Military camp outside the Everfree Forest.

1:53 PM

Isaiah POV

Me and Luna were lightly jogging into the direction of the forest that my shelter was lost in. My leg started to throb with pain, I shouldn't be out running on a leg thats in it's current condition. Each step I took became more labored, each step on my leg, a bolt of pain shot through the limb. I looked over to Luna to see that she was fairing much better than I was. Her eyes glanced over to me, with a look of concern forming on her face.

"Isaiah are you alright?"

"I'm not going to lie, I need to take it down a notch. How far are we away from the area of the fight?" I grunted out.

She slowly walked over to my leaning form and put her hoof on my shoulder. "It's a good one and a half mile away. Right in front of the pathway that leads into the forest there's an encampment. You are well aware that you are in no condition to fight if we encounter a problem. So, I think it's a wise choice to bring a squad to escort us to your shelter." She informed me.

"Sorry Princess, I'm not to thrilled about bringing guards with us. They would just bring more attention to us."

"Have you ever been thrilled?"

"I was thrilled when I met you." I tried to say sarcastically, but accidentally sounded more like a flirtatious complement. Only making me sound like a weirdo.

I looked at her, only to see her blushing a little on her cheeks. "Oh..."

"Anyway, let's ignore that, what were you saying?" I struggled to pull the conversation back on track.

"As I was saying...Why are you being so stubborn? They can help us, you know that right?" She tried to reason with red leaving her face.

"I don't care, we'll be fine. I may be down, but I'm not out." I paused and looked up to see a mare in golden armor flying towards us.

The pegasus slowed her flapping of her wings to help slow her descent. She touched down in front of the Princess and bowed down.

"You're majesty, I have a message for you." The mare said while grabbing a cylinder container with her teeth, and allowed Luna to grab it with her telekinesis.

The Princess of the the night opened the scroll and started to read the message. Once she was finished with the note, she scrolled it back up and returned the scroll to the messenger.

"Would you kindly announce to the camp that we will arrive in ten minutes. You may leave." Once Luna said that, the mare bowed and left for the camp.

"Okay, lets go." I grunted with a little bit of pain still in my leg.

Luna and I continued our walk with very little words said between us. I started to use my Mosin Nagant as a crutch to support me; being mindful of the bayonet. After a little bit longer, we were on the edge of the camp. The camp reminded me of a Roman Empire encampments that I've seen in a book that I have in the shelter. Ponies of varying type could be seen milling about, working their jobs inside of the camp. While me and the Princess were walking towards a large tent, the guards would stop and stare at me. Some would ignore me, and the others would have their eyes glued on me.

"Up ahead there is a tent that we can rest in while we wait for Shining Armor." Luna advised.

"Shining Armor, who's that?" I asked her.

"He is the captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and the Prince of the Crystal Kingdom, and just happens to be Twilight's older brother too."

"Oh really?" I asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

I found it odd that this 'Shining Armor' character is the Captain of the Royal Guard for one kingdom, and a Prince for another. I'll just play along and ignore it for now. I really don't understand royalty too, so I had no say.

"Mind telling me why we are waiting for him?" I asked the Princess.

Luna floated a stool over to me so I could sit down. "Well, it's for multiple reasons of course."

"And those reasons are?"

"Well, once we had learned of your... unique situation, we informed him about you. He seems really interested in you and want's to personally meet you. Another is because he's the Captain of the guard and needs to be here. And lastly, he's coming with us into the forest." The mare with the moon cutie mark informed.

"I said I didn't want anyone else to join us." I sighed with a little of annoyance in my voice.

What I said kinda set her off the edge for a second. "Listen here, I've been very lenient with you. I'm the only pony you know that knows where the fight was, so if you don't want anypony to join us, well you're just have to suck it up or not go at all. I'm not allowing us to wander into the forest without assistance from able bodied ponies."

"Fine." I scoffed with some anger in my voice.

I just want to be left alone in the forest, while the ponies are far away from me. I haven't had a chance to plan on how to explain the current state of Earth to them. I'm positive that the infection is going to be a difficult subject to converse about.

About eleven minutes passed before a white stallion entered the tent. The unicorn wore a set of purple armor with a gold trim. His helmet was just like the armor plating on his body, but it had a crust that consisted of three different shades of blue. His eyes were a lighter shade of blue and his cutie mark was shield with a pink six-pointed star with a set of three five-pointed stars above it.

I stood up to greet the stallion, as I got up he removed his helmet; showing his face and his mane that was the same colors of the crest

Let's get this over with... I thought in my head.

"So, you must be Shining Armor, I'm I right?" I asked as a held out my hand for a handshake. At first, I was about to curse myself for asking for a handshake from a animal that lacked hands. But to my surprise, he recognized the gesture and lifted his blue hoof. I grasped it and gave it a good shake.

"Yes, you're right. I'm Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and Prince of the Crystal Kingdom. Or Armor if you want, and you must be Isaiah?" He said with a unusual friendly manner, it's good to see that he doesn't sound like or act like a stuck-up cunt because of his title.

"Yes I am, nice to meet you." Once we finished the greeting, lowered myself onto the small stool.

Well that wasn't so bad.

I sat myself down on the small stool and tried to relax while the Princess and the Captain discussed some type of future outpost that they were planing on building in the Everfree Forest. My only guess why they would want a outpost out there for a safe haven for the troops to rest in without the threat of being somethings lunch. Judging by the conversation, it's going to be awhile before they decide to come to a conclusion. Before I knew it, I accidentally fell into a small catnap.

I woke up, only to see that the other two were still in a conversation. I couldn't see a clock anywhere near by; making the time unknown. I shot a glare at the Luna that said 'hurry up, I've grown impatient', look. Thankfully she understood.

"Captain, my I ask you for a favor?"

"Well it depends on what you want me to do ma'am." He responded.

"Me and Isaiah need to go back into the Everfree Forest. When he mysteriously appeared here, he wasn't the only thing to come here."

I stood up, walked over to the two and continued the Princess explanation. "The things that I have are of high importance to not only me; but to Equestria also. Incase you haven't been told, me and my things are resistant to magic."

He made a half chuckle. "Resistant to magic? Yeah right, I find that hard to believe. " He smirked.

I pulled my trench knife out of it's sheath and held it in my opened hand. "Okay, try to pick this up with your telekinesis."

He focused his eyes on the weapon and charged up his magic; only to fade away when his eyes wide open.

"H-how?" The stallion stuttered.

"We honestly don't know Captain." Luna finished.

I re-sheathed the dagger and moved my wounded leg around; surprised to feel no pain.

"Can we please leave now? We are wasting daylight." I complained.

"Fine, just let me inform the other guards ponies that I will be absent. Then we will leave." He said while placing his helmet back onto his head.

Once he informed the others of his leave, we left for the Everfree Forest. Looking down at the dirt path, I could tell that there wasn't much traffic on this walkway. The sun beamed down upon my head, making me feel a little too warm for comfort. The sound's of the camp quickly died away as when ventured deeper and deeper into the Everfree. The only sounds that filled the land came from birds, and the sound of leafs being blow in the gentle breeze.

"So what can you tell me about that wooden thing on your back Isaiah?" Shining Armor asked me from behind.

"It's a rifle."

"Rifle... I never heard of those before. What does a 'rifle' do?" Puzzled the stallion.

Before I could explain what the rifle does, I spotted a coyote about twenty yards ahead. But there was something...off about it.

"Stop." I commanded to the pair, as I raised the rifle up into position to look at the animal through the scope.

I was right, there was something wrong with the coyote. The dog was moving in a erratic and unnatural way; tripping and falling over things that littered the forest floor. The canine appeared to be malnourished too. It lifted it's head up and stared at us; baring it's teeth with foam dripping out of it's mouth. The coyote had all the signs of rabies.

"What's wrong?" Princess Luna asked me.

"There's a rabid coyote up ahead, let me take care of it."

I grasped a individual round from the bandolier with my fingers and loaded the rifle. I slowly made my way down into a crouching stance and raised the rifle.

"Remember why you asked what my rifle does?" I asked the guard while aiming the crosshairs at the coyote's lungs.

"...Yes?" He answered slightly uneasily.

"Well you're about to find out. Little fair warning, it's about to get loud."

I started to slowly pull the trigger. The sound of the gunshot thundered throughout the once quiet forest. A pink cloud sprayed the tree that the rabid animal was in front of. I pulled the bolt back to empty the action of the spent casing, and picked it up and placed it in my pocket. I stood back up into my legs and made my down the path.

"What the buck was that?!" Shining Armor yelled in confusion.

"You saw what it did right?" I asked the Captain.

"Y-yes, you killed a coyote from a long ways away!"

I gave out a half chuckle. "Yup, that's what a rifle does basically." I put it bluntly.

By the look on his face, his mind was jam-packed with many questions, that I don't feel like answering. Before he could say anything else, the pathway led into a opening with a stream running in the middle. I looked over to the edge; only to see the giant rotting corps of the Manticore. It filled my heart with morbid joy to see the bastard rotting away with a giant hole exposing it's insides. I ran my eyes around the forest floor to also see the remains of the Chupacabras. Sadly, the stench of rotting flesh lurked in the air, making both Luna and Armor gag.

"O-okay Isaiah, were here. Do you know which direction that your shelter is at?" The princess asked while casting some type of spell; most likely blocking out the smell.

To my amazement, I did remember. The direction was north-westward from the start of the stream. When I looked up to the sky; I could only see darkened clouds. The sun's rays could barely be seen.

"It's this way. We need to hurry too, it's going to pour down rain soon." I pointed out the obvious.

My fellow travelers groaned in annoyance. I too wasn't thrilled about having to rush, my leg was starting to throb again.

Familiar trees began to pop up as we got closer. Small raindrops could be felt falling down upon us as we hurried. I glided my eyes on the ground, only to be pleasantly surprised when I recognized my own footprints in the dirt.

"We're close." Right as I announced that, we reached the opening with my shelter visible. "Um, we're here!"

I ran over to the entrance with ponies following in my footprints. I grabbed the key from my pocket and unlocked it, and let the pair inside. When I started to close the door, I spotted a strange figure standing out in the forest; it looked like it was watching us.

I'm just seeing things... I thought to my exhausted self.

I turned around to see my guests casting their eyes around the shelter with curiosity. I limped over to the light switch and flipped them on, giving light to my home.

"Well, welcome to mi casa. Do me a favor and don't break anything." I happily announced to the two.

I located the clock, and read the current time which is 3:23 PM.

Luan took the silence of opportunity to speak up. "So this is what was transported with you?"

I nodded. "I was sleeping in here when a duststom blew in, that's all I know.

"Do you think the storm had a role for your appearance here?" Shining Armor asked.

"I honestly have no clue." I answered.

"Interesting..." Luna quietly whispered to her self while raising a hoof to her chin.

"Is there anyway that some of your magic specialist know of anything in this nature?" I asked both of them.

"We don't know, we'll just have to see later when we have the opportunity to study." The princess replied to me.

I sighed and limped over to the hammock, and started to take off my gear. Piece by piece, I removed my things off my body and set them hanging on the wall. The others began to wonder off due to curiosity; eyes zipping around in their sockets.

"Remember, don't break anything and please be careful." I hollered to them.

I let them explore my house while I rested my legs. Every other minute I could hear small chatter between the two. My solar panels still laid against the wall; still waiting for me to reinstall them. The shelter was relatively quiet, the only sounds were the faint chatter of the ponies and the pitter patter of the rain falling down. Luna started to make her way over to me.

"Isaiah, when I was looking around I couldn't but help noticing these strange symbols." She turned her head around and handed me a paper in her mouth.

I brought the paper up to inspect it. The paper consisted a list of weapons and ammo in inventory. I folded the piece of paper and slipped it into my back pocket. Her question gave me the opportunity to converse about our different written languages.

"First of all, what language are we currently speaking?" I asked Luna.

"Were speaking equish of course." The mare answered my question.

"Well, to me we are currently speaking english. The symbols on the paper is the written form of my language.

"Strange..." Once she said that, she sat down on her rump.

I was a little caught of guard, being in a never before seen place, I thought she would like to explore more. "Hey don't you wan't to look around some more?"

She tilted her head in a cute fashion to look at me. "I will later, theres just so much going through my head right now. It's a little overwhelming."

"Meh, don't worry." I reassured her, kinda.

I then focused my attention to Shining Armor, who was looking at a map of North America. I got up and made my way over to the stallion.

The map I had was full of markings and other information about important locations. Things like colonies, ruins, wastelands, and hostile territory were marked onto the large map. Colors of varying degree filled the map, with each informing the area about it's self. Shaded areas of green are friendly, the areas most likely had friendly living inhabits, or were void of any known danger. Red areas informed of hostile territory, things like unfriendly colonies or bandit hideouts. Orange territory meant that in the areas had ruins, things like towns, cities and the other were enveloped in the orange. Areas with red, orange, and black stripes informed of territory with numerous amounts of infected in old ruins. Yellow and black meant that the area had some radiation within the territory. Some of the nuclear reactors's engineers failed to shut them down when the infected started attacking in large numbers as things got out of hand back then.

"That is a map of North America, which was the continent that I lived on before I showed up."

"Really, can you point out where you lived?" He asked me with his eyes glued to the map.

I placed my pointer finger on a star that was placed in the north-eastern region of Texas. "Right there."

"What's up with all of the different colors?"

"I'll tell you later." I ended the conversation.

I walked to back to Luna and the hammock with Armor behind in my foot steps. The sound of rain drops and hoof steps filled the metal shelter in a odd harmony. The Princess was busying her self by inspecting the solar panels that laid on the plywood floor.

"What are these?" The mare questioned me while poking a panel with her hoof.

"Those are solar panels, and please be very careful, they aren't cheap, and are very important."

Luna wasn't finished with her questions. "And what do these 'solar panels' do?"

"They absorb the sun's rays as a source of energy for generating electricity." He question reminded me that I still have to install them back onto the roof.

Both Luna's and Shining Armor's jaws dropped with eyes wide open.

"How do they work?" They both said in unison.

"I don't know." I honestly replied. "But I do have a book somewhere around here that may have something about solar panels and their workings."

Luna strolled over to the small stereo system that I had on a shelf. It was decently good and in nice condition; considering the fact that it's just about forty-five years old. Every so often I would have to fix the damn thing though, but that happens rarely.

"That is a stereo system if you are wondering."

She leaned over to it to gain a closer look.

"It has the word 'stereo' so I'm guessing that it's related to music in some sort of way." Luna speculated.

"Yup."

The Princess smiled with excitement. "May you please turn some music on?"

"Sorry, all of the electricity is coming from a emergency battery. If I turned it on, it would just drain the power." I informed the displeased mare.

"Bummer." Commented Armor.

I kinda felt bad for denying her simple request for some music, but all of the electricity is coming from a couple of emergency rechargeable batteries. I plan on staying here for the night too, I need the power in case something happens.

"Hey now, cheer up. Once I get things up and running again, I'll let you listen to some music, how about that?" Once I said that, she perked up a little.

"I would like that very much, thank you." Luna thanked with a friendly smile.

The place had a air of silence. No one was talking, allowing us to realize that the rain stopped.

"Huh, the rain stopped. Nows your chance to return to Ponyville." I calmly stated.

"Our chance? Aren't you coming with us?" Shining Armor asked me.

I slightly frowned. "No, I would like some alone time. I could use my time to think about how I'm going to explain my self."

Luna wasn't too thrilled about my explanation of why I didn't want to come. "Can't you just do that back at Ponyville? This forest is dangerous and you know it."

"Like I said, I just want some time alone, that's all. I can handle myself in this damned forest, the only reason why I got injured was because I was fighting with you and your troops. I'm not planning on starting fights you know." I asserted.

She frowned. "Fine, if you get ripped to shreds by a manticore or a group of chupacabras, don't come crying to me!" She hissed out loud while I opened the door for her and Shinning Armor.

Before Armor stepped out he turned to me. "How about we meet up here around six in the afternoon?"

"I can agree to that. See you tomorrow." I said.

The pair stood next to each other while their horns glowed. With a small flash of light, both of them disappeared out of the forest.

Fuckin' magic...