Earlier...

"Mrs. Sparkle, we cannot send our chariots on a suicide run! I don't know what kind of faith you have put into this Sergeant Dean, but it is misplaced! The Elves outnumber him more than thirty to one, he has to get almost two hundred ponies out of a city without being detected, and let's not mention that the Bloody baron himself is there. I am truly sorry, but your friend is as good as dead." General Blight eyed the purple princess cryptically. His soldiers were standing behind him, watching the exchange with rapt attention. The General huffed once before turning back to his recruits. "Someone get me lieutenant Midnight! He is to lead the next exercise!" All the ponies present were quiet, a few shuffled about in nervousness.

"Uh, sir, Lieutenant Midnight didn't report to the armoury today. We were told he was on a mission for Captain Shining Armour." A pony guard near the front spoke up. The other guards nodded their head in confirmation, but they quickly shied back as the Generals eyes seemed to bug out as his face went red.

"Where is Captain Armour?" He said through gritted teeth.

"He is out at the farms at the moment, he won't be back for a few hours." Twilight couldn't help but let a little snark work its way into her tone.

"Is he now." The generals words came out as a hiss of malice, his teeth clenched so hard that Twilight feared they would shatter. "Where exactly did he send my most experienced officer?" He turned to face the princess.

Twilight held her ground and looked the general in the eyes.

"It wasn't entirely his decision, I requested that Midnight Flow be sent to aid Sergeant Dean in his mission. He was to act as transport." Twilight cringed slightly when the General let out a winey of anger.

"You had no right! These soldiers are under my protection! We cannot afford to be throwing lives into the hay grinder simply due to acts of faith and desperation. One creature does not stand a chance against a superior enemy, much less two!"

Twilight held up a hoof and scowled at the General.

"I would say that the Sergeant is the single most technologically advanced being on this entire planet! I watched him take on an entire platoon of Elite guards and come out on top. Actually... he massacred them! He is a fearsome and dedicated warrior, something you and your guards are obviously not!" A sudden spike in tension suddenly filled the atmosphere. The majority of the guards scowled and bared their teeth, snorting in anger. A vein was popping out of the Generals forehead. Twilight turned to face the angered guards.

"An entire town was going to be executed! Ponies where going to be relentlessly slaughtered! How could you stand by and let it happen!" Her face began to heat up as more than a few heads looked at the ground. "Is it not your duty to protect the innocent? Is it not in the Royal oath that guard of Equestria should fight to their dying breath in order to preserve the lives of their kin? Is it not-"

"Princess Sparkle, that is enough!" The General shouted with barely contained fury. "Maybe it was our duty to protect Equestria and its ponies, but if you haven't noticed, there isn't an Equestria left to protect! The Dark Elves have taken everything from us and we don't have the means to fight back! The situation we are in is HOPELESS!" The General's nostrils flared with every breath. The guards behind him had a far off look in their eyes. Twilight scanned each and every one of them, finding the same thing: hopelessness. A heavy blanket seemed to have been draped across each and every ponies positivity, smothering it. She snapped her head around when the General began talking again.

"The most we can do is wait for things to change. Maybe one day the Elves will integrate ponies into their society and we will be equals. Maybe they never find this last bastion of freedom and we live on in peace, knowing that we are all that's left." The General sounded tired; Twilight noticed his whole body seemed to age ten years. "Princess, you haven't seen the state we are in in all its severity. We are hanging by a thread as it is. While you were on your own in the forest, we have been trying to keep the Elves from finding this city. it is a losing battle. The ponies you see behind me have accepted that, but they keep a brave face for the sake of the populace, as do I. All we can do is-"

"General! General Blight!" Twilight, the guards, and the General looked in the direction of the scream, fearing someone was in trouble. What they saw caused more than a few eyebrows to raise.

A disheveled young mare was galloping full tilt towards the training grounds. Her back was weighed down by two saddle-bags filled with notes and papers. A gray raven was perched upon her head. Twilight cocked her head at the sight. The mare kept running and was steadily approaching the group at an alarming rate. Twilight could see the mares pants of exertion now and how her legs shook with effort. She lit her horn knowing what was about to happen.

The mare stumbled, tripped on a rock, and flew through the air; the bird took off in a flurry of panic. A yelp escaped from her mouth as she tumbled head over heels and braced for impacting ground, the latter of which never happened.

The mare, who had a brown mane and green coat, wiggled about in the lavender aura holding her in place. Her head twisted around and landed on the General, causing her to struggle more. The General stepped closer and analyzed the ponies cutie mark. His eyes widened with revelation, the pony before him was the intelligence mare who sorted through the emergency letters, a boring job seeing as nopony used the emergency mailing system. So why was she here?

"Letter-Penny! What on earth has you running at us like a bat out of Tartarus? Don't tell me Dunkin' Tim was mes-" The General was cut off when the mare started screaming at him.

"General! You must get the air divisions in the air along with every chariot you can spare! There is no time, please! Princess! We need to get those chariots! Idon'tknowhowthatcreaturediditbutherescuedtheentiretownofRavenford! We need to hurry!" Letter Penny stopped for a breath and looked back and forth between Twilight and General Blight with an urgent frown.

"Mrs. Penny, please slow down! Why do I need to get my chariots ready, what is the emergency? Are the Elves getting closer, are they attacking?!" The Generals eyes went wide at the last statement.

Letter Penny yelled in frustration and wiggled her hooves.

"General! The creature you brought in the other day has attacked the town of Ravenford! Midnight Flow reports he successfully evacuated the populace some fifty kilometers away to our safehouse! I got a messenger raven stating the location!" The mare continued to wiggle. "Please put me down Princess, I need to give the message to General Blight!"

Twilight obliged and quickly set the pony on her hooves. She wobbled for a second but quickly regained her bearings. Letter Penny quickly trotted to the general, grabbed the parchment in her teeth, and presented it to gaping stallion.

General Blights eyes scanned over the paper with such intensity that they were turning bloodshot. Twilight instinctively leaned forward along with the guards behind the General. Not a sound was uttered, not a bird nor an insect.

"I don't believe it!" General Blight quickly turned to face the Princess. He tried saying more, but his jaw was working open and closed. He blinked once, shook his head, and quickly whipped around to face the guards.

"Sound the alarm! I want all airborne divisions at the sawmill safehouse, and I wanted them there ten minutes ago!" Ponies of all sorts began galloping to and fro, some tripping in their haste. A bell started to clang rather loudly, causing Twilight to look in its general direction. A feeling of elation was building in her.

"He did it! He actually did it!" Twilight jumped in the air and squeed as her wings fluttered. A massive smile was growing on her face as her eyes began to moisten. She looked up at the sky and noticed it was nearing noon. Twilight didn't know what to do, or where to go. She was too excited! She had been praying that Dean would succeed, she had been hoping against hope. But with the recent news, she felt so many things, mostly relief.

'Oohh, I have to tell Shining!'

Twilight lit her horn in order to prepare a teleportation spell, but a hoof on her withers stopped her flow of concentration. She looked beside her and found the general standing there.

"Mrs. Sparkle, I owe you an apology. I was doubtful when your friend ran off on what I thought was a suicide mission, and I was furious when I found out Midnight had gone along. I see now that my doubts were misplaced, and for that, I am sorry." General Blight's ears pinned the sides of his head and his eyes dropped slightly. Twilight gave a small smile.

"General Blight, look at me please." The General did just that, his eyes betraying his confusion. Twilight searched his facial features and her smile grew warmer.

"You don't owe me anything. You were in the right for doubting Sergeant Dean's capabilities, hay, anypony with half a brain would have. But I knew he would succeed. It is fully reasonable that you were angry, especially since it was mostly my fault that your top lieutenant went on the mission. I think it is I who owes you the apology. I went behind your back and that was wrong." Twilight bowed her head slightly as the General stared at her with wide eyes. After a few seconds, he audibly gulped.

"How about this, we both had our reasons, and it worked out in the end either way. I think we can forget any hard feelings and move on. After all, we have a whole town's worth of ponies coming and nowhere to put them. Would you like to aid in the organizing?" The General held out a hoof, which Twilight gladly bumped.

"Of course, General! Lets get a move on, we don't have much time!" She powered up her horn for a teleportation.

"Take us to the council building, Princess." Twilight gave a nod, and a second later, the two where gone. The wind picked up slightly and blew a few leaves across the ground; autumn was beginning to set in and the trees were slowly turning vibrant.

Letter Penny shivered slightly as she looked around.

"Guess I'll walk back then," she said as she slowly trotted from whence she came.

*****

"Covering fire!"

KRACK-BOOM!

Dean leapt through a doorway as his previous position was eviscerated. The poor Marine who had been near him was caught in the blast and was swiftly wiped from existence. Dean raised his SCAR and peered out of a window. He sighted an Orithian foot soldier's head peek from a building across the street and swiftly pulled the trigger. His bullet smashed into the windowsill and sent wood splinters flying; the foot soldier quickly jumped out of sight.

The sound of explosions echoed through the town as the two sides slugged it out. The Orithians were trying to push deeper into the country, but the General in charge wasn't having any of it. The human army had set up defensive positions all across the state of Mississippi. Almost all of the southern retaliation force was focused in this area alone for it was the only place the Orithians had decided to attack. Why? Dean would never know.

The Orithian' push had ground to a halt at the town of Greenville. Both sides waged a ferocious battle for two weeks straight, neither giving up or losing ground. The once beautiful city was now but a blasted husk full of death and destruction, and Dean was at the center of it.

He quickly spotted friendlies trying to move positions and opened fire towards the enemy lines. The constant bolts of energy that whizzed overhead paused for a brief moment, allowing the human soldiers to move their positions. A bolt flew towards the group, catching the last human in the group in the side. He went down, screaming in pain as his flesh seared off. Dean winced as he was forced to ignore the wounded soldier. He saw another man hunkered down a few meters down the street, tears poured down his face as his cries were drowned out by the current fighting. Dean ignored him to as he raised his rifle once again

A beam of pure energy flew from somewhere down the road and struck Dean in the chest. An explosive cough escaped him as all the air in his lungs disappeared. He felt a dull thumping coming from somewhere as well as shouts. Then it stopped. Everything stopped.

Dean slowly got to his feet, his rifle swinging wildly. This was the second time that a memory had frozen on him, but this time seemed different. He felt it rather than knew it: the feeling that something important was going to happen. A quick glance outside showed that the fighting had frozen in time. Bolts of energy where hovering in the air; shrapnel from an explosion was frozen in time. The soldiers Dean had helped where stuck in their positions, much like mannequins. He couldn't help but stare at the scenery in awe.

An echoing sob passed through the silence like a knife, causing him to raise his rifle and twirl in place. The sobbing continued and seemed to be coming from above him. Dean gulped and slung his rifle over his shoulder, knowing that the close quarters would put him at a disadvantage. He drew is P23 and slowly made his way towards the back of the building.

Chairs and tables were haphazardly placed all over the place and dust floated through the air. Dean huffed quietly and noticed he could see his breath.

'This battle happened in the summer, why is it cold now?'

He jumped as his foot crushed a plate laying on the ground, its crack seeming like a thunderclap to Deans ears. The crying stopped for half a second, causing Dean to pause. After a moment of silence, the sobs resumed. At this point, Dean was beginning to grow fearful. He slowly walked forward, dodging past debris and various broken trinkets. The air around him seemed to steadily grow darker and a weight seemed to sit on his shoulders. He stopped when he reached a set of stairs.

The crying was coming from somewhere in the room above his head. Dean gulped once again, his throat felt dry. The farther up the stairs he looked, the darker it seemed to be. It was pitch black at the very top, so he settled for turning on his helmet mounted flashlight.

The devices beam pierced through the inky darkness and highlighted the wooden roof above. The crying continued, though something else was now present: An odd, barely audible slurping. He slowly started to make his way up the stairs, the floorboards creaking slightly under his weight. By this point, he knew for certain that he was in a dream of some sort... or was it a vision? Either way, he didn't care. With the oddity of how these were playing out, and with his new knowledge of the enemy using magic, he figured that someone or something was trying to affect him mentally. He wouldn't tolerate it, not one bit.

His expression hardened as he stomped up the stairs without care. All his fear had flown out the figurative window, being replaced by annoyance and anger. He figured that he wouldn't be physically hurt in a dream, so any sense of caution was pushed aside. Whatever was here with him was going to get a head on confrontation... and probably a bullet or two to the head.

'Dean...'

He paused, shook his head, and kept moving. It was probably just the dream he was in. His finger twitched in anticipation on the trigger, the metal grip of his gun bringing comfort to his person.

'Dean...'

After a few seconds, he reached the top of the stairs and looked around. His flashlight carved through the almost suffocating darkness as his enhanced eyes sharpened. The crying and slurping was coming from just ahead of him, but he couldn't see anything. The flashlights effects seemed to stop on what appeared to be a wall of black several meters away. He figured it might be a heavy curtain of some sort and took a step forward. That is when the flash light passed over something odd.

Dean looked at the thing on the ground in confusion. The figure was a long, dark navy blue stick of some sort with some something akin to pristine fur all over its length. The end widened out to show some sort of silver guard on the end. After a second of analyzing, his head slowly turned and illuminated more. His eyes began to widen, his breath began to quicken.

The bottom half of a pony was sticking out from behind the dark curtain. It's fur was the same as its leg: a dark navy blue. He could see some sort of ethereal, galaxy like tail laying flat on the floor. Dean's eyes widened when they landed on the ponies cutie mark. It was a black splotch of some sort covered by a half moon. He recognized it from somewhere, probably Twilight's lectures, but his mind was starting to grow a bit fuzzy. The crying, which was now slightly muffled, seemed to be originating from this pony and he made to move towards it, but something held him back.

'DEAN...'

His instincts were screaming at him, telling him he was missing something. He looked closer at the pony before him and saw something truly disgusting.

The ponies fur around its belly was moving in unnatural ways. It was as if it's intestines had come to life and were wiggling around. Dean grimaced at the sight and took a half step backwards. A floorboard creaked under his weight.

The wiggling suddenly stopped, but the worm like protrusions were still very visible. The crying continued on, but to Dean's utter confusion, it seemed to be coming from beside the pony.

'Suckkkk-plop!'

Dean took a step back as protrusions seemed to leave the stomach, retracting upwards to where the head would be. The body twitched as whatever was inside of it had finally exited, the stomach giving a small wiggle at the motion.

'DEAN.'

He stared in horror at what he had just witnessed. Silence fell through the upper level as the crying and the slurping stopped. He didn't dare look towards whatever was near the pony, his eyes stayed focused towards the ground. Dean felt a numbness wash over him and his arms began to shake. A pool of blood was slowly trickling underneath the pitch black shape that he had thought were curtains. The gun rattled slightly in his grip as the ponies life source pooled around his feet and down the stairs. It seemed inky and slick as the light reflected off of it.

Dean felt bile rise in his throat and slowly began to raise his head. The body of the pony disappeared and was quickly replaced by that inky black mass. He stopped in the center of the mass, the only sound was his breathing. His legs felt like jelly, his arms like lead. The pistol in his hands suddenly felt heavy, while his heart and mind filled with dread.

He slowly looked up, finally illuminating whatever was before him.

'Dean!'

He froze in terror, his body wasn't responding.

'DEAN!'

His mind was shutting off. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak, he couldn't move. His fight or flight instincts were failing, so the only thing he could do was stare.

'DEAN!!'

The abomination stared right back at him, it's gaze and twisted flesh burning through his body and soul. It's six eyes, two magenta, two yellow and red, and two teal, were deluded with inky black veins that got bigger as they moved into and under the skin. Bits and pieces of fur and hair were peeling off, revealing dying muscle and sinew. The monster seemed to have been fused in certain places as it's mouth were two different shapes. Tears were pouring from the magenta eyes, but no sounds were uttered.

Time slowed to a crawl. Dean saw the slimy mass of tentacles rise up from behind the beast. He watched as they flew towards his face at impossible speeds. He blinked, and-

"DEAN!"

*****

"Gah!" Dean's hand found his pistol and swiftly whipped it out of it's holster. Within the space of a nano-second, he had the iron sights trained on the young, purple dragon beside him. His free hand was latched onto the dragon's throat, causing his eyes to bug out. His breath came in ragged heaves as his mind tried to catch up to his actions.

'Wait, Dragon?'

Dean's eyes remained locked on the reptile for a long moment. He saw fear in those beady little eyes. Fear... and a slight sense of betrayal. Dean blinked, his mouth falling open ever so slightly. He slowly let go of the Dragon, Spikes, throat. Next came his gun. He slowly lowered the weapon and clicked the safety on before placing it back in it's home at his side. His eyes slowly lifted and examined his surroundings.

There was no horrid monster doing vulgar acts on a corps. There was no war zone as the humans tried to push back the alien menace. Instead, he found a sea of colour and wide eyes staring up at him. Dean quickly looked down and saw that Spike had pushed himself against the wall of the chariot in fear, his eyes never leaving Dean's hands for a moment.

"Spike." Dean held up a hand slowly, revealing he was unarmed. "I am truly sorry for hurting you. You caught me at a bad time."

At Dean's words, the young dragon looked up into his eyes. He audibly gulped before standing up, barely coming to Dean's chest even when he was crouched down.

"I-It's okay Mr. Dean. You just scared me is all."

Dean gave a small smile before rising from his kneeling position. He quickly hopped off the chariot, causing the sea of ponies to back away from him. Dean saw that they were in the middle of a massive clearing in the forest; the exact place he had planned to move the civilians to. He looked back to thank Midnight, but found him curled up beside the chariot, snoring up a storm. Dean frowned at the lack of discipline, but ultimately figured the Pegasus had earned it.

"Mr. Dean!" The sudden cry echoed through the clearing, causing more than a few ponies to jump. Dean himself twisted around, only to be tackled by a small brown ball of fur and hooves. The super soldier stumbled back slightly as his arms reflectively reached up to hold the now familiar pony in place. His eyes widened and a smile started to part his lips. Dean gave a small chuckle as the little brown ball of fur nuzzled his armoured hand. His chuckle died however when a quiet sob escaped from the unicorn.

"Mr. Dean! I c-can't find my parents! I-I... you said..." The colt looked up at Dean with sad and heart broken eyes, tears steadily spilling down his furry face. Dean's face fell into one of shock, he had been sure he had gotten everyone out! He opened his mouth to try and comfort the little unicorn, but the clip-clop of hooves slowly made themselves known, causing Dean to look away from the young colt.

Two ponies approached, one was a tan Earth pony stallion with a graying goatee and pepper coloured mane. He walked with a noticeable limp as he approached. Beside him was a dark blue unicorn mare. She held bags under her eyes and her main seemed to be nearing the graying stage as well. Both ponies were looking at Dean with hesitant expressions as they moved closer. The two slowly passed the crowd of ponies and entered into the space separating the human from everyone else. They stopped about six feet away from Dean and looked up. He noticed that their attention was no longer focused on himself, but rather the little unicorn in his grasp. He let out a happy sigh.

"Brownie. I have a little surprise for you." Dean smiled lightly as Brownies head cocked slightly to the side, though the tears didn't stop. Dean looked towards the two ponies and nodded his head in their direction. Brownie took the hint and followed his gaze.

A quiet gasp escaped the little pony and his eyes widened. Dean felt the unicorn go rigid in his grip and slowly set him on the ground before standing back up. Not a sound was spoken, all eyes were focused on the three ponies and the human.

Brownie took a small step forward, then another. The mare smiled softly, a tear trickled down her eye. The stallion took a more straightforward approach.

"Browns... my boy." The stallion smiled.

With a high pitched cry, the little unicorn took off like a shot, closing the distance between himself and his parents in a heartbeat. With wide open hooves, the two ponies embraced their little colt, tears and crying quickly following.

Dean, as well as the rest of the town, could only watch with joy as the family was reunited. A tear trickled down the Human's eye, and he quickly wiped it away. The mother was swiftly replaced by Marie, Brownie with Jackson. The stallion who was wrapping the two together in a hug, morphed into Dean himself.

Dean blinked, and the vision disappeared. He heard what sounded like soft impacts starting around him, causing Dean to look around. The noise only grew louder with each passing second, but it wasn't until Dean looked behind him and saw Spike.

The baby Dragon was clapping.

He slowly turned and looked back towards the crowd. The noise, which he saw was stomping, was almost deafening at this point, but Dean couldn't help but smile. These ponies, the ones who had been behind bars and ready for execution, had been saved by him. Dean's gaze passed over the sea of colour, but now he could see their hooves thumping the ground in an unorganized harmony.

They were applauding him.

Dean sighed. He was just doing his job: protecting the innocent and killing the enemy. He didn't deserve any applause, he didn't deserve the recognition. It was the same on Earth: he was a Ranger Special Task Force Operator, a special forces member. He was just doing his job.

Dean looked up and noticed shapes flying towards them from the west. He triggered his zoom feature on the eyepiece and quickly identified more than thirty chariots. It would seem that the Resistance was finally going to help.

"Thank you."

Dean looked down at the pony who had spoken, ready to dismiss the thanks, only to find the family of three looking up at him. Dean closed his mouth and instead smiled at the happy group. He saw the pure elation in Brownies expression, his tail swishing every few seconds. Dean knelt down and faced the trio at eye level.

"You are welcome." A sudden thought occurred to him, causing him to smile warmly. "Anytime you need help, anytime you feel you are in trouble... call for me, and I will be there. I swear it." Dean didn't know where the vow had come from, or why he had even said it, but it felt right.

'I'm only going to be in this world for so long, I can't grow any attachments!'

But with one look at Brownie, his energy, his happiness due to him being with his family; Dean couldn't help but see his son. His eyes must have betrayed his honesty as the three ponies swiftly grabbed him in a hug. But just as quickly as it had started, the embrace came to an end.

Dean slowly stood up and looked out across the watching ponies. He quickly pointed westward and into the air, turning a few heads.

"The resistance is coming! You are now safe! You are now free!" Dean's yell was met by thunderous cheers, he even saw a hat get thrown into the air. Dean chuckled at the display.

With a swift about face, Dean walked back to his chariot. His mind was alight with many new ideas. Maybe he could do this with all the towns, and work his way up? No, maybe he could equipe the ponies with modern weaponry? Maybe.

One thing was for sure though: Dean had finally made his move. He had officially started the game of chess when he captured the prince, but now it was getting serious. It was a waiting game at this point. He had given the Dark Elves a bloody nose; it was time to see how they responded.