I staggered back into my camp and collapsed onto my bedroll in the lean-to. I reached over with my good arm and dug the first aid kit out of the backpack. I rolled up my tattered sleeve and inspected the wound the Timber Wolf had given me. 4 deep bite marks covered my forearm.

“Ughhhhhh this is a bitch.” I found the pair of tweezers and got to work on the gruesome wound. I’ll skip the morbid details. All in all 13 splinters came out of the 4 bite marks. One had definitely hit the bone as it caused the most pain to remove. I made a quick bandage and tied up the wound, I was going to have to go see Zecora sooner than I thought. I’m sure she had something that could heal this up real quick.

I looked at my rifle; it had never failed me before. Well it didn’t fail me. It killed two out of the four wolves and had saved my neck literally from another one. But the jam wasn’t all the shell’s fault. I remembered the piece of wood that had flown from the Timber had clogged the ejection port. 21 bullets left in that clip. I still had a good bit of ammo for the rifle and I still had 72 pistol rounds. And now I had this ungodly sharp knife. Very fucking sharp.

I picked up the rifle, now completely unclogged, and trudged through the forest to the friendly zebra’s hut. It was quiet when I arrived and I knocked on the door. “Zecora, it’s me Johnson. Are you home?”

I heard the clopping of hooves and the door opened. Zecora stood there looking relived. “Johnson it’s good to see you are safe, I have heard some noise that caused my ears chafe. It was loud bang and boom; that surely meant our doom.”

“No Zecora, I caused that noise. Those loud explosions came from my weapons.” I patted the rifle that hung across my chest. “I was exploring the woods and a group of Timber Wolves tried to attack some ponies near the edge of the Everfree forest. So I stepped in and kind of saved the day.” I shrugged at the last part, finally realizing that I had saved the day.

Zecora paced over to a window and looked out into the woods. “I’m am very glad to hear this, but your arm is amiss.” She trotted over and nudged my arm with her snout. “What happened here, did this occur out there?”

I slowly undid the bandage wrapped around the injured area of my right arm. “Yea, one of the Timber Wolves bite me. I managed to get out the splinters, but I was wondering if you had something that could help heal it.”

“Hm I believe I have this potion, it was wise of you to have this notion. An open wound in this wood, it is surely no good.” She picked up a clay pot and placed it on the floor. Zecora patted a spot nest to her, instructing me to sit next to her.

I removed my rifle and laid it on the ground, and I sat next to zebra. The smell coming from the pot was foul. Not as bad as the potion that allowed me to read, but it was still pretty bad. Zecora dipped a hoof into the green sludge and held it above the teeth marks.

“This may cause a pinch, but please do not flinch.” She lowered the mixture onto the bites and I immediately almost tore my arm away from her. It was like thousands of ants had just crawled into my arm and were stinging every inch of my forearm. I was about to start screaming, but then it stopped. I looked down and noticed the holes in my arm were gone. 4 scares now adorned my arm. The teeth marks had healed and scared over in seconds.

“Thanks Zecora!” I threw my now healed arm around her and pulled her into a one armed hug. She returned the gesture by placing a fore hoof around me as well.

I was about to ask Zecora if there was anything I could do to pay the kind zebra back for her generosity to a stranger when the front door swung open.

“ZECORA you will never believe what ah just saw happen! This creature that was 10 feet tall saved me and my class and Miss Cheerlie!” Applebloom bounded into the room, to excited to notice me sitting in the corner of the room.

“Yea that’s right, it was…” She finally stopped her bouncing and locked eyes with me. Her pupils grew wide and she just stared at me. It felt like minutes before anything happened. This little filly was frozen in place and I was too afraid of scaring her to do anything.

The next moment I was lying on my back with this adorable filly hug tackling me onto the floor. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening until it was too late.

“You saved me and Sweetie Bell, and Scootalo! Everypony in my class was saved thanks to you! You were so brave and awesome! Even Scootalo couldn’t deny that it was awesome the way you were all like pow pow pow, bang bang bang to those evil bad Timber Wolves.” The yellow filly finally stopped talking and sat on my chest staring at me with the most adorable smile ever.

“Um yes. You’re welcome. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” No I was just spying on Ponyville when you ponies walked by.

Applebloom hoped of my chest and strode over to Zecora who had been watching the whole time with a goofy smile on her face. “Well human you seem to have an admirer, and others will also inquirer.”

Yeah I guess that is bound to come up now. You don’t just save a group of foals and then just disappear into thin air. Besides 2 of the mane six’s sisters had been in that group. I was bound to get some attention now.

Applebloom looked at my arm. “Is that where the wolf bit you?” She pointed a hoof at the 4 milky white spots on my arm.

“Oh these little scratches? Yeah it was no big deal, just a little blood.” I shrugged it off. I was the badass human; I couldn’t seem weak in front of a new fan.

“Applebloom he almost cried silly, like a small filly. When I applied the healing solution, you would think he was in constriction.” I glared at the zebra who only laughed. Applebloom giggled as well.

She walked over to me and wrapped her forelegs around my right leg and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks again… um creature. My name is Applebloom.”

She looked up at me with damn adorable face. “Well Applebloom, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Johnson and I’m the only human in Equestria.” Actually I liked that. Johnson, Equestria’s only human. It was mysterious and very solemn. Just like everything else about humans in Equestria.

“Well thank you Zecora thanks again for the medicine. I’m going to leave before anypony else shows up. Now Applebloom tell you sister about me. Make sure everypony you talk to knows that I am 100% peaceful and I’m not dangerous. Deal?”

I was thinking if Applebloom told her sister, Applejack would tell her friends, Twilight Sparkle would certainly send a letter to Princess Celestia and badaboom I had my contact to find out about what happened to humans 1,100 years ago.

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that Johnson.” Applebloom waved me off with a hoof and a shrug.

“And why is that Applebloom?” Ok now I’m intrigued. Did she already do that?

“Because by now all of Ponyville knows about you, we all ran back to town screaming about a creature that saved us. Miss Cheerlie went straight to the Twilight Sparkle, who is a personal pro-tege…protegae…student to the Princess herself. So everyone already knows about this mysterious creature that saved the day, and me and Zecora are the first to meet ya!” She smiled wide and nodded to Zecora who was busy making some other concoction in her cauldron. She looked up and smiled and went back to stirring.

Well that went a lot faster than I thought. Actually this whole thing was going a lot better than I thought it would. Applebloom wasn’t afraid of me, but then again she wasn’t afraid of Zecora. I guess I need to visit Ponyville and really see how I am received.

But maybe not yet, I might wait a few days till venturing into town. Day of the saving might not receive the best results. Now I had made first contact with the ponies, maybe I should wait and allow them to try and contact me. Give and take.

Yup I like that idea. Time to play the waiting game and by that I mean im going to sleep and eat in my camp.

“Well goodbye you two. Zecora, you know where to find me if you need me for anything. And Applebloom, I promise to see you again, so here, hold onto this for me till I come back.” I reached around my neck and pulled off my Army dog tags. I disconnected one of the small metal discs and held it out to Applebloom. I put the other one back around my neck. She took it in a hoof and stared at it.

“What does this here thing say?” She tried holding it at different angles to read the stamped metal; but it didn’t seem to help her at any.

“It is called a dog tag, and it has my name on it. Along with my address and blood type.” I didn’t really feel like explaining what that all meant today. Another time I figured.

She held it close like it was a precious toy or lifelong friend. “Ah promise I’ll keep it safe Johnson.”

I smiled and bent down and patted her head. “Stay safe Applebloom. Zecora, walk her out of the forest tonight, okay?” I moved towards the door to the hut ready to head to my home in the small clearing. Sleep sounded excellent right now.

“I’ll walk her out and into safety, this is what counts mostly.” Zecora and Applebloom waved goodbye as I closed the door and headed of into the woods. Hopefully tonight would pass without any interference from the local wildlife and things would return to as close to normal as it can get.

I awoke to the sunlight streaming through the canopy of the forest. I yawned and stretched cracking my back and neck as I rose to sitting position. I reached for my canteen and took a few gulps of the sweet protein enriched solution that Zecora had made me.

My watch read 10:30. Wow I slept for nearly 10 hours. I felt completely refreshed and energized. Yesterday’s actions were still fresh in my mind. I ran my hand over the 4 small bumps that now were permanently engraved on my skin, a reminder that I wasn’t completely invincible to the fauna that inhabited this forest. I would need a real home one of these days.

As I continued to wake up; I smelt something, something sweet, like frosting. I looked around for the smell and my eyes came to rest on a bright pink cupcake resting on top of my backpack. I slowly picked it up to find a note attached to the side of it. I pulled it off and read the very pink card.

You are here by invited to Pinkie Pie’s
Thanks for saving the school foals and Miss Cheerlie from the Big Bad Timber Wolves Party
At Sugar Cube Corner
6 o’clock
~Pinkie Pie

Well I’ll be damned. My first interaction with Pinkie Pie and I had been asleep for it. I took a bite of the Cupcake. Wow

Take the best thing you have ever eaten, and throw it out the window. This was the God of all food I have ever eaten. I picked up sprinkles from the ground that had fallen off. That fucking good.

Well now I knew how I was going to meet the ponies of Ponyville. At least it would be a party and I could get it done all at once. Quick, like a band-aid. I could explain everything once to everypony and not have to repeat myself a thousand times in one day.

I left my lean-to and walked to the small pond that I had bathed in to get rid of my sparkly skin from the poison joke. It has been 2 days since I last bathed. I removed my tactical vest and belt with holster on it. Then I took off my now slightly blood stained and ripped jacket and threw it into the pond along with my pants. Time to wash these bad boys. I left the rifle and boots on the edge of the pond so I could grab them if needed. I needed to wash up for my first pony-human social interaction.

After I was squeaky clean I redressed myself taking extra special care to make sure my uniform was in tip top shape; other than for the ripped right sleeve. I put my rifle in my lean-to after removing the firing pin. I placed that in my breast pocket for safe keeping. I put on my belt with BB on the left side and my pistol on the right side. All 4 clips were attached in to the belt in nylon mag pouches next to the pistol; with the 5th clip in the pistol. I know I was going to a party, but I did have to walk through the Everfree to get to it. And better to have it and not need it; then to need it and not have it. Survival tip #1

My watch beeped letting me know it was 4 in the afternoon. I decided that I should bring a guest with me. And I knew just witch pony to bring. Or should I say Zebra. She has earned the right to go with me after everything she has helped me with. The only other being that deserves to go is Reggie, but he cant leave his river. I'll pay him a visit soon enough.

The Equestrian Honor Guard

by Honored Service

The After Bloom