Author's Notes:

I recommend all future readers to just track this story. I was editing in the beginning, but have decided to stop with that. I will continue to write chapters until I finish this story. Once the story is finished, I will take down all the chapters in two weeks so I can do major fixes on them. Read at your own discretion as there will be major differences between this current one and the rewrite.

James walked around his house left to him by his father after his death in service for his country. It was the middle of the night and James couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep because it was the middle of October and he would have to head to the forest to do his yearly visit of his friends. He and his friends were the closet you could get that you would think that they were even related to each other and were family. They were family at heart, but in terms of interacting with each other, they goofed off like a bunch of fools.

His friends were Demarco Ramierez, Connor Black, Blake Turner, Jacob Franz, and David Kennedy. Interestingly enough they only knew each other for only a few years because they served in the same squad in the military. Most squads were made of at least twelve to eighteen people in them, but these six were highly skilled in what they did that they were given their own squad limit of just being these six.

The squad itself was set differently from the others because they only received orders from the general or president. Though if the general gave an order the squad itself had the power to deny it. If the order was denied and depending on the nature of the order the general would contact the president about the assignment. If the general found that no other squad could carry out the assignment he would then contact the president and explain the details of the mission. If the president agrees with the general then those six would have to go do the mission.

Though the president being contacted rarely happened because they all knew that if they were asked to do it then they knew that it had to be serious. These six were never known by name to any of the other fellow soldiers that they worked alongside with. When walking around the base or doing regular drills these six men were spoken using only the nicknames they gave each other. The only people to know their true name were the president, the general, and each other member in the squad. The squad name that they used was also kept hidden from everyone.

The squad was called Elite Sniper, but to everyone that got put into the mission with the squad only knew them as Jack of All Trades. The squad specialized in snipers, CQC, knives, explosives, snatch & grab, rescue, assassination, assault, and medical. Then with the members it went like this on how they were known, James is known as Longshot, Demarco was known as Throatslice, Connor was known as Shots, Blake was known as Metalhead, Jacob was known as Guardian, and David was known as Pickpocket.

The ranking in this squad also worked differently where they wouldn’t have anyone above the rank of Staff Sergeant leading. James was the Staff Sergeant, Demarco was Corporal, Connor was Sergeant, Blake was Private, Jacob was Lance Corporal, and David was a Recruit. The skills of these six stood out from the rest at what they were good with. James was a man with good eyesight that he favored snipers as his primary weapon of choice. James never liked any other type of weapon for a secondary until he found that he had a knack with pistols and knives.

Demarco could be very dangerous sometimes, but that was only during in the field. In a fight he favored his knuckles and knives. Demarco was a better knife fighter than James was, but was willing to help train James the basics of knife fighting. Demarco also carried heavy explosives on him because he believed that there would always be a need to blow something up no matter the reason. That line of thinking seemed to stay true no matter how simple the mission was.

Connor loved assault rifles and knew them inside and out and could even tell you what someone was shot by if it was an assault rifle. Blake loved light machine guns, he even told everyone that if he was to go down in battle it would be in a hail of bullets, mainly coming from his gun and a bunch of dead enemy soldiers at his feet. Jacob preferred submachine guns because besides pistols, SMGs offered great silence when moving through enemy territory during infiltration.

David on the other hand said that the only gun that keeps a man alive is a shotgun. He believed this because when you shot someone point blank with a shotgun that there would be no way in hell that soldier would be getting up any time soon. These people were separated into classes of their own. James was the sniper, Demarco was CQC, Connor was a medic, Blake was assault, Jacob was infiltration, and David was another man of CQC.

These men never expected to be in a squad together until one mission they took a stand to keep their fellow soldiers, friends, and families safe. The mission was to go into an abandoned warehouse that was a possible hideout for some rebels that were trying to take over their government. James was your average person. He stood at about 5’ 11’’ with brown hair and blue eyes. He had a well-toned body but had some fat.

Demarco was a very tall person standing at 6’ 3’’. He had dirty blond hair that helped accent his green eyes. His build was that of a person with noticeable fat, but could easily take down anyone without even trying. Connor was a small man standing at 5’ 3’’ with black hair and two separate eye colors. His left eye was brown and his right eye was sky blue. His tiny stature gave him great versatility and able to get to places others couldn’t. He never showed any muscle but everyone knew that it was there especially in his legs when he outran everyone and lapped them twice during a mile run.

Blake stood at the same height as James and could easily hold his own in a fight. He had blond hair and sea foam green eyes that made it hard to look at him when the sun was up because it was like looking at another sun. Jacob stood at 5’ 7’’ giving a good height to do infiltration because he was tall enough to see over hill and cover, but short enough that he could get around quietly enough. He had pitch black hair with dark brown eyes that made it almost impossible to notice him at night. David stood at 6’ with red hair and dark green eyes. David had the most muscle out everyone and you could see it when he moved and saw one of the veins on his body pulse.

These six men decided to stay behind and hold off rebel soldiers that ambushed them at the warehouse. The odds were stacked against them as they didn’t expect to make it out of there alive. They didn’t care though if they lived or died as long as they got their squads out alright then everything was fine by them. They held their ground fighting off the endless waves of rebels. As the last VTOL showed up to grab the last batch of soldiers, the rebels made one final push to get to the ship and stop it from leaving.

They were stopped as James, Demarco, Connor, Blake, Jacob, and David stood between them and the ship firing every last round that they had into the group of rebels keeping them at bay. The rebels later retreated and the general saw the ability these six had and gave them an opportunity they never thought possible. This was one of James’ happiest moments in his life.

James laughed at the old memories he was having of him and his friends. Seeing that he wasn’t probably going to fall asleep, he decided to go out for a walk in the forest. He put on a pair of jeans and put on a t-shirt that had the grim reaper on it sitting in a chair waiting for the next passing soul. He slipped on a pair of black socks and a pair of running shoes. As he left through the front door of his house, he grabbed his hoodie, phone, and the knife that Demarco gave to him as a gift.

He never left anywhere without the knife because of the memories it held and that it was a well-designed knife. The knife had a diamond edge to it and was onyx all around, making it a durable knife. The hilt was special as it was a normal hilt, but there was an added piece that curved around the hilt allowing someone to throw a punch and do some serious damage to them if they were hit by it.

Once he was outside he looked up in the night sky to see all the stars and the brightly lit moon. He always enjoyed the night because it made him feel safe and relaxed. As he looked closely at the moon though he started to notice that it was beginning to turn blood red. Shrugging it off as another phenomenon that the moon did, he went on his stroll.

He was enjoying the peaceful stroll until he heard a twig snap behind him. He quickly turned around and saw a bear standing less than ten feet away. He started to get nervous not knowing what to do with this huge beast in front of him. He could either try and intimidate the bear or run away hoping to get somewhere safe. His decision was made for him when the bear roared loudly and began to charge him.

Turning around very quickly, he started running through the forest, trying to get away from the bear. He took a look behind him and saw that the bear was getting closer every second. Since he had his head turned he didn’t notice the branch that was sticking out and he ran right into it. On the ground now he saw the bear now slowly coming up to him. Scared out of his senses, he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable claw swipe that would end his life.

After several seconds of just sitting with his eyes closed, he decided to open his eyes and was blinded by a bright flash of light. After the light faded he groaned as his back hurt as though he was thrown into some object. As he tried to get up he felt something hit him in the head and he went down unconscious

Seven hours earlier

Twilight was sitting in her library, looking up at the sky, staring at the moon and the stars. She was documenting the alignment of the stars and the look of the moon. She had Spike helping her out with note taking and keeping her well supplied with daisy sandwiches. She got very curious when the moon was turning blood red for some weird reason. As she watched this strange occurrence with the moon a bright flash came from behind her.

She quickly turned around to see a strange creature on the ground. She slowly approached it but stopped when she heard it groan. She saw that it was trying to get up, but was quickly put back down, this time unconscious by Spike who was holding a big dictionary in his hands. Worried and confused about the new creature she had encountered, she decided to write a quick letter to the princess.

Several hours later, James woke up in a daze, confused about what happened. He slowly got up, trying to blink his eyes free of the blurriness that had overcome them. When his vision restored he saw that he was in a hospital room and an IV was in his arm. He pulled the needle out of his arm and cleaned off the blood that came out of the injection site. He felt around his pockets to see if he still had his items.

Sadly the hospital confiscated his knife and his phone. Groaning slightly that he would have to go retrieve his items he went for the door to leave. As he grabbed the handle he noticed that the door was locked. Confused as to why the door was locked, he went back to the IV and grabbed the needle and walked back to the door. He kneeled down so he was eye level with the door lock and began to pick at it.

Laughing at the situation he was in because he took forever at picking a lock he would leave it up to Connor that made it look like it was nothing at all to do. Finally after getting the door unlocked he opened the door and took a peek outside in the halls. He saw no one walking around the white hallways and decided it was safe to walk down the halls and get to the front desk.

He walked down the halls, following the signs to where the front desk was. As he got near a large set of double doors he tried to open them, but even these doors were locked. Looking around James saw that there was an air vent to the right of the door. Grabbing a chair he stood on top of it and removed the vent covering so he could go through the duct. Crawling on his belly, he began the slow, long trek to get to the other side.

As he reached the end he moved the covering and fell down to the floor. After he landed he continued to walk forward until he hit an invisible wall. Confused at what happened there he put up a hand and tried to feel around. As he got closer to where he hit the invisible force before, he could feel something. There was definitely something there, like an invisible wall or something of the sort.

“So this is the thing that you saw last night?” A strange voice said making James take a closer look at what was there.

He heard someone clap and the lights turned on and what he saw almost made him faint. Standing on the other side of the invisible wall were seven anthropomorphic animals. One of lavender color wearing a simple white blouse and a skirt that stopped at her mid thighs and stockings on her feet as she wore small heels. Another of orange color wearing a Stetson hat with a checkered blouse that was tied into a knot in the front and tight fitting denim shorts with cowboy boots.

A cream colored one with a green sweater on and a green pair of jeans and wearing simple sandals. A cyan colored one with a mid-riff shirt and a pair of running shorts on and wearing running sneakers. A pink one that wore a childish pink shirt with ducks on it and a pink frilly skirt and wearing a pair of heels. A white one that wore a blue dress with a cut up the side stopping about midway up her thigh and wearing high heels.

Then in the center stood a very pristine white one that wore a bright white dress that made it really hard to focus with heels on that made her look tall and somewhat intimidating and it didn’t help that she had a crown on her head. Also taking a closer he saw that some had horns and wings. As he continued to take in the detail that each one showed they continued talking to each other.

“Yes, princess, this is the said creature,” The lavender mare replied. James was now laughing a little on the inside that there was royalty just made this situation a lot weirder for him.

“I believe IT might be dangerous or something. I’m not completely sure.”

“You know I have a name, right? I’m not just some monster,” James finally said, speaking up because he was getting tired of being called some creature or even it.

“I didn’t know this thing could talk? What is your name young man?” The princess asked with a shocked expression.

“My name is James and I would like to know who and what you are and why I am trapped?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. You are in the land of Equestria and we are all ponies and as to why you are in there is because we didn’t know if you were friendly or dangerous.”

“I am Princess Celestia and I am willing to allow you freedom if you promise to not be a danger to my ponies.”

“I promise to not be a danger to any of your fellow citizens and will also humbly answer any questions that you all may have.”

“Very well then, James, let us all go have a seat in that booth over there and get started shall we,” Celestia’s horn glowed a bright gold and the wall fell down.

James felt dumb struck at the sight of magic but, was apparently calm and accepting of it since he pretty much is having a conversation with talking ponies. He walked over to the booth and sat down while the others joined him. Once everyone was seated and Twilight pulled out a notebook the questioning began.

“First I would like to know what these two items are, what you are specifically, and how you came to be here.”

“The two items before you are my phone and my knife. I am human and how I came here specifically, I’m not really sure as to how specifically.”

“Well looks like we owe Lyra twenty bits about humans being real,” Rainbow Dash said looking at Applejack with a disappointed expression.

“W-what did y-you use the knife for?” Fluttershy asked concerned for what it was probably mainly used for.

“I used the knife as protection sometimes when I went walking into the forest. Though mainly I kept it with me as a memento.”

“Did you ever kill anything with it?” Applejack asked.

“Only a few animals that attacked me, but that rarely ever happened though.”

“Well seeing as you are stuck here for the time being until we can get you home you will be staying with my faithful student Twilight,” Celestia announced to James making him kind of nervous.

“I will look into on how to get you back home if we can, but until then, try to not cause any trouble while you are here.”

James nodded his head in acceptance and watched as the princess left. After she was gone everyone started getting up and leaving. The human followed behind Twilight until two pairs of hands grabbed him and threw him against the wall. The ones that had a hold of him were Applejack and Rainbow Dash and they looked very serious.

“You better behave yourself and not hurt my friend,” Applejack said while staring daggers at James.

James slowly lifted his hand and grabbed at the pegasus and farmer’s hands and pulled them off of him. He was never the type to be touched or threatened by anyone. He just looked at the two before stepping away from them.

“I won’t hurt your friend and that is a promise I intend to keep,” James said walking past them and trying to catch up to Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement that they would keep a close eye on him.

“Don’t try to get too comfortable while you are here.”

“Why not? This place seems nice and friendly enough.”

“I saw the way you looked at some of them and I for one am disgusted.”

“Well, like it or not we are here and may be here forever.”

“We better not or I will lose it.”

“I believe you are just over reacting.”

“We’ll see in due time won’t we.”