The officer woke with a start, his eyes bolting open at the sudden feeling of someone touching him. He looked around in confusion, his vision still blurred and making everything into indistinct colored masses that dotted the room. His first reaction was to shove the nearest mass away from himself, yet even as he did, his hands touched not the usual uniform of a Combine Surgeon but soft, warm, fur.

Stopping cold, his looked around quickly, his vision beginning to clear up. As his eyesight returned to normal, he was greeted by the sight of a white coated pony with a nurse hat on backing away slowly. He looked at her closely and his eyes moved to the Red Cross that was…painted…or…tattooed on her flank. Blinking slightly again he realized that everything wasn’t the usual bluish tint of his gas mask lenses.

Looking around in confusion still, the officer also noticed that the room lacked the usual amenities of a combine operating room. The room he dwelled in now actually looked…normal. None of the oppressive and soulless metallic walls, none of the all too familiar unknown alien technology trying to make him into another mindless drone, it was almost creepy.

The officer’s eyes went back to the pony that had backed into the corner; her eyes were widened with fear. He spoke without using his voice encoder for the first time in almost a week. “Er…Easy there…I mean no harm.” The officer’s voice was smooth yet still held the rasp that indicated more than one injury to the throat. He looked at the pony which relaxed slightly…He was even more confused now. Seeing her reaction, the man realized that the pony was not only capable of understand him, but seemed to be…sentient. His reaction was to reach for his weapon, only to find it gone.

His eyes hardened, the edge of aggression beginning to show again. He spoke with a tone that left no terms unstated, his demands were to be followed or there would be hell. “Give me my equipment. Now.” The nurse blinked in shock and scrambled out of the room, her panicked yell of “It’s awake!” echoing down the hall.

The officer looked at the IV running into his arm and quickly jerked the needle out. He then began looking around his room and soon found what his search had been hoping for: bandages. He took a quick moment to bandage the spot where the IV had gone in and then took his leave of the room.

He looked around and sighed, his instincts told him that equipment had to be around somewhere. Not like he was going to go far wearing nothing more than his pants, shoes, and a T-shirt. Moving down the hall with a military precision, he kept an eye out for his gear only to find himself arriving at the doorway to the main lobby.

Inside sat more ponies dressed in some form of armor and the nurse. They were talking and by her panicked tones, she was spilling the beans on his escape. The two guards began to move out, the officer knew it was time to duck or he was going to have a fight. Before he could react, one of them spotted him and shouted, “There it is,” before moving to chase. The man didn’t wait to see what would happen, his boots pounded against the tiled floor as he ran.

Ducking into a room, he found himself face to face with another nurse, and in her mouth was his stun baton. Not waiting for her reaction, the man ripped the weapon from the nurse’s mouth and flicked it. Electricity pulsed along the head of the baton, marking it ready for action and before it could even begin to pull any life from the battery, it impacted the side of one of the armored ponies’ head.

The creature dropped almost instantly, the combination of head injury and high voltage electricity knocking it out instantly. The officer stood his ground as the other armored pony charged into the room, quickly meeting the same fate as the first. His enemies defeated, the man turned and looked at the nurse, the hard edge of aggression making his eyes seem empty and soulless. The nurse gulped and slowly backed away even as the officer advanced. He asked one question: “Where is my equipment?” The nurse motioned to a locker on the left side of the room and before she could even move, the man was throwing the door open and pulling on his clothing.

As he finished suiting up, the man looked back at the nurse through the blue tinted lenses of his mask and gave a grim chuckle. He brandished his stun baton only to feel it ripped from his grip. His attention turned to the imposing figure sitting at the doorway. It was another pony but this one seemed almost godlike in comparison to the others. He could tell it was a female, and his eyes were drawn to the horn and wings that adorned her form. Before he could respond his body was thrown against the wall by an unseen force, but he noticed that the pony’s horn was glowing.

The creature spoke, her voice filled with a mixture of anger and disgust. “You come to my kingdom, and attack my subjects…I should have you thrown in prison for your crimes…” The officer chuckled again but was silenced when the pony pressed him harder against the wall. He looked at the creature in front of him and gave a cold stare before letting an object in his hand fall to the floor. A red light on the top glowed brightly and a loud CHIRP accompanied its impact with the floor. The chirps became more rapid before the room was filled with shards of red hot metal and fire.