshly defeated.

Once her tale came to an end I just looked at her sadly for a while before making a decision that could quite possibly alter the scales of balance for this country and quite possibly the world into uncertain future.

Looking down at the metal door I pushed it to see if it was locked but when the metal hinges squeaked loudly from never being oiled for two years, I felt the door that was in my hands slowly but surely yield to my touch and was slowly pushed open.

Taking off my Kraber and my knife I place the two beside the door and with my helmet off I slowly make my way inside the dark chamber, taking a torch with me for light I ever so quietly and slowly made my way into the prison cell.

Getting a good look inside I found it to be less of a prison cell and to be more of a fancy luxury suite you find in a five-star hotel in Angel City with the exception that there are no electronics in here and that everything is more medieval than modern. The floor was the same dark marble as it was outside of the cell but it has been covered up by thick carpet, there was a fireplace in here as well but the fire has long gone out as there was no spare firewood to be burned, I also saw a bookcase filled to the brim with literature but it seems that none of them as been touched at all.

Staring at me dumbfounded Nightmare Moon simply just laid there as I looked around the room before stopping right in front of her, letting the dark mare in question get a good look at me which for the most part was covered up in plastic-steel and leather armor but I can guess she has seen nothing like me before. Kneeling down in front of Nightmare Moon I reach a hand out and at first she thought I was going to harm her but when my hand came into contact with her mare it felt warm and smooth, even though her mane is made of stars and strange magic it was more akin to running luke warm water.

I watched Nightmare Moon as I started to stroke her mane, something that seems to calm her down as she moved her head into my hand, almost the same a way cat would do when you are petting them, and this girl is doing just that but is humming softly but as I kept petting her I looked at her body more closely and saw that her cutie-mark was a purple cloud with a moon smack dab in the middle of it. It was during my mane petting did Nightmare Moon snap out of her daze and bat my hand away from her head with her hooves.

"Stop that!" Nightmare Moon shouted at me while for the briefest of moments I saw a faint flustered glow on her face.

"Sorry, just wanted to see if that was real and not just an illusion."

"Why of course its real! Its my mane! Why else would be atop my head!" it seems I might have irked her...

"I said I was sorry, sheesh girl you really need to calm down and relax." I said as I cross my legs and my arms, hoping to get my point across, its not like I knew this ahead of time or something.

She crossed her hooves and cutely pouted as she raised her muzzle to me, something almost akin to when children raised their heads to the side trying to act stuck up.

"For a mortal you really seem pretty keen on staying here with me even though it was just for a minute. Most ponies would do anything just to get away from us but you...you actually want to talk to me and hold a conversation instead of trying to form an angry mob."

"Sounds like you are expecting me to pull out a torch, rope and a pitchfork."

"I was expecting my sister to make a visit but seeing how she hasn't and that you are genuinely interested in talking to me I must say that you, human, have peeked my interest to warrant a question."

"And that would be...what exactly?" I said as I leaned back a bit, rocking back and forth ever so slightly.

"Why are you still here?" Nightmare Moon said and at first it almost sounded hostile but I realized that it was more along the line of a question of why I was still here with her when everyone else has left her alone.

"What?" was all I could say, I was slightly stunned by her question.

"Not to sound rude but you are the first pony or human in our case, that have shown genuine care for my situation and that you asked me how this transpired instead of reading it from a book that has been edited to make it look like it was just a simple scrabble for power instead of a war of who would rule the celestial bodies and skies. You actually wanted to know my side of what happened all those centuries ago unlike every other pony that simply accepted Celestia's word just because she said so."

"You, if you would permit me to, call you a friend?" Nightmare Moon said shyly and nervously, I guess I would be her first friend that wasn't coerced or ordered to become one.

Smiling slyly at her I raised my hand and moved it back to her mane and ruffled it up which earned an angry snort and to have my hand knocked away with a wing by the flustered mare.

"You may, if I can play with your mane a bit whenever I come down to talk to you." I said with a smug grin that changed when she threw a brush at me with her mane.

"Fine, but you better brush my mane when you are done, keeping it flowing freely like it is now isn't as easy it looks." she said with an equally smug grin as I can only chuckle under my breath as I got up.

"Alright, but you better check your attitude, you just might scare away your friend if you keep that up." I said with a bit of a snarky tone before exiting the room, closing it behind me but I left the sliding window open as I looked in to see a saddened expression on her face before I slowly made my way back up the stairs.

'Maybe I shouldn't have said that...she has been through enough as is...maybe I should try to find those ponies I spoke to earlier to get more information on this...hopefully Nightmare Moon will be alright while I am gone.'

Once I was outside of the hidden passage the two thrones moved by themselves and closed behind me, my Atlas waiting patiently as she looked down from above and with a tap on a leg she opened up and I climbed in before closing my eyes for a nap but this time that cold chill that I had received has been replaced with a slow spreading warmth, I don't know what this is but it is a welcome change of the constant chills.

'I got jealous of my sister because everypony in our kingdom praised her for raising the sun. Nopony ever praised our night, no matter how hard we try to make it appealing to them, even when we defend them as they sleep and even in their dreams to purge their nightmares they still fear us...I just don't understand why they fear us so.'

'I don't fear you Nightmare Moon...I only fear what would happen if this world ever comes across the IMC...'

My mind started to wander as I started to fall asleep again, for the most part I didn't have much to do since I am living here all alone with nothing to do or orders to follow, I just might go crazy if I can't find something to occupy my time.

'A friend...you are my first friend I ever had...even before I became a ruler of Equestria...thank you...my first friend.'

Meeting the Town

View Online

"Okay Spike, tell Twilight why this is a bad idea for me cause if I reveal myself to the whole town then they might start an angry mob and throw me out of town." I said while folding my arms across my chest, my helmet resting comfortably on my head as I looked down at Spike who is currently writing a letter to somebody, I don't know who it could possibly be for but with a deep inhale and sharp exhale a small jet of fire incinerates the letter in one fell swoop.

Spike just looked at the scroll he just burnt to a fine crisp before looking at me then nonchalantly shrugged before jumping off the stool near the desk and waddled off, I guess he has chores or something important to do. Watching the little dragon waddle off I quickly shifted my attention to the bookshelf and for a moment I was going to grab a book so I can try to study their language and given enough time be able to speak and understand it, but sadly there was one major flaw with that plan of mine.

I have no idea which book is which.

'Think Anthony think...if I was a beginners language book where would I be...'

Looking to the bookshelves that line the wall of the library I let out a shuddering sigh as I realize that my quest to find a single book has went from hard to downright impossible in exactly two seconds.

'Now that is just not fair...where is Spike when I need him.'

Thinking on how I can find one book in the multitude of rows and columns that are displayed before me, I decided that if I am going to succeed in learning the language of these ponies then I am just going to have to ask an expert...sadly the only expert I know of can't understand me at all...unless of course...there is her.

'That could work but would she teach me? I mean she is rude and a bit mean but I know she does mean well...I think.'

Shrugging my shoulders I just went back to the lobby of the library and found the only sofa this place has to offer and decided to lay down on it and strangely enough it was big enough to fit me with just my feet hanging over the side. I knew this shouldn't be possible because when I first saw this sofa it was small and low to the ground but now it seems like it grew to accommodate my size and scale and quite possibly my weight.

'Must be some sort of expanding sofa just like those stupid expanding hoses that I used to see on the info-network. Damn things did expand like it did in the commercial but that crap breaks much more easily then the hard-skinned roll-up hoses.' I thought to myself as I waited for whatever it is that Twilight told Spike that told me to wait here for.

Now to explain how I got into Twilight Sparkle's home seeing how I skipped ahead.

It was pretty easy to sneak into this town at the crack of dawn, I followed the trail from Zecora's hut that went through the fringes of the forest before arriving to a fairly decent looking cottage just outside of that dark, dank jungle forest of evil creatures, and as I walked passed that cottage I turned on my active camouflage and slowly made my way through, avoiding ponies left and right. I almost bumped into the pink pony, I think her name was Pinkie Pie, anyways I nearly bumped into her and that was when her tail was acting all funny as if it was twitching and then she stood tall for a second before shouting something before ducking under a table and that was when a flower pot fell from the sky and nearly conked me on the head.

After dodging the flower pot and the pink pony I made my way through the town, jumping over carts, climbing buildings, leaping over ponies and smaller ponies, watched a donkey walk into town with a wig on buy something before disappearing down a road, I even saw a rainbow colored blur fly across the sky before stopping on a cloud, my guess that was where a pot of gold is located.

Looking for where Spike live is something of a monumental task being how hard it is to find one small baby purple and green dragon that is about as tall as my shin and is a bit on the pudgy side, and can breath fire that can also be used as an instant message sender, and also he is a living zippo lighter so he can light my thin mint cigarettes whenever possible...which might not be likely since he told me he lives with his sister the purple unicorn. How does that even work? I mean, a pony and a dragon being in the same family...wouldn't that mean their mother and father.....the size difference? All this thinking is making my head spin and is making me a bit uneasy to even be thinking about that.

It was during this thinking that I bumped headfirst into a large oak tree which made my invisibility field flicker just a bit and I let out a sigh of relief that there was not a single pony that was around me that saw the slight disturbance in the air. Looking at this tree I saw that it was pretty tall and wide, mostly it was the width of this tree that grabbed my attention but what caught my eye next was the sight of windows on the exterior followed by a door and a sign next to it.

Taking a peek inside through the window I saw that it was a hollowed out section of the tree, there was a carpet, a small counter, a table with a wooden horse head with no details on it, beyond it was several bookcases filled to the brim with books and there was a ladder next to one and I saw standing on it was Spike, juggling four books while straining to put one of them in its proper place.

Mentally flipping a coin if I should go in there and talk to him or just wait for him to get done with his job at what must be the town's library but seeing how I don't know how long he must stay here I decided to go with the option where I go inside and just talk to him and get what I need before heading back to the castle.

Quietly opening the door I slipped in and looked around a bit, I was taken back a bit to see that the inside looks a lot bigger then it does on the outside, and it was during my exploring did I find myself in the kitchen, it was mostly made of wood with the exception of the refrigerator that was made of both wood and metal. Peeking into the cabinets and drawers I saw they had pretty much any family would have in them, bowls, plates, forks and spoons and even knives but when I looked into another cabinet I saw boxes of cereal and sadly they all look like knockoffs of human cereals back home.

Shrugging a bit I backed away and went back into the main area of the tree library and saw that Spike has moved from the shelf and went to a different one but this time was closer to the ground then being at the top. Of course as soon as he grabs a rather large book that was slightly bigger than he was I watched as he slowly drags it upwards into the air until finally he was at the top of the shelf and almost like magic the ladder wobbles and the book he was holding makes him falls backwards and down, I watched as he fell all the way down and to add a bit of icing on the cake the book fell right on top of him before bouncing off his chubby body and landed neatly on its side.

Walking up to the dragon I turned off the cloaking field and helped him get back on his feet. Rubbing his head a bit I watched as he slowly moved back to the ladder but this time I was holding the book for him and when he got to the top I helped place it in with him. Spike seems like a good kid but trying to heft something that is probably twice is height seems like something that kids do when they are trying to prove something to their parents or older siblings or are trying to get their chores done faster.

"How's it going Spike."

"Good at the moment, Twilight had me pull all the books down and then categorize them because it was the weekly book sorting day for her. I mean it would nice to do this at least once a month or even every three months or so cause not many ponies come in here to check a book out unless it pertains to their cutie mark or that they just need a book to read out of boredom but come on! Every single week its the same thing for me, take the books down, dust them, put them back in the exact same spot because they were already in the same order that I left them in, it is starting to get pretty old for me." Spike said as he climbs down the latter and made his way to the one table in the room that had a small chair.

"Just how old are you anyways? You look like your on the younger side of the youth spectrum but the way you act and talk it feels more like at the early stages of the teenager scale." I said as I followed him, somewhat looking around to see if there is anything that I can read but then I realized that everything here was in pony tongue.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you that the other day, I am ten years old, been ten years since Twilight first hatched me."

"Wait...Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn that is your sister, hatched you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I am just having a bit of a hard time trying to wrap my head around that...I mean how did a unicorn hatch a dragon egg to begin with? Aren't you supposed to you know, be in a nest of eggs and have the big mother dragon nearby keeping them warm while they incubate then hatch?" I said while raising an eyebrow at the little dragon, this is supposed to be something he should know cause he is a dragon after all...right? Not a pony disguised as a dragon to spy on the purple unicorn or something cause that would be just plain strange and weird at the same time.

"Oh, well I can tell you that you aren't the first pon-er I mean...well I guess you are the first human to ask me that question. I don't know who my birth parents are but I know for a fact that it was Twilight who hatched me, she sorta acts like my big sister and mother but when Twilight was being taught by Princess Celestia I was with her parents until she came back from whatever lesson she was on." Spike said as I looked at him in a slight awe state.

""That still doesn't tell me how she hatched you in the first place."

"Sorry 'bout that, well Twilight hatched me when she was just a little filly, it was when she was trying to enter the School for Gifted Unicorns up in Canterlot, that big city built on the side of the mountain if you look out the window, and on the day she was supposed to use her magic to hatch me she got a magic surge and her magic started shooting all over the place, I was told that she turned her parents that were present and a few of the teachers that were overseeing the event into potted plants and cacti."

"Wow...that's awesome." I said as I grabbed a random book from the case and gave it a once over, it was a pegasus wearing some sort of jungle explorer outfit swinging on a rope while holding a large sapphire in its mouth while escaping from a strange ass blue creature with a misshapen head.

"I said the exact same thing when she told me when I was six, but at the time she was scared out of her mind because she pretty much destroyed the classroom but that was when Princess Celestia came in and calmed her down and later took her as her student."

As our conversation started to died down I was about to ask him if he had any beginners book on the pony language but I was stopped when I heard the sound of hooves walking down what must be stairs.

"*Series of horse whinnies and neighing*" I had to stare flatly at the purple unicorn because I couldn't understand a single word that she just said but when she yawned and rubbed her eyes with a hoof I watched as she went from looking at Spike then to me, then straight to large panic stricken eyes which was followed by hysterical words being said and things being closed.

"*Even more horse whinnies and neighing*" I watched as Twilight galloped around with her horn glowing lavender, all of the windows were closed, the little screen on the front door lowered, the thin strip of air coming from the ceiling was slammed shut and even something that is in this tree's apparent basement was closed up tight. I don't know what got into her but I can safely say that if she is acting like this when there is a man around then she obviously needs to get laid.

Looking to Spike I tried to ask what was wrong with her but with a shrug of his shoulders I just lower my head and shake it, this mare needs to relax cause if she keeps this up I just might zap her.

"Uh...Twilight...I think you might need to calm down." I heard Spike say just as Twilight gallops by him, still getting this house locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

Just as Twilight is about to go by me again I quickly lean down and wrapped my arms under her forelegs and hoisted her up much to the unicorn's surprise. As the mare started to struggle in my hands I made my way to the only sofa in the building and sat down and promptly placed her across my legs almost as if she was a dog, and judging by how much she weighs it is safe to say that this girl is a bit on the lean side. Before Twilight could say a pony word or even struggle I started to move my left hand through her mane, practically petting her like a dog which of course was almost stopped when she tried to use her magic on me but it failed miserably and as I kept on petting her resistance and struggles rapidly deceased to the point of it being non-existent.

"Now Twilight, are you going to stop freaking out and act like a big pony?" I heard Spike say as I started to scratch between her ears which earned me a happy sigh and her tail somewhat wagging like a dog.

"*Some horse whinnies*"

"I shall take that as a yes." I said as I started to slow down my petting but when Twilight lifted her head off my right leg she craned her head around a bit to look at me and when she gave me those sad eyes with the quivering lip I could only do in my defense sigh and roll my eyes before resuming my head petting.

"*Horse noises and sounds*"

"Uh Twilight, are you sure that is a good idea? I mean we just barely met him the other day so is it really safe to let Pinkie do that?"

"Do what?"

"*More horse sounds*"

"If you say so, but I think this is not a good idea." Spike said as he waddled over to the table that he just got off of only to climb back up and pulled open a drawer, taking out a quill, piece of paper and some ink before placing them on top of the table.

"Spike the Dragon, what did she just say!" I slightly raised my voice, I hardly ever yell at people that don't deserve but when its my neck on the line it sorta just happens on its own.

"Oh, right, forgot that you don't understand equis. Twilight basically said that she is going to write a letter to Pinkie and tell her to do her thing." and with that being said Twilight promptly got off my lap before galloping upstairs and nearly tripping in the process before slamming the door shut.

As the two of us waited for the lavender mare to return to us I watched as Spike wrote something down before placing it in an envelope and waited patiently for his sister to return.

Now back to where we were in the beginning.

So there I was, resting on the sofa staring at the numerous bookcases in a vain attempt to find the book I will need to talk to these ponies but sadly luck was not on my side.

I don't know what got into that unicorn but if it involves me being shown to the general public as if I am an exotic creature then she is gonna have another thing coming. Resting my head on the armrest I turned on my music player that was built into my helmet and started to flip through my music file, looking for something to entertain me or at the very least give me something to listen to besides the sounds of little feet pitter-patting across the floor or hooves stomping around on the hardwood floorboards and carpet.

After flipping through everything from A to N, I eventually come across my M files and as I started to pass through those as well one particular file catches my eye and with a bit of a zooming in I opened up the file labeled 'Muse' and within it was numerous songs and after debating on which one I shall listen to I eventually picked the song 'Assassin'. As I started to listen to the song I slightly tapped my feet to the rhythm and the beat of it, my head slightly moving to the music as well and for a while it was going nicely to the silence around me but that was put on hold when a purple hoof tapped me on the shoulder and when I tilted my head I saw that it was Twilight and that was when Spike spoke up after I turned my song off.

"Hey man, me and Twilight are gonna go out for a while, want anything from the market?" I hear Spike speak up as he is leaving the tree library, leaving me by my lonesome self for the time being.

Wondering what I could possibly get as a snack here I thought of carrots, apples and sugar cubes before laughing quietly to myself and seeing how these two are going to try and get me something to much on I decided to go with the middle of the three options.

"Get me an apple if you can, oh and while you are out there see if any ponies are asking about me, if none are then I wasn't caught sneaking in and if they are then well...I am going to leave earlier then expected." I said as I looked over onto a small coffee table and saw that there was a few magazines on it, peeking my curiosity I looked at the stack before grabbing blindly at one.

I was expecting to find something nerdy or knowledgey or even a comic book or two from Spike but what I grabbed was something I was not expecting.

'Is this supposed to be some sort of porno mag? Why is this full of nothing but stallions wearing saucy-looking socks giving dirty winks and smiles. I don't know if I should keep looking at this or just hide it under everything else?'

Going against my better judgment I decided to keep on looking through the dirty magazine, and almost like magic there was one page inside that unfolded to reveal a fairly large red stallion with a green apple on his flank, orange mane and green eyes and he is outstretched on a bed with a blue and white checkered quilt on top, a smug looking grin on his muzzle and just the way he is staring at me is gonna end up make me lose my lunch.

'Nope nope nope nope nope nope nuh uh, not gonna do it, nope nope no no no nope.'

Closing the magazine I shove it back with the rest and almost on queue the front door opens up to reveal a pair of purple stubby legs and above that is a large bundle of brown bags, followed by the lavender unicorn with her horn glowing, also carrying a few brown bags but she is mostly carrying everything she went shopping for in that saddle bag of hers.

As the two come walking in I quickly make it look like I was doing absolutely nothing while they were gone, resuming my snoozing posture but that was cut short when I felt something hard and small get dropped right on top of me and when I looked down I saw that it was a shiny red apple, its skin was reflecting the light of its pristine red skin...almost like...

'Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.'

Rapidly stabbing that spot with a serrated brain knife I grabbed the apple that was dropped on me, removed my helmet and bit into that delicious round fruit and what came next was amazing. As soon as my teeth penetrated the soft fiber packed skin of the apple I tasted sweet, succulent goodness and with a loud crunch I pulled back to reveal a soft inner white core with bite marks. Taking another bite I let out a small moan of satisfaction as I take another bite, and another, and another until I take one last bite and realized that I was biting nothing but the apple core with all the seeds.

As soon as there was nothing but core and seeds I simply looked for the nearest trash bin and once it was in my sights I cranked my arm back, angled my tossing trajectory, let my helmet do the aiming for me cause I can't throw for shit without knocking something over or nailing someone in the head and finally let loose. Now let me tell you something, when there is a purple unicorn looking right at you, watching your every move and writing it down on a notepad while sitting on her haunches, you tend to forget that the world around you might not run on normal physics or laws of nature, and sadly that is just what happened.

Both me and Twilight watched as the apple core spun slowly in the air, almost as if it was in slow motion, and watched as it hit the lip of the bin, bounce onto the desk, hit a lampshade, bounced of said lampshade as it sailed to the bookcases, hit the edge of a bookcase before falling down and nailed Spike in the back of the head, bounced twice on the floor before landing in the trash can in the kitchen.

The trash can I was aiming for was five feet away, the one in the kitchen was twenty-five feet away.

Looking to Twilight for an answer or two to relay to Spike so he can relay it to me but when none came because she was staring at me with an open mouth, something I would normally mess with people by getting a banana and placing it in their mouth while making sounds one would make while sucking on a popsicle or in some cases, on some man meat, but seeing how his is a pony I don't think a popsicle would suffice and I really don't want to know what she could possibly do to me with that strange glowing magical horn of hers.

Just as Spike starts to recover from me braining him with the apple core Twilight got out of her stupor and quickly wrote something down on her notepad before trotting over to Spike, I watched her mouth moved as she spoke, uttering out horse words that I still can't translate into English and then watched the purple baby dragon translate somewhat the same thing back to me. I don't know how this could work but seeing it actually play out between the three of us is kinda cool with only the exception that Spike sometimes screws up in the translating job between us.

"So now that we are all here...now what?" I asked as we all looked at each other hoping that at least one of us know what we can do together but sadly none of us three have a single thing in mind when it comes to a group activity.

Four Hours Later

Twilight, Spike and I spent the next four hours doing nothing but talk more about ourselves, our jobs, friends, family, what we do when we are not working which involves books, smoking, shooting targets or in Spike's case working for the white unicorn named Rarity just to be near her 'beauty'. Apparently to these ponies, smoking is seen as a 'upper' class or 'noble' pony thing cause they are the ones who can really afford the expensive tabaco products that come in all the way from Saddle Arabia. I don't know which is worse on my psyche, the fact that these ponies are using similar names of places on Core Systems Earth or the fact that I am apparently stuck in the pony equivalent of the Colonial Era of Earth with sprinkled bits of advanced pieces of technology like the fridge, toaster, the steam-powered train, oven-stove combo and oddly enough the phonograph.

I am still evading Twilight's questions on where I am from, she would never believe me that I am from another world, she still thinks I am from a far off land that still hasn't been found by Equestria or for that matter any of the other kingdoms. From what Twilight and Spike are telling me there are multiple other kingdoms and empires that scatter the globe, there is the Griffon Imperial Empire, Saddle Arabian Republic, the Minotaur Clans, the Zebra City States, and lastly the Donkey Republic. I honestly started to laugh my ass off at the last one and they never understood why.

It was after our little talk that I was allowed to take a nap, and nap I did, I closed my eyes and relaxed on the sofa that seemed to have elongated to allow me to rest completely flat on it, something that I find confusing but if a sofa is able to stretch itself to fit my size then I want it for my own home.

As I was off in la-la land catching some Z's and counting sheep I suddenly felt something poking my leg and after batting at it with my hand it went away, but three minutes later I was poked again but this time it was more forceful and bigger. Opening my eyes slowly and looking out of my Ocular lens I saw the thing that was poking me and it just so happened to be a wooden sign with an red arrow crudely painted on its surface.

Staring at the wood sign floating in the middle of the room I just gave it a credulous look and just shrugged it off and went back to my nap but when it poked me again I could only protest with a groan and pulled myself away from the comfortable softness that is the green sofa and started to follow, against my better judgment, the wooden sign right out the front door.

When I first came into that town my time clock inside my helmet said that it was only seven in the morning, now that I am outside and saw that the sun is somewhat lowering and that the sky is orange-ish, with a look to my clock I saw that it was now four-thirty in the afternoon, I wasted nine and a half hours in pony town and I still didn't find a beginners guide to pony language.

'Wow...well I can finally declare this my first failed mission on the alien planet.'

Yawning ever so slightly I followed the sign throughout the town and for some strange reason I did not see a single sign of a pony trotting the streets, at first I thought it was that they somehow knew I was here and are now afraid of me cause of what happened recently but I thought against it, I made sure nobody saw me when I snuck into town. Second was that Twilight and Spike spread the news that I am here and are now trying to lead me out of town to a secret location to meet with me more often or to talk in the utmost of secrecy but that was straight up rubbish, their tree home is more secret because who would expect an alien to talk to the town's librarian in broad daylight?

Shaking the thought away I continued to follow the sign, my right hand just barely hovering over the taser's handle, I don't know who is putting me up to this put I can say that I am not happy about this, I do not like having my naps interrupted by anybody, especially wooden signs with no names or tags on it.

As I followed the sign I eventually came upon a strange looking confectionary-styled building and when I walked up to it I saw the sign poke it a few times, probably telling me to go inside, and that was when I first realized that I not only do not know who owns this place but also that the lights inside are off, the windows and blinds are closed and that a wood piece of plywood led me all the way here.

"Nu uh, I am not going in there." I said to the sign which seemed to dip a bit close to the ground before pointing back at the door again but this time poking it three times in rapid succession.

"I said no! I am not going to commit a crime just because you want me to follow you! What am I, stupid?" the sign dipped again but this time the door opened up on its own, I don't know if it was a pony that was waiting for me on the other side that did that or if the door was unlocked to begin with and from the poking it was just very slowly opening.

Either way I am still not going inside.

"Okay, whoever is in control of this sign, I am not going in so you can kiss the fattest part of my ass! I'm out of here." and with that said I turned around and before I could even leave the door opened up even more to reveal Spike and I watched him quickly waddle up to me and grabbed me by the hand before trying to drag me inside.

"Spike, what are you doing?" I looked down at Spike as he gripped my hand tightly, desperately trying to drag me into the strange pastry looking home.

"Bringing you inside, everypony is waiting!" Spike shouted as he kept on trying to drag me inside but due to his small stature and that I weigh way more then he does, all he is doing is making a ditch in the ground with his feet.

"Everypony?" okay that just sounds suspicious.

"Yeah! We are all waiting for you cause we got a surprise for you!" and like having the cat out of the bag I watched as Spike rapidly slapped a claw over his mouth in hopes that I didn't hear that but I did.

"By all of you do you mean those six mares I met and yourself?" I said as I looked into the fully-opened door and saw nothing but a counter of sorts made of glass and something underneath it. A candy store perhaps?

"Uh...yeah, besides Zecora whom we guess you two are dating or something, its just Twilight and her friends and myself that know about you soooooo." yes, like that totally doesn't say anything suspicious or incriminating. Wait...did he just say that me and Zecora are dating? We barely know each other enough for that step let alone that I am still with Ingrid, hell I know she knows that I am still alive...I hope...I really, really hope she knows that I am still alive and kicking.

"Spike, me and Zecora are not dating, we don't know each other enough for that and I doubt she even see's me in that kind of light yet or at all for that matter." I said as he kept on trying to drag me inside the strange building.

Looking at him, studying his face to see if he is bullshitting me but after a while I saw him start to fidget and shuffle on his stubby legs but eventually I gave in, I know this kid would never betray my trust, and seeing how he is the only other guy I have met on this planet so I guess I can use the bro code to let this secret slide for now.

Rolling my eyes and sighing deeply I allowed myself to be dragged into the building by Spike and as soon as I got past the front doors I saw nothing but darkness and when he let go of my hand he disappeared into the inky blackness and before I could grab at him I was immediately assaulted with a bright light.

"*Horse sounds*" "Surprise!" was all I heard before I tucked into a ball partially and jumped backwards, rolling out the front door before rolling to the side and immediately slammed my back to the wall with my taser and knife out and in my hands. With my defensive weapons out I peered around the corner and saw ponies. Lots and lots of ponies, ponies in so many colors and varieties, ponies all of whom are wearing shocked and surprised expressions on their muzzles as they all look at me looking at them from behind a wall.

At this very moment I do not know what to say or how to properly react but seeing how Spike pretty much said 'surprise' and that himself and probably over thirty ponies were popping out of their hiding places that this was a surprise party just for me, a party for what I do not know but it is a party nonetheless, and I love parties. Well I would love it if I was told that I was going to a party but I guess that is something hard to tell an alien when you are trying to make it a surprise, that and having a banner up in words that the alien wouldn't be able to understand would be a bit of a dick move.

Putting my personal defense weapons away I slinked around the corner and stood at my full height, intimidating a couple of the ponies but when I nervously stood there and waved slowly at them, that one move seemed to have broken the ice that hung in the air and that was when the ponies started to leave their hiding places and trotted up to me. I know a few tried to talk to me and when I didn't respond they thought they were dealing with an uptight kind of person but Twilight and Spike had to explain it to everybody present that I can't understand a word that they are spewing forth from their muzzles, and after that it was all smooth sailing.

And by smooth sailing I mean I had to mingle with the ponies with Spike on my shoulders and Twilight by my side so the translating can be for the most part punctual and correct.

Walking around the building I watched as ponies talked to each other, ponies playing games like pin-the-tail-on-the-....pony, bobbing for apples, drinking soda, eating chips and playing darts which is odd seeing how that games requires fingers to wrap it around the dart to throw it, I guess ponies can defy the laws of physics. I watched the pink pony, I think her name is Pinkie Pie, talk to me a mile a minute, not once stopping to take a breather or for that matter to stop talking but as I waited for Spike to translate for me all he could say is to just smile and nod at her. After that I tried to bob for apples but there was a problem, my helmet kept getting in the way and when Spike said that a few ponies are wondering what I am trying to do I said that I am trying to get an apple but am failing spectacularly.

Taking his words at face value I at first tried to only undo my helmet just a bit for my mouth to be exposed but when that failed I resorted to take off my entire helmet and placed it on the table which was soon picked up by a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, looked over by said mare before she tried to put it on but I quickly snatched it away from her, afraid of what she might find if she does wear it and see through it. Rainbow Dash gave me a pouty look but I just ignored it as I held onto it before diving head first into the large tub of water filled with floating apples.

After I have successfully grabbed, pulled out and ate three apples from the tub I moved onto other things, ate some chips, drank some punch, gave out some mane petting to a few ponies that wanted to know what my hand feels like, got questioned by Rarity as to what my armor is made out of and with a quick refusal she left me for a while as Spike had goo-goo eyes. It makes me wonder if anybody else knows that Spike has the hots for the white noble unicorn or if it is just me.

Next came the gifts, I love how these ponies all used the same wrapping paper because I thought for a moment that a small section of the day was being repeated cause of all the same colored paper that is littering the floor. I got from these ponies a scarf, a pony-sized medical kit, an apple pie that will soon be consumed by me, a book with a strange looking pegasus wearing jungle explorer clothes and matching hat escaping a pit of lava trap, a pie to the face and lastly from Twilight the book I was looking for.

*Acquired Equine Language books for morons!*

I wonder if these ponies know any magic or spells or something to let me at the very least understand what they are saying, all of this whinnying, neighing, nickering and snorting is starting to get on my nerves.

As soon as the party started to die down I got all of my gifts together, using metal clips on my armor to hold onto some of the things I had acquired with the exception of the scarf and pie, that scarf is now around my neck while the pie is in my hands, the apple pie not the whipped-cream pie, that thing was taken care of with a few napkins and water. Trying to escape from the pink pony is a lot of hard work but I managed it with plenty of mane pettings, which seems to make these ponies docile and also they just look adorable when they nuzzle into my hand and go in for the hugs.

With my gifts in hand and a wave of goodbye I weaved my way through the town, I don't know why but these ponies seem to be happy or cheerful for some reason, was it the party that they just came from or was it because that they are herd animals and they don't know that I am a meat-eating predator, that and they all saw me being friendly to them so I guess they have accepted me.

Sneaking back to my castle home isn't that hard with no ponies trying to follow me and I figured that one out because the sound of hooves on grass and dirt immediately died out when I entered the forest, I guess they hate something that is mildly spooky and filled with things bigger than them and also can easily devour them. I walked by Zecora's place and as usual I peer through the window and this time she was not facing the doorway with her butt pointing right at me, but she was humming a tune that I couldn't make out or for that matter what was bubbling in that cauldron of hers. Sneaking through the window like a ninja I carefully moved around her, opened the front door and then made it look like I was going through it and behold I was staring at pony butt, but this time it was shaking with the tune she was humming and I immediately thought of those girls that used to dance to that weird music back home, rap music I think it was called.

I know I shouldn't think of this but when you are all alone on a planet with so many females running around naked even though they rarely if at all wear clothes, and they are just strutting it around like nobodies business but I do know one thing for certain though.....I don't know how long I can handle being the only member of my species on this planet. I really do not want to be alone for the rest of my life, being alone is bad enough but being here alone without those I care for...I just hope my tools of survival don't become a little too friendly with me.

Tapping Zecora on the shoulder and startling her just a tad bit, she turned around and when she saw me standing there with my gifts from the ponies she let out a relaxed sigh before hugging my waist, my sigh making it hard for her to give me a proper hug but I returned the hug in kind, ponies and zebras make the best hugs. Getting her chalkboard and chalk piece we talked at length, she was the first to start it off, drawing and saying that what I did was not funny with a picture of a crude me sneaking behind a crude zebra with a floating frowny face next to me.

My response was to draw a smiley face but this one that was laughing, Zecora responded by shaking her head no before cuffing me upside the head with a broom. Shaking the dirt and dust from my head I watched Zecora laugh a bit before turning back to her cauldron, I guess that was all she had to say or maybe she is still busy doing something with this strange looking sludge gloop.

Leaving Zecora to her task I left her home through the same way I came in, the window, and weaved my way through the forest and because my apple pie is still warm and emitting the most delicious of smells I had to be wary because of wooden wolves and manticores and chicken snakes and what ever the hell else is out there. When I came to the wide river I took a sprinting leap of faith and made it to the other side but almost at the cost of my pie, it nearly flew from my hands when I landed but with quick thinking I used my scarf to catch my pie.

'No pie left behind, especially the warm pies.'

Across a bridge and past a sleeping manticore I eventually arrived back at my castle, no worse for wear and with a lovely white and pink scarf around my neck, totally not gay, and with a bit of style I arrived in Nightmare Moon's room without my scarf and gifts with the exception of the book for dummies and pie, and it was the pie that set the dark alicorn off.

I watched in horror as my apple pie was devoured by Nightmare Moon, I watched in muted horror as she went face first into the pie, I saw apple bits and pie pieces go flying everywhere, I watched as the dark blue mare moaned with what I can only hope to guess is a moan of happiness for eating something so good after being stuck here for so long without anything good to actually consume.

'My pie...'

A single tear fell down my face as I watched the very pie I was gonna cut in half for us to share get devoured by a single mare as I was left with not a single piece, not even a large crumb with some apple juices on it could be found. Nightmare Moon stopped eating my pie for a few seconds to look up at me and when she saw my face, all she could do was smile sheepishly before quietly going back to eating the pie crust, even going so far as to lick the tin clean.

She made me promise to never speak of this event that just transpired to nobody.

But she never said to not take a picture of this or even record the whole thing with my helmet.

After the great apple pie incident of Thursday night, I was given permission to sit beside Nightmare Moon and to begin with her mane combing and petting. My theory on ponies loving the feeling of my hands on their heads and through their manes seems to be correct if the apparent anti-Christ of ponykind enjoys it to such an extent.

"Okay Nightmare Moon, seeing how you like it when I stroke your mane I want you to teach me how to talk to the ponies seeing how only dragons can understand and speak to me." I said as I started to pet the black alicorn's mane, the mare let out a near-silent sigh as she leans her head into my hand.

"Fine, but you must keep petting our royal mane throughout the entire time we are teach you how to speak to the commoners." Nightmare Moon said as she lets out another sigh of simple pleasure, I guess my petting must be magical to them.

It was during my petting that I realized that I wasn't touching real hair, in fact it looks like nothing more than a well made illusion.

"Say...Moonie...I am wondering..."

"What is it Anthony, your petting is slowing down and that is not good for your education." Nightmare Moon said as she made herself more comfortable on her giant pillows.

"I am wondering...are you bald?" I said with actual interest, and for the most part that is true because I don't have a single clue if it is real mane or just an illusion.

"WHAT! Where did you get this idea that I am bald!" Nightmare Moon shouted as I slightly stopped petting her due to the tone she was using and how loud she was shouting at me in close proximity.

"Don't be mad girl, I know a few guys that dig girls that go against the rules when it comes to their hair." I said as I put a bit more feeling into my mane petting which earned me a slight whinny that seems a bit forced out but to me I just think that I am doing a great job.

"I am not bald! My mane simply turned into a magical cloud of stars and space dust!" Nightmare said as I watched her fidget a bit under my hand but still stayed where she is.

"So is it made of real hair?" I said in an almost childlike manner.

"No, it's made of-" Moon said almost in a rapid manner as her face starts to turn red with anger or embarrassment.

"Bald!" I shouted as I quickly yank her helmet off her head and spring up off the ground and started to run.

"GIMMEBACKMYHELMET!" Nightmare Moon shouted at me as I ran around the room avoiding her as she tried to jab me with her horn as I am holding her helmet.

Oh the two of us are going to be the best of friends.

I can feel it in my giblets.

Sadly I couldn't feel my giblets at the moment, I was busy lying on the floor in a pile of large soft pillows with a grinning Nightmare Moon on top of me, using her weight to keep me pinned down. How she caught me I don't know but I have a guess that it has something to do with these pillows that are all around me.

"Umm....Moonie, can you let me go?" I asked with a bit of a nervous chuckle in there, I know that Moon can easily crush me with her overall weight, being a full-sized horse and all but that would mean having a corpse in her room and she would not be able to remove me so I would just rot and stink up her place which would be bad, but would she really just stay above me like this?

Almost sensing exactly what I was thinking I felt Nightmare Moon shift above me, fully encompassing my body with hers as she stretched herself out, my face being completely covered by her chest, something that would be nice if she was human and seeing how she isn't all I am feeling right now is really warm fur.

"I would but you make such a nice pillow, I think I will keep you here for a while."

"So you like pillows made out of thick, heavy fabric and metal?"

"Oh be silent peasant, I am sleeping."

"But you just spoke..."

"No I did not, I am asleep!"

"But you-" I was about to say that she was clearly not asleep but was muffled and silenced by her chest being pressed into my face.

"Silence!" and just like that the room was quiet, the fire was crackling softly in the corner and I was face first in pony fur with my arms and legs pinned down by the large dark horse above me. I tried to move my arms and legs out from under her but sadly I couldn't even move an inch, I could move my head a bit but all that would accomplish would be an impromptu motorboating on silky-smooth fur and that would probably disturb Moon's sleep and I might enter a world of hurt.

'Would she really hurt me if I tried to escape?'

"No...I wouldn't hurt you..." I heard Nightmare Moon mutter out, I don't know if she can read my mind but if she can she most certainly got what I was thinking spot on.

'Well...at least your are honest with me...'

It wasn't before long that Nightmare Moon moved in her sleep but before I could escape I felt hooves grab me and pull me back into her chest, my face once again buried in her warm fur but this time I was being held in place by all four of her legs.

'I do not know how I should feel about this....sleeping with royalty in such a manner....'

"Just enjoy the fact that I am letting you stay this close to me...." Moon mumbled again and this time she snuggled against me again, using her wings and hooves to hold onto me tighter.

'Well...at least you are warm...'

I just hope she remembers this and doesn't end up mule kicking me in the chest in the morning tomorrow.

Pony Education: Part 1: Learning the Language

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Today is going to be a good day.

I woke up feeling warm and fuzzy and I found out why, sleeping with a giant horse that acts like warm pillow and blankets can do wonders for ones morale along with the fact that I was not killed in my sleep so that is a bonus.

By the time Nightmare Moon and I woke up, I found myself to be on top of her with my face in the crook of her neck and her hooves holding onto me in a hug-like fashion, her wings still acting like a blanket for me. Looking down at Moon's sleeping face I couldn't help but snicker quietly, she had her tongue hanging out of her mouth and she was drooling on a pillow she was resting her head on. Turning my head a bit more I saw something that was very funny, she has the worst case of bedhead. At first when I saw that bedhead I thought it was a trick of the light from the torches and fireplace but when I looked at it a second time I saw that it wasn't moving as fluidly as it usually did and for that matter it seemed...messy.

How does one with a mane made entirely of astral gases and stars look like a complete and utter mess?

The answer to that question might never be answered but I can safely say that Moon at this very moment looks very cute in a childish kind of way, tongue hanging out, snoring like chainsaw, mane is a complete mess and her wings are twitching ever so slightly. Whatever this girl is dreaming of it must be something good or bad for her, either way I have to get up, my bladder feels like its gonna explode.

As the feeling of a soon-to-be-imminent lose of bladder control started to rear its ugly head I began to panic, this is something that I had to go through on a daily basis when I was acting as a sniper or recon scout for the Militia and having to hold it in for hours on end just waiting for one man to show up to get his head blown off. It is not a pretty sight, especially when the bathroom that I sometimes use is atrocious, it might as well have a sign hanging over it that says 'Worst bathroom in the Universe' and have it bronzed directly over the door so everyone can see it.

'I hope she wakes up soon on her own...the fear of waking up a mare that is easily three times my weight and size that is also able to skewer me with that javelin attached to her forehead is almost as big of a fear of pissing myself...'

Without even thinking I started to feel around with my free arms for any means to escape this warm and fuzzy albeit living prison, I felt around and grabbed some pillows, the empty pie tin that still had some crumbs and apple remnants, my book, and as I started to feel the urge to piss rising I started to get desperate.

Grabbing around even more I still felt more pillows and pony fur, its surprising how that Nightmare Moon doesn't have a single trace of fat on her, as far I can tell seeing how I am currently trapped by her hooves and wings while on top of her. It was during my mad blind grabbing did my right hand grab onto something that I thought that wasn't on me or in the room at the time.

I can't see anything from where I am but I do know that my right hand is grabbing onto something soft and warm and somewhat squishy. Thinking on what it could possibly be I gave it a squeeze and found that it is soft, warm and a bit squishy and thought it was just some belly fat on her but then I remembered how lithe and physically fit she is and crossed that off the mental list. Next thing that came to my mind was that I was probably squeezing a part of her hind leg but I killed that one cause if it was her hind leg then I would be feeling some taut muscles and fur, not squishy and soft.

By the time I gave this strange thing another squeeze I felt Moon shuffle beneath me and that was when I heard a muffled squeak and when I looked up I saw that I was nose to nose with the black alicorn, her nose pressing into mine and the skin under her coat is beet red. When I looked into her dagger-slitted eyes I saw that she was staring back into mine but it was more in a seductive style and that was when I realized exactly what I was grabbing.

Slowly moving a finger across the squishy surface and that was when I felt a small nub of flesh brush against my finger and that created a stifled mewl that cascaded across my face, turning it just as red as her own and my brain finally caught up with what I was groping.

'Oh god...that is not a piece of fur I was grabbing...'

"And what exactly did you find hmm?" Moon said with a bit of a flirting tone, her eyes half-lidded and smile seductive.

'That...would be your breast...I am grabbing your breast aren't I?' I thought out loud and with that being said and done I felt four pairs of hooves move underneath my body and for a moment I felt that I was flying before I collided back first with the dark marble brick wall.

Having my body kicked into the wall was painful but it wasn't as bad as the few times I was inside a large building when the Titan I was riding exploded with me on top of it and the force was strong enough to nearly splatter me all over the ceiling but instead it left me imprinted, almost leaving a very firm body mold of myself. Pulling myself slowly from the wall I gently rub my head as I tried to figure out what exactly ran my ass over, but when I look at Nightmare Moon who is now laying down upright and staring at me still with her half-lidded stare.

"Now my human friend, maybe next time you should ask me on a few dates before trying to become so bold as to cope a feel, hmm?" Moon said as she stretched a bit on her mountain of pillows, that urge to take a piss was gone now and for good reason, my willpower and the beating I just went through took away that need.

Dusting myself off I promptly left the chamber before going up the stairs and out of the hidden tunnel before going straight to the bathroom and when I finally got there I found that urge to pee again and that toilet I have to use would have been disgusting to use but with my jump-jets burning away whatever could have been in there it is nice and clean.

After taking care of business and brushed my teeth and took a shower in the somehow-still-working bathtub with a shower nozzle attached to the ceiling, I donned my stealth armor and went back to Nightmare Moon and when I came back I saw that she was laying on her side and that she was reading my book that I was given the previous day.

"Hmm it seems that after all these years I was gone that these ponies have changed our language just a little amount but it is sad that happened while I was gone...I wonder what else has changed." I watched as she yawned a bit before ruffling her wings as a few feathers flew loose into the air.

Walking over to her I moved a pillow or two before sitting down and looked over her shoulder and just watched her go through the book that she is holding in her hooves.

"Well I haven't really explored the surrounding area yet but I can guess that it has, being gone for a prolonged amount of time can change the landscape to the point of it being unrecognizable." I said as I looked over my armor, checking it for damage that it might have sustained when I was flung into the wall and with a satisfied smile I went back to sitting by Moon as she kept on reading.

"I guess...but still though they could have at least kept Cloudsdale in its original place instead of moving it between Canterlot and that hamlet that lies on the Everfree's edge." Moon said in an almost forlorn tone, her head lowered as she places it upon a leg as she keeps the book close at hand.

I had to look at her for a while, wondering what Cloudsdale is and where it was previously located, hinting at its name I can guess it is in the sky and as to where it could possibly be, probably anywhere cause of how clouds tend to move with the breeze.

"You have no idea what I am talking about, do you." Moon said as she closed the book and stares right at me, her face expressionless as she just looks blankly at me.

"Not a clue." I said and its true, I don't know what it is or where it is, for all I know it could be on the other side of the planet by now.

"My friend, Cloudsdale is one of two Pegasi only cities in all of Equestria, their city is literally resting on a foundation of clouds, the weather factory produces the different types of weather that you can possibly see and they are also the only ones capable of producing a rainbow at any time." Nightmare Moon said as she stood up and somewhat stands proudly, almost as if she used to live there in the past.

"Make rainbows? Are you series?" I had this look of disbelief, I mean seriously, a weather factory? I am not buy that fib for even a minute.

"Yes I am, why? How does your kind create the mystifying colors that combines into such a beautiful sight, when it isn't trying to kill you." Moon said as she laid back down, I guess the talk of rainbows is something she doesn't like cause I mean come on, she got her ass wrecked by a flamboyant rainbow, twice.

And speak of her ass, not that I was looking or nothing but it does look nice...I bet if I smack it would barely jiggle and be more akin to slapping clay. It might be nice for a second but from what just happened a few moments ago her hooves would really hurt, especially if she aims at my head or my crotch, either of the two would spell a game over for me.

"Moon, my people don't make rainbows or even the weather for that matter, we just let the planet do its business and give us the weather and just roll with it when it turns sour. Hell even our rainbows are random, they just appear during the rains when the sun is out and about." I said with a hint of truth, my people can somewhat manipulate the weather but it is tedious and very expensive.

"Really...wait, planet? Your not from here?"

"Oh boy, what gave that away, was it the armor I am wearing? Or the way that I managed to find this place while nobody else bothered to come way the fuck out here, or maybe it was the fact that you have never seen something like me before?" I said with a bit of snarky tone, almost mocking Moon for failing to realize that she was talking to an alien the entire time.

In response to my snarkiness I was assaulted by a pillow, the soft material making contact with my face with a soft 'thwump' and when I removed the pillow from my face I see Nightmare Moon just laying there, looking innocent and looking in the other direction from me.

"Really...a pillow fight? What are you, a child?" I scolded Moon lightly but as I did so I took another pillow to the face and just stared at her flatly as she started to whistle innocently.

"Are we really going to be doing this now?" I said as I removed the second pillow from my face.

"If you think you can handle it little human."

'Shots fired.'

"Then prepare yourself the pillow fight of your life!" and with that shout I grabbed the pillow off the floor and leapt into the air, right arm cocked back with pillow in hand, my face contorted into a wild roar.

Nightmare Moon just stared at me unimpressed and not amused at what I am doing and promptly used what little magic she has at her disposal and fired five pillows at me, all five hitting me in the face and made me spin out before I landed on my face on a cushion in front of her.

"If this was a real battle then it was a rather short and sad one to say the least." Moon said as she places a hoof to the back of my head and pats it a few times.

'Surprise.'

Rolling over I use the momentum of it to smack the black alicorn across the face with the pillow, a quick glance and I saw her recoiling from the hit and what I believed a faint tint of red of embarrassment or was that anger that I saw?

"Very well played Anthony, using the 'dead possum' tactic to get a sneak attack in on me, very cleaver, but it won't work a second time, for now." Moon said with a small hint of pride and a tiny little smile on her muzzle, I don't know why but I think for a moment I felt a little funny but then I realized something. She's old.

'If I even tried to date an alien horse or even for that matter look at them in that peculiar light, would she be considered a cougar? A sabertooth? She said she was on the moon for a thousand years and that she was at least two thousand years old before that so...she is really, really, really old.'

"You seem to be staring off into the distance...why are you looking at the wall as if that is the most interesting thing in the room when you could be looking at your queen of the night in all of her benevolent glory." I had to stop myself from laughing at her for even saying that and she caught on to me snickering and scowled lightly at me.

"Sorry to burst that bubble of yours but if you were benevolent then you wouldn't be in here now would you?" I said while wearing a thinly held grin.

"Don't remind me..." Nightmare said as she eyed the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the room, which it might as well be seeing how it is the only thing that she can do in her current condition.

"I won't, its not like you are the only one that has been imprisoned before. Let me tell you, being a prisoner for the IMC sucks major amounts of ass." I said as my right hand unconsciously moved and rubbed my groin, remembering the unspeakable horrors that was done to them.

"Oh please, I was imprisoned on the moon for a thousands years all alone, how bad can your prison time be?"

"I was stuck on a ship for a month and every single day I was interrogated to reveal the location of a Militia base, and since I never told them a single thing they took a cattle prod and zapped me in the balls. And that shit hurts like hell." truth be told having my balls shocked is the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, right next to getting kicked in the balls by the same guy zapping me.

Hoping to move along from this particular conversation I grabbed the language book from the floor and handed it to Nightmare, hoping she would get the message and after a minute or two she finally did and then she started to laugh, not sure why.

"Why would you need this? We talking perfectly fine with no problem at all!" Moon said as she threw the book at me with her magic, I catch it before it could be damaged from the impact against the stone walls around us.

"Heh? I tried talking to a bunch of ponies the other day and they all looked at me as if I am retarded or something, I had to use a baby dragon to work as a translator for me." I said as I thought back to the conversation and I could have sworn that out of the corner of my eye that I was being watched by a mint green unicorn.

"You talked to the same six mares that have defeated me haven't you." Moon said with a glare, obviously this isn't good time to be in here with her.

"Uh...yeah, I think I did actually...was it a pink, white, orange, light blue, light yellow and lastly a purple mare with a pet dragon?" I said, trying to be innocent but I know that would be a bold-face lie.

"Yes! Them! You talked to them didn't you!" Nightmare Moon shouted again, standing up and marching right up to me but stops short when she reaches me, effectively putting us eye-to-eye.

"Well of course I talked to them, I didn't have much choice in the matter because to get the bloody book I had to talk to the purple egghead Twilight, to get through town I had to deal with the pink pony and cyan pegasus, and to get to the forest I had to avoid the yellow pegasus who warned me that the forest is dangerous. Our talks were along the lines of being one-sided, sheesh what got your panties in a bunch?" I said defensively, I don't know why she is acting like this but its starting to get on my nerves.

"I am not wearing any panties thank you very much, and they are not in a bunch, they are neatly folded and hidden away...not that I wear them at all." Nightmare Moon said before quickly tapering off, apparently she does wear panties which is odd seeing how ladies underwear would not look sexy on a horse.

"Wait...ponies have underwear? Why? Your all naked to begin with, not like you all can't see the plumbing anyways." I said in confusion, why would ponies and horses even need underwear?

"It's more then a fashion sense Mr. Human, its more along the lines of...what was it back then...an erotic lingerie I think." Nightmare Moon says after pondering for a few moments, apparently even a thousand years ago they had stuff like this which is odd considering that they are still in their medieval stasis.

"Really? Panties are considered erotic lingerie? Wow...the one time that is actually considered to be that is of course on an alien planet where everything is ruled by ponies....well isn't that bloody-freaking-tastic!" I yelled as my mind started to turn the cogs, overclocking on that one tid bit of information, rapidly going over it again and again without budging an inch away from it.

"Are you really overreacting to this new bit of information?" Moon said as she chuckles at my plight, apparently it is indeed too much information for me to handle. Too many unsexy thoughts just came to my head with the exception of two thoughts...

"And let me guess, bra's are also considered sexy lingerie too?" I shouted a bit too loud as Nightmare Moon starts to laugh at my steadily growing flustered appearance.

"Actually yes, they are, but they are mainly worn by whorses in the darker parts of town." the dark mare says as she keeps on laughing, she actually wipes a tear away from her muzzle with a hoof because she was laughing too hard.

"Why couldn't this be the planet of the sexy amazonian woman..." I grumbled out as Moon slowly pittered down from her laughter.

"Because if it was then you would be killed from all of the rutting that you would receive." she says as I realize that she actually knew of such a thing, did she look at other planets before?

"I hate my life....*groan* might as well just keep on trucking, nothing can be done about it now." I thumped my head into my hands as the black alicorn chuckles a few more times before calming down.

"Excellent! Now then shall we move onto more pressing matters?" Nightmare Moon says as she claps her front hooves together in the same manner a human does when he is about to propose something to a group of people.

"Such as, what exactly?" I said as I look at the bookshelf in the cell and look over at the numerous unknown titles before looking away, my head hurting from trying to understanding the words.

"Teaching you talk like those modern ponies that lay beyond these stone walls, if you are going to be my eyes and ears in this new era then you will need to act the part." Nightmare Moon says as she puts on a haughty air around herself, I turned my head to look at her as she slowly arranges her pillows to form a bed.

"When did I agree to be your eyes and ears?" I said as I looked at the smirking at me as she gave me her answer.

"When you touched my teat this morning." oh yea...right...the teat thing....shit.

"That was an accident!" I shouted, I knew it was an accident, its not my fault that I didn't know what I was grabbing, I had to get out of there.

"You touched my royal flesh in an impure manner! You will be my outside source of information or I will rip your phallus off and proceed to beat you to death with it!"

"Fine! Okay sheesh! Don't need to get violent with me, after a thousand years on a floating rock with not outside influence you should at least be happy that someone is able to sleep with you let alone be able to feel you up. Its been what, a thousand years since you've been laid, maybe more?" I said as I tried to defuse the situation, she may be an ex-goddess of the night but I bet she can still rip my dick off with her magic if she tried...I hope she can't cause I still want a family of my own someday in the future.

"Me? Fornicate with a lesser being? Neigh, I have not done such a thing, a Queen does not allow herself to have such comforts unless its with their mate and sadly no stallion is worthy of my attention or of my maidenhood." Nightmare Moon says with pride at first then slowly deteriorates because she realizes that she might never know what it is like to have someone to call your own, someone to love and snuggle in bed with.

"So, your a virgin." I plainly stated before getting my mouth covered with a pillow, my eyes on Nightmare Moon as she looks around, hoping that no one heard that even though we are all alone here.

"Yes, my maidenhood has not been claimed for there is nopony worthy enough to take it from me, and you sir, are not worthy." Nightmare says as she stares at me, I may not be worthy because your are scary, your ass on the other hand is damn fine.

"Ouch my pride, all one part of it. You do know that no one will even touch you because you would either scare the ever living shit out of them call for the royal guard to try to execute you properly instead of throwing you away in a prison cell like the one we are currently in." I said which forces Nightmare Moon to back off and rethink her words carefully.

"I...you...I know...what would you have me do, bend over and let the next stallion I see have his way with me?" Nightmare asks as I ponder that thought for the barest second before shaking my head.

"No, you could start by being nicer to people, stop trying to take over the world, be nicer to people, show your good side to everyone but keep yourself independent, don't be rude, show respect to other people and lastly don't shout at everyone you meet. And also when you think it might be the one for you, listen and follow your heart, you just might find that special someone that is always meant for you." I said as I started off with a list of things that I have always wanted to say to her but never had the courage to do it.

"Is that all it really takes to find your one true love?" Moon says as she looked at me, hoping that I would say yes but love is a fickle thing, its hardly ever correct and when its not there will be tears.

"I don't know, I only went on one date before I ended up here in this land, so for all I know it could either be true or false, but I do know this, you have to be kind to your significant other." I said as I remembered my first date, it almost ended up in a complete and utter disaster cause her brother showed up and nearly killed me.

"Hmm...I will remember this, thank you for your advice." Nightmare says with a weak, but barely visible smile and a slightly rose hue to her cheeks.

"Your welcome Moony." I said with a grin that earns me a weak glare that slowly begins to to shift into a flat expression.

"Don't call me that." Nightmare said with a flat stare, I know that her magic would have little to no effect on me but it seems like I am pushing it.

"Fine, Nightmare."

"Can we please just get on with your stupid lesson already, your annoying me more then usual." Nightmare Moon says with a great degree of impatience, I guess she just wants me to be out of her hair.

"You mean besides the time I started to mess with your mane?" I said with a cheeky grin that earns a light scowl from the black horse alicorn.

"Yes." the look on Nightmare Moon's face as she pouts at me is adorable as hell, hard to stay mad at her when she does this with me.

"Alrighty then, well, lets get started, don't want to get you all angry at me." with my hands up in a defensive manner I give a quick apology to the fallen lunar goddess, hoping she doesn't kill me in my sleep.

"Now back then in the old days being taught by royalty would mean that you are my pupil and that you are being groomed and prepared for royalty or at the very least, a position as a duke or duchess. Seeing how I have neither the power to do such a thing nor a kingdom to do it with, you are just my student. Do you have any objections to this?" Nightmare Moon said this with as much authority she can muster even though she is smiling ever so slightly, maybe this is her first time ever having a pupil under her wing.

"Nope, at the very least if I do and go to the afterlife, I can say that I was trained by royalty." I said in a slightly sarcastic manner which earns me a tail lightly hitting me upside the head from behind as the dark lunar mare walks behind me.

"Such optimism...I wonder how long that will last." Nightmare Moon muses as she watches me stand up and start to do a few exercises to limber up, I guess she is just seeing how my body functions.

"Don't know, however long I need it I guess." I said as I stretch and relax on a pillow, its lumpy and misshapen but it will have to do for now seeing that Moon has the best pillows.

"You confuse me human...are all of your people like this?" Nightmare Moon says as she lays down on her pile of pillows, her armor laying beside her and I realized that this is the first time I have ever seen her without her battle armor on, excluding her helmet and hoof shoes.

"You have no idea." I said and finally we begin my lessons on speaking the equine language, and unbeknownst to Nightmare Moon, I was teaching her how to be nicer to people, or in her case, nicer to her ponies by practicing on me.

"Now lets begin, this is the letter A, for...is this a foals book?" Nightmare Moon says and as she closes the book and flips it over she see's that it is indeed a beginners book for foals.

I think I just killed myself.

"Okay...we can make this work, just going to take longer then I have previously thought...okay lets try this again." and just like that I have started my lessons to speak like an equestrian, I just hope I don't sound like a yokel or an uptight noble who can't even speak without having his head above everyone else's.

Between learning how to say the letters and to sound it out I also had to learn how to write it and put it into words, it is a very painstaking lesson as Nightmare Moon is a very brutal and unforgiving teacher. Several times she cracked a riding crop that she had somehow acquired across my knuckles and let me tell you, having that happen to me with a metal spoon hurts but this takes the cake.

"No! Wrong! It is never done like that! Start over!" I heard this shout several times and every single time it is said and done I end up with bruised knuckles and aching hands.

It was also during this exchange of words and beatings and lessons that Nightmare Moon would move close to me and lay down, almost curling herself around me, she says its to ensure that she can see what I am doing, I would tease her and say that she is trying to garner my attention which earns an even harder crack across the knuckles.

I know that she likes me, I can see it from the corner of my eye that whenever she gets close to check my work to see if it is correct, I can see her get a bit closer and slightly brush herself against my arm only to pull herself back and earn a rose hue to her cheeks.

These lessons I know for a fact will take days, weeks, maybe even months for me to get down, to understand and to put it into practice without botching it, I just hope that my hands can handle the pain of that riding crop.

Now I wonder how long it will take for Nightmare Moon to finally admit that she has feelings for me because she is acting like a teenage girl that is crushing on some guy but she just can't speak up.

As today's lesson comes to an end I wave goodbye to the fallen alicorn and made my way up the stairs and once I made it up top I heard the trapdoor close behind me and made my way beyond the castle and headed straight for the town of Ponyville, I have a few questions to ask the resident librarian and her number one assistant.

We fight for our freedom

by Izalith

And sometimes we will die gladly for it.

But not me, I have too much to live for.

Unless of course its for a friend in need.

First Contact but with Children

New Home means New Neighbors

Meet the Neighbors

A Shadow in the Walls

Meeting the Town

Pony Education: Part 1: Learning the Language