Inboundby Smexy and Boss IncChaptersChapter 1: ArrivalChapter 2: ImpactChapter 3: ReactionChapter 1: ArrivalInbound Chapter 1: Arrival Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra The wind whipped across the deck of the USS Grant, heavy clouds hung in the sky above the massive aircraft carrier. The ship rocked about in the waves, but that did not halt the activity upon its flight deck. Dozens of soldiers were piling into three large dropships, preparing to initiate one of the most important missions of the war. It had been nearly fifteen years since the United Democratic Nations came under attack by the Federal Dictatorial Council. Since then, the world had been tearing itself apart. The eastern hemisphere versus the west. The mission that was to take place today would not only land a decisive blow against the FDC, but also destroy whatever morale their soldiers had left. These thoughts never left the minds of the crew as they readied themselves for the impending attack. ~#~ A pilot named Julian Schafer was preparing his suit for the flight. He had to make sure every single system was at optimal condition. The flight suit was a tad bulky, due to the integrated safety and nano fiber weave. The suit held a holster for a side arm and several pouches for extra magazines, a built in parachute, and sheath for a combat knife. The final feature was a recycling system that kept somewhat fresh air in the pilots lungs for a good 12 hours. After he finished his system’s check, his HUD in his helmet showing everything was in working order, he took off his helmet and breathed in some fresh air. Julian took a look at himself in his locker’s mirror, his reflection showing his tired expression. His amber eyes scanned over his face, looking at the short coal black hair that rested on his head and the five o’clock shadow. Breathing out a sigh, he picked up his helmet and looked it over, giving a small smirk. He grazed his fingers over the light etching of a smile that stretched over the lower half of the helmet, a joke one of the other pilots thought was funny. He slipped his helmet back on, letting the suit link up once more before heading out to the armory to gather the rest of his equipment. ~#~ Julian calmly walked to his dropship, watching as the soldiers piled in, one after another. He took in a deep breath before hopping into the cockpit of his ship. As he sat down in his seat, several screens lit up across the dashboard and the glass in front of him. Hearing several of the other pilots sign in, Julian turned on his coms and signed in as well. “This is Razor Hawk-2, reporting for duty.” Julian stated over the intercoms, the rest of the pilots down the line sounding off. As soon as everyone called in, the commander’s voice came over the comms and PA systems of every ship in the fleet. “One hundred and seventy years ago today, one hundred and sixty thousand allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy. Nine thousand died or were wounded. The D-Day landing gave the allies a foothold and eventually lead to the death of the third reich.” The commander paused for a moment. “Today, we will honor those sacrifices and deliver the killing blow to the evils of the FDC. With resolve unbreakable, and the will to win, we will destroy the pacific wall.” “We all know that some will not be coming home alive, but as our men and women march into Beijing and plant our flag on tallest building in the forbidden city they will be remembered. We cannot and will not accept anything but full and total victory.” The commander paused again, the mission launch countdown popped up onto the HUD of every soldier about to go into the fight. When it hit zero the Commander spoke again. “Begin the operation, and godspeed.” A loud battle cry sounded out through all of the dropships and across the soldiers on the ship. Soon every ship began to take to the sky, blotting out the sun with the immense force that was being sent towards the enemies on the land. Through Julian’s ship, soldiers were murmuring to each other of their mission, giving consents to their friends and making pacts should one of them fall in battle. Julian gripped the control stick a bit tighter as he saw the land approaching. A shockwave filled the air as one of the dropships exploded next to Julian’s ship, the smoldering wreckage barely missing his own ship in it’s flaming descent. The air was soon filled with the sounds of AA fire and missiles soaring past the engines and cockpit. The guns of Julian’s ship began to rev up, spraying the infantry and AA emplacements with thousands of rounds. After an hour of dodging AA guns, cutting down infantry units for the ground troops and several Detours to avoid being shot down, they were finally nearing their drop off zone. Julian hit the intercom and flipped on the green light. “Get ready, we are approaching the drop zone!” Soon they began to arrive at the destination before he saw a rather demoralizing sight. A Ion Cannon mounted onto a massive tank, pointing directly at Julian’s dropship. “Oh shit, fucking jump! Go go go!” He heard the boots of the soldiers hopping off of the dropship as the cargo door opened, as he heard the last set of boots drop off, he began to pull up the dropship to avoid the cannon. Unfortunately, the tank launched the cannon, grazing the hull of the ship before one of the engines got tore apart. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!!” As his ship began to spin out of control, a blinding light caught his ship and before the tank could fire another blast, the ship disappeared in a large and powerful explosion, making buildings crumble by the shockwave and ripping the earth from the ground. ~#~ A young woman gasped awake, aching pain rippled through her body as she hung upside down in her seat. The harness had jammed and she had been unable to get out with her comrades. Warm blood dripped down her head and smeared itself into her long red hair. Her helmet lay beneath her, acting as a sort of bucket that caught the dripping fluid. Slowly she felt more pain, her ribs felt as if someone had hit her in the chest with a sledgehammer, her right leg felt as if it had been stabbed with a flaming hot knife, and her wrist was all but shattered. “H-Help.” She grunted out before hacking and coughing. “HELP!” She could smell the fuel in the air, if it ignited she would cook in her seat before she had a chance to scream. Slowly she worked her unbroken hand to her thigh and fumbled with the sheath that held her knife. “HELP ME!” She shouted again, grabbing the knife in her weak grip and moving it towards the straps of her harness. She cut the first strap and lurched forwards a bit, she went to cut the second strap but lost her grip on the knife. It fell to the ceiling turned floor with a clatter before sliding away into some unlit part of the dropship. The second strap snapped before she could curse and she plummeted to the ground, landing on her already wounded hand. The women shrieked in pain, she could hear the cracking and crunching bones. The ship was at an angle, she started to slide towards the nose. Thinking quickly she grabbed a cargo hook and hung on for dear life. “HELP ME!” She shouted towards the cargo door, through it she could see the starry night sky. “PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP ME!” Her head started to swim as a concussion made itself clear. There was a mild pounding for a moment before the door to the cockpit started to open, ever so slowly. A loud grunting filled the air as the pilot began to pry the doors open, pushing it open before crawling through the space and stumbling as he got through. He clutched his arm for a brief moment before spotting the woman. “Oh christ...” The pilot muttered as he slowly began to climb his way up. “Ugh, thank god for morphine.” The pilot pulled himself up to her level and looked over her for a moment before glancing about the wrecked ship. He slowly wrapped an arm around her waist, as to avoid causing more pain, and slowly began to pull them up to the cargo door. “Fucking hell, You’d think they’d make a suit lighter, but nooooo... They didn’t account on crash landings...” The woman coughed loudly again, blood spewing from her lips as she did. The pilot looked to her before resuming climbing. “Hey, stay with me now. What’s your name, Sergeant?” The Pilot grunted as he pulled them up. The woman tried to think, but everything was hazy. “I… I can’t remember…” She said through gritted teeth before coughing again. “Where are we?” The Pilot looked back down at her as he grabbed the base of the Cargo door. He looked up and pulled them both up higher before saying. “Well, I’ll let you see for yourself in just... A... Second.” He grunted before he gave a hard tug and pulled them both over the edge. Unfortunately, due to the ship being in the ground, he pulled them both over and fell to the ground. The Pilot landed on his back with the woman landing on his chest and knocking the wind out of him as well as sending a flare of pain up his damaged arm. “Fuck... My... Job...” He muttered as he lifted his head up. The woman used all of her strength to keep from crying out as she felt her ribs shatter. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and slowly she could feel the blood beginning to fill her lungs. The Pilot gently rolled her off and stood up, taking a look around. “Okay... Garden. That’s a start.” He bent down and opened one of the kits on his hip, pulling out a small morphine shot. He swiftly stuck the needle into her thigh and squeezed the needle. As it emptied, he disposed of the needle and looped his arms under her legs and back. “Come on, Sergeant, stay awake now.” He muttered as he began to walk along the path of destruction his ship left when he landed. “So… Tired…” She said between gasps. “Gotta stay awake…” She swallowed hard. “Y-You gotta hit me, it’ll wake me up…” The Pilot looked at her and shook his head. “Ah shit... Sorry, about this ma’am.” The Pilot said,taking his arm from under her legs and gave her a swift punch into her damaged arm before picking her up again. The woman let out a loud scream of pain, but the impact did the trick. “Fuck…” She muttered, looking around. “Where… Where are we? I don’t hear any gunfire…” The Pilot gave a shrug before slinging her good arm over his shoulder. With his arm free, he raised a hand and turned on his radio to signal for evac. “This is Razor Hawk-2, my ship is down and I have a wounded soldier, requesting extraction.” He spoke into the comm. The only response he got was a loud collection of static. “Repeat, this is Razor Hawk-2, my Ship is down, does anyone copy?... Fuck.” As he ended his distress call, the sound of footsteps filled the air. The Pilot’s head snapped in the direction of the sound and he pulled out his pistol, the laser sight powering up. “I hope to god that is the sound of our guys.” The Pilot muttered as he began to backtrack to the ship. “If it’s not…” The woman weakly grabbed her side arm. “Then what?” “We give them one hell of a hello.” The Pilot half joked as he watched the area the sound came from. Chapter 2: ImpactInbound Chapter 2: Impact Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra (Thirty minutes before impact) Discord and Twilight stood outside the throne room of Canterlot Castle, looks of determination on their faces. For weeks they had been striving for this, attempting to find a way to get Harmonic magic and Chaotic magic to coexist and work together for a greater purpose. If they succeeded, the strives in magic would be astronomical and bring about a new age of magic that not even Star Swirl had be able to accomplish. “U-Uhm, I am pretty nervous right now. I mean, I know Celestia doesn’t mind Chaotic magic too much, but I think she may not approve of this...” Twilight stuttered out as she fidgeted in place for a moment. “Chaos does not require approval…” Discord replied. “And I should hope harmony doesn’t need it either. She would be most delighted to have a new era of prosperity come from both, wouldn’t she?” Discord straightened out his body and began to summon his chaos magic. “Now, let me just warm up a bit, get the chaotic juices flowing!” He snapped his fingers and a flower pot sitting near the window imploded in on itself, then cracked his neck and made it reappear. “Aaahhh! Much better. Okay Sparkle, whenever you’re ready.” Twilight took in a shaky breath before opening up the throne room doors and walking inside. Celestia was sitting on her throne, reading over several documents given to her by the nobles of Canterlot and the mayors of the other cities across her nation. She perked up and rolled up the document as she saw Twilight and Discord walking towards her. “Hello, Twilight, and hello to you as well Discord. I take it one of you are here to complain about the other?” Celestia said, giving a small smirk at the two. Twilight shifted for a moment, chuckling nervously as she did so. “Well not exactly. We have actually been getting along quite well these past few weeks.” Twilight began as she nervously began to fiddle with her hands to calm herself. “And... Well... How are you?” Celestia blinked at the question, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject. “Fine... Can’t really complain...” Celestia confused, looking to Twilight. “Twilight, are you alright?” “O-Oh yes! I am great!” Twilight stated, laughing nervously. She was about to speak up once more before Discord stopped her. “Get on with it.” “Yes, Twilight, get on with what you are trying to say.” Celestia implored. “YES! GET ON WITH IT!” Shouted the guards in the room, making them all cringe. Celestia looked at them before raising an eyebrow to Discord with a unamused expression. Discord held up his hands in meager defense at her expression. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.” Discord stated. Twilight cleared her throat and took in a shaky breath before turning back to Celestia. “Well, Princess... Me and Discord have been working on a small project.” She began. “We have been working on a way to get both Harmonic magic that ponies use and Chaotic magic that Discord uses and see if they could work together.” Twilight was waiting for Celestia to scold her for doing something so reckless but instead Celestia’s interest was now peaked at this moment, leaning forward onto her hands. “And what have your studies found?” Celestia asked, her voice filled with curiosity. “Studies?” Discord raised an eyebrow. “We don’t need no stinking studies!” Celestia rolled her eyes while Twilight continued. “W-Well, we have found it to be possible on many occasions. We have successfully made a apple tree produce twice as many apples at twice the size, in half the time. We have also found out several ways to create fire without matches, flint and steel, or rubbing twigs together to create friction!” Twilight stated. “There are so many possibilities that have opened up with the successes we have gotten!” Celestia smiled happily at the news before sitting up properly. “Could you perhaps show me a demonstration of the possibilities?” She asked, looking at the two with a happy glint in her eyes. The two nodded and began to charge their energy. “Lets do fireworks!” Discord said gleefully, Twilight nodded and the both concentrated. The pair fired beams of energy at each other. They had to keep everything balanced or the entire spell could back fire. The beams of energy met in the middle, immediately Discord’s began to overpower Twilight's and so he cut back his power level. “Almost there…” Twilight said, concentrating on fireworks in her head, Discord began to do the same. Imagining the fireworks to appear just outside the throne room. As the spell reached its apex a random thought entered Twilight’s mind, a thought about portals. The spell detonated as it was cast, sending both Twilight and the god of chaos backwards. For several seconds there was silence, then a massive ‘WHOMP’ ing sound. “What did you do, Twi?” Discord asked as he saw the portal start to open. “What did you think about!” His joking demeanor was gone. The portal exploded and a strange metal object flew from its maw. “GET DOWN!” Discord tackled Twilight and Celestia before casting a shield around them, they watched as the metal object slammed through the throne room. The walls crumbled like tissue paper as it slid out the other wall and rolled into the gardens, the nose began to bury itself into the dirt and eventually it came to a screeching halt. The dust that it through up blotted out the moon in the sky, and every sleeping pony in the city awoke to the powerful noise. “What in the name of my sun just happened?” Celestia stated, angered and awed by the events that had transpired. Discord lowered the shield and looked at the wrecked object before looking at Twilight. “What did you think about before the spell was cast, Twilight?” He asked, looking nervously back at the object. “P-Portals.” Twilight replied, still shocked by what had happened. Celestia looked to Twilight for a moment before turning to her guards. “Guard, how long until every single guard is summoned to one location?” She asked, standing up to her full glory. The Guard saluted before answering. “Fifteen minutes your majesty.” Celestia nodded before waving her hand. “Then gather them and meet me at the location of the crash. And be quick.” Celestia stated before turning to Discord and Twilight. “Go see what was just hurled into our world, I will go get Luna to tell her of what has happened.” ~#~ Twilight and Discord approached the downed object, coughing slightly from the dust and the strange fumes that seemed to be emanating from the device. As they got closer they heard a loud, female scream. This froze them in their tracks, no pony ever walked the gardens after dark, not even the guards. The pair walked on in silence, not sure what to think of the scream. As they got closer they could see the massive object. It did not look natural, it had been constructed by something, something that screamed. “THUNDER!” A pained, female voice shouted at them. A few seconds later the same voice shouted again. “THUNDER! OR WE WILL FIRE ON YOU!” Discord snapped his fingers and caused a bolt of thunder. Twilight could hear the voice was much fainter now. “Come on, say the damned password…” There were a few silent seconds before things changed, “ALright, enough waiting, light’em up!” A deeper and male voice shouted as a small red dot zipped near them and an immense bang filled the air, not even milliseconds later the tree next to them exploded into wooden splinters. There were more bangs, but nothing happened to the pair. “I’m out…” The female voice said in an exhausted tone. There was a light grunting as the sound of foot steps quietly filled the air. “There’s ammo back at the ship... Just have to get there... Here take my gun.” The male voice sounded as the footsteps began to fade off in the direction of the crashed object. “Come on, lets go see what just happened.” Discord said in a firm voice. Twilight gawked at Discord before shaking her head and pointing to the mangled mess of a tree. “Did you not see what they just did!? What if they do that to us! They clearly have the power to if they wish!” Twilight hissed, both in terror and astonishment. Discord stepped forwards a few feet and looked at the ground, the red droplets were all to clear. “Twilight, what would Celestia say if she found out one of them died because you were to scared?” Discord asked, dipping his eagle claw into the blood and holding it up for Twilight to see. Even in the dust and dark night air Twilight could see it. She bit her lip in thought, looking back at where the guards would be showing up and then on the creatures that had left. “Oooooh. Fine! But if one of us get’s hurt or killed, it’s all your fault!” She stated as she began to walk towards the crater. Discord smiled triumphantly before running towards the wreck, what he saw astonished him. The object was intricately designed, yet scarily simple looking. It was massive in size, bigger than anything he had seen. Twilight caught up with him and gazed upon the object as well, her eyes caught sight of two figures. One was leaned against the wreckage, a hand over its wounds while the other was looking about and jumping, attempting to get into the opening of the wreck. It finally succeeded in grabbing hold onto the edge of a open door that hung from the wreck, slowly pulling itself in. They could hear it slide down inside the wreck before it climbed back out, carrying two box and a strange tool. As it hopped down into the dirt once more, it whipped its head in their direction. “Ah shit...” It muttered and ran over to its counterpart, handing it the tool and grabbing something smaller from its counterpart, aiming the device at the pair. “Stay back... Whoever you are! I will open fire!” Its counterpart did its best to steady the tool it had been given, but Twilight could see the exhaustion and the pain that it was in. Its grip on the tool faltered for a moment, as if it was fighting to stay awake. “Come on, Sarge, stay with me...” The male voice rang out again as the taller one shook its counterpart. “To… Tired…” It’s counterpart replied. “Can’t… Breathe…” The Taller one began to frantically look back and forth between Twilight and Discord and then back to it’s counterpart. It grabbed the tool and began to pick up its counterpart. “Well, I ain’t letting you go just yet, so just stay the fuck awake!” The male voice stated, lifting the counterpart, grunting as it did so. “Go…” Came the weak reply. Twilight could only watch the scene unfold, the panic in the taller one’s words and the obvious injuries to the smaller one. She looked up at Discord and nudged his side. “We should help them! One of them is hurt!” She stated, pointing to the two creatures. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.” Discord shot back, obviously debating what to do as well. He snapped his fingers and popped up next to the two creatures. The taller one stumbled back as it saw Discord, falling onto its backside and pointing its weapon at him. “Jesus fuck, what the hell are you!?” It shouted in terror, discharging its weapon at Discord several times until the device began to click. Discord snapped his fingers again, the creature froze for a moment before falling backwards in a deep sleep. Twilight had since rushed to the other creature, its eyes were barely open and its breaths were shallow. She could see the fear in the eyes, Twilight lit her horn and thought of every healing spell she knew. When she cast the spell the creature’s eyes widened before they shut and its body went limp. For several seconds Twilight stared at it, fearing she had killed it, but the shallow rising of its chest proved her wrong. Not minutes later, Celestia and Luna arrived, an immense force of soldiers and guards behind them. The two princesses walked forward to Discord and Twilight while the guards began to fan out through the garden to look for anything that might have gotten past them. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Celestia asked while Luna walked over and examined the creatures. Twilight nodded, looking down at the creature before her and then at the larger one that Discord put to sleep. “What in Equestria happened here? We heard explosions from inside the castle!” “This one was trying to help the smaller one, it was near death until Twilight put a maintaining spell on it. I suggest you take it to the infirmary and give it proper attention. As for the explosions…” Discord picked up one of the tools and pulled the small lever. The bang resonated through the area and a guard let out a surprised yelp as something grazed his muzzle. “These should probably be secured.” Chapter 3: ReactionInbound Chapter 3: Reaction Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra Julian slowly began to wake up, groaning loudly and blinking to clear his vision. He heard hushed voices as he came too along with the sound of highheels against tile. As his vision cleared, he found his helmet and suit still on, the creatures must not have known how to take the flight suit off. He began to reach a hand up to take off his helmet, only to find his arms bound to whatever he was laying on. This got his heart pumping blood faster and shot his head up, seeing his arms and legs strapped to the bed he was on. He began to tug on the restraints, testing to see if they were cheaply made. Unfortunately, they seemed to be doing their job rather well. His mind was shifting from calm and collected escape planning to straight panic and terror. He began to tug and thrash about in his restraints, causing quite the ruckus to echo throughout the room. The door opened and someone wearing a hazmat suit entered, their face was hidden by the polarized visor they wore but it was easy to tell that it wasn’t human. It only had four fingers rather than five, it sorely lacked feet. In its hand was a large needle, loaded with a large amount of clear liquid. The appearance of the creature only made him began to thrash around more. “Y-You stay the fuck away from me, you freak!” Julian shouted in terror as he tugged at his bonds. The creature didn’t speak, it simply got closer to him with the needle, when it was beside him it tapped the end of the needle and pushed whatever air bubbles had formed in the syringe out. Finally, with much force and tenacity, the restraint on Julian’s right arm broke. The creature in the hazmat suit flinched as the restraint broke. As the creature reacted, Julian grabbed the syringe from it’s grip and jammed it into the creature’s chest, pushing down on the plunger. There was a good five seconds before the creature fell to the floor with a light thump. After a moment of listening to his own heavy breathing, Julian looked over his other restraints and began to undo them. It didn’t take long for him to be free of his bonds, seeing as they were locked by a buckle, and he stood up to take in his situation. Giving himself a quick check over and finding all of his equipment removed, he looked to the creature that was passed out on the floor and began to search its body for any idea of where he was. He didn’t find much other than a name tag in some strange language and a small notice, again in the same strange language. Giving a disgruntled groan, he walked to the door. Stopping at the door, his hand hovering over the doorknob, he glanced up at the door. Knowing they would not be stupid enough to leave him unguarded, he looked back at his bed, seeing several pieces of monitoring equipment left unused. ~#~ “You see the teets on that female one?” asked one of the guards standing by the door. The other shook his head and looked to his companion. “Not really, all I saw was a bunch of armor and bandages.” he muttered, glancing back at the door to the creature. “Well I saw ‘em, they were HUGE!” “And you are not worried about what they can do?” The other guard asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “What if those are like... Egg sacks like spiders have?” Before the other guard could answer there was a crash behind the door. Both of the guards stepped away from the door, drawing the swords from their sides. The other guard turned to the first and nodded towards the door. “You go in.” “You’re a bucking pussy.” The first guard muttered, he placed his hazmat helmet on before opening the door and leaning in. “Doc? Y’allright?” There was no response, the guard stepped in further. “Doc?” Seconds later something heavy slammed into his head and he fell to the floor. “H-HELP!” He called out. Another impact knocked him unconscious, the other guard rushed in and was clotheslined by a IV hanger. Before he even hit the ground he was punched in the head and also incapacitated. Julian peeked his head out of the room before walking out. He shut the door behind him quietly before starting down the hallway. After a few minutes of jogging aimlessly down the halls, he stopped at a corner as he heard several voices speaking. “Well, we got her stabilized. She seems to have suffered several broken ribs, both of her lungs were punctured, her leg is shattered in four places, and she has a severe concussion. It’s a wonder that she’s alive, or even breathing on her own for that matter.” A somewhat deep male voice stated. “Whatever species she is, her kind is very resilient.” “The armor you removed, does it give any clue as to what her name is? What her species is called?” A regal female voice asked in reply. “No, the female has yet to speak a word or respond to any of us. We have ascertained that her species is remarkably close to our, with obvious differences of course, and this has made it much easier to keep her stable. We have been having trouble with the other one though. Every time it wakes up, it attempts to escape.” The male voice stated again. Julian peeked his head around the corner, his HUD zooming in on two figures. They looked remarkably like one of the two he saw at the crash site. The creatures looked like someone had slapped a human and a pony together and then threw in some food coloring. ‘Probably a failed experiment by the FDC...’ he thought to himself. He looked over the two once more. One was taller than the other, being a deep blue and a mane(Hair?) that looked like someone put the galaxy into its shampoo. It wore a dress that resembled royal wear and had a horn poking out from its head, along with a set of large wings on Its back. The horn and wings threw Julian off for a moment before he glanced at the other one. It was wearing a doctor’s coat and was chocolate brown with a black mane, a horn poking from it’s head. It was at least six inches smaller than the blue one. “Very well, inform me if you should learn anything else.” The deep blue one said before turning towards Julians position and walking. He began to slightly panic as he looked for a place to hide. Only finding banners and pillars to hide behind, he quickly scurried behind a pillar and pressed his back against it, hoping the creature would simply pass. He heard the clicking come towards him, stopping only a moment before continuing down the hall. He peeked out and saw the blue one turn a corner, letting him slip out of hiding and go towards the brown unicorn-man-thing. He saw it walking in the opposite direction, carrying a clipboard and looking over it. Not taking anymore chances, he rushed up and wrapped an arm around the pony-human-doctor neck, he felt him begin to struggle. “Calm down, or I’m gonna break that horn off your head...” Julian growled out. The doctor stopped resisting and somewhat whimpered as he felt Julian push him forward. “Listen closely, doc. I am not in the mood for anymore shit, so just take me to Sarge’s room and you won’t be hurt... Much.” The doctor shakily raised a hand and pointed down the hall. “Sh-She is in there! R-Room 203!” He stuttered out. Julian nodded before reeling his hand back and delivering a hard punch to the back of the doctor’s head, knocking him out. He picked him up before hiding his body behind a pillar and walking down the halls, glancing at the plaques on each door. When he finally arrived at the room, he looked down the halls before stepping back and kicking the door at the handle. Sending several splinters inside the room, the door slammed into the wall as it swung open and startling the nurses inside of the room. As Julian stepped inside, he found the Sergeant laying on the bed, covered in several bandages and casts. He walked towards the bed, the nurses backing away, none of them spoke a word. He only paused a moment to glare at the creatures and to shake the sergeant, only getting mumbles and incoherent words. Julian grunted in annoyance before he began to pick her up. Before he could a Nurse stepped forward and nearly shouted. “Wait! You shouldn’t do that, you could worsen her condition!” His head snapped up, his eyes glaring at her from behind his helmet, and looked down at the sergeant. He raised up from the bed, keeping his glare on the nurse and walked around the bed. The nurses backpedaled into each other as got closer. He stopped only a few feet from them before he grabbed the IV bag off of its stand and hooked it to his left shoulder plate. He turned back to the Sergeant before picking her up, his arms under her legs and holding her back. He gave the nurses one final glare, even if they couldn’t see his face, they knew what he was doing, and walked out of the room. As he entered the halls he began to jog and look for any exit he could find. ‘I need to get to my ship, get my radio working, and call for help.’ he planned as he looked at door after door. He couldn’t read the odd script on the doors and above hallways. He stopped for a moment to glance down at the sergeant, seeing her breathing and listen to his own heavy breathing. He was about to begin to walking once more the sound of a blaring siren filled the sound of the halls. “Aaaaah shit...” At this point Julian was sprinting down the halls trying to find an exit point as he heard a stampede of hazmat suited guards running towards his location. He continued to turn corners and sprint through hallways until he found two massive doors. He stopped only to catch his breath before he pushed the doors open with his foot and lumbered outside. He stopped as the light blinded him, closing his eyes tightly. The sound of metal boots against tile floor made his eyes snap open and see a platoon of guards all holding spears, bows, swords, and crossbows at him. At the front of the group was the blue creature from before and the Purple one from the crash site. “Halt!” The blue one said in an authoritative voice. “Give the other to the medical ponies and get on the ground.” Julian panted for a moment, his eyes surfing over the collection of soldiers. There were no easy escapes aside from darting through them, and that was just as bad an idea. Going back inside was out of the question as well, seeing as they could just corner him easily with their knowledge of the building’s interior. He took in a deep breath before speaking. “And if I don’t?” He asked, his voice raspy and his throat dry. “Then we will have no choice but to neutralize you.” Was the stern reply, the blue one’s horn began to glow as did the purple one’s. “Put her down and surrender. You’re only hurting her more by doing this.” Julian’s vision snapped from the creatures to the Sergeant several times, debating if letting them have her was going to kill her or actually help. “You have our word as Princesses, no harm will come to either of you.” The purple one said in a calm voice, though she seemed to shake a bit. Julian looked to the ‘Princesses’, his vision never leaving them for a second. After a moment, he let out a deep sigh and stepped forward. Reluctantly he put the Sergeant down, along with her IV, onto the ground before stepping back so the other creatures in nurse outfits could attend to her. The Princesses stepped forwards with two guards at their sides. “Come back inside, strange one. We will talk.” The blue one said in a soothing voice, Julian cast a final look at the Sergeant before nodding and being escorted inside. ~#~ Julian sat in the infirmary room where they had placed the Sergeant, his hands cuffed as well as his feet to keep him from doing anything ‘Drastic’, suggested by the blue princess who had found his handiwork. He was silent as he looked over the Sergeant, only to have his attention brought to his right where the Purple Princess was. The purple one shifted in her seat a moment as his gaze stopped at her before she pulled out a parchment and quill. “Lets start with something simple.” She said, trying to sound serious. “What’s your name.” “Captain Julian Schafer, pilot to the Razor Hawk-2.” He stated flatly, shifting in the chair to get comfortable. The purple one quickly wrote down his words onto the parchment before looking at him once more. “Who is she?” The princess pointed to the Sergeant. Julian only glanced over to his sister in arms laying unconscious. He turned back to the purple one, shrugging. “I have no idea.” The princess raised an eyebrow. “I was delivering her, along with twenty-nine other soldiers, to their designated drop zone. My ship was hit, and I crashed. When I came to, she was injured and I wasn’t. It is my duty as a soldier to keep my fellow soldiers alive. The FDC has a tendency to... Abuse their female POWs...” The purple one sat for a moment before realization dawned on her face. “Well… Wow I don’t even know how to respond to that.” She said, looking at Julian and then the Sergeant. “Okay, who is the FDC?” Julian blinked behind his mask, leaning forward slightly. “You don’t know who they are?” He asked before shaking his head. “Well, that puts my mind to ease... Somewhat.” He shook his head before looking back at her. “The FDC is the Federal Dictatorial Council.” His tone began to shift over to anger and hatred as he spoke. “They are a tyrannical society that has bastardized the world with their hideous experiments, unlawful ruling, and horrific desolation of innocent lives and soldiers. They only want to turn the world into a cesspool of destruction and don’t care who they have to kill in order to do it! That is who the FDC are.” As he finished his rant, he leaned back in his chair and looked back at the sergeant. The princess stared at him with wide eyes and a hanging mouth. “That’s… That’s terrible! Why don’t your princesses do anything about it?!” Julian chuckled lightly before holding up a finger. “First off, we don’t have Princesses.” He held up a second. “Second, we are doing something about it. We are sending everyone of those bastards straight to hell! One bullet at a time...” “You’re in a war with the FDC? How long has it been going on?” “Almost fifteen years.” Julian stated grimly. The princess wrote the information down, her face taking on a look of somberness. “Last two questions. What is your vehicle called, and can it be repaired?” “The Vehicle is a M-6 Heavy Transport Cargo Ship Combat Variant. And if I can get a look at the damages, possibly.” Julian said, nodding. “What is your last question?” “What is your species called?” “We are called humans.... Is that all you wish to know?” Julian asked. Receiving a nod from her, he leaned forward once more before stating. “Now it’s my turn to ask. Where the hell are we?”
Chapter 1: ArrivalInbound Chapter 1: Arrival Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra The wind whipped across the deck of the USS Grant, heavy clouds hung in the sky above the massive aircraft carrier. The ship rocked about in the waves, but that did not halt the activity upon its flight deck. Dozens of soldiers were piling into three large dropships, preparing to initiate one of the most important missions of the war. It had been nearly fifteen years since the United Democratic Nations came under attack by the Federal Dictatorial Council. Since then, the world had been tearing itself apart. The eastern hemisphere versus the west. The mission that was to take place today would not only land a decisive blow against the FDC, but also destroy whatever morale their soldiers had left. These thoughts never left the minds of the crew as they readied themselves for the impending attack. ~#~ A pilot named Julian Schafer was preparing his suit for the flight. He had to make sure every single system was at optimal condition. The flight suit was a tad bulky, due to the integrated safety and nano fiber weave. The suit held a holster for a side arm and several pouches for extra magazines, a built in parachute, and sheath for a combat knife. The final feature was a recycling system that kept somewhat fresh air in the pilots lungs for a good 12 hours. After he finished his system’s check, his HUD in his helmet showing everything was in working order, he took off his helmet and breathed in some fresh air. Julian took a look at himself in his locker’s mirror, his reflection showing his tired expression. His amber eyes scanned over his face, looking at the short coal black hair that rested on his head and the five o’clock shadow. Breathing out a sigh, he picked up his helmet and looked it over, giving a small smirk. He grazed his fingers over the light etching of a smile that stretched over the lower half of the helmet, a joke one of the other pilots thought was funny. He slipped his helmet back on, letting the suit link up once more before heading out to the armory to gather the rest of his equipment. ~#~ Julian calmly walked to his dropship, watching as the soldiers piled in, one after another. He took in a deep breath before hopping into the cockpit of his ship. As he sat down in his seat, several screens lit up across the dashboard and the glass in front of him. Hearing several of the other pilots sign in, Julian turned on his coms and signed in as well. “This is Razor Hawk-2, reporting for duty.” Julian stated over the intercoms, the rest of the pilots down the line sounding off. As soon as everyone called in, the commander’s voice came over the comms and PA systems of every ship in the fleet. “One hundred and seventy years ago today, one hundred and sixty thousand allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy. Nine thousand died or were wounded. The D-Day landing gave the allies a foothold and eventually lead to the death of the third reich.” The commander paused for a moment. “Today, we will honor those sacrifices and deliver the killing blow to the evils of the FDC. With resolve unbreakable, and the will to win, we will destroy the pacific wall.” “We all know that some will not be coming home alive, but as our men and women march into Beijing and plant our flag on tallest building in the forbidden city they will be remembered. We cannot and will not accept anything but full and total victory.” The commander paused again, the mission launch countdown popped up onto the HUD of every soldier about to go into the fight. When it hit zero the Commander spoke again. “Begin the operation, and godspeed.” A loud battle cry sounded out through all of the dropships and across the soldiers on the ship. Soon every ship began to take to the sky, blotting out the sun with the immense force that was being sent towards the enemies on the land. Through Julian’s ship, soldiers were murmuring to each other of their mission, giving consents to their friends and making pacts should one of them fall in battle. Julian gripped the control stick a bit tighter as he saw the land approaching. A shockwave filled the air as one of the dropships exploded next to Julian’s ship, the smoldering wreckage barely missing his own ship in it’s flaming descent. The air was soon filled with the sounds of AA fire and missiles soaring past the engines and cockpit. The guns of Julian’s ship began to rev up, spraying the infantry and AA emplacements with thousands of rounds. After an hour of dodging AA guns, cutting down infantry units for the ground troops and several Detours to avoid being shot down, they were finally nearing their drop off zone. Julian hit the intercom and flipped on the green light. “Get ready, we are approaching the drop zone!” Soon they began to arrive at the destination before he saw a rather demoralizing sight. A Ion Cannon mounted onto a massive tank, pointing directly at Julian’s dropship. “Oh shit, fucking jump! Go go go!” He heard the boots of the soldiers hopping off of the dropship as the cargo door opened, as he heard the last set of boots drop off, he began to pull up the dropship to avoid the cannon. Unfortunately, the tank launched the cannon, grazing the hull of the ship before one of the engines got tore apart. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!!” As his ship began to spin out of control, a blinding light caught his ship and before the tank could fire another blast, the ship disappeared in a large and powerful explosion, making buildings crumble by the shockwave and ripping the earth from the ground. ~#~ A young woman gasped awake, aching pain rippled through her body as she hung upside down in her seat. The harness had jammed and she had been unable to get out with her comrades. Warm blood dripped down her head and smeared itself into her long red hair. Her helmet lay beneath her, acting as a sort of bucket that caught the dripping fluid. Slowly she felt more pain, her ribs felt as if someone had hit her in the chest with a sledgehammer, her right leg felt as if it had been stabbed with a flaming hot knife, and her wrist was all but shattered. “H-Help.” She grunted out before hacking and coughing. “HELP!” She could smell the fuel in the air, if it ignited she would cook in her seat before she had a chance to scream. Slowly she worked her unbroken hand to her thigh and fumbled with the sheath that held her knife. “HELP ME!” She shouted again, grabbing the knife in her weak grip and moving it towards the straps of her harness. She cut the first strap and lurched forwards a bit, she went to cut the second strap but lost her grip on the knife. It fell to the ceiling turned floor with a clatter before sliding away into some unlit part of the dropship. The second strap snapped before she could curse and she plummeted to the ground, landing on her already wounded hand. The women shrieked in pain, she could hear the cracking and crunching bones. The ship was at an angle, she started to slide towards the nose. Thinking quickly she grabbed a cargo hook and hung on for dear life. “HELP ME!” She shouted towards the cargo door, through it she could see the starry night sky. “PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP ME!” Her head started to swim as a concussion made itself clear. There was a mild pounding for a moment before the door to the cockpit started to open, ever so slowly. A loud grunting filled the air as the pilot began to pry the doors open, pushing it open before crawling through the space and stumbling as he got through. He clutched his arm for a brief moment before spotting the woman. “Oh christ...” The pilot muttered as he slowly began to climb his way up. “Ugh, thank god for morphine.” The pilot pulled himself up to her level and looked over her for a moment before glancing about the wrecked ship. He slowly wrapped an arm around her waist, as to avoid causing more pain, and slowly began to pull them up to the cargo door. “Fucking hell, You’d think they’d make a suit lighter, but nooooo... They didn’t account on crash landings...” The woman coughed loudly again, blood spewing from her lips as she did. The pilot looked to her before resuming climbing. “Hey, stay with me now. What’s your name, Sergeant?” The Pilot grunted as he pulled them up. The woman tried to think, but everything was hazy. “I… I can’t remember…” She said through gritted teeth before coughing again. “Where are we?” The Pilot looked back down at her as he grabbed the base of the Cargo door. He looked up and pulled them both up higher before saying. “Well, I’ll let you see for yourself in just... A... Second.” He grunted before he gave a hard tug and pulled them both over the edge. Unfortunately, due to the ship being in the ground, he pulled them both over and fell to the ground. The Pilot landed on his back with the woman landing on his chest and knocking the wind out of him as well as sending a flare of pain up his damaged arm. “Fuck... My... Job...” He muttered as he lifted his head up. The woman used all of her strength to keep from crying out as she felt her ribs shatter. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and slowly she could feel the blood beginning to fill her lungs. The Pilot gently rolled her off and stood up, taking a look around. “Okay... Garden. That’s a start.” He bent down and opened one of the kits on his hip, pulling out a small morphine shot. He swiftly stuck the needle into her thigh and squeezed the needle. As it emptied, he disposed of the needle and looped his arms under her legs and back. “Come on, Sergeant, stay awake now.” He muttered as he began to walk along the path of destruction his ship left when he landed. “So… Tired…” She said between gasps. “Gotta stay awake…” She swallowed hard. “Y-You gotta hit me, it’ll wake me up…” The Pilot looked at her and shook his head. “Ah shit... Sorry, about this ma’am.” The Pilot said,taking his arm from under her legs and gave her a swift punch into her damaged arm before picking her up again. The woman let out a loud scream of pain, but the impact did the trick. “Fuck…” She muttered, looking around. “Where… Where are we? I don’t hear any gunfire…” The Pilot gave a shrug before slinging her good arm over his shoulder. With his arm free, he raised a hand and turned on his radio to signal for evac. “This is Razor Hawk-2, my ship is down and I have a wounded soldier, requesting extraction.” He spoke into the comm. The only response he got was a loud collection of static. “Repeat, this is Razor Hawk-2, my Ship is down, does anyone copy?... Fuck.” As he ended his distress call, the sound of footsteps filled the air. The Pilot’s head snapped in the direction of the sound and he pulled out his pistol, the laser sight powering up. “I hope to god that is the sound of our guys.” The Pilot muttered as he began to backtrack to the ship. “If it’s not…” The woman weakly grabbed her side arm. “Then what?” “We give them one hell of a hello.” The Pilot half joked as he watched the area the sound came from.
Chapter 2: ImpactInbound Chapter 2: Impact Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra (Thirty minutes before impact) Discord and Twilight stood outside the throne room of Canterlot Castle, looks of determination on their faces. For weeks they had been striving for this, attempting to find a way to get Harmonic magic and Chaotic magic to coexist and work together for a greater purpose. If they succeeded, the strives in magic would be astronomical and bring about a new age of magic that not even Star Swirl had be able to accomplish. “U-Uhm, I am pretty nervous right now. I mean, I know Celestia doesn’t mind Chaotic magic too much, but I think she may not approve of this...” Twilight stuttered out as she fidgeted in place for a moment. “Chaos does not require approval…” Discord replied. “And I should hope harmony doesn’t need it either. She would be most delighted to have a new era of prosperity come from both, wouldn’t she?” Discord straightened out his body and began to summon his chaos magic. “Now, let me just warm up a bit, get the chaotic juices flowing!” He snapped his fingers and a flower pot sitting near the window imploded in on itself, then cracked his neck and made it reappear. “Aaahhh! Much better. Okay Sparkle, whenever you’re ready.” Twilight took in a shaky breath before opening up the throne room doors and walking inside. Celestia was sitting on her throne, reading over several documents given to her by the nobles of Canterlot and the mayors of the other cities across her nation. She perked up and rolled up the document as she saw Twilight and Discord walking towards her. “Hello, Twilight, and hello to you as well Discord. I take it one of you are here to complain about the other?” Celestia said, giving a small smirk at the two. Twilight shifted for a moment, chuckling nervously as she did so. “Well not exactly. We have actually been getting along quite well these past few weeks.” Twilight began as she nervously began to fiddle with her hands to calm herself. “And... Well... How are you?” Celestia blinked at the question, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject. “Fine... Can’t really complain...” Celestia confused, looking to Twilight. “Twilight, are you alright?” “O-Oh yes! I am great!” Twilight stated, laughing nervously. She was about to speak up once more before Discord stopped her. “Get on with it.” “Yes, Twilight, get on with what you are trying to say.” Celestia implored. “YES! GET ON WITH IT!” Shouted the guards in the room, making them all cringe. Celestia looked at them before raising an eyebrow to Discord with a unamused expression. Discord held up his hands in meager defense at her expression. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.” Discord stated. Twilight cleared her throat and took in a shaky breath before turning back to Celestia. “Well, Princess... Me and Discord have been working on a small project.” She began. “We have been working on a way to get both Harmonic magic that ponies use and Chaotic magic that Discord uses and see if they could work together.” Twilight was waiting for Celestia to scold her for doing something so reckless but instead Celestia’s interest was now peaked at this moment, leaning forward onto her hands. “And what have your studies found?” Celestia asked, her voice filled with curiosity. “Studies?” Discord raised an eyebrow. “We don’t need no stinking studies!” Celestia rolled her eyes while Twilight continued. “W-Well, we have found it to be possible on many occasions. We have successfully made a apple tree produce twice as many apples at twice the size, in half the time. We have also found out several ways to create fire without matches, flint and steel, or rubbing twigs together to create friction!” Twilight stated. “There are so many possibilities that have opened up with the successes we have gotten!” Celestia smiled happily at the news before sitting up properly. “Could you perhaps show me a demonstration of the possibilities?” She asked, looking at the two with a happy glint in her eyes. The two nodded and began to charge their energy. “Lets do fireworks!” Discord said gleefully, Twilight nodded and the both concentrated. The pair fired beams of energy at each other. They had to keep everything balanced or the entire spell could back fire. The beams of energy met in the middle, immediately Discord’s began to overpower Twilight's and so he cut back his power level. “Almost there…” Twilight said, concentrating on fireworks in her head, Discord began to do the same. Imagining the fireworks to appear just outside the throne room. As the spell reached its apex a random thought entered Twilight’s mind, a thought about portals. The spell detonated as it was cast, sending both Twilight and the god of chaos backwards. For several seconds there was silence, then a massive ‘WHOMP’ ing sound. “What did you do, Twi?” Discord asked as he saw the portal start to open. “What did you think about!” His joking demeanor was gone. The portal exploded and a strange metal object flew from its maw. “GET DOWN!” Discord tackled Twilight and Celestia before casting a shield around them, they watched as the metal object slammed through the throne room. The walls crumbled like tissue paper as it slid out the other wall and rolled into the gardens, the nose began to bury itself into the dirt and eventually it came to a screeching halt. The dust that it through up blotted out the moon in the sky, and every sleeping pony in the city awoke to the powerful noise. “What in the name of my sun just happened?” Celestia stated, angered and awed by the events that had transpired. Discord lowered the shield and looked at the wrecked object before looking at Twilight. “What did you think about before the spell was cast, Twilight?” He asked, looking nervously back at the object. “P-Portals.” Twilight replied, still shocked by what had happened. Celestia looked to Twilight for a moment before turning to her guards. “Guard, how long until every single guard is summoned to one location?” She asked, standing up to her full glory. The Guard saluted before answering. “Fifteen minutes your majesty.” Celestia nodded before waving her hand. “Then gather them and meet me at the location of the crash. And be quick.” Celestia stated before turning to Discord and Twilight. “Go see what was just hurled into our world, I will go get Luna to tell her of what has happened.” ~#~ Twilight and Discord approached the downed object, coughing slightly from the dust and the strange fumes that seemed to be emanating from the device. As they got closer they heard a loud, female scream. This froze them in their tracks, no pony ever walked the gardens after dark, not even the guards. The pair walked on in silence, not sure what to think of the scream. As they got closer they could see the massive object. It did not look natural, it had been constructed by something, something that screamed. “THUNDER!” A pained, female voice shouted at them. A few seconds later the same voice shouted again. “THUNDER! OR WE WILL FIRE ON YOU!” Discord snapped his fingers and caused a bolt of thunder. Twilight could hear the voice was much fainter now. “Come on, say the damned password…” There were a few silent seconds before things changed, “ALright, enough waiting, light’em up!” A deeper and male voice shouted as a small red dot zipped near them and an immense bang filled the air, not even milliseconds later the tree next to them exploded into wooden splinters. There were more bangs, but nothing happened to the pair. “I’m out…” The female voice said in an exhausted tone. There was a light grunting as the sound of foot steps quietly filled the air. “There’s ammo back at the ship... Just have to get there... Here take my gun.” The male voice sounded as the footsteps began to fade off in the direction of the crashed object. “Come on, lets go see what just happened.” Discord said in a firm voice. Twilight gawked at Discord before shaking her head and pointing to the mangled mess of a tree. “Did you not see what they just did!? What if they do that to us! They clearly have the power to if they wish!” Twilight hissed, both in terror and astonishment. Discord stepped forwards a few feet and looked at the ground, the red droplets were all to clear. “Twilight, what would Celestia say if she found out one of them died because you were to scared?” Discord asked, dipping his eagle claw into the blood and holding it up for Twilight to see. Even in the dust and dark night air Twilight could see it. She bit her lip in thought, looking back at where the guards would be showing up and then on the creatures that had left. “Oooooh. Fine! But if one of us get’s hurt or killed, it’s all your fault!” She stated as she began to walk towards the crater. Discord smiled triumphantly before running towards the wreck, what he saw astonished him. The object was intricately designed, yet scarily simple looking. It was massive in size, bigger than anything he had seen. Twilight caught up with him and gazed upon the object as well, her eyes caught sight of two figures. One was leaned against the wreckage, a hand over its wounds while the other was looking about and jumping, attempting to get into the opening of the wreck. It finally succeeded in grabbing hold onto the edge of a open door that hung from the wreck, slowly pulling itself in. They could hear it slide down inside the wreck before it climbed back out, carrying two box and a strange tool. As it hopped down into the dirt once more, it whipped its head in their direction. “Ah shit...” It muttered and ran over to its counterpart, handing it the tool and grabbing something smaller from its counterpart, aiming the device at the pair. “Stay back... Whoever you are! I will open fire!” Its counterpart did its best to steady the tool it had been given, but Twilight could see the exhaustion and the pain that it was in. Its grip on the tool faltered for a moment, as if it was fighting to stay awake. “Come on, Sarge, stay with me...” The male voice rang out again as the taller one shook its counterpart. “To… Tired…” It’s counterpart replied. “Can’t… Breathe…” The Taller one began to frantically look back and forth between Twilight and Discord and then back to it’s counterpart. It grabbed the tool and began to pick up its counterpart. “Well, I ain’t letting you go just yet, so just stay the fuck awake!” The male voice stated, lifting the counterpart, grunting as it did so. “Go…” Came the weak reply. Twilight could only watch the scene unfold, the panic in the taller one’s words and the obvious injuries to the smaller one. She looked up at Discord and nudged his side. “We should help them! One of them is hurt!” She stated, pointing to the two creatures. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.” Discord shot back, obviously debating what to do as well. He snapped his fingers and popped up next to the two creatures. The taller one stumbled back as it saw Discord, falling onto its backside and pointing its weapon at him. “Jesus fuck, what the hell are you!?” It shouted in terror, discharging its weapon at Discord several times until the device began to click. Discord snapped his fingers again, the creature froze for a moment before falling backwards in a deep sleep. Twilight had since rushed to the other creature, its eyes were barely open and its breaths were shallow. She could see the fear in the eyes, Twilight lit her horn and thought of every healing spell she knew. When she cast the spell the creature’s eyes widened before they shut and its body went limp. For several seconds Twilight stared at it, fearing she had killed it, but the shallow rising of its chest proved her wrong. Not minutes later, Celestia and Luna arrived, an immense force of soldiers and guards behind them. The two princesses walked forward to Discord and Twilight while the guards began to fan out through the garden to look for anything that might have gotten past them. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Celestia asked while Luna walked over and examined the creatures. Twilight nodded, looking down at the creature before her and then at the larger one that Discord put to sleep. “What in Equestria happened here? We heard explosions from inside the castle!” “This one was trying to help the smaller one, it was near death until Twilight put a maintaining spell on it. I suggest you take it to the infirmary and give it proper attention. As for the explosions…” Discord picked up one of the tools and pulled the small lever. The bang resonated through the area and a guard let out a surprised yelp as something grazed his muzzle. “These should probably be secured.”
Chapter 3: ReactionInbound Chapter 3: Reaction Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra Julian slowly began to wake up, groaning loudly and blinking to clear his vision. He heard hushed voices as he came too along with the sound of highheels against tile. As his vision cleared, he found his helmet and suit still on, the creatures must not have known how to take the flight suit off. He began to reach a hand up to take off his helmet, only to find his arms bound to whatever he was laying on. This got his heart pumping blood faster and shot his head up, seeing his arms and legs strapped to the bed he was on. He began to tug on the restraints, testing to see if they were cheaply made. Unfortunately, they seemed to be doing their job rather well. His mind was shifting from calm and collected escape planning to straight panic and terror. He began to tug and thrash about in his restraints, causing quite the ruckus to echo throughout the room. The door opened and someone wearing a hazmat suit entered, their face was hidden by the polarized visor they wore but it was easy to tell that it wasn’t human. It only had four fingers rather than five, it sorely lacked feet. In its hand was a large needle, loaded with a large amount of clear liquid. The appearance of the creature only made him began to thrash around more. “Y-You stay the fuck away from me, you freak!” Julian shouted in terror as he tugged at his bonds. The creature didn’t speak, it simply got closer to him with the needle, when it was beside him it tapped the end of the needle and pushed whatever air bubbles had formed in the syringe out. Finally, with much force and tenacity, the restraint on Julian’s right arm broke. The creature in the hazmat suit flinched as the restraint broke. As the creature reacted, Julian grabbed the syringe from it’s grip and jammed it into the creature’s chest, pushing down on the plunger. There was a good five seconds before the creature fell to the floor with a light thump. After a moment of listening to his own heavy breathing, Julian looked over his other restraints and began to undo them. It didn’t take long for him to be free of his bonds, seeing as they were locked by a buckle, and he stood up to take in his situation. Giving himself a quick check over and finding all of his equipment removed, he looked to the creature that was passed out on the floor and began to search its body for any idea of where he was. He didn’t find much other than a name tag in some strange language and a small notice, again in the same strange language. Giving a disgruntled groan, he walked to the door. Stopping at the door, his hand hovering over the doorknob, he glanced up at the door. Knowing they would not be stupid enough to leave him unguarded, he looked back at his bed, seeing several pieces of monitoring equipment left unused. ~#~ “You see the teets on that female one?” asked one of the guards standing by the door. The other shook his head and looked to his companion. “Not really, all I saw was a bunch of armor and bandages.” he muttered, glancing back at the door to the creature. “Well I saw ‘em, they were HUGE!” “And you are not worried about what they can do?” The other guard asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “What if those are like... Egg sacks like spiders have?” Before the other guard could answer there was a crash behind the door. Both of the guards stepped away from the door, drawing the swords from their sides. The other guard turned to the first and nodded towards the door. “You go in.” “You’re a bucking pussy.” The first guard muttered, he placed his hazmat helmet on before opening the door and leaning in. “Doc? Y’allright?” There was no response, the guard stepped in further. “Doc?” Seconds later something heavy slammed into his head and he fell to the floor. “H-HELP!” He called out. Another impact knocked him unconscious, the other guard rushed in and was clotheslined by a IV hanger. Before he even hit the ground he was punched in the head and also incapacitated. Julian peeked his head out of the room before walking out. He shut the door behind him quietly before starting down the hallway. After a few minutes of jogging aimlessly down the halls, he stopped at a corner as he heard several voices speaking. “Well, we got her stabilized. She seems to have suffered several broken ribs, both of her lungs were punctured, her leg is shattered in four places, and she has a severe concussion. It’s a wonder that she’s alive, or even breathing on her own for that matter.” A somewhat deep male voice stated. “Whatever species she is, her kind is very resilient.” “The armor you removed, does it give any clue as to what her name is? What her species is called?” A regal female voice asked in reply. “No, the female has yet to speak a word or respond to any of us. We have ascertained that her species is remarkably close to our, with obvious differences of course, and this has made it much easier to keep her stable. We have been having trouble with the other one though. Every time it wakes up, it attempts to escape.” The male voice stated again. Julian peeked his head around the corner, his HUD zooming in on two figures. They looked remarkably like one of the two he saw at the crash site. The creatures looked like someone had slapped a human and a pony together and then threw in some food coloring. ‘Probably a failed experiment by the FDC...’ he thought to himself. He looked over the two once more. One was taller than the other, being a deep blue and a mane(Hair?) that looked like someone put the galaxy into its shampoo. It wore a dress that resembled royal wear and had a horn poking out from its head, along with a set of large wings on Its back. The horn and wings threw Julian off for a moment before he glanced at the other one. It was wearing a doctor’s coat and was chocolate brown with a black mane, a horn poking from it’s head. It was at least six inches smaller than the blue one. “Very well, inform me if you should learn anything else.” The deep blue one said before turning towards Julians position and walking. He began to slightly panic as he looked for a place to hide. Only finding banners and pillars to hide behind, he quickly scurried behind a pillar and pressed his back against it, hoping the creature would simply pass. He heard the clicking come towards him, stopping only a moment before continuing down the hall. He peeked out and saw the blue one turn a corner, letting him slip out of hiding and go towards the brown unicorn-man-thing. He saw it walking in the opposite direction, carrying a clipboard and looking over it. Not taking anymore chances, he rushed up and wrapped an arm around the pony-human-doctor neck, he felt him begin to struggle. “Calm down, or I’m gonna break that horn off your head...” Julian growled out. The doctor stopped resisting and somewhat whimpered as he felt Julian push him forward. “Listen closely, doc. I am not in the mood for anymore shit, so just take me to Sarge’s room and you won’t be hurt... Much.” The doctor shakily raised a hand and pointed down the hall. “Sh-She is in there! R-Room 203!” He stuttered out. Julian nodded before reeling his hand back and delivering a hard punch to the back of the doctor’s head, knocking him out. He picked him up before hiding his body behind a pillar and walking down the halls, glancing at the plaques on each door. When he finally arrived at the room, he looked down the halls before stepping back and kicking the door at the handle. Sending several splinters inside the room, the door slammed into the wall as it swung open and startling the nurses inside of the room. As Julian stepped inside, he found the Sergeant laying on the bed, covered in several bandages and casts. He walked towards the bed, the nurses backing away, none of them spoke a word. He only paused a moment to glare at the creatures and to shake the sergeant, only getting mumbles and incoherent words. Julian grunted in annoyance before he began to pick her up. Before he could a Nurse stepped forward and nearly shouted. “Wait! You shouldn’t do that, you could worsen her condition!” His head snapped up, his eyes glaring at her from behind his helmet, and looked down at the sergeant. He raised up from the bed, keeping his glare on the nurse and walked around the bed. The nurses backpedaled into each other as got closer. He stopped only a few feet from them before he grabbed the IV bag off of its stand and hooked it to his left shoulder plate. He turned back to the Sergeant before picking her up, his arms under her legs and holding her back. He gave the nurses one final glare, even if they couldn’t see his face, they knew what he was doing, and walked out of the room. As he entered the halls he began to jog and look for any exit he could find. ‘I need to get to my ship, get my radio working, and call for help.’ he planned as he looked at door after door. He couldn’t read the odd script on the doors and above hallways. He stopped for a moment to glance down at the sergeant, seeing her breathing and listen to his own heavy breathing. He was about to begin to walking once more the sound of a blaring siren filled the sound of the halls. “Aaaaah shit...” At this point Julian was sprinting down the halls trying to find an exit point as he heard a stampede of hazmat suited guards running towards his location. He continued to turn corners and sprint through hallways until he found two massive doors. He stopped only to catch his breath before he pushed the doors open with his foot and lumbered outside. He stopped as the light blinded him, closing his eyes tightly. The sound of metal boots against tile floor made his eyes snap open and see a platoon of guards all holding spears, bows, swords, and crossbows at him. At the front of the group was the blue creature from before and the Purple one from the crash site. “Halt!” The blue one said in an authoritative voice. “Give the other to the medical ponies and get on the ground.” Julian panted for a moment, his eyes surfing over the collection of soldiers. There were no easy escapes aside from darting through them, and that was just as bad an idea. Going back inside was out of the question as well, seeing as they could just corner him easily with their knowledge of the building’s interior. He took in a deep breath before speaking. “And if I don’t?” He asked, his voice raspy and his throat dry. “Then we will have no choice but to neutralize you.” Was the stern reply, the blue one’s horn began to glow as did the purple one’s. “Put her down and surrender. You’re only hurting her more by doing this.” Julian’s vision snapped from the creatures to the Sergeant several times, debating if letting them have her was going to kill her or actually help. “You have our word as Princesses, no harm will come to either of you.” The purple one said in a calm voice, though she seemed to shake a bit. Julian looked to the ‘Princesses’, his vision never leaving them for a second. After a moment, he let out a deep sigh and stepped forward. Reluctantly he put the Sergeant down, along with her IV, onto the ground before stepping back so the other creatures in nurse outfits could attend to her. The Princesses stepped forwards with two guards at their sides. “Come back inside, strange one. We will talk.” The blue one said in a soothing voice, Julian cast a final look at the Sergeant before nodding and being escorted inside. ~#~ Julian sat in the infirmary room where they had placed the Sergeant, his hands cuffed as well as his feet to keep him from doing anything ‘Drastic’, suggested by the blue princess who had found his handiwork. He was silent as he looked over the Sergeant, only to have his attention brought to his right where the Purple Princess was. The purple one shifted in her seat a moment as his gaze stopped at her before she pulled out a parchment and quill. “Lets start with something simple.” She said, trying to sound serious. “What’s your name.” “Captain Julian Schafer, pilot to the Razor Hawk-2.” He stated flatly, shifting in the chair to get comfortable. The purple one quickly wrote down his words onto the parchment before looking at him once more. “Who is she?” The princess pointed to the Sergeant. Julian only glanced over to his sister in arms laying unconscious. He turned back to the purple one, shrugging. “I have no idea.” The princess raised an eyebrow. “I was delivering her, along with twenty-nine other soldiers, to their designated drop zone. My ship was hit, and I crashed. When I came to, she was injured and I wasn’t. It is my duty as a soldier to keep my fellow soldiers alive. The FDC has a tendency to... Abuse their female POWs...” The purple one sat for a moment before realization dawned on her face. “Well… Wow I don’t even know how to respond to that.” She said, looking at Julian and then the Sergeant. “Okay, who is the FDC?” Julian blinked behind his mask, leaning forward slightly. “You don’t know who they are?” He asked before shaking his head. “Well, that puts my mind to ease... Somewhat.” He shook his head before looking back at her. “The FDC is the Federal Dictatorial Council.” His tone began to shift over to anger and hatred as he spoke. “They are a tyrannical society that has bastardized the world with their hideous experiments, unlawful ruling, and horrific desolation of innocent lives and soldiers. They only want to turn the world into a cesspool of destruction and don’t care who they have to kill in order to do it! That is who the FDC are.” As he finished his rant, he leaned back in his chair and looked back at the sergeant. The princess stared at him with wide eyes and a hanging mouth. “That’s… That’s terrible! Why don’t your princesses do anything about it?!” Julian chuckled lightly before holding up a finger. “First off, we don’t have Princesses.” He held up a second. “Second, we are doing something about it. We are sending everyone of those bastards straight to hell! One bullet at a time...” “You’re in a war with the FDC? How long has it been going on?” “Almost fifteen years.” Julian stated grimly. The princess wrote the information down, her face taking on a look of somberness. “Last two questions. What is your vehicle called, and can it be repaired?” “The Vehicle is a M-6 Heavy Transport Cargo Ship Combat Variant. And if I can get a look at the damages, possibly.” Julian said, nodding. “What is your last question?” “What is your species called?” “We are called humans.... Is that all you wish to know?” Julian asked. Receiving a nod from her, he leaned forward once more before stating. “Now it’s my turn to ask. Where the hell are we?”
