The Beginning - Chapter 1

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My head... Where am I? Thats all I can think of, vision still blurry. I can barely make out a pond in front of me, followed by a dark tree line. I'm laying on... Grass? Just a moment ago I was in the city! How did I end up in a clearing in the woods? I rub my head and slide my hand down my face to help reorient my self. Although when I reach my lower face... I'll admit to a stubble but... Is that a beard?! I, albeit wobbly, rush over to the pond, blurring my vision more. I stumble through the clearing to the mudded banks of the pond, my feet slip out from under me. As I lurch forward and land in the shallow banks, the water splashing around me, my vision finally starts to clear. What I see... Whew

I see my self, same big pointed nose, circular head and all that, but... Is that a beard! Damn, I don't look half bad. A good full beard now graces my face, this is not something I expected to wake up to. Then again, I was in the city when I passed out, and I woke up in this random clearing in the woods... I can tell already this day isn't going to go so well for me. I get up from the slimy pond, pants soaking and dripping. "shit..." This was my only pair! As far as I can tell.

I begin to scan my surroundings to see where I am. Maybe I can spot a familiar mountain range or something in the distance? To the left... a spooky forest full of trees. To the right... Same story. I turn around and see... Are those people?! Yeah, two guys, face down in the grass. I step out of the mud surrounding the little pond and rush over the lush grass to the men. I kneel down to the one closest to me, and good God is he buff. Those are some thick arms... Holy shit, yeah the other guy has them too! I shake that thought and get back to work. I reach out to find this strange man's neck, and feel for a pulse. Holy Lord, I'm buff! I wasn't skinny before, but damn. How did this happen? Was I out for some time or something? Go on a gym spree in a hallucinated week? Whatever, I need to check on these guys. This one has a steady pulse, so I flip him over to make breathing a tad easier, just in case. I reach out and under to grip this man's arm and chest, and heave to flip him over. I turn him on his side and gently lay him down to get a good look on this guy's face. I take a rushed peak and... something about that guy seems familiar. I can't let myself wander, so I quickly rush over to the other guy before I get a good look.

This man is in much of the same predicament, lying face down in the green grass. I reach to his neck, find a steady pulse, thankfully, and flip him over much the same with the other guy. This time around, now that I know I can safely view them, I decide to do just that. This man also looks wholeheartedly similar to me... kind of reminds me of a friend of mine named Andrew... Wait, that is Andrew! Before I passed out, we were walking down a street, there was a light, and thats all I can remember. Except, there was Scott to, he was with us. Does that mean... I sit up and rush back to the other man laying down. I start to examine his face, and, I was right, he is similar. This is Scott! Why the hell are Scott, Andrew and me in a clearing in the middle of a forest? This is the only question on my mind, body alterations and what not can wait.

I lift my knee from the ground and stand back up, and walk to the center of the small clearing. I need to get a grasp on the location here, I need to figure out where we are. With this thought in mind, I trek to the tree line and stare at the ominous darkness. A wall of bushes lay in front of me, blocking my path to the rest of the woods, for better or for worse. This entire forest is eery, whenever I stare directly into the woods, I get a chill up my spine. Just a few feet into the woods is all I can gather, but its enough to give nightmares. The stacks of trees, mottled bark making the trunks indescribable from the darkness and shrubbery sorrounding them. These woods just give me a surreal sense of foreboding. However great my fear of the woods are, my sense of not being lost is much greater.

I decide to brave it out, and push the bushes outward, making a path, to which I step through. Past the bushes I get a feel for the land. The decades of decaying leaves and sticks cause my heavy booted foot to shatter twigs and crush undergrowth. The air is thick under the heavy leaves and branches meters above me. The shroud around me is suffocating, almost. The atmosphere continues to get worse the first few feet I go in. I look behind me to spy a glance at the still unmoving, but hopefully healthy bodies of my friends. At least that is a good sense of reassurance. I put my gaze back forward, and start moving. Ahead of me the constant form of ugly and twisted branches sticking out keeps me on edge, and i'm only a few feet in.

I glance upward towards the sky, or whatever cracks of light seep through the heavy layer of leaves. I try and spy a tall tree to climb up to get a good view point. After a couple of seconds, I spot a trunk slightly taller than the others. This one is full of malformed branches, plenty of vantage points to climb. The trunk lay a few meter ahead of me, so I begin the walk. Every step I take is heavy. I feel like there's a million pairs of eyes watching my every movement. I keep seeing forms in the darkness whenever I look to the sides, and however certain I am of it being branches and vines swaying whenever a light breeze escapes through these woods, I can never be certain. A few more steps into the woods keep me motivated enough as I keep closing in on the trunk.

After a few more steps, I am finally close enough to the trunk to reach it, although there is a slight... Inconvenience. Sorrounding the base of the trunk is... brambles? I would assume that is their closest relative, but these are unnatural. I guess it goes with every thing else in this god forsaken wood. The branches are thick, and the spikes leaking out from them are huge. Not to mention the abnormal rate at which they appear. The spikes are sporadic in the location, having a cluster of large and small spikes, and then have several independent spikes... great. Now I have to get over these.

I back track a few feet and scan the ground around me for thick enough twigs or chunks of bark I can use to my advantage. With the darkness of the forest however, it's hard to see anything at my foot level unless I got close, and that isn't something I want to do... What was that? I swear I saw something move in the tree line ahead of me. Okay, I can do this, I just have to find something to cover the brambles, not hard. I gaze back into the tree line and do a full 360 just to be sure. I get back to looking, taking a few steps here and there to cover more ground. The floor is full of dead and decaying damp leaves, and old bitter twigs and sticks, not close to strong enough to hold me. I look up to see a tree a few feet in front of me and... the bark looking eerily similar to a face snarling at me. This place really gives me the creeps.

However I notice, just above the snarling 'face', the bark seems to give out. Maybe I could ease it out and make a plank? Only one way to find out. I get close to the dark grey bark, and grip the exposed section. I slowly begin to peal it off the trunk, every time I make a noticeable pull, the bark snaps away from the trunk, making large creaking and braking noises. Whatever animals are close are hopefully scared away by the noise, unless they're drawn to prey... No, I cant think like that. Ill just make myself scared. I focus back into pulling the bark off the tree. After what seem like hours of excruciating timidness in my actions to keep the noise to a minimum, I finally have what seems to be the right enough length the carry me across the brambles.

With one final pull, I break the bark off the trunk, and with it a earth shattering crack. At least that's what it sounded like to my ears, too used to the quietness in here, even after the short time i've been in here. Bark in hand, I turn around and make another survey to make sure of... something not watching me. This forest is gonna be the end of me. I make the all to long walk back to the original tree. I size up the brambles once again, morbidly wondering what would happen to me if I were to fall in.

I shake those thoughts away, and smartly decide to get this over with and back to the clearing. I place the long plank of bark onto the mess of disorderly brambles. I put a bit of pressure to make sure of whatever little stability I would have walking on this thing. I give a sharp inhale, and take my first step onto the bark. It starts to break a little under my weight once I put my other foot onto the bark, but I quickly remedy this by moving my foot... to which the new location starts to splinter. I move forward quickly, taking two more steps before reaching the trunk. I wast no time in hoisting myself onto a branch, and bringing my self up and away from the mess of spikes below me.

The branches on this tree are... just nasty. They're hard and soft at the same time, whenever I squeeze them to keep a grip, what I can only hope is water secretes from them. I accept the fate as it is, and extremely disturbed by it, push on to to the top of the tree. After the long arduous journey, I finally get my freedom by breaking through the tree top. Before I do anything, I immediately take a large breath of fresh air, my lungs happy to be free of the forest air. After my breath, I finally gaze outwards to the landscape. I am greeted by a large mountain in the distance, flocks of birds fluttering by, being basked in the sun. The sun is about midday, so I wont be able to mark my position till a bit later. To my immediate left, there is a river reflecting the sun off of it. To the right, however, I notice stacks of smoke billowing up from the edge of the forest. Wait, thats the edge! We're that close, but this forest didn't give any sort of view! Curse these woods, but there's no time for such obscenities, I need to go wake Scott and Andrew before nightfall. If the woods are this bad during midday, I really don't want to see it at the dead of night.

After a longing gaze at the, quite frankly, beautiful landscape in front of me, I turn my head down and back towards the canopy. I duck back under the thick and floppy leaves of the forest and begin my descent downwards back to the base of the stump. When I finally reach the base, slightly out of breath of the fear of falling and my own unmanly fear of heights, I decide on no further delays to return to the clearing as soon as possible. I step back onto the plank ever so carefully to try not to shatter it, testing my luck at the same time. With one foot eased onto the bark plank, I slowly descend the rest of myself onto it. With both feet firmly planted on the bark, I take a step... then another. So far so good, I haven't died or been impaled yet so thats always a good sign!

A few steps from the edge, then i'm free. The bark is slowly splintering underneath me, and I have no idea how long it will last. I take another step, leaving about two before I can leap for my safety. Suddenly, a large crack in the bark appears under my feet. I wince at the noise before releasing a steady breath to calm down. "Okay, you got this, you got this..."
I say my mantra a few more times before looking back ahead in front of me. Keeping my gaze forwards I take a steady step, hearing the bark crack and splinter more behind me. Another step. I size up the leap, having rather to jump then risk walking more and the bark snapping out from under me. I take a deep breath... and another. I tense up, putting more pressure down to lift me off. With the plank slowly breaking under me, I quicken my pace, and after one long breath, I jump.

I land with a stumble, before falling forward and eating dirt. I shake my head from shock and spit out the leaves in my mouth. I feel violated after finding a worm on a particularly long leaf dangling off my mouth. Realization dawns on my mind when the same suffocating darkness surrounds me once again. Funny how you don't entirely feel it just above the ground. It's almost like a trap... I take a quick look around before I find the way I came, the stark contrast of sunlight breaking the tree line a few meters ahead. I take a couple steps forward, and hear a crack... somewhere in the woods behind me. I spin around to see... nothing. I'm wary, but decide to keep moving and get back to the clearing. If I see Scott and Andrew being eaten alive by the time I get back, ill be pissed.

I quicken my pace, a few steps every couple of seconds. Sparing a glance behind me every couple of steps, although every glance I take results with the same picture of nothing but the spooky woods behind me. Finally reaching the tree line, my heart pumping, I push the bushes aside once again and practically run through the small gap. I take another large breath of fresh air, feeling safer now that i'm out of the woods. I take one final glance behind me, staring into that dark forest of horrors before turning my attention back to the clearing, and my not eaten friends.

I've had enough of this, and I didn't even spend ten minutes in those woods. I plan to wake my friends and head towards those smoke stacks in the distance before nightfall. That's my plan at least. I take another look at this, quite beautiful really, clearing in the woods, then go to wake up Scott. As he is the closest, I will do anything necessary to wake him, so help me i'm not spending any more minutes than necessary in these woods.

I stride over to Scott, and take a knee next to him to attempt to wake him. I try to shake him, shaking more violently every second. With no visible effect on his sleeping form, I get down on my side, and start speaking right next to his ear... "YOU BETTER WAKE UP!"... Aaaand he didn't, of course. With limited ideas, I must resort to drastic measures. I grab scott by the arms, and begin to drag him to the pond. I push him up against the mudded banks, and proceed to grab his collar, and dunk his head in the pond.

I pull him up in a matter of seconds when I see him start to wake. I lift his head out of the water before he starts to kick away from me. I sit up and back away with my hands up for when he comes to. Suddenly, "Who the hell are you?!" Scott asks starting at me. "Wha-, wait never mind. It's me! Your friend who you've known since the first grade?" I stare at him with pleading eyes while he gazes with a confused look. "Wait wait... are you... Cullen? Since when did you have a beard?" He starts to stare at me with recognition, finally. "I have no idea, whatsoever, at all. But look at your arms, I'm not the only one who got altera- "Holy shit why am I so buff?!"

He starts to flex and unflex his arm, staring like a child looking at a candy shop. "Once again Scotty, I have no idea, i'm buff, Andrew's buff to" He looks up when mentioning Andrew. "Wait, Andrews here too?" All I offer in response is a thumb over my shoulder, to which he looks behind me to see his unconscious sprawled form laying in the grass. "Jesus, what happened?" He begins to walk over to Andrew, and begins to check him out. " I have no clue, I woke up here to you two lying right next to me. In fact, we should probably wake him soon, I explored the woods around here for a little, climbed a tree for a view, the forest edge isn't far from here." Suddenly me mentioning the woods gets him to look around. He gazes into the tree line, only to visibly grimace. "You went in there? All alone?" He seems disturbed, going so far as to step away from the edge of the clearing. "Ha, yep. and you should feel how it is inside, and you're going to, because I really don't want to see this place at night." This seems to draw Scott over the edge, "Yep, i'm with you". With the conclusion, we both haul Andrew up, and begin to carry him over to the pond. We proceed to do the same as I did with Scott, to the same results even. Andrew freaked out, questioned us, and marveled at his new mass before I gave him the run down on these woods.

"Well then lets wast no time!"Andrew seems as eager as me to get out of these woods. Scott and I eagerly concur with his sentiments, and begin to walk to the edge of the clearing. "Just so we all are aware... I have no idea what is in these woods, other than it's probably big, scary, and willing to eat us for their afternoon meal." This only seems to boost the fear of Scott and Andrew as they gaze into the woods. "To be honest, I expect no less" I hear Scott mumble. With little delay, I take a step forward and clear the path for them to follow into the woods. As they shuffle through the opened bushes, I give a longing look at the clearing for a final time before following Scott and Andrew back into this hell hole. The first few meters in, and I can already see Scott and Andrew visibly upset from the atmosphere, suffering the same as me. Scott more so, he seems to be a little more distressed.

As we walk forwards to safety for a few minutes, there is nothing but the eery silence in the woods. Soon enough there is a crack heard somewhere not far off, the sound bouncing off the trunks, making an echo effect. We all freeze when the sound reaches us and begin to look around. "It's probably just some local wildlife, lets keep going" I warn while having my eyes peeled. I can feel my heart pumping like a drum. We begin to start trekking again, this time with a slightly faster pace.

As we walk, suddenly theres a rustle in the bushes. We all begin to give that bush a death stare, waiting for something... Anythi- "What the fuck is that!" Me and Scott turn as Andrew warns us in a hushed tone. We see what he's looking at... Andrew is right, what the hell... There is a pair of sickly yellow eyes glowing in the darkness sorrounding us. I hear another rustle in the same bush as before, and when I turn i'm met with another pair of eyes. The pair almost seem to be gazing into my soul... I can feel the hunger radiating off of them. I notice another glow in my peripheral to only spot another pair of eyes. Then another close to that one. "Whatever these things are, There trying to surround us!" Scott says in a panicking tone

I turn back around to see a couple of pairs moving to surround us, closing in on the small trail we've been following. "Fuck this!" I hear Scott say, and when I turn I see him start to run down the trail, Andrew looks back to me to quickly follow suit. 'Might as well!' I exclaim in my mind, and follow Scott and Andrew. Suddenly, when Scott runs past the pairs of eyes, a large creature jumps out and towards Scott. It's moving to fast to get a clear view of the creature, other than it's a quadruped, and has a large maw full of, what I can assume to be, teeth. From my angle at the end of the group I can see the creature barely miss Scott, followed by a ripping sounds. I wince, but look to see the creature rubbing itself with a piece of cloth in it's maw when I run by it.

I follow Andrew as we sprint through the woods, foregoing the small trail we had, to instead smash through bushes and dodge trees to run away. I can barely see Andrew as branches and leaves constantly obscure my vision when I run. I don't know how far off the creatures are, but I can tell they're gaining, however effective the shrubbery is at keeping them at bay. My lungs start to burn as I begin to run out of breath, haggard gasps is all I can muster at this point. We've been running for minutes, from what I can gather, and the ominous thundering footsteps of the herd of creatures hot on our tails.

As we run the air starts to get hazy, kind of smoky, not really helping our breathing problem. Either way, we continue to push onward, hoping for some miracle to come and save us. A minute or two later, it seems we got our wish. As the air kept getting hard to breath in, it became clear to me, and likely Andrew and Scott as well, that this really was smoke. We soon found the discovery to said smoke as it became unbearable. I burst through a particularly thick set of shrubbery, only to find Scott and Andrew pausing in front of a wall of fire. "what the hell is this!" I scream as I look around trying to find a way over the wall of flames. "Over here!" I see Scott waving me and Andrew over to a still relatively unburnt fallen tree making a sort of bridge over the flames.

Seeing this, I rush over and join Scott, as he begins to climb up the fallen tree. Andrew helps him up, and Scott brings Andrew up, while I keep a watch on the tree line. "Come on Cullen!" I turn to see Andrew reaching his arm down to pull me up. I go over to him and reach out to him, grasping his arm. As I'm being hoisted up, I hear a crackling noise behind me. I take a quick glance over my shoulder to see the creatures have broken through the tree line, and are heading for us. I still cant make them out, the smoke blurring my vision, but I decide not to bother, instead to focus on getting away from them.

As I finally make it on top of the log, I look back at the pack of, what appear to be, wolves pacing at the base of the trunk. They were that close to getting me? Wow, a couple more seconds, and I wouldn't have any legs to be standing. I turn my attention back to getting away from them, and begin to walk across the log. The flames licking at my feet, the heat biting at my skin, this feeling couldn't be any more tedious as I try to keep balance on the log. Finally, I follow Andrews lead, and jump off the end of the log. I land with a stumble, but recover well this time, and pump my legs up and down to get used to the hot embers and ashes underneath my booted feet.

I regain my breath and regroup with Scott and Andrew, knowing those creatures wont cross the fire. I look up to see Scott looking forward, with a grim look. "What's up Scott?" I ask, and soon turn to look at what has his attention so thoroughly and... my God. What could've done this? "Hey guys! What're you looking at... Jesus..." Andrew walks up next to us, just as scared and dumbfounded as us. In front of all of us lies a slightly charred field on the edge, likely where the fire started from a couple of careless torchbearers, and in front of that is... is a group of bodies. Easily tens of bodies, all wearing mismatched and patched clothes, some of them even seem to have armor made from gold, or something close to it. Strange enough, all of these men and woman... Dare I say children, are all covered in fur, and have a snout protruding from their faces.

I don't know what these creatures are, or how they died, but... they have our sympathy. "Wha... What happened?" Andrew asks, shakily, not able to take his gaze away from the slaughter. " I have no clue..." Scott shudders at the sight. I remain silent, not able to speak. I just sit down and close my eyes, accepting the darkness. "Come on, we should get going soon..." I hear Andrew mutter. "Where?"..."I...I don't know...

"With all do respect General," The dark Unicorn says with a sneer, "I believe the best course of action is to catch them off guard by making them think they are winning a fight with a small force, while we bring a larger force around to entrap them and slaughter them!" The Unicorn ends his suggestion with a fist raised in the air. "I concur, I believe we could easily decimate there forces if we follow a strategy similar to that" Another Pony says, this time marking itself as a pegasus. The Unicorn graces his face with a smug smile as he leans onto the map laid onto the circular table, several locations marked by small red flags. Said table is sorrounded by similar Ponies of similar rank, all bickering over different strategies to confront the Rebellions.

"As amazing as that plan sounds General, I believe we should take a different course of action." A posh voice says. The owner of the voice steps out of a shadowed corner he hid himself in, making him out to be a Griffin. He has a long, sharp beak graced by a crack. His feathers are dark grey, all except around his deep yellow eyes, where black rings lay. "And what may that be, may I ask, General Grintail?" The Unicorn says in a sly remark. "Simple. We find who is helping the Rebellions, and take them. We will force the rebels to come out of hiding as we take away there source of soldiers, food, supplies, support, everything they hold dear." This short speech leaves the Unicorn stumped, unable to think of a way to defend his tactic. The other officers in the room fall quiet, thinking the plan over.

"I Believe I have had quite enough bickering for the day gentlestallions" A voice calls out from a dark stone throne, shrouded in shadow. Soon, a pair of ominous green eyes, secreting a purple mist are revealed. "As usual, General Grintail has provided a sound course of action, and a lesson to be wrought." The voice, dark and empowering, says as the eyes switch to the troublesome Unicorn General. All the ponies in order bow before making there leave out of the heavy doors. "Yes, lord Sombra" The Ponies all chant as they leave, leaving nothing in the room but a dark King, on his dark throne...

The Rebels - Chapter 2

View Online

Scott POV

We've been walking for well over a day. I have been leading our merry band of travelers on this grassy plain. Ever since we all saw the pile of those bodies... None of us have said a single word, to scarred by the sight. All of us, Andrew, Cullen and I were just on a sidewalk, about to go our separate way, we didn't want this! Still, the sight only emboldened me to continue forward, after all, looking back to that grizzly site would do nothing. I didn't bother to loot them, however smart an idea it would've been, I couldn't bring myself to it. And besides, anything we could've used for sustenance must have already been taken by what had killed them. Further more, disrespecting those lifeless forms... I couldn't bear the guilt. I doubt the others could either.

I have been leading us all along the edge of the forest, hoping it got us along somewhere. The memories of the forest, those creatures sorrounding us, jumping at us... at me! One of those creatures snatched the sleeve off my arm. How close I was to certain doom, I only shudder at the thought of what was nearly my fate had I been a centimeter closer. I shake those grizzly thoughts away and continue on the walk towards hopeful sanctuary. None of us know exactly where we are heading anyway...

After a few more hours of walking we all were beginning to grow wary and tired, not to mention incredibly parched. After all, walking in the sun all day will do that to you, luckily the sun had fallen, giving us some respite from its glare. We all were only stumbling through the grass, wishing for rest and water.

"Hey guys, we've been walking for... hours, I don't know, still we should rest." Andrew said, speaking my mind.

"Yes... please!" Cullen wheezed as he promptly sat, squishing the grass underneath when he lay down. I give a crisp nod and joined my friends getting cozy on the grass. The night sky above the three of us was like a picture crafted to perfection. Every star I could see was bright and full, shining individually on us like beacons themselves. The bright moon helped to light up the place, helping us to make out our surroundings quite easily, if not shrouded. Everything we all have seen so far has been incredibly surreal...

Ok, maybe not everything, that forest was the scariest thing i've ever experienced, but still. Even if we've been walking through a large grass plain for hours on end, it never got boring. The grass was tall and luscious, the forest, however creepy, provided ample scenery. All of this not to mention the humongous mountain range in front of us, the snowcapped peaks all making for quite the amazing sight. Occasionally I could even see a few birds flying by, which just helped my mind to be at ease. Almost at ease I should say, considering that we all are still lost in a large field who knows where, with no available source of food or water that we know of. If we die, at least it's somewhere pretty I guess.

A good hour of resting got us enough energy to take a short walk to find a better place to stay for the night, with nightfall being a good two or three hours ago, there was plenty of time till morning that we all agreed would be better spent in a more advantageous position. We all gathered ourselves and got back up to begin a hopefully short walk to safety.

"Alright boys, lets get going" I proclaim, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit at least. Cullen was tired, obviously, slouching a little from the days events, and I could tell Andrew was only masking his fear and such with a stoic mask. I can't blame him, I may not be thinking it but I can feel myself doing the same. With this, we begin our trek over again.

"Do you all hear that?" Andrew said. I strained my ears to try and get what he is going on about. "Sounds like running water! Come on" With that, Andrew takes the lead, and Cullen and I begin to match Andrew's quick pace. Soon enough, I began to hear it. The trickling of water over rocks being a pleasant noise to my ears. To eager to speak we all begin to head towards the noise, and soon enough we can see our savior. There is a river in front of us, that small trickle turning into the sound of water rushing past rocks. All three of us quickly go to the banks of the river and stumble into the water and begin to scoop the substance into our parched mouths. This went on for a few minutes, all of us practically drowning ourselves to get our fill, not caring about wet clothes or the like.

"Oh God, it's almost like you forgot how it feels to not be dehydrated" I say, regaining my breath after my fill of water. "Please, I could've gone awhile longer, no sweat" Andrew responds to my statement. Liking to act tough, but I could tell he was on the verge of collapse, same as Cullen and I.

"Cullen, how are you feeling now?" I ask, only to have... no response? Me and Andrew look at each other, then back to where Cullen was on the bank of the river only to see... nothing but a a pair of foot prints. Wait, a pair?

"Where did Culle go t- Ack!" I turn back around to see Andrew being dragged onto the bank with a bag over his head, and somebody in dark clothes. I barely get a glance towards that spectacle before my visions turns dark, and i'm forced onto my knees. The water laps at my knees as sharp pebbles dig into them, making me grunt in annoyance. Suddenly, a sharp pain appears in the back of my head and then darkness consumes me.

I rewaken only to find myself staring at the wall of a flapping tent. There is still a dull throbbing that makes me wince whenever I feel it, obviously the result of whatever had hit me and taken the rest of us hostage. Speaking of which, where are they?! I glance around the tent only to see nothing but a hastily constructed table in front of me, splinters still visible on the legs, and a equally rough chair opposite of me, on the other side of the table.

"wha- what is going on?" I murmur to myself. The uncertainty of this entire situation is getting to me, Where's Cullen and Andrew? I try to stand and sit up, but I find my arms bound together in rope. I sit in silence for a few moments, trying to gather my thoughts. That man or woman, I couldn't tell, that took down Andrew... There is something familiar about it's physic... Maybe it was the face? I don't know how I could gather anything from under that hood in the dead of night. This is all to surreal for me. Suddenly breaking my thoughts, there is a shuffle outside, reminiscent of footsteps on gravel. In fact thats probably exactly what it is now that I think about it.

Suddenly the flaps of the tent open to reveal a... I have mo idea what ever that thing is. Fur covered Human? With the face of a horse?! What the hell is going on? The ... Horse man takes a look at my awake form, and seems to examine me. "Hmmm" The horse man only hums before leaving. While leaving I got a glimpse of his tail and hooves, and the tip of a sword... Ok, so I don't want to make these people... Horses? mad. Got it.

A few minutes go by, allowing me to ponder on what is actually going on. Obviously me and my friends were taken hostage by some Horse man things. So either we are all in a shared fever dream or some divine powers decided to screw with us. Soon enough the sounds of footsteps grace my ears, this time it's different. There's more than one, and is that clanking? In mere moments the tent flaps opened to once again reveal two Horses this time. One of which was a light gray with a dark blue mane and tail. The other had a white coat and blue mane and tail. Also did I mention he's covered in plate armor? Cause he's covered in plate armor, and I really don't like how he's looking at me. Especially with that sword on his hip. Still, his armor doesn't feel right, theres parts missing, or at least seem missing. There is a shoulder pad gone, along with other plate pieces, there's tone of dents and scratches and grime coating the whole set.

Either way, my staring is interrupted by a grunt from the gray Horse man thing, and he pulls out the char opposite from me and takes a seat. I have no idea what's going on, but I hope it doesn't end with me being executed or something.

"Ahem, hello. I know this is all a little confusing and disorienting, in fact I have no idea if you can understand me or not, but if you can, please know that, even if we cant trust you, we don't want to harm you." The gray Horse says, shocking me a little... More than a little, in fact my eyes became as wide as saucers. "I take your response you can either understand me, or didn't expect me to speak. Either way, please, could you tell me your name?" This... Horse thing just spoke again. I'm still not sure whether or not i'm seeing things, but honestly I don't care anymore, i'm just going to roll with it.

"My names Scott. Who are you? Better yet, why am I here? And where are my friends?!" My sudden outburst seemed to provoke the guard, I assume him to be, in the corner. He stand a little stiffer and put a hand on the hilt of his sword. The interrogating Horse seemed just as shocked as I was when I first saw him talk.

"W-well, Scott" My name seemed foreign to him as he had a little trouble pronouncing it. "My name is Soarin, and I can see it is rather obvious that you care for your friends safety, and I can assure you that there perfectly fine. After we took you all, we tied you to some chairs and simply waited for you to wake up. As far as what has been reported, you are the first to do so. I can swear, as long as you don't show signs of dark influence or aggression, you will remain perfectly fine." Good, Andrew and Cullen are ok. I hope so at least, I don't entirely trust this things word.

"Why did you take us then?" I ask with a glare. After all, being kidnapped isn't entirely pleasant

"Well, you see, our little group is being hunted by the usurper who took the throne. As far as we know, we are the last major resistance group out there. We don't entirely know what you are, no less WHO you are, and we couldn't risk you stumbling onto our camp, our location would be at risk. I do hope you understand" Soarin said with a bit of resentment. Especially when he mentioned this 'Usurper'. But then again, this Usurper could be good and replaced some tyrannical ruler originally in possession of the state. Soarin seemed to see my skepticism and continued to elaborate on the whole situation

A good hour after, at least what felt like an hour, had gone by. Soarin, the leader of this little rebel group, explained the whys and hows and whens of what has been going on. Why him and all of his 'pony' followers were resisting. And I have to say, I would be too if I was in there shoes- er, hooves.

"I believe that wraps up our story, don't you? Now, speaking of you, where are you and your friends from?" Soarin asked, genuinely interested. This will be difficult. How do I tell him that we're from another world? Will it cause some sort of paradox rift or something? I think the best option would be to just say the forest... I guess. He'll have to buy it, that forest was completely wild.

"W-well, you see... We don't really have a place where we came from per say. All we've been doing is.. wandering. Yeah, going around the place, never staying somewhere too long. We got lost in those woods a little ways back- "The Everfree you mean?" Soarin interrupts, glancing up from the table I gave a curt nod. "Y-yeah, the Everfree... that place." He seemed suspicious at first, probably due to the uncertainty in my voice, but when I mentioned the Everfree, that seemed to grab his attention.

"I can tell why you seemed so shocked discussing that horrid place, it isn't exactly a place you want to stay in for long." Phew, I think i'm good.

"Yeah, pretty creepy in there" All Soarin did was sit there with a blank expression before before nodding and standing up from his chair.

"Well Scott, I believe we have been aquatinted well enough, Gleaming, release his bonds." The armored Pony standing near the entrance of the tent nods and moves behind me to untie the rugged ropes binding my hands together.

"I trust in you enough to not hold you captive, besides, if you try anything we know how to fight." Soarin says with a reassuring smile before heading out of the tent flap, his armored companion following shortly. I rub my wrists, finally being free of the bonds, and stand up to see where we are. I walk outwards and the sunlight blinds me. I quickly move my arm to block out the glare, and when my vision clears, i'm met with a quant little sight. There are rows of tents to either side of me with a small wooden wall sorrounding the whole camp I presume. There were ponies in ragged dirty clothes milling about, some carrying bowls of fruits and other foods. I could even here the laughter of children some way behind me, the wall of tents blocking my view. Above me lay a huge mountain, the peak miles above me. I could tell I was going to be here for awhile...

One week later...

A week had passed since our untimely arrival to the little resistance camp. I was quickly brought to my friends where we were then situated into a tent with other Ponies, some of which were guards, likely a little extra precaution on their part, not that I can blame them. Over the course of the week our new tent buddies got warmed up to us and became used to our presence, some even tried conversing with us! If that's not a step in the right direction, I don't know what is. We also all tried our best to learn more on what had happened to the country, Equestria it's called, as a whole. Apparently this 'usurper' I heard Soarin name was a guy called King Sombra, some old cranky Unicorn bent on conquering this place.

With this short week I think us three became apart of the resistance, which is cool I guess. It does mean if Sombra gets a whiff to our location we'll all be slaughtered and tortured, but hey, it's worth the risk right? I doubt the three of us would last long in the wilderness anyway. We all decided we wanted to help out, if not needing a little convincing, and we started to do some routine exercises with the guards not halfway through the week. We all had started to take a liking to our own ways of combat, even if we all needed a bit of practice... Ok, not a bit, a lot of practice, I dropped my sword the first time I tried to swing it. But still, we're all prepared to try!

Frankly, I'm surprised by the fact they accepted us so fast. Now that I think about, we aren't entirely 'accepted' yet. We still have an armed guard follow us around every where, meaning we are constantly watched. However uncomfortable it has been, we cant help it, even if some of us don't like the idea. Right now, I'm currently doing some of the drills, following the orders of a staff sergeant like Pony named Stark Shield.

"Scott! I expect a shorter arc in that swing of yours! This isn't some pretty competition, this is life or death now, so get used to it!" Stark Shield barks out as I cut through the air with the short training sword I was grasping. "Yes sir!" I gasp as I ready myself to try and perfect my swing.

"I believe he has had enough today Sergeant, besides, I have something special for him." Soarin says as he walks up behind me, startling me enough to drop my sword. "Come here Scott" Soarin waves me over as he begins to walk out of the small training circle. "Cut off that swing time Cullen!" I hear Stark Shield yell as I walk out and away from his gaze of perfection.

"Why did you call me out Soarin" I ask tediously, still unsure whether to call him Soarin or 'Sir'.

"Well, it involves you and your friends. I want to trust you three, you all are good folk it seems, and have already begun to train in the arts of the sword under Stark, and i'm confident you'll get the hang of it sometime, after all, you have Stark Shield there to make sure you notice your failures" Soarin says with a smirk. "I am confident enough in your ability to send you on your first mission"

This really shocked me. "A mission sir?" I asked hesitantly

"Yes, nothing big at all, so there is nothing to worry about, all we ask of you is to go with a squad and scout the area around the camp to make sure none of Sombra's armies or hit squads get close." A mission? For me and my inability to fight? I was shocked, but I wanted to prove to Soarin that I was capable enough to fight in this little cause he has going on.

"Ill gladly do it, when would you expect me to be ready?"

"Preferably tonight, it is sudden I know, but you move out early tomorrow morning"

"Ill do it sir!" I say with a mock salute, getting a grin on him. "Glad to hear it Scott, good luck" Soarin offers with a warm smile before walking deeper into the camp. I walk back towards the training circle to sharpen whatever little ounce of skill I had before I went on this mission, who knows when I need it.

The Struggle - Chapter 3

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Scott POV

I pulled the shirt over my head, the heavy linen and leather padding feeling thick and cumbersome. The scouting mission I was being sent on was already preparing to move out into the surrounding woods and grassland, and I was prepared to help in any way. The gambeson offering some protection and plenty of mobility, I sheathed my short sword I was gifted y the blacksmith and walked towards the little gate making up the entrance of the encampment. The rest of the group was already there waiting for my arrival, the glint of their weapons a welcome sight.

"About time you got here you monkey" Fleetfoot joked with a grin. She had served with Soarin and his group of performers called 'The Wonderbolts', and frankly it sounds quite fun. But that was before Sombra took over, now all they are either missing, dead, or in resistance groups such as these two. I had been introduced to Fleetfoot earlier in the week, and it looks like i'll have most of the day to get to know her. The group consisted of Fleetfoot, and 7 other Ponies who were all dressed in similar armor to me. Light and thick clothes, mainly gambesons really. I can see why too, even if it gets a little warm, this vest could easy take a punch.

"Lets get a move on folks" Fleetfoot commands as we all walk out the front gates in a huddled group, not bothering to move into positions yet. We continued to walk for some time before Fleetfoot finally ordred us all to move into their own dedicated positions. I was sticking with the main group of four ponies, and we had two others on either side of the small group in a wide arc, making sure to spot anything and give a warning to those in the middle.

We continued moving further inland in this formation, keeping a sharp eye out for anything remotely harmful. This went on for a few hours, the sun reaching midday, so Fleetfoot called in the perimeter watch and decided to set up a camp. After hastily pitching our tents, I was sent with a pony named Comet to go refill the waterskins.

I bent down to fill the few waterskins in my arms. I looked over to Comet only to see his horn ignite with magic and fill all the waterskins at the same time. This isn't the first time I had seen magic in use, and I can guarantee it wont be the last, but it will have some getting used to. No matter how many times I see it, magic always amazes me. Sparkling Comet looks over at my amazed face in curiosity before blushing and getting back to work screwing on the caps.

As we both begin to depart and close back in to the camp, the sound of panicked voices can be heard through the sparse trees. I cant make out any of the words, but they sound demanding. Comet and I give each other a quick look wondering what was happening at the camp before hastening our paces.

We both got to the camp and wandered back to the center of the tents only to see the the rest of the scouts in a defensive formation facing dark soldiers. Fleetfoot was in the front of the group, to which me and Comet both jogged up to and unsheathed our swords.

"Ha, nothing but a few rebel dogs" The leader sneered toward us when he said that. He was confident enough even if he didn't have the numbers to back him up. This fight had us nine against six of them... and I wasn't too confident in these odds myself. After all, they all had quite a lot of metal armor whereas we only had leather and canvas.

At this point the air was tense, so far no one had dared to make the first move. We were at a disadvantage since all of the Sombrarian? Yeah that sounds good, Sombrarian soldiers had heavy armor. Still, he had the numbers, we could just hopefully overwhelm them.

What felt like hours of this staring contest ensued, and soon enough the fight began. I don't know how, but suddenly there was a scream and a cry before the gathered dark guards began to charge us. I could faintly here the sound of Fleetfoots voice tell all of her scouts, me included, to try and surround them over the onslaught of the corrupted Ponies charging us.

Soon enough the the soldiers collided with our thinly spread wall of Ponies. The unlucky few to be caught head on by the soldiers were shoved to the ground or stabbed through by there swords. Luckily enough one of the ponies caught his sword in what appeared to be a weak point in the armor, right where the chin was, and took the soldier down with him. From my angle to the side I could make out three of our Ponies likely down for the count. I looked away from the grizzly sight to see the rest of the scouts closing in and engaging the Sombrarian soldiers. With the battle raging on I find it in my heart to help.

I charged in to the fray and brought my sword edge down on one of the soldiers to little effect as the blade glanced off of the metal. The soldier looked towards me and brought his own blade down on me. With what little Stark Shield taught me back in the outpost, I quickly flicked my blade upwards and caught his swing midair with the hilt of my sword. I was struggling to maintain a position, the soldier starting to overpower me. His blade was growing closer and closer to my unprotected face by the second. And i'm not a person that likes to be stabbed in the face, so I did the most reasonable thing I could think of in the situation and drop to the ground before the blade struck.

When I fell backwards onto the forest floor, the soldier above me stumbled, to where I kicked out towards him, catching him in the leg. This impact made him fall to his knee. Before I could take another hit at him, he brought a shield from seemingly no where to protect him against more hits. I likely missed it when I first saw him, I was to caught up in the moment. Either way, he brought his shield down onto my foot, causing me to cry out in pain. I looked back towards my assailant and could tell he had a smug grin on his face under his helmet.

I saw the soldier bring his sword up to finish me off, and I closed my eyes, because who really wants to see themselves get gutted? With a grimace on my face I accepted my untimely death. I heard a noise akin to that of mettle going through flesh, and startled, I opened my eyes to see the same soldier with a sword through his throat, the thin blade coated in blood. With a sickening squelch, the blade was pulled free, and the soldier collapsed, thus easing the pressure on my foot. I looked down to inspect the black blade that very nearly ended my life. I looked upwards to see a hand being presented to which I graciously accepted.

When I was hoisted back to my feet, I saw it was no other than Comet who saved me. He looked a bit shaken with cuts and dirt gracing his face, but not too worse for wear. He wasted no time in getting back to the fight, turning around and valiantly charging back into the fray. I looked on wards to see there were about five of us left, but only three soldiers. Despite our disadvantage, it seems there confidence led them astray. Fleetfoot was dueling the sergeant it looked like, while the rest of the scouts were busy dancing around the armored soldiers.

I decided to help the small group tackle the rest of the corrupted soldiers and ran to join them. We had practically encircled them, but we couldn't strike without an opening as they went back to back and were striking out with their heavy swords. After a few minutes of the taunting and encirclement, one of the soldiers became enraged and charged outwards to end the squabble. The foolish soldier was quickly surrounded once again and beaten unconscious in seconds. The last guard realized soon enough he was surrounded and begrudgingly surrendered.

A sharp cry of pain soon filled my ears, and when I looked to the source I found it to be form Fleetfoot. She had been fairing well in the fight against the sergeant, but it seems he had gotten a lucky shot off and stabbed her through her shoulder. She was clutching the wound after the corrupted Sergeant pulled the sword out of her, a victorious smile gracing his rather depressing helmet-less features. He turned towards the remaining four of us, including me, and that smile disappeared seemingly with his will to fight.

The Pony fled, and two of the scouts followed him into the woods to give chase. This left me and Comet to to guard the surrendered Soldier and care for the wounded. Comet got Fleetfoot a bandage and wrapped it around her injured arm while I took a rope from one of our packs and tied the Soldier to a nearby tree. Soon there was some rustling in the bushes. Comet looked to me before pulling his blade out, prompting me to do the same. Our fear was unwarranted when the two scouts who followed the soldier popped out of the bushes.

"Did you have any luck finding that one fleeing soldier?" Comet asked with a sigh already knowing the answer. "No sadly. He lost us in the woods. We should get back to the outpost soon, he'll report back to his chain of command of our activity" The scout said with a grim look. Comet nodded before requesting the making of stretchers for the few wounded ponies still alive. While they were being made Comet and I got medical supplies from the supply packs we had to treat the injured.

Only two of our ponies survived the conflict. One was unconscious and had a broken and bleeding arm, likely from being trampled. The other had a stab wound on his side. We treated them with what we had before placing them on the hastily made stretchers. We used our tents to wrap the dead and bury them giving them a small ceremony. Night was beginning to fall, so we grabbed what we could before heading back to the outpost.

While walking back we were obviously slowed by the injured ponies, me included with my slightly crushed foot. The captured dark soldier was obviously a hindrance and he knew it. He would walk slowly, and constantly mutter about our reckoning. I could tell this was going to be a long night, but at least I have quite the story to tell to the guys...

Three Brethren, Three Kings

by Wither

The Beginning - Chapter 1

The Rebels - Chapter 2

The Struggle - Chapter 3