"Hello, I am Sergeant Dean Forester of the United States Special Rangers Task Force, and I... am a human."

Twilight didn't know what to think. To much had happened in the last few hours, leaving her mind in a state of disarray. She tried to formulate words, but they just wouldn't come. Her mouth flapped for a few seconds before the etiquette lessons that had been drilled into her resurfaced.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, element of Magic," she slowly lifted her foreleg and placed it in the human's hand, expecting... something to go wrong. Her eyes closed and she held her breath, her head slowly shying away.

Instead of doing anything to hurt her, the human gently closed his hand around her hoof, shook once, and let go. She looked back at him, her ears raising slightly as she examined his body language. Unlike an elf, his ears didn't give away what he was thinking. His gaze was steely and when she looked into his eyes, she shivered. This person was dangerous.

"So... what are you? You look like a mix between a pegasus and a unicorn? A Pegacorn?" His gaze wandered about her wings and horn, scrutinizing her and taking in every detail.

"I'm what's called an Alicorn. I have the flight of the pegasi, the magic of the unicorn, and the strength of the earth pony. How do you not know what I am?" Twilight ruffled her wings slightly. All traces of tears and sadness having vanished.

"Well Mrs. Sparkle, I'm not from this world so to speak. Some freak with mix and matched body parts pulled me here." Dean reached behind him and grabbed his helmet. It had fallen off the crate from Twilights energy blast earlier. "All this here stuff is what got sucked into the portal with me."

'Surely he doesn't mean Discord?'

"Do you know who this being was? Was it's name Discord?" When she had been on the run, she remembered hearing from an elf patrol that the had finally "Neutralized the mad god." She assumed they meant Discord because their weren't exactly many mad gods running around Equis.

"Yeah, that's what he called himself. He left a few hours before you woke up actually." Dean couldn't help but let a little bitterness into his voice. He hated the crazy draconequus with a passion.

"I thought he had been killed in the invasion. His magic would be to chaotic for the elves to control, so they would have to.... end him, if they wanted an absolute victory," Twilight was talking to herself more than she was to the sergeant. Her mind getting sidetracked as she thought of the possibilities behind Discords motives and what they might entail.

"Did he say why he brought you here?" She questioned. She noticed the eyebrows on the human's face furrow slightly, but she paid it no mind. She was in scholar mode right now.

"He did. He said I had to help you." Dean kept his answer short. His anger was popping up for some reason. He looked to the right and out of the cave. He had placed some LED lights around the room and had covered the cave entrance with shrubbery from the forest. His internal clock was telling him it was night however, and he was feeling quite tired. He looked down at Twilight and noticed her eyes were slightly unfocused and bags hung beneath them.

"I think it's time we both got some shuteye. You need some rest if you want your body to heal whatever damage you might still have. It looked like you expended a whole lot of energy back there when you blasted me." Twilight cringed when he said that. Tears threatened to return to her eyes.

"I-I just w-wanted to say s-sorry for t-trying to k-k-kill you," she sniffled and looked down. She knew she deserved some form of punishment for what she did, trying to murder another being. Sure the elves had done plenty of that to her people, but she had never before stooped that low, not until now.

Sergeant Forester looked down at the Alicorn with pity in his eyes, the anger leaving almost instantly. The grizzled Ranger had always had a soft spot for civilians. So it took no effort for him to close the gap between them and carefully wrap the little purple pony in a hug.

'I'm hugging a horse. I'm hugging a talking, magical, purple horse.'

"It's okay. You thought I was an enemy and acted accordingly. I probably would have done the same thing if I woke up in a cave, disoriented, and with what looked to be an attacker." Dean looked down at her and saw tears flowing down from her face. He realized that this pony had been through a lot. At the moment, she just needed a shoulder to cry on, and so cry she did.

He sat there with her for what seemed like an hour before her sobbing was replaced with light breathing. Looking down, Dean noticed her eyes were closed and she was asleep. She looked at peace, and it made him smile inside. Then he crushed that happiness. He couldn't afford to make friends with anyone on this planet. He was in unknown territory with limited supplies. After hearing Twilights breakdown before her attempted murder, he was almost certain they were at war with these elves, if not already conquered. He didn't want a part in that.

Unless, they could somehow get him home, he felt no obligation to help.

'Screw Discord. I bet he was some sort of trick. I'm probably in a coma right now after taking so many hits from the Orith. That would explain why I'm not wounded. This is all a trick of the mind. Guess, I'll play along and live normally until I wake up. This is to confusing. When I wake up, I will realize this was all fake.'

And with that, Sergeant Dean Forester carried Twilight over to a bundle of blankets near the equipment and set her down. She cooed happily and snuggled into the fabric, causing a sad smile to cross his face.

He then turned on his heel and walked to the other side of the room. Grabbing a spare sleeping bag from a bag beside the crate. He laid it down, grabbed a Ghillie suit from the crate, and slipped into the bag, armour and all. He was asleep within minutes.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

*****

One Year prior....

Phat, Phat, Phat, Phat....

Whoosh... Krak-Boom!

An Orith tank fired a round over the heads of the humans, missing them and failing to halt their advance. Sergeant Dean Forester was among them, helping in pushing the alien menace from New York city.

For two weeks, the battle raged. Entire city sections were devastated as the Orith pushed forward, showing no mercy or quarter. The humans had air superiority at the time. The Orith space ships being occupied in Europe. They had come by sea, striking the city and leaving little time for retaliation. Only when the national guard showed up did they start to push them back.

Dean paused in the window of a shop, glancing out towards the harbour. Streaks of light and bullet tracers flew through the air. He watched as a missile fired from a Destroyer was shot down by an Orith light cannon. Said Destroyer was quickly obliterated as a massive Orith warship fired its main pulse cannon.

"Push the bastards into the sea!" Dean watched as a rocket was fired from somewhere in the ranks and smashed into the Orith tank. The ensuing explosion rocked the building Dean was currently in. Dust rained from the ceiling and Dean heard the supports groan from the strain.

"Push forward!"

A mighty roar echoed from the human ranks as they sprinted from cover to cover, all the while shooting towards the retreating aliens.

"Covering fire!"

"On your left!"

"Sampson is hit, man down!"

The sound of gunfire and the screams of the injured and dying echoed across the city. Explosions rocked the earth, causing Dean to regain focus.

"Move Sergeant!" Dean was shoved from behind as a beam of hard-light flew past his head. He had frozen up without realizing!

Turning behind him, Dean saw a soldier wearing gray body armor lying beside him, a hole blasted through his head, revealing the insides and brain matter that had cooked inside the helmet.

He stifled a scream and quickly looked away. He scrambled to his feet and pushed his back against the wall, grabbing his rifle in the process. Then, everything stopped.

The noise died instantly. The gunfire seized, the shouting stopped, and the screams of both friend and foe stopped. Dean looked around, confused and frightened. After a second of contemplation, he slowly stood up. His gear clanked and shifted slightly. He felt the familiar weight of the ballistic vest and his combat helmet as he brought his rifle to bear. He was using an M27 assault rifle for this particular mission with a red dot scope and foregrip.

His boots crushed some broken glass as he moved outside the building. He slowly crept towards the objective, not seeing hide nor hair of anyone or anything. It was quiet, eerily quiet. He didn't like it at all.

Then he heard a noise.

It sounded like someone was crying. A female. Dean picked up his pace and found his route blocked by an overturned truck. The crying seemed to originate from the other side, but he wasn't able to see who it was. Slowly, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and reached for the truck. The very second he touched it however, it disappeared and the crying stopped. Now Dean was not one who got spooked easily, but whatever was going on was unnatural to say the least. He unconsciously shivered has he brought his rifle to bear once more.

"An interesting setting for one's mind..." Dean spun around, his weapon moving back and forth before resting on an alleyway. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a figure standing in the shadows. The voice, however, seemed to echo across the rooftops and through the streets, coming from everywhere and nowhere.

"I can feel your emotions. Such compassion, yet such rage and devotion... what are you?" The voice continued to echo.

"Show yourself!" Dean yelled towards the figure. He didn't want to accidentally shoot a civilian or a friendly soldier. His arms began to shake slightly and he nearly lost it when laughing began to pierce the air.

"You aren't in any position to make demands, beast. I am the watcher, I see all and know all. You are but a peasant. Soon, you will serve the Emperor an--"

Krack

Deans gun barrel smoked slightly as the bullet tore through the shadowed figure. He heard a strangled cry as it dropped to the ground, causing him to scowl.

He started to make his way towards the figure, gun trained on it the whole way. Then, the unexpected happened. He knew something was wrong when the figure raised his hand, but didn't think anything of it. What Dean didn't notice was how the world seemed to start once again. The explosions started, the screams resumed, and the Orith continued to shoot their hard-light.

Dean had enough time to turn before a hard-light beam struck him in the face, causing everything to go black.

*****

Footsteps padded down the brightly lit hallway of a sleeping Canterlot. Elven soldiers were spaced every few meters in a neat line, standing vigilant and ready. The older elf, a scribe made his way up the the line of soldiers and towards the figure at the front.

"Your highness!" The elven scribe called towards the youngest son of the emperor. "Your highness, please wait!"

The elven prince, Trignar, turned to the scribe, a scowl plastering his face. He removed his dragon scale helm as the old scribe got closer, revealing a handsome young face, pointed ears, blonde hair, and stunningly blue eyes. However, those eyes held something terrifying, something sinister.

"Why are you bothering me scribe? Don't they need you in the library?" A few soldiers chuckled as the scribe reached the prince, panting and completely out of breath.

"Your highness," the scribe quickly bowed, "your father's seer has seen something. He asks that you do not participate in this glory hunt of the princess! He saw some-" the scribe was swiftly cut off by the Princes laughter. Soon enough, the rest of the small contingent of soldiers joined in. The scribes face lit up like a hearths-warming tree, but he maintained his composure.

"Come now, scribe! You know as well as I do that the bitch princess is as good as ours. The only reason I am going after her is because I would like the honour of presenting her to father. It was reported that she was injured and unable to flee. The guards that had originally pursued her have caught up, and if you don't stop wasting my time," the prince lunged forward and grabbed the scribe around the throat, lifting him into the air until their noses were centimeters apart, "I won't be able to gain my honour as the rightful heir to the Empire, and you will be thrown into the dungeon to rot.

The prince threw the poor scribe to the side before raising his hand.

"My fellow elves, master sorcerers and warriors, we have been given a chance to gain honour in the light of the Empire. The last princess of this accursed land is within our grasp; nothing can stand in our way! We will gain the full power of this magical realm, and together, we will have our names in the history books. Prince Trignar and his fellow elves, all heroes for destroying the last of the alicorn menace! Who's with me!?" Trignar bellowed towards the small army of elves, numbering thirty in total. All were the elite sorcerers and soldiers of the Elven Empire, veterans in the many conflicts waged in the past. The royalties personal guard. All were ready, and they voiced their approval in a mighty roar. Trignar raised his hand, and so did the rest of the sorcerer elves. As one, they teleported. All thirty of them were blinded for a second before regaining coherence. Trignar looked around for a second. The lights of a small town greeted him and he smirked a devilish smirk. Then he turned around and came face to face with an awning darkness. After a second of thought, Trignar waved his troops forward. As one, the entered the forest in pursuit of the elusive princess. No beast in there was a challenge for himself or his troops, they were the best after all.

And so they went, leaving the light of the moon and entering the depths of the Everfree forest...