New Arrivals, All of Them Strange

“Listen up!”

Rows of chained and tied stallions and Caribou glanced up as Straken stood in the town square. The majority of the town’s male population had been chained up to the outside walls of the town hall. Only a few, numbering twelve, had managed to resist the Caribou mind-control. There were also ten Caribou survivors, although all of the ponies that had fought with the humans knew that the number would no doubt dwindle.

“You are all now prisoners under my control,” Straken informed as she glared at them all. “On a personal note, I consider you all to be worth less than the dirt under my boots. You will sit down, shut up and I may just decide to let you live.” Straken rubbed the butt of her holstered pistol as she said this, her sword cleaned and in its sheath.

The Colonel looked over the prisoners, all of the ponies averting their gazes in various states of distress. She had no pity for them, alleged mind control or not, they all had committed heinous crimes in her mind. Straken began to pace up and down the line, examining the people that were now her captives.

“Bitch.”

Straken stopped and turned around, the Colonel gazing down at one greying caribou as the stallions surrounding him moved away as far as they could.

“Do you have something to say?” Straken inquired, the caribou staring up at her with hate-filled eyes.

“I called you a Bitch,” the caribou spat a glob of spit onto Straken’s uniform. “Bitch.”

Straken took a second to process just how stupid this caribou was, at least the other nine caribou were bright enough to keep their mouths shut. The Equestrians watching, both prisoners and the ones that were free, shivered at the cold smile that grew on Straken’s face.

“Delightful.”

With that said, Straken lashed out with her boot and nailed the caribou right in the chest. Her re-enforced boot cracked ribs, the caribou collapsing to the ground with his chains going taut as he bellowed in agony.

Straken didn’t stop or say a word as she started to kick and stomp upon his head, blood coating her boot before the caribou’s yells fell silent and he stopped breathing. Straken straightened her uniform as she took a step back, drawing her pistol and destroying what was left of the caribou’s head with a plasma bolt.

“Does anyone else want to make a witty statement?” Straken asked while she holstered her gun, all the other prisoners remaining silent. “No? Good, you’re already learning.” Straken walked to the end of the line, stopping to pause at the small purple dragon that was nearly catatonic. The drake was curled up in a ball in a small cage, no chains small enough to hold him. All trace of pity from the Colonel vanished, Straken remembering what the dragon was doing before he had been captured.

“Was that needed?” Blaze asked, the guardmare gripping a spear and watching while Straken walked past her. The lieutenant adjusted her borrowed white shirt and followed the human, Straken heading towards an approaching group of ponies led by Blueblood.

“It was,” Straken confirmed. “He insulted me and sullied my uniform, killing him was a warning to all the other prisoners.” Blaze looked back at the prisoners, a few of the stallions weeping after realising what they had done.

“But what about the ponies? They were mind-controlled. How much of it was them and how much of it was the Caribou magic?”

“That is not for us to judge,” Straken informed as the approaching group of ponies drew closer. “Once the planet is secured, then the investigations can begin.”

Blaze frowned at Straken, the Colonel having lost the previous friendly tone that she had been using with Blaze.
Well, friendly for Straken anyway.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ Blaze wondered, the attack on the town going well with no deaths and only a few injuries on their side. She didn’t have time to ask Straken what the issue was, the Colonel addressing Blueblood.

“How did your attack go?”

“Surprisingly easy,” Blueblood answered as he gestured behind him. Two stallions were brought to the front, both tied up and hanging their heads in shame. “These were the only two males on the farm, the red one was free while the yellow one was locked in one of the upstairs rooms.” Straken furrowed her eyes at the two ponies, the red stallion continuing to stare at the ground while the other was looking at her with fear.

“You tied up the yellow one as well?” Straken inquired, Blueblood nodding as he gave a hateful scowl to the captured stallions.

“I thought that it was better to make sure, rather than have another one of… them running around.” Blueblood received a nod of approval from Straken.

“Good thinking, there is a space near the town hall for those who we believe did not play a part in the depravity. Take the yellow one to the clothes store and tie the red one up to the town hall with the other degenerates. Their trial will have to wait.”

“Please, don’t hurt mah brother!”

Straken raised an eyebrow as a yellow pony child pushed her way past two guards to hug the leg of the red stallion.

“Stay away from me Applebloom,” the stallion muttered, two guardmares pulling the foal away. They were about to take the child away but were halted by Straken, the Colonel crouching down and fixing the pony with an unwavering gaze.

“Your brother is a criminal, one of the most hated and despicable-”

“Big Mac didn’t know what he was doing!” The child protested. “He wasn’t himself! Ya can’t punish him, it was the Caribou that did everything bad!”

“That is not for you or I to decide, child,” Straken informed. “Your brother may indeed be innocent, but at the moment he is a risk to everyone else. That is why he will be locked up with the other fallen inhabitants of your town.” Applebloom clenched her fists but lowered her head, finding it hard to break the reasoning.

“Ya aren’t going to hurt him?” she asked, concern in her voice as she glanced back up at Straken. The Colonel decided that informing the child that so far she had only executed one prisoner would not help, Straken instead shaking her head.

“As long as he behaves, I will not hurt him. If he is found guilty, then that’s another matter.” Straken stood up, having had enough of conversing with the child. “Guards, take the child to the schoolhouse with the other children.” The ponies nodded, the prisoners and Applebloom walked past her by guards and militia. Straken made to turn around, aiming to discuss the net stages of the occupation with Lieutenant Blaze, but a hand gripped her shoulder.

Straken whirled around and lashed out with her hand, Prince Blueblood grunting as the hand backhanded him in the muzzle.
“Ow, what was that for? It’s me!” Straken brushed her shoulder off, waiting for Blueblood to take a step back.

“Don’t touch me,” Straken explained coldly. Blueblood put his hands up to show that he wasn’t going to make the mistake again. Blaze stepped in between the two, the guard maintaining her grip on her spear but holding it away from Straken.

“It was just a mistake,” Blaze said as she attempted to calm the situation down. Straken seemed to have returned to her previous bad mood, the fight possibly having a bad effect on her. “Blueblood, don’t touch the Colonel again.”

“I won’t,” Blueblood agreed as he nervously looked at Straken.

“Good,” Straken confirmed, her nose wrinkling at the stench of blood and grime on her uniform. “I don’t like to be touched, even when I’m not on a rapist-infested planet.”

“It didn’t always used to be like this,” Blaze muttered. “Equestria used to be so nice.”

“Well it’s not now, and that’s all that I care about,” Straken explained as she glanced back towards the town. “If you want a chance to return to that state, I suggest that we continue on with our plans.” Blaze and Blueblood hesitantly stepped closer as Straken sighed and rubbed her temples.

“Blueblood, you’re in charge of the ponies. Organise parties to gather food, supplies, and clothes.” At the reminder that he was still naked, the Prince covered himself with his hands and blushed. Straken didn’t pay attention, instead she turned to Blaze. “Lieutenant, we need to search every building for any Caribou still hiding, I trust that you’ll also be able to organise guards and sentries at the town entrances?”

“I’ll get on it right away, Ma’am.”

“Me as well,” Blueblood added to Blaze’s answer. The two ponies started to move back towards the town.

“Wait one second,” Straken called out, Blueblood and Blaze glancing back at her curiously. “You’re both doing well. You are serving your people well, despite the situation.”

“Thank you Colonel,” Blaze replied, a slight smile growing on her face. “It’s not easy to say but you’re doing a good job as well.” Blueblood merely nodded, the Prince continuing on his way. Straken thought for a moment before walking next to Blaze.

“I might as well join you, I don’t have anything else to do.” Blaze smiled, she found the Colonel interesting despite the obvious carefree attitude towards violence and harsh demenor. The Lieutenant glanced down at the human’s boots, her stomach churning as she recalled how Straken had beat the prisoner to death. Was it right for them to be aligning themselves with such violent creatures?
Blaze shook her head as the two walked back into the town. Given the choice of the alternative, she figured that her current choice of allies was the best one.

“Something wrong?” Straken asked, the Colonel having noticed the pony shaking her head.

“No Colonel,” Blaze answered. “I was just thinking about things, that’s all.”

“You can call me Straken.” Blaze was surprised, was that a small smile that she could see on the human’s face? “You’ve proved yourself to be a competent Lieutenant; I have no problem if you drop the title.”

‘Well, it’s an improvement and a complement. That’s a start.’ Blaze thought.

“Lieutenant,” Straken continued as she stopped walking, breaking Blaze out of her thoughts. “Where is the ISA agent?”

“I think I heard him mention that he was going to check out the town. Last I saw he was walking towards the schoolhouse.” Blaze furrowed her brows, Straken seeming to freeze. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, I guess not,” Straken answered as she resumed walking. “It’s not like he can traumatise the children any more than the Caribou have.”

Cheerilee watched on with concern while the foals and the armoured alien continued to stare at each other. The strange creature was sitting down on top of a school desk, his intimidating helmet placed in his lap. Cheerilee was wary due to the large blood splatters on his armour, but considering the recent attack and the fact that the royal guard who was standing guard outside let him in she assumed that he was friendly.

The fact that he was also half her height lowered her fear of him.

“So,” the alien spoke up, breaking a long silence. “How’s everything going?” Cheerilee wondered if the creature was okay in the head, how did he think things were going?

“Not well,” she answered. The alien turned to look at her, Cheerilee feeling a shiver run down her spine. “We were under control of the Caribou after all.”

“Just trying to make conversation,” the visitor defended while raising his hands in front of him, the foals following every movement he was making. Cheerilee decided to introduce herself, she was one of the luckily few that the Caribou hadn’t touched yet so her confidence was more intact.

“That’s understandable I suppose. Do you have a name? I’m Cheerilee, I am… was the schoolteacher.”

“Orthodox,” the alien replied while glancing around the room. A colt, Snips, furrowed his eyes as he stared up at Orthodox.

“What kind of name is Orthodox?”

“A name made of letters,” the alien answered before using his tail to scratch himself behind an ear. “Considering you ponies have names like ‘Blaze’ and ‘Blueblood’ I doubt you can claim to have a better naming system.” Cheerilee leaned forward at this information, she knew that a group of ponies from Canterlot were here but the news that Orthodox had met the Prince was interesting.

“Prince Blueblood is alive?” she asked. “I heard that all of the royal family were taken away by the Caribou king.” Orthodox snorted.

“Nah, Blueblood is still around. I think Straken’s placed him in charge of you ponies.”

“Straken?” Twist inquired, the young filly moving closer to the visitor. Orthodox waved a hand in dismissal.

“The Colonel. You know, the cranky woman from the army?” All the foals shook their heads, Cheerilee was equally confused.

“I don’t know who that is,” she told him, Orthodox running an armoured hand down his face.

“She’s the person who broke out your guards and Prince after cracking some skulls. The only reason I’m even out of bed is because she had to go and get herself teleported here. I mean, would it kill people to not get teleported to other planets all of the-“

“Agent Orthodox, your presence is needed in the town square.”

Orthodox was cut off as a harsh, female voice oozing with distaste echoed from his helmet, the alien rolling his eyes as he got off the desk.

“Speak of the Devil,” he muttered before putting his helmet on. Everyone drew back as it sealed, the alien hefting a large, long device in his hands. “Looks like I’ve got to depart, it was… boring.” With those words he left, leaving a confused Cheerilee and a classroom full of Ponyville’s children. A royal guard poked her head in after he had left, the pegasus looking around.

“Don’t mind him,” she advised upon noticing the look upon Cheerilee’s face. “The Colonel told us that ISA agents are all strange. He didn’t do anything wrong did he?” Cheerilee took a second before shaking her head, after all while he was indeed strange he hadn’t hurt anyone.

“No, I’m just… confused.” The guard chuckled at this, far less humour in her voice.

“You should have seen him back in the castle,” the guard informed before her smile faded. “Anyway, as long as everything’s okay now, I better get back to guarding. We don’t really want any Caribou to get in again do we?” Cheerilee wondered what had happened to this guard, the mare seemed almost as emotionally damaged as some of the normal citizens.

“No we don’t,” Cheerilee answered, before she winced at the guard’s haunted look. “Do you want to come inside and wait in here instead?” The guard mare looked apprehensive, but Cheerilee caught the start of a relieved smile.

“I think I will,” the guard replied as she walked in, the foals all visibly relaxing as the authority figure entered. “It’s not pleasant being alone now, is it?” Cheerilee winced, remembering her time spent hiding in the school house during the initial Caribou invasion.

“No, no it’s not.”

“Ma’am, calm down.”

“No! I won’t calm down!”

Straken ground her teeth, one hand patting her holstered pistol, as the cyan pegasus in front of her continued to demand that she be allowed to beat the captive Caribou. The pony, introduced as Rainbow Dash, was surprisingly loud and energetic considering her prior captivity.

“What’s going on?” Straken, Rainbow Dash, Night Shard and Mirage turned at the voice, Orthodox ambling up to the group.

“Oh, another alien,” Rainbow Dash huffed before pointing a finger at the imprisoned Caribou. “Your friend won’t let me get some revenge against those bastards!” Orthodox glanced over at the chained Caribou, all of them glaring back at him.

“Why not, Straken?” he asked, to the surprise of all but the addressed Colonel. “Didn’t you kill one earlier?” Rainbow Dash mustn’t have known this, the pegasus looking towards the human and taking a step back.

“They are my prisoners,” Straken began to reply. “If I wish to beat or kill them then I will. I will, however, not have any of those under my command do it. That will lead to disorder and I would prefer to keep some Caribou alive… for now anyway.” Straken glared at Rainbow Dash, the pegasus clenching her fists and returning it. “I would like to point out, Miss Dash, that many of your fellows standing next to me have suffered the same under the Caribou. If you would refrain from revenge, it would be most appreciated.” Straken turned to walk away, Blaze and Night Shard following her.

“Then why do you get to do it!?” Rainbow Dash called out, Straken halting at the yell. The Colonel turned around, the solider fixing the disgruntled pegasus with a stern look.

“Because I’m in charge, that’s why.” With that, Straken left with the rest of the ponies following her. Orthodox and Rainbow Dash were the only ones left, the ISA agent shrugging his shoulders as Rainbow watched Straken leave with a scowl.

“Don’t mind her,” Orthodox stated as he glanced towards the prisoners guarded by a number of guards. “Straken’s just a little grumpy.” Rainbow huffed, turning to Orthodox and crossing her arms over her bare chest.

“Why are you guys even here anyway?” Orthodox got the feeling that the pony wasn’t too happy with their presence, despite their intervention.

“Mainly to mess up the days of others,” Orthodox informed as Rainbow Dash watched his tail twist in the air. “Standard stuff really, we hate slavers and rapists so having an opportunity to kill some is like a dream come true.” He ignored the disturbed look that she wore while peering around her, spotting her small wings. “So can you fly like that?”

“No I can’t,” the pony grumbled as she glanced back. “I got the wing sheaths off but they pruned me. It’s going to take weeks for the feathers to grow back.” She shuddered, her clenched fists relaxing. “I’m still myself though, not like Twilight.”

“Twilight?” Orthodox asked, Rainbow Dash nodding her head.

“One of my friends. She along with Rarity and Applejack are in the hospital. I heard that Fluttershy was taken away to some sort of farm to the west and no-one knows what happened to Pinkie.” Orthodox didn’t recognise any of the names, but he got an idea of how to help the pegasus as well as alleviate some of his own boredom.

“You said three are in the hospital, you want to visit them?”

“I can’t,” Rainbow grumbled. “The guards won’t let me in. Your Colonel told them that only patients and nurses are allowed in.” Orthodox laughed, Rainbow looking at him oddly.

“You think… you think Straken’s my boss? I’m actually higher ranked than her, my superiors just told me that I had to assist her. Come on, I’ll get you past the guards.” Rainbow didn’t believe him, however she rushed to follow him when she realised that he had started to walk up a dirt path towards Ponyville hospital.

“Wait, why are you going to do that?” Orthodox shrugged, tapping his rifle against his side.

“I don’t have much else to do at the moment, Straken’s pretty keen on keeping our occupation a secret.” Rainbow considered his reasoning. She guessed that it made sense, after all, she herself couldn’t stand waiting around and doing nothing.

“Uh, thanks, I guess.”

“Don’t mention it.”

No more was said as he two continued to approach the hospital, neither knowing what else there was to say.

The sun was just starting to rise in the sky, casting a warm orange glow around the town.

Straken tapped the side of the park bench impatiently, the Colonel having nothing to do. Blueblood and Blaze had organised their teams surprisingly quickly, Straken only having to give Blaze a small amount of input. The Lieutenant had swiftly organised sentries and even a scout group, Straken very impressed with the mare’s competency.

Blueblood had also been a pleasant surprise, the Prince having organized groups to gather food, clothes and water. All of the ponies around her were not all properly dressed, the Caribou having burnt all clothing meant for mares, but the ponies had made do.
Maple Fields had improved in mood, the unicorn sitting next to her was enthusiastically informing Straken of her previous life.

All of it.

Straken would have normally told her to not bother as she wasn’t interested, but the unicorn seemed to get livelier the more she talked. Straken supposed she could tolerate it for Maple Field’s sake, despite her cold attitude she didn’t mind the mare.

Also on the bench was Mirage, the changeling wearing a dirty white shirt and nothing else. The Colonel recalled Blaze saying that the race didn’t wear clothing normally, Straken assuming that the changeling was in an attempt to fit in better. There had been no direct confrontations, but the ponies were still uneasy around the strange creatures. Thankfully, no one had objected when Straken had secured them a temporary house and assigned them a ration of food.

The three females continued to sit. Straken continued to think, Maple Fields continued to talk and Mirage continued to listen to Maple, nodding her head and fidgeting with her hands. Straken found herself inspecting her pistol, Mirage and Maple giving the bulky weapon concerned glances as the human pulled out the energy pack and went over the gun with a cloth she had pulled from a breast pocket.

All three looked up as the sound of clinking chains rang out through the air. All of the town’s stallions had been moved inside the town hall, after cleaning of course, because of obedience and good behaviour. The Caribou had not been afforded the same luxury, the nine of them still attached to the outside of the building so all the ponies passing could remind them of their crimes. One of those Caribou was attempting to break his chains, Straken watching while two guardmares approached him.

“Settle down,” one warned him, hefting a stun rod while the other gripped a spear. The caribou muttered something to the mare, Straken unable to hear what was said but it evidently was insulting as the guard turned a beet red. She raised her baton to strike the unruly caribou and was only halted when the other guard grabbed her arm.

“You’re lucky I stopped her,” the second guard lectured, a trace of venom in her voice. The caribou at first seemed like he was about to retort, but a glare from the intervening guard convinced him to sit back down against the wall. Straken sent the pair an approving nod as they returned to their positions, the guards smiling at her in return.

“What are you going to do with them?” Maple asked, Mirage leaning in to also find out what fate Straken had in store for the captured Caribou.

“Keep them locked up until reinforcements arrive,” Straken started as she holstered her gun. “After that they’ll be tried and most likely shot.”

“Um, why don’t you…” Mirage started, before taking a breath. “Why don’t you just… kill them now?” The changeling visibly winced as she asked this, Straken furrowing her brows at the young being.

“Believe me, I would have no issue with executing them right here and now.” This earned a shudder from both Fields and Mirage. “The thing is, High Command will likely want to interrogate them, and Research and Development will certainly want to preform tests and experiments.” Straken gave Mirage a glance, the human tilting her head towards the changeling. “The scientists will likely want to find out about your race as well.”

“Find out about us?” Mirage replied fearfully, imagining being tied down to a table while a mass of humans crowded around her with scalpels and other tools.

“I wouldn’t worry,” Straken re-assured. “As long as there’s cooperation, they won’t need to do anything drastic like cutting you up to see what makes you go. In fact, with this apparent shape-shifting, you’d likely benefit from helping them out.” While Mirage breathed a sigh of relief, Straken allowed herself a small grin. “The Caribou won’t get the same offer.”

This killed any relief, the grin on the Colonel’s face was quite disturbing. All three stopped talking, the Caribou also quieting down. It was surprisingly peaceful, the streets empty except for prisoners, guards and the makeshift militia that Straken had formed.

The peace was broken however, a frantic Night Shard running up to the bench with a stun baton clasped in a hand.

“Colonel!” the bat-pony called, a further three militia following her, all hefting assorted weapons. “You need to see this!” Straken turned to her left to face Night Shard.

“What is it?” Straken inquired, getting off her seat and drawing her sidearm. The Colonel could tell that something had spooked the bat-pony, considering the circumstances it was likely Caribou related.

“There’s a big black thing out the front of the town!” Night Shard huffed as she tried to catch her breath.

“Night Shard,” Straken asked slowly, struggling to remain civil. “I need more information other than ‘a big black thing’ to make a decision.”

“It’s a circle, it just appeared out of thin air!” The added description sparked something in Straken’s brain, the Colonel recalling encountering a black circle before back in her standard infantry days. Night Shard, Mirage and Maple all watched on worriedly as Straken’s hand clenched around her gun, the Colonel’s face going even paler.

An ISA agent is present on the planet.

High Command was sending reenforcements into a hostile area.

A black circle that appears out of thin air, sounding like a portal.

Only one UIP department uses subspace tunnels on uncharted worlds, subspace tunnels that look like black circles.

“Oh no,” Straken muttered as she broke into a brisk walk. “Not more of them.”

Orthodox woke up with a jolt, nearly falling off the hospital chair that he was sitting on.

“What’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked, the pegasus holding the hand of a sleeping purple unicorn. Orthodox didn’t reply at first, too busy checking his helmet display and trying to figure out just who had arrived. As far as he knew, he was the only ISA asset assigned to the planet.

“Nothing,” Orthodox answered as he gathered his things. “I’ve got to go, someone’s trying to play in my sandbox.” To say Rainbow was confused would be an understatement. Still, she didn’t push for elaboration, Orthodox hadn’t said that she wasn’t able to stay with her friends with him gone so it worked out for her.

“Bye,” she farewelled as the ISA agent left the room.

“See you around,” Orthodox returned, before continuing on down a white corridor. A door opened in front of him, Orthodox waiting as a nurse and a doctor emerged. The white mare and the brown stallion halted as they spotted him, the two freezing in the corridor. Orthodox walked past them and peered in, spotting three of the mares who were injured in the assault lying on beds. He waved an armoured hand, the three waving back.

“Morning… sir,” the nurse hesitantly greeted, the mare and stallion wincing as he faced them.

“Morning,” Orthodox returned before fixing his gaze on the doctor. The stallion was one of the townspeople who hadn’t been affected by the Caribou magic. “Everything going well?” Both ponies nodded nervously.

“The patients are recovering well,” the nurse told him as she looked down at her clipboard. “Except for Twilight Sparkle, she still hasn’t spoken.” Orthodox recalled that Twilight was the purple pony in the room he had just left.

“Great, well I have to go.” The nurse and doctor breathed sighs of relieve as the alien continued on, his armoured tail flicking in the air behind him.

Orthodox rolled his shoulders as he walked out of the hospital, sighing to himself. Sure, he may have been a bit blunt just then, but he could tell he unnerved the medical ponies Besides, he had other things to worry about.

He made a beeline to the north end of town, his suit picking up a subspace tunnel. The ISA were the only UIP department game enough to create tunnels to uncharted worlds, usually the technology was only used to ferry goods and personnel to secured locations. Still, while it meant that he’d have to share his operation with other agents, he guessed backup was backup.

Hell, the more the merrier.

Walking through the town at an increased pace, he noticed a few ponies moving in the streets. The majority were mares, all moving in groups of no less than three, but there were a few stallions that were either alone or with said mares. All of them gazed at him fearfully as he moved past them, something that Orthodox was used to. The ISA was not known for its friendly nature after all.

Rounding a bend he ran into Straken, the Colonel followed by her three lackeys. Okay, lackeys may have been a bit strong, but the bat-pony, changeling and Maple Fields spent a lot of time around the Colonel. Orthodox didn’t get why, Straken wasn’t the most fun-loving person he had met.

“Oh, Agent Orthodox,” the human greeted icily as she and her group halted. “I take it you’re on your way to meet your ISA friends?”

Orthodox wondered how the Colonel knew about the portal, but it was then that he remembered that there were armed ponies everywhere. It was safe to assume that Straken had posted lookouts, and a ominous black portal was pretty high up on the report list.

“I didn’t know about them,” Orthodox replied, his tail twitching as he struggled to not call the Colonel out about her constant ragging on the ISA. “My sensors only picked it up a few minutes ago and I haven’t contacted anyone. Don’t go blaming me because more soldiers are turning up.”

“I’d hardly call the ISA soldiers,” Straken informed with a sneer, Orthodox deciding to take the proper course of action.

“Whatever you say, Buttercup,” he replied as he walked past Straken, patting the Colonel on the lower back as he couldn’t reach high enough for a real back-pat. “I better go first so that the fake soldiers don’t go and slaughter all of your precious militia.” This caused the ponies near to Colonel to start nervously whispering to each other, Orthodox paying them little mind.

He wasn’t known for his generous temper, and he was getting sick of Straken so any chance to try and distract himself was a good idea. Orthodox continued on to the source of the portal, approaching a crowd of ponies all nervously gripping weapons as they stared out of the town.

“Coming through,” Orthodox announced, the equines hastily making way for him as he pushed to the front. He looked out and set eyes upon the source of the commotion, the portal formed over a grassy hill near a riverside cottage. A small wooden bridge spanned the river, Orthodox starting to move forward with his weapons holstered.

“Were are you going?” A mare hissed, Orthodox glancing back to spot the bat-pony guard looking nervously at him. Straken had also caught up, Orthodox deciding to get in before she did.

“It’s fine, it’s just some friends of mine.” This seemed to do the trick, a few of the braver ponies following him. Orthodox just had time to notice that they included the bat-pony, Lieutenant Blaze and the unicorn he had saved from the nightclub before the portal widened. Orthodox broke into a run, reaching the small bridge before a pair of black armoured boots stepped out.

“Fuck my life,” Orthodox cursed under his breath as a gun barrel emerged, followed by a full ISA trooper. His helmet was registering the new arrival as ISA Special Agent Gary Stuart, an agent that Orthodox had… history with.

Following the Special Agent, who was currently sweeping his surroundings though his gun sights, was a unusual sight.

A hulking giant stepped out of the portal, the soldier almost as tall as the cottage next to him. It was a ISA Heavy Assault and Suppression Trooper, the soldier’s bulky black armour giving him an extra metre of height on the already tall Special Agent. He appeared to be unarmed, but Orthodox had learned that first appearances weren’t always right.

The last figure to emerge, operating a hovering lifter loaded with crates, was both the most odd and relieving sight for Orthodox.

It was a tall and slender human boasting the palest skin and nerdiest haircut that Orthodox had ever seen. He was wearing the standard grey lab coat of the UIP Research and Development Division and had a simple black holster at his waist. It was the glint of metal on his left arm that clued Orthodox in to his identity, the figure not showing up on his identification system.

“Elijah!” Orthodox called out, waving a hand at the scientist. The target of the call was so surprised that he crashed the lifter into the cottage, Orthodox wincing as metal crates tumbled to the grass.

“Of course,” a snooty voice spoke up over Elijah’s cursing. “They just had to place me with the worst agent they could find.” Orthodox saw red, turning his helmet to face Gary.

“Shut the Fuck up Stuart,” Orthodox replied, walking up to stare right into the soldier’s blue optics. “I think you’re still pissy because you’re still leading a squad instead of being allowed to roam free.” Unseen by the arguers, the ponies had started to approach the new comers.

“The only reason they let you go out solo is because you cannot work in a team.” Gary brushed his armour off with a hand in dismissal. “Your squad was one of the most infamous in ISA history after all, the records don’t lie.” Orthodox glanced at the HAS trooper, the armoured behemoth watching the approaching ponies silently, before going for a reply.

“My squad was one of the best, you over-entitled-“

“Orthodox, Special Agent Stuart,” both looked towards Elijah, the scientist walking over from the crashed lifter as he brushed his black hair out of his eyes. Behind him, the portal closed without a sound. “We are all on the same side here, why don’t we stop waving our genitalia around like it's a contest and focus on the mission at hand?”

“I refuse to work with this,” Stuart complained as he gestured towards Orthodox. “If you knew his history-“

“I do know his history, Special Agent,” Elijah cut in. “In fact, I was a part of the same squad that you insulted earlier, before I transferred to R and D. Why do you think I have two ISA agents, who are under my command for this mission, as bodyguards?” At the reminder of Elijah’s authority, Gary grumbled under his breath.

“And you Orthodox,” the scientist continued. “Special Agent Stuart is one of the most decorated agents within the ISA from what I have heard. I suggest you place nice for once in your life.”

“Fat chance,” Orthodox answered while giving Stuart the middle finger.

“Eloquent as always,” Elijah observed with the faintest of smiles. The Special Agent was visibly struggling to avoid a retort while the HAS trooper just stood there and watched. “Anyway Orthodox, this is Agent Dante. He’s been helping me with my work.”

“What’s up?” Orthodox greeted, having no prior problem with the new agent.

“Nothing.” Dante didn’t move a muscle as he remained standing.

Orthodox tilted his head, before facing Elijah again.

“What’s his problem?”

“Oh, Dante doesn’t talk much,” Elijah answered casually. “You know how it is with HAS troopers.” The scientist started to move back to the lift, however he stopped and a wide grin covered his face. Orthodox and Gary turned to find the scientist gazing in wonder at the very nervous Night Shard.

“Careful Elijah,” Orthodox warned, already guessing how his friend would act. “I don’t know if you heard what’s been going on, but the natives are-“

“Oh, aren’t you just a magnificent creature!” Orthodox was cut off as Elijah payed no attention to his warnings, instead rushing over towards the frightened bat-pony. Night Shard stood in terror as the tall and lanky human approached her, reaching out a hand to touch her blue mane. Orthodox and Gary shook his head and the rest of the ponies watched in surprise as Elijah started to mutter to himself while circling Night Shard.

“An anthropomorphic being with features from both the Equidae and Chiroptera families, how interesting.” Elijah’s eyes scanned over Night Shard’s form. “Blue hair or ‘mane’, dark-grey body, female.” Night Shard blushed and pulled her borrowed blue shirt down further, blushing now that her nakedness was pointed out. “And these beautiful wings, even with these multi-coloured piercings.” Night Shard eeped as the human ran his bare fingers over the blue membrane of her wings.

“Uh… Mister human, sir?” Lieutenant Blaze spoke up. “A pony’s wings are a fairly intimate place…”

“I’m only doing it for science,” Elijah reassured, before noticing his subject’s raised and straightened wings. “What’s this? The wings are a source of stimulation and possibly indicate arousal. Intriguing.” Much to Orthodox’s amusement, and Night Shards’ embarrassment, Elijah had withdrawn a data-pad from his coat and had started to take notes.

“Mister,” Blaze tried again, Elijah cutting her off with a wave of his hand.

“Elijah, Lead Researcher Elijah Von Barker, United Imperium of Planets Research and Development, Occult Experimentation and Military Application Division.”

“Mister Elijah, can you please leave Night Shard alone?” Elijah stopped taking notes and glanced at Blaze, his eyes widening as he looked over her form instead.

“Once again, an interesting subject,” he observed as he leaned around to examine Blaze’s pruned wings instead. “Much like the ancient Greek mythological son of Poseidon, subject has equine features and possesses feathered wings. Wings appear stunted, flight would be unlikely-“

“The Caribou cut them and then placed healing inhibitors on them,” Blaze informed, wincing as Elijah also rubbed her feathers between his fingertips.

“Oh, I know all about the Caribou,” Elijah replied with his tone remaining cheerful. “Absolutely disgusting creatures, as interesting as they may be. I can’t wait to get my hands on one to see just how this mind control of theirs works.” Blaze was just starting to get flustered before Elijah’s hand was pulled away from her wing, Orthodox gripping the limb and stepping up.

“Elijah, stop touching the ponies,” he asked to the relief of all the Equestrians. “How do you already know about the Caribou anyway?”

“Have you forgotten Orthodox?” Elijah inquired as he finished typing on the data-pad with a white-gloved hand. “Your helmet’s been recording everything, I managed to catch a brief explanation before I… acquired an experimental personal subspace teleporter from the base’s stores. Needless to say, the brass were not too happy with my initiative to commence research and sent these two gents after me.”

“Luckily for the good Researcher,” Gary cut in, not sounding too happy. “Due to his rank, importance and past service, he was not immediately shot for theft of ISA property. The teleporter was confiscated and Agent Dante, who had been at the base as the Researcher mentioned previously, returned it before being assigned to help the good doctor.” Orthodox, his previous hatred for Gary temporary forgotten due to Elijah’s behaviour with the ponies, tiled his head.

“What about you then?” Gary huffed, tapping his long weapon against his side.

“I was supposed to be overseeing the destabilisation of a class two planetary government, but then a certain scientist couldn’t wait to cut up some Caribou.” Gary gave the ponies glances, taking note of their human-like hands. “At least it seems like the natives will appreciate some of the leftover supplies we had.”

“Supplies?” Orthodox asked, spotting Straken glaring at them from the town. He ignored her and followed the Special Agent, Stuart heading over to one of the crates that had fallen off the lifter. “Nice driving Elijah,” Orthodox teased, the scientist pulling his gaze away from the ponies to answer him.

“You distracted me,” he defended. “Besides, I have doctorates in Biology, Chemistry, Ballistics, Nuclear Physics, Quantum Physics, and many other sciences. I do not need to have you lecture me over my unpractised driving of a transport lifter.”

“Whatever, Geek.” Elijah tensed at the insult, his left arm twitching. Any retort was interrupted by Stuart, the agent opening a bulky, dark grey crate which was secured by an electronic lock.

“Check these out,” the agent said with glee, a hand coming up from the crate clutching a rifle as long as his arm.

“Are those?” Orthodox started, Gary nodding his head.

“Yep, export-class ballistic rifles, sixty shots a mag of gas-expanding rounds which are designed for even the most primitive of users.”

“Hey!” Blaze spoke up as she walked up to the humans and Orthodox. “Did you just call us primitive?”

“No offence Darling,” Stuart commented as he picked up a blocky magazine in his other hand. “But you do appear rather primitive. Now take your rifle and stop complaining.” Blaze had no time to protest before the gun was shoved into her hands. Blaze panicked, she had seen what the aliens’ weapons were capable of and she didn’t want to accidently shot someone.

“Relax,” Stuart continued as the rest of the humans and ponies watched on. “There are no bullets in it and the safeties on so it won’t fire.” Blaze calmed down, breathing heavily and moving the gun over while trying to figure it out. Stuart walked over, adjusting the rifle in her hands until she was holding it correctly. “See? It’s not too bad once you’ve got the hang of it.”

“Are we really doing this?” Orthodox asked as Blaze held the gun at her hip, Gary shaking his head at the pony’s cluelessness. “Are we really going to arm these untrained ponies with ballistic firearms against stun baton wielding Caribou?” Gary stopped trying to teach Blaze, the guardmare holding the gun with awe as she examined it.

“Yes,” he answered, all trace of hostility gone. “We are indeed going to give these natives guns and ammo.”

Orthodox grinned, ignoring the yelling Colonel who had started marching angrily towards them as soon as she saw Blaze with a gun.

“You know what Stuart? You’re not as bad as I first thought.”

“Use your shoulder to brace, line up the sights and give the trigger a slight pull when you’re ready.”

Orthodox, Dante, Straken and Night Shard were watching Gary instruct Blaze on how to use the rifle, almost all the free ponies in the town having turned up to the riverside cottage to see the new weapon. Straken was sitting down on a rock fuming, the Colonel not happy about the circumstances. It wasn’t the fact that they now had a supply of ballistic rifles and ammunition, it was the fact that she was now outnumbered by ISA agents.

“So I just pull this?” Blaze asked, keeping the gun pointed towards the forest like Gary had told her.

“Give it a light squeeze, it’s only on single shot.” Blaze exhaled and pulled, a bang ringing out as the rifle discharged. Ponies jolted and flattened their ears, but Blaze had been expecting the sound.

“How’d I do?” she inquired, shaking a little as she stared at the weapon in her hands. Stuart pushed the gun barrel towards the ground as he walked past her, even if the simple bullets were unable to pierce his armour, it would be a good habit for Blaze to get into. He stopped at a tree, crouching down next to a target painted onto an oak.

“Well, you missed the target by about half a metre,” he informed, Blaze wincing.

“That’s not that good.”

“It’s not bad for your first time,” Gary reassured. “Some more practice and you’ll be riddling Caribou full of holes in no time.” The Special Agent walked back to her side, grabbing Blaze’s rifle to show her how to switch firing modes. “Now to fire in three-shot bursts, you switch this little knob here-“

“Please don’t touch there.” The three UIP soldiers and Night Shard turned their heads from the shooting to glance to their left, spotting Elijah and Mirage sitting on another rock. Elijah had one of Mirage’s arms in his hand, and was prodding the holes in her arm with a finger.

“Ah, some kind of extra sensitive area?” he asked as he left her arm go. Mirage was visibly regretting consenting to the scientist’s studies.

“In a way,” she answered. “They are thought to reduce weight so we can fly, act as identification marks and also as… pleasure points.” Elijah raised his eyebrows in interest as he wrote down the information.

“Fascinating, though one must wonder why they would act as erogenous zones given their placement on the lower-legs as well as the forearms. Then again, your species also has mammary glands when you possess an insectoid appearance. You are just a treasure trove of scientific information.”

“He does this and gets to claim that it’s for science. I do it and I get slapped with sexual assault. How is this fair?” Orthodox muttered as crossed his arms as another three bangs rang out in quick succession.

“He is far more tolerable than you,” Straken informed. “Despite his… curiosity, he so far has failed to really offend anyone.”

“Lighten up,” Orthodox huffed. “I’ve already got super-trooper Gary over there, I don’t need you to get all high and mighty on me as well.” Orthodox turned to Dante, the solider and Night Shard having a stare off. Dante was winning, his reflective black faceplate freaking the bat-pony out. “And then there’s this guy.” Straken didn’t respond, the Colonel equally disturbed by the silent HAS trooper. Something about him just seemed off. During their individual conversations, none noticed Blueblood approching from the town.

“Why are you doing this?” Blueblood asked, the Prince furrowing his eyes as he walked up to them. “Why give us weapons that work just like yours?”

“They’re only ballistic rifles,” Straken informed as she watched Gary call up another five royal guard. “They won’t pierce standard UIP armour, let alone that of the ISA, and the technology is ancient. That’s why they’re mainly used when bartering or bribing primitive peoples, it’s a powerful weapon to them and almost harmless to us.” Blueblood seemed a little put out that Straken referred to them as primitive, but he surprisingly didn’t pursue it.

“You’re not wearing armour,” he pointed out as he sat down on a spare rock, Night Shard using his arrival as an excuse to move away from Dante. Orthodox laughed out loud while the Bat-pony moved to sit next to Blueblood.

“I dare one of you ponies to try and shoot her,” he chuckled. “Straken will still find a way to beat the shit out of you.” The Colonel couldn’t tell if Orthodox was insulting her or not, so she just ignored his annoying mirth.

“I am wearing an armoured vest,” Straken informed, before gesturing over towards the group of shooters. All six of them were taking shots at the trees, most missing horribly but that was to be expected. “Given the current performance of your guards, I doubt they’ll be able to hit my head even if I was standing next to them.”

“Lay off them Straken,” Orthodox commented as he started to stroke his own rifle. “You can’t expect them to be trained killers already. Besides, we’ve got plenty of guns and ammo, let’s just let them go at it for a while and before you know it it’s bye-bye Caribou.”

Straken grunted while Gary continued to teach the initial guards. The group continued to watch for another half-an-hour, Lieutenant Blaze soon able to use and reload her weapon to an acceptable standard. Upon instructions from Gary, she left her spot and happily walked over towards the observers with her rifle still in hand but no magazine in it.

“I did it!” she announced merrily while a further three ponies were chosen to start shooting. “It’s easy once you practice.” She proudly showed off her gun to Blueblood, the Prince wary of the destructive tool.

“You’re doing good,” Straken complemented, a slight grin on her face. “Maybe we should send you out to take out the King.” Blaze’s confidence faulted at this, Orthodox speaking up.

“Don’t worry Blaze,” he reassured. “If anyone’s going to off the King, it’s going to be me.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Straken growled. “I was here first so he’s mine if he shows up.” Night Shard, Blaze and Blueblood watched on as Straken and Orthodox continued to argue over who was going to kill the King. Dante just sat there silently like always.

“Actually I want him first,” Elijah butted in, the Scientist and Mirage walking over to join them. Everyone noticed that the changeling kept a reasonable distance from him, Elijah already having gained a reputation for being a little weird. “This mind control is intriguing, he would no doubt be a great source of information.”

“Why don’t you all fight over it if he does turn up?” Blaze suggested with a shudder. “I for one don’t care, as long as it’s done far away from me. I’ve heard stories about him.”

“Speaking of people turning up,” Straken muttered as ponies continued to be instructed in the firearms. “Should we really be doing firearms training when we’re trying to remain undetected?” Orthodox and Elijah both shrugged.

“Eh, if anyone turns up then at least we’ll have a bunch of ponies with guns,” Orthodox observed.

“Indeed,” Elijah added. “Besides, it’s not like there’ll be Caribou just wandering around.”

“You hear that?”

Stamper cocked an ear at Sigmund’s question, the two Caribou scouts closing in on the town of Ponyville. General Siegfried had ordered them to check out the town while the main army of three-hundred Caribou soldiers set up camp down the road. It seemed like a pointless action considering that Equestria was still under Caribou control, but as the general had said, it couldn’t hurt to be too careful.

“I do,” Stamper confirmed, the faint pops now audible once they were pointed out. “What do you think it is?”

“I have no clue,” Sigmund replied before he gripped his mace tighter. Unlike the guards left in the towns and cities, the two scouts belonged to the main army and thusly were equipped for war. “We still better check it out, it’s coming from the town.”

“Let’s go then,” Stamper ordered as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his leather vest. The two scouts moved through the brush of the Everfree forest, using their training to avoid any of the monsters that dwelled within. It was easy once you knew what to look for, and keeping to the paths took you around most of the danger.

“The noises have stopped,” voiced Sigmund as they continued to walk through the undergrowth. “I wonder what they were?”

“Will find out when we get there,” Stamper told him. The two continued on for an hour, the thick plant growth slowing their progress. Stamper neglected to use his short sword to cut back the plants, content to trade speed for a quitter journey. Soon they reached the tree line, Sigmund moving past Stamper.

“I’m going to check it out,” he informed his comrade as he pushed past him.

“Are you stupid?” Stamper insulted. “Wait to nightfall, that way we won’t-“

“You worry too much Stamper,” Sigmund brushed off as he increased his pace. “We own the town remember? I’ve gone a month without a screw, might as well get to the mares before the rest of the army does.” Stamper couldn’t deny that reasoning, it had been a while. Rolling his eyes, the scout sprinted to join his fellow. Both shielded their eyes from the midday sun as they left the dark forest, both thinking of all the mares that they could requestion.

They both received their mares, but also a surprise along with them.

There were indeed mares, around fifty of them, all sitting on rocks and the grass just outside the forest. However, there were also five strange creatures with them and everyone was staring at the two Caribou. Stamper noticed that a lot of the ponies were holding strange club-like objects in their hands or slung over their shoulders. He got the feeling that they were weapons, and upon noticing that not a single mare was wearing a collar he felt that he had just made a huge mistake.

Sigmund was not as observant, the scout only seeing mares and not noticing the alien creatures sitting over to the far right.

“Well then,” Sigmund announced while brandishing his mace. “Who wants to service their masters first?”

“Marvellous creatures!” Sigmund and Stamper focused on the unknown creatures, one in a grey coat standing up from a rock.

“Sit down Elijah!” the shortest one, appearing like a dragon, yelled as he grabbed the sleeve of the standing creature while pulling out an object similar to the ones that the mares held. Stamper broke out of his shock and bolted back for the forest, leaving Sigmund to face the music.

“Shoot them!” a harsh female voice ordered, Stamper making the tree line in time before a chorus of bangs and cracks rang out. A branch scratched his face as he heard Sigmund bellow in pain before it was cut short. Leaving his fellow, Stamper continued running as the trees around him were torn apart by an invisible force.

“Ah!” Stamper cried out as a burning pain erupted on his right leg, just below the knee. He found himself falling, his face crashing down against the leafy forest floor. Whimpering, he turned his head to look at his injured leg, his eyes widening at the sight.

It was severed at the knee, whatever hit him had torn it off leaving a ragged stump behind. He ignored the increasing pain and looked forward, aiming to drag himself to safety.

His plan was foiled, Stamper only getting a few metres away before the pounding off hooves and boots sounded behind him. he looked back and nearly voided his bowels, a group of Equestrian Royal guard aiming the strange black objects at him.

“What are you waiting for?” A mare asked a stallion. “Shoot him.”

“Why don’t you shoot him?” the stallion retorted, evidently having difficulty with taking the life of another being.

“Hold your fire,” the same female voice from before called out. Stamper felt a sharp pain in his side, rolling over onto his back and looking up. One of the creatures from before, appearing to be a female with olive-green clothing that looked military in nature, ceased kicking him in the side. “This one could be useful.”

“Indeed he will be.” The guards turned as the grey-coated creature walked through them, the alien bending down next to Stamper. “Oh, you will certainly be very, very useful.”

Chills ran through Stamper’s body, something in the cheerful tone sending alarm bells off in his head.

Straken, Blaze and Gary stood up from their seats as Elijah emerged from the single story house. The screams had stopped a few minutes ago, the bloodstained grey coat hinting at the scientist’s method of information gathering.

“That went well,” Elijah commented while rubbing his blood stained hands together. “These Caribou have a very interesting internal structure-“

“Not now,” Straken cut in, Blaze going a little green. The Lieutenant was already feeling a little sick, having fired the kill shot that had killed the other scout. “Where did they come from?”

“Oh, they have an army camped a few kilometres down the road past the forest.” Elijah tapped his holster, a simple laser pistol contained within. “Apparently their King detected a ‘control crystal’ failing. Want to go and pay them a visit?”

“How many are there?” Straken inquired, drawing her gun to check it.

“Three hundred of their actual soldiers,” Elijah mentioned, before stopping two of the guards from entering the house. “No, I still have work to do, leave the body as it is!” The ponies backed off at the order, Straken shaking her head.

“Leave them to me,” Orthodox spoke up. “I’ll have them fixed in no time.” He went to walk off, but his arm was grabbed by Gary.

“No, as Special Agent, I should have the honour of going first. Besides, you’ve already had some chances to kill them.” Blaze started to edge back as the fight continued, Elijah joining her as they let the three argue it out.

“I should go.” Everyone turned at the deep, electronic voice. Dante was standing in the middle of the road like a statue. “I am trained and equipped for such duties.” Gary shrugged, and glanced at Orthodox and Straken.

“He’s got a point,” he added.

“He can talk in sentences,” Orthodox observed with fake wonder, earning him a slap on the back of the helmet from Straken.

“That may be so,” the army Colonel conceded as she walked up to the huge trooper. “But three-hundred soldiers is nothing to sniff at. From the sounds of it, these ones will be more experienced and equipped than the ones we have already encountered. It would be wise to instead gather the thirty-two ponies we have trained with rifles to lay an ambush along the road.” The others nodded their heads at this, seeing the Colonel’s idea as a good one.

“No,” the HAS trooper disagreed. “I have the needed weapons based on the description of the enemy, and my sole intervention will eliminate the possibility of allied native casualties.” Dante turned towards Straken. “If preserving allied natives are a mission parameter?”

“It is,” Straken confirmed with an attempt at a reassuring glance to Blaze. “Ponies dying is bad.”

“You don’t need to talk to him like a child,” Elijah butted in. “He’s just had… modifications.”

“Like what?” Orthodox asked, walking around the HAS trooper in a circle.

“It’s classified,” Elijah answered, Orthodox sighing.

“Whatever,” he stated before tapping a fist on Dante’s armoured leg. “So, you think you can take them?” The HAS trooper straightened, having attracted a crowd of curious ponies.

“I do,” he replied with conviction. “I will eliminate all threats with maximum efficiency.” As he said this, he held out his armoured arms. With a light hiss, two compartments popped out from the bottom of the gauntlets. Each held a menacing black barrel and they were wide enough to fit a fist in.

“Well Straken,” Orthodox commented as her glanced at the Colonel. “What do you say now?”

Straken mulled it over in her head. It was low-risk, and if the HAS trooper was correct then the town still had a chance of escaping detection.

“Fine then,” she decided. “Just try and keep it low-key.”

“Colonel,” Elijah spoke up as he walked over and patted her on the shoulder, getting more blood on her uniform. “They're ISA, since when does the ISA do anything subtly?”

General Siegfried woke up from his nap and reached for his sword, something feeling off. He silently got off his sleeping mat and glanced around his command tent, finding nothing unusual. Walking over to the exit, he parted the brown tent flaps and glanced out, finding that his soldiers were all still alive and well.

He exited, his hooves stomping upon the cool grass and he glanced around the makeshift camp.

The troops were in good spirits, all of them unable to wait until they reached the pony town and the mares within. The advantage of being an actual soldier was that you didn’t need to pay anyone to use a female, a fact that had been a deciding factor of his enlistment.
Siegfried sniffed the air, only detecting the hint of unwashed Caribou and weapon grease.

He continued to walk, soldiers in iron armour plates glancing up from their weapons and cooking fires towards him. Everything seemed in order, apart from the absence of the two scouts he had sent out. Siegfried had been unwilling to move any further without a report, however a glance up to the sky told him that it was almost dusk.

He cursed under his breath, no doubt they had become distracted by the females in the town and were having a great time.

“Oh, now that is unexpected.”

Elijah pulled the corpse’s chest cavity open wider, the gloom of the house’s basement lit up with a single candle set into a lamp. A squelch sounded out as Elijah shoved his left augmented hand into the opening while muttering to himself.

“Let’s just have a little look in here and see what you do then, organ...”

Siegfried shook his head, amazed at his fellows and how they were unable to go for a few days without sex. He could see Dainn’s reasoning behind the order of no females but it only left him with sex-crazed troops. Siegfried wasn’t against sex, females were made by the Gods for the enjoyment of males after all, but he still wished his troops would have better control.

The running of hooves drew his attention, Siegfried turning to spot an armoured Caribou come running from the end of the camp facing the direction of the town. Siegfried immediately headed to the soldier, the sentry changing his course to meet him as soon as he noticed the General.

“General Siegfried!” The caribou addressed with a salute. “There’s a strange creature at the entrance of the camp demanding to see you!” This sent warnings off in Siegfried’s head, the General gripping his longsword tighter.

“What manner of creature?” Siegfried demanded, the sentry searching for words to describe the visitor.

“It’s twice as tall as a Caribou, armoured in full black armour, has no face except for a black mirror and has a small marking on its chest in white.”

“Is it male?”

“It sounded like one sir,” the guard replied, more soldiers walking over to their general with weapons in hand. “His voice was… distorted. It sounds terrifying to be honest, General.” Siegfried nodded, he knew that something was wrong. Still, he had an entire army of soldiers; one being would not be the end of him.

“Let’s go then,” he demanded, fifteen soldiers following him as he made his way towards the meeting point. More and more guards joined the group as it continued, spear-wielding Caribou mixing with soldiers hefting axes and crossbows. The armed procession, now numbering fifty-strong, approached the end of the camp.

Even from this distance Siegfried could see the creature, a faceless helmet turning to stare at him as guards attempted to keep the creature civil with spears. Siegfried gripped his weapon tighter, the giant was even more unsettling than the sentry had described.

“Greetings,” Siegfried acknowledged as his group of soldiers circled the newcomer. “Why are you attempting to gain entry to our camp-“

“Are you in charge of these Caribou?” The creature interrupted, Siegfried fighting not to wince at the voice.

“I am General Siegfried, yes,” he answered warily. “Why is that important, and why did you need to speak to me?”

“Primary objective is elimination of Caribou threat,” the giant droned on as if reading from a script. “Secondary is the capture of possible sources of information.” Soldiers tensed at the mention of elimination. “Congratulations, General Siegfried. You get to live a little longer.”

Siegfried raised his sword, however it was useless against the colourless gas that bellowed out from the creature’s left arm.

With a thump he hit the ground, his eyes closing as his troops began to yell war cries.

Dante carefully picked up the General with one hand while the other caved in the skull of a Caribou warrior. The Caribou troops were hesitant in attacking him thanks to the General he now held, giving the HAS trooper time to inject Siegfried with a potent solution of drugs that would protect the Caribou from the effects of the next weapon.

Shifting the weight of the prisoner to his right shoulder, Dante raised his left arm again and unleashed gas into the Caribou camp like before.

Except this time, it wasn’t knockout gas.

War cries were cut off as the vicious, clear gas invaded eyes, mouths, ears and nostrils. It reacted with the skin as well, causing great boils to bubble up. Caribou started to choke as the lining of their throats began to dissolve, causing more of the gas to enter them. Soon the once proud, fifty- strong force of guards were reduced to corpses, the remains of their internal organs leaking out of any available orifice.

With the general on his shoulders safe from the gas thanks to the prior injection, Dante strode into the camp with haste. He ignored the snapping of bone under his large boots, he had only an hour until the protective serum he had injected the General with wore off.
If he delivered an organ-less corpse, then Lead Researcher Elijah would be most displeased. Dante spared no thought to why the Doctor seemed so obsessed with innards, the soldier’s mind focusing solely on his objective.

And that was elimination of all the Caribou in the camp.

He carried out his task emotionlessly, bathing the entire area in the deadly gas that was stored in the armoured tanks on his back. Caribou stumbled out of their tents to die, weapons clattering uselessly to the ground as their owners perished. A few managed to strike him before expiring, however their blows and blades bounced off his armour.

The wind was non-existent, so the gas lingered in a cloud. Dante walked through it robotically, his artificial vision unhindered by the chemical weapon. He saw alive Caribou as coloured blobs and statistics, the number of his kills increasing at a rapid pace.

A few tried to run, however a single breath of the near-invisible spelled their doom before they could escape the camp. A few took longer to die, grasping at the HAS trooper as he walked past them. Dante ignored the soon-to-depart, focusing instead on his readouts. He didn’t possess the advanced scanners that other ISA agents did, but soon his suit’s computer informed him that no life signs were in the vicinity.

The flow of gas stopped, Dante rotating on the spot and not spotting a single living thing. Satisfied that his job was done, and noticing that he was ten minutes away from inflicting the General with a lungful of chemical weapon, the soldier made his way back to the entrance.

His boots hit the cobbled path outside of the camp, the former bustling encampment now covered with a faint cloud of death. Placing the General on the grass beside him, Dante walked towards the camp with his right arm lowering. It’s housing revealed itself, a short barrel poking out. With a glance up to the darkening sky, Dante pointed his arm towards the camp and activated his weapon, a tongue of flame expelling out to ignite the remains of the gas.

Boneo cowered behind the rock as he watched the camp turn into a raging fireball. The young Caribou had excused himself from his fellow soldiers to relieve himself in the hills overlooking the camp.

He was nervous regarding his bathroom habits.

It turned out that his precautions saved his life, the messenger’s eyes locked on the black giant that had killed the entire detachment.
Boneo watched on in terror as the creature stopped pouring fire into the camp, the being turning around and marching back to the General. He couldn’t tell if General Siegfried was dead or not, the officer soon picked up by the black giant. Boneo continued to observe and hide until the attacker had disappeared out of sight, heading towards the pony town that had been the target of the army.

Seeing that the threat was gone, Boneo collapsed against the rock and breathed a sigh of relief. He gave thanks to the gods for sparing his life, the messenger knowing that he escaped death by a whisker.

Remembering his dead comrades, Boneo found an inner strength inside of him. Checking one last time that the coast was clear of murderous giants, the young Caribou stood up and started to run in the direction that the army had come.

‘King Dainn must hear of this! Only he can stop the giant!’

Author's Note

Well, another chapter out.

The ponies now have guns, the planet is quickly filling with ISA agents and the science is reaching wonderful levels.

Wonderful, glorious science.

However, their cover is blown, and Dainn is sure to react with ample force against the new threat.