////Kenyon\\
"Granite, are you ready for the infiltration?" The commander's voice crackled over my earpiece disturbing the quiet night that I had gotten used too. I pressed the button on the side of my earpiece to activate the microphone. "Yes sir," I replied. The other members in my team began to stir as they too heard the commander voice.
"Okay Granite, wait for Lockdown to start the distraction. Cassi out" The crackling in my ear stopped as the commander's voice died. I turned to my squad who were now throwing their backpacks over their shoulders, we had been camped out here for over three days. "Alright Granite, were going to get this done quick, in and out." I was greeted by a chorus of 'Yes sir' I took a deep breath, letting the cold winter air enter my lungs. Stifling a cough I prepared my wing-suit. Daisy walked over to me, I looked at her and just by her face I could tell she was nervous.
She had bright blue eyes and short cut blonde hair. She was very fit and was a lot more athletic than the others in the team as she showed us on the track. It was her first operation and I knew she wanted to make a first impression."What do you need Daisy?"
"Well sir, it's just that this is my first operation and well I am just scared that I am going to mess up is all." I threw a hood over my head and looked over to her.
"We all make mistakes Daisy, just try not to as a mistake at something as high risk as this we can't afford a mess up"
"That's what I'm scared of." I gave her a warm smile, that I doubt she could because of the hood over my head and the dimming light.
"Just follow my lead Ms. Sharp. We will make it out, I promise." She smiled and nodded before she threw a hood over her head so I could see nothing but her light blue eyes.
An explosion signalled that it was time to go. "Move Granite!" I yelled and jumped off of the cliff we were stationed on, my team following suit. I spread my arms out and felt my descent slow tremendously. I angled so I would land on a rooftop of the compound. I hit the roof with a light thud and immediately fished a small amount of C4 that was fastened to my side. There were gunshots in the distance, presumably from Lockdown's distraction.
I could hear light thuds as my team hit the rooftop around me. There was five of us. Me, Daisy, Cole, Micheal and Brynn. Cole walked up to me and handed me my AR-15. Cole was the shortest on the team and had brown hair with matching brown eyes. He was very muscular and not one of us was able to beat him in an arm wrestle yet. He was our marksman on the team and had gotten us out of many sticky situations.
I pulled the bolt back and nodded at Cole. "Alright team, lets go." I jumped off the building and landed as softly as I was able with all of the things I was carrying. I brought out the trigger to the C4 and threw it to Micheal. The tall man caught it and pulled the trigger. There was a loud explosion and I ran towards the building, jumping through a window with my team beside me. The Rebels on the inside were to busy pointing their guns at the ceiling to notice us coming in from the side. We dispatched them quickly
After clearing the top floor we regrouped in the building. "Alright Granite. The whole compound had to know we are here now, so lets not dilly daddle. I want to get out of here quickly if any of you find something that may lead us to the superweapon, let us know," the group around me nodded their confirmation.
Mental note: Train a slightly more disciplined team when we get back "Lets get to it then!" We all went our separate ways and began scanning the building. I walked into a random room and began searching. First I looked through all the desks for papers on where it might be hidden and only came up with a door code that I assumed would come in handy later. After about ten more stress filled minutes of searching I heard Micheal's voice crack over the radio. "I found a door with a keypad in the West room, I suppose something might be behind it." I sprinted out of the room I was currently searching and went into Micheal's which had a bookcase laying on the floor and a code-locked door on the far wall. " What made you throw the bookcase over there Micheal?"
"Let's be honest sir, why would a rebel have a bookcase in their office?" I shrugged.
"Good enough." Micheal was the tallest one in the group, he easily towered over me by four inches and had a very lanky body. He never won at wrestling as it was much to easy to get under him. He had dirty blonde hair with pale blue eyes and an always unshaven face. He was the one that always blew stuff up on our team and greatly enjoyed it. He was the joker of our team and took almost nothing serious. I took the paper with the keycode out of my pocket and entered it in. It didn't work. "Nothing can be easy can it?" I mumbled as I set my AR-15 on the ground next to me. Pulling out hacking equipment I quickly hacked it and the door hissed open. "Shall we?" I asked motioning with my hand to move forward. They all looked at me strangely and I took that as my hint to go first.
After walking for about half an hour in darkness only illuminated by our night vision goggles Brynn spoke up from the back of the group. "Sir, I hear voices from back there, we should move faster."
"I know Brynn, but if you haven't noticed we are going downhill and if we go faster we are going to tumble and it will not be fun." I replied. Brynn was a red head with green eyes. She was the smarts of the group and usually made quicker decisions than I did in the spur of the moment. She was the second shortest of the group and had a very built body that she used very effectively at breaking down doors. I heard Brynn's loud sigh, "Yes sir." That was when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
"See Brynn? You only had to stay quiet for a few minutes longer and we where there!" I heard some mumbling but chose to ignore it. I walked inside of the blindingly white room and squinted as my eyes adjusted from the green that the night vision goggles saw in. That was when a door sealed shut behind us. "Well, it could be worse." Micheal said. That was when a hissing from gas began to sound above it and when I looked up I could see a green gas slowly creep towards us. "Just had to say something didn't you?" I asked as I fumbled for my gas mask but it was too late as the gas moved faster than most noxious fumes and I got a mouth full of it. I quickly began coughing and slumped to the floor, drifting off into sleep.
I woke up sometime later strapped to a chair and a gag in my mouth and our weapons laying in a pile to our right, while a scientist loomed over me. "Ah! Your awake just in time to so you can see us test our new design!" The scientist had a slightly British and a mask covered his entire face so I couldn't see what he looked like. I tried to mumble something around the gag but it only came out a gibberish. "Oh! Don't worry, we will wait for your team to wake up as well so they can witness first-hand the power we can have with this machine!" Okay, this guy was just crazy. The man walked around me and came back with a syringe filled with a green liquid that looked much like the sleeping gas inside of it. "Now, sweet dreams!" Before I could mumble a reply like 'Go to Hell' I was asleep again, but this time something more interesting happened in my dreams.
"Ah. Sergeant Stronski, I have been waiting to talk to you!" I opened my eyes in my dream and was immediately met with two yellow ones, they were attached to a body that looked like a mismatch of animals. "W-who are you?" I asked.
"Me? I am Discord, being of Chaos and disharmony. I am surprised you have not heard of me considering where that crazy scientist will be sending you all!"
"And where will this be?"
"Oh, you will see. After all telling you would ruin the surprise would it not?" I shrugged not really wanting to answer. Why would I listen to him? I am asleep and he is most likely a figment of my imagination. Whatever that doctor gave me must be making me go crazy, I am completely fine. "Wow Kenyon, you really have a wild imagination. Refusing to believe I'm real, Can break a chimeras heart." He looked hurt for a second before he perked back up. "Anyway, gotta run I bet I'll be seeing more of you soon!" With that Discord snapped his fingers and I woke back up with a start.
I felt someone moving beside me and a mumble that kind of sounded like 'Could have been worse' Oh Micheal, how right you have been as of late. "Ah! I see you are all up, now it is time to start the project!" Crazy bastard, if I survive this I swear I will rip your throat out. There was a loud humming and I felt someone to my left squirming against their bonds, I assumed it was Daisy. The scientist stepped into a room that was filled with others. "Have a nice trip!" Those were the last words I heard before the world erupted into bright blue colours.
I awoke with a splitting headache Pain, this is good. Means I'm not dead, yet. "Finally your awake! I have so much questions to ask you!" I heard a feminine voice say off to my right. I looked over there to see a purple horse with purple fur, dark purple hair with two different shades of you guessed it! Purple on her mane. The one defining thing that set her aside from other horses was the horn on her head. Surely she didn't talk? "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle! What is your name?" I saw the horse say. Curiosity was all that saved her from me killing myself then and there.
"W-who areyou?"
"Me?" She looked around as if to find someone behind her. "I guess I'm the only one here... As I had said, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I am a unicorn pony and princess Celestia's personal student!"
"Princess? Pony? What kind of world was I sent to?" I thought out loud as Twilight sat there grinning at me.
"So, are you going to answer some questions I have for you?"
"First, answer mine. Where am I? Where is my team and how am I going to get back home?"
"Well, your in Equestria. There are more of you? For the last question I have no clue where you live but I guess we could get you back." Well, that didn't lift my spirits any. Good job Twilight. I looked over to the left side of my bed and saw my M9 sitting there, I motioned to grab it but then realized that I was roped to the bed. "Why am I roped to the bed?"
"Princesses orders, we didn't know if you would be hostile when you woke up so we roped you to the bed."
"When do I get released?"
"When we know for sure your safe. Now. Can I ask you some questions?"
"Shoot."
"What??
"Just ask me the damn questions." I sighed, this has going to be a long day...
It indeed was a long day, Twilight Sparkle questioned me like a detective. Most questions were silly like 'Why does your mane only cover your head?' And whatnot. "Well, you have answered all my questions I had for you!"
"Great! Now untie me."
"Not until the princess deems you safe!" Me and this 'Celestia' character and going to have quite a talk.
"Well, tell me when she decides I'm safe. Until then leave me alone" Twilight's ears drooped a little. She turned around and slowly walked out after letting a long drawn out sigh. When she walked out. Closing the door behind her. 'Now, how am I going to escape...'
////Cole\\
I slowly lifted my aching body from the ground. I brought a hand to my pounding head and it came away bloody. I stared at the crimson that coated my hands and sat back down, fishing out a bandage. "Oh Cole. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" I asked myself as I applied a salve to the wound that provided a brief stinging sensation to my head. I grabbed a bandage and wrapped it around my head, covering the gash in my head. I weakly stumbled over to a tree and sat back down, laying my back against the branch. I let out a long sigh and looked up through the branches, the sun shone through the leaves and cast down varying patterns onto the ground. I took a look around the small clearing and saw that it was surrounded by trees and dense thicket on all sides, portraying that I was in a forest. I tried reaching around for my AR-15 but found it nowhere. I looked up into the trees and saw the sun glint off of it's barrel, I sighed vocally and laid my head back. There was no way I was strong enough to pull myself up there, even getting down would be hell on it's own. Having no other option I laid my head back and tried to get some sleep.
////Brynn\\
I kneed on the floor, hands tied to my back and in-front of me lay a throne. On that throne sat the Gryphon king. Hades. Now that I realized it that was a pretty foretelling name. Off to the Underworld with me! Hades sat with his talon pulled up in a fist and his head rested on it. His eyes looked over me thoughtfully, as if absorbing some unseen knowledge trapped inside of me. The kings feathers were turning slightly white but he held his posture high. I could see many scars covering his face and arms, there was probably plenty more but his feathers hid them well. Finally after what seemed like hours the king finally spoke up. "Aphrodite, release this ape, it poses no threat to us."
"Ape?"
"So, you do talk after all. Tell me ape, what exactly are you, if you are not a monkey as you say." I glared daggers at him, if I wasn't tied up I would have punched the king already, even if it meant losing my chance at living in this strange world.
"I'll tell you, after you tell me where the hell I am."
"Hmm, already playing dumb with me. If you don't want to talk we could throw you back into the dungeons until you want to talk." I couldn't help but gulp loudly, the gryphon's dungeon was horrible. Walking through there you could feel the sadness in the air. The smell was horrible there. Obviously the prisoners were not treated well at all. I sighed. "Have it your way then." I launched into a very detailed explanation on humans, including our army and government. The kings eyes practically smiled when I mentioned guerilla warfare to him which I realize now, I regret. When I was done the king sat back in his throne, seemingly relaxing. "Well, Brynn if you truly are not from this world, which I find hard to believe even if I have never seen anything like you in all my years, why have you come here?" THAT was a hard answer, I took a second to ponder this. I was sent here by that scientist, but I have never seen such advanced tech either, humanity was not capable of dimensional travel, different dimensions on their own were even highly improbable theories. Time travel though, theoretically possible but still, seemingly impossible. "I-I don't know actually. we were sent here against our will by some crazy scientist. I believe it is impossible to travel dimensions but it could be possible that I am from either the past or future." I shrugged. "It's a plausible theory but I would not believe it." The king nodded slowly.
"Would you be a threat to our country or all of Equestria if we were to let you go?"
"Well, no. At least not without my weapons at least and since you confiscated them I see no reason that you should be afraid. I am quite poor at hand-to-hand combat myself" I lied. I was quite adept and hand-to-hand and if any of these gryphon's tried something I would act accordingly. The king studied me and turned to another gryphon beside him. "Aphrodite, untie her please."
"But dad..."
"That was not a question, daughter." Aphrodite sighed and walked over to me, mumbling some incomprehensible things. She sliced at the rope with her talons and I felt it gradually fall away, I didn't realize tight the ropes were until they were gone, man they tied those ropes tight! I stood up and rubbed my wrist. "Thank you, Aphrodite." 'Man, what is it with gryphons and names of gods?' I thought as I nodded to the king. Hades stood up from his throne. "Now, it is time to see if you truly have what it takes. I fear I am trusting you too easily but as you may know. You might be the only one of your kind here, so I wouldn't be too hasty. If I were you. To go and try to kill us, would you?" I shook my head quickly. "As I would have thought," the king began to walk from his throne and down another hallway. He motioned for me to follow and seeing no other option. I followed.
////Cole\\
I awoke to a soft clucking sounding to my right, I opened my eyes to see that dusk was just beginning to approach. I could barely see anything through my sunglasses but I looked over to my right to see what the clucking sound was and came face-to-face with the head of a chicken. It's eyes flashed bright red briefly, nothing happened. They flashed red again, and again before it adopted a confused look on its face. All I could think was Mmmmm, chicken... I pulled the magnum out of my boot and aimed it at the chickens head. Excessive I know but chickens have a reputation for being hard to kill. I pulled the trigger and a loud BANG sounded through the forest, awaking anything that wasn't already awake. The head of the chicken exploded and sprayed me with gore. Now I really couldn't see from my sunglasses! I pulled off my sunglasses and wiped some of the brains from my face. Now that everything wasn't shrouded in shadow I could see a bit more, and noticed some things not previously noted. The chicken had a snakes tail in place of its tail feathers. It took me a few seconds to realize this was not natural. "What the hell is this thing?" I asked the dead, chicken-snake thing while poking it with my magnum barrel making sure it was dead. I stood up and brushed dirt and grime from my clothing. This place just got a lot more interesting.
I sat up in a tree, reloading more rounds into my magnum as a freaky lion thing scaled up it behind me. I was shaking as I reloaded as the lion was gaining ground, fast. It has the typical build as a lion, mane and all, but the kickers were, it had the tail of a scorpion and wings of some creature that I couldn't put my finger on. I fumbled with the bullets and one dropped right into it's eyes. It let out a ear splitting roar that effectively shook the tree and rattled me to the core. I put the last bullet into the chamber and closed it. Pulling back the hammer I shot the lion again, this time in the eye, I let out another ear splitting roar and fell down the tree, hitting every branch on the way down and slammed into the ground with a satisfying crunch. I laid back on the branch I was perched on and began to l laugh hysterically. I looked back up the tree and saw the AR-15 laying a few feet above me. I looked back at the crumpled body of the lion,scorpion thing. I spat down on it and climbed the rest of the way up the tree, laughing all the way. I grabbed the strap of the AR and tugged at it, after a few forceful tugs the gun finally broke free from the branch. I cradled the weapon in my lap, checking the load on it. It was full and I had another two clips strapped to my combat vest. I slowly began to scale down the tree. After I got about a quarter of the way down I stepped on a thin branch and it broke, sending me to the ground in a camo green heap. "Ugh, who called the express elevator?" I moaned as I looked at the crumpled heap of the lion chimera. At least I wasn't dead, right? I laid my head against the tree branch and through my aching body. I slowly fell into a restless sleep.
I awoke quickly to the sound of voices. They sounded very near, and strangely human. " Come on Fl........... We have to find Kenyon be........ gets to far away." I could hear the voices right to my left now. They mentioned Kenyon. He has to be near! I saw a purple coloured pony emerge from the dense foilage infront of me and she or at least I thought it was a she by the sound of her voice saw the dead chimera. Her eyes bulged from her head and she adopted a saddened face. A yellow pony walked past the purple one and it too, saw the hybrid. It's eyes began to water and it ran at the hybrid, once the yellow pony reached it. It began to full out cry. " W.. What would to such a thing to such a poor creature?" The yellow one asked the purple. Now that they were up close I could notice more detail in their features. The yellow pony had a yellow coat with a purple mane and tail, a tattoo of some kind was on her behind and it was of three butterflies, she had two wings sprouting from her sides. The purple one had a purple coat with a dark purple mane with a maroon and even darker stripe of purple ran through her mane. She had a large purple star surrounded by smaller stars as her tattoo, she had a horn coming from her head as well. She looked saddened as well but managed to keep in her tears. I began to move to a bush that was close to my right but within their line of sight. It was a risk I would have to take. As luck would have it, a stupidly placed twig was all it took for the two mares to turn their heads to me. Purple noticed what I was first. "It's a human!" she yelled and Yellow gave a loud 'eep' Purple began to gallop at me and that was all the motivation that I needed to begin to scale the tree. I looked down at the ground. The purple one's horn was glowing and I began to feel a strange feeling of claustrophobia, it went away as soon as it had been there. Purple looked up at me. A confused look on her face. I gave her a smug look before scaling up the tree farther. I didn't want to shoot the multi-coloured ponies. But if push came to shove. I would. Once I was three quarters of the way up the tree, I looked back down at the duo. They both stood there, looking up at me with a 'your so stupid' look. I was confused for a couple seconds before a rainbow aeroplane crashed into me. I flew out of the tree and began to plummet to the ground. I soon realized that I want actually falling but the rainbow thing was wrapped around me and flying me towards the ground. "Uh oh" I managed to say before we crashed into the ground. Luckily the vest, and my pack softened the impact enough that it did not completely knock me out. I groaned and the rainbow being, which I know pinned to be a pony as well, put a fore-hoof on my chest. "Better luck next time, buster"
"Could you please get the hell off of me? Your too heavy and I believe you going to crush my ribs." At that the rainbow one looked hurt. I must have said something she did not like. " Who you calling heavy?"
I took a quick look around. "Uhhh, who else could I be calling fat?" With that Rainbow looked like she was going to start a fire with her eyes. I took that time where she was too furious and let her guard down and threw her off with my legs. She connected with a tree, the impact that would have knocked out any normal human being sure didn't knock her out. She stood up at the speed of light. Her eyes were, quite literally on fire. "Uhhh, I take back everything I said! I'm sorry!" I put my hands up in surrender but she didn't listen to my pleas. She hit me faster than a bullet train and I soared through the air and hit a tree. I gave a loud groan and fell on the ground. Passing out.
////Brynn\\
I knew I shouldn't have trusted the griffins! I walked from the room and was tackled and knocked out, now I find myself here... Rotting in the dungeon of the griffins for some crimes I didn't commit... Finally, after what seemed like ages Hades came down the see his little 'human' in the cell. "How are you enjoying your accommodations? I made sure to make them the best as they can be!" I snorted.
"They would be better if I knew WHY THE HELL I AM IN HERE!" Hades didn't flinch a bit as I yelled at him.
"Simple, you lied, you deemed yourself unfit to do damage to us without your weapons but I can see your muscles clearly. Since you were hiding this you are to show your strength in the Pits, survive and I may deem you fit to walk around with a heavily armed guard and do certain missions for us until we deem you a friend and ally. Do you accept?" I nodded, what other choice did I have? Rot in a cell and not go out without a speck of glory? Not my style. "Good, prepare yourself as your first fight in at noon."
Noon could have came slower than it did. If not for me accidentally falling asleep I wouldn't feel so sleep logged and maybe had stretched a little and prepared, but as luck would have it I never got sleep the previous night as I was too busy screaming at the stoic guard outside me cell. As they ushered me I began to devise some sort of plan on how to take down a griffin, their talons would be a problem, as would their beak if they were able to get close enough. I cracked my knuckles, unless I was incredible lucky or if there were weapon in the so called 'Pit' I would be pretty much screwed in the state I was in at the moment. Two heavily armoured griffins stood at the end of the long hallway as we approached. They opened up two large doors and I squinted at the light that my eyes, that were used to almost pitch black at this point. Was met with their burning rays. I was pushed through the door rather roughly and was ushered into a cage. "Citizens of Yggdrasil!" Lets go with Norse mythology now, why not?The kings voice echoed through the crowd that had gathered at something that almost resembled a Roman Colosseum. "We are gathered here to witness a fight between a newcomer here! a 'human' know to us a Brynn!" The crowd began to roar as I stretched to the best of my capabilities in the rather small prison. " Who is she fighting you may wonder? It is someone you may all know well! Thor. captain of the guard!" The crowd began to erupt in cheers as I looked across at my opponent, I couldn't make out much but I could tell that the griffin had a lot of muscle on that body. "Each competitor will have a minute to choose their weapon of choice. Let the choices begin!" The cage opened and I looked for the weapons, seeing them to my left I rushed to the rack. It had a spear, sword, mace and an axe that was small enough to be thrown. Having no other training with any other weapon I chose the sword off of the rack while the captain chose the spear. I took my place in front of my cage. "Hey, Hades, why do you pit me up against someone as weak as her?"
"You think i'm weak there bud? Ill show you who is weak when i'm done with ya!" I spat. The captain gave me a death stare and I just smiled back. "BEGIN!" The king shouted and that was all the incentive I needed. I rushed the griffin, he rushed me. We met halfway along the stadium. He swung his mace at my head and I just barely dodged it, swinging my sword at his abdomen. It barely grazed him, doing nothing but shaving a few feathers off of his chest. I whipped around narrowly avoiding yet another blow from the mace. Damn this griffin was fast! I dropped to the ground as the mace flew down and buried itself in the ground next to my head. That was when the unexpected happened. A crack ran through the air and blood trickled on my face, the body of the captain landed next to me with a large hole in his head. " I got ya covered Brynn! Get out of there!" Micheal called from the perch he had at the top of the stadium, that was when pandemonium started. There was screaming and yelling as Micheal's voice ran through the air followed by more cracks from the sniper that MIcheal had. I scrambled to my feet and began running to the door that I was ushered through. Two guards blocked the door but they were both quickly taken out by Micheal who was acting as over watch. I sprinted at full speed through the door and too a left at the end of the hall, towards the main gates.