Chapter 1: The Fall

I woke up in pain, spread all over my body. My mind cloudy, requiring huge efforts to make the most basic ideas. They came in the form of questions, about what happened and what was doing pressure on my chest. It was something big and heavy, my arms (as I became aware of them) moved towards it, with my hands grabbing it. A box probably filled with supplies of some sort, which I slowly pushed away from me.

Hearing the noise of the object hitting the floor, I took a deep breath and attempted to stand. As I rose up, my mind organized itself, trying to make sense of things. I felt dizzy and had to be extra careful to keep steady. My eyes could only see darkness, my nose smelt something burning and my ears were still ringing.

Adjusting to the black void around me, my first instinct was to search for my trusty Krylov FA-37 assault rifle. At the same time, small bits of information came back to me. At first, the more generic information such as my own identity, and then the more complex ones. I’m a sergeant of the Pan-Asian Coalition, and it’s the year 2140. There're five soldiers under my command, the young Dima, my friend Barin, Akio, Suvorov and Ilya.

Before I could continue, I felt a hand on my left shoulder. I almost jumped, turning around as quickly as I could while trying to ignore my lack of balance. Despite my lack of perseption, I saw the obvious figure of a soldier standing in front of me.

The figure took a step back, probably surprised by my quick reaction. "Alex, is that you?" I instantly recognized Dima's voice. He sounded worried and his breathing was quick and heavy.

"Yes it is, private" My throat was extremely dry. My eyes refused to focus. "Any idea where the others are?"

"Akio and Suvorov are over there," He replied, pointing towards a spot ahead. "I do not recall anyone else coming with us."

Taking a glance at where he was pointing I spotted two more dark silluetes resting against a metal wall. As I continued to search for my weapon, a final question came up: Where is the rest of my unit? At that moment, my mind began to clear, and I remenbered why I was standing there, in some dark corridor. Memories of dashing through these corridors as alarms blared all around flashed through my mind. We were under attack, that’s why I was there, but something else happened. I remenber everything shaking and a lot of... shining stuff? Shining particles similar to crystals and a sudden wave of energy.

What could it be? A weapon of some sort? The titan is still standing and I’m still alive, so I guess the core is still in one piece and we didn’t get hit by anti-titan weaponry. Artillery barrage? That’s also unlikely, given that the enemy was already inside when it happened. Maybe some sort of new weapon... but still, they wouldn't use it at their own men. They may be losing the war, but are they that desperate? The outpost is also far from any major fault line so an earthquake is also out of question.

"Any guesses to what's going on, sergeant?" Dima asked.

Right before answering, I spotted my rifle. "Well, we're still alive so I don't think the euros got to the reactor, not yet anyways," I said while picking up my weapon, lying not far from where I woke up. "Check your gear; make sure you didn't lose anything."

While Dima was busy I approached the other two, both lying against one of the walls. Akio was speaking to Suvorov, who answered through his helmet's speaker. He was the only one of us wearing a full-face helmet. It was bulkier, but provided more protection, especially against toxic gases. They seemed to be all right, as far as I could tell. None of them sounded to be in pain and I didn't see any blood. Then again, it was very dark with only the occasional flicker of some of the emergency lights to provide a better sight.

"How are you two?" I asked. They both snapped in attention as they noticed me.

"Nothing broken, sir" Akio said in his Japanese accent while he and Suvorov stood back up. Unlike Dima, these two were veterans, there was no trace of fear or doubt in their voices. No shaking or heavy breathing.

Normally, I would preffer to stay there for a moment and get a better picture of what exactly is going on. However, we don't have the luxury of time to wait, not when our Titan is at stake. Our comrades out there still need our help and every second wasted could mean an extra bodybag going home.

There were footsteps behind me. "So, how do we proceed?" Asked Dima as he approached us. "Should we keep going to the cargo bay?"

The obvious thing to do would be to keep going to our previous objective, but things have changed. Our eletronic devices are either shut down or rebooting, that means we could end up in an ambush or under friendly fire. "No, that place is probably a mess, and we don't know how many hostiles or friendlies are in the area. We should go to the hangar and try to find the commander." I didn't know for sure where the captain was, but that was my best guess. Even if we don't find him, it's still a safer place to rally.

With no further words, we moved deeper into the halls of the Titan. The almost constant darkness and the lack of noise gave a claustrophobic feeling to the whole place. All we could hear were distant sounds, muffed by the thick walls of the vessel, and the heavy thuds of our boots. Occasionally, we bumped into something laying on the floor. Whether they were bodies or objects, I did not know.

Eventually we approached our goal; in front of us laid a set of metal doors, separating us from the hangar. That’s the place our captain would most likely be. That room is where most of our preparations for the upcoming action were happening. It’s a wide and tall place, with plenty of space for two aircrafts to land and for necessary supplies or spare parts they might need. In addition, a small section of it is equipped with several control consoles, giving access to the Titan’s weapons.

Reaching the entrance, we began to hear, thankfully, the sound of movement on the other side. This discovery brought a wave of relief on all of us, almost instantly dissipating the tension that we had accumulated along the way. After manually opening those doors (since the power was out), we were greeted with a scene best described as… organized chaos.

There were quite a lot of people inside, mostly crewmembers, but also a few soldiers. The crowd was split in multiple tasks such as clearing objects laying around and checking injures of the less fortunate. What truly got my attention, however, was another group, who were dragging multiple dead bodies to a lonely corner. That sight reminded me of my missing comrades, bringing a feeling of apprehension on the prospect of their possible fates. Despite the sudden wave of fear and doubt, almost as if a hammer had hit me in the chest, I pushed these feelings aside and continued my search.

My eyes scanned the room and I spotted something moving towards us, in the corner of my vision. Turning my attention to it, I saw another person. A white man, wearing PAC uniform and armor, but with a distinguishable green beret resting on top of his blonde short hair, instead of a helmet. The man I was looking at, was Captain Nicolay Nevesky, the commander of the Surena. His blue eyes fully locked into mine as he came closer, bearing an annoyed expression. Yet, despite his facial expression, his behavior still showed the same calm and determined personality I was used to.

"Men, how're you all holding? Any of you wounded?" Nicolay asked. The same pragmatic tone, as you would expect from an officer. I knew he didn't really meant that, my previous experiences under his leadership had proven to me how much he cared about keeping those under his command alive and healthy. However, this's still an army and we're still in some deep shit, so this kind of behavior is a necessity.

Our medic took a step forward. "No sir, just a few bruises here and there" replied Akio. "Do you have any information on the situation, sir?"

The captain shifted his attention to Akio, crossing his arms. "I was actually hoping you could provide me with something new; as you may already have noticed on your way here, most systems are down or rebooting."

"You think the Euros are testing a new toy on us?" Asked Dima. Despite the small joke, he was still pretty anxious. Expected, given this was his first engagement.

Nicolay, on the other hand, was the opposite. He looked surprisingly calm, despite the situation. "That would normally be my first guess but something's not right, why would they use this after the beginning of the attack? Some of them were already inside when this happened..." He answered.

"Maybe they can only use it at close range or something." Dima suggested.

He shook his head. "I don't think so, they would be risking their own men, and it's rather unlikely the Euros would throw away soldiers like that, especially when they're getting their asses kicked by us," That got a few smirks from us. "But whatever this is, we need to find out exactly what's going on, I have already ordered some of the soldiers we got in touch to take defensive positions close to the cargo bay."

"Any hostiles, sir?" Dima asked.

"Negative private, it seems the enemy is just as spooked as we are, another unit just informed me they seem to be pulling out, likely to regroup," Now that is really interesting. Just what in god's name is going on? None of this makes sense.

Deciding to cut this conversation short, I stepped in. "So, what do you need us for, commander?" I asked him. As much as I enjoy speaking with the captain, we still had a job to do. In addition, my mind kept thinking about my missing comrades, urging me to search for them.

Nicolay turned to face me with a determined expression. "Sergeant Terenti, I need you and your soldiers come outside with me, we need to look for any missing units and have a better look at the enemy, understood?" He replied.

"Yes sir" We all answered.

With everything decided we made our way down the front of the vessel. Normally we would go through the cargo bay, on the back, but since this would likely end up with us face-to-face with an unknown number of hostiles, this was the safest way. Climbing down was neither fast nor comfortable, but we made it down fine. my black boots made contact with the snow just as everyone else arrived.

All of us were wearing the standard PAC equipment. Black boots and gloves, grey uniform (similar to a jumpsuit), black gear and armor. Some of the plates bearing the iconic white Lotus flower (the insignia of our coalition). It looked well and professional, but tended to be quite easy to spot in a predominantly white landscape (like modern day Europe).

Reaching the snow-covered concrete ground of the outpost, I scanned the area around me. Moving my head a little, I looked at every building, metal container and pile of boxes nearby, instinctvely searching for anything unusual. As I did so, I felt something was wrong. At first, I became confused, unable to understand the origin of this strange feeling.

However, I began to pick up a few concerning things. The air smelt wrong; instead of the usual dense and slightly dry thing I’m used to, I now felt a crisp and arid air passing through my nostrils. Moreover, the temperature had changed. It was hard to tell at first, since my uniform and gear were designed to isolate the user from outside climate (since we were fighting on extreme environments). Despite that, I was still able to feel something in the parts that were either not covered (like most of my face) or not as thick. The temperature was much higher, very different from the artic conditions we should be facing.

A small sense of panic surged through me and I snapped my eyes to the horizon, looking beyond the outpost. What I saw brought a shiver down my spine. The geography was completely wrong.

Instead of open fields, filled with snow and a few trees, I saw rocky hills surrounding us on all sides. The lack of snow was another disturbing fact; as soon as the outpost ended, it also did, as if there was an invisible border. Outside was not a tundra, as expected, but a cracked brown soil fully devoid of vegetation.

Part of me wanted to panic. I could deal with getting knock out, as a soldier, I was trained to deal with that, not easy, but I could do it. I had faced quite a few distressing situations ever since the war began in 2139. However, getting… teleported… to somewhere else, also during an attack? That was quite a challenge to my skills. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. There must be some sort of explanation for this.

I predicted the rest of my comrades were probably noticing the same things, but none of us spoke a word. We just kept moving, in our way there was nothing more than a few supply boxes and concrete barriers separating different sectors. Maybe we were too stunned or simply in denial of what was happening, but whatever the case, we had a job to do.

After a few minutes, our group reaching the half of the titan, being extra careful in the darkness of the night, we started to hear something. In the distance it appeared to be gunshots, but closer to us there was shouting, a lot of it. All of us tensed up; in a split of second, each of us moved to the nearest cover and kept our heads low.

"Does anyone has his NetBat back up?" Nicolay asked, with all of us shaking our heads and whispering "no" as an answer.

"Any Ideas, sir?" Dima said.

"Well, there is only one thing to do, all of you get ready."

We proceeded to point our weapons to what we believe was the origin of the noise, which was gradually getting closer. I could feel some adrenaline shooting inside me, as I wondered what might be coming. I looked through my scope, waiting for any kind of dark shape or sign of movement. My finger already near the trigger.

"Pan-Asian Coalition, identify yourselves!" Shouted the commander.

For a moment all the noise immediately ahead of us stopped. The answer came in the form of more shouting, gunshots and… laughter, why the fuck are they laughing? Not wasting any time we returned fire to the now hostiles in our front, a distinguishable blue flash leaving the muzzle of my weapon every time I pulled the trigger, the sounds of battle filling my ears as I searched for targets. I fired a few rounds into the general direction of the enemy, accompanied by the rest of the unit. Eventually, I began to make out the shape of our attackers and trace the origin of the gunfire.

One thing I began to notice was that this fight was almost entirely one-sided; whomever we were shooting at clearly lacked military training, maybe some sort of militia? That would be unlikely given where the outpost should be (deep inside our territory), but it was clearly no longer there. Perhaps we somehow landed in North Africa (under E.U control). Our enemy had a poor accuracy and trigger dicipline. They were doing way too much noise, constantly shouting and laughting.

Another interesting fact was that I couldn't understand what they were saying (that is, what I could pick up over the sounds of gunshots). It was definitely not English, the most common among the usually multinational European troops, in fact, it didn’t sound like anything I had heard or known, which would be very difficult given that I was versed in quite a few languages (kind of a personal hobby).

All these factors were adding to the idea that we were not fighting a regular European unit (like the one trying to sabotage our titan), but a militia. Oh, how I wished this were the case…

As the fight intensified, I took notice of my own condition. My body shook, I could feel my teeth grinding and sweat dripping my messy brown hair beneath the helmet. I have been fighting for over a year and I still could not get used to this. My analysis stopped with a shout near me.

"Hostile braking from cover!" Suvorov shouted just as I spotted something moving in the right corner of my vision. I turned a little towards my new target.

Before I could take aim, however, a round of Suvorov’s rifle hit the target. After that, the fighting started to quiet down, and in a few moments, likely less than 2 minutes after it begun, the fighting stopped. Slowly we stood up, most of us trying to find any remaining enemies while Akio quietly asked if we had been hurt, a negative answer coming from all of us. We silently looked around, pointing our weapons to anything that might pose a threat.

After it was clear there were no threats ahead, we began to move forward in order to check the bodies. I made my way to the one Suvorov had taken out.

I had a feeling there something wrong with all this (which added to my previous findings didn’t exactly helped me to calm down). I only saw that hostile for a split of second but there was something wrong with it. The height was wrong, it was way too short to be a grown man, maybe an animal? Alternatively, maybe… god forbids it… a child. That thought send a chill down my spine. My heart was pounding in my chest as I approached the dark form.

What I saw was the opposite of anything I could have expected, it was… how can I describe it? It looked like an animal, bigger than a dog, but the proportions were off; the head was quite big in relation to the body, covered by a red coat and black mane. Not only that, it seem to be wearing some sort of leather jacket with spikes and other metal parts in it, also a few holes in (including the one I guessed Suvorov added). It reminded me of an equine, it had hooves and the way the mane and muzzle looked also gave that idea. A horse or a... pony? What the fuck?

If I was having trouble dealing with this whole thing before, at that moment my training and experience were the only things keeping me from panicking. How the fuck was I supposed to deal with this? What… what did this even mean? Ponies… I can’t even believe I’m saying something like this. This is way too fucked up for me. Was this thing shooting at me? No, that's fucking impossible!

As I started to wander if the Euros had finally lost their minds, using mutated ponies on us, I heard my comrades having an intense argument, probably about the same thing I was seeing. Making my way to them I notice some information popping up in my glasses, looks like my interface is back online. As I came closer, I noticed other bodies of... ponies laying around. However... there were no people, just ponies. Where the fuck are the Europeans?

"How the fuck were this freaks even shooting at us?" One of them said. Around the corpses were guns... or at least something similar to guns.

Gradually, the argument began to escalate. Several of my comrades were speaking at the same time, all of them questioning this sick event. I don't blame them, if we weren't near the front lines I would assume this was some sort of joke or surprise. "T-this one has some sort of gun on its mouth..." I heard another saying.

"You think that's weird, this one has a fucking horn!"

"I'm beginning to miss the Europeans…"

As the argument came to the verge of shouting, another voice broke out. "All right, everyone calm down!" Nicolay said, all soldiers turning to face him, most of them not far from my own state. If the shaky hands were anything to go by, even the commander was having trouble keeping his composure. "Our priorities have changed; we need to find out what the fuck is going on."

"Well, either this is a sick joke or the Euros just went insane" Dima said.

"A joke would not involve casualties and why in gods name would they make something like this?" He replied. "Plus, I doubt they would waste precious resources on this kind of insanity."

"They are desperate, who knows what they are capable of doing?" Countered Suvorov.

"Look, even if they were behind this, they would likely provide better equipment; look at the state of their gear."

He had a point, the things this freaks were using were in varying degrees of decay, most of them also didn't look like anything the Europeans had. however, if the Europeans were not the cause of this, then what is? Different geography, a higher temperature and mutated… pony…. Things. I guess it is clear we are no longer in Europe, but then where exactly.

There's no way that something like these creatures would go unnoticed, the world may be in chaos but we are still in the 22th century with all its technology, there is no place on the planet that would be this isolated, unless… no. Okay, yes, things might be really strange right now, but...

Even if I assume this is a different world or dimension, there's no way the gravity and atmosphere would be so close to Earth that we would not have instantly noticed. The chances of this coincidence are too small, and even if it was true, it still doesn't answer the question on what brought us here.

My shock slowly started to give way to a boiling anger. First an ice age, then a war, and now this? Every day I had to live with the pain of being far from my family, now I get to be literary a fucking universe away. I didn't ask for this, I would give anything for a moment of peace and tranquility back home, I can only imagine how the rest of my comrades are doing.

Look, I didn't hate being in the army, I made the choice to join alone, and I was aware of the possible consequences. I didn't like it (who in his right mind would like a war?), but I was ok with it, I liked my comrades and I was happy to serve my country. However, that didn't make any easier regarding my loved ones, I always looked forward to visit them once I had the chance.

I knew Suvorov had a wife and daughter, he always told us about them during our free time (when he was not being laconic, that is), same goes to Akio, except he's waiting for a son instead, two months from now if I’m not mistaken. Dima and Barin were both young, like me.

"All right, sir, what do you suggest?" Said Dima.

"Do all of you have your systems back online?" All of us nodded "Good, then I'll try to get in touch with the rest of the soldiers, we need to stand down and think our next move. In addition, if the Euros are not the cause of this…" He took a deep breath, "We might have to ask for a truce…" We didn't take that idea very well.

Those Euros where the reason behind much of our problems. We have been at war for almost a year, and they were a constant threat to us even before the conflict got hot. I'm not about to throw my gun just because of some failed experiment or weapon. "You mean surrender, ask for their surrender right, sir?" I told him "They did try to attack us."

"I am well aware of that, sergeant, but we cannot afford to fight before we know what's happening. We need to know exactly what's going on, and we can't do it while killing each other."

"What? I'm sorry sir, but we can't just stand down!" I said. "They have the blood of our unit on their hands!"

His eyes narrowed. "These are my men you're talking about, seargent," I took a step back, "I'm just as mad as you are, but look around you, whatever this is, it's big, and we can't afford to deal with this and the Euros."

Part of me didn't like this, but Nicolay had a point. There's no way we would be able to concentrate on figuring this out while fighting them. In addition, we needed all the help we could get… that is, if those bastards are willing to.

With no further questioning, we resumed our journey to the other side, with Nicolay sending orders and sharing information with other units as we walked. As the sounds of gunshots grew closer, a new obstacle confronted us, bodies, PAC and EU alike, none of them alive (as far as I could tell), with varying degrees of wounds but all equality staining the snow red.

It was obvious the Euros were fighting the same threat as we, since none of the other squads reported contact. That fact only further proved the idea that they were not behind this. Even if they are not guilty of this recent problem, they were still attempting to sabotage our titan before.

Ever since we started engagements around Verdun, we have had multiple cases of EU forces infiltrating and destroying our vessels before they could deliver personnel and supplies into the front. Those actions were the main reason why a small, but resilient, EU force has been holding us back from seizing the rest of the continent.

Getting closer to our objective and with the sounds of battle near, but much less intense, we took cover by a large metal container. To our left was the entrance to the cargo bay and the origin of those sounds, to our front was a small concrete building, likely a garage for repairing vehicles. After checking for any threats, we headed into the building.

Steeping inside I noticed the interior was exactly what I expected, mostly just tools and spare parts for vehicles. The only thing unusual was a body of a P.A.C near one of the walls. I approached it while the rest took cover around. I carefully went to my knees in an effort to take his dog tags, but as I did so, his features started to look familiar. A silent gasp left my lips as I realized who I was looking at.

He was Ilya… A quick look on his dog tags proved that. He's dead... those fuckers killed him! This discovery made me angry, not just at the enemy, but at my own incompetence. I was aware to this possibility, as a sergeant my priorities were always to get the job done, even with the occasional sacrifice of resources and men. Yet I still felt bad whenever this happened, I may be aware of the necessity, but I still desire to save as many soldiers as possible.

He was not the first that died, but that did not make it any easier. Part of me felt badly for not getting to know him better, he was in my unit for more than a month and we barely spoke, maybe this was better, you know, to avoid being attached.

We all knew the risks when we joined, but I guess that even then none of us truly expects to end up with three bullets on the chest. I can only hope Barin is doing better.

I wasted no time braking the news to my comrades, who were just as shocked as I was. Dima was the most affected, for he was the most charismatic of our group, always trying to know everyone better. Before our little commotion could continue, however, Nicolay decided to start the… negotiations with our enemies.

As the commander begun to speak I decided to sit down for a while. I was exhausted; the sheer intensity of everything that happened was starting to affect me, both physically and mentally.

I guess that moment was when the whole situation started to sink in, this was not like getting lost in the woods, taking the wrong road or something. Usually, when you get lost, you always have an idea of where you are, even if you do not know your immediate surroundings. Be it the general region or just the nation, you have a piece of information, something to hold on to. Our case was much worse, we had absolute no idea of what is going on and where we are. We had zero information, nothing to base our actions or to look forward. What options did we have?

"I was actually wandering the same about you, no, we don't know anything about this freaks…"

I could see Dima approaching me; he sat down next to me and lowered his head, taking occasional glances towards Ilya. Dammit, the new ones, like Dima, are always the worst, getting attached and all that. Hopefully after a few weeks he will learn better, I needed capable people in my unit.

"Look, you know there is something big going on; all I am asking is that we stop the fighting for a moment and figure this whole thing out."

I wonder what we are going to do with the bodies; we will likely have to bury them here, wherever here was. This was not rare on the battlefield but still… forcing their families to bury or burn an empty coffin. Well, what can I say, this is a war, and things happen in a war. I can't do much for those who fall, all I can do is keep going.

"We don't have to be friends, but like it or not we are stuck together, we got better chances to make through this cooperating"

The next few minutes were went by with Nicolay trying to work things out with the Euros. Despite the occasional disagreement he was a fair and experienced leader, I do not recall him ever letting those under his command down. There was even a rumor among the troop that he wrote a few works on military history before the war.

My line of thought stopped as I realized the commander had ceased talking.

"I've got movement outside, sir" Said Suvorov, looking out by one of the small windows. "Looks like a European."

"Hold your fire, corporal," answered the commander. "I need you all to calm down; I'm going outside alone to meet him."

Despite protests from us, he went outside. Once he was a few meters from the Euro, they both formally saluted and proceeded to talk, despite clearly tensed at each other’s presence. After about ten minutes, he radio us to go meet him, the other apparently doing the same (I could not tell much since he was wearing a full-face helmet).

We carefully made our way to Nicolay. As we got closer, I noticed some other Euro soldiers on the other side, using a distinguishable combination of winter camouflaged uniforms, black gear and black armor with a few… orange pieces.

Nicolay explained to us the following: The Europeans had agreed on a truce as long as we shared the outpost for the time being until we figured the whole thing out. They would be allowed stay on the outside (I was okay with that), the cargo bay and the medical facilities inside the titan (I was not okay with that).

After he shared the whole data with us and other units, we separated into multiple tasks. Akio went check on the wounded, Suvorov went looking for Barin, Dima and I were tasked with scouting the rest of the outpost, staying as far away as we could from the Euros as we did so.

Just as we completed our assignments, the sun began to rise, bringing with it the light of a new day, and a new assignment.

Footnote:

SPECIAL: Alexander B. Terenti

Strength: 5 [+]

Perception: 7 [+]

Endurance: 6 [+]

Charisma: 4

Intelligence: 7

Agility: 5

Luck: 5

Perk added: PAC Trooper – Your years of combat experience grant you +1 to Perception and Strength as well as 25% accuracy bonus when wielding rifles or semi-automatic pistols.

Trait added: Human – Your dexterous hands give you extra 15 points each to repair and survival, as well as +1 to Endurance. However, you suffer -15% carry weight and -50% movement speed over open ground. Due to your alien appearance, equine characters may flee from you or attack without provocation.

Author's Note

-Note: Thank you to Kkat and all those who contribute to the FO: E universe, sorry for any mistakes. (In addition, a special thanks to Anon3mous1 and his fic, “Fallout Equestria: Rules of Engagement” for the inspiration, perk and trait).

I do not own anything from MLP, Fallout or Battlefield 2142.

P.A.C characters (so far):
- Captain Nicolay Nevesky
- Sergeant Alexander Benedikt Terenti (protagonist)
- Private Dima
- Private Akio Isamu
- Corporal Suvorov
- Private Barin Emad Hadi (M.I.A)
- Private Ilya (K.I.A)

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