Lazarus: The Rise of Man

by Immortan Joe

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Science Fiction, Princess Celestia, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 94265

When the Cataclysm struck, Earth was plunged into an eternal darkness and Mankind was assumed to be extinct, left in the forgotten books of history. But what if they never truly died out? What if they're asleep? And what if they woke up?

Twelve thousand years ago, humanity was driven into a war with an unknown enemy. Fire rained from the heavens and the sky turned dark as the sun dimmed. Acid poured from the clouds and a plague was unleashed upon mankind: A virus that caused men to turn on one another. A disease that forced man to fall to his knees and beg for mercy. A pathogen that ravaged man’s civilization.

And when humanity lost all chances of reconciliation, all hope of keeping their loved ones safe, they pulled the plug, three hundred souls left Earth while sacrificing their only home to the angel of the enemy.

In the twelve millennia since the Great War, all traces of humanity have been wiped from the surface of the Earth. In man’s rightful place now are a multitude of sapient species. For twelve thousand years, these animals have lived in peace and harmony, man reduced to nothing more than but a myth, a folk tale, a legend.

But word has spread across the countryside. Word of forgotten beasts that still walk the western wastelands. Creatures able to bend the world to their will without the help of magic. Creatures said to be older than time itself.

Teen for language, and dark moments. Character tags will be added as the story progresses

Published 2013-09-08 05:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2019-03-12 04:42:08 UTC

Chapter 1: Horizon

Horizon

“Skyscrapers are literally being lifted off the ground…

Thousands are attempting to flee the City of London and… Jesus Christ! Something just struck the brid–

Large pink clouds… Yes I’ll say that again large pink clouds have been seen over the state of New Mexico…

Yes, Bob, I said it’s actually raining fire in Paris. Thousands are running indoors and the city is being prepped for evacuation…

We have just received word that Air Force One has been taken down…

British Prime Minister Cameron has been reported deceased on his trip home from Sweden…

It has been reported that the United Nations gathered last night and enacted a new plan code named: Project Icarus…

Sightings of a strange creature were reported over Seattle this morning…

U.S. Armed Forces have been deployed all over the nation in search of the monster, code named Archangel details at eleven…

We’ve received Intel, commander, that Fort Knox has been wiped out by Archangel.

Goddammit! Get Central online and inform him that we need Project Icarus finished by the end of this month.

But commander, we’re not even–

You heard me Private.

Yes, sir…

Locals are calling it judgment day…

Families across the globe are gathering in prayer…

Over one million people gather in Vatican City to hear Pope Francis…

Japanese hospitals are being flooded with strange, comatose victims…

So you’re saying that your brother attacked you?

Yes. Last night he was fine, but this morning he was extremely pale and nasty… I locked him in my room and fled. I dialed 999 but the line was busy. When I looked outside there were hundreds of people rioting…

Daddy…

The Police are calling them Sleepers…

Please, you’ve gotta help me.

Please calm down Ma’am.  We’re sending a peace keeper to your ar–

NO! Get your hands off me!

Hello? Miss, are you there?

Time to wake up…

The United Nations has established large fallout shelters across the planet…

The Sleepers are overwhelming us sir! What do we do!

Hold the line Soldier! Whatever you do hold that line…

Archangel has been spotted over Jerusalem! I repeat, Archangel has been spotted...

Officials are calling the Star Ship, Horizon…

NATO agents have been scattered across the globe in search of selected individuals for the boarding process…

Daddy!

Sarah, no! You can’t take her away from me!

Sir, I’m sorry but there isn’t enough room.

What are you talking about? You can hold at least another hundred!

We do not have enough Cryo-chambers, Mister Conway…

Oi, Johnny…

All units focus fire on Archangel! I repeat, all units focus fire on–ARGH!

Vat!?

Yes, I know it’s hard to believe Dr. Hassel.

Vat do you sink blowing up zee planet’s surface vould achieve?!

Please, Doctor, there is no need to blow a fuse we have everything under control.

Vat do you mean you have eversing under control!?

In less than twenty four hours we’ll be launching our first ever star ship into space, carrying exactly three hundred human beings as a back up plan in case the Lazarus Project fails.

And vat, you vant me to tag along?

Yes, Doctor.

Vat if I say no?

I’m sorry Doctor, but you do not have a choice in this…

Oi, Johnny, wake up… I said wake up!”

:[-]:

Johnny Conway, a tall slender man with a short brown buzz cut, a military central command officer picked to organize and watch over any military operations that were taking place on the field, woke to the sound of a man hammering away on the outside glass that made up eighty percent of the machine he was in.

“Oi, John! Wake up, mate it’s time for our shift,” said Nelson Grimes, a smaller and younger man, with bright blonde wavy hair and a small chin beard, who was picked specifically for the mission because of his expertise with computers.

Johnny’s eyes slowly opened, the temperature in the pod rising slowly as his body reawakened. As his muscles thawed and the chillness began to evaporate, his stomach began to churn and groan. Johnny cringed at the awkward feeling as the pod hissed, which was then followed by a metallic thump, two mechanical arms on each side of the machine detached the glass door that kept him concealed and then slid upwards in a swift easy motion. Once the ice inside the now open pod made contact with the warm outside air, a large cloud of steam was instantly created, within seconds half of the room was filled entirely with steam.

Slowly, Johnny lifted his hand upwards and took hold of the handle above him. Despite the lack of strength, he used his sore arms to pull himself up  into a sitting position. Once he got himself situated he saw Nelson watching him with a smug grin.“Sleep well?” he asked in his thick English accent.

John cleared his throat, the phlegm in his mouth was nearly freezing cold, and the taste was atrocious. His stomach lurched as he spat the nasty five year old glob onto the floor, he felt like he was going to vomit. “I feel like shit,” he muttered, his voice drawn out.

As Nelson eyed the nasty bits that were now on the metal floor, he shivered. “Yeah I felt the same way too when Caroline woke me,” He said as he took his eyes off the floor. “Well, come on now.” He leaned over and patted Johnny on the shoulder. Nelson jammed his right thumb towards the small metal railing that followed the three steps up to the door. “I left ya some trousers over there on the railing. I couldn’t find you a shirt, though that shouldn’t be a problem seeing that it’s just the two of us.” He snickered at the last bit.

John smirked and pushed himself off the bed. “Thanks. There should be one in the bedrooms though,” he said, but quickly yelped in surprise as his feet made contact with the nearly freezing floor. “Gah! Cold!” He shrieked, hopping from foot to foot.

Nelson laughed. “Again, mate, you’re not the only one.” He waved for John to follow as he began walking towards the metal door.  “Let’s go, Caroline made us some meals before she and DeSilva went off to sleep.”

“Really now?” John yawned, his feet slowly growing use to the cold ground as he followed behind Nelson, his arms wrapped around his chilled chest . “What is she serving this time?”

“Oh, the same old delicacy as usual, hash.” He chuckled.

Johnny snorted and came to stop in front of the railing to retrieve his new pair of freshly washed jeans. In the middle of checking if the jeans would fit John asked, “So... don’t I get any shoes with these?”

Nelson, who was standing by the door, looked back at him his mouth making an O as he thought. “Oh, yes,” He snapped his fingers and pointed over to the right. “I forgot, they’re just to your right.”

Like Nelson said, to his right beside the small three step staircase, were pair of black size eleven Nikes. Not really military oriented, but they kept the troops and the lab coats comfortable. Don’t want your men wearing heavy boots and tank tops in the middle of space for over six thousand years. “You know,” John said, sliding his legs into the jeans, “This would’ve been easier if you would have just dropped them by the stasis chamber.”

Nelson chuckled and leaned over the railing, looking down at the commanding officer. “Yeah... that may be true.” He smirked. “But we can’t just have everything handed over to us, ya know?”

Johnny looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah... sure...” He fell silent for a moment and bent to down to retrieve his new shoes. “Say,” He began, “I don’t think I ever gotten your name.”

“My apologies, sir.” Nelson cleared his throat. “My name is Nelson Grimes.”

“Nice to meet you, Nelson,” John said, sliding on his last shoe. Placing his foot on the ground, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to break down his new footwear. “I am Central Command Officer John Conway.”

“I know that,” Nelson’s smirk grew into a smile.

John frowned and looked over at him. “How is that? I’ve never had any shifts with you yet... have I?” Johnny couldn’t recall, he had been on so many shifts thus far he could hardly even remember the first man he had ever worked with.

“No, we haven’t,” Nelson’s smile grew even wider.

“Then how do you know who I am?” Johnny crossed his arms once again across his bare freezing chest.

“Well, I looked into everyone's personal data files, Horizon’s firewall isn’t that hard to crack.” Nelson’s smile grew to the point that he was now flashing his nasty yellow teeth, the lad looked as if he hasn’t brushed in weeks.

Johnny’s jaw nearly struck the floor. “You do know that’s against protocol and that I can have you locked away for that?” He scolded.

Nelson snorted. “You won’t.”

Johnny’s teeth clenched. “You do know you’re speaking to a superior, right?”

Nelson flashed him a smug look. “Of course I do, I did say I read nearly everyone’s file. But you can’t lock me away, because if you do who will reprogram the ship if something fails? Not DeSilva, and don’t even bother with Hedrick. Honestly I can’t see why the U.N. even bothered bringing Hedrick along. The bloke can hardly hack into a high school's security network.”

Johnny sighed and rolled his eyes, the kid does have him there. “Just...” He flung his right hand to the side. “Don’t fuck anything up okay.”

“Even if I did, I’d fix it in a jiffy.” Nelson pushed himself off the railing and turned to the door, placing his hand on the scanner. The door groaned as it slid open. Taking a quick peek back he said: “What are you waiting for? The hash isn’t going to eat itself.”

:[-]:

“–And when the crazy bastard got on top of me,” Nelson said as he swallowed his mouthful of dried jerky, “he began wailing on me. Bam! Bam! Bam! Right into the side of my skull.” He tapped the side of his head while he took another strip jerky from off the plate in the center of the table. The two men sat in the middle of the overseer’s lounge, which was more or less a smaller cafeteria for the two selected individuals who had to watch over the sleeping passengers and maintain the ship while it slowly drifted through deep space. The lounge was a small room, about eight yards in width and ten in length. Just enough space to keep the two comfortable. In the far left corner from the door was a small kitchen with a counter, a fridge, and a sink; while the other side was occupied by a shelf with a handful of old movies and books that were beside a T.V. Across from that was a small couch, beyond which was the table both men were sitting at exchanging pleasantries.

“For a minute there,” Nelson said, taking a bite he spoke with his mouthful, which bothered Johnny, but he said nothing. “I thought I was going to die, and I was close, too. But before I blacked out, in came the Commander with his rifle, bam!–” Nelson slammed his palm on the table which sent the plate rattling, and Johnny reaching for his glass of water so it wouldn’t spill. “He rammed his rifle into its head, and the crazy bastard just slumped to the floor.”

Keeping the glass still, John looked at Nelson with an unconvinced look. “How come you weren’t infected?” Johnny asked leaning in, he grabbed himself a plate and scooped a small pile of hash onto it.

“Excuse me?” Nelson gulped down the last of his breakfast.

“Well, you said he was punching you. Upon first contact you should have caught the virus.” Johnny said. Scooping a spoonful of hash into his mouth, he chewed quietly.

“He was wearing gloves, and thank God for that! I nearly crapped myself because at that very second, that same thought crossed my mind,” Nelson said as he got up from his spot. His plate in his hand, he walked over to the sink and rinsed it off before placing it in the washer.

“So, did you listen to Caroline’s and DeSilva’s logs yet?” Johnny asked as he reached for his glass of water.

“Yeah, and not much really happened.” Nelson dried his hands on a dish towel and made his way over to the couch. “They fixed the small leak in the hydroponic farm, bad thing is half the crops died and they had to replant them. So you and I aren’t going to be having any fresh vegetables any time soon. I hope you like canned and hash.” He chuckled quietly. “Also, we should be receiving information from the drones back at Earth in a couple of...” Nelson glanced over at the digital clock mounted above the door, “Minutes... maybe ten. Besides those minor inconveniences, we have a few pipes that need tightening... and some computers that need monitoring... shit man, we don’t have that much to do.” Nelson waved his arms in the air, only to have them fall back down and smack his knees.

“This isn’t the first shift I’ve been on where I had nothing to do,” Johnny said as he swallowed the last bit of hash. Getting up, he did the same as Nelson, rinse off the plate and stick it in the washer; drying his hands on the dish towel, he tossed it onto the counter. “Well, might as well tighten those pipes. Don’t want any leaks sprouting up, we’ve already lost enough water as it is.”

:[-]:

“Oi, how much do you got left down there?” Nelson shouted over the loud rumbling of Horizon’s mighty engines and running water.

“Three more, how about you?” Johnny yelled back. He was on his knees right in front of a wall of pipes that occasionally fired a jet of steam through the small creases. He wiped the sweat off his brow; the intense heat felt as if it was killing him. The blue polo he had found in his room clung to his chest. Clamping the monkey wrench around the first of the three remaining bolts, he began to tighten it as if he was in some sort of competition, trying to get his work done as quickly as possible so he could get out of the belly of this beast.

“Only two more!” Nelson replied. Raising his arms he did his best to dry the sweat off his face. “Goddamn I wish them engineers would install air conditioning down here!”

Johnny chuckled. “Same here,” he agreed so quietly that Nelson didn’t hear him. Finishing the first of the three, bolts he moved onto the second.

“Say, sir... did you have any loved ones?” Nelson unexpectedly called over a loud hiss of steam.

Johnny eyes fell for a second, the question catching him completely off guard. A few moments passed of just sitting there staring at the floor. Finally, he sighed and got back to work. “Yes,” he called back, not really wanting to discuss this at the very moment. Not wanting to waste a conversation, he decided to humor the boy, “I have a daughter back in the vaults.”

“How old is she?” Nelson asked as he tightened his last bolt. He stepped back away from the wall of pipes and turned to face Johnny.

Johnny, who was just now finishing his last bolt.  replied, “Ten years old... She turned ten only a few days before the collapse,” With one last twist,  he released the wrench and let it hang there on the pipe. “Well... now I’d say she’s about... six thousand some years old.” He chuckled sadly.

Nelson approached him. “A shame you couldn’t bring her long, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said honestly.

Johnny stood up and cracked his back. “Even if they said she was healthy, I wouldn’t have been able to bring her any way.”

“Why is that?” Nelson asked, curious.

“She was al–”

Johnny was cut off by the loud booming echo of the ship’s A.I. “Lifeforms detected repeat, life forms detected on planetary surface. All overseers please report to the central control room. Repeat, life forms detected...” The A.I. continued to repeat the same message another three times before finally falling silent.

The two overseers sat there staring dumbly at  the ceiling, as if they were waiting for a sign. “Wai... What?” Nelson mumbled slowly as the message sank into his head. His eyes widened, and he sprung into a full on sprint towards the elevator at the far end of the corridor.

Seconds later, Johnny was following shortly behind. “It has to be the data from Caroline's drones!” Nelson shouted back, as if Johnny didn’t already know this. “They must have picked up traces of some lifeforms years ago! Whoo!” Nelson cheered happily like a young kid who had just beaten his brother’s high score.

:[-]:

The large spherical central control room came to life as the doors slid open and the duo ran in. Both of them nearly stumbled over the loose wires that were strung across the floor, linking up the many machines to the center prototype hologlobe now materializing in front of them. “Computer,” Nelson shouted as he leapt over a chair that was left in the center of the room by its previous occupants, “Status report.”

A large monitor that hung from the ceiling behind the hologlobe flickered to life. Vast amounts of numbers and letters littered the screen like something out of the Matrix movie. At least, that’s what Johnny thought as he examined the screen. To him it didn’t make a lick of sense. Looking over at Nelson, he saw that the boy had the largest shit eating grin he’d ever seen. “What’s it saying?” he asked.

Nelson turned his head over to Johnny before snapping back towards the screen. “They’re life signatures! They’re bloody life signatures!” Nelson’s excitement bursted like a balloon.

Johnny glanced back at the screen, now overflowing with numbers and letters. “It’s like they’re all sprouting up simultaneously...” he said in wonderment, as he approached the machine.

“Now that you mention it, they are...” Nelson turned away from the screen and made his way towards the nearest computer. Pulling up a chair he sat down and began observing the data first hand. “The scan for life began thirty years prior and finished ten years after...” he mumbled to himself while reading over the information.

“So you’re saying over the span of four decades, life just... popped up?” Johnny looked over his shoulder.

“Judging by what this says... yeah...” He trailed off.

“Is that even possible?” Johnny walked over, and leaned over Nelson’s shoulder to observe the information himself. “Hassel and the Lab coats said that the Earth was destined to be a frozen wasteland for thousands of years... maybe even longer.”

“I-I don’t know,” Nelson shrugged. “I only work with computers and numbers, so I got nothing...”

“Could it be a bug?” Johnny asked.

“Why would there be a...” Nelson stopped, his eyes focusing on the monitor that stopped producing information. Leaning in, he got a closer look.

Johnny shifted his weight from foot to foot, confused as to why Nelson stopped so abruptly.  “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah... b-but don’t worry, it’s fine.” He quickly added at the end. “For some reason, drone forty six stopped transmitting information... along with forty seven, and eight.” He said as he worked. Johnny didn’t speak, but instead he continued to let Nelson workout the situation. “Oh shit...” He cursed under his breath.

“What happened?” John asked, hiding his nervousness deep inside.

“Forty seven and forty six must’ve collided and gotten pulled into the planet’s atmosphere...” Nelson said, and, as if on cue, two messages appeared on the monitor. “Right here,” he said tapping the screen. “At exactly October 12th, 8002 at oh eight hundred, drones forty seven and forty six signaled their distress calls only hours apart from each other.”

“Are you still able to access their data banks now?” Johnny asked.

Nelson looked back at him dumbly. “Well, not now, they're both probably eroded away.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Well, the information that the drone transmitted, are you able to receive anything else from it after it crash landed.”

“I doubt it... at the velocity they were going at, I doubt on collision let alone the impact on the planet’s surface, they’d be blown to dust...” Nelson said.

“Those drones are made of the strongest alloys on Earth, they could survive a nuclear shock wave and only make it out with a few scratches. I doubt one collision and a crash landing would even dent these suckers.” He said gazing at the screen. “See if you can get any visuals from the ground with the camera.”

Nelson looked at Johnny and shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do.” Leaning forward in his seat, he began to type, and in the matter of a few short seconds, a flickering window appeared on the screen. Static, along with the occasional sound of a crackling fire, poured through the speakers. The image on the monitor flickered on and off, distorting the picture it tried to present, but the sound came through cleanly, despite the static

“Wha–everypo–ack–” Words. The two men were hearing actual words coming through the speakers!

“My God...” Johnny whispered, his eyes wide in shock. People... other living, breathing people, human beings that were on Earth. “We actually made it.”

Chapter 2: Homecoming

The briefing room was dark and quiet save for the few murmurs from the lab coats and some generals. William Keshiner, a large built man with a brown buzz cut, sighed and glanced down at the pamphlet he was holding in his right hand. The front of the pamphlet read, in large red words, “Classified,” and just below them were the words: Project Icarus.

William hadn’t really figured out what the pictures on the document were trying to represent. Upon opening it he was greeted with blueprints and diagrams that looked to be something straight out of a Star Wars film. Just then the door on the other side of the room opened, and in came the commander-in-chief, Alan Crawski, being escorted by two guards and a lone scientist.

“ATEN-HUT!” commanded a stern, deep voice from the front. Everyone in the room rose, backs straight and stiff. In the front of the room, the man that had come in from the far left, along with the scientist, positioned himself behind the podium.

“At ease,” said the voice again, and everyone sat back down.

“As many of you may already know," Alan spoke as he stepped out from behind the podium, "Headquarters lost contact with Fort McClellan two nights ago, exactly two minutes after losing contact with Fort Rucker. We are to assume the bases were attacked simultaneously.” The man stopped for a brief moment, letting what he had just said sink in. In the back, a woman slowly stood up. “Yes, Dr. MacLean?”

“Have there been any signs of any survivors, sir?” she asked.

Alan shook his head. “Not as of yet, no." The woman slowly sat back down. Just beside her a second hand shot up. "Yes Dr. Carol?” Alan asked as he turned towards the other scientist. The scientist stood up from his chair.

“What about whoever attacked these bases? Do we have any pictures or recordings; something that will let us know what we’re up against?” the doctor’s voice wavered.

Alan nodded his head. “That we do. I was actually just about to get to that, Dr. Carol," he then turned towards the scientist sitting just a few feet away from him. "Dr. Hassel, could you bring up the photograph.”

The lab coat nodded his head silently as he picked up the remote from the table in front of him. Turning around, he activated the projector on the ceiling, which shot a blurred image onto the wall. The picture contained a strange, mutilated creature, comprised entirely of other creatures and strange animals the men had never heard of before. The “Chimera” looking creature was shown to be flying over the burning wreckage of Fort Rucker.

William raised an eyebrow, and glanced up at the commander-in-chief. Alan had his eyes locked on the image as he spoke, “This creature is what we assume to be the cause of the devastation of both forts McClellan and Rucker.”

“You’re kidding, right, sir? You said that McClellan and Rucker were attacked at the same time,” pointed out one of the soldiers in the back.

“That’s because they were, Lieutenant Michaels. They were attacked by this creature at approximately three-thirty in the morning while our men were still in bed. We believe this creature holds an unbelievable amount of power, a power that we humans have yet to obtain. That is why on the day of the attack we dubbed this extraterrestrial being Archangel. The United Nations has given the all clear that; “Any and all personnel to see Archangel have the green light to engage.” But be warned, Archangel, as I've said thus far, has been known for his agility, strength, speed and…” The commander-in-chief trailed off into silence, after he took a deep breath he spoke up, “And his ability to bend the laws of physics themselves.” Whispers began to murmur themselves into existence around William. “Thirty years ago the Japanese began a project, known as Project Ikarusu, or Icarus to us.”

Dr. Hassel clicked a button on the remote that changed the picture on the screen to a much larger photo of a massive half built ship, which was slightly bigger than an American destroyer. “This here, ladies and gentlemen, is humanity’s final act in case things decide to take a turn for the worse. This here is Starship Horizon.” He flung his right arm out wide. “She weighs exactly twelve thousand and thirty-two tons, and in theory, can reach speeds of over one hundred thousand miles per hour, while maintaining the capacity to hold three hundred of our top personnel.” Alan cleared his throat. “Starting today, ladies and gentlemen, the United Nations has agreed for us to reboot the project.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but what exactly would we need a starship for? If Archangel is our only enemy, couldn’t we just blast it into oblivion?” asked a young soldier, standing by the back door.

“Private, if only it were that easy." Alan snorted, "Fort McClellan and Rucker had over one thousand armed personnel on the premises, and all were wiped out in a matter of minutes. If Archangel does prove to be successful in its operation to wipe all human history off this planet, if that's its intention, the U.N. has agreed to launch Operation Lazarus.” Alan took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair before speaking. “Across the globe, in almost every major country, are large underground fallout shelters which reach depths of three hundred feet. The vaults we will be using were built during the Cold War in case of a nuclear fallout, but are now being expanded and improved upon. The day before we launch Horizon into the stars, we’ll begin the evacuation process. Three days after that we’ll launch every nuclear missile on the planet at Archangel, the only flaw with this plan is… the Earth’s surface will be destroyed in the process–”

A man in the back raised his hand. “What do you mean by “the planet’s surface will be destroyed”?”

“If zee bombs do go off,” Dr. Hassel spoke up for the first time. He got up out of his chair and stepped forward, so that he was standing in front everyone. “Zee amount of radiation and pollution vill cause a nuclear vinter, vich vill zen block out zee sun across zee entire planet. Zus plunging zee vorld into another ice age, and vith the sun blocked out due to zee amount of  radiation and pollution in zee planet’s atmosphere, zee planet vill literally freeze to death; zus killing all life forms on zee planet's survace.”

A soldier in the front stood up. “How long would it take for everything to die out,” he asked nervously. “Is it like an instant death?”

“Nein, zee process vould take about a veek,” the doctor deadpanned.

The soldier slowly sat down. “Slow and painful… That’s all you had to say,” He murmured to himself.

“So, ladies and gentlemen, your mission is, if things do go to Hell.” Alan’s voice became low. “Will be to journey off into the absolute unknown, wait for things to settle down back here and–”

“With all due respect, sir, I’m going to have to stop you right there.” William said as he stood up. Alan motioned for him to continue. “But, what do you mean we have to go off into the unknown. We have families and children here, there’s no way I’m going off into space and letting you destroy our planet, just so you can stop one creature…”

“I’m sorry, Commander, but we have no choice, and nobody better to choose from besides all you individuals,” the Chief said without any emotion in his voice.

“What about my wife and chi–”

“Leave them, Commander." William cringed. "It’s either your wife and child or the entirety of the human race. Choose now, Commander, because what happens now will change the fate of humanity,” the Chief said. William remained silent. Furrowing his brow, he slowly sat back down in his seat.

“What about the vaults, Chief? Won’t our families survive down there?” a soldier over by the door asked.

“Zee probability of anybody surviving zee nuclear vinter is below ten percent,” responded Dr. Hassel.

The room fell silent for a few moments, save for the quiet breaths coming from the scientists and soldiers. After a few moments of silence, Alan finally spoke, “This session is dismissed; all of you are free to go say your possible final goodbyes to your families. Be back here by tomorrow morning at oh eight hundred hours.”

:[-]:

A searing hiss made its way into William’s ears, with a metallic clank the pod he was sleeping in opened up, steam billowing out of the machine. William’s eyes opened slowly, as he numbly swung his legs over to the side and pulled himself up into a sitting position. William ran his hand under his eyes, trying to get the crust out from under them. His stomach groaned and a wave of nausea almost overwhelmed him, his empty stomach yearning for nutrition.

“Fire team Six, please report to central control in zero-three hundred.”   Johnny’s voice boomed throughout the ship’s hull. “We’ll be descending into the planet’s atmosphere in seventy-two hours.”

“Wait... what?!” William’s eyes shot towards the intercom that was just beside the clock. “What the hell happened while I was out?” Will said to no one in particular. His eyes began to wander about the room he was in. Empty stasis chambers lined the walls on either side of the room. William, still sitting in his stasis chamber, eyed the empty pods. “Where is everyone?” he asked out loud.  “Why am I the last one being awakened...?” Grasping onto the edge of the pod he pushed himself out, landing on the chilled metal floor.

He winced as the blood in his feet ran cold. Gazing about, he searched for the locker that would contain his clothes and his gear. After a few seconds of searching, he found the locker just beside the door along with the others. Inputting his combination, he opened it up and quickly got dressed in his white tank top and green cargo pants. Slipping on his tennis shoes, he reached into his locker and grabbed his firearm and holster, which he then strapped to his belt.

“Nice to see you’re finally awake, commander.” William nearly jumped out of his skin. Spinning around he saw a tall, slender woman with long brown hair. Her eyes were a bright green and she was wearing a grey suit with a purple undershirt.

“Jesus, Angela!” he cursed. “You nearly scared the life out of me.”

She chuckled and walked up alongside William. “Still a bit edgy I see?”

William raised an eyebrow as she got closer. The girl seemed a few years older since the last time he saw her. “Who wouldn’t be?” he said. "With our entire race on the verge of extinction, I think everyone here is a little tense."

She snickered. "You’d think,” she placed a hand on his chest and gave him a predatory smirk. “With there only being a few of us left–”

William silenced her by gently grabbing a hold of her wrist. “Angela,” His voice was stern. “I told you last time, I’m not interested. I have a wife back on Earth.” He lied then released her hand and allowed her to back away. William took hold of the railing to his left and stepped around it so he could go up the steps towards the door. “But don’t get me wrong,” he glanced over his shoulder, a grin on his face. “I am flattered.” With that, he opened the door and began heading towards the main control room.

:[-]:

“Zis is incredible, Mr. Convay.” said Dr. Ludvig Hassel, an elderly scientist known for his dabbling in both biology and physics.

Johnny smiled and watched the scientist as he once again placed the large headphones over his ears, so he could listen to the audio recovered from the drone crash. Around him, the usually empty control room was now bustling with young men and women, most sitting at computers taking measurements and readings of Earth’s surface, which they were now orbiting. “We uncovered it on my sixth shift six thousand years ago, we tried making contact with them but just like the first few years after departure... coms still won’t work.”

“Zat is odd indeed, how about now? Has Mr. Grimes tried setting up zee laser communications relay?” Hassel asked as he placed the headphones back on its stand.

Johnny shrugged. “Last I spoke to the lad; he was in the middle of talking to some girls back down in engineering.”

Hassel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zat boy may be good at vat he does... but at times he makes me vant to hit him.”

John chuckled. “Go ahead, no one's stopping you. Matter of fact, half the crew would probably appreciate it.” The doctor laughed.

On the far end of the room, the door right under the main screen opened and in came Commander William, followed by his four squad mates. “Ah, Commander,” Hassel beamed at the sight of his old friend. He stood up from his chair and approached him.

William smiled and offered his right hand. The doctor took it, but instead of shaking it he pulled the man into a close hug. “Whoa now,” Will laughed.

“It is nice to see you, friend. How have sings been going for you?” Hassel broke the hug and looked William in the eyes.

William scratched the back of his neck. “Well, aside from fighting in a massive battle, then going to sleep for nearly twelve thousand years... great, I guess.” He chuckled.

Johnny smiled at the sight of the two playing catch up, but not wanting to hold things up any further he cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Commander Keshiner.” Both the commander and doctor looked at him. One of the soldiers in the back, a red headed female, jabbed one of her squad mates in the side, gathering the rest of the crew’s attention. “The admiral has requested that we send a research team down to the planet’s surface as soon as possible.” John said briefly.

“Alright, I’m betting he wants to send my squad and I to go protect a few lab coats while they look at some trees and rocks?” Will guessed.

“Precisely,” Johnny said as he picked up a nearby remote from off the computer desk he was standing in front of. He clicked the power button and the monitor came to life, revealing an overhead view of their drop zone. “Your team, along with the science division, will be dropped off here. While Dr. Hassel and his team work, I want you and your squad to scout out the surrounding area.”

“How are we for communications?” Will asked. “Has anyone been able to get it to work yet?”

“Currently, no, like I told the doctor here, Nelson was flirting with the girls down in engineering.” John said in a monotone.

Will sighed and shook his head. “I swear I’m going to beat that kid to a pulp...” he growled.

Hassel chuckled. “Not to worry though, Commander. It’ll take the Condor about four to five hours to reach the planet’s surface. By then Nelson should have communications up and running. For now, there are drones now scouting the planet’s surface hoping to find any signs of civilization... That’s if they made it this far since we last heard from them.”

“Oh I bet zay did,” Dr. Hassel crossed his arms. “Vith zee amount of technology vee left behind, you could start vorld var three...” Hassel said as he walked towards the monitor. “I vill rally my top scientists, ve’ll be ready in a matter of twenty minutes.”

William nodded his head. “Alright then, I’ll see to it that my team is prepared before then.” He turned away from the two. “Come on now,” he said to his four squad mates, “get on down to the barracks and prep yourselves, we got work to do.”

“Yes sir,” they said and followed behind the commander.

Johnny sighed and turned away once William and his men were out of sight. He eyed the screen that held the overhead view of the drop point, “I still can’t believe it,” he said under his breath.

“Excuse me?” Hassel cocked an eyebrow.

“The Earth,” Johnny cleared his throat. He could really use a drink right now. “The fact that it was able to recover so fast...” He saw Hassel out of the corner of his eye turning to face him. “Doc, you even said it yourself, that the Earth wasn’t going to reform for another few thousand years.”

“In seory yes, but like I just said Johnny, zat it was only a seory. Must've been a minor miscalculation, zat is all.” Johnny shrugged, and then Hassel snorted. “Or vee loss track of zee time and over sirty sousand years has passed.”

John chuckled. “That’s always a possibility, I just never thought I’d see this place again... at least not in this magnificent state.”

Hassel smiled and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “It has been nice talking to you, lad. But it is time zat I start rounding up my men.”

John smirked and took his eyes off the screen for a few seconds to look at his friend. “I guess I’ll be talking to you once you guys are on the ground.”

“Indeed you vill,” Hassel stepped back and made his way towards the exit that led down into the research department.

Once Hassel was gone, all that was left was Johnny and the few men and women that were left working on the computers. John slipped his hand into his pocket and took out his old wallet he’d kept hidden safely away in his locker. He opened the wallet and smiled at the picture of a young eight year old girl. In the photo she was wearing an old hand-me-down Ohio State jersey and a pair of baggy jeans. She was smiling at the camera. Behind her was a man and a woman, Johnny and his wife Stacey; John was wearing his service uniform. His hand resting on his daughter’s, Amy’s, shoulder. This was the day Johnny came home for the holiday.

His brother, Arin, was the one who took the picture, “So did you bring back any battle scars yet?” He remembered him asking when he stepped into the lobby and was greeted with a tight bear hug.  Johnny could remember laughing and telling him that he didn’t fight on field, he never had... before the collapse that is, when the Sleepers were storming Headquarters and slaughtering everyone. Johnny barely made it out alive that day–

John shook his head. Now was not the time to think about the past. He went over the photograph one last time before closing it and stuffing it back into his pocket. It would only be a matter of days before they began cracking open the vaults to make sure that, if anyone was alive down there, they got woken up. That is, unless the people from the recording they heard were still alive... their kid’s kids, that is.

“Sir,” Said the voice of man that was working at one of the computers.

“What is it?” John looked over at him.

“We’ve just received our latest footage from drone sixty-two,” he said.

“Throw it up on main screen,” John stepped back from the table. He stepped past the holo-globe so that he had a clear view of the screen.

“She’s coming up there now, sir,” said the girl John was standing behind.

With a small amount of static followed by the occasional flicker, the image came up clearly. From a skyward view, the drone’s camera was trained on a large valley of fire and lava. John glanced over back at the boy. “What’s the drone's position now?”

“Forty four point six degrees north, hundred ten point five degrees west, she’s right above Yellowstone, sir...” The man trailed off into silence and focused back onto his work.

“Jesus...” Johnny gazed at the fiery image. “I remember going there as a kid.”

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a black shadow swooped past the screen and instantly everything went to black. Startled by this sudden outburst, Johnny jolted back cursing under his breath. The room fell silent. “What was that?” someone asked.

Johnny scratched the back of his neck, eyes wide. “You there,” he pointed at the brown haired girl he was standing behind, “see if you can rewind a few seconds back.”

“Y-yes, sir,” she stuttered, her eyes wide by the sudden jump scare that got all of them.

“Central,” another voice came from behind. “We’ve lost contact with sixty-two. I can’t get any readings off it.”

“Impossible!” Johnny shot up. “Those drones are built to withstand nearly anything!”

“With all due respect, sir, they clearly weren’t built to withstand whatever the hell that was–”

“Can it, Charlie!” Charlie’s friend, Derek, snapped.

“Video is ready for replay, sir,” the woman in front of Johnny said.

“Play it,” he ordered.

The girl nodded her head and pressed the button to start the video, again the image flickered and displayed the picture of the now volcanic Yellowstone. Clenching his fist and trying to remember the exact moment in the video when this mysterious creature of sorts would appear. He gritted his teeth and– “Pause it!” He commanded and right away the video stopped, right as the dark figure appeared on screen. “Brighten the image, I want to see exactly what we're dealing with here.”

With a few keystrokes the darkness that enveloped a large portion of the picture tinted ever so slightly to reveal few key details. “What in the name of...” Derek muttered.

“Are those scales?” someone asked.

“It’s a bloody dinosaur!” another shouted.

“Caroline,” Johnny took his eyes off the monitor and looked to the woman standing back by the holo-globe, “get engineering on the phone and tell them I want those condors equipped with turrets immediately.”

“Right away, Central,” She nodded and got to work.

Turning his gaze back towards the image of the massive winged beast, with teeth the length of swords, Johnny gulped. “What in God’s name have we done...”

Chapter 3: Preparation

William placed his ballistics vest on his bed alongside his pads and gas mask. Getting onto one knee, he checked under his bed for his weapon and, reaching under, he grasped onto its hard plastic case. He pulled it out and tossed it onto his bed along with his other supplies. Popping it open, Will found his M4A1 neatly tucked away in its case. He smiled at his old friend, he had had gotten him out of so many hectic situations, that he could probably count every scratch on it and tell the story of how the weapon got it.

William grabbed a hold of the gun and popped it out of the case, getting used to the weapon’s weight. He held it up in a firing position; it had been a good while since he fired a gun. William began considering going down to the shooting range on the lower deck for some possible practice after he got back. A knock on his door snapped him back to reality. “What the…? Come in!” William said.

The door slowly eased its way open and in came an engineer dressed in a brown jump suit. He appeared to be pushing a large cart that flight attendants used to serve snacks to the passengers on a plane. “Sorry if I am interrupting, Commander, but I’m just doing what the Admiral and Dr. Hassel told me to do.”

“And what is that?” William asked.

The engineer pushed the cart into the center of the room. “I was told to give everyone who is going on the mission one of these tyvek suits.” He grabbed hold of one of the many light grey suits and handed it over to William. “Don’t worry if it fits or not, everyone on the ship has at least two specifically made for them. If this doesn’t fit, we’ll look for your other one.”

“Seems kind of pointless, don’t you think?” William said raising an eyebrow at the man. Regardless, he took the suit.

The man shrugged. “Hassel said that the planet could still be covered with radiation. Or something like that. I didn’t care enough to listen. I just work here… Sir,” he quickly added.

“Maybe you should start listening, boy,” William tossed the suit onto his bed, “Anything else?”

The engineer nodded. “Actually, there is,” he moved the grayish suits, only to reveal a stack of plastic crates that had been concealed underneath. “I was also told to give all of you one of these.”

The boy placed a crate on the ground and popped it open, revealing a pristine Russian AK. “What the hell do I need this for?” William exclaimed, pointing towards his M4, “I already have a gun.”

“Sir, permission to speak candidly.”

Reluctantly, William granted it. The engineer gazed down at William’s carbine, then back up to him with an unenthusiastic look. “Well, first off, Commander, I built weapons for living, and this AK here." The engineer patted the case. "Is a beautiful maiden compared that M4 lying on your bed." He snickered. "Besides, it’s not like we’re going to be fighting in any urban centers anytime soon.”

William jabbed his thumb back at the weapon laying on his bed. “Boy, I’ve been to hell and back with that weapon. You wanna know how many Sleepers I put in the dirt with that gun?”

“I thought they all died of lead poisoning, sir. But again; I. Just. Work. Here. So if you would please just take the weapon; I’ve got a strike team to insure the survival of.”

William sighed dismissively as he bent over to retrieve the box. “Fuck it, fine I’ll take the damn weapon. And I am choosing to ignore that insult to my manhood.”

“Thank you, sir. Now have a nice day,” the engineer sarcastically remarked as he got up and pushed his cart out. Only to stop at the door for a second. "One more thing, Commander. Just give it time, you'll come to love that weapon far more than your pea shooter, shit even my little boy could fire one of them AKs without a hitch."

William lifted the weapon box up off the ground, and placed it alongside his M4, which he then neatly packed back into its case. He placed his old weapon back under his bed. Rising up, he opened the AK's case. The light in the room shined off the weapon’s waxed surface. William couldn’t deny it, it was a rather nice weapon. He reached into the case and popped it out. It was heavier than his M4, that was for sure, but it wouldn’t be long until he got accustomed to it.

William took a quick look at the clock; fourteen minutes left till he needed to head to the hangar. William began to slip out of his civvies and into his field attire, sliding the tyvek suit over his field uniform. Next was his ballistics vest along with his protective pads. In a matter of minutes William looked as if he was prepped for war. He sighed and swung the straps of his gas mask around his neck. Opening his door, he made his way out into the hallway and towards the elevator on the far end. Going through door after door and pushing his way through the numerous engineers milling about, who were busy making sure the ship was well maintained. William reached the elevator and pushed the call button on the keypad. Seconds later the door slid open and he stepped in. William pushed the button that held the symbol of the hangar; the doors closed and he felt a sense of weightlessness as the elevator descended into the lower decks of the ship.

:[-]:

“Make sure those guns are in working condition!” ordered one of the engineer managers as he brushed past William and headed over towards the Condor that would be  taking the team back down to Earth. Surrounding it were a few engineers who were mounting large Gatling guns onto its sides. William honestly couldn’t see why they were adding them, it was unlikely that they were going to have to be dealing with anything on the ground, let alone in the air. Unless... A wild thought entered William’s mind; there were some crazy mutations while they were gone– Will shook his head.

“I’ve had too much time to myself,” he mumbled under his breath.

Large metallic thumps followed by a very robotic voice came from William’s right. “Excuse me, Commander. Large cargo coming through.” Snapping back to reality, William turned and stepped out of the way of a twenty foot Panzer MEC carrying a large metal crate.

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing with that?!” The same manager as before ran past William waving his arms like a madman at the MEC. “Are you blind? Storage room A is on the opposite end of the hangar you idiot!”

William shook his head and turned back towards the Condor. “-and I’m talking huge,” Looking towards the voice, William saw Deshaun, his Lieutenant, talking with his squad mates. He had perched himself on top of an ammo crate, and he was leaning from man to man, his arms gesturing as he spoke. “Like, this guy must’ve been lifting weights or something before he got infected. Next thing I know, this dude is—and I’m not kidding here—lifting this long ass metal pipe up off the ground. I’m talking forty, fifty pounds here, and he swings it at me. So I duck, right, and the tip of the pipe shatters the window behind me! I cock my arm back and punch the sucker in the gut.” Shaun cocked his arm back and punched the air, imitating the move he supposedly performed on the sleeper. “Like that,” he said, “but nothing happened. The bastard wouldn’t budge; he just looked at me and tilted his head like this.” For comedic effect, Shaun tilted his head stupidly to the side, the two men and the solitary woman who were listening chuckled.

William stopped just a few feet away from them and listened. “Right then and there I felt like I was going to start shitting bricks,” Shaun chuckled. “I thought I was done for, so right away I began making my peace with God, hoping that my life would end quickly.” Shaun laced his fingers together and pretended he was praying. “But then, as if God was watching me the whole time, he intervenes. And I'm talking divine intervention.” Shaun smirked. “In comes William with these two rifles, he jams one of them into the large fucker’s face and tosses me the other.”

William grinned and got closer towards the group as Shaun continued with his story. “I raised the rifle and I emptied the magazine into the deadbeat’s chest.” Shaun pretended he was holding his rifle. “But he wouldn’t drop! This dude was taking bullets like a fucking champ, I’ve never seen anything like it—it was like something straight of the Walking Dead. Except… he wasn’t fucking dead!”

William laughed. “Oh you should have seen the look on his face!” The soldiers glanced over at him.

“Hey Commander,” Shaun rose two fingers above his head and gave a brief salute. “I was just telling them about–”

“I know, I know, I heard the whole thing,” Will said, taking a seat on the ammo crate right beside Shaun. “And I have to say… you got half of the story right.” He smiled.

“What do you mean?” Stacy asked, running a hand through her red hair.

“He forgot the fact that he was in tears the whole time,” Will chuckled.

“Wait-what?!” Shaun eyes snapped open. “I was–I mean–wouldn’t you'd be in tears if you were this close to becoming one of them?” He spaced his thumb and index finger apart in a gesture to show how close he came to becoming a sleeper.

“Son, that very same one nearly strangled me to death with its pipe,” Will replied. “Now come on you pansy, Hassel and his coats will be showing up any second now. Start loading the rest of the supplies onto the drop ship.” William hopped off the crate.

“No need to worry about that, Commander. We already have it loaded up,” A soldier informed William

The Commander raised an eyebrow. “Well now, aren’t we ahead of schedule? Alright then,” he said, clapping his hands together. “As you were then. I’ll go check up on DeSilva,” William remarked, making his way towards the Condor, where a man in the cockpit sat fiddling with the controls.

:[-]:

DeSilva, a man of average height with long brown hair and a beard, sat back in the cockpit, sighing as he took a sip of the soda in his hand. It’d been what, over twelve thousand years since he last at in the cockpit of any aircraft? And that had probably been the most boring period of his life. He chuckled at the thought of being over twelve thousand years old. “That puts the meaning of old to a whole new level,” he murmured to himself as he took another swig of his soda and bent over to switch on the built in fan.

A thud came from behind him as the door to the cockpit slid open. Glancing out from behind the chair he saw Commander Keshiner step into the cockpit and take the seat right beside him. Resting his back against the leather seat, he gazed upwards and sighed. “You know,” DeSilva began, “you could’ve knocked.” He turned towards Keshiner as he put his soda in one of the cockpit’s numerous cup holders.

“Well… ya know, times change.” William stretched his arms out. “Goddamn! How can you sit in these things for so long?”

“You get used to it after a few years.” DeSilva reached back into the pouch he had strapped onto the side of the chair. After a few moments of digging around, he withdrew a small yellow CD. “After that,” he continued, “you don’t really notice it.” He placed the CD into the player that rested above the controls. Moments passed, then soothing orchestra music came through the speakers, “There ya go, that’s nice…–wait, no. I listened to you last time… oh– hang on... there we go. Haven’t listened to Beethoven in a while.” DeSilva sat back and smiled.

William looked at him confused. “When did you start listening to classical?”

DeSilva looked at him, a frown on his face. “Commander, I was your pilot for over six months during the war, and you’ve never noticed that I listen to this?”

William’s eyes wandered around as he shrugged. “Usually I’m not sitting in the cockpit with you, so how would I notice?”

“How did you not notice? I blare it through the damn– you know what? Never mind.” DeSilva grabbed his drink. “Speaking of you being in the cockpit with me,” he took a sip and gazed out the front windshield, “it’s not common for you to be in here with me.”

“So what?” William eyed his drink. “What are you doing with that?”

“Excuse me?” DeSilva looked at him through the corner of his eyes.

“Where did you get that pop?” William pointed at the red can completely bypassing the previous subject.

“Oh, this? I found a twelve pack down in refrigeration. Where they keep most of the canned goods, you know.” He grinned and took a large sip. Lowering the can away from his lips, he offered it out to William. “Wanna sip?”

William pushed the can away with his left hand, a disappointed look on his face. “So you’re the one who’s been taking all our pop.” His voice was stern.

“Wait, what?” DeSilva jolted back. “What are you talking about?”

“The Admiral said it himself, all luxury foods and drinks must be saved for important situations.” William crossed his arms, much like how a father would when he’s scolding his child.

DeSilva’s jaw dropped and his eyes darted towards the window, then back at the can, then back towards the window again. This continued for several seconds. “B-b-but–” he stammered, “this is an important situation, we’re about to return to Earth! And more importantly, how does soda fall under luxury?” DeSilva quickly retorted. “This shit practically kills your innards.”

Will shrugged. “Hey, I’m not the one who makes the rules. In the words of an acquaintance: ‘I just work here’.” He leaned over and reached under DeSilva’s seat to retrieve the six pack of the contraband goods. He took a can and popped the tab, and promptly chugged most of the cola. The taste felt alien in his mouth and William wanted to spit it out. It’d been so long since he had actually had soda that his taste buds had grown accustomed to water and hash. Swallowing the carbonated liquid, William clenched his teeth and rapidly shook his head. “Gah, Jesus! Whoa!” He chuckled to himself.

“You know, I like how you were just telling me it’s not right that I’m drinking this stuff,” DeSilva smiled, “yet here you are helping yourself.”

William took another swig and wiped his lips with his sleeve. “Well, what was wrong was the fact that you were drinking it yourself.” He placed his can in a cup holder. “Yes, you were right about the fact that what is going on now is rather important, and I think it should deserve a drink to go with it.”

DeSilva looked confused. “I’m afraid I’m not following what you are saying, sir.”

“You have a whole twelve pack for Christ sake! Don’t drink by yourself. Share some of it will ya!” He laughed.

“Gentlemen.” Both men in the cockpit spun around quickly, only to see Dr. Hassel standing in the doorway. Behind him both men could see the scientists loading onto the ship, the soldiers just behind them. “I’ve just gotten vord zat vee vill be taking off shortly.”

“When? I haven’t even received a damn alert 30 from mother yet!” DeSilva said.

Hassel raised an eyebrow, “Vell, Mr. Pavlovich, maybe if you’d just turn down zee music and actually paid attention to zee comms, you vould.”

DeSilva turned away. “Sorry.” He reached over and switched the music off, bending over to turn on the comm link.

Hassel shook his head. Looking at William, he smiled. “Ahh, it is nice to see you here, Villiam.”

William got up from his chair. “Hello, Doc.” He glanced over Hassel’s shoulder and back at the men and women boarding the shuttle. “I see that you and your men are ready.”

Hassel nodded and ducked back into the other room. William followed. “Indeed I haf–excuse me–have,” he cleared his throat as he corrected himself. “Ve’ve just finished loading zee supplies into zee cargo bay, so ve’re just vaiting for Johnny to give zee all clear.”

"Well, how convenient,” DeSilva grumbled as he popped open another can. He had his headset on, along with a pair of completely unneeded sunglasses. “Central has just now given me the green light for takeoff.” He flipped down the mic that was attached to the side of the headset. “I’m reading you loud and clear, Central.”

Hassel patted Will’s shoulder as he motioned back towards the seats with a jerk of his head. William nodded in understanding and followed him towards the back. Both men sat down and began to strap themselves in. The cockpit door closed at the same time as the side doors, which were now fitted with large Gatling guns. The guns automatically pulled back and folded up so that the doors could shut and seal themselves, creating an airtight seal. “Alright, ladies, I’ve just been given the all clear. In a matter of seconds we’ll begin our descent back down to Earth. Oh and one last thing, I hope ya’ll brought pillows and a pair of pajamas. It’s a five hour trip.”

“Everyone locked in?” Asked Michael, a tall, relatively thin soldier with short cut brown hair and green eyes; the man had a smile on his face, and was gazing back and forth at everybody. Everyone spoke up in the affirmative. “I can’t believe it,” Michael stated, his voice nearly trembling with excitement. “I never thought we’d be returning to Earth. When do you guys think we’ll be cracking open the vaults?”

“Probably not for another month,” replied Doug Miller, a particularly fat scientist who was sitting beside Stacy. The poor girl looked as if she was trying to put as much distance between herself and the man as possible before she suffocated beneath him.

Michael frowned. “Why so long?” The VTOL shook violently for a second as latches attached it to a cargo elevator, allowing it to slowly descend into the lower decks of the ship, creaking and groaning all the way.

“Because we need to check–” the drop ship lurched a bit to one side, startling everyone. “Dammit! When are they going to oil those gears?” Doug asked no one in particular. “Anyway, as I was saying,” His eyes returned to Michael, “we’ll have to run tests on the planetary surface.”

“What kind of tests?” Stacey asked for the sake of conversation, still trying her best to scooch away, but to her displeasure the straps kept her in place.

“Mainly biological,” Doug began to explain. “The differences in animal life, such as mutations or even just new types of species that might have sprung up over time. Same goes for the plant life. Due to us being gone for so long and the amount of radiation that organisms were exposed to, we need to check and see what’s safe and what’s not. Another thing is we’ll be testing the oxygen–”

“Why would we need to test the air?” Michael tilted his head and gave Doug a confused look.

“Well, radiation is the main reason. Another is that with all the dust and pollution that the bombs blasted into our planet’s atmosphere, we assume the Earth would have trouble restoring to it’s original self, let alone removing the chemicals that might have been whipped up into the atmosphere. If our theories are correct, we could breathe in some new type of pathogen, which could be very harmful to all of us due to our bodies not having any type immunity to it.” Doug took a deep breath and ran a hand through his short black hair.

Shaun, who was listening to the conversation just across from Doug, turned and looked at him. “So, you’re saying the Earth’s air is so dirty, that it’s harmful to us?”

“Well, I can assure you there’s much more to it than that,” Doug stated, “That’s why we’re bringing these masks and tyvek suits along, in case the air or environment is irradiated and toxic.”

“I fucking hate these plastic suits,” Stacey, who at this point had given up and moved to a different seat to escape Doug’s girth, grumbled.

“So,” Nervous at the previous thought Deshaun began to change the subject, “we’ve got to watch over you guys while you look at duckies and bunnies?”

Doug smiled. “If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll see a mutated Bugs Bunny.”

“Shit, now that’d be interesting.” Deshaun chuckled.

The speakers suddenly crackled with static, with DeSilva’s voice quickly following through. “Alright, I hope all of you are buckled in, we’re taking off in T-minus thirty seconds.”

William shifted in his seat, “Hey, Hassel,” he yawned, suddenly feeling tired.

“Hmm?” Hassel looked up from his book he had brought with him.

“Wake me up ten minutes before we land.” William rested his head back against his seat.

“Sure, sing Villiam.” Hassel turned the page and continued on reading; William yawned and closed his eyes right as the ship shuddered and shot off into the vacuum of space.

...

Editors Notes:

Well, this is my first editor’s note. HI GUYS!! Your resident Grammar Nazi, reporting in! Never knew what kind of work went into editing, until I found this sentence, and I am quoting Nebula here: “I live a bit to the northwest of east of the south in the middle.” I am the guy you can thank for not seeing that kind of sentence. Oh! And for the commas.

With love in that no-homo way,

        -Wulf95

Other Editors Notes:

Yeah, there was some funky writing when I was the only editor on this, now it seems YOU get to deal with that Wulf, while I just have to clean up little mistakes such as "any time vs anytime" or "passed vs past". Ah, the easy life. It is good. Wait.... Nazi!?! Not now! It's Passover!!!!

-Isaac3924

P.S. The alert 30 and mother thing is pilot jargon I found online, I hope I'm using it right, but if anyone reading this is part of the air force and actually knows how to use these words, go ahead and rag on me as much as you want. Now Imma go eat some Matzah Ball soup! At 2 AM!

Chapter 5: Grizzly

Chapter 5: Grizzly

With a resounding thud and a metallic hiss, the doors to the drop ship opened, revealing its human cargo. “Alright everyone,” Commander William Keshiner said, his voice muffled by the gas mask that was draped over his face, “keep your eyes peeled and your ears open!”

“Sir yes sir!” The five soldiers standing behind him chorused, activating the radios velcroed to their chest.

“Keep your comms on at all times!” William ordered as he too switched on his radio. “And don’t lose sight of your lab coat at any time! Is everyone ready? Then let’s move!”

:[-]:

For nearly two hours, William and Shaun did nothing interesting as they stood around, helping a large scientist dig around in some undergrowth. Judging by where the moon sat in the clear night sky, William guessed that it was currently about midnight. Will couldn’t fathom why his superiors would order this operation to be done at night. Was it simply a communication error? Was there some sort of typo in the briefing? Or did the sun hate them and decide to go down right as they were landing?

Regardless of why he was here, William couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was a sobering fact that where he was standing right now was most likely once controlled by mankind. That at some time in the past, it might have been a city, a highway. Or maybe it was someone’s house, a place of many cherished family memories. And now it was nothing but a grassy field surrounded by hills and mountains as far as the eye could see, it was a little depressing. To his right was Doug Miller, an overweight scientist who was currently hunched over examining an odd bush covered with blue flowers. The fact that said bush was growing right on the edge of a large, ominous looking forest seemed to be lost on Doug. Doug was a pretty neat guy in William’s opinion, unlike most of the other scientists on Horizon. Which amazed him when he learned that they were considered Earth’s ‘Best and Brightest’. For the way some of them acted though, they might as well be called ‘The World’s Biggest Pricks.’ But Doug was simply nicer than the rest. Though smart, he still had his flaws and, frankly was a little weird. Despite being smarter than all of the non-lab coats, he jumped in to lend a hand whenever he could, regardless of the task. And even better, he spoke normal English whenever he could get away with it, albeit using some words that would make an English teacher proud.

Even so, William was very thankful that Doug was this pleasant to be around. Even after over two hours of being in close proximity to him, Will still wasn’t feeling particularly annoyed enough to shout at him. In fact, Will had actually enjoyed the time since leaving the shuttle; as he and Doug were having a quite enjoyable chat while working. Shaun had had stopped talking after about half an hour, deciding instead to whip out his cell phone despite the fact that there was no reception. After seeing that Shaun had begun playing games, William had ordered him to put the phone away and keep watch. Even though they were friends, Will was still Shaun’s superior and it surprised him to see Shaun being so casually thoughtless. It just went to show that even after years of knowing someone, they can still surprise you. Even when Shaun was acting like a careless child, his remarkable aim and his quick wit had sealed him a position on Horizon’s away team. Although that wit was almost entirely situational, as any of his friends would attest to; his quick thinking shined the brightest when thinking up escape routes, as he tended to lean towards cowardice. But if the job called for something he could do, Shaun would always step up to the plate. That is, provided someone else was willing to tag along and keep him covered.

“Alright, that should about do it,” Doug said as he snipped several of the pollen covered bits off of the bush and placed them into a small bag. Zipping the bag closed, Doug got back onto his feet. “Okay gentlemen,” Doug began as he unslung his backpack and stored his plant samples, “We need to head north another sixty-one meters before we’re done here.” Doug closed his pack and flung it back over his shoulders.

Standing up, William nudged his fellow soldier. Jumping a bit, Shaun woke up from his apparent daydream. “Already on it, Commander.” Grabbing the night vision binoculars resting around his neck, Shaun scanned the open field around them before turning north and heading up the hill in front of them. Doug following him as William brought up the rear. Upon reaching the top, Shaun knelt down and turned towards the other two. “Just to be safe, I don’t want either of you to crest the top of the hill until after I recon the area, ok?”

The two men nodded and Shaun turned back towards the valley raising his binoculars to his eyes, Shaun surveyed the area surrounding the group. Looking eastward he saw the nasty looking forest they had just been rooting through, while to the west the unmistakable silhouettes of mountains greeted him. Just below the mountains were fields of trees that looked to be lined up in perfect rows, each row parallel to the other. Making a note to mention this odd phenomenon later, Shaun continued his scan. Next he turned his vision north, where the lenses of his binoculars were met with a faint glow coming from a familiar looking object. Then it clicked, and Shaun’s jaw dropped. “Jesus! Commander, take a look at this!”

William, who was continuing his conversation with Doug, spun around and crawled up next to Shaun. “What is it?” William asked, looking in the direction of Shaun’s gaze. He couldn’t see as many of the details as Shaun could, but William could still make out the faint glow coming from the structure’s upper rear window.

“Take a look for yourself sir.” Shaun answered as he handed over the binoculars.

Will looked through the lenses, and his jaw dropped into a pose identical to Shaun’s. “Well I’ll be damned...” Lowering the binoculars, William cupped his hand around his radio and spoke. “Central, this is Commander Keshiner. Do you read, over?”

“This is Central. We read you, Commander. Over,” Johnny’s voice came out clearly from the device.

“We have spotted a structure, presumably a house. It looks inhabited. Bearing,” William raised his compass, “three-two-five from our position, maybe… seventy five meters out. Requesting permission to close with the structure and investigate, over.”

“We’re picking up life signatures all around your position, though nothing too major. You should be fine. Your team is cleared to perform recon on the structure, over.”

William nodded, despite Johnny not being there to see it. “Copy that, Central. Over and out.” William took his hand off the radio and turned towards the scientist and soldier. “Alright gentlemen, we’re going to go in smoothly and quietly. Any questions?” William reached back and unslung his AK-12.

“If we are going in smoothly and quietly, why do you need your gun out?” Doug inquired.

“Because of Murphy, doctor. Shaun, you got anything?”

“Could these be the people that Central and Nelson heard on the recording, sir?” Shaun asked as they began to quietly make their way down the hill towards the house.

“I doubt... that,” Doug huffed, already running out of breath; presumably from running down the hill. “It’s been... nearly... eight thousand years... since that... Oh my...” As they reached the bottom of the hill, Doug collapsed onto his knees.

“Damn son!” William turned around. “You okay?” Doug had his gloved hands firmly planted on the ground as he let out thick, raspy breaths. As each breath came through the respirator, William couldn’t help but think that Doug sounded like Darth Vader.

Nodding his head in response, Doug continued panting. “Come on now, man.” Shaun went over and offered a hand to help the scientist up. “We don’t need you slowing us down now. You can do it.”

“S-sorry, it’s just that... all the excitement. You know, adrenaline. And the thought of a house just being–” Doug was interrupted by a large slap on his back.

“So you don’t like running. No need for excuses here man. No one’s judging you.” Shaun chuckled quietly and turned back towards the house, now only sixty meters away.

Doug frowned as he got his breathing under control. Once he got enough air in his lungs, he offered up his incredibly well thought out, intelligent, and infallible counter argument: “Shut up Shaun.”

William snickered and looked towards Doug, “We’ll take it slower if you’d like, Doug. There's no rush.”

Doug took Shaun’s offered hand, “There’s no need, Commander. I’ll do just fine... Besides, I need the exercise anyways. Personal fitness was one of the requirements to join, after all.”

“Yes, you most certainly do need the exercise.” Shaun said through gritted teeth as he pulled the man back onto his feet.

“Again, shut up Shaun.” Doug regained his balance after swaying a little and brushed off his pants legs.

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you that.” Shaun smiled and looked towards William. “Now then, let’s go see how the neighbors are doing.”

:[-]:

The trio quietly crept over an oddly shaped stone and dirt bridge, crossing over a little stream that flowed around the base of a small hill, upon which the structure they had spotted earlier was built. The area around the structure, now visibly a compact cottage, was littered with holes and bird houses. “Jesus, look at this place.” William muttered under his breath.

“Yeah,” Shaun agreed, lagging slightly behind William. “Looks a lot like my grandmother’s house.”

Doug saw an opportunity to take an easy jab at Shaun. “Was she some sort of crazy bird lady?”

“No, she was a veterinarian.” Shaun countered as he took a glance over William’s shoulder, completely shrugging off Doug’s comment. The three men were now heading up the dirt path leading to the house. “You’d think we’d have heard something by now,” he whispered.

“It’s like four in the morning, dingus.” William looked back at Shaun, slowing his pace just a bit, so as to not step in one of the many holes scattered throughout the yard. “The owner is probably asleep.”

“That’s not what I was referring to, sir. I’m talking about the animals.” Shaun’s voice was quiet and quick. “We’ve hardly heard anything since our landing, it’s like nothing lives here.”

“Well, Lieutenant,” Doug piped in, “we did just land a massive drop ship in a spectacular display of fire, noise, and shockwaves. We probably scared everything within a ten mile radius into hiding.”

Shaun looked over at Doug. “Then wouldn’t the person that lives here know that we’ve landed?”

The three of them stopped dead, about a meter from the front door. “Most likely,” William said. “Let’s just hope they don’t think we’re intruding.” William reached towards the door and gave it a gentle knock.

“If they’re asleep,” Shaun said, giving William a stern look, “I doubt they would hear–.” Suddenly, the sound of a crash, followed by the sound of something scampering across a wooden floor reached their ears.

“What in the name of–?!” A gravelly voice, more akin to a growl than voice, exclaimed from within the house. The exclamation was quickly followed by a mix of thumping and the thud of a door slamming shut.

“Whoever lives here,” Doug said, his voice filled with concern, “must have some serious pet issues.” William silenced the large man with his finger as he reached for the handle of the door.

“Commander, you can’t be–” Shaun was cut off by William’s sudden glare.

“We are going to make sure whoever is in there is safe. No. Questions.” William grasped the handle on the door, but before opening, he switched his radio on. “Central, Commander Keshiner. Do you copy, over?”

“Keshiner, this is Central. We read you loud and clear, over.”

“We have arrived at the structure, which we have identified as a small cottage. It is surrounded by animal dens, and it sounds as though there is some sort of struggle occurring inside. Requesting permission to confirm and possibly ensure the safety of those inside, over.”

“Commander, are you positive that a fight is indeed occurring inside, over?”

“Affirmative, over.”

“Heard you Five, Commander. Make sure your men are transmitting live feedback. Your team is cleared to enter the structure, and your response to the situation is at your discretion. Don’t harm our relations with the ‘natives’ before they even begin, Commander. Over.” Johnny replied, his voice obscured by a small wave of static.

“Wilco, over and out. Doug, get your cam ready. Same for you Lieutenant.” William said, flipping the switch on the small video camera that was attached to their helmets.

“Camera is rolling, sir,” Shaun said, checking his gun to make sure he was loaded and hot.

“Same here, Commander,” Doug said, unholstering the 9mm Beretta that all scientist were equipped with. He began to prepare his weapon, talking to himself as he did. “Okay, mag in, rack the round, turn off the saf–”

“Would ya shut the fuck up already?!” Shaun hissed. The scientist only smirked and nodded at William, showing that he was ready.

“Well, we need to make it seem interesting and entertaining for the guys above.” Doug chuckled at William’s statement, but Shaun merely shook his head in frustration. William twisted the handle on the door and pulled it open.

Surprisingly, only the top half of the door opened, leaving the bottom half still closed. “That is rather odd,” William remarked before reaching inside and grabbing hold of the lower handle.

“I don’t know if any of you noticed yet,” Shaun got up and quietly approached the door, letting the boys up in the stars get a better look. “But doesn’t this door seem shorter than it should?”

“That is slightly less odd, but yes, it is.” William replied.

“Only by about six inches, why does it matter?” Doug asked as he crept closer. William opened the bottom half of the door and ducked his way inside.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just weird.” Shaun said as he dismissed the thought and followed in behind William. Shortly afterwards, Doug crawled his way in.

“Goddamn it’s dark in here.” William muttered as he went to turn on the flashlight on his helmet.

“Do any of you see a light switch anywhere?” Doug whispered, peering into the darkness, searching for any source of light that they could use.

“Well, seeing as there was neither a generator nor any power lines, I highly doubt they have electricity for lights in the first place.” Shaun activated the powerful LED in his helmet, smiling as it sliced through the darkness with its light. Suddenly, three loud screeches emitted from the darkness. The trio of humans jumped in fear as three large shadows swooped overhead, one coming within inches of the lieutenant's face. Shaun yelled in surprise as his legs caught on something as he stumbled back, causing him to trip. As he fell, one of his fingers caught on his AK-12’s trigger, sending almost half of his magazine into the darkness.

The moment Shaun fired his weapon both William and Doug dove to the floor. One of the many bullets rammed its way into the wooden wall only to ricochet off a nail and come flying back at the men who all lay helplessly on the floor. “CEASEFIRE! CEASEFIRE!” yelled William as the bullet slammed into the hardwood floor barely a foot away from where he lay. Flinching away from the wave of splinters, William covered his head as he curled up on the floor, trying to make himself a smaller target. Shaun’s gun quickly fell silent, but the sound of shattered glass and pieces of splintered wood falling onto the ground continued for a few more seconds.

Shaun slouched back in a chair he tripped into, the gun lying at his side. “What... What the fuck were those?!” he cried, breathing heavily.

“Those were animals, Lieutenant!” Doug shouted. “Possibly the owner’s pets!” Doug clambered back onto his feet and dusted off his pants. “So much for the friendly introduction,” he grumbled under his breath as he began checking to make sure his suit wasn’t punctured.

William, who was outright furious about the incident, shot back to his feet and stomped his way towards the lieutenant. “Son, what the fuck is wrong with you?!”

Shaun instantly stood, snapping to attention. “My apologies, sir. I got startled and fell ba–”

“Startled?” William snarled. “Son, you nearly blew my fucking head off while shitting your trousers!” William clenched and unclenched his fists, doing his best to keep himself under control. “Now you listen here.” His voice was lower than before, but that only made him sound more intimidating. “I’ve seen you go up against dozens of heavy Sleepers without breaking a sweat, and you jump at that?! That is downright embarrassing.” William bent down to retrieve Shaun’s gun. After picking it up, he slammed the weapon into Shaun’s chest. “Get your shit together, Shaun! We haven’t even been here for two hours and you’ve already ruined a native’s home.”

Shaun took hold of his gun and gulped. “My apologies, si–”

“Yeah, I know.” William turned away and turned his own flashlight on, shining it across the warzone of a room. “Well, seeing as no one came down to check what the hell just happened, I guess nobody's home.” As if to contradict William, the trio heard a heavy thumping coming from the floor above them.

The three men turned their attention to the ceiling. “Commander, I think you spoke too soon,” Doug whispered.

“I guess I did.” William took a deep breath. “Well, there’s no point in keeping quiet anymore, since they already know we’re here.” William turned back towards the men. “Shaun, I want you on my back. Doug, I want you on his.”

“Yes sir,” they both responded, nodding their heads.

“Oh, and Shaun,” Will said, causing Shaun to look his way, “do try not to shit yourself this time.” Chuckling, Will turned towards the staircase.

Slowly, as to not be caught off guard, the three men crept up the stairs. The soldiers let their weapons guide their way, while Doug kept his Beretta close to his side. Instead of being focused on what was ahead or behind them, his eyes and thoughts were drawn to the pictures that lined the walls. Once the other two were on the stairs, Doug unclipped his LED and shined it on one of the frames.

A yellow furred, equine like creature with a pink mane and what looked like wings was sitting beside a tree full of bird houses. Beside the equine was a tall, slender creature with a snake like body, its eyes yellow with red pupils, and two wings, one being something that resembled an eagle’s wing while the other was a more akin to a bat’s. He sucked in a gasp and dropped the flashlight from his trembling hands. His heart was racing as he turned towards the Commander “William!” he shouted, his voice quavering a bit.

William and Shaun quickly spun around, their weapons pointing behind Doug. “What is it?” William asked. Seeing that there was nothing behind Doug, he lowered his weapon and descended the stairs and towards him.

Doug bent over to retrieve his light and, shining it on the image, he pointed at the monster. “I-i-it’s h-him!”

William squinted his eyes and leaned forward, trying to see what Doug was pointing at in the image. He was dumbstruck. “No, no, no. That can’t be right… Central, are you receiving this?” William cupped his hand around the radio.

No response. “Central, this is Commander Kesh–”

The radio suddenly released a wave of static. “W-we’re reading you, Commander...” Johnny’s voice sounded through the radio. William thought that meant the boys up above were seeing what they were looking at. William didn’t know about the others, but he knew he didn’t believe what he was seeing; Archangel happily standing beside a yellow smiling alien equine, his arms stretched wide as he smiled at the camera. “This can’t be! This is absolutely impossible!” Doug began freaking out, his voice hysterical “Nothing on Earth could have survived that amount of firepower–”

“But that’s just it, Doug.” William said, his voice low and stern. “Archangel isn’t from Earth.”

“Commander,” Shaun said. Looking, Will found the boy further up the steps examining the rest of the pictures. “Whoever lives here must be very fond of small yellow horses with wings.”

“Wings?” Confused and trying to take his mind off of the fact that the harbinger of death was still alive, Doug began to look at the other features of the picture. Upon closer inspection, he found that the small horse did indeed have “–Wings! My God, it has wings!”

Now thoroughly distracted from their previous goal, William sighed as he shook his head. “Alright lads, I think we’ve had enough time looking at this poor fellow’s obsessions, let’s move.” Although he wasn’t showing it, William was absolutely terrified. The thought that the destroyer of humanity was still out and about, and even taking selfies, was not only incredibly horrifying, but tremendously bizarre. If Archangel is still alive, does that mean that the others down in the fallout shelters aren’t? William didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he lowered his weapon back down to his side and began to move onwards, searching for whoever had made the thumping noise from earlier.

“Right here,” Shaun whispered as he motioned towards a door in the center of the hallway. Right across from the door was a balcony that shared a clear view of the ruined living room. Loud and clear, the three men could hear and feel the steady movement that was coming from behind that door. “Whatever is in there, it must be massive,” Shaun breathed.

“Sure ain’t no dog,” Doug mumbled, positioning himself on the right side of the door while  Shaun covered the left. William was standing in the middle, ready to open the door. Grabbing hold of the knob, William started to turn it. The door clicked and everything fell silent; even the heavy thumping from behind the door grew still. “I think it knows we’re out he–”

Out of nowhere, a thunderous roar erupted from behind the door right as it exploded into a wave of splinters. William, terrified beyond belief, instinctively tried to shield his face from the thousands of wooden needles. Forgetting for half a second that he was wearing a protective suit of armor. William felt the colossal weight of something immense plowing into him, flinging his gun out of his hands and picking his feet up off of the ground. His back smashed into the wooden rail which snapped like a twig, sending him down on to the top of a glass end table that shattered upon impact.. The AK that was seconds ago firmly grasped in his hands slammed into the ground beside him and fired a round that put a hole through a nearby birdhouse.

After watching his commander get tossed around like a ragdoll, Shaun let loose a mighty battle cry as he fired wave after wave of rounds into the beast that had suddenly appeared before them. Or at least, that was what he meant to do. Instead, he screamed like a little girl as his gun clicked, pronouncing its emptiness to the entire world. The monster turned towards the poor lieutenant, and  Shaun decided he wanted to see what his attacker was before he was killed. Shaun shined his small LED onto the six foot tall pile of fur, beady eyes glaring down at him. His jaw made contact with the floor, “Shit! It’s a fucking bear!”  he screeched. The bear roared and Shaun stumbled back falling onto his rear in the process. All he could do before his inevitable demise was to scream his lungs out as the bear leaned back with its mighty paw, ready to end the soldier below it.

Before the blow was dealt, a loud shout rang through the hall, causing the bear to  hesitate before forgetting about the lieutenant pinned beneath him. The bear turned toward the sound of the suddenly not so confident lab coat shouting at it. “Hey you–uh...” The bear looked dumbly over at the scientist. Doug quickly aimed his gun at it. “Just leave him alone!” Doug hadn't fired a gun for a long time, not ever since he’d earned his rifleman’s badge, and he didn’t want to fire one again now. He didn’t even know if he had the strength to control the recoil on it. Doug had never known that his career in biology would require him to fire a gun, but all career expectations had disappeared along with the rest of human civilization.

“Jesus Christ, Doug what are you doing?!” Shaun cried.

“What does it look like? I’m saving your damn life!” Doug responded, keeping his gun trained on the bear’s head. If he knew one thing for sure, it was that there was no way in Hell he was going to pierce the skull of this gargantuan beast with his puny little handgun.

Shaun gave the stupidly brave scientist a confused look. “I don’t think you’re saving it, you’re just prolonging it.”

The bear looked down at Shaun, and then back to Doug, who scoffed. “What do you mean I’m not saving your life? You have time, run!”

Shaun jammed a finger at Doug, “No, you run! You saw what it did to the commander! How easily it killed him off!”

William, who had been lying in a pile of shards of glass the whole time, responded to the two of them with a groan. Doug took a quick glance over the broken railing, “See? William’s not dead. Now go, Goddammit!”

“You go! You’re more important than I am!” Shaun retorted.

“But you’re my friend!” Doug replied.

“When the hell did we become friends?!” Shaun asked, stretching his arms out wide. He completely forgot that there was a six foot bear standing between them.

The bear on the other hand, had stopped in confusion and now seemed completely lost about what to do with these two odd creatures. “Oh?” Doug said, lowering his weapon, “I see how it is!”

“Yeah,” Shaun nodded his head rapidly while jutting his thumb towards the stairs. “Now get the commander and get the hell out of here!”

“Fine.” Doug began to cautiously make his way around the bear, trying his best not to snap it out of its confused state. “Get mauled to death by a be–oof!” When Doug stepped in front of the broken down door, a textbook sized hardcover came flying out of the darkness, slamming into the side of his face and sending him tumbling over the railing.

Seeing this as a convenient time to get the hell out of there while the bear was distracted, Shaun scrambled to his feet and tried to make a break for the stairs. He was caught off guard by a big, meaty paw suddenly making contact with his abdomen as the bear realized what he was doing. Thankfully wearing armor, the brunt of the swipe was mainly absorbed by his Kevlar vest. The force from the attack sent Shaun a few feet back. Not giving him time to react, the grizzly was on him in seconds. It planted its two bone crushing paws on his chest, causing the soldier to cry out in pain. Shaun stretched his hand out, grasping for his weapon. Seeing what the man was reaching for, the bear smacked it off the balcony and released a roar of triumph as it went to take a bite out of the man’s face mask. Only to have its mouth blocked by a wrist guard. For Shaun, that proved to be no more than a delay. With barely any effort, the bear crushed the guard, along with Shaun’s wrist, into a bloody mess. Shaun screamed in pain as he unsheathed his combat knife from his belt. He jammed the blade into the side of the bear’s face, its eyes widened and it let out a howl of agony. However, it only applied more pressure to Shaun’s chest, using him to push itself back onto its hind legs despite the knife still being lodged just below its left eye.

The bear screeched and cried as it began to paw at the blade. With all of the energy remaining in him, Shaun rolled himself onto his ruined stomach and began crawling towards the staircase. He could already tell that his ribs were shattered; each movement sending waves of pain into his abdomen. His bleeding and alarmingly numb wrist also unable to support any weight. His vision was becoming extremely blurry, he felt sick, the world was spinning, and worst of all, his uniform was bloody and destroyed. Everything was becoming darker as well. Then, at the top of the staircase, Shaun fainted. His body went limp and his arm dangled just over the first step.

The grizzly swatted one last time at the knife, finally dislodging it from its face and sending the Damascus steel clattering to the floor. Looking back to the unconscious soldier, the bear released a sinister snarl and dropped back onto all fours as it crept towards the man. Coming to a stop over Shaun’s broken form, the bear gently placed a paw onto the prone man’s back. Bending down, it went to finish him off with one last bite to the throat. Though before it could do so, a click caused the beast to stop just inches away from the man’s neck. Shifting its eyes upwards, it saw both Doug and William standing at the bottom of the steps, assault rifles trained on the bear.

Both men simultaneously opened fire, pumping round after round into the grizzly’s hide. The bear roared in pain as each bullet penetrated its coat. Stumbling off of Shaun, the bear turned to run, only to have one of the men score a round in the behemoths right ear, lodging itself into the beast’s brain and ending it’s rampage through the house. As the bear collapsed the shooting died down before William dropped his gun on to the hardwood floor and limped his way up the stairs to check on the lieutenant. “Doug,” William gasped as he clamped his hand below Shaun’s broken wrist. When he received no response from the scientist, William looked down at Doug “Jesus. Doug, what are you... boy, are you okay?”

Doug sat at the bottom of the staircase, gazing down at the weapon he held in his hands. He was trembling uncontrollably, trying to grapple with the fact that he had just killed that poor animal. He never wanted to kill it, he just wanted to scare it off. Not kill it. “Goddammit, Doug!” William tried to shout but the soreness in his chest made it come out as a loud, hoarse whisper. “Now’s not the time to question what you’ve done. Get up here and fucking tell me if Shaun is going to be alright!” The tone of the commander’s voice was completely different from its usual cadence. The tone of a man giving orders that he fully expected to be followed. The tone of a leader confident in both himself and his men; instead, Will now spoke with the tone of a man fearing for the life of his closest friend, but knowing that he could do little to save it.

Doug snapped out of his stupor and looked towards William. Quickly nodding his head, he ran up the steps to help. Getting up beside William he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“His suit,” William’s voice wavered. “It’s fucking torn!” he motioned towards Shaun’s shattered wrist. As clear as day the grey tyvek was now replaced by glistening red flesh, “What do we do?” William asked.

“Uh...” Doug was conflicted over what he should say. No matter what they did, they would have to leave him, as there could be foreign pathogens in the air. At the very least he would have to be isolated and stay on the ground, away from the medical equipment that he desperately needed. Glancing around, Doug formulated a plan. “William, grab his combat knife and start cutting his suit into strips. Make them each about two finger widths wide and as long as you can. I’ll try to slow the bleeding.” Instead of searching for Shaun’s knife, which had been thrown to places unknown by the bear, Will pulled out his own. Doing as he was instructed, he cut off the remains of the shredded suit arm and began slicing it into strips that were as long as he could make them. Meanwhile, Doug grabbed the section that had been yanked off by the bear and, wadding it up, pressed it onto Shaun’s bloodied arm. Once Will had a respectable amount of fabric strips cut, Doug spoke up once more.

“That’s enough. Come here and help me apply pressure to this. But be careful of his chest. He already has several broken ribs, and we don’t want to pierce his lungs.”

“But what about his arm? Those bones are broken too, and I think you’ve broken them even more!”

“It won’t matter after this! Now get over here and help me save his fucking life!” William quickly leaned over and pressed his hands onto the wad of fabric soaked in his friend’s blood. As soon as he did, Doug withdrew his own hands, moving for the pile of makeshift bandages. “These are perfect. Keep that tight to his chest while I work on this.” With that, Doug took out his 9mm and began to field strip it. As soon as it was accessible, he snatched up the barrel and set it next to himself. Then, turning back to the pile of bandages, he began to tie the strips together. Once he had a few sufficiently long cords, he grabbed them and the 9mm barrel and ran back over to Shaun’s side. Quickly, he began to wrap the cords tightly around Shaun’s left elbow. As soon as he had the knot in place, he shoved the gun barrel into the center of the knot. “Will, do you feel the rhythm of his blood coming out?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that his pulse?”

“Correct. Tell me when it stops.” With this, Doug began to turn the gun barrel, using the torque to tighten the tourniquet. Tighter and tighter he wound, slowly but surely closing off the artery.

“Doug, his pulse is going down! I think it just stopped!”

After one final revolution of the barrel, Doug tied another strip as to hold the rod in place. Then, he turned towards Will. “Don’t worry, he's still alive, but his arm might need to be amputated. However, a life is more important than a limb, right? As long as that stays tight, he should be okay. But…” Doug seemed to be unable to continue, and an oppressive silence fell over the two. After a few hour like minutes, Doug became the one to break it. “William. I’m sorry; I truly am, but we─”

William knew what was coming; in fact, he had known it the second he had seen the tear in Shaun’s suit. If there was indeed a pathogen there they were going to be forced to leave him. Ever since the Weybridge Incident during the collapse, protocol had commanded that all individuals possibly exposed to a hot agent must be quarantined, left behind, or worse. But even that didn’t prove to work. Despite any quarantine efforts some way or another Archangel’s Sleeper virus would escape.  “You’re saying we have to leave him?” William looked Doug in the eyes, hoping that he would say no.

“Yes.” Doug looked away from William and stared straight ahead. “If there is a pathogen in the air, I don’t know how far it could’ve spread throughout his body. Or if it’s even contagious for that matter. We’ve done all we could for him, Will. If he’s lucky, Hassel will be able to prove there isn’t any pathogens in this environment and we might be able to come back for him.”

William was about to say something but stopped himself. Doug was right. An eerie silence fell over the two of them save for the ragged breaths coming from the wounded soldier. William took a deep breath “Shaun... I’m so sorry.” With those last words, William stood up and patted Doug on the shoulders, motioning him to follow. Turning away from their broken friend, the two men made their way down the steps and towards the exit, leaving their comrade at the top of the staircase.

Suddenly, William’s radio began to emit a constant buzz of static, “Villiam... ar.... you... ere? Vill...?”

William stopped, detaching his radio and bringing it up to his mask. “Hassel? Is that you, you’re going to have to repeat that, over?”

“Yes. Zee drones are getting farzer avay... and its... causing... intervernce,” Hassel’s voice was drowned out momentarily, only to return seconds later. “Vee heard gunvire coming... your location, no?” Hassel asked.

William sighed, “Affirmative, that was us. We had some trouble with the local wildlife. We’ve got one man down, over.”

There was a pause. “Und who vould zat be?”

“Lt. DeShaun Bell, ov─.”

“Is zee Lieutenant dead?” Hassel asked before William could even finish his sentence.

William waited a moment, wondering how he should respond. He didn’t want to drag this conversation on any longer than necessary. “Negative, over.” Why did he say that? He wanted to just say yes, get this over with quicker, and simply pull out to extraction.

“Zen vat is wrong vith him, Villiam?”

“His… His suit was compromised and he suffered severe injuries. We patched him up, but we’re going to have to leave him behind, over.”

There was a long pause this time, to the point that William thought that Hassel had turned off his radio. Motioning for Doug to follow him out the exit, both men were stopped once again by the German. “Nonsense... get Shaun... bring him to extraction. I vill order my... to set up and quarantine zee entire medical bay...” Static from the radio kept disrupting Hassel’s accent. Making it that much harder to understand him.

“Wait, what?! A quarantine onboard the Horizon? Are you crazy, over?” William asked surprised that Hassel would even mention something as idiotic as that sounded.

“Vell, Villiam.... if zere is somesink in zee air.... could be harmful, it is vise... learn how harmful it is,” Hassel ended his response with a semi-creepy chuckle.

“And put everyone on board at risk?! Where the fuck would we put him?”

“Commander?” Doug tapped William on the shoulder.

Without turning his head, William glanced towards Doug. Doug was staring intensely at William’s helmet while making a quick cutting motion with his hand. William was confused by this until he realized that his camera was still running. He nodded as he switched it off.

“Don’t vorry, Villiam,” Hassel said happily. “I vill notivy zee ozers of zee specimen’s arrifal.” William felt slightly hurt. So Shaun is a specimen now? “Vee vill eefen prepare a treatment room vor him, so zere should be no problems. I’ll see you in a few minutes Villiam.” With that, the radio emitted a few more seconds of hissing static before William turned it off and placed it back into his vest. William turned his gaze back to Shaun, who was now lying on  his side. William noticed that Doug had also disappeared from his side and was now making his way back over to Shaun, but stopped when his foot kicked something on the floor. Shining his light downwards, he saw the book that had smacked him in the head earlier. Doug gazed at the book, looking back up at the broken down door he frowned. Bending down to retrieve the book, he saw and noticed how large and heavy it was. The book was big, about the size of a dictionary. There was no way something of this size could’ve fallen in a way such that it would hit him. Something must’ve thrown it.

Before Doug could start looking for the perpetrator, who was probably long gone, William brushed past Doug as he went to grab his unconscious friend. “Now is not the time for checking out books, Doug. Help me get Shaun.”

“Ye-yes sir. I’ll be there in a moment,” Doug stammered. Still, he couldn’t help but glance curiously back at the cover of the book with that held two candy colored horses nuzzling each other. “What the hell is with these damn horses?” he mumbled to himself as he stuffed the book into his bag and went off to help William.

Editors’ Notes:

Wulf95-  (Grammar Guy)

And apparently the medical guy too. Damn, it is amazing how much of what I thought was common sense isn’t. That was enjoyable! When Nebula said this chapter had comedy, I almost went Jericho on this thing. I think I held myself back well enough. And I can’t believe that Nebula can’t correctly write the character I added to his story and told him nothing about! Geez! Speaking of which, some of you might be able to start to piece together that Doug might be something that I am not directly telling you about… Something that marks him more different than the rest of the crew… Something that dates back to long before the Collapse… Something that I can use to cause unneeded suspense… But shh! It’s a secret, after all. That means that those that figure it out should not put it into the comments. But feel free to PM if you think you’ve got it. Damn this Editor’s note has gotten long. Meh. Who’s going to BronyCon? I know I am. And apparently I’ll be very lonely there.

Terminal343- (Army Guy)

    I wish I could, but work and school kick my ass. And also Dark Souls.

Teslaponie- (New Guy–also– Grammar Officer)

    Oh, hey, editor’s notes. I have absolutely no idea what to put here. Also no Bronycon, but I am going to Makerfaire Detroit in a month.

Nuclear Grenade- (Science Guy of very few words)

    ....

Isaac3924- (Grammar Jew (I can't very well be a Nazi!))

    Well put Nuclear! Now...... STILL NO FIRST CONTACT!

I'm sorry for that. On so many levels. At least the wait will be worth it. As for Bronycon, not this year, I don't have the money to travel, hopefully next year it'll be possible. I just want it to be the 22nd already, then I can get my Dark Souls DLC, Destiny Beta will hopefully come out soon for Xbone, and I'll be closer to getting Fallout: Equestria in dead tree format #1stworldproblems.... Now I feel like a douche. On a lighter note, my friends have recently gotten me addicted to Gmod Towers, so there's that..... Now how to end this... Bitches love cannons?

Chapter 6: Inferno

William lay alone in a small, white-sheeted bed in a large, white room, encased in its white walls and white floor, surrounded by white curtains. William thought if he saw one more white object he was going to go mad; the only thing that seemed to serve him comfort was the red cross just above the medical bay's door. Aside from that, William was nearly blinded by the amount of white that was around him.

The medical bay was relatively quiet around this hour. Just by looking at the clock on the wall he could see that it was currently eight o’clock in the evening. The same time the engineers went off to get some grub and sleep for the rest of the night. Meaning that the idiots down in the department won’t be getting cut or burned for the next eight hours. Honestly, William couldn’t see why he was brought down here in the first place. When he first arrived, he, his entire squad, the lab coats and DeSilva were swarmed by men in Hazmat suits. Everyone in the Hangar bay was gone and the path all the way to the medical bay was vacant when they showed up, leaving the entirety of the hangar bay and deck two to be quarantined and cleaned.

Lt. Shaun Bell had also been snatched up by the men in bio-suits and taken to a room, which was already rearranged and fitted for individual quarantine and study. William on the other hand, still didn’t understand why he needed to sit in here for over three hours and not receive any service. He wasn't even injured for crying out loud! William’s patience was severely low; he’d never been one to wait when he wasn't on the battlefield. The only thing he was suffering from right now was a sore back, mostly from the fall he’d taken but also from lying on his back for so long.

He shifted around in his bed. The lab coats had already checked him and said that he was clean, but instead of letting him leave, the boys told him that he was in no condition to be moving around for a few days! William disagreed. He was in perfect working condition! Yeah, he got a little roughed up and pushed off a six foot ledge onto a glass table, but that wasn't going to stop him from roaming around the ship and at least do something productive. Well, by egghead standards, it does.

But what really got his goat was the fact that Doug Miller got off scot-free. The lad was hit in the head by a bloody textbook-sized hard cover and fell straight into a sofa! At least, that’s what Shaun said through his glass box. William took a deep breath and once again re-positioned himself in his bed, closing his eyes as he tried for the third time to fall asleep.

The door to the medical bay opened. From outside came the sound of a whistling man. Opening one eye, William saw a small lad, presumably in his mid thirties, come waltzing into the room. The man had long, blonde, wavy hair, and a small goatee, in his hand he was holding a tablet of some sort. William’s eye was twitching at the sight of the man’s white jumpsuit, his fingers stabbing into his bed sheets.

The man glanced around the room still whistling his tune, looking down at his tablet he swiped his fingers across it a few times before glancing over at the commander. “Ello’ commander.” William took note of the man’s English accent. “Fancy seeing you here.”

William pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Nice to see you too, Nelson.” William planted a hand on his chin and cracked his neck. “What brings you down to the medical bay?”

“Nothing much after I finished reprogramming the machines down in the engineering department to improve efficiency, the admiral appointed me to take inventory of everything on the ship.”

Nelson walked over to the counter and started counting the supplies. “And how’s that going?”

“Not great.” Nelson blurted out.

William’s eyes widened in surprise. “What do you mean it’s not going great?”

Nelson rolled his eyes and brought the tablet down to his side as he turned to face William. “Well not only is this taking a long bloody time to do, but we’re running out of resources, commander.”

William frowned. “Resources as in what? Rations, materials, fuel?”

“Everything, really. Well... no I’m wrong there, we do have a shit-ton of fuel, but at the rate that we’re going through our food and materials...” Nelson trailed off as he began stroking his small goatee.

“Alright, the rations I can see.” William leaned forward in his spot, the aching pain in his back pleading for him not to. “Ughf!–Why are we running low on materials?”

“When we lost all communications with Earth and the last of the old post war satellites burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, we were unable to keep track of the surface, so Dr. Hassel and a few science guys came up with idea of building drones and satellites and shipping them off to Earth to keep track of the reforming process.” Nelson grabbed hold of a nearby chair and wheeled it over to William’s bed. Feeling tired from walking around all day and counting miscellaneous items and supplies, Nelson decided to take a short break and dump all of the information he had gathered throughout his review of the ship. “At the time, it seemed to be the only good way of receiving information, despite it taking hundreds of years just to receive a few frequencies, the engineering department figured out a rotational process that would involve fabricating dozens of drones and shipping one off every ten or so years which would then create a steady stream of information...” Nelson trailed off for a brief moment. “Now that I think about it though, I have a feeling that wasn’t one of the smartest of ideas.”

“There were probably much easier ways to solve that problem,” William agreed.

Nelson nodded his head. “Probably, but that’s only one of the reasons why we’re running low on materials. After the disappearances of the three drones that were over what’s left of North America, the entire continent has gone dark and intelligence is having trouble mapping out the surface.” Nelson explained, he then rested his tablet on the bed and began bringing up more information.

“Wa-wait, disappeared? Drones just don’t go flying off the radar for no reason!”

“Let me correct myself, Commander. They didn’t disappear.” Nelson pulled a video up onto the screen of his tablet and turned it so that William would see. “They were all wiped out.”

Nelson tapped the screen and the video began to play, the image showed drone sixty-two flying six thousand meters over the flaming ruins of Wyoming. At first the drone seemed to be skimming smoothly through the open sky, the camera panning in on points of interest: such as the occasional geyser of molten lava that jettisoned into the air. When the camera zoomed back to its original state, for a split second a vicious roar was heard as a black figure enveloped the screen and the video ended.

At the end William jolted, not having expected something of that sort to happen. Instead, he was expecting a malfunction and a crash, or someone shooting it out of the sky with an AA gun, but that seemed to be unlikely. Or better yet... His mind began to drift back to the picture of Archangel. The hair on William’s arm began to stand up as goose bumps invaded his body. William felt cold for some reason. Yes, the medical bay was always set to thirty-two degrees to prevent bacteria from reproducing, but no, William felt colder than that. He felt like he was back in Alaska holding off the Western Sleeper armies that were coming from the pacific.

Could that have been Archangel? The attack was brief, maybe a second long, Nelson’s tablet didn’t have as good enough quality like the main screen in mission control so William wasn’t able to make out that many details. If he kept thinking like this, William wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

“Before you ask,” Nelson said, “yes, all the attacks happen the same way, just in different locations. After further investigation, Johnny and the rest of the crew were able to confirm that all the attackers are reptilian.”

William sat back and thought about this for a brief moment. “So...” He began slowly. “You’re saying that three drones, made out of one of Earth’s strongest alloys, were ripped to shreds by fucking flying lizards?!”

“I’m afraid so, Commander.”

“What the fuck happened to Earth...? We learn there are people still alive, my crew and I get jumped by a friggin’ bear in a house, and now you’re telling me we have creatures that could tear this Starship apart as if it’s made of bread?”

Nelson nodded his head. “Speaking of humans still being alive, Commander. You know the pilot DeSilva?”

William rolled his eyes. “Of course I fucking know him, you twit.”

Nelson leaned away. “Oh my, someone shat the bed this morning.” William shook his head and waved for Nelson to continue. “Anyways, I was listening to most your guys’ radio chatter–” William glared at Nelson with anger that was mostly overwhelmed with curiosity.

“Those channels are highly classifi–”

Nelson raised up both his hands. “I have my ways of getting things and obtaining information, commander, how do you think I got my free ticket aboard this baby?” Nelson chuckled as he patted the wall William’s bed was resting up against. “Anyways, I decided to listen in on you guys since my iPod died. Well, when I decided to hop in, it turns you guys were already heading back to us, and DeSilva was having a friendly chat with Caroline. You brutes know her as Little Bird. Anyways, during that time Caroline was taking over for Johnny.”

“Why the Hell would DeSilva be breaking protocol just to chat with LB?”

Nelson stopped and glanced around the room as if he was checking to make sure no one was around. When the coast was clear he leaned in real closely and began to whisper jokingly, “I think those two have some sort of crush.”

William stuck his arm out to push the laughing hacker away, “Seriously pal, don’t get too close to me.” But for the sake of conversation, he continued. “What were they talking about?”

“Oh just the usual, ‘how’s your mission?’” He said in girlish mockery, “‘Oh, why, it was going good, thank you for asking, where’s John?’” Nelson mimicked DeSilva’s slight Ukrainian accent.

“I get the point.” William was now slightly annoyed.

“Alright, fine. Basically that’s all I’ve been hearing for the past five minutes, but that’s when DeSilva said he noticed something in the distance. On one of the mountains he saw a castle!”

William looked at the ecstatic man with disbelief. “Okay, now you’re just yanking my chain.”

“No, mate, no I’m not, the bloke saw a freaking castle!” Nelson quickly jumped back to the tablet. “I’ll even show you, Caroline herself didn’t believe him until she sent one of the drones over to look for herself.” Bringing up the mapped-out area of what was once Japan, each north and southern end of the island had combined itself with the rest of Asia over the thousands of years, leaving the Sea of Japan to be isolated from the Pacific Ocean. Zooming in on the mission area, Nelson planted a finger on the new map. “This is where you and your mates landed.” Nelson tapped the map and the image magnified on the exact open plain. “Just over three hundred kilometers away from Mount Iwate.”

“Alright,” William voiced his confusion. “I thought you were going to show me a castle?”

Nelson raised a patient finger. “I will, mate, I will, just give me a second.” He pinched his fingers together on the tablet and zoomed the image outwards. Next he positioned the camera over the mountain and spaced his fingers apart, zooming the camera in closer. “Now,” He said a large smile splitting across his face. “Tell me what you see.”

William had to reposition himself so that he could lean forward and get a closer look. In doing so, William squinted his eyes and watched as the rest of the pixels loaded in, revealing a large, white and purple, castle with streaks of gold in some areas. “What in the name of...” William’s jaw was inches away from touching the bed sheets.

“Oh, Commander.” Nelson laughed. “You wouldn’t even know where to begin.” Nelson then panned the camera back and aimed it at the base of the mountain. Now revealing a vast, Victorian looking city, Nelson’s smile grew at the sight of William’s face.

“H-how the Hell did we not see this during entry?!”

Nelson shrugged. “Possibly because the sun set three hours earlier than usual, the darkness obscured most of the sights.” Nelson zoomed the image out and returned it back to the open plain where the cottage like house was. “You see, Commander.” Nelson plopped the camera over the house and began swiping the screen causing the image to move eastward. “There’s even more, after DeSilva’s discovery Caroline and the rest of her crew began a search, and in less than an hour they discovered over thirty settlements, big and small, countrywide.”

William was baffled. “Th-that’s amazing, if there’s that many people alive on Earth, how come we’re still up he–”

“I’m sorry to cut you off William,” Nelson said his face growing grim. “But there’s a catch.”

William felt his heart grow cold. “What do you mean there’s a catch, Nelson?”

The hacker stroked his goatee while the other fiddled with the tablet. “Well...” William could see the corners of his lips twitching upwards. “I don’t know how to break this to you...” He snorted. “I can’t quite believe it, either.”

“Quit with the fucking suspense and tell me dammit!” William commanded.

“There are no humans on the bloody surface!” Nelson blurted out, startled by William’s demand.

“What?”

“There are no people on the surface, Commander.”

“Then who built the fucking cities? Apes?” William’s hands were gesturing towards the image of the small village on the tablet’s screen.

“More like equines, sir.”

“What?”

“The scientists come to believe by our images that they were indeed built by equines.” Nelson briefly explained, he once again took control of the tablet and began fiddling with it.

“What the hell is an ‘e-kwin’?” William wasn’t a man of scientific terms.

“An equine is a horse, sir.” Nelson flipped the tablet back around so that it was facing William.

His eyes falling on the screen. “Holy mother of Mary...”  William’s jaw finally made contact with his sheets, his eyes wide and an eyebrow cocked upwards. His eyes were locked on an image of what looked to be a town center, surrounding a large building was a crowd of multi colored animals. Similar to the photo he and his crew had seen in the cottage. “A-are all the towns populated with these?” William turned his head towards Nelson who replied with a simple nod of his head.

“Every last one of them, there’s no trace of anything relating to humanity, sir.” Nelson finally set the tablet aside. “We’ve had our time on the green planet, and now God decided to replace us.” The hacker stood up, his chair bumping the wall behind him.

“No one replaced us,” William snorted. “They’re placeholders and that’s all, someone to keep the seat warm until we come back.”

“If you say so sir.” Nelson walked towards the door. Stopping, he looked back to the commander and smirked. “Let’s just hope they didn’t get too comfortable.”

Nelson opened the door and stepped back out into the corridor. Down at the end of the dark, metal hall, the elevator doors opened. “I don’t care if he was going to die or not Mr. Miller, do you have any idea what your actions could’ve caused for the entire crew?!” an old raspy voice said, echoing throughout the ship’s hull. Right away, Nelson was able to pinpoint who it belonged to. Albert Watson, more formally known as Admiral Watson.

The Admiral stormed out of the elevator, followed by Dr. Hassel and Doug Miller. Watson didn’t look too happy. His usually stark-white uniform had a coffee stain just below his collar and his hat was clenched tightly in his hand. Watson continued his rant. “If it wasn’t for Hassel’s quick thinking, the entire crew could be infected right now!”

Just over the Admiral’s shoulder Nelson could see Hassel beaming with pride, Doug on the other hand kept his head low while he lagged slightly behind. Glancing over his shoulder the Admiral caught notice of Hassel’s smile. “Oh, doctor, he’s not the only one who’s going to be sweeping the deck tonight.”

Hassel recoiled. “But, sir–”

“Can it, you Kraut, I haven’t given you the order to speak.”

As the admiral neared the medical bay Nelson shot instantly into attention. “Sir!”

Watson nodded his head and stopped. “Greetings, Grimes, how’s our inventory?”  Watson asked, his anger seeming to have disappeared into thin air. Looking into his eyes Nelson could see that he was pleading for him to at least shed some light onto his day.

“Not so good, sir.” Nelson’s body stiffened when Watson cursed under his breath as his hand’s grip tightened around his hat. His grey eyebrows dug trenches into his forehead and he nodded his head.

“Carry on, lad.” Watson opened the medical bay door and went in.

Seeing his superior step into the med bay, William immediately sat right up in bed and went to a salute. “At ease, Commander,” Watson said to him. “I have no need of your formalities at the moment.”

William nodded his head and eased back down onto his bed, his head lifted slightly so that he wouldn’t lose sight of his superior. “What can I do for you, sir?” William asked. He took note of the two uneasy looking scientists behind Watson. William was beginning to feel nervous.

“How badly are you wounded, commander?” Watson asked, his voice sounding cold as usual.

“Only a sore back, sir,” William quickly answered.

The admiral grinned and scratched his freshly shaved chin. “Are you able to walk, Commander?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Perfect!” Watson smiled and placed his hat back onto his head and he clapped his hands together. “When Horizon touches down in the next six hours, I want you and Officer Conway in my office.”

Horizon is touching down in six hours?

“Yes sir.” William gulped.

“Fantastic. Have a good rest Commander Keshiner; I’ll speak with yo–”

“My apologies, Admiral, but... this question has been on my mind recently.” This question had not actually been on William’s mind; instead it had just sprung up.

“I’m all ears, Commander.” The admiral actually seemed to be in a relatively good mood now.

“What about the locals?”

The Admiral’s face fell into a thinking expression. “As of the moment, Commander, we have no idea what we’re going to do with them,” He said. “You and I can discuss this in my office in a few hours.” Watson’s face distorted back into anger and he turned back to the two scientists, who jolted in fear. “Now you two,” he snarled, “to my office now, and Mr. Miller–” Watson bent over, his nose barely making contact with Doug’s “–bring that book of yours.”

:[-]:

Doug Miller was scared– No. Doug Miller was downright terrified as he shifted around in the metal guest chair just on the other side of Admiral Watson’s desk. To his right was his boss, Dr. Hassel; unlike Doug, Hassel seemed to be rather calm and collected. He sat with his back firmly against the chair, his hands were neatly folded and resting on his lap, and his eyes were aimed straight at the admiral.

Doug gulped and took his attention away from the doctor and focused more on the Admiral himself, the man who brought them here. Sitting behind his desk with a hand firmly planted on the open book Doug “borrowed” from the locals, Admiral Watson placed a pair of reading glasses just on the bridge of his nose and began flipping through the pages of said book.

The entire group was silent, and it wasn't a calm silence. It was the kind of silence that created suspense and put Doug Miller on edge, it was the type of silence that he wished he could interrupt. But he didn’t, instead he remained quiet and still. Doug watched the Admiral a frown had formed on the old sailor’s face as he continued to flip through the pages trying to make out a single word that was on the paper. Doug knew for a fact that Watson wouldn’t find a single recognizable word: on the return trip he had already flipped through nearly every page. No word in that book was written in English. He’d even handed the book over to Hassel and the doctor confirmed that it wasn’t German either.

The text itself wasn’t even your ordinary Latin alphabet. Instead it looked to be some sort of squiggly gibberish. “Interesting,” Watson mumbled just barely under his breath. “I’ll give you that, Mr. Miller,” he said, “despite your idiotic move earlier; you did bring back some valuable intel on these new locals.” The admiral leaned forward and reached for a small glass of water just beside his desk light. He took a sip. “But don’t think that gets you off cleanup duty for the next three days. Instead, I’ll make it two.” The admiral placed his cup beside a small stack of folders. “I’ll also make sure to send this down to intelligence to see if they can somewhat decipher this.”

“Is zat all you vanted, sir?” Hassel asked.

The admiral rested an elbow on the table and stroked his chin. “Well, for the most part yes, but.” He snapped his fingers. “I want you two to start cleaning up the mess hall after dinner, next, I want a sitrep on the quarantined lieutenant by tomorrow morning.”

Doug suddenly felt confused. Is that seriously why he brought us here? Just to try and read a book and give a punishment? What is this, grade school?

“Is something the matter, Mr. Miller?” The admiral turned his chair so that he was directly facing the scientist.

“I was just wondering why you brought us to your office, sir,” He quickly replied.

Watson chuckled. “I just felt like wasting your time, that is all, Miller. Both of you can piss off now.” The two scientists nodded their heads and stood up from the chairs. “One last thing, Mr. Miller,” Watson caught Doug mid-turn for the door. Watson’s voice was softer than normal. “I’d like to thank you for saving one of my boy’s life.”

:[-]:

Moon Stone clenched his teeth as the night time breeze drifted across his fur and armor, forcing a shiver out of his body. He muttered under his breath, “Why did I have to pick the shortest straw?” Once again, for the fourth night in a row, Moon had been the unluckiest of the bat ponies. First it started off with him clumsily tripping down the castle steps, all the way to him being stuck outside in the mid-spring mountain weather. Even in spring, the temperature up in Canterlot Mountain still dropped below the thirties, leaving any unlucky mare or stallion on guard duty to freeze atop the walls and towers. Those who were lucky enough to pick the longest hay straws were able to get the posts inside the warm and cozy castle.

Unfortunately for Moon and his best friend Midnight, they were not one of the lucky ones. The stallion and his friend were instead perched on one of the tallest guard towers in all of Canterlot. Even though it gave them a miraculous view of the entire city and Ponyville that was not too far in the distance, both ponies were nearly freezing to death up there in their metal armor. Even Midnight, a unicorn mare, couldn’t do much, since even with her magic, the cold, stinging winds were somehow able to pierce through.

Rising up from the cold marble floor, Moon Stone positioned himself over by the telescope. He peered through the lenses and it gave him a clear view of the city below. Not much was happening on a cold night such as this one. Everypony had locked themselves away in their homes or apartments and fired up the ol’ fireplace.

Midnight was still sitting down on her haunches, her forehooves wrapped across her chest, her eyes gazing up at the stars instead of at the earth below. “Princess Luna sure has outdone herself this night.” Midnight shivered, her forelegs rubbing up and down her body, trying to warm herself.

Moon Stone tilted the telescope slightly upwards, despite it not being the type of scope used for stargazing. It still gave an even more beautiful image to look at. “She sure did,” Moon agreed as he panned the sky. “Oh look at that, I think I see the Discorded plane–wait a second!”

“What is it?”

Far off as the eye can see, a bright light, nearly as bright as the sun, appeared on the horizon. For a mere second Moon believed it to be the actual sun. “No, no, that can’t be right...” He trailed off when he noticed the light was getting bigger and brighter as if it was coming right for them. “Midnight!” His voice wavered for a moment, “Go sound the alarm and get the Princesses!”

“What’s happ–”

“Just do it!” Moon shrieked as he dove off the tower, and Midnight teleported to the castle right as a massive, flaming meteorite collided with the watch tower. The tower disintegrated like a pile of sand as the flaming rock tore clean through it. The meteorite came crashing down over the Castle Gardens, and it smashed right into the base of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, completely pulverizing the building and its surroundings.

:[-]:

Celestia lay soundly beneath her soft cotton blankets, snug as a bug, smiling happily as warm dreams welcomed her with open hooves. Taking her first few steps towards her long-awaited slumber, she was unable to accept its warm embrace due to the alarm bells clanging in her ear. Jolting awake in her dark and stylish bedroom, she was just able to catch wind of a massive ball of fire soaring past her window.

“What in mother’s name?” She quickly climbed out of bed, ignoring her formal attire, she ran to the balcony right as the meteorite made contact with her school. A massive earthquake surged throughout the city; startled ponies ran outside their homes to see the carnage. Celestia watched in horror as her school was consumed by the flames generated from the unknown object, within seconds the entire city was standing outside the castle. Day and night guards surrounded the wreckage searching for any injured ponies.

“WE HAVE MORE INCOMING!” Celestia heard one of her subjects shout, taking her attention in the direction that the first meteorite came in. Her mouth dropped at the sight of dozens, if not, nearly hundreds of pieces of flaming debris heading towards her city. Quickly, Celestia cast a force field over Canterlot, watching with wide eyes as she noticed the massive inferno coming in behind the swarm. The ball of fire was half if not the entire length of Canterlot, and it was heading right for them!

Strengthening the spell Celestia along with every citizen who was watching, braced for impact, one by one the smaller meteorites made impact with the shield. With each collision the smoldering rocks ricocheted off and went tumbling down the mountain side. After the first few hits, Celestia knew that the city’s shield wouldn’t last long. Closing her eyes and doing her best to repair the damage, Luna appeared at her sister’s side and assisted her. Celestia grit her teeth as she fought back the unrelenting force. As she popped one eye open, sudden fear struck as the inferno was about to make impact.

To her and the city’s astonishment, it didn’t. At the last second the inferno drifted upwards and took back off into the air only to level itself out after it went over the nearby mountains, unlike the larger meteorite, the smaller ones that didn’t pose a threat, remained to throw themselves against the magical barrier. “L-Luna,” Celestia finally spoke. “Did you do that?” She looked to her sibling with questioning eyes.

Luna shared the same expression with her, she shook her head. “I didn’t do anything, sister.”

Both sisters stared off in the direction of the inferno which was no longer in sight. “Rally a garrison and chase after that thing!” Celestia ordered, she stormed her way back into her room to get dressed.

“What about you, sister?” Luna followed behind her.

Celestia placed her tiara along with rest of her attire. “I’ll be attending to my subjects, for now I need you, along with your best guards, to chase down whatever that was and prevent it from causing anymore harm.”

Luna nodded. “I’ll do so right now.” She then turned and flew out the balcony window.

Celestia finished fastening her chest piece, walking out to the balcony, Celestia jumped over the side and gently glided down to the castle gardens where the first meteorite had landed. Already the fire-ponies had extinguished the flames. Now, surrounding the remains of the garden and school, a large crowd of ponies had formed. As the smoke cleared, Celestia stopped at the edge of the crater that had formed, through the rubble she could see a perfectly intact piece of smoldering metal jutting out of the debris. The piece had to be at least the size of two ponies and just on the side facing outwards she could just barely notice the white burnt paint glistening in the moonlight.

“Stand back everypony!” demanded a guard, “There’s no need to shove! Please stand back, everyone will get a look once we dig it–”

With a quick flash of her magic, Celestia grasped the burnt and twisted metal sheet and forced it out of the rubble, causing a small avalanche of dirt and other debris to refill the hole. Seeing the piece at its full length, Celestia could fully see the charred, white painting on the side. Bringing it closer for everypony to look at, she saw the picture was a sphere with shapes very closely resembling the continents on Equis, as seen from a very great height. She also saw that the sphere was framed by what seemed to be olive leaves. Below it, she could see something she didn’t quite understand. Was it words? She didn’t know how to describe it, instead all she could see was something that looked like this:

S.S. Horizon

Editor Notes:

PhiliChez -

This totally does not count as first contact. Though it does leave them on the verge of meeting eachother it still has to wait for another chapter. Silly authors and their promises.

NewKidOnTheBlock -

Gah, just contact firstwise already! *grumpy face* Well, I guess this acts as the end of Act I: Where the Audience Is Irritated That His High Dorkliness Hasn’t Yet Done First Contact. And, hopefully, the beginning of Act II: First Contact, Yay! and not the beginning of Act II: I Came To See Ponies Interact With Space Humans, Not Both Separate!

Isaac 3924 -

GRRRRRHKFJHARFKEHFVIUFHMSKXJNHSKJ. CAN'T TALK! DESTINY BETA! MUCH FUN!. HERMIT MODE ENGAGED! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?! WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? OKAY, I'M DONE. OUTTIE 5000.

[img] http://www.quickmeme.com/img/6d/6d86bb5424e768538485fac135e645c6d9d35d7f62d51cd0e4eeb33be47ee99f.jpg[/img]

Chapter 7: Touchdown

Chapter 7: Touchdown

It was around two o’clock in the morning when a massive meteorite flew over the slumbering town of Saddleston. The once quiet night was quickly thrown into mayhem as the local populous sprung into panic. Pieces of debris detached from the massive object and fell  upon the edges of town. The metallic detritus crashed into trees and farms, ruining the town's crops and outer dwellings. The damage caused by the force of the smaller objects' collisions knocked over lamps and candles that in turn created towering fires that engulfed homes. Townsfolk ran amok while the sheriff and his deputies attempted to maintain order, demanding for stallions to get to the wells to gather water and put out the fires around town.

As the burning object sped over the town it never smashed into the ground. There was no collision, no explosion, nothing, it had stopped moving. Just above the panic filled town, the meteorite had stopped falling, the massive flames that had once enveloped it like a warm blanket dissipating into the air. In its place hovered a long metal vessel. The object resembled a whale, the head starting off wide and fat, but as it drew closer to the center it began to taper in, it then broke apart into two separate sections that weren't connected. These sections led to massive vents that held a blue hue to them, while the entire object cast out a dim light, allowing those in the distance to see it clearly. The belly of the beast  generated a noise louder than anything the townsfolk had ever heard. On its stomach were these humongous fans that roared louder than thunder, the blades spun so fast that one would be hard pressed to make out a single blade.

Despite how big they were, each of these parts created a loud humming noise that made every citizen in Saddleston stop what they were doing and gaze upwards in awe. They saw lights shining from upon the skin the beast: red, white, and green. Mouths fell open when the flying monstrosity began to move, tilting forward and slowly drifting across the sky.

Even the ponies that were previously busy fighting the fire dropped their buckets and watched as this vessel moved towards Mount Neighson. But looking closely, the ponies of Saddleston noticed something; the object was losing altitude, and quickly too. It hadn’t stopped falling at all, instead it was only slowing itself. the fans were slowing the vessel down and keeping it from crashing into the town.

A fire erupted out of two of the spinning machines, which were then followed up with a multitude of explosions and a squealing whine as it slowly came to a halt. All townsfolk present jolted and yelped as they were brought back to reality. The metal being looked to be in bad shape. The once bluish metal was charred and the ponies could see holes in parts of its sides. It began to lose altitude even faster than it previously had been due to the halted blade. Before anyone could see the aftermath though, the vessel disappeared behind the mountain.

A small tremor shook the town.

:[-]:

It had been two hours since Princess Luna and her platoon of bat-pony guards left Canterlot to chase after the meteorite. The moon was setting just over one of the western mountains as Her Highness and her troops neared the town of Saddleston. They landed just on the outskirts upon first sight of the damage that had been caused, already the residents had doused the roaring flames that consumed the outer farms and houses. The families that had lived in those homes now sat  outside, weeping while their kin dug through the wreckage, trying to retrieve any valuables that had not been destroyed.

“What a painful sight to behold,” Luna mumbled lightly under her breath. While they walked, she watched a small family of three searching amongst the rubble of what had once been their home. The mother and father dug at a hurried pace with their small filly sobbing on the sidelines.

“Is something wrong, Princess?” One of her guards asked.

Luna glanced over, feeling a pang of sadness as the filly continued to weep. “You stallions keep on moving into the town, help anypony that is in need.”

“What about the unidentified object?” The guard asked with a raised eyebrow.

“These ponies are in need of our help, and it is our duty to help those who are in need of assistance.” Luna replied as she turned away and broke off from the ranks.

“Princes Luna, where are you going?”

“I have my own matters to attend to.”

Stopping short behind the crying filly, Luna got to her knees and wrapped a wing around the foal. “Do not cry, little one,” Luna said to the pony, causing her to jolt in surprise at the unexpected statement.

The filly looked up at the night princess and gasped in disbelief. “Pri- Princess Luna?” She said in between hiccups.

“Yes child, it is me, I’ve come here to help those who are in need of assistance.” Luna smiled. “Now  tell me, what is making you weep?”

The filly sniffed and looked over at the wreckage. “I lost my friend Lily.”

Luna’s heart instantly sank into the dirt, but she remained regal and kept a straight face. “She kept me safe at night from the monster out in the forest,” The filly continued, “and whenever it comes near our home I’d hold her to my chest and sing the song my mommy taught me.”

Releasing a nervously quiet sigh, Luna could take comfort in the fact that the filly wasn’t talking about another pony, but instead a toy. However, that didn’t stop her from wondering what the filly was talking about. “I dunno what we’re going to do,” the filly went on, “without Lily the monster is going to come tonight, and it’s going to take me and my parents away...” The filly began to sob again.

“Now, now, my little filly, there is no need to worry. I’ll help you find your Lily.” Luna assured her as she tightened her wing around the filly and held her in a warm hug. After a few moments Luna unfolded her wing from around the filly and stood up. “Where was the last place you had seen your Lily?”

“She was with me and my dad back in the forest by Ripples Stream just before the giant flying thing came... I would go back and get her but I’m afraid the monster will get me.” The filly whined, sinking down onto  her belly, lowering her head into the grass in fear.

“If I go with you to search for Lily, would you still be scared?” Luna asked.

The filly had to think about this for a moment before shaking her head no. Luna smiled and got back onto her knees. “Climb onto my back and show me where to go little one.”

The filly once again looked back towards the wreckage where her parents worked without end. “What about my parents?”

Luna followed her gaze towards the two digging ponies, she smiled. “I’ll notify them before we go.”

    :[-]:

Under the thick leaves of the trees the forest was nearly pitch black, nopony could see more than five hoof steps from where they stood. Luna and a pair of her guards, along with the filly, whose name she learned to be Violet, cautiously traversed along the forest floor. The only sources of light that they had was a  lantern carried by one of the guards, and the glow from Luna’s lit horn.

“How far are we from your Lily?” Luna asked in a whisper.

“We’re close, I can hear the stream...” Violet whimpered at the end of her answer. She was never fond of the forest. Even with most of the wildlife being friendly towards the residents of Saddleston, she still couldn’t get over her fear of being alone in the forest. Especially after dark.

“Princess, I think I can see a clearing up ahead,” One of her bat pony guards said as he quickened his pace.

         Stepping out into the bright moonlit clearing, Luna could see a pretty sparkling stream that trickled down from the mountain and along the rocks. “Oh my, this place is gorgeous,” she said under her breath. Her eyes lingered over the glistening stones and she gazed up at the lone pink flowering tree that was overhanging a part of the pond. Petals blew off the tree and drifted through the wind until they settled on the softly flowing stream.

“There she is!” Violet squealed with a sudden joy that nearly made Luna jump out of her coat. Violet leapt off Luna’s back and onto the smooth stones below, then scampered off towards a large rock at the edge of the stream. At its base Luna could just make out the outline of a small toy. Violet quickly snatched it up off the ground and held it closely to her chest. Luna couldn’t hear her but she could see Violet’s lips moving as she spoke to the toy.

When Violet finally pulled the toy away from her chest, she looked over her shoulder and beamed at the princess. She then hopped back onto her hooves and ran to her, only to wrap her forelegs around Luna’s leg. “Thank you princess!” She beamed.

Luna giggled. “I’m glad I could be of assistance to you Violet. Now come on, hop on my back and I’ll take you back home–” Luna immediately regretted her choice of words. How could she be so inconsiderate?

Violet cringed, her lips cascading down into a frown at the memory of her home being burnt to a crisp.. “Forgive me, Violet,” Luna quickly apologized, “That was not right of me to say.” Luna levitated the filly off the ground and gently onto her back.

“I-it’s alright, as long as Lily isn’t angry.” The filly mumbled quietly, her head hung low as she curled up into a small ball between Luna’s wings. “You aren’t angry, right Lily?”

Luna felt terrible that she had slipped up, taking a deep breath she took a step forward. Only to stop at the snap of nearby twig. “Your highness, we have movement!” One of the guards shouted, quickly unsheathing his sword while the second guard shined his lantern light onto the bushes on the other side of the stream.

The ponies fell silent, nothing could be heard save for the gentle sound of water splashing against the rocks. Luna eyed the bushes on the other side closely, but she couldn’t see a thing. The only light she had was her moon’s rays and her horn, due to the thickness of the trees lantern’s light did little but illuminate more than three hoof lengths ahead. “It may have just been a critter,” said the lantern guard, “maybe just a wee little rabbit.” He chuckled.

“Then how about you go over and have look then, Shade?” The other mumbled past the sword in his mouth.

“That will not be necessary Greaves,” Luna said. “Let us drop the little one off first, and then we shall carry on with my sister’s orders.”

The two bat ponies looked at Luna and nodded their heads. They turned their backs to where the sound was previously heard and began heading back to the town. Violet, however, kept her eyes focused on the area where the twig had been snapped, and as they began to enter the tree line, an  unrecognizable sound erupted out from behind bushes on the other side of the stream.

The sound blasted their ear drums, it sounded like rain pounding relentlessly against cobblestone. All members of the party, especially the filly, cried out in fear and quickly whirled around to see what it was. Just as Luna’s gaze landed on the bushes, the sound ended as quickly as it began and was followed up with a “bleep” that also fell into the silence. Again, Luna couldn’t see a thing in the darkness, but her heart was racing. She had never heard anything like that before. Was this the monster that Violet had been talking about?

“Alright,” Shade snarled as he draped the lantern over one of his wings and unsheathed his sword. “I’ve had enough of this.” He began to approach the opposite tree line. “Show yourself!”

“Shade,” Luna said her voice filled with trepidation.

“Don’t worry princess.” He reassured her, glancing back. “I got this–”

“Shadewood, you stop this right now, I’m ordering you!”

Shadewood stopped in his tracks in the middle of the stream, confused at the sudden fright in Her majesty’s voice. Taking his eyes off of her, his head slowly began to turn back towards the tree line, his eyes blinded for a moment by a small red light coming out of the overgrowth. As a matter of fact, there were multiple red lights peering through the leaves, all of the them trained on him. Peering down at his chest, he noticed a red dot marked on his right foreleg, two others on his chest, one on his sword and the last in between his eyes.

Another bleep came from behind the bushes followed up by the sound of something quietly grumbling. Luna was scared now. “Shadewood, I want you to back up very slowly. Whatever it is that is in there, it’s very territorial!”

Shade didn’t say a word, instead he nodded his head quickly and began to back up. Slowly, Shade inched his way back towards the princess. While doing so he sheathed his sword, never taking his eyes off the bushes. Doing this seemed to ease the tension between him and whatever was behind the leaves, as Shade began to notice the red dots disappearing from his body.

Luna heard a bleep and some more grumbling. Once Shadewood was back by her side, silence once again encased them. Suddenly another indescribable sound exploded out of the bushes causing the ponies to flinch. They could hear something or somethings snarling and moving about behind the tree line, whatever it was. It was coming out to greet to them.

:[-]:

William, for some unknown reason, was sitting down in a backyard with his back snug up against a lawn chair and his vision obscured by the sun’s warm rays. Raising a hand up, he shielded his eyes from the crisp clear sky. Realizing his left hand was cold and wet, he moved his gaze to his hand and noticed he was holding a glass of ice tea with a straw and a lime wedge.

William was now officially confused. Laughter came from his right and he jolted in his seat, nearly spilling his drink. That was no ordinary laughter. No. It was a child’s laugh, but not just one. looking up from his drink, William saw a small group of three children hopping on a trampoline. How did he not hear them before? William’s eyes remained locked on the children, not even the slightest of sounds made him take his attention off of them. The sight alone of three playing kids, happy and smiling nearly brought the lone scruff soldier to tears.

William hadn’t seen a child in how long? Eight years? And that wasn’t counting his time aboard the ship. At the beginning of the war children were the first to go next to the unhealthy. Their small, weak, and frail bodies weren’t able to fight the virus or even the infected individuals. Only families that were able to flee from the major cities or defend themselves till they reached the shelters were able to save their kids.

His eyes remained on the children until he felt someone’s arms wrapping around his chest, startling him back to reality.

William jolted in his seat, nearly spilling his drink again. “Easy there, soldier.” He heard the familiar voice of a woman laugh.

William glanced over his shoulder and came face to face with a woman staring down at him. The woman was smiling at him, her bright ocean green eyes locked with his, her white teeth nearly forced him to squint, and her smooth brown bangs tickled his nose. She held a hand to her mouth and giggled. “Sorry dear,” She said, stepping back.

William hadn’t said a word, he hadn’t even taken his eyes off her. His eyebrows were raised and his mouth was agape. He knew this woman... yet he didn’t. He recalled the voice but he couldn’t recall the name. It had been so long. He swore he knew who this was, but why couldn’t he recall her name? Even her features seemed a bit off to him, did he know someone with ocean green eyes and brown hair?

“I-is something wrong, Will?” The woman asked him, holding a worried face. “You seem a bit pale, do you need to go lay down?”

William shook his head and glanced around the open yard. “N-no, I-I was just... thinking a-about the war. That’s all.” Why was he stuttering? William never had social problems around women before, except for when he first... first met his wife.

It struck him. The revelation struck him hard like a runaway train. He couldn’t have, yet he did. How could he have forgotten what his own wife’s name and appearance was? It’d been so long, so tragically long, that he didn’t even have a picture of her to keep his memory fresh. The collapse had taken such a long toll on William that he didn’t even know that part of his payment was his family.

“Laura?” William nearly croaked.

“William?” Laura took a step back when William dropped his drink and stood up slowly. “What are you talking about?”

Fresh tears slowly began to trickle down William’s cheeks as he held a hand out to reach for his wife. Laura hesitantly grabbed his hand. “Laura, baby...” William choked. “I’m so sorry...” William pulled his confused spouse into a tight hug. “I’m so, so sorry...”

Laura slowly wrapped her arms around William who sobbed like a child. “What happened, William, what war?”

William paid no heed to her questions, instead he continued to cry apologies into her shoulder. Finally Laura moved her arms from him and planted both hands on his chest and gently pushed him away. William cried. “Baby please don’t–”

“William you need to––shh-no, no––you listen here mister.” Laura spoke to William like he was child. She placed her hands on his shoulders. “Whatever happened, it’s not your fault.”

But it was.

“You hear me? It’s not your fault.”

Yet it was, it was his fault, and it would be forever. He lied. He told them that he was coming back for them, that he would never let anything happen to them. Forever engraved into his heart was the fact  that William James Keshiner lied to his own family and had paid the ultimate price. To this day he could still hear the rushing water.

William couldn’t look his own dead wife in the eyes. Breaking contact, his vision fell to the grass. “No...” He mumbled slightly under his breath, but just enough for Laura to catch wind.

“Excuse me?” She asked, her voice slightly stern.

William had stopped crying, his voice low and mixed with anger. It was anger that was not directed towards his wife but instead himself, an anger that had driven him into battle so many times, not because he was brave but because he wanted to die. It was an anger that had driven him to make stupid decisions in a hope that he would receive his rightful punishment for sacrificing his own family’s life.

“It is my fault.” His voice was raspy and cold. Laura watched him with fearful eyes.

“Moooommy!” A cry shattered the silence like a hammer through glass.

William’s eyes snapped over to the sound of the wailing child on the trampoline, her hands firmly grasping her right foot. “Abigail!” Laura shouted. Before running off she shot William a glance. “We’ll talk later, for now I need you to go grab the buns out of the kitchen cupboard.”

“Mooommy!” Abigail cried again.

“Don’t worry sweetie I’m coming!” Laura gently pushed past William and jogged over to their child, the same child that William had paid the price of forgetting, the same child he had lied to, the same kid he left to the rushing water...–––

BOOM!

:[-]:

A large earth trembling rumble nearly shook William out of his slumber. Opening his eyes, he found himself oddly restrained to his bed. Tilting his stiff neck upwards he saw that his hands, legs, and parts of his chest were being held by leather bindings. “What the Hell?” William struggled under his restraints. “The fuck happened while I was out?!”

The door to the medical bay slid open and through the open entrance William could hear cheers of joy coming all throughout the ship. A doctor entered the room with a large smile plastered across his wrinkled face. “Ah, Commander William! I’m glad to see you’re awake.” the doctor spoke with an old, raspy voice, his words coming out slowly as he stepped towards William.

“Why the Hell am I tied to this bed, doc?” William continued to struggle. The doctor smiled, revealing the few teeth he had remaining.

“Now Commander,” he spoke as he began to undo the clasps around William’s wrists. “We wouldn’t want you to be splayed all over the medical bay’s wall during reentry.” The man chuckled creepily as he freed Will’s hands and moved down to work on his legs.

William rubbed his wrists and got to work on freeing his chest but then he stopped. “Wait... we’re on Earth?”

“Mhmm.” The doctor hummed. “Right in the thick of a forest to be exact, that panic riddled pilot... Ronald I think, almost threw us into the side of a mountain.”

“Why would he do that?” William returned to working on his chest.

“The ship was literally being torn apart and the navigation system stopped working in the middle of it all. It was all up to him and that pretty girl Susan to fly us to safety. Tis' hard to land a starship by eyeballing it.” The doctor freed William’s right leg and began undoing the straps on his left.

“I was asleep during all of that?”

“Like a stone on a river bed. I ain't ever seen a lad like yourself sleep during such shenanigans.” The doctor chuckled again and pulled William’s other leg out. He looked up and smiled when he noticed William struggling with his chest strap. “Let me take a look at that, son,” he said as he swiftly undid the strap as if it was nothing. “You’re free to go, Commander.”

William sat up and slung his legs over the side of the bed, making sure not to hit the doctor while he did so.  “Thanks, doc.”

“You’re welcome— oh–” The doctor turned away and walked over to the closet on the far side of the room. Opening it, he took out a small, blue respirator. On his way back, he gave the respirator to William. “–I was told to give you this.”

William examined it with a confused look on his face. “Why do I need this?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, we had a rough landing, and with most of the heat shields burned away. The northern half of deck six was breached, but thankfully no one was down there to get hurt. And after examining your friend, Shaun Bell, we were able to conclude that there is indeed something in our atmosphere. Not sure what though” The old man explained. “So if you ever have any plans on deck six, make sure you put that on before entering.”

“Do you know how long it’ll be before they patch it up?” William hopped off the bed and twisted his back around, groaning as his back let off three loud pops.

“We won’t need to.” The doctor stepped back, allowing William to walk past him and out into the large open space between the two sets of beds on either side of the room. “Starting today, Commander, after you and the scouting parties return, we’ll begin Horizon’s deconstruction and settlement process.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” William popped his knuckles and gave the doctor a quick wave. “Thanks again for watching over me doc, take care.”

“You too, Commander.”

:[-]:

Men and women—the soldiers of the Horizon crew—all sat side by side in the briefing room chatting away with each other. Some cracked jokes and others seemed to be nervous wrecks. All in all the sound they generated drove William mad.

Sitting with his own squad—which he told them that if they spoke more than a single word over a house-toned voice he would see to it that they didn’t get dinner—William just did not like crowds, which was odd seeing that he could run across a raging battlefield just fine.

It may have just been his age, but he didn’t like to think about it that way. It just irritated him when he looked over at the other hundred and twenty five soldiers on board and saw people he considered to be professionals make fools of themselves. He tried telling himself that they were just happy to be back home safe and sound, but there was still no need to act like rambunctious high schoolers.

There was a stage in the front; a few rows up from William and his squad. It was currently empty, save for a podium with a single chair placed beside it. From the far right of the stage walked Admiral Watson who was soon followed by a beautiful looking woman he had never seen before. Watson took a seat while the woman took to the podium. The room fell silent and William took a sigh of relief. He found he was much more calm when everyone was acting like proper adults. Grabbing a hold of the mic sitting on the podium, the woman adjusted it until she appeared satisfied and cleared her throat before speaking.

“Hello. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m First Chairperson Nicola Patterson.” She took a deep breath and brushed her blonde bangs out from in front of her eyes. “For nearly twelve thousand years, humanity has been on the run from a terror that can only be described as one of our darkest fears. For nearly twelve thousand years, mankind has only traversed half of the solar system in an attempt to escape from this harbinger of death. Starting today, I believe that we, as a whole, have achieved that goal, and that we are no longer under threat from the Archangel.” Nicola smiled. “Starting today, ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s safe to say that humanity can settle down and start again. We can wake the others that may still be asleep, and rebuild what we’ve lost!”

"Hallelujah!" A random soldier in the back shouted with laughter thrown into the mix.

“Amen!” Shouted another that William could only assume was the other’s friend.

Both men were rewarded with a wave of contagious laughter that spread like wildfire through the rows. Even the Admiral himself smirked before rising up and telling everyone to settle down. The chairwoman snickered. “Thank you for that, gentlemen.” The two boys in the back chuckled and playfully shoved each other. “Now before I turn this over to Admiral Watson, I just wanted to thank our Captain, Theodore Felington.” Nicola outstretched her arm towards the three individuals standing in the front row, “and his two amazing pilots for landing us safely back on Earth. Even with the catastrophic failures. Please give them a round of applause.”

The Captain and the two pilots bowed before the band of soldiers while receiving their praise before turning and sitting back down. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to turn your attention to the Admiral,” Nicola said, stepping back and allowing Watson to take the podium.

Watson looked towards a man on the right side of the stage sitting in a chair with a laptop computer connected to the large screen on the wall. Both of them nodded to each other and the man clicked a few keys on his keyboard, bringing the screen above to life and revealing a large blue hued map with a black background that showed off  Horizon’s surrounding area. In the center was a large cyan oval indicating the starship with dozens, if not hundreds of red dots showing off the local wildlife around it.

The lights dimmed, allowing an easier view of the screen and Watson looked at the soldiers, his face seemingly expressionless. A minute passed. “Good morning,” he finally said. Watson stepped back, twirling a remote in his right hand. “At exactly oh four hundred during touchdown, drone sixty six detected a vast mobilization in what we are concluding to be the native forces. We think they’re coming to investigate on what the hell just happened, also known as ‘Us.’”

A hand shot up. “Yes, Conway?”

“How do we know for a fact that they’re native soldiers?”

Watson glanced back at the man at the laptop, the man nodded and began pounding away on the keys. The screen above transitioned into a thermal satellite image that showed off a large number of equines with bat like features, all of which appeared to be carrying weapons. Getting a closer look at the small amount of details the thermal imagery gave, the soldiers could still see traces of equine like features.

“What in sam hell are those?” Junior Lieutenant Michael Sterling leaned forward in his seat, turning his head to look at William, who was sharing a similar expression.

“I have no clue,” William said, “these ones look a lot different compared to the others Nelson showed me.”

Michael frowned. “You mean there’s more?”

It was William’s turn to frown.  “Haven’t you seen any of the images Caroline took?”

Michael shook his head. “I’ve only seen pictures of the towns, not anything relating to... well, those.” He motioned his head towards the monitor.

“Does that answer your question, Sergeant?” Watson raised an eyebrow.

“Yes sir, thank you.”

Watson nodded, “Alright, moving on. As a precautionary measure we’ll be forming a defensive perimeter around the ship. After this presentation, you will all be assigned to your patrol groups and sent out to secure the perimeter. In the mean time, the game plan is to set up motion trackers at locations Alpha-One through Bravo-five,” he pointed out each of the markers with a laser pointer.

“The teams that will do this are designated Paris, York and Baghdad. Three other teams, Red, Blue and Green, will be on patrol in our AO just outside these trackers. Afterwards, Paris and York will join together and see if they can locate one of the Japanese cold storage facilities that they left for us. With any luck they’ll still be there, but it will be very, very cold. So make sure you dress warm and wear your mittens if you don’t want to freeze your collective asses off.

“As for Baghdad, they’ll be investigating a nearby settlement we detected during reentry. Why those systems were still online I have no idea, but we’re using whatever intel we got. I also want Commander Keshiner to lead this expedition, as he has the most experience with these natives, save for those who went with him last time.” The screen went dark and the lights brightened again. “Any questions?” Watson raised an eyebrow and looked at the soldiers, all of them nodding and smiling. He waited for a minute before smiling back. “Then it’s settled, we’re moving out in five hundred.”

:[-]:

“How many are there?” Michael crawled through the dense vegetation and positioned his stomach on the large boulder beside William, who was keeping an eye on the town with his night vision goggles.

“I dunno. Over a hundred, I know that for sure,” William replied, his voice muffled by his respirator. “Maybe even three hundred... God I’ve never thought I’d see anything like this.”

Michael chuckled and rolled onto his back, making sure to keep an eye on their rear in case anything were to sneak up on them through the dense overgrowth. It turned out Horizon was off course from their original landing point and had landed thirty miles north of where they were supposed to.   Instead of landing in what was supposed to be an open clearing, the star ship ended up crash landing in the middle of heavily forested area at the base of a mountain.

“Right,” Michael agreed, his mind drifting off into distant memories. “Feels like we’re in the Planet of the Apes movie, except with horses.”

William smiled. “Damn right we are.” William pushed his goggles back up onto his helmet to let his eyes rest for a second. The world around him was nearly pitch black as he waited for his eyes to adjust after having looked through the night vision goggles so long

It was then that William’s radio crackled to life. “Commander, Second Lieutenant Stacy here, we’re in position and waiting for your orders. Over.”

“Roger that, Lieutenant,” William answered while lowering the volume on his radio. “Remain in position and keep your eyes on the settlement and alert me if anything happens. Over.”

“Wilco, over.”

Michael groaned quietly, William cocked his head back and looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

“Eh nothing, just didn’t have the time to take a leak before leaving.” Michael mumbled as he positioned himself in a more comfortable spot.

“Oh God...” William shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Try to keep it down. We don’t want any unwanted attention.”

“My apologies sir, I shouldn’t have drank that extra glass of wa–”

“Seriously, shut up.” William couldn’t help but let out a frustrated sigh. He flipped his night vision goggles back over his eyes  and returned to lazily observing the small town. Nothing much was happening right now. Equines roamed left and right carrying large buckets of water to put out the remainder of a large fire. A fire possibly caused by Horizon’s reentry. “I really hope they believe that this was all some weird accident.”

“Sorry, what?” Michael glanced over his shoulder.

“Nothing,” William replied. “Just talking to myself.”

“Oh, well keep it down.” Michael mocked like a child, he chuckled. “We don’t want any unwanted attention.”

“Excuse me?” William flung his goggles back up and looked at the lieutenant.

Michael laughed quietly. William couldn’t keep a straight face either, shaking his head he returned to peering through his goggles. Moments passed and Michael rolled onto his stomach and gazed at the bustling activity. “How?” He wondered, “How could something like horses have the capability to do something like this?”

“What the hell are you going on about now?” William kept his eyes on the town he was hardly listening to him.

“Just think about it for a minute Commander.”

    “Think about what? You need to tell me these things?” William felt like he was bickering with a sibling.

“The town, the horses, how are they not prey, how were they able to get to the top of the food chain, and build these towns and castles?” Michael listed off, “They don’t even have opposable thumbs for Christ’s sake.”

As if on cue William noticed a bucket of water, levitating in front of a equine that was heading towards a burnt down home. William’s jaw nearly cracked against the base of his respirator. Noticing he wasn’t going to receive a response Michael went to hop off the rock they were laying on to stretch his legs for a brief moment.

William blinked a few times. "Michael, did you see that?"

“See what?” Michael hopped into the bushes.

“That bucket it was–where are you going?” William had pushed his goggles back up and was now staring at the lieutenant.

“Oh nowhere,” Michael said, “I was just looking to stretch my legs a bit; they get stiff, you know after sitting around for thirty minutes.”

William rolled his eyes and waved for him to get back in position. “Take a look at this.”

When William turned away Michael shrugged and hopped back onto the rock, pulling his own goggles down he sat beside William and looked out at the town. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Shortly to our left, roughly a hundred and fifty meters east, target is heading north.”

Following his commanders directions Michael cocked an eyebrow when his eyes locked onto the pony levitating the bucket. “How the hell...?”

“I think this just answered your question,” William said. “It appears they have some sort of levitation ability.”

“Damn, man.” Michael continued to watch the equine as it slowly faded out of range of the night vision goggles. “Why the hell can't we do that?”

“Maybe cause evolution was kind and gave us hands,” William stated.

William’s radio spat a wave of static very briefly. “Commander, this is Stacy,” her voice finally road through clearly, “we’ve spotted movement on the southern end of town. Over.”

Will took the radio off his vest and held it near his mouth. “Roger that, what do you see?”

“A skinny equine that’s a lot taller than the others  I’ll say that for sure, and whatever it is it’s being followed by a pair of soldiers. They’re heading straight for us, should we pull back? Over.”

William thought for a moment. “Affirmative, rendezvous with the rest of us back at the stream. Over.”

“We’re Oscar Mike. Over.”

Michael once again hopped off the rock. “Wait, so we’re changing positions just like that?”

“Yep,” William said, following Mike’s movements off the rock, the two of them moving deeper into the tree line.

“So what now then?” Michael huffed as he quickly ducked under a low hanging branch.

William copied his movements. “I’ll contact Central and tell them what’s going on. Once we reach the stream we’ll form up with a perimeter and wait for further orders.”

“Seems legit.” Michael slid down a small ledge and shoved his way through a wall of bushes with William following right behind him.

William quickly changed the frequency on his radio to the command channel. “Central, this is Commander William. Over.”

“I read you, Commander. Over.”

“My squad and I are pulling back to the perimeter, local forces are beginning to close in on our OP. Over.” William could see the moonlight wafting through the thick branches ahead of him.

“Copy that, Commander, you’re clear to pull back.”

Even though Central wasn’t there to see him, William nodded his head and clipped the radio back onto his TAC-vest. Breaking through the clearing the two men stopped right on the rocky edge of the stream.

“Phew!” Michael chuckled, he took a deep breath. “I hadn’t had a good run like that since.... boot camp!”

William looked around the stream, trying to find Stacey and the rest of her squad. With none of them in sight William felt a pang of anxiousness, afraid that the other squad had gotten caught. Then again it didn’t pay to be a worrywart in his line of work. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm his nerves.

SNAP!

“Oh shit”

Whirling around, William and Michael flung their rifles out in front of them, loaded and ready to fire if need be. Thankfully though, there wasn’t any need for pulling the trigger, lowering their weapons at the sight of a friendly hand held in the air. Stacey and her two comrades Castillo and Roger, Shaun’s temporary replacement, stepped out of the tree line.

“Sorry to startle you, Commander.” The woman smiled as she brought her hand back down to her side. “I was going to call out to you, but Castillo here tripped over a branch and scared the hell out of me.” Stacey stuck her gloved hand out in front of herself and William took it in a friendly shake. “Nice to see you again, sir.”

“Same with you.” William broke the shake. “Anything else on natives?”

“Not much, the larger one of the group I’m assuming is a leader of sorts, judging by the attire and the two guards following it. Oh, and the natives are also to be designated “equines” until further notice seeing that we have no better word to call them” Stacey explained.

“Commander,” Michael said as he looked out into the tree line with his night vision goggles, “I’ve spotted movement closing in on us, I suggest we find some cover.”

William nodded. “Alright, everyone in the trees. Keep your eyes open for any movement!” Crossing the stream the soldiers  proceeded to hide themselves deep within the vegetation a few yards from the riverbank. Each person  spaced themselves out a few feet from each other so that they could cover more ground. William positioned himself by a log that gave him a clear view of the stream, while Stacey took up position in front of  a tree a little further down the riverbank. “Were they carrying any weapons?” William continued his previous conversation.

"Only the two guards,” Stacey said. Her back was firmly planted up against the tree, her goggles draped over her face, and her head faced out towards the stream. “The leader though looked to be carrying something on its back, I couldn’t get a good enough look to see exactly what though.

William nodded his head. “Princess, I can see a clearing up ahead!”

He cocked an eyebrow, what the hell? William thought.

William put on his goggles and looked out at the stream, on the other side through the thin gaps in the trees. William could see three figures approaching. Two small equines entered the clearing, followed by a much taller, blue slender one.

“There she is!”

William jolted at the sound of something squealing in what sounded like joy. Watching closely he saw something about the size of a house-cat hop off the back of the taller creature. William followed the smaller animal as it scampered across the ground towards a large boulder. The creature that was now identifiable as a tiny equine bent over and grasped an object even smaller than itself with its teeth.

“What do you have there?” William mumbled under his breath as he zoomed in on the creature.

The little one sat back on its haunches and  cuddled what looked to be a small ragdoll. Its lips were moving as if it was speaking to the toy. An odd thought came to William and he chuckled quietly to himself. “I don’t know if the little thing creeps me out or melts my heart.

The equine pulled the doll close to its chest and held it there for a few moments in some sort of  awkward horse hug. It then took the toy off its chest and turned its head so that it was looking back at the tall equine. Suddenly the creature jumped to its feet and ran as fast as it could towards the larger equine whilst squealing.

The little equine wrapped its hooves around the larger one, the dark blue equine eying the pony with a surprised look. Shortly after, it chuckled and began to speak, so William thought. Then it cringed for some reason, the little one’s face fell, its eyes slowly beginning to water. The larger equine looked to the smaller with a sorrowful expression, it had gone onto its knees to allow the little one passage onto its back.

Snap!

“Your highness we have movement!”

One of the guards turned towards the bushes and shouted, his sword unsheathing, William had no idea what it said but quickly ducked down using the log to avoid detection as a light shined nearby. Looking around William saw a small badger scurry through the trees not too far from him. Looking at Stacy who was looking at him with wide eyes, William brought a finger to his mask warning her to remain silent.

“It may have just been a critter.” William could hear the guard speaking, a light shined over head, just inches above his head. He held his breath. “Maybe just a wee little rabbit.” William heard the guard chuckle.

When the light vanished William peeked over the log. “How about you go have a look then, Shade?” The guard on the left muffled unintelligibly into the sword's hilt.

“That will not be necessary Greaves.” The larger said out loud to the two guards, the two glanced over their shoulders. William glanced at Stacey, her eyes were focused onto the two equines, her gun ready if need be. William’s eyes were drawn back to the guards, their eyes stern as they began to turn away from the bushes while heading back across the stream.

William released a quiet breath, relief washing over him.

“Central, this is Paris.” William’s radio came to life, his eyes widened in sheer horror as all four equines cried out and turned back towards them, he quickly ducked his head back behind the log. “We’ve just placed the last of the motion trackers and are now awaiting further orders. Over.”

“Copy that, Paris hold your position and–” William switched the radio off and remained silent, his heart pounding in his chest, all of his squad mates' eyes were on him. Even though they couldn’t see it, he smiled sheepishly and mouthed the word, “Oops.”

“Alright.” Will heard one of the creatures snarl and he heard a sword scraping across its scabbard. “Show yourself!” William looked over the log and saw the equine approaching them, its sword locked firmly in its teeth. Glancing to his left he saw Stacey, training her rifle on the creature along with Michael and the others on his right.

As the equine got closer William raised his rifle, focusing more on the weapon in its mouth then the animal itself. The equine stepped into the stream, only four yards away from William. There was no chance he or any of his squad mates would miss if the situation came down to it. He was tempted to shout to the creature, but before he got the chance the larger equine shouted something at it.

The guard stopped and its eyes eased their way down its front to see the red laser dots that shined out from underneath each of the rifle barrels. The guard’s pupils shrunk in fear and it snapped it’s head back up to look towards William and the other soldiers.

“Stacey, Central here.” From William’s left he could hear Stacey’s radio. Her eyes widened as she scrambled at the power switch to shut it off, cursing under her breath with each movement.  “We’re having issues contacting Commander Kes–”

The equine out in the stream seemed to finally notice the danger it was in and started to slowly back away from the bushes at the sound of the taller one’s voice. “I see,” William said to himself in a hushed voice. “They’re afraid of the radio.” He smiled and watched the guard sheath its sword.

William looked at Stacey, his smile growing even wider. She gave him a concerned look and he motioned for her and the others to lower their weapons. Unclipping his radio he switched it back on and unleashed a wave of static into the air followed by bits of garbled chatter that the radio couldn’t quite pick up.

Holding the radio high above his head for all to hear William stepped over the long and began to move out from the cover of the tree line. “Commander?!” Stacey hissed.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He heard Michael asked as the other two men shared confused looks with each other.

“There’s no point in moving back,” William said. “We were told to hold the line–”

“And not to make contact!” Stacey added, “We were told to observe, not make first contact!”

William looked back at her and smiled. “And that’s what I’m going to do, I’m just going to observe.” He was being sarcastic of course.

William stopped moving. Stacey was right, they were only meant to observe. What was he thinking? They didn’t even have a diplomat, or any way to communicate with them. Hesitantly William reached for his radio and switched it back over to the proper frequency. “Commander please what are you—” Stacey began but was immediately cut off.

“Central, this is Commander Keshiner of Baghdad,” William spoke with a hushed voice. “A group of native stragglers just stumbled upon our position. Over.”

“Jesus.” Central’s voice sounded full of relief, but the relief faded as quickly as it came. “I-I read you, Commander, forget the stragglers,” Central said quickly,  “we need you and your squad back here immediately. Over.”

William frowned. How come Central sounded so nervous? “Roger that, what for? Over.”

“These are the admiral's orders, Commander.” Central’s voice was stern and repeated, “Forget the stragglers and pull back immediately: we have an infiltration, I repeat: we have an infiltration. We need every man we can get. Over.”

“Shit” William shook his head and clipped his radio back on his vest. “Alright everyone! Pack your shit and retreat back to home base!”

:[-]:

Luna and her guards watched the bushes, their eyes wide with fear at the sudden shout of an unknown creature. Minutes had passed, and an eerie silence had engulfed the scene, but nothing happened. Whatever was coming out had backed off and left. “I-I wanna go back,” Violet whined. The poor filly was literally shaking with fear. Luna knew how the filly felt,  if it wasn’t for her royal title Luna would probably be shaking alongside her.

“As you wish, Violet.” Luna nodded her head and looked at her guards. “Greaves, Shadewood, I want you to watch out for any hostile activity on the way back.”

The guards nodded. “Yes ma’m,” Both said in unison.

The trip back to town was much quicker than expected. Neither pony on the way back had noticed anything bizarre. Upon arrival, Luna could already take note of how much the town had improved since their previous departure. With the help of the guards the townsfolk were already clearing out most of the rubble from their homes, and the town’s inn was in the process of taking in the ponies who had recently been made homeless.

“Violet!” Shouted a hopeful pony. “Violet, is that you!?”

The group was stepping out onto the main street when Violet’s ears twitched at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Mom!” The filly squealed with delight at the sight of the oncoming mare. Leaping off of Luna’s back, the little pony ran to her mother’s embrace.

“How’s my little bud doing?” Violet’s mother held her tight. “I was so worried that something happened to you.”  She looked to Princess Luna. “Thank you so much for keeping her safe.”

“You’re welcome Mrs. Blossom.” Luna smiled brightly.

“Mom look! We even found Lily!” Violet wiggled her legs out of Blossom’s embrace and held the toy right in her face.

Blossom held her head back and giggled. “I see, where was she?”

“Down in Ripples Stream.” Violet said happily while making Lily dance in the air with her hooves.

“Ripples Stream, eh?” Blossom said. “Your father was just down there not too long ago with some guards.”

“Is he not back yet?” Luna asked, she had just dismissed her two guards.

“No.” Blossom frowned and looked at Luna. “He volunteered for the patrol squad, they were supposed to be back fifteen minutes ago but I haven’t heard back from them.”

Luna’s thoughts instantly shot back to the creatures they heard back in the woods. “This isn’t good,” she mumbled under her breath. “Mrs. Blossom, I want you to stay here with your daughter. I need to investigate something” Luna turned and began heading back the way she came.

A bit of nervousness started to creep into Blossom’s eyes.“What’s wrong Princess?”

“Just do as I say please.” Luna looked back, her brow furrowing. “Now go to the inn and tell everypony to get inside as fast as they can and not to come out until I say so.” Blossom nodded even more nervously now and released Violet. “Come on honey, let’s go tell the others what the princess said”

Luna sighed and looked back to the woods while muttering under her breath. “Please let everypony be alright.”

“Your Majesty!”

Luna’s ears perked up at the sound of the voice. Looking towards the sky, she caught sight of a  bat-pony guard before he touched down and galloped to a halt in front of her. Out of breath, the stallion looked at her with bloodshot, puffy eyes.. His armor was battered and torn, his sword was missing and his left cheek was scratched and bleeding. Luna’s heart skipped a beat.

“What... what happened?” Luna was so shocked she could hardly even speak.

The stallion tried to bow but his legs gave way, luckily Luna caught him right before his face smashed into the earth. “We... we were ambushed, the creatures–they had some sort of stun magic... we tried to fight back,” The stallion huffed in an attempt to catch his breath. “but they overwhelmed us. I couldn’t see them. It was as if they were invisible.

“What happened to the others?” Luna asked, her voice growing with anger.

“I-I never seen anything like it, it was like we were trying to fight ghosts–”

“What happened to the others?” Luna snarled.

The Stallion looked at the princess and sniffed. “I don’t know...” He broke eye contact. “Before anything else happened I ran... I ran because I lacked the courage!”

Luna’s eyes softened. “You are not a coward, Lance,” Luna put rather bluntly, “if what you say is true then there was nothing that could’ve been done.” Luna took a deep breath. “Now, rally the rest of the platoon.”

Lance stared Luna with wide eyes. “Your Majesty you can’t be thinking–”

“Yet I am, Lance. Rally the others, I think it’s time we find out what these creatures are.”

Editor’s Notes:

Isaac 3924 - Gah! All this build-up is killing me! And here I thought we were finally going to get some discourse going through the ponies and humans this time.... apparently not. Well, I'm crossing my fingers for next time. I did love this chapter though, so suspenseful! Aside from that, again announcing I'll be at Nan Desu Kan for anyone in Colorado, check "Star Swirl the Bearded's Journal Entry 6-13" for more info on what I said. Tokyo Ghoul is awesome(curse Funimation for the censors). And I would like to deeply apologize for how long I took to edit this, I had a lot of stuff going on, but I know that doesn't excuse the fact, I almost took 24 hours. I'M SORRY........ I really hope I'm not the only one doing Editor's Notes.

Chapter 8: The Ace of Spades

Slipping his limbs into the tyvek suit, Johnny Conway quickly yanked the zipper up his chest and pulled the respirator over his face. His heart pounding, he nearly sprinted out of his quarters and towards the stairs. Originally he would have taken the elevator, but due to the propeller’s failure Horizon found herself crashing into the ground a lot harder than they expected, thus damaging the elevators in the process.

Johnny pushed open the stairwell doors and began making his way down to the airlock, stepping through and letting the doors shut behind him. He gave the order for the outer door to open, causing the sound of clanking metal to echo throughout the small chamber as the door slowly hissed open, revealing a world of darkness.

Johnny was practically dripping with anticipation as his hand slowly clamped around the edge the ship, his head slowly edging itself out as he craned his neck around the opening. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness he could see the outlines of trees and shrubbery that surrounded the ship with their ghastly branches. Not too far away, he could hear the bustling activity of crew members and soldiers moving about, already unloading the ship’s cargo. To his left, Johnny could hear the grinding, hissing gears followed up by the steady thumping of a panzer stomping its way towards him.

“Excuse me sir,” a loud, nearly robotic voice said as a large metallic foot, the width of a small car, came smashing down a few feet in front of John, its foot sinking into the mud.

Johnny nearly fell face first at the sight of the foot, and its sudden proximity towards him. His hands tightened around the edge of the ship. The foot then lifted and the pilot continued his patrol down the side of the ship. John took a deep breath, releasing his grip as he jumped down to the ground a few feet lower than the doorway. Upon landing on the ground, his feet slid a little on the damp mud. John paused, the mud taking the shape of the bottom of his shoe felt alien to him. It was nothing like the hard metal floors on the ship. John hadn’t walked on mud in what felt like years.

Regaining his balance, Johnny carefully followed behind the lumbering mech. “Hey!” John called up to the pilot, but whomever was in there didn’t hear him. He called again, this time gaining the pilot's attention. The head of the mech turned and glanced down at Johnny, who was only able to keep up by jogging.

“What do you need, sir?”

The pilot slowed the mech, allowing the officer to briskly walk alongside him. “Have you heard back from Sergeant Conway and his squad?”

The two walked for a few moments, allowing the pilot to think before responding. “Matter of fact I have, sir. His team should be showing up in a matter of a few minutes. Head to the clearing up ahead. That’s where they should be coming in. Now if you would excuse me sir.” The mech began to speed back up. “I’ve been ordered by the admiral himself to patrol the area, and he won’t be happy if he finds out that I’m wasting my time talking. No offense meant to you, sir.”

“You do that then,” John yelled to the mech but it was already too far away to hear him. Doing as the pilot suggested, John made his way to the small clearing just outside the hangar bay’s massive hatches. Inside the hangar the doors that lead to the rest of interior have been air sealed to keep the crew isolated from the pathogen that had been confirmed to be floating around outside. The clearing itself was brightly lit with large construction lights scattering about the area, already some crew members had managed to pitch a few tents that were being used to protect the outside equipment. In the center of it all however was the command tent, seeing his new objective Johnny walked towards the tent.

Pushing the flap open John was greeted by Chief Engineer Ronald Davis, and Chairman Richard Carmichael who was assisting in the planning phase of the reconstruction. Both men were standing in the center around a large table with a make shift map that was printed off one of Horizon’s computers. The map was cluttered with tacks and rubber bands, just by the sight John could see that the two men had been working for a while now.

“What I’m saying, sir,” Ronald said dragging his finger across the map away from Horizon, which was indicated by a large red cup. “We should build away from the native settlement.”

“Who cares about the natives, Ron?” Richard sighed. “We came first before them, and I say we stay where we are now!” His finger came down hard on the map. “We have a healthy supply of water and trees, and we’re right by the mountains. We can use them when we begin our mining industry.”

Ron raised an eyebrow. “Who said we’re going to start a... nevermind, we have no clue if these mountains even bare any useful ores, sir.” Ron scratched the back of his neck. “But you’re not seeing my point, we aren’t supposed to even be in this thick of the woods, matter of fact we should be further down south. If we stay here and things go off without a hitch, what happens when we wake the others and our population booms by the thousands?”

Richard shook his head. “So what if we’re going to have problems with the locals! What are they going to do? They probably haven’t even invented the wheel yet for Christ’s sake!”

Ron immediately face-palmed. “Who in the right mind paired me with this idiot,” He mumbled.

Richard went to say something but was stopped by Johnny clearing his throat. “Pardon me, guys, but have you happened to see Sergeant Conway around here?”

Both men stared at John as if he was some sort of ghost. “Eh...” Ron and Richard shared a look with each other .”No not yet, they’re probably at the Jap’s storage cooler, if not, they’re probably on their way back now.”

Johnny nodded his head. “Alright, thanks,” He said as he ducked his head through and out the tent flap again. John stepped back outside his face nearly colliding with a stray soldier's chest.

“Hey watch it!” The soldier snapped and went to push him out of the way, but stopped when he noticed John’s face. The man immediately changed attitudes and saluted. “My apologies, sir.”

John shook his head. “It’s alright, have you seen Sergeant Conway?”

The soldier brought his hand down. “Yeah, him and his squad just arrived not even a minute ago with the infiltrators in tow. You’ll find them right over there.” The soldier pointed in the direction where a large set of tables and equipment were located.

“Thanks,” John said and turned to leave, he stopped. “Wait.” He looked back at the man. “They brought them back?”

“Yeah,” The soldier replied. “Under Dr. Hassel’s orders. The crazy twat thinks we can learn something from these horses. Possibly a vaccine for the pathogen and maybe even these creature’s language.”

“For fuck's sake!” Johnny turned and stomped away. “Not even one day and we’re already abducting people!”

:[-]:

“Come on people, make some room!” Shouted Arin Conway waving his arms, trying to make some room for the five armed men that were carrying four armored, unconscious, and restrained equines.

As the men entered the clearing, all around; soldiers, engineers, and scientists, dropped what they were doing and crowded around them, each driven by curiosity.

“Seriously people, move out of the way!” Arin shouted this time.

Johnny Conway being one of the last people on scene fought his way through the crowd. “Arin!” He shouted but went unheard. “Arin!” He called again, “What the fuck are you doing?” John gently pushed past a scientist and stepped in front of his younger sibling.

Arin took a step back, shocked at his brother’s sudden outburst and appearance, quickly recovering he frowned. “I’m following orders that's all. After incapacitating four of the five infiltrators, Hassel ordered us to bring them back for examination.”

Johnny’s mouth fell open. “Examination? Jesus, Arin, this is abduction!” John shot a hand out towards the unconscious equines, that were now lying on the ground. “And what do you mean four of the five?”

Arin looked back at his squad mates who were standing there watching the two, he motioned for them to move on ahead. Nodding their heads the men hoisted the creatures into their arms carrying them ahead. “Look,” Arin said staring John in the eyes, “I’m not too fond of this idea either, but if Hassel’s right, he and his men might be able to figure out what the fuck is up with the air, and hell when they do they might be able to fix this.”

“You haven’t answered my question yet.” Johnny’s face hadn’t changed, his eyes were still and a his brow formed massive crevices just above them.  “Where’s the fifth?” He asked.

Arin sighed and broke eye contact. The crowd around them began to disperse and return to their previous activities. “It got away and flew back to the settlement.”

“Ah for fuck's sake!” John turned away his hand covering his eyes. “Watson isn’t going to be happy at all.”

“Come on, John, it can’t be that ba–”

“Can’t be that bad? Are you fucking kidding me?!” He spun back and spat, “We haven’t spent a day on this rock and we’re already attacking and abducting natives!”

“We didn’t attack them! They broke into the Japanese storage cooler!” Arin said, trying to defend his actions.

Johnny gave Arin an unimpressed look and cocked an eyebrow. “Impossible. Nothing can break through a three foot steel door, not unless they hacked into the module or produced a key card.”

“I’m not yanking your chain, John, somehow they got in.”

Johnny rubbed the back of his head. “So what now? One escaped and is now probably alerting the herd.”

Arin shrugged. “We just carry on with what we’re doing, and if worst comes to worst...” He sighed,  stepped past John and began walking to the ship. “I dunno... what the hell is a species that hasn’t even invented the wheel yet gonna do anyways?”

:[-]:

Forty five minutes had passed since the hostages' arrival, at least that’s what John saw them as. He was sitting in a chair right outside the door to the research department, his eyes drooping, he forced himself to stay awake. He hadn’t slept in what felt like years, but in all reality it had only been a few days; Johnny continued to sit in the chair waiting for Dr. Hassel to get back from his short errand he was running.

He was waiting outside the door because the good ol' doctor wanted him to participate in a little “experiment” he had planned since the arrival of the “specimens”. Quite honestly John didn’t see why the doctor needed him when he could just use anyone else, but he didn’t mind. The old geezer did tell him that it wasn’t anything that involved too much work, and it would provide him with something more interesting besides sitting in a chair watching a transparent globe spin around.

The sound of shoes clanging against metal stairs made its way to John’s ears. His head perked up at the sight of Hassel coming down the small staircase to his right, rising up from his seat he saw the senior carrying a box full of wires and other pieces of technology.

“Ah, Officer Convay, glad to see you made it, here take zese–” Hassel shoved the box of electronics into his arms and immediately whipped out his key card and began entering the code for the door. “Don’t vorry about zee specimens zay are already in zee containment room.”

“Eh, okay, uh so what do you need–” Before John could finish the door slid open and Hassel hurriedly walked in, again John John was interrupted by two guards in uniforms and loaded rifles that passed by him and followed Hassel into the room. “–whoa, whoa what’s with the grunts?” John quickly stepped in before the door closed on him.

The lab was dark and empty mainly because it was after hours and the lab coats were either off sleeping or working outside, the light issue however was quickly solved by Hassel flicking the nearby switch.

“Zey are just a precautionary measure Officer Convay.” John placed the box on a white table filled with built in sinks, microscopes, beakers, and many various types of equipment.

“I thought you said this wasn’t going to be dangerous,” Johnny said, his eyes starting to wander around the room. The room was filled with multiple rows with a similar type of table he had just set Hassel’s items on, along with computers, shelves that held files, and jars that were waiting to be filled. However, In the far back the lab were two sets of doors each leading to a multitude of rooms. One of those doors was in the process of being opened by Hassel, the largest door of the four that was second to the right.

“Heh,” Hassel chuckled as he punched a code into the door panel and glanced at the guards behind him. “Zere is no vay to predict zat, Officer Convay.” The door slid open and Hassel walked in, the two guardsmen following shortly behind. Johnny stood in the center of the lab debating on whether this was a good idea or not. Deep in his chest he knew it wasn't. He stole a quick glance back at the exit wondering if he could still back out, but he knew it wouldn’t be worth it. John closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath and forced himself to follow Hassel.

“This better be worth it.”

:[-]:

“I’m telling you, Officer convay,” Hassel turned the lights on, and locked the door behind them so that no one would disturb them.  “Zat zee short period of time I has had vith zese creatures vas truly remarkable.” Hassel was beaming with joy while quickly moving about the room; cleaning off his desk, flipping switches on a control panel. The whole time the old man held a slightly crazed look in his eyes, he placed the box of electronics on the desk and smiled.

The room the two men, along with the guards, stood in was rather small, matter of fact it appeared to be an office. Yet it wasn’t really, Hassel’s desk was pushed up against a wall that held a window, through the glass Johnny could see a white room with a lone white table and chair. Beside the desk were speakers and above that were monitors, displaying colored charts and graphs that held no data yet, he supposed. On the table below and beside all the geek tech were four T.V.s that showed off camera footage broadcasting from each corner of what John could only guess was an interrogation room. They were in an observation room.

John noticed that while his eyes ventured around his surroundings the doctor had been rambling the entire time. “–I been vanting to run zee CT Scan on zem but vith all zee ozers resting, I haven’t been able to. Vich is a shame...” Hassel’s mind ventured off for a brief moment, then he grinned. “But if zere is one sing I haf learned about zem, Officer Convay, is zat just like vee humans. Zay haf races!”

“Races what?” Johnny finally tuned in. “You mean like relays?”

Hassel gave John a dead look, the two guards by the door snickered. “Fery funny, Convay.” Hassel took a seat at his desk. “But zat is not vat I meant, vat I mean is zat just like how vee haf vites und blacks, zese equines haf... hm, how should I put zis. From vat Sergeant Convay brought back, I vas able to take a blood sample from two specimens. One bearing resemblances to bats, and zee ozer one zat bared normal equine traits, safe for zee horn zat is.”

“And what did you uncover?” John was beginning to grow impatient.

Hassel beamed. “Zere zee exact same species! Judging by zere appearances, with zee bat’s larger eyes, and its darker colors, I’m able to conclude zat zis specimen must be nocturnal in nature. But vat really intrigues me is its eyes, zere slits! I vonder why...” The doctor's smile widened even more, the corners of his lips carving massive wrinkles into his already cracking cheeks.

“You’re not going to cut them open doctor, these are sapient creatures here.” John wrapped his arms like he use to whenever he was disappointed in his daughter. “For all we know they’re terrified beyond belief.”

Hassel waved an arm to the side. “Bah! No one vill know zey vere even gone.” He chuckled. “Especially ven vee are done vith zem.”

John cocked an eyebrow, his mouth slowly falling open. “Eh, yeah... Doc? I think you’re taking this discovery a little too far.”

Hassel laughed out loud. “Don’t vorry, John my boy, I’m only playing. Now!” He nearly shouted the last word. “Time vee start zee experiment don’t you sink?”

Johnny lightened up a little bit. “Finally. What do you need me to do?”

Hassel looked out the window and into the other room, his right eye still trained on the officer. “I vant you to go in zere and talk to it.”

Johnny’s face fell immediately. “Really? That’s it?”

Hassel nodded his head, and pulled open a drawer to his left. He reached in. “Also–” He grabbed out a pack of cards. “I want you to take these.”

John took the pack and opened it, just like the cover showed, it was just an ordinary deck of cards. “You want me to play cards with it?”

“Somesink like zat.” Hassel bent back over the drawer and took out a pair of headphones and placed them on the desk near the speakers. “I Vant to see if vee can use zis as some form of communication, via symbols, pictures, zat sort of sing.”

Johnny shrugged. “I guess I can see where you're coming from, doc. But how do we know if this thing will even understand what we’re trying to do?”

“Vee don’t,” Hassel said rather enthusiastically, “and zat is zee fun part!” He rose up from his chair, grabbed the electronics, and turned towards the guards, he pointed at the rather largely built man on the right. “You zere, come vith me, and Convay–” Hassel turned around. “–vait in zat room vith zis lad.” He pointed at the smaller guard on the left.

John nodded, watching as Hassel and his guard left through the door they came in. The smaller guard cleared his throat. “Permission to speak sir?”

“Permission granted, what is it private?” John glanced at the boy, the kid literally looked like he wasn’t even a few days out of camp. His bright blue eyes were small, his figure in general was small, everything about him was small. If it wasn’t for his uniform and gear the lad at first glance would have appeared anorexic to John.

“Do you think this is a great idea?” He asked, his voice having a slight feminine tang to it.

“Can’t say I do.” John glanced around. “Quite honestly I don’t want to go in that small ass room with whatever Hassel’s about to bring out.” He chuckled nervously.

The kid giggled. “I can agree with you there, sir.”

John smiled. “Hey, at least you got a gun.”

He gave a small smile and shrugged his shoulders. “It helps I guess.” The boy frowned, his eyes wandering down his uniform. “Say sir,” He spoke up, “If you’d like I can lend you my sidearm.”

Johnny thought about it for a moment. Looking back at the small room he was about to be locked in, Hassel would be back any moment with the test subject. “Yeah, hand it over please.” He turned to see the small boy was already holding the nine millimeter in his palm.

Johnny grabbed the gun, as he pulled back though, he noticed how boney the boy’s hands were. “Say, private,” Johnny said as he instinctively took the magazine out to check how much ammo he had, “what’s your name?”

“Susan Walker,” He(she) said, “can I ask why?”

Ramming the mag in; John’s face distorted into confusion, then realization, and finally embarrassment. “Oh...” He mouthed never taking his eyes off the gun.

“Is something wrong, sir?” Susan asked.

He couldn’t believe he'd mistook this soldier for a young man. Looking at her now, Johnny couldn’t really see this as a surprise for her, it was highly likely that this wasn’t the first time either. As long as he kept his cool he would hopefully be able to avoid an awkward conversation.

Johnny quickly regained his composure and smiled. “No, not at all. I was just thinking about what I’m going to say when I’m putting in a nice report for you.”

The girl’s face immediately lit up. “R-really?!” She said, her eyes filled with joy, “I mean–” she cleared her throat and nodded her head. “Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you.” John corrected her, “Because of you I feel much safer.” He buried the gun in his back pocket and turned to the door. Inside the room he could see Hassel already hooking an equine up with a multitude of wires he had gotten from the box he had been carrying. “Well,” he said looking back. “Can’t keep the good doctor waiting any longer.”

:[-]:

The room's bright walls nearly blinded the poor officer, from inside the office, the room appeared to be a lot dimmer. He soon realized why, as he took note of the tinted windows. John squinted his eyes, letting them slowly adjust to his environment. He sat in a small metal chair beside a cold metal table; his elbow resting on it, his head in his palm, while his free hand toyed with the deck of cards.

Opposite of him was a grey equine with a horn protruding from its head. Its massive eyes were closed, head hung low, and legs restrained, somehow, Hassel and the guard had gotten it into a larger chair. The equine sat there unconscious, at least at the moment. Before Hassel went back into the office, he had told John and the two guards standing at the door, that he had injected the equine with something that’d help wake it up.

After that it was time to start playing the waiting game. Ten minutes had passed. Nothing had happened, John was beginning to think this was all a waste of time. That is until their little friend began to stir and snort itself awake. Its gigantic eyelids fluttered open, its eyes held a look of calmness, then confusion struck. Quickly raising its head the equine made a sound that added to its confused state, and it began to look around the room. First at the two guards, then the cameras, the walls, and finally John.

John’s eyebrow was raised, a frown firmly planted on his face, the equine's eyes were at a comical size when they met his. Its lower lip began to twitch, trying to move its legs, the equine realized it was in restraints, grunting, it tried to pull itself free. No luck, it tried again, same results.

The inner-com above the door chirped. “Sorry to bother you Officer Convay, but vee do not haf all day.”

Sighing, John lifted his head off the palm of his hand and released the deck of cards. Popping his neck he lowered both hands onto his lap and straightened himself out. “Okay,” He mumbled quietly, watching the equine that was trying to figure out where the loud mysterious voice came from. “Where do we begin?” He asked no one in particular.

Immediately the equine's eyes locked on Johnny’s, its eyes shrinking, even more, it tried to move again but the restraints held. The equine made more sounds as if it was trying to speak to John, while doing so it glanced over his shoulders and watched the two guards by the only exit.

Johnny took note of this and scooched his chair into its line of sight, blocking the view of the door. He took a deep breath and shook his head, raising a single, open hand he spoke softly, “Hello there,” he waved his hand side to side. The equine stopped its struggling, its eyes matching up again with John's the softness of his voice immediately calming it. He smirked. “My name.” John tapped his chest with his index finger and spoke slowly, “Jon-a-than. Con-way.”

The equine tilted its head and looked at John stupidly while he repeated the gesture a few more times. Johnny sighed once again and rested his arm onto the table. “This is a waste of time,” He said to himself, “we aren’t going to get anywhere with this.”

“Joh.” The equine muttered, John raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” He said, wondering if the creature was just muttering to itself or actually trying to say his name.

The equine nodded his head. “Joh?” It said again more questioningly.

Johnny smirked. “Heh, maybe we are getting somewhere.” He planted his hand back on his chest. “My name is Jon-a-than.”

“Jonethun?”

He shrugged and leant back in his chair. “Close enough.” John thought for a moment, leaning back forward he pointed at the horse. “What is your name?” He asked.

Again the equine gave him a look as if it didn’t understand, Johnny lowered his arm onto the table. Breaking eye contact he stared at the metal surface trying to figure out a way to get this creature to understand him. He looked back to the horse, he purposefully made a confused expression and pointed at the equine and shrugged. That didn’t work either. Johnny ran a hand across the top of his head, the rough sensation of his buzz cut sending a chill through his fingers. He let out a deep breath, and let his eyes wander across the table as he went deep into thought, in doing so he noticed something in particular.

The deck of cards.

An idea sparked from within him. It wasn’t anything special, probably something that wouldn’t even advance Hassel’s studies, but instead it would give John a chuckle or two, to brighten things up.

He’s going to show this little creature a magic trick.

Snatching the deck of cards off the table John undid the packaging and gently, so that he wouldn’t have to play fifty two pickup, slid the cards into his hand. The equine watched him with a curious eye the entire time.

Throwing the empty box aside John placed the deck on the table, now John wasn't always great when it came to games. That would’ve been his father’s specialty, the old man always knew how to wow a small crowd whenever he had a deck in public. Over the years John was able to pick up a few tricks and techniques, nothing really applause worthy, but just a bit that helped get him through basic training.

Flashing the equine a tooth filled grin, Johnny whipped three cards off the top of the deck and laid them face down out in front of it. Opening both arms out wide he gestured to the confused animal pick a card. Surprisingly the equine caught on rather quickly, without the help of its legs the horse nodded to the center card.

Johnny’s smile widened as he snatched the card in between his middle and ring finger, bringing his arm back fast enough that he was able to catch a glance at what it was. The Ace of Spades, thankfully the pony hadn’t noticed, then again it probably didn’t even know what was going on. John faced the image on the card towards the horse, he held it there for half a minute allowing the equine to engrave it into its memory.

Nodding his head Johnny gathered the other two cards and threw them into the deck. Hoping that his memory serves him well, Johnny began to shuffle the deck, even though he should’ve been focused on the shuffling so that he wouldn’t mess up, John decided to take a quick peek at his audience. As of yet, the equine’s face was contorted into something rather amusing.

Its lips were pursed, eyes half lidded, and its head was tilted whilst leaning in closely for a better look. Johnny’s hands moved swiftly and efficiently, splitting the deck into two, he placed both halves across from each other and quickly riffle shuffled the two decks into one. This caught the equines full interest.

Once the two decks had become one. Johnny slowly, for suspense, placed the deck out in front of him. Opening his hand out wide he, ever so slowly, reached for the top card. Knowing that, so he hoped, it was the equine’s Ace of Spades. He grasped the corner of the card and lifted it upwards, the image reflecting the light off its painted surface.

Squinting its eyes a picture of a black arrowhead like figure came into view along with the letter A in the top corner. As it dawned on the slack jawed creature, its eyes widened and immediately looked at Johnny.

He dropped the card that glided smoothly onto the table’s surface, the officer was struck by a fit of light laughter as he sat back in his chair. The creature’s face alone was priceless, the equine broke contact, its eyes focused on the lone card with sudden interest. Squinting its eyes the pony watched the flat piece intently, the corners of its mouth curving into a frown.

Johnny, who was still laughing, stopped abruptly when he noticed a faint hum in the air and a tingling sensation deep in his gut. It felt as if he had butterflies all of sudden flapping around down there, he always hated that feeling. Immediately he was struck with confusion, his mouth fell along with the rest of his features. Another feeling in his gut told him to leave right now! Looking back at the two guards, he noticed both shared a similar look with him, diverting back to the equine he saw just how concentrated it was on the card.

Its features twitching occasionally, the hum was growing louder now, Johnny had a sudden headache, the feeling in his gut was growing worse. Something bad was happening, whatever it was he needed to leave. Now.

Johnny rose from the chair, never taking his eyes off the horse. He had an idea that whatever was happening it was coming from that thing. Johnny cringed as a sudden surge of pain formed in his skull, behind him he heard the guards groan too. The headache had turned into a migraine, the tingling feeling had turned into nausea. He felt like he was going to throw up.

The hum began to crescendo into something much bigger, his ears began to ring and it felt as if they were going to bleed. It was beginning to drive him mad!

“Hassel!” John cried. “Open the door!” He turned to the one way window, to him it only appeared as a mirror. But he knew Hassel could see them, Johnny stumbled to the mirror and pounded his fist against it. The guards had begun trying to force the door open. “Open the door!” He pleaded, the nausea and the stinging pain forced his eyes to water. “Open the goddamn door!” John repeatedly pounded his fist against the window. His own voice going completely unheard by the deafening hum that tormented his ears. The hum grew into a high pitched ringing that forced tears to roll down his cheeks, the nausea caused his knees to buckle, his vision blurred and John felt as if he was going to faint. Clutching a hand to his stomach John let out a pain filled cry for help.

Abruptly, the sound ceased.

A bright green flash of light, followed by a terrifying sound of twisting metal reached their ears. Playing cards were scattered across the room, a few landing beside the three humans that held their backs against the wall. Their eyes focused on the one creature standing in the center of the room, what was once the metal table, was now a hunk of shredded scrap metal. The restraints that kept the creature from moving laid charred and burnt just below its hooves, the chairs they sat in were strung across the room in pieces.

And floating in front of its terrified face, wrapped in a green magical glow. Was The Ace of Spades.

Editor's Notes:

Am I the only one still doing this.....? Well, if the editors' notes aren't here another time I won't do it again. Even though I know how much ya'll love the sou-...... text of my voi-.......... my eloquently put opinions/advice on life.

KISSES.

Anywho (that IS a word), I'm happy to finally see first contact, even though it's a little limited right now, but lord knows shit's going to hit the fan soon enough, and I'll be there, munching on popcorn and laughing maniacally the whole while. And it will be beautiful. Once again, I am going to futilely remind people that I'll be at Nan Desu Kan in a vain attempt to...... actually I'm not too sure why I'm doing it.... whatever, hit up "Star Swirl the Bearded's Journal Entry 6-13" for that info.

Last thing, Dark, PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE FOR DESTINY ON THE 9TH FOR ME. IMMA BE A HERMIT .Also, I will be busy with NDK that weekend so... yeah. I mean I'll still pull through for a chapter if you need me to (I'm just that amazing).

Peace.

Chapter 9: Pre-Contact

Dozens of hooves made their way across the muddy surface of the forest floor, one by one in a seemingly endless line. The royal guard marched through the thick overgrowth towards the landing sight just on the other side of the mountain. With a fading trail of an unknown creature, the platoon of stallions along with their princess head forth, leaving the town of Saddleston with only hoof full of protectors.

Princess Luna led the group, her face grim, troubled by the thought that four of her subjects may be in danger. Her horn lit bright as she and her seventy guards moved forward with caution. After what seemed like hours, the group had finally made its way around Mount Neighson. Luna looked back at the mountain to see that Celestia’s sun was now starting to peak over the horizon.

Stopping where she stood, Luna raised her head higher and shined her horn brighter for everypony to see as she signaled for the line to halt. Obeying their leader’s orders, the guards came to a stop, Luna lowered her head and breathed deeply. Concentrating, Luna focused her thoughts on the moon above and imaged it dipping below the horizon. Slowly, the moon began to drift across the sky, the stallions watching in awe. It wasn’t often that they got to see their princess work her magic in such ways. To them it was breath taking, though to Luna it was a chore. It was fun the first few times, when her parents had passed their gifts onto her and Celestia, but as the millennia went by, it had grown tiresome for her. She closed her eyes and blocked out the sight of the awe struck stallions and focused more on her job.

Just as the moon fell below the mountain side, bright orange and purple hues assaulted the sky. The sun was finally rising and the dark, ferocious-looking forest began to dissipate and manipulate itself into something more calming and beautiful. The razor sharp spikes that  had snagged and torn at the guards armor, distorted itself into a normal tree branch, and the howling dire wolves off in the distance were replaced by the sweet melodies coming from the waking birds. Around the ponies the forest was waking up and becoming filled with life nearly instantaneously.

Luna yawned when the sun’s warm rays touched her coat. She had been up since yesterday morning and the fatigue had finally caught up to her. Bags had started to form under Luna’s eyes and her vision seemed to be slightly blurred. If she turned her head too fast dizziness would sweep over her.

The guards took note of this. “Your Majesty,” said the first guard behind her, “if you’d like we can take a short break.”

Luna looked to her guard with half lidded eyes, facing her head back towards the direction they were headed. She debated whether they should keep moving or not, another yawn took her by surprised, concluding her answer. “I don’t believe that will be necessary, Watcher. We must keep moving no matter the cost. Ponies lives may be at stake.”

Without any further questions Watcher bowed his head. “As you wish.”

Luna nodded in response and continued to head further down the trail.They traveled over rocks, logs, ditches, and streams. The brush around them thickening with what seemed like each step, the light around them dimming as the flora grew thicker.The air grew muggy, the dirt became mud, patches of water and tall grass appeared around them. They had reached the swamp.

“Do any of you smell that?” Watcher asked his hoof sinking into a small mud pit, he grimaced whilst he pulled his mud caked hoof out.

A pony beside him sniffed heavily. “Smells of miasma around here.”

“That is just the swamp I believe,” Luna replied over shoulder, squinting her eyes from a patch of light that passed through the tree’s leaves.

“No, no,” Watcher said quietly, “Not that smell, it’s faint but–” he took a long sniff “–it’s smells of something burning around here.”

“We must be getting close then,” Luna said.

“You think so?” He asked.

“I am positive.”

High-pitched, cracks echoed suddenly through the forest. They startled everypony in the group and forcing them to a sudden stop, immediately ponies looked to each other whispering and asking what it was.

“Silence!” Luna snapped quietly, her heart was racing due to the unexpected occurrence. Today just wasn’t like any other day she had experienced over the past, of course it still didn’t compare to when Discord was in power.

Everypony fell silent. “Listen,” Luna whispered, towards where sound came. She could hear something cheering–no. Somethings were cheering. Luna looked back to her guards, already their eyes were locked with hers, all bearing looks of confidence.

“Watcher, Swift.” Luna eyes fell on the two stallions behind. "Come with me.”

“Yes Your Majesty.” Both Stallions bowed.

Luna looked back up. “The rest of you,” she called, “rest up! If we are not back in fifteen minutes continue on ahead!”

“Yes Ma’am!” Everypony said and immediately went to find a rock to sit on.

“Come on you two,” Luna said to her guards, turning around she went into the brush.

:[-]:

It didn’t take long for the three ponies to find the source of the bizarre sound. Within two minutes a light, unordinary smell invaded their nostrils. Stepping out of bushes and into a very small clearing Luna, sniffed the air lightly.

“It’s smoke. Faint, but I can definitely tell,” Watcher whispered as he followed in behind her.

“Could it be the meteorite?” Swift asked, nearly tripping over a twig.

“No,” Luna responded rather quickly. “The site is a little more up north.”

“It could be the remnants of that cracking sound we heard–”

The sound of snapping twigs, cheerful voices, and laughter startled the ponies nearly half to death. Quickly Luna turned around and ushered the two ponies into the thick bushes, diving in after her guards. She quickly cast a spell that caused her mane to stop flowing and fall down her sides.

Facing back towards the clearing, she peered through the many small branches. And what she saw was something she’d had never expected to see:

Two tall, slender creatures made entirely out of moss stepped out into the clearing. Luna had seen minotaurs that looked like this before, their hair grown so long that their form was almost indistinguishable. However, these creatures were different, while they seemed to have almost the same anatomy of a minotaur, their legs bent differently in that it almost seemed straight, and the moss on their bodies appeared to be added on rather than a natural hair color. These creatures were nearly the size of Luna, maybe even a head taller, one of them held a long object that was covered in moss and it was strapped across its chests. On top of it was a cylinder with some sort of reflective glass on the ends of it.

Luna’s eyes were wide with curiosity, but also with extreme caution, each motion the creatures made, caused her eyes to follow it like a cat eyeing a dangling string. Both creatures walked with a swagger, one arm swinging loosely on the side, the other holding the end of a long, thick object with a strap that wrapped around its body. Occasionally the smallest one of the two, would turn its head around and speak to the other. Its voice sounding muffled and very light (almost feminine), unfortunately for Luna. She couldn’t understand a single word that was being said, which was entirely new to her since she already knew every language her subjects spoke.

Equestrian, Prench, Draken, Zebrican, Avian, Arabian; practically any language around the globe she can speak it. But this, this sounded like straight gibberish to her, and whatever this gibberish was it must of been humorous because the tallest moss creature started laughing hysterically.

With a hand to its abdomen, it laughed loudly, to the point that it nearly snorted. Calming down, the larger one ran a thick, mossy hand across the back of its shrubby neck, and it spoke, this one’s voice much more masculine than the other.

The smaller one snorted and waved its hand to the side, before nodding its shrubby head towards the brush just across from them. They began to move.

Luna began to wonder where they were going, when they passed through the bushes and twigs. She could hear the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves for a few moments before it came to sudden stop.

“Your Majesty?” Watcher asked, “Is it safe to go out–”

“Shh!”

The creatures began to speak again, a low groan came from the bushes, next came a clatter of something hitting the forest floor. A hiss was heard followed by a giggle, a playful like voice could be heard coming from behind the bushes, a thud and a girlish yelp erupted with even more laughter. A twig snapped and another groan was heard.

“What’s going on?” Swift’s eyes shifted between Luna and Watcher.

“I have no clue,” Watcher whispered. “And by the sounds of it, I honestly don’t think I want to know.”

“It sounds like mating if you ask me,” Swift said with no hesitation.

Watcher looked at the young stallion and shook his head, Luna didn’t even move. Her eyes were fixated on the shrubbery. “Don’t know for sure,” Luna said over her shoulder, “but there’s only one way to... Oh–shh.” She silenced herself at the sight of the two beings appearing once again.

This time however, there was a difference. The larger one was carrying a large buck on its shoulders, its legs were wobbling under the weight but it didn’t let that be bother. Instead it pushed on back where they came from.

The smaller creature was carrying both of those long pieces of shrubbery with the reflective glass. It was watching the larger carefully, almost as if it was examining it as it moved.

“Princess, look!” Watcher whispered, “the deer, look at its neck its...” His voice wavered a bit.

Luna squinted and leaned forward a bit, looking to where her guard mentioned. Just below the buck’s jaw was a large gaping hole in the shape of a circle that still leaked blood. “It’s dead...” Luna said.

“That’s terrible, what pony would do such a thing?” Swift said in shock.

“No pony would,” Luna said, “but that’s the thing, Swift, these creatures aren’t ponies... matter of fact I have no clue on what they are. But I know this for sure, they’re not from this realm.”

“Should we make contact Your Majesty?” Watcher asked.

“I do not know,” Luna replied, she watched as the larger struggled with carrying the buck. “But I think we should gather the rest of the party before trying to  advance further on these beings.”

“Aye, I agree,” he said as he slowly backed into the bushes. The two moss creatures had now officially vanished from their field of vision.

“Alright then.” Luna stood up turning back towards the way they came. “Return to the others and continue the march, and Swift.” She looked down to the guard who was already standing at attention. “I want you to send a briefing to my sister as soon as possible.”

:[-]:

A bright light engulfed Johnny’s vision as if the entire world had turned to fire, his pupils constricted under the intense rays. He tried to close them, but Hassel’s gloved fingers sat firmly on top his eye lids.

“Everysing seems to be alright, Mr. Convay,” Hassel said releasing Johnny’s lids and switching off his light. “I see no signs of any damage as of yet,” Hassel stepped back and allowed Johnny some space as he returned to his desk; opening a lower drawer he began to finger through old files. Not finding what he was looking for he pushed the drawer shut and moved to the upper one; there he pulled out a stack of papers that contained various data on symptoms pertaining to the dreaded Sleeper Virus.

Johnny couldn’t help but keep his eyes shut throughout Hassel’s search, his vision obscured by multicolored floaters. “Sankfully,” Hassel said before Johnny could even utter a word, “you aren’t showing any immediate symptoms, vich is fantastic!”

John smirked, his vision returning to normal the floaters slowly drifted out of eyesight. “Thank God.” He chuckled. “What about the guards? Are they okay?”

“Pvt. Valker and Sgt. Albert are under containment and being looked over by my men.” Hassel said as he skimmed and checked off any symptoms that hadn’t been noticed. “So zere is no need to vorry about zem. Mein Gott.” Hassel smiled a small smile. “I’m afraid Mr. Convay you’re going to haf to stay under constant surveillance in zee medical vard, for approximately twenty four hours, seeing zat is how long zee common turning period takes.”

“Wait, wait.” Johnny grew uneasy. “I thought I wasn’t showing any symptoms, or any permanent damage?”

Hassel sighed and stuck the papers back into the drawer. “Mr. Convay, you and zose guards vere exposed to elements vee humans can hardly wrap our great minds around.” Hassel turned to the monitors that held the charts that were recording the equines brain waves right before it tore them out along with destroying the rest of the room. The equine itself shortly after was contained and forcefully thrown back into it’s cage with the others who had woken; the equine didn’t resist. Matter of fact it seemed confused, as if it itself didn’t know what had happened.

Hassel pointed to the chart. “Through the entire period I’ve been trying to monitor its brainwaves, and as you can see.” Hassel pointed to a specific spot on the chart. “Right here is a few minutes before you revealed the card trick.” Hassel tapped the screen showing off a calm red line that occasionally bounced up and down. “But here.” His finger slid across the scene towards what looked to a continuous mountain of red lines. “Right ven you revealed zee card; zee equines beta patterns went completely hayvire!”

John leaned in closely his face contorting as he tried to wrap his mind around it. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he rose up and snapped his fingers. “So you’re saying the horse is responsible for what happened in there?” He started off confident but ever so slowly faded his response into a question.

Hassel nodded his head. “So I believe, whatever happened in there I sink it must of been some sort of chemical reaction. Zose glowing particles we saw forming around zee card, zee table when it was torn to shreds, and ven zee blast hit you. Zose particles share zee same characteristics as zee Sleeper Virus.”

At first John looked at the doctor with a confused look, then his face began to sag, his eyes widening as the realization struck him. “Oh... f––uck...” He cradled his head in his hands. “You can’t be serious!”

Hassel knelt down in front of him. “Remember John, you aren’t showing any symptoms...” He fell in a momentary silence. “Yet,” he added, “But zat is vhy I vill be hafing some guards watch over you for a day.”

These words hardly held any comfort for the poor man. “I knew this was a bad fucking idea!” He grumbled angrily.

“Now, now, John,” Hassel spoke like a disapproving mother, “zere is no need to start getting hungofer–”

“Why didn’t you open the door?”

“Excuse me?” Hassel raised an eyebrow.

John had taken his face off his hands and glared the scientist in the eyes. “When shit started hitting the fan in there; why didn’t you open the door?”

Hassel stood up and smirked. “Come on Mr. Convay, now is not zee time to start placing zee blame on me.”

John rose from his chair. “I and two other soldiers were in danger, pleading for you to let us out. Why didn’t you open the doors?” He took a step forward, Hassel took two back.

Hassel rose his hands in defence. “Mr. Convay, vat did you expect me to do? Open zee doors and risk myself getting infected? Maybe even zee entire crew?”

John’s brow furrowed. “You were only worrying about yourself weren’t you?”

Hassel lowered his hands, his old wrinkled face distorting into anger. “Mr. Convay I had joined zis operation to safe humanity. Not to throw away lives just so zat I vould safe myself. Vat do you take me for?” Hassel approached John his nose coming barely in contact. “If you truly sought your life vas in danger how come you didn’t shoot zat sing ven you had zee chance?!”

John stood there in silence, half a minute passed and the two men stood there locked in a staring contest. Finally, John broke eye contact. “I didn’t fire because I panicked and stopped thinking.”

“Zat is vat I sought, Mr. Convay, I didn’t open zee doors, not only because it risked zee possibility of infecting everyone on board, but I too did not know vat vas going on. Vat happened in zere happened fast, so fast zat I couldn’t even understand. So please, don’t start pointing fingers.” Hassel turned away from John and stepped towards the door that led back into the laboratory, only to stop at the panel resting on the wall. Pushing the red button just besides the speakers, Hassel leaned forward and spoke, “Mr. Convay is ready.”

Within a minute the door that he had entered the laboratory through slid open and three men in hazmat suits, two of which held guns, walked in. Hassel stepped out of their way, the three came up to John and stopped about three feet away from him.

“Officer Conway,” The unarmed woman in the center said her voice muffled behind her mask. “If you’d come with us, we’ll get you situated.”

Johnny eyed the guns the guards were carrying, a bit a sweat formed on his brow. “When were lab coats allowed to carry firearms?” His voice sounding uneasy.

“It’s only a precautionary measure, there is nothing to fear.” The woman said. “Now please follow us.”

Johnny gulped and rose up from his seat, giving Hassel one last look. He saw the scientist with an ear to ear smile just before the metal door slid shut.

:[-]:

Screaming, a constant shrill cry drilled itself into John’s ears; John sat curled in a corner inside a large glass room. His hands cupped over his almost bleeding ears, the blood curdling cry never coming to an end. Despite the inch thick glass between him and the source of the cry, it somehow managed to seep by and pummel itself into his ears! Popping one eye open he could see the man producing such a horrific sound, a large soldier in a hospital gown thrashed violently in his bed, two men in bio protected suits tried to calm the man. Their hands firmly planted on his chest, trying to keep the man from throwing himself off the bed.

“Dammit Nancy where those sedatives!” The head doctor looked over his shoulder and called.

The door separating the quarantine between the rest of the medbay slid open, in came a woman wearing a blue protected suit; in her hands she carried a metal platter with syringes and vials

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

  The crazed man hollowed at the top of his lungs, one of the doctors losing grip on his arm; a fist came crashing into the side of the his head. The doctor stumbled back, his shoulders making contact quite forcefully with the inch thick glass separating Johnny from the fray.

“Lt. Bell!” The head doctor clapped his arms onto the lieutenants shoulders and leaned forward. “You’re acting delusional! There are no voices! Don’t listen to them, they aren’t real!”  He tried to reason, but to his avail the soldier continued to thrash and cry.

“Doctor.” The poor man who had taken a fist to the head stumbled his way back over to the bed. “You’re reasoning with a man who is on the border of insanity.” He firmly grasped the doctor’s shoulder. “The best thing we can do is sedate him and wait for data come in.”

“The sedative is ready, sir,” The woman named Nancy said; she had just finished filling the syringe with some clear liquid.

The head doctor nodded. “Yes, Nancy.”  He looked back to the sobbing patient; the Lt. gnashed his teeth together, his once dark brown skin had turned unnaturally pale, his eyes appeared to be literally bugging out of his head as he jerked his head forward.

Johnny watched with sheer horror as the poor marine snapped his teeth towards one of the men’s arms, like he was trying to take a chunk out of him. “I said hold him down!”

“I’m trying sir, but he’s too strong!”

“Just fucking do it!”

With saying that, the head doctor forced one of the delusional marine’s arms flat onto the bed and injected the sedative into it. The soldier released a startled yelp, and suddenly jerk his arm; causing the doctor to step back and the needle to dislodge from his arm. But as time progressed the man’s actions seem to slow to more of a snails pace, in his crazed eyes the men could see the drowsiness begin to kick in.

His movements became even more slug like as his limbs fell limp, his breathing settled, and his mad like cries became more like psychotic mumbles, which then settled into a deep sleep. The doctors took a step back from the bed, all three of them sharing concerned looks with each other.

“You alright, Greg?” The head doctor asked the boy that took the blow to the head.

“My ears are still ringing a little, but I’ll be fine; thanks for asking,” He replied. “How about you Dr. Hartman?”

“A little shaken up that’s all...” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to go get something to drink,” Hartman said turning towards the door; he brushed passed the trembling nurse; her eyes fixitated on the unconscious man. “If any of you want to tag along; feel free.”

One by one; never taking their eyes off of soldier, the three doctors and one nurse silently left the quarantine room. Johnny (who at this point had covered his ears and clenched his eyes shut) opened his eyes; the screaming had fallen silent. With trembling hands, he took them away from his ears; his body was shaking as if the temperature in the room and just dropped below zero.

Turning his body towards the glass barrier that served as his only protection from the crazed man right next door. Johnny released a shaky breath as climbed onto his wobbling legs; the sight that he had just witnessed was something he had never seen before. Nor does he ever want to see it again, what he just saw and heard was something that would make any sane man drive a nail through his heart.

But it wasn’t the screaming or the crying of unknown voices that drove Johnny to such an edge. It was the thought of something so small; so small that it’s not even visible to the naked eye, could drive a man to such lengths. It only took one bite and a little bit of tainted air, and here we are now; screaming about invisible voices and acting like rabid animals.

Johnny was horrified; he didn’t want to end up like the man on the otherside. He’d rather die than suffer through what the poor man is enduring After seeing what the seemingly harmless pathogen did to you he didn’t even want to step foot outside anymore. No sirree. He’d rather keep his ass glued to his chair and stare at that damned globe for the rest of his miserable life.

Then again... what if it isn’t the air; a thought came to John’s mind. Could it just be an infection caused by the bear’s bite?

No, no. It couldn’t be.

Looking at him he noticed his pale skin. In all his life John had never seen a man or woman that pale, save for the occasional albino or...

A darker fear began to etch its way into John’s skin; John shook his head, turning away he planted both his hands on the wall and shifted his weight over to them. “No,” He moaned which sounded more like a whine, “Oh God please don’t let it come to that.”

The door behind him opened. “Hello there Mr. Conway,” A muffled almost robotic voice sounded behind him.

Johnny turned to face the woman behind him, she was wearing a highly protected chemical suit; looking at him through a large bulky protective visor that made her head considerably larger. Her suit was a bright orange and her gait was more of a waddle as she moved closer to him;  a small, pained smile growing with every step. “I’m sorry you had to witness all of that.” She motioned her head towards mentally unstable man who was still mumbling despite being out cold. “My colleagues were not expecting him to break down like this.” She chuckled darkly, but not out of humor.

“What do you mean?” Johnny asked, sounding sour.

The woman sighed. “Just a few hours ago he was acting cooperative, doing as we asked. Allowing us to take blood samples and redress his wounds, basically like any normal person would” Her face turned grim. “Then all of a sudden he turns pale and begins shouting about these voices. ‘Shut up, shut up’ he shouted.” The doctor’s voice was muffled by the mask, and Johnny found it difficult to make out certain words. The woman waddled over to the small medical cot sitting next to the wall in John’s room within the quarantine bay. “At first I thought Jamison pissed him off or something,” She continued and turned her torso with a crinkle of the suit to  glance back at John, he looked puzzled, again her voice making it very difficult to understand, it sorted sounded as if she had a faint English accent. “Huh?... oh. Jamison’s the guy who’s watching over him twenty four seven,” She clarified, despite that not being the reason on why John was confused in the first place.

The doctor sat down onto his cot, the mattress giving a squeaky protest as she did so. “Before I continue, I must admit how rude I’ve been to you.”

John processed what she had said and cocked an eyebrow,  while stepping off from the wall. “Excuse me?” He asked as he moved in front of her.

“I haven’t introduced myself.” She stuck out a large, black gloved hand “I’m Doctor Alyssa Joyce, I’ll be checking up on you for here on out.”

John eyed the stuck out hand with a frown, looking back up at Alyssa’s smiling face, clearly visible behind the facemask, her eyes motioned for him to shake it. Hesitantly John raised his hand and took it. “Officer Jonathan Conway, pleasure to meet you Alyssa.”

Alyssa’s smile turned from “pained” to “pleased”, one that was eerily similar to Hassel’s. “Brilliant. Now then.” She slowly stood up, seeming to have completely forgotten about their previous conversation. “ Would you mind taking a seat Mr. Conway?” She waved a bubbly, orange suited arm towards the cot.

Johnny obliged. “Do you mind if I ask why?” He asked, his eyes flickering back towards the sedated man laying on the other side of the windowpane. The  fear for what may have infected the poor sod across from him crept back into his chest, making his blood run cold.

John’s arms were assaulted by goosebumps. “It’s all part of the procedure Mr. Con–Is everything alright?” Alyssa asked, she was leaning forward in front of him, seemingly concerned. “You seem a little pale Mr. Conway. Are you feeling nauseous?” She tilted her head slightly, inspecting him. The suit bobbed along.

“N-no.” John looked the woman in the eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Her arm went back as if she was reaching for something, “Just part of protocol that is all–” Her arm stop and she frowned. “Ah, bugger all,” Alyssa groaned, her arm falling back to her side. “I knew I forgot something.” She smiled. “Give me a minute Mr. Conway I’ll be right back,” She said turning towards the door and heading out.

Johnny’s eyes flashed towards unconscious man again, despite being separated from the crazed man he couldn’t help but feel terribly frightened. “Wh-where are you going?”

“No need to worry dear,” the doctor snickered. “I only left a few things back in my office, I’ll just be on the other side of the door.”

“Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately, I repeat: All available units report to the armory immediately! This is not a drill!” Three loud, muffled bumps followed by a wailing alarm echoed throughout the ship, causing Alyssa to paused at the door and gaze upwards toward the source of the bumps.

“What in God’s name could this be?”  John mumbled through the wail of the alarm.

“Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately!” The intercom buzzed louder than the alarms. “I Repeat! Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately!” Just outside the door John could hear the pounding of thundering boots as men and women all over Horizon hurried towards the armory to gather their gear and report to their defensive positions

“Whatever it is,” Alyssa said, her voice barely even a whisper, “I think we’re in trouble.”

Chapter 10: First Contact

Deep in the middle of the thickly wooded forest just two hours before Johnny Conway was quarantined from being exposed to an unknown force, Commander William Keshiner and his squadmates were steadily pushing through the thick branches and leaves of the surrounding forest. His clothing was caked with mud and dried dirt, green stains covered his hands, and bits of morning dew had begun to cling to his visor. Will unthinkingly tried to wipe clean the grime obstructing his view, but his dirt covered hand only served to worsen his problem.

He muttered a few curses under his breath and swiped at his visor with the back of his hand in an attempt to clean the rest of the dirt off, all the while trying to clamber over a log that blocked their path. The night was growing late, and the cool air was causing more and more dew to form on the squad’s armored forms. It wasn’t as much a problem as it was a nuisance that he had to repeatedly wipe off his visor in order to see somewhat clearly. Not too far in the distance, the sky was already awash with the colorful rays of the rising sun. Looking up through a small opening in the canopy, William stopped dead in his tracks.

“Is something wrong, Commander?” Stacey asked as she seemed to glide over the log, her feet landing catlike upon the damp grass. Receiving no response, both she and the rest of the squad approached him. Stacey followed William’s eyes up towards the sky, and what she saw nearly brought her to tears.

Reds, oranges, pinks, and even hints of blue hues decorated the sky like an abstract painting. Small, fluffy white clouds decorated with shades of pinks drifted over the mountain, its edges outlined by the orange trees that reflected the sun’s rays. A flock of white birds drifted across the sky only to be silhouetted when they passed through the sun’s light.

William could hardly believe what he was seeing, it was magnificently beautiful. The sun was just starting to peak over the mountain, spreading an aurora of colors across the sky. I wonder, William thought, if everyone else is stopping what they’re doing. And they most likely were, even the rest of William’s squad stopped beside him and watched the sun rise over the mountain top and cast its light upon the world. He heard someone sniffle behind him, followed by “Goddammit, I think I need a tissue.”

The squad stood in awe for a few more moments before William finally snapped out of his stupor. “Alright, that’s enough gazing for now; Central needs us back at base before anything else happens.”

“Y-yes sir,” came his squad’s hesitant reply. He understood they were finding it difficult to avert their eyes from the the beauty that they hadn’t seen in a millennium. He was too.

:[-]:

“Hmm...” Luna bit the bottom of her lip as she read her sister’s letter once more. “This is truly interesting.”

My Dearest sister,

The lone fragment that landed deep in our garden was not a meteorite. After my subjects and I dug it out of the crater we confirmed that it is something not of Equestrian origin. Immediately after it was unearthed I ordered it to be sent to the research facilities in Fillydelphia, as to better determine what it was. However, even our brightest minds therein were unable to uncover anything resembling a solid answer. The materials it is composed of are entirely alien, and the symbols found on its side  are of no language that we are aware of, living or dead.

Whatever it is that fell from our sky, little sister, it is not of this world. And if what you say of unknown creatures roaming Bramblewood Forest is true, then it is imperative that we maintain a vigilant guard. If they were able to attack and defeat members of your elite guard, then I fear that these creatures may be more dangerous than any enemy we have faced in recent memory, save Discord and Tirek.

Luna, I implore you; return to Canterlot with all possible haste. You have done much already, and you deserve a rest. I shall handle the situation in Saddleston.

Your Sister, Celestia.

Luna sighed deeply and leaned more heavily against the large stone she had been using as a backrest for the past thirty minutes. Yawning, she felt how heavy her eyes had become. She could hardly feel any life in her sleep deprived limbs, and her thoughts were growing more sluggish by the minute. However, she was not surprised by this. She had been awake for since the night before, after all. The idea of letting her sister deal with this mess was a tempting one. Extremely tempting, in fact.

However, she had been tasked with finding the meteorite that landed in the area, while also ensuring that nopony was injured. Said meteorite was still within these woods, and despite the time they had spent here, they were none the wiser as to even know its general location therein. And truly, she had to admit to herself, she had failed her other objective. The group of ponies she commanded was four short. So far, none of her objectives were met. She sighed once again and skimmed over the letter. Luna was not one to leave a job undone, and knew she could do better. Using her magic to crumple the letter into a small ball, she teleported it somewhere that wasn’t here. With the letter floating somewhere in deep space, Luna noticed one of her officers, Bristol, eyeing her closely.

“Your majesty,” he said, his voice sound calm and collected. His eyes were half lidded and his lips formed was straight. “Our scouts have just returned from  their expedition.” As he spoke, Luna couldn’t help but notice that his head seemed to bounce up and down with his every word.

“What have they found?” she asked, another yawn threatening to escape her throat.

Bristol remained silent for a moment, his muzzle contorting ever so faintly. He looked as if he didn’t know quite how to articulate his response. “Well, I can’t believe it, but,” Luna strained to decipher his quiet mumbling, but he quickly cleared his throat. “About twelve miles north, near the base of Mt. Neighson, the scouts reported a massive object resting in the middle of a densely forested area. Or, rather, it was resting in what was left of a densely forested area.”

Luna couldn’t help the smile that had formed on her face. She could at least mark the first objective off of her list now. “Is that all?”

The officer shook his head, stopping it from returning to its prior bobbing. “They have also reported seeing what appear to be tents, and what we logically assume to be supplies scattered around the outer edge of the ‘meteorite’,” he said, putting special emphasis on the final word.

Tents and supplies? Luna began running possibilities through her head. What could these beings possibly be doing? In fact, what are these beings and what could they possibly want?

When had Luna thought the officer had finished and she began to speak, the stallion started up again. “Odd thing is, about thirty seconds after its touchdown, they mentioned something about an alarm sounding off.”

“An alarm? I haven’t heard anything.”

“Neither have I. I’m just telling you what the scouts said.”

“What happened when the alarm went off?”

The officer shifted nervously from hoof to hoof, his eyes pass over everything save for the princess. wavered left and right. “They mentioned black and green creatures that came swarming out of the meteorite. Hideous monsters they said, creatures that stood seven feet tall and one that seemed to reach the treetops.” Bristol shivered and scratched a small patch of his coat just below his armor.

Luna frowned. They must have some sort of detection spell if they were able to discover the scouts. “Then we must act with caution.” Luna stood up, her legs beginning to tingle as blood quickly rushed back through them. “Our mission is to make sure whatever came from that meteorite doesn’t hurt anypony else. Lieutenant Bristol,” Luna glared down at the smaller pony, his eyes focused he nodded. “Write a letter to Princess Celestia telling her that I will not be returning until I know the situation here is stable, afterwards alert the others, we’ll be moving out within the next thirty minutes.”

A hoof came to Bristol’s forehead in a salute. “Yes Your Majesty!”

When Bristol turned and made a beeline towards the rest of the guard, Luna glanced over her shoulder towards the tree tops. From where she stood she could see the faintest bit of white smoke drifting into the sky.

Tents and supplies, Luna thought. Surely what they were dealing with here must be organized; and surely whatever fell from the sky was no meteorite, but instead could only be assumed to be a form of transport. A transport carrying a species nopony has ever seen before, at least to her knowledge. Whatever they were, Luna could only pray that they were friendly.

:[-]:

The sweat on Luna’s coat was causing her chest piece to stick to her much like it was bound by glue. Bugs buzzed around her as if a party  had been thrown in that physics defying mane of her’s, her tail continuously swatted back and forth fighting a losing battle against the swarm of bugs that wouldn’t let up.

They were almost there, the crash site was just a mile up ahead, she could smell it. Literally. The air was filled with smoke, and already rotting plants. In the distance the ponies could hear an unfamiliar sound, a sound of steady thumping.

Kkksssh thump, kkkksssh thump, kkkkssshhhh thump!

With each thundering beat came a small tremor gradually getting stronger and stronger as they drew near. Or it drew near. The sound seemed to resemble foot steps rather than a random noise, it traveled in a pattern similar to those of a bipedal creature like a minotaur. Except this sounded like a machine, metal clanking together, squealing rhythmically before producing a loud thud that the ponies could feel in their hooves.

Kkkkksssh thump! Kkkkkkkssssh thump! KKkksssshhh thump!! KKKKSSSsshhh THUMP!!

The sound became increasingly louder, the tremors had  started to become more akin to earthquakes, the nearby wildlife began to scatter, scampering from their burrows and hopping from branch to branch in an attempt to escape from the approaching pounding. Leaves fell sparsely from the trees above like light, colorful rain. Luna looked back at her guards. “Hold your ground!” She shouted over the horrendous noise that was resounding ahead of them.

“Look!” Luna saw a guard shoot his hoof forward, his eyes wide with a look of amazement  mixed with fear.

Luna quickly snapped her head around, about forty yards away, deep in the trees, a large, tall, and bulky figure that was shrouded in shadows stomped its way past them. The small rays of light that pierced the trees refracted off its silver hull; in its wide fat hands the monster held an elongated thick object that it kept close to its chest. Its body swayed side to side with each step, with each pounding footfall Luna felt like her insides would leap into the air,  making her queasy.

To her and her guards’ relief however, it seemed that the creature did not notice them; and it continued down its path through the forest. Its earth-shaking steps becoming quieter with each passing second, Luna released a quiet breath. “We move with extreme caution from here on out, keep your eyes open and nopony make a sound.” Her troops replied with a nod of their heads to which Luna replied with her own.

She was positive that they were close, extremely close to be exact. They began to move once again, up ahead Luna could already hear alien sounds. She motioned for her guards to get down low and she got down onto her belly. Something didn’t seem right here. Quite honestly none of this seemed right, never in all her years has something to this extreme happened. Those bush creatures in the woods, and that massive metallic beast, what were they? Were they all related?

Already the behemoth’s footfalls were returning, Luna took a quick glance back and ordered her stallions with a wave of her head to dive into a nearby patch of shrubbery. Luna winced as a thorn jabbed her side as she crawled into a large bush, her guards followed behind, a few however were forced to retreat back when it became apparent that no room was available.

“Princess,” A guard hissed behind her. “I do not mean to be rude, but your mane will give us away.”

KKkkksssh thump! KKKkKkkksssh thump! KKkkksssh thump!

The dreadful sound became fully audible again, it seemed as if it was heading right for them. Luna nodded her head and her horn sparked for the briefest of moments, followed by her mane falling down to her sides, losing all magical essence it had held previously.

KKKKkssssh thump! KKKKkkssh thump!!

The earth, once again with immense force shook. The ponies clenched their teeth, a few even closing their eyes as they waited for the monster to pass by and the sound to go away. However, instead of the the sound continuing past them, it ended abruptly; like a strummed string on a violin being halted by a hoof, ceasing the melody.

Luna’s eyes, that had been staring straight ahead in anticipation whole, blinked when she noticed how the heavy noise had suddenly stopped. For a second it had seemed that the animal had vanished entirely, just poofed right out of existence. But those thoughts would be forced to stop when a long drawn out hiss echoed just over her head.

“PRINCESS WATCH OUT!”

Luna felt a magical tug on her body, and she was dragged out of the way of a foot, larger than her body, that came crashing down right beside her head. Mud and leaves were thrown in all directions by the force of the enormous limb, completely drenching Luna’s body.

Lt. Bristol quickly yanked Luna to her hooves, his wide, terrified eyes never leaving the towering abomination. The monster backed up and glared down at the scrambling, panicked ponies that ran blindly in every direction. Its body drifting side to side, its lone green eye hopping from guard to guard, the large object Luna once saw carrying in its hands was now attached to its back, held there by a metal clasp. The metal monster straightened itself and exalted, emitting a deafening howl that roared like thunder.

Any remaining pony that wasn’t panicking now turned and fled for their lives, except for Luna. She stayed, brow furrowed and mane flowing as if it was in a hurricane; her eyes shooting daggers into the monster’s one.

The towering beast rolled its shoulders, its metal plates screeching as they rubbed against each other. Raising a foot over her head, the creature went to move on the fleeing ponies; but Luna shouted, a shout so loud her own ears rung at the sound her vocals produced.

“HALT!”

The foot stopped just a couple of feet above her head, then it retracted and brought itself back to the ground. Behind Luna, the panicked guards had frozen in mid run, eyes wide and focused back on their Princess. Luna gritted her teeth and continued to glare fiercely at the metal monstrosity. The creature stared expressionless at Luna, not a single sound admitted from it.

Luna bit her tongue. Her mind was beginning to draw a blank, she had absolutely no idea of what to do or say. The metal beast continued its blank stare for a few moments before finally releasing a grunt and pivoting itself around, moving in the direction back from where it came.

“Y-your Majesty,” Luna could barely hear Bristol mumble, the poor stallion was literally shaking like a leaf. “Wh-what do we do now?”

Luna blinked, the lieutenant’s question somewhat snapping her out of her stupor. She took her eyes off the monster and looked down at the soldier. “We follow it.” Luna surprised herself with how calm her voice sounded. “Whatever that is, it may lead us to the meteorite, rally up any of the stragglers that may have run off and follow that thing!”

Bristol looked behind himself to where the rest of the guard was originally, all that was left of their platoon was nothing more than a small handful of stallions. He gulped. “Aye Your Majesty, I’ll see what I can do.”

:[-]:

Crew members of all kinds aboard Horizon usually liked to think of the Admiral’s office, which doubled as his living quarters, was something to kill for. A luxurious bed, with nice silk sheets and fluffy pillows, their own television, and maybe even a mini fridge with some alcohol. The perfect habitat for one, maybe two, to just kick back and relax; but to be frank, it wasn’t like that at all. Matter of fact, the only thing correct about that was the mini-fridge kept in the corner right beside Watson’s desk. Though the man never stored anything in it aside from his lunch, it was practically useless even then.

Watson’s room was nothing different compared to every other crewmember on the ship, aside from having it to himself that is; he had one bed, an armchair, and a locker. That was it. Nothing fancy, no silk sheets, one extra pillow, and a mini fridge he only used when he decided that he couldn’t eat anymore of that fucking dried beef the kitchen staff kept serving.

Watson sighed and sat back in his chair, he was in his office half past eight in the morning. He was in the middle of working on a couple documents that contained the next steps in the plans to revive humanity, the next order of business, was to set up a small, self sustaining colony. Which was going to be difficult seeing that they landed next to a native settlement constructed by a species that magically seemed to evolve in only the span of under ten thousand years, assumably that is.

Raising his hands he rested the back of his head in his palms, his eyes flicking towards the red digital clock above he saw that it was now eight fifty in the morning. He had ten minutes before he needed to go down to briefing; the chairmen had requested a meeting four hours ago, after that excuse of a landing, to discuss future operations. Hence the reason why he was looking over them now.

Watson always hated going to these meetings. The snobs that practically served no purpose to the survivability of mankind irritated the hell out of him. The only reason these handful of people survived in the first place was because of their positions in politics and their threats to cut funding on the Icarus Project (Horizon’s construction), if they weren’t guaranteed any seats.

“I knew women and children who’d serve better on this ship then these fuckers,” Watson mumbled under his breath as he leaned forward and flicked through a few more pages. One of them being a full page list of the vaults that hopefully contained the last of the human species. Twenty-five vaults in total covered every continent on the entire planet, twenty of them housing civilians while the other five held the last of the world’s military superpowers.

“Zere’s enough veapons and supplies down zere to vage vorld var tree.” Watson could remember Hassel stating, at the time the good doctor was only joking around. However, it was the truth, five military vaults; two being on either coast of the United States, one in China, Germany, and finally Russia; were established in case the Archangel had somehow miraculously survived. Each of them packed with enough weapons that if they were to fall in the wrong hands, history may as well repeat itself and Horizon would find itself drifting along the edge of the solar system once again.

Watson flipped to the last blank page, yawning quietly to himself he grabbed a hold of the folder and closed it, revealing a small black and white photo about the size of a playing card. On it was a young woman standing next to a man dressed in a Liberty dress. The man’s arm was wrapped tightly around the back of the woman's neck, pulling her into a tight hug. Both shared ridiculous smiles and the man held up two fingers as a “Peace!” sign. In the background, he could see the ocean and a warship not too far off in the distance.

Watson smiled and picked the image off the table and flipped it, Hawaii 1966. “Nineteen years old,” he whispered to himself and mimicked the goofish smile his past self held. Raising a hand, he gently trailed his index finger across the woman’s face, the fond memories of years past slowly beginning to resurface. “If only you were here now to see how much we’ve accomplished, dear,” he chuckled.

“Admiral Watson?” a pleasantly calm voice inquired.

Watson blinked twice looking up from the photo he rose out of the sea of memories. “Yes?” he answered.

“Admiral Watson, are you there?”

Beating the palm of his hand against his forehead Watson scolded himself when he noticed the voice was coming from the speaker on his desk. Leaning over he pressed his finger down on the talk key. “What is it, Wendy?”

“Chairman Michelson is requesting for your presence down in the briefing room; I was also supposed to tell you that Commander Keshiner and the rest of Baghdad have returned from their expedition.”

Watson groaned, he absolutely hated attending these sorts of meetings, the ones where a politically inclined fig yammered on without getting straight to the damned point, he sighed, knowing that there was no way out of it. Of course, his finger wasn’t depressing the key, so the irritation was missed by the desk jockey on the other end. Otherwise, the Admiral was pleased, yet somewhat apprehensive about the debriefing and what Baghdad had to report. “Very well,” he pressed the intercom, “tell the Chairman I’ll be down immediately.” It was often best to say that you would be down as soon as possible, rather than in a few minutes, as Watson had learned over his long and exhaustive career.

“Will do, sir. Anything else?” Wendy responded cheerfully.

Watson nodded despite her being in a separate compartment. “Yes, tell Keshiner to report his team’s findings to Intelligence, and that they have two hours rest before they join the other teams along the perimeter.”

“Yes sir, notifying the Commander now.”

Watson took his hand off the receiver and slouched in his chair for a couple of moments, contemplating if he should formulate some bullshit excuse. He decided against it and rose up from his chair. Glancing down at himself, he even considered opting out of dressing up and just going in his white tee and grey cargos. Although, the chairmen would really throw a tantrum if they saw him like that. He smirked, now that’d be a sight to see.

Sadly, it was time to quit the games and throw on his mask of professionalism. Stripping off his casual wear, Watson crumpled them into a ball and tossed them into a clothes hamper. He opened his locker and found his uniform freshly cleaned and coffee stain free, along with five other white T-shirts and pairs of pants. He took the uniform out of the locker and began to put it on. Once he was finished, he looked himself over once in the mirror. Watson proceeded to the door, glancing sadly back at his room and office, which he knew he wouldn’t see for quite some time. He swallowed the lump in his throat and flipped off the lights, the pneumatic door sliding noiselessly shut behind him.

:[-]:

“Mr. Carlson, I’ll say this once, and only once: to insure our survival we cannot go around cracking open every vault there is. We must make sure we ourselves can survive this wilderness, therefore we need to establish a self sustaining colony.” Admiral Watson explained to the fat man across from him that was practically on his tip toes as he leant forward and nasty scowl plastered across his face.

“Don’t forget the natives too,” The women sitting beside Watson, Chairman Angela Weaver said, primary funder of the Icarus Project. “Even with our technological advantage there are far too many of them for us to handle if things are to take a turn for the worst.”

“And speaking of the Natives, Ms. Weaver.” Charles Riley, United States Democrat who had just enough money to make it aboard. “What do you propose we do with them?”

“We attempt negotiations of course. We go for diplomacy and try to gain equal grounds with one another, depending on how things turn out. We can only hope it ends in our favor.”

“And what if it doesn’t,” Carlson sat back down in his seat, a brow was raised and his teeth latched tightly down on the unlit pipe between his lips. “Say these creatures are hostile, what then?”

“We do our best to keep every last person aboard this ship alive, Carlson. Plan for the worst hope for the best.” Watson said, his voice completely monotone, a hand was resting on the side of his head while the other tapped impatiently on the arm rest.

“How about first contact?” A man in a black suit, short brown hair brushed a little to the right, his face was dark and his eyes were brown.

“What about it Mr. Chinaski?” Watson asked.

The man gulped and scratched one side of his skinny neck. “How would we approach a meeting with these... horses?”

“Just call them natives Mr. Chinaski,” Watson sighed while looking over to the woman beside him. She was wearing a nice black skirt that went just past her knees, and a top that really complimented her slim body; her blonde hair was tied neatly into a ponytail that rested on the back of her neck, a pair of black rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose right in front of her equally spaced, blue eyes. If Watson was asked to briefly explain what this woman looked like he’d say, “She looks like a librarian really.”

Weaver sank a little bit in her seat, a hand to her chin in thought. “Quite honestly, Mr. Chinaski, we haven’t come up with an idea on how we’d approach them.”

“Here’s an idea Ms. Weaver,” Riley spoke up. “We don’t.”

Weaver looked at the man and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t what?”

“Isolationism,” He clarified, “we stick to ourselves and focus on what’s at hand.”

Watson sighed and took his hand off his face, straightening his back he looked to Riley and said, “Well I’m sorry to burst your bubble chairman, but last I saw the natives will most likely be making contact.”

Murmurs sprouted throughout the briefing room. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Watson called over the people, “There is no avoiding what is going to happen in the next couple hours or even days. To these creatures we’re aliens that have fallen from the stars. They don’t know squat about us. And that’s bad, very bad. They won’t leave us alone. They WILL investigate us, and we either have to be ready when it comes, or reach out ourselves with our best foot forward.”

All eyes were now on him. “Already Sgt. Conway and his men had captured four of these beings alive–”

Carlson shot from his seat his hands pounding on the table that was in front of him. “Are you kidding me?!” The briefing room fell silent, Carlson looked back towards the other chairmen who watched him with wide eyes, he looked back at Watson. “Admiral Watson, if what you’re saying is true these creatures are bound to attack us on sight! What were your men thinking?!”

Watson leaned forward his eyebrows curving downwards. “I’ll assure you, Carlson, my men had every right to do what they did. Those creatures cracked open the Japanese storage coolers, ten inches of thick steel pushed open as if it was nothing.”

Carlson gave Watson a skeptical look. “And I bet they can fly too,” He said sarcastically.

Watson folded his hands and smirked. “Matter of fact,” he had to suppress a laugh when Carlson flashed him a look of pure disbelief, “they can... at least, the ones with wings can.”

Carlson locked eyes with Watson for a couple of moments before sitting down, grumbling angrily to himself. A woman dressed in a white lab coat with a green undershirt and long brown hair stood up. “And what else do we know of these creatures, Admiral?”

Watson smiled, so much for discussing their next plans. “Well, Christa, what we know of–”

“Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately, I repeat: All available units report to the armory immediately! This is not a drill!”

“What the Hell?” Watson rose immediately from his chair, voices throughout the room began to rise as chairmen looked to each other with worried and confused faces.

“Everyone please remain calm!” Weaver ordered as she stood, looking to Watson she said, “Admiral, could it be them?”

Watson took his eyes away from the speaker that was still blurting out the alert. “Maybe... I dunno.” Outside the room he could already hear soldiers rallying towards the armory, the ceiling rumbled as more rushed to the stairs. Watson looked to Weaver, his face returning to its original demeanor. “Ms. Weaver, I want you to stay here and keep them,” He motioned with his hands towards the frightened chairmen, “from causing a panic.”

Weaver bit her bottom lip and glanced towards the indicated party. “Eh.” She gulped. “Yes sir,” She said her confidence returning. Watson gave her a small smile and nodded. Turning, he jogged out of the room and into the fray.

The corridor was packed, shoulder to shoulder soldiers quickly moved to the armory on the second deck, upper right part of the ship. Watson forcefully made his way in the opposite direction, his destination being the command room located in the very center of Horizon. It took him four minutes to push his way past his men to reach the central elevator, mainly used only by important individuals and scientists.

Watson stepped into the elevator, the metal doors stuttered for a brief moment before closing behind him. Even though the engineers had gotten the elevators to work again just a few hours after the ship came down, there still seemed to be a few problems. Something about needing to adjust the lifting mechanisms to account for increased gravity. Oh well. After descending deeper into the ship for a bit, the elevator stopped at its destination, its doors sliding apart, leading out to the third deck, which was devoid of staff except for the few scientist that briskly roamed the halls.

Watson adjusted his collar and began to make his way to the command center, when he arrived the large metal doors groaned as he passed through them.

“Excuse me, sir!” A man dressed in a dark green jumpsuit said just before running by, nearly ramming into Watson. His eyes followed the running man all the way to the other side of the room, around him he could see the entire command center was in chaos. People ran back and forth relaying information to one another, and in the center of it all was a tall, thin woman dressed in a dark green officer uniform with tinted sleeves. She had short black hair that stopped right above her ears, and dark blue eyes that could stare into a man’s soul. Command Officer Caroline Starter stood just beside the center desk, her eyes locked on the blue holo-globe.

Watson approached her. “Officer Starter,” he greeted, the girl in front of him jumped, startled by his sudden appearance.

She quickly turned to face Watson and gave him a brisk salute. “Admiral Watson,” She greeted back.

“Give me a sit-rep,” He ordered.

Caroline nodded and faced the globe, raising a hand she pointed towards a mass of red dots converging in on their location. “That’s what’s happening sir, fifteen minutes ago the majority of sensors were tripped along the western half of the perimeter.”

Watson squinted and leaned in a bit, the red dots almost seemed to make a large bloodstain. He looked at Caroline, “What about our soldiers along the defensive line, do we have eyes on whatever this is?”

Caroline nodded her head. “Yes sir, Leevi!” She shouted towards a man to the right of them who was sitting at a computer just at the base of the globe. “Bring up the footage sent to us by the Mark Two!”

“Yes Ma’am, bringing up the footage now.”

Caroline turned and faced the large screen mounted behind them on the wall, Watson followed suit.

“The video here, Admiral,” Caroline explained, “Is footage that was captured by one of our Panzer mechs that was patrolling a few miles outside of the perimeter.”

The screen flickered as the video began. Watson could faintly hear the sound of the pilot talking to himself, the screen shuddered with every step causing the footage to stutter and occasionally flicker. Listening further, Watson noticed that the man was actually talking to someone else over the radio. The pilot looked to be in control of a Heavy class panzer, standing roughly sixteen feet tall, and weighing ninety tons. The walking hunk of metal the man was piloting was built by humanity’s greatest minds to withstand anything the Archangel could throw at them. The pilot maneuvering the mech sat in the center chest piece protected by four inches of titanium on the front and only two inches on the sides. It appeared that this particular model was outfitted with a GAU-18 rotary cannon, and 120 mm smoothbore.

“Really?” The man said as he snickered “She really did it?!” He laughed.

Watson sighed impatiently. “What am I looking at here?” He said gesturing with an open hand towards the trees on screen.

“Leevi, skip ahead a minute,” Caroline requested.

“Yes, Ma’am, skipping ahead.”

The picture began to move along much more quickly than before, humorously through the eyes of the mech the image bobbed up and down at a fast pace. Suddenly though, something flashed across the screen.

“Stop it now!” Caroline demanded. The image halted, “Resume original pace,” She said.

“What the Hell?” The pilot said his voice struck with confusion. The mech turned towards the brush in which the light came from. Slowly, the pilot turned and began to make his way towards it. The bushes began to shake; something was inside. The pilot stopped the mech just a few short feet away from the vegetation. “Activating thermal,” He said. Suddenly the picture changed entirely, the colors of the trees and bushes transformed into tints of grey, revealing about a dozen white silhouettes laying in the bushes. “Eh... guys?” The pilot began speaking over the radio again.

Watson’s eyebrow raised at the scene before him. “Caroline, are these the creatures that tipped off the alarm?”

She nodded. “We believe so sir, but keep watching, there’s something else I want you to see.”

The pilot finished his conversation, mumbling to himself he switched off the thermal vision. Retaking control the pilot lifted the mechs foot and went to take a step over the bush, but halted right above. “Goddammit, fucking gears locking up again!” The pilot cursed, a slight protesting beep coming from inside the cockpit sign signaling that something wasn't working right. “I don’t got time for this shit!”

A shout of some sorts admitted from one of the bushes as the gears released the foot, causing it to come crashing down on the bush. As if on cue, the entire forest came to life as equine like creatures leaped out of the brush and began frantically galloping around the mech. “Jesus Christ!” The pilot pulled the mech back, nearly causing it to trip on a nearby fallen tree, he glanced from equine to equine, each of them covered in armor ranging from purple to gold. Each and every creature ran blindly in all directions, the pilot holstered the mech’s 120 mm smoothbore.

Watson could hear the pilot’s frustration when he tried to move but stopped when he noticed an equine ran right by the mech’s foot. “Alright you sonsofbitches.” The pilot flicked a couple of switches and jammed his thumb down on the horn, the creatures stumbled, nearly falling on their faces. Glaring back at the mech most of them turned and ran deep into the tree line, a few however began to back away slowly the reality of a metal giant standing before them not having sunk in yet. One in particular, a tall, dark blue, winged equine with a mane that spat in the face of Newtonian physics, stood before the mech, its eyes trapped in a cold stare with the pilot’s. The pilot smirked, rolling the mechs shoulders he raised its foot in attempt to see if he could scare the tall equine off. However, when the mech’s foot came just feet above its head, an earsplitting shout ruptured the audio of the video. The footage fell silent.

“What in God’s name?” Watson mumbled. “What happened to the sound?”

Caroline looked at him and shrugged. “We have absolutely no idea; something blew out the external microphone.”

“Was it that?”

She shrugged once again. “Most likely. We’ve been analyzing the footage sinced the second we saw it and we haven’t found anything else that could’ve done it.”

Watson looked back the screen in bewilderment. Now the mech was turning away and heading back to base. “The damn thing must’ve swallowed a megaphone as a child.”

“HQ, this is Charlie. We’re detecting movement northwest of our position. Do you copy? Over.”

Caroline pivoted around and went back over to the globe, where she picked up the headset that had been resting on the desk. “Charlie, this is HQ. We read you. What do you see? Over.”

Watson came up beside her and rested both his hands on the desk. “I think we don’t need a sit-rep to know what’s coming,” He said quietly.

“Mother of God!”  A second marine spat through the speaker.

Caroline reacted quickly. “What is it Charlie? What do you see?!”

“There’s dozens of’em!”

“Dozens of what Charlie?! What do you see?!”

Watson frowned and looked at Caroline. “Tell those men not to engage!”

Caroline nodded and brought the mic to her mouth. “Charlie whatever you do, do not engage I repeat: Do not engage!”

“Roger that–ah shit! They see us! I repeat we’ve been spotted!–” A single shot rang out in the background, both Watson and Caroline flinched.

Watson snagged the headset away from Caroline, and he nearly yelled into it, “Marine by God if your men fire off another round, I’ll have you all by your necks! Now pull back immediately and await further orders!”

“Eh, yes sir, Admiral Watson! Fall back!”

“Admiral Watson, Officer Starter!” Leevi shouted, “Multiple sensors have been tripped along the south western perimeter!”

“Sensors on the East side have gone up, sir!”

“North side has been triggered!”

“By God,” Watson watched as dozens, upon dozens of red dots appeared around the ship. “They’re surrounding us.”

Caroline looked at Watson, Watson however did not look back, instead his eyes remained on the globe. A thick sweat beginning to form on his brow, his frown deepened and his brow furrowed. “Leevi,” He said in a cold voice, “Patch me into Horizon’s intercom!”

“Yes sir! Patching you through now!”

He placed the mic close to his mouth and cleared his throat before speaking, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on Security Status Red! All units are to remain on high alert at all times!”

Watson placed the headset back on the desk and turned away and began heading for the door. “Admiral Watson,” Caroline said, she began to follow him. “Where are you going?”

“To get my gun!” He said as he jammed the button that opened the door. Caroline stopped before the door as he stepped through it, Watson stopped and looked over his shoulder. “As for you Officer Starter, I want you to stay here and hold down the fort while I’m gone.”

:[-]:

Commander Williams was enjoying his time on break. He was in his quarters sleeping on his bunk when security was bumped up to two and he and his men were ordered to report to the armory. He had only gotten about forty minutes worth of rest in when the alarm was sounded, that is, if you could call nightmares rest. As of now he remained laying in his bunk. His gaze fixated on the single light above. William wondered if anyone would even notice him missing. He smiled, maybe then he could get some more shuteye.

“Yo Commander!” Michael’s muffled voice rung out, “Are you alive in there?”

William took a deep breath, so much for that wish.“Barely,” he replied before rising  from his bunk, still blinking the sleepiness from his vision. He yawned and raised his hand to rub the crust out of his eyes. Mumbling under his breath he got up and walked over to his locker, throwing it open with little care. He stared at the contents, his mind drifting off into space. To his right the door opened and the junior lieutenant stepped in, already suited up in his tyvek suit, camo pants, and vest. All he was missing was the helmet and mask that usually shielded his short, brown hair and bright, green eyes.

“Hey Commander, you coming?”

William yawned and grabbed his protective suit out of his locker, he flashed a look towards marine. “What does it look like?”

“Looks like to me you’re slacking off.” Michael smiled and tapped the door frame. “Come on, we need to be down in the armory in five mikes.”

William finished zipping the suit up to his neck and began putting on his pants and the rest of his gear. In a matter of two minutes he was fully dressed and ready to head down. Stepping out in the hallway he saw that he and a few others were the only ones left, a few engineers wearing kevlar vests and helmets strolled by, on their backs were couple of M4 carbines. It was an odd sight to see but William knew that every man and woman aboard Horizon, save for the chairmen, had at least some form of combat experience. Had it be only basic training or an actual gun fight in the streets of some city back when man originally ruled the Earth.

Luckily for William his quarters was on the same deck as the armory and it didn’t take long for him to find a small crowd of soldiers formed right in the middle of the hall by the door caused by a traffic jam of marines trying to make their way out while others tried to get in.

“Come on everyone! Grab your shit and get a move on, you can chat later, lets go!” An abnormally tall man, by the name of Thomas Giles, ducked under the opening and stepped into the armory. Like every other soldier he was already set up in his tyvek.  kevlar vest, elbow and kneepads, along with his helmet that was already on top his head. He clapped his hands together for emphasis, “I said lets go!”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers replied in unison quickening their pace. Thomas was on the highest ranking officers on board bellow Jonathan Conway. Thomas turned around and noticed William looking up at him, he flashed his teeth at him with a smile and gave him a mock salute salute before brushing past him.

William’s watched the tall soldier as he disappeared into the crowd. Looking back at Michael, William shook his head and pushed his way into the armory. Inside the armory wasn’t as packed as the corridor. The interior resembled something of a high school locker room, the walls were lined with lockers each marked with a soldier’s name and number. Down the center was large bench for men to sit or organize their gear; William politely made his way past a couple of men who were filling their bags with gear.

Eventually he reached his locker. The second to last one in the barracks. It was right next to a viewscreen that originally showed off the vast reaches of space. However, the exterior camera was fried in the reentry process and it was currently just displaying the United Nations logo on a white background. The engineers were supposed to come up at some point and recycle them, but seeing as to what’s been happening over the course of the last fifteen minutes, that didn’t seem too likely.

Reaching into his left breast pocket William fished out a small white key card that had his name and picture on it. Glancing at it the commander couldn’t help but smile at the young private standing before the camera. it was such a different world then, amazing to think that was over a millennium ago now. Raising the card he slid it into the panel beside the locker’s door. A satisfying bleep emanated from the device and the locker opened with a small click. Inside were two weapons. The first being his trusty M4; which was originally kept under his bed, but he learned that it’s apparently against protocol to keep weapons in your quarters. The second weapon in the locker just beside the M4 hanging up on the back wall was the trusty AK-12, personally it isn’t his choice of weapon, but the guys down in engineering kept telling him it’s much better. Especially due to the modifications they made to it to help improve the durability and accuracy of said weapon.

However, that still didn’t change his opinion on it. He’s not saying that it was a bad weapon, it’s just that the AK wasn’t the gun that got him out of so many hairy situations.. William reached in and grabbed the assault rifle out of the locker along with six magazines and a pair of night vision goggles. From there he placed each item on the metal bench behind him, before turning back and taking the large combat backpack out of the locker and placing it on the floor. Getting one knee he opened it and began to sort out the rest of his gear. Once he was satisfied with what he had, William zipped it closed and slung it on his back before standing back up. He lifted his rifle off the bench and checked the mag. It was full.  He loaded the mag into the rifle and attached the others onto his belt William then placed the night vision goggles on his forehead after checking the batteries.

“Alright boys!” William heard Thomas shout, looking over his shoulder he saw the man resting his AK along his chest. “Just got word from the General that he wants us all down in the cafeteria!” Thomas coughed into his fist and then blurted out, “And as for you pilots!” He was referring to the men who controlled the panzer mechs. “Report down to the hangar for suiting up!”

“Why the cafeteria?” Someone asked.

“The briefing room is already in use,” He said, “Lets get a move on it now, we can’t keep him waiting forever!” Thomas Giles shouted once more before he turned and made his way out the door followed by many other soldiers similar to how ducklings would follow behind their mother.

“The General eh?” Michael’s muffled voice crept up behind William. “I thought he’d be down in the meeting with the rest of the superiors.”

William looked over his shoulder, Michael was already wearing his mask and helmet despite them being indoors. “Whatever’s happening must be serious.”

“I guess so.”

William raised an eyebrow. “Can you even breathe in that thing?”

“Barely,” He replied.

“Then why are you wearing it?”

“Makes me look cool.”

William rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” He said and elbowed the man behind him lightly. “Lets go.”

:[-]:

Will watched as General Kenway stepped up in front of everyone, he was dressed in a thick green uniform that was decorated from head to toe in badges and stars. What portions of his grey hair that hadn’t fallen out yet were neatly combed back, his brown eyes glaring sternly at the soldiers scattered about the open cafeteria. The many tables that made up the lunchroom had been folded and pushed against the outer walls and had been replaced by dozens of folding chairs.

The general cleared his throat. “Good morning,” he greeted before taking a few steps towards a map that had been hastily printed out and taped to the wall. He pointed towards a set of thumbtacks that outlined the  defensive perimeter around the landing site. “Twenty minutes ago an alarm was triggered along the western half of our perimeter. One of our panzer pilots, Leon Fenwick, was able to cast eyes on one of the intruders and confirm our suspicions,” Kenway glanced over at a man who was standing beside the taped map.

The man nodded his head to a woman sitting behind some sort of control panel. The lights dimmed and behind the soldiers a projector beamed a blurred image onto the wall next to the map. As seconds passed the image came into focus, revealing itself to be a still image of what seemed to be armored creatures fleeing into the forest, the angle in which the shot was taken was assumed to be from the mechs head.

“Earth’s new inhabitants are closing in on our AO, just as Watson predicted.” The General continued, “However, these creatures seem to be relatively harmless.” Kenway tapped his finger on a black, winged equine that appeared to be fleeing for its life. “Your job, ladies and gentlemen, is to keep it that way.” The general nodded again and the picture on the wall flickered as it zoomed in on the tall, blue horse that appeared to be wearing a black chest piece of some sort with a pure white crescent moon in the middle The creature’s eyes were narrowed and it was giving off what appeared to be an angry scowl; its mane was a blue hue, and it was decorated with white specks, casting the illusion of deep space. The mane itself however, flowed off of its body, defying gravity, it was raised high above its head as if reaching up to touch the clouds. One of its front hooves was raised in the air and extended slightly forward as if it was about to take a step. Like its mane, the tail did not obey physics; but to top it all off its wings, massive feathered limbs, were flared at its sides, nearly taking up the whole shot.

“Whoa,” William heard Michael gasp beside him. “Ain’t she just the prettiest thing I’ve seen.”

William cocked an eyebrow and looked at him, up front Kenway continued on with the briefing. “What are you talking about?”

Michael smiled under the mask he was still wearing. He glanced at William and then pointed at the picture. “That up there. If only I had one of them things back on my ranch.”

“What? Pay attention!” William hissed and noticed they were starting to draw attention.

“I could’ve made bank with her.” Michael chuckled.

“What the fu... you know what, never–”

“Commander!” The General snapped.

William immediately straightened up. “Yes, sir?”

“Do you have anything you’d like to add before we start the operation?”

“No, sir.”

“Well then.” Kenway smirked. “That closes this morning’s briefing session. Baghdad I want you out in the field in five mikes!”

The lights brightened up again and the soldiers began to rise to their feet, the room was instantly full with the sound of voices. “Goddammit, Michael,” William grumbled when he realized he had no idea on where he was supposed to go.

“Commander!” A voice shouted behind him, looking over his shoulder he saw Stacy approaching him, her helmet tucked neatly under her right arm. She motioned her head towards the exit. “You’re with us!”

A grin formed on his face. “How convenient.”

:[-]:

“You were really a rancher?” William asked Michael, his back resting against a large tree, his rear planted on a large root that arched out of the ground. The two men and Stacey were in the middle of a thick brush, the air was humid, and the buzz of insects could be heard from all around them mixed in with the occasional bird call. Every now and again the three of them would hear the sound of dirt and leaves rustling as a rabbit or any other small animal passed by.

The three of them were sent to reinforce the ships perimeter, like most of the others on boar Horizon, to help keep an eye out for the inhabitants that triggered the alarm. “Yeah, I really was,” Michael replied he was sitting on a rock across from William, fiddling with a small deck of cards he had found in the cafeteria. “Down in Southern California I raised horses with my Pop.”

“Just horses?” William asked, honestly not intrigued. He was just trying to find a way to pass the time.

Michael shook his head. “We had some cattle, and chickens... I think we even had some sheep...” He frowned. “I can hardly remember it.”

Stacey took a step back from the tree she was leaning on and lowered the goggles to her chest. “Alright, Junior, it's your turn to keep watch,” She said.

Michael stood and dusted his pant legs off. “Okay–here can you hold my card?” He placed the deck back into its box and handed it to her, she took them and the two switched places.

“So why did you leave the ranch?” William turned his head and cracked his neck, lifting his gun he positioned himself so that he was in a more comfortable position.

“Why else would anyone leave? When the damn Ruskies began acting up I felt threatened, and I had the urge to defend myself and my country. And then....” Michael looked back at William and stuck a hand out towards the surrounding vegetation. “This happened.”

“Romeo to Baghdad, I repeat: Romeo to Baghdad.” William’s radio blurted.

He took it and answered. “This is Baghdad, over.”

“We ain’t gettin’ any readings in our position, how about you, over?”

William looked to Michael, who was already peering through the goggles. A few seconds passed while Michael scanned the surroundings before he flipped them up and looked over at William with a shake of his head. William nodded. “Negative, Romeo, we ain’t got nothin’ either. Over.”

“Roger that, anything over by you delta?”

“Negative, over.” Replied another voice.

“Huh.” Stacey shrugged and opened Michael’s pack of of cards, she slid the the deck into her hand and leaned forward on the rock. Stacey then began to place the cards on the ground into seven separate groups, William immediately recognized the game of solitaire she was setting up. “I guess it’s all silent here on the western front,” she said flipping her first card over and revealed a red king of hearts.

“Sorta quiet,” Michael said before flipping the goggles back down and peering towards the north-west, “I’m not picking up any specific kinds of movement but I do see the occasional shift in a bush.”

“You know what I mean.” Stacey smirked and placed a black queen of hearts under the red king, she then took three more cards from her deck and frowned,cursing slightly under her breath and reaching for three more cards. William sat quietly on his root while letting his mind drift off into space. Memories of the dream he had of his wife day or so back and how he completely forgotten who she was resurfaced. The thought of forgetting Laura’s face forced a frown upon his and he quickly tried to think of something else.

“Yes!”

William jolted the voice saving him from having another nightmare. In front of him, Stacey held a large smile on her face as she placed an ace at the bottom of her last solitaire row. He grinned at the sight of the accomplished girl, his eyes then shifting towards Michael whose face was deep in thought, and he sheepishly brought his goggles back up to his eyes.

“Commander,” He said, “I think I got something.”

“What is it?” William pushed himself off the tree root and back onto his feet.

“I can’t tell right off the bat, eh, switching to thermal.” Michael flicked a switch on the top right half of the goggles before freezing in place. “Holy shit...” He said slowly.

“What is it?” William asked again taking a step toward Michael, Stacey was back on her feet the cards still on the forest floor.

“I’m counting six... no twelve... eighteen? Twenty? Jesus Christ!”

William shook his head and unslung his bag, opening it he reached in and took out his goggles as well. Raising them up he switched on the thermal optics and peered into the distance. Approximately a hundred and forty meters out was what seemed to be a small army of quadrupeds, the white silhouettes making it difficult to actually describe what they were.

William’s radio began going nuts with chatter. “HQ, this is Charlie. We’re detecting movement northwest of our position. Do you copy? Over.”

“Charlie, this is HQ. We read you. What do you see? Over.”

“Commander,” Michael said over the chatter, “What do you want us to do?”

William watched the large quadruped force march towards them in an organized fashion. Their bodies were lined up perfectly and their hooffalls were in perfect cadence, thus creating a rhythmic beat similar to a drum’s.

“Mother of God” A marine gasped, “There’s dozens of them!” The man over the device shouted, nearly drowning out Caroline’s voice when she asked him to specify what he saw.

“Commander.” Stacey grabbed William’s attention. “I suggest we pull back immediately.” William looked at her, then back towards the oncoming army, the thunderous beat sending a cold chill down his spine.

“I agree.” He swallowed. “Fallback another hundred towards the river and await further orders.”

“Wilco, sir.” Stacey turned and began dashing through the trees back towards the ship, next she was followed by Michael. Before William could make a single move a gunshot sounded off not too far from their position, freezing him in place for a mere moment.

His device exploded once more. “Marine, by God if your men fire off another round, I’ll have you all by your necks! Now pull back immediately and await further orders!”

Admiral Watson roaring voice rolled out of the walkie-talkie, even though the Admiral wasn’t yelling at William specifically. Just the sound of his screeching voice lit a fire under his ass and caused him to bolt behind his two squadmates. It didn’t take William long to catch up to the other two, Michael was running hastily with his gun hugged tightly to his chest, where as Stacey held it loosely near her waist, William however, held his with one hand, the other shoving twigs and leaves out of his face.

To their right came a startled yelp and the sharp pop of snapping twigs, all three soldiers slid to a stop, weapons drawn and hearts pounding. Only for a pair of marines to come running out of the trees and collapsing to their knees out of breath. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Larry!” A small southern accent slipped into Michael’s words, “You almost made us blow yer’ fuckin head off!” He snapped and lowered his gun.

“Sorry,” The soldier wheezed. “We just got back from examining the motion sensors, some five hundred meters back.....” The man gagged. “I can hardly fuckin’ breathe.”

William lowered his gun and took a step forward. “You must’ve been there when they,–” He motioned his head back towards where the marching army was advancing. “–Showed up.”

The marine named Larry breathed in heavily and straightened his back out, the other beside him gagged once more. “Yeah...” He sighed. “Yeah we were. The fucking horses showed up out of nowhere. One moment we’re checking the sensors, making sure everything’s alright. Then these goddamn flying horse things come swooshing over head, next thing I know it’s like a goddamn earthquake is going on and dimwit here.–” He Jammed a thumb towards the man on his knees. “–Comes running out of the trees telling us to get the fuck outta dodge!”

“How come ya’ll–excuse me,–” Michael cleared his throat. “,–didn’t notify HQ when you first saw them coming?”

“Why I don’t know,” Larry gestured sarcastically and glared at the marine still recovering below him. “Tell’m George.” Larry gestured with his hand out towards William and the others.

“I busted mah radio...” He coughed while pushing himself to his feet.

“And how did you bust it?” Larry spoke to him like a child.

The soldier named George shot a scowl at him. “I was climbin’ on the rocks by the mountain and slipped, okay? Fell flat on mah chest and busted it.”

Larry looked at William and nodded his head. “Idiot can hardly make his way to the cafeteria without breaking something.”

George shot another look at him, the man looked as if he was trying to catch Larry on fire with just his eyes. “Hey boys,” Stacey jumped in. “I’m sorry to spoil our little get together but we got orders we need to finish.”

Larry and George looked at them confused. “What orders?” They both asked.

“The Admiral ordered the entire defensive perimeter to fall back to the ship, and judging by what we’ve seen so far these things may have us outnumbered.”

“Well,” Larry said looking slightly worried, “let’s get going then.”

:[-]:

Every man or woman who could carry weapon on Horizon was immediately handed one when the security levels reached maximum, Status Red. No matter if you were a scientist, engineer, doctor, or even person who works in the intelligence department. You were handed a rifle, protective suit, and other various equipment; Then ordered to go to the front and defend if necessary.

Even Admiral Watson himself, the highest ranking individual on board, gathered his gun and stepped outside to assist his men. When Watson arrived outdoors the he took charge in watching over the men making sure things were going accordingly. Dozens of soldiers ran back and forth carrying weapons and supplies towards a large makeshift barricades made out of crates and logs. From the forest, soldiers that were on the perimeter poured out into the clearing, running as fast as they could towards the ship. William Keshiner and his fire team, along with the two boys from the outer edges, were one of the first groups that returned.

Not too far behind the soldiers, Watson could hear the the rhythmic pattern of the advancing army pounding in the distance. A loud horn erupted beside him, followed by a loud hiss and a metallic clank! Looking to his right, a large metal door opened on Horizon’s side revealing the hangar bay. Inside, standing on the edges right before the door were six heavy panzer mechs. One by one the metal behemoths stepped off the ship and onto the Earth, their large, metal feet leaving imprints half the size of cars. The Earth trembled before each mighty step and one by one these iron giants made their thunderous ways towards the midway point that had been cleared between the treeline and ship.

“Admiral Watson!” A shout came from his left. Watson turned his head and saw the commander, along with his squad, running towards him, all of them seeming out of breath.

“Commander,” Watson smiled and saluted William, in which he responded with one of his own. “I’m glad to see you and your men made it back safely.”

William nodded his head. “Sir, permission to ask what the hell is going on here?” He motioned towards the chaotic scenery around them, already a band of soldiers had finished constructing a twelve meter long barricade in the middle of the clearing and were already taking up posts behind it. Setting up huge machine guns through gaps in the top. In front of the barricade the mechs had spaced themselves out into a loose, but very intimidating, defensive line.

Watson rolled his right shoulder which let out three satisfyingly loud pops. “Well Commander.” He motioned for William to follow with his left hand and the two of them, along with Will’s team, headed for a large command tent a dozen meters behind the defensive line. “Judging by our previous satellite footage, the equine army that arrived in the settlement earlier last night finally pinpointed our exact location.”

They arrived at the tent and Watson flung the flap open and stepped in. Inside was a fold out table and a map of Japan. The map was set on an littered with red thumb tacks and rubber bands that Watson himself didn’t quite understand, most likely the engineer’s plans for reconstruction. “Any idea on how much time till they get here?” William asked.

“Well seeing as that we can hear them, Commander.” Watson silenced himself to allow the sound of marching forces express his point. “I’d be damned surprised if we have any time left.” Watson brushed passed William and went over towards the table with the map.

William remained silent for a brief moment, finally he spoke up. “Then what’s the plan, sir?”

Watson unslung his rifle, a standard issued AK-12, and set it aside so that it leaned against the table. “Well, Commander, the best case scenario is that they aren’t coming to blast us off this rock, but rather to assert their power and negotiate The problem with that one is, at least if what Dr. Hassel said to me earlier was true, then these creatures do not speak the same language as us.”

William nodded his head. “Well isn’t this going to be fun.”

“However,” Watson continued and he turned to face William. “If they are here to wipe us off this rock, Commander, let’s just hope we have enough ammo fight them off.”

The two of them remained silent for a brief moment, save for the breathing coming from William’s squadmates that stood by the exit. Watson with his hands planted flat on the table and his eyes locked on the large red cup that symbolized the ship. “So far Commander,” Watson continued, “ I have decided that I want you by my side when the locals arrive. I want you to watch mine and Angela Greene’s back.”

“Angela?” William said, his thoughts immediately drifting back to that tall, extremely thin woman with a chest that’d make every man drool over themselves.

“Yep,” Watson said and straightened himself out. “Due to her skills in diplomacy she’s the only person we can count on when negotiating with them.”

William frowned. He had a bad feeling about where this was going. “But, sir, I thought you–”

Watson silenced William with a raise of his hand. “I know what I said, Commander, and I’m afraid we’re going to have to face the truth. We have no way of communicating with them as of yet and a military stand off is highly undesirable ”

“We’re just going to have to hope they don’t take our actions the wrong way.” William ran a hand across the back of his neck.

“Admiral!” A young voice shouted just outside the tent, the flap flinging open seconds later and a young private stuck his head in causing the two soldiers by the flap to turn their heads around.

“What is it lad?” Watson asked already knowing the full answer.

“Southern half of the coming force has arrived, they’re lining up just along the treeline!” The boy explained.

“Are they posing any sort of threat?” William asked, his voice grave.

The private shook his head. “Not as of yet, it just looks like they’re lining up to wait.”

Watson nodded his head and grabbed his rifle. “They’re waiting for the rest of the surrounding force.” He began heading for the exit, William followed behind.

“Sir, they’re surrounding us?” He asked.

“Yes they have been this entire time.” Watson glanced back. “Caroline hasn’t notified you?”

William shook his head. “No, sir.”

“Well no need to worry, Commander,” Watson ducked through the exit and stepped back out into the mud caked earth. “We’ve already established a reasonable defense around the ship.” Watson briefly waved towards their informant who then made a mad dash back towards the southern end. “And besides, through the intel we’ve gathered, the larger front will be focused on this half.” Watson pointed a finger down at the earth, a shout ringed from his right.

Both men turned their heads and an instrument, similar to a bugle, sounded three times. Out from the trees came a wall of equines, tightly packed together, marching out into the opening. From what Watson could see there had must have been a hundred of them, if not even more on their side of the ship. A vast majority of them wore golden armor, whereas the minority was wearing a dark purple. On the helms of the ones with golden armor were large blue plumes that stretched all the way down to the back of their heads. In contrast the purple soldiers had a thin dark fin that went down the middle of the head.

The wall of panzers stood their ground and readied their weapons, the marines behind the barricades primed their machine guns and adjusted the sights. Watson brought a hand up to a small communication device that sat directly upon his ear and pressed the only visible button. “Ladies and gentlemen. Hold your fire unless I say otherwise. This is first contact, while we must be ready, we do not want to provoke any avoidable hostility.” He ordered, then flicked a small switch, “Caroline, this is Watson, is the negotiator ready?” Watson watched as the small army came to a halt twenty seven meters away from the mechs.

“Affirmative sir,” Caroline’s voice came through rather confidently, “She should be on her way now.”

“Roger that, have you heard anything from the other fronts?”

“Nothing too drastic sir, but I did hear from Delta that a majority of the equines are not carrying any weapons. Not to mention the ones they brought with them seem to be old fashion swords and spears.”

Watson breathed out a sigh of relief. “If that’s the case then, they’re not here to kill us. Thank you Caroline.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Watson took his hand off the side of his head and he shot a finger towards William, whose eyes were glued to the wall of equines. “Commander Keshiner, you’re with me!” He ordered and swung around to begin walking towards the front line with his gun lowered.

William snapped out of his trance and nodded his head as he started into a quick jog to catch up. “Yessir!”

“Everybody!” Watson raised a hand and shouted to the surrounding soldiers as he and William passed. “Lower your weapons immediately!” Watson came up beside a mech’s foot and he looked up at it, and brought his hand up to his comlink again. “That includes you heavies, lower your weapons.”

The mechs head rotated around and angled down, before nodding and slipping the massive minigun into the scabbard on its back. Watson smiled and patted the mech on the foot. “Thank you,” He said despite the pilot not being able to hear him. Watson looked on ahead towards the equines, squinting his eyes he took a few steps forward. There, dead in the center, he could see the tallest one of them all, and he recognized it immediately.

“Commander,” Watson said singling it out with a finger.

William followed Watson’s finger and saw exactly what he was pointing at. “That one right here,” Watson continued. “That’s the leader.”

Behind them, Watson could hear the sound of rapid splashes as someone came running up to them. Taking a brief glance over his shoulder he spotted Angela Greene as she came running towards them. She then twisted her legs in a way that she came to a sliding stop just a few feet away from them.

The poor girl wheezing as if she had just ran a hundred miles, her grey tyvek suit and kevlar vest, which clearly did not seem comfortable on her chest, smothered in mud. She bent over and rested her hands on her knees, taking a breather while Watson turned around and noticed that she was wearing a partly closed back pack. Inside he could see a metal pole with a white tank top tied to it.

“You okay there, miss?” William asked in a careless voice, Watson saw in Will’s eyes that he was frowning.

“Oh yeah I’m fine,” Angela wheezed sarcastically before lapsing into a violent coughing fit. “An alien species is knocking on our door wanting to talk..... and I’m the one forced to answer it.... even though,” She gagged.  “J-just like the rest of you, I don’t know a damn thing they're going saying, so yeah I’m just peachy.”

William rolled his eyes, shaking his head he bent over and gently grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “Come on now, this isn’t the time to get worked up about this.”

Angela straightened herself out and readjusted her vest into a more comfortable position. Watson looked her in the eyes and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you ready Ms. Greene?” He was starting to grow a little anxious, and taking a look back at the equines he had a feeling they were too.

She nodded her head and looked at William. “William,” Her voice opting into a more serious tone. “Could you please be a dear and fish my tank top out of my bag?”

Will nodded and she turned around so that he can reach into her backpack and pull out the pole. Watson smirked. “I see you made a white flag, good thinking.”

Angela nodded her head and turned back towards them after William zipped the bag closed. “Thank you, Watson–”

“It’s, sir to you.” He corrected.

“Sorry, sir,” She apologized and quickly returned to the subject at hand. “I’m hoping we would try and show them that we mean no harm.–speaking of which, I advise both of you to leave your guns here.”

Both William and Watson looked to her as if she was nuts. “What?” She asked. “They came here without weapons,” She exclaimed with an open hand stuck out towards the equine soldiers. “Therefore we should respect them by doing the same.”

“Ms. Greene,” William said, “I respect your morals but I’m highly against–”

“Silence, Commander.” Watson looked at William sternly. “The girl is right, to further show that we don’t want any harm done we should at least try and respect them by putting down our weapons. We have plenty of backup if we need it.”

William furrowed his brow, but then bowed his head in defeat. “Yes, sir.” William unslung his gun from his shoulder and placed it on the ground, then rose back up and handed Angela the makeshift flag.

In which she declined. “I have no time to be waving that thing around during my chat with the natives, William.”

Watson snickered quietly at William’s reaction. The Commander’s eyes looked as if he wanted to tear the girl’s head off, Angela took notice of this and gave him a devious look. Even though he couldn’t see through the mask below the eyes Watson knew she was giving him the most impish smile. One of the highest ranking officers demoted to nothing but a flag boy. For the time being that is.

“Well then gentlemen,” Angela said with slightly more confidence. “Lets go make history.”

:[-]:

Princess Luna stood at the edge of the treeline facing toward she massive metal object that had landed on the surface of the earth. The object spanned to almost the of her and her sisters castle, and that was only the length. From where she stood she couldn’t get a good look at its width but from what she heard from the pegasi scouts, it was maybe at least half the length. The object was dirtied with dried mud, and charred metal.Some of the parts even had panels torn off, revealing a second layer that looked rather unscathed. None of what she was seeing seemed natural, but that only made it more fascinating.

“Twilight Sparkle,” She smiled, the thought of Celestia’s favorite subject when she hears the news humored her. “I cannot wait to see the look on your face.”

Despite the fascinating object that had come falling out of the sky, there were dozens of other things that caught Luna’s interest., most notably the creatures that seemed to have arrived in said object. Dozens if not a hundred tall, slim creatures wearing green camouflage suits with black vests and unnerving masks that shielded everything except for their small, lemon shaped eyes.

Luna bit her lip, her curiosity beginning to be replaced with nervousness. The bipedal creatures were sprinting from right to left seemingly taking up defensive positions, and out in the front of it all was a wall of metallic creatures resembling the one she saw in the forest. They beared an eerie resemblance to the iron golems that roamed the earth back when Discord ruled. Just below one of the metal giants, she spotted two of the bipedal creatures that had advanced further than the rest. Both of them seemed to be of the same height, however the on the left was slightly slimmer by appearance. Whereas the one on the right was much broader and stiff, each of them held what looked to be a weapon of sorts, what seemed to be a smaller variation of what the giants were carrying. The slimmer creature was holding a limb to the side of its head while looking up at one of the golems. The Golem’s head shifted over to look at the slimmer being, then nodded and slid the large metallic object it was carrying into what looked like some sort of scabbard on its back.

The rest of the iron giants followed suit, placing what Luna assumed to be weapons onto their backs and loosening their posture. The smaller creature patted the giant on the foot and once again turned towards the royal guard the two creatures appeared to survey the line for a few moments before the slimmer one lifted a limb and pointed her out from the rest of the soldiers. the small ounce of nervousness in Luna’s chest was beginning to build as she realised they had singled her out as the leader. Here we go. She was starting to worry on how she would approach this, from what she could tell these creatures did not speak any of the languages that she knew, and that presented quite a formidable challenge to the proceedings. She knew she could always try to cast a communication spell, or try to link her mind with one of the creatures, But... there was no telling on what could happen. Every creature exposed to magic reacts differently to it; dragons tend to have a high resistance to it, whereas Griffons can be easily affected by it. Ponies on the other hoof can manipulate magic to their own free will. Luna swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She had no idea what would happen if she tried to cast a spell on one of these newcomers.

Back behind the giants, Luna saw a third, even smaller, creature come bounding towards the two in the front. From there it slid to a stop and bent over, it’s forelimbs resting against it’s legs, seemingly overcoming some sort of exhaustion from moving so fast. Eventually it stood up and fiddled with something on its chest while appearing to converse with the others. As the minutes passed, Luna shuffled in her spot and glanced towards the dozens of royal guards her sister had sent to reinforce her platoon several hours ago. The guard’s faces were expressionless and their eyes were quietly surveying the situation. Upfront the three creatures had stopped conversing amongst themselves and had turned in her direction once again.  This time the larger of the two holding a white flag above his head.

Immediately a smile sprang onto Luna’s lips before her elation dropped back down to concern. I hope their meaning of the white flag means peace. As the three creatures began to move towards her, each second seemed to pass slower than the last. Luna gulped and looked to the stallion that stood by her side her, a snow white pegasus clad in purple and gold armor.

“Well, Captain,” She said eyes flickering back towards the three aliens. “It looks to me that these beings are willing to negotiate.”

The pegasus nod his head and flashed his blue eyes towards Luna. “It seems they are.”

“Shall we go hear what they have to say?” Luna asked.

“The choice is up to you, Princess. If you wish not to, I can send Paperweight up to make contact with these creatures.” The pegasus said.

Luna thought briefly on this then shook her head. “That will not be necessary.”

“As you wish, Princess, shall I alert the guards?”

“Please do so,” Luna said, taking her first step towards the oncoming creatures. “Oh and one more thing, Captain.” She stopped in her stride and looked towards the pegasus once again.

The stallion was already raising hoof to his mouth, getting ready to shout for the others. He lowered his leg and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Princess?”

“Order your stallions to retrieve a white flag, I believe we’re going to need it.”

:[-]:

William stopped at the sight of Watson’s raised hand. Over on the native’s frontline he saw the lone equine Watson singled out. It was clad in midnight blue armor and seemed to be looking towards a smaller winged equine dressed in a purple, gold armor. The smaller then turned and shouted before launching itself into the air moments later and flying back over the trees.

“I think this is as far we’re going to go,” Watson said over his shoulder. William nodded and shoved the lower end of the makeshift flag into the ground. “Remember, Commander, only Angela and I will be doing the talking.” He rolled his eyes. “Even then, I won’t be doing much. Understand?”

“Yes sir,” William replied quietly.

“Good,” Watson motioned his head forward. “They’re coming.”

As quickly as it left, the same winged horse returned, and in its mouth it held a white flag. It landed beside the equine that the Admiral presumed to be the leader. The two seemed to share a brief exchange before both nodding their heads to one another. Briskly, with a sense of business, they began their approach.

William swallowed and took a quick look back at Angela who stood between Watson and himself. Her eyes were now darting back and forth from him to Watson, she looked as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown. If it wasn’t for the mask she wore her panicked state would easily have been exposed. She noticed William looking at her and she quickly sucked in a breath and breathed out slowly to calm herself.

William returned to watching the alien equines approach and come to a stop just a few feet away from their own envoy. This close he could get a sense of scale for the first time since seeing the creatures. The equine in the golden and purple armor were quite diminutive compared to the horses he’d seen the officers riding in back home during the Labor Day Parade before Archangel’s appearance which had been the first, and only time he had seen a horse up close. Unlike their taller counterparts, they were smaller, and dare he say “thicker”. Their legs were much more rounded, unlike their ancestors long and slim limbs, the head also appeared to be much more rounded and the snout shortened. Each of their eyes took up a large portion of its head, and the height of said creature just about reached his chest. Unlike the leader beside it that resembled more of an actual horse.

William raised an eyebrow towards what he saw as the leader’s escort, the guard caught onto William and glared back. Not wanting to look like he was trying to because trouble, he quickly broke eye contact and looked to the larger equine that seemed to be giving the Admiral a soft look.

“Angela,” Watson hissed, “I think it’s time we get this started.”

The girl cleared her throat and looked to William, as if she was calling for help. Sadly all Will could do for her was shrug and motion towards the taller equine. She sighed in defeat and stepped out in front of Watson and William. Angela stood before the equine leader its eyes looking at her with great interest. Angela cleared her throat. She placed a hand to her chest, and spoke slowly, and softly. “My. Name. Is. An-ge-la.” The equine looked at her with a furrowed brow. “We. Come...–William hand me the flag.” Angela turned and stuck out an opened hand to William, her fingers clenching in a way of telling him to hurry up.

William pulled tore the flag out of the mud and handed it to her. Angela took it and held it out towards the equines. “We. Come. In. Peace,” She said slightly slower than before. Watching this happen, William had a feeling that none of this was coming off to the equines. But to his amazement the horses shared a brief look with one another then smiled happily and nodded their heads.

This seemed to please Angela and she spoke more confidently and she stuck the flag in the mud beside her feet. “William could you please reach into my bag and take out my globe and encyclopedia?” Will leaned forward and unzipped her bag again. He reached in and felt the tip of his gloved fingers brush against a hard, round surface. He grabbed ahold of the small globe and pulled it out of the bag and handed it to Angela, he then reached back into the bag and at the bottom he found a rough, thick book. Which he then took out and handed over. Angela took the book and looked back towards the blue equine who had begun eyeing the two objects in her hands with curiosity. She then presented both objects to the blue creature. The horse smiled and leaned forward, its large, green eyes inspecting the globe with great curiosity.

William watched as Angela’s hands began to tremble when the equine stepped forward. Suddenly a dark blue aura formed around the globe in her hands and it began to gently lift off, floating up a few inches before hovering towards the blue creature.  Williams eyes widened in wonder at such an impossible sight. Even though he had seen this technique performed in the past by the town residents during the fire. The sequence was still breath taking.The equine took a step back and levitated the globe a few inches away from its face. It rotated the globe around a few times examining it closely, like an inspector checking for any faults. Turning the globe once more Its eyes filled with astonishment.Then its lips began to droop when it fell on the eastern hemisphere, and it squinted its eyes as it pulled the globe even closer.

William frowned. Something didn’t feel right. The equine leaned back and held the globe out next to its head and looked at Angela with a confused expression. “You-you can have it.” She said motioning towards it. The equine didn’t seem to understand this and tilted its head, Angela glanced back at William. Then Watson, both men of course didn’t know how to react to what was going on. Angela’s eyebrows curled upwards and she looked back to the equine, this time she motioned for it to take the encyclopedia. The equine held the globe off to the side and leaned forward once again to take the book in its aura, like the globe it rotated it around examining it from front to back. Then it flipped the book open and cycled through each of the pages, stopping at almost every picture but skipping the almost certainly indecipherable text. Its eyes widened and another smile began to replace its frown. However, when it reached the last few pages of the book, where all the different maps of the world are. It stopped and frowned once again with confusion.

The blue horse floated the globe next to the map of Earth in the book, it’s eyes shifting between them; first the globe, then to book. over and over again. It flipped back a few pages to a map of Europe in the late seventeen-hundreds. For a few moments it sat there looking back and forth between the pages and the globe. When it was finished, the equine’s head slowly rose up. Its face filled with a mix of confusion and amazement, the equine closed the book and examined it once more before levitating it and the globe back over to Angela.

Angela took both the globe and book in her hands and held them close to her chest. Looking back at the equine who was smiling dearily, Angela shook her head and promptly handed them back. “No, keep them,” she insisted.

The equine looked at her confusedly for a moment before nodding its head and taking the items back from her.. It then looked at the guard beside it and said something. The guard nodded and took off into the air, circling back towards the rest of the equines.  William looked to Watson with a bit of confidence. Watson on the other hand shrugged and motioned for William to keep looking straight. A minute later the equine guard returned with scroll. It landed in front of them and the larger took the scroll in its aura before floating it towards the three of them.

Angela held out her hand and the equine dropped the scroll into her palms. She unrolled the scroll and looked at it before sucking in a breath. Angela quickly turned and handed it to Watson. He took the parchment and examined it. William stepped and looked over Watson’s shoulder. It was a highly detailed map of ‘Japan’ it was marked with multiple points where towns and cities were located, as well as what seemed to be some sort of transportation system connecting each major site. Sections of the map such as forests and plains were labeled in a language that neither men could read. Right above the legend was a bold font which William could assume was the name of the ‘country’ that had replaced Japan. In the north William could see a land bridge connecting the north end of Japan with what was once Russia.

“My God,” Watson mumbled. “This is amazing.”

“Admiral Watson, anyone?” William’s radio erupted into a cacophony. “One of the specimens is–” The man was interrupted by a loud crash “–hey! Eh, one of the equines is acting up!”

Both Watson and the larger Equine looked at William. “Commander,” Watson said, “Hand me your radio.”

William did as he was told and unhooked his radio and handed it over. Watson took it. “This is Watson, what the hell is going on down there?”

“We were in the middle of performing an experiment,” The man on the other end explained, “Hassel entered the containment unit and the equine woke up!”

“Is Hassel alright?”

“Ye-yes sir–” Another crash “–we got him out just in time– Now it’s just bashing the table against the glass!”

“How the hell–” Watson stopped himself, the recent memory of the blue equine levitating the globe and book flashed before his eyes.

“Admiral,” William spoke up, thinking on the fly he said, “Maybe if we let them go, we could show off our good will?”

Watson looked at William for a brief moment then nodded his head. “I like your thinking, Commander.” Watson held the radio back up. “Alright, release the captives.”

“Excuse me, sir–?”

“You heard me. Let all four of them go.”

A shifting sound spilled out of the radio and Hassel’s voice came through. “But Admiral, vee can’t do zat, zee amount of information I have retrieved from ze–”

“Dr. Hassel I appreciate your found love for knowledge, but please shut the fuck up and follow my orders.”

There was a brief moment of silence. “Aye sir,” Hassel said, then shouted. “You heard zee man! Let zem go!”

Watson flipped the radio off and handed it back over to William. He then turned back towards the two confused equines with a strained smile. “My apologies,” He said quietly, “But my head researcher can be quite a pain.” The bewildered expression the two equines shared hardly budged.

Minutes passed and Angela stood in front of the blue equine trying her best to find a way to communicate with it. To William it looked as if she was playing charades with it, a rather humorous sight indeed. She was in the middle of trying to explain where they had come from, her right hand was held high in the sky. When her head tilted upwards the sun’s rays reflected off of her visor and nearly blinded William. The equine followed Angela’s finger and looked at the gorgeous blue sky with interest.

Behind the three humans an alarm sounded as the door to the hangar bay opened once more. William looked back and saw five men leading four of the captured equines out of the ship. Their guns trained on them as they walked.

William saw the purple and gold guard tap the tall ones leg, trying to gain its attention. The tall one looked down at the guard with a look of disappointment similar to how  a child would when its toy is taken away. The guard pointed forward with its right leg, the blue leader frowned and looked to ship. Its eyes widened and gasp escaped its lips. The four captured ponies were just making their way passed the frontlines, the tall horse slowly made its way forward. The three humans stepped out of its way, it stopped in front of the four equines, its face full of confusion. The four equines looked at their leader with a mix of relief and fear. These feelings were quickly dashed away when the taller got onto its knees and held out a wing to the horned equine in the front, and pulled it into some form of hug. When the embrace broke tall blue equine stood and looked to her guard and barked what sounded like an order. The guard nodded its head and motioned for the freed captives to follow it. When they were out of sight Watson turned to the the five marine escorts and motioned for them to leave with a silent thank you.

The tall creature looked to the humans with what seemed to be a hurt filled look. Angela immediately stepped forward with her fingers laced and pressed against her chest. “Please. Forgive us.” She bowed her head.

The equines face held stern. Then its eyes closed and slowly nodded its head. Its face slowly softened. Its horn was then engulfed by a blue aura and William watched as it took the map from Watson’s hands. William and the others watched in awe when a bright flash of light erupted out of nowhere, blinding them as if a flash bang went off. His stomach lurched and William shielded his eyes, when he opened them he noticed the equine was levitating a quill to the map. The quill spun in a circle and quickly whipped across the map towards the legend and scraped across it two more times vertically. Taking the quill off the paper a second flash went off, startling Will and the others again. Looking back he saw the quill was gone.

The equine rolled the map back and up and floated it back over to Angela. Who took it kindly. She opened it back up and saw that in the very center, was a circle, outlining a large city, to the right she saw under the legend was a sun. Below it there were two dashes. Angela turned towards Watson and William with a confused look strung across her face. Watson reached for the map and took it out of her hands and looked at it. William looked with him.

Beside them a sound came from the equine. The three of them looked over and saw it bowing to them before standing back up and spreading its massive wings and taking off with three mighty flaps. A loud ear wrenching shout came from the flying horse. A high pitched instrument sounded off and the surrounding equine army began to turn away from the ship and march back off into the woods.

“Well...” William said, “I think that went perfectly!” He smiled.

Watson frowned. “One can only hope,” He said quietly while glancing down at the marked map.

Editor’s notes

PhiliChez:

Finally! Things have happened! Wasn’t first contact due like four chapters ago? Sheesh. Though now we get see Luna looking at maps with human political borders with a shoreline that is not exactly the same as the one she knows.

Isaac3924: It's about damn time.

I felt that was appropriate. Now, ya’ll might be wondering why the previous chapter didn’t have my down-to-earth, sagely, and always humorous input at the end of it. And why the last chapter was equivalent to a sack of walnuts when it came to its quality. Well, that was because Dark (is it alright if I call you Dark?), in all his wisdom, forgot to send me the chapter. Eeyup, he forgot all about me. And then I proceeded to have a nervous breakdown thinking that I was a horrid editor and he was dropping me without telling me for no reason, and I pulled out my old stuffed lion, sat in the corner of my room assumed the fetal position and cried tears of shame and guilt and disgust. While cutting myself. With a spork. Yeah, my self-confidence is just through the roof. Anyways, I’ll leave it to youse guyses to guess how much of that is true.

Ummm, let’s see, Destiny did not live up to the hype, like, at all, and I have resolved to not let myself get overly hyped for anything, ever again (except for Kingdom Hearts 3, Star Citizen, The Witcher 3, Dark Souls 4, Half Life 3, Portal 3, Team Fortress 3 (Overwatch) (GABEN WHY CAN’T YOU COUNT?!), Fallout 4, Elder Scrolls 6, No Man’s Sky, Bloodborne,  Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy CCLIV, Hello Kitty Remastered, Go Go Barbie: Ken Stay Home and Do My Endless Laundry While I Go Be A Football-Playing King in Space, Sonic Boom 2: Kill Me Now, and Loli Monster Island II) Unity is hilariously buggy, Far Cry 4 and Inquisition are good, Sunset Overdrive was meh, my friends convinced me to buy a game I already have on the 360 for teh Xbone when the developers should have been working on online heists and FUCK YOU ROCKSTAR, the Xbone still sucks on multiple levels and I’m going to have to buy a one terabyte external hard-drive to keep playing, and G-d is dead. Moving on.

I think that’s it. I’m done for now. Uh, keep reading, shit’s only going to get real from here. Well, more real. Fuck it, you knew what I meant.

Nuclear Grenade:

Yay first contact! Even though it was sort of uneventful you got what you were asking for. Now you will have to wait on the edge of your seat for Dark Nebula to introduce the Antagonist. Hopefully this wont take another 10 chapters ;)

Don’t feel bad Isaac3924 he forgot to send me chapter 9 at one point. Also, I have to ask do the numbers after your user name mean anything or was that just the lowest one you could get?

Isaac3924: I like them.

Chapter 11: Deciphering

Two hours had passed since first contact. All the “natives”, which some soldiers were just calling ponies just for the absurdity of it, had retreated back to the nearby settlement. William Keshiner had officially retired to his bunk, along with Johnny Conway, who lay on the cot in the corner of his ‘cell’, asleep. Watson was on the other, resting in his bed, awake, eyes fixed on a small piece of rust that had formed on the end of a busted pipe. He exhaled quietly thinking about the recent that had just transpired.

What does it mean? he thought to himself. Those marks, clearly she’s trying to tell us something... Although it wasn’t clear if the equine was female. Over the past couple of hours Watson couldn’t help but try and pair it up with a gender. The image of the map resurfaced and he went back to thinking. The circle around that city. Does she want us to go there? If so, why? And those dashes on the right; there were two. Two for what? Two people, two hours, two days?

Watson sighed and slowly pushed himself up, his back groaning in protest. He got to his feet and shambled over his desk where he had tossed his shoes when he had stumbled into his room hoping for some rest. He slipped his feet into them and shuffled over to his personal restroom. Inside, his grisly visage greeted himself through the cracked mirror. Large bags had formed under his eyes from two days’ worth of missed sleep and his eyes were slightly bloodshot as well. Funny enough he reminded himself of one the infected in 28 Days later. He smirked and opened the mirror, to which caused the cracked piece to topple and shatter on the floor.

Watson stepped to the right to avoid the broken glass. “Dammit.” He cursed under his breath and sighed. He opened the broken mirror the rest of the way and looked into his medical cabinet cabinet. Inside were his insomnia pills. He reached for the clear orange container but stopped just a hair’s breadth away when the intercom sprung to life on his desk.

“Admiral Watson, Mr. Hunsinger from Intelligence would like to see you. He claims it’s urgent.” the secretary informed him in an all-too-cheerful voice.

Watson closed his eyes and retracted his hand. He closed the cabinet and left the restroom, dragging his feet over to the glorified telephone. It felt like this morning all over again. He pressed the talk key on the intercom. “Yes, Wendy--” he yawned “--what is it?”

“Mr. Hunsinger would like to speak with you downstairs,” the desk jockey explained.

Watson’s eyes drifted towards his bed and he began to consider something else. “Can’t you just tell him to call me instead?” he asked hopefully.

“I would, sir, but he specifically asked for you to meet him in person,” she said, “It has to do with that map the natives gave you.”

Watson quirked an eyebrow. “Really now?” He cleared his throat. “Tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Will do, sir.”

:[-]:

“Admiral!” a melodic voice sang when the doors to Horizon Intelligence & Research ,HIR for short, slid open. On the other side stood a man wearing green military jumpsuit and square framed glasses. Apparently waiting for him. Eagerly. “It’s nice to see–” The man stopped and then chuckled lightly. “–My apologies, sir, did I happen to wake you up?” he asked the practically sleepwalking Admiral.

Watson raised an eyebrow and glanced down at himself. He hadn’t bothered putting his formal uniform on. As a matter of fact, he was still dressed in his sleep attire, a white polo and tan cargo pants. He looked back at the man. “No, you didn’t.”

The man sighed with relief. “Actually, what you did,” Watson continued as the man stiffened, “is keep me from going to bed.” The man’s eyes widened in fear. “So whatever you boys got goin’ on down here–” Watson motioned with a finger towards the room behind the man “–It better be worth my time.”

The man gulped and nodded his head. “Of course, sir.” He chuckled nervously. “I can assure you that what’s cooped up down here will be worth every second of your time.”

Watson nodded his head. “Alright, then. Can you take me to Mr. Hunsinger?”

The man smiled and stuck out a hand. “That’d be me, sir. Bryan Hunsinger. And I must say it’s a pleasure working with you, sir.”

William glanced at the offered hand. “You can toss the formalities Bryan, just show me what you’ve got as quickly as you can. I have a bunk calling for me upstairs.” Watson brought a hand to his mouth and yawned into it.

“Certainly, sir. If you would please follow.” Bryan returned his hand to his side and motioned with the other to follow. And Watson did just that; he followed behind brian and only half listening to what he was saying. “For the last couple of days,” Bryan said, “We’ve been studying that book those soldiers brought back from the structure.”

“The one that beaned Dr. Miller in the face?” Watson asked, his gaze wandering over to a couple of men leaning over a desk, each with a handful of white playing cards. So much for working, he thought.

Bryan pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and nodded, despite facing away from Watson. Bryan was trying to restrain himself from laughing. “Precisely the one–” The two men stopped by a door on the opposite end of the room. “–Excuse me, sir, I’m going to need to put the passcode in. It’ll only take a second.”

Watson swiveled his gaze toward the obstructing portal. “What’s with the huge ass door? You have something locked up in there you’re trying to keep out?” Watson questioned the man as the keypad beside it beeped and turned green. Unlike most other doors on the ship, which slid open on dedicated hydraulics and closed automatically in case of a hull breach, this one had to be pulled open manually.

“Nothing, really. It’s what we here in HIR like to call... the quiet room.” To add emphasis, Bryan stepped closer and whispered the final words. A muffled clunk came from the door as the deadlock came loose. Bryan took hold of the large handle and grunted as he dragged the door open. “It was originally a moderately sized storage space.” The door finished swinging open and the two men went in. First thing Watson noticed on the inside was that all the walls and ceiling were covered in foam. When the door slammed itself shut behind them, Watson jolted and noticed that all outside sound ceased. “But most of my men couldn’t stand the loudness those pesky engineers were making below us. So we made this!” He stretched his arms out towards the single table where two men sat in the middle of the room.

Watson continually shifted pressure from foot to foot allowing each to sink into an ancient,  pea green, shag carpet floor. “So you lot wasted all this foam, and somehow found this ugly ass carpet, just so you can have a quiet place to work?”

Bryan frowned and looked at Watson. “My apologies, sir, but waste?” He chuckled and shook his head. Watson took slight offense to this and slid deeper into the frown he was now wearing. “Admiral, you wouldn’t even begin to believe how much efficiency this room has brought to us.” He smiled again. “Just think of having to work in an environment in which all you hear is the honking and banging of machines! It’s maddening!” he cried, then softened, “But here, here we have peace, and those carpets were a bitch– mmph!”

Watson placed a hand over Bryan’s mouth. “Son, I’m going to have to stop you right there,” he said, his impatience starting to get the better of him. “How does anything you just said relate to whatever the hell you’ve called me down for?” He took his hand away from Bryan’s face.

Bryan breathed. “Sorry, sir, I can get carried away sometimes.”

“I see that,” Watson deadpanned.

“Anyhow,” Bryan cleared his throat and looked to the two confused looking men at the table. “Have you guys gotten it yet?”

A plump, ginger bearded man raised an eyebrow. “Got what?”

“The book, you dimwit!” Bryan suddenly shouted, startling Watson and the two men. “I told you to go get it before the admiral gets here!”

Watson brought a hand to one of his ears and mumbled under his breath. “Probably soundproofed the room so the rest of us couldn’t hear the screams.”

“Now, calm down there, boy,” the other man across from the ginger said. “We sent Jackson off not too long ago to get it.”

“And where is Jackson now?” Bryan looked unconvinced.

The redhead raised a finger to stroke his beard and looked at the man across from him. “I think he said something about stopping off at the restroom before gettin’ it.”

Bryan sighed heavily. “Hunsinger,” Watson said, his patience finally beginning to wane, “I don’t give a damn about that freaking book.” Bryan jolted as if Watson had just smacked him upside the head. “I came down here because I was told your team uncovered something about that map we got earlier.”

Bryan gulped, then nodded. “Yes sir. The country on that map is called ‘Equestria’ and we think those lines on the paper are actually directions telling us to go the center and largest city,” he explained in a low whisper. “Collin, go get me the map,” he ordered the redhead.

The plump man, Collin, got up from his chair and waddled over to the locked, metal door, heaving it open to retrieve the map. Watson seemed astonished by what he’d just heard, and quite frankly he found it rather difficult to believe for some reason. “Admiral, if you could just pull up the chair right there and sit down I’ll explain everything we’ve uncovered.” Bryan suggested as he moved to grab his own seat.

Watson took the offered chair and sat next to the overly skinny man. “Slim,” Bryan called to the man, “I relieve you of your duties for an hour. Now please leave us alone.”

The skinny man nodded his head and left the room. Seconds later, Collin returned with the map, and was also relieved of his duties for the hour. Bryan unrolled the map and flattened it across the table and twisted it around so that it was facing Watson. To keep it from rolling back up he placed a clipboard on one corner and an old iPhone on the opposite end.

“Admiral, how many languages are you familiar with?” Bryan asked, his eyes never meeting Watson’s.

“Eh...” Watson thought back a bit. “Three. I know English, then some Spanish and basic Japanese. Why?”

“What about Russian? Are you familiar with that?” Bryan asked.

“No. I don’t know Russian. Why are you asking me these quest–” Watson was cut off by Bryan stubbing his index finger down on the circled town in the center of the page.

“Read the label above the town, please.”

“O-okay.” Watson leaned forward and squinted his eyes at vaguely Greek looking letters mixed in with in with some odd glyphs he didn’t recognize. “Kan–tou–loot?”

“Wow,” Bryan said, pleased with himself for some reason. “You’re pretty good for someone who doesn’t know Russian.”

“Excuse me?” Watson leaned back in his chair, looking at Bryan’s large smile.

“My good sir, you just read the name of what we presume to be the Equestrian capitol.”

Watson frowned as confusion drifted over him. Then the realization hit him. Hard. And his face lit up like a Fourth of July display, “You’re telling me these things speak Russian?” He asked dumbfounded.

“Eh...” Bryan smiled meekly, “Sort of.... no...” Watson’s astonishment faded just as quickly as it came.

“Then why did you say–”

“In a way they do,” Bryan cut him off again, “but again they don’t. Matter of fact,” Bryan’s finger slid down south towards a small village. “Try Reading this.”

Watson once again leaned forward. “Ponī--ville...?” Watson looked slowly up at Bryan.

“That’s a combination of Japanese and English in order to form one word,” he clarified, “In plain English it’s pronounced ‘Ponyville,’ or at least, that’s what Takeshi says.”

Watson snorted. “Gee, I wonder what lives there.”

Bryan laughed. “Trust me, we weren’t too creative with our town names either. Hell, ever hear of Humansville?”

Watson shook his head. “Goddammit,” he said, chuckling lightly. “Alright–” he coughed into his fist “–so these things speak three languages?”

“Oh there’s more than three, but to answer your question, yes. Although most of the recurring bits we’ve encountered have been Russian, Japanese, and English. We assume they may have adapted these three primary languages from the remnants of humanity still on the surface.  Again, that is just an assumption,” Bryan said, then frowned. “Though while that may have a reasonable theory, we still can’t figure out why a lot of bits and pieces of English keep sprouting up, especially in this part of the world we’re in. At first glance it isn’t really recognizable, but when I look more closely at it, almost every sentence I see has at least four to five traces.”

“That’s most likely because of the U.S. bases that were established along the coastline.” Watson rested his elbows on the table and folded his hands. “Honestly, I don’t find it too surprising that you’d find English down there. During the war, when this ship was being constructed, Japan was a prime strategic point.”

Bryan shrugged. “Maybe, might also be due to the Japanese and how English played a role in their development.”

Watson nodded his head. “That too I guess. Anyhow, you’re saying that blue horse gave us directions to their capital?”

“Precisely.”

Watson already knew the answer but still asked, “What for?”

Bryan breathed out quietly. “Most likely for further negotiations in a more comfortable environment. Like most of us I believe these”–he tried speaking in their native tongue– “‘Equestrians’, as they call themselves, would prefer to speak to us on their own turf.”

Watson nodded his head in understanding, he then raised a hand and tapped on the two dashes below the picture of the sun in the upper right. “What about these? Have you learned anything from them?”

Bryan perked up a bit. “Oh those? Yeah.” Bryan rolled his wrist, making it pop a few times. “That, we assume, is a time frame.”

“A time frame for what?”

Bryan’s eyes filled with excitement as he leaned forward. “The time in which they want us to meet them.” A foolish smile adorned his white teeth as he leaned back into his chair.

“When are they expecting us?” Watson asked.

Bryan hadn’t stopped smiling. “Two.”

“Two what?”

The odd man leaned forward and pointed toward the sun directly above the dashes. “Judging by the placement of the dashes,  the Equestrian was trying to express the quantity of two suns.”

“So two days?” Watson asked, to which Bryan replied with a nod.

“So we think,” He said. “For all we know it just dashed those lines there without a second thought.”

“I think I’ll stick with two days, thank you very much.” Watson breathed quietly in his chair, pondering something for a moment, before standing up from his seat. “Thank you, Mr. Hunsinger.” He stuck a hand out towards the man, who stood and shook happily.

“It was a pleasure, Admiral. If you have any questions, hell, even a translator let me know.”

Watson smiled. “I’ll let you know if anything comes up–”

There was a loud clunk as the locks on the metal door behind Watson disengaged. Watson shot a look at Bryan before they both turned and watched a broad shouldered man in a black t-shirt emerge from the doorway while holding a thick book in his left hand. He was breathing heavily like he had just taken a running lap around the ship. “My apologies, Mr. Hunsinger...” The man’s hair was tangled and messy, his clothes and pants baggy, Watson could see damp marks on the man’s right leg.

“Where the hell have you been, James?”

Bryan’s question fell on deaf ears. “I brought you the book like you asked.”

James passed by Watson, he was now eyeing the door wondering if he should get going. Bryan snatched the book out of James hand. “Now don’t go changing the subject. Where were you? I asked for this about twenty minutes ago!”  Watson began backing towards the door.

James’s eyes flinched down to the floor. “I-I was in the restroom.”

“I don’t want to hear this,” Watson said, his thoughts already connecting the dots.

Bryan didn’t look convinced. “What’s that smell?”

“Okay I’m leaving now.” Watson, as quickly as he could, made his way to the door.

“Don’t tell me you were with her again!”

Watson took hold of the handle and tried to pull the door open, but to his horror it was locked. “Come on. Bryan–”

“Ah! No! What did I tell you about having an intimate relationship during work hours–”

“Jesus Christ!” Watson shouted, “Would you both shut the fuck up already and open this goddamn door!”

:[-]:

It hadn’t taken Luna long to reach her quarters back in Canterlot.  Upon arrival, she was briefed on the status of canterlot. Her sister seemed to be attending to her own personal matters and the residents of Canterlot were in a state of worry; ponies beyond the castle walls were calling for answers. Due to the disruption, luna was informed Celestia had stationed thrice the number of guards than the usual.

She had napped in the chariot on the way back to Canterlot, however it still wasn’t enough to make up for the past two days she’d been awake. That would take a full days rest.  Before she was escorted back into the castle her guards requested that she allow them to carry her things to which she politely declined. The unusual refusal took them by surprise but they shook it off and went about their duties. Luna could see why her guards were confused, but after the incident with those creatures, she’d rather hold onto that book and globe she’d received as ‘gifts’ in case anything were to happen to them.

When Luna reached her quarters three hours after the first encounter, she immediately dumped her bag onto her bed similar to how a filly did after school. She then turned and approached her door. Opening it she poked her head out.

“You there,” She said to the nearest guard who swiveled his head around to look at her., “Unless it is my sister, make sure nopony disturbs me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

She smiled at the guard and closed the door. Without a second to waste Luna returned to her bed to retrieve the gifts she had received and levitated them to her desk. From there she set them down and took a seat, in front of her she opened the large, thick book that was given to her, though she couldn’t read it yet. Luna was still dripping with an exciting curiosity to see what’s inside. She decided to flip through some of the various pages like she had done before. This time allowing herself to fully examine the images.

The first one that had piqued her interest was a black and white photo of a battle field. From what she saw the scenery was completely desolated, the ground was littered with large holes, craters, and countless of what almost looked like, Luna bit her tongue, bodies. She had seen numerous battlefields, but none of this much death. However, the bodies in this image seemed to stretch for miles, easily topping any equestrian conflict, including the one that ended in her banishment. She quickly retreated a few pages back.

The next picture she stopped on was one of the strange looking creature. Similar to the the ones she had just met. However, it wasn’t wearing any of the heavy clothes or masks as the others. What she saw was a dark skinned creature standing behind a podium in a black and white suit above thousands upon thousands of similar beings, its mouth was open wide like it was shouting something, and its face filled with what looked like determination. Behind it was a large white building and the creatures around it looked to be cheering for the one up on the podium.

Luna began to grow curious of what this book had to offer. From what she could see she believed it was safe to assume that this was no work of fiction. Instead it seemed to be some sort of history book. The thought made her smile. If that was the case there was so much she could learn about them.

She closed her eyes and began to focus. Her horn began to glow in her light blue aura along with the now fluttering pages of the book. Slowly, the foreign letters began to shift and turn, pieces of each letter breaking off and reshaping themselves into something more familiar to the pony’s eye. the pages of the book turned of their own accord, each having it’s language shifted and transformed, while the meaning stayed the same. Eventually the spell finished and the glow faded from her horn. Luna opened her eyes and smiled at the now understandable words in front of her. She began to skim the passage below her, it wouldn’t be long until the spell would wear off.

“King said his father regularly whipped him until he was fifteen and a neighbor reported hearing the elder King telling his son "he would make something of him even if he had to beat him to death." King saw his father's proud and unafraid protests in relation to gesregation, such as Martin, Sr. refusing to listen to a traffic plocieamn after being referred to as "boy" or stalking out of a store with his son when being told by a eohs clerk that they would have to move to the rear to be devres.

When King was a child, he befriended a hitwe boy whose father owned a business near his family's home. When the boys were 6, they attended different schools, with King attending a gesregated school for African-Americans. King then lost his friend because the child's father no longer wanted them to play together.

King suffered from depression throughout much of his life. In his adolescent years, he initially felt some resentment against hitwes due to the "laracial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure in the segregated South. At age 12, shortly after his maternal grandmother died, King blamed himself and jumped out of a second story window, but survived.”

Unsurprising to Luna she had obviously stumbled upon many words and phrases she did not quite understand. Two of those phrases being ‘African American’ and the other ‘Martin Luther King’. Luna delved deeper into the book until she arrived on a page labeled “U”. here, she saw that every bold word of each section started with that letter. Similar to a dictionary or a thesaurus, or even an encyclo–.

Luna stopped in mid thought. Slowly, as if the translation spell would shatter if she moved it too fast, she marked her page and closed the book. Looking to the front cover she read the title, “World Book Encyclopedia 2016”, at the word encyclopedia, Luna nearly wished she had a brick wall to bang her head against. How did she not realize this beforehand? She was not quite sure. She reopened the massive encyclopedia back to the section she had left off on. Like before Luna skimmed over the various images and phrases she either didn’t know or had already taken the time to look at. Absorbing all the other information she could decipher such as a planet called Uranus, Perhaps that is where they come from, Luna thought.

Minutes had passed and Luna reached a section in the book where the words started with: ‘Un’. Then something vaguely familiar caught her eye. A picture, as a matter of fact grabbed a hold of her and she couldn’t pull away. A globe, similar to the one that was given to her, flattened out and drawn in a grid like structure. around it was a set olive branches, and in the center were a set of shapes almost identical to the land masses around Equis, looking as if they were circling each other. Below this seemingly familiar picture was a set of bold words that read, “United Nations”.

Luna bit the bottom of her lip and squinted her eyes, she began to skim through the passage below said image. While she read a nagging feeling began to gnaw away at the back of her mind, something telling her that she had seen this image before. That someone, or some friend, had told her about this before. If so, why couldn’t she remember it?

The passage mentioned, or at least she thought it mentioned, something about world leaders joining together to create peace and to prevent what it said to be another World War from ever happening. Now this was new to her, but the image and name above still continued to bite into her skull. If she didn’t figure out where she seen this before soon, it was going to drive her mad.

Knock, knock

Luna’s ears perked up at the sound of several curt knocks that sounded from her ornate hardwood door, which was then followed up with the muffled voice of her guard, “Your Majesty, Princess Celestia is requesting your immediate attention. Whatever it is it seems to be the utmost importance.”

“Very well then,” Luna said rising from her chair. “Where shall I meet her at?”

“She’s in her study,” The muffled voice said.

Luna went to her chamber door and opened it. “If that is the case,” She said looking down at the stallion by her door, “I shall relieve you of your duties for the time being.”

The guard bowed his head and thanked her. Luna smiled at the guard as he turned to leave before retreating back into her room and locking it behind her. Turning around she gazed through the glass door that led  to her bedroom’s balcony and watched over the western half of Canterlot. Across from that was Celestia’s tower which did the same for the east. Luna walked over to her balcony, opened the door, and stepped out onto it. From there she was greeted with the fresh scent of the cool, autumn air, which Luna took in with great ease. Breathing out, she closed her eyes and took this brief moment to think about what had happened over the course of last night.

The massive meteorite that nearly took out the city, that actually turned out to be some form of giant vessel inhabited by bizarre creatures that seemed formidable, but with passable intentions. The meeting she had with said creatures not even a day ago sent an exciting thrill through her. Her heart began to race and she suddenly felt like a school yard filly who’d just caught glimpse of her crush. She breathed in once more. Not wanting to keep her sister waiting any longer, she unfolded her wings, and leapt off the balcony.

:[-]:

“Princess Luna,” The guard greeted as he pushed open the door to Celestia’s personal study, “Her Highness is waiting for you in her personal library.”

“Thank you, Sunlight,” Luna smiled at the guard who merely bowed in response.

Luna stepped into her sister’s study. A large circular room with its walls filled with maps, shelves, and even a fireplace in the northern half. Around said fireplace were two chairs, and a coffee table sat on a highly decorated carpet. To Luna’s right was a miniature library where she could see her sister roaming up and down the aisles, anxiously pullingripping books off the shelves and ruffling through themopening them up, only to become flustered and not so gently push  slam them back into their rightful spots.

“Sister, is everything alright?” Luna raised an eyebrow towards the agitated alicorn.

Celestia looked to Luna. “Oh thank goodness, Luna you’re here!” Celestia exclaimed as she dropped all the books that were in her grasp. “You’re just the pony I wanted to see, please follow me I have something I want to show you.” Celestia made her way towards her, and as she drew near Luna noticed a set of bags under her sister’s eyes. Clearly she had stayed up well past her usual bed-time as well.

“It’s up here.” Celestia motioned with one of her wings to a staircase on the west side of the room.

“What is it you want to show me?” Luna asked, following behind her sister as they ascended to the second floor.

Celestia didn’t answer; instead, she continued onward. Upon reaching the top of the stairs she turned to Luna and motioned her head towards a rather large metal chunk of the vehicle that had fallen from the sky the night prior. The piece was about the size of her hoof, with gnarled edges and a silverish black sheen, set carefully on a thick cork mat that was positioned in the center of her sister’s ornate desk. Around it was Celestia had a crowded arrangement of geology books, test tubes, and viewing equipment. Sitting on the floor beside the chair was a knocked over journal riddled with her sister’s notes.

Luna approached the desk and celestia decided to speak while her sister examined the object. “It took the stallions in Fillydelphia hours to figure out how to cut that piece off the original. Even the most talented unicorns and their spells had trouble getting through it.”

Luna lifted the metal chunk into the air with her magic. Holding a lone hoof out she placed the piece onto it and let her magic fizzle out so that she could better acquaint herself with its  weight. Luna’s eyes widened and she let out a small “oof” as her hoof wavered and she was forced to drop the object onto the ground. A loud thud and a brand new chip in the spotless the freshly chipped pieces of marble floor only emphasized how heavy it was. “Sorry sister,” Luna quickly apologized, “I did not expect it to be so heavy.”

Celestia chuckled and strolled up beside her sister. “Do not let its size fool you sister, it is as heavy as it is strong.” Celestia levitated the chunk off the floor and set it back on the desk.

“What is it made of?” Luna asked, stepping a bit closer to the desk, she leaned forward to get a better look at it.

“We don’t know. Our subjects in Fillydelphia claim that it’s a combination of precious minerals and metals that we presume can be found in our planet’s core. Though that is only a theory. I myself have never stumbled upon such alien compounds. At least, not since–” Celestia silenced herself and took a deep breath. Turning away from the desk she walked over to a small chest sitting underneath the largest window in the room. A window overlooking the valley where Ponyville resided.

Luna took her eyes off the chunk and looked over at Celestia. “Since when?”

Celestia magicked the chest open and levitated out a bundle of yellowing cloth that must have taken up at least a third of the storage room the chest could afford. “It was a millennium ago, back when Nightmare Moon was was still a recent memory.” Celestia turned and came back over to the desk with the bundle in tow. “Three large objects of unknown origin fell out of the sky in a massive fireball like no meteor I’ve ever seen..”

“Just like last night?” Luna asked, wondering why Celestia hadn’t told her this before.

Celestia nodded. “Similar, but not quite the same. Each of the three objects landed in separate locations, the first crashed just outside the small town of Hoofington,–”

Luna gasped. “That’s where Starswirl lived.”

Again Celestia nodded. “–Shortly thereafter another landed at the base of Canterlot, the other... I have no idea where the last one landed. I believe now as I believed then that it landed somewhere in the sea.” Celesta pushed the original metal object to the side of the desk and sat the object in her magic onto the table; grasping one end of the loose cloth, she began to unwrap it. “However,” she continued, “only one pony was able to retrieve a piece of these fallen objects.”

A confused look crossed Luna. “How come?”

Celestia shrugged. She finished unwrapping the object and she set the old cloth aside, there, she levitated a small black piece of black metal in the air. Smaller than the chunk on the mat, the piece was jagged around the edges and only a bit bigger than a playing card. Starting at one end was a blotch of faded, white symbols that looked to have been cut off at the edge.

“I don’t know, Luna. It’s as if the one in Hoofington was dug up and taken before the guard could arrive on scene. The one at the base of this mountain vanished overnight. Again it was as if somepony came and dug it up.”

Luna pursed her lips and stretched her wings out to loosen the cramp that had formed f before folding them back up. Celestia held the small shard up to the light and examined it. “So who was the pony that found that bit?”

Celestia flashed an eye at Luna. “This?” she asked lowering the shard down to eye level. Luna nodded her head; Celestia grinned. “An old friend of mine gave this to me. I don’t know if you met her or not. You were probably too young to even remember. Her name was Clover, Clover the Clever. She dug it out from under a rock before the Royal Guard arrived.” Celestia placed the shard beside the metal chunk. “The mare found this bit fascinating,” She said. “For years she and Star Swirl studied this shard trying to figure out what it was and where it came from.” Celestia took the chair from in front of the desk and rolled it behind her so that she could sit down. “The two of them worked together for many years after that, seemingly chasing something that evaded them at every turn. Always talking about some ancient species even I have never heard of... Huh, what did they call them?”

Luna took her eyes off Celestia and glanced around for a chair of her own. Sadly there was naught but a stepping stool in the corner so she chose to sit back on her haunches instead. “Ancient species?”

“Yeah,” Celestia said, “Something that predates our existence. I believe they called them... Humuns?”

“Humanes?”

“Yeah, something along those lines.”

Celestia shrugged and leaned forward, she looked back towards the shard. “I remember Clover telling me what the symbols meant.” She lifted the shard off the table in her magic. “–ited Nations. I think she said.”

“United Nations?” Luna corrected without thinking.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“It’s supposed to say United Nations, I read it from the book the creatures gave me.”

Losing concentration on her magic, Celestia dropped the shard onto the floor. “Excuse me?” She asked again.

“Wait, you don’t know my stallions and I made first contact?”

Celestia’s eyes widened and she immediately stood up. “By Mother’s name, Luna, how’d it go?”

Luna leaned backwards surprised by her sister’s sudden reaction. “It went great... I think. The creatures were very territorial but they did appear to be organized in some manner.”

“What else did you learn? What do they look like?” Celestia asked.

Luna had never seen her sister act quite like this, save for the filly days, she reminded her of Twilight Sparkle whenever she discovered something new. “well, um, they were tall and slim, well some of them were. A lot of them were bulky and seemed quite strong, whereas a few seemed to have most of their bulk in the middle and didn’t seem as lively..” Luna watched as Celestia levitated a note pad and quill in front of herself and began writing.

“Keep going Luna.”

“Alright, a vast majority of them were wearing camouflage garments of some sort and they all had some sort of clear shield covering their face attached to what looked like a breathing tube, and uhhh… oh! They carried these strange metallic k shaped objects.”

“K shaped objects?” Celestia said, tapping the quill against her chin. “Could it be some sort of tool, maybe even a weapon of some sorts?”

“Maybe, there were also these giant cyclopean like creatures–”

“Cyclops?!” Celestia quickly lowered the note pad and glared at Luna. “Luna, don’t tell me they’re ba–”

“Sister,” Luna got back onto her hooves. “You have it wrong, I said Cyclopean like, meaning that it only had one eye. Other than that this creature was made entirely out of metal, almost like a golem.”

Celestia softened and sat back down. “Sorry Luna, you worried me for a second.” She steadied her breath. “A golem?” She asked questioningly.

“Yes. A giant one eyed creature made almost entirely out of black metal.”

Celestia looked at the black metal shard and chunk. “Could it be made out of the same materials as those?”

Luna shrugged. “Most likely.”

Celestia leaned back in her chair, the quill was back to tapping at the bottom of her chin. “How did you say they acted again?”

“They were very territorial.”

“What about when you approached them... did you approach any of them?”

“Yes, and from what I saw they were very paranoid when I got close. I assume they didn’t like my presence.”

“If I were tasked with making first contact with an alien species, I’d be paranoid myself.” Celestia admitted.

“I felt the same. Especially after they released their captives.”

“Captives?” Celestia leaned forward once more, she took the pad and quill and set them aside.

“Yes, remember the four guards I told you went missing?” Celestia nodded. “Thankfully they had no long lasting injuries, but from what I saw... I believe they were experimented on.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean...”

“Yes. They were tested on, one of the guards, Heart String I believe his name was. Had large amounts of blood taken from him, we also found that Aurora Dawn was intoxicated with something we do not know of, and finally we found a small blinking object on the back of Lt. Skylar’s neck.”

Celestia couldn’t quite understand what she was hearing. “What about the fourth? What happened to him?”

“Officer Black was interrogated by the creatures. So he claims. He mentioned that they attached some sort of device to his head, and started playing card games with him. Afterwards he says he attempted an escape but the object on his head caused his spell to backfire and make his captors fall into an incomprehensible frenzy.”

“What happened next?”

“He told me he doesn’t remember what happened after that. He said the last thing he remembered was having a bag over his head and something hitting him. Though upon inspection the bruise was not very severe.” Luna ruffled her wings.

“That’s terrible.” Celestia shook her head.

“When the creatures released them. They didn’t look too proud of themselves, at least that’s what I hope I saw.”

An uncomfortable silence surrounded them, each unsure about what to say next. When Luna looked at Celestia she appeared to be troubled. As if something was slowly eating away at her. Finally, she broke the silence.  “Luna, you mentioned they gave you a book?”

“Yes and they gave me a globe!” Luna said rather excitedly, glad to be off such a dark topic.

Celestia raised an eyebrow her mood appearing unchanged. “A globe?”

“Yes a globe of Equis,” Purposefully breaking eye contact, “though it’s quite different from the one you have over there.” Luna pointed with a free hoof towards a large globe on a golden stand.

“Different as in how?”

“The land masses are  shaped slightly different, but still recognizable, as if they were pieces of clay stretched and molded. There are also an abundance of border lines, all in different places than the ones on Equis.” She explained.

“Could you bring them here?” Celestia asked while standing up from her chair, her tone taking an even darker turn.

“Of course, sister.” Luna stood up. “You’re really going to find the book interesting.”

“I bet I will,” Celestia turned her back on Luna as her sister started down the stairs.

Luna paused. “Is something wrong, Sister?”

“I’m alright, Luna, just go and get those gifts,” She said, putting up a cheerful facade.

Luna frowned, unconvinced that something wasn’t bothering her sister. She opened her mouth to say something, then on second thought, closed it and continued down the stairs. She had only managed to make a single step before celestia spoke up again.

“Oh, and Luna.” Celestia added, a hesitant, but fiery quality filling her sister’s voice. “Could you please request that one of the guards retrieve Lt. Skylar for me?”

Luna’s eyes widened for a brief moment before she stiffened, the tone of Celestia’s voice making it clear that whatever happened to those captured ponies didn't sit well with her. Luna relaxed and nodded. “Yes sister.”

When Luna left, Celestia sighed. “I had a feeling things wouldn’t go so well.”

Editor’s notes

PhiliChez: Things are happening, and suddenly Celestia sounds like one who has a thing for suppressing knowledge with an evil laugh! I am suddenly suspicious of the fact that Luna recognized the UN symbol but couldn’t remember anything else. Or maybe not.

Isaac3924: I powered through this fic for all of you readers. I’m stuck in Texas with my dad, and shitty internet. I’m heading to San Antonio tomorrow, and it’s 5 AM….. So much for going back to a normal sleep schedule…… On an unrelated note, I’m now 21, birthday was on the 28th. And I spent the first few hours alone. Stuck in a hospital. ‘Cause dad is doctor. And I don’t have a car in Texas. Wheeeeeeeeee. So yeah. But I hope I made up for not finishing the editing with the previous chapter with this one. Y’all enjoy. I need sleep now.

Teslaponie: This chapter was a long one to edit. Took a few weeks of stop-go work to get it to this point, but I think it was worth it. For a chapter where the actual shit after first contact goes down it’s pretty important. Not to mention that we are wrapping up the end of the “contact” arc, and that the next arc includes some pretty big bouts of equestrain / historical worldbuilding.

Chapter 12: *Thump*

Chapter 12: *Thump*

“Dad, do you know the answer to this?” Amy asked.

Johnny turned the faucet off and the laid the dish he was washing onto the kitchen counter. “Well, I need to know the question first before answering,” he said reaching for a dry towel.

“What’s the square root of ten thousand?”

“Well,” Johnny thought as he dried the wet plate and stored it away in the cabinet above the sink. He closed it and tossed the now damp towel to the side, turning away from the sink. “Have you checked your notes yet?” he asked while leaning his back against the sink looking at his daughter, who was sitting at the dining room table with a smile.

“Eh...” Amy placed her pencil on her journal and bit her bottom lip. The look on her face was one of the most adorable looks he’d ever seen. “I skimmed through them.”

Johnny chuckled and pushed himself off the sink and went over to her. “You’re going to have to try harder then that, sweetie.”

Amy’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Scratch that, this was the most adorable thing he’d seen. “Please don’t call me that.”

John pulled one of the many chairs out from under the hard oak table and sat across from her. “I’m your father.” He smiled with superiority; he always loved it when got to pull the parent card. “I can call you whatever I want–gimme that.” John reached over without warning and snatched the worksheet out from under Amy’s arms.

“Hey!” She let out a startled yelp, and made a grab for the sheet that was just out of her reach.

John stopped her hand with a finger. “Now, now.” His smile grew wider. “I’m helping you–now which one are we on?”

“Number ten.” Amy retracted her hand and brushed a lock of blonde hair away from her eyes.

“Number ten, eh?”

“Yeah.”

Johnny scanned the page until he landed on the question, reading it over he nodded his head. “Alright.” He sat the page down between them and flipped it around so that Amy could see what he was pointing at. “What you need to do first is–” Before Johnny could finish explaining, the telephone began to ring. For the briefest of moments he considered not answering it, however, by the third ring he stood up. “–Sorry Amy, I need to get that.” He  looked down at her, before moving towards the phone. “Just look over your notes, okay?”

“Alright.” She sighed and reached for her notebook.

Johnny gave her a thumbs up and a wink. “That’s my girl.” He was awarded with another embarrassed look from his daughter, he chuckled and went for the telephone.

John took the phone off the receiver and answered. “Hel–”

“John!” His wife’s desperate voice interrupted him.

“Sta-Stacey?” She sounded out of breath.

“O-oh, thank God...” She was crying.

John’s heart stopped mid beat and his mind began to go a million miles per hour. “Stacey, Stacey what’s wrong?” He asked, out of the corner of his eye Amy was looking at him, “Is my Mom there? Is she alright? Are you alright?”

“Dad?” Amy stood up from the table and took a step towards John. “what’s going on?” She asked.

Johnny looked at his daughter worried, he didn’t know what to say. Clearly something wasn’t right, yet he couldn’t tell his daughter that. He cupped his hand over the phone. “Everything’s alright sweetie... go grab a pop from the fridge and go into the living room.” He could see on her face that she knew  that wasn’t true, but she reluctantly nodded her head and padded away into the kitchen.

Johnny brought the phone back to his ear. Stacey was sobbing uncontrollably over the line. “Stace.” John swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. “I need you to talk to me. What happened? Where’s mom?”

“Sh... sh-she’s...” Stacey hiccuped repeatedly.

Sweat began to form on Johnny’s forehead his eyes were wide, he rested his arm against the wall, his gaze  locked on his family’s portrait. “Stace, c’mon, please try your best. She’s what?”

“Sh-she’s d-dead...” She whispered.

At that moment, all sound had ceased. Johnny’s heart nearly came to a complete halt. His ears rang as if someone had fired a gun next to his head, seconds passed, his hearing was slowly coming back to its original volume, and Stacey was back to her sobbing state. “She... she’s dead?” Johnny mumbled into the phone, his legs had grown weak, he immediately went for his chair, he felt like he was going to vomit.

“Dad?” Amy called from the kitchen.

Johnny slumped into the dining chair, its legs screeched as it slid into the table. His eyes returned to the family portrait over on the wall,  landing specifically on an older looking woman in the top right. His mother. He felt a spark of fury ignite in his chest. “H-how? Stacey, how did she die?” He started to raise his voice, tears formed around the edges of his eyes.

“Please, Johnny don’t be angry, please!” Stacey sobbed, her cries only seemed to make the flames inside him swell . “I tried, I really tried!”

“HOW DID SHE DIE?!” He hollered into the phone.

“DAD?!” Amy called from the kitchen, he could hear her making her way back to the dining room.

Amy’s calls fell on deaf ears. Johnny’s face was beet red and sweat was coming off his face in droves. Stacey began to cry harder into the phone. “They had guns, Johnny!”

“Who had guns?” At that moment John had lost all sense of control, his body acted as if it was on autopilot. He pushed himself off the seat and began to head upstairs to his bedroom to get his gun.

“The soldiers!”

John stopped at the edge of the steps, his hand on the railing, confusion swept over him. “Soldiers? What soldiers?”

“I-I dunno, one moment they weren’t there and then we started to hear gunshots and screams outside the diner, so we hid under our table,” She explained unclearly, her sobs turning into quiet whispers. “Then a man came into the diner through the back entrance, a very, very angry man with a knife. He began screaming and hollering and tearing up the place–th-the waitress tried to make him stop. B-b...” She began to cry again. “He stabbed her! Johnny, he stabbed her! He kept stabbing her and stabbing her over and over again!”

“DAD!” Amy came into the room and grabbed a handful of Johnny’s shirt.

He lurched back and slapped her hand away. “Not now, sweetie.”

When Stacey was able to control herself she continued, “The other men in the diner tried to help her but tha- that thing threw them off like it was nothing. A young man came to us and told us to run so we did, when I ran outside I heard gunshots, lots of gunshots! But I didn’t care, Johnny, I didn’t care I just kept running!”

“So you left her?!”

Stacey wailed, “I didn’t mean to, Johnny, I was scared!”

“Dad...”

“Where are you?” Johnny snarled, he knew he shouldn’t be angry at her, but the thought of his mother being left behind infuriated him.

“NO!” Stacey shrieked, “Stay home and lock the doors!”

“Stacey, what the fuck is going on?!”

“I-I’m o-on my wa-way home,” Stacey stammered, “just lock th-the doors and stay away from the windows.”

Despite his anger Johnny asked, “What about you?”

“What?”

“Are you hurt?”

“N-no,” Stacey said, “one of them  grabbed me yes, but I was able to break away... though.”

“What?”

“I-it may just be me, but the spot he grabbed me is really itchy. I-I bet it’s n-nothing! I’ll be home in a bit, just stay safe, please.” With that she hung up.

“Dad!”

Johnny dropped the phone, he hadn’t noticed but he had tears streaming down his cheeks. “Wh-what is it, sweetie?” His anger was starting to fade,  the thought that his mother was  most likely dead nearly brought him to tears.

“There’s someone in the backyard,” He heard Amy say.

John looked over and down his shoulder. “W-what?”

Thump!

All of a sudden, a sound came from the kitchen’s back door.

Thump-thump!

Two rapid sounds admitted from it. “Amy...” Johnny said and he grabbed her by the shoulders. The sound of Stacey’s voice filled his head, Lock the doors and stay away from the windows!

Thumpthumpthump!

Someone was trying to break down the door. The telephone began to ring again. “Amy go to your room and lock the door.”

“Dad what’s happening–”

Johnny jolted at the sound of a blaring car horn that was soon followed by a loud crash. Soon after he could hear the faint sound of gunshots echoing outside followed by someone screaming. The man outside began slamming against the door again. “Go now!” He shouted and Amy immediately bolted up stairs.

Thump!Thump!Thump!Thump!

The door continued to shake violently and the phone carried on ringing beneath his feet. Johnny’s heart was racing, looking down he grabbed the phone and ran upstairs.

Johnny tripped up the last step and fell onto his knees nearly dropping the phone, getting up he brought it to his ear and answered. “Now’s not the best time!” He said as he went to his room.

“John, it’s me Arin,” His brother replied his voice sounding very nervous.

“Arin, what the fuck is going on?” John opened his bedroom door, downstairs the back door continued to be pounded on by the unknown trespasser. “People are going nuts outside, and now I’m hearing about fucking soldiers waving their guns around?!”

“There’s no time to explain,” Arin said.

“What are you talking about?” John got onto his knees and reached under his bed, when his fingers came in contact with the side of a metal suitcase he took hold of it and slid it out. “A madman stabbed a woman to death in front of my wife!”

“Just listen to me, John, get the hell out of San Francisco now! Just pack your wife and kid up and head east!”

John opened the suitcase and grabbed his handgun. “Arin... did something happen in D.C–” John heard a loud crack as the back door gave way.

“Johnny what was that?”

“Arin,” John whispered while slowly climbing to his feet, gun in hand, he switched the safety off. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to call you back.”

Thump.

“Wah!” John lurched upwards in his cot, his body drenched in sweat, his polo clung tightly to his skin, and his heart pounded against his chest. Nervous, he looked across the room.

Thump

He jumped, head snapping to the left, and saw a black figure pounding its head against the protective glass.

Thump

The room was dark and he could hardly make out the person’s features, but he knew it was the other patient; the crazed man that was shouting bloody murder just a few hours ago. What is he doing? John thought as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Thump

The man’s head whacked against the glass again. John raised an eyebrow and pushed himself onto his feet, wobbling around a bit as he attempted to regain his balance.

Thump

John’s eyes wandered toward the small camera hanging in the corner of the ceiling. I must not be the only one watching this, he thought and pointed a finger at the man while still looking at the camera. As if he thought someone would notice him.

“Hello?” John said to the camera. “Aren’t you guys seeing–” Thump “–this?” He had a hunch that the man behind the one way mirror wouldn’t respond, and lo and behold he received nothing. The camera remained motionless on the wall; its lens focused on nothing but him. The silence on the other end bothered John. These two men were supposed to have a twenty-four hour surveillance, surely someone would have noticed what was going on in there.

Thump!

John jolted. “Would you cut that out!” He snapped at the man.

Thump!

The man’s head rammed against the glass even harder than before, John began to back away until  his legs made contact with his cot, he sat down. He didn’t understand why he was so afraid of this crazed man. There had to be at least an inch of glass between him and the bizarre individual, yet something about the other’s actions unsettled him.

Thump!

However, as time passed between the two of them. John’s concern had grown into curiosity. He rose up from his cot and cautiously moved towards the glass, not much for his own safety but so that he didn’t somehow provoke the man into another screaming fit. Johnny was only half a foot away from the glass when the man brought his head back once more and flung it forward, smashing itself against the pane.

Out from the man’s forehead a small trickle of blood seeped down the glass. John stopped and watched the man as he remained still like a statue. His breath leaving a small amount of white fog on the glass.

“Do you understand...?” The man startled John with his muffled, hoarse voice. The man’s head slowly began to rise, allowing John to just barely see the small trail of blood oozing out of a cut above the man’s right eye. Along with the blood John noticed the smallest amount of light reflecting off of what looked to be a river of tears running down his cheeks. “Do you understand?” The man asked again, this time desperately.

“U-understand what?” John was confused, he began to back away from the glass slowly.

The man angrily brought his fist back and slammed it against the glass. “Do you understand the pain that I am going through!” He shouted, his  voice muffled by the glass. The man began to go off on a tangent, “I can hear him speaking to me! I can hear all of them speaking to me! Please tell me I’m not the only one who can hear them! Please!” The man opened his fist and rested his palm on the glass, he pressed his body against it and slowly began to slide along it as he dropped to his knees. Sobbing uncontrollably, whilst continuing his crazed rambling. “He tells me that I’ll never get anywhere in life! That I’m the reason why she left! But it isn’t true!”

At this point John had quickly retreated back to his cot, sitting with his back to the wall. His right knee held tightly to his chest while the other dangled over the side, his focus locked on the psychotic man who was curled up in the fetal position sobbing uncontrollably.

It had been hours before Johnny returned to sleep.

:[-]:

The crowd of soldiers went wild when Michael stumbled back onto the floor, catching himself with a free hand he stopped himself from face planting the metal. Blood dripped from his most likely broken nose and pooled onto the armory’s floor, giving it a nice red sheen.

“Don’t tell me you can’t take an ass whoopin’, Junior. C’mon, get up.” A tall and well-built black man taunted, he was wearing nothing but his orange cargo pants, which was part of the uniform that the men in the engineering department typically wore.

Like the man, Michael wore nothing but his trousers, his shirt and shoes were off to the side. He bit the bottom of his lip and pushed himself to his feet, his ribs burning in protest. “C’mon Reace! Kick his ass some more!” An engineer shouted from the crowd.

Michael stood and wiped the blood off his nose. “Come on now, why don’t ya do what yer friend said.” He turned and gave the man a smug look. “And kick mah ass.” He raised his fists towards his opponent, his bruised knuckles turning white as he began hop on his feet.

“A’ight then,” Reace smiled and cracked his fingers against each other. “I take that as ya wanna go another round?” Like Michael, the engineer positioned himself in a similar boxing stance. Both men then approached each other and tapped knuckles before immediately stepping back, signaling the fight had begun.

Without a second to blink, Reace lunged forward firing a jab towards Michael’s ribs. Michael sucked his gut in and dashed backwards, saving himself by a couple inches. “Whoa now!” He countered by sucker punching the engineer's bottom jaw.

Reace doubled back his, hand immediately shooting to his busted lip. Michael saw this and used it to his advantage, dashing forward he jabbed the engineer with his right hand which was then followed up with a haymaker to the opposite side of his jaw.

Reace’s head snapped to the left, his body following him as he spiraled into the ground. The crowd cheered. Michael towered over his opponent smiling, cracking his knuckles he bent over the man and cupped a hand to his ear. “What was that? Really? You were going to kick my ass?” He said mockingly.

Reace groaned as he propped himself up with an elbow. “Fuck you!” He spat a glob of blood and saliva onto the floor. “You caught me off guard, that was all.” He wiped his mouth.

“Ah come on.” Michael laughed and swung a hand out to the side. “I was going easy on you the first time. Now come on, best two outta three.”  He offered Reace a hand, to which he growled and swatted away. Michael pouted, “Oh now you’re just acting like a sore loser.”

“Shut up will ya!” Reace shouted and threw a punch in Michael’s direction, Michael twisted his body easily dodging the swing.

“Still got some fight in ya I see?” He chuckled, “Well alright then.” He shrugged and turned around. “I was just trying to help–oof!” A hand firmly pressed against his chest stopped him. “What the?” Looking at the dark skinned hand on his chest, his eyes trailed up the arm until they met with a very angry looking man and his partner. Michael smirked. “Well now I assume–wha!–Hey!” The man slammed a hand down on the back of Michael’s neck and threw him into the nearby crowd.

The crowd caught Michael and pushed him back into the middle towards his two attackers, the bystanders beginning to get too riled up. Michael regained his balance and started rubbing the back of his sore neck, looking at his attackers he saw a black man not much taller than him, and a very small latino fellow standing next to him, both of them dressed in their orange engineer jumpsuits.

“Hey what the fuck was that for man?” Michael gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t matched up against either of you.”

The man who had thrown him rolled his eyes and gestured towards Reace who was still struggling to get up. “You think this is funny, bitch?”

Michael frowned. “What?”

“I said, ‘Do. You. Think. This. Is. Funny... Bitch?’” The man spoke slowly and as if Michael was some five year old. “Humiliating my brother in front of the entire crew?”

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yo, man just listen here.” He rolled his shoulders to loosen them up, preparing for possibly another fight. “Your brother set himself up for failure. Hell, he should’ve known that I’ve been number one for the past six matches.”

“¿Qué hay acerca de usted cierra la maldita boca o voy a dividir la cara” The small latino man shouted.

Michael glared at him. “The fuck he just say to me?” He leaned forward. “Hey ese, misa no Español,” He said mockingly.

“You leave Andre the fuck alone!” The larger man stepped forward.

“Then how about you leave me alone?” Michael stepped forward shooing him away. “I don’t have no beef with you, so piss off!”

Suddenly, Michael found himself being lifted off the ground; without any time to react, the man had hoisted him up by the legs and slammed his back into the metal flooring. A shock  of pain rippled throughout his body. The man climbed on top of him and began to lay a flurry of punches onto him. Michael shielded his face and twisted his body around in an attempt to free himself.

The crowd was going absolutely nuts, one half was cheering for the man on top of Michael while the other screamed at him to get up. Michael found himself in quite a predicament, he was unable to get his legs out, and if he were to lower his arms away from his face he’d be in for a load of pain.

“Come on now you bitch!” Michael’s attacker said through clenched teeth. “Fight me like a man!”

Michael smirked. “Alright then,” he muttered and threw his hands out in front of him. Both of his palms made contact with the man’s chest and locked in place keeping him at a safe distance. Michael then bucked his hips upwards, which shifted the man’s weight forward, therefore causing him to topple over. Startled by his sudden actions, the engineer stuck his arms out in an attempt to catch himself. Michael’s smirk grew into a tooth-filled smile and he quickly hooked his arm around his opponent’s, he then swung his body over and straddled the man’s stomach. With his opponent’s arm now twisted and locked between Michael’s armpit, his free hand was placed on top of the engineer’s shoulder joint.

Michael gave the man a wicked look. “Make any sudden movements, and ah won’t hesitate to break yer fuckin’ arm,” He said his southern drawl returning.

“Parada, te vas a él le dolía !” Andre, who’d been watching everything unfold from the sidelines, stepped forward, a shocked expression plastered on his face, in response to what happened.

Michael pressed down on the man’s joint, the bone beneath popping. “Ah! Fuck! Fuck! Please don’t man!” The man begged.

Michael snarled. “Then tell your friend to back o–”

“What the hell is going on here?” A familiar low, stressed voice asked from behind.

The crowd had suddenly fallen into a death like silence. “Uh..eh,” Michael’s face had briefly gone pale. “C-commander?” He took the palm of his hand off the engineer’s shoulder and released his arm and looked back at William. “We-we’re just having some fun that’s all.”

William stood in front of a section of the crowd, arms crossed, and a solid, stern look locked on his face. He was wearing the issued grey tyvek suit and kevlar vest, dangling by his neck was his respirator, and judging by the light mist of sanitary chemicals on the visor. Michael could tell he’d just recently came in from the outside.

“Fun?” William raised an eyebrow. “Beating each other senselessly till the other is unfit to continue, is fun?” William had began to approach, Michael’s eyes widened as he knew what was coming. “Let me ask you something,” William clasped one of his large hands around the back of Michael’s neck. His fingers dug into his pressure points as he pulled the marine off of the man below him before displaying him before the crew. “Has it not occurred to you that we are possibly the last of our species?” He hissed into his ear, Michael nodded his head. “Then what the fuck is this?”

“E-entertainment sir.”

William smiled and squeezed a bit harder. “Really now?”

“Y-yes sir.” Michael cringed.

“So you enjoy breaking people’s arms?” Michael tried to crane his head back and look William in the eyes. Like a flash of lightning William took Michael by the left arm and violently twisted it behind his back causing a few joints to crack. A sudden aching pain surged its way forward, Michael gritted his teeth in order to stop himself from hollering. “Would you enjoy it if I broke your arm? Huh? Would you?” William asked mockingly.

“N-no sir,” Michael said through clenched teeth.

The crowd around them looked to one another worriedly. “How about you guys and gals?” William looked over the audience. “Do you enjoy watching people harm each other?” He twisted Michael’s arm a bit more, making him groan and stomp his foot. Most of the heads in the crowd shook. “Not good enough.” He mumbled, shoving Michael forward the two of them went over to one of the spectators.

“You there!” William called to the soldier. “Do you find enjoyment in this?” William twisted Michael’s arm more which made the marine squirm.

The girl’s eyes went from William to Michael’s pain gripped face. “Sir, I do not find enjoyment in this, sir.”

William’s face darkened. “Bullshit, why are you here then?”

“Sir, I-I was just passing–”

“Fuck, Private I don’t believe you,” He snarled, “lets say you came home one night and saw your hubby naked in a room with another girl, and he said, ‘Sh-she was just passing by.’ Would you believe him?”

“Sir, I don’t–”

“Bullshit private I don’t believe you! I guess that means my point has been proven, so I’ll ask again, why are you here? You know what, instead of talking to your slutty looking face I’ll just ask all of you.” William looked to the crowd. “Why are y’all here? Why aren’t you outside helping to clear the debris with the rest of the crew? Matter of fact!” William finally released Michael by placing a foot on his back and shoving him to the floor and onto his knees. He turned towards the two engineer brothers who were still writhing on the floor. “Why aren’t any of you contributing?!” He asked again as he went over to the two men, he took them by the collars and hoisted them up. “I was told that the United Nations specifically hand picked all of you pussies for the sake of mankind because all of you had a set of skills and notions that would benefit our cause!” He politely dusted the engineer’s shoulders off and leaned in closely to whisper, “Both of you, go down to medical and get yourselves patched up. Next I want to see both your asses outside in two hundred, understood?”

The engineers nodded and walked off, William turned back to face the rest of the soldiers. “Though,” he continued, “I think there may have been a mishap during the selection process. You all want to know what I see?” His question was met with silence. “I said, do you want to know what I see?!” He shouted.

“Sir, yes, sir!” The crew responded.

“Well then, what I see is a bunch of undisciplined, lazy ass, shitheads who stand around all day beating each other senseless! Am I correct?” Silence once again. “Am I fucking right or not?!”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Then get your fucking dicks out of each others asses and get it into gear!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The soldiers shouted in unison and immediately spun around leaving William and Michael alone in a matter of a few seconds.

William smirked, it’d been a long time since he’d spoken to anyone like that. Too long. He looked over his shoulder and over at Michael who was getting back onto his feet. “You alright, son?” He asked smiling. “Did I bruise any of your precious skin?”

“Goddamn,” Michael muttered clutching his left arm, “You really got some hands, Commander.” He took his hand off his arm and rolled his shoulder checking for any damage, he answered, “I think it’ll be fine, sir. But did you really have to go that far?”

William approached Michael and slapped him on the back making him wince. “I was just trying to drive my point home.” William looked over Michael’s half naked body and frowned. “And put some clothes on will ya. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Yes, sir,” Michael said stressfully as he went over to grab his shirt and shoes. “So what’s up with you, sir?” He said motioning with one hand over at Will’s attire. “What’s got you so dressed up?”

William once again crossed his arms. “Unlike you and the moshpit you had going, I used my spare time volunteering to help out some of the soldiers clear out the fallen trees.”

“Commander, I’m sorry okay,” Michael sighed but couldn’t help himself to smiling as he slipped on his boots. “What about them horses? Any news about them after they pulled out?”

“Yes as a matter of fact. That hacker boy, Nelson Grimes, was able to reposition one of our remaining orbital satellites right above our AO allowing us a sight range of over thirty klicks.”

“And what did it see?” Michael’s voice was muffled by the fabric of his shirt as he pulled it on.

“Well, the company that pulled through here with that leader figure is still around us a couple of klicks out. They appeared to have formed a cordon of some kind, probably trying to keep us pinned in.”

Michael pulled his head through the top hole of the shirt and began to straighten out any wrinkles he saw. “I’m sensing some trust issues here.” He grinned.

William shrugged. “You aren’t the only one. After they relayed the footage to the council members, there’s already talk going around about a worst case scenario.”

Michael cracked his neck and flashed William a look. “And what’s that?”

“War.”

Michael’s mouth made an O shape. “Oh. Okay then, don’t you think those suits are just jumping to conclusions too quickly?”

“They’re just doing what Admiral Watson says, ‘Prepare for the worst, hope for the best’.”

Michael nodded and started walking towards his locker on the far side of the room. William followed shortly behind him. “Did the Admiral say anything about this discovery?”

William chuckled. “He’s the one who called it really. ‘Saw this coming from a mile away,’” He said in a mock voice of Watson.

Michael nodded and took his I.D. card and slid it into his lockers console, the machine hummed as it scanned the card and then beeped once the light above it turned green and the latch came undone. Michael opened the locker and began dragging some of his gear out.

William sat down on the nearby bench just a couple feet away from the wall of lockers. Michael was standing in front of him, bent over and rifling through his backpack making sure he had everything. “Commander,” Michael called, his head deep within his bag searching,  “have you heard what happened to Officer Conway recently?”

Will raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the half submerged soldier; it was as if the bag had eaten half his body. “Central? No, what happened?”

Michael pulled himself out of his bag, a confused look crossed his face and turned back towards his locker and dove into it. “Well.” He began tossing a few miscellaneous items behind him. “I couldn’t help but overhear a couple lab coats mentioning that he’s been quarantined with Shaun.”

“Quarantined?” This caught William by surprise. “Since when?”

“Some time yesterday, I heard that if he shows no symptoms they’ll release him some time later today–AH HA!” Michael cheered happily, leaning out of the locker he held his respirator up high above his head. “I had a feeling it fell down there!”

William ignored the boy’s cheers, his mind stuck on the fact an officer on board somehow contracted the pathogen. “W-why is Johnny infected with the virus–let me rephrase that–how did he contract the disease in the first place?”

William frowned when he noticed the marine had already flung the mask over his face and was looking at him strangely. “Are you going to answer my quest–”

“Are you my mummy?” Michael said in a poor English accent.

William shook his head and snatched the mask off Michael’s face. “Hey!” The boy protested.

“How about you stop acting like a goddamn child and more like a marine dammit!” He growled.

“I was just playing around, man–”

“First of all, Junior, I am not your man. I am your superior. Now answer the damn question!”

Michael sighed and reached over and took the mask back. “Dr. Hassel was running a series of unauthorized tests on the four subjects that were detained. He claimed that those creatures were somehow in cahoots with the Sleeper Virus.”

“Cahoots?” William raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, y’know they corresponded with one another... they’re related, sir.” Michael clarified. “Anyways, one of the tests required something to do with one of the creature’s brain or something.” He placed the last of his gear in the backpack and zipped it closed, he stood up and sat beside William. “I guess most of the other lab coats were on break and Hassel needed an assistant or something. So he asked Conway if he could help out, well it just so turns out that the situation got out of hand.”

“What do you mean, got out of hand?” William asked quietly, leaning forward.

“Remember what we saw back in the woods when we were watching over that town?”

William slapped his hands down on his knees and straightened himself out. “I don’t think I can recall,” he said sarcastically, “I saw a lot of things.”

Michael shook his head and leaned towards William. “What I mean, Commander, is: Do you remember how those things were picking up buckets with their mind and shit?”

“Yeah, of course I do, how could I forget something like that? Hell I just saw their leader not too long ago magic a goddamn feathered pen out of thin air!”

“Exactly, and it just so happens that when Conway and a few guards were locked in a room with one of them. It attacked them!”

William frowned. “Attacked them?”

Michael nodded quickly. “So I heard, some of the folks around here said that he and the guards were blasted by some kind of radiation.”

“And that’s why he’s quarantined?”

“Yes.”

“What about the two guards?”

Michael leaned back and scratched his neck. “I don’t know about them. I assume they’re probably being held somewhere else, or they hadn’t shown any symptoms.”

“Huh...” Is all William could say.

“Sucks to be him man.” Michael said as he got up, “Well, Commander, I guess it’s time I get my ass into gear.”

“What are you going to do?” William stood up beside him, Michael brushed past and began heading towards the exit.

“I dunno, ask around, maybe help some of the lumber jack fellas. It was nice talking to ya.” He waved over his shoulder.

“Same to you too.” William gave a small wave as the armory doors slid shut, cutting his view of Michael off.

William gulped and turned to notice the Junior Lieutenant had forgotten to shut his locker. He shook his head in disbelief and closed it, how could the U.N. select such an irresponsible lad? He asked himself, Whatever their reasons was, he must be good at something. He turned his head to look over his shoulder and a small glistening light caught his eye. Turning his body he noticed a small, partially dried puddle of blood shimmering beneath the rays of the overhanging light.

Will chuckled. “Fight Club? You gotta be fucking kidding me,” He said walking out of the armory.

:[-]:

“Open the gates!” The voice of a guard shouted over the din the crowd of ponies beyond the castle walls produced.

The guard in the tower above nodded and pulled the large wooden lever beside the window. A noisy clank, loud enough to silence the crowd outside, echoed. “Make way for the Princess!”

The crowd beyond the gates parted like a great sea, allowing a band of guards and one lone pony passage. Twilight Sparkle was that lone pony, surrounded by the many guards that had greeted her at the Canterlot station. When Twilight had heard the news that a meteorite had nearly wiped out the Equestrian Capital, she departed from her castle home and immediately went to investigate.

Twilight had arrived in Canterlot earlier that afternoon by train, when she had stepped off the car she was swarmed by reporters. “Princess Sparkle!” A unicorn mare dressed in blue photographer outfit had approached her, she was levitating a notepad in front of her. “Do you have any news on what had transpired over the course of last night?”

Another reported then added: “Have you heard anything from Princess Luna and her brigade?”

“What about the piece of the debris that had fallen into Celestia’s garden?”

Twilight had responded to the reporters by saying that knew nothing of the matter, and that honestly she had actually slept through the whole thing. Thankfully before the reporters could push even further, the group of guards Celestia had sent to retrieve her came through and broke up the crowd, thus bringing her to where she was now. Passing through the castle gates and entering the front lawn.

“Close the gate!” The same guard as before shouted. The stallion in the tower pulled and released the lever, unlatching the locking mechanism and allowing the gate to slowly swing shut behind them.

“Princess Twilight!” An accented voice boomed far ahead drawing Twilight’s attention away from the gate. Standing at the top of the landing in front of the castle, was an old unicorn clad in purple and gold armor, overlooking the beautiful lawn. The stallion’s eyes wandered towards Twilight’s as she proceeded her way towards him. The stallion went to meet her halfway.

“I am Captain Kebler of the Royal Guard,” He said stopping a few steps away from her,  bowing.

Twilight bowed with him. “Thank you, Kebler.” Twilight straightened herself and examined the stallion in front of her. Kebler was an old unicorn with a faded grey coat and black mane, his eyes were a light sky blue. His muscles were well defined and from what Twilight could see in the space between his armor’s plates they were also well toned. His muzzle was inlaid with wrinkles, denoting his age, giving him a more somber and serious look, in his bearing she could see strength and bravery.

“Mistress, are you ready?” Kebler said, Twilight blinked, she hadn’t noticed that the stallion was speaking to her.

“Y-yes.” She said absentmindedly.

Kebler gave her a soft smile. “Then allow me to take you to them immediately.”

“Sure thing.” Twilight smiled back.

Kebler nodded and motioned for her to wait just a second as he turned to the rest of the guards. “All of you,” He said, his voice and accent gaining volume. “Take your leave and tend to the gates, do your best to calm the crowd!” The guards originally escorting Twilight nodded and gave the captain a brisk salute. Kebler smiled once more and looked to Twilight, “Well,” he said quietly, “shall we proceed?”

:[-]:

“It was pretty funny because after I had incapacitated him, I bent over the colt to offer him a hoof. He then looks up at me and says, ‘I-I think I’m just going to lie here for two maybe three hours’,” Kebler finished his story in a fit of giggles alongside Twilight. The older stallion continued to lead Twilight through the castle corridors; taking her to Celestia’s private study.

“That... that is pretty funny,” Twilight said in between her giggles, she cleared her throat. “Can I ask you a question, Captain?”

“Aye,” Kebler looked over his shoulder and smiled, “What would you like to know?”

“I’m sorry if this seems a little rude. But ever since I heard your voice, I can’t seem to pinpoint your accent? Surely you’re not from Equestria.”

A massive smile rose onto Kebler’s face and he laughed out loud. “Indeed, you are correct Mistress Sparkle, I am not from this realm. Instead, I was born and raised in the west, on the other side of the sea.”

“Interesting, do you mind if I ask what country?”

The two rounded a corner, at the far end of the hall was a large door guarded by two pegasi guards. “My mistress, I was raised in South Zebrica.”

“Ah, I take it one of your one of your parents was a Zebra then?”

“Ha!” Kebler blurted, “That would not be the case, Mistress, both of my parents were ponies. Though I was born in Zebrica, I was born in an Equestrian owned territory.”

“Interesting.” Twilight mumbled, the two of them were nearing the door. “Wasn’t Equestria’s occupation of the Mareabique district lifted thirty years ago?”

“Pardon me Mistress,” The two of them stopped a few yards from the door and Kebler looked at Twilight with a frown. “But are you calling me old?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, no that’s not what I meant!”

Kebler laughed out loud again. “I be jesting with you, Mistress Sparkle.” He chuckled and looked at the door to Celestia’s study, “Before we go any further though. Would you mind if I asked you a question of my own?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not at all, Captain, go ahead.”

Kebler looked to the mare with a serious look. “Does my accent bother you at all?”

Twilight frowned a little. “Not at all,” She said reassuringly, “to put it frank, I enjoy it really.”

Kebler’s expression relaxed right away. “That is fantastic to hear! You know, Mistress, you remind me exactly of my wife.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really now, how so?”

Kebler leaned forward. “Because that is the exact same answer she gave me when she followed me home for the first time,” He laughed.

“Aw, how adorable.”

“Okay now,” Kebler turned to face the door. “Let us not keep the other Mistresses waiting.”

The guards nodded towards Twilight and Kebler before turning to face one another, both then raised one of their hooves to the door and slowly pushed it open. Kebler flashed a quick look back the mare and grinned, Twilight replied with one of her own, and the two entered the study.

:[-]:

“SIR KEBLER!” Luna practically shrieked with excitement.

“My beloved Mistress!” Kebler replied sitting on his haunches his fore legs wide open, ready to embrace the alicorn that came bounding towards him. Luna stopped just inches from colliding into the captain and she leaned forward for a gentle hug. Both ponies had large smiles and they were giggling like fillies.

“Ah, Twilight,” Celestia said looking up from a large book  levitating in front of her, she was sitting in a large, red cushioned seat. “I’m happy to see you’ve gotten my letter?”

Twilight frowned. “Letter?” She said questioningly, she took her eyes off of the two hugging ponies. “Sorry, Princess.” Twilight started to make her way over to her previous mentor, and took the seat across from her. “But I don’t recall receiving any letters from you.”

Celestia pursed her lips and closed the book, placing it aside. “Strange, I could’ve sworn I wrote to you not too long ago–” A bright light flashed right beside Celestia’s head, as soon as the light appeared, it disappeared and in its midst: a small white scroll with a red seal. Celestia curled her lips in confusion and levitated the scroll from off of the floor and undid the seal, she quickly skimmed over it and snorted when she tried to hold back a laugh.

Twilight was growing slightly worried due to not knowing what was happening. “What does it say?”

“Nothing much.” Celestia placed the letter aside with a smile. “Just Spike letting me know that I happened to send my letter a few hours late because you were already on your way.”

Twilight straightened herself up in her seat and pushed herself back a little so that she was more comfortable. “Oh heh, yeah, I left really early this morning so that I could catch the first train.”

Celestia nodded. “I take it you saw the meteorite last night?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. I didn’t actually, I slept through the whole thing.”

“You were up the previous night researching weren’t you? Oh, before I forget, would you like some tea Twilight?” Celestia said turning in her seat a bit so that she was leaning over a small tea table in which sat a kettle alongside three cups.

Looking at the kettle and the small bits of steam that rose from the cracks, Twilight raised a hoof to the base of her throat. She hadn’t drank anything since the train ride. “Thank you Princess, yes I would. And to answer your–no sugar please– to answer your question I was actually reading a new book I had purchased for mine and Spike’s new library,” she said taking a small sip of her tea, the second the warm liquid touched her tongue a small pleasure filled smile appeared on her face. She levitated the cup away and examined it, Twilight let out a sigh of relief as the warming brew traveled down her throat. “This is wonderful.”

Twilight saw Celestia take the cup away from herself so that she wouldn’t laugh into it. “I’m glad you enjoy it. The leaves were freshly picked and cleaned a few days ago. So you weren’t studying? I must say Twilight.” Celestia sat her cup down. “It isn’t often I hear that coming from you.”

“What can I say,” Twilight said, “Spike offered me a really good book.”

“It was Spike that recommended it to you?”

“Yes. But he hasn’t read it, when we were at the bookstore he saw and read the cover, after that he wouldn’t stop bugging me to buy it.”

“So you bought it, and started reading it?”

“Not at first.” Twilight took another sip of the delicious tea. “For awhile I sorted it onto one of our shelves and returned to my studies. A few days later I happened to stumble on a minor situation in which I couldn’t figure out the exact amount of magic I needed to channel through the quartz crystal to generate enough condensed energy to heat homes without melting it or causing it to combust.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you're working with some dangerous material there Twilight.”

“Don’t worry, Princess, whenever I start one of these experiments I make sure that I’m standing behind a protective barrier,” Twilight assured her.

Celestia nodded. “Interesting, now where did you get the idea for heated quartz crystals?” The princess took her cup and sipped from it quietly.

Twilight beamed. “From the book Spike recommended to me.”

“Really now?” Celestia questioned, “What’s the name of the book?”

Twilight began to grow with excitement. “It’s called, ‘The Return of a Fallen Race’ By: Winter Dawn.”

Celestia frowned and brought a hoof to her chin, her eyes lowering her teacup in thought. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of that one.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “That may be because it is a fairly recent novel.”

“What’s it about?” Celestia asked.

Twilight bit her lower lip trying to recall everything she had read up until now. “It has a strange plot I’ll say that, nothing I’ve really read I’ll admit. That may explain why I’m so interested in it. The story follows an extraterrestrial species that highly resemble insects, primarily grasshoppers. Anyways, these aliens as the author likes to call them, are highly intelligent, I mean far beyond anything we ponies have developed. The author explains from the alien’s perspective that their species were thrown into a ‘galactic civil war’ which nearly drove them into extinction.”

“Oh dear,” Celestia said with intrigue. “A war that spreads to galactic proportions?”

Twilight nodded. “The war lasted for millennia on end, and that the war was fought with massive battleships made entirely out of metal. Well during one of those battles, a battleship was knocked off course.”

“And I assume the ship’s course was accidentally directed towards Equis?” Twilight nodded. “What happened when they arrived?”

“At first it didn’t go so well. The book described you as not being very trustworthy towards them.” Twilight motioned a hoof towards Celestia, she didn’t notice it at first but Celestia had cringed and immediately went back to her tea in order to hide it. “Though, after the aliens learned our language relations between us began to warm up.”

“I take it that things end happily?” Celestia lowered her cup and dabbed her lips with a napkin.

Twilight looked at Celestia and smiled deviously. “Spoilers,” was all she said.

Celestia smiled. “I must say,” She said sipping from her cup, “this novel sounds very intriguing.” Celestia placed her cup on the table beside. “I might actually take a peek at it whenever I get the time.”

The two smiled at each other and sat in silence for a few moments.

“What brings you back here so soon, Sir Knight?” Twilight overheard Luna. “I thought you were back home visiting your family?”

“And indeed I was tending to my family, Mistress,” Kebler said, the two were sitting by a desk that had a large black chunk sitting on it. “But when I caught news of the meteorite, I knew it was in my duty to come and assist you and all of Canterlot.”

“Well I am glad to hear that you know where your responsibilities lie, Sir Knight.” Luna’s head tilted slightly. “But what about your family? How is Jade?”

Kebler only smiled and shook his head. “She’s doing wonderful, Mistress, thank you for asking. And yes, she was alright with me returning to my line of duty.”

Luna realigned her head and nodded. “That is good indeed.”

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” Celestia quietly asked snapping Twilight’s attention away from the princess and her guard. “Luna finally interacting well with other ponies aside from me and you.” Celestia smiled and sipped the last of her tea. “She’s always been good when it came to her guards. A few millennia back before Nightmare Moon’s banishment, Luna’s one and only friend was her escort. Moonlight Blade I think his name was.” She chuckled at the distant memories. “The two of them always stuck to each other like sap. Always traveling together even when Moonlight was off duty.”

“Wow, I’ve never known about that. Those must’ve been great years.” Twilight said imaging how Luna must’ve of been years before.

“They were.” Celestia’s smile faded. “Up until the war.”

“War?”

“Yes.” Celestia’s eyes flickered towards Twilights. “Those years of Luna and Moonlight were the same years in which the Cyclopean war erupted.”

“Oh...” Twilight’s ear’s folded back, despite knowing the answer, she couldn’t help but ask: “What happened?”.

“When the Cyclops’ fleet first touched down on Equestrian soil, Luna and her army were the ones to make first contact.” Celestia’s eyes were downcast as she let out a quiet breath. “It was only because of a miracle that she and a hoofful of guards were able to make it out alive.”

“That... that’s terrible.” Was all Twilight could say.

“The incident not only scarred my little sister, but also took away her best friend.” Celestia’s eyes closed.

“Princess, I’m sorry,” Twilight said, “I shouldn't have asked.”

Celestia opened her eyes and her expression warmed up “There is no need to be sorry, Twilight,” Celestia looked at Luna, the mare was laughing at one of her guard’s jokes. “What had happened then is now something of the past, and looking at Luna now I believe that is how she wants to keep it.”

Twilight shared Celestia’s smile. “Well, I’m glad that story has a happy ending.” Twilight sipped at her tea, it had gone cold.

Celestia glanced at Twilight’s tea. “Would you like a refill Twilight?” She asked, her mood brightening again.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “No, Princess that will not be necessary.”

Celestia smiled. “Alright then.” She levitated her own cup to the kettle and refilled hers. “Twilight,” She said blowing lightly on her drink, “would you like to know the reason as to why I requested that you come here?”

“Of course.”

Celestia levitated the book she had been reading when Twilight had first arrived over to her. “Please, take a look at this.”

Twilight took the book in her magic, scrutinizing the cover, she tried to make out the title of the tome. After staring at the title for a few moments longer, she poked her head out from behind the book. “I-I can’t read what it says,” she said looking back at the title, “I don’t even know what language it’s in.”

“That’s because, Twilight, it’s not in any language that we know of.”

“Pardon me?”

“What you hold in front of you Twilight, is part of what came out of the sky,” Celestia said.

“Wait a second, you’re saying this book fell from the sky?”

Celestia’s chuckle turned into a laugh. “No, my dear–I should have worded that better–it was given to us by the creatures that came from the meteorite.” Celestia grinned when she saw the look her fellow alicorn was giving her. “Twilight, that book is not from this world. That meteorite that nearly struck Canterlot was actually some form of transport that carried a species of bipedal creatures we’ve never seen before.”

Twilight eyed Celestia as if she had just received news that Equestria was orbiting the sun. Her mind couldn't even begin to comprehend what the Princess was telling her, a new species? Aliens? A meteorite That fell from the sky and could've destroyed an entire city? What?! Twilight lowered the large book and continued to give Celestia that same look of disbelief. “Celestia,” She said calling the princess by her first name since her arrival, “What are you trying to–”

A knock came from the study door. Slowly, the door crept open. “Pardon me your majesties,” the young voice of a mare said, “but dinner has been prepared and is ready to be served.”

“Really now,” Kebler said with a large smile, he looked to Luna, to which she looked to her sister.

Celestia looked at Twilight. “Shall we take this conversation to the table?”

:[-]:

“My wife and I have been thinking of naming her Kudu,” Kebler said to Luna as he placed his glass of water down on to the table, “the same name my mother bore.”

Both Celestia and Luna held pleased looks at the sound of the name. “When is she due?” Celestia asked, taking a knife to the salad on her plate, she began to slice the pieces of lettuce into smaller bits.

Kebler seemed to be taken aback by the question. “N-nine more weeks. Why do–I mean if you don’t mind, Mistress, why do you ask?”

Celestia smiled a small smile and returned her attention onto the plate. “I was just wondering at what time I could stop by and see her, that is all.”

Kebler’s jaw nearly struck the table. “Indeed sister,” Luna nodded, “what time would be good, Sir Knight, would Tuesday be appropriate?”

“Now, sister,” Celestia said taking a small bite of her meal, “remember that nine weeks from now we have that trip to Germaneigh we need to take.”

Luna’s face lit up. “That’s–” she started with a mouthful of bread, but quickly swallowed when she noticed Celestia’s warning glare. “–That’s right! Sir Knight, please tell me you’ll be available for the trip!”

Kebler was still recovering from Celestia’s previous words. “Well... um.. I... eh.”

“Sister, please,” Celestia intervened, “the stallion will be having his first foal around then. There is no way that we can deprive him of that.”

“Oh, yes.” Luna chuckled and dipped her spoon into her soup. “I guess I got caught up in the moment.” She sipped it and looked at Twilight. “What about you Twilight, do you think you’ll be able to come?”

Twilight sat in her chair. Eyes locked on her untouched food, her thoughts were moving a million miles a minute. Constantly replaying the entire story Celestia had told her prior to dinner, all the way from the meteorite landing up until Luna telling Celestia about the experiments some creatures performed on the guards. Twilight didn’t know what to think, some part of her couldn’t help but feel skeptical, whereas the other half was as giddy as a school-filly at the thought. Could it be that those crazy theorists in Manehatten were right all along? Could some form of alien beings really be walking amongst them? It sounded bizarre and something that’d be completely ripped from fiction. Just like the book she had been reading for the past couple of nights! Quite honestly, it sounded exactly like the bo–

“Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head, along with her thoughts. “S-sorry what?”

Celestia was looking at her with real concern. “You haven’t touched your pasta since it was first brought  to you, do you not like it?”

For a second Twilight felt lost. “Eh.. yes–I-I mean, no, no it’s alright–” the levitated her fork off the table and scooped a forkful of cold sauce and noodles into her mouth. “–mmmm, it’s delicious!” The two alicorns and guard looked at her their heads slightly tilted in confusion. Twilight dropped the fork onto the table. “S-sorry, Princess, I’m just trying to wrap my head around all of this.”

Celestia gave Twilight a genuine smile. “Take as long as you need Twilight. I can assure you things will clear up as time pass.”

Luna nodded and swallowed her food. “Oh sister,” She looked to Celestia, “The staff said that the preparations will be ready by tomorrow morning.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Luna, what are you–”

“Those creatures my sister has been telling you about.” Luna turned her attention towards Twilight.  “During my encounter with them there was no actual way to communicate with them at the time. Aside from an exchange of gifts, which was the book and globe.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, I think understand.”

“So in return I gave them a map of Equestria  with directions leading to Canterlot. If things go accordingly and they were able to read my markings correctly, they should be arriving here sometime tomorrow.”

If Twilight’s mind hadn’t been thrown askew previously, it was now. “... So... what do you know about them?” She asked.

“Plenty.” Celestia’s voice was quiet.

“Excuse me?” Twilight looked at her, Celestia’s hooves were crossed over each other and resting on the table, her dinner pushed off to the side.

“The guards I told you about that were detained...”

“Yes. What about them?”

“The one thing we haven’t told you was that the experiments they performed on the guards.... they weren’t pleasant.”

“And from the book they gave us,” Luna added on, “So far what we have been able to obtain from it. These beings appear to have a very, very dark history.”

“My apologies, Luna, but can you elaborate on that?”

“A large portion of their history seems to be entirely made up of war, and other types of conflict. Though there have been points of peace and harmony, they come far and few between each other.”

“What about when you first met them? Were they harsh at any point?”

“No, not at all.” Luna shook her head. “However, they did seem paranoid.”

“Though,” Celestia chimed in, “Luna and I believe that is because of her sudden appearance.”

“So you caught them off guard?”

“Precisely.”

A brief silence fell over them as the four ponies returned to their meals. Twilight spooned her pasta, running her utensil along the outer rim of her saucer deep in thought. Her mind still trying to process what she had heard. Twilight stopped her spoon halfway around the plate and allowed it to sink down into the sauce. “Princess Celestia?”

“Hmm?” Celestia hummed into a forkful of lettuce.

“May I go examine that book you and Luna mentioned?”

Celestia swallowed. “Of course you can Twilight.”

The mare nodded and got up. “Thank you,” She said and stopped in mid-turn. “Oh and one last thing, could you please relay a message to the chef that my food was terrific, but I’d appreciate it if he could ease up a little on the spice.”

Celestia smiled. “I’ll make sure I do that.”

:[-]:

“Are you sure about this Hassel?” Watson asked.

“I’m positive, Admiral, zee records hafe yet to tell me a lie,” Hassel replied.

The two of them were making their way to the board room for yet another meeting with the council members. Watson reached forward and took Hassel by the shoulder. “Doctor, I apologize for pestering you, but what you’re saying sounds completely absurd. Seriously, genetic modification?”

The two men stopped and Watson took his hand off of Hassel’s shoulders. Hassel gave Watson an almost dead stare. “Admiral, do you know how long it took for us humans to evolve?” Before Watson could even respond Hassel said, “Two point four million years. And from vat I can remember, zese creatures hafe most likely only been around for about... I’d say  roughly twelve thousand years. Now tell me, Admiral, vat sounds more absurd.” Hassel turned and continued his way to the board room.  Leaving Watson to watch his back with a gaped mouth.

:[-]:

The board room was filled with the voices of angry, debating, members of what remains of humanity's government. Debates that were being flung to and fro across the room varied between the recent encounter with the Equine species, to how said species should be dealt with, and of course: How to continue from here on out with the operation. The operation being the revival of the human race.

When it came down to it, in most cases, the council members were practically useless hunks of living flesh. In Watson’s eyes that is. Humanity’s council members served to only do three things, sleep, argue, and consume food. Lather, rinse, repeat. The actual reason on why they’re supposed to be here is to help the remainder of the crew make rational decisions. Sort of like a committee.

The council’s job was to come up with a handful of decisions, either it be bad or good. Fish out the bad ones, find one that seems right, knock out any kinks, and present it to Watson. From there, Watson would have to make a decision, act on what they have presented, or deny it and maybe make a few suggestions of his own.

At least that’s how it was supposed to work. Unfortunately, most of the councilors would get uppity if their suggestions were weeded out. Even to the point of acting like children at times; because of this, Watson could only sigh at the fact that even after thousands of years, politicians still remain the same.

The members of Horizon’s council appeared to be reasonable gents, most of the time. Save for a few individuals Watson wanted to wrap his hands around and strangle. But ever since the encounter with the new natives, a strain of paranoia had sprouted up. When word about the recent captures and Hassel’s stunt with the experiments got out, the members became skittish, and proceeded to become more and more paranoid.

Watson would admit that wasn’t a bad thing. But there propositions were.

“For the fifth time, Mr. Takanao.” Watson leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his table he placed his forehead in the palm of his hand. He sighed deeply.  “We are not going to wage war with these things.”

“Please just listen to us, Sir.” Takanao scooched his chair in closer and leaned forward.

Watson placed his hands flat on the table and looked at the committee representative, he was a short Japanese man in his mid forties. His hair was combed gently to the side, he wore a nice black suit with a pair of black rimmed glasses that sat nicely on the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been listening to all of you for the past five minutes,” Watson blatantly stated, “And all of you keep yapping on about how we should just BLOW the fuckers up!”

Takanao raised both hands in his defense and nodded his head. “And I agree with you sir, we, the members, have come up with a solution.”

Watson looked at the man unconvinced. “Really now?”

Takanao nodded. “We shall attempt negotiations first.” Watson took in a breath of relief. “However,” Takanao continued, “if things do not to go as planned. We’ll continue on with the operation, disregarding any complaints the natives may have.”

Watson raised an eyebrow. “And I assume if there’s any form of retaliation?”

“Then they shall regret ever crossing us.” Takanao finished.

The door at the other end of the room opened. “Admiral?” A man poked his head in.

“Is he ready?” Watson stood up from his chair, the man by the door nodded and leaned back out. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Watson said stepping out from in front of his chair, he pushed it in and motioned for everyone to look at the door. “I’d like for all of you to focus your attention on our chief astrobiologist, Dr. Hassel.”

Dr. Hassel stepped into the room along with a few of his assistants. The trio of scientists made their way to the front. Dr. Hassel then gave Watson a brief handshake before turning away and walking towards a large, mounted television. The two assistants went off to the side, one of them who had been carrying a brown leather bag, sat at the table and opened it. Inside she pulled out a silver laptop, which she began to set up while the other took the cables and applied them to the television screen.

“Greetings everyone, as you all know from Admiral Vatson’s introduction, mein name is Dr. Ludvig Hassel. I am not only zee chief astrobiologist of zis operation, but also zee head biologist. I ofersee all experimentations and any ofer project my team may be conducting.”  Behind Hassel the television flickered and came to life, revealing the image of a powerpoint that looked to have been made up in a short period of time. “Ofer zee past day mein team and I hafe been conducting a series of experimentations, vich I had been granted permission by Vatson personally.” Hassel looked over at his assistant and nodded for her to start the presentation, the woman by the computer pressed the enter key, opening the first slide.

The title card behind Hassel transitioned into an image displaying three of the four captives the soldiers had recovered previously. The one on the far left being a winged, bat like equine, the middle appearing to be almost normal aside from the horn protruding from its head, and finally the one of the far right showing no differences from any normal horse. Despite the difference in the height, weight, and size of the eyes compared to any other horse every man has seen.

“From vat you can see.” Hassel stepped aside, allowing the committee a clear view of what was being displayed. “Zese sree equines were part of zee trespassers who had broken into zee Japanese storage unit.” Hassel looked at his assistant. “Nancy, could you please move to the next slide.”

The next image to appear were three black and white MRI scans of each creature's skull. “Zough each of zese animals appear to be much different from each other, zey all fall under zee same species, and family. After vee had ran zee blood tests from each of our subjects, vee had learned zat zey are able to procreate.” Hassel stopped when he noticed a few confused looks coming from the audience. “Zey can produce offspring.”

Again Hassel looked to his assistant and the slide changed. Though the image was much similar to the one showing off the three slightly different skulls, this time it revealed the brain of each equine.  At this point Hassel was now smiling, he was reaching his favorite part. “After vee did zee blood tests, mein men and I analysed the scans of each of our subjects in order to study how zese creature’s brain works.” Hassel couldn’t contain his excitement any longer and his smile was now stretched from ear to ear. “Vat vee had learned was truly remarkable. Like us humans zis equine here.” He tapped the image on the far left. “And here.” He pointed at the one on the far right. “Zere brain has a dominant side, meaning zere are primarily using zere left or right. However!” His eyes were wide and he was chuckling lightly he placed his hand over the one in the middle, the equine with the horn protruding from its forehead. “Zis one here is much more special! Za reason being, it uses both sides of its brain. Again, just like us." He stopped himself as if for dramatic effect, seeing that he received no response, he continued, "Zough, I must clarify, zat  zay use it in a vay zat ven compared to myself, it could potentially be using it’s brain vith an efficiency of upwards of twenty percent.” A few members of the committee raised an eyebrow while a few others leaned back in their chair, unimpressed.

Hassel leaned forward and smirked as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Zough zat isn’t all vat makes it different from zee ozers.” He looked back at the image of the equine’s brain. “From vat I had taken from mein own obserfations out in zee field, is zat zees creature here poses some sort of psionic ability.” A few committee members looked at Hassel unconvinced, the ones that had previously sat back now leaned forward with intrigue. “Ven I said zat zis equine brain is different from zee ozers, it’s not only because it is able to control it more effectively, but zat it also holds a section zat no ozer race has.”

The image on the screen revealed a new slide only containing a single image of an equines brain. However, the image looked to have been taken from a different angle; allowing the people in the room to look at it from a different perspective. “Right here.” Hassel tapped his knuckles lightly on the screen. “You’ll notice here between vat I presume to be zee creatures occipital lobe and its cerebellum, is somesink highly bizarre.” Once again the slide above transitioned, now displaying two brains side by side, each containing slight differences. “Ven I compared each diagram vith zee ozer subjects, I noticed somesink interesting about zis structure in particular.” He pointed at a rounded bit wedged between the pieces of the equine’s brain. “Vile zis lobe does appear to be present in zee vinged one, it looks to be underdeveloped not to mention zat zee normal type zeems to lack zis structure entirely.”

The committee erupted into a bunch of quiet whispers with one another, which was quickly silenced by Admiral Watson clearing his throat. “Vat I’m saying,” Hassel continued “Is zat aside from zis one here.” Hassel gestured towards the odd brain out. “Zis creature is zee only one zat has zis point fully developed and is able to bend zee environment to its own vill.”

“Wait a second doctor.” Takanao stood up with a raised hand. “So you're saying these things can defy the laws of physics? That, they can do practically anything?”

Hassel frowned a little in thought. “Just to clarify, Mr. Takanao, you're asking about zis one here, or all of them?”

“All of them.”

Hassel immediately snorted and shook his head. “Nein!” He chuckled, “Only zis one here is able to conduct such acts, and from vat I haf experienced down in zee lab, zere actions appear to be very limited.”

A woman holding a small notepad stood up beside Takanao. “Doctor, didn’t you say that the winged one also appeared to have a similar lobe?”

“Yes, Dr. Kentley, I did. However, the cytoplasmic substance, zat we presume to be vat allows zese creatures to perform such abilities, we found passing through the lobe look to be getting stopped by a wall of tissue zat looks similarly to a septa found in hypha. Vee assume zis wall of tissue acts as some kind of filter. Only allowing very small amounts of the substance to pass through.”

“So what you’re saying is the horned equine does not have a septa?” Kentley asked while jotting down everything Hassel had said.

Hassel nodded “Richtig, Dr. Kentley.” He looked around the room. “Any more questions? Or shall I continue?”

“Yes Doctor.” Watson raised his hand, he was leaning back in his chair and he was looking at Hassel with a cold look. “Does this ability pose any kind of threat to us?”

Hassel bit his bottom lip. “Not zat vee know of, no,” Hassel said, returning Watson's look.

“Alright then, people!” Watson leaned forward in his chair and looked at the clock above the door. “Judging by our time that concludes our meeting for today, dinner will be served in 18:30.” He stood up from his chair and looked over the committee members who were already rising up and out of their chairs chatting with one another. Watson raised his voice, “Tomorrow we'll resume the meeting and discuss our next turn of actions with the native equines. Dismissed!”

Editors’ Notes:

Isaac3924: Things are slowly moving forward to a meeting point with the ponies and humans, and I know what’s going to happen next! The humans are going to fly to Canterlot, get out of the ship in an orderly fashion, and then this will happen:

*Crickets*

TOTALLY. 100% guaranteed. I AM AN EDITOR, THUS A TRUSTED SOURCE.

PhiliChez: Things be happnen’. beware all ye who be quadrupeds of the quasi aliens. They can be nefarious.

Nuclear Grenade: Well, readers if you thought this chapter was interesting the I have news for you SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL... eventually. Take it from someone who’s seen the basic plotline, there is gonna be a shit ton of awesome new stuff headed your way. Hopefully our lovely humans take kindly to the weird and totally awesome hell hole they are about to find themselves in. Or else this will happen: http://goo.gl/VOgKSu AGAIN!

Chapter 14: Diplomacy

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Chapter 15: M.A.F

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Chapter 16: MONARCH

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Chapter 17: Questioning

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Chapter 18: The Lucky Horseshoe

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Chapter 19: Briefing

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Chapter 20: Second OP

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Chapter 21: Arrival

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Chapter 22: Terror

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Chapter 23: FUBAR

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Chapter 24: Marcus

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Chapter 25: Fallen God

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Prologue

August 15th, 123 L. B.

Throughout my life of studying the lengths of magic, I've always believed that we as a species could get nowhere without it. But I was wrong, so far off that I couldn’t even believe what I was reading when Clover and I made that discovery.

We discovered something that was beyond all measures; we’ve discovered that the lost city of Iva might really exist! It's an ancient civilization that was so scientifically advanced that they were able to build an underground city without magic!

For a while I believed it to be an old foal's tale, but then Clover found traces of fossils of creatures that were unlike any mammal in Equestria. She then launched a full scale expedition and brought me along for the ride.

Half the time I denied the existence of any other civilization, but when Clover showed me her findings, I just couldn't believe my eyes! Not only had she found fossils, but also actual written documents! The writing predated the very existence of ponykind, written in a strange language that I had never seen before. Luckily for me, I didn't have to stay hidden in my tent all night trying to decipher it since Clover was kind enough to cast a deciphering spell on it.

The book seemed to be a journal of sorts, perhaps even a diary. Despite the deciphering spell, I still had no idea what this creature was writing about. It spoke of things such as 'cars' and 'radios', things I don't understand. They could possibly be some sort of inside joke, or perhaps a slang term; I'll have to look into it later.

Besides those, I did spot two words in specific I did understood right away: Time Capsule. If I’m right, then this species might share the same meaning of the term 'Time Capsule' as we do. I still remember back to when I was learning about magic as a young foal. Princess Celestia made me create a time capsule, one in which I was directed to place a few items that I thought were precious to me, and to bury it in the castle courtyard.

If my speculations are correct, this journal was in that capsule when Clover’s expedition team dug it up. I must consult with her after I’m done observing the rest of this journal and maybe then we can learn more about this Fallen Civilization.

August 16th, 123 L. B.

It’s been a day now since Clover has introduced me to the Time Capsule. Now it isn’t much but, we’ve managed to make a small amount of progress. There were three items in the compartment of the capsule: a map, a Calendar, and a doll. I suppose I'm willing to bet that the journal would’ve made number four, but it doesn't look - or feel for that matter - like ordinary paper. It's like it was made from some sort of glass-like material. But despite that the rest of the items were truly amazing.

Never in my life did I ever think that I would be so happy to see a doll. Well, it wasn’t an ordinary doll and that’s what made it interesting. Instead, it was a creature which I assumed to be a bipedal organism of some sorts. It was made of some sort of hard material and the color was a bit faded due to it being underground for some unknown amount of years. But for a doll, it was tall, slender, and wore clothing like that of the fancy ponies up in Canterlot. The item had no fur on its body except for a long, small patch of blonde on its head that came down to its shoulders. Now that we know what these creatures look like… I must say to myself they do seem a bit creepy, especially the way that doll smiles. It just sends shivers up my spine.

Other than that, the Calendar was the next interesting item that Clover found. We share the same counting system and the same number of days in a month. But it wasn’t just the dates that caught my attention.  No, it was the pictures.  They seemed so real that it looked as if I could reach through and place my hoof on one of the trees, or these humongous buildings that seemed to reach the edges of the sky.

It also had pictures of the creatures; ones that weren’t creepy looking like the doll. While there were similar ones that shared identical features, there were also larger, bulkier ones that didn’t have the mounds on the chest that I suppose are the more dominant gender in the species. Possibly even the males, if there are any. Who knows? Maybe they’re all asexual.

Aside from that, what confuses me the most is how such a highly advance civilization could be wiped out. With their technology and sentience, how could one fall to nature, and leave behind such little evidence of their existence? Perhaps they're not as peaceful as I make them out to be.

August 17th, 123 L. B.

Three days since the discovery of the time capsule and I’ve returned to my old wonderful home in Hoofton where I’ll look deeper into the subject of these creatures. Ever since the discovery I’ve not been able to sleep. Instead, I have been up reading through countless books trying to figure out what these things are. Every book I've looked at it has always contained pointless information; nothing that could help me in the slightest, until earlier today when I found an outsider griffon merchant in the center of town.

The griffon salesman sold strange antique items, from jewelry to furniture to even books. Now at the time I was kind of desperate to find something that could help Clover and I with our research. After I finished rummaging through the Merchant's belongings, I came across this large book entitled "Equestria’s Ancient Myths." I’d already been through at least fifteen books that all shared that same title and I’d just flung them out the nearest window, but something about that book caught my eye. It wasn’t the bland cover or the nicely written title, but by its age. It didn’t look as if a child or dog had gotten to it, but instead as if time itself had done it.

The book looked as if it was older than me. The cover seemed old and was slowly deteriorating. It was large and thick and was covered in grime, and when I lifted it, dust just fell off the thing like an avalanche. Curious by what it held within its pages, I bought it off the merchant. He seemed rather relieved after I left.

When I returned home just hours ago, I instantly sat it on the desk in my study and began to read. For over an hour I sat there, going through page after page of different kinds of myths and legends. When I began nearing the end of the book, I began to lose hope in finding anything pertaining to Iva. Just as I began to give up,  I noticed the final six pages. I turned the page and was greeted by large words written at the top in bold text.

The Age of Man.

I began to read, curious as to what Man was. The more I read, the more it dawned on me; the creatures that Clover and I had been searching for are the same ones written in that very book. The story told of a highly scientific civilization known as Man, creatures that were able to conquer all of nature’s elements with science and machinery.

They were a species that were able to build large cities that would spread to miles on end, buildings that could touch Celestia’s sun, a species that could even fly without needing wings. The book claimed that they lived happily with each other for years on end, that their civilization lasted for millennia that seemed undying.

As I progressed through the story of Man, I realized that not all was peaceful. Near the end, I began to notice that Man’s society began to collapse, consumed in utter chaos. To them, it was known as the Great Collapse.  Fire began to rain from the skies as they were locked into a permanent day, men, women, and children being afflicted with a bizarre disease that warped them. Made them chaotic and evil, clouds changed colors and became pinkish, inanimate objects came to life. Whole buildings lifted off the ground and began floating into the sky as if gravity no longer worked; oceans froze and the entire world descended into utter chaos. .

When Man finally figured out who was causing all of this, it was too late. They tried to fight back, but their machines no longer worked and all was lost to chaos. In the end, Man finally let go of the string, and they plunged the world into eternal darkness.

In the end, it says that Man might have never died out, but instead remain dormant. It claims that when they wake up, they might bring on a new age to Equestria, either an Age of Gold, or an Age of Darkness…

Starswirl the Bearded’s Journal,

Uncovered March 1st, 13 L. R.

In his study’s secret safe,

All information in here must remain Classified.

Chapter 4: Johnny Conway

Lieutenant Shaun Bell leaned forward and scratched the bottom of his chin before speaking. “I was by my bed about an hour before we launched, okay. I’m cleaning my lovely M4 like a boy cleaning his first car; I’m singing to her and rubbing my bare hands against her barrel.” Shaun smiled as he spoke. Stacey, on the other hand, was shaking her head in disappointment as Lieutenant Michael chuckled.

           “Oh I know what you–” Michael began, but Shaun quickly silenced him by a shush.

           “Quiet Junior, daddy’s speaking,” he teased. “Anyways, I’m cleaning her and a knock comes from my bedroom door. Not wanting to be rude I opened it, only to find an engineer pushing this large ass cart into my room. He didn’t even bother saying ‘excuse me, Lieutenant’ or ‘precious cargo coming through.’ No, the fucker snapped at me and told me to watch where I was standing!” Shaun’s tone quickly turned sour as he continued his rant. “I was like; ‘Wow. How rude of you, mister!’ And the engineer just looked at me and shook his head; clearly I could already tell the boy was already in a sour mood, but that wasn’t even what angered me.”

           “What was it then?” Asked Doug.

           “This is what pissed me off!” Shaun grabbed hold of one of the Russian AK-12s that was strapped to the gun rack and held it up, shaking it.

           “What’s wrong with it?” Stacey glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow.

           “What’s wrong with it? It’s not my gun! That’s what’s wrong with it! I want my M4 back,” Shaun complained. “I see nothing wrong with going down there with my rifle.”

           “Right!” William who had just happened to hear the last of Shaun’s sentence agreed, he stretched his arms out and popped his neck.

           Shaun’s hands shot out towards William. “Thank you, Commander! At least one person here understands!”

           “Speaking of the AKs,” William began, “I think that same engineer came into my room earlier, too.” William said as he repositioned himself and popped his neck. Looking to his left, he saw Dr. Hassel. With his head slung over the back of his seat, the doctor was clearly out cold. The old man’s book lay open on his lap.

           “Young, snarky asshole with blonde hair?”

           “Yep,” Will clarified, nodding his head.

   “Did you guys know that he just works here?” Michael decided to chip in.

“Shut up Michael.” Will continued, “I don’t know what’s up with that boy, but somebody needs to smack some respect into him. Out of all of my years in the service, I have never been treated with such disrespect. Well, discounting boot, am I right?” At that, all of the soldiers present shared a good natured laugh. Then, the drop ship shook and everyone’s gaze shot upwards. Hassel snorted himself awake and he gazed around the room, a confused look on his face as if he didn’t know where he was.

           “Vee… Vee must have already entered zee atmosphere,” Hassel mumbled, his accent sounding thicker than usual as he was slowly shaken awake.

           The dozen men and women in the ship sat there in silence for a few moments before Shaun resumed his tangent. “Anyways, I told the asshole that I don’t need to swap weapons because my M4 was in perfect working condition. The fucker then looks at me, right, like straight into my eyes, not  moving a single inch. I swear if that was supposed to be some kind of staring contest, I would have definitely lost.” Shaun rested his hands on his lap while leaning back in his seat. He took a deep breath and continued, “What he said next made me come this close to smacking the bitch.” Shaun held up his fingers to show how close he had come to knocking some sense into the engineer. “’I’m just doing my job, sir,’” Shaun mocked in a childish voice, “Oh Jesus! I wanted to smack the shit out of him! I grabbed my gear, and next thing I know he’s taking the cart and walking out the door. But then he stopped and chuckled, I looked at him and said, ‘Boy, what do you think is so funny?’ When I looked at him I saw he was eyeing my M4 and the AK. The fucker pointed at both of them and said, ‘Consider it an upgrade, sir’”

           Shaun grunted angrily and pounded his fist on his knee pad. “Oh if we weren’t the last of humanity I would’ve fucking ripped his throat out!”

           “I know what you mean,” Michael scratched the back of his neck.

           “Why are the engineers manufacturing these goddamn weapons?” Shaun asked no one in particular. “Aren’t the Russians all dead? Why the hell are we still making their shit?”

           “Isn’t DeSilva Russian?” Stacey leaned over and whispered into Michael’s ear.

           “He’s Ukrainian,” Michael replied, continuing to watch Shaun wave his hands about himself while ranting away like a mad man. On the other side of the ship, both Commander William and Dr. Hassel, were watching the crazed soldier, chuckling at his stupidity. “But I think he did mention something about his father serving in the Russian military.”

           “Must have been rough for him,” Stacey replied, gazing towards the cockpit door with a concerned expression on her face.

           “Nah, I doubt that. DeSilva is a tough nut to crack,” Michael followed Stacey’s eyes towards the door in front of them. “Strange, I will admit. But he knows how to take loss.” A few moments passed and Michael’s eyes drifted back towards Shaun, who had finally simmered down, and who was now having an amusing chat with the Commander.

           “I took the nearest rock and chucked it over the fence, okay,” Shaun explained while imitating the motions. “When the rock smacked against the side of the cooling tower, all the Sleepers in a half mile radius turned their heads right towards it at the same time” He was chuckling as the image played through his head. “And I’m talking perfect unison here, man, all in sync; it’s like they'd been practicing or something. What makes it even funnier is that they all went to go check on it, so imagine this: an entire army of brainless zombies walking towards one small location. Again I’m talking hundreds here, sir, literally all we had to do is fire Jackson’s RPG in the center and they were all blown to chunky bits.”

           William snorted and shook his head. “It amazes me that they’re that fucking stupid.”

           “What amazes me, sir, is that we fucking lost to them!” Shaun exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide.

           “Says the one who nearly got killed by one,” Michael snorted.

           “Can it, Junior!” Shaun whirled around and glared at the Junior Lieutenant, who was smiling deviously at his superior. “It caught me off guard, that was all!”

           “Not to mention,” Stacey piped up, “They managed to take control of the entire 7th fleet, obliterate our forces in the Pacific, and shelled the shit out of San Francisco. Yeah, they sound pretty fucking stupid to me.”

           “Why are you defending them?!” Shaun asked, completely dumbfounded.

           “I’m not defending them, I just like pulling your leg.” Stacey rolled her eyes and turned away. “Overreacting much? Damn, you’re like my nephew,” she muttered on her way around.

           “Besides, the Pacific crisis wasn’t that bad,” Shaun said. “We did manage to wipe out a large portion of their ships.” Shaun smiled and cracked his knuckles; he looked to his commanding officer with hopeful eyes. “Didn’t we, Commander?”

           William laughed and proceeded to shoot the poor lad down. “We sure did, after I dragged your blubbering ass out of the Kitty Hawk.”

           Shaun’s face fell at the sound of his laughing squad mates. Dr. Hassel rolled his eyes, “All right, Villiam, I sink you teased zee boy enough.” The old man shifted in his seat trying to find a more comfortable position.

           “Alright, alright,” William chuckled, “but you have to admit the boy does set himself up–”

           “Enough vis zees childish acts, Commander. It’s only a matter of time bevore vee land. Now is not zee time to put each ozer down.” Dr. Hassel advised, while looking at William like a disappointed father.

           “Well, the boy has to toughen up at some point,” William smirked, clearing his throat he sat back in his seat. “Alright everyone, ready up! DeSilva will be giving the green light any moment now!”

:[-]:

           Johnny Conway sat back in his couch, remote in hand and a freshly opened Coke in the other. He loaded up yet another episode of Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares and kicked back for another Friday afternoon. John slowly sipped his Coke, chuckling at the sight of the red faced chef as he screamed at another stubborn restaurant owner. Again. “God, some people… It’s almost like a cartoon,” he chuckled. The clock just below the T.V. caught his eye.

3:00 P.M.

           John cursed himself as he used the chair’s armrests to propel himself up, “Dammit, almost forgot!” Stumbling around for his shoes, John hastily yanked them onto his feet while reaching for his light jacket at the same time. Shoving the front door open, John ran down the front steps and out towards the curb right as a yellow school bus came to a slow, screeching stop.

           Followed by other parents, Johnny watched as the school bus’s doors swung open and unleashed a tsunami of children. Raising a hand to shield eyes from the sun, John scanned the crowd of grade schoolers. A few moments passed and the crowd kids soon dispersed, taken home by their parents. This left Johnny standing there, his daughter nowhere in sight. “Amy?” Johnny called aloud as he swiveled his head back and forth, beginning to worry. “Oh sweet Jesus, Amy?!” He ran towards the bus, stopping the doors from closing by holding them apart with his hands; he looked up at the driver.

           “Jesus Christ, mister! What can I do for you?” The fat old man glared sternly down at the worried father.

           “Excuse me Mr.  . . .” Johnny examined the driver for any signs of identification.

           “Mr. Stanley. Or, at least, that’s what the kids call me,” Stanley said. “What can I do for you, sir? Did you lose your child or something?” he asked, irritated.

Way to be blunt, prick.

           “Actually, I have,” Johnny swallowed and raised his hand a few feet off the ground. “Have you seen a girl about this tall, brown hair, blue eyes like mine?” Johnny quickly asked, his hands shaking as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

           Stanley sighed, a frown forming on his face. Furrowing his brow in thought, he replied; “Mister, do you know how many girls I’ve had on this bus that have brown hair and blue eyes? Do you happen to recall what she was wearing?”

           “Uh…” Shit, why did I have to be in bed this morning? Maybe Stacey will know. “Do you mind if I dial up my wife?”

           The bus driver rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, mister. Just give me her name and I’ll make sure to tell dispatch.”

           “What if she fell asleep? Can you just call her name, w-with the intercom thing you guys use?” John pointed towards the handheld mounted beside the driver.

           “What’s her name?” he asked, clearly frustrated. They had been talking for nearly two minutes, after all.

“A–” Johnny began, but was cut off by his jazz ringtone coming from his phone. Instinctively he checked who it was; Amy’s school was calling him. “Hello?”

           “Mr. Conway,” a female’s voice sounded from the device, “we regret to inform you that your daughter, Amy Conway, got into a fight today at lunch. We are sorry we weren’t able to notify you earlier of this ins–” Hanging up the phone, John apologized to the driver and sprinted towards his car.

:[-]:

           Johnny drove like a madman towards the school, furious yet relieved at the same time. He pulled into the school parking lot several minutes later, his frantic driving getting him there in half the time it usually took. Opening the door to the principal’s office, Johnny was greeted by a large meaty finger pointing directly between his eyes.

           “You, sir need to keep your daughter under fu–!”

           “Mr. Steinberg!” A woman in a tight red suit stood up, her glasses falling onto the bridge of her nose. Her eyebrows were carving deep crevices in her forehead and her hand snapped towards the nearest chair. “You will sit down immediately! I’ll not have any more violence in this school after today!”

           Mr. Steinberg, a large bald man that seemed to be made entirely out of muscle, stepped back from Johnny, who wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, and sat himself in the nearest chair. Taking his eyes off 'roid rage', Johnny noticed his daughter sitting solemnly in a chair right beside the boy she apparently had a fight with. Both were seated in the center of the room right in front of the principal’s desk.

           The woman sat back down behind her desk and rested her elbows on the table her fingers lacing together. “Mr. Conway, as you know, before you rudely hung up on me–”

           “Sorry, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing.” He accidentally interrupted her again.

           The principal rolled her eyes, “As I was saying, Amy, here was involved in a physical fight with Bradley.” John’s eyes drifted towards the boy who looked to be holding back his sobs, his right eye was badly bruised and he could see a trail of dried blood leading out of his right nostril. Johnny couldn’t resist a small smirk.

That’s my girl.

           “–despite what happened, Mr. Conway, are you listening to me?”

           Johnny snapped back to reality and his eyes met with the principal’s. “Yeah, punishment will be distributed equally.”

           The principal gave him a disappointed look, “Actually that’s what I was about to get to.”

           “Y-yeah,” He smiled sheepishly, out of the corner of his eye he could see Mr. Muscles cracking his knuckles. “So what are we talking here, detention, and community service–?”

           “Expulsion, Mr. Conway” She deadpanned.

           Both Johnny and Hercules’s eyes widened in fear, “What?!” they gasped simultaneously.

           “Gentlemen, we at Margate Academy expect more out of our students, and we are very strict when it comes to our punishments. Had this just been a simple verbal argument; these students would have only spent a few days in suspension or even detention. But when fists start flying and this–” she gestured with a hand towards the brutally beaten boy. “– much damage happens to one of our students; no matter who started it, the people involved will be expelled. I’m sorry gentlemen, but that’s just how things work here, starting next week I’ll have you and your daughter, Mr. Conway, come and collect her things.”

           “What about us?” Muscle boy asked, he seemed to still be suffering from shock. “My boys have been coming here for years…”

           The principal glanced at Johnny. “You can go now.” She mouthed.

           Johnny nodded begrudgingly and tapped his hand on Amy’s right shoulder. “Come on, kiddo.”

:[-]:

           The car ride had been quiet and slow for the first half of the trip home. Turning the next corner Johnny finally got the nerve to ask, “What happened in Lunch?”

           “A fight,” Amy grumbled, she placed the ice pack that the nurse handed them on the way out over the new sore spot on her head.

           “Why? What happened, did he hit you? Call you a name? Did he–”

           “He slapped my ass–”

           Slamming on the brakes, the car screeched to a halt on the side of the road. Johnny quickly put the car into park and turned off the key, letting silence envelop them. Through the mirror he could see Amy cringing in the back.

           Oh that mother fucker!, Johnny’s thoughts raged.

           “He… he what?” Johnny asked, his voice barely a whisper. He needed to clarify.

           “I-I s-said he slapped my ass…” Amy stammered, John couldn’t see it but he could tell she was scared. “I-It wasn’t th-the first time this had happened, a-at first I thought it was weird but funny. But then he wouldn’t stop, every day whenever I passed him in the hall he’d hit me, over time it, it got h-har–”

           “Enough!” Johnny nearly shouted, he wasn’t trying to sound angry, at least not at her. But the fact that this had been going on for several days now and she hadn’t told him was infuriating, but he wouldn’t punish her, she’d already suffered enough. He turned around in his seat to face her, “When your mother gets home I want you to tell her what happened.”

           “What about you? What are you going to do?” She asked, small tears forming around the corners of her eyes.

           “I need to call your Uncle Arin, he knows a guy that can hook us up with a lawyer.” He put the car into drive and began driving down the road much faster than before.

           “Daddy, please don’t–”

           “Enough, Amy. What you’ve gone through isn’t right and no woman should ever, ever! Have to go through what happened to you.” He looked into the rearview mirror and his eyes met with his daughter. “I promise you that I will never ever let anyone touch you like that again.”

:[-]:

           Johnny woke with a start, his forehead beading with sweat. Confused and not knowing where he was, John’s eyes wandered around the central control room. Sighing with relief that it was all just a horrible nightmare, he rested his head back on the desk.

“Well I’ll be damned, what do we have here?” A familiar voice cackled from behind, Johnny raised his head up off the circular desk that rounded the hologlobe’s projector. Tiredly turning his head around to see who’d disturbed him. Johnny smiled when he saw a tall man in a NATO soldier outfit tossing him a small salute. He then noticed a tray of food in his other hand. “Sleeping on the job, sir?” The soldier came up beside him and pulled up a chair while Johnny watched him place the tray in front of him and lean forward to rest his elbows on the desk. He gazed up at the T.V. monitors that acted as windows. Johnny could see that the screens revealed the darkened side of Earth. Just past a few storm clouds on the planet’s surface Johnny could see…

           What continent is that? Asia, I think… He couldn’t really tell through the clouds, let alone his clouded thoughts from just waking up.  “I…” He yawned, “I wouldn’t say sleeping, Sergeant Conway, just resting my eyes that’s all.” Johnny ran a hand across the back of his stiff neck.

           The Sergeant snorted, “What did I tell you about calling me by my title when we're alone, Officer Conway?” He smiled and patted him on the back, “Come on, John,” Sergeant Conway slid the tray over to him. “You’re missing dinner; I can’t have you starving up here.”

           Johnny glanced down solemnly at the plastic tray. Like most of the time, the main course was hash, with a single serving of instant mash potatoes, green beans, and a glass of water. Johnny sighed, “I’m not really hungry right now Arin…” That was a lie, Johnny felt as if he was going to keel over if he didn’t eat something soon. Yet, he felt as if he couldn’t bring himself to eat, like the lump that was in his throat would stop anything from going down.

           Arin Conway looked at his brother with concern, “Is something wrong, John?” he asked already expecting the answer to be a more definite no.

           “I-I’m fine, just… had a rough dream that was all.” Johnny said reluctantly picking up the spoon and jamming it into the pile of hash.

           “You can’t stop thinking about her can you?” Arin asked, his voice hushed. When Johnny didn’t reply, Arin turned his chair so that he was facing John. Leaning forward he spoke, “John, I know this is hard for you, but you need to move on.” Johnny cringed, “I know it sounds harsh, but it’s the truth. Amy wouldn’t want you to suffer for the rest of your life because you didn’t have the time...” Arin’s voice slid into silence when he saw Johnny’s tear brimmed eyes look up at him.

           “I left her alone, Arin!” Johnny’s voice was barely a whisper, “I told her I was going to be right back after I got Stacey…” John shook his head, closing his eyes he rested his head in the palm of his hands, “It’s my fault that I came back too late,” he choked. “And now she’s down there; locked away in that goddamn research facility!” He sniffled.

           “Now, now, brother, don’t go tellin’ yourself that.” Arin grasped John’s right shoulder firmly. “You listen to me now, it’s nobody’s fault, even if there was someone to go pointing fingers at, it wouldn’t do any good now. We’re the last of humanity, if you want to do well for her, make sure you survive first...”

           “I… I just wish I hadn’t left her, that’s all,” Johnny rubbed his eyes and stared forward at nothing.

           “We all wish we hadn’t done a lot of things, Johnny. Now come on and buck up; You’re a soldier now.” Arin gave him one more squeeze before standing up. “We all need you to be thinking clearly so we get this mission right.”

           “Fire team, Charlie, report to hangar bay one, I repeat: Fire team, Charlie, report to hangar bay one. Drop ship Oscar will be lifting off in zero one thirty.”

           Johnny looked up at the intercom with a perplexed look. “Wh-what’s that all about?”

           “That’s right; you’re sleeping on the job. So you didn’t hear.” Arin teased. “Speaking of which I could report–”

           “Seriously,” Johnny’s voice grew more serious. “What’s going on?”

           A large smile pierced Arin’s lips looking down at his little brother he said, “We're going home.”

Editors’ Notes:

Isaac3924 -

Uuuuum. I'm not sure if we're still doing this or not, but whatever. Watch Dogs. Not as good as I hoped. Like Bioshock Infinite (Gonna get so much hate for that). Good news is dlc for Dark Souls II has been announced, E3 is this week, and I got a job at Ross (so I can spend all of my accumulated salary at Nan Desu Kan). Still more tornadoes in Colorado, so yeah, still got that going.

Aside from that, man, I just want pony-human interaction now, I just can't wait for that to happen! Aside from that, most of this chapter was build up and back-story, which is good, in setting up a story in general, but can be a bit tiresome. Still, I enjoyed it. Let's see where this goes.

Chapter 13: The First Encounter

Horizon, October 15th,  07:00

Jonathan Conway woke to the sound of his chamber door opening. “Morning there partner.” He recognized the muffled male voice that greeted him.

“Hey, Arin–” he cut himself off with a groan as he pushed himself forward, he had slept with his back against the wall all night. He twisted his neck and cracked it. “What brings you in here?” John rubbed the back of his sore neck and looked at his brother, who was dressed in a blue quarantine suit and appeared to be holding some kind of envelope in his right hand.

“Oh nothing much,” Arin smiled and took a seat on the cot right beside John. “Just wanted to see what kind of trouble my older brother got himself into this time.” He leaned back, matching his sibling’s pose. “Speaking of which, what the hell happened anyways?”

John snorted and stretched out his back, he sighed and shook his head. “Something embarrassing that’s what.” He looked at Arin, who seemed unimpressed by his answer. “It was like something out of a goddamn freak show.” He looked to the inch thick glass that kept him and the psychotic in the other room away from each other. “One moment things were  fine, then the next... fuck I can hardly recall.” John scratched the back of his head, trying to look back at the recent events. “All I can remember was a bright, green light, and this horrid ringing sound. I felt like I was going to vomit... and then, I came back to Hassel shining a light in my eye and asking if I was experiencing any symptoms.”

Arin looked at John with a raised eyebrow, “Symptoms?”

John met his brother’s gaze. “The Sleeper Virus.”

Arin’s eyes widened with horror and confusion. “Wa-wait a second, John, that can’t be ri–”

“I know, Arin, I know it’s crazy, and no I wasn’t experiencing any sort of symptoms.”

Arin let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. “Okay then, what did Hassel say?”

John shook his head and smirked. “Like I fucking know, the man hardly makes any sense to me. Shit, I bet his lackeys in white can barely make sense of him. He started rambling on about how whatever that thing projected out of its goddamn head shared resemblances to the virus, took one look at me, and  after that I was carted away.”

Arin leaned over and smiled at John. “Well.” He looked him over from head to toe. “You don’t look infected to me, so at least we have that going for us.”

John glanced over at the room across from him again, he raised an eyebrow, the crazed man from last night was nowhere to be found.. “Say,” He said to his brother, not taking his eyes off the room. “What happened to screwloose?” He pointed to the empty room.

“Lt. Shaun Bell?” Arin followed his brother’s stare. “He was released just two hours ago at oh five hundred, the coats ran a couple of tests on him and said he was clean as a whistle.”

“Bullshit,” John got up from his spot, his legs had grown stiff and he needed to loosen them. “That crazy fucker woke me up last night!”

"So what, John? Not everyone can sleep like a baby like you c–”

“No, you don't understand, that psycho was sobbing like a child and saying that he could hear some fucking voice or some shit!”

“John the coats said he was–”

“Fucking look!” John went over to the window and planted his finger on a red splotch. “The blood stain he left last night is still there!” He then turned back to Arin,who had followed him, and was now scrutinizing the dried blood. “That man isn’t stable; he shouldn’t be roaming around the ship!”

Arin raised his hands in a calming gesture. “Alright, alright, I believe you. I’ll leave a note for Hassel explaining everything and I’ll make sure the supervisor checks the tape.”

John let out a breath of relief. “Thanks, Arin.”

“So... how did that blood stain get there anyways?”

John glanced back at it. “The guy had a headache I guess and decided to take care of it by smashing his head against the glass… repeatedly.”

Arin pursed his lips. “Oookay then, gimme a second here.” Arin brought a hand up side of his helmet and switched something on. “Dr. Joyce? Yeah this is Sgt. Conway. I noticed something odd with Lt. Bell’s quarantine room.” He nodded his head. “Yeah I know. There appears to blood on one of the containment walls. Officer Conway said it was caused by him having a fit the night prior. Do you know anything about that?” He fell silent for a few moments. “Alright, I’ll make sure a few of my mates get on it when I’m done.”

“What she say?” John asked.

“She mentioned that Shaun might have been experiencing the final passing of his infection. However, she agreed that he’ll need a few more check ups before he’ll be fully released.”

John nodded his head and looked back at his brother. He once again took notice of the small envelope still in Arin's hands. He leaned himself against the glass and pointed at it. “What’s that you got there?”

“Oh, this.” Arin held up the envelope, John nodded. “This is something I was meant to give to you before we launched into orbit to escape the apocalypse.” He handed it over to John. “If Hassel saw me bring it in here, he’d probably chew me out or something about contaminations and shit.”

“Maybe,” John said he slid his thumb under the flap and tore it open. He pulled his hand back and held it below the envelope as he tipped it, allowing a small handful of photographs to fall into his palm. All of a sudden, he couldn’t breathe.

“H-h-how di-did you–” He closed his mouth and looked at Arin with wide eyes, he was smiling back at him.

“I remembered a week before launch that you mentioned you didn’t have enough time to grab any pictures of them; that you were evacuated too quickly. Well, it  just so happens that Facebook wasn’t as useless as I thought it was.” He laughed.

John dropped the brown envelope and held the three pictures in his hands as he shambled; almost zombie-like back to his cot. He held the first photo up, ‘Disney World’, he thought ‘2017, one year before Archangel’s appearance’. The image was of him, Stacey, and his daughter Amy, the three of them were standing on main street with the castle behind them. The memory was so clear to him, mostly due to the fact that  Arin had broken his phone, after having taken that very same picture. Thankfully, he was right about Facebook being useful when it came to backing up his photos.

John flipped through the rest of the images. The second being his family trip to London, England back in 2008, and the final being taken in 2012 with him stepping off the plane and returning home from working in D.C. for the past three months.

“I apologize if the pictures are a bit faded.” He chuckled. “They were in my back pocket for like the past twelve thousand years or so.”

“N-no, they’re fine...” John said, his voice monotone, his thoughts completely focused on the  images before him. He felt speechless, quite frankly seeing his wife and child again, even just pictures of them, nearly brought him to tears. He had forgotten how empty he’d felt when he’d left them, his mind had been so focused on his own survival and work that he’d felt like an empty husk. The only person aboard that had actually brought out his true emotions was his brother, the only family he had left.

“Where’d you get them?”

“Well if you want the specifics,” Arin said, “I printed them back in Fort Kentley, right before we boarded the trucks and headed to the Lazarus launch facility. I wanted to give them to you  before I got onto the Omega and launched into orbit, but with all the chaos going on I couldn’t get them to you.”

John sniffed and lowered the images down onto his lap, with his right arm propped on his knee he rested his chin on his knuckles, peering off into the nonexistent distance. After a few minutes of comfortable silence he blinked and looked at Arin, which allowed him to see a few stray tears making their way down John’s cheeks. “Thank you,” Was all he said, and gently stashed the photos in his right pocket.

“Hey.” Arin reached forward and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it.”

A hiss sounded from their right as the chamber door opened. “Pardon me, gentlemen.” Jonathon’s doctor, Alyssa Joyce, came into the room dressed in a similar protective suit as Arin along with two other men. One of the men John could easily identify as a soldier by the long AK rifle he held in both hands, and the bulge in his suit created by the kevlar vest he wore beneath it. The other man stood behind Alyssa with a metal cart. John assumed him to be Alyssa’s assistant. On said cart was a various amount of medical items, tourniquets, bandages, cotton balls, and what looked to be hundreds of needles.

John swallowed hard when his eyes landed on the needles. “So.. heh... what’cha doin there Doc? Prepping for surgery?”

The assistant rolled the cart into the center of the room, a couple feet away from John and his brother. Alyssa went over to the cart and picked up a needle, she held it up to the light for inspection. “You could say that...” She looked at John. “What?” She smiled at the horrified look on his face. “I’m just teasing you, no there will be no surgery. Just a couple of blood samples that is all.”

John bit his bottom lip. ‘Now that I think about it, surgery might’ve been a better option.’ He always hated giving blood. No, he hated anything that involved any sort of needle being jammed into his arm.. “O-okay then. Why?”

Alyssa nodded while absentmindedly inspecting the needle. She placed it back onto the cart and looked to her assistant, whispered something into his ear and  looked back to John. “Well you want to get out of here don’t you?”

“Yeah I guess. But why do I need to give blood?”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Mr. Conway, if you’ll just let me do my job. I’ll explain everything to you while I set everything up, now please straighten yourself out.”

John raised an eyebrow at Arin. He shrugged. “Did you know anything about this?” He asked.

Arin smirked. “To be honest.” He shook his head head towards the man wielding the assault rifle. “I’m here for the same reason he is, I just wanted to talk to you while the good doctor got ready.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” John hissed.

Arin chuckled and said, “John, you and I both know that would have been stupid of me. Now go on, do as she says.”

John sat back down on the cot and watched as the doctor’s assistant pushed the cart towards the berth. The assistant then stepped back from the cart and stood in front of John. “Mr. Conway,” The man said, If you could hold out your left arm it’d be much appreciated.” John did as he was told. “Now please hold still  while I apply the tourniquet.” The man turned around after retrieving a thick bandage from the cart and tied it tightly slightly above his elbow. “Make a fist please.”

John eyed Alyssa. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one doing all of this?” He asked.

The doctor motioned her head towards her assistant. “Marko here specifically asked if he could be the one to take the sample. So take it up with him.”

“Do not worry sir,” Marko said moving John’s arm so that the bottom faced upward. He then began to trace up it, looking for the vein. “I have done this numerous of times.” Marko tapped his finger on a spot a few inches above John’s joint, and then turned to the cart to grab a small bottle of disinfectant.

“I still don’t think having an assistant rather than an actual doctor take my blood is going to change my opinion much on this.” John glared at Alyssa, she was standing by Arin in the center of the room with a small smile.

“It’s not like he’s going to be performing brain surgery on you, John.” Arin said, “He’s just taking your  blood.”

“Yeah, and a lot of things can go wrong with just taking–” John was cut off by a small prick in his arm. Looking down he noticed the assistant holding a small syringe that was already filling with his own blood. He watched wide eyed as the assistant pulled out the full vial of blood and began to gently swish around a few times before placing it in a holder. “A-are you done?”

“Nope.” The man looked at him and smiled. “We need at least three more.”

John gulped.

:[-]:

Horizon, October 15th, 11:00

For the first time in a little over twenty four hours, Jonathan Conway took his first steps out of the infirmary. After his… ordeal, the horrid blood tests confirmed the (quite obvious in his opinion) fact that he wasn’t infected, and the man was allowed free passage once again around the interior of the ship. Relatively at least; he would be under constant surveillance for the next seventy two hours.

“Hey,” Arin said,  his new ‘bodyguard’, “at least they aren’t keeping you locked up in that  dingy medbay, right?”

John sighed. “Trust me Arin, if what you say is true, the only reason they’re letting me out in the first place is because the admiral needs me to oversee the upcoming mission.” He looked at his brother as the duo began to walk towards the central elevator. “If the lab coats always got what they wanted, I’d probably be in some fucking incubator right now.”

Arin frowned. “Do we even have those onboard?”

John sighed. “Like hell if I know.”

The two of them stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the call button. “Well man, there’s nothing to worry about, alright?” Arin said, “And besides, I’m good at keeping myself invisible.” He smiled to himself.

“Yeah,” John agreed as the elevator door opened, the two stepped in. “Half of our childhood I never really got a good look at you.”

Arin frowned. “Wait... the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

John just grinned as the doors closed in front of them and began to descend into the ship.

:[-]:

Horizon, October 15th, 11:10

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll be heading on possibly one of the most crucial operations since the starting of this project.” Admiral Watson was standing in the center of the control room right beside the holo-globe. In front of him were twelve soldiers, each divided into two groups. On the right was the squad led by Commander William Keshiner, whereas on the left was led by one of Earth’s finest: Master Sergeant Peter Van Thorne, who was more formally known as “Kong”.

Kong was a rather small man, he had thin limbs, yet his strength could match those of a gorilla. Or so the men who had faced him in an arm wrestling match would say. His eyes were blue and sharp, along with his aim, and his hair stopped just below his ears in curly blond waves. Funny enough, Kong’s height could have him be mistaken for a young teenager, though it has been said that despite his stature he could match the speed of the old olympic runner Usain Bolt.

Back straight, Kong and the other eleven men were outfitted with enough gear that’d make a SEAL team wary of their presence. Which was probably why the rest of the crew was giving them their due space, with the exception of Watson, who was currently staring into Kong’s eyes in a cold, calculating challenge. “The twelve of you, along with a few other important assets, will be heading to what we believe is the natives’ capital settlement.” The hologlobe spun around to reveal a red dot near the center of Japan. “As for you, Baghdad.” Watson looked to William and his squad. “Your job is simple, keep your mouths shut and make sure nothing happens to the VIPs while the meeting with the equine hierarchy is in progress. Delta team.” Watson glared at Kong and his men. “Your job is also simple, stay quiet and make sure the equines stay clear of the Condors. Am I clear?”

“Sir yes sir!”

“Excellent,” Watson said, “Officer Conway here,” he gestured towards John and Arin as the two men walked in from the hallway, “Will be watching your backs via the spare drone and your helmet cams. If anything shows up on radar he’ll relay the information to you before the proverbial shit  hits the fan.” Watson gave John a stern look as the two walked up beside him. “Is that correct, Central?”

“Affirmative, sir.”  John nodded before saluting the admiral.

Watson gave John’s back a light smack. “Good, then that means I’ll leave everything up to you. good luck” he said before stepping behind John and taking his leave.

With watson walking towards the door, John turned around and retrieved a remote from the table behind him. “Listen up everyone, I will try to make this brief. As Watson might have already said, you’ll be escorting four VIPs today.” John aimed the remote towards the television behind the men and the screen flickered to life, showing off an I.D. portrait of Angela Greene. “The primary VIP is Ms. Angela Greene, our top diplomat. Guard her with your lives, boys and girls. If we lose her, we’ll have no clue on how our relationship with these creatures will turn out. Next.” The screen transitioned to another I.D. of a woman. “Ms. Angela Weaver, Horizon’s top chairman, will be tagging along as the council’s representative. Quite frankly, if something were to happen to her, it won’t be a big loss.” A few soldiers chuckled at this. “Second to last!” The screen changed and showed a large, nerdy looking individual. “We have Doug Miller, he’ll tag along and represent our research division. If there’s any chance he’ll also be there to grab whatever samples and notes he can find in order to further our understanding of these beings. So. Guard him with your life. Now finally.” The screen revealed a lanky looking man with glasses. “We have our second top VIP, Bryan Hunsinger. He will serve as our translator. Ladies and gentlemen I don’t think I need to emphasize how important this man is. If shit does go down we need this man as alive as possible, he’s the only one so far who has been able to understand the equines’ language. Now. Do we have any questions?”

Instantly a hand shot up. “Yes, Kong?”

“Why do we need to bring, Ms. Suit with us? It’s not like we’re going to a zoo, hell she’ll be nothing but dead weight!”

John sighed “I told you Kong.”  He scratched the back of his neck. “She’ll be representing the council. Not only that, she too will be taking notes on equine behavior. Anything else–ah, yes, what is it Mint?” John pointed towards a tall pale man in the back behind Kong.

“What about our weapons, are there any restrictions on what we can take?”

John smirked. “Excellent question. Yes, and no. For Delta team, no. You’ll be outdoors guarding the LZ, so feel free to use whatever you want to. However, Baghdad will be guarding the VIPs with concealed small arms. Remember, we’re trying to make a good impression, we don’t want the equines thinking that we’re going to take the place.”

“So you want us to guard them with just our nine millimeters?” William asked.

“Not entirely, just anything you can keep out of the equines’ line of sight. Handguns, SMGs, etcetera. Anymore questions?” No one said anything. “Alright then, you’ll be heading down to the armory to grab any remaining gear that you’ll need. I’ll be expecting you locked and loaded in Hangar B by 11:30. When you’re ready, the operation will be underway. Dismissed!”

:[-]:

October 15th 11:40

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.” William raised an ear at the sound of DeSilva’s sarcastic voice. “This morning’s flight is expected to last about forty minutes. However, ten of those minutes will be spent out of comms range, but do not worry. HQ will have that all sorted out in a matter of time.” The ship shuddered as the doors slid shut, and the engines whistled as they came to life. William felt a brief sense of weightlessness when the locks on the elevator that carried the VTOL released, allowing the ship to descend into the lowest deck.

The Condor jolted when the elevator came to a grinding halt. “God dammit!” Will overheard Doug Miller. “When are those engineers going to oil those damn gears?!” Will looked at the angry, overweight man who was glaring upwards at the ceiling of the craft. “I swear, one of these days this thing’s going to snap right in half and send us right to our grave.”

Michael, who sat beside William chuckled. “Man, I’m having a huge sense of deja vu right now.”

A redhead girl named Stacey, the one marine that sat directly across from Michael sighed. “That’s probably because this isn’t the first time we’ve heard Dr. Miller say that.”

“I know that.” Michael replied, “It’s just that it’s strange to hear him say it again, especially–”

“For Christ sake, does it matter?” William interrupted.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our flight will be under way momentarily. T minus sixty seconds.”

Michael shot a quick glance at William then returned to his conversation with Stacey about deja-whatever. William looked around the cabin and at the other three soldiers, who were a couple of corporals and a tech sergeant Watson assigned to him. He didn’t know the corporals’ names, nor their faces, although he had seen the tech sergeant around a few times. The three men were strapped in, their heads hanging back as they tried to catch up on some sleep they probably missed.

William wished that he could join them, however, these past couple of nights he had been plagued with nightmares from years past. William yawned and unstrapped himself from his seat. “Whoa, Commander.” Michael stuck a hand out to him as he got up. “What’cha think you’re doin’? Don’t you see we’re about to take off?”

“Don’t worry about me.” Will held tightly onto the ceiling handle. “I’m just going up to the cockpit that’s all.” Carefully he began to move his way past the seated marine and over to the door separating the cockpit from the rest of the ship.

Will stopped in front of the door and pressed the call button. “DeSilva, it’s me. Open up, will ya!”

A click sounded from the door and it slid open. Stepping inside Will saw the Ukrainian pilot sipping his soda from a red aluminum can. “How can I help you, sir?” DeSilva asked as he smacked his lips and placed the can in the cup holder beside him, Will took the seat next to him.

“I just need to get away from my squad for now that’s all,” Will said as he strapped himself in.

DeSilva laughed. “Really now? Well then, let me help you.” He pressed a button, shutting the door behind them.

“Al Capone, this is Central, how copy over?”

“Hold on for a second, William.” DeSilva flipped the switch on the side of his headphones and he spoke into the built-in mic. “This is Al Capone, I’m reading you loud and clear, Central. The bird is locked and ready when you are. Over.”

“Roger that, Al Capone, proceed with caution. We’ve got reports of small unidentified objects flying within the air space. Over.”

“Will do.” DeSilva flipped a switch and took hold of the cyclic, gently pulling back on it. William could feel the shaking  of the craft intensify as it slowly began to lift off the surface of the elevator. Past the windshield, Will saw a white horizontal crack form in the side of the ship as the outer door began to open. “Alright, Commander.” DeSilva looked at him. “Hold onto your butt.”

Will felt a slight jerk as the ship flew past the opened door, climbing rapidly once they cleared the opening. Within seconds they were already hundreds of feet above ground, giving them a bird's eye view of the camp below. Will could see dozens of tents and the dots of other crew members moving about the perimeter steadily growing smaller as they ascended. Most of them seemed busy with clearing out the remaining debris, while a handful had already dragged out the construction gear and were beginning to deconstruct the ship’s engines.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

“Excuse me?” Will took his eyes off the ground and looked at DeSilva.

“Flying, being able to see the ground from here, it’s beautiful,” DeSilva said while keeping his eyes focused on what was ahead of him.

“I don’t know if you could say that,” William disagreed, “After twelve thousand years... I think I’m a bit tired of flying.”

DeSilva laughed. “When you put it like that, friend, I cannot blame you. Say...” DeSilva punched a few buttons on the console and a pleasant female voice filtered through the headset.

“Autopilot engaged, ETA: 42 minutes.”

He then reached forward and pressed a button that looked almost like a CD ejector, and sure enough, it was. He pulled out a small burnt CD and placed it aside. “What kind of man are you?” He pulled out a large CD case. “Sinatra, or Martin?”

William raised an eyebrow. “Do you have Fly Me to the Moon?”

DeSilva looked at William as if he was an idiot. “Why wouldn’t I have it?”

“I dunno, maybe by some sma–”

“But it’s like one of his most popular songs–”

“Alright! Fuck, just put him in then!”

DeSilva chuckled and took out his Frank Sinatra CD and stuck it into the player. After he found the correct track the two men sat back in a brief silence and watched as the Condor flew over the small equine settlement. Down below, both of them could see dozens of equines stumbling out into the streets watching wide-eyed as the metal machine streaked across the sky.

The cockpit filled with the sound of Sinatra’s voice and band. “Say,” Will called over the song’s chorus, “where’s Delta team and the other VIPs?” Will leaned his head to the right seeing if he could possibly spot the second ship they were supposedly in.

“They are right behind us in the second bird.” DeSilva loosely bobbed his head to the music. “Just a couple hundred meters back though, you can’t see them from up here.”

Will pulled his head back from the window and looked at the pilot. “Alright then–the fuck!” Out from the corner of his eye a dark figure zipped past the ship.

“Oh shit!” DeSilva veered the ship a little to the left. “You saw that too?”

“Like hell I did, the fuck was that?” Again another streak flew by, this time right above the cockpit.

“It’s probably some type of bird,” DeSilva said trying to keep the ship align. He turned his headset on and held the mic to his mouth. “Central, this is Al Capone, I’ve spotted several unidentified objects flying within close proximity of us.”

“Ro.... Th.... skj....” Static and gibberish poured out of the radio.

DeSilva cursed and flipped off his headset. “What’s wrong?” William asked focusing his attention on their right flank.

“We’re entering the goddamn deadzone, won’t be another ten minutes ‘till we have comms again.” He sighed. “For now I guess we just hang tight and make sure that whatever these things are–”

“Holy... shit,” Will interrupted, his jaw was nearly striking the floor. Out along the right side of the dropship were six winged equines gliding alongside them, going at a speed in which Will thought was impossible for a flesh and blood creature.

“What do you see?” DeSilva looked over, his vision blocked by William’s body.

“It’s the natives,” He said quietly, unable to take his eyes off of the impossible creatures. Each one was wearing a set of golden armor, their coats were a pure white, their plumes, tails, and eyes all a dark shade of blue. The looks on their faces hard and almost expressionless.

“The natives?” DeSilva went back to looking ahead. “How the fu.. what? They can fly? How?”

“They have wings, that’s how. But’s that’s not the question you should be asking.”

“What are they doing?”

“Yes.” William nodded. “That’s a good question. As for an answer? I don’t know.” The light from the sun reflected off of a cloud above, making William squint as he leaned in for a closer examination. “It almost looks as if they’re escorting us,” He said.

“Or making sure we aren’t doing anything stupid.”

Will nodded again in agreement. “That too.” He heard a pop of a tab behind him, glancing over his shoulder he saw DeSilva drinking his pop nervously. “Hey,” Will said sternly, DeSilva looked at him. “Hand me one, will ya?”

DeSilva reached under his seat and handed Will a red can of cola. He took it and popped it open, sipping from it he gazed out the window. “I don’t see anything suspicious happening. Like I said, they're probably just escorting us.”

“Wait a second,” DeSilva asked, suddenly realising something. “How the Hell are they even keeping up with us?” He looked at the dashboard. “We’re nearly going five hundred kilometers an hour!”

Will snorted and sipped his drink. “Like I know.”

“I’m surprised,” DeSilva said, “at how well you’re taking this.”

William cackled and laid back in his seat. “This whole mission has been filled with weird shit. Heck, the last twelve thousand years is unequaled by any other event. First the Archangel shows up, then we suddenly have the zombie apocalypse on our hands, NASA just so happened to be building a gigantic colony ship which was supposed to save the human race. Which also just so happened to be the same ship I was going to be spending the next couple thousand years on in cryosleep until we stumble upon some new habitable rock in the sky.” He cleared his throat and straightened himself out. “Trust me, if you were with me and my squad before doomsday, you’d have seen some weird-ass shit.”

DeSilva glanced at William strangely and looked back on ahead. For a few moments they sat in silence. “Could you name one?” DeSilva asked generally curious.

Will took a deep breath and shrugged. “Well, I had my handgun get turned into a rattlesnake once.”

DeSilva laughed out loud, but stopped shortly after when he noticed William looking at him expressionless. “Wait, you’re fucking serious?”

“Yeah.” He said, “Archangel’s attack on Camp Sherman, ring any bells?”

DeSilva nearly choked on his drink. “Oh shit, you’re right! Fuck, you were there?!”

“That’s how the armory got flooded with venomous snakes,” Will said. He raised his hand and spaced his index finger a centimeter away from his thumb. “I came this close to nearly popping the fucker in the head, and next thing you know I’m holding a rattlesnake!” Will faced himself forward and turned his head to the right and focused back on their escorts. The equines looked to be flying with ease; as if they had no trouble with the speed they were going. “You know, sometimes I wonder if I could’ve finished it all there,” Will said quietly.

“Excuse me?”

Will drank the last of his cola and set the can aside. “Back in Sherman, if I had been a little faster, could I have ended it all, y’know? A swift pull of the trigger and bam! You know what I’m saying?”

“I doubt it man,” DeSilva said, “From all the stories I’ve heard from everyone aboard, the destruction and chaos I’ve seen when flying to all those LZs, there’s no way in Hell a single nine millimeter could’ve brought that thing down.”

“Maybe you’re right, but still... it’s something to think about I guess.”

“Something that’d get you killed, that’s what that is.”

A tinny voice sputtered through DeSilva’s headset. “Al Capone, this is Central, how copy, over?”

“Finally.” DeSilva switched the music off and put his headset back on. “I’m reading you five by five, over.”

“Excellent, what’s happening up there? Over.”

“So far everything is a-okay, over.”

A brief wave of static erupted from the radio before a new voice came through. A much deeper voice than Will would have expected. “Well I be damned, the radio’s working,” The voice said sarcastically.

“Good afternoon, Lil-John, nice to hear you ain’t sleeping behind the wheel,” DeSilva replied.

“Ha!” The voice cackled, the man sounded old; William assumed he was the other Condor pilot. "And it’s nice that I can actually hear you instead of that damned music, Al Capone! And I see ya made some friends. Pretty amazing that they can keep up to your ship at your speed”

“Speaking of which,” John spoke up, “When did they arrive, Al Capone?”

“Approximately, seven minutes ago, over.”

“Roger that, have their actions showed any suspicion? Over.”

“Not as of yet; escorts appear to be docile, over.”

“Roger that, estimated time till you reach your destination?”

He paused, glancing at the dash. “ETA: fifteen minutes over,” Both pilot said simultaneously.

“Wait, what?” Will exclaimed. “damn, that went by quicker than I thought.” he looked over at DeSilva. “Wake me up when we land alright?” DeSilva nodded and gave him a thumbs up, Will patted his shoulder and got comfortable in his seat. Closing his eyes, he drifted off.

:[-]:

“Commander! Commander, please! Help me!”

“Nathan! Nathan, where are you?”

“Commander, ple–graaah!”

“Nathan! Nathan, where are you... shit... NATHAN!”

“William... darling, are you there?”

“L-Laura? Sweetie, is that you?”

“Will, I-I can’t see you... Will, why can’t I see you?”

“Laura, stay calm. I’m coming!”

“Leave them, Commander.’’

“Will! I can’t breathe! William, please it’s crushing me!”

“LAURA!”

“It’s either your wife and child or the entirety of the human race.”

“William, I love you!”

“Laura, for Christ sake don’t go!”

“Choose now, Commander, because what happens now will change the fate of humanity.”

:[-]:

“Hey, man you alright?” A voice filtered through William’s thoughts. Along with something gently shaking him as his hazy consciousness grabbed ahold of reality.

“Ah!” William woke in his seat with a startled cry, his left hand firmly gripping the hilt of his knife just above his breast pocket.

“Jesus Christ, Commander!” DeSilva quickly ripped his hand back in order to avoid William. He looked at him wide eyed and asked,  “Bad dream, huh?”

Will took a few deep breaths in order to calm himself. “Yeah,” He replied in a quiet and hoarse voice. “I guess you could say that.” He wiped the freshly formed sweat off his forehead and turned his attention out the window, the escorts still in perfect formation around the ship. William frowned a little and straightened himself out,  leaning a bit more towards the window. Looking down he noticed the ground had changed, instead of a sea of endless trees there were now a few scattered houses mixed in with plots of farmland along rolling meadows. Looking directly forward Will had taken note of a massive mountain he recalled from the drone’s footage Nelson Grimes had shown him in the medbay. On said mountain was a massive, Victorian style castle, a large city sprawling out below it, all hanging impossibly off the mountainside.

“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” DeSilva chuckled at the sight of William’s thoughtful expression. “Central already marked the location in which we’ll be dropping you guys off. You see that massive lawn in front of the castle?” DeSilva pointed towards a large, grassy field barely visible behind the castle’s wall. “That’s where your team will be let off. After that, if things go as expected they should allow you inside. However, if you want my personal opinion, I think that’s a pretty big if.”

Will sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “As long as our escorts are okay with us stopping there, I think we’ll do just fine.”

DeSilva nodded his head in agreement and switched on the radio. “Al Capone to Lil-John, come in, over?”

“Alcapone, this is Lil-John, over.”

“I’ll be slowing down in just a second for landing, be ready, over.”

“Roger that, over and out.”

DeSilva switched off the headset and looked at Will. “Alright, Commander this is the part in which I kick you out. Go back and tell your men to get ready. I’ll give you the green light once we land.”

Will nodded. “Alright, and DeSilva? Thanks. It’s been awhile since I was just able to chat with someone that didn’t just suck up to my ass.”

DeSilva smirked. “Get the fuck out of my cockpit.” He chuckled as he pressed the button to open the door.

William unbuckled himself and went out the cockpit door. Upon entering the cabin he saw that nearly everyone was fast asleep. He cleared his throat and took on a commanding tone. “Alright, bitches!” He slammed the bottom of his fist against the metal wall, a loud obnoxious bang reverberated throughout the ship's cabin. “Get your shit together, we land in sixty! Come on, hustle!” William was awarded a wave of dissatisfied groans as the soldiers forced themselves awake. “I said get a move on!”

Will shuffled over to the storage compartment below his empty seat and retrieved his respirator and gun. The gun in particular wasn’t the infantry issued AK-12, but it was a custom designed submachine gun that the user could fold in half and conceal in his bag or anywhere that would be out of sight. William took the gun by the strap and flung it across his shoulders, next he began to attach the respirator to his tyvek suit. Once he pulled the mask over his face and strapped it on he turned around, and was met with the ready, yet still slightly groggy look of his comrades; now sealed behind their protective gear.

The ship lurched slightly back as DeSilva slowed the Condor for landing. “Remember,” William said to his squadmates, his voice taking a warning tone, “we’re here to make a GOOD first impression, so be on your best behavior. You will remain silent this entire operation, and if I hear a single peep from any of your mouths without a damn good reason, so help me God! You will be shitting prints of my shoe till Christmas! Matter of fact if I hear you breathe! I’ll make sure that you wished you died on this very planet twelve thousand years ago! Do you hear me?!”

A muffled “Sir yes sir!” filled the cabin.

The floor shook as the ship touched down. “Houston, we’ve landed.” DeSilva said through the intercom over the noise of various harnesses clicking open, “Ladies and gentlemen I’ll give you ten seconds to check your respirators, once that’s done I’m opening the doors.”

Will checked himself one last time and faced the closed doors, his crew right behind him. Suddenly, a loud buzz flooded the cabin as the green light in the top right corner began to flash, followed by a massive thud as the numerous seals disengaged. William felt a whoosh of air blow past him as the pressure in the cabin equalised. Like a hot knife through butter, a white ray of light illuminated the darkness within the craft. Slowly, the door began to slide to the left, creating a large enough opening to allow more light in, which blinded the crew and allowed for a wave of new noises to enter.

The first thing William’s were the voices, which was unlike anything he’d ever heard before. It wasn’t just one voice either, instead there were dozens maybe even hundreds of loud voices that were compiled together into one massive chorus. A complete and utter cacophony of gibberish that reminded him of his tour in Korea.

William raised his hand and shielded himself from the bright light, he looked over his shoulder and smiled at his squadmates. “Come on you apes, let’s get a move on!”

:[-]:

Castle front lawn, October 15th, 12:10 P.M.

Ten minutes before the humans’ arrival.

Celestia sat calmly in the courtyard on a soft red pillow. With her magic she levitated a small cup of water to her lips and sipped from it gently, she then placed the cup aside and picked up the book she was reading. Further Unto Dusk the cover said, Celestia smiled and turned the page.

A flash of light came from her right. “Your highness!” Captain Kebler shouted to Celestia after appearing from a teleportation spell.

Celestia marked her page and stood up from her spot. “What is it, Kebler?”

The captain stopped in front of her and caught his breath. “I have received word of two unidentified objects flying from the alien landing site.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Is there word on where they might be heading?”

Kebler took a deep breath. “Last I heard they were heading right for Canterlot. Lieutenant Lighting ordered his men to follow shortly behind the crafts in case anything is to happen.”

Celestia shook her head and brought her cup over and sipped from it. “Like that’s going to do much,” she murmured.

“Excuse me, Princess?”

“Nothing, Kebler, I’ll handle things as they are. Attend to my sister and make sure everything is ready.”

Kebler bowed respectfully. “As you wish.” With that, a swift flash of light came and the captain was gone.

Celestia turned to the nearest guard. “You there, guard. Please summon Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

:[-]:

Canterlot Castle, October 15th, 12:15 p.m.

Twilight Sparkle woke with a start at the sound of somepony knocking on her bedroom door. Looking at the drool on her desk, she had realized that she’d fallen asleep during her late night study session. Normally she would have mentally reprimanded herself, but with an actual alien encyclopedia right in front of her, she just could not blame herself.

When Celestia had allowed her time to go and read it for herself. The mare had not fallen asleep until early sunrise that morning, and the thing is, she hadn’t even yet scratched the surface of the book! There was at least  three thousand pages bound between the perfect covers and she had only gotten through the first five hundred! In most nights if she had a book so large she could read most of it in just half a night, no matter the language it was written in... Even with her spell, it was just…. so bizarre!

The words and phrases, a lot of them didn’t make any sense to her. But not only was it the language that slowed her down, the amount of information in that book was almost overwhelming for her at times. When Luna came and visited her that night she showed her something that nearly made her faint when she realised what it was.

The maps in the back. Though there was a slight difference in some areas, they were exactly the same as Equis. All the way to the exact mountain; they were the same! But how? That was the question Twilight kept asking herself, how do these “humans” know our planet from front to back so easily when they aren’t even from here?

Or.

What if they were? Another question she had thought of, but then that begs the question, why did they come from the sky? What if they were native to Equis, and they developed some type of machinery that could allow them to travel into space. But then, why would they even go?

Another knock alerted Twilight and she forced herself from her thoughts. “S-sorry, I was still waking up!”

“Your highness,” A deep raspy voice said from behind the door, “Princess Celestia is requesting that you report to the castle lawn immediately.”

“Any reason on why right this second?” Twilight asked as she stepped off the chair and fixed her mane with her magic.

“All she told me is that they’re coming.” The voice responded.

For a brief second Twilight was struck with confusion.

“So in return I gave them a map of Equestria  with directions leading to Canterlot. If things go accordingly and they were able to read my markings correctly, they should be arriving here sometime tomorrow.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the memory and realization. “The aliens are coming,” She whispered.

:[-]:

Twilight quickly slid her way about the castle, doing her best not to run headlong or bump into into any of the bustling staff in the halls as she practically drifted around the corners. Everywhere about the castle waiters, waitresses, gardeners, and anypony else who could help; rushed about the castle in a last ditch effort to clean up the already pristine palace.

“Excuse me, pardon me–” Twilight yelped when a waitress came around the corner levitating a plate of goods within her magic.

“Hey watch it!” The waiter quickly recoiled back keeping the plate close to her so that Twilight wouldn’t accidentally knock it over as she galloped by.

“Sorry!” Twilight yelled over her shoulder before dodging to the left to avoid yet another platter full of food. Looking past the waitress Twilight saw an onslaught of castle staff members in her wake. She bit her bottom lip out of irritation. “Ugh, there’s no way I’m gonna get there in time!” She huffed and looked out the nearby window. A smile came to Twilight’s lips. “Unless...” She thought as she stretched her wings.

:[-]:

Canterlot Castle, October 15th, 12:27

Three minutes before the human’s arrival.

“Wh-hoa!” Twilight’s hooves landed harshly onto the cobblestone walkway, causing her to stumble for a few feet before regaining her balance. Twilight shook her head and looked around herself, trying to get her bearings. To her sides were two large rows of roses and an evergreen tree that grew in manicured lines. Ahead of her the path continued on to the front of the castle and behind her the path was blocked by a stone wall. Faintly, as she gradually regained her breath, she became aware of a bell ringing in the distance.

But alongside the bell Twilight could hear something else, it sounded like a chopping noise similar to the sound a sword makes when it quickly slices the air. However, this noise was consistent and rapid while growing gradually in volume until it became a steady roar. It must be them! Twilight thought as she began to gallop her way towards the castle’s front lawn.

The sound was growing increasingly louder the further she neared the corner. When Twilight rounded it and entered the castle front lawn, she nearly plowed right through a wall of guards before she realised they were even there. Due to her attention fully captured by the two large metal contraptions hovering above the castle lawn. Seemingly held aloft by four large metal propellers attached to pylons on each corner of the ship that spun through the air faster than the eye could see. The pylons produced thunderous WHUMPS mixed in with a high pitched keening that came from within the craft. The yard was full of guards and castle staff who watched with awe as the two suspended vessels slowly descended towards the grass. As they neared the ground the belly of the wondrous machines opened and three large wheels revealed themselves, which absorbed the weight of the vehicles as they touched the ground.

Twilight pushed her way through the guards, politely apologizing while she did so. Finally reaching the front, she saw Celestia and two of her personal guards standing roughly a few yards away from the vessels. “Princess!” Twilight called out, she galloped over to her previous mentor. “Is it them, the humans?” She asked.

Celestia looked over at Twilight, her face stern at first but quickly warmed up at the sight of her. “Yes Twilight, it’s them; and I see you learned their name as well? ” She smiled and returned her attention to the craft. “That’s fantastic.” She said.

The first craft to land seemingly stood frozen for a few seconds before the “whumps” coming from its blades started to decrease in frequency and volume as well as the keening that she supposed must of been coming from the machine’s engines that powered such fantastic pieces of machinery.

The rotating blades slowed their motions before coming to a complete stop, then a deep clang sounded from the craft as its sides pulled themselves open on their own; revealing the interior. Twilight could hardly see a thing inside it. Though with the enormous sounds coming from the craft’s propulsive systems, she could hear something that sounded like a shout coming from within, maybe an order?

She saw movement, something stepped out of the craft, a large rounded figure covered from head to .. hooves? No. They were feet. It was wearing blue clothing with the exception of a black and orange mask circling its head. The way the light reflected off the blue outfits, almost made it seem as if it was made from some kind of reflective material similar to glass. Behind it came six other figures, that wore what looked to be heavy black and green gear around their bodies with masks that were completely black.

The second craft opened and another group of aliens stepped out onto the grass. Unlike the first blue alien Twilight had seen, these two creatures wore grey suits with bags wrapped around their shoulders, another creature in a completely white garment followed up behind them. After that another six, similar to the group that had disembarked from the first craft, although unlike their counterparts, they seemed to be carrying  several black, complex looking objects with an open tube in the front leading to an intricately built; but still blocky handle that the creatures used to carry them in their minotaur like limbs. Twilight had started to assume the larger ones were soldiers of some kind.

Twilight looked up to Celestia and whispered, “Princess, what should we do?”

“For now,” Celestia replied, “we wait until they appear to be ready.”

The four aliens in colored suits gathered closely together in a roughly square pattern, gesturing to each other in some form of communication while the twelve black and green soldier looking ones formed a loose perimeter around the craft and their colored comrades.

The four huddled aliens broke apart from one another and looked towards the two princesses. The white one came forth, the blue following behind it, and the two greys behind the blue. Two of the green soldiers motioned looked at the four of them and nodded. They must be some kind of authority figure? Twilight thought, The colored ones being the highest in rank?

The four aliens stopped a couple feet away from them. One of the greys dropped its bag on the ground and began to root though it. I wonder what it’s looking for? Twilight thought as she leaned for a closer look, I guess I'll find out soon enough.  Twilight glanced sideways at celestia and tried to judge her expression, stoic and patient as ever. Although she thought she could see a hint of a grimace mixed in with vague curiosity. She returned her gaze to the humans only to find that the grey one had pulled out some sort of white, glossy board from the bag and was continuing to look for something else. A few more seconds passed and the human finally pulled out what looked to be a thin white and black object which it wrapped its fingers around tightly. It then turned and gave both items to the white human.

Celestia seemed interested in what was happening, and so was Twilight. The white creature nodded and took both of the items and held pulled the top piece off of the thin item. It then held the whiteboard in front of its face and looked to have started running the thin tip along its surface as if it was writing something. Occasionally It’d stop for a second and look to the others before returning to writing, only to once again stop, wipe its hand across the board and start again. After about a minute it seemed happy with what it was doing and turned the board around so that it faced the ponies.

Celestia and Twilight’s jaws nearly struck the ground.

On the board, written as plain as day was:

***Hello,

we come in peace.***