//------------------------------// // Happy Reunions, Unhappy Landings // Story: Metal Gear Spark: Peace Zero // by GreenS21 //------------------------------// Twilight let out a yawn as her eyes slowly opened, the mare still feeling a bit tired. It had been two days since she had regained consciousness, and by now her eyes had lost most of the red tinting the sclera. Her voice was still raspy and she still had bandages all over her (she’d discovered two more on both of her hind legs the other day), but otherwise, she was doing well (physically) for a pony who had been asleep for a week. As she carefully raised herself up to a sitting position while holding her head up, Twilight reflected on the events of the previous day. According to the nurse that she had talked to when she woke up, being unconscious for a week had done wonders for her injuries, as evidenced by her wings now being folded against her back. The cast that had been on her left wing had been removed the previous day, as the doctor had determined that it had healed enough that she no longer needed the cast as long as she didn’t use it. Just like the rest of her, her wings were still healing, but it was clear she was recovering better than they expected. The nurse even came in during Princess Celestia and Luna’s visit to tell her that she might be able to leave the hospital soon. Twilight smiled softly as she remembered how happy they were to see her awake and how they stayed with her awhile before they had to go back to Canterlot Castle, though they promised that they would be coming back today. While they had been with her, they kept an eye on her and supported her when she wanted to try getting out of bed for the first time in a week. Her legs had been wobbly at first and she had barely managed to reach the door by the end of the day, but she was definitely making progress. The doctors were impressed with her recovery. The lavender alicorn’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door to her room opening. Turning her head to look, she saw the pink unicorn nurse coming in with Princess Luna entering behind her. “Good morning, Princess Twilight. How are you feeling today?” the nurse asked as she stepped up to the bed. “I’m feeling better today. I’m not feeling quite as stiff or sore as I did yesterday,” Twilight replied, her voice definitely much less hoarse now. She then looked at Luna and said, “Good morning, Princess Luna.” The Lunar Princess nodded, “Good morning to you as well, Twilight Sparkle. My sister will be joining us as soon as she finishes her morning duties and gathers your possessions from the Twelfth Precinct. We should not have to wait long for her.” Twilight replied, “Okay.” She looked at the nurse and asked, “Has the doctor told you anything, uh, miss?” The nurse answered, “He told me that he’s going to want to see you later in the afternoon for a check-up, Princess. If everything checks out, we’ll be able to release you tomorrow as long as you agree to take it easy and let your body continue to recover.” Twilight chuckled slightly, “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be doing anything too strenuous for a while.” She then glanced down to the side, “Although…” The nurse asked, “Yes, Princess?” Twilight looked back up at her, “When is breakfast coming up?” The nurse replied, “It should be here in a little while. Why?” Twilight answered, “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to try getting out of bed and walking a little more.” Luna looked a little surprised. “Are you certain you feel up to walking again, Twilight?” Twilight nodded, “Yes, I would really like to, Princess Luna. I’d just like to get an idea of how I’m feeling now before I see the doctor later, and I’m feeling a little cooped up after being in this room so long. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk well while I’m feeling that way.” Luna said, “Yes, my sister and I haven’t forgotten that you agreed to tell us what you’ve been doing in your time away. That reminds me, your brother, former foalsitter, and friends will be arriving in Canterlot today, so they will be present to hear your story as well.” Twilight looked back at the nurse as she spoke, “I’m not sure the doctor would approve of this, Princess, but if your legs really are feeling stronger…” Twilight nodded, so the nurse said, “Then yes, you can do some more walking as long as I’m with you.” Twilight replied, “I would like you to be with me, ma’am. I don’t think I’m strong enough to go anywhere without you yet.” Luna spoke, “I would like to accompany you and observe your progress as well, Twilight Sparkle. May I?” Twilight nodded, so the nurse unhooked the wires attached to her right foreleg and lowered the rails on the left side of the bed to make it easier for her. Twilight slowly turned and swung her legs out from under her blanket, revealing her hind legs and the bandages wrapped around them as they hung over the side of the bed. She stared down at the floor, steadying herself as the nurse and Luna moved to her sides. She then scooted off the bed, making sure her back hooves were resting on the tiles before bringing her forehooves down. Standing up straight, she looked towards the door, her objective, and slowly began to walk towards it, Luna and the nurse following close behind her. Soon, in the lobby The earth pony receptionist on duty looked up from the newspaper she was reading when the front doors slid open. A white unicorn stallion and a pink alicorn mare entered the lobby, the stallion pointedly stepping up to the desk first. He looked at the mare and said, “Good morning, miss. We’re here to see our sister. Can you tell us where she is?” The mare stared back at him for a moment before setting her newspaper down and looking down at the day planner in front of her for a moment before looking back up and asking, “You’re Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, right? Princess Celestia said you would be coming today to see Princess Twilight.” Cadance stepped up next to her husband and replied, “Yes, that’s correct. May we?” The receptionist said, “Certainly, Your Highness. I’ll send word to her doctor that you’ve arrived, but you can go ahead. She’s in Room 212.” The couple thanked her and passed through the double doors behind the desk, leaving the mare to do her work. Shining and Cadance swiftly made their way to the second floor and followed the signs on the walls to locate the patient rooms. As they were approaching a ‘T’ intersection, they heard talking coming from the right. Curious, they walked to the corner and poked their heads around it, seeing Twilight sitting in a chair against the wall on their right and Luna and the nurse standing in front of her. Shining stared in shock for a moment before quickly rounding the corner and saying, “Twily!” The three mares looked up at him in surprise, though Twilight soon smiled brightly. “Shining, Cadance!” she exclaimed. As soon as he reached her, Shining wrapped his forelegs around her in a hug. “Don’t squeeze too hard, Shiny. I’m a little tender right now,” she said, raising her left foreleg to hug him back. Cadance was able to keep her joy under wraps as she simply walked over to Twilight, though she immediately hugged her favorite filly when she reached her. As Twilight hugged her as well, Luna spoke, “Princess Cadance, Shining Armor. You both certainly got here quickly.” Cadance glanced at the Lunar Princess as she held her hug and said, “Of course, Princess Luna. As soon as we’d tied up the last few loose ends at the Crystal Empire, we came as fast as we could.” Luna smirked, “Yes, I know. I think a good part of Canterlot heard your train arrive; everypony here in the hospital did.” Cadance giggled slightly; clearly the brakes on the crystal train still needed some work. After a few more moments, Shining and Cadance let go of Twilight and stepped back, the former saying, “I’m so glad you’re back, Twilight. And you look like you’re doing well, considering. Did you actually get out of bed today?” Twilight replied, “I actually just started walking yesterday, Shining. I wanted to see if I was getting any stronger. Apparently I am, considering how far down the hall I got.” The nurse spoke up, “Yes. She made it to the end of the hall with Princess Luna and I, and I suggested she stop for a moment before going back to her room.” Cadance smiled, “That’s wonderful to hear.” As she looked back at Twilight, her smile eased off and she asked, “But how did this happen to you, Twilight?” The lavender alicorn looked a bit nervous at having to answer that question, but thankfully, Shining spoke up, “I’m curious too, dear, but we should wait until everypony gets here before she starts to tell us.” Twilight looked up at him and asked, “Everypony? You mean…” Shining looked down at her and nodded, “Yeah, your friends should be arriving soon too, Twily. Mom and Dad can’t make it, unfortunately. Princess Celestia checked with them, but they’re really busy. She said they did promise to come see you later, though.” Twilight glanced down, “I see.” The nurse looked at Twilight and said, “I think we should get you back to your room now, Princess Twilight. I’m sure your breakfast is ready by now, and since you’re going to have more visitors coming, you might want to get that out of the way.” Twilight looked back at her and nodded, “You’re right. Thank you.” Luna and the nurse stepped back as Twilight slid off the chair onto her hooves, both them, Cadance, and Shining Armor following her back down the hall to Room 212. Soon, in front of the Twelfth Precinct Princess Celestia stepped out of the wooden doors of the precinct, a pair of slightly burnt olive drab saddlebags with a third bag on them draped over her back along with a number of smaller pouches tucked carefully underneath the center bag. There had been quite a bit of paperwork that had needed to be filled out in order for her to claim Twilight’s possessions, but she had found it to be no baffling ordeal. She just hoped Twilight wasn’t wondering if something had happened to her. After saying her goodbyes to the guards manning the precinct, Celestia walked down the front steps and began making her way to the hospital. As she was walking, she greeted any citizens she walked past, enjoying the cool air present so early in the day. As she was getting close to the hospital, she saw Spike and Twilight’s other friends in the middle of a road, seemingly arguing with each other. As the Sun Princess got closer, it seemed they hadn’t noticed her yet, as she was able to hear what they were saying. “I’m telling you, we were supposed to go right at that intersection!” Rainbow Dash was saying. “But Rarity said we were supposed to go this way, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy meekly said. Rarity laughed nervously before saying, “I’m terribly sorry, everypony. I don’t know where the Canterlot hospital is. I’ve never had to go there…” Applejack eyed her and said, “If you had ta go ta the hospital when you were supposed to be enjoyin’ yerself, Rarity, then Ah’d worry about you.” She looked at Spike and asked, “Spike?” The baby dragon shrugged, “I don’t know where it is either. Twilight and I never had to go there when we lived in Canterlot.” Pinkie piped up, “Hey look, here comes Princess Celestia!” Spike and the other ponies turned to see the Princess walking towards them, all of them bowing as she reached them. “Good morning, my little ponies. How are all of you?” Celestia asked. “Howdy, Princess. We’re a little, uh, turned around, it seems,” Applejack admitted as they all stood up straight. Rarity nodded, “Yes, ah, it appears I don’t know my way around Canterlot as well as I thought I did.” She noticed everything on the Princess’ back and asked, “Oh my, what is all that, Your Highness?” Celestia glanced back for a moment before looking back at the group and saying, “Oh, this is what the guards that found Twilight said she had with her. They decided to hold onto it all until she regained consciousness. Now then…” She turned, “Shall we be off to the hospital? It’s actually not that far from here.” Spike and the ponies took her up on her invitation, following behind her as she walked. After several minutes, they arrived at the hospital and entered the lobby. The receptionist looked up at Princess Celestia as she approached the desk and said, “Oh! Good morning, Princess Celestia.” The Sun Princess stopped just short of the desk and replied, “Good morning to you as well. Princess Twilight’s friends have come to see her. Do you know if Princess Cadance and Shining Armor have arrived yet?” The receptionist nodded, “They did, just a little while ago, in fact. I let them through after telling them Princess Twilight is in Room 212.” The mare suddenly looked to her right in shock, a rainbow streak shooting through the double doors as soon as she finished speaking. As Spike and the other ponies followed after their friend, Celestia returned her gaze to the mare and said, “Don’t worry about them. I’ll see to them, if I may?” The receptionist replied, “Of course, Princess. The doctor already knows she has visitors; go on ahead, Your Highness.” Celestia nodded and walked through the double doors, making her way up to the second floor. As she rounded the corner, she saw Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy going into Twilight’s room, the nurse thanking them for helping her as she walked away while pushing a cart with a tray on it. After taking a moment to talk to the nurse, Celestia reached the room a few seconds later and peered in, seeing Twilight’s friends gathered around her bed, Spike on the bed and hugging her and Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and Luna standing on the other side of the bed. Celestia smiled as she watched the happy reunion. After a minute, Celestia stepped into the room and began walking over to Twilight’s bed. As she was walking, Pinkie pulled out a cupcake with pink frosting on it and said, “Here, Twilight, I brought you a gift! It’s a cupcake!” Twilight’s eyes went wide at that. “A cupcake?” she asked, eagerly taking the treat from Pinkie’s outstretched hoof with her left foreleg and holding it up in front of her in her forehooves, staring at it as if mesmerized. Several seconds went by before Rainbow Dash asked, “Uh, Twilight? You gonna eat that cupcake or stare at it all day?” Twilight snapped back to reality at that and looked over at her friends, sheepishly saying, “Uh, sorry about that. It’s just… I haven’t eaten a cupcake in nearly five months, let alone seen one. I honestly don’t know if I should eat it or savor it.” Pinkie gasped in horror, “Five months without a single cupcake?! Oh Twilight, that’s horrible!” She reached over and wrapped her forelegs around the lavender alicorn, crying, “I can’t imagine going a week without having a cupcake! How did you ever survive?!” Shining Armor spoke up, “Wait, what do you mean by ‘five months’, Twilight? It’s only been a month since Lord Tirek was sent back to Tartarus.” Twilight and the others looked over at him, Twilight saying, “A month…? Oh, that’s right. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna said the same thing yesterday.” She glanced down, “There must be a difference in how time passes in some universes…” Applejack looked at her, “Universes? You sayin’ you got sent to a different universe, Twilight?” Celestia cleared her throat and Twilight’s friends suddenly realized that the Sun Princess was standing right behind them. Pinkie and Spike let go of Twilight and the ponies moved aside to let Celestia reach the bedside. She stepped up and nuzzled her student for a moment before lifting her head up and saying, “Good morning, Twilight. I’m certain you have a lot to tell us, but before that, I thought you might want your belongings back.” Twilight noticed what was on Celestia’s back and said, “Oh, yes. Th-Thank you, Princess.” She placed Pinkie’s cupcake on the nightstand next to her clothing and Spike sat up on his knees, moving back so he wasn’t in the way. Celestia used her magic to lift everything up into the air and levitated each item over to Twilight. “Here are your saddlebags,” the bags floated over and gently landed in Twilight’s lap before she continued, “and these pouches…” She floated over six pouches that, like the saddlebags, were olive drab in color, one of which had a black handle sticking out of it. Celestia held one last item up with her magic, though she was frowning as she looked up at it. “And they said this was with you too,” she said finally, floating a black holster that had a black handle sticking out of it over onto the nightstand. From the shape of the holster, it was easy to tell what it was. “Is that a… knife?” Spike asked as he looked at the holster. Twilight glanced down at him as she said, “It’s a… survival knife, Spike.” Applejack eyed her friend, “Why were you carryin’ a knife around, Twilight?” Twilight realized what the earth pony was saying and said, “It’s not like that, Applejack! I had to learn close-quarters combat before I was allowed out in the field.” She gestured to the knife, “I wasn’t allowed to use that until I was told I was proficient enough to use it. I haven’t had to use it for… that particular reason. The only thing I’ve used it for is to cut open fruit when I was out in the jungle and forest.” Fluttershy asked, “You were in a jungle, Twilight?” Rarity, as she was looking at the clothing on the nightstand, added, “Who would let a princess go out into the jungle of all places?! And please don’t tell me you had to wear those colorless, yet well-stitched, clothes out there, darling. That would be an even greater injustice!” Luna spoke up, loudly, “If everypony could please quiet down!” She hadn’t used the Royal Canterlot Voice, but she hadn’t needed to; everypony immediately took the hint and refrained from saying anything further. “Perhaps now that we are all here, Twilight could tell us what happened to her from the beginning so that we can all understand.” Cadance nodded, “That’s a good idea, Aunt Luna.” She looked back at Twilight, “What exactly happened after Tirek was defeated, Twilight? How did you disappear?” Twilight held her left hoof to her forehead as she began, “I still don’t know exactly what happened, Cadance. Tirek launched one last spell before he was sent to Tartarus, but I don’t know what it was or what it was supposed to do. There was some kind of magic reaction, that’s all I can think.” Rainbow asked, “So what happened after you disappeared?” Twilight lowered her hoof and said, “I don’t know everything that happened. I blacked out afterwards, since the next thing I knew, I was slowly waking up.” She sighed, “And what a place to wake up in…” ________________________________________ A soft groan escaped Twilight’s mouth as she began to stir, awareness slowly returning to her as she swam back to consciousness. Her eyes opened partway and she blinked several times before opening them all the way, seeing plants and dirt in front of her. After a few seconds, she became aware that she was lying on her left side with her wings unfolded and lifted herself up, rolling onto her front as she folded her wings to her sides and looked around. She appeared to be in a forest or jungle, as sunlight was streaming down through the trees above, but when she looked up at the trees, she noticed they looked more tropical, like palm trees rather than the trees she was used to seeing. “I don’t know where I am, but I’m going to say this isn’t the Everfree Forest. It looks too different, and it’s really warm here too.” she thought to herself, raising a hoof to her forehead to wipe away the sweat that was starting to gather there. At the thought of the Everfree Forest, recent events suddenly flooded her mind and she stood up, stepping away from the tree she had been lying against and looking around as she called, “Spike! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy! Rarity! Discord!” She kept looking around, waiting for a sign that her friends were there with her, but all she heard was the sounds of nature. After a couple of seconds, Twilight’s ears drooped as she looked down, “What happened back at the Everfree Forest? What did Tirek do? I have my magic again, but I can’t feel the power that came from the box from the Tree of Harmony…” Looking back up at the sunlight coming through the trees above, she wondered, “Where am I? What happened to my friends? To everypony in Equestria?” Her eyes began to water a bit, “Am I the only one here?” She was distracted from thinking any further when she heard a rustling coming from some bushes across from her. Twilight stared at the shaking bushes for a few seconds before asking, “Hello?” A blue head with a dull red crest atop it and black stripes popped over the top of the bushes a moment after she had spoken, a pair of yellow-orange eyes looking back at her. Twilight stared at the creature; the shape of its beak-like face made her wonder if it was one of the ancient lizards she’d read about or a type of dragon. Regardless of what the creature was, Twilight decided to see if she could communicate with it. “Uh, hello there. I think I’m a little lost. Can you help-” The creature cut her off in mid-sentence with, seemingly, a bird call. It wasn’t so much the noise that made Twilight stop short; it was the fact that the creature had sharp, carnivorous teeth along the sides of its mouth. And when the creature suddenly dashed out of the bushes towards her on two legs a moment later, her hunch was proven correct: it wanted to make her lunch! When the creature was a little closer, it leapt at her, holding both its arms and its legs out in front of it, the latter so that so the claws on its feet were pointing right at her. Twilight quickly dropped down to the ground, the creature sailing right over her and crashing into the tree behind her. She looked over at it as it recovered from its disorientation for a moment before turning and running away, wanting to get as far away from it as she could. She wasn’t fast enough, though, as it saw which direction she was running before she could get very far away… Twilight winced as she heard the creature letting out calls in the distance behind her. She kept running, though, hoping she could still put some distance between her and it. That hope was in vain, unfortunately, as, as soon she ran into a clearing, four more of the same creature leapt out, surrounding her! Twilights slid to a stop in the middle of the clearing and looked around frantically, realizing that the first creature had been calling for help! The creatures began to prowl around Twilight, as if daring her to make a movement. Twilight glanced around nervously, searching for a way out of this situation. “Oh what do I do, what do I do?! These things are like that Cragadile in the Everfree Forest, only there are more of these, whatever they are! And my friends had to help me out of that one because I couldn’t…” She stopped in mid-thought as she remembered why the Cragadile had cornered her back then and realized she might have a way out of this. Twilight bent forward on her forelegs, looking as though she was about to do something. Two of the creatures began to close in on her in response, both of them leaping at her when they were close enough. Before their feet left the ground, Twilight spread her wings and flapped them downward to take off. Now that she no longer had all of Equestria’s alicorn magic, the effect was nowhere near as powerful, but it did get her above the heads of the creatures, causing them to roll on the ground when they landed. She started to fly away, but the other two came after her, jumping up after her to stop her! Thinking quickly, she focused her magic into her horn and disappeared in a flash of magic, reappearing amongst the trees at the edge of the clearing and running again, hopefully before they could realize what happened. Twilight ran as fast as she could, occasionally stealing a glance behind her to see if the creatures were coming after her. On one of the times she looked back, she hadn’t realized she was approaching a drop due to the trees around her, so when she looked forward again, she let out a shout as she realized the ground shot straight down! She planted her hooves into the ground, but she was too late to stop herself and went rolling down the cliff face. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long drop, so she was only disoriented from hitting the ground hard, but when she heard something in front of her, she looked up and her eyes went wide. She’d landed at the edge of a flat area overlooking a beach, but it was the two wyverns fighting each other not that far away from her that caught her attention. One was bright red with black markings and massive wings, and the other was predominantly yellow and blue striped and powerful-looking limbs. They both had long thick tails that had spiky ends, and they were both HUGE, much bigger than the creatures from earlier. Twilight watched them fight with a strange fascination for a few moments until the red wyvern reared back and launched a fireball at its opponent. The yellow and blue wyvern dodged the flaming projectile and it ended up hitting the wall near where Twilight was sitting! She let out a cry as she shielded herself, the fireball exploding when it hit the wall. After the ringing in her ears died down, she clasped her hooves on the side of her head and said, “Okay, this is too much to deal with right now!” Shutting her eyes, she focused her magic into her horn, preparing for a powerful teleport. She disappeared in a flash of light seconds later, hoping she would end up in a much safer place. When she felt herself touch solid ground a few moments later, Twilight opened her eyes and took her hooves off her head, looking around. She could see what looked like freight cars around her, the ones she could see around her sitting on train tracks. “Is this a freight yard? Well, this is a bit different…” she muttered to herself. Suddenly, a loud voice behind her yelled, “What the hell is THAT?!” Twilight stiffened up at that, the amplified volume of the voice by itself nearly scaring her half to death. The rational part of her mind tried to calm her by saying that if she could understand what they were saying, she had a better chance of getting help, but any chance of being calmed was crushed when she turned her head to look behind her. Coming towards her was a large green machine that, while not quite as big as those wyverns roughly, was still shaking the ground beneath her slightly as it rolled on treads. It had a long cannon pointing towards her, and at its sides were four creatures that looked like the same creatures she and Spike had seen when they followed Sunset Shimmer through the mirror to that other world. Unlike those creatures, however, these did not look the least bit friendly. They wore mostly gray outfits that covered every part of their bodies except for their heads, which instead had helmets and goggles covering them, and they were pointing strange devices at her that made her think of the crossbows in Equestria. The four of them quickly moved and surrounded her, pointing their weapons at her while the machine came to a stop a short distance away with its cannon pointing at Twilight. Twilight glanced around nervously at the soldiers (she guessed that’s what they were) around her, the tension and silence in the air nearly unbearable. After several long seconds, the soldier on Twilight’s right spoke, “What the hell is this thing?” The soldier on her left then asked, “And where did it come from?” Twilight started to speak, “Excuse me, I…” Unfortunately, almost as soon as she opened her mouth, the soldiers readied and pointed their weapons at her again, causing her to abruptly shut her mouth. The first soldier exclaimed, “It can talk too?!” The second soldier grunted, “First an intruder, now this? What is going on here?” The amplified voice from before came from the vehicle behind Twilight, “Focus! Take care of one thing at a time!” The first soldier nodded, “Right. This thing might be worth something if we bring it back with us alive.” Twilight tensed up at that, staring at the soldier as he put his weapon away and pulled some kind of rod out of his pocket. As he began to approach her, he said, “Now don’t move…” Suddenly, something fell past Twilight’s line of sight, landing on the ground in front of her with a clatter. Twilight looked down and saw it looked like some kind of metal cylinder. The soldier saw it too and exclaimed, “What the-?!” Suddenly, the cylinder exploded, releasing a cloud of smoke! Twilight let out a yelp as the smoke surrounded her, the soldiers seemingly being thrown off by the smoke as well. Amidst their surprised exclamations, she heard clattering and explosions near her two more times, more smoke filling the area. As Twilight coughed from the smoke, she heard footsteps around her, and suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her! She gasped as she was lifted off the ground and carried away, whoever it was carrying her out of the smoke and past the back of the green vehicle towards a large shed she hadn’t noticed earlier. Because of how closely pressed up she was against whoever was holding her, she couldn’t really see who it was, but based on the heavy breathing she was hearing, she could infer that they were male. Once the person carrying her reached the shed, she was carried behind a freight car that had fallen over and dropped onto the ground, her mystery helper letting out a grunt as he moved down and let her go. Twilight let out a grunt as well when she hit the ground, taking a moment to recover from the sudden landing before looking up. Much like the soldiers outside, her mystery helper was dressed much differently than she was used to, but unlike them, he wore a slightly looser fitting outfit that was a mix of green and yellow in terms of color with black on the right knee and sleeves. He wore black-gray boots and a yellow pack on his back, and he had his own weapon strapped to his left thigh. Looking up at his face, she found that he wore no mask like the soldiers, so she could see his peach-colored skin. He had brown, slightly wild hair on his head, a very pronounced beard and mustache, and he wore a greenish-gray bandanna around his forehead and a black eyepatch over his right eye. The man looked back at her with his left eye for a few seconds, still crouching so he was closer to eye level with her, before one of the soldiers outside yelled, “Hey, where did that horse thing go?!” Both Twilight and the man turned their heads to look towards the sound, both hearing another soldier shout, “Shit, we’ve gotta find it! And that intruder!” The man and Twilight looked back at each other, the former asking, “Hey. You can talk, right?” Twilight nodded awkwardly, not really expecting that question. The man grunted, “We’ll talk as soon as I’m done with those troops out there. Until then, stay here and keep quiet!” He then stood up and pulled a smaller weapon out of a holster on his right thigh before turning and moving towards the other end of the freight car, pressing his back up against it and peeking around the corner for several moments before running around to the other side. Twilight could only stare at the spot where she had last seen the man, having no idea what he was doing. She tried to stay put like he told her to, but the sound of the machine moving outside coupled with the sounds of more explosions as well as what faintly sounded like things hitting the ground had her on edge. What was going on out there? After a minute, Twilight began to creep towards the other end of the freight car, but just as she was about to reach it, she heard the amplified voice shout, “Found him!” Seconds later, a much louder explosion sounded through the area, causing Twilight’s ears to ring. When the ringing finally stopped, she could hear the motor powering the machine revving up, indicating that it was moving much faster than it was before. She moved to the corner of the car and peered around it, seeing the man running around one of the freight cars that was standing up, the machine soon appearing around the other end of it, another soldier sticking out from the top of it. From the look of it, he was trying to get away from it and the other soldiers were nowhere to be seen. The man finally took cover behind a toppled freight car, the soldier in the machine keeping the cannon focused on it, waiting for him to appear. Twilight noticed that the soldier seemed to be focused on getting the man when he appeared and nothing else. She glanced up at her horn, thinking for a moment before an idea popped into her head. Looking back at the soldier, she decided to see if she could give the man a chance to slip away. Moving out from behind the freight car, she snuck out of the shed and moved to a spot where she could get a good view of the soldier, at which point she focused a small amount of magic in her horn and fired a small beam from it, hitting him on the right soldier. “What?!” the soldier exclaimed, starting to turn the top of the machine around towards where she fired from. Twilight’s eyes widened, not realizing it could turn like that. She quickly looked around, trying to find a new hiding spot. Before she could move, however, and before the soldier could see her, the man ran out from hiding, raised his weapon in both hands, and took a shot. The soldier let out a shout before slumping forward. Twilight let out a gasp at this, moving around to the machine and seeing the man approaching from the other side. She looked up at him and started, “Is he…?” The man placed his weapon in his holster before saying, “No. Just asleep.” As he was speaking, the soldier continued to lean forward until he suddenly fell out, landing on his back. Twilight winced at this, but the man didn’t flinch at all. He simply knelt down next to the soldier, attached some sort of clip to him, and then stood up and backed away as a balloon suddenly inflated and lifted the soldier off the ground. He hung just above the ground for several moments before the balloon suddenly shot up into the sky, taking the soldier with it! Twilight stared up at the sky in surprise at this for a few seconds before looking back down at the man as he did the same. After a moment, she asked, “Who are you?” The man stared back at her, silence permeating the air. Finally, he said, “Call me Snake.”