Screaming, so much screaming. Smoke filled the air around her, clogging her senses. Two legged beings, Dark Elves, ran around through the streets of Canterlot, pillaging and murdering. She witnessed one such Dark Elf grab a mare and force himself upon her. Her screams were only one of the thousands sounding throughout the besieged city. Her friends were close beside her, running like bats out of Tartarus. She wished she could turn back and help, but it would have been no use. Her mentor had instructed her to flee along with the other elements and hide from these two legged invaders; her loyalty to her teacher was the only thing standing between her fleeing and trying to help.

"Were almost to the gate!" Yelled Rainbow Dash. She pointed a hoof towards the gate. Royal guards clashed with the Dark Elves, though it was obvious who had the superior fighters.

She watched as an Elf pointed its spear towards a charging royal guard, causing a beam of light to erupt from the tip. The beam smashed into the poor guard, severing his front right leg and causing him to cry out in pain. His screams ended when the same Elf plunged his spear through his neck.

She held back the urge to vomit and forced herself to keep going. Her legs were burning from the exertion, but she had to persist.

"Alicorn! There!"

The air around her seemed to fill with yellow lines, zipping around her with murderous intent. She watched as a beam of energy smashed into Applejack's leg, causing her to collapse. Rarity went to help but suffered the same fate.

'They aren't shooting to kill? Why?' She wondered suddenly.

She didn't have time to ponder when she heard her name over the sound of battle. The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air, both her wings refusing to function. She fell and fell before-

Twilight Sparkle's eyes flew open. She had heard something.

She lay there, on the ground and unmoving, hopefully whatever was near her would pass by. She glanced over to the side and saw her camouflaged saddle bags beside her underneath the leaf cover.

Twilight had been traversing the Everfree for the last two years, slowly straying father and further away from her hometown of Ponyville. The elves sent parties out to capture her, forcing her farther into the forest. Even after two years, it would seem the elves would not let down in capturing the last Alicorn.

Twilight started to hear voices. Voices with an accent she was all to familiar with. She quickly but quietly slid out from her cover, lighting her horn in the process. The camouflage cover rolled itself into a neat bundle while the saddle bags were levitated onto her body. The rolled up bundle was strapped just in front of the strap of the saddle bags.

By this point, the voices were getting louder; she didn't have much time. Twilight quickly charged her horn just as the first elf walked around a large tree in front of her. Right as it opened its mouth to yell, Twilight shot a beam of pure magic directly at his chest. The elf only had time to shout before the purple beam plowed into him, causing him to fly backwards through the air and smash into a tree with an unsettling crunch.

Twilight was about to enjoy her little victory when she heard what sounded like a whistle. Thinking quickly, she rolled to the side just as small ball of light landed and exploded where she had been standing a moment ago. Twilight stood up and began to run deeper into the forest, away from her attackers. She could hear their yells and their weapons firing as she bobbed around trees and rocks.

After two years of non stop running for her life, she was very fit and could easily outpace the Dark Elves. Knowing this, she began to pick up her speed. One physical advantage she was born with was the fact that she ran on four legs instead of two, immediately making her faster than anything bipedal. She smirked as the voices began to fade, a feeling of satisfaction beginning to make its way to the surface. Why was she feeling this way? It had been so long since she had felt anything more than depression and worry.

Twilight got caught up in her thoughts so badly that she didn't notice the trees start to thin out before it was to late.

Crying out in surprise, she barely managed to levitate herself back onto the edge of the cliff. A few rocks tumbled into the abyss, causing her to look down. A roaring river greeted her sight, causing her to shiver. Twilight calculated a twenty three percent chance of surviving should she have fallen in. She looked up and figured that by flying over, she could lose her pursuers entirely. Simply flying high in the sky would result in her detection. The Dark Elves somehow had a way to pinpoint her location when she reached higher than the tree tops. This usually resulted in them sending what looked like a flying covered boat with wings after her. She could usually tell when they were coming due to their loud engines.

Refocusing on the present, she took a deep breath and used a technique Rainbow Dash had taught her, she moved back, spread her wings, breathed out once more, and-

Pew!

A beam of yellow energy cut through the air and burned a hole through Twilights wing. She in turn collapsed to the ground, shrieking in agony. Oh the agony.

Fire seemed to shoot through her nervous system, overloading some of her senses as she tried to regain motor function. Her body convulsed as her screams intensified. Those screams were soon joined by yelling and laughter.

The fire in her wing slowly died down to something akin to a knife in her bone, allowing her to regain some coherency. Tears continued to pour down her face as she sniffled. Never before had she felt anything like this. She had sprained her ankle, bruised herself from rolling down a mountain, and even broken her nose after falling from the second story of her library. None of that even compared to what she was feeling now. She nearly blacked out entirely, her brain failing to understand and cope with the horrible pain in her wing.

She slowly started to crawl away from the voices, the tears in her eyes causing everything to blur. She started to hear footsteps come towards her and tried to pick up her pace, she only succeeded in falling into a disgruntled heap. It was over.

Rough hands grabbed her by the scruff of her neck like a kitten, causing her to groan in pain. A face appeared in her view, it had a swirly mustache and pale beige skin. Its ears were pointed and its mouth was showing a horrible sneer. Then she heard a voice, the voice of her teacher.

"Don't give up my pupil. You are strong! Stronger than them!"

The voice faded away as a small amount of energy surfaced into her very being. She was close, so close to her freedom! She would be damned before she let these beings capture her.

With renewed energy, she sent a mighty kick into the the stomach of the Elf. His grip on her fell away as he doubled over in agony.

With a mighty flap of her good wing, she soared through the air before descending. And then descending some more, then descending further. Walls of stone encased her view as she plummeted towards certain death.

Flashes of memories came to the forefront of her mind. Her time as a filly under Celestia's wing, hatching Spike the dragon, meeting her friends, saving Equestria countless times. All these played in the space of a second. Twilight realized that she missed them. Her friends, her family, her mentor and her old life, causing a tear to leak away from her. Then she remembered the good times, and a smile fell upon her face.

Seconds later, everything went black.

*****

"Awaken." Two green eyes flew open, instantly alert and looking for threats. Sergeant Dean Forester grunted as he slowly sat up and looked around more thoroughly. He was alive, and he seemed to be sitting inside a cave of sorts. Looking behind him, he noticed a sunlit exit, and beyond that lay a river. He was about to sit up when two things happened.

First, all his recent memories came back to him. The infiltration into the compound, the Orith's surprise attack, getting mortally wounded, and being sucked into the gateway. Second, the Sergeant turned back around, blinked, and found a mismatched animal face not two inches from his own.

Dean yelped and stood up, backpedaling the whole way. He tripped on a rock and landed on his ass, smooth. His augmented body and armour calculated his options in a nanosecond and he quickly drew his side arm: a P23 Equalizer. His side arm came equipped with a laser sight, a silencer, and an extended magazine. It had the option of burst or semi automatic.

His hand remained steady as the beast stared at him with a bored expression. The reason he did not attack was simply because he had never seen anything like it, not even among the Orith with their strange machines and soldiers.

Then Dean got the surprise of his life.

"Hello Sergeant," it smirked as it stood up. Dean took a step back and leveled the iron sights at its forehead.

"What the hell are you?" He said through gritted teeth. "Are you with the Orith?"

"I am not. I don't have a lot of time so listen well, human," the beast suddenly scowled and snapped his fingers. Dean witnessed the impossible happen.

A screen of mist seeped around his legs and stopped in front of the being, slowly raising into what he could see was a screen.

"Not the best reception in the cave sorry, this might take a minute," the beast crossed it's missed matched arms, staring intently at the screen. After about thirteen seconds, an image seemed to materialize.

"Holy shit," Dean whispered to himself. His arm slowly lowered until his pistol was resting at his side. He stared in shock at the display as it began playing videos. One was of a castle on a mountain, quadruped beings walked along in the thousands, they sort of looked like horses.

The scenes continued to switch as the being spoke.

"This is Equestria. It is a beautiful place full of peace and harmony. Its inhabitants haven't fought any wars in a millennia. This left them weak," the beast snapped its claws once more and the scene changed immediately. What played next made Deans skin crawl.

Two legged beings flew in from the skies and landed among the ponies of Equestria. They raised their spears and begin shooting some form of energy into the panicking crowd who fell in droves. He noticed a group of six break away and make for the gates, not realizing their guard was being overpowered and the city was surrounded. Dean found himself silently coaxing them on, pleading that they got out okay. He watched as the group powered through the two legged beings, nearly breaking through their lines to freedom.

Then one was struck, then another, and another. The last one, a purple... Pegacorn, was thrown over the side of the cliff, her wings seemingly inoperable. The screen faded out as she was about to hit a lake at the bottom of the mountain.

"Why did you show me this?" Dean turned back to the beast before him, a grimace on his face. "I have a war to fight back home, a family I need to protect!"

Sergeant Dean raised his pistol once more, his voice took a calm tone as he glared at the beast. "Take me back, beast."

"I can't. And you can call me Discord." Discord gave a defeated smirk as he looked up at the sergeant. His smirk left however when when a deafening bang echoed throughout the cave and he found a smoking whole through his chest. Discord hummed to himself before looking back up to the human before him.

"I would conserve your bullets Sergeant, you may need them in the future."

Sergeant Dean stared in shock at the creature before him. The P23 could punch through solid titanium on a bad day and scramble the insides of an Orith invader on a good one. How was this creature not dead?

Before Dean could voice his thoughts, a horrible scream echoed into the cave. He noticed Discords face morph into an expression of horror as he stared past the sergeant.

"Come with me human. If you want to return home, then come with me." Discord stalked past the stunned Sergeant and out of the cave.

"I can go home?" He whispered to himself. He holstered the pistol and took off after Discord, the thought of his family and country moving to the forefront of his mind. As he moved, he saw Discord leaning down beside a river, his back to Sergeant Dean.

Dean stepped up beside him, his body tensed and ready for action. He noticed they were at the bottom of a crevice with a river slowly gurgling by. Looking down, Dean saw that the water was deeper than he expected.

"What are you-" His head swiveled to the left, and he felt his mouth fall open.

Lying on the bank, half submerged and unconscious, was the purple "Pegacorn."

"Shit, this really is real."