> Guardian of the Everfree
>  by KaBar42
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The End of the Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree



Chapter 1



The day had started out normal, great in fact. That is if you count getting woken up in the middle of the damn night by fucking mortars launched by fucking sheet heads great. But I digress, thats not the main point in this story. This is just how it begins.



I felt as though I had just fallen asleep when the first klaxon went off. We all knew what it meant. I was only eighteen; fresh out of high school. The 2014 class of Trinity High School, Louisville, KY. I had joined the Marines as soon as the school year was over. And then got shipped out to this God forsaken hole in the middle of the desert. Or, as it is more nicely known, Afghanistan. And that is why I find myself here. I; Dante Thomas McClure, in the middle of Nowhere, World. I expected this though. So here I am fighting against a bunch of hiding sheet heads launching explosives at us. Wearing my MARPAT, along with a gasmask. C.O. had told us that now when ever we go into combat to wear them as those fucking sheet heads had been launching chlorine gas. With my M4A1 rattling off rounds like no one's business, along with my M9A1 hanging limply to my side ready to be put into use if need be. My trusty Gerber LMF II ASEK hanging right beside my sidearm. My A.O. thankfully not getting hit by mortar rounds. That is until Murphy decided to fuck me over.



I had just been there, firing off round after round, when I heard the whistle. I knew what it was and managed to look up. But I would never be able to get out of the way in time. Time seemed to slow, the mortar round hanging there like it was trying to troll me. And then time sped back up, and the mortar round landed a little ways off to my left hand side. 



The pain I experienced made me wish I was dead. I managed to slip my St. Michael's necklace out of my shirt and held onto it as I slipped into complete darkness.



....................................................................................................................................



The next thing I heard after my brain started to turn back on was the kind of silence that you only get in a forest. Painfully loud but creepily silent as well. 



I finally managed to get my eyes open. And saw nothing but lush greenery... Wait a minute, What?



I did a double take and indeed I was in a forest, and not in a desert. I did everything I could think of. I hit myself, slapped myself, pinched myself. I felt it all and I was definitely alive.



Well there goes my great and normal day.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

After waking up I decided to take stock. One pack loaded with standard issue stuff, check. One M4A1 with ten thirty round mags. check... Wait, what? Ten mags? I had used five of them when I was hit by the mortar. You know what? I don't care. One LMFII ASEK, check. I had pretty much everything. So, what would I do now? Look for civilization. I checked the compass I had and started heading North.

After what felt like hours of walking, I came across a river. It was small, but it was definitely a river. I started heading upstream. After what felt like more hours of walking I came upon a house. It was not what I was expecting.

The house itself looked like someone had carved out a tree and put a house in it. The tree was still alive. The roof was the greens of the tree. The door looked like it was partitioned in the middle. Sort of like a horse’s stable door. The worst part about it? The ungodly amalgamation of animals around it, there were otters standing next to beavers, a bear next to foxes, foxes next to mice, dogs next deers. It looked like someone had thrown me into the Bambi universe. In all honesty, I wanted to puke at the scene in front of me. Then, something came out of the house. 

I say something because this thing was not a human. It looked like a large dog. Then it looked in my direction, thankfully the bush I was behind hid me well. I could now get a better look at it. This thing definitely had equine features. Trust me, I’m a professional Kentuckian. But despite having equine features, it was so unnatural. Its mane and tail was pink, the body was yellow, and upon it’s stifle was a mark. More specifically three pink butterflies. My mind was screaming at me that none of this mattered. What did matter however, was that it was living in a house for God’s sake.

I turned away and was about to make a get away. Back into the forest, but then I ran into something. After tumbling over, I righted myself and saw another one of them. Damnit. This one was purple with a tricolored mane and tail. This one also had a mark on it’s stifle. The mark was a six sided star. That wasn’t all though. Oh, no. The Universe decided it was going to bitch slap me again. The bitch slap? This one had a damn horn. A horn. So now I’m confronting a four foot tall unicorn that looks like its angry. And now that I was so close, I made note these thing’s faces do not look equine at all. In fact, the faces look humanoid. 

Back to the point, this unicorn looked angry. Or atleast it was trying to. Honestly, its bug eyes and other features were making it a bit hard to take this thing seriously. It looked angry for about another twenty seconds, until I swear I could see a lightbulb appear above it’s head. Honestly, I should’ve bolted right then and there. But unfortunately I didn’t. It shot a beam of light at me which was moving too fast for me to dodge. It hit my chest and in all honestly… I barely felt it. It felt like I had put on a bunch of padding and a baby had lifted a bat that also had padding on it and tried to hit me in the chest. That is how painless it was.

I looked to the thing’s face and could tell from the expression that that was not what it was supposed to do. So what did I do? I took it as a cue to retaliate. I raised my M4 and fired to left of it. It was far enough that in order for the round to hit it, it would have had to a full canter to the left. But it was close enough to scare the living hell out of it. After that I took off running.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....

I finally made it far enough into the forest. How did I gauge that? I couldn’t hear a horse galloping and my sixth sense for these kinds of things.

I looked around, making sure that there weren’t more of those horse things. It wasn’t late, but I didn’t want to get caught with my pants down. I had a plan already. Sleeping on the ground is too dangerous, so I will make a tree my bed for the night. But first I would need a fire. I collected a bunch of dead tree limbs and stones. I arranged the stones in a circle and put the dead tree limbs in the circle I then took the flint that was in my LMFII and took the blade and struck it. Thankfully, it took the first time and pretty soon I would have a nice roaring fire. Feeling hungry, I pulled my pack from my back and pulled out a random MRE. I had enough for a week, if I liked having one square meal a day that is. I opened the MRE, beef with rice, and started munching. While chowing down I reflected the events of the day. Met alien horses: normal, got attacked by said alien horses: normal, retaliated against said alien horses: normal, MRE tasting like shit: not normal.

I crawled up into the tree and secured my pack to the branch next to me by snapping the sternum strap and waist strap closed around the branch, my pack now hanging up. I took my safety harness and wrapped it around the limb I was lying on. That way, if I fell, the rig would catch me. I rested my rifle on my lap with the sling wrapped securely around my chest. Ready to be used to defend myself.  I then promptly fell asleep.
   

> Something is Wrong
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree. 
Chapter Two


I woke up with a crick in my back. I guess thats what I get for sleeping on a tree limb. I leaned over to the limb that had my pack attached to it and released the clips holding it in. It dropped to the ground, making a small thump. I looked down, the ground about twenty feet below me. Meh, an easy drop for a human. I proceeded to unhook my harness from the limb and swung my body so my legs were dangling over the edge. Lets do this. I pushed myself off the limb and fell. Now in reality the fall only took a couple of seconds, but by the time I had managed to get my balls big enough to push myself off the limb, the adrenaline was pumping. So what I saw was more like me taking a minute to hit the ground going at an extremely low speed. When my legs made contact with the ground they were already bent and I sprung myself forward, doing a roll to disperse the shock of the fall to my back.

After I had regained my sense, I searched for my pack. Ah, there it is. I walked over to the pack and knelt down. Pulling it up so it was erect, I decided to take stock again.

Pack and food, check. Knife, check. Sidearm, check. Rifle, check.

I went to pull the mag that I had spent yesterday to toss it into my pack. No sense in keeping an empty mag on my chest. After my encounter with the Unicorn, and falling asleep, I had woke up in the night quite a few times to fire at wildlife that were getting too close. I had emptied the mag and replaced it. I pulled it out of my vest and immediately hit a roadblock.

"What in the fuckin' Hell?"

Probably the best way to sum it up. My once completely empty mag… was now full. I was flabbergasted. How the hell could my ammo supply just replenish itself? And then a creepy thought hit me. What if it was the equines?

What if they were already more advanced than me? What if they had developed something more powerful than a firearm? What if they were giving me more ammo to amuse themselves?

I quickly burned these thoughts out of my mind. That Unicorn didn't appear to know what my rifle was. And no living being, alien or not, would approach an armed Marine, and then attack him. There was also the fact that they were quadrupeds. I couldn't conceive a way to make a rifle hoof friendly. And even if they did, the rifle would not only be ungainly and bulky, but they would also not be able to fire it. There is a possibility they could go onto their hind hooves for short time. Not long enough to sight, and fire a rifle.

Ok, I was safe. God, I always knew being a biped and having hands made me better! But enough of my narcissism. I needed to prioritize. Learn location: freaky Earth like planet where I can assume I am the only Human and Equines are the dominant species. Know your factors: the Equines. It appears as though they only have two species. Unicorn and Earth familiar. They are quite colorful, possibly poisonous. If they aren't poisonous though, why hasn't natural selection killed them all yet? They're certainly not apex predators. So why are they still alive?

Shelter: haven't got one. Food and water: will get this after I have everything else. After I had sorted everything out in my head, I shouldered my pack and started walking.

(-)

I had walked for quite a while. The sun had just completely risen, and I was still walking. My rifle poised, ready to be fired. I kept walking until something made me stop. I had come to a chasm. There was an old rope bridge suspended over the chasm. And on the other side of the chasm was a castle. A damned castle. Granted it looked to be in ruins and decrepit, but it was still shelter. 

I looked at the rope bridge, I should be able to cross it if I'm slow and cautious. But it could break. I don't know the average weight of one of these ponies, but it should hold me. Deciding the prize was worth the risk, as I needed shelter. As I have no clue how to make a shelter out of raw materials. What? Don't look at me like that. I'm not Bear Grylls, I don't know how to find a hotel in the middle of the wilderness.

Putting my right foot forward, I slowly put all my weight on the bridge. The neglected wood creaked, and the rope went taught, but otherwise, it was fine. I began testing each piece of wood before stepping on it. After about five minutes of careful shuffling, I finally reached the other side. Ah man, the adrenalines pumping again. I'm going to end up giving myself a heart attack at this rate. 

I took a couple of deep breaths, allowing my heart to slow down. Right, so I was on the other side. Going to have to fix that bridge. The castle itself was in a state of ruin. The top of the damn thing not existing anymore. How ever, I should be able to take shelter in the inner halls. And it is a rule of thumb that big dangerous animals tend to stay away from man made structures. If I came across any of the smaller dangerous animals, they should be easy to clear out. I walked up to the main entrance of the castle and pushed the large door. It wasn't budging. I leaned all of my body weight against the door and pushed. It still refused to budge. Alright, time to breach this damn door.

I walked about fifty feet back, and then ran. I rammed my right shoulder into the partition where both doors meet. The doors swung open, but there wasn't enough resistance to stop me, so I ended tripping and rolling a bit. 

I pushed myself to my feet and was amazed at what I found. The main hall of the castle had tapestries hung all over, and the windows… or at least their archways, were as tall as four, six foot men standing on top of each other. At the end of the main hall sat two thrones. One had a sun above it, and the other had a moon.

But thats not what grabbed my attention. What grabbed my attention was the weapons crate halfway down the main hall. And not a pony weapon crate. It was definitely U.S. in origin. How do I know this? Maybe it has something to do with the big, white, stenciled letters that said U.S. on the side of it.

I rushed to it, nearly jumping with excitement when I got to it. I quickly unlatched the lid, and what was in there was amazing. A plethora of M4s, AKs, SAWs, SCARs, HK16s, there was an ACR, parts of a MK19 grenade launcher were visible, and so were parts of an M2! I began digging around, to see if I could find a rifle to replace my old M4. I was initially going to go with the ACR, until a question popped into my mind. Why does a U.S. Supply drop have Russian weapons, and even some weapons that aren't commisioned? I also grabbed an HK USP .45. I always wanted one of these.

But all this was forgotten after I saw her. A G36C. How had I missed her when I was examining the crate at first? The rifle that I have always wanted,and here it is. The rifle had a light attached to the barrel, with an AG36 mounted under barrel. She was beautiful, replacing my M4 mags for her mags, I realized something. I needed to secure the castle. But it was massive. If I secured the main hall I should be fine. I turned the light on the barrel on my rifle and swept right. Clear. I then swept left. Clear. 

I really wish I had a sleeping bag, or a tent. Oh! Wait a minute. What do you know? There is both a tent and sleeping bag in the supply drop. How big is this fucking box? 

And then my mind went to something a bit more disturbing. What if one of these supply drops landed near ponies? They have unicorns that can shoot light out of their horns. It didn't affect me but who knows what it would do to 40mm grenade! And this one was chockful of them.  

Oh well, nothing I can do. If they blow themselves up, they'll learn not to mess with Government property.

However as soon as I said this, I heard a howl. I rushed to one of the windows in front of the main castle. I was also greeted by one of the oddest sights, besides the ponies of course. 

Giant bipedal dogs armed with bladed weapons.

Oh god. Not more attacking crap.















> Dog Food
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue to chapter 3 of "Guardian of the Everfree"

Spots had been tormented by that ape. When Alpha had told him to try and catch the ape, he thought it was going to be easy. The ape looked scrawny and sickly. Having lost almost all of its hair, except for on it's head. The ill ape had been wearing clothes, so Spots had thought it must have been an escaped pet.

Alpha had thought it would sell well at market. Especially for looking so exotic. They had come across it in a small clearing with a fire going and it sleeping in a tree limb. Alpha had ordered Spots to grab the ape. Spots thought it was going to be an easy snatch and grab. The ape was sick after all. This thought was shattered as the ape shot up right before Spots had cleared the tree line to head into the clearing. 

The ape lifted the black tube it had been holding and raised it to it's face. Spots was curious as to what it was going to do with what is essentially nothing but a club. That thought also fell apart.

It fell apart when the ape had harnessed the power of both thunder and lightning. How did Spots know this? Whatever had hit them was moving too fast for them to see. And it made a sound that sounded like thunder. It had a struck another dog, tearing into its throat and causing the dog to die a quiet death with only a few struggled gasps as the dog's last words.

But now Alpha had a new plan. They would capture the tube that sounded like thunder and spat lightning. They would use it to conquer Equestria. Three more times Spots had tried to sneak into the clearing and capture the ape. And three more times did it jolt from it's sleep and release another volley of lightning. Alpha had finally told Spots to hold off and they would attack when they had it cornered.

Spot was beginning to think this ape wasn't an ape.

They had followed it to the Everfree castle. All of the dogs were waiting in the treeline, waiting impatiently for Alpha to signal the beginning of the attack. Spots watched as Alpha calmly walked to the bridge, raise his head and howled. This was the beginning of the attack. The creature had also heard it, as Spots had seen it poke it's head out of a broken window.They had all agreed that because it had killed a fellow dog they would consume it's flesh, even if it surrendered.

Alpha yelled to the ape, "Ape, come out and give us your lightning bow! If you surrender you will be spared!" The ape did nothing. After a few seconds Alpha ordered Spots and two other dogs to lead the charge against the ape. They had crossed the bridge in a few seconds, not being as careful as the ape had been. However, as they had reached the other side, the ape appeared with an even bigger lightning bow. This one looking like a wooden pole with a green tip. 

The tip disconnected from the lightning bow and flew at them. Landing at their feet. The tip impacted the ground, and then all Spots saw was nothing. He was vaguely aware of pain all over his body, but could do nothing as his mind slipped into the darkness.

(-)

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 3

An entire pack of huge bipedal dog like creatures stood before me. The only thing separating them from me was a rickety old bridge and a chasm. I had a feeling they weren't friendly door-to-door salesman.

Because of my feeling, I rushed back to the supply box. I was going to need a bigger gun. When I got there, however, I saw something that made me question my sanity.

" What the fuck?"

I was pulling a minigun mounted on a tripod from the box. And as if that wasn't enough, there was more. "Oh for God's sake!" I exclaimed, as I pulled a loaded RPG from the box.

"HOW BIG ARE YOU?!"

Doesn't matter, I grabbed the minigun and set it up in the archway of the door. I rushed back and grabbed the RPG. The dogs had started to cross the bridge. I waited for the first three dogs to clear the bridge. I pulled the back safety trigger, and then the front trigger. The explosive head shot out of the front, hit the ground in front of the dog. It exploded into hundreds of small pieces and fragmented, the dogs acting as frag sponges. Oh, thank god, the bridge is fine. But that brought up another problem. The rest of the pack was now charging me. I dropped the now useless RPG tube, and switched to the minigun. These dogs weren't very smart were they? I waited for them to clear to bridge, as I did not want to do undue damage to that poor bridge. However once they cleared the bridge, I rained horizontal hell fire upon them. They all dropped dead like flies after about five seconds. Going to have to secure the bodies. I don't want big predators being attracted to my site. I replaced the minigun with my G36C. It was time to christen her.

I started walking to every dog and putting a bullet in it's skull. As I was reloading my magazine, I heard movement behind me and then yelling. I couldn't get out the way fast enough. The dog slammed into my back and my rifle flew out of my hands. It flew a couple of feet.

I rolled over onto my back just in time to see a giant paw coming down on a collision course with my head. I rolled to the left, ducked as the fucker sent another paw my way. It tackled me and was about to bring it's fangs down upon my head.

I raised my left arm, and his fangs punctured that instead. I screamed out in pain. I managed to reach my right arm across to my left side and grab my knife. Swinging around with an underhand grip, my arm still in it's mouth, the knife punctured the dog's right side and possibly punctured a lung. This caused the dog to let out a yelp. Thus releasing my left arm. My arm now free, I threw a punch, and jerked the knife towards me. I heard a crack and I'm pretty sure I broke it's nose.

While doing this, I had also managed pull my feet up, and brace them against his chest. I kicked him off of me. He was a lot lighter than he looked. After he was off of me, and heaving on all fours, I rolled over onto my chest and pushed myself up.

I couldn't feel the pain in my left arm, as my survival instincts had kicked in, full swing. The dog was now standing up and I charged at him. He was trying to bring his paw up to block. I tackled him, using my one hundred- eighty five pound frame to pull him to the ground.

I brought my right arm down on his face stunning him. I pulled my knife from it's chest and brought it down on it's head. However the dog brought it's paw up. Deflecting knife over to it's shoulder, it yelped in pain. I was forced to fall back onto my ass to avoid it's paw, the dog had the sense to pull my knife from it's shoulder. It attempted to bring my knife down into my chest. I responded by rolling, and as the dog was stuck trying to pull the knife from the ground I kicked it in the head.

As the dog laid there on it's back, heaving for air from the lung I most likely punctured. I pondered something. Should I let it go?

I killed this thought with extreme prejudice. The dog wouldn't survive making it across the bridge. the fact that it had survived this long was a miracle. Even if it did survive longer than I expected it to, there was no way they had advanced far enough in medicine to repair a punctured lung. The fact that they were using spears was enough evidence. I pulled my HK and took aim at it's head.

I pulled the trigger and watched as the .45 ACP penetrated the dog's head and scrambled his head.

Right... now. I need to burn the bodies. Get the bodies destroyed so predators wouldn't come to the castle. I need a better name for it. Designate Firebase Citadel. Better than just calling it the castle.

I dragged all the bodies into one spot. There were a couple of trees on this side of the gorge and  collected as many limbs as I could. I surrounded the corpses with the limbs. Lighting a limb I had held back, I tossed the limb into the mess of bodies and tree limbs. 

I sat there and watched as the bodies were consumed by the flames. The smell of burning flesh drifting into my nostrils, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it made me hungry. Nor am I ashamed to admit that it made me contemplate dragging one of their bodies out of the fire to skin and eat the meat. but I didn't want to eat sapient creatures if I could help.

I looked at my left arm. This wound was nasty. I grabbed one the dog's spears and held it over the fire, this was going to hurt.I held it in the middles of the fire down close to the base of the fire for about five minutes. I pulled it out of the flames. I quickly thrust the head of the spear onto my left arm. Cauterizing the wound. It wasn't deep, but it could easily become infected. I made a decision.

I would have to go to the pony settlement and steal supplies. This would be done tomorrow.

I laid the sleeping bag down, and rested my tired brain as the sun was going down in the sky and the moon was raising.
> Ponies Here! Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue to chapter 4 of "Guardian of the Everfree"


Rainbow Dash rushed back to Twilight.

"Twilight! Twilight!"

Twilight turned to face Dash. Ever since the other day when the hairless ape had appeared, doing what Twilight had assumed was looking at Fluttershy's cottage. She later figured out that it was spying. She had seen it slide what looked like binoculars into a pack it had. Probably just copying what it had seen it's master do.

She was going to knock it out with a sleeping spell, and then have it transported back to Canterlot for study. However before she could, the ape stood up.

It was larger than any ape she had ever read of. And besides the fact that most apes couldn't stand straight up. But this ape, it stood completely erect. It was holding a black tube. It hadn't been paying attention as to where it had been walking. The reason Twilight knew this? It tripped over her. 

The creature pulled itself up, and when it saw her, he looked surprised. Twilight was surprised as well. This ape's face looked like a ponies. Twilight got over her surprise and quickly recharged the sleeping spell she had been charging before the ape knocked her over. The ape looked even more surprised. She released the spell, but was surprised as it impacted it's chest and did nothing. It looked at her for about a second, before pulling the black tube up a bit. The ape then proceeded to pull something, the tube letting out a loud sound for about a second. By the time Twilight had recovered from the deafening assault, the ape was long gone. Several ponies were rushing around the corners towards her. Fluttershy was cowering behind her house. Dash was the first pony on scene. 

"Twilight are you okay?" Dash asked.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Twilight literally yelled.

"I asked are you okay?" Dash yelled back.

"DID YOU ASK IF YOU ARE GETTING PAYED?" Twilight responded, rubbing her ears.

"NO, I ASKED IF YOU ARE OKAY." Dash was beginning to get annoyed.

"OH, YEAH! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST ASK?" Twilight responded.

Dash was having none of it. She called Nurse Redheart over. After Nurse Redheart had trotted over, she asked her to take a look at Twilight's hearing. Redheart nodded in response.

"Miss Sparkle, could you please follow me?" Redheart curtly asked.

"DID YOU SAY COULD DO TEASE PILLOW ME? THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"

"FOLLOW ME!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?"

And now here they were. Twilight's eardrums had been burst, but had been fixed. It was an easy fix, but something troubled Twilight. This creature, because it definitely wasn't an ape, hadn't been affected by her magic. She had heard of magic resistant animals before, but not one that could shrug off a sleeping spell like this one did.

"That ape that attacked you! It just took down an alpha Diamond Dog!"

What? There was no way. Not many creatures would willingly attack an alpha dog, even manticores tended to avoid them.

"Did it do it with it's firebow?" Twilight asked.

"No, the dogs initially charged him, but he brought out two firebows and utterly destroyed the dogs. But then he started walking around and shooting a smaller firebow at the dog's skulls. And the alpha charged him from behind and tackled him and his firebow flew from his hands. The alpha then bit the ape's forehoof and then the ape pulled a knife and stabbed the alpha in the chest. And when it's forehoof was free it cracked it in the nose. And then they did some more fighting and eventually the ape kicked the alpha in the head and he just layed there. And then the ape pulled an even smaller firebow and shot it in the head!"

Dash had managed to say that all in one breath. Twilight was impressed, but also wanted to puke. For a pony, that was extremely violent. It was showing in Dash's face as well. But again, four firebows. Having one was bad enough, but four. And all of varying sizes.

"If he is injured than he should stay in the Everfree. Where did you say this was, Dash?" Twilight asked.

"Everfree castle."

Twilight reassured everypony it would be fine and to go back home. But still Twilight had this nagging feeling. Maybe she should do something more.

She ignored this feeling and started walking back to the library as the sun was going down.

(-)

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 4

I was scrounging around in the TARDIS box, looking for the gun I was hoping I could find. The sun hadn't risen yet, but I wanted to get to the equine settlement and back as soon as I could. Ah! There it is! The .300 whisper. An integrally suppressed rifle. I like this box. I kept my .45, but found a silencer for it in the box. A .45 is quiter than smaller rounds, as it is subsonic. Yet it retains more power than the other rounds. As I was grabbing my pack and getting ready to be oscar mike I noticed something.

I grinned. I love that box. While my back was turned it had spawned three new things. A fresh set of clothes, black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. There was one other thing in this set that made me extremely happy. A fresh pair of boxers! I quickly stripped myself of my cammies and old underwear and replaced them with the new set, retaining only my white t-shirt. I'll wash my other clothes later.

The other two things, a bag of coins that appeared to be made out of gold. Putting that in my in my left leg pocket, I then turned to the other object. A pair of NVGs. I'm seriously beginning to think that damn box is sapient.

I headed out into the tree line.

(-)

I had been walking for about two hours at this point. I had been marking my path by carving arrows into trees. The sun had risen, and I had suddenly remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since the day before yesterday.

I sat down under a tree, after having slung my pack down to the ground. I pulled the only MRE I had brought with me. I was halfway done with the main course when I noticed something to my right. I set my food down and stood up. There was definitely something there, and it was glowing. I walked about nine feet until I reached the spot. There was something in the ground.

I dug about half a foot into the dirt and was greeted by an amazing sight. Glowing crystals, actual glowing crystals. Firegems. Thats what I'm naming these.

After collecting all of the firegems, twenty in total. I found out that when put under fabric it ceases to release light. I finished my food and continued on.

(-)

I was finally here. After two more hours, I had come to ridge where I could recon. I went prone on my stomach and crawled to the edge. I already had my binocs out and rested with my legs spread apart to form a V and holding half my chest up with my elbows.

There was an apple orchard to the West of my position. Along with a house at the edge. They probably have some sort of alchohol there. To the north was a three level tiered house. I don't know why, but I had a feeling I should search there for the thread I need to sew this damned fucking wound up. I would have to do it at night. So I laid there. Almost an entire day left until the sun goes down.
> Ponies Here! Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 5


I sat there developing my plan. First things first, whats more important. Disinfectant, no doubt about. Even if I don't get needle and thread, I can always just cauterize the wound. But without disinfectant, the thread would be useless. I would develop gangrene and would be forced to amputate my own left arm to survive. The only reason why the wound hadn't been infected yet was because I had washed it out with water and cauterized it. Not enough to permanently close, just enough to keep the skin closed.

So I would hit the orchard first, and then if I hadn't been detected yet I would hit the tiered house. I would than bug out to Citadel, and lick my wounds there. With my plan decided, I went back to reconing the town. 

(-) 

After about another two hours, I was still waiting. The sun still had about another six hours until it went down. However as I was waiting, something unsettling happened. As I watching the town square a couple of ponies started pointing to the sky.

What I saw was an overly decorated chariot that was somehow being held aloft by four pegasi in armor. In the chariot were two ponies. These ponies were a new type. I thought there were only three types of equine. Unicorns, Earth familiar, and Pegasi. But these ponies displayed both wings and a horn. So four types of equines, unicorn, Earth familiar, pegasi, and winged unicorn. Judging by their chariot, they were government. Or at least very important. But thats not what I was worried about. What I was worried about was how the FUCK is that chariot staying straight like that? It should have been dumping it's occupants out right now. The physics in this world are fucked up.

The chariot landed and the two winged unicorns exited. All the equines, at this point had bowed down. So low that their asses were in the air. Yeah, these were government. The bigger one of them, the white one was about five feet at the top of her head. Her horn was about a foot long. My 6'3 would tower over her. The mark upon her stifle was a cartoonish sun. Her mane and tail was a blue, green, purple and pink.

The second one, a dark blue one, was behind her. This one was only about 4'5. But she also had a foot long horn. Her stifle mark was a white moon set against a very dark blue background. Her mane and tail seemed ethereal. A dark blue with a lighter blue outline. They both had perfectly billowing hair, despite there being no wind. I'm beginning to really hate this place. 

They walked along the pathway that had been formed by the bowing Equines. And up to another house inside of a tree. They entered the tree and everything went back to normal in the Equine town. 

Over the next five hours, I watched as several dozen, what I assumed to be guards, patrolled around the tree. The sun had begun to set. But it seemed stuck there. After a few minutes, the white winged unicorn came out onto a balcony. Her horn lit up and… the fucking sun flew downwards as though someone had just switched placards.

My jaw hit the floor. What? Thats it, I definitely hate this place. Doesn't matter, I pushed myself and headed west to the apple orchard. This meant I had to pass through another patch of forest, but it gave me cover. This terrain seemed a bit more rough than the rest of the forest. It took me about twenty minutes to cross the patch. Before I pushed out of the tree line, I brought up my binocs and scanned for any natives. The entire visible orchard was clear. I pushed out of the treeline, and hopped the fence. Landing on the side, I fell into a crouch. Quickly doing a 360 sweep, just to be on the safe side. The house was about two football fields away. And this part of the apple orchard was completely bare. I'm going to have to be fast and quiet. I had crouched down and was making a moderate pace, especially considering that I was crouched so low I probably looked like I was taking a shit.

My luck would dictate however, that the front door would open. I dove down, the dirt softening both the shock and the sound of one-hundred-eighty pounds hitting the ground. The equine that had come out onto the porch looked like a miniature draft horse. Except it's fur was completely red, and his mane was an orange color. Firehead swiveled his ears a few time. I really hope the darkness hides me well, I fucking need that alchohol. 

My skin wasn't the darkest, my Irish blood made me pretty white. Thankfully my Greek blood picked up the slack. And I had gotten a pretty good tan in Afghanistan on my arms. Apparently enough that Firehead couldn't see me. He turned to go back in and shut the door behind him. I waited for ten minutes before I pulled my self back up.

I continued my crouch stalking and finished the last football field. I pushed myself up against the house. I needed to head around to the back. Slowly and quietly shuffling my way around the house, I made it to the back. And it was there. Cellar doors, I walked up to them, still staying low. I could see no latch or lock. Are these equines really this trusting?

They only had handles. Not that I'm complaining. I opened one of the doors slowly and set it down on the ground slowly. I then went to open the other one the same way. The cellar was now open. I slipped on the NVGs and unholstered the .45. The Whisper would be useless down here. I set down upon the stairs slowly, keeping an eye out to make sure it was clear. Thankfully it was easy to clear, due to the fact that it was just a small hallway. On each side there were shelves filled with jars and bottles. Oh, god. Finding alcohol was going to be a bit difficult. I went to the bottles that looked they would hold alcohol. I grabbed one and took my knife, popping of the cork that was sealing the bottle. No, this isn't alcohol. I did this three more times until I found the shelf. Now all I needed was 90 proof or above. But I than noticed something.

"Shit." I hissed to myself.

The equines were using a binary numerical system. You think normal math is hard? Try doing it with only one and zero. Fuck, I'm just going to have take two of each. Shrugging my pack off, I start at one end of the shelf and work my way to the other. Once I had two of each, I started to leave until something started to nag at me. I hate stealing from honest folk. It made me feel like a jackass.

Grabbing the bag of coins I had in my left cargo pocket, I reached in and grabbed a handful. I set the handful on the shelf. And then took two of the firegems I had in my right cargo pocket. They had to be worth something here. Then setting it on the shelf next to the coins, I took my leave.

(-)

Sneaking into town was not as easy. Those two winged unicorns had guards everywhere. I was constantly darting alley to alley trying to avoid them. I was still a little ways away from the tiered house that I needed. But I could make it, four more alleys and I would be there. Guard patrol, pass, turn corner, dart. Guard patrol, pass, turn corner, dart. Guard patrol, pass, turn corner, dart. Guard patrol, pass, turn corner, dart. Clear, that was the last alley. The tiered house was just up ahead. It didn't look like the lights were on. I would have to get in there quickly or risk getting seen. 

I shuffled up the edge of the building I had been hiding beside, quickly checking both corners. I was clear. I took this chance to sprint to the door, stopping before I got to the door. I walked up to the door and slowly grabbed the handle. The door slowly creaked open. Wow, these Equines aren't very secure. I slid inside of the doorway. Slipping on my NVGs again I looked around. It looked like a clothing store. To my right there were stairs, and in front of me was what is probably the main room. There were several doors in this main room. Raising my rifle I scanned the room. No one, I'm going to have to pick a door. I looked to my left and went for that door. I inched it open to make sure it wasn't a bedroom. What I saw though made me grin. The first door I had chosen and it was the thread room. 

Ok so I need something like upholstery thread. I started picking up rolls of thread and feeling them. After my fifth thread roll, I heard a door upstairs open and close. And then hooves walking down steps. I quickly set the thread down and backed myself into the corner to the right side of the door. A unicorn walked in a moment later, holding a candle. I had subconsciously stopped breathing lest it give me away.

The unicorn looked around, but never to her right. She then started to sniff the air. My heart stopped beating. I'm an idiot. I had been sweating badly while waiting in the sun. These were Equines. They could smell better than I could. I had just been so used to dealing with Humans that this possibility hadn't even crossed my mind. My left hand involuntarily moved to rest on my knife. The unicorn, who I was sure was a mare, sniffed a couple of more times, shook her head, and then muttered something in their unintelligible language while backing out.

I let go of the breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I waited a couple of minutes before moving again. I went back to checking the thread. The next roll was the one I needed. I put it in my pack along with a pack of needles I had grabbed. I left a handful of coins and four firegems.

I walked back the way I came. Taking off and stowing my NVGs when I reached the door. I inched it open and stepped out. 

Right in front of a guard patrol. Of course.

My brain now in escape mode, I ran right past them as they yelled and attempted to intercept. I ran into the town square. Right where the two winged unicorns were. I quickly turned around, only to find a larger force of guards than before. As I was noticing this, something bellowed from behind. It sounded like a damn fifty cal. I turned around just in time to see the dark blue winged unicorn charge me. I was raising my rifle to try and scare her off. However she tackled me and I'm ashamed to admit that my finger slipped onto the trigger and I had a negligible discharge. The round hit the dark blue winged unicorn in what looked like the center mass. We tumbled a bit, I was the first one to recover. She was laying at my legs, and I kicked her in the ribs. A crack was audible, and I quickly pulled my self up. Before anyone could respond, I ripped moonbutt up from the ground with my left arm wrapped around her barrel. These Equines were really lighter than they look. I had pulled my handgun out and had it pointed at her head.

"Stand down Equines!" I knew they wouldn't understand my words, but maybe they would understand what I meant. The larger white winged unicorn looked apprehensive, and than looked at my left arm. Her look changed to a slightly more caring but also with a look of disgust. I could feel blood dripping down my arm. Fuck, I reopened the wound. I don't really care.

"Stand down!" I reiterated my last spoken sentence. By this time Equines had begun to come out of their houses. Most of them looking very afraid. Sunbutt looked around, flared her wings, and spoke something in their language. Moonbutt was beginning to have trouble breathing, I could feel her chest area heaving as she gasped. I had to make this fast. By now the Equines had begun to back off, giving me a clear path to the forest. The guards moving up with me as I backed up. Moonbutt's hind hooves were being dragged along the ground. When I was close enough, I lowered Moonbutt onto the ground with my handgun still trained on her head. I didn't want to drop her and exacerbate her broken ribs. When I had her on the ground, I quickly turned heel and ran. I never stopped running until I had reached Citadel. None of the ponies had followed me.

I sat down and prepared my self for a night of disinfecting and sewing.
> Apes Here! Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 6

As Twilight was walking back to the library, something hit her. If the creature was injured, and was sapient like she thought it was, then it wouldn't stay in the Everfree. It would come to Ponyville to try something. Perhaps get something to clean the wound. Twilight racked her brain to try and think of the places it could hit.

There was the hospital. They're almost always stocked with a little disinfectant for  races that don't respond to magic very well. But the creature seemed to be smart. It would know that hospitals are a difficult target. Almost every room would have a sick or injured pony in it. And this creature seemed to prefer indirect combat as opposed to direct. So it would probably try to sneak in, and avoid contact with ponies. But what happens if a pony sees it? Twilight shuddered at the thought.

Ponyville would be safe tonight. No creature was stupid enough to traverse the Everfree at night. If it was going to attack, it would have to do it during the day. If she remembered correctly, it had extremely small eyes. With eyes that small, it would never be able to see in the dark.

Twilight arrived at the Library. She walked in the front door and immediately called for Spike. Spike came calmly walking down the stairs. "What?" He asked, a little irritated that his comic book reading had been interrupted.

"Spike take a letter. "Dear Princess Celestia, as I'm sure you have recieved news of the ape that attacked me and than ran into the Everfree. The ape was armed with something that Equestria has never seen before. We have taken to calling it a firebow, as it seems to spit fire and operate like a bow. The ape had escaped into the Everfree, and we believe is now taking refuge in The Castle of the Two Pony Sisters. Rainbow Dash managed to find it today, as it was being attacked by a large pack of Diamond dogs. During this time it used three new firebows. The first one was used to take out three Diamond dogs. The second one was used to take out the rest of the pack as they cleared the bridge. It then used the one it used the one that was used on me to … make sure the dogs were taken out. However it appears as though then alpha had managed to somehow avoid the initial attack. Rainbow Dash says the alpha charged and tackled the ape, and the ape lost it's firebow. The ape was injured in the consequent hoof-to-hoof combat, but came out on top. He then produced a smaller but just as powerful firebow to make sure the alpha was taken out. It is my believe that the ape will come to Ponyville to try and gather medical supplies to treat it's wound. It seems to prefer avoiding, but is not afraid to resort to lethal force if it deems it necessary. I respectfully ask if you could come some where around nine tomorrow with a few extra guards? Perhaps your presence will scare it off. Sincerely, Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike rolled the letter up and used Dragonfyre on it. The letter dissapeared in a wisp of smoke and ash, flowing out the window. Twilight began to get things ready for bed when not even a minute later Spike burped a flame of green smoke and a letter appeared. Spike opened the letter and began to read.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,

This is certainly troublesome indeed. My sister and I shall be over in Ponyville at nine o'clock tomorrow. We will bring a division of guards as well.

Sincerely, 
Princess Celestia"

"Wow, this must be serious. The princesses are getting involved." Spike remarked. Twilight felt a bit more at ease now that she knew that the princesses were coming.

"Come on Spike, lets go to bed." 

(-)

Celestia's sun had fallen and risen. Twilight was waking up at eight. As she woke up, she went through a mental checklist. She had cleared her schedule after getting confirmation that the princesses were coming. She was going to have to explain the situation to everypony, and she didn't want to explain more than once. She set out to gather the girls. She went to sugar cube corner. She knocked on the door and almost immediately a pink mare had the door open.

"Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah?"

Twilight took a moment to compose herself after Pinkie's vicious onslaught of yeahs. 
"Pinkie, could you do me a favor and collect all the girls? Have them meet at the library in ten minutes?" Twilight asked.

"Suresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresuresure!" And with that Pinkie dissapeared.

"Is it me, or is Pinkie more hyper in the mornings?" Spike asked from his perch atop Twilight's back.

"I don't know, lets just get back to the Library."

(-)

Twilight was amazed at how quickly Pinkie had gathered the girls, as they were at the Library as she arrived. They were all asking questions, except for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, as she walked into the group and opened the door.

"Girls, I don't want to explain things twice, so sit down and wait for the princesses to arrive." Twilight stated.

They all sat down a bit begrudgingly and started talking while waiting for the princesses to arrive.

(-)

They had been speaking for about half an hour until the door opened.

"Presenting their Royal Majesties, Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria, Raiser of the Sun. And Princess Luna, Ruler of Equestria, Raiser of the moon." The Royal announcer spoke.

With the entrance done the two aforementioned princesses walked in. After exchanging formal and informal greetings they all sat down.

"Twilight Sparkle, please state thine worries." Luna spoke.

"Sister, you're slipping into the royal we again." Celestia warned.

" I apologize, tis difficult to get out of that habit."

"So, what was this about an ape attacking you, Twilight?"

After sending Spike up to his room, Twilight recounted everything that happened up to that point. Luna looked amazed at Twilight's description of firebows and Celestia looked like … well, Celestia.

"And you say that he battled an alpha Diamond dog in un-hooved combat?" Celestia asked.

"Well he had a knife, but otherwise, yeah." Rainbow Dash answered.

"I see. I do not believe we are dealing with an ape here. But we will have to do something about this." Celestia spoke.


> Apes Here! Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 7

"But we will have to do something about this," Celestia began. "Twilight, what can you tell us of this creature?"

Twilight began her tale. "I was heading over to Fluttershy's cottage, to ask her for help with some animals bothering Applejack's farm. As I arrived there, I found the ape, for lack of a better word, laying down behind some bushes spying on Fluttershy. I proceeded to charge a sleeping spell. It stood up before I could release my spell. I quickly refocused the spell and released it at the ape. However the spell impacted it's chest and did not affect it." The girls looked horrified, whereas the two princesses looked… like princesses. There was a few magic resistant species, but there was no known species that was immune to a sleep spell.

"I see, so allow me to get this straight. You found a new species?" Celestia asked.
"Yes" Twilight responded. 
"You than proceeded to attack him." 
"Well, it was just a sleeping spell."
"But you said that the spell did not affect him. So there is a possibility it has never been exposed to magic."
"But thats impossible! Life can not survive without magic."
"Twilight, maybe on Anima, life can not survive without magic. Even dragons have magic. But perhaps there is the possibility of extra-animal life."

"You mean aliens?" Applejack butted into the conversation. "Princess Celestia, I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Twilight. Life can't survive with magic. How would they grow plants? How would they control the weather?"
"Applejack, did you know that Minotaurs can not control the weather?" Celestia asked. Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked appalled at this idea. Celestia continued. "The big farms can hire pegasi teams, but most of the farms deal with erratic weather. Minotaurs have both good and bad harvests."
"But, ponies also live near the Everfree." Applejack countered.
"Yes and how often do the predators leave their territories? When is a pony attacked when it isn't their fault? In countries such as Regnum Bull, the predators will wander onto Minotaur land."
"B-bbbut, what about the creatures?" Fluttershy asked.
"They take care of themselves. Bears hunt, rabbits graze. Its the circle of life."
"So its wild over there," Rainbow Dash interjected. "Its just one big Everfree over there! Its an oddity!"
"No, in fact, it is Equestria that is the oddity. I believe it is safe to assume that this creature is an alien, and it is immune to magic. We can also assume that wherever it comes from, magic doesn't exist. Thus owing to it's apparent immunity to magic. What else can you tell me about it?" Celestia asked.

"Well, its about two meters tall." Before Twilight could continue, however, she was interrupted by Luna. "That is taller than most species. The only species I can think of that are taller, are Minotaurs, who are on average 3 meters, and dragons who average in the hundreds."

"Twilight, did you say you think he will not attack in the night? Could you explain your thinking please?" Celestia asked. She truly was curious, the creature would have to attack during the night in order to not be seen by ponies. But Twilight was saying this is impossible.

"It's eyes were extremely small, it has to be a day creature only." Twilight responded.

They continued on with their discussion and debate. 

Twilight arguing that the creature would attack during the day because of it's eyes, where as Celestia was arguing that the eyes didn't matter, the pupils did. Applejack still trying to justify magic being necessary to life. The rest of them, Luna included, amazed that there was a possibility that they had first contact with an extra-animal lifeform.

And so it continued on.

(-)

Rarity looked at the clock, shocked at how late it was. "I apologize ladies, princesses," She gave a light nod over to Celestia and Luna. "I'm afraid I must head home, I can only imagine the trouble Sweetie belle could be getting into right now."

With that Rarity took her leave. As she walked out she began to think about the conversation they just had. An extra-animal life form! Maybe she would get to make him garments. Twilight did say the the creature was fully clothed. Maybe it's society was based around clothes! She hurried on home, mainly to make sure that Sweetie Bell hadn't burnt down, or was in the process of burning down the boutique.

She arrived at the boutique, and was relieved to find it hadn't been burnt down. She headed inside, where the only light on was in the living room. She called for Sweetie belle. When no response came, she became worried. She started to head up the stairs, and to Sweetie's room. When she arrived, she was greeted by a heartwarming sight. There was Sweetie belle, splayed out on the bed, on top of the covers. Rarity didn't want to disturb the sleeping filly, so she pulled an extra blanket from one of Sweetie's drawers and neatly draped it over Sweetie.

Rarity headed back down stairs to take care of a few things. Once she was done with these extra before bed chores, she headed back upstairs to her room. She stepped into bed and neatly pulled the covers over her. However after about twenty minutes, however, she could not fall asleep. And about five minutes ago, something really disgusting smelling began wafting into her nose. She neatly threw the covers off of her, lit a candle, and headed downstairs.

The stench was getting much stronger, and to her, it smelt like a rutting stallion. This worried Rarity, she had heard stories of stallions beginning to rut and forcing themselves on mare. And ocassionally, a filly, Rarity would fight tooth and hoof before she allowed a disgusting criminal to hurt Sweetie Belle. 

She found where it was strongest, the threadroom. She opened the door slowly, being cautious. She looked everywhere but could not see a crazy stallion that was rutting. She sniffed the air, and finally decided she must have left a window open. She shook her head and muttered to herself to remember to close the window from now on.

She closed the door and headed back to her room.

(-)

"This debate has been interesting, Twilight, but I'm afraid my sister and I must take our leave now. I shall leave a few platoons of guards here just on case." Celestia ended the debate.

She and her sister stood up to leave with the five ponies moving to follow. They headed to the town square where her chariot awaited. However as she and her sister were about to board the chariot, they heard a shout. After a few seconds… the alien rushed into the town square. He spotted them and instantly tried to turn the other way and run, but Luna was having none of that. Before Celestia could even react, Luna had gone into attack mode.

"HALT FOUL BEAST, THOU SHALT NOT HARM OUR LITTLE PONIES! I SHALL VANQUISH THEE!"

And with that Luna rushed the alien and tackled him. The alien at the time was raising his firebow, but when Luna tackled him, the bow went off. Twilight was right in describing it as thunder. They tumbled and Luna ended up at his feet. Before Luna could recover however, the creature kicked his right leg and hit Luna in the ribcage. Everypony could hear the crack, and the alien shot up. Celestia was impressed at how quickly he moved, considering he was bipedal.

The alien had his arm wrapped around Luna's barrel, and had one of the small firebows pointed at her head. It shouted something that was unintelligible. But Celestia understood. Stand down. And despite her sister's predicament, she saw something that made her motherly instincts flare up. The alien had an open wound. Quite a bad one at that. However despite her motherly instincts, she could not stop a look of disgust from flashing across her face. The creature yelled again. 

Celestia hesitated, but than gave the order. "Stand down everypony! He is injured." All of the guards ponys lowered their spears. The alien backed up, and once he was close enough to the forest, he lowered Luna and and rushed into the forest. Celestia rushed to Luna, and checked on her. "Do not pursue him!" She yelled to the guards. They had met a formidable challenge. A formidable challenge indeed.
> Urinating on Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 8

I woke up, slowly, with the sun raising into my eyes. I lifted myself up and reached over to my left and grabbed my canteen. I raised it up to my mouth and elevated. I waited a few seconds until my brain registered the fact.

Fuck.

My canteen had somehow lasted three days and now it decides to run out? Brilliant. Hopping up, I dragged my rifle up with me. I had wrapped the sling around my arm before I went to sleep. That way if something tried to take it, I would wake up.

Okay, first things first, I need water. And while I'm at it, some food. I'm fucking getting tired of MREs. And this forest seems plentiful in small game. Having seen quite a few in my short time here. I walked over to the TARDIS box. I would need a .22. I don't want to shoot small game with 5.56, 7.62, or .45. Hell, even smaller pistol calibers would leave me eating lead instead of meat. But I'm not stupid so as to go into an unknown forest with only a .22, and a .45. After I grabbed the .22, which was a Winchester Wildcat, nice rifle. I looked for a rifle chambered in 7.62x39. I came out with an AK-47. It wasn't an AK-74 due to the fact that its mag was distinctly tapered, whereas the 74's was much straighter. The bayonet attachment point on the 74 is a lug, whereas the 47 had teeth. This 47 has a stamped reciever. The evidence being the rivets on the reciever.

I closed the lid on the TARDIS box and headed out. I crossed the bridge being as careful as I'd been before. I entered the tree line. Keeping an eye out for small critters. After about three minutes, I spotted a squirrel, sighted the rifle, and pulled the trigger. It fell, and I went to it. The other squirrels had scattered. When I got to the it, I had to smile. It was a grey squirrel. It had more meat on it than a red squirrel. The reds tend to be gamey. I picked it up. I wasn't too worried about diseases, this world seems too fluffy to have something like the plague in it.

This continued on for about five more shots. I came upon a clearing and walked out. I immediately wished I hadn't walked into this clearing. About thirty feet from me, a massive beast stood. It looked like a lion fucked a bat, who's child than fucked a scorpion. It was looking straight at me. If it charged, I may be able to unsling and sight my AK. I then took notice of two smaller versions of it, the creature had it's wings furled. Oh, fuck. Its a momma with it's babies.

I slowly crouched, while walking backwards. Standing straight up would make me taller, therefore making me more of a threat. And if I pissed her off, I'm not even sure if 7.62 could kill this thing fast enough. The creature kept looking at me, but never moved from her spot. She eventually unfurled her wings, and allowed her cubs to start playing again. I quickly left the area, after I was sure she wouldn't chase me. 

(-)

I had been walking for about five hours, keeping an eye out for more game. I had come across quite a few odd animals. One of these being wolves I had dubbed "Timberwolves". Why? You may ask. Simple, they were made of fucking wood.

Wood.

I had come across a pack of them, and when they saw me, I can safely assume they can't smell since they're made of wood, and they had begun advancing towards me. However, a warning shot from my .45 stopped them, and they turned tail and ran. Well then… they're smarter than the ponies. I had also found a stream. Thankfully, it looked clean enough to refill my canteen.

I came across another clearing, being more careful this time, after my last accident. I edged up to the end of the treeline. Nothing was in the clearing except for a statue of an equine. I walked up to the statue and inspected it.

It was a unicorn, with it's tail in a scythe shape, with the tail somehow fanning out into flatness. Something seemed familiar about this mare. The equine had a shocked look on it's face, eyes wide. It had cloth… saddlebags, for lack of a better word, on it's flank. And on it's stifle was a damning piece of evidence. A stifle mark of a six sided star.

This is the same fucking mare that attacked me! But, why is there a statue of her in the middle of the forest? A religious cult, perhaps. And why does it have saddlebags? Maybe an offering. Meh, doesn't matter. 

Time to get some childish revenge. Both out of spite and just vengeance. You don't attack me and get away with it. Before I got my revenge, though. I took the saddlebags off of the statue, as they had things in them, and stuffed them in my pack. Now, I set my .22 down next to me. I stood so I was aiming at her flank, unzipped my pants, and did my business. All while whistling.

I finished up with two shakes, zipped up my pants, and was about to pick up my .22. But, a bush in the direction that the statue was staring at started to rustle. I quicky slid the AK from my back and sighted it at the bush. After a few moments, four chicken heads popped out. Chickens.

And then they flew out. With snake bodies, and bat wings. Really? They landed in front of me, and started staring straight into my eyes. We stood there for about three minutes. I was trying to figure out what the fuck they were doing, and they were intensifying their gaze with every passing second. Eventually, I decided I didn't want to stand there all night, and took all four of them down with short three round bursts. I walked up to them. Their bodies were too mangled to work for food, so I left them there.

I heard rustling behind me, and whipped around. The AK already sighted, expecting to see some more weird creatures. But I was greeted with nothing. Keyword: nothing. Not even the statue was there. 

It was at that point that I remembered something I had learned in English class, while we were reading "The Book of the Dun Cow". Those were cockatrices, and they could turn people to stone. And that statue is now gone. My brain put two and two together. And I didn't like the result.

FUCK!

I just pissed on a sapient Equine. Brilliant! I'm still a virgin, and the first thing I do that could be misconstrued as sexual, I did it to an Equine! Am I a sex offender now? Fuck it. It doesn't matter, not like I'm going to be introduced into their society anytime soon. But, if they didn't hate me before, they do now.

With that embarrasing phase gone, I picked up the .22, and headed back to Citadel. Maybe I could forget about it in the morning.


> Meet the Parent. Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 9

I decided that today, I was going to have to find a source of water closer to the castle. I had so far only been in that main room of the castle. There should be a courtyard though, and there is usually a well in courtyards. I began sweeping the room for a back door. And I found one. In the way back, by the thrones, there was a door. A rotting wooden door, but a door none the less.

Walking up to it, I put my ear against the door. I didn't want to kick open a door that leads to a den of those lion-bat-scorpion things. I didn't hear anything moving behind it. I put my foot against the door, and kicked. The rotting wood giving away almost immediately. I was greeted by a very beautiful sight.

You know the secret garden from the video game "Shadow of the Collosus"? That was nothing compared to this. I wouldn't be hard pressed to call this the Garden of Eden. There were trees of every kind here. Apples, and figs. Thats all I can name. In the center of the garden was a small… well. It was flat, and there was a small pool, about three feet deep. Guess I have a new water source. I walked to the well and bent down. The water looked clean. Perfect in fact. 

I dipped my hand in the pool and took a sip. Whoa. That was some of the best water that I have ever tasted. Honestly though, now that I look at this place, it seems extremely out of place compared to the decrepit castle walls that surrounded it. And in that small moment of thought, I realized something. I fucking stink. That and it was getting a little… red in the crotch area. I shouldn't have slept in my pants. I decided that I would head back out into the forest and bathe.

Picking myself up, I headed back to the main hall. I didn't feel the need to eat, the squirrel meat having filled me up well last night.

As I walked back into the main hall, I noticed something. On the TARDIS box, there was a full sized shovel. Why a shovel? Well, old tardy hasn't failed me yet. I grabbed the shovel as I passed by tardy, yes I named it, problem? And let my AK rest on my chest as I walked out of the hall and crossed the bridge. How that bridge seems to be able to take so much weight, I will never know.

I headed into the treeline. Wondering what the shovel could be for. Digging a latrine? Maybe, the flies were getting closer. As I was thinking something, a sound hit my ears. It was a dog barking. Wolves bark, but not like dogs. Something seemed to urge me to the dog. So I ran, as quickly as my legs would carry me. I eventually arrived to a clearing. There are alot of damn clearings in this forest. I could hear the dog barking much more strongly now. I cleared the treeline, and what I saw made me want to vomit.

Now, I was no stanger to dead bodies. I helped clear quite a few areas before. But I had never seen a badly decomposed body. On my left flank about fifty meters away was a dead man. A dog was in front of him looking to my right flank while also barking. To my right flank about thirty meters away was a pack of those timberwolves. They were slowly encroaching on the dog, and I decided to act before I lost the dog. I dropped the shovel, fell to one knee, sighted the rifle and fired a burst. The first wolf fell, and the others looked around in confusion. I fired three more burst and three more wolves fell. The pack, which was only five strong was decimated. The fifth wolf, finally having gotten a lock on my position, charged me. I finished it off with a burst to the head. I dropped the mag and reloaded. Chambering a round, and then allowing it to rest on my torso.

The dog was still growling at me. "Heel!" I commanded, the dog continued. I was puzzled, until I remembered that they train the dogs in German. Fuck. Recalling my highschool German classes, which I failed by the way, I tried my luck.

"Ferse!" The dog didn't back down. Fuck, I must have pronounced it wrong. I tried it two more times, each a failure. On my third time, the dog stopped. The word came out something like "fezza". The dog immediately plopped itself into a sitting position. With it's tongue hanging out and looking at me expectedly. I walked up to her, a german shepherd, giving her chin a scratch. She had body armor on, and a leash. The body armor had a… SEAL's symbol on it? I checked her collar. It read, "Moira, Aaron Reyes". So her name is Moira? Meaning beloved. Huh.

I moved onto the man. His body was in a badly decomposed state. His uniform had SEAL tags on them as well. Steeling myself, I reached into his shirt, in the neck area. While thanking the good Lord that my hands were gloved, and pulled out the his tags. They read: Aaron, Reyes, T, and the rest of the tag was issue stuff. I got down to his religion. It read "Protestant". I claimed his tags. It was disturbing to say the least. Not even a few days ago and I thought that I was the only Human on this fucked up planet. But here is a man. Albeit a dead one.

My mind began to wonder, what brought him here? Was it the same thing that brought me here, whatever that may be. How did he die? He has a rifle and an entire vest of mags. And Moira seemed fine. I couldn't see any obvious predation marks. It couldn't be a coincidence that two actice service members of the same country were pulled to the same planet. If it wasn't for the decomp, he probably would have looked like he was just laying down. Maybe he died when he was pulled to the planet. No, that can't be it. I would have died as well. What fucking killed him! I'm probably never going to find out. Its time for me to pay my respects to a brother in arms that lost his life while sering his country.

I would have to bury this man. I looked to Moira and found her leash. I followed her leash back to the SEAL's pants. Her leash was carabinered to his front left belt loop. I unhooked the carbiner and attached it to my pants. I walked back to where I dropped the shovel. Moira following behind me. I grabbed it and headed back to Aaron. I began digging about three meters to Aaron's side. Moira was waiting patiently beside me. After about two hours of digging, I had gotten deep enough. 

I waled over to Aaron, and grabbed him by the shoulders of his shirt. I pushed his feet into the grave first and as slowly as possible, I lowered the rest of his body into the grave. I rested his head on the ground. I picked the shove back up and filled in the grave. When I was done, I threw the shovel away. I didn't want look at it.

I fell to the ground. I started crying. Maybe it was the stress. I had been tossed into an alien world, and I may never see my family again. The people I knew, my friends. My parents and my sister, my girlfriend. Going through basics wasn't this bad. Maybe the only Human on this Godforsaken planet! And not lying more than ten feet away was another Human. But he was dead, one of the few connections and he was dead! Maybe I should just let Moira go and put a bullet in my brain.

I felt something nuzzle up to me. I looked up and saw Moira. She was laying up against me, looking up at me with her ears laid flat against her head. I put my arms around her neck."Moira, I just want to go home," I whispered. "I just want to go home and see Mom and Dad again. See Dana and Gina again. I'm scared, not of this world, but of being Aaron. He died alone with no one to bury him, or pay him respects." I sobbed out. "He only had you, and all you could do was protect his body from scavengers."

I eventually somehow managed to cry myself to sleep. Somehow, in the middle of a dangerous forest, I cried myself to sleep. 

The night was peaceful.

(-)

My eyes opened, suddenly. I looked around, trying to gain my bearings. I pushed myself up. It was complete darkness surrounding me. I tried walking, but that got me nowhere. I'm pretty sure I was dreaming. A voice suddenly spoke to my left.

"It is nice to finally see you in person, Dante." The voice stated.

I swirled around, only to see… nothing.

"Why are you so afraid, Dante?" The voice said behind me.

I twisted to the back, nothing was there.

"Show yourself!" I commanded.
"Do you not remember me, Dante?"The voice asked from everywhere.
"I will not hold a conversation if you do not show youself!" I yelled.
"Fine, no need to get angry, Dante."

A fog began materializing in front of me. It was extremely unnerving. The fog slowly formed into an equine form, and then the form of a white winged unicorn. She was atleast a foot taller than I was. Looking more like a Terran horse than the Equines of this planet did. Her mane was red, and her stifle mark was an… inkpot?

"Who the Hell are you?" I asked.
"I am Faust, and I was the one that brought you here, Dante."

> Meet the Parent. Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree
Chapter 10

“What? You’re not being serious. Who the fuck are you!” I demanded of the white horse, apparently named “Faust”, in front of me. The horse looked at me with the same regal look as before.
“Dante, I promise you, I’m telling the truth.” She spoke. Bullshit.
“Alright, tell me something; why would you fucking bring me here? A better question would be, how?  I’m apparently resistant to whatever force you fucking unicorns use!” I was curious, but angry at the same time. 
My curiosity being my apparent resistance to their mysterious forces; my anger being that if she was telling the truth, the fact that if she did bring me here, that means that this bitch fucking pulled me from my family and friends.
She seemed to realize this. So she attempted to curb both of these at the same time.
“I brought you here, Dante, that is true. You have a right to be angry and I shall attempt to explain why and how.” She stated with confidence, yet somehow retaining her tone. She continued.
“First let me tell you who I am. I am Faust, Creator of Anima and it’s people, regent of the planet.” She stated, quite humbly I might add. She continued.
“I brought you here, Dante, because I need you. There is an evil coming, a dark evil. You are the only on Anima that can destroy it, Even I am rendered helpless against it.”
“So you brought me here to defeat an ancient evil? Sounds like the beginning of ever of shitty story ever.” I snarked. Faust retorted.
“You, Dante, do not wield this power alone. You’re entire species has the ability to destroy it. It consumes magical planets, and Earth is the only planet where magic is void. Thousands of other planets have been consumed by it, but Earth is the only planet that is safe from it. It does not dare go to your planet, in fear of being destroyed by your people.”
“So why me? Why not a spec ops agent? Why just a grunt?” I questioned.
“Aaron, Dante, was my fault. He was the first human I brought, not knowing what would happen. Travelling through the wormhole killed him. I later figured out that this wormhole caused brain trauma to higher brain functions. Sapient life is killed, unless they somehow have a lower brain fuctions at the time. Dante, you were hit by the mortar, your body went into shock and you proceeded to fall into a coma. But your body is not your body.” She stated.
What? Not my body, Aaron’s death was her fault, I’m in a fucking coma! 
“What the fuck do you mean! Not my body! What do you fucking mean!” I yelled, than continued. “What do you fucking mean; you’re being too fucking vague!”
“Your real body, Dante, is currently at the Baptist Healthcare Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. You are on life support in a Persistent Vegetative State. Your sister, due to you giving her POA, is refusing attempts to take you off life support. It currently seems as though you will not recover from the state. I had to craft you a new body, and pulled your soul from your body and placed it in the new body. As your soul is the only part I could effect. I made your new body immune to all magic except mine. Had your normal body come, you would still be immune to all magic.” She stated.
My face paled. I had to ask. “Will I- will I recover? When I leave this world?” She looked at me. A portal formed about twenty feet in front of me. She spoke.
“I will not keep you here, Dante, the choice is yours. But remember, if you leave you will damn an entire planet to death.”
“Can’t you just pull another human over?” I asked.
“I am currently on the fringes of my energy, Dante, if I send you back now I will not recover enough energy to pull someone over to Anima. It will arrive before I regain this energy.”
“You don’t have have limitless energy? Aren’t you supposed to be a God?” This doesn’t make sense.
“I am a sub-set, Dante, your world is ancient. The Creator made your planet as the first intelligent planet. I had to beg The Creator to allow me to bring you over.”
“Wait, The Creator? Who is that?”
“The Creator, Dante, is.” She stated simply.
“God, Allah, who?” I asked.
“The Creator, Dante, is all.”
“So he is God. Alright than.”
“What is your choice, Dante, go back to your family and damn an entire planet? Or save a planet?”
I began to walk to the portal, Faust looked downtrodden. I stopped at about fifteen feet and thought about it again. This is an entire planet, I’m acting like a coward. I’m a fucking Devil dog! I don’t run away from the sound of danger, I run towards it and make it my bitch! I turned around. 
“I’ll help you, if you can guarantee me something.” I said. Faust’s ears perked up.
“Anything, Dante, anything to save my minotaurs and my gryphons and my ponies and my zebras and my dragons! Anything to save my children!” She pleaded.
Wow, what a 360. She dropped the regalia, but kept that quirk of saying my name in the first sentence.
“After I do what I need to do, you send me back.”
“Yes, Dante, yes, yes,yes,yes!”
My right eyebrow raised. How did she go from wise ruler to little child? Doesn’t matter.
Faust quickly calmed herself and looked at me with a happy face. 
“You will wake up, Dante, now. And to make the ponies warm up to you, you will help a group. I will be able to assist you by acting as a guide, and you will have the needed gear.” She stated.
Wait a minute, needed gear. I quickly managed to put two and two together and everything seemed to fit. “Were you the TARDIS box?”
I managed to speak as my vision began to narrow, and light started filtering in. Right before I passed out, she said something.
“Yes, Dante, yes.”

(-)
I woke up, violently. Quickly pushing myself up, I noticed a few things. My AK was gone, and there were three small equines staring at me. All of them had scared looks on their face. They were atleast fifty feet away in a V formation. Getting a longer look at them, I noticed that they were fillies, that or the equine version of midgets. I’m betting they’re fillies. Wait, are they females? Despite having an equine body structure, these equines were strangely humanoid. Humanoid in the sense that they have human features. Such as the shocked look. Or, atleast, I think it’s a shocked look. Oh god, I hope its not  the equine version of bedroom eyes. Some voice popped up in my head.
“Stop thinking like that, Dante, they’re just fillies.” What the fuck? Oh, wait, its just Faust.
The three fillies were still frozen to the spot. They seemed like an odd trio. One was an orange Pegasus with a purple mane and tail. Along with purple eyes, with no stifle mark. The other was a white unicorn with bicolored mane and tail. One side was a medium pink, and the other was medium purple. Surprisingly doesn’t hurt my eyes. Her eyes were an emerald green, yet again missing a stifle mark. Odd, but could just be a coincidence. 
The last one was an Earth Familiar equine. She was a… butterscotch yellow? Along with a red mane an tail, Her eyes being a… gold? This one is difficult. She to, had no stifle mark. So it wasn’t a coincidence. And the major thing was that they look so fucking adorable!
Wait a minute. Why am I worrying about three fillies? I need to find my fucking AK. I rose to my feet.  Hearing a shriek I turned to the trio of fillies. They were still in a V formation but the butterscotch Earth familiar, who had been leading the trio, was now cowering with her hoof covering her eyes, with the the other two fillies doing the same. How were they bending their legs like that? Fuck, I can’t leave them out in this forest. If the incident with the government head a couple of days ago was any indication, these equines were afraid of this forest.
Remembering how I dealt with scared dogs back in Kentucky, I knelt and held my hand out. I tchked a few times to draw her attention. She looked over at me, and saw my hand. She took a minute to think, while still cowering, she eventually started moving though. Her friends tried to hold her back, but she pushed on. She kept her head down, while her friends were yelling in their strange equine language that sounded like it consisted of snorts, grunts, and whinnies. She slowly closed the distance. Hopefully they were like dogs and would calm down when they had your scent. She was about to nuzzle my hand, but the worst possible thing happened. An oversized grey paw shot from the ground and wrapped itself around her left hind leg.
She looked up at me with a shocked and scared look. I noticed her friends were also grabber from underneath.
Fuck. 

> Down the Rabbit Hole Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Guardian of the Everfree

Chapter 11

My hand shot forward trying to grab the little filly. I wanted to get to her before the paw that had shot up from the ground could do anything. Unfortunately, the paw ripped her down before I could grab her front leg. The other two fillies proceeded to disappear as well. One of the creatures shot up from the ground.

Oh, god. Its one of those bipedal dogs. The stupid fuck jumped up from a hole it suddenly made, holding a spear. The problem was, the dumbfuck wasn’t looking at me. The dog took a slow sweep in front of him, and slowly began to turn around. He spotted me, and I charged. I jumped over the hole with my body staying vertical and than slamming the dog to the ground.

These dogs were about the size of an ape. But they definitely didn’t have their intelligence. After I slammed him to the ground, we both rolled. The dog lost its spear in the slam, but was now scrambling for it. I still didn’t have my AK, but this fucker was going to die.

The dog had managed to grab its spear, and attempted to thrust the spear into my torso. I twisted my chest and grabbed the stick, pulling roughly. The top heavy dog toppled and I flipped the spear, so the pointy end was facing the dog instead of me. I thrust the spear, and caught the dog in the gut. The dog brought his paw down snapping the spear in half. Fucker’s more resilient than I thought.

The dog pulls the spear out, and tries to bring his paw around to slash me. I step outside of the reach of the arch. As the paw passes me, I rush forward slam the dog in the face with my right fist, following through again with my arm slamming him in the face.

I kicked the dog’s left knee, causing the lower leg to bend upwards and the knee to break. The dog howled in pain, and collapsed. As I was about to finish the dog by crushing his skull with my foot, something tackles me. Fuck, I wasn’t paying attention. I manage to roll just as the dog brought his face down. I manage to bring my arm up and use it to stop his jaw from closing around my face, this time putting it on his neck rather than his jaws. A bent human elbow is much stronger than a straight human elbow.

The dog was slathering around the mouth, and was slowly using his weight to push my arm down closer to my chest. Too close, it’s nearly snapping my damn nose off. No, too fucking close.

I hear barking to my left, and something slams in the dog. Pulling it off of me, I get up and see something that I had totally forgotten about. Moira! I wanted to slam my face into a rock right now for forgetting about her. But now wasn’t the time. I pick up a large rock that could fit into my fist. Time to get rid of this fucker that is holding my dog down, this time with some good old Caining. First, however, I crush the skull of the dog whose leg I broke.

I walking to the dog, grab him by the shoulder. He instinctively turns around, and I hit him with the rock. He falls to the ground, and I proceed to pummel his face. After a few more strikes, I dropped the rock. The dog’s skull was caved in.

“Faust?” I asked.

“Yes, Dante?” I will never get used to having a Goddess in my mind.

“Where did Moira go for that short time?”

“Moira, Dante, was sent away by me.” I looked over to the hole the dog had made, A dog would blow my cover if this led to caverns.

“Mind sending her back to Citadel? I can’t risk having her down there.” I asked. Without saying a word, Moira turned tail and went back in the direction of the citadel.

“Dante, you may want to look behind you.” Faust said, calmly. I however was still jittery, especially with the dog’s corpses. I swung myself around, fists at bear. To see… nothing.

Wait, no. There is a black pack on the ground. I walk to it and pick it up. Unzipping it, I come out with a chest rig with ten, thirty round mags with .45. A UMP .45 with a mag in it and a round chambered, fitted with a light and an EOtech holosight, a pair of NVGs, some flares, some C4. In addition to the mags, the chest rig had four frag grenades attached to it. I slid the backpack onto my.

“Faust, what happened to my AK?”  I asked.

“I, Dante, dematerialized it.” She responded. Rolling my eyes, I responded.

“Of couse.” I walked over to the hole. My hope was that the dogs couldn’t defy gravity and the hole sloped like a slide. I slid the NVGs over my eyes.

“Down the rabbit hole, Alice jumped.” I thought to myself.

I than proceeded to jump.

(-)

My luck had paid off! The dogs couldn’t defy gravity and the hole sloped. I was sliding with my right leg bent into a V shape and my left leg slowing me down by digging into the dirt.

After a few more seconds, I had reached the bottom of the hole and was met with a meter drop. I lowered my legs onto the ground, I raised my UMP and quickly flipped the NVG button on the EOtech on. I scanned the sectors, keeping an eye out for dogs. I moved forward to what haad been my right. The left was a dead end and the dogs made a pretty obvious trail of the direction I needed to head in.

This tunnel system was creepy, to say the least. I soon found myself at a three way tunnel system. Damnit!

“Faust, you’re omnipotent, right? Which way do I need to go?” I asked.

“The hand of God that He does not sit at will kill you. Whereas the path that he angels took who betrayed him will lead you no where. It is only by taking his side, will you find what you are looking for.” She said. What? 

"Faust, stop fucking with me! There are three children on the line! Which… fucking… way!" She responded.

"Now, Dante, you wouldn't be the one helping them if I told you outright."

Son of a bitch. Fine. Lets see. The hand of God that He does not sit at will kill you. So, the… left? If "He" refers to Christ. So that would mean the… right, wouldn't it? I think.

Damnit! I should have stayed awake in my Theology classes! Alright, so Christ sits at the right hand I think. Wait, is it my right or his right? Fuck it, its his right. So, my right will kill me, and my middle is a dead end. So, the right? Yeah, that sounds right.

I went for the right tunnel. Speedwalking for about fifteen minutes, before I heard a blood-curdling scream. Fuck. I started running. The tunnel was curvy as hell, but thankfully there was only one path. I got the beginning of a large tunnel. I charged through it. There was a door at the end of it. I'm not stopping for it. I throw my large frame at the door, causing the door to swing violently open, after the knob had been torn from door and the hinges destroyed.

When I got up, and looked from the precipice I was on, I saw a sight that still haunts me to this day. 

"Oh my God."
> Down the Rabbit Hole Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree

Chapter 12



The first thing that hit me was the stench. It smelt like the mass graves that the Taliban had dug after they stepped up attacks on civilian targets. My company was one of the groups that investigated them. 

My stomach chose this time to reject it’s contents. I don’t blame it, the mixture was fetid. Smelling like a mix of urine, feces, and decomposing bodies. The second thing I noticed from my precipice was the twenty foot pile of dead bodies in one of the corners. It seemed to be mainly composed of ponies but… was that a gryphon? The entire area was almost as large as the mammoth dome in Mammoth cave, and circular. To my far right there were cages stacked in columns of two.

The dogs hadn’t noticed me, yet. The precipice I was on had a drop off to my right, forming “steps” to get down. But before I did anything, I had to do something about this fucking stench. I grabbed for the gas mask that was in it’s pouch on my waist. I slip my NVGs off of my face. There was enough light in here. I slipped my gas mask on, clearing it of the ambient air. I crouch down, slinging the UMP, I pull my LMFII in an underhand grip. I slip down slowly and quietly from the drop off, which was only about ten feet. There was a dog keeping an eye on the precipice below. How had it not heard me? Must have been another loud sound that masked the door and my retching. 

The dog was about a head smaller than I, I shoot my hand over his mouth and plunge my knife his neck. The dog went down quickly, and I dragged him behind a large rock that was nearby.  No sense in leaving his body in the open.

I finished heading down the “steps”, and head into the shadow of the room. I have to work my to the cages, I can’t leave these sapient beings to live in abject misery. As something less than living, something less than personhood! Treated as nothing but mere animals, stupid creatures that cannot form abstract ideas! To be tossed disgracefully into a pile after their last breath leaves their bodies! It’s disgusting! These dogs were never going to see the light of day again.

I make my way to the cages, thankfully no dog patrols pass me.  Right before I make it to the first cage, a dog begins making its way towards me. Probably a warden. It’s a little ways off, so it doesn’t see me. I finish my making my way to the cage and stop on the side. I look to the cage and see a stallion staring at me with his eyes wide and mouth open.

Before he could scream, I put my finger up to the filter on the gasmask. Than continuing, I pointed at the warden’s direction and then drew my trigger finger across my neck. The stallion seemed to get the idea, and shut his mouth. 

I waited about thirty seconds until the warden passed. As he passed me and left his back open, I rushed up to him and repeated the same process as I had the other dog. He fell, and I dragged him to the shadows.

Now that I could see that stallion without worrying about the guard, I could see that he was pretty well built. The muscles in his legs pretty proportional. Not too large, not small. With a solid blue body and a red ma-. Oh, god. He’s a unicorn, with half his horn missing. The remaining horn was jagged, and had obviously been broken off. There is also another mare in the cage, she’s in the shadows so I can’t see her.

I can’t help him in the horn department, but the freedom department. Well, I’m an American. I began to rifle through the dog’s vest. Something catches my ear though. It’s on the other side of the cage, it sounds like labored breathing. 

I walk over to the left side of the cage, and what awaits me there is sickening. An orange mare, lying on the ground. Her two front hooves broken, and wound in her gut.

I go to my knees and scoot closer to her. The stallion… begins growling at me. I do a short and slow “shh”, the sound being muffled the gasmask . He stopped growling, but seemed to keep an eye on me. 

The mare wasn’t good, at all. I could tell that the hooves had gone gangrenous, and the wound in her gut was septic. Her gangrenous hooves were… covering something. I reach my hand down to move them. Thankful for the mechanix gloves I had put on earlier. As my hand drew nearer, however, the mare’s eyes shot open and she began growling aggressively     .

Well, growling as aggressively as one can when they’re dieing of gangrene and septic shock in their own feces and urine. I begin shhing again. Hoping to calm the mare down, show I’m not a threat. She seemed to calm down. I moved my hand slowly to on hoof and moved it.

“Oh my god.”

A baby. Couldn’t have been older than a couple of hours, it was still covered in amniotic fluid. Wait a minute!

Oh my god! Its still breathing!

I gently pull the little foal away, and the mother gives no resistance. The little bugger is asleep. Off to my right, the stallion is straining for the baby. Damn, the mare must have been his wife.

I pull my blouse off, detach my gasmask. Oh, god. That fucking smell. I vomit a little in my mouth. It was like a mix of mold, shit and piss, and decaying bodies. I pull my undershirt off, and gently wrap the foal in it. While giving the head a short rub to wipe off.  Than give the little guy a scratch behind the ear, as he begins to squirm around. This seems to calm him down, and he pushes his head into my hand.

Unfortunately, all cute things must stop being cute one time or another. I move to the cage, and slide the foal on the ground next to the stallion. I don’t trust their hooves. He moves, and is somehow able to pick up the baby and cradle it. At this point, this isn’t that surprising.  The mare, though.

I walk back to her, and quickly slip my unbuttoned blouse back on, and examine the wounds a bit more. No. There is no way I can save her. Even if I got her out of here right now, I don’t think she would make it even if she was back on our world. I highly doubt that the ponies have the technology to deal with gangrenous wounds and septic shock. 

But another idea comes to my head.

“Faust, can you help her?” I ask.

“Opening a trans-dimensional portal, Dante, would be easier right now than saving her life. She is nearly dead, and I’m not at my full power. Her fate is currently in your hands, Dante.” Faust says.

Damn it. I fucking hate life or death decisions. Okay, pros to giving her a mercy killing: She is going to die anyway, she is probably in extreme pain, and her believed husband is watching her die. Cons: none really. Okay, mercy killing. Brilliant.

I kneel down and gently pull her head up and expose her neck. She seems to be smiling. I bring my knife about midway down her neck, where the carotid is normally located in horses. I press the knife against the skin lightly, and then quickly dig in and slam the knife point down into the arteries, slashing them open, causing a bilateral injury. She would be unconscious in one to three minutes, and death will follow shortly.

The mare, despite having both carotids sliced opened, still has a smile on her face. She dies happy.

I return to looting the warden. Ah, there they are the keys. I take the spear and the keys and go to the front of the cage. Open the door, neither the stallion nor the mare, who now has a baby attached to one her teats, notices me. It isn’t until I knock on the bars with the spear do they look at me. The stallion looks at me, and seems to take a defensive posture, and the mare just looks at me with even wider than normal eyes.

I hold the keys up, and then motion to all the other cages with the spear. I turn the spear around in my hand, with the pointy side facing me, as a sign of trust. The stallion looks hesitant at first, but grabs the spear after a few seconds.

I depart and leave them be.

> A Reign of Terror Ends, And Freedom Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guardian of the Everfree

Chapter 13



“It what?” Shining Armor nearly roared, not at his sister, but more at the world in general.

“Shiny, please, calm down. I don’t think he realized that I was… well, stone.” Twilight responded to her brother. The room they were in more than adequate to house the three alicorns, squad of royal guards, seventeen judges, and four unicorns.

“It… it… peed on you!” Shining retorted.

“Yes, and he obviously thought I was nothing but a statue, he didn’t even know what the cockatrices were.”

“I’m sorry dear, but if I may ask, weren’t you already attacked by a cockatrice earlier this year?” Twilight’s mother, Twilight Velvet, asked.

“Yes, why?”

“Well, if you were attacked before, how did you get attacked again?”

At this inquiry, Twilight blushed, and took on a sheepish smile. Moving her hoof to rub the back of her head. “They attacked me in a pack.”

“I’m sorry, but if I may,” Celestia interrupted. “Did you say he stared at the cockatrices for three minutes?”

“Yes, and then he… uh, he killed them.”

“Which freed you from your stone prison.”

Luna stepped up, bandages around her chest as well as the wing that had been shot. A slow walk, even for the short distance due to her broken ribs.

“This is indeed a dangerous creature, strong enough to break my ribs. And now this surprise, being immune to a cockatrice. This is not good, at all.”

“Why, Princess Luna?”  Twilight asked.

“Child,” Luna Began. “Can you tell me a creature that is immune to a cockatrice. Do any of your books have a list of creatures that can defeat a cockatrice head on?”

Twilight thought hard, not being able to recall any entry like that.

“No, I’m sorry Princess, I can’t say  I do.”

“That’s because there is nothing on Anima that can mitigate the magic of a Cockatrice, much less beat it in a head on fight. Barring your friend Fluttershy, of course. But even then, the only reason she beat it was because of her talent to deal with animals. She was nearly turned to stone in the process, wasn’t she?” Luna questioned.

“Yes, she was.”

“And yet this creature was able to stare at three cockatrices with no ill effect.” Celestia added.

One of the judges spoke.

“I’m sorry, but I thought we were holding this to decide what to do, should the creature every come into the penal system’s hooves.”

“Ah, yes, I apologize Judge Stalwart we sh-“ Celestia was cut off as a letter materialized from thin air in front of her in a whoosh of green flames.



“Twilight, I believe this would be for you. Spike would have no reason to contact me without you.” Celestia said, silently passing the letter over to Twilight in her magic. Twilight taking hold of the letter, scanning her eyes over it.

Her eyes got wider, as she scanned over the letter again.

“No, oh, this isn’t good.” She mumbled to herself, as the other ponies in the room looked curiously to her.

“May I ask what’s wrong, Twilight?” Celestia questioned.

“They’ve lost Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. In the Everfree.”

“You mean those three fillies that don’t have their cutiemarks? Luna asked.

“Into the creature’s domain?” Stalwart asked worriedly. While Celestia sought to quell the slight panic that was forming.

“I don’t think we need to worry about him harming the little ones. he only appears to attack things that attempt to harm him.”

“The letter mentions something about two dead diamond dogs and an open dog hole.” Twilight sated.

“Well, then, let’s hope that this creature is as neutral as he seems.” 

“I need to get down there and help!” Twilight shouted, the panic now just setting in.

“A teleport would be faster, Luna, gather two platoons of guards and get them down to Ponyville as quickly as possible.” Celestia said, quickly. As her horn glowed and enveloped Twilight and herself in a gold bubble. 

Luna limped out of the room, followed by a Shining Armor who was slipping on his helmet. Leaving the judges and the pink alicorn.

‘This is interesting.’ She thought to herself.





I put three shots into another dog that was charging, the dog falling.

Damnit, I had let that stallion out of his cage and gave him the keys, and not five minutes later all Hell breaks loose. I went loud and just started shooting the damn mutts. And now I was stuck in something that was akin to rat tunnels in Vietnam. Thankfully, these tunnels were large enough to stand up in. About nine feet tall. And disgusting as fuck. The smell of something decomposing reaching me, even though my mask. 

I stepped over the dog’s body after putting a round in its skull to be safe.

A fork, right or left?

“Dante, you’re going to want to want to take a left, when you take the left, you’ll come to a chamber.” Faust thankfully gave me the directions.

Scanning to my left, I dropped the mag which only had a couple of rounds in it and replaced it with a fresh mag.

And there’s the chamber.

Not as big as the slave-holding room, but still big.

There, at the far end of the room, a lone door, protected by two dogs with spears. The precipice I’m standing on has a fence, and about a fifteen foot.

The adrenaline is pumping now, but I jog to the fence, climb over it, and drop. I fall and land on my feet, bent as I roll. The roll finishes and I pick myself back up, raising my vector and putting three rounds into one of the charging dogs and another three rounds into the other one.

Running to the door, I slam myself against the left side of the door, pressing myself against the left side of the door. I drop the magazine and, again, replace it with a new one. 

“Faust, can you tell me how may are in there?” 

“Four Diamond Dogs, one pony, and the three fillies.”

Awesome. I move so I’m standing in front of the door, the vector raised. I position my foot over the door knob. In most cases, the place that fails on a door is the frame. I kick, the door swings inwards.

A room with two tables on either side of with what looks like binders laying on them, creating a row. Another two farther into the room. The walls made of Earth and chairs randomly placed.

Four dogs turn to face me. I quickly sight the vector put six shots in total into the nearest two, and switch to the other two. Two three-short bursts put those two out of commission. 

A stallion, yellow with a blond mane, unicorn, that was behind these four dogs tried to run, carrying in his… magical grasp a cage containing the three, cowering fillies.

I shot once, the shot hitting him in the stifle. The stallion fell forward from the unexpected force and pain, as the cage fell from his grasp, tumbling on the floor.

I wasted no time in getting to him, as he attempted to pick himself up, I grabbed him by his horn and slammed his head into the ground. 

The stallion flailed his limbs as I picked him up by his horn and forced him to a wll. Holding him up by nothing except the horn.

As he continues flailing, I pull the .45 out of it’s holster, my vector resting on my chest. I did the barrel of the .45 into the bottom of his chin, he seems to get the message as he stops flailing and his eyes widen.

My finger begins to pull down on the trigger.

“Dante wait!” Faust yells.

“What?”

Don’t give him the reprieve of death. Not after the sins he has committed. Destroying the lives of children and innocents for his own pleasure.”

My mind immediately connects the two and I feel nothing but rage.

Pulling the stallion forward and slamming him back into the wall.

I drop him and grab him by one of his legs, dragging him closer to the door as he attempts to grab something. I kick up one of the dog’s spears, grabbing it. I flip one of the tables near the door over and face the top so it’s facing the three fillies, they don’t need to see this. I drag the stallion behind the table.





Apple Bloom could do nothing but watch as the strange bipedal creature dragged the unicorn behind the table. 

She didn’t want her cutie-mark to be an alien-hunter anymore. Especially if this is what aliens do.

When the screams started, though. That’s when the CMC truly cowered, as they pressed up against each other, their primal instincts telling them safety in numbers, the only thing they felt was fear. And this wasn’t “monsters hiding in my closet” fear. This was pure unadulterated fear for their lives. This mixed with them not knowing what the creature was doing to that stallion, their eyes screwed shut. They prayed to Celestia, prayed that the creature had no interest in little fillies.

The screaming stopped, as it turned into pitiful sobbing. 

The CMC didn’t open their eyes until something… soft, gently lifted them out of the cage one by one.

The first to go was Sweetie Belle, who yelped, and the other two were quickly, but gently pulled out of the cage.

They opened their eyes to see the odd biped, towering over them, The stallion curled up in a fetal position behind him. The biped, seemingly only having one eye and some sort of mask on.

Grabbing the stallion, the biped began walking forwards, towards a tunnel that was unlit. He stopped, twisted himself unnaturally to face the three fillies while his legs stayed pointed towards the tunnel, and made a strange motion with his odd hooves. The fillies took this as a motion to follow the creature, which so far, hadn’t harmed them.

As they reached the mouth of the tunnel, the biped stopped, dropping the hindleg of the stallion. Who immediately curled back up into a fetal position. The biped dug around in one the pockets on the strange leg coverings it had on. After a few seconds, it produced something from the pocket, it looked like a stick. Clicking a button, the three fillies recoiled, shaking and covering their eyes, the biped knelt down to half his height, yet he still towered over them. A beam of light coming out of the stick he had produced, pointing at the ceiling.

He brought his hoof over to the three as Apple Bloom slowly uncovered her eyes and stopped shaking. The meaning behind this action was obvious, take it.

Apple Bloom slowly gripped the stick between her two hooves, as she moved it to her mouth.

The biped, seemingly satisfied with the action, slowly rose to his towering height, and grabbed the stallion’s hindleg, dragging him again. As the stallion moaned and sobbed pitifully.

They began the trek down the tunnel, the biped seemingly unbothered by the lack of any natural or unnatural light in front of him. And the fillies thankful for the light-stick he gave them.

After about five minutes of walking they came to the end of the tunnel, reaching a door.

The biped didn’t bother with the doorknob, instead opting to kick it open, with a kick that Apple Bloom was certain would have made Apple Jack jealous.

The sudden light that streamed in cause the three fillies to recoil in pain, while the biped took it’s one eye off to reveal two tiny eyes. 

They stood on a small precipice of Earth, with a gradually decreasing face. About twenty five feet below them stood a crowd of at least three hundred ponies and a few gryphons. All looking around in awe.

The biped raised its strange bow into the air, and pulled the trigger. A small but noticeable explosion came from it. Everyone in the crowd and the three fillies pinned their ears back in pain. The creature unaffected by the loud sound.

The crowd brought their attention to them, as the creature pulled the stallion he had been dragging to the front.

Letting go of the stallion’s hindleg, the biped pushed the sobbing unicorn off the side of the hill, the unicorn rolling down the hill and crashing into the ground. It seemed as though everyone in the crowd recognized the stallion. And they weren’t happy. 

The creature and Apple Bloom took notice of a mass of flying pegasi, a s the crowd moved in on the sobbing stallion. The biped took this as a signal to leave, as he made his way to the side.

He disappeared as the mas of pegasi landed, revealing themselves to be guards.

Apple Bloom could only look in vain for their savior.





Union could only watch as the strange biped that had released him and Swift from the cage, as well as performed a mercy killing on his wife and saved his child. He had slaughtered the entire den by himself and came out with three more fillies and… that bastard. 

Indentured Debt, a fitting name for a slaver and a pedophile. A sadist who loved torturing slaves.

Union smiled as the biped kicked the Debt off the top and down the hill.

His smile only grew wider as he saw Debt holding his hooves near his male parts and an amputated horn.

A flock of pegasi guardstallions landed, moving to secure Debt from the closing crowd.

Union looked back up at the precipice, where he was at angle to be able to see the biped as he made his escape, stopping only momentarily to look back at the crowd.

Union saw a face he would never forget.

A face that had granted his freedom, and gave his child life.