Nothing ever goes as planned

Sometimes things don't turn out quite as expected.
For instance, I never expected to become a nation's most deadly soldier just by my race, fall in love or get sent to a land of- oh, where are my manners? My name’s Nate (but most people just call me Umbra) and I've got a hell of a story to tell you. But what fun is there in picking up here? Grab a chair and your favorite brew and listen up while I tell you my story...

XxX

Umbra

It was a dreary night on base, the rain was picking up and the wind was getting colder by the second. I glanced around the perimeter of our small refugee base to see men and women doing their routine patrols and taking stock of our equipment; I saw groups of ragged survivors sitting around makeshift homes and fire barrels. The condition of the camp was… sub par, at best, and it wouldn't last much longer. Listening intently I could hear the distant thunder of battle echoing through the trees, still miles away.

A flash of lightning illuminated a silhouette on the horizon.

Picking up the angular black marksman’s rifle and shouldering it, I gazed down the sight.

"Damn deer.." I mumbled, resting the DSR-1 on my lap once more.

"That's ‘bout the third one today, Nate. What has 'em so spooked?" Muttered the gruff, weathered man sitting next to me on the wall in an old lawn chair; his gaze never leaving the area in front of him, even for a second.

"My guess is on the military; I’d better go warn the scouts." I said as I stood, using my DSR’s sling to carry the rifle’s weight over my back and picking up the Kel-Tec RFB that was leaning next to the crate I was sitting on, as the sleek, black bull-pup rifle balanced perfectly in my hand while I turned it over. I stared affectionately down at it’s slick matte black finish, the 4x ACOG optic on the top and the long, black shroud of a suppressor covering the barrel. Picking up a few magazines of ammunition, I loaded one into the gun. Hearing the satisfying clack as the gun chambered the heavy 308 round, I prepared to jump down from the wall when I was interrupted.

"Hey, if you’re going to see Echo tell him I said to check the supply for a few Flashes, I'm out.” Mike said while staring off into the blackness of the night. I gazed up at the sky, the foggy clouds not even allowing the moon to bless us this night.

"Sure thing." I told him while I jumped from the wall and walked toward the center of the refugee camp. As I walked I looked around and took notice of the camps status. Most of the decrepit buildings are on the brink of falling down, the wall has fist size holes all through it from rotting and broken materials, and the overall feel of the camp is somber and demoralized. Looks like the rain is finally getting to the camp, it’s been almost three days of constant rain. I took notice of a small group of men sitting around a fire filled with pictures of what I assumed to be families long gone. I chose to ignore it, they have their reasons for burning them and I didn't care enough to bother the group. Looking around more, I saw a group of guards sitting by a fire barrel. Everyone had there own little things they did for luck. Jake always sharpened his knife five times every day. Hamus said a new prayer everyday, despite not having a religion. I always cleaned my rifles Twice a day. One of the guys here had his little purple pony figure. Camps like mine have popped up more frequently now that the military was making a move on the resistance. I moved to a small tent toward the center of camp and ran into Echo.

"Hey Echo. Anything to report?" I said comfortably as I walked through the portal into the warmth of the tents interior. The tent was fairly small, only large enough to fit a small table, a radio, and a few maps. I shot a fleeting glance back at the scrawny man standing in the portal. His short blonde hair rested in front of his azure eyes, I glanced at the scar adorning his left cheek and felt a memory surface before stuffing it back down. I noticed his dingy, beige coat was covered in specks of blood, no doubt from his last turn on the wall.

I remember when that coat was white…

"Uhh...We have reports of military movement inside of grid 2,5, and 8. Scouts report only small contingents of them though. I also heard from India, they think that the military is backing off. Do you think something's going to happen?" Echo asked as he looked out the tent flap at the torrential downpour. You see, around 60 years ago, there was a man. Nothing more, nothing less, just a single man. This man gave threats of nuclear strikes on the United States. Now you'd think it would be from some foreign government or third world country but no, not this time. no one knows who he was, where he was, or why he did this but this one man single handily collapsed the entirety of the United States. One nuke, one nuke is all it took to destroy our world. It wasn't anywhere large like the White House or the Pentagon. It happened in the small city of Albia, Iowa...In an elementary school. This man killed thousands, The military was on high alert and most states were put into Martial Law. Riots eventually broke out from the constant pressure of the military and civilians were killed because of it. This sparked a revolution against the government. This one, evil bastard of a man single handily destroyed the life we all knew.

"I have a niggling feeling that they're going to try something, but I'm not sure what." I said as I ran a hand through my surprisingly long brown hair. "Did they say how many there were?"

"Negative, but they did say that just before they pulled out there was some sort of explosion about a mile away." Echo said while reading over a list of stockpiled goods.

"Roger that, Tell them to re-locate if possible and to keep moving. I don't want them sitting high and dry with no one to back them up." I said before a thought shot into my brain. "Hey, are the patrols still on 185.2?"

"Yes...Why?" Echo asked as he looked up from the chart with furrowed brows, confusion plastered over his face.

"I noticed a lot of animal activity today and figured It'd be safe to call up a warning. Last thing we need right now is a surprise attack." I said as I walked over to the radio and tuned to the frequency. I picked up the transmitter and took a breath.

"All Patrols this is Umbra. You are to be alert and increase patrol length by 50 meters. I've got suspicion of possible military activity nearby. Out" I turned off the transmitter and set it back on the table and walked back to Echo.

"Mike said he needed some more Flash Bangs. I'm also gonna need a bit more ammo. I'd like to check out that explosion India was talking about. It should have only been two or three kilometers away." I said as I cast a glance at a small map of the suburban area of New York. I searched for a route that would quickly take us to our destination. I was following a promising path and found that heading along a stream 50 meters from the camp would be our best bet.

"Sure thing. I'll go get the stuff." Echo said as he hurried off to get the equipment. While I waited, I sat back and let my mind wander.

I've been at this for what? Sixteen? Seventeen years? Damn, I'm surprised I've lived this long...Heh, I wonder if Old Rock is still kicking. Old coot never would just lay down and die…

I was pulled from my thoughts as Echo came back in with a large ALICE pack over his shoulder which he promptly threw to me.

"Thanks Echo. So, what's our haul?" I asked with a small laugh. dawning the bag I felt the hefty thing filled to the brim with equipment.

"5 Flashes for Mike and 5 mags for each of your weapons plus 3, 20 round boxes of ammo. I also threw in some old combat knives I found laying around. All that plus what you guys normally carry should be more than enough to clear a building or three." He said with a chuckle as he glanced down at the list and made a few adjustments. I whistled in appreciation and let out a small smile.

"Sweet! Thanks Echo! I'll keep you up to date when I can." I said as I walked outside of the warm, dry tent into the freezing monsoon outside. I walked my way through the camp and climbed back up to my perch on the wall. I saw Mike and doffed the bag. I threw the bag beside him.

"That the stuff?" He asked without even looking at the bag.

"Sure is, we've got more than enough. Lets load up and get going." I said as I opened the bag and pulled out my share of the ammunition. I placed the extra mags in my vest pockets and pulled out the knife. "Holy shit..."

"What?" Mike asked with a glance up to me. I noticed he already has his Flash Bangs hooked up to his vest and has his knife across his chest.

"This is a Chaos Tanto. A 7 1/2 inch blade, aluminum D ring handle, aluminum pommel that can be used as a small blunt pike or a glass breaker…This is some high quality shit!" I screeched out in glee as I tied the sheath around my left arm and put the knife inside. "You all set?"

"Yeah, lets get this done." Mike said as he jumped over the side of the wall and into the abyss below. I once again donned the pack and followed. Once at the bottom of the wall I told Mike of the plan and that we are to follow a small stream to the building. We decided it was best to use code names, I chose Umbra, which is Latin for Shade. Mike chose Hamus, which means Talon. We nodded to each other and began our trek.

"Two marks...Fifteen meters..." I whispered into my throat mic. We walked no more than 20 minutes before running into our first obstacle. The building we wanted to search had a five man military patrol outside. This building was a large 3 story apartment complex. A good portion of the wall was missing and piled in front of the building. It's white, flaking paint had turned a disgusting beige from the dust and debris from sixty years of fighting. Hamus was set up about 6 meters to my left and waited for an opportune time to strike. We waited for a few more seconds and three men broke off to search the building, leaving two all alone. I aligned the cross-hair of my ACOG on the head of the back solider.

"Tag 'em." Hamus grunted through the mic. His words were followed by two muffled snaps as our rifles fire. I watched with bated breath as my round sailed through the air and made a home in the concrete...But not before it blasted through the guards head leaving a fist sized hole behind. I pulled back the charging handle and cursed the subsonic rounds for not cycling. I glanced left to see Hamus’ target bleeding out from a throat shot before another snap was heard and the man goes still, missing a large portion of his skull.

"Targets down. We shouldn't go in the front door. I got a prime entrance point though...Second floor, man sized hole on top of that rubble pile." I spoke into my mic. I looked over to Hamus and saw him nod. I stood and raised my RFB advancing on the location slowly. Once we made it to the rubble pile, I noticed someone is going to need to boost the other up to make it through the hole. I scurried up the pile and placed my back against the wall, once I had good footing I began sliding down into a sitting position. I nodded to Hamus and let him scale up my body and hoist himself into the hole. I waited a few agonizing seconds before I heard a muffled snap, barely audible over the sound of the rain. I heard an all clear from the radio and waited for him to hoist me up. After I made it inside I looked around and saw the body of one of the guards against a wall with a look of shock on his face. poor bastard never even saw it coming.

We worked our way through the rest of the floor in silence. Once we found this floor all clear we go to move up a floor only to find the stairs collapsed. We switched directions and headed downstairs and find the last two guards sitting around a fire.

"Shit...Are you sure he'll be ok?" The one on the right asked. We moved as silently as we could up to them.

"I'm not a psychiatrist but I think he'll be fine. He took it pretty hard at first but-” He never got to finish, seeing as Hamus’ knife was sticking through his throat. The other guard recoiled in shock before finding my knife, buried up to the hand guard, in his chest.

"Targets eliminated. All clear." Hamus said to me as he checked the door to make sure there was no one else.

"Alright, I want you to look around for anything useful. Food, water, weapons, ammo, meds anything that can be used to better our camp." I said to him as I took the ammunition from the two corpses. Mike nodded and wandered off to scavenge up whatever he could find. See, there's a rule to scavenging. It goes, you should always bring more bags than needed, or, a REALLY big bag. There's a reason for that too, I learned exactly why as I stared down at the crate of weapons and ammo beside the fire. There had to be at least 5 handguns, 3 carbines, 2 shotguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each. I loaded up all the ammo and a few pistols. I placed a High Point 9mm bull-pup rifle into the backpack along with a Sub2000 collapsible 40. caliber rifle. The rifles took up a good portion of the space and the handguns filled the rest, ammo got it’s own section all to itself. I left the rest of the rifles and both shotguns for Mike. I moved into the adjacent room, it was a small office area. I looked around and saw a few filing cabinets and a metal desk.

If only I had a way to bring that...I mused to myself. I walked up and checked the cabinets and, as expected, found piles of useless paperwork. I moved on to the desk and was about to open it when I heard a yell from the other room. I turned on a heel and ran to the room with my rifle up. I looked all around but didn't see anything. But how...I know I heard something. Wait...What's that? I noticed a lone gun laying on the ground with no owner. I walked up to it and my stomach dropped when I saw that it's Mikes M6A2. I slung it over my back and moved around the room looking for any sign of my comrade.

"Hamus? Hamus you in here?" I whispered as I worked my way into the next room. I looked around in disbelief when I noticed something else strange.

"Why does it reek like ozone in here?" I asked myself aloud as I took a deep breath of the burning smell and had a mini coughing fit for my trouble. I looked around for anything that could have caused it but turned up nothing. I slammed against the wall and started to slide down. I let my rifle fall and hang on the sling as I rested my head in my hands and sighed.

"Dammit Mike..." I sighed into my hands. I lifted my head up when a strange sensation came over me. I looked all around but didn't see anything, I stood up and snaked my way to the other side of the room.

It feels like I’m a thousand pounds and weightless at the same time.

I placed a hand on the door frame and peeked into the next room, again turning up nothing. I fell back to the center of the room and looked at all the details in the small room. I didn't know what It was but I knew something was off. I looked all around but didn’t see anything, and it was making me nervous. I was just about to call back to base when I heard what sounded to be thunder and everything went to a deep, fiery green as my ear drums exploded into an ear piercing screech.

Twilight

The burning warmth shone down upon my back as I raced though the small town of Ponyville. I could hear the crackling and popping coming from the forest. I could see the blinding light and feel its scorching heat radiating through the air. I finally made it to my destination, a large group of ponies were gathered at the edge of town. I looked around frantically until my eyes rested on a wondrous sight. My friends were gathered more towards the front of the group and closer to the forest. I noticed they each had their elements and Rainbow had mine in her saddlebags. I pushed my way through the crowed as I worked toward my friends.

"Girls! What's going on!?" I shouted over the constant wave of voices as the crowed panicked. I saw AppleJacks ear twitch before she glanced back at me. Once she saw me she instantly sprung to help me. She pushed through the crowd before slinging me on her back. She began the long, arduous task of working back to our friends. The frenzy of ponies were starting to get a bit more worried. Once we made it back to the group AJ sat me down.

"Now, what is going on?" I asked.

"We...Don't know. This just kinda appeared from nowhere!" Rainbow said quickly.

"What do we do now?" Applejack asked from beside me.

"We should tell the princesses!" I blurted out quickly.

"Well what are we waitin' for? Let's go!" AppleJack shouted as we raced toward the train station. With all six of us together, the crowd thankfully moved out of our way. When we made it to the station there was, thankfully, a train already there. We ran to the conductor and told him what was going on. He ushered us onto the train and we quickly set way for Canterlot.

Author's Note

This is my first story so let me know what you guys think of it. I could really use an editor to make my completely crappy story a little less crappy. Thanks for reading! There is more where this came from if y'all are interested!