A/N: This first chapter doesn't have any MLP:FiM content in it, but it is important story-wise

WARNING!

Mild Language

I was sitting on the box marked "AK-47", identifying the type of weapons and ammunition that was held inside. Five other marines, myself being the sixth, and a couple of engineers were surrounding a small plug-in heater to escape the cold of the berthing room. I had my arms on my knees, holding a half empty bottle of alcohol. I listened to them share stories of them fighting within this horrid war.

"BOOM!" Isaac, a tall black skinned guy with large muscles, shouted out to the others, they all jumped a bit and laughed; I just sat and looked into the heater. "There was nothing left of that enemy jet! It was all scrap; I watched its pieces fall into the ocean!"

He took pride in taking down that jet, I watched it make a hard turn to the right and saw him take it down with a direct hit to its hull yesterday.

"Truly amazing! I wish I was there to see it!" said one engineer named bobby, he was a rather thin guy, but wasn't without muscle. His muscles were reasonably big, but lean enough to move around well, allowing him to move around well in the ship's hull when he worked. "Too bad I'm stuck down here all day." I then felt his eyes turn towards me, even if I didn't see it, I always seemed to know whenever someone was looking at me. "Hey, Allard, why don't you ever speak?"

I ignored him, keeping my gaze on the plug-in heater, my arms remaining on my lap, without much movement.

"Hey Allard, Bobby was speaking to you."

I ignored again.

"Allard!"

Still no answer, Isaac was starting to get angry.

"Talk back to me you piece of shit!"

I then looked up at him and saw him getting frustrated.

Isaac was frustrated enough now that he looked as if he's about to attack me, I could sense it. He took a step forward but was interrupted from his actions.

"Hey! C'mon!" Another voice stepped in and put a hand on Isaac's chest to stop him from coming any closer. The woman looked over at Isaac, she wasn't exactly a young woman, she had a few grey hairs, and her hair was mainly black, however. "Stop it, you know better."

I saw the nasty look he gave her, he was obviously annoyed with me ignoring him, and he hated it when people ignored him, but the words he said next struck me hard.

"You're protecting him? He's nothing but a lonely jackass without any friends and family, what do you care about him for?"

Without thinking, I just suddenly stood up and jolted towards him, an angry look on my face. My sudden action shocked everyone in the room. I was, however, stopped forcefully when I felt the woman's other hand on my chest, I saw him jolt towards me but he, too, was prevented from coming forward by her hand.

"Stop it! Both of you!" She said out loud. "You're acting like little kids! Why don't we all just calm down and get to bed? It's getting late and we have a long day tomorrow."

We had everyone's attention now. I looked into his eyes with an angry look, and he into mine. He then sighed a moment later, giving up.

"Fine," he finally said, "but we're not done."

I was angry and ready to pound his face in, but she was right. This was no time to be fighting among ourselves, especially with the world the way it is now.

He walked away over to his bed, stepping in and laying under his covers. I then turned my eyes over to the woman, I didn't recognize her, nor did I know her name. I then turned and walked away, deciding to walk to my own bed and get under my covers.

The rest of the crew continued talking among themselves for a good hour before going to bed.

It took me a little while to fall asleep, but I managed to with the help of the destroyer's slight, almost unnoticeable, rocking back and forth in the water. I managed to sleep, yes, but it was not a good sleep, and I did not enjoy it, not one bit. It was a nightmarish, very painful sleep. I felt myself in darkness, and my insides felt like they were ready to come out. My belly and chest were just painful, moving around as if something was making room to fit itself inside my body. The pain was so unbearable that I could barely moved, but in this nightmare I felt myself moving my legs against my own will, like I was a puppet being controlled from the inside.

Isaac woke up in the middle of the night; the thunder had woke him up. Luckily, the storm wasn't that bad, the pounding of the rain wasn't enough to be harmful to the destroyer. Wait.

Thunder? Storm? He was asleep for maybe three hours, and the sky was clear without a cloud that day, what was going on? His suspicions changed when he heard slow footsteps. Turning his head to see who was making the footsteps, he saw Allard, out of bed, walking up the stairs towards outside. What was he doing up? For that matter, why was he heading outside?

"Allard?" He said curiously, and got no answer as usual.

This time, however, was different. He didn't know how, but the way he was being ignored was just… different, from how Allard usually acts, at least. His feet lifted himself from his bed as he began to walk towards Allard, but lost sight of him once Allard went out the door. Following Allard, Isaac was soon out the door too. The rain made it hard to see; although, even with limited sight, it was still clear enough to see that Allard had suddenly disappeared.

"Huh?" He quickly looked at his surroundings; nothing was there, nothing at all. "Allard?!"

He was a bit worried. Not exactly for Allard, considering how he was still angry at him from earlier, but he was spooked by his mysterious disappearance. Soon, though, he spotted him. Far to the right from where Isaac stood, in front of the rails on the ship's edge. Isaac's knowledge of Allard lead him to believe that he was about to jump, Isaac always saw Allard as a depressed man who lives for nothing but to fight when needed. The rain and wind made it a bit harder to get to Allard, but he managed to get a bit close before he noticed something in a flash of lightning not far from the ship.

Isaac's eyes widened as he noticed the shape of a creature around Allard's body. No complete details on what he saw, but he did notice wings and two horns, the shape only appeared for two seconds. He finally noticed that Allard was standing on the rails, perfectly balanced.

"NO!" He shouted, about to reach out to pull him down, but he was too late.

Allard jumped, falling off the destroyer and landing hard in the ice cold water, and leaving Isaac just looking down at the water franticly searching in vain for at least a body.