After Twilight and company managed to calm the Soldier down, it was an uneventful (if tedious) walk to Fluttershy's cottage. It had taken a while, but the Soldier was calm now—in fact, he'd worn himself out panicking and was struggling to stay awake. The Soldier was paying a bit more attention to where he was going this time, and noticed when he and his new group of companions had arrived.

"This must be Fluttershy's cottage," he said aloud.

"Yep, this is it!" Pinkie chirped cheerfully. The Soldier took the opportunity to observe his surroundings. Fluttershy's…dwelling had been called a cottage, but the Soldier wouldn't certainly call it that. It looked more like a mound of earth with several windows carved into it and plants growing all over the outside walls. There was a chimney sculpted onto the top of it, and there were hundreds upon hundreds of birdhouses all around the house. The sun was setting in the distance, and the sounds of birdsong filled the air.

If the Soldier was so inclined, he might have called the scene beautiful. Yet he was uneasy. He had only actually met a hippie once, but there were a significant number of similarities between its home and Fluttershy's.

"For the record," the Soldier said as he and his travelling companions approached the front door, "Fluttershy and I may not get along."

"Nonsense. You'll get along just fine," Rarity said. Having reached the front door, Twilight reached out and knocked.

"Fluttershy? Are you home?" she asked.

"Hold on, I'm coming," said a faint, high-pitched voice from inside the cottage. The Soldier took a deep breath.

"Alright, Soldier," he thought to himself. "Remember, she may live in a mud hut on the edge of a forest, and there may be bird houses everywhere, but that does not make her a hippie." Just as soon as he was done with this line of thought, the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane and bright green eyes. Thankfully, there was a decided lack of tie-dye.

"Hello, everyone," she said softly. "What brings…you…" Fluttershy's voice trailed off. Suddenly, she started to act skittish. She took a few tiny steps backwards and let out a tiny squeak, looking as though she wanted to disappear behind her mane. Rainbow Dash groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I could've told you this was going to happen," she muttered, clearly annoyed.

"Fluttershy, this is Red Salvo," Twilight said, disregarding Dash's annoyance. "He's a friend of ours." The Soldier stepped forward and extended his hoof.

"Pleasure to meet you, Fluttershy," he said warmly. Fluttershy looked away from him, whimpering softly.

"Fluttershy is a little nervous about meeting new ponies," Twilight said. "Maybe it would be easier if you waited out here while we explained the situation to her."

"Maybe that would be for the best," the Soldier agreed.

"I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't run off again," offered Spike, hopping off Twilight's back.

"That won't be necessary," the Soldier replied, stifling a yawn.

"No, I think he's right," Applejack said. "You boys just wait out here a spell. We'll be back in a jiffy." With that, the ponies walked into Fluttershy's house and closed the door behind them, leaving Spike and the Soldier alone.


After spending around an hour outside, the Soldier and Spike were finally allowed to enter Fluttershy's cottage. The situation had been thoroughly explained, and the six ponies were discussing tactics.

"So, the gang's all here?" Soldier remarked.

"You betcha," Applejack said.

"Alright, ladies, what's the plan?" the Soldier asked, joining the circle that the ponies had formed in the center of the room.

"Well, if what Princess Celestia told us is accurate," began Twilight, "the other creature we're looking for should be somewhere in the Everfree Forest. I think our best bet is to just go for it."

"What, you mean right now?" the Soldier asked, shooting Twilight an odd look. "Somehow I don't think that heading out into the dark, spooky forest in the middle of the night would be the best idea."

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. She seemed to have warmed up to him a lot more now that she knew he wasn't technically a pony…or maybe that was just the Soldier's imagination.

"Well, based on what I've heard, the Everfree Forest is full of a lot of creatures that want to eat us. I've spent a long time fighting, and if I've learned anything, it's been this: Just because you can't see your enemies doesn't mean they can't see you. It's Survival 101. So I propose we wait until morning to go through the dark, spooky enchanted forest. That way, it won't be as dark, and if something tries to eat us, we'll see them sooner."

"He's got a point there, if you ask me. There's no reason to strain our eyes unnecessarily," said Rarity, nodding.

"Y'know, I think he's got a point too," said Applejack. "….A diff'rent point. The visibility is gonna help a lot."

"Then it's settled," Twilight said. "We'll get some sleep tonight and head into the forest in the morning."


The Soldier was lying on the ground outside of Fluttershy's cottage, and had fallen asleep. Fluttershy didn't have seven beds (or rather, seven beds intended for ponies), so the Soldier had offered to sleep outside to make more room in the house. He had slept outside a lot during his days in the war, and he kind of enjoyed it. To the outside observer, he appeared tranquil and calm. However, he was currently having an awful nightmare…

He was human again, and he was walking alone through a forested area his team referred to as "Mountain Lab". Battles occurred quite often in Mountain Lab, and he knew the lay of the land well. He walked up to the first control point in the area. He sighed to himself. It was a nice day, by his standards, and he couldn't imagine anything going wrong…

Suddenly, the area was shrouded in darkness. The Solder looked up. The sun had vanished from the sky, replaced by a moon twice its size. The Soldier looked back down and recoiled in horror. In the instant he'd looked away from the ground, everything had changed. The Mountain Lab complex was made mostly out of concrete and metal. But now, somehow, the entire area had transformed. The buildings were now decrepit, abandoned wooden structures. A concrete arch nearby had transformed into a natural stone tunnel. A faded yellow banner hung on the wall of the large building ahead of him, and on it was a faded crest of arms. This wasn't Mountain Lab…but he'd been here before…

Suddenly, before he knew what was happening, the control point in front of him was engulfed in purple flames. As the sound of organ music filled the air, something began to rise slowly out of the control point. The Soldier screamed in terror and ran away through the stone arch, praying that someone—anyone—would save him. The sound of evil cackling filled the air behind him.

"RUN, SOLDIER!" a deep, raspy voice shouted. "I'M COMING FOR YOU!" The Soldier didn't need any more encouragement. He charged through the tunnel and turned right, hoping to make it to the safety of the main compound. The basic layout of the area didn't appear to have changed, and yet, everything was different. As heavy footfalls sounded off behind him, slowly getting closer, the Soldier ran for his life. If he could just make it to the complex, then he'd be safe…

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" he heard himself scream. He reached for his inventory and pulled out his trusty rocket launcher. He looked down at his feet, leapt into the air and fired. The force of the explosion flung him high into the air. He adjusted himself mid-flight so that he would land on the roof of the wooden building that the second control point was located inside. He landed on the roof of the building just as he'd planned, but then did something he'd never done before after rocket jumping: he stumbled.

He took a few awkward steps forward, trying to retain his momentum and keep running, but to no avail. He tripped, and fell flat on his stomach. He lost his grip on his rocket launcher, and it tumbled forward, landing in front of a window looking into the building where the second control point was located.

"NO!" he screamed. He reached out with his right hand, trying to grab it before it fell. However, as he shot his arm out, he saw that his arm was not his arm. His hand had turned into a hoof. He was a pony again. Lacking fingers, his leg simply bumped into the rocket launcher, knocking it into the building.

"NO, GOD, PLEASE!" he screamed. He looked behind him, trying to see how much time he had. Nothing was there. Nothing was chasing him. The Soldier sighed with relief. Slowly, he got to his hooves and hopped into the building.

"Agh! What the hell?" The Soldier looked up to the second control point. The RED Engineer was crouching on it, shotgun in his hands. He had clearly been wounded. His brown overalls were drenched in blood, and there were several large cuts on his torso.

"Engie! Thank God you're here!" the Soldier tried to say. But all that came out of his mouth was a series of snorts and neighs.

"Thank God!" the Engineer said in his familiar southern drawl, running over to where the Soldier stood. "Alright, boy, we're gonna make a break for it!"

"No, wait, you don't understand!" the Soldier tried to shout. All that came out was a scared whinny. The Engineer leapt off the control point onto the Soldier's back. The sudden weight was too much for him, and the Soldier's legs gave out.

"Oh, you've gotta be kiddin' me!" the Engineer groaned as the Soldier slowly got to his hooves.

"Engie, please…" the Soldier tried to say one last time, but all that came out was a low snort. The Engineer didn't understand—couldn't understand. Oblivious to the Soldier's pleas, the Engineer swung his arm into the air and slapped the Soldier's hind flank.

"Giddyup!" he shouted. Shocked and terrified, the Soldier reared onto his hind legs and let out a terrified whinny. The Soldier tried to gallop away towards the main complex. But it had changed too. Instead of being a concrete building, it had turned into an enormous wooden mansion. From somewhere behind him, the Soldier heard the sound of heavy footfalls slowly approaching…

"It's right behind us! C'mon, hyah!" the Engineer screamed, slapping the Soldier's flank again. But the Soldier couldn't go any faster. He could hardly bear the burden of the Engineer's weight. He ran as hard as he could, but soon collapsed to the ground, panting and wheezing. The Soldier felt an intense pain in his right front leg, accompanied by the familiar, yet sickening CRACK of bones snapping.

"Ah, t' hell with it," the Engineer muttered, dismounting from the wounded Soldier. "This ol' thing's too sickly to carry me any further." The Engineer pulled his shotgun out of his inventory, cocked it, and pointed it at the Soldier's head.

"I'm sorry, boy…but I ain't got no choice." The Soldier tried to scream, to say "no", to do anything that would stop the Engineer. But all that came out was a terrified whinny. The Engineer pulled the trigger, and the sound of a gunshot filled the air. Everything went dark…