Twilight Sparkle, the faithful student of Princess Celestia, herself, was lost in the Everfree Forest. That fact always ran through her mind for the past few hours, as she continued to gallop through the wooded areas; trying to escape certain doom.

At first, she thought she was just hearing things thirty minutes prior, but after turning around, she noticed a hungry timberwolf prowling towards her. Not sparing a second to see if there were more with it, she had no other choice but to gallop her way through the forest; hoping and praying that help would come and save her.

...But alas, that was thirty minutes ago...

There was only so much that her lungs could take. Losing the energy to run any further, Twilight stumbled, before collapsing on the ground; panting heavily, and looking around for any signs of danger. Sure enough, as the running went on, three more joined the first of the timberwolves; each of which gazing down at their fatigued victim; their wooden fangs already piercing into her mind with their sight. Had she known that they travel in packs, she would've been more aware earlier, and perhaps would've pushed her limits even sooner... but she never did study on timberwolves, yet. Even so, pushing her limits earlier would've only make her collapse around fifteen minutes ago or more... at least, that's what her books about running said.

Tears quickly began to fall from her eyes in the form of small, thin streams, as she lowered her head, and braced for impact; her life flashing before her.

Her first spell... she remembered it well. Being able to levitate objects was one of the things she always enjoyed doing since she was a filly. She also felt slightly envious that her friend Rarity was able to cast that spell as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Her first Magic Exam... that was the day she met Princess Celestia. Her parents and older brother have never been more proud of her in her short life that day.

Her invitation from Princess Celestia... she was unable to sleep the night prior to the day she moved to the castle for her first major lessons... not only because she was excited, but also because that was the day she studied the hardest. She was surprised that the princess allowed her to spend a whole day to sleep in... perhaps because her mother and father told Princess Celestia about her habits of staying up all night studying.

The day she got her Cutie Mark... it was during the exam. It, too, was a reason why it was difficult for her to sleep that night.

The day she first arrived in Ponyville... at first, she didn't think much about it, but if she never moved there, then Princess Luna would've never been stopped... and she would never have met her friends; the Elements of Harmony.

Her friends she made... the pinkest party-mare around, Pinkie Pie; the pony of the Wild West, Applejack; the fastest flier in Equestria, and potential future Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash; the pony of fashion herself, Rarity; and the kindest pony to ever live, Fluttershy. Twilight could already see the look on her friends' faces when they find her lying in the Everfree Forest... and it brought even more tears out of her eyes.

Her brother's wedding to her foalsitter... her brother... he would probably get hit the hardest with the news... and next to him, her sister-in-law, Princess Cadence.

The memories continued to run through her mind, as her gaze focused on the ground; completely unresponsive to the timberwolf that stood just a few feet away from her neck; prepared to make a lunge for the right half of her neck.

As soon as its fangs were mere inches away from her neck, however, the timberwolf flew further in front of her; giving out a loud whine as a large rock clung to its skull from its left side. The impact of the landing caused the timberwolf's movement to cease at once, with the rock loosely rolling off of its now half-opened face.

With a shocked expression, Twilight looked towards the source of the thrown rock; directly behind her. Then her expression showed even more shock, and a greater sense of fear to kick in, as her eyes focused on a tall bipedal creature with a pale coat of skin covered in brown hair; a short, dark brown mane that was combed to the creature's right, and blue-green colored eyes. The creature wore a torn sleeveless white shirt, blue denim jeans, and a pair of dark brown hiking boots. The jeans had a few small holes on it in the front, and a couple on the back of the right calf of the creature's legs.

It took her a moment to process what this creature was, until the realization hit her. This was a human... a race banished from Equestria for their violent nature, and their cruel intentions with the ponies. She was informed by Princess Celestia to keep away from any humans at all costs, and that they are not to be trusted, under any circumstances. Regardless, she still felt confused at why this human just rescued her... but then again, with the amount of fear that she felt, she knew she had to be defensive, in case it was aiming that rock at her, instead.

She quickly stood up and lowered her horn; prepared to fight the human... until the human spoke to her in her language, which caught her attention quickly, since humans couldn't speak Equestrian.

In a masculine voice, the human loudly stated, "What in the world are you doing?! Run away while they're focused on me! I'll distract 'em!" Then he looked closer at her, and sighed. "Oh, wait... you look tired... here, let me help you." With that, he started walking towards her, until he noticed her gasp, stand back up, and back away from him.

Then she asked, "W-wait, you can speak Equestrian?!"

The human stopped in his tracks, raised both of his eyebrows at her in shock, and then counter-asked, "Wait... you can talk?! And what the heck is 'Equestrian'?"

Before they could continue with their conversation, the human pointed behind Twilight, and shouted, "DUCK!"

Twilight didn't hesitate to listen to his order at that point. In one fluid motion, she dropped to the ground while a timberwolf flew over her back, and in-between the human and her. Then the human ran up to the timberwolf as it turned its head towards Twilight again, and jumped onto its back. As soon as his feet landed on its back, however, he jumped again, where both of his feet hovered over its head. Then, as soon as he fell towards the ground again, both of his feet pushed the timberwolf's head into the ground, where its head burst into splinters on the ground with a loud whine, and a crunch to soon follow.

When the human finished that move, however, he didn't stop moving, as he quickly picked Twilight up, and cradled her into his arms; much to her confusion and displeasure. "H-hey! Put me down!"

"Listen, you're way too fatigued to run anymore, so let me at least help you get out of here!" Then he looked around, and saw the third timberwolf rushing towards him and Twilight at a fast pace. When it was within his reach, however, he lifted his right foot and kicked the center of his boot into its wooden skull; causing its neck to make a "snapping" noise to go with its whine, before the timberwolf fell to the ground motionless.

Twilight quickly nodded her head, and then said, "Alright, then!" Then she pointed over the human's right shoulder with her right hoof, and added, "If you go that way, then it should take us to Ponyville! I'll tell you when we get close!"

The human nodded his head, and then replied, "Ponyville, huh? Never heard of that place before, but... okay!" Then he began walking towards the direction that Twilight pointed, only to be stopped by the sound of rustling in the leaves. When he turned around, both his and Twilight's eyes widened at the new sighting.

The splinters, the planks, and every other part of the timberwolves that were slaughtered, were all moving towards the center of the area; slowly starting to form into a pile on the ground that started to slowly rise up; beginning to get ominously taller than the human.

"Nope!" The human stated before turning around; ignoring the situation that was going behind them. Then he made a mad dash towards where Twilight motioned for him to run.

After thirty minutes of non-stop running, the human panted for breath, before asking the mare in his arms, "Well... I... think... we lost 'em..."

Twilight looked over his shoulder, and smiled. "You're right... we did!" Then she looked at the tears in his shirt, and gasped, as she noticed, for the first time, that the human was already in a fight before he even met her, and was injured with several cuts and bruises on his torso.

"Oh, no! You're hurt!" Then she jumped out of his arms, and examined him closely, as he sat on the ground. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, it's just a flesh wound... nothing too major." He tried to reason with her. For some reason, though, she seemed to refuse to believe him.

"No it isn't! I shouldn't just let the only nice human hurt himself to save me!" That statement caused the man's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Wait... there's more humans here?" He asked, only to receive a glare from Twilight; silencing his questions immediately.

"Yes, but our kinds don't really see eye-to-eye, if you know what I mean?" She retorted. This made the human tilt his head in confusion.

"Okay, now... I know that the president of the United States is most likely serious when it comes to avoiding war, but... I don't think that he'd add an oddly-colored alien pony-like thing in the list of enemies... no offense."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the human. "President of the United States? I'm not sure what you mean by that, but... would that happen to be the humans' leader?"

The human shrugged his shoulders, before replying, "I don't think I'd call him my leader. I mean sure, he runs a lot of political nonsense that I don't know crap about, but to be fair, I'd say us humans tend to be our own leaders, nowadays."

Twilight hummed to herself, before replying, "Well, the humans of Earth tend to be more hostile in nature, but even they have a leader somewhere." Then her eyes widened with excitement. "W-wait... now that I mention it, you don't have the same armor that they wear on! Are you from another planet?!"

The human shrugged his shoulders again, before replying, "Well, unless there's another Earth out there, then... I don't know."

Twilight nodded her head. "Okay, then... but if you're from this same planet, then... why are you so different from the other humans?"

The human shrugged his shoulders, before replying, "Your guess is as good as mine... though I doubt if I'm in the same Earth, since the one that I'm from didn't have talking Unicorns, or lavender horses, for that matter."

This comment caused Twilight to gasp, and glare at him. "H-hey! Don't call me that!"

The human jumped a little at her sudden outburst. "What?" He asked innocently.

Twilight retorted, "Horse! Don't call me a horse! That's a rude thing to call a pony!"

The human waved his hands defensively. "S-sorry! I didn't know! Honest!"

Twilight continued to glare at him for a moment, before she sighed, and nodded her head; her expression showing a little more guilt. "Sorry for the outburst... I forgot that you're new here..." Then her eyes widened at the sound of a voice in the distance... a posh-like voice calling her name. "Oh, no! That sounds like Rarity!"

The human tilted his head, before asking, "Twilight? That's your name?" Twilight nodded her head, which made the human smile and hum to himself. With an approving nod, the human added, "That's a nice name... it suits you."

Twilight's face suddenly started to feel warm at that statement. Nopony ever complimented her name before. "Well... thank you, Mr. Human."

"Justin." The human replied, before stretching his right hand out. "Justin Daniels. It's nice to meet you, Miss Twilight."

Twilight eyed his hand for another moment, before stretching her right hoof out, and shaking his hand. "Please... just call me Twilight... or Twilight Sparkle, if you'd like."

Justin nodded his head, and then looked towards the source of the voice and the sounds of the movement. "Alright, then... so why did you say 'uh-oh' when you heard that Rarity person? You and her not getting along?"

Twilight shook her head, and then replied, "No, it's not that! She's one of my best friends! The problem is that our races are at war! If they see you, then it could be a disaster!" Then she looked around, and spotted a thick tree. Then her horn glowed, and in the blink of an eye, a door knob appeared on the tree, with a crack that resembled a door. Just the sight of the sudden use of magic caught Justin by surprise.

"Whoa... what was that?!" He asked; his eyes glued to the tree.

Twilight giggled at the confused human, before replying, "It was just magic... another reason why you should hide, since Rarity's also a Unicorn like me!"

Justin looked towards the source of the hoof-steps, and nodded his head. "Alright, then... thanks for the heads-up, but... will I ever see you again?"

Twilight looked at him with a concerned expression. She knew she couldn't just leave him there with nopony to talk to, or at least help him figure out where he came from. She could tell that he wasn't from Equestria, or the human's territory in the far-eastern island outside of Equestria. If anything, his personality seemed to resemble ponies over humans, so perhaps that could be a potential clue to help her prove him to be... different from the rest of the humans.

With that in mind, she smiled at him, before nodding her head. "Of course! That tree will be your shelter for now... don't answer the door to anypony that doesn't say 'I'm here to help you'... okay?"

Justin nodded his head, and then smiled at her. "Alright, then... thanks, Twilight. This means a lot to me."

Twilight shrugged her shoulders. "It was the least I could do."

"Twilight?" Rarity's voice echoed. The voice sounded ominously close.

After motioning for Justin to hurry to the tree, Twilight turned around, and said, "Oh, Rarity? What're you doing here?"

Justin, at this point, managed to open the door to the tree, and step inside; gently closing it in time to hear the voices on the other side of the door.

"TWILIGHT! OH, THANK CELESTIA YOU'RE ALRIGHT! YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED SICK! WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE EVERFREE FOREST, DARLING?!" Rarity's voice practically echoed as if she were standing there next to him.

Twilight's voice replied, "It's okay, Rarity! I was just going to get some tea from Zecora, when I was ambushed by a small pack of timberwolves."

Rarity gasped. "TIMBERWOLVES?! HOW IN EQUESTRIA DID YOU SURVIVE?!"

As both of their voices grew quieter, the last thing Justin could hear Twilight say was, "Well... you might not believe me if I told you, so let's not worry about it."

With a smile, Justin commented to himself, "Thanks, Twi... at least now I know to keep quiet around here." Then he sat there in the pitch-black tree, thinking of the events that just transpired. "I just hope I don't snore tonight..." With that, he curled into a ball, and slowly closed his eyes, as the sounds of the forest grew increasingly silent.